S38 Decision Time 7

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Translation notes:

“Empty sword” – this is a bit annoying since it’s a reference all the way back to “Elf Village Battle 11”, a whopping 299 chapters ago, though from Shun’s perspective it would only be a few days ago. This is how Kyouya’s line was translated at the time – “How light. Do you seriously think that you can cut someone with such a sharp sword?” However, instead of “sharp sword” the meaning in context is more like “empty sword”, with “empty” meaning “free of content” or “empty headed”. Kyouya is really referring to the attitude behind the sword rather than the physical sword itself. This is also what Kyouya is getting at when he says “how light” – he’s referring to Shun’s strength of will.

“Transition” – yes, D really went there. In Japanese, Katia’s unique skill name is “転換” (tenkan) and “性転換” (seitenkan) is “sex change”. A more common translation of this word is “conversion” or “transformation”.