"What's he doing now..." Viktor muttered to himself as he watched his nephew take off his shirt, seemingly annoyed by how the branches kept getting caught by his clothes. "You're gonna get bloodied up y'know?"

To his surprise, Reivan just walked through uncaringly, not even flinching as thin lines of red were painted on his skin.

'Wha--' Viktor was about to inwardly comment how abnormal the boy was, but then he remembered whose son he was. 'Did he get this from Vianna? They're both freaks...'

As he kept an eye on Reivan's progress through the forest, Viktor kept flicking Qi-infused pebbles toward any wildlife that seemed to be headed the boy's way. The beasts and bugs would turn into dust the moment a pebble made contact with their bodies.

'Ah, this should be the hard part... you can't just keep going straight.' Viktor smirked as he vaporized a crow-like bird that seemed to want to take a peck at the bloodied-up Warbeast pup. Then he started laughing. 'Haha, the look on his face says it all!'

Viktor watched Reivan frown as he blankly stared at the cliff, then at the other side, then back again.

But Viktor stopped laughing when he noticed Reivan walking along the cliff as he sent looks toward the sky.

'What is he...' Viktor mused as he looked at where Reivan kept looking at, but then recoiled when his eyes were met with the blessing of sunlight. He frowned, but then he realized what the boy was doing. 'Is he using the sun's position to keep track of where he needs to go...?!'

Viktor was stunned. When his father had done this to him, he'd never thought of doing that. It was a testament to just how intelligent his nephew was, which made him proud, but also troubled.

'He's too smart for his own good...' Viktor shook his head. Perhaps it was because the boy was part human. He thought with his head more than with his heart.

Warbeasts were creatures of passion and instinct. They weren't just mindless beasts, but they only truly shined when they let their body take over.

'This method won't work then...' Viktor's mind worked spun rapidly, trying to come up with some way to amend this situation.

"Should I let some beast chase him around...?" he thought out loud. It wasn't even a second before the back of his head was smacked by an invisible force, sending him rolling across the ground. "Wh-what the fuck, old man Rolf! I was just kidding!"

Viktor sent an aggrieved glare toward the distant Sword Sanctum. That old man was so protective, even though he didn't even take the time to visit the boy!

"What happened?" Viktor's shoulders jumped when he heard a familiar, melodious voice spoke out from behind him. He turned around, only for his eyes to meet with his little sister, Vianna.

"Oh. Why are you here? Weren't you dealing with some Ascendants in the Outlands?" he inquired. Vianna was very active in hunting down monsters in that disgusting place, all for the purpose of making sure they never reach her son. He'd heard a swarm of Ascendant-class Nightmare Spawns showed up, and the Queen rushed out to hunt them down together with some of the Kingdom's strongest.

Unfortunately, Viktor was busy dealing with a different Ascendant, so he couldn't come with her.

"It's done. All dead." Vianna said with nonchalance.

"I see..." Viktor smiled wryly. Ever since she'd become an Ascendant, she'd just shot straight past him in power. Luckily, since she was the Queen, Viktor could keep his title of "The Strongest Knight of Aizen".

"No losses from our side."

"That's good." Viktor smiled. He noticed the trace of relief in Vianna's voice as she mentioned the lack of casualties. Even though they'd escaped into this country to run away from usurpers to the Luka-Touji Dynasty, he felt good that his sister was able to find attachments in this place.

"..." Vianna turned her face away to escape her brother's gaze, then noticed the markings on the ground. She gestured towards them as she asked her brother, "What happened here?"

"Oh... uh." Viktor stammered. Should he mention that the Sword Star had slapped him on the head when he'd off-handedly mentioned letting a beast chase her son around? Not if he wanted to get home without limping, that's for sure. "I, uh. I tripped."

"Tripped...?"

"Yes, I tripped."

"..." Vianna stared at her brother with a strange expression for a few moments, then she frowned. "You still trip? At your age? At your realm? Are you an idiot?"

"..." Viktor said nothing as he bit his lip in frustration. Getting berated like this was still preferable to a beating, but he still felt horrible.

Vianna sighed, feeling like continuing would be a waste of time. She then directed her senses toward her son, who'd just stopped walking to squat on the ground, his eyes closed.

"So, why's my son half-naked and full of wounds?" she asked. Vianna's eyes frostily glared at her brother, who was supposed to be watching over her son.

"He did that on his own!" Viktor exclaimed in defense, then began explaining what Reivan had been doing.

"That's not good..." Vianna remarked, as Viktor mentioned how Reivan was handling the situation. "Should we just let a beast chase him around...?"

'I literally had the same idea!' Viktor cried inwardly. He waited for the slap on the head from the old man in the mountain, but even after a dozen seconds, it never came. Feeling wronged, he couldn't help but gnash his teeth. 'It's because she's your favorite, isn't it?!'

"Oh! Doesn't it look like he understands what we want now?" As Viktor was sending curses toward their teacher, Vianna noticed Reivan going back into the forest.

"Oh, you're right..."

"Guess we just watch for now, then." Vianna waved her hand, taking out a chair from within her spacial ring. She also took out a bowl of peanuts as she sat down. "As expected of my son. He has Rodin's brains, and my... uhm, anyways! As expected of my son!"

"..." Viktor shook his head in exasperation. He looked at the bowl of snacks and the chair Vianna was sitting on with a bit of envy, but since he didn't have anything but weapons and documents inside his ring, he had to remain sitting on the ground as he chewed on his grievances.

*****

"Haaah..." Reivan sighed as he squatted on the ground. As he remained dazed by the situation, he'd unconsciously started taking the most logical approach to meet up with his uncle again. But then he realized what he was doing, so he sat down to think.

'The purpose of this whole thing is to unlock my Warbeast ability. So, this is a case of the "journey" mattering more than the "destination". Even if I succeed in meeting up with him, there would be no point if I don't do it the way I'm supposed to.'

But the problem was he didn't know how to do that.

If he just wanted to make it back, he could even ask his familiar, Zoro-chan (who was currently sleeping due to a recent growth spurt) for some help. There was also the option he'd taken unconsciously, which was to take advantage of the sun's position, though this method required him to remain alongside the cliff, since going back into the forest meant he couldn't see the sky. The option of just jumping off the cliff was also there, since he knew his uncle would save him anyway.

'Instinct, huh? What the hell even is that...?' he scratched his head. In the end, Reivan just decided to go back into the forest. 'Whatever. I don't really think this is something logic can explain. So I'll just throw myself into the forest and see how that works out.'

Reivan got up and took a deep breath. As he exhaled, his expression morphed into one of excitement.

It'd been a while since he was able to run around all he wanted. Getting cooped up in the castle all the time reminded him of his days stuck in a hospital bed. Now that he could move his limbs as much as he wanted, he was going to take full advantage of that.

'Running feels great. If that rat didn't fuck up my life, maybe I would've gotten into track and field?' he mused while warming up. 'I've never tried running on such uneven ground like this... but it sounds fun! Oh! And climbing trees! I've never tried that before.'

Reivan felt the child within him rise to the surface of his psyche as he thought of how he could play around in this forest. He'd been forced to mature early in his past life, for himself and his sister. But now, he could just live as the child that he was, right?

Everyone around him was a responsible adult that cared for him deeply. Reivan no longer had to think of the consequences by himself, he no longer had to prove himself just for a chance to get a bit of affection.

His father had even told him to remain a child until told otherwise.

'Let's just have fun.' Reivan thought. The entire forest was his playground. He didn't even have to worry about dangerous flora, fauna, or wildlife, since he assumed that they were either removed preemptively or were getting eliminated by his uncle as he neared them. 'Wait, that's not good. You're gonna mess up the food chain!'

Hoping that the wildlife would wisely avoid him, Reivan ran. He didn't have a destination in mind, he just wanted to run until he collapsed from exhaustion.

"Ack!" he tripped on a tree root, falling face-first into the dirt. Reivan got up with a bleeding nose, dusted himself off and started running again. This time though, he ran on all fours.

Strangely, he found it easier to traverse the forest this way. Perhaps because he was more stable? He didn't know, but he did know that he wanted to keep going like this.

As he kept running, he began to notice spots on the ground where he could get better footing. Reivan followed his heart, using those spots as he ran.

'Nice...' Reivan smirked in satisfaction as he noticed that he'd tripped less and his speed got a bit faster. Another positive was that his hands stopped treading on the rocks. He didn't mind pain, but less of it was definitely better.

As Reivan continued, he wanted to say that the wind on his face felt nice, but he wasn't quite fast enough to produce that effect. Although the bushes were an unwelcome replacement, as they made whiskers of blood on his face.

Eventually, Reivan felt his chest constrict, begging for air. His limbs were also screaming out in protest, yelling at him to stop and rest.

Luckily, he'd stopped just before a spring filled with crystal-clear water that was about the size of an average adult swimming pool.

Honestly, he wasn't even sure if he should call it a spring or a pond.

Reivan lumbered over to it, gulping down the nice, cool liquid as soon as he could. After he felt like he'd drank enough, he collapsed on the ground next to it, gasping for air with a big smile on his face.

"Haah haah..." As he reveled in runner's high, Reivan felt the sweat, dirt, and dried blood cling onto his skin. He frowned. "This feels disgusting..."

He turned toward the spring. It was just what he needed.

Reivan stood up and took off his trousers and the underwear he wore beneath them. Buck naked, he dived into the spring.

"Whoo!" he exclaimed as the water's chill rejuvenated his entire body. Perhaps because of his affinity for ice, he didn't feel an ounce of discomfort from the water's frostiness.

'It's been a while since I swam...'

He'd learned how to swim when he was a child in his past life. Their manor had a few swimming pools, so Hanzo saw fit to teach him how to swim.

Although Reivan didn't have experience swimming as an adult, luckily, his current body was similar to how he was when he started swimming. As such, with grace and poise, Reivan swam in the spring after he cleaned off all the dirt and blood. The cold water invading his wounds didn't make him flinch.

"Hmmm~♬, Hm hm~♪~♩." he hummed as he let his body float along the spring. He looked up to the sky, wanting to feel melancholic, but the damned treetops prevented him from doing so. He couldn't see a thing!

'They should trim these, honestly.'

After a few minutes, Reivan stepped back on land and put on his trousers. Swimming was nice, but it wasn't really fun when you were alone, so he'd quickly grown bored of that.

"What should I do now...?" he voiced in uncertainty. Should he keep running again? Perhaps he should try eating that mushroom that looked like the ones a certain Italian plumber always ate? The possibilities were endless. A bird's cry attracted Reivan's gaze, making him look towards the branch of a tree. Inspiration struck him. "A tree! I'll try tree-climbing."

He'd never tried to climb a tree before, but he always saw kids in American films do it easily. Reivan went up to the base of a tree, and began to climb.

'How hard could it be?'

This was Reivan's last thought as he fell off and struck his head on the ground, losing consciousness.

*****

"My baby!" Vianna cried out, she always used her forbidden art to shatter space when she felt a familiar energy surround Reivan just before he fell. She sighed in relief, but tilted her head in confusion when she noticed that her son still lost consciousness. "Master! Get your shit together!"

Jingle Jingle Jingle

The tinkling of bells reverberated in the minds of the two Warbeasts as a middle-aged man dressed in flowing white robes materialized from thin air. Three tiny, round bells hanging off of his waist swayed as the wind collided with them, though they made no sound after his initial arrival. His average features formed an exasperated expression as he looked at his brightest student.

"Silly girl. What would he learn if he didn't suffer from his own folly?" The middle-aged man shook his head. "I made sure no actual damage would befall him, but I knocked him out anyway. Just tell him you healed him afterward, then chide him for his carelessness."

"Grrr..." Vianna gnashed her teeth in vexation, but she still backed down due to the logic of what he said. She then turned her attention to something else. "Old man, why are you here? Won't that disgusting whale attack us if it senses you leaving your spot?"

"Yeah. Go back and do your job, master." Viktor chimed in, still holding onto his grudge from a while ago. "The people in the capital would panic if they knew the Sword Star left."

"It's fine. I'm not far enough away that I can't respond to its movements." The Sword Star, Rolf, shook his head. "Besides, it's learned its lesson when I cut off its fins the last time it tried to get too close."

Rolf eyed his second favorite disciple. Although he acted a bit harsher to this one, that was only because the boy tended to get carried away when he doted him too much. Vianna, on the other hand, would get carried away whether he doted on her or not, so Rolf just decided to follow his heart with her.

He doted on her like crazy, as if she was his granddaughter.

In any case, the two just got back from difficult battles, so some praise was in order.

"Viktor, you did well. Your sword is getting faster."

"Oh? Good eyes old man! Wahahaha!" Viktor laughed loudly as he puffed his chest out in pride.

Rolf frowned, wanting to give him a good smack, but he restrained himself. The battle was fierce, so the arrogant boy deserved to be proud of it.

It was incredibly annoying, though.

"You too, Vianna. Your leadership skills have grown. The fact that there weren't any casualties despite the number of Ascendant enemies is proof of that." Rolf's lips formed a warm smile as his eyes curved into crescents. "You used to fight by your lonesome. I'm glad to witness your growth."

"Hm." Vianna sniffed, turning her face away. Her tail was a dead giveaway though, as it swung from left to right, revealing her joy. "It was nothing. I just heard that the swarm was rat-type this time, so I felt the need to come personally."

"Geez... why do you hate rats so much?" Viktor voiced in exasperation. She'd been the same when they were young.

"Because they're disgusting." Vianna grit her teeth as she remembered the clothes, toys, and food that were wasted because a rat had gnawed on them. Ever since that day, she'd just found the small critters utterly unbearable.

She'd vowed to exterminate them on sight.

"Calm down now," Rolf said placatingly as he snapped his fingers.

Jingle

After a single ring of a bell, Reivan appeared in the air in front of Vianna. She deftly caught him and enveloped him in her embrace as she stroked his hair.

"Let's get back. We have to get the prince healed, yes?" Rolf eyed his disciples. "Or do you plan to have the boy continue?"

"No, it's fine." Vianna shook her head. "This wasn't something to be done in one trip. If he really managed to do anything after just doing this once, even I would be worried."

"Mm. We'll do this from time to time." Viktor agreed. "Though he made good progress today. Didn't it feel like he got a better sense of the right spots to step on? And from his first trip too!"

"Of course. He's my son after all!"

Vianna's proud laughter echoed throughout the forest. Despite not putting any of her Qi into her voice, it was still enough to scare off the wildlife.

If one looked at the forest from above, one would see a circle of animals fleeing from Vianna's position. The wave of wildlife was not unlike an ocean tide as it spread outward.

"Yes, yes." Rold grinned as his eyes gazed upon the child in Vianna's arms. "And he's named after my lord and master. He cannot be ordinary."

"Hey, don't just put unnecessarily large expectations on my boy!" she protested, using her tail to hide Reivan from plain sight.

"Hoho. My apologies...?" The Sword Star apologized in a very non-apologetic manner, then snapped his fingers as he said, "Well, let's go home."

Jingle Jingle Jingle

Three bells chimed as a boy, two Ascendants, and the only Transcendent of Aizen vanished.

It was as if they were never there.