Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

With help from Vestla’s control, Allen's sword path passed through the giant's body.

He swung his sword again, but was unsuccessful in cutting off the head of the giant.

As his repeated attacks failed, the soldiers grew increasingly doubtful but remained silent, thinking that there might be some sort of meaning behind prolonging the fight. 

The giant's strength still lingered in his mind.

⟬Wait, wait, wait, don't kill it!⟭

Allen drew out the sword at her cry. He swung the blade upright and pulled her right in front of his face.

"Why?" he asked, the low notes of his voice containing hints of a tenuous irritation.

This giant was his enemy. No matter how much Allen had learned about swordsmanship from her, she had no right to tell him what to do. Even if she was somehow involved with this giant, the monster was too dangerous to be left alive.

"No matter what you say, I don't intend to save him…”

⟬It's not like that! Just a moment, just a moment…⟭

Allen looked at Vestla and let out a sigh. "I hope you’ll have a better list of excuses to give me after this.”

⟬I was going to tell you later, even if you didn't say that.⟭

“Sure, sure.”

⟬What’s with that reaction! Ugh… Why did I follow such a person? Really. If it wasn't for that…⟭

Allen felt her gaze, as if she were glaring at him even though she was a sword.

"What, is there a problem?"

⟬Whatever. It’s fine. Whatever. Anyway, stab its heart with the sword slowly.⟭

"What?"

To be told to stop attacking and then attack again?

Allen turned his suspicious gaze away, as she encouraged him to hurry up and stab it. Acting out her words, Allen advanced slowly forward with the tip of his sword facing the giant's heart. The inscriptions on Vestla’s blade glowed faintly.

If the giant was able to resist this attack in any way, he would aim to kill it even if she opposed it again.

He’d already passed up plenty of chances, had already delayed this battle for a considerable amount of time. They needed to hurry.

However, the giant did not resist.

Squelch.

Even as the sword penetrated its rough skin, the giant showed no signs of movement.

Rather, it seemed as if it was at peace.

The blade of the sword dug in even deeper—passing through the skin, separating the muscles and bones, penetrating deeper and deeper.

But Allen did not relax.

And with no resistance, Vestla penetrated the heart.

The giant finally met its death.

Allen felt a bit uncomfortable at its unfamiliar appearance, wondering if it was once a free-roaming monster. 

No.

'…Vestla, she knows.’

She shouted loudly as if she knew how Allen was feeling at the conclusion of the battle. ⟬It's over! You can stop nagging me now that you're done.⟭

"What did you do?"

Even though he was there to witness it all, he had no idea what had happened. Vestla replied with an ambiguous answer. ⟬…Haah, it's too complicated to explain now, so can I tell you later…?⟭

Sigh. “As long as I eventually hear an answer.”

At his sighing reply, Vestla turned around, shouting exaggeratedly, ⟬Well, how about you go search over there? I'm sure there's something that way.⟭

Allen nodded.

The quick encounter with the giant and the slash and suture marks all over its corpse suggested that there was something worth looking into within the building behind it.

As Allen tried to move toward the building, he heard a chorus of belated cheers.

"Wow, Sir Allen!"

"You were amazing! When did you learn to move like that?!”

"It was like watching the Knight Commander!"

Allen froze, as if he had forgotten their existence.

Fortunately, the knights who’d gone flying earlier seemed to have come to their senses. They were all dressed in iron armor reinforced with mana, so they wouldn't die so easily.

When he looked at Linbelle and Inellia, they seemed to have no wounds.

Of course.

He had told Inellia to try as much as possible not to use any of her power, but fundamentally, her power on its own was excellent. Linbelle also had no chance to get hurt because she was only given the chance to deal with the monsters he had intentionally let past him.

The senior knight closest to him rushed to him. "Sir, have you been keeping this a secret?" He looked at Allen with a mixture of surprise and awe.

"Well, that wasn’t my intention, but I suppose you know now."

"No! You're amazing!"

He was going to hide it a bit more.

‘I would’ve had no choice but to reveal it at the Academy, anyway, and pretend like I just practiced a little beforehand.’

Now that he knew what his power felt like, he’d be able to control it more skillfully next time.

In response to his praise, Allen began, "Yes, Sir Philip. I'm trying to search around over there…” As Vestla said, it was clear that there were traces of giants there, so they needed to take a look.

But at the moment he tried to give them orders, explosive roars split through the air.

Pop! Pop!

Pow, pow, pow! Bang, bang!

Allen's eyes went straight to the sky. There, a huge symbol rose high, visible from even a far distance.

"Sir, that’s…”

One of the distress signals that Princess Natasha had distributed was exploding.

‘That means…’

Allen schooled his expression. Although he was curious about the building, he hadn’t forgotten why they had come to the Heavenly Forest in the first place.

He hastily gave orders to the soldiers. "We’re moving out, now!"

The knights rushed around, aware of the importance of that flare.

"Come on, move! Hurry! Let’s go!"

"Those who are wounded should follow slowly behind the other soldiers!"

Allen took advantage of the knights' mobilization and gave Inellia some orders, before she discreetly disappeared through the shadows of the trees.

“Linbelle, are you coming with me?”

She looked in the direction where her mother had disappeared, seeming slightly hesitant, then nodded. "…Yes, I want to go with you."

"You know it could be dangerous?"

"I know."

"It would be safer to go along with the soldiers behind us."

"…I still want to go with you."

Allen didn't push her any further. She looked determined—obsessed, even.

‘Yes… a sort of insanity, so to speak."

He didn’t think she'd gone quite that far yet, but in Allen's eyes, she was that insecure.

Allen gave a brief answer, hiding his complex feelings. "…Alright. Make sure you keep up.”

As he quickly turned around, a weak answer came from behind.

Because he’d been thinking of their retreat for quite some time by that point, it wasn’t long before the senior knight initiated the move.

"The wounded should move with the soldiers, and the rest, follow me immediately!"

Allen sped up toward the source of the explosion as soon as the knights were ready.

'…The god.’

He had to undergo the god’s trials.

He was sure Julius had heard it, too. That bastard wouldn't turn down the opportunity, so he'd go straight there.

The end of this ordeal was nearing.

* * *

* * * 

By the time Allen arrived at the site of the flare, they’d heard three or four more explosions.

It was chaos.

Crash! Bang!

The dark sorcerers were all gathered together, attacking the hordes of monsters approaching them, while still spewing out black magic.

"Hold on a little longer! Help will be here soon!"

"All right—kgh—okay!"

"…Ahh, Sylph! Block as much as you can!"

In the center of a vacant lot, elves struggled to hold off the dark sorcerers’ offensive. Many were injured, and some already lay dead on the forest floor.

‘This flow of mana… Were they hiding it?’

He turned his head toward a terrible scream from beyond the vacant lot. There, a god lay,  groaning and struggling on the altar. Dozens of dark sorcerers were working to maintain the magic circle around it, joining hands. Above the god’s head, a fairly young man appeared to be watching the battlefield with a big smile.

'…Is he the mastermind behind all this?'

Allen barked out an order, relieved by the fact that they hadn’t arrived too late. "Everyone! Help the elves!”

"Yes, sir!" The knights, with their mana-enforced iron armor, stomped into the ground violently, as if to relieve their anger from facing the giant earlier. The monsters surrounding the elves were quickly defeated by their efforts. 

Seeing this, Natasha smiled with relief, seeming to acknowledge that she’d been saved thanks to their arrival. Even the dark sorcerers paused for a moment at the sight of the knights.

Allen and the knights closed the distance and joined the elves.

"Sir Allen!"

"Sorry for the delay."

"Oh, don’t be!" Natasha looked moved by his arrival to the dramatic situation.

"Well, some haven’t been so fortunate."

As Allen glanced at the elves scattered across the battlefield, Natasha's complexion dimmed slightly.

"…Yes, well. There were sacrifices made. But that's not something for you to worry about, sir.”

She regretted it. Had she known this would happen, she would rather have moved together with them. However, she had assumed she could solve the matter without their help, and so she had stepped forward first, only to suffer great damage.

Some of the other elves were impressed as well, enough to dilute the negativity of the old grudge they had built up before the arrival of their aids. After all, when they first arrived in the Forest, even though they had known the troops had come to support them, the elves had low expectations for them. However, the elves had no choice now but to appreciate their arrival when they found themselves in such peril.

"Well, then I'm glad to hear that. Let's get rid of the remaining dark sorcerers first…”

Feeling something approaching, Allen quickly turned his head. A dark object rushed toward him at a tremendous speed.

Just as Allen was about to move, another popped out from behind him.

"Hey, you punk!”

Shouting with a flash of a dark-blue blitz, a familiar figure with blue hair and sharp eyes appeared.

Natasha blinked and softly murmured, "…Julius?"

It was Julius Reinhart.

‘You're finally here.’

Julius quickly caught the dark object, swearing despite the presence of others.

"What comes around goes around!”

A thunderbolt crashed into the dark object.

The figure, hit directly by the thunderbolt, collapsed into the place where the dark sorcerers gathered and vaporized into a puff of smoke.

Crash!

Several sorcerers who’d been making hand signs turned into scraps of meat, and all eyes swung around to focus on him.

"…Well now, that’s quite the entrance."

Such an observation held many implications.

"Quite the entrance, indeed," Allen agreed with Natasha, examining the fallen black figure. He wasn’t sure what it had been like in its original form, but the armor it’d been wearing had been smashed, and its whole body was covered in red, smoldering marks. An arm was even missing.

The man, now turned into a wreck, barely limped up.

"Whoa, it's not even an extra. He's acting up." Julius muttered something nonsensical while everyone else’s eyes focused on the figure ahead.

Behind him, the Knight Commander arrived, belatedly leading in the knights. The heavy footsteps of the elite soldiers rang out from afar.

Julius smiled while looking at the dark knight, and his eyes met Allen, standing among the elves. When he opened his mouth with a welcoming smile, Allen took a big breath.

“Broth—"

“Everyone—!”

"—er!"

"—get rid of the dark sorcerers!"

Julius's eyes opened wide.

"Together here are Sir Julius, the Knight Commander, and me! Do not be afraid!"

Julius, who grasped the situation at his cry, realized what Allen was going to do and shouted, "Follow me!"

He flung himself into the dark sorcerers, who had been distracted by the series of intrusions. The knights cried out behind him and began crushing the remaining monsters.

"Raaaaagh!"

"Kill all the dark sorcerers!"

"Kill them all!"

The sound of stomping feet boomed across the space, and the elves, encouraged by their cries, supported them from behind.

"Help them!"

"Take revenge for our fallen comrades!"

Allen drew his sword again and ran toward a spot that exuded a certain atmosphere.

After noticing the direction he was headed, the Knight Commander and Julius followed him.

It was toward the god’s altar.

‘It's a relief that we can solve this problem before it gets out of hand.’

The purpose of their expedition was to borrow the god’s ability, but the fact that they could cut short the dark sorcerers’ project also played a part in his motivation. 

‘They’re less powerful now than described in the black book…’

There was always going to be something different.

It was more likely that Allen's behavior became something like a butterfly effect, resulting in their foes having fewer forces than in his previous life.

If that was really the case, it could explain why they hadn’t been attacked while traveling through the mountains, or the fact that they were weaker than he’d read in the book.

'They shouldn’t be strong enough to even attempt fighting the ruling family.’

Considering the strength of enemies who attacked Julius in the black book, it seemed that they were maybe only half as strong as depicted.

Allen sped up to finish off the person who appeared to be their ringleader. But as he approached his destination, Allen hesitated for a moment.

‘Why aren't the dark sorcerers prepared?’

The magic circle stained with red blood beat violently. The movement of the dark sorcerers, who’d been making so many signs with their hands until just a moment ago, stopped. The young dark sorcerer atop the god was still smiling.

An alarm rang in his head, and Allen spread out his senses.

The rotting bodies of the elves, the scattered remains of the tortured, and the bodies of the dark sorcerers all piled up.

"You crazy bastard…!”

He finally understood what they were trying to do. The reason why they were so much weaker was because they were sacrificing themselves? But why?

“Brother?”

Allen's utterance made the man above the god laugh happily, like he took it a compliment.

And then—

Squelch.

A loud round of applause mixed with confused cries arose from the battlefield.

"Why are they killing themselves all of a sudden…!”

"Sir, I think there’s something strange going on…”

The dark sorcerers had inserted daggers into their own hearts, as if fulfilling a vow.

The battlefield paused at the bizarre sight of not one person, but every one of them choosing to commit suicide.

The dark sorcerers collapsed, bleeding in groups, as the magic circle under their feet gobbled up all the blood puddled in the battlefield.

Rumble, rumble.

Allen hastily turned his head at the sound of the shaking earth.

"Wh-whoa! Wh-what’s this?”

"God, my god…!”

The god was waking up, following the words of the young dark sorcerer. There was no reason behind those red eyes, and the once-white fur appeared to be a discolored black.

Vestla rush out a cry, ⟬You know it'll get dangerous if you don't move right now, right?⟭

"I know!"

Crash!

With all his might, Allen moved before anything could happen. More than any conflict he may have had with Julius, the awakening of the god had now become the most pressing issue.

His instincts began to sound in alarm as the new body woke up.

What happened next was beyond Allen's control. He could feel it instinctively. As he hastened his pace, the rough wind pushed against his face.

As he watched Allen approaching, Carnell had a thought:

What had made him so impatient? Where did it all go wrong?

Why?

‘It's too late to think about that now.’

His lips curved.

The work had already been done, and the ceremony they’d prepared was about to be completed.

‘Actually, this isn't so bad.’

Seeing them so flustered, he thought it would be a good choice to turn his plan on its head.

Carnell touched his heart gently.

Allen tried to stop him with all his might. But sadly enough, he was too far away.

"…Haah."

Between Allen’s sword and the young sorcerer’s hand, the latter was faster.

Squelch.

He smiled.

"I hope I have a happy dream."

His flowing blood soaked the god’s eyes.

"Forever."

At the same time as his hand stabbed his heart, the light in Carnell’s eyes died.

Riiiiiing.

Allen's vision fell into the abyss of his consciousness, ending the ringing in his ears.

* * *

And he heard a voice.

"Allen?"

Though it wasn’t something that was possible to hear.

Or at least, it was something he thought he would never be able to hear again.

"Brother? Hurry up and answer me, Allen."

…It was his real brother's voice.