Kirin Edo's Perspective

I was the Sword God Emperor.

That's what they used to call me. Except no remembered me at all.

It used to be a title whispered with reverence and awe, but a legend etched into the very fabric of history can be torn down by these rotten things with a few hits.

Now, I was nothing more than a forgotten relic.

I was chained and forced to watch the world I had once protected, not out of duty but because it was what I wanted to do, fall into intellectual ruin.

I watched as it crumbled around me and my prison.

I didn’t even get to see everything I built be torn down with my eyes, I had to shove my mental representation through the spatial lock using my clairvoyance and sheer brute force of will.

This pathetic excuse for a future hero was my only hope at not having it all end.

He stood before me, a scrawny, bewildered weak man turned even weaker boy with eyes that bore into me with defiance.

I could see the hesitant confusion he hid beneath his facade though.

He had no strength, no skill, and not even an ounce of proper wisdom.

He had not an ounce of what I had accumulated over centuries of bloodshed and sacrifice.

He was just another unfortunate soul who had slipped into this world and stumbled into this forsaken world.

But he was who I was looking for.

No matter how ridiculous it was.

The unyielding and almost infuriating willpower.

The stubborn refusal to break and surrender to the despair that had consumed so many others.

He had wasted years, clinging to the naive belief that he was the protagonist of some grand narrative.

His disappointment buried that fire with dirt and stone.

I needed to tear it down into an ember.

But that burning ember of defiance was all he truly needed.

I would build it back up into a proper mindset.

I would make it so his feeble hopes at becoming a hero turned into a power to actually do what needed to be done.

He would be the answer to that Grand General and then he would tear the Prime Devourer into cosmic particles.

I grit my teeth in fury and forced my Body Ki and Life Ki to stay within my body.

Seven centuries of isolation and torment, chained by the Grand general of the Prime Devourers’ goddamn pocket dimension and chains-

A grand general- whoopdeedoo!

I was fighting a mere puppet of that gluttonous abomination and I goddamn folded!

My blood surged as I tried to move my mind away from the fact that it was simply something so below it that had been all it took to bring me down.

I never even faced the true enemy, and now the world had fallen so far that I was considering this literal child as my successor.

I took in a deep breath and relaxed.

I needed to calm down and keep my energies in check.

I couldn’t accidentally kill him in the place that his death would actually stick.

Darren was the only one compatible who hasn’t refused.

They had staked their hope on him.

I thought to myself about the requirements I had set.

Any successor of mine had to meet a specific set of criteria.

One who knew the true terror of what 'devour' meant and who had witnessed the erasure of loved ones.

The annihilation of existence itself.

That narrowed the field, but not by much.

One who had lost someone to the Prime Devourer's gluttony AND who remembered those the world had forgotten and kept remembering long past when they should.

That brought us down to the tens of thousands of soldiers who had witnessed the Erasure and who carried the scars of that collective amnesia and loneliness of remembering.

One with the willpower to push through any obstacle and to endure any hardship. No matter the cost. I needed someone like that who would never stop.

That whittled the number down to a mere fifteen individuals on the entire planet, a pitiful handful of souls who clung to hope in this world that was a desolate wasteland of such. Surprisingly somehow, he and his two girlfriends were among them.

One who would sacrifice everything including even their very existence to undo the devastation wrought by the Prime Devourer.

That left only three.

One who acted on their convictions and defied the laws of man to embrace a higher morality than mere law.

Guided by their own internal compass of morality that all can agree is superior. Having a morality that can be applied to rulership that could still be called good and even much better than the overwhelming majority.

Somehow, we still had three.

“I’m Kirin Edo. The Sword God Emperor and the one who forged the Shin Empire into an actual Nation.”

I scowled as the hand for the Devourers bled into my words. “Except it was supposed to be called the Edo Empire, but you know how this garbage works.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I watched as Darren struggled to comprehend the weight of my words. the implications of his newfound destiny.

Predictably he failed.

But I had just said my name and the context clues were there, even if I was a Forgotten.

"Who are you?" he asked. I noted that he regretted those words immediately by his face.

I still had to play the part, though, so I fixed him with a look of disdain, my face a mask of irritated deadpan.

If my hand was free I would shove it onto my face.

My face was a mask of irritated deadpan that silently screamed, 'Are you serious?' The slight tilt of my head added an extra layer of disdain, a nonverbal 'What the fuck?' directed at this clueless boy who dared to ask such a mundane question in the face of true power.

He had the damn answer.

"Fine," he muttered, his voice changed and his face became the vision of defiance.

It was a face that surprised even me. "Sword God Emperor, with a title like that and this 'successor' shit, you need to train me." He pointed a finger at me, his eyes blazing with a resolve that, despite my reservations, I found strangely admirable. "I won't ask again. Because 'no' isn't an option! Fucking train me!"

I began to smile.

Then a grin so wide it felt like it might split my face and open my ancient scar that had sealed long ago appeared.

The chains that had bound me were more spiritual than physical.

I had just gained a small amount of faith energy.

Faith energy that became the boost that was all I needed.

I was Kirin of the Edo Clan, the samurai who had fallen into this world eleven hundred years ago, and I had become the Sword God Emperor!

I may have been forgotten.

But I was back.

I was ready to whip this scrawny kid into a real swordsman.

The sound of cracking and tortured screams of bending metal rang out through the chamber.

The chains binding me contorted and twisted under the force of my will.

I tore my arms free from the metal sphere and as it reshaped itself by my efforts, I formed a binding pair of arm-clamps that adhered onto my arms and leg binds that coiled around my ankles.

The remaining chains writhed and pulsed, morphing into crude arm and leg plates that reinforced the bindings.

The metal still drained my strength.

But moving was enough.

The seal was weakening, and I could at least do this much.

Darren’s Perspective.

The chains were gone.

Impressive display of body-based metalworking aside, the Sword God Emperor's face seemed even more menacing now as his golden eyes began burning with an intensity that made me want to take a step back.

The air grew heavy with something.

But that was just my imagination, right?

I'm sure.

I hope so.

Oh god! The mountain of muscle and power on two legs is approaching me!

Menacingly!

"I think I do like you after all," he said as his voice turned a gravelly bellowing sound that echoed through the chamber. "I don’t like repeating myself, but this whole thing makes me sure you’re so stunned that you can’t process the situation, So i repeat. My name is Kirin Edo, former samurai, former Ronin of no renown simply because a bastard ate the damn renown. Pleased to meet you." He extended his arm, his hand open in a gesture that I initially took for a handshake.

But then I realized, with the way he was positioned, it was supposed to be a warrior's shake. One at the arm, not the hand.

"I guess being trained by someone who used to be a historical samurai would be pretty amazing," I said, trying to keep my voice steady despite the tremor of fear that ran through me. "But you need to answer my damn question! Will you train me or not?! I'll only shake if you say yes!"

The Sword God Emperor frowned as his brow furrowed.

It wasn’t a face that looked like he was considering my words but had something else-.

His deadpan was turning kind of scary.

But maybe that’s the shock and terrible terrifying terrifaction that was talking.

I’m still freaking out and internally having a panic attack and most of this situation is refusing to register.

"Alright," he agreed but his voice turned into a low and menacing rumble that promised pain.

He had a smirk and eyes narrowed in a way that reminded me of certain kids back at the orphanage.

I wrapped my hand around his forearm and we shook arms.

Then he scowled harshly and his grip was surprisingly strong.

Then, without warning, he slammed his hand closed, crushing my bones with a sickening crunch.

A scream of agony ripped from my throat as a wave of white-hot pain shot up my arm.

"No sass and no back-sass! No asking questions you know the answer to! Pay attention brat!" he roared as his voice echoed through the chamber.

He released his grip with a smirk.

I stared down at my arm in disbelief as the brown and purple discoloration turned backwards.

It rewound as if in an extremely fast-forwarded video had reversed polarity on reality using the function of ‘I’m sorry, did you want time to go forward? Fuck you!’

It was now perfectly fine and didn’t have a scratch or a bruise.

Fucking insane bastard.

I still feel pain and that was the opposite of any kind of fun..

The Sword God Emperor's frown deepened, his golden eyes narrowing as if trying to pierce through the veil of my soul and see the truth hidden within. "Wait," he said, his voice laced with a hint of suspicion. "Historical? Well, I suppose it has been eleven hundred years. I imagine samurai have been replaced by some superior form of swordsman by now."

He paused, a wistful look crossing his face. "I haven't spoken to a fellow countryman- even one who was reincarnated here- in... well, it's been a while. Tell me, what are the latest advancements in swordsmanship? While you talk, I'll get you started on some basic techniques that will far surpass anything you currently know."

He gave me a scrutinizing look. "I mean, you're probably originally from a noble family, right? Even if we samurai are your protectors, they should have at least taught you the basics of iaido."

I stared at him.

My initial enthusiasm was beginning to be replaced by a growing sense of dread.

A dreadful realization dawned on me.

I was going to have to tell him something that might just send him into a murderous rage.

"Uh... will you be mad if I tell you that swords became illegal in the late 1800s?" I blurted out in a panic, not even thinking to hide it.

A heavy silence descended upon the chamber.

The Sword God Emperor's eyes widened in disbelief, his jaw slackening as if he had just been trying to vomit while stunned by a taser. He looked like he'd swallowed a particularly sour lemon and was struggling not to choke on it by using the expedient method of vomiting.

His eye began to twitch in a rapid pace about fifteen seconds after he froze and the reality decided that time was optional.

Phantom images of Kirin bouncing around the room, being shoved into the chains by a shadowy figure, and even impossible fractals of reality shoved themselves into existence and moved in extremely confusing ways.

With a shuddering slam of some kind of energy the strangeness stopped.

I reached up to my nose as I felt something trickling down.

Then, his face contorted into a mask of thunderous rage. "I will be fucking furious!" he roared as his voice echoed through the chamber like a thunderclap. "History lesson, now! Start with what happened after Emperor Murakami's reign! And don't leave out a single detail!"

My heart sank.

This wasn't going to be easy.

Did I have to explain over a thousand years of history?

History including a large portion of history that went before the Meiji Restoration, the abolishment of the samurai class, and the rise of modern Japan – to a guy who hadn't seen the sun in centuries?

It was going to be a long night.

Actually, what time was it?

He still hadn't explicitly agreed to train me.

Or did he?

Wait, he did!

Fucking get it together, Darren!

Shock and absolute terror are no reason to stop thinking.

My stomach churned with a mixture of fear and frustration.

A history test.

In another world.

From a guy who could probably crush my skull with his bare hands.

Who also didn’t actually know the damn content!

Former-sixteen-year-old-former-eighteen-year-old-reincarnated-former-Japanese-former delinquents shouldn't have to remember history class in a different world, dammit!