POV: Arthur Leywin

  Adam lead us to a clearing and took his position, waiting for me.

  Retrieving the wooden sword I received as a present from my parents, I walked to the edge of the camp where Adam was waiting near a small clearing.

  "You know how to reinforce your weapon right, genius?" he asked, emphasizing the st word.

  By this time, my father already sensed that Adam was just trying to put on a show of dominance into his little boy, but he just watched, knowing he wouldn't hurt me too much.

  My mother looked a bit more anxious as she kept gncing back and forth between me, Adam and my father, keeping a firm hold onto her husband's sleeve.

  Well at least mother was here to heal me if I got hurt, right?

  I focused my gaze on Adam, who was just around 5 meters away from me. Images of my past life, dueling other kings with my country and loved ones at stake, popped up into my head. My eyes narrowed, restricting my vision to only the man in front of me.

  POV: Aldric Leywin

  I watched from the sidelines a bit away from the others, as my brother fought with Adam. He swung his sword with speed and precision, he dogged a swing from Adam and then fainted to the right. His sword hit Adam’s rib cage, Adam’s smug smile, which had been present the whole time faded. The fight continued.

  The more I watched, the weirder it seemed, since when can a three year old fight like that? The fight continued till Adam used a leg sweep which Arthur tried to block, Arthur’s body couldn’t hold the force and he was unched backwards. He got up groaning rubbing his head. Durden thumped Adam’s head and I saw him stumble.

  My mother was the first to rush over to Arthur.” Art, honey are you fine. How do you feel?” She looked him over trying to see if he had any serious injuries.

  “Im fine mom.” He reassured her.

  “Didn’t teach him how to fight my ass! How did you train such a monster?” Adam cut in. He was still rubbing his head where Durdin had hit him.

  “I didn’t, teach him that.” My father said in a confused tone.” Where did you learn how to fight like that Art?”

  “I learned by reading books and watching you dad.” He said with an innocent expression, I didn’t quite believe that, but what right did I have to judge anyone.

  “So how about we test the other one now, kid come here.” Adam looked at me, I looked at him, why had I agreed to this? I had wanted to show a bit of initiative, be more open now that I had the curse under enough control and when Adam asked if I also wanted to be tested I had agreed.’ Why did I do that??’

  I took a deep breath and walked to the clearing and realized I didn’t have a sword. I looked at Arthur who was still with mom and asked.” Arthur can U have your sword?” My voice still sounded hollow and I hated that, but no matter how I tried it always sounded hollow, I just didn’t know how to sound different.

  “Sure.” He passes me the wooden sword, which I catch. The familiar feeling of a bde in my hand, although it is a bit off being a wooden sword, still sends a shiver down my back. Adam gets into a combat stance holding his wooden stick.

  “You ready kid?” He asks me. I simply nod and take my sword in a two handed grip. The I push mana into my legs and burst forward, my sword meets Adam’s stick as he blocks my first swing. I dodge his counterattack by quickly pulling to the right. This feeling of fighting is so familiar and I start to remember the two years I had spent relentlessly killing. My vision focuses only on Adam and I feel myself slipping into that state of mind, that I adopted back in that pce.

  I start analyzing Adam’s moves, as I dodge another one of Adam’s swings, his moves are precise but there are subtle fws. Adam swings at me again, this time I don’t dodge, instead I block at an angle that allows my bde to slide across his stick. Adam’s eyes go wide as my bde hits his left arm, he quickly takes a step back. I don’t give him the chance to refocus, my instructors always said that the worst mistake you can make is letting an enemy recover. I see his left leg slightly bent, a weakness, I strike at his leg but he maneuvers out of the way, I wasn’t fast enough, this body isn’t strong enough to use my combat style the way it’s supposed to.

  Adam strikes out with one of his legs I crouch to avoid it, he’s open, I burst forward pushing more mana into my legs. I strike at his left leg, my bde hits and he stumbles a bit, good, I try to hit his torso but he blocks my strike. My thoughts grow hazy, all I see is an enemy to be eliminated, I leap back as Adam strikes at my arm. He’s open again I use the chance and strike at his abdomen, but before I can nd a hit, I see Adam’s stick heading for my left arm, he seems to think I’ll dodge, I don’t. My left arm meets his stick and my sword hits his abdomen. I feel a stinging pain in my left arm but I don’t care my sword had struck Adam’s abdomen, he should be dead, wait no, this was a mock duel why was I thinking of killing him? I look up and see Adam’s shocked face, everyone is quiet. I back up away from Adam, then I feel it, the familiar coldness of the curse but it’s focused in my right hand. I look down and see that part of the handle is cracked. Had I activated the curse by accident?

  “Are you okay Al?” My mother is again the first to recover, she rushes over and hugs me, I stiffen at the sudden contact, I use all my remaining mana to cmp down on the curse, pushing it back into the depths of my mana core. I nod reassuring her that I’m okay. She doesn’t seem to believe me. She looks at my arm.

  “It doesn’t seem broken, that’s a relief.” My mother sighs. Adam recovers next.

  “Are you sure you didn’t teach them how to fight, Rey?” He asks. My father shakes his head.

  “I didn’t teach them anything, where did you learn to fight Al?” He looks at me with a confused expression. I didn’t know how to answer, I was still trying to calm my mind, I had slipped into my old state of mind I took on while fighting for that pce. I kept seeing fshes of faces, a child barely my age, a woman begging to be left alive, rebel soldiers fighting to survive, I took a deep breath, I wasn’t like that anymore I reassured myself.

  I decided to copy Arthur’s excuse. “I read books on how people fight.” I said looking at him. My dad nodded and then started smiling. “I have two genius children, told you.” He said while smugly looking at Adam.

  “I admit it, ok? He’s certainly good at using a sword, he even hit my abdomen.” Adam says. I stand up and walk to Arthur while holding out his sword.

  “Sorry, I broke the handle.” I whisper, looking down at my feet, hoping he wouldn’t be to suspicious, I didn’t want anyone finding out about my curse.

  Arthur looks at me and smiles. “It’s okay it’s just a sword.” I feel relieved and try to smile back at him. He looks back at me with an astonished expression. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

  “It’s just this is the first time you smiled at me.” He says grinning. Really? I thought about it and realized I really didn’t smile much. Maybe I could try and work on that after I am strong enough to fully suppress the curse.

  “Okay, you two go rest now.” My mother says looking at me and Arthur. We go back to the fire pce and to our tents I y in the tent thinking about the fight, no matter what I told myself, when I fought Adam I had slipped back into my old self and I had enjoyed the fight, the same way that part of me back then had enjoyed the sughter, my true nature as the son of the abyss, was I destined to become nothing more than a machine of sughter? No, I told myself, I already could fight my curse so what was fighting my nature compared to that? I would not fall to my nature, I would live a normal life or as normal as was possible in this world. With that thought I slipped into sleep.

  POV: Arthur Leywin

  I watched my brother fight, each of his movements were precise, aimed at weaknesses or vital areas. His expression was bnk but as the fight went on I saw a small smile appear on his face, but it sent shivers down my spine, his smile wasn’t one I would have expected to see on a child, it was a cruel smile, it spoke of pure enjoyment and malevolence. I shivered again, I was sure now that he too was reincarnated, because I recognized the way he fought. In my past life as King Grey there had been a unit of soldiers called reinforcers, they were trained from a young age to do nothing more than kill the enemies of the kingdom, they had no other purpose, no remorse for human life and the way my brother fought reminded me of them.

  The fight ended with my brother nding a hit on Adam’s abdomen, while his left arm got hit. My mother rushed over to him, checking if he was fine. He got up and walked up to me holding up my sword and apologized for breaking the handle, I told him it was fine smiling and to my surprise he smiled back at me, it was shaky but it was there and it wasn’t that cruel smile I had seen during his fight. I smiled and thought to myself, ‘even if he is reincarnated, he is still my brother and maybe one day I can understand why he is so scared of people.’

  We continued our journey until we reached the foot of the Grand Mountains and then continued up the mountain path. The journey was pretty uneventful, except for me and my brother turning four. I spent most of my time reading a book on mana manipution.

  Here’s a cleaned-up and slightly refined version of your passage while keeping the pacing and excitement intact:

  ---

  I was reading when, suddenly, Helen’s armed voice rang in my ears.

  “BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!” she shouted, just as the rumble of footsteps thundered from our right and rear.

  “Submit, O wind, and follow my will. I command and gather you around in protection. Wind Barrier!”

  In an instant, a gust of wind surged around Mother, Ange, and me, spiraling into a twisting vortex before bending into a protective sphere.

  Ange stood firm, wand extended, her focus unwavering as she maintained the barrier. Arrows rained down, pelting the wind shell, only to be redirected harmlessly away.

  Mother pulled me and my brother close, her arms shielding me, ready to protect me from anything that might break through.

  Thankfully, her protection wasn’t needed—the barrier held firm.

  Within seconds, the tarp covering the carriage was shredded, giving me a clearer view of the chaos erupting around us.

  All around us were bandits and the Twin Horns and my father stood around the carriage, we were completely surrounded.