Arthur woke up lying on the ground. He looked to see if he had any injuries on his body but the only thing damaged were his clothes. He sat up and saw a huge hole next to him. "That must be where I died..." It didn’t seem like much time had passed since his death. He lifted himself and destroyed the oak wall behind him. He enchanted his feet with wind magic and sped off quickly, running back to Kagekawa’s home.

≡

Kagekawa’s home

Chronos was training with Kagekawa, both using wooden swords. Chronos had swung his sword multiple times with both hands and Kagekawa effortlessly blocked and parried each swing with his one hand gripping the wooden sword. He gradually stepped further back. Chronos then overstepped, trying to hit Kagekawa once but the master swordsman swiftly stepped to the side and stuck his foot out, tripping up the inexperienced student.

Chronos fell flat on his face, letting go of the wooden sword. He then tried reaching for the sword but was stopped by a wooden blade next to his neck. His eyes wandered up, meeting with a fierce glare. The fierce glare soon changed and he was met with a brigjt smile. Kagekawa dropped yhe wooden sword on to the ground and offered his hand, catering Chronos to get back up.

"Chronos, you’re improving! Good job!" Kagekawa exclaimed, praising the beaten-down Chronos.

Chronos reached for his hand and was then pulled up by Kagekawa. His face, arms, knees and clothes were all dirty and as Chronos dusted himself off he spoke with doubt in his voice, "Really? I don’t really feel like I’m improving at all..."

"Haha! Really, I promise. Your swings are definitely much stronger than before. However, each one of your swings must be faster and you’re much too impatient. Also, your stance is all over the place. Haha! You have so many openings it’s hard for me to decide which one I should take." Even though Kagekawa laughed, he was completely serious and earnest in his criticisms.

Chronos intently listened to his master’s words, which Kagekawa noticed, making him somewhat nervous. Kagekawa had as much experience in teaching as Chronos had in swordsmanship. After all, with Arthur, it wasn’t so much as instructing as it was fighting.

Kagekawa glanced at the sky for a moment in deep thought. He looked at Chronos with one eyebrow raised and one hand tucked underneath his chin. "If I had to say...in terms of swordsmanship..." he then paused, analysing the young Chronos.

Chronos looked at Kagekawa with high expectations. His eyes were glimmering with hope.

"Yep... your potential is most certainly average. Haha!" Kagekawa finished off his examination.

Chronos’s face immediately dropped, shocked by the answer.

"There’s no way in hell I’m average! I am a god!" Chronos exclaimed, throwing a little bit of a tantrum.

Kagekawa started ruffling the boy’s hair with a grin on his face. "Haha! Don’t worry about it kid! Swords aren’t everything, there are many different types of weapons after all! And you never know, I could be wrong in my judgments...it’s probably too early to tell your potential." Kagekawa spoke joyously trying to calm his anger down.

"Grrr! Forget it! Swords are lame anyway!" Chronos exclaimed. He then stuck his tongue out and went inside the house, running off to Amygdala.

"Eh...lame?!" Kagekawa was surprised but Chronos had run off for him to reply. He then mumbled to himself, "Swords...aren’t lame." He weakly replied to himself. After all, Kagekawa had spent a lot of his time mastering the sword and through this time came a deep love and appreciation for the blade. He then immediately turned his head looking in the direction of the forest.

"Hmm? Has that boy returned?" Kagekawa asked himself, and then sat on a nearby chair, waiting for Arthur’s arrival.

A few moments later...

Kagekawa could see Arthur waving at him with a wide smile and big eyes. He then replied by waving back to Arthur.

"Master! I’m back! I have a lot to tell you."

"Haha! I see...hm?" Kagekawa could sense a strange air around Arthur. There was something off about the magical presence he was exuding. To Kagekawa it felt there were tiny bits of malice scattered around.

They both now stood face-to-face with each other. Arthur was excited to tell him everything he had just experienced, but before he could say anything Kagekawa asked something immediately, "Arthur, what monster did you run into on your hunt?"

Arthur was caught off guard by his question but he replied, "I was attacked by this huge black deer. It was really powerful! I couldn’t beat it at all! In fact, it was so strong that it killed me!" Arthur told Kagekawa with joy.

"Haha! I see it killed you!" Kagekawa stroked his chin while smiling. He then paused and thought a bit. "Eh...it killed you?" Kagekawa’s face turned to shock. "Then how are you alive-"

"-I got a soul weapon!" Arthur interrupted as he was so excited to share his news.

"I see! You’re soul weapon, huh? Tell me everything." Kagekawa wasn’t surprised much by the news. He was more interested in Arthur’s soul weapon and the monster he encountered.

Arthur then recalled all the events and conversations he had with Excalibur.

"I see so your soul weapon is called Excalibur. That sounds like a mighty impressive weapon."

"Ah! Kagekawa, what’s your soul weapon’s name?"

"Hmm...well it’s a bit hard to say." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"Hard to say?" Arthur turned his head in confusion.

"My soul weapon isn’t much of the boastful type. In fact, he’s quite shy. It would upset him if I told his name to anyone." Kagekawa thought to himself, "He ever so rarely lets me enter his soul world. Though I wouldn’t say we’re on bad terms...maybe? After all, I’ve mastered my soul weapon."

Arthur looked even more confused. He furrowed his forehead and thought for a little while but it was clear he couldn’t come up with an answer to his own question so he decided to ask Kagekawa, "How would your soul weapon know you’ve mentioned his name?"

"Haha! Well, actually I’m not sure either...maybe soul weapons can keep tabs on us?" Kagekawa replied, he hadn’t thought much on the matter and wasn’t all too interested. Arthur wasn’t satisfied with that answer and thought to ask his own soul weapon, Excalibur, later.

Kagekawa’s door suddenly burst open!

"Darling! I missed you!" Amygdala exclaimed in bliss as she was happy to see her fiancé returning. Even though it hadn’t been long at all, Amygdala still had some tears in her eyes.

Arthur then smiled and opened his arms wide. "I missed you too, honey. Come here." He blushed a little from embarrassment at Kagekawa’s peering eyes. Amygdala ran up to Arthur giving him a big and lovely hug.

Chronos peeked through the door, showing half of his body, looking at Arthur. He directly met Arthur’s gaze.

"Ah! Chronos! Come here, I missed you too." Arthur looked at Chronos with a welcoming smile.

"Arthur!" Chronos exclaimed, running up to him while hugging his legs. Arthur then started caressing his hair. Arthur’s face changed to a serious expression and then he apologised to Chronos, "About earlier...I’m sorry for hurting your feelings. I shouldn’t have been so direct and cold with my words." Arthur hesitated for a brief moment in his apology as Chronos gazed up at him. Arthur then met his eyes and continued speaking, "I know you’ll get stronger...and once you do we’ll go out on grand big adventures together. I promise."

Chronos then buried his face into Arthur’s leg and then shyly spoke, "Apology accepted..."

Kagekawa throughout all this seemed to be deep in thought. Both Arthur and Kagekawa then spoke out at the time.

"Arthur, there’s something I need to talk with you about."

"Kagekawa, there’s something I need to talk to you about."