“Alysia… your daughter?” I offered.
“I have no children, not after killing the treacherous son, Aberis.” She declared.
“Oh…” That was all Alysia said, but it was a voice filled with sadness.
I put my hand comfortingly on her hilt. Xin had recombined with her former self, so I had thought that her mind would merge and she’d remember something of the life that she had lived. After all, the other Xin did contain a piece of her soul and the part of her that one could call motherly. However, it seemed like Aberis had done a good job wiping her mind. She may be in an Osterian body, but there was nothing there regarding her time in the Ost Republic the last twenty years.
On one side, it meant that the Xin I knew hadn’t changed all that much. That was something I was happy about. However, I also felt sad that Alysia would never be able to reconnect with her mother.
“Alysia?” I asked.
“It’s okay…”
I nodded and stepped up to Xin. “I don’t know how to say this, but the Xin that you just reformed with was the Xin that went to the Ost Republic. You may not remember, but some time right before Aberis took over your mind, you had cut your soul in half, separating the Demon Lord Aberis from the rest of your babies. From that point onward, there were two of you.
“I… have other children?” Xin’s eyes widened a bit.
I made a face. “You had two children, but… Aberis managed to possess one of them, and the other, well, she died, and her soul was forged.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“F-forged.”
I didn’t know what to say. How would she react to learning her only daughter was now being used as a weapon at my convenience. It was one thing finding out you had children you didn’t know about. Knowing that they all had somewhat bad ends was another thing. However, I had already started telling the truth, and I couldn’t stop now.
“Alysia.” I put my sword in front of me. “It’s okay.
The sword glowed and then morphed into Alysia. Standing next to Xin, it was easy to see the resemblance between the two. They didn’t look nearly as close as Astria and Elaya, but there were a few distinct similarities.
“You… you are…” Xin asked with a frown.
“Yes… I’m your daughter, but… I’m also the sword Alysium!
“Master.” Xin glanced at me. “You turned my daughter into a sword?”
“I-it’s not like that.” Alysia cried defensively.
“Yes. I did!” I lowered my head, ready to receive her anger.
“That is… that is… so cool!” Xin’s eyes brightened as she reached out and grabbed Alysia.
“Ah! M-mom!”
“How do you turn on, like this?”
“Ahhhn! What are you touching?”
“That is one way to turn her on, but not into a sword.”
“Turn into a sword!”
“Ahhh… stop shaking me! Okay, I’ll do it!” Alysia who was being manhandled by Xin looked like a helpless kitten.
I had never seen her interact much with her mother, but it had always been clear that in the past, she had always done whatever her mother told her. Thus, the usually strong and proud Alysia was completely at Xin’s whims.
“Eeee! She did it!” Xin exclaimed excitedly, grabbing the handle and pulling her up. “This alloy, I’ve never seen it before. The balance is nearly perfect! Ah… but I prefer to have a handguard…”
“I can do that…” Alysia glowed a moment later a handguard appeared on her handle.
“It changed! This sword is amazing!”
“M-mom! You’re drooling on me!”
“I love you! Please be mother’s forever!”
“Ahhhn, m-mom! I’m Masters”
“So am I, so we can be Master’s together!”
“But I’m his sword!”
“Be my sword!”
“I refuse!”
Perhaps, this Xin had evolved a little bit from combining her forms. It seemed like this Xin was a major sword otaku. She may not remember having and loving a daughter, but she loved swords. Turning her daughter into a sword would be like turning a perverted man into a cute girl’s panties. That was a pretty bad image.
“S-stop licking me!”
Or maybe it was exactly right…