"Yes, it's been ten years... Throughout this decade, I've been watching you closely, and you've never let me down."
Kondō Shūsuke spoke, his tone filled with emotion as he gazed at Lucian.
"Even though you showed incredible talent from a young age, you've never been arrogant. You've worked harder than anyone else. You've never let go of your sword. You are my pride!
But... child,
A man's eyes may deceive, his actions might mislead, but his sword will never lie."
As Kondō Shūsuke reached this point, his gaze toward Lucian became serious and piercing.
"Your sword tells me... it cannot cut through anything."
Lucian was stunned for a moment.
"Although your swordsmanship is fierce, the result of countless days of training, your sword is merely force without purpose!"
Kondō Shūsuke continued to look at Lucian, speaking softly, "Your sword is filled with confusion, and that is why I cannot entrust it to you.
You are gifted, but precisely because of this, if you let your sword be stained by the blood of others...
One day, it won't be you wielding the sword, but the sword consuming you."
Lucian remained silent. He understood what Kondō Shūsuke meant.
After all, he had wielded the sword for so long—ten whole years.
And in this dojo, he had seen so many people, so many warriors.
Lucian's goal had always been clear: to leave a legend, to qualify as a hero spirit.
But as Kondō Shūsuke pointed out, the sword in Lucian's hand wasn't ready to bear the weight of another's life.
"... I understand, teacher."
Lucian bowed deeply to Kondō Shūsuke.
Seeing this, Kondō Shūsuke's face softened with a smile of satisfaction.
"What about souji Okita?"
At that moment, Lucian looked up again and asked Kondō Shūsuke, "She... has surpassed me, hasn't she?"
Faced with Lucian's question, Kondō Shūsuke was silent for a while before nodding.
A quiet sigh followed.
As Lucian held the Book of Heroic Spirits, his fingers brushed gently across the black cover, and he let out a sigh of his own.
Although Lucian was a 'spectator,' observing and directing this simulated life from a higher dimension like a god, his projection, Watanabe Lucian, was essentially a part of him—like a doppelgänger. The two were, in fact, the same person.
Therefore, the emotions they felt were shared.
In that moment, Lucian's heart was filled with unwillingness.
And just then,
[Having learned everything from Kondō Shūsuke, you choose...]
[A: Continue training, B: Return to the family, C: Become a wandering ronin, D: Personally intervene.]
Lucian knew that the next choice would be a pivotal one.
But this time, he didn't hesitate for long before placing his hand on the D option: personally intervene.
He knew that in this moment, he had only one choice.
In an instant, Watanabe Lucian, who had closed his eyes, slowly opened them again.
Kondō Shūsuke frowned, a look of confusion in his eyes as he noticed something unusual.
At that moment, he felt Lucian's strength surge dramatically!
This was due to Lucian's ability to intervene in events three times. Each time he did, his projection's power would double.
"I understand now, teacher."
Lucian, having opened his eyes, stood and bowed to Kondō Shūsuke once more.
"I know what I must do."
"I will go to find souji Okita. I will ask her... about her sword!"
—-
"Hey, isn't that Lucian?"
That evening, two members of the Shinsengumi, Kondō Isami and Hijikata Toshizō, future legends alongside souji Okita, spotted Lucian as he stepped out of the teacher's room.
Kondō Isami, around twenty-five or six years old, greeted Lucian with a friendly smile, ready to call out to him: "Lucian, junior brother—"
"Wait." In stark contrast to the friendly Kondō Isami, the usually stoic Hijikata Toshizō furrowed his brow and stopped him, as if noticing something unusual.
Seeing Hijikata's puzzled look, Kondō Isami asked, "What's different?"
Hijikata narrowed his eyes slightly as he observed Lucian. "His sword aura... it's different from usual."
"Different?" Kondō Isami was confused.
He looked at Lucian again.
"I can't see anything different. Could it be that he's grown taller?"
"His sword aura is not the same as before," Hijikata said, squinting further.
At this, Kondō Isami paused, then looked at Lucian once more.
As a future leader of the Shinsengumi and a renowned swordsman himself, he quickly realized what Hijikata meant.
A smile spread across Kondō's face. "It seems we've returned just in time tonight. This sword, hidden by our teacher for over ten years...
Tonight... it will finally be drawn!"
Soon after, in souji Okita 's room—
Lucian pushed the door open.
Moonlight spilled through the window.
Like cherry blossoms drifting in the wind, Lucian saw souji Okita sitting by the window, gazing at the moon.
"Lucian?"
Dressed in a pink kimono, souji Okita turned to see Lucian entering. The small hair tuft on her head swayed slightly, and curiosity shone in her golden eyes.
"Why are you here so late?" she asked, blinking. Though surprised by his sudden appearance, there was no hint of displeasure—only curiosity.
"souji Okita, would you spar with me tonight?"
A bit taken aback, souji Okita quickly understood and stood up, smiling. "It's about sword practice, right? Sure, no problem."
She reached for her wooden sword, but Lucian stopped her.
With a serious expression, he shook his head. "Not with wooden swords today... we'll use real blades."
souji Okita hesitated, her eyes widening slightly. She was about to speak when her gaze met Lucian's.
His deep eyes, calm yet filled with determination, silenced her.
In that moment, she also sensed the sword aura emanating from Lucian—an aura that had been steadily growing throughout the night, now on the verge of breaking free.
"... I see."
souji Okita smiled but said nothing more.
For swordsmen, words were unnecessary. Their dialogue was through the sword in hand.
And this was a conversation they had continued since they were nine years old.
"It's just a bit tricky, Lucian," souji Okita said with a soft chuckle. "Neither of us has been given permission to wield real blades, has the teacher?"
Lucian was about to respond when—
"Then use ours."
Kondō Isami appeared with Hijikata at his side, smiling as they stepped forward.
"Senior Brother Kondō, Senior Brother Hijikata, you've returned!" souji Okita's eyes lit up with joy.
Kondō Isami smiled and nodded at her before turning to Lucian. "So, what do you think?"
"Since my senior brother is offering, how could I refuse? But... if the teacher scolds you later, don't blame me," Lucian laughed.
"No problem. It's all for our dear junior brother and sister, right, Toshizō?"
Hijikata only nodded coolly at Kondō's playful grin.
Not long after—
In the backyard.
souji Okita and Lucian stood beneath the cherry blossom tree, swords in hand.
The season was perfect—cherry blossoms in full bloom, the moon casting its light on the ground, and petals gently falling on souji Okita and Lucian's heads.
The two gazed at each other silently.
"Ridiculous!"
Kondō Shūsuke's voice suddenly interrupted from behind Kondō Isami and Hijikata, who had been secretly watching the two young sword geniuses.
"Father!" Kondō Isami said, hurriedly bowing respectfully—Kondō Shūsuke was his adoptive father and the appointed heir to the dojo.
"Who gave you permission to give them swords?"
Kondō Shūsuke's eyes swept over them coldly.
Kondō Isami grinned awkwardly, his mind racing for a way to explain.
"... But tonight's a bit too late for me. My eyes aren't what they used to be. I can't see much. I'm getting old."
With that, to the stunned expressions of Kondō Isami and Hijikata, Kondō Shūsuke moved past them and sat in front of the courtyard.
He looked at the two young sword prodigies he had personally trained and, unable to contain himself, burst into laughter.
"Finally, the time has come. These two sharp blades... are about to be unsheathed!"
With a face full of pride, Kondō Shūsuke's eyes glimmered with anticipation. Kondō Isami and Hijikata exchanged glances before joining him, smiling and shaking their heads.
"Are you ready?"
In the courtyard, Lucian's soft words broke the silence.
"Yes."
souji Okita replied, and with that word, the smile on her face vanished.
In her eyes, there was now only Lucian.
She was the first to move.
Ever since they met at the age of nine, it had become a common sight for the disciples in the dojo to see the two facing off with wooden swords every few days.
Thus, there was no way souji Okita could be unfamiliar with Lucian's swordsmanship.
However, unlike souji Okita, who excelled in agile combat, skillfully incorporating sword techniques, footwork, and jujitsu from the Tennen Rishin-ryū, as well as taking advantage of her body's natural flexibility as a woman, Lucian's style focused more on leveraging force and real combat applications within the Tennen Rishin-ryū.
He rarely made the first move in an attack.
---