Chapter: 145. The Beginning of Eternal Reincarnation
It has been three days since Nagi disregarded Kanade’s admonitions and insisted on using her abilities to heal the old man’s injuries that night.
The worst-case scenario that Kanade had imagined did not come true.
There were no signs or details indicating that anyone had followed the fluctuations of magical energy to this remote town called “Shite”.
But this is quite normal; after all, even the Special Circle SEMA and the three major academies couldn’t possibly deploy magical detection devices to every corner of the world, nor could they conduct detailed investigations on every magical wave. The fleeting fluctuation of magic in this remote town might have been fortunate enough to escape detection.
During these three days, Kanade and Nagi were invited to stay in the home of the two elderly people.
Should one say that these elderly folks are well-versed in the world? Neither of them asked many questions about Nagi’s supernatural powers; they only assured her that they would keep their mouths shut. Upon learning that Kanade and Nagi were aimlessly wandering, they decisively invited the two to stay in their home, regardless of how long it took.
Thus, Kanade and Nagi naturally began living an ideal, quiet, and peaceful life in this small town.
There were no ability users from the Special Circle SEMA or the three major academies, nor were there any disturbances from fantasy monsters; it was a quaint rural town with simple folk.
Every day, Kanade either patrolled the town while walking or helped Nagi with chores at home.
It was hard to believe that just a few days ago, he was fighting for his life against fantasy monsters, and now he could live such a leisurely and tranquil life.
—————–
On a rainy night.
The sound of raindrops falling from the night sky landed on the trench coat worn by Kurokawa, creating a dull thud.
A week ago, after the battle at the Infinite Academy, Kurokawa had not yet had the chance to celebrate their victory when he heard a bad piece of news.
As the “protagonist substitute,” Tsukimi Kanade had betrayed the Special Circle SEMA and ran away with the “heroine,” Hoshimiya Nagi.
As someone who had spent the most time with Kanade, he naturally knew that the usually gentle and kind boy would never act rashly.
However, before he could understand the full story, he received a direct command from the Special Circle SEMA headquarters—”Find Tsukimi Kanade and bring him back to the Special Circle SEMA.”
“Is this really the place?” Kurokawa’s sharp gaze emerged from beneath the hood of his trench coat, pointing towards the small town in the distance where only a few lights glowed.
Upon hearing this, Midras, whose petite body had been hidden by him, popped out beside him.
Despite the rainy weather, Midras remained dry, and at that moment, it sniffed towards the town like a puppy, then widened its crimson eyes and smiled, “It’s definitely Onii-chan’s scent!”
“Is it…?” Kurokawa’s face did not reveal any happy or excited expression upon hearing this answer.
Because he didn’t know whether what he was doing now was correct.
“But besides Onii-chan, I also smell another very familiar scent…. umm~I can’t remember for a moment…” Midras continued, interrupting Kurokawa’s hesitation.
“What do you mean?” He rarely saw Midras display such a reaction.
“Emmm….. It feels very familiar……” Midras mimicked adult behavior, crossing its tiny arms over its chest.
In an instant.
Kurokawa’s instincts suddenly buzzed, emitting a warning.
He abruptly looked up; against the pitch-black sky, something seemed to be watching him.
“Nyaralathotep!” Kurokawa immediately raised his arm, and the brilliance of magic flickered in his eyes.
Midras began to transform.
Its small, cute appearance morphed into a writhing mass of flesh, indicating Midras’s awakening.
But this time, it did not transform into the previous towering figure; instead, it took the form of a tall and elegant beauty.
“Ah, this feeling, I remember now~” Nyaralathotep’s crimson eyes, hidden behind a folding fan, shimmered.
“It’s the scent of Garuda.”
“!?”
The moment Kurokawa heard this, he unleashed all his strength and dodged at the fastest speed to beneath Nyaralathotep’s skirt, avoiding standing in the drizzling rain.
At the same time, he nervously urged Nyaralathotep to wipe away the water droplets from his body.
“Fantasy Monster—Garuda? Are you… are you sure you’re not mistaken?” Kurokawa spoke with rare trembling.
As if the name Garuda had given him great fright.
“Ah, no mistake at all! Just now, I was even influenced by the Storm Authority; without a doubt, that is the true Garuda.” Nyaralathotep replied while raising her head, seemingly making eye contact with some existence hidden in the night sky.
Nyaralathotep’s response made Kurokawa completely discard his earlier hesitation.
He decisively took out the communicator prepared for him by the Special Circle SEMA.
The fantasy monster—Garuda, one of the former protagonist “Elemental Sovereign’s” contracted beasts, now its existence represented the legendary “Fantasy Monster—Finality” itself.
“Finality….. is with Tsukimi Kanade?” This bold thought made Kurokawa break into a cold sweat.
This was the situation that the Special Circle SEMA and the three major academies had instructed to avoid at all costs.
At that moment, the communicator in Kurokawa’s hand connected, and a voice from a high-ranking member of Special Circle SEMA came through.
“This is ACE Midras, I have good news and bad news.”
“The good news is, I have found the trace of the ‘protagonist substitute,’ Tsukimi Kanade.”
“And the bad news is—Finality seems to be right by his side.”
—————–
“Good morning~ Breakfast will be ready soon~”
Morning.
When Kanade walked downstairs and arrived in the living room, he saw Nagi standing in the kitchen, wearing an apron and tied in a single ponytail.
Beside her was an elderly woman who was also preparing breakfast.
On the other side of the room was Wakana, who was playing with a ring mold alongside the old man.
The old blacksmith, who had been on the brink of death, became lively again thanks to Nagi’s abilities. According to him, he had never felt such strength in his youth.
Being able to lift a hammer again, he decided to pass on his craft to his granddaughter Wakana.
“How is it? Did you sleep poorly last night, young man?” The old man’s question made Kanade realize he had been standing dazed at the doorway.
Nagi seemed to have keenly sensed something was off with Kanade; she set down what she was holding and rushed to his side.
“What’s wrong? Your complexion doesn’t look good. Are you feeling sick?”
As Nagi asked, she tiptoed and brought her worried face closer to him.
The foreheads of the two lightly touched.
Kanade clearly felt the warmth of the black-haired girl in front of him through their foreheads.
“Strange, you don’t seem to have a fever…” Nagi murmured softly, retracting her body.
“If you’re not feeling well, you should rest at home today; learning the blacksmith’s craft can wait a day or two~” the old man chuckled, having invited Kanade to try his hand at the craft since they had been idle due to having nothing to do. It would also give him a skill to earn money one day.
“I’ll prepare some porridge for you shortly, young man.” The old woman also smiled and turned to say.
“Ah, Onii-chan, are you pretending to be sick to slack off? Wakana doesn’t want to listen to Grandpa’s lectures alone~” Wakana pouted as she ran to his feet.
Though the scene was harmonious, just like any other day.
Kanade still felt that something was not quite right.
“Ah no, I’m fine—” Kanade was about to speak when he was abruptly interrupted by a violent tremor.
“Wha-what happened?!”
Amid the elderly people’s exclamations, Kanade quickly scooped up Wakana, and with his other hand, instinctively summoned the silver blade from his wrist.
The fluctuations of magic suddenly appeared from all directions.
But Kanade couldn’t tell whether they were ability users or fantasy monsters.
“Everyone, leave first—” Kanade was just about to urge Nagi and the two elderly people to flee to a safe place.
But in the next moment.
A sharp dagger pierced through the glass of the window, directly embedding itself in the old man’s heart, which had just regained vitality, as a torrent of blood blossomed on his chest.
“The contamination has been eliminated.” A cold, calm voice rang in Kanade’s ears.
“Old man—” The elderly woman, seeing this, rushed towards the old man anxiously.
Before Kanade could intervene, another flash of light from outside crashed in.
His beastly instincts made Kanade pull Nagi away from this attack.
However, the elderly woman who was a bit farther away was not as fortunate, blood gushed from her waist like a waterfall.
“The contamination has been eliminated.”
That cold, emotionless voice echoed once more, like that of a robotic machine.
Kanade could no longer care about anything else; the instincts of a beast governed his thoughts, leading him to make the optimal choice.
Clearly, this was not the time to worry about the two elderly people who were on the brink of death. He held Wakana tightly in his arms, wrapped one arm around Nagi’s waist, and at the same time, blazed with dazzling golden light in his eyes.
Dark flames engulfed his legs, temporarily granting him extraordinary physical abilities.
Using this strength, he instinctively rammed through the thin wall behind him, tearing it apart like paper under the claws formed by the black flames.
As Kanade burst out of the house and set Wakana down, what he saw was countless shadows standing in the street and under the eaves, all dressed in a very familiar white uniform, their large trench coats billowing in the fierce wind.
That was the uniform of the Special Circle SEMA, which should symbolize justice; now, it was stained with filthy blood.
Blood?
Realizing something was off, Kanade quickly turned his head. Behind him was the town, now engulfed in roaring flames.
“The contamination has been eliminated.” That cold voice rang out once again.
“Why… why!? They were just ordinary people—!!!” Kanade glared furiously at the Special Circle SEMA ability users before him.
“The answer to that question, shouldn’t you know better than anyone else? Tsukimi Kanade.” The cold words echoed in Kanade’s ears.
The moment those words fell.
A brilliant beam of light surged towards Wakana, whom he held.
In his determination to protect her, he formed the black flames into a blade, but in the next moment, he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye of another beam of light aiming for Nagi.
“Watch out!” Kanade shouted as he jumped in front of Nagi, slicing through the beam with black flames.
“Wak-Wakana-chan!” Nagi’s voice of despair reached him from beside.
Kanade followed Nagi’s gaze and saw the small girl in his arms had her head obliterated by the beam of light; his choice to protect Nagi led to the loss of this young life from the world.
“You cannot save everyone, Tsukimi Kanade.” The cold voice buzzed ominously.
Kanade finally realized that this voice originated within himself.
He had experienced this before; this was a dream, but this time the dream felt longer than usual—
“What do you want to do—!?” Kanade’s eyes burst with bright golden light as he violently turned to where Nagi was supposed to be standing.
The burning town disappeared, and the figures of the ability users in white uniforms vanished without a trace.
All that remained was a cluster of black flames suspended in midair and an endless expanse of pure white space.
Underfoot was a circular tree diagram made of black flames, now flickering.
The black flames before him danced and seemed to offer a reminder.
But in the end, they did not respond to Kanade’s questions—
“Subaru-kun, it’s time to get up~” Nagi’s voice awakened Kanade from the dream.
He bolted upright, gasping heavily, his entire body drenched in cold sweat.
“Subaru, Subaru-kun? Are you okay? Did you have another nightmare?” Nagi squatted down worriedly in front of him.
Kanade’s gaze crossed Nagi’s shoulder and spotted Wakana peeking out with a small head from outside the room.
She curiously fixed her bright, wide eyes upon him.
“I… I’m fine, sorry for worrying you…” Kanade forced a strained smile.
This was the third nightmare Kanade had experienced.
During the days spent lodging in this home, he had been haunted by nightmares, which initially passed by in fleeting images but grew increasingly detailed and realistic with the passage of time, as if reminding him of something approaching.
Until today—he finally realized that this was something he had once experienced.
After he had just gone through the crisis on Minase Island, it was similarly through this way that the black flames deep within his consciousness had shown him certain images.
Now looking back, the messages from that black flame indeed hinted at some things—
([“Everyone’s ‘choices’ will affect and ‘change’ their own destiny”])
([“But Tsukimi Kanade, you are special”])
([“You can choose—change yourself or change the world”])
He had indeed awakened the ability to “rewrite himself.”
But what does “rewriting the world” mean? Could it be that his abilities also held such power?
Unable to fathom the meaning behind it for now, Kanade temporarily set it aside.
Although he didn’t understand why the black flames had shown him such dreams, it was clearly not a good omen, and he did not want to drag the kind people of this house and the entire town into his troubles.
