Reborn: From Nothing

I lost my left eye. It was sliced through down the center with an axe. I stare down the culprit and unconsciously let out,

"Emilianus the Axe."

"You know me?"

"I've heard of you and the other freaks that lick Gracchus' boots."

"Bootlicking? Do not speak of the senator if you lack understanding of all he has done for the people."

"To worship a politician is some of the dumbest shit I've heard."

As I spoke I clutched my eye that was bleeding. The sharp pain in my head amplified the noise surrounding me. The clash of metal, the screams of the dying, the explosions of spells, the shouts, some people even cracking jokes. I underestimated how terrifying the battle would be.

"Well-" Emilianus spoke again, but I didn't have time to listen.

Arrows came flying at my back. I could tell clearly their path somehow. I dodged to the left. I can still sense the entire battlefield, it’s a mystery, but it gives me an advantage. If I didn’t sense that axe attack coming, it could have killed me.

As much as I would like to get this over with quickly, the axe wielder complicates things. He is fast, quiet, and probably strong too. If it were just us, I would be more than comfortable, but with other fighters around, this situation is bad.

Stay calm and think. The archer relies on a comfortable distance and line of sight. The dagger user on speed and closing the distance. The shield user wants to protect his comrades with his body during the fight. Emilianus wants to claim the advantage while I’m distracted.

I lunge behind Emilianus to buy time, the archer stops firing due to his comrade being in the way. I cast a smokescreen with the time I bought. Still, an axe attack draws dangerously close to my neck during this spell cast.

The smoke screen cut off all visibility from the battlefield, I couldn’t sense what was behind me anymore. Still, I remembered where the archer was.

If I was the enemy, I would immediately move to defend the most vulnerable soldier. Despite knowing there was someone waiting for me there, I swiftly moved towards my enemy. As expected the shielder was blocking my way.

I am agile, it is my greatest strength. Slipping past that man was easy. The ground shook behind me as the man’s club, which was aimed at me, slammed into the ground. A bow pointed straight at my forehead let loose its arrow, only to be blocked with wind magic.

Slicing through my target's neck was easy, he had no armor where he needed it most. The silver dagger I received from Theophanous was so sharp I felt no resistance whatsoever. Still, the sensation made me cringe.

I leaped backward away from the tank. The smokescreen was blown away by Emilianus swinging his axe with the large flat part. With the battlefield revealed once more I could see Ozias once again. He had already killed 13 people with only some minor scratches. The battlefield around him was torn to shreds.

I’m one down, with 3 more to go. I’ve only taken down the weakest, but it’s a good start. Now it is just three melee fighters against one me. The obvious point of attack here is… magic.

I built 7 high-power fire spells back to back and sent them in front of me all along the path the fighters followed while moving towards me. They obviously defend. However, the dagger user is damaged. Emilianus was unharmed, but he dodged in the wrong direction. The dagger moved too quickly and separated from the shielder, he is now all alone.

I used the defensive spell Earth Fort on the dagger user. I built walls all around him in a U shape with him in the center. He is not strong enough to simply run through the walls. He became trapped with the only exit leading to where I stood.

His daggers started to shine as if he were activating an ability. I cut that off with an ice bolt spell which went straight through his heart, shattering the earth fort.

Two more to go.

Emilianus noticed the dagger user's error and stuck close to the shielder. I thought he was just a fanatical idiot, but he seems to be thinking somewhat. But, by moving at the speed of that slow tanker, he is just handing over the initiative.

My muscles are sore, I’m in pain, and I can feel my focus deteriorating as the sounds of war fill my mind. Still, I have more than enough strength to finish this off. My joints crack as I reach to my back, grab a spear, and lunge in one final time.

The tank begins to shout something after he recognizes the weapon. Emilianus seems to understand what the tank says, but it takes time to process information. By the time he turned around to guard, he had already been stabbed from behind by my frontal attack. The weapon I wielded was the teleporting spear I robbed from a dead temple guardsman.

The last one left was slow, far too slow to hold his own against me. Some other soldiers tried to join the fight when they saw what was going on, but I repelled them with ease. The final fight was more of an execution than a battle. The spear bypassed his ‘perfect defense.’ I had other methods I could have used of course, but this was the cleanest.

I fought off any stragglers that came after me, but I didn’t have any intentions to advance toward the enemy. I accomplished my goal and didn’t want to fight anymore. At one point, I just walked off the battlefield.

…

I went to Lucanus after the battle to have my eye healed. He seemed desperately in need of rest, his eyes sunken and hollow-looking. His movements were lethargic and his skin pale. Perhaps his mana has been overworked, or he is in a bad mental state.

He wasn’t able to bring my eye back, but he stopped the bleeding. I gained the first scar on my face, one that moves diagonally from the top of my eyebrow to my cheek.

“Go rest now Cassius, it must have been hard right?”

“You look like the one who needs rest.”

He was in a field with thousands of wounded soldiers. When you have magic involved, a tool more lethal than guns, there are more dead than injured in a battle. Still, the numbers add up.

“I’ll be fine… this is the least I can do… no, it is the only value I can bring.”

I left it at that and went back to the command tent. After listening to the debriefing, our estimated casualties were 9,000. We lost 28% of our army in one battle. They lost over half if not more, along with their elite Temple Guardsmen. Despite the cost, it was an overwhelming victory.

I met with Ozias on the way out of the tent and followed him to the dining tent. There was one thing I couldn’t take out of my mind.

“What the hell kind of spell was that?”

“Which one?” He responded.

“You killed a man just by grazing him with your fist. Can you… can you kill a man with a mere touch?”

He returned to eating as if the question was something he had just heard all the time.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I told you about my wife, right?”

“You did.”

“Did I tell you I held onto her body as she died?”

“If you did, I don’t remember it.”

“I was a monk once, I managed to learn the most powerful healing spells known to man. She died while I had my spell activated on her. I felt the life leave her body for good. The sensation lingered in my hands for a long time.

I eventually realized I could recreate that sensation. I could create mana within my hand, and through the transfer of that mana to my target, I could cause instantaneous death.”

It took a bit to process what he just told me. The idea that such a spell could exist is unfathomable. The sensation of death? How do you even imagine that? What kind of catalyst could you even use for that spell? Could it be…

“Did you reverse engineer recovery magic and build the spell to pass this sensation of death onto their bodies?”

“Precisely.”

Support magic is fundamentally about altering a body’s structure to give someone an advantage in battle. You often impede enemy movements or enhance your ally's movements. You could also help people recover quickly and more safely. To use that spell to inflict the condition of ‘death’ onto someone is plausible, but there are many, many barriers to such a thing.

He had done what support mages for centuries couldn’t do. Purely weaponize support magic. The level of precision, mana control, mana, and the mindset you’d need to destroy a person's body from the inside. Spells like this were deemed impossible, especially for the typically kindhearted people who gravitate towards support magic. The spell he described goes against everything that support magic and mages are down to their core, and in a way that is difficult to an absurd degree.

“I don’t even know what to say to this.”

“Talking about it isn’t necessary.”

“You really are a monster aren’t you?”

“You think so? I’m just a guy living life as he pleases, besides, I think you sell yourself short. I believe you are capable of casting that spell.”

“Perhaps I will learn it someday.”

“Perhaps you will.”

…

I left after learning what I wanted to. Unless it's teaching magic, conversations tend to be short and painstaking.

Everything I had seen today, everything I had seen in the past filled my mind as I tried to sleep. I have witnessed so much death, too much. I dozed off a few times, maybe an hour at a time before I was woken up.

In the morning I found a girl at the entrance to my tent. She was on the support team Lucanus was on. She stood up straight and looked at me nervously. She probably only knows me from my reputation, not that the real me is any better.

“M… Mr. Lucanus asked me to hand this to you in the morning.”

She gave me the letter in her hand and walked off quickly. I don’t particularly enjoy being bothered by him so early in the morning, but I’m used to it. I opened the letter and sat down to read it.

‘Dear Cassius,

It’s been over a year since I met you. During that time I like to think that we became friends. When I look at you I see a younger brother, one that I lost long ago.

We never saw eye to eye, but that doesn’t change the fact that I love you all the same. I truly wished to help you, it pains me that I won’t be there to do so. I am too weak and useless.

I never told you this, but the reason I left the capital was because of the temple’s ban on same-sex relations. I had confessed my love to another priest, and he had notified the head priest, leading me to be driven out for good.

I was hunted, but I kept fleeing north. When I came across Ozias, he promised me safety in return for joining his campaign. I was in no position to refuse. I met you a while after, and you looked so lost and alone, just like I was. I thought because of our similar positions, we could be friends.

Despite the fact that you rejected me, I still saw something in you that I couldn’t let go of. Maybe, I could see that deep down you weren’t the supervillain you claimed to be, but rather someone who just needed someone who truly loved him.

I thought I could be the one who helped you, but I see now that is not the case. I’m sorry for my inadequacy. I fear now, that you may truly be alone.

Do not let this deject you, do not let it hold you back, I believe deep down that you can be a hero one day. I believe in you, Cassius.

By the time you have received this note, I will be dead in the forest to the south. You will find my body by the pond we met yesterday. All that I ask is that you treat my body with care.

Goodbye, my little brother, I love you.

-Lucanus’