Do You Intend to Kill Your Mother?

Not a single day…

Not even for a moment had I forgotten about this person.

The person I hate most since coming to this world.

The person I wanted to kill even if it took my whole life.

The moment I realized that existence was in front of me, my hand, faithful to my emotions, was forged with the chill of the downpour.

-Slash!!

But of course, my attack doesn’t reach her.

Bare hands without even holding a weapon.

Just by touching that palm, the blade that was rapidly frozen shatters miserably, and before the exposed bare hand could move, it grabbed my wrist.

“…Seine.”

Along with that, a detestable face is presented before me.

A face that resembles me terribly, but because of that, it’s a face that makes hatred well up even more.

“My beloved daughter. My treasure, and the proof that I existed in this world…”

With such a face, that person whispers love towards me.

A disgusting voice that makes me want to vomit just by hearing it, and makes all the nerves in my body go wild.

“Although I visited here on business, I’m so glad to meet you again by such coincidence. Have you been well for the past 10 years?”

Yet she just continues to speak nonchalantly.

“…10 years?”

Flabbergasted by those words, I unconsciously raised my voice and shouted.

“It’s not 10 years, but 12 years, 5 months, and 21 days, you senile bitch!”

The moment the mana loaded in my knee burst with a bang!

Her body, which received that impact, flew, but when it actually hit a tree in the forest, the impact was as light as a cotton ball.

Because the pressure received by the body was offset like a feather.

It was a unique technique of filling the mana surrounding the body with air, reducing the mass compared to the volume.

Although it’s an action that deals with pure physical force rather than magic, it’s a dangerous technique where even a slight mistake in control could expose the bare body to rises in atmospheric pressure or air explosions.

But she was performing it as naturally as breathing. As if walking a tightrope with her life at stake was an everyday occurrence.

“12 years… Has so much time already passed.”

-Bang!!

Even the thrown stone is avoided by slightly tilting her head, this damn woman.

“Even after so much time has passed, you’re still so energetic.”

The mana around her face was slightly disturbed, but even that didn’t last long.

“And you’ve certainly become stronger than before… I might even allow a few attacks now?”

“…You rotten woman, spouting words you don’t mean.”

Yes, no matter how young she looks, she’s an old lady who’s lived for over half a century.

She had long since overcome any threat to her life. No matter what crisis befalls her, she would always have something to call composure.

But even so, she’s past middle age.

If her body isn’t like it used to be, there will be gaps, and I’m also capable of tearing through those gaps and killing her.

“Still, if you come at me passionately, it’s a parent’s duty to respond, right?”

As I finish that judgment and gather mana in my grasp for a moment.

Soon she let out a low voice and pulled out one of the hairpins fixing her hair at the back.

And pointing its tip at me, she said.

“Come on, charge at me.”

With a very proud attitude, without the slightest hesitation.

“What.”

The moment I faced that attitude, my breath caught.

I felt the mana I had gathered in my hand evaporating due to the sense of humiliation welling up from inside.

“What, are you trying to do? You, now…”

Is the sword at her waist just for decoration?

When she has a proper weapon, why is she deliberately pointing a hairpin, which is just an accessory?

“What else? I shouldn’t be serious in a sparring match, right? Since I didn’t prepare a wooden practice sword in advance, I have no choice but to use something like this.”

Grind.

The moment strength reflexively enters my molars.

“Does this look like I’m playing around right now?”

“Playing? Mom is always serious, dear.”

To hell with your seriousness.

You who have never exerted your full power in a fight with me.

“I’m seriously trying to adjust my strength to Seine’s level. But our daughter, do you perhaps want mom to come at you seriously?”

“You call that words…!!!”

Just as a shout was about to burst from my mouth.

-Rumble.

A deep rumbling sound coming from behind.

For a moment, it seemed like thunder had struck the sky, but that was an illusion.

The vibration felt from under my feet at this moment was telling me that its source existed nearby.

“Fufu, that’s right. Our daughter has grown up, so I shouldn’t treat her lightly like before.”

At that moment, a heat haze rises from behind her.

As it gradually moves as if rushing in one direction, the surrounding raindrops begin to flow as if being sucked into it.

The moment the force extending from behind turns into a whirlpool.

But where she’s really putting her strength is not her back, but the hairpin in her hand.

What’s happening behind her is just the ‘aftermath’ that occurs in the process of controlling her power.

“…These crazy developers.”

I realized belatedly.

That the power I’m seeing in front of me now far surpasses the power that exists in my memories from back then.

“There should be a limit to being obsessed with your self-insert daughter.”

Normally, people get weaker as they age.

What kind of setting is it to actually get stronger?

“Now, Seine. It’s our first sparring match in 10 years.”

As if not caring about such bewilderment, she began to close the distance while speaking in a joyful tone.

Alias – The Empire’s Sword.

A being who can truly restrain the entire allied forces with strength alone, nominally the strongest existence in this world.

“Try to draw out mom’s full power with your full power.”

At this moment, such a being is quietly taking a stance with a disaster called a storm on her back.

No, she’s gradually sinking.

The force that caused a whirlpool just by its aftermath is now flowing towards one place.

None other than towards the single hairpin grasped in her hand.

-Creak, crackle.

Of course, it’s just a simple accessory that hasn’t even gone through proper processing.

There’s no way it could withstand a force that could be called a storm in momentum.

At least, according to common sense.

-Swoosh.

But she’s someone who can make that possible.

Controlling the rampaging power without discrimination, concentrating its flow into a single line.

Beyond that, the art of condensing it into a ‘point’ at the end of that line.

-Rumble…

Yes, what will follow from now on.

A massive shockwave that will occur as the storm compressed into a single point is released.

-Rumble, Roar!!!!!

That attack eventually covers the entire forest, overturning it and lifting everything buried in the ground into the air.

The ground being cut by the chaotically spreading wind blades. Rising fault lines.

The scene where even the deeply rooted trees on top of it are rising against gravity could be seen as nothing short of a disaster.

-Bang bang bang bang!!!

And in that fleeting moment, I succeeded in jumping over the rising debris and escaping the effective range.

Then, my hand, which controlled my movement in mid-air with extended bandages, became an afterimage and fell downwards with gravity.

What I’m aiming for is the target’s chest.

The heart beating inside it.

-Slash!!

That attack is deflected by the swung hairpin, and my body slides on the rain-soaked ground, pushed back from my position.

A counter so forceful that my hand tingles.

Her face, too, was slightly hardened, unlike before.

“…Seine. Do you intend to kill your mother?”

“That’s not for you to say, you rotten woman.”

I just swung my hand, but the opponent created a clearing in the middle of the forest with a blow thrown with a ‘light heart’.

Anyone would mention this person when thinking about which side has killing intent.

-Bang!!!

That sense of crisis intensifies the force in my fist as it strikes the cover on the advancing path.

The eyes visible through the fragments were still fixed on me.

-Crash! Bang!!!

Even amidst the repeated destruction, she was still focused only on maintaining distance from me.

She only evades without counterattacking. Is it because she feels a sense of crisis from the unexpected counterattack and pressing?

No, the opponent is the strongest in the world setting.

She’s the supreme creation that the creators of this world put their heart and soul into making.

-Slash!!

So she doesn’t let her guard down.

The one who always has the upper hand is not me, but the opponent.

Even at this moment, she’s probably gauging how to subdue me without injuring me, how to teach me that she’s superior by making me kneel.

And what I need to aim for is not victory or defeat, but her life.

To seize the opportunity to cut off her windpipe while she’s taking her time.

-Crash!!!

Converting that emotion into power instead.

While the mana loaded in my legs overturns the ground, causing soil and water pillars to rise, bandages thrown through the gaps wrap around the feet of the retreating opponent.

The moment her balance is slightly disturbed.

The moment I notice that the tilt is bigger than expected, my hand naturally swings towards her neck.

-Slash!

But the blade doesn’t reach in the end.

Something suddenly raised from below precisely blocked that attack.

“…Draw your sword.”

The sword at her waist…

No, the handle is still sheathed.

“Not yet, dear.”

“Bullshit!!!”

I put strength into it, trying to break it along with the scabbard, but at that moment, the tilted scabbard just pushes away my hand as if sliding.

Eventually, she who dove into my chest struck my abdomen with the half-drawn sword handle, pushing my body away.

A deflection using a very subtle gap and a quick counterattack.

If she had utilized that gap, it would have been possible to kill me using iaijutsu or whatever.

“Our daughter has become unrecognizably strong compared to the old days.”

“…I didn’t become strong to hear such empty flattery.”

I feel my anger rising at her taking her time like this.

With such strong power.

“Like this.”

Someone who can so one-sidedly ravage a person who has rolled on the front lines for over 10 years.

“Someone with such power who’s been stuck at home, why have you now not only left your domain but come to the border?”

In this era of peace that has finally arrived.

It was detestable to see her setting foot on this land to enjoy only the results, making the blood shed for that peace seem worthless.

“…Seine.”

“Ah right, now that the war is over, even an idiot who only knows how to fight would want to go out for a stroll. How nice? Now you can walk around freely without worrying about others’ eyes!”

“I understand you’re angry, but I’ve told you many times, right? Mom had reasons for not stepping forward.”

“To hell with your reasons!! From my standpoint, you’re no different from the trash locked up in prison, you damn woman.”

-Slash!!

The mana that received my will rapidly absorbs the surrounding heat.

Ice shards that sprout sporadically around are lifted by psychokinesis, and the mana used to lift them in the air detonates and turns into propulsive force.

The moment a shower of ice created by freezing rainwater rushes towards the target.

She blocked that attack by splitting the ground with her scabbard, but I had already anticipated that level of action.

-Swish!!

The moment she blocked her view for defense. I threw the stone I was holding and quickly leaped to the opposite side.

A beat slower than the speed at which the stone collides with the ground.

Of course, her gaze would have turned to where the stone fell first.

-Whoosh!

Taking advantage of the moment her attention was diverted, I release flames molded from the absorbed heat.

The blade that instantly evaporates even the rainwater it touches would tear through even the veil of mana surrounding the target, leaving an indelible wound.

-Clash!!

But even that attack was miserably shattered by the swung scabbard.

Her gaze was still directed towards where the stone had fallen, but the posture of the opponent who defended against my attack was unnaturally bent.

She had defended against my attack purely with reflexes.

-Thud!

If she’s going to use such forced techniques, I’ll respond with stubbornness.

I release the strength from my hand blocked by the scabbard, and leap forward as if tilting, even disturbing my balance.

My hand, concentrated with power, was already swinging towards her chest.

If not by skill, then by malice, by sheer force.

Hoping that my hand, extended in this way, would reach her heart.

“…Regrettable.”

But what comes back is a voice that hasn’t lost its composure, as if she had foreseen even this.

-Swish!

Right after that, her precarious body rotates with her foot planted on the ground as the axis.

My grasp fails to penetrate her chest, only grazing past and scattering torn clothing.

Even amidst this, mana is flowing through her body.

I can feel that flow absorbing all the forces flowing around.

Not just the surrounding mana.

Even the mana I control.

-Whoosh!

This crazy woman. Don’t tell me she’s aiming to control the mana possessed by her opponent?

What an absurd thing to do.

From the start, when trying to interfere with the mana of those with will, a collision of wills occurs.

Regardless of skill, if forcibly done, only cancellation or mutual destruction awaits.

-Swish!!

But when I unconsciously pulled mana towards myself, she had long since released her will to control mana.

The attempt to control my mana was a feint.

She induced me to reflexively react and pull excessive mana towards myself.

“It’s truly regrettable. If I draw my sword, this can no longer be called sparring.”

The moment her body, which had been tilted by the physical force derived from that, bends backward again, cold eyes peek through the heavy rain.

The moment I faced that, I sensed it.

That the killing intent felt at this moment was merely to hide the fangs that would be bared afterwards.

-Shing.

When all attention was focused on that gaze, light was already flickering from her scabbard.

Even in a scene where the sun doesn’t shine.

A blow loaded with enough force to turn the light created by friction heat alone into a flash.

-Swish!!

That blade finally escapes the scabbard and begins to split the surroundings.

Immediately after being exposed to that attack, my gaze began to turn to the surroundings.

Trees split, and the rocks existing between them. The ground that rose up in the chaos and the soil that sprouted.

Even the rain pouring down through those gaps splits, drawing a single line.

As all of this happens simultaneously in a fleeting moment, it even appeared as if the space where I was standing had temporarily split.

Yet blood doesn’t flow from my body.

Even while drawing the sword at a speed comparable to light, the opponent had the composure not to aim only at the target in front of her.

-Slash.

Yes, this is the Empire’s Sword.

This is the power possessed by the pinnacle of this world.

-Rumble!!

With that realization, everything that was cut rose up and then plummeted.

My knees, which had lost strength, also fell helplessly onto the wet ground.