Chapter 5: Fixing the Blade (part 5)

As the orb continued to chow down on the treat, Mauve stood there confused.

 

“W-What’s going on here!? I thought the blade was cracked!?”

 

“Well obviously, it heals back all by itself.”

 

“Yeah I see that, but how!?

 

“Because it wasn’t cracked in the first place.”

 

“!!? What do you mean!? You’re making me more confused!?”

 

“...Mauve, unreasonably emotional.”

 

“!!Yes, Big Sis!”

 

Seeing Mauve getting worked up out of nowhere, Violet curtly warned him, making him sit down properly again. Even so, his face is still full of bewilderment.

 

“Well, I think I know the answer, and the cause as well.”

 

As if waiting for her chance to answer, Amai then speaks up with a smug smile on her face. In response, Mauve leaned in closer, eager to hear it.

 

“Really!? Can you tell us then?”

 

“Fufufu, slow down, and have a snack while you’re at…oh? Looks like Mr.Tree already ate it all. Mom, we need another 3!”

 

“Coming, Sweety~~”

 

(Since when does the orb eat it that fast…?)

 

While Mauve questioningly looks at the empty bowl beside Mr.Tree, while he keeps chowing down on the new bowl Ms.Rossa brings out, Amai begins her explanation.

 

“Okay…If I weren’t mistaken, Violet just got called back to the capital for an arranged marriage, in a plot to contain her and get her out of the kingdom right?”

 

“Yes, that is correct.”

 

“Too bad their scheme failed, because then Big Sis required her suitor to beat her in combat. (smug)”

 

“It’s per the law of the kingdom that the suitor to the royal member must be just as strong, if not stronger than them. Even if it isn’t a scheme, I must force them to fulfill that requirement.”

 

“And so far, no potential suitor I know of can even put a finger on her (double smug).”

With Mauve carrying on himself a punchable level of confidence, Amai continued.

 

“Yeah, because of that, the incompetent king, in desperate attempt to put her in lock and key away from him, tried to fixed the win on the suitor by sabotaging on Violet as much as he can.”

 

“But it wouldn’t work, of course! (Triple smug)”

 

“One of such ways is trying to nick the blade, so that it breaks at the last second, depriving her of a working blade. They managed to secretly get the blade by forcing her to set it down when meeting the suitor, and tried to break it…”

 

“But it wouldn’t work of course, because Mother’s blade is invincible! (Super smug)”

 

 Seeing Mauve getting all smug for a different reason, Amai feels herself a bit reddened at the cheek, before she quickly makes it go away.

 

“Yeah, it wouldn’t work, of course. Taking advantage of this however, Violet planted an illusion on the blade, so that it seems the blade would break by their sabotage, caughting them red-handed when she purposely showed that it has break.”

 

“Yeah, as expected of Big Sis, once again stringing everything along to wring out the corruption of the kingdom! (Ultra Smug)...Because of that, she ends up becoming hostile to the king, and then I have to do what I have thought.”

 

“Yeah yeah, all of that stuff isn’t important to what we’re discussing…Anyway, it’s what she did to the blade that’s the problem here.”

 

“? What do you mean?”

 

“Mauve, remember when the Fourth Prince said that the sword has a strong and prideful will?”

 

“....Oh!”

 

Seeing that Mauve figured it out for himself, Amai smiled a little, before continuing.

 

“Well then, let me reenact what this sword was thinking about throughout all this, okay?”

 

Holding the sword right beside her, she began to ventriloquism what the sword said (with a shockingly great bell-like chirping voice)

 

“Heh, trying to break me? It would take a trillion years before you can even chip out an atom of my body.”

 

“Try harder, just swinging a giant hammer at my blade won’t even bring me any excitement…Cheh, not even False Master can put a dint at me, so what would I be expecting anyway.”

 

“Oi, who the heck are you calling False Master, you…!”

 

Suddenly, in the middle of the act, Mauve got unreasonably angry, as he climbed over the table and tried to choke the blade to death. In response, Violet swiftly yanked him back, and forcefully put him at his seat. She then slightly glared at him.

 

“Mauve, what are you doing, being impulsive like that? Didn’t I tell you about this earlier?”

 

“But Sis! That sword was calling you “Fake Master”!...That sword was calling you “Fake Master”!!!!”

 

“So you decided to go on a temper tantrum against Ms.Amai herself?”

 

“...! No, I won’t-I will never meant to-”

 

“...So do I need to train you again? How about another 1000 years in absolute darkness to distill your mind once more?”

 

“Hiii!!?”

 

As the sibling is having a heated argument (mostly consisting of Violet’s threat against Mauve sanity), Amai sweetly watches on, before making a laugh, dispelling the tension.

 

“Fufufu, it’s okay, Violet. Not that I minded.”

 

“...Ms.Amai, my little brother was this close to harming you.”

 

“It’s fine! That just means my performance is stellar! To captivate the thought of the audience, into thinking that it was real, is the greatest triumph a performer can have!”

 

“...If you think so, still…”

 

“Besides, no way is this Big Little Brother even capable of harming me in the first place…”

 

(! Mother…!)

 

“...Because if he even tries, I can just pummel him to the dirt myself !”

 

(Gua!)

 

“Then again, not like someone as weak as him can even put a finger on me in the first place.”

 

(Argh!!)

 

“...You’re right. If he thinks he can even hurt you in the first place, his lack of training must have dulled his mind.”

 

“Gofaa!!! Not you too, Big Sis!!!!”

 

Waiting for the commotion to be finished, Amai continued the act, having the voice blade sound more and more prideful and smug.

 

“Ha, now you’re trying acid? The blood of a mere star hydra has more bite!”

“Oh? Now you’re trying curses? Phu-lease, an outer god I already forgot the name of, has already tried that, and he ends up eating the dust due to recoil.”

 

“Wait, now you try performing exorcisms? I’m not a demon blade or something for fuck sake…Like, it stopped being funny after precisely the 1000th times…”

 

((Ah, how nostalgic…))

 

Even when both of them haven’t actually heard the sword talking, a strange sense of familiarity washed through them.

 

It’s like the time when back, back to when they were just a kid, listening to their mother, telling them of all her absurd adventure and achievement. 

 

Of Mauve, keenly absorbed the ridiculousness through her word, with how he “ooo” at all the impossible places she saw, and “aaa” at all the incredulous bosses she beat, and outlandish treasures she obtained, as his eyes keep widen and widen.

 

Of Violet, calmly paying attention, treating this as the usual thing, no matter how illogical it sounds, no matter how unbelievable her tale. With how she keeps a face as tranquil as a still lake, quietly accepting it as true, as she quietly, but inescapably drawn into her tale.

 

As they’re concentrating on the tale, almost forgetting that it’s from the sword itself… 

 

*CRACK*

 

Suddenly, in the middle of the sword’s “boasting”, a strange crack is heard, coming from the sword itself…Or at least it seems like it, as Amai masterfully makes such a sound without even moving her mouth. As such, despite there being nary a chip or a clip, the sibling gets strangely convinced that the sword is damaged.

 

And following on that atmosphere, the sword’s “voice” gets a bit flustered.

 

“...Oi, that cracking is not me. I didn’t break at all, you hear me !??”

 

“Background character, stop cheering!! Don’t you dare get happy thinking you have successfully chipped me down!!!”

 

“And you, Pope! Stop kneeling down and praise God with tears dripping down your face! And don’t put your snots on the floor either, you’re flinging it toward here!!”

 

With the complementary background noise (courtesy of Amai), the sword’s “voice” gets visibly more frustrated and upset, as her scream goes unnoticed (because she’s too prideful to talk at the time).

 

Having a guess at what that moment is, the siblings have a silent talk with each other.

 

(Hey, sis, is that when…)

 

(When the illusion I set up finally got activated, yes. I set it so that it will generate multitude of visual and audio effects, along with many other signal, to indicate that the sword would fully break after a few swing)

(Oh yeah, I was surprised when I saw the sword fall to pieces on the ground as well, only to become whole again after the fact. I didn’t know your illusion technique could get this good back then.)

 

(Just like you, I learned a thing or two at the academy…)

 

“Well, all of that sure pissed her off, didn't it?”

 

Hearing them talking to each other, Amai stopped to ask them. 

 

“Um…I guess so? Being thought of as broken when you’re not probably would anger most people…”

 

“Yep, but that isn’t what pissed her off the most, you know?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Let set the stage, to when she got left on the ground, in “pieces”... “

 

Restarting the story again, Amai set the scene. As she messily laid the blade bare onto the table, background noise once again started to appear, as they returned back to when Violet got disarmed against the suitor prince.

 

As the sound of boasting happened on the far back, too insignificant to pay attention to, the sword laid her “thought”.

 

“Tsk…now everyone here sees that I am broken in pieces, despite it just being a mere illusion…”

 

“ ‘After all, it’s all according to plan that you belong to me’....Ah, so that’s what happened. Seriously, Fake Master, couldn’t you just bothered talking to me about it ? (not that I will listen though).” 

 

“Welp, now that all of that is revealed, you can pick me up now, Knockoff Master. Let's just reveal that the fake illusions are fake, get me back in your hand, knock them off, and return all things to normal so that I can sulk at you for a whole week, at least.”

 

“ ‘Without your sword, what can you do?’ Yeah, listen to him, and pick me up soon, still waitin-”

 

“I don’t need a sword to beat you (Violet voice)”

 

“...Huh?” 

 

“In fact, the bladeless blade…let me show it to you.”

 

“....Huh??”

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“Zeroth blade, The Blade of Void.”

 

“...Huuuuuuhhh???”

 

With the absolutely accurate sound of spacetime disappearing, and the screaming of an insignificant someone losing an entire hand, the sword gets left behind, seemingly becoming stunned silent. 

 

After quite a while of awesome battle sound in the background, the sword eventually had enough.

 

“...Oh ho ho, so that's what it is.”

 

“You, who aren’t even good enough to be my Master, now suddenly think you’re too good for me???”

 

“All along, you can go on without me, huh??”

 

“...Said, all this time, and you still leave me looking like a wreck on the floor here.”

 

“Hm…Ah, I have an idea. Why don’t I be that wreck, for real.”

 

“After all, it turns out you didn’t need me at all, so you don’t mind a littttttle bit of crack on myself, right !??”

 

“Surely your mother from beyond the grave wouldn’t mind it at all, right??? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!”

 

With a diabolical villainess laugh, Amai closes the curtain on her act, leaving Mauve stand studded. Eventually, he began to ask her, looking a bit bitter.

 

“Um…so all of this really happened right?”

 

“Yep, that’s what the sword told me! I did ad-libbed the last part quite a bit though.”

 

 “(That isn’t “ a bit”, Mom…Then again, only you would make that kind of joke) So, if I am corrected, the reason the sword cracked in her hand is…”

 

“ Because Violet abandoned her. Even if it’s just for a moment, the sword saw that she doesn’t need her…though to be more accurate, the sword realized that she doesn’t need her.”

 

“...Ah right, Sis’s swordsmanship is like that after all.”

 

“Oh? So you noticed. Well, I would be surprised if you managed to copy her Six Blade style, and not understand what it’s really about…A style that both is and isn’t a sword style.”

 

“Ah, so you also saw my fight with the previous King.”

 

“Of course, isn’t that obvious at this point? Well, either way…”

 

Amai then suddenly throws the sword, having its blade bare, toward Violet. As soon as she deftly catched the blade at its handle, visible cracks instantly appeared on the blade again, as the blade quickly lost its luster.

 

“As long as the blade still sees that she doesn’t need her, the blade will stay cracked like this. The sword won’t recognize you, as long as it still sees that you don’t make use of it.” 

 

“...”

 

“As such, the true problem you’re asking for isn’t about the blade, but about yourself, right?”

 

The silent Violet gave out, as she looked at the blade solemnly, confirmed the answer.

 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“1,000,000,000th”

 

After the billionth time, the little girl stopped her blade.

 

Her hand became ragged and bloodied due to swinging too much.

 

Her clothing became drenched in sweat, and already tearing all over the place, due to excessive moving.

 

Her long platinum hair become frizzy and unkempt, as it has been days since she started practicing non-stop.

 

Yet, her Violet eyes never lost focus, as she looked deeply into the blade she held…the blade her mother leave behind.

 

“...Still no response.”

 

…The blade that has never talked again, after the day she died.

 

Nevertheless, her breathing is as usual, as she calmly checks herself, like she checked herself a million times before.

 

“...It makes sense, as I haven’t reached her level yet. For my hand to become bloodied already at the billionth swing in 10x gravity…I still have a long way to go.”

 

A little girl, unaware of her own absurdity, uncaring of her own madness, continued to swing her swords, all by herself within the accelerated time chamber she called her training room. 

 

For as long as a year inside is a second outside, she can say that she only takes a day of training per week, is what she thought. 

 

The maids and butlers' advice for her, worrying about her health, have sadly been wasted on her, as she once again took it in the wrong direction, unaware of what she had done until much later.

 

For now, she continued swinging a billion times more, checking herself a million times more, and then repeated it all over again…

 

To calmly see her hand turn from blood to bone, to see her clothing reduced to shred, to see her hair lose its lusters, to see her body decaying away.

 

…And for a millionth time more, see the sword not responding.

 

“...I still have a long way to go.”

 

She will continue saying this a quadrillion more times.

 

“...After all, I have to become strong. Like Mom said.”

 

Incidentally, she will say this a trillion more times.

 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

“...I have swung this sword, quadrillion upon quadrillion times. It has not responded once.”

 

As she looked at her broken visage, reflected upon the cracked blade, she calmly spoke.

 

“I kept practicing with this sword, to compensate for my lack of the talent of the blade. To honed myself into the limit, to turn myself into the blade.”

 

Her word, carrying the maddening weight that would crush anyone else to dust, casually and calmly came out of her mouth, with the same tone as always, with the same pitch as always.

 

“...Yet, only now do I realize, that I only use myself to swing.”

 

“For all this time, for all the effort I put into transforming myself, I failed to realize the power of the blade Mother gave me, failed to realize its true potential, and failed to earn its acknowledgement…And all of it for the simple reason, that I have never truly used the blade at all.”

 

“Only when I betray the blade, only when I manage to break it, did I realize what I have done.”

 

With the same calmness as always, she once again reviewed her faults, reviewed her mistakes…and with the weight she placed upon herself, reviewed her sins.

 

“...I don’t deserve this blade, for I have failed to truly put the blade to good use.”

 

“And even worse still, after all this time, I still can't show Mother that I have become strong. The blade, used to her peerless strength, has recognized naught of my effort.”

 

Denying her own achievement…denying the effort she put in for 13 years, to fulfill her purpose, to fulfill a wish.

 

She carelessly let her word stabbed into her a thousand times over, with pain that would kill any person known of guilt.

 

The atmosphere presses heavy on the room, as the brother feels it crushing on his heart, and even the little girl full of life turns somber.

But…

 

“...Yet, I do not want to leave this blade broken like this. I do not want to part with this blade.”

 

“For as meager as I am, I do not want to abandon the treasure Mother entrusted to me...And more importantly…”

 

Still, with her Violet eyes clearer than ever, she looks straight at her, properly conveying herself, properly talking to her.

 

“I still need to show that I am strong- No, I want to show to her what I have done, from then til now.”

 

“The people I meet, the bond I made, the things I learn…I want to show her the life I have lived until now, proudly…I want to show her that I have lived my life properly, even if I haven’t reached my goal yet.”

 

“So please…”

 

Silently sheathed her blade, she bowed down in front of her, holding the blade close to her chest. Her stand still held decorum, as if showing her silent determination.

 

“Can you teach me how to use this blade?”

 

Closing her eyes, she properly asks her, before silently waiting for an answer. Witnessing all that, Mauve worriedly turned over to Amai, hoping for her answer with a heavy heart…

 

…Only to be greeted with a wide smile.

 

“...You know, I never intended for you to take quadrillions of swing to get a response, you know “

 

“Actually, it has been in the hundred of quintillions by now.”

 

“Oh yeah, the math check out.”

 

A casual speech, ignoring all the weight.

 

An unbashful smile, as if no worry exists.

 

The gentle, yet carefree aura, which clears out all negative feelings.

 

Amai is still the same little girl as before, still the one with a smile as bright as the sun.

 

Yet, the feeling around her changed a little, from the youthful, lively, and energetic, to calmness, kindness, and motherly. 

 

(This atmosphere, and the way she exudes it…) 

 

‘Yes’, Mauve thought, ‘It’s the same way she does, when Mom has all the answers, and assuring us that everything is alright.’’

As Mauve looked at Amai warmly, she casually put her hand behind her back, looking a little bit sorry.

 

“Still though, I’m a bit sorry about that. I do make the sword to be as strong as you, but to think it’s also that stubborn.”

 

“No, that stubbornness saved me alot in my journey. The way the blade always keeps its edge no matter what has been always beneficial to me.”

 

“Even though you barely use it at all? You don’t need to keep looking out for it, you know. That’s another problem the blade saw in you.”

 

“...My apology. Only now do I see that it’s not the right way to handle it.”

 

“Well, recognizing the problem is the first step.”

 

Casually getting the blade back from her, she put it over her small shoulder, which looked strangely big and reliable. Taking a wide stance, she turned back toward the sibling with a relaxed look.

 

“Then, the next step is for me to show you how to truly use it. Perfect timing as well…”

 

Suddenly, a red light appeared from above, flashing constantly from a flower hanging in the ceiling. As Mauve was wondering what it’s all about, Violet is quick to act.

 

“Code: Vermillion…Do you need me to help you with this, Amai?”

 

“...Nah, this time, I’m alone is good enough. Besides, this is a perfect demonstration opportunity for me to show you the usage.”

 

As Amai casually picks up the orb on the table and carries it with her on the side, she beckons them to go and follow her.

 

“Oh yeah, Mauve, you can come along as well, if you want to see how I usually work.”

 

“...Yes, I’m coming!”

 

Feeling strangely excited, Mauve immediately followed her with glee. 

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