Rial's perspective:
"How is she doing?" Rio asked as I stood outside the health room.
"Don't worry, she has been completely healed, she is just resting for now," I said.
"Alright, good I was worried for nothing!" He sighed in relief.
"It is a good thing you guys came here instead of going to a health clinic... If you did that then... she would have undoubtedly died on the way," I explained.
"Why so?"
"Although her injury isn't as dangerous as it seems, that man still cut her with a poisonous weapon. That alone could end someone's life in seconds."
"So, it was as I thought," he sighed and mentioned, "I had thought of it but I didn't want to admit it; that man had 'Botulinum toxin.'"
Botulinum toxin: a poison that is extracted from anaerobic bacteria, on earth many scientists agreed that it was the most dangerous substance in the world. I guess that has been proven true here.
Because if Sera wasn't there, without a doubt Nanase would have died today.
"Oh yeah, you can go inside now. No one is there!" I said with a smirk on my face.
Rio gave me a face of uncertainty and disgust, "It isn't what you are thinking, you know!"
"Whatever you say."
Rio walked into the room nervous and anxious, I made my way to the balcony.
"I need some fresh air."
I stood there, wondering how to solve the last puzzle in this piece. He is an objective person, he makes alliances in secret. Even the people, they found their way because he sold the village out. He also has a magic artifact capable of killing anyone via name, personality and spirit colour. These are the three most important things he needs to secure the death of someone, he will also stop at nothing, he will continue to pursue what is not his.
Should I allow him to attempt a rape on her, then come out with a recording exposing him as a raper? That would certainly work, but that is far beyond my dignity.
I wonder what Max or Rue would have done in this situation. But, knowing Max he would have followed along with my first plan. Rue would have regretted my first plan but would have come up with a new plan.
"What would be the best option here?"
I don't know for now but I will when the time is right.
Yes.
~~~~~~~~
Questions and answers:
"Rial, are you okay?" Aria asked from behind.
"O-oh yeah. I just remembered something from my past..."
"Oh, what was it?"
"It is a long story and boring I really don't think you need to worry about it." I said.
"I still want to hear it though," she said.
"When I was a child, I vaguely remember that my father used to take me fishing. A lake was in our area, which was about fifteen minutes away. During those times, my father and I used to fish a lot since those were the only times he was home, so I took it seriously," I said as I lowered my head.
"What was really sad though," she remarked.
"Yeah I know, and boring too, right?"
"No, I think it is really good, remembering things even when you were two even makes it more wonderful. It goes on to prove how wonderful you are."
"Thank you!"
Aria smiled and opened her arms, she was waiting for a hug but why?
Wanting it anyways, I walked forwards and accepted her embrace. She was warm, almost too warm. Her blue and white hair swung away as the air carried them.
"You are a wonderful person, Aria," I said.
I pulled a necklace from my pocket, I unlocked it and put it on her neck. Raising my index and middle finger, I placed my fingers on her forehead and kissed it.
I changed the atmosphere by saying, "You are a wonderful friend!"
"Thank you, I guess," she muttered with an unsatisfied expression.
"If you two are done with your lovey-dovey moment then I came here to announce that lady Stella is requesting everyone's presence," from the side, Uzuma walked in with her usual bored yet confident attitude.
"Ah... it is not what you think!" Aria said in a fluster.
"Sure, but I don't really care otherwise," She answered.
Even if it was what she thought, what would really change: Maybe the Rial and Aria are dating would spread before the sun-rise.
We all took off and arrived at the guidance room. All the elders, lady Stella and my friends were all there.
"Now that you are here, can you please introduce our two parties please?" With kind eyes, Madame Dorothy asked.
"Sure. Guys can you all stand up?"
They all stood, Nanase was still ill but with the support of Rio she managed to hang there.
"The girl in the group is called Nanase. She is the youngest of the group too." I said.
I wanted to introduce the most recognisable person in the room first. "The boy she is holding on to is Rio." I said. "And lastly, the boy with blonde hair is Rui."
I introduced everyone to the elders.
"Thank you for the introduction," Sir Eric said.
"For me, you can call me Dorothy."
Sir Emmanuel followed, "I am Emmanuel, the head assistant of the spirit village affairs."
Uka went too. "My name is Uka, the second in charge if the head elder is absent or isn't feeling well."
"Mine Eric," Sir Eric introduced himself.
Most of the council introduced themselves to my classmates.
"We wanted to thank you in private for saving our village!" Madame Dorothy with a peaceful smile offered them her gratitude.
"Your gratitude is accepted!" Rui accepted her gratitude.
"Sir Rial, had truly been a great wonder in ourselves!" One of them said.
"Yeah."
"Anyway, where are you guys staying?" I asked.
"With you," they all replied together.
"Sure, then I guess some of us have to sleep in the same beds tonight." I said.
"I am cool with sharing mine with Nanase," Rio offered, but that wasn't an option in my rule book.
"Sorry but that isn't accepted here, only boys and boys with girls and girls. I will share mine with Alin. Rio and Rui, you guys share the same bed. Alphia, Aria, Nanase and Alma will also sleep in the large room upstairs. And lastly, Aria's father will sleep on the couch tonight."
"You are evil!" Alphia said.
"Why?" Rui asked.
"Why would you let an old man sleep on the couch, while you, a young man who is still fit sleep on the bed a softy." Nanase jokingly said.
"Yeah, she's right!" Alphia also joined in.
Why do I feel like this is going to be a long night!
~~~~~~~~
Lady Stella and the reincarnation:
08/09//998:
"Good morning, all of you!" Lady Stella greeted us with her cheerful attitude.
"A-ah yeah, good morning," Rui, Rio, and Nanase said together.
"This is Lady Stella, the spirit of this village. Like Aishia, she is also a humanoid spirit, she has lived since the first transcendents were still on the planet," I explained what lady Stella was.
"Okay. It is very nice to meet your acquaintance," Rui replied.
She smiled and warmly accepted the kind words Rui just spoke. "Of course, hey you, there."
She said, pointing at Rui.
"You have a spirit creature inside you, I am right?" Lady Stella asked.
Of course, Rui has a spirit inside him, the same creature that I and Garmish sealed inside Rui's inner soul. The only people who remember that event are Rui himself, Rio, Eigi, Kakashi and of course myself.
"The reason I called you all here is to inform you about something I have concluded after a long search for information."
"What is it?" Nanase asked.
"Well it has something to do with you, Rial," lady Stella announced.
"And that is?"
She stared at me, completely serious. "By any means, have you ever dreamt of another life. A life where you were a different person with different family members and friends."
I sighed and walked to the door... For a minute I wanted to jump, but eventually I made my mind to tell everybody there the truth.
"Rui, Rio, Nanase, Alphia, Aria, Alma, and Sera. The thing I am about to reveal, make sure that you ever discuss it in front of another person."
They all nodded, some looked anxious but Rio and Nanase didn't look surprised at all.
"I have my memories from another world, a world filled with people who can't perform magic. In that life just like this... I also lost my family, but eventually I was led to another path of which I found another family but that didn't last. I died in a bus accident, but when I woke up again, I was reborn into this world, and that was where Rial Karasuki journey began."
"What!"
"Who are you really?"
"I know this is really hard to swallow but please treat me as you always did!"
Although they had just heard the most unbelievable truth in the world, Alphia and Aria didn't seem to change their opinion about me.
"Well, as long as you treat us the same way and make us happy, then nothing really changes. Does it?" Alphia said.
"No matter what happens, you will always be Rial to us, nothing will change that... not even if you had memories about being a devil," Aria exclaimed.
"Yes, regardless of your background. You will always be Rial Karasuki and nothing will change that.
Lady Stella smiled, her smile was as if she was watching something she had seen already, there were no tears but the raw emotions coming from here were visible.
"Excuse me! Can I speak?" Nanase asked with a brave expression.
"Go for it."
"Nanase are you sure?" Rio asked.
"Yes."
"Everyone, just like Rial here, Rio and I have our memories from a place called Japan. Just as Rial said, there was no magic but people worked through machines such as cars, computers and online work," she said.
"After we died during a certain accident, we were reborn with different bodies except unlike Rial we awakened our memories when we were eight years. Four years later, we met Rial from the royal academy. Blah, blah, blah end of story and here we are!" Just towards the end, Rio made it a joke.
"Just, what am I going to do with him."
"Well, it doesn't change anything between our relationships," Rui said firmly.
"Okay."
"Now, that is out of the way. Time to talk about my research."
"What is it about?" Aria asked.
"Hope you all know about the transcendents and their mission in the world?" Lady Stella asked.
"Yeah, the transcendents were individuals who fought side by side with god during the devil rain of Isal." Rui said.
"Precisely, but you also learned about their return through the heroes right," she said.
"Oh yeah."
"Well, from my research I have found that the heroes will be here in two years time, and one of them will be a person you know best Rial."
"A person I know best huh! I guess if that is the case then Rue and Masato will be the likeliest target that comes to mind."
"We don't need to worry about their identity for now, I guess wanted you to know what was on the line." She said.
"Alright."
"Our yeah, today is the festival of nights. You all will be attending right?" She asked.
"Yeah."
"Of course."
I guess, I have to put on my skills to work tonight. Today will be the last day Peter will stay in this village.
~~~~~~~~
Conclusion of the night festival:
For east near the Sky kingdom, the air ship that attacked just landed. Right after landing, the group got off immediately due to their frustration of getting pushed back and leaving their artifact there without activating it.
But, would this stop them?
After getting off the ship, Master Skies face had a bitter smile on face, an expression of confidence. Because, though they lost the battle they hadn't lost the war. Right after carrying the group to the air ship, a person somehow slipped an address in his pocket.
"Meet me at the sun down, near the spirit village gates. I will take you to a secret place to offer you a deal you can't refuse." These were the words written in the letter.
Clearly, this person was really smart, he even accidentally led them towards the village and organised the battle to happen. Of course, he wanted them to defeat his village and accomplish his goals. Rial was an obstacle he needed to get rid of, but that proved to be incredibly difficult than he ever expected. With his incredible sharp thinking, he could easily destroy him if he wanted to but for some reason he didn't.
Master Skies nodded, using a magic pen he signed the paper which meant he had accepted the deal.
And, on the other side of the paper, a certain person sat, the signed paper in hand. The companion was sitting in a chair enjoying drinks, and chips.
"So, what is your plan?" The companion asked it's host.
"I am crushing this village for good, if anyone tries to get in my way they would get killed even if they are family. I will be with the only person I loved since I was a child!" The person said.
The person talking was a boy who had loved a certain girl. He had these feelings when he was growing up. Once when this boy was young, he used to get bullied everyday, because he was an elf and had no special magic he was constantly bullied. He suffered the onslaught of these bullies for three years straight.
One day, he decided to end it all. He made up his mind to die on that day. "I don't care about life anymore!" These were his last words when he made that decision but stopped.
After reaching the stairs, he climbed the iron rod that separated the danger zone from the safe zone. For a brief moment, he thought of his family's tears at his funeral but still his mind was made up.
Just when he was about to jump, his eyes dotted on to a beautiful girl with blue and white hair that were mixed together perfectly. She was incredibly gorgeous, even though she was about nine or ten. Her beauty was just enough to let him decide to work hard instead of dying. His face now displayed a certain expression, a mixture between love and obsession. On that day, he decided to try everything in order to get her to be with him.
That obsession eventually led him to the 'magic death ball' a special artifact that allows him to kill via name, personality and soul colour. After finding out its capabilities, he killed every boy that was considered very close to her. His obsession reached new heights, because within the time he found the ball until now he had killed over six hundred people.
But one day, a boy came between them. This boy was incredibly intelligent. He managed to last for a while but eventually he also got killed. About two years later, another boy arrived at the village. This was the most intelligent person he had met. because his usual tricks did no damage to him.
He danced through them like games, because he was cocky, he is now playing a game that he has already lost.
Meanwhile, Master Skies sat down. He has already mentioned his plans to the Rushed.
"I grant you permission, destroy that village as much as you please," he declined to him.
"I would do my best," Master Skies replied back.
Master Skies, was a man who once lived with his family. But because they lived in the transcendents era, they got killed. Master Skies didn't cry, he stared at their dead bodies wondering what they were doing down there. Skies knew very well that people would die one day, the only difference being; Master Skies knew that he was very special.
From other humans that had ever existed, Master Skies and his parents sold his heart for some money. During those times, there was a certain family that was incredibly rich, but one of their only weakness was that their daughter had an illness that demanded another heart transplant.
They sold his heart and enjoyed it for a while, then two years later they died in the war.
"Ah! Such wonderful memories," Master Skies thought to himself.
"Now then, lets go and destroy that village then father would certainly enjoy that sight!" He said again.
~~~~~~~~
When a man is ten steps ahead of his enemies:
"W-what are you doing here!?" Peter screamed out.
"A boy planting bombs in his own village, I wonder what is you planning on saying to the head elders," I said coldly.
"It is not what you think!" Peter yelled frantically.
"Of course, explain yourself and remember, I have everything caught on camera too. Oh yeah... one more thing, I hope that you know that the whole village is watching us right now. To be honest with you," I said as I walked closer this time, "I have already seen everything about you and the magic death ball."
Peter jumped back scared,
"W-what are you talking about! I have no idea what you are accusing me of... I am just a hard working boy that works at the library and helps in the military." He shouted.
"I am not buying that. First you attempted to kidnap a girl from your village, tried to get me to marry someone who has no feelings towards the other person. Attempted to blow up the entire village. That all can get you life in prison you know."
Peter's whole attitude seems to have shifted all of a sudden, "So, you really did figure me out completely didn't you."
"Yeah, and the bombs you planted. They are all illusion I casted, I personally destroyed the bombs myself."
"Huh!?"
"Tell me, why didn't you try to get rid of me earlier," he asked.
"I had no reasons to. And even at those times I had limited resources, meaning I had to wait and catch you red handed. So, when that being slipped the note in that man's jacket, I immediately realised that you planned."
"Wow! I never expected a defeat such as this!"
All this time, Peter thought he had me cornered but it was the other way around.
From out of nowhere, the same air ship flew between us, separating us in the process. Peter grabbed on to the stairs and climbed up. But he forgot one thing, his death magic ball.
That man got him out here huh! I guess to have at least give them a fair well gift.
I manipulated my mana, then created the unwavering spear. I threw it towards the ship, the impact was large but they still managed to slip past us.
I sighed and started walking back to the party I left. Well, at least they know Peter's real personality now. I made sure to let everyone know that not all your friends are your friends. This was the lesson I made sure to imprint on everyone's mind.