Damn Reincarnation

her presence alone could change the outcome of the war.

That’s why he needed to exterminate her now.

Ominous Dark Power flowed from Vladmir.

Rumbleeee!

The ground around Melkith started to shake.

[Contractor,] Yhanos, the Spirit King of Earth, gave a warning.

“I know!” Melkith muttered.

Rumbleee!

Thick chains sprang up from the blackened ground.

“I guess you want to kill this lady!” The chains were about to wrap around her limbs, but Melkith scoffed and stamped her foot.
The ground responded, fists rising and grabbing onto the chains.
And then, with flames wrapped around her fist, Melkith struck with a fiery punch.
”Fire punch! ”

The spear of death collided with the fist of flame.
However, Edmund had more attacks in store.
Large demonic beasts hiding deep in the ground ambushed Melkith at his command.

“Thunderbolt kick!”

Her posture was completely disastrous, but lightning accompanied her kick and decimated the demonic beasts.
Edmund’s shoulders heaved at the sight.

“How could someone with so much power be so undignified…!?”

He felt genuine contempt.

***

‘This is troublesome.’

Hector let out a frustrated click of his tongue and blinked, his four eyes scanning the darkness around him in vain.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn ’t discern anything in the inky blackness.
Still, he had an understanding of the current situation.

His soul was directly connected to Edmund, so he could hear the wizard’s messages.
His body was filled with Edmund’s Dark Power, and it was reinforced in many ways.
At first, blindness was hard to get used to, but after some time, he was able to get a sense of his surroundings.

He still had his sense of hearing and smell, as well as the sense of touch and the keen sense of spirit.
Once he was actively immersed in the remaining senses, he was able to “see” his surroundings quite well.
It felt as if he were observing the space from someone else’s eyes.

Hector moved with confidence as he engaged in battle with his new body.
Yet, he remained level-headed, never allowing himself to get carried away.
He understood his own abilities and limitations all too well.
Despite the tremendous strength of his new form, he had learned a valuable lesson from his humiliating defeat at the hands of the Death Knight, one that had stripped him of any sense of arrogance.

He had abandoned his pride… in his skills at the Black Lion Castle.
Hector knew that Eugene Lionheart was a man of monstrous talent, someone he could not best even after a thousand battles.

‘Nothing would have changed.’

Hector knew the difference between himself and Eugene, and yet, he searched for Eugene.
He knew well the reason for his search.
It was longing, or rather, jealousy disguised as longing.
He knew he had no chance against Eugene, but he wanted to see Eugene fight, and if possible, he wanted to see Eugene die.

Eugene wasn’t the only one Hector searched for.
He was also looking for Cyan Lionheart, the next head of the family.
Hector knew that Cyan was on the battlefield somewhere.

Eugene wasn’t his only target of jealousy.
Hector had known from an early age that he was talented.
However, he had been forced to concede just because he was born into the collateral line of the family.

But what about the twins of the main family? Were they truly more talented than Hector? He didn’t think so.
In fact, the twins had failed to stop him in the forest at the Black Lion Castle.

‘But I couldn’t kill them with my hands at the time.’

The twins had been needed as a living sacrifice for Eward’s ritual.
However, that was no longer the case.
There was no reason to keep Cyan Lionheart alive any longer.
Despite the special treatment they received for being born into the main line of the family, Cyan Lionheart was no different from any other corpses on this battlefield.

Hector moved, shaking off the blood from his six hands.
After setting a clear goal, he felt a drive, a murderous intent blooming from deep inside his heart.

He could not kill Eugene, but he could kill Cyan.
Rather, for Hector, there was greater significance in killing the next head of the Lionheart family.

After a while, Hector found him.

Cyan ’s initial reaction was one of disgust, but as he continued to take more lives, he grew numb.
He had steeled himself beforehand, convincing himself that he had no other choice.
But when he actually plunged his sword into another person, there was no time for rationalization.
Chaos and death reigned around him, the sound of screams filling his ears.

The only thing Cyan could focus on was not to forget himself.
He was destined to be the next head of the Lionheart family, and he could not die here.

“Fwoo.” He was no longer trembling either.
He learned that cutting people felt hellish.
He learned how it felt to cut through a person with a sharp blade and what kind of noises someone made just before they died.

Whenever he learned something new, Cyan’s heart thumped, and his head wailed.
Nevertheless, his body continued to move like a well-oiled machine.
His vision was wide and clear, and he continued to plan without interruption.

“…You.” He couldn’t see Eugene anywhere.
They had parted ways a while ago.
To be exact, Cyan had left Eugene, not wanting to get in his way.
“Are you Hector?”

Cyan looked forward while pulling out his blade from the heart of a native.
Blood sprayed over his face, but he simply wiped it away with the back of his hand.

He gazed at the abomination approaching him, its monstrous form slithering toward him.
Unlike anything he had ever seen, it was a grotesque amalgamation of mismatched limbs and body parts that defied all human understanding.
With six heterogenous arms, a body made up of a grotesque patchwork of creatures, and a hideous face, it was as far from human as anything could be.

But despite the creature’s horrible appearance, and even though they weren’t the creature’s original eyes, Cyan could feel Hector from the creature’s four eyes.

“It is said that the eyes reflect the soul.” Hector laughed, his four blind eyes contorting as he spoke.

Cyan spat at his words, “You should have disappeared quietly after dying.
I didn’t expect you to return as a monster.”

“Are you going to fight me?” asked Hector.

“Then should I run? Why should I? Hector, you betrayed the Lionheart clan.
If nothing else, I’ll make sure to kill you with my own hands,” responded Cyan.

Even though he was facing a hideous monster, he didn’t feel scared.
It was quite fascinating and amazing.
Even though Hector was easily three times as large as him, the thought of retreating didn’t even occur to Cyan.
Instead, he knew he had to move forward.

For Cyan, it was a mission.
It would be dishonorable to run when a traitor, one who disgraced the Lionheart’s name, stood in front of him.
He couldn’t possibly do so as the next head of the Lionheart family.

Cyan gripped his sword in his right hand and held Gedon ’s Shield in his left.
He wore the uniform of the Lionheart’s main family to stave off any feelings of shame, and he felt a warmth emanating from the left side of his chest.
It was as though the symbol of his family was aglow with energy.

Naturally, Hector could not see Cyan’s uniform or the symbol of the Lionheart family.
However, he could feel the vivid malice coming from Cyan.

With his other senses serving as his eyes, he could see the flames of white mana winding around Cyan’s body.

The flames began to flutter like a Lion’s mane.

***

Purple flames flared in the form of wings.
It was Eugene’s Signature — Prominence — and the magnificent wings left feathers of fire floating in the darkness.
A few feathers drifted towards the outskirt of the curtain of darkness, near Kristina and Lovellian.
It was so that he could respond in case anyone attacked the two.

‘…I can’t see Balzac.’

It did not catch Eugene off guard.
The quickest way to undo Blind was to kill Balzac.
As such, they had discussed in advance that Balzac would hide while maintaining Blind to devote himself to interfering with and obstructing Edmund’s ritual.

Of course, Eugene did not fully trust Balzac’s words.
As such, he focused on the magical dagger.
If he sensed any progress in the ritual and could attribute it as being Balzac’s work, Eugene would shred his heart without any hesitation.
And in order to accurately grasp the current situation, Eugene distributed Prominence’s feathers all over the battlefield.

‘…Cyan.’

Eugene frowned.
He had left a few feathers near Cyan so that he could intervene if Cyan were in danger.
Currently, Cyan was engaged in a battle with an unknown monster.

‘Should I go kill him?’

Apparently, the monster was Hector.
He had never expected Hector to return in such a shape.
Despite his strength, Eugene believed Hector was too formidable for Cyan to handle.
However, to his surprise, Cyan was holding his own in the battle.
He expertly wielded Gedon ’s Shield to block Hector ’s attacks and took advantage of any openings to strike with his sword.
Cyan ’s white flames burned fiercely, growing more intense as the fight raged on.

In the end, Eugene decided not to intervene.
He judged that the battle against Hector was necessary for Cyan.
Moreover, there were other things Eugene needed to worry about.
He needed to kill Edmund to stop the ritual.
Even though Edmund’s Cube boasted absolute defense, Eugene was certain he could crush the cube with the Light of the Holy Sword or the Moonlight Sword.

In addition….

“I knew you would come,” Eugene muttered, reaching into his cloak.

He could see the Death Knight approaching him through the darkness.

“Trivial tricks,” the Death Knight scoffed.
He was undead, and his body had died a long time ago.
His heart was not beating, and he had always been blind.
It meant that he was unaffected by the altercations to his senses.
The Death Knight lost nothing in Blind, and he glared at Eugene with a frown.
“Little boy, I couldn’t fight well last time because—”

“That’s a long excuse,” Eugene interrupted with a snort while shaking his head.

It was an undisguised mockery.

The Death Knight’s expression hardened.

“Certainly.”

He drew his blade.