Reincarnated

Staring at his liver, the knife was deeply stabbed into it. His body felt like it was on fire and his mind was screaming at him that he was going to die soon. But despite this, he continued to run.

"Papa!"

Looking towards the child in his arms, a forlorn smile came across his face seeing the bawling tears coming out of him. The four year old boy kept screaming at him.

"Papa's gonna be ok. You need to trust me ok?" he whispered, putting a finger on his lips.

"O-Ok." The snot ran down his nose as he tried to control the noise he was making.

"Come back here, motherfucker!" he screamed, shooting the bullet at him.

Running down another alleyway, he vaulted himself above the wall with one hand and continued his getaway at high speeds.

The roads were dirty and the buildings he passed through were ruined. There didn't seem to be a single place for him to leave his son...

He was gonna die anywhere with some shelter. It would be fine if he couldn't leave him to starve and die.

At the corner of his eyes, he saw a light flashing in the building. Through the glass window was an old woman, who was playing with a bunch of children. Looking at the sign of the building, it was an orphanage.

Dashing at full speed, he arrived at front of the door. He took a moment to gather his breath before looking his son in the eye. Putting him down, he crouched down and stared at him face to face.

"Alex, I need you to stay here for a few minutes. Papa will go and defeat the bad guys you saw. Can you do that for me?" he gently asked him, playing with his hair as he stared at him with warmth.

"Will you really come back?"

He asked as if he could tell something. As a Father he was often proud of his child's intelligence, but seeing him stare at him with eyes like that, his heart felt like it was being stabbed by millions of needles.

The knife wound was hidden under his coat, so at least he will never know about it…

"Do you know who I am? Of course I'm gonna kick their ass. We will go back home and have your favorite pudding!" Clasping his hands, he took off his necklace and handed it to his hand.

"Wear this for me, it will always protect you."

"Ok, I'll wait here, so come back!"

"Of course I will! Who do you think I am?!"

He stood up and turned his back. He wanted to see his face one more time. He wanted to go home and read a bed story to him. He wanted to make dinner for him. He wanted to be there to raise him. He wanted… and wanted…

A silent tear fell down across his face as he hastened his walk. He couldn't let them find him here; this was his son's only safe place as of now.

Running down an empty alleyway, he leaned his back against the wall. He took a deep breath. It was fine. He saved his son, and now he will go on to live…

It could have been a lot worse.

Glancing at the knife stabbed in his liver, he finally pulled it out. Blood spewed from it much quicker, and he could feel his eyes slowly falling.

His ears, nose, taste, scent, all one by one soon disappeared as he could feel coldness slowly taking him over.

It's finally over.

With that, his life flickered out in the cold alleyway.

Well, that was what should have happened anyway, but right now all in front of him was a… void? Attempting to open his eyes, he failed to do so. Wait, did he even have eyes?

Maybe this was the afterlife. If so, being stuck in an absolute abyss sucks. Well, it was better than the endless fire of Hell, or maybe this is just as bad? He didn't know and wasted time thinking to himself about meaningless things.

𝘩𝘶𝘩?

He didn't know how long he had stayed here or if the concept of time even existed here, but he decided to spend most of the time sleeping. It was actually quite warm and a nice place to sleep in.

But right now he felt something pushing him. Was his punishment over?

Feeling himself being pushed, the first thing his eyes saw was a dazzling light. It grew to encompass his entire field of vision, and he squinted in discomfort.

Once his vision adjusted, he looked at the person above him. She had black hair that had two strands dangling on the sides and ending at her shoulders, and the rest of her hair being tied up in a bun. She was wearing a plain white gown with some bandages on her hands. Her breathing was quite uneven looking, as if she went through extreme pain right now.

"It's a boy and he's very healthy! Congratulations Ryougi-sama!" He heard heartfelt congratulations coming from to the right.

Turning his head, he saw the owner of the voice. She was wearing a kimono with a red and black flower design covering all of it from top to bottom.

Wait. Kimono? Japanese? He's a boy? Mrs. Ryougi?

His mind instinctively drew the conclusion… he's been reincarnated.

For a man who believes in the art of logic, this was quite surprising to him. Too bad his baby face couldn't show the complex emotions he was feeling.

Right now, all his baby body could do was to constantly cry since he wasn't able to control it. It was quite humiliating since he had an adult mind.

She held him in and looked him in the eye. A pained smile was on her face slightly from birth, yet her eyes held a tender look that was looking at a treasure.

"You're so cute, you have your Father's handsome face and you have my eyes. I can't help it, I'm gonna spoil him no matter what! Who cares what the family thinks!!"

"You can't do that, Ryougi-Sama, he has to be raised properly by the Ryougi family teachings"

"Akame, no one cares about damn traditions—"

So he was born into a family with heritage, huh… they kept going back on and on, and he eventually tuned it out when he found out he's the first child of the Ryougi family.

Right now, he had several questions like, was he born in the past? Why wasn't he born in a hospital? It seemed like the servants handled it.

But still, wasn't his body quite unusual? Children don't usually have such good eyesight when they are born, yet he could see the appearance of everything around very clearly. And even his hearing is good right now.

Plus they didn't even seem worried that he—

"Honey, are you okay?!"

"Fu fu, worrying over me so much~ You look cute when you're worried, dear, even though you try to hide it." She put a hand on her chin while giving him a teasing smile, "You make me feel like a maiden all over again."

Looking over towards the source of the voice, he saw a man with a short haircut. He had one scar on his cheek and a defining collar bone. His neck had veins appearing slightly and he had a figure that looked like he had been training for quite a while.

But…

Why did this man look familiar? As if he had seen this man before somewhere.

Ryougi… Japan… His father...

No, he shouldn't let his imagination get the best of him.

His father simply turned his head to the side, trying to keep up his tough demeanor.

"So, did he…" his father whispered, looking nervously towards the servant on the right.

She let out a forlorn smile while nodding her head to the side.

"It's unfortunate, but he does not possess the dual personality," she replied, barely audible to anyone.

Those words were the final words he needed to hear for the confirmation. He couldn't deny it anymore…

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘺𝘱𝘦-𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦

"Ahh! Waah!"

Nothing but garbled whining and moaning came out as he cursed his situation. The servant looked troubled at his whining, maybe because she was in charge of taking care of health.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" She rocked his body side to side, attempting to calm him down.

"Lemme try," his father said while holding his hand.

He could feel his body being lifted up and handed over. Maybe he should stop making a ruckus for his parents.

"He went immediately silent. Maybe he does love you more than me." A jealous pout formed across her face as she twirled her hair with her fingers, staring at him.

His father simply had a small smile on his face, seeing his baby.

"Have you decided on a name yet?"

She put her hands on her cheeks and her eyebrow raised whilst she hummed to himself.

"What about Kaname? Kaname Ryougi. It sounds nice, doesn't it!" Clapping her hands together, she had a bright smile on her face

"Kaname, huh? It's a nice name."

"It is, isn't it."

They basked in the warm silence as his father sat down next to his Mother on the bed while holding him. It looked like a picture straight out of fiction.

So, he was born in the Ryougi family and as Kaname, huh… the situation didn't look exactly the best for him.

𝘊𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳

"Ahem." A small cough came from the servant to the side, gathering the attention of everyone in the room.

"What's wrong, Akame?"

"With all due respect, you should be getting some rest soon, and Kaname-Sama is going to need some sleep," she explained gracefully, holding her hands behind her back and staring at the floor.

Were those the standards of the servants here?

"You're right, I should put him in his crib," he said as he stood up, "Have a good rest."

She nodded her head. The servant escorted them out of the room and he had the chance to observe the house. Well, he wouldn't call it a house, it was an old Japanese styled mansion with tatami floors and Bamboos. It actually reminded him of the Emiya house.

Opening one of the doors, he was put down in the crib.

"Goodnight, Kaname," his father put him down while saying.

He simply went to sleep after realizing that thinking about this with a tired brain wouldn't help him. That was his first night in this world.

So far, he had been enjoying his time living in this family, and a year had passed since then. Right now, he was walking around the house back and forth impatiently.

Well, he found out many things so far during this one year. The Ryougi family have superhuman bodies, which explains why his senses were as good as a normal person when they were born. Well, he was quite fortunate he had at least that in a world filled with so many people who had ridiculous powers. So, he had started to train his body to reach the peak power it could gain without overworking his baby body.

He also didn't have the split personality of all members of the Ryougi family, which to him was a relief since he did not want to go crazy like his grandfather.

He thought about revealing himself as a genius, but the risk was that they may think he's possessed by a spirit or a demon since they are a demon hunting organization. Or taken over their child's body with Reincarnation, which he did do. So, he revealed himself as smart but not a genius.

But why was he walking back and forth? Well, that would be because of the news he's just heard. Shiki Tohno has been born. He heard it from the servants who were talking to each other while they were cleaning the house.

And now, he was faced with a big problem. Was he born in the Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night timeline or any other damn timeline that existed? Did Roa fucking possess him or not?!

𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬!

He grabbed his hair so hard he pulled out some of it, and his teeth were biting into his lips, bleeding a little bit.

He needed to calm down, but he couldn't force himself to calm down without even having any knowledge of his situation. His nails sinked into his hand in frustration.

"Kaname, are you here~" his mother called out in a teasing voice. She slid the door open, peeking inside.

What was she doing? They were playing a stupid hide and seek game, and he had decided to go along with it. He only coincidentally heard the information when he was hiding from her.

"I found y—" she froze while saying and rushed towards him, "How did you get hurt?"

"Fell down."

She grabbed the sleeves of her clothes and wiped the blood off his lips.

"You have to be more careful."

He may need to ask someone for that info. His Mother... actually was completely unaware of the Ryougi family traditions. He was wondering why his Father was whispering to the servant when he was born, but to think his Mother didn't know about the world of Magecraft…

The Ryougi family deemed it more suitable for someone like her since she was too kind for it. So far all she thought was that they are quite a rich family with a history of tradition from her reactions that was what he deduced.

"Anyways, dinner is going to be ready."

𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯...

He thought to himself as he held her hand, walking to the dining room. He had some plans in mind to collect intel, but they will need to be put on hold.

Dinner was normal as usual. Going to the dojo by himself would be dangerous, but all the family knew him as a child that liked to run around. But the Ryougi family hated him wandering around, this was because it wasn't unsurprising for assassination plots in this world to occur, which he does agree with. That's why there was a damn servant following him all the time stealthily, which did annoy him, but he understood the purpose… His previous life experience made him able to detect those type of things.

Opening the door to the dojo, he saw his Father in a white kendo outfit, weilding a sword. Stopping his sword swinging, he looked at him with his sharp eyes.

"Why have you come here?" He let out a sigh, putting his sword down and walked over towards him.

"Sword. Cool," Kaname replied, making the motions that he was doing earlier.

"You want to practice with the sword...? That's impossible, there is no way your mother would allow that."

He attempted to make an angry face, but it seemed that it was impossible to convince him. He simply laughed, seeing his angry face.

"Hahaha! It seems you really want to learn! Well, you can watch me doing it, that's all." Nodding his head, it looked like he wouldn't manage to change his opinion.

It was quite unfortunate, but seeing his Father combat prowess would be interesting.

Putting him down, he picked up his sword again and put the shinai in front of him with absolute calmness. The serenity emanated through the room before he heard a sound. There was a large sound, but the sword didn't even move…

𝘩𝘶𝘩…?

On the wall was a deep cut, around the size of the shinai in his Father's hand… no, it wasn't 'around' the same size, but exactly the same size.

It was impossible by all human limits, but in a world like this it should have been expected. Despite that, his mouth gaped in shock and his eyebrows raised in surprise.

He simply moved too fast for him to see with his own eyes.

"It was amazing, wasn't it? That was the pinnacle of my swordsmanship, although your grandfather definitely surpassed me when it came to the sword," he explained with complete seriousness, although he didn't expect his son to understand it at all. "Some day, you may surpass me or you might just live a quiet life, nothing wrong with either, but I'll make sure you're a proper man."

"I'll surpass you," he said without meaning to. He was lucky his Father didn't hear those words.

Since then, he had been coming and watching his Father trains with his shinai all the time, and whenever he had the chance he would use it when no one was looking.

Right now was another one of those instances. He was simply swinging the sword while thinking of something.

It's been 4 years since he came to this world and finally something he expected was going to happen, Shiki would be born. He already knew that this was gonna happen, but being an only child in his past life, he was quite curious how it was going to be being an older brother.

On the other hand, the servant following him had a faint scent of perfume on, so he could tell it was a woman, but he was sure they didn't suspect a child to realize.

"I need to empty my mind," he berated himself, gripping the sword tighter in his hand.

Swinging the sword once again, he focused on the speed of his breathing, the depth of his breath, the footwork of his movement, his sword swinging and his grip on the sword.

Swinging the sword again, the air danced against the attack.

It's no good...

So far, he's only been copying his Father and adjusting it to his body. While he also did train it, there was a difference in their physique, having a superhuman body doesn't change that. There was only so much he could adjust without having the proper sword knowledge.

In other words, he's reached an impossible wall he couldn't overcome just by swinging his sword. Placing the sword down, he accepted there was no reason for him to continue and stealthily walked out of it.

Right now, everyone thought he was napping, so he had to be careful under the monitor of the servants who clean up here.

Opening the door quietly, he laid down on his bed. Might as well rest now since he was on the bed. Disturbing his "sleep", someone walked into the room.

Opening his eyes slightly to take a peek, he could see it was his father in a black suit, who looked like he just went out.

"Kaname, you're awake, aren't you?" He brought his face close to his face and poked his cheek, "Stop pretending."

Well, he definitely knew. Opening his eyes, he looked at his Father with confusion.

"Hahh," he sighed, seeing him. His eyes narrowed, staring down at him, which looked like it had seen through his mask. "Come with me, we need to have a talk."

Did he blow his act? Why was his Father talking like a 3 year old is supposed to understand him? Should he just follow him?

Following his Father he went into a room he had never been to before. His Father's office. The room had a small wooden table on the floor and all four sides had a pillow, while the floor was covered with tatami mats. Next to the window, there was a drawer. It was definitely simplistic, like his Father's taste

Opening one of the drawers, he took out a black box about the size of his hand.

"Sit."

Taking a seat on the pillow, he looked at his Father.

His Father opened up the box and inside it was a purple crystal ball, the same size as the black box.

His father's hands touched the glass ball, and inside it showed a part of the mansion, this…

This was a Mystic Code...! He didn't think they would have any, over the three years he's never found a single Mystic Code. From what he remembered in his past life, a Mystic Code was a tool made by magecraft to assist the magus, or it had a specific function that was Mystical, hence the name. It was quite easy to tell that it was a mystic code. Maybe the Ryougi could sense Supernatural more easily, but he couldn't tell.

"This orb allows us to see anywhere in the house and allows us to see the past, well, only within a certain range. It was made to check for assassination attempts by our ancestors. Usually, you wouldn't be able to have a Mystic Code without magical energy, but this orb itself contains magical energy and responds to the user's thoughts."

His hair at the end of his body stood up and his fingers were quivering; he didn't like where this was going. Inside the crystal ball showed several images of him sneaking off and using the sword.

"At first, we didn't think of using it, but recently there have been a rise in assassination plots on other families. So we decided to use it. And that's when we coincidentally found out about you. You have the intelligence to sneak past all the servants, training with the sword, the way you hide behind a mask and several other things." His father finished explaining and took a deep breath, locking eyes with him.

Were they planning to do something to him? Was he going to become a test subject? Were they—

"Tell me, why did you hide it from us?"

"Eh?" A confused sound came from him.

They weren't gonna do anything to him? No, that should have been the normal response a parent would ask their child. Why was he getting so surprised? Maybe he had been thinking about it to weirdly. Well if he had to give the best answer for himself it would be...

"I thought it would be unfortunate for a parent to be robbed of the experience of having a normal child. So I tried to emulate being a normal child as much as I could so you could experience that," he truthfully answered with a forlorn smile.

He wasn't their son. He was simply someone who took over their body. They deserved to have their actual child here instead of him. Of course, he might not have cried like a normal child, but he played the role faithfully so they could have that experience of a normal child. He was never gonna actually tell them he wasn't their child. That was a secret he would take to the grave.

But saying that was the sole reason as well would be lying as well. He was scared they would think he's possessed by a demon, scared that they would use him as a test subject. Scared that something was going to happen to him. Even in the end, he couldn't be fully truthful to them. But using the excuse he was a super genius could lead to lots of avenues and open up more to him in the future.

"Kaname," he called out.

He didn't raise his head but simply nodded, responding to the call.

"Listen, no parent would want to know that their child has been acting their whole life. They would want to know what. When you have a child, you would know that."

Alex...

The face of his son flashed by his head, he of course knew how it would feel if he didn't know his son at all. But the one difference is he isn't truly their child at the end of the day. In his mind, he was the Father of the child's original body, maybe that's why he called him Father to keep up the act. Well, he already had his answer.

"I see. I'm sorry, Father, I didn't mean to intentionally hurt your feelings." He raised his head whilst apologizing.

"Mhm, it's fine, but I guess you have no choice but to actually be trained now."

Of course, something like this was gonna happen. He should have predicted it. His mouth formed into a small frown as he looked downwards and he tightened his fist that laid on his lip.

"Why?"

"You don't seem to know a lot about the world, even though you're intelligent. It's unfortunate, but anyone who's talented or a Supernatural genius will get involved with the world of magecraft. You can call it fate, curse, or destiny, but you will get involved with it no matter what. It would be at least better if you could defend yourself from people who would use your genius for their gains or just want to use you as their subject. Usually, we don't train someone who's not the heir… but exceptions can be made."

Oh, so this was to protect him. He did remember Tokiomi saying something like that for Sakura and Rin.

The motherfucker was still a bastard in his mind.

"I see, that makes sense, but, Father, do you always have to have a servant following me around?" He asked with dissatisfaction written all over his face.

"Let's come to an agreement; you're going to have to have a servant follow you around, but you get to pick one. Until you pick one, she will be following you around." His father compromised.

"Hmm... I guess that's fair, but how will you tell mother about it? She seems unaware." He tilted his head as he enquired curiously.

Even with the act over, he still did those acts since they were ingrained into him, plus, he shouldn't try to use things they've never taught him of.

"I've already told your Mother about how it's traditional to teach swordsmanship and martial arts to the heir. I can just say you got too excited and wanted to learn it."

"So it's already solved," he mumbled to himself.

Well, what was he supposed to do now that his Father actually knew about his intelligence? Should they have a sophisticated father to son talk? He looked to the side, avoiding the awkward tension. Their conversation so far has been just asking and answering like an interrogation. How was he supposed to change the topic without making it awkward?

'God, this was pathetic,' Kaname thought to himself, he couldn't even handle a conversation now.

"Have you thought about a name yet?"

"Uh, a name?" He replied, raising his eyebrows in confusion as he looked towards the table, thinking what name.

Oh yeah he—

"Have you thought of a name for your little sister?"

That's right, Shiki will be born soon. Well, his brain didn't bother to remember that in this tense mood.

"I have one name in mind."

"Hmm, what is it?"

"Shiki, Shiki Ryougi sounds nice, doesn't it?" he said while giving a small smile, "Although, I am only three, my naming sense may not be the best."

"No, you're right, it does sound nice." He chuckled for a moment and looked teasingly towards him, "You should have heard what your Mother wanted to name you before you were born." A smirk came across, remembering the memory.

"What was it?"

"It was Japan, and her reason was based on…."

For a while, they had talks about useless things in the room with just the two of them. He enjoyed it, having a normal conversation with someone without having to hide things, made him enjoy it, although it was just useless discussion. It was just a normal father and son moment for people who witnessed it other than the fact he's 3 years old.

*****

It's been months since they've had that conversation and he was now 4. Right now he and his Father were in the dojo.

He had a white kendo uniform with the bottom half being black, his clothes fluttered against the faint wind. In his hand was a wooden sword raised towards his Father as they both stood opposite each. They were both in a spell that enhanced their pain to the extent it would cause an ordinary person to pass out..

It was a match where the person who lands the first three hits wins. The only rule was that they must hit an important part of the body as they were trying to simulate a real fight to the death.

A faint light emanated through the windows of the dojo, basking them in the luminescence. The whole dojo was basked in an empty silence, with only their faint breathing being heard and the rustling of the clothes from the faint wind. Their swords both faced towards the other with 7 meters between them. A tense silence could be felt between them, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Clutching the handle, he readjusted his footing entering his stance, he raised his blade high above him while his Father pointed the sword directly in front of him.

Staring at him intently, he looked at his Father's form.With his tip threatening to shred his neck, he held his chin in and his elbows were relaxed and flexible for any attack. Held in his stance firmly, he was ready for both offense and defense.

A slight tap against the floor echoed as his Father shifted his leg disturbing the quietness. Attempting to take the vulnerability, he leapt towards him as his blade ripped through the air, aiming for the head, taking the chances of what he thought was the greatest opening in his defense and possibly the only chance of one.

He titled his sword diagonally, raising it from above—a torrent of vibration rushed through his hands as their swords met, his hands quivered at the ferocity of the strength, but he did not back down. The sound of the blades colliding crackled through the dojo, signifying the start of their match. Sliding his sword against it, he aimed for the neck for a final blow.

His Father had the other side of the blade on his other hand while keeping up the blade horizontally, blocking his sword. Pushing him back with sheer force, he stumbled a few steps back, leaving a wide gap in his defense, his father took the chance and slashed downwards, aiming for his chest. He moved his body to the right as the blade cut through the air to where he stood previously. A single second later, the sword would've met his chest, but to his shock, the blade turned upwards from his chest and the point of his sword was soon going to meet his jaw. His eyes narrowed as his breathing became uneven, it was a feint he couldn't block or dodge under these circumstances.

Dropping his sword, he jumped to the side while bending down and kicked him in the ribs with all of the strength he could muster. The blow was savage, knocking him two steps back as he was forced to reclaim his stance. He could hear his Father's breath disrupt from that strike, but he stood unyielding with his eyes never leaving him.

Bringing up his fist, he readied his stance for the next attack. There was no way his Father was going to allow him to pick up his sword again.

Looking for any blind spots or angles, he attempted to find his weak spot.

In a blur, his Father disappeared from his eyes, appearing to his right, he swung his sword down cleanly from above, aiming for his head. Managing to barely avoid it by a hair width, the wind swayed his hair momentarily, covering his eyes

He could feel a kick that was driven into his stomach, being flung across the room, he felt like he had been hit by the force of a truck! He laid to the side, coughing at the intensity of the attack. His face grimaced at the pain spreading through his body, right now he was disarmed and the strength between them was enormous. Just a single kick, he couldn't afford to take any more chances.

Forcing himself, he hauled his body up and put his arm back in position, his breathing steady again and his feet facing towards him.

He leapt towards him diagonally as his legs launched off the floor with everything he could muster. He moved fast as his fist tightened, intent on hitting his opponent before he could attack as his fists launched towards his Father, aiming for his chest. But all he was met with was the air as his opponent had taken a step back and countered with a thrust forward.

Well, he already expected that.

Taking a step back, he could feel something brush up against his feet. Kicking it towards him with full strength, the shinai on the floor flew through the air and aimed for the sword in his Father's hands.

Using every fiber in his body, he leaped at the same time. His Father parried the sword thrown in the air, as he took the opportunity to throw a kick at his hands aiming to drop his sword.

The sword in his hands dropped, like water in one fluid motion he aimed for his jaw.

Dropping his body, he placed his hand against the floor and twisted his whole body to send a kick towards his ankle. The kick landed and he momentarily lost his balance. Kicking himself up, he supported his body with one leg and aimed the other for his liver.

The kick drived in towards his stomach. Leaping backwards, he clutched his stomach, but stood up without showing any pain on his face and looked absolutely calm. Even under those conditions, what a monster.

They were now both defenseless with their hands towards each other; he couldn't use the same trick twice now.

Relaxing his body, he lost his combat stance, his Father in return remained firm and kept his stance. Walking confidently towards him, it may have looked like he wasn't defending himself, but it was obvious bait, and they both knew that so they simply continued cautiously eyeing each other.

But the human body needed to blink no matter how hard they tried to resist, or else their vision would get cloudy with tears. So he simply waited, his Father would lose his patience and take the bait or he would see the moment to attack and he would win. He had already been blinking when his Father had knocked him down, so he could last longer than he could who hadn't from the start.

Wearing a wry smile, he simply stared at him

"You're not gonna come at me?" His father taunted whilst holding his combat position without fail.

Aggravation, huh.

"A bleeding animal will show its weakness when it's time," Kaname replied with a smug smile in return.

Of course his Father would know what position he's in. This is a cowardly method to win the fight, but in a battle to the death no one would care about methods. Taking a deep breath he braced himself.

It should be about time…

His eyes closed. Not blink, but they had fully closed. His eyes narrowed, staring at him.Was this some kind of joke?

Suddenly a bang spread throughout the room. The place where he was standing was instead replaced with nothing but a crack on the floor as some of the planks where he previously stood stuck out, he could hear the wind behind him being cut.

Launching his body onto the floor, he rolled onto the side, scrambling back up like a rabbit scared out if its wits.

He only managed to hear his attack and dodge by an inch. How did he manage to get so close to him?! His face dripped with sweat, trying to form the conclusion.

Moving once again, he closed the distance faster than the human eye could process and raised his fist to his jaw. His heart beat thrummed against his chest, looking for any situation to escape, but it was impossible.

Tilting his head, he barely managed to escape the attack on his jaw, with it hitting his face instead. His body skidded across the room like a ragdoll. The bones in his body felt like they were on fire, and he just wanted to lay down there and give up, but he couldn't. Forcing himself to stand up, using the wall as a support, he once again got into his position on reflex.

His breathing was uneven and his heart thrummed loudly. He could hear the bones in his body aching… hear?

The Ryougi family body is superhuman, of course he would be able to hear, not just see. What an idiot he was! Why the hell did he get arrogant! Berating himself, he bit his lips with frustration.

This was the last round he had to put his full focus on it. His Father simply stared at him, though his eyes remained closed.

Running forward, he went towards the swords in the ground. When an animal gets backed into a corner, it becomes desperate.

But his Father knew what he was doing and gave chase, his speed was faster than his with his body being more developed, so there was no chance he could get there first.

Turning around quickly, he slammed his feet against the place where his Father's feet landed, the wooden plank underneath him raised slightly, catching his clothes which momentarily caused him to come to a halt and catching him off guard. Throwing a fist towards his stomach with full strength, a smirk came across his Father's face as he forcefully kicked the plank off his clothes towards him.

Deflecting the plank away with his arm, his Father had caught it and slammed it against his chest. Dropping onto the floor, he gasped for his breath.

He used the plank as a weapon.

"That's cheating," he complained while holding his chest on the floor.

It was over, his Father had landed 3 hits on him quite even with the handicaps he had to make it fair.

"In the real world, no one cares about cheating or not." He walked over to pick up his sword as he answered, "Your combat style is calculating and deceptive instead of an instinctual fighter. Planning all your moves is smart, but the plan needs to be flexible."

"I see, but aren't you just too much of a monster? The mystic code on you is 30 times more painful while mine is 15." He sat up, looking towards his Father's eyes. He was quite curious at how he did have an insane pain tolerance for someone who hasn't fought in a long time.

"My Dad used to train me when I was 5, just a year older than you, and his training would be extremely harsh," he replied as he stroked his beard, remembering the fond memories. "But let's focus on you. Your mind is the greatest aspect in these battles. Covering the gap between me and you even with my handicaps is still impressive. You have excellent computing prowess and deductive prowess, but sometimes the plan will be destroyed, so you have to improvise, other times you might need to adjust your plan. Remember this, Kaname."

Nodding his head, he listened to every sentence he was saying. It was true, his brain was better than his last life. The reason is his mind wasn't a spiritual entity tied to the body, it was formed by thousands of interconnecting neurons in the brain, which leads to what we call the mind. The mind is an organ and it grows as you use it and he was using it everyday since he was born and he could feel it actively improving, so the statement about him being a super genius was becoming partially true. But the gap between him and his Father was like a giant wall.

"Soon you may be able to learn the self suggestion technique and the shukuchi technique."

"You're serious?!" He kicked up his body as his face lit up with excitement at the prospect.

The shukuchi technique. It's a movement technique to cut down the distance between opponents instantly. It wasn't simple brute speed but a combination of many factors, like walking techniques, defensive body movement, breathing, and blind spots. It was the technique his Father had used against him. At its highest, it reaches the level of dimension hopping; it's never heard if anyone reached that level. The self suggestion technique was simple in comparison. It reconstructed the body to become one with the sword, getting rid of everything that is unnecessary. They were both techniques he would like to add to his arsenal.

"Yeah, in maybe a few months you will be able to learn them, but our training will decrease since your Sister is going to be born next month."

Nodding his head, he didn't mind it at all. Usually they would have training sessions and some small spar, but today's session was his Father's own version of an exam. Whether he passed or not.

"How did I do?"

"Of course you passed with flying colours. I was only expecting you to get one hit, but you got close to the end. Plus…" he whispered to himself, looking away as if shamed by what he was going to say.

"Plus?"

"I said I would use 30 percent of my strength, but near the end I accidently used 40. So, since I broke the rules, it's your win."

He let out a sigh as he stared up at the ceiling. He wasn't sure if that was true or false.

"You're not happy with that? A trained warrior using 40 percent against a kid is pretty big."

"Didn't you also say in the real world that no one will be willing to show sympathy or pity for an enemy? I don't expect my future enemies to hold back, and I won't hold back against them."

The tip of the sword swung to his chest, but he could sense no hostility in it so he let it arrive.

"That's certainly true, and it's good that you aren't becoming arrogant, but accepting praise when it's due will certainly make you go further than constantly undermining your achievements. People would think you're being humble just to show it off, but you shouldn't be. Be proud of an achievement you have, but don't let that control you. And when you make a mistake, reflect on it, but don't let it control you," he finished his lectures with the tip of the sword touched against his chest.

"You really are wise." He walked over towards his sword and put that lecture into a secure place for his mind to not forget.

Picking it up, he looked towards the plank on the floor and he looked at his Father nervously.

"Don't worry about it, some of the servants will fix it."

That was solved quite easily. They both walked out of the dojo, gaining back into their normal clothes. Right now he should be having some calligraphy training so there is that.

But the servants knew he would do it perfectly once again, he didn't plan to reveal his intelligence to them but his Father recommended it. This was because he wanted his Mother to know about his intelligence, so they made it seem like since he was becoming older, he has started to display more cognitive ability.

The training of the Ryougi family was annoying. He wasn't even gonna be the heir and he had to take grueling lessons in Japanese harp, flower arrangement, calligraphy, swordsmanship, jujutsu, and dance.

"What's with that long sigh, Kaname?"

"I've been thinking about it, but is learning Japanese harp lessons really necessary?"

"Traditions."

Reaching the middle of the hall, they both split up their path, going in opposite directions. They didn't need to say things like 'bye' because they would see each other later anyway. Daily life could be sometimes annoying or boring, but if he said he didn't enjoy it, that would be lying. He hoped he could keep this peace and happiness in a universe like this. Having a nice calm life would be nice, but he would need to get the strength first to make sure nothing could disrupt that.

-

The pen in his hand danced across the paper as he spelt his name once again in a different font. 'How many times do I have to fucking repeat this?' 'He thought to himself.

A month has passed since that fight. And right now he was in front of his calligraphy teacher, taking one of his lessons like his usual daily life. Not much had happened during that month and it was quite uneventful, but today was a special day. Despite that, it was obligatory for him to still take his morning lesson.

"You pass again with flying colours," his teacher sighed, looking outside the window.

It was obligatory that he had to keep learning all these things till he was 16, but his teacher and him both knew that he had no need for it. Stupid traditions.

"Then I'll be leaving, Takaoka-sensei." He stood up and did a graceful bow before sliding the doors open and leaving.

Going towards the hospital section, yes, his house did indeed have one; it was where he was born, he saw his Father standing outside. Looking at the door with a stiff face, it kinda reminded him of how he was in his past life during his experience.

He stared at his Father wearing a blank look, but he had just ignored him even though he could sense he was there.

"Why don't you just sit down? Being worried won't get you anywhere."

His Father wasn't one to show his emotions much, so he just turned his head in denial at his words. Of course he would feel emotions because today was the day his sister would be born. Well, unless he already caused a massive butterfly effect and killed her somehow.

Immediately turning away from those gut wrenching thoughts, he just hopefully prayed that she would be born. Then again, most gods in this world don't really care about them individually.

I really need to stop with these thoughts.

The door slid open and the servant came out with a troubled look, she looked at his Father's eyes, with clear fear etched onto his face. His heart thrummed against his chest, thinking of everything that gave her that expression.

"She's a healthy girl, but.."

"But?" He immediately called out, desperate to hear her answer.

"She's born without a personality, it's because she's born with a void origin. The side branch would be happy, but we need to awaken her origin to give her a personality, or else the counter force will act. Another servant is immediately bringing the mystic code." She bowed her head, looking straight into the ground as she explained. She was fearful of the expression his Father would be making.

But to think that's what happened. He had remembered that event, but assumed it didn't cause a big problem or maybe he had a worse expectation. Then again, the counterforce appearing would be really bad since Shiki is connected to the root. In the hallway, he could hear someone else walking down. It was the other servant who was carrying a blue orb similar to the mystic code for monitoring the house.

They had all walked into the room and they could see a little girl being wrapped up in a blanket. Her eyes didn't contain a single trace of emotion; she really didn't carry one. The blue orb was carried onto her chest and it out a blue shimmer seeping into the child. She closed her eyes for a brief second then opened them up with boredom.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sent a glance towards him with a little curiosity in her eyes, but went back to sleep. Did she know about him? She did know about everything due to being connected to the root, but he wasn't even from the root, maybe that's why she looked interested in him.

"It's all good now. She's created two new personalities to hide the original, so she's hidden now." The servant said with a smile on, her relief on her face

The counterforce, huh. Now that he thought about it, how they didn't act when he was born? He wasn't even from the root, shouldn't Gaia or Alaya want to kill him? He always had questions like why was he reincarnated, etc., but he knew keeping on questioning it wouldn't get him nowhere.

Why's it so silent?

Looking around the room, he could see everyone had a face of relief, but there was some awkward tension as some of them were staring at him. Recounting the events from everything that happened to Shiki creating her dual personality… oh, dual personality.

"I'm not upset over the fact she's gonna be the heir, but…" He let his words hang off with a smile, "I want to hold her."

The awkward tension dissipated as he finished his words. They all trusted him with his intelligence, so he sat on the bed next to his Mother and she handed Shiki over to him. The servants had left the room to give them their own family time.

It was honestly quite strange being an older brother. He felt a bit happy at the prospect of having a sibling and proud, then again he would be deluding himself if he thought of her as his true brother or maybe he really was Kaname and he just had his past life memories. He really did hope that was the case.

"Have you decided on a name yet?" He asked.

"We have a few," his Mother replied, "But do you have a name, Kaname?" She ruffled his hair while saying in a warming tone.

"What about Shiki? Shiki Ryougi sounds nice, doesn't it?"

"Hmm, it does. I think I'm going to agree with you on this one," his father exclaimed while nodding his head. He walked over and stood above the three.

"It is a nice name. I don't have any problems with it."

They all sat in the room with a warm sunlight bathing them, moments like these were nice. But all nice things will come to an end and the future will be difficult so he had to become strong. To not repeat his past mistakes, he will become strong and make sure he didn't regret it. He would take control of his own destiny whether it meant eventually becoming a heroic spirit, dead apostle, or whatever was necessary…