Maeve Branwen Pov:
The fire cracked in the middle of our group with only a few Tripwire left to set, Toland was reading over his creepy-ass book that seemed to look more unsettling by the day, he kept murmuring things looking like a crazed old man so I ignored him.
Sulivan was looking over the map trying to plot the path we would go in next to avoid the Tripwires set by the other groups. and Noah... he was drunk and Slurring his speech.
"Noah I don't think 16-year-olds are allowed to be that drunk." Sully sighed in a refined tone somehow.
"Shuddup! if I'm fighting in a war I can ve as Drunk as I wanna-" Noah's drunken speech was cut out by a vine slapping him across the face.
"You're interrupting my studies." His voice was a whisper but everyone remained in an awkward Silence till he walked off into the woods saying he was going to find a quiet spot and be back in the morning.
Noah started playing with a golden locket on his neck that he usually kept hidden, tears forming in his eyes when he looked at the picture inside.
"Who's the picture of?" Sully asked as I was about to perch myself in a tree.
"Girlfriend... Fuuck I miss her so much." sighed showing us the picture, It was an Elven girl around his age she was a beautiful young girl with long blond hair and dirty blond hair, And from the camera angle, I could see her rather large breasts. like breast Size matters anyway, they would just get in the way of my Scythe.
"she is pretty cute, Dead or haven't seen her in while?" Sulivan spoke in a tone most nobles wouldn't.
"Maeve before you say something about how I talk you know I'm not trying to be like those cold bastards in my family."
"Fine..." I sighed missing the chance to tease our team leader.
"Haven't seen her in a while." he reminisced as a Smile crept up his face
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I woke up with an unsettling feeling in the morning sun, Nothing seemed out of place but I just had a gut feeling.
"Where's Toland?" Sulvian asked feeling something was off as well.
"I don't think he came back last night," Noah questioned pulling his Spear from the ground next to him.
I signalled them to be quiet as I enhanced my ears with sound magic to the limit. The only sounds I could hear were the rustling of leaves and the occasional howl of the wind. but that was it
The forest was silent, with no sounds from any wildlife, no birds chirping, no twigs snapping from the animals, there was no sound at all.
It felt wrong like the forest had run away from something, then it happened.
The faint cracks and booms from the tripwires farther out in the forest.
the sounds rapidly got louder, not echoes but more being set off as they rushed towards us.
"WE GOT COMPANY!!" I yelled lowering the augmentation on my ears. We all readied spells and took up varying positions in the trees our eyes darting from tree to tree as the tripwires were being set off extremely fast like a ballista had fired a normal arrow and hit every wire.
"Aren't you a cute boy? Could it be that you're lost?"
we flinched from the unfamiliar voice that echoed in the trees, nearly falling off the branch I was perched on. Whipping my head left and right, I tried to locate the source of the sound, Noah had stabbed his spear into the tree sensing something was wrong.
I wanted to move but my body froze-not from the cold, but from a tangible fear. A deep sense of dread crept up like a rising tide, slowly but surely, as I surveyed the area.
Even with augmented vision and hearing, I couldn't find her. Yet, I knew she was there, her high, grating voice still scratching the insides of my ears.
"Are you, perhaps, looking for little ol' me?" her shrill voice screeched inside my head like a coarse blade being dragged against ice. I gnashed my teeth, trying to keep calm. My mind knew she was intentionally intimidating me but my body couldn't help but fall victim to her tactic.
Her voice seemed to come from all around me and at the same time, inside me. My limbs grew stiff as my heartbeat was hard enough to break out of my ribcage.
"Nothing personal head Sulivan." I head Toland Speak, I Turned my head to see Toland swing the back of his axe Knocking out Sulivan. he picked up the unconscious leader as a wall of vines Blocked the blast of Sound and wind blades I fired at the traitor.
"BASTARD!!" I shouted at him as I bit down on my lower lip. As the pain and the metallic taste of blood washed over my tongue, freeing me from the holds of the voices killing intent. a massive presence appeared to the left of me as I snapped my head to see Noah held in the air by a boney discoloured sickly hand grasping him by the throat.
"My, what a handsome young boy you are. I'm going to have so much fun breaking you~" her Shrill voice echoed.
Noah screamed Violently sickly hands clawed at his body making his flesh bubble and seared as he shreaked in agony. the smell of a rotting corpse flooded from his melted skin.
I dashed towards her trying to slash her arm, my Scythe was blocked by a sickly hand that grabbed my arm, a searing pain flowed through me before I was thrown into a wall.
My lungs felt like they were crushed as I blasted more air into my empty lungs, I spat blood as I gasped for breath.
"My payment? witch." Toland Spat as he threw Sulivan over his shoulder.
"Take it, Lesser. we'll reach out again if needed and the payment will be worth it." She responded throwing a sickly green book at him. Toland caught it and disappeared into the forest.
A bloodcurdling scream tore out of Noah as he pulled a bracelet off Igniting himself in Blue flames.
She immediately let go of his neck and pulled her arm away from the fire. Upon release, he fell from the tree, crashing through a hollow log on the ground.
"The little puppy has a bit of a bite," she reprimanded from atop the tree.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" He screamed back.
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Alexander Shard Pov:
I was in an infirmary full of Dicathens that would rather be dead than live with their current injuries, Some had missing libs, others were rescued from Alacryan Torture chambers, others had become mentally broken and were nothing but husks from the trauma of Wars.
"Brat What did you mean by raising the dead?" Virion asked behind me as Elijah was looking at them trying to find the right vessel for his Cecilia.
"Elijah do I have permission to tell Virion?"
"yea, he needs to find out sooner or later, Even if you don't tell him about Grey he'd piece it together so just let him tell him by himself." he swatted at the air more or less telling me to let him look in peace.
"I know." I shot back As I erected a sound barrier around me and Gramps, My mana core ached slightly so I used the Strengthened Blessing Boreas Enhanced before cutting contact to lessen the burden on my core.
I could Manipulate Mana without my Mana core with Boreas blessing but the Storm magic I learned from Bahamut was impossible for it due to the nature of how it worked, It would be similar but not true Storm magic in the sense of it by definition. Also, the burden for using it wasn't on my physical body but more on my Soul that the blessing was Fused to After I assimilated it from the Shard it originally was.
"I'm assuming I'm going to need to get my heart checked after this shocker of A secret you're going to tell me." he sighed.
"hehe, Yep your right about that. I'll keep it brief and only say the facts, Me and Elijah are both reincarnated into this world but our last ones weren't the same, His fiance Cecilia was known as the Legacy with an extremely massive Ki pool which was their equivalent of Mana, I made a deal with him to betray Agrona and join us in exchange for Reincarnating Cecilia."
"That's... A lot to take in, What about you? anything shocking you need to reveal about your last life?" virion paled visibly and sighed taking in the information.
"Not really, there wasn't anything like mana in my old world, I was just an orphan named Andrew smith that liked reading I didn't have friends. I didn't have a life so to say, Just go to school, work, eat, pay for my apartment, and repeat. compared to that this life is way better; Even through war and all of this I still would choose it over my last life."
"True that was no way to live, I'm happy that you like this one more." he patted my back.
"So do you want me to call you Andrew or?"
I burst out laughing clutching my sides, After calming my hyena-like outburst I studied my breathing. "Gramps I used my Stasis orb while I was training, I am mentally older here than my last life I think I like my new name." I punched him in the shoulder lightly as I wiped a tear from my eye.
"Well alright Alexander, Also who was that Grey you were talking about?"
"Gramps he will tell you When he is ready, Just know that like me he is a new person a lot better than his old self, he only uses the useful information from his past life and other than that he disregarded everything from it." I patted him on the back as I dropped the barrier and walked over to the body that Elijah was beckoning me to.
she was a human with a creamy complexion and dusty brown that looked to be changing colours to blond at the roots, her eyes were almond shaped and empty like there wasn't a soul inside, she was of average height and although Claire would kill me if I said it out loud She had quite a curvy Figure.
"She looks just like her from her last life, well other than her being curvier than her last body... Can you do it?" Elijah's voice trailed off as he looked her over.
"I can do it but I'll likely fall unconscious soon after, I'll block her memories of the pain she felt when she died before I pass out and hopefully use illusion magic to make you look the same as before to her," I replied drawing the Stasis orb from its hiding place in my mana core, it appeared in the center of my palm.
Boreas had told me that It functions as a battery for my stasis energy but I would have to get Boreas to use the Stasis necessary to make the connection to do it from it instead of myself.
I drew some Stasis from the Orb into myself as I entered storm soul, I placed a hand on the vessel's head and used the memory magic I gained from it to wipe the mind inside clean. There was no soul inside the vessel now, her mind was shattered and fragmented and her soul was barely even still lingering in the body.
With a bit of help from my stasis enhancing the spell, I was able to clear out her mind and prep the vessel in a matter of moments. I could feel the drain on my mana core as I maintained the connection to the vessel.
"Boreas we have the Vessel, use the Stasis in the Stasis orb to do reincarnate her," I spoke aloud and through the blessing.
The orb in my hand melted into her body as I felt Boreas take control of it, the body spasmed a few times as Boreas wordlessly transferred her soul into the body. A massive wave of fatigue washed over my soul as I barely held myself up.
'it's nearly done, be ready to act, this is goodby after all,' Boras echoed in my mind.
'Thank you, Boreas, Hopefully after I Die either old with Claire or with Agron's heart in my hand I see you again.' I thanked the god letting my emotions spill over to him showing him how sincere I was, I could feel him nod in approval and almost miss talking to me.
I felt the memories flood into Cecilia's vessel as I rapidly combed through them looking for the moment she died, I suddenly felt like I had been stabbed through the gut. I found her death, I quickly sealed the memory as I struggled to stay awake.
I broke the connection having sealed the memories away leaving the ones to know she died and her reason for it, I cast an illusion on her mind making Elijah look like his past self. Cecilia jolted awake as she threw her arms around him.
"Cecilia I missed you so much." Elijah clutched her tight his eyes welling with tears.
"Nico I thought I died! I thought I lost you!" She wept holding him close.
"Sory to burst your bubble but you did die Cecilia." I stammered out as I leaned on grams digging my claw into my thigh to keep myself from falling unconscious, Cecilia's face was terrified of my draconic appearance as she looked at my horns curling around my head and jawline.
"Long story short I reincarnated you here, yes that's Nico but I used an Illusion to make him look the same, That's what he looks like now." I cancelled the illusion allowing her to see him.
"Thank you, Thank you so much." She spoke with tear-filled eyes.
My beast will forcibly deactivate as my mind swam with Fatigue. "Thanks are unnecessary just help us win this fucking war." I slurred my speech as the world faded to black.
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