Swordsmaster Fox-girl

Come on, calm down! This pain is nothing! 

Wrap the Coldness around the Dawn, and endure it. The worst will pass.

I could feel someone’s soft hand prying my mouth open. Through my blurry eyes, I could see that it was Mom feeding me some kind of warm orange potion.

Heat seared through me at that exact moment, but it wasn’t painful. It was warm and soothing.

Through a combination of my Frost and the potion Mom fed me, the pain finally subsided. I heaved a really heavy sigh of relief and looked around.

Apart from Mom, the scenery was strange. No, it wasn’t strange, in fact. It was the streets of the town that wrapped around Leinfall Castle.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded at Mom’s question. We were currently sitting on a bench, watching as the sun was dipping down the horizon. It felt calm, too calm. And too peaceful. Perfect for me to think back to what’d happened.

‘Herald probably kicked me out.’

I could only imagine how furious he must have been when I awakened to Frost.

Speaking of Frost…it was the same Attribute I had in my past life. That meant I could unleash the full extent of my Swordsmanship without needing to go through the hassle of adjusting it to fit another Attribute.

“Little one, are you truly okay?” Mom asked, pulling me out of my thought.

“I’m fine now.”

“Good.” She sighed. “Because I’m not. Truthfully, I don’t know how things will play out from now on.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Your fath— Herald was angry. He looked like he wanted to kill both of us on the spot.”

Well, sounded like Herald, alright.

“But don’t worry little one. Whatever happens, I’ll be on your side.”

To Mom’s warm smile, I could only smile back. 

“Family” was a foreign word to me in my past life, even with Ihwa by my side.

But now…I don’t think I can go without it anymore. I squeezed Mom’s hand. Whatever happens, as long as I have her, Nowa, Ihwa, Ria, Hannah, Violette, Edward, Nira, and Aerin by my side, I could handle everything Herald throws at m—

“DIE!”

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As soon as Hayan felt the tingling killing intent on the back of her neck, Nova pushed her away, making her stumble to the ground. 

She immediately stood up and started looking for her daughter. There she was, with two powerful-looking swords in her hands, meeting blades with a man in completely dark clothes.

Behind the man were several other men dressed in similarly-colored clothes. And among all those men was a kid around Nova’s age. His name was Bruce, she could recall.

“You’ll pay for humiliating me in front of father!” Bruce shouted.

Nova was busy fighting and she couldn’t respond. So, Hayan did the shouting for her.

“What are you doing!? Do you have any idea what the Patriarch will do when he f—”

“Pffft!” Bruce burst out in laughter. “The Patriarch? Father? He’s the one who gave me these assassins. Truly, he’s generous. He gave me a chance to redeem myself! I’m not going to let it go to waste!”

After all, although all the assassins were 2-star, there was one that was 5-star. Bruce would have to be a completely incompetent idiot to fail.

And Hayan knew it. Even a three-year-old could finish her and Nova off with command of assassins like these.

But before she could do anything else, she suddenly noticed that a shadow moved. From that shadow, a man in a dark suit appeared, slowly creeping his way toward Nova. 

Hayan didn’t think. Her body moved on instinct. Even if she could think rationality, fear of her daughter being hurt overwhelmed the fear of herself getting killed. ‘I… I won’t be a coward anymore!’

The assassin was right behind Nova. However, Hayan was also right behind the assassin. She raised her fist up and—

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THAT FUCKING SHITHEAD!

He dared to try and assassinate us!? I knew I should’ve beaten him to a bloody pulp when I had the chance! Still, this situation was manageable. The assassin I was holding off was just a 1-star, but due to the [Seven Dawn] weakening me, I had a bit of trouble disposing of him.

The real problem would only start when the most powerful assassin—the 5-star one moved, but he didn’t look like he’d do anything for a while.

So, I focused all of my energy on killing this 1-star trash for now. What was frustrating was that it took a lot longer than I’d expected, even with my weakened state taken into account. I could hear Mom and the little shithead shouting something in the background, but I had no time to care.

This continued for a while until the man I was fighting smirked. ‘Why is he doing that?’ I looked at him carefully, and soon noticed in the reflection of the assassin’s eyes that another man in dark clothes was approaching me from behind.

‘This could be my chance!’

A predator is at its weakest when it’s about to strike its prey. And it just so happened that there were two predators about to attack me. So, they would be two times as weak?

It didn’t make sense on paper, but in practice, it was very different.

So, I bid my time, pretending to be the unaware prey that I was supposed to be. When the men synchronized their attacks, I struck.

Crossing my arms, I crouched down, letting Aerin tear the flesh of the 1-star assassin asunder, and Nira pierce through the man who snuck up on me.

Aerin tore the 1-star in half, and the entirety of Nira’s blade was inside the 2-star.

But…something was amiss. Whatever the 2-star had for flesh, it offered more resistance than I’d thought. I couldn’t pull Nira out no matter what.

{Uh oh…}

(“What? What’s wrong, Nira?”)

Nira stayed silent and merely unmanifested herself, making the corpse of the man fall to the ground.

He wasn’t the only one that did. Mom’s body fell after him.

W-What? Mom? I rushed toward her and hugged her tight. My hand was on the hole near her heart, trying to stop the bleeding.

“[Minor Heal]!”

N-No! This must work!

“[Minor Heal]!”

Please!

“[Minor Heal]!”

ANYTHING!

“[Minor Heal]!”

With a gasp, Mom sat straight up and darted her eyes around! Yes! It worked!

Still, an uneasy feeling permeated my mind, and it wasn’t due to the other assassins cautiously making their way toward me.

I am the Greatest Swordsmaster.

I’ve ended and started wars, saved countless cities, and killed every Heavenly King that was alive. 

I am an indispensable part of the Hero’s party.

I killed the Demon King’s daughter alone and even managed to hold against the Demon King himself for two days straight.

I am what people would call a legend, a myth, something so absurdly powerful that it had no right existing in reality.

A-And yet, I can’t even protect my own Mom. Forget that, I hurt her!

Why?

What went wrong?

W—

{Because you’re too weak, dipshit!}

W-What? Nira? What are you—

{Shut the fuck up! You’re pathetically weak compared to your old self! That’s what I’ve been trying to say! Why did it fucking take your Mom being near death for you to understand!?}

Nira…

{Fuck you! Run! You can’t fight back, not while protecting your Mom.}

S-She was right! What was I doing here, standing like a fool? I picked Mom up and ran toward Leinfall Castle. Surely, they wouldn’t dare attack us so openly like that!

{Finally! Go! I’ll hold them back!}

I could hear Nira turning humanoid and beating some of the assassins up. Aerin even joined her. However, it knew that it couldn’t last for long.

And it seemed that Mom had some intuitive knowledge of it, too.

“R-Run, little one, leave me behind…”

“What are you saying!?” I shouted, my eyes heating up for whatever reason. “I can’t leave you!”

“You can’t escape with me… I’m just a burden.”

“Do you think I don’t know that!?” I wanted to just stop and slap her face real hard right now. “You’re Mom! I’ll be damned if I just leave you here and run on my own!”

“And you’re my daughter.” She smiled. “I can’t let you die because of me…”

Mom was trying to wiggle out of my arms. She was stubborn, huh, like always. So, I gulped down my fears and spoke. I’d never felt so…clear about something before.

“I’m not your daughter.”

“W-What are you saying?”

“Like I said.” My voice was sharp and cold, surprising even myself. “I’m not your daughter. I’m Swordsmaster Nova. I took over your daughter’s body when she was born.”

At best, when this was all over, she would only think that I only said that in the heat of the moment to shut her up. At worst, she’d believe me and spit at me like the disgusting liar that I was.

I chuckled dryly. In any case, my enjoyable daily life would be over. But at least I could keep the ones important to me alive…

…But despite all odds, Mom only smiled warmly at me.

“So what?”

I nearly stopped running for a second there.

“That’s your reaction!?”

“Yes. Do you…not see me as your Mom? Did all the years we spent together matter that little to you?”

Ha…haha…I felt tears running down my cheeks. I wasn’t going to deny it any longer. “N-No! Of course you’re my Mom!”

“Then, that’s all I care about.” She smiled again. Thinking for a bit, she spoke. “So that’s why you were so intelligent, Esther.”

“...?”

“That was your name when you were still in my belly,” she explained calmly as if the threat of the assassins was over. “I was expecting a girl, but you turned out to be a boy, so Herald gets to name you. Who would’ve thought he’d give you your actual name?”

“...”

“But I guess we’ve come full circle now. This dying lady finally got to tell her daughter her real name.”

D-Dying?

“Mom! Stop talking! You’re going to live!”

She merely chuckled once more.

“Esther, my little one, remember that whoever you were, are, and will be, I will always love you f—”

A knife pierced her throat as soon as she was about to finish her sentence. I dropped her body in momentary shock but began to try and heal her again.

“[Minor Heal]!”

It…didn’t work. Nothing works!

“[Minor Heal]!”

NO!

“[Minor Heal]!”

NO!

“[Minor Heal]!”

“[Minor Heal]!”

“[Minor Heal]!”

“[Minor Heal]!”

“[Minor Heal]!”

“[Minor Hea—

“Jeez, you’re going to die of Mana-Exhaustion before I get the chance to kill you.”

I snapped my head up. The dipshit that was responsible for everything was here, looking down at me mockingly. Beside him were the assassins from before.

I looked down at Mom. She was dead, as dead as she could be. But strangely, I was calm—

“You’re crying? Damn, ruining the only thing that’s worthy about you—your good looks.”

I touched my cheeks. I was…crying? Again? I could accept crying in front of Mom, but I shouldn’t show my weakness in front of my enemies. But dammit, I couldn’t stop the tears!

Heat flared through my eyes and nose, and I slowly stood up, summoning Aerin and Nira in both of my hands.

They were…beat up. Their white and red blades were chipped at the edges and worn out. But even if they were in perfect condition, I knew I couldn’t win.

So, before I join Mom in the afterlife, I should at least send the one responsible for all of this to hell.

I’ll kill!

The shithead that was smirking at Mom’s corpse.

I’LL KILL!

The asshole that enabled all of this to happen.

I’LL KILL YOU DEAD!

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[The Monarch of Violence anticipates an act of extreme violence and has taken an interest in you.]

[He sends the Star of the {Burning World} to watch over you.]

[{The Burning World} extends a helping hand.]

[Do you accept?]