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Rating:
Explicit
Archive Warnings:
Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
Categories:
F/MGenMulti
Fandoms:
The Beginning After the End - TurtleMeThe Beginning After the End - TurtleMe & Duta Permana (Webcomic)
Relationships:
Tessia Eralith/Arthur LeywinKathyln Glayder/Original Character(s)Claire Bladeheart/Original Character(s)Lilia Helstea/Original Character(s)Elijah Knight & Emily WatskenCurtis Glayder & Original Female Character(s)
Characters:
Arthur LeywinTessia EralithElijah KnightNico SeverAlice LeywinEleanor LeywinReynolds LeywinSylvie (The Beginning After the End)Sylvia IndrathOriginal CharactersOriginal Female Character(s)Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags:
Slow RomanceMultiple CrossoversBloodGoreInjuryDismembermentYandereAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceMagicReincarnationIsekai and TransmigrationOther Additional Tags to Be AddedButterfly EffectBreaking the Fourth WallFate & DestinyHurt/ComfortFluff and Angst
Language:
English
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Published:2026-06-03Updated:2026-08-17Words:216,609Chapters:25/?Comments:4Kudos:10Bookmarks:4Hits:618
TBATE - A More Experienced Reincarnated
SleepyWalkerYN
Chapter 3: Chapter 2 - Smiles, Scars and Horns
Summary:
Luz, after being saved and adopted by the Leywins, is now going with them on a trip.
The objective? Xyrus City, a great floating place, is considered the capital of Dicathen's Magic.
For this long trip, they will get familiar with the old Adventurers Party, which Reynolds was the leader of, the Twin Horns.
But will this trip be an easy one? What will they find, talk or interact with? And, Fate will laugh at the joke that is their lives?
Notes:
1. For the starting POV, I'll call the 2 guards: Guard 1 and Guard 2; so there's no problem with the distinction.
2. Warning: This chapter will be a pretty early reminder that this fanfiction has graphic violence and gore in battles, but it will be pretty "soft" compared with whatever can come after.
Chapter Text
[3rd Person Pov]
After putting the new guest at their house and leaving him there with their son, Reynolds and Alice walked apart. Reynolds went to where the corpses were to at least make sure no one had seen, Alice went looking for the guards to warn them about the situation. It took almost an hour, but she managed to contact 2 guards. She took them to the crime scene.
As they walked, Alice spoke a little vaguely, saying that she had heard an explosion, her husband had gone to see what it was, and that there seemed to be an attack by bandits, with victims. She decided to speak like that because she still didn't believe in all that and thought it was better for them to see for themselves.
"Good afternoon everyone, I hope we're not interrupting any of your work." Said Reynolds, watching the pair of guards who were coming with his wife.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Leywin. And no problem, at the moment nothing was going on around town, until your wife told us about an ambush that took place nearby. Hope we didn't take too long." Said Guard 1, approaching Reynolds and shaking hands with him.
Meanwhile, Guard 2 was approaching the corpses that were on the ground, realizing that only the man had injuries. Alice realized this and warned that she was a healer, and was trying to help the woman, as she still seemed to have salvation, but ended up failing.
"All right, Mrs. Leywin. So you mean the man was already in that state when you arrived, while the woman was still showing signs of life?" She nodded and so Guard 2 continued. "Okay.. we know you two were part of a good adventurers party, and that you were their healer… and since you tried to heal this woman…. you know exactly what wounds she had, correct? Could you come over here, point out and detail what the wounds looked like?"
She was approaching that guard and helping him identify the injuries that had been on that body before, with him writing down everything she was saying in a kind of notepad made by cloth instead of paper. Reynolds, meanwhile, was talking to the guard who was with him, until the two men were called to attention by Guard 2.
"Come here and see this! Under their clothes! I think I saw a deep cut, it's a little difficult to see due to the amount of blood." Guard 2 said leaving the corpse of the man lying face down on the floor.
"But what is this?!" Reynolds said seeing Guard 2 lifting the dead man's shirt, he appeared to have numerous marks and intense scars.
"They appear to be marks of attack and torture. I don't like to think about this, but there is a chance they are actually runaway slaves, I mean, I don't recognize this mark, but it seems to be a symbol of some noble. It's too damaged to identify." Said Guard 1, a little behind Reynolds.
"My god, she also has..." Alice said doing the same procedure with the woman, she also seemed to have several marks and scars.
But why weren't they healed when she used the magic before? Possibly they were so old that she had no way to heal them anymore.
Reynolds and Alice were having a bad feeling, those two were slaves, so was their son too? If they were killed, was there any chance that whoever was the old owner, would try to go after a child? With these questions in mind, the two looked at each other a little, it seemed that they had both come to an agreement without having to say anything.
"Okay. And it looks like there are some travel backpacks here, was there anything in them when you arrived?" Guard 2 said, noting the open luggage next to the bodies.
"Well, I went to look before to see if there was any identification of them. But nothing, they were totally empty." Reynolds said.
"Yes. While my husband was looking for some identification, I tried to save the woman, and I also tried to see if there was anything on her, but nothing unfortunately." Alice completed Rey's testimony.
"Alright, was anyone else around? I mean, you heard an explosion, right?" Guard 1 asked.
"No. I believe it must have been a spell with some distance trigger, I didn't find anyone around here, even though I augmented my eyes with mana." Reynolds said, looking at Guard 1.
"Okay, could you sign a report together with my colleague? I'll try to take the bodies with me so we can examine them in more detail." Guard 2 said, while Guard 1 walked with the Leywins.
It took about a few hours, but they both finally made it out of Ashber's guard post. They looked at each other anxiously, the first to calm down was Rey, and soon after he calmed down his wife.
"We'll protect that boy, won't we?" Alice was saying to her husband, in a shaky voice. "I mean.... If he managed to survive... he deserves a better life."
"Of course. As there aren't that many people who knew about Arthur's birth... we could say that Luz is also our son, and if anyone suspects him, because he's nothing like us, we at least say he's adopted. What do you think?"
When Rey said that, she hugged him tight, it seemed like it had been a while since he'd said something so responsible. They both laughed a little, trying to forget about the impressive bad mood from before and headed straight for the house.
When they were a street away, they heard an explosion. Both eyes widened as they ran towards it, the last explosion that happened was that ambush near they house, and now another one?
The person that attacked before came back and attacked their house after seeing the boy?!?
Soon those questions were answered, seeing a crater in the backyard, with Arthur and Luz next to it, and with the way they were talking it was more than obvious, it was something related with mana core awakening...
"ARTHUUUUUUUUR!!!" Alice yelled, both with anger and concern.
"Apparently that boy is already looking like our son." Reynolds thought, with a delighted look to see another child managing to awaken a mana core at that age.
And so… the day continued going on…
After getting the boys' clothes cleaned, they finally said about what had happened and how things should go from now on…
Due to possibly Luz and his parents being slaves from some noble, and the fact Luz being connected with "those slaves" was a thing that never got brought up to the guards… Alice and Reynolds had decided to adopt the boy for sure, trying to act as if he was always part of the family…
After all, the Leywin couple saw that new boy in the same eyes as how much like he was with their son, not in appearance, but something else. Something that only a parent could have a feeling about.
With the whole thing that happened while they were away from their home, the pure belief that these two boys had a lot in common, became a fact that was basically impossible to deny.
[Luz Leywin Pov]
It was finally morning, I was sitting on a chair, eating my lunch alongside my now foster brother, Arthur. If I consider the day I woke up in this world as Day 0. This is my first day.
"What an incredible first day… Having a foster family, already understanding the start point of the power system of this world, and even having another reincarnated person as my brother?" I thought to myself while eating. "Hmm… I think I had only 1 or 2 other times when my start was this crazy…"
In another room, the sound of arguments could be heard, with Miss Leywi- Mother Alice, pretending to cry. And after just 10 seconds, the discussion resumed between her and her husband, Mister Leywi- Father Reynolds.
"Arthur… How long do you think they will keep arguing like this?" I said, finishing my breakfast, and noticing how Arthur still had half of his food on the plate.
"Maybe they will stop this afternoon. I'm sorry for this to be your first impression of this family." He said that while still looking at the plate.
"Relax~ My first impression was when they pulled out from a bloody scene." I replied, now grabbing a cup of juice to drink. Arthur looked strangely at me, by the simple fact I said that as if it was nothing.
After a few minutes, it seems the discussion was over, I could see my new brother's face show how flabbergasted he was. Apparently it was not normal for these conflicts of ideas between our parents to end so quickly.
I could see them going back to the kitchen, and I saw something rather comical… a lot of slap marks all over Reynolds' face, which ended up making us laugh a little.
With everyone already finished eating. I could see my dad's eyes flickering our way, as if he was hella excited by something.
"I thought Dad lost the argument." Arthur whispered to me, and I nodded, showing that I had thought the same.
"Well, boys! Your mom and I talked for a bit. Even though you're young, you both have formed mana cores, and since I want you to-" Reynolds was speaking, but soon Alice nudged him in the shoulder, making him cough a little, self-correcting. "We want you to show the world how special you are. We already had some type of idea about it before Luz had showed up, but now this idea seems to be stronger!! Welp… We're going on a trip to a city where we can look for some tutors."
When he said that, our eyes widened in surprise, apparently the only reason Alice had accepted it was because the tutor was someone professional, and not our silly father.
The rest of the day was the beginning of packing the travel backpacks. While they took their necessary things and Arthur took his wooden sword and some books, I took the clothes that Rey managed to save from the remains of the ambush, being the only thing that was left over from the former owner of my current body.
During that night, when I shared the same bed with Arthur, I returned to my thoughts, trying to focus on the memories of the original soul that I absorbed, unfortunately not getting results with the exception of a headache.
"Hm... Xyrus... the floating city..." I decide to remember on things that I know and not what is unknown, this Xyrus was a place my foster parents spoke about.
Xyrus is a flying city that was founded to be the base of an amazing academy for mages, the trip would take 3 weeks to get to the nearest teleport portal, because if we went there without the use of portals, it could take months. It's in those moments that I hate a non-tech world. Remembering the other floating cities I've visited in my other lives, I went to sleep, building a mental image of what this place would be like.
And on that morning, before breakfast, was when I discovered the real reason my new mother had accepted this trip. I learned that they were former adventurers, and their ex-party had stopped by here, in Ashber, and were on their way to Xyrus anyway. So, nothing is more fair than getting a ride and having protection along the way, because in the country paths we would go, there might be attacks by bandits or wild animals, or as they called them in some of this world's books, mana beasts.
As we had our breakfast, I could hear father Reynolds talking about the members of his ex-party. For what I understood, there are 2 conjurers, a type of mage that can project magic on distance, and 3 augmenters, a type of mage that was focused on magic that buffs the body.
I had confidence that nothing would go wrong, because a long with them, my new father seems to be what they would call a 'B-Class augmenter', my new mother was a rare Emitter, a type of mage that in other worlds would be simply called 'healer', and even though we had these childish bodies, Arthur and I had enough knowledge to know how to act in times of danger.
Some hours later, not even reaching noon yet, we went near the inn where that ex-party was staying at in Ashber. I could notice they were already there, as they were out in the front of the inn, near the area for stables.
"Yo, Guys! I want you to meet our sons, Arthur and Luz! Go on, kiddos, introduce yourselves." This was the first thing said by father Reynolds, as he hugged and greeted his old party members.
"Hello. Our father has told us great things about his fellow Twin Horns members. Thank you for traveling with us to Xyrus. We'll be in your hands" I saw Arthur saying this while he gave a slight half bow.
"Hello hello! Our father said about many adventures they had together with y'all. I would love to hear these same stories from your perspective, thank you so much for helping us out on this trip." I said trying to be humorous, interested in knowing more about the group.
"HAHAHA, what is this? Is this child really your son, Rey? such manners!" The one who said that, carried a spear, so I thought he was the one called Adam, and from the way he commented, it was obvious that this question was referring to Arthur. Which is the most funny part, after all I'm the one that doesn't look like the adults.
Looking better at him, Adam looked like the energetic type who talks more than should, with red hair tied up in a messy way, one of the things that would be useful in the case of losing him in a crowd. It made me have a genuine smile, it reminded me of a lot of friends I had in groups from other lives. But that smile ended when I noticed my brother being picked up, while his face seemed to be suffocated by the large breasts of one of the Twin Horns' female members.
"Awww. Isn't he just too precious? You should be glad that he doesn't look like you, Reynolds." That's what she said, as she seemed to hug my brother tighter.
My goodness, that woman had gorgeous blonde hair, emerald green eyes, and gave off a whole royal princess vibe. I couldn't believe it, she was totally my type of woman, at least with those traits, but I can't get too excited, as our physical age did what I was thinking unlikely to happen.
"Hun.. excuse me, little boy." I turned to see a large man with a deep voice. I could bet all my 'not-existential-money' that he was at least 2 meters tall, and as I watched him, he gave me a light pat, I let him pass to get near the scene on my side.
"Angela, you are hurting him." the giant said while saving my brother from that beautiful trap he was.
"So, this beauty is called Angela?" I thought about it, but then I slapped myself mentally to wake up from this.
I'm now in the beginning of this new life, wtf is wrong with me?
I looked at my brother who was being carefully placed on the ground by the giant, I managed to notice how impressed Arthur was to see someone that size. Maybe it was the childish part of his mind asking to be carried on the giant's shoulders.
Then I thought a little more, by the traits of that man, he should be the one Father Reynolds said was 'Durden Walker'.
In seconds, Arthur seemed to recover from that and looked around, I was looking in the same direction. We saw a woman who seemed to be the youngest of the group.
When I saw her, I noticed that the way she was dressed and posed was very like Glaipper, one of my best companions from my first life. She soon realized that we were looking at her, and she simply made a "mhm" while giving a slight nod and then turned away.
I noticed that she had two small daggers in the hip area, from the information our father gave earlier, it was easy to assume that this was the wind augmenter, Jasmine Flamesworth. I still was a little confused, as her surname is related to fire, but her element was Wind. It seems that elemental affinity isn't 100% related to the family tree. This was good to know.
"Huh… a woman of few words... How charming and mysterious." I whispered, and I could see Arthur seeming to agree with me, as he nodded.
At that moment, when we met the last of the 5 members of that group, we saw a woman approaching and stroking our hair. I looked at her body, and I could see well that atmosphere of 'We can do it! We will never lose!' that emanated from her smile. By the description given beforehand, and by process of elimination, she was the woman named Helen.
I noticed her armor, it seemed to be very light as her bow in the back, she didn't seem to have elf-ears, but I could sense an elf-like essence in her body…
Is she a half-elf?? Welp, whatever if she is… I don't see a problem with things like that..
With all the Twin Horns introduced to us, Arthur beckoned me over to the carriage, where we could be seated. I saw my brother augmenting his legs to climb up there, since it was a little high for him, and then I did the same. Even though I was on the same level, my movements seemed more natural than his. Maybe it was again the fact that this body seems to flow with mana easily.
After our party finished loading in all of our travel necessities into the 2 carriages we were taking, we strapped in some mana beast with the appearance of giant lizards, Art gave me one of his books and flip some pages, apparently it was a basic encyclopedia, and there I saw what those creatures were, D-class monsters that were more efficient than horses for travelling mountain terrain.
[Arthur Leywin POV]
By nightfall, the once distant mountain range seemed to have doubled in size. I wondered how big the Grand Mountain Range would be when we get to the foot. Needless to say, I was excited to get out of the tiny outpost that was my hometown, Ashber.
We eventually stopped to set up a camp near a small cluster of boulders. This was good for not having so much wind to give us problems with the campfire. I first noticed that my body, of a 3 years old, needed a lot of rest. Despite being asleep for most of the way. I still felt a bit heavy-eyed after being awake for a mere few hours.
With the campfire and a couple of tents placed, I saw my mother and father talking with the Twin Horns about old times. Luz was by my side, watching the fire burn there. That's when we saw Helen going near and sitting near us.
"I heard your pops say that you two are some kind of genius mages... Is it true you're already awakened?" Helen said, looking at us. And I just replied with the truth, saying that I got my core awakening first, and after this I helped Luz doing the same thing.
She began asking how we felt when we did this process and what color our mana cores currently were. By this time, a couple of curious ears perked up as Adam asked "Reynolds, do you mind if I test the little ones?"
I saw him trying to ask some ridiculous thing, no one would accept a grown adult fighting children under 6, but after seeing their faces, I guess these thoughts had never occurred to anyone here. Only our parents seemed at least a bit hesitant.
"Okay, but be careful, I haven't started to teach them how to properly fight yet. I only taught them light strength and mana exercises until now."
"Hey kids, come here, Let's see what you're made of!" Adam said while he was getting up from his makeshift log seat.
I couldn't understand if he was trying to hit the egos of boys who seemed inflated, since he'd heard we were geniuses. Or if he really wanted to see how strong we were. But from the way he looked us up and down, even from our height, I felt like I was the first choice.
What was more impressive was the fact that dad said this with the case that Luz had been with us for just 3 days at this point. I know Luz and father had a little talk on the day he was found/adopted, but did my father really believe the new addition to this family had something up?
Like, yeah, we are reincarnated and it seems both of us had a lot of training on past lives, but this was something only WE knew, not them…
Really dad… you are getting a little low in my scale… maybe it is the nostalgia he is having with being together with his old group, that is making him be reckless.
I took my wooden sword as Luz followed me with nothing in his hands. We made our way to the edge of our camp, where Adam would be waiting for us near a clearing site, everyone else was watching the situation behind me.
"Hm. So… I could say you know how to reinforce your weapon right, genius? And you? with nothing at all? Want to make me feel bad, huh?" Adam said, his eyes at me and then at my brother.
It was obvious that he wanted to show dominance over us, and we could feel our parents looking at that. My mother clearly worried about what was happening, even if she could heal us later, while my father seemed to know that our "enemy" would not hit so hard.
We stared at him, we were 5 meters away from him. I started to strengthen my sword and legs as I thought about the fights I had in my past life. Getting all my focus on him, but before I did anything...
"COME ON, FRESH MEAT!!" I looked to the side, seeing Luz saying that like a battle cry and running towards Adam, the same looked in shock at the straightforward movement, and when I noticed, I had the same expression.
While Luz was going to Adam, a trail of smoke was forming from his legs. For some reason, the only comparison I could have was the smoke coming out of a car exhaust.
I soon got closer too, carefully and watching the movements that were happening. It was crazy, even with our childish bodies, I realized that Luz was dodging Adam's attacks, kicking his spear shaft to redirect them, opening a path. I looked back, seeing my father open-mouthed and even Jasmine having some surprised facial expression.
"I can't have all the fun, come on bro!" When Luz said that, he walked away from Adam, still with the smoke trail on his legs, and I started attacking our opponent.
Adam's expression became very serious, when he saw that I managed to dodge some of his attacks as well, unfortunately being hit by one in the belly area, but I moved away so Luz could give me reinforcement. He didn't seem to want to let the spear bearer breathe, already starting with a false kick to fool Adam and then, with a jump to get the right height, kicking him in the ribs area from the other side. Leaving our spear enemy off balance.
With his imbalance, I could see my brother do something that, if it weren't for our mother, I would have sworn out loud in surprise. He simply made a little jump, turning upside down, used one of his hands to support himself on the ground and started spinning, like a pawn, hitting Adam's waist with several consecutive kicks, until he was knocked for real on the ground. Luckily, that last sequence of his attack didn't seem to have that strange black smoke.
"WOW! Letting the mana flow freely was a great idea." My brother said, as he approached me.
We both saw our father approach Adam and help him up, while the others watched us still in shock over what had happened.
"What was that?!? I mean Arthur, you did really well for a sword fight, I thought you would get hit by most hits, not just one." Helen said as my mom approached me and went to see if the damage had been so much, it was just discomfort, but she insisted on healing.
"And you!! What was that smoke! And how did you make those moves?" She was asking Luz now.
"Well, I just augmented my legs a little, and when I started to run, I let it go, as if the mana had to guide my body, instead of me controlling it." Luz's explanation seemed a little vague.
Soon Jasmine seemed to realize something and tried to warn us, if Luz really let it flow after augmenting his legs, it means that the smoke there was mana escaping from his body, if so, there was a minimal chance that, even if a core of the appropriate color, he is already showing signs of having an affinity for fire. As someone with "Flame" on the surname, I think it is a correct affirmation.
That's when an idea hit me, does this have to do with the 'red mana surrounding the others'? That's how he described it when he was forming the core, as I recall.
After that, we ate a little and talked about other things, while Adam was waking up with no idea what had happened, they had to explain to him, and he looked at both of us in disbelief. Perhaps, even if Luz had hit without reinforcing his legs, the hit could have been a bit strong when falling to the floor.
Then we decided to sleep a little after that, with some of the Twin Horns accepting to be awake…
A few days after the trip had started, that adventure party was starting to get used with me and my brother. Most of the time, when we got the tents setted, we always trained a little just to remain sharp and ready for what we could find on Xyrus.
Me using my swordsmanship, and Luz using that mana release thing on his legs.
Helen had asked us to show in repeat how we did some of our fight moves against Adam. Most of the Twin Horns seemed interested, with Jasmine being the only one who could repeat my dodge moves almost perfectly.
Due to my childish body, I couldn't truly show how those were done in an adult proportion, but the fact she was able to do it, made me genuinely applaud.
And by the time we got to our 3rd week of travelling, we were on a path that led us really high up the mountain, but we still had some ground upward to achieve the teleportation gate on the top. I had spent all the time reading the books I took with me. After all, traveling to a country city without something to read seems like a pain.
Talking about time, between these moments I finally had my birthday, making me a 4 year old. On that occasion, mom surprised me by showing she had hidden a special sweet treat that would act as the cake. I even got surprised by Jasmine giving me a short knife as a gift. Basically my first weapon that wasn't made of pure wood.
While I was reading, I soon heard something that alarmed not only me, but everyone else. It was Helen's voice.
"BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!"
[Luz POV]
I was in one carriage, along with my mother Alice, Arthur, Angela and Jasmine, with Helen in the front controlling the mana beasts, father Reynolds in the other carriage, with the rest of the Twin Horns and most of our storage. It was a morning, the sky showed no sign of rain, and most especially, something interesting was about to happen.
On the day before, I had noticed something in mother Alice. There was an extra essence inside her body, apparently another new member of the family was on the way and I had barely arrived here.
This happiness that I had didn't last long, I felt as if the sky was darkening even though it was bright, I knew well what was to come.
"BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!" Getting to hear Helen warning us. It really was what I expected.
"Submit, O' wind and follow my will. I command and gather you around in protection. Wind Barrier!"
Instantly, I, my brother, Alice and Angela were surrounded by a green barrier while Jasmine was behind us. Angela had done this spell while she was holding a kind of staff that I can tell channeled mana. The shield protected us from arrows, which came from some directions and ended up through part of the fabric of our means of transport.
I closed my eyes and I could feel, besides us, there were about 30 bandits. This ambush was small compared to others I've been to, but it seemed to be minimally organized, as if it were a small team from some clan of thieves. Still feeling my surroundings, I saw my father and the rest of the group fighting them, I even noticed Helen joining them. As if Jasmine and Angela were only here to protect the weakest people, us.
I feel irritated by this, not because they see me as a child, after all I was in the body of one, but because they won't help the rest of the group. I got up and walked out of the protective shield.
Immediately being stopped by a strained voice. "Luz, Please! Don't go there, let them take care of it, don't leave here!" it was Jasmine's voice, she was the one who spoke the least there, so the first time she spoke so many words, was it to stop me from something?
"I'm sorry, but I was taken for this family, I don't want to be a glass vase here." As I said that, I could see my brother, who had just turned 4, get up and approach me. I handed him his wooden sword, and he took it firmly.
"Are you really going to do this...?" Angela said a little shakily as she kept the shield active.
"Of course. This better be over as soon as possible." Arthur said, taking a long breath.
"If you don't go on the offensive, we will. The most important person here is Mom, if they find out she's a healer they'll only focus on her. Besides, I know you can't try too hard..." I said looking to Alice, who was making a surprised face, possibly thinking about how I had realized about her pregnancy. On the other hand, Arthur didn't get what I was saying.
A few seconds after I said that, I could hear a laugh, I looked over to see where it was coming from. I noticed a bald man with a big scar on his face, he was far enough away not to hear me speak, but he could still see us.
"Look what we have here. Pretty good catch boys. Leave only the girls and the kids alive. Try not to scar them too much. Damaged goods will only sell for less." he yelled with a smirk that revealed a nearly toothless mouth.
Damaged goods...
I could feel tremendous anger rising in my body. I've lived this long, I knew there were people like him, but still, I wanted to kill him right here and now. Arthur didn't look any different from me, I could feel him trying to calm down, but it was like he didn't want to be sharing the world with trash like that bandit. I know very well how it is.
When we got out of our carriage, we could hear our father warning everyone. "There are only 4 mages, none of them are spellcasters! The rest are ordinary warriors!"
I could see the way Rey was giving instructions as he fought some of the thugs. It was like watching some old warrior return to the battlefield, showing no difference from his glory days. And that thought of mine was confirmed, when he shouted "Safeguard Formation!" and the Twin Horns were being guided by him, even Angela and Jasmine left to obey the formation. With the two carriages and mom still being the main focus of protection.
"Art, stay here and attack anyone who crosses the formation!" I said, with him nodding as I went to join the Twin Horns.
"World of the dead, listen to me, listen to the one who carries corruption, surrender your souls to me, so that I can use them to reach the light you want so much. Soul Speed!"
I mentally activated the same magic I used against Adam on our first day of travelling, that was not a common magic, it was one of the magics that came with me, due to Zalgnity's connection with my own being. I still owed Jasmine for creating that theory back there, which helped my lame excuse.
Starting to run quickly, a trail of smoke began to rise from my legs, helping Rey to disorient the bad guys. Durden saw my effort and used earth magic to create a 4 meter gently sloping wall, it served both as protection and as my platform, where I did a light run going straight into the air, dodging knives being thrown at me.
"ANGELA! WIND ME! THROW!" I called out to our windcaster, who seemed to understand what I wanted.
She casted a gust of wind at me, which served to propel me and so I could give a powerful kick to the head of one of the bandits, killing him with his neck dislocated. While I was in the air, I saw Helen shooting some arrows at bandits who were trying to get close to me.
I was still upset, in the peaks of glory, Soul Speed could reach MACH 6 without any problem, but apparently the mana core and body I have in this reincarnation were limiting skills that were carried by the right of the fallen god. In some way this was good, as it didn't make me go beyond the power trigger of the death curse…
At least, I had twice the speed of a common black core augmenter. I didn't even have the right moment to test the other skills that always came with me, but I could feel that maybe they weren't even useful while my core is in the first color.
We continued to fight, we were doing well, with the exception of Helen, who was hit by an arrow that came from one of the bandits making her hide inside the carriage where my mother was, possibly she was being healed there. But it wasn't the only complication, I saw my father being the second to be badly wounded, he was knocked down hard, his head being hitted by a rock that came flying from an side he and Durden didn't expect, causing him to bleed from above his forehead, the blood rushing to his lips.
"Dad!!" "Honey!" "Rey!!" Arthur, Alice and I said at the same time as we watched that scene.
Using Soul Speed, I tried to take him to the carriage as well, where Arthur and Helen helped me to put him near mom, who started to heal him, while Helen left with her bow in hand and shooting at the bandits who had knocked down my father. But Helen being there again just gave away a detail about our group.
"That one was badly injured before! They must have a healer! Focus there!" I could hear a man with a ragged voice yelling that, my body heated up quickly as I felt that they were going to focus more there.
Due to healing magic, Reynolds was able to recover quickly, getting out of the carriage as Art and I followed, but soon we were interrupted. "No, Luz, you've done too much already, go take care of your mother. You too Art!"
"No! We'll stay with you!" We said almost in unison, it seemed like we were forgetting for a moment the body we had, but we didn't care, we wanted to fight for them. I don't know Arthur's absolute motivations, but I…
I hated the idea of leaving someone behind, especially someone who had just recovered. It's a behavior I got from many times being the leader or assistant of some great groups.
"LISTEN TO ME, ARTHUR AND LUZ LEYWIN!" He spoke almost roaring to us, the way he acted at Ashber, it was extremely different to hear him like that, it was the kind of voice people normally used in moments of despair.
"I know you... you two can fight! That's why I'm entrusting your mother to you. Protect her and protect the baby inside her. I'll catch up to you after this is over." His words didn't affect me that much, I knew that clearly, but I looked at Arthur who had a surprised and astonished face.
"I was planning on telling you when we arrived in Xyrus, but..." Not finishing his sentence, I noticed father just looked at us sheepishly, still pale from the blow he received from the bald, axe wielding boss.
"We will protect them at all costs." Arthur said this, while I agreed with him.
Our father looked at us, but with more focus on his biological child, having a proud smile "Atta boy, That's my son."
We took our mother out of the carriage and left her away from there, with the TwinHorns and our father keeping the bandits at bay, making sure Durden defeated the last one carrying an arrow.
"Forget it! Let's finish her off! Attack!"
I could hear the bandit chief say this, but I was looking around, I was seeing all the bad guys there still focusing on the others, so which one was being told to focus on our mother?
My question has unfortunately been answered. With a recitation being heard in the distance. A mage casted a water spell, propelling me, Art and mother Alice closer to the edge of the cliff. It looked like he was camouflaged among the others, and that's why we weren't aware of him.
And it didn't stop there, I saw him approaching both of us, already so close that it was difficult to dodge another of those water beams, since we were so close to the edge. That's when I looked slightly to the side, and saw Arthur with an expression, an expression I knew all too well and hated to see on others' faces.
Arthur augmented his arms and threw our mother out of harm's way, while grabbing the mage who came through the clothes. The wizard tried to cast another water spell, not in our direction, but in our mother's, so that she would be thrown over the cliff.
I wouldn't allow it.
I also grabbed that mage by his clothes, pulling the sleeve of his shirt down so that he would be unable to aim at the woman. But it didn't stop him from releasing the spell directly on the ground, making the 3 of us propel ourselves towards the sky, above the abyss.
I've had lives that were so short for making choices like this, but even so, I wouldn't want Arthur to be alone in this, if protecting our family resulted in us having to go along with a bastard to the ground, we would do it no matter how many times were necessary.
I could see our mother's horrified expression as her adopted son and her blood son were being taken to probable death to protect her. I gave Art's clothes a hard grip, causing him to release the bandit, and I pushed myself forward, stepping hard on the free-falling bandit. Concentrating on using another spell I had up my sleeve, which could propel me towards where I'm looking, however I had barely started reciting and felt extreme pain coming from my mana core.
Really, that magic couldn't be used with such a weak core, and I found out the hard way.
But being able to see a little of the last seconds of the battle, Helen and Rey managed to kill the leader of the bandits, Angela was helping Jasmine who appeared to have been injured, and Durden, who was running to the edge of the cliff, use an earth spell to create a platform for us. I tried to at least extend my hand to grab on that platform, but it was too late, even with the impulse I had by using the bandit's body as a falling floor while holding Arthur, that water spell had left us way too far from the edge.
My core was having a little trouble, I couldn't think straight, Arthur had tears in his eyes while falling with me. There was nothing to do, making me close my eyes and accept, one more world, in which I didn't live long enough.
"Take good care of your next child, Reynolds." I whispered, as my consciousness was shut off by the extreme pain in my mana core.
...…
...
…
…
...
...…
My last memories were of falling from an extremely high place and passing out. What was that place again?
I've been in so many similar situations, always for a different reason. Sometimes it was because of betrayal. Others, people just asked for my death. Few were to save someone, how a small number would be in front of an infinite number? I don't even know anymore.
I opened my eyes, finding myself seated on a throne, my body was very mature but simple, having a basic attire but with a slight charm. There were windows on the wall to my right in that great hall, and even sitting on the throne, I saw a beautiful, chaotic, heavenly landscape, with countless planets visible to the naked eye and stars that shone even in a clear sky.
"This always takes my breath away..." I said, with a smile on my face looking at that landscape, but then I decided to look at the rest of that great hall.
The floor was checkered, between a soft white quartz and a vibrant black onyx, with a red carpet that ran from the door to my throne. Looking closely at the path of the carpet and having my eyes on the sides of it, I noticed some being there, slightly bowing due to my presence. Most of them were dressed in uniforms as butlers and maids, but a little few were using outfits that were 100% out of what would be expected from the world setting of the world I previously was awake.
I gave a slight smile at that scene, noticing that some of them didn't even try to talk to me, as I know them for sure. This can only mean that this isn't my mind palace, it's more of a dream, an illusion casted on me… by myself?... or something beyond?
But my happiness to see her was fading as I soon felt a strange presence, an intruder.
I turned suddenly towards the entrance of the hall, with my right arm raised and a sword in my hand. This sword appeared with the blink of an eye, having a black, purple and pink blade, with a multicolored gem at its base. I screamed, with a dominant and powerful voice, which would make even demons terrified, after all, that was my existence.
"Who are you?!"
I saw a beautiful woman with pale hair and a black dress, having a pair of horns that directed forward from her head. She seemed to bow respectfully, and spoke in a sweet voice. "I'm sorry to disturb you. I came to make a mental connection with you... to know when you wake up... I didn't expect your mind to be so vast."
"I… asked… Who are you…" I said, almost cutting off the end of her sentence, but lowering my sword. Somehow I didn't feel danger, maybe it was just surprise that made me act that way.
Me? Being surprised? It's a thing that normally needs a commemoration.
"Call me... Sylvia." The lady said, with a puzzled look, apparently because I had all those servants around me, all standing and bowing, but not moving, as if they were unconscious.. or... wait... unconscious?
Wait a minute... I was... with Arthur. We fell off a cliff... saving Alice! And... And I wasn't taken to the Void... Didn't I... die? I... am unconscious! I'm still alive…
"Apparently I don't need to explain much then." The woman who called herself Sylvia smiled at me as she approached.
Yeah... I'm really still alive...
"And a thousand... a thousand apologies for the authority... force of habit." I replied, sticking the sword in the ground and walking towards her too, until we were 1 meter away from each other.
"I didn't expect to see all this in a child's mind. Did you know?"
"And I didn't expect to have guests.. Sorry if it's not to your liking." I said while in the blink of an eye that luxurious and immense hall, turned into a simple and cozy wooden cabin, slightly reminiscent of the house of my new adoptive parents. "Well… you say you… came here by accident while making a mental connection?"
"That's right. I'm residing near the place where you and your friend fell... nothing fairer than guiding you to my house.. but I can't go out that far, so-"
I lift my hand toward her, smiling. "I get it. Don't worry, I allow us to have a psychic connection."
"Fine... and could you explain to me… why were those servants there…?" She looked at me, puzzled.
"They're just some great friends… Each one from worlds I've been to… Rebirth is a customary thing for me, Sylvia the dragon." I smirked.
"How did you… Hm, what made you know that?" She said that with an amused expression on her face.
"I've married a dragon before, even if it's not from your world, the mana signatures are extremely similar."
"And I might know. What is someone who's been to so many worlds doing here? You're a great find." She still had that amused smile, like I was an interesting animal in the most luxurious zoo.
Well I really am, after all I'm a dimensionless freak creature at this point.
"Just a cursed one… looking for a way to heal himself… but could we continue our conversation in the real world?"
"Of course, but this is your head, so you just need to wake u-" The conversation stopped abruptly with the opening of my eyes.
I looked around me, not seeing Arthur or that damn mage that put us in that cliffy situation, I couldn't feel my limbs and I tried to move them, but nothing happened. I then forced the movement of my body, using Speed Soul, but also nothing.
"Kukuku… need some help, Sage?" I could hear Sylvia talking in my mind, teasing me.
"Nope. Thanks, I think in 5 hours I'll be able to move." I spoke a little sarcastically, but I heard her make a "Mhm" as if she accepted my answer.
"Dragons…" I gave a big sigh about the situation, taking the opportunity to meditate lying there.
I could feel my black mana core, but it felt like there were slight cracks in it. After the 5 hours of meditation, focusing on the red, green and blue mana and leaving the transparent and black mana aside, I could feel that I have got to the next level, now having a dark red mana core.
With that new core, I augmented my body, making me stand up, and fortunately I was able to. I was still panting a bit from forcing a mana break and then reinforcing the body completely, all one after the other and with low mana reserves.
"Can we go now?" I said, hearing Sylvia's voice answer me. "Of course. You can walk, any change of direction I'll let you know."
And so, after walking for a great distance , I reached an area with a cluster of rocks but 2 large stones caught my attention. Between them there was a hole, in which I threw myself, with my legs reinforced, managing to land after a long fall.
"Hm..." I looked around the place and walked, until I found a being armored in black." Sylvia, I assume..." I said with a smirk.
"Of course, my name is Sylvia Indrath... but so far you haven't told me your name." She was huge and was watching me as she sat on boulders.
"Luz, Luz Leywin." I said still smirking.
I looked at her a little more, until I ask her if I could meditate. She seems to don't mind, so I sat down beside her, crossing my legs, and began to purify more my mana core and see the state of my Corruption Essence.
"You want me to tell you when your friend wakes up?" She asked while I could feel she patting my head, like I was some precious and rare pet.
"Yes, but after I talk with him, I want to meditate more." I answered.
"Of course, Mr. Jaymonds." she teased me but I responded quickly.
"I said that my last name is Leywin..."
And so, I went back to meditating.
[Arthur Leywin POV]
I opened my eyes a little, and I saw myself inside my old body. Sitting on my throne while watching the people around me. All petty, who only cared about power and money, I was disgusted with them, they seemed to be talking about some extreme governance talk or if I was for or against some new law, but I could hear a voice from one of them.
"And you, King Grey, what will you do now?" For some reason, that was the only question that didn't seem muffled, and with a long sigh I answered it. "I want to retire..."
Even though their voices were muffled in my perspective, I could sense the out of control and chaos my response caused. I didn't want any of that, what was glory for? Money? Admiration? I just wanted to go back to Ashber. I miss Alice, Reynolds, Durden, Jasmine, Helen, Angela, even Adam! There is also another one, the person who could be closest to m-
"You missed me?" I could hear the voice of the one who had been put as my adoptive brother in my life as Arthur, I got up and looked around, but the voice continued to speak. "So... why don't you.... Wa..ke... Wake... up.... WAKE UP!"
I opened my eyes and coughed quite a lot, with a few drops of blood running from my mouth, but not that many. Feeling a huge pain in my back welcoming me, showing that I wasn't dreaming.
Where I was? How was I alive?
I tried to get up, but my body didn't move properly, just my head and neck, so I could look around and see something that almost made me vomit. The mage we had taken with us was surrounded by a pool of blood, his skull mostly split in half, with some bones exposed, most of which were broken, and those that were whole were more of the ribs.
This was so much gore, there were even small insects around the corpse's body. And because of my willpower of not wanting to be near that anymore, I was able to move a little, getting up and turning to the other side.
"Wait... I was supposed to be in a similar state or worse... Why am I fine..?" I thought that, until I felt tremendous hunger. I noticed one of the bags we were carrying nearby, opening and miraculously, that was one of those we had stored with food.
I was eating desperately, even starting to cough because it was very dry. I looked at the bag again and saw a canteen of water that was crumpled, but still usable. I drank some of the water, and then slurped up more of that snack. But my mind was filled with another question, the most important question.
"Where's Luz?" I said this to myself, looking back at the clearing where I had fall.
"Relax, my child, he is with me." Hearing an unknown voice, coming from somewhere nearby, but I didn't see anyone but the corpse, my eyes widened.
What is happening?
Luz wasn't with me, and on top of that a voice that came from nowhere said that they were with him?
"There's something very wrong..." I thought, picking up the backpack.
"There's nothing wrong, I'm here… calm down, man. The person talking to you saved us." I could hear his voice, but I continued to look around and nothing.
"Like he said, you can calm down. I'll guide you to where we are." The mysterious voice said again, making me take a deep breath.
"Okay. If he's saying this... Where are you?" I said, with the mysterious voice beginning to guide me.
I walked for a long distance, following those directions. How did someone have such extensive communication magic? Was this normal or special?
From what the voice said, I would still walk a lot, Luz apparently had fallen on a less dense path or woke up much earlier than me. With distance in mind, I saw a stream with a small waterfall, without even thinking, I jumped taking off my shirt and shorts so they wouldn't get wet, so I took all the dirt out of that walk and the fall. I really needed something to refresh me.
When I got out of the water and was going to put on my clothes I heard it in my mind. "Kukuku... how pleasanty carefree"
Reflexively, both my hands shot down to cover my precious area as I hunched my back, trying to make my body as small as possible.
"Don't worry, there wasn't much to see." I shuddered as I almost felt the Voice wink at me.
My pride... How rude!!.. Calm your mind, Arthur. A king must be calm...
After I put on my clothes, the perverted voice seemed to go silent. Not minding too much, I rummaged through my bag and dug out the last of my dried rations. Water wasn't going to be a problem, but food... hopefully the voice would provide me with something.
I started walking again, with a few thoughts on my mind as I looked around. Since I fell through the mountains in the east, I should have been in the elves' domain, but that idea wasn't right, as there was no famous fog. Could it be Beast Glades? No, there were no Mana Beasts, just small animals, with the place filled with mana.
I walked faster when I thought of my parents, they must have considered not only Luz, but me as dead. My mind was filled with thoughts about them, I was very worried about them, would they even get to Xyrus safe?
I reached the area where the Voice directed me towards, but I was unable to see anything besides a cluster of rocks surrounded by a cluster of trees, this make me a little confuse.
"I'm glad you were able to make it here safely like your brother did." the Voice echoed confidently, as if it already knew I would.
"Nice to meet you uhh.. Mr. Rocks?"
"First, I'm not a mister. Second, I'm not a rock, nor a cluster of them. There is a hole between the back of the adjacent rocks. That's where we are." the Voice chuckled, and I could sense Luz making the same thing.
Looking around, I managed to spot the small gap, about the width of an adult, between two of larger rocks. I use mana to strengthen my body and jumped. I had expected a plataform to step on but instead, I immediately plummeted down the dark hole.
The voice had failed to warn me that I was going to be doing a vertical fall. I descended, screaming at the top of my four-year-old lungs. After that I was rubbing my butt, groaning, I slowly supported myself up.
"We finally meet child."
I felt my blood draining out of my face as my mouth and eyes stayed open to what I saw. Feeling my head light with my legs failing to support me, I ended up falling back on my butt on the floor, looking at the person who was helping me this whole time, and noticing Luz, who was sitting next to her, seeming to meditate deeply.
"W-What are you?" I managed to stammer out.
Despite having lived two lives, what my eyes saw, my brain refused to believe. A monster, of a lack of a better word, which easily towered ten meters high, was setead cross-legged, on a crudely carved throne of jagged stone with an arm lazily supporting its head. It gazed me with red eyes that could see agaist everything, but for some reason carried an oddly tranquil quality.
"Hey, bugs will fly into your mouth if you keep it open that wide." When it said it, I noticed my open mouth. At least it has a sense of hurmor.
"For you previous question, I'm what you're seeing. But if you want to know who. My name is Sylvia." She said watching me, while I saw, Luz meditating, but with a smirk in his face.
[3rd Person POV]
It's been around 3 months. Arthur and Luz were being taken care of by Sylvia. To pass the time, both boys told stories, Arthur told Sylvia about his life in Ashber, while Luz told herself some adventures from his past life, obviously in a mental way, without Arthur knowing. So, they both formed a bond of affection for her, Arthur seeing her as a grandmother, and Luz seeing her as a friend.
But it wasn't just stories that passed that time. Luz, while meditating and trying to purify his core, realized from the stories that the dragon told, that there was a method of absorbing mana while moving, something essential for someone who always fights using magic like him, with this idea and past knowledge, Luz created a version made for ordinary beings and taught it to Arthur, with Art naming it Mana Rotation.
The dragon was creating a portal so they could both return to their parents, but they soon realized that she was getting worse and worse the more she did it. Already too weak to disguise, her true form ended up being shown, which did not surprise Luz, but left Arthur gaping.
"Sylvia! Are you a dragon?!" Arthur said, still with his mouth open.
"Yes, I've always been... sorry to hide it..." Sylvia said while Luz was looking at her and analyzing.
"You're more dazzling like that than in your humanoid form..." He said smiling at her, with Arthur staring at him, until he understood.
"Were you two mentally interacting all the time?!? That explains your lack of surprise." With that boy's surprise, the two started to have some laughs.
The situation was a little lively, even though Sylvia was weak and dying, Luz always tried to lift her spirits, while Arthur continued to deny that. With the last willpower after finishing the portal, she handed Arthur a scale, a large pearl, and a strange energy that went straight into his mana core.
"That's..." Luz was going to ask something, but shut up.
"Yes, that's it." Sylvia said, looking down.
"What are you two talking about?" Arthur said as he put the things delivered in the old backpack that he had come with them.
"Goodbye, Arthur, you'll-" There was no time for Sylvia to say what she had to say, and there was a great tremor.
Sylvia stood in front of the boys, while a bizarre being appeared, looking like it was there to finish her off. Without speaking, she looked at Luz with a serious look, which he returned, grabbing Arthur tightly, pulling him into the portal with him.
Now, they found themselves in a forest with a thick fog at ground level. Arthur was crying and beating his hands against the floor because of what had happened, while Luz took a long breath, thinking about those 3 months.
"Really... She really knew this would happen... Smart lady..." It was a thought of the eldest, which soon dissolved with another. "But now, where the fuck are we?"
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