Demon Lord's Reincarnation

It took John a few more hours before he was able to find the weapon that was most suitable for him. The weapon he got was a wooden sword, but it wasn't just any wooden sword, the wood used to make the sword was from the tree of beginning from a universe that no longer exists. It was one of the universes destroyed in the battle between the ORIGIN and the Strongest Mortal Soul.

At first glance, it didn't look that impressive, but any weapon you find in Alphonso's weapon shop was something extraordinary. The wooden sword created from the Tree of Beginning from a dead universe was nearly unbreakable, and even though it had sentience it was unlike the other mythical blades in the shop as it could not speak, nor could it transform into a humanoid form.

...

After picking his weapon, Alphonso wasted no time and shooed John away. Once he was outside he looked at the shop but when he turned around the shop was no longer there. What replaced it was a restaurant that sold squid.

John tried to look around some more, he even entered the restaurant a few times, but no matter what he did he could no longer see the weapon shop. He then looked at the wooden sword in his hand, if it weren't for that being in his hand right now he would've believed that everything that happened was a dream or a hallucination.

John sighed as he shook his head. It was simply a weird twist of fate that allowed him to enter that place.

...

After returning to the dorms, John decided to rest for a bit and contemplate on the things that happened today. There were so many things that happened at once that it should've overwhelmed him.

The pub called The Lonely Cat were he learned the truth about the girl called Kiara. Who could've guessed that she was a child of the Legendary Emperor, Ren, John sighed after thinking about it again.

Then there was the owner of The Lonely Cat, he couldn't detect any mana from him not a single trace. Still, that was impossible since even a flower had mana, all living things in this world had mana. Does that mean the owner was someone who's able to hide his mana so perfectly, that even someone on John's level wasn't able to detect it?

'Well, he is someone who is close to the Emperor's family. Also, that place is very weird, even though he's someone who knows the Emperor his shop is located in a rather deserted area. Then there's his food it was unbelievably delicious and quite inexpensive for something of that quality. How come it isn't always flooded with customers?'

John tried recalling the state of The Lonely Cat. He then remembered that the customers present in the pub were rather powerful individuals.

'Could it be that the same as the weapon shop, The Lonely Cat is only used by those who are powerful enough?'

When John thought of the weapon shop, he found that in comparison to that place The Lonely Cat wasn't that weird. Both the owner of The Lonely Cat and the owner of the weapon shop were unbelievably mighty beings, but unlike the owner of The Lonely Cat that didn't exude any mana, the weapon shop owner exuded lots of it.

John remembered the first time he saw the child-looking owner of the weapon shop. He had joked around the weapon shop owner, but deep down he was a little frightened of the owner. The owner might've looked like a child, but the aura he exuded spoke otherwise.

John could feel an incredible amount of mana within the body of the little shop owner. If it weren't for the mysterious space the weapon shop was at, John was certain that many of the people in the Capital would've been overwhelmed by the shop owner's mana. It was so dense and powerful that John felt a little suffocated being near the shop owner. Still, John was someone hailed as a genius and something on that level wasn't enough to overpower him.

It wasn't just the shop owner that had that overbearing aura, there were the weapons within that shop many of which had sentience. The weapons within that shop were supposedly famed weapons used by legendary figures and even the Gods themselves.

Knowing what he knows the question of how the little shop owner got those weapons popped into John's mind. Were they given to him, or did the little shop owner steal them if it was the latter then how was he able to survive the wrath of many mighty figures? John didn't think about it for long before moving on.

...

John then looked at the wooden sword at his side. Among all the weapons in the weapon shop, this was the one that had accepted him as a master. He swore that with this weapon at hand, he would leave a mark in history.

Feeling a bit excited John got up and headed to the place were he was practicing yesterday. He stood there for some time without moving an inch. He closed his eyes as he put all of his attention on the wooden sword in his hand.  John then opened his eyes and without even thinking about it slashed forward cutting a falling leaf in half.

He was rather surprised at what he had done, that one swing was better than all the others he had. It was easy for him to cut a leaf in half, but the way he did it now without even thinking about it, as he allowed his body to move on its own was something new to him. As he was getting more excited about the progress he made he suddenly heard someone clapping. John could already guess who that was.

"Hey, princess are you sure you should be here?"

The moment John said those words a little girl appeared before him. Just like yesterday John still couldn't sense Kiara's presence nor could he understood how she could suddenly appear before him without seeing any movement. It wasn't just him who looked surprised even Kiara herself had a shocked expression though for another reason.

"You figured out my identity?"

"Yeah, the owner of The Lonely Cat told me."

"Oh, you met Uncle Kazuya. Is that why you've improved so greatly? Did uncle gave you some pointers?"

"He didn't give me any pointers I just went there to eat."

"Is that so, also what's with that weird wooden sword. I can sense a strange will from within it."

Kiara looked at the wooden sword filled with curiosity.

"I don't know if you would believe me, but I got this from a weapon shop that others couldn't see."

"A weapon shop that others couldn't see?... Oh wow, you've actually been to Uncle Alphonso's weapon shop! I knew that you were something special!" Kiara started jumping around in excitement.

'Uncle Alphonso, so that guy really was telling the truth...'

"Not only did you improve greatly from the last time, you even got a weapon from Uncle's shop. You might actually have a little chance of fighting against my siblings."

"A little chance... You think I can't win?"

When Kiara heard what John said he looked at him weirdly and then after a while, she started giggling.

"That's a funny joke, you winning against my siblings?"

John felt insulted as he responded to Kiara.

"I'm not joking, I'm serious."

The moment those words came out of John's mouth, Kiara's aura changed and so did her expression. The smiling little girl suddenly showed a very cold expression.

"You're serious? With your ability, it would've already been a miracle if you could last at least three strikes from any of my siblings. Do not look down on the Emperor's children."

"... It's not like I'm looking down on you guys, but no matter how powerful or skilled you guys are, victory is never certain. Even the very Gods themselves can fall much less you guys."

The cold expression on Kiara's face disappeared and went back to the normal smiling one she always had as she responded.

"Heh, you're pretty interesting. Fine, I guess that even an expert can lose to a beginner if he's not careful enough or if the latter is extremely lucky."

"Yeah, also it's not you guys that I want to fight, the one I truly wish to face in the tournament is the legendary Emperor, your father Ren."

"Every person who chooses the path of the warrior wants to fight my dad... Alright then, it's already getting late and tomorrow is pretty special, so I better get going. See you tomorrow in the tournament, I hope you show me that you truly got what it takes to fight me and my siblings."

After speaking Kiara then disappeared from John's sight. John then looked at the night sky as he gripped the handle of the wooden sword tightly.