Chapter 7: One question, One Answer

As the sun slowly set, the carriage containing the Twin Horns and the Leywin family had stopped to camp out, as they got closer and closer to the grand mountain ridge it seemed as if it continued to grow larger and larger .

The entire party had started a campfire and began to slowly chat within each other and Alice and Angela had begun to start cooking food for the entire party with Syre nearby then as he had to be watched by Alice, even then he was in a deep meditative state though it seemed as if he was asleep.

"Say, I hear you're some kind of genius mage? Is it true you've already awakened?" asked Helen casually as she sat down on the log next to Arthur, Arthur not knowing how to respond looked at this father who was nearby and had heard the question, Reynolds upon receiving his look nodded and Arthur after his father's confirmation told them the truth "Yeah, I've already awakened as an augmenter" gasps of shock ran throughout the Twin Horns "The little rascals nearly shocked Alice to death" Reynolds boasted exaggerating the mother's shock when she found out.

" "Rascal's" as in plural?" Helen noticed his slip up and followed it up with a question "Err, yeah… Syre also awakened, do keep quiet about it he's only 1 so he doesn't really understand the gravity of the situation and we don't really want him spreading the fact that he awakened at 1 to be known by everyone" - Reynolds responded a bit sadder this time, he was disappointed in himself for the careless slip up, another gasps of shock ran throughout the group again as they all looked over to the "sleeping" baby.

"Would you mind if I tested out your son then?" Adam asked Reynolds, "Arthur maybe? Or Syre? I don't really think you can spar with Syre at this age... Hahaha," Reynolds joked to elevate some of the tension, this had caused them to burst out in nervous chuckles and then full laughter

"You know what I meant, well then let's see what you got Syre!" - Adam continued the joke which had caused the laughter to restart, "Well alright then, but be careful, we haven't really gotten into proper training, all we've been doing is mana exercise and light strength training"

'I didn't know if his goal was to beat some sense into the kid he assumed had gotten an inflated ego since he heard I was some sort of genius or if he was genuinely trying to gauge my strength, but by the smug grin he had on his face while looking down at me -even if it was only natural for him to physically look down at me, it still irked me-' Arthur thought while retrieving the wooden sword that he had gotten from his parents during his birthday the previous year, they -Adam and Arthur- walked to a clearing next to the camp and had gotten into their stances

"You know how to reinforce your weapon right, genius?" Adam quipped trying to taunt Arthur by emphasizing the last word. Reynolds already knowing what Adam was trying to do too, didn't interfere, he knew that Adam wouldn't hurt his son too much and could still be healed by his wife, he also knew even if it got to that point they could still swiftly take down Adam to prevent further damage. Arthur looking back towards his father noticed this and sent him and irritated glare, he then transferred his stare over to Alice who had Syre left alone with Angela -'The poor defenseless kid, that's what you get for insulting my acting' Arthur thought in mock anger- who at this point was beginning to get nervous and kept looking back and forth between Arthur and Reynolds noticing his gaze sent him a weary smile and tugged on Reynolds sleeve.

Arthur refocusing his gaze on Adam who was only 5 meters away from him trying to get ready, only to be reminded of the many duels he had with kings in which the country he reigned over and loved ones were at stake, his eyes grew determined and focused into a sharp point 'He's my opponent now' Arthur though as the battle began.

Syre awakening from his deep meditative state quickly noticed the intense atmosphere and looked around to which he found Arthur and Adam just about to begin their battle, as he was about to crawl over to the battle Angela gripped him and pushed him into her abyss while here arms wrapped around his back his face was stuck *POP*-he escaped the hellhole- "Bruhder fighting, I wanna shee I wanna shee" Syre had said while exasperating his lisp to act cuter, Angela seeing this carried him next to where the rest of the party was looking on from.

'Deus, begin recording and deconstructing his fighting style, let's see if it will give us more paint for the picture on who he once was. Good thing I got the Third eye by breakthrough with the 'Astral Meditation technique'(Novice->Adept), I'll be able to properly see the usage of mana' Syre request

[ Yes sir, this will also be a good chance for you to develop your deductive and analysis skills ] Deus suggested and Arthur dashed quickly towards Adam -Through the third eye Syre and Deus witnessed Arthurs movement being boosted with his mana, it rushed towards his legs, hip, and feet and slowly began to cover various parts in very intricate pattern 'Wow, that's really good control, even Astral Meditation Technique (Novice) would struggle to reach that control, Deus add -Possible previous usage of an energy source that is used in a similar fashion to Augmenters- to the list of the observations on 'Arthur Leywin' Syre said in shock and quickly asked Deus to note down the observation [ Done ]-

Arthur held the sword to the right, Adam's face still had a smug look as he "easily" red Arthur's movements and begun to prepare for the horizontal slash, however as Arthurs slash was going to connect to the spear he suddenly shifted his movement through a footwork skill - 'Deus' add -Is used to 1 on 1 fights, or duels-, seeing as his footwork had been prepared beforehand he's definitely got experience dealing with them [ Done, sir ]- and disappeared to around 1 foot to the right the same direction in which Adam was open though Arthurs body seemed to tense and the technique hadn't properly been executed causing some pain to his ankles, -'He still hasn't become used to his body? He overestimated his current abilities and his technique failed..0' Syre though'-

Even then Adam's guard was still open and Arthur swing his sword towards his rib cage, Adams face turned from smug to surprise in an instant and his eyes widened,

'He reinforced the sword at the very last second as to conserve the little reserves he had, he's used to fighting with a low energy add -Conserves energy to a high degree, it is possible in his previous life the energy you were born with must've been your limit and he had a relatively small reserve size' Syre concluded as he saw the slash

[ Astute Observation, what else do you notice about his fighting style then? ] Deus complimented however he soon question him on elaborating more

'Well judging by the fact he's only now using his reserves apart from the burst at the beginning it shows that this would be his last attack and is going all out?' Syre said a little unsure this time

[ Correct, however you failed to notice his eyes they are filled with a determination a will to fight, even though he's running out of mana and knows his attack will fail against a veteran he's still fighting and determined, it shows that these duels he had fought in were often of importance to himself, perhaps a loved one? But why would he become used to these types of duels where something was constantly on the line, shows that he was of a relatively high position perhaps a president or king in which the countries rather than fighting in wars -as shown by his fighting style being more quick to end the fight without caring for stamina usage, A warrior in battle will learn in wars that conserving their stamina is more important than out speeding or quickly killing the enemies, if they can't fight because they are too tired they get quickly outnumbered that's a major weakness of fighting styles like this- they had solved their issues with duals and the people who would hold these major duels would have to be the head of a country and since a president is less likely, he's most likely a king that had dueled with other kings in these duels he swiftly defeated enemies without caring for stamina but cared for his energy reserves as he had a small one. ] Deus explained thoroughly his observations and evidence.

"Jesus" Syre accidentally muttered out loud in astonishment of Deus's observational ability, "Who or what is a "Jesus"" Angela asked Syre as she had heard what he muttered "... Nobody?" Syre's response had sounded more like a question causing her eyebrow to twitch. 'How did you only get that from a couple seconds of fighting? Even then your deductions created in milliseconds' Syre asked Deus in his mind learning from his mistake [ I believe the term the people of your old world would put it as, would be "I'm built different" ] -19.23% progress percent till the fully functional A.I is complete-

( Back to the fight )

.Adams look of surprise quickly was diminished as he used mana to speed up his speed and pivoted his right food and slash upwards to Arthur, Arthur mid-swing was caught and swiftly squatted barely in time to dodge the stance, Arthur gripped his sword in a different stance and swiped Adams ankle causing his pivot to break throwing him off balance quickly thinking ahead Adam did a full splits which was followed by a roundhouse sweep with his legs while on the ground, Arthur noticing that he couldn't take that hit jumped over the sweep like a jump rope 'Smart idea dodging, his leg was still enhanced with mana, it would have been trouble if you were to get hit…' Arthur mid-jump barely noticed Adams wooden stick that was just about to hit him, with no time to dodge Arthur pulled out his sword and thrust its pommel against the direction, though he had blocked the blow he was still sent flying as his body couldn't withstand the force he fell down and began skidding on the ground like a rock on a lake 'Lucky Arthur reinforced his body for that one, it would have seriously hurt him' Syre thought as he saw the mana which was surrounding Arthur retreat back into his body.

"Oahhh, my back hurts" Arthur groaned as he rubbed his head, he slowly sat back up and looked at the stupefied faces of all those except Syre who was in a daze and nodding sporadically. Alice quickly shook her head and ran over to Arthur 'Deus, record the spell she uses, we haven't had many chances to record 'holy spells' as she got to Arthur she began muttering an incantation and green and white lights began appearing around her hands giving her a holy look which then disappeared as the green and white lights entered Arthurs body healing him.

"Ok, that's enough fighting for today, you two boys need to get to sleep" Alice said to Adam first with a smile that had promised revenge and then grabbed both Syre and Arthur and pulled them back into the carriage, she soon excited around 3 minutes later and the horrors that Adam-For hurting her precious babies- and Reynolds-For allowed their baby to fight against a grown man, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU"- had received that night would forever stay in the minds of the Twin Horns.

( View switch, Inside the carriage )

As both Leywin children pretend to go to sleep and making sure that Alice had left they slowly sat back up "GRAHH,OWIE OWIE PLEASE STOP, AHHHHHHHH" the both of them heard a horrifying scream and yelling, they both decided that the punishment their mother had given to Adam something they'd never want to experience "Alice? Honey? Please don't do this to me, think of the AGHHH" they then heard their father and decided that they would have to pay their respects to him another time.

"So… What do you want to talk about first? Maybe I ask you a question and then you ask me a question?" Arthur suggested

"Very well, since its your idea you go first" Syre then accepted the idea.

"Well, who are you?" Arthur asked his first question.

"I'm of course Syre Leywin… in this life, in my past I was known as Kai Fenriart, I… Can't really describe myself without being seen as a bragger can I? Well, I was a bit of a nobody to others, I had an average appearance and average everything really, though that's what I wanted them to think, you see I had a brother who had shown his talents to the world because he wanted to show them what he could achieve and how much he could change the world… and he was snuffed out because of it… So I changed myself, I made myself average or below average in many aspects and kept my own talents a secret that were only known to myself eventually I believed and made myself average for so long that I had lost that spark, that talent, and well I was left with no real life, I began just storing information never really learning for a purpose to see if I could regain it but it didn't work, then I turned to animes, mangas, shows, movies, comics and more… I had never even past my 20th birthday, I never got to show my talents because I had lost them and now here I am, this time I won't let my own fears hold me back I'll show the world my talents and change something or the world in a meaningful way" Syre answered the first question with great sadness at the beginning which transformed into determination.

'Wow… that was unexpectedly both sad and motivational' Arthur thought

"Well since you asked who I was, I think it's only appropriate to ask you, Who were you? I've already got a rough picture created. I just want you to confirm my suspicions" Syre asked his first question.

"Well, I was Gray in my past life, I was an orphan who struggled against the world and its politics I fought back and eventually I won, even then, my path was a bloody one I became a King, I ruled my country defended it from the enemies of my past and of the countries future, I made my country a safe place for all… but I think that past had caught up to me, I was poisoned at the end, and well here I am alongside you who also had reincarnated. And I don't believe that was a coincidence… I think something put us on this path, I think someone had allowed Us to life this new Life after its End" Arthur responded

"That was a bit of a short answer don't you think? But, something does seem suspicious, If we were both reincarnated what's to say others were put on the same path?" Syre responded annoyed at the short answer though his tone became thoughtful as he thought of the suspicions.

"You're right, but right now, I think we should stop acting like conspiracy theorists trying to piece the big picture together and just rest, we're going to need it for the journey ahead… Little brother" Arthur responded with a smile and begun layed back down

"Yeah, goodnight… Big Brother" Syre said while smiling, sadness leaking into his appearance.

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2702 Words for this chapter.

( Author Note(1): Chapter 7 yahoo, god that took so long to write literally in class right now and I'm writing a fanfiction )