Damn Reincarnation

Profound mystery of the Hamel Style, Ignition.

Number 1: Mana Parrying.

Number 2: Thousand Thunderclaps.

Number 3: Lightning Counter.

Number 4: Asura Rampage.

Number 5: Dragon Burst.

Number 6: Cyclone.

Number 7: Dead End.

Number 8: Poltergeist Aegis.

Number 9: Infinite Purgatory.

After speechlessly listening to this long list of cringeworthy names, Eugene immediately wanted to commit suicide by sticking his nose in a shallow plate of water[1]. In his previous life, had he really ever fought while shouting out the names of his attacks like this?

Suddenly, Eugene realized that he actually had. He had completely erased those incidents from his memories, never wanting to recall them again, but as he was listening to Genos reciting the names of these techniques with a serious expression, the shameful memories that he had buried in the deepest levels of his mind were being uprooted one by one.

—Asura Rampage!

—Why is that bastard making such a fuss?

—It must be because of his over-inflated ego.

—What the hell does swinging a sword all over the place have anything to do with an Asura Rampage?

—Don’t you also call out Fireblast and shit like that when you’re just letting off some fucking fireworks?

—That’s… that’s because the spell’s name is Fireblast. I didn’t give it that name—! You should already know that spells can’t function without incantations, so what are you looking at me for?!

—You too, Anise, when all you’re doing is just shining some light, you shout ‘Holy Cross,’ don’t you!

—I at least make the light into the shape of a cross.

—It seems like you guys don’t realize this, but swinging a sword is a lot like using magic. We’re both using the same type of mana, so what exactly is the difference?

—So what, are you really saying that shouting Asura Rampage makes your technique stronger?

—Of course it does. By letting out a battle cry, you can exert more strength.

Although the expressions that Sienna and Anise would make in response showed that they definitely didn’t understand what he was talking about, Molon would always nod his head in appreciation of these words.

—I think it’s cool. Whenever Hamel shouts Asura Rampage while swinging his sword, Hamel really does look like he’s turned into an Asura[2].

—See, he gets it.

‘He gets shit.’ Eugene trembled in agonizing embarrassment as he recalled this distant memory. At that time, Hamel had been far too young and immature. But Hamel had just turned twenty, so wasn’t it only natural for him to have been a bit immature at that young age?

Eugene confirmed that these were the ten techniques whose names he had called out as he had used them. As time went on, he had stopped shouting each of those named techniques. It had gotten embarrassing to do so, and he hadn’t even needed to call out their names either.

As far as Eugene could remember, he had only fought like that, foolishly shouting out the names of his attacks, for a few years. This meant that an overwhelmingly longer amount of time had been spent fighting without needing to shout their names.

But Vermouth, that bastard, still recalled each of the names that Hamel had foolishly given them and he taught these names alongside Hamel’s techniques to his own son.

His face flushed red in embarrassment, Eugene’s head fell into his hands as his shoulders trembled in shame. Rather than being reincarnated, he should have been returned to the past instead. That way, he would have been able to stop himself from shouting the names of his techniques like an idiot. Or else, he could have just killed the old Hamel with his own hands.

‘Then I could have killed Vermouth, that son of a bitch, as well,’ Eugene thought wistfully.

There was also that damn fairy tale. He could understand why Hamel might be less respected than his past life’s comrades, since he was the first to die, but wasn’t that ridiculous depiction of him going too far? Although he could understand that it might have been done out of a desire to keep the deceased Hamel alive in people’s memories, but still….

Eugene cursed, ‘If you were going to allow something like that to be written, then you shouldn’t have reincarnated me.’

Why would you resurrect a deceased person only to force them to read such a damn fairy tale about their life? And now, Eugene was even being forced to relisten to the embarrassing technique names that he had come up with in his youth from a complete stranger.

After struggling to get a grip on his emotions, Eugene raised his head.

Genos was looking at Eugene with a confused expression. Seeing this look on his face, Eugene once again felt a violent desire to off himself.

“...That’s… are these ten techniques all there is?” Eugene asked, avoiding any explanation for his actions.

“Yes. Are you implying that there were more techniques than these in the secret manual that you discovered, Senior Brother?” Genos asked eagerly.

Eugene hesitated as he thought about what to say, “That’s… not the case. In there… let alone those ten techniques… there wasn’t even a single technique like those ones written down within the manual.”

“What did you say?” Genos demanded as his eyes widened in surprise.

The gears in Eugene’s head spun desperately as he crafted an explanation. He was faced with a major problem. What should he say here in order to best restore the honor of the deceased Hamel, while also ensuring that those fucking stupid technique names would no longer be passed down to the future generations?

“...That’s… about those techniques. Those are all things that Hamel came up with when he was still young and immature,” Eugene explained, gaining confidence.

Genos asked doubtfully, “How can you be so sure of that, Senior Brother?”

“Uh… well, the reason for that is, because the manual I found didn’t have any techniques like that. Although there’s nothing wrong with what our great ancestor may have taught the founder of your family branch, in my opinion… I believe our ancestor may have been recalling the techniques that Hamel had solely used in his youth when he taught your penultimate ancestor, Junior Brother,” Eugene theorized.

“Indeed… that makes sense, but to think that the techniques that Sir Hamlet used in his youth were so amazing that they remained indelibly imprinted in our great ancestor’s mind,” Genos marveled.

Just why did Genos keep twisting Eugene’s words like this?

Eugene tightly clenched his trembling fists as he continued speaking, “Um… well, I guess you could see it that way. Although he might have been overshadowed by the brilliance of our great ancestor, Sir Hamel was also an exceptional and amazing person.”

By this point, Eugene no longer felt uncomfortable saying such things.

“In any case, the secret manual I found doesn’t have any of those idiotic—no, I mean embarassing techniques written down in it. Sir Hamel graduated from using such embarrassing techniques as he traveled with our ancestor and accumulated a lot of experience,” Eugene explained.

“Did you say embarrassing techniques…?” Genos’s expression hardened slightly as he picked up on Eugene’s words. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Eugene as he said, “Even if you are my Senior Brother, I cannot overlook your comments denigrating these techniques.”

“Huh… what’s wrong?” Eugene asked in confusion.

“Sir Hamel’s techniques have been passed down through our family over a long period of three hundred years, and we have always respected him as our master. My father, who left this world a long time ago, and even my child[3], who is not currently staying in the Black Lion Castle — every generation of my family has cultivated Sir Hamel’s techniques.” As Genos proudly declared this, he placed a slight emphasis on the word ‘child.’

Although he had accepted Eugene as his Senior Brother, Genos was reminding Eugene that he was closer to Genos’s child in age.

“These words might seem to be coming out of the blue, but my child also participated in the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony sixteen years ago. They’re currently twenty-six years old,” said Genos, emphasizing once more the difference in their ages.

“Oh, is that so,” Eugene said to show he was listening.

But what was the point of telling him that? Eugene allowed Genos’s words to flow in one ear and out the other.

Returning to the main topic, Eugene said, “Junior Brother, I believe that you may be misunderstanding something. I too respect Sir Hamel. Even before I discovered his secret manual, I have always held a great amount of respect for Sir Hamel. Also, it’s not the techniques themselves that I consider embarrassing, but their names.”

“...Their names…?” Genos muttered in confusion.

“Junior Brother. Be honest with me. Let’s place our hands on our chest, and promise to speak only the truth. Thousand Thunderclaps? Asura Rampage? Dead End? Dragon Burst? Poltergeist… Aegis? Infinite Purgatory…? Don’t you think that these names are really embarrassing?” Eugene struggled slightly at the end, but managed to get through the worst of the embarrassment.

“...Hm….,” even Genos couldn’t give an immediate response to these words. After hesitating for a few moments, his gaze wandered aimlessly as he muttered defensively, “...Lord Carmen’s ultimate attack is called the Destiny Breaker.”

“...Quite the impressive name,” Eugene complimented sarcastically.

“Her Iron Fist Combo is a combination that starts with Eclipse, then uses Emperor Blow and Lightning Strike, before finishing with Destiny Breaker. It has a reputation for being particularly fierce and powerful, even among the Knights of the Black Lion,” Genos stated.

“I think you’re the one who’s a legend for memorizing all of that,” Eugene muttered in serious admiration for his memory.

Although Eugene had gotten this feeling from the very first moment that he had seen her holding an unlit cigar in between her lips, his great-aunt Carmen Lionheart seemed to be quite the amazing person.

Eugene dismissed Genos’s argument, “Sir Carmen is Sir Carmen. But what about you, Junior Brother? Do you also shout something like ‘Asura Rampage!’ whenever you use it in a fight?”

“...Inside my head I do…,” Genos muttered quietly.

“But are you able to shout it out loud? In front of all your subordinates, all the proud members of the Second Division, can you really shout ‘Poltergeist Aegis!’ in front of them?” Eugene continued applying pressure.

“...It’s not like you need to say it out loud, right?” Genos argued.

Eugene celebrated his victory, “See. Even you, Junior Brother, can’t shout out those names in public because they’re so embarrassing! So how do you think Sir Hamel would feel? That’s why he didn’t write the names of those techniques down in his final secret manual. After all, once they’ve been mastered completely, you can use them without having to shout the names of the techniques.”

Genos wasn’t able to come up with a response to that, so he just kept his lips tightly shut.

Taking pity on him, Eugene changed the subject, “...Well, enough about the names of the techniques. Let me take a look at them.”

“You mean, right now?” Genos questioned.

“If it’s a bit inconvenient for you to show them to me, you can just write them down for me to read. After all, you know that the way that you apply your mana is different with every technique, so how am I supposed to know where to start?” Eugene argued reasonably.

“That’s… um….” Genos finally let out a long sigh and shook his head, “...I don’t mind showing them to you, Senior Brother, but like I said earlier, Sir Hamel’s techniques are incredibly complex and difficult to learn. As such… even now that three hundred years have passed since then, the teachings of our great ancestor couldn’t be fully reproduced.”

That was an understandable result. The second son, whom Vermouth had taught personally, might have been incredible enough to learn those techniques with just his own body, but there was no way to guarantee that all his descendants would be as exceptional.

‘They probably wouldn’t have been able to improve it either,’ estimated Eugene.

Instead, it might even have degraded. Eugene couldn’t help but feel a little bitter about this fact. Though this disappointment wasn’t just because his techniques hadn’t been fully inherited.

‘I should have just founded my own school instead. That way, I would never have had to hear such embarrassing techniques spoken about again.’

Eugene tried to calm the regret simmering inside him. Meanwhile, Genos had obtained a pen and paper from a servant outside and was now sitting down at the room’s desk.

“...Junior brother, have you ever entered our ancestor’s tomb?” Eugene suddenly asked as he was looking out the window.

Even as Genos was busily writing with his pen, he managed to answer Eugene’s question, “I went there once, on the day that I became a Captain.”

“Really?” Eugene prompted.

“It’s not just me, everyone who is appointed to be a Captain in the Knights of the Black Lion must enter the tomb of our ancestor at least once, so that they can swear an oath to him that they will defend the family even if it means sacrificing their own lives.”

“...What kind of place is it?”

“Don’t picture it as anything too grandiose. I can’t describe it to you in too much detail, as the place is meant to be kept extremely secret, but unlike Sir Hamel’s tomb, it doesn’t even have a statue or a memorial stone,” Genos stopped talking and fell silent for a few moments. “...If I had to put it into words… it looks more like a shrine.”

“A shrine?”

“Like any one of the many shrines that can be commonly found throughout the world. Although it’s not like the place is really used to worship a god, it just so happens that the tomb of our ancestor who managed to save the world really resembles a shrine. Perhaps… our ancestor may have become a god after he died and the shrine is meant to honor him. Or maybe that’s just what he wanted.”

A god.

As he continued looking out the window, Eugene’s eyes narrowed. Just like in his past life, Eugene didn’t hold much faith in gods. That’s not to say that he actually questioned their very existence. After all, wasn’t the divine magic that could only be cast by their priests proof of their god’s existence?

However, believing that a god existed and having faith in them were two completely different matters. Rather than a god who could be hiding who knows where, Eugene found that a sword, a spear, or any other weapon that he could hold in his hand was more reliable.

‘So Vermouth… became a god…?’

What if that was the case?

Eugene started to feel like this could be a real possibility. He didn’t know about anyone else, but if it was Vermouth you were talking about, he really might have been able to become a god after he had died. Because if that guy really did become a god, then this would explain how he was capable of miraculously reincarnating his deceased comrade.

‘...But if he really did become a god, then there’s no reason for him to have fought with Sienna.’

Then perhaps the one who had broken into his grave hadn’t been Vermouth, but someone else. However, Eugene’s suspicions couldn’t be completely swayed into believing this line of thought.

Because who in the world, other than Vermouth, would have been able to find Hamel’s sealed grave, open up the coffin in order to retrieve Hamel’s corpse, seal away the Moonlight Sword, and then defeat Sienna who had come to stop him?

“I’ve finished writing them down,” Genos said after a few hours had passed and he got up from his seat.

Eugene looked down at the heap of papers that he had been handed, his expression twisting into a frown as he read the very first page.

The Hamel Style.

‘Motherfucker,’ Eugene cursed at how awkward it sounded.

After needlessly shooting a glare at the innocent Genos, Eugene started reading what Genos had written down about this damned Hamel Style. It was probably due to the fact that Genos had taken several hours to write it all down, but his explanation of the Hamel Style was extremely detailed. To the extent where, if you were already good at controlling your mana, you would be able to start practicing the Hamel Style as soon as you obtained these notes.

However, it didn’t take Eugene more than ten minutes to read it all, let alone several hours. After reading the whole thing, Eugene flipped back to the first page. Then he read it once more.

‘...It sucks,’ Eugene eventually judged.

The mana operation instructions themselves were excellent, without anything to criticize. Genos’s ancestor, who had first learned the Hamel Style, must have practiced the White Flame Formula, but his subsequent descendants were not allowed to learn the White Flame Formula. However, the Hamel Style didn’t differentiate between users of the White Flame Formula and the Red Flame Formula, and only concerned itself with teaching the methods of operating their mana.

It must have been Vermouth who had improved the Hamel Style to the point where it could be used with both the White Flame Formula and the Red Flame Formula interchanged. Because if it wasn’t for his involvement, there was no way that these instructions could have been as neatly organized as this. However, the connection between the usage of their techniques and their mana fell far behind the refined operation of their mana itself[4]

After reading it a few times to confirm his suspicions, Eugene knew that the Hamel Style’s mana operation methods had been adapted so that the difficult and laborious physical training was no longer required. This had resulted in the mana operation not being as smooth as it should have been.

‘It doesn’t just suck, this is complete shit,’ Eugene realized as he kept reading.

Since the mana operation wasn’t smooth, their connection to the techniques couldn’t help but fall behind. It wasn’t difficult for Eugene to figure out the reason for this. It was clear that the idiots who had inherited the Hamel Style had decided on their own volition to add their own touches here and there, hoping to resolve a few of the things that they felt were inconvenient.

It must have been because physical training as a whole had been pushed into obsolescence since quite a while back. Even if it couldn’t compare to the White Flame Formula, the Red Flame Formula was a mana operation method that wouldn’t be looked down on no matter where in the world it was found. As they were already practicing such an exceptional Red Flame Formula, the inheritors of these techniques must have felt that it was unreasonable for them to have to keep up the old-fashioned physical training as well.

‘And it looks like they even came up with their own ways of efficiently applying mana to their techniques.’

Others might have called these an improvement, but in Eugene’s view, these were nothing more than a regression. Still, they seemed to have worked hard to try and supplement the shortcomings of their Hamel Style, making the techniques at least usable.

“...There’s quite a difference between these and what’s written in the secret manual,” Eugene muttered as he went over to the desk and sat down. He picked up a pen and then turned to look at Genos, “Junior Brother, does the Red Flame Formula that you’ve learnt also enable you to split off your Cores?”

“Our formula can reach up to the Fifth Star,” Genos replied.

Eugene continued, “And how many do you have, Junior Brother?”

“I have all five Stars,” Genos declared, puffing up his chest in pride.

Although this was something to be proud about, Eugene didn’t really feel much of an emotional reaction. After all, hadn’t even Gargith’s family managed to increase the number of Stars in their Red Flame Formula to five? Or course, even if the number of Stars was the same, the power of their respective formulas might still be different, but Eugene felt that Genos’s Red Flame Formula couldn’t be all that different from Gargith’s Red Flame Formula.

Eugene hesitated, ‘It would be a bit too much for me to demand that he do physical training at this point….’

He had instructed Cyan to do so, but Cyan was a completely different case. Cyan was still young, and even his White Flame Formula was still in its growth state, so there was no big issue with adding physical training on top of that. However, Genos had already put on a lot of years, and he had mastered his Red Flame Formula to its fullest extent. By this point, even if he did take up physical training, it would be difficult for him to break out of the habits that he had become accustomed to any time soon.

In fact, there was no need for him to be so concerned about this, Eugene could have just gotten away with giving Genos a quick explanation. However, Eugene didn’t want to do that. Although he hadn’t personally accepted any disciples, Genos still sincerely claimed to be a disciple of Hamel. Since that was the case, then as his nominal master, shouldn’t Eugene at least try to correct his disciple’s understanding?

After pondering some more, Eugene picked up his pen. First of all, he erased the words ‘Hamel Style’ by scribbling over it.

“Why are you erasing that?” Genos protested.

“Just be quiet,” Eugene ordered.

After that, he erased each of the ten separate techniques, apart from Ignition. Hamel hadn’t used the other techniques much as he grew stronger, but Ignition had seen use right up until the very end, so he definitely couldn’t erase it.

‘After having mangled their connections to the mana operation to such an extent…. Thousand Thunderclaps? That’s just spewing out sword-force, isn’t it? Idiots. Do they think that it’s funny to waste their mana by using techniques like this?’

Eugene let out a sigh of frustration, and then began to revise the techniques. Genos stood behind him and peeked at what Eugene was writing with narrowed eyes.

But soon, Genos’s eyes started wavering in surprise. Eugene had claimed to be a genius, and it seemed that he truly was exactly what he claimed to be. Regardless of whether or not Eugene had truly managed to completely memorize the secret manual, it would have been impossible for him to revise the Hamel Style like he was doing now without Eugene himself having fully understood both the contents of the secret manual and the nature of mana.

Genos adjusted his posture, changing his slightly casual stance. In front of this Senior Brother who was quite a bit younger than him, though he had initially only decided to treat Eugene like a Senior Brother for the sake of the secret manual, Genos now couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe towards him.

Eugene’s focus wavered, “...Hm… now that I think about it, Junior Brother.”

“Yes, Senior Brother,” Genos quickly responded.

Eugene admitted, “I forgot to tell you this earlier, but it’s about Cyan. I… also taught him a little using what’s in Hamel’s secret manual, you know?”

Genos seemed confused as to why Eugene had brought this up, “...Alright?”

“Even so, that doesn’t mean that you need to call Cyan your Senior Brother. Instead of calling him that, you should just pretend not to know about it,” Eugene instructed.

“Why would you want me to do that?” Genos asked.

Eugene explained, “It would be bothersome for me to have to explain the situation. And I didn’t even teach him any of Sir Hamel’s techniques, I just taught him a bit about the methods for operating his mana.”

Whether it was the Thousand Thunderclaps, Asura Rampage, or Infinite Purgatory, Eugene had no intention of teaching Cyan such embarrassing techniques. Although it was impossible right now, as long as Cyan kept diligently carrying out his training… then even if Eugene didn’t teach Cyan any techniques, the latter would be able to come up with techniques that suited his body all on his own.

“Since he hasn’t received official instruction, Cyan can’t really be considered Sir Hamel’s disciple. As such, there’s no need for you to call him Senior Brother. Also, you should keep this in mind, Junior Brother. This dogshi—these Hamel Style techniques, they aren’t impressive enough for you to be so obsessive over, even going so far as to defend their names. Instead, by getting caught up in these techniques, all you’re doing is limiting yourself from what you’re fully capable of,” Eugene concluded his impromptu lecture.

Without saying anything in response, Genos just silently listened.

His Senior Brother, who was just turning nineteen, was actually seriously discussing the limitations of these techniques with him…. This was an issue that should have had Genos, who had been training for such a long period of time and had gone through so many dangerous fights, reacting to Eugene’s opinion with derision.

However, Genos didn’t feel that way at all. Instead, he just accepted it as a reasonable opinion.

“Junior Brother, from now on you should also try to break free of the Hamel Style techniques,” Eugene advised him.

“Your words are justified, Senior Brother,” Genos accepted. “But Senior Brother, are you truly able to fully use the Hamel Style techniques?”

“If I wasn’t able to use them, then how else could I have revised them like this?”

“Please don’t take any offense. It’s just, I’m curious to see the extent to which Senior Brother truly comprehends Sir Hamel’s techniques.”

“Haaah,” Eugene let out a deep sigh and then pushed his chair back as he stood up.

Fortunately, this room was spacious enough that it could even compare with a good-sized gymnasium. Eugene first checked to see if there were any traces of observers, then he pulled Wynnyd out from his cloak.

“Look closely,” Eugene ordered.

The Stars around his heart began glowing and rotating. The Ring Flame Formula amplified his mana and a bluish-white sword-force engulfed Wynnyd’s blade. Genos’s expression twisted in surprise as he saw aboth the color of the light and Eugene’s absurdly high mana density.

Eugene ignored Genos's surprise and held Wynnyd in front of him. The wavering sword-force transformed into a fierce flame. These shifting flames condensed towards the tip of the sword and swelled up to form a large sphere. Eugene slightly twisted his wrist as he adjusted the flow of his mana.

With this, the sword-force that had been gathered into the sphere burst forth and engulfed an empty patch of air. The bluish-white flames swirled in the air before regathering in one spot.

Genos gasped, “...Infinite Purgatory…!”

“Please just shut the fuck up,” Eugene hissed.

“But how could you cast Infinite Purgatory so simply when it consumes a vast amount of mana…?!” Genos asked in disbelief.

As long as it was used properly, this technique could even swallow a mountain, though, of course, it was impossible for Eugene to show such an extreme output with his current limited reserves. But even if Genos used the Infinite Purgatory that he had learned from his family’s Hamel Style, it would be limited to this size at best. That was just how much worse it was than the original.

“Are you satisfied now?” Eugene asked.

“Please show me your Poltergeist Aegis as well,” Genos begged.

“As long as I wrap this mana around my body, that’s the Poltergeist Aegis, so what’s the point of me showing that to you? Instead of uselessly making me waste my strength, just take this with you and go,” Eugene spat out as he shoved the completely revised document over to Genos. “Oh and, Junior Brother, if Lady Carmen or some other person asks you to take me as your squire, just flatly refuse them, okay?”

“....Do I really need to do that?” Genos asked reluctantly.

“What?” Eugene questioned. “Do you really want to call me, your Senior Brother, your squire instead?”

Genos quickly denied this, “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that if someone like you, Senior Brother, becomes a member of the Knights of the Black Lion—”

“Otherwise, I won’t give this to you,” Eugene threatened him.

Genos quickly folded, “I’ll make sure to refuse them flat out.”

Then, Genos bowed his head deeply as he accepted the document containing the revised Hamel Style with both hands.

1. The Korean version of wanting a hole to open up beneath him and swallow him whole. ☜

2. Asuras are a type of divinity in Hinduism and Buddhism. They are commonly depicted as hostile and aggressive, as opposed to their peaceful Deva counterparts. ☜

3. Due to Korean not really using plurals, it’s a bit uncertain how many children Genos really has. It might be just the one, or more than one, and the gender of Genos’s child isn’t specified either. ☜

4. Think of the mana operation method as a generator that converts the user’s natural mana into a form of mana that best matches the techniques. When the connection between the usage of their techniques and their mana operation weakens, it’s like the power line running from a generator to a machine has been damaged. Their techniques can still work, but they are a lot more difficult to maintain and wastes a lot of mana in the process. ☜