Reborn Again

‘It’s dark. Cold. What happened? S-Sapphire? C-Chihiro?’ Dante’s eyes fluttered from the depletion of mana. He could barely stay awake. The only thing keeping his eyes open was his strong mindset to get back to his family. The two animals floated in the water almost lifeless, holding onto the little breath they had left alongside him. Dante looked at the two with the same expression on his face. Faded, spiritless, and soulless eyes.

He whispered to himself in his mind, ‘W-Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?’ Dante threw up blood into the murky waters. His lungs started to close. He stretched out his sword to try and enclose them in an ice cage in hopes of it closing off the water that was sucking into their bodies.

“Ice Ca…” Dante looked down at his arm. ‘Huh?’ His sword floated in front of him.

Blood stained the water.

He screamed in agony while water filled his body. He looked down at the bottom of the waters when a light shined so blindingly bright. Looking closer he saw a sword stuck in the bottom of the seafloor. Dante immediately knew where he was from the conversation between Lucky and Kouki. He sat there unable to do anything in this odd place. His eyes were so blurry that he couldn’t see the creatures chipping away at his body, but could feel sharp fangs and fast movements like they were toying with him. Dante’s body floated to the bottom. He looked up at Sapphire and Chichiro. In one gulp a large figure swallowed them whole.

“S-Stop. P-Please…S-Stop. I-I m-made a p-promise…Toshiro…I’m sorry. My family…I’m sorry.”

Dante blacked out before witnessing the events that unfolded before him. In the instant that the animals had perished by the large creature, Dante’s sword lit up the entire murky waters with dark blue and black mana. His body completely turned blue as his mana lines converged to cover his entire being. Black mana lines then formed and covered him the same way as the blue mana did. The creatures shrieked at the intense mana and turned tail to the corners of the water. White light shone from Dante as someone anew woke from an eternal slumber. Dante’s appearance had changed completely. He now stood as someone else…A man with dark blonde hair and dark eyes. His clothes remained the same as Dante’s, yet some similar features remained the same as if he had mixed with Dante’s body.

An unknown man had taken over.

The man stood with an expressionless face. No emotion, yet seemed angered beyond belief. He took the sword in hand that floated in the water and it changed its features. The middle parted open and displayed a different sword on the inside. Sharp black spikes ran down the handle, which pierced the man’s hand and drained his blood as he held the sword. More strange looking symbols appeared along the entire sword totalling 10 different small incantations. Dark blue mana lines covered the surface of the sword in a strange alignment. The handle was black and white.

The man spoke out loud echoing across the waters perfectly clear. “Line up. I don’t care if you didn’t kill them. You’re all responsible.” The man reached over to the sword stuck in the ground and pulled, but it didn’t budge. “Guess I’ll just pull a little harder. I’m pretty weak right now.”

He tried again and the sword was easily released. A voice called out. “Sword, Palingenesia available to craft or use. Proceed.”

The creatures immediately lined up in front of the man when he pulled the sword from the ground. “You will not serve me,” he told them all. He stared at the big monster that consumed the two animals. It was big. Really big. Containing over a thousand teeth and dark red eyes. Any human would be scared of this, but the man had no ounce of fear in his body. The S tier monster that stood in front of him was no more than a grain of sand on the beach. In less than a fraction of a second, he blew a hole in the creature’s stomach, entered, and pulled out Sapphire and Chihiro’s dead bodies. Still in one piece, they laid dead, but intact. He used magic to bring them back to the front of where the creatures now bowed down to him and laid them carefully on the ground.

???: “What have these animals done to you? Nothing. Yet, you choose to consume and reincarnate them over and over again out of greed. Much like you would’ve done with this boy had you not angered me so much. You’re no different than stupid humans. Has time not changed a thing?”

The man sighed in pity.

“I’m Isamu. Not that names matter, but know that I’ll find you all in any life and murder you endlessly. Perish with your brethren.”

He lifted both swords and combined them into one, but the man’s sword overpowered Palingenesia. Only slashes of white color transferred onto the blade along with the abilities and powers.

“Lifeless Disintegration.”

The creatures that stood before Isamu turned to dust instantly and their mana shifted into the sword. A voice spoke once again. “Sword level 1000. Max level reached. Would you like to rebirth for the 95th time?” Isamu answered expressionless again…“Yes.” The mana lighting up the cave sucked back into the sword. “Rebirth complete. Welcome back, master.”

Isamu walked over to the two dead animals and said, “You never deserved this. No matter how many years pass it’s always the same. Humans create violence. They yearn for it. They won’t stop until death wipes them all. I ignored it and sat in silence hoping for a change…But I was wrong. I was too lazy. They need to be wiped off this planet completely…Come, be reborn with me.”

He placed his hand over the dead bodies and they reanimated immediately, swirling blue mana around their bodies. Sapphire and Chihiro both revived with their eyes rolled back as white as snow. They both turned completely dark with permanent blue mana lines connecting to Isamu. Almost as if they were shadows themselves, yet still had animated bodies.

Isamu touched his heart realizing another presence. “An uninvited guest? And inside my own body.” His fingers pulled from his chest with black strings until a small black heart the size of his palm came out of his body. It had small tentacles and squirmed around. “Amusing,” Isamu said with dullness in his voice. “Hundreds of years of nothingness and yet that feeling still remains.” Sighing deeply, “I’m sorry little one. I do not know how you entered, but you have not caused me harm. I will let you go.”

He dropped the black substance on the ground and it crawled away as fast as possible out of sight somewhere in the water.

Isamu: “Come. We shall wait in peace. Solitude. Freedom. In a place far from here until…one day…we will kill them all.”