SSS Rank Sword Mage: Awakening Starts with Weakest Mana Affinity

My thoughts... I can feel them again.

I'm becoming conscious once more but this time, all of it feels centered. Focused. Before, it was scattered, like fragmented thoughts floating around. If I had to explain it, I'd say it was like multiple phones connected to one Wi-Fi network independent, yet still linked. You know? But now, everything feels different.

All my thoughts are unified and processed in one place. Like a central hub.

Oh… I think my brain has finally developed fully at least, as much as it can for a baby. I can kick now. I can adjust my body. It feels so good to be able to do more than just curl up in one position.

Wait... could it be? Has it been nine months already? Is Mother ready for birth?

To confirm, I needed to sharpen my senses especially my ability to listen.

Listen.

I can hear... heavy breathing. Agony. Screaming.

Oh no, why is Mother screaming? Please, no... I hope she's okay.

Wait... this is it. It's time!

This was good news. I thought to myself excitedly it was finally time to see what awaited me in this new world.

Taking an extra step, I tried once again to connect with my twin. Last time, there was no response but there's no harm in trying again. I was dying to know: was it a brother or a sister?

Mysteries like that kept me entertained in this isolated little world.

I focused hard. You're probably wondering how. Think of it like... squeezing your lower abdomen in sync with your thoughts, in a strange but natural rhythm. It reminded me of when I used to take a dump back in the old days.

"Nnngh… more... hnnngh…"

"Hello, brother can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Then I tried again:

"Hello, sister… I mean Astraya."

I chuckled not through my mouth; I couldn't express anything yet in this tight space.

Still no response. Sigh.

Then, the whole womb began to rumble violently. To me, it felt like an earthquake even though I'd never experienced one in my previous life (thank God for that). Still, this must be what they feel like.

Suddenly, I felt an intense cold.

The warmth that had kept my body regulated began to fade. My core temperature dropped. What's going on? I wondered, alarmed. At this rate, I could die in minutes.

This wasn't weather-related. No.

I'd felt cold before office AC, winter winds, freezing baths. This was different.

It wasn't just cold. It was sinister.

I kept adjusting my posture. It was clear Mother was trying not to push or maybe, more accurately, something was preventing her from pushing. Something was holding back her strength.

I listened, as everything around me escalated.

Why did giving birth to me feel like it might not even happen?

Listen.

A man's voice firm, but edged with worry spoke with urgent concern.

"Don't worry, Ashley. Please stay calm. The Grand Midwife is almost here. She'll know what to do."

"I don't understand it, sir," another woman snapped. "Why can't she push the child out? I've told her again and again, but it's like something's stopping her!"

Her voice rose and fell in panicked confusion, stammering through words like, "What? Why? Loosen up! Push! Stuck again?"

This wasn't just difficult labor, it was something deeper, something beyond mere birth complications.

She turned toward my mother, suspicion sharpening her tone.

"Mrs. Ashley Fula, is there something you're not telling us? Are you hiding something?"

Finally, my mother answered, her voice weak, but defiant.

"I won't remove the seal… not yet. I have to wait until the Grand Midwife arrives. There are two babies inside me. I need a solution to this… this taboo."

She paused, her breathing unsteady.

"I suspected it at first… but I was in denial. After all the years of trying, the one time I finally got pregnant and it turns out to be a taboo?"

Her voice trembled, thick with emotion.

"I couldn't believe it. I didn't have time to think. I acted. I used the Ashborn's All-Devouring Seal to protect them."

Her gaze sharpened.

"No one is taking my children from me. Not after everything. I don't care what they are. Taboo or not… they're mine." I refuse to let a taboo take these ones from me."

She groaned in agony. "I've lived my whole life in pain. I'll defy any authority let them come! I will not lose these babies."

My father sounded shocked, maybe even angry. He was clearly just now learning the full truth.

"Why didn't you tell me, Ashley?! You're suffering now! That technique drains an enormous amount of mana. We could've… terminated the pregnancy and tried again!"

"Terminated?"

My mother's tone of voice shifted in an instant calm cracking into fury.

She reverted.

Did he just say terminate?I couldn't believe those words, coming from the man who might soon be my father.

My mother's voice exploded, raging like a wild beast more terrifying than anything I'd ever heard. My father had clearly struck something sacred at the core of her being.

"If you don't support their right to exist, Mr. Vulgabread Fula, then leave this room! I don't want to see your face."

"...Honey?!" he gasped. "How can you say that?"

"No. How can a father say that?!" she fired back. "After everything we've been through… after how long we've tried…"

Father faltered. His voice dropped, ashamed and quiet.

"I'm sorry, Ashley. I was only thinking about your safety," he said, his tone softer now. "I'll support you on this… but are you certain using the Ashborn's Seal was wise? This is a taboo and I never imagined a technique could hold back an Authority, let alone for this long. Honestly… I'm impressed. But we're talking about twins. One of the greatest taboos of all."

To be honest, I already wasn't a fan of my father.

That was his first solution?

Tsk.

The other woman, the one who'd earlier asked why my mother wasn't pushing, finally spoke up, her voice laced with concern.

"I never knew seals could even be used this way. Mrs. Ashley, this could be very dangerous. Especially when it comes time to remove the seal. That technique requires a massive amount of mana… and you've held it for nine months? That's an incredible strain on your body."

Then I heard it.

A loud bang as if someone had burst through the doorway.

New voices joined the chaos older women, aged at least 60 or more by the sound.

One of them spoke, loud and clear:

"She's about to give birth to twins. I had hoped my hunch was wrong. No wonder she's in such pain. Mr. Vulgabread, surely you understand the consequences. I'm surprised the twins haven't already died."

She sounded baffled as if our very existence defied fate. As if from the moment of insemination, we were destined for death.

Why does this world hate twins so much?

I shivered, the cold spreading deeper numbing my body, clouding my thoughts.

And still, I wondered…

How is my twin holding up?

Father, now fully grasping the situation, sounded devastated. It was strange they hadn't known earlier. Could they not assess Mother's pregnancy? Did they not have the technology?

That's when it hit me we must be in some kind of village, or a place with barely any real medical advancements.

And all this talk about sealing techniques, Ashborn, and… mana?

What kind of world was this?

I continued to fight the cold. That's when I felt it.

A ghostly touch on my feet. It crawled upward, slowly, like a hand… making its way toward my neck.

Was it trying to strangle me?

Then I heard the man plead with one of the older women.

"You must do everything to save my wife. And… if you can, the children."

The woman responded, her voice cold and final:

"It would be foolish of me to try, Mr. Fula. Even with all my 40 years of experience in childbirth, no twin has ever escaped the judgment of Drogan's Authority. It is a law backed by the forces of Greater powers itself."

"That power is beyond my comprehension. I'm sorry, Mr. Fula. But unfortunately, death is what befalls them."

Her voice rang in my ears.

Authority?

What kind of person has a power backed by nature itself?

Was this just how old people spoke in riddles and proverbs?

Or… was Drogan real?

And if so… what kind of authority does he have over newborn twins?

Then came a shocking revelation my mother finally voiced the belief she had held in her heart for so long.

"The only reason I waited for you to come," she said through gritted teeth, "was because if anyone could save these babies… it was you. Please, Anaya. I'm begging you."

The grand midwife now revealed to be Anaya responded coolly,

"I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do for you. It's done. My advice is to remove the seal… and accept your fate."

Still writhing in pain, my mother forced herself to speak again, her voice strained but unwavering.

"I knew you'd sensed it the seal on my womb. But you dismissed it, called it a hunch. You felt the twins anyway, didn't you? And that made me wonder… how could you have known?"

Mother drew a shaky breath, then continued.

"So over the months…"

Her tone shifted cold, sharp, and deadly serious.

"It didn't take me long to find out… you're a twin too, Anaya."

Father stepped forward, clearly alarmed, his voice rising with urgency.

"That's impossible. Anaya is this true? If it is… surely you know a way to overcome this authority."

The room fell into stunned silence.

Anaya didn't flinch. Her expression remained composed, her voice flat and professional.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mrs. Fula. I'm sorry, but it's clear there's nothing more I can do here."

She turned without another word.

"I'll take my leave now."

This world kept growing more confusing with every new revelation. If I ever managed to be born, I knew one thing I'd need to become knowledgeable fast if I wanted to survive.

Suddenly, I felt the ghostly hand brushing my shoulders.

To think I was already at death's door… before I even existed.

It was terrifying.

Who the hell is Drogan? I wondered.

In my final moments of struggle, I forced myself to listen.

Then came a scream.

A desperate cry my mother's voice, cracked and broken.

"Please... you're the only one who can save them," she begged Anaya.

Was she really going to leave us like this?

This world... it was already far more brutal than the one I came from.

If I didn't work my ass off to grow stronger

I would die a gruesome death before I even saw the light of day.

Then I heard a gasp.

A weak, labored one.

Mother.

She had fainted.

Her heartbeat, once strong and steady, was now slow... fading.

Sounds around me blurred into silence until even silence itself began to disappear.

The ghostly hands were already at my neck.

And the choking began.

I struggled.

So did my twin. I could feel the kicks, the shifting, the desperate movements.

Could this really be the end for us?

Snuffed out before we even had the chance to exist?

I know it sounds cliché,

But as I began to slip away in that burning, suffocating darkness inside her

"What a cruel world," was all I could think.

The hands didn't grip like flesh and bone.

They strangled me with no pressure

More like suffocation by smoke than a hand around my throat.

It was as if fire had filled a tightly sealed, windowless room,

not to burn me alive

but to choke me to death with smoke.

I was trapped in it.

Unable to breathe.

Unable to wake.

This was it.

My mother's heart had gone still.

I couldn't hear the outside world

Not even the inside of the womb.

My consciousness began to fade,

Not like sleep...

But like life itself was draining out of me.

And then

Everything went black.

Not even silence remained.

_____________________________________

———————————————————

…Until…

Sound.

Ba-dum… BA-dum… BA-DUM… BA-DUM… BA-DUM!

Huh? How long was i out

I'm not dead? (Devaju)

I can… hear my thoughts.

No way.

I can hear my own heartbeat.

Mother's too.

Even my twin's.

What… is happening?

Could this mean we beat the Authority thing?

Then I heard something else—

A voice.

Older. Strong. Familiar.

It sounded like someone giving a series of commands.

Anaya? I wondered to myself. Could this really be her doing? Was Mom right all along?

Then I heard it again.

There was no doubt this time

It was her.

The grand midwife, Anaya.

Her voice echoed like a string of rhythmic words like something I'd only ever heard in games or movies.

Steady. Deliberate. Powerful.

Each word carried weight, like a command.

Honestly, it sounded like something a mage would say.

Could it be… this world has spells and incantations too?

Listen…

This wasn't ordinary speech.

Now I was sure.

Listening more closely it was a spell.

*Spell*

"By the ancient name, in honor of the First Twins,

By the breath of Koi, who guards the threshold,

Through blood, through birth, through boundless fate,

The last defiance against dragonkind's will

I summon light to hold back death.

Koi, protect these souls as they near the veil.

Let them pass through this authority

Until they are strong enough to stand alone.

Protect!"

Then another voice.

My mother.

Her breath weak, her words barely holding together.

A different chant. Her own.

One I could feel more than hear.

The seal…

She was releasing it.

* Chants *

"Nothing is greater than family. That is why we create seals

To guard against all malice toward the blood of Ashborn.

Derrick Ashborn, father of all seals...

I now undo what I have bound.

By the fire that guards,

And the blood that chooses to protect,

This is my own authority.

Release."