WIEDERGEBURT Chapter 7

I stopped with my hand halfway toward the shelf, the book I’d been about to put away still clutched in my grip. The ground beneath my feet was shaking. Actually, the whole building was shaking. It stopped after several seconds, and I finished putting the book back where it belonged.

“The ground has been shaking a lot recently, hasn’t it?” a young man sitting at the table behind me asked.

“It has,” the girl next to him said. “It was only a bit for the past few days, but now it’s happening every few minutes. I wonder why?”

I had also been wondering why. I’d learned in books that these events in which the earth shakes called earthquakes happened sometimes, but they were supposed to be really rare… according to the books I’d read. All of them said the same thing, though. That was why I believed them. While information in books could be wrong, if numerous books said the same thing, then it was probably true.

However, if earthquakes really were rare events, then why had they been happening so much lately?

I didn’t think I would get any answers, so I was about to continue with my tasks, but then the earth shook again, and this time it was powerful enough to knock me off my feet. I tumbled unceremoniously to the ground. The young girl screamed as the bookshelves were shaken so badly several books fell off. She wasn’t the only one. Several other people within the library also screamed, creating a cacophony of noise to accompany the intense quake.

“What the heck is going on?!” The young man who’d spoken before shouted.

At that moment, just as the young man had screamed, a black object slammed into the wall several meters to my right. The wall burst open like overripe fruit striking the ground. The object was actually a creature, which ran on four legs, had rough skin, and numerous horns shooting from its face.

A Demon Beast.

I watched as the creature plowed through bookshelves before breaking through the other side of the library. It left more than two gaping holes in the walls. The entire section of the building it had broken through fell apart, leaving the library exposed.

It also allowed me and the others to see what was happening outside.

“D-Demon Beasts!!” the young man screamed in shock.

I heard the words, but it didn’t quite click as I stared at the scene, trying to comprehend what was happening. Everything was pandemonium. Large animals were attacking everything in sight, destroying buildings and killing people. A middle-aged man was trying to run away with his wife but became impaled upon the horn of a massive beast when he pushed his wife away. His wife was killed when several slightly smaller beasts trampled her. To my left was a young girl. She was crying and screaming, but those screams disappeared when something swooped down from the sky, landed in front of her, and plucked the girl up with its mouth, eating her whole before flying off.

This scene was repeating itself everywhere.

“W-why are Demon Beasts attacking?! How did they even get here?!” asked someone else who was still in the library, too shocked to even think of moving.

That was a good question, and I wish I knew the answer, but I knew very little about Demon Beasts in general. No one really knew anything about them other than the basics. They were powerful monsters that were vicious and devoured humans. Their strength was classified on a ranking category from E to S with S-rank Demon Beasts being the strongest. I heard they had something called a monster core inside of them that could be extracted and used to exchange for money and goods, but that was about all I knew.

Before any of us really had time to process the situation, a large avian swooped down from the sky and landed in front of us. It was similar to the one that had eaten the little girl. Tri-clawed feet scratched against the ground. Each foot was about the same size as a human torso. Leathery black skin covered every inch of its body, which towered over myself and the others. This creature glared down at us with glowing red eyes. It opened its beaked mouth and let out a shrill cry that jump started my body.

“Everybody run!!” I shouted before moving myself.

My words were the jolt they needed. The others alongside me screamed as they tried to run away. Sadly, not all of them were able to escape. The avian Demon Beast screeched again and quickly snatched someone up with its mouth. It might have just been my imagination, but I could have sworn I heard a loud crunching sound as that person’s bones were crushed.

Most of us managed to make it past the Demon Beast, but it wasn’t like running outside put us in a better position than when we were inside. It might have made things worse. There were Demon Beasts rampaging everywhere. Massive beasts that stood on two legs and were covered in fur swung their giant claws, crushing people, shredding their bodies, and sending them flying. Several smaller Demon Beasts on four legs darted through the mass of screaming people. They acted in groups, attacking humans like a mob. I was unfortunate enough to see one man get bitten in the neck, screaming as he went down before being torn apart by a group of those things. Similar scenes repeated themselves no matter where I ran.

There were a few people who tried to protect the others. I could see men and women attacking the Demon Beasts with powerful Spiritual Techniques. They moved across the ground, their complicated motions directing their Spiritual Power. These people had intense auras that flickered around their bodies like a flame. Red, yellow, blue, green, brown. The colors of their aura differed to coincide with their elemental affinity.

An older man twirled about, his feet shuffling in complicated steps, his Spiritual Power soaring as numerous spears made of fire appeared around him. The fire spears were launched into the hides of several small demon beasts, burning them from the inside out. Another several meters away, a young woman was protecting two kids, her blades coated in lightening as she swung them, her Spiritual Aura crackling around her body like an electric shield. Her attacks severed the heads of several four-legged Demon Beasts known as Dire Wolves.

All of these people wore chainmail underneath a tunic that was protected by either a leather or steel breastplate. Shoulder pads, vambraces, and shin guards protected their extremities. Some of these people had variations in their armor but most were uniform. I recognized them. They were the Royal Guard, a specialized force that protected Nevaria and could be mobilized at a moment’s notice, and the Nevarian Spiritualists, a large group of several tens of thousands whose job was to safeguard Nevaria and defend it against Demon Beasts.

A few possessed scale-like mail hidden underneath their chest plates. These people seemed to be more powerful than the others, able to launch Spiritual Techniques that looked incredibly strong. Torrents of fire washed over waves of Demon Beasts, cooking them alive. Lightning rained down from above, striking several Demon Beasts and causing their twitching corpses to fall to the ground. Spears of water pierced hides, walls of earth rose up and crushed them, and blades of wind sliced off limbs. The ones who were using these incredible techniques were the Squad Captains.

“Protect the people!” a man on a roof yelled as he swung his sword in a complicated figure eight, sending massive wind blades into the sky. I looked up to see several of avian Demon Beasts get struck, their wings shearing off as they were hit. They screeched in agony as they fell to the ground.

For just a moment, hope arose in my chest at the sight of these people, these Spiritualists. They were the defenders of Nevaria. With these people here, they could repel these Demon Beasts, or so I thought at first.

It wasn’t to be.

Just as that hope appeared before me, it was quickly dashed as more Demon Beasts appeared inside Nevaria. There weren’t just the ones that the Royal Guards had been fighting, which I realized were actually supposed to be weak, but there were also strong Demon Beasts that the Royal Guards couldn’t fight off.

One such Demon Beast appeared from the side. The creature was a massive thing with a black body that walked on six legs and shot threads of white silk from its mouth. It didn’t have much of a face. Huge mandibles jutted out from an ugly mouth. Large, round red eyes sat on top of its head. Not only did it shoot sticky threads from its mouth to entangle people, but it had two large, powerful-looking claws that it used to crush the people around it.

“Acromantula?! That’s an A-rank Demon Beast!” someone screamed.

“What’s an A-rank doing here?!”

“Who cares?! It’s here, so we have no choice but to fight it! Don’t let it harm the civilians!”

Several Spiritualists tried to combine their might, dancing across the ground to launch their attacks, but this thing’s skin was so tough the Spiritual Techniques they fired merely glanced off it. Their attacks also caused the large Demon Beast to take notice of them. I was stuck in place as the six-legged Demon Beast attacked them. Some became trapped within its sticky threads, while a large number were crushed. A few Spiritualists darted between its legs, but even those could be used as weapons. One of the more unfortunate Spiritualists was impaled through the chest by a spindly leg. Even with their armor, the sharp endpoint of the leg pierced their body with ease, going straight through and jutting out their back.

The sight made me sick. There were so much blood. It penetrated my nose, this horrid stench. That, along with the sight of so many people dying, was enough to make me lose the contents of my stomach. However, I didn’t have time to just stand around and vomit. Even as I tried to recover, several of those four-legged Demon Beasts pounced at me.

Left with little more than instincts derived from terror, I tried to flee from the Demon Beasts. I ran without any sense of direction. It didn’t matter where I ran to. Everywhere was chaos. The Demon Beasts nipped at my heels. I could hear their angry snarls and hungry growls behind me. My breathing came out in short rasps.

I turned a corner and ran into an alley. That had been a bad idea. I found a wall impeding my path. This place was a dead end.

The growls growing louder at my back alerted me to my imminent demise. Even though I didn’t want to, I turned around and faced the group of snarling Demon Beasts. They walked on four skinny legs, had slightly elongated bodies, fur covering their muscular physique, and their growling muzzles were filled with sharp teeth.

My eyes widened, my breath grew more rapid as my heart accelerated, and my body felt a chill as if ice had frozen my bones.

The Demon Beasts were closing in. There was no escape now. One of them, the one in front, growled as it leapt at me.

“Stay back!” I shouted as I held out my hand. However, my words had no effect, and the Demon Beast—yelped as pale blue lightning suddenly shot from my fingertips. “Huh?”

I blinked in shock as the Demon Beast was thrown back by the lightning surging from my fingers. I stared at my hands. I’d never used Spiritual Techniques before. How come I was capable of shooting lightning from my hands? And without using any movements to direct my Spiritual Power no less!

I wasn’t given much time to ponder what happened before all the Demon Beasts attacked. Lightning didn’t burst from my hands this time. I screamed out just as they pounced, but I knew this was the end.

“Do not touch him!” a voice shouted.

Several beams of light suddenly appeared in the air and pierced all the Demon Beasts attacking me. Each beam went straight through the creatures’ bodies, penetrating their chests or their skulls, killing them instantly. All of the Demon Beasts were airborne. They soared past me, struck the ground, rolled across the dirt, and slammed into the wall.

I turned my head to stare at the corpses, and then I looked at the entrance to the alley. A young woman was running toward me. Her golden hair reminded me of the Sun. Porcelain skin that looked delicate and fragile gave her a divine, noble appearance. The golden armor covering her chest didn’t extend to her stomach, but I could see scalemail beneath the breastplate. Shoulder pauldrons, greaves, and vambraces helped protect her deceptively thin limbs. Gripped within her hand was a spear that must have been a meter and a half in length.

“Eryk!” the woman cried as she slammed into me. Her arms were around my waist, the fragrance of sweat mixed with perfume invading my nose as she hugged me. “I’m so glad you’re still alive! I was so… I’m so happy to see that you’re okay!”

It took me a moment, but as she held onto me like I was a lifeline, I soon realized I knew this woman.

“… Kari?” I asked softly.

Kari’s response was to increase the strength of her hug, which was actually kind of uncomfortable because her breastplate was grinding against my ribs. The hug fortunately didn’t last long. She moved back and grabbed my hand with her free hand, tugging on it to get me moving.

“Come on,” she said, her eyes containing a powerful determination. “We’re getting out of here.”

I’m pretty sure I was in shock because I barely remember what happened as I followed her. I know we ran through the streets, the terrified wails and dying screams of people accompanying our desperate dash, but everything else about the invasion was something I could only recall in vague details. All I really knew for sure was that Kari was the very essence of an angry god as she slaughtered every Demon Beast that stood in her way. It was thanks to her and her alone that we managed to escape from Nevaria, fleeing toward the west, where several hundred kilometers worth of plains and farmlands stretched out before us.

As she and I left, I took one last look at the city-state. Plumes of fire and smoke rose into the sky, flying Demon Beasts flew overhead, and a gigantic creature that stood on four legs and loomed over many of the buildings lifted its head and unleashed a roar that shook the heavens.

The city-state of Nevaria was finished.

***

I sucked in a deep breath as my eyes snapped open. Sitting up in bed, I ignored the slight chill as the cold sweat covering my skin was struck by a light breeze that came in through the window. It looked like I had forgotten to close the shutters. Glancing around the room, I took everything in, then pressed a hand against my face and took several slow, shuddering breaths.

“What a nightmare,” I mumbled.

I didn’t allow myself to dwell on the nightmare I’d had for long since there were things to do, places to be, and all that stuff. It was morning now. The sun was out. After washing my face and cleaning my body with a rag, I got dressed in my usual clothes and left the room.

Grabbing a loaf of honeyed bread for breakfast, I went to the library and prepared it for the day. Opening the library involved cleaning, checking the books, and making sure the tables and chairs were set up. It was actually easier to open than it was to close. Once I finished prepping the library, I changed the sign on the door close to open.

No one arrived for at least an hour. During that time, I sat behind the counter and thought about important matters… like that fact that Kari hadn’t come to visit me since I teased her that day one week ago. It was unusual for her to not appear even once in an entire week. Disregarding me, Kari came to the library every time she didn’t have classes.

The library was a bit boring today, but maybe that was because I felt a little moody. There wasn’t much for me to do and Kari hadn’t shown up. I honestly couldn’t have been more relieved when Ms. Nadine arrived to relieve me.

“There’s no need for you to be so happy,” the woman said with a roll of her eyes.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “Anyway, I’ll be going now.”

“Right. Don’t get into trouble.”

I nodded and was about to leave… when I paused. A thought occurred to me.

“Ms. Nadine, has Kari shown up at all?” I asked in what I hoped was a casual voice.

“Not while I’ve been around.” Ms. Nadine shook her head. She studied me for a moment before a glint came to her eyes. “Have you and your girl had a falling out?”

“She isn’t my girl yet,” I said with a shrug. “But yeah, kind of.”

Ms. Nadine seemed surprised by my “yet” comment, but then she waved me off and repeated that Kari hadn’t shown up at all. I had no choice but to believe her.

It was late in the afternoon when I left the library. After buying something to eat for lunch, I went back to my place, grabbed the bag of pills, and then headed for the south gate.

My Spiritual Pathways had widened to the point where releasing my Spiritual Power no longer caused a massive explosion. That meant it was time to refine my control using a different training method. I also wanted to see if I could still use some of my more prominent Spiritual Techniques like the Flash Step. If I could at least unleash my Spiritual Aura and use the Flash Step, then I could consider myself in good shape. If not, I’d have to refine my control even more.

The area beyond the south gate didn’t have as much forest as the north and west gates. While there still existed a number of tall trees clustered together, there were also a lot of boulders and rocky areas that made the terrain difficult to navigate. It also had a lot of clearings that could be used for training.

As I wandered around a particularly large rock sticking out of the ground, a noise caught my attention. I paused and cocked my head to the side.

“Ha! Ha! Hya!”

The sound was that of someone yelling. Their loud shouts reverberated around me, symbolizing their physical exertion. I blinked as I realized there was a person aside from myself who had decided to train out here. From the timbre and pitch of their voice, I knew this person was a woman. Her voice sounded young. I guessed that she was probably around my current physical age.

Curiosity got the better of me, I must admit. I wanted to see who else would be training this far from Nevaria. I followed the sound of the voice, wandering past several boulders, which eventually led to a large clearing.

The woman who was training within the clearing was indeed young. She was more of a girl than a woman. I’d guess she was 16 or 17 years-old.

Her hair was like trails of fire, catching and reflecting the sunlight as she spun around and unleashed a series of punches and kicks. The unblemished pale skin of her face that was purer than snow gave her a refreshing appearance. She wore a simple tunic and pants. The tunic was long-sleeved and she had gloves on, so I couldn’t see her body. I could only see the outline. While she definitely wasn’t any older than myself and Kari, I could see from the outline that she was already maturing. Breasts that were smaller than Kari’s but still quite big pushed against the tunic. From the way the cord wrapped around her waist, I could tell that she was thin. However, the curvature of her hips revealed that she likely had some powerful thighs hidden beneath those pants.

As I watched the girl from afar, I noticed that she would occasionally stumble when practicing. I thought she was just clumsy at first. When I took a closer look, however, I realized that she was favoring her right foot. Not only that, but the movements of her arms, particularly her left arm, also seemed quite stiff.

The girl turned her attacks into a powerful dance. I sensed the swirling Spiritual Power rising within her, but it felt sluggish, like something was clogging it. That feeling only intensified when the girl suddenly thrust out both palms. The sluggish Spiritual Power crawled to her hands. Then it dissipated as though it had slammed against a wall.

“Ah!”

My eyes widened as the girl fell to her knees, pressed her hands against the ground, and started shaking. Her expression of pain sent a jolt to my spine. I knew exactly what had happened.

Anger surged through me and caused my vision to go red.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” I shouted as I stormed out from behind the boulder.

“W-what?!” The girl tried to leap up in surprise, but her pain was such that all she did was fall onto her backside. She stared at me as I stormed up to her. Her pretty face paled, but she quickly recovered and glared at me. “Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

“Nevermind me! What are you doing?!” I shouted.

“E-excuse me?!” The girl looked like she didn’t know whether to be confused or angry as I yelled at her. Part of me admitted that I was acting pretty irrationally, but I was seeing red by this point. “Who do you think you are to yell at me?! What gives you the right to scold me as though you’re my father?!”

I ignored her questions as I knelt before her, grabbed her left arm before she knew what was happening, and pulled the sleeve back.

It was just as I thought. Her entire wrist was completely black, and that blackness extended from her hand all the way up her arm. Given how stiff and awkward her movements had been, I wouldn’t be surprised if the blackness extended past her shoulder.

“Don’t look!” The girl snatched her arm back and covered it with her sleeve again. She glared at me as though I had gravely insulted her ancestors. “How dare you peek at a girl’s skin without her consent!”

“No! How dare you practice Spiritual Techniques when you’re clearly suffering from Spiritual Poisoning!” I roared back. “Have you no common sense, woman?! Everyone knows that you can’t practice Spiritual Techniques when your body has been poisoned like this! What were you thinking?!”

The woman stared at me with something akin to shock, her eyes growing wider with each word that left my mouth. I was breathing heavily by this point. Perhaps that was why I didn’t realize what had shocked her so bad.

“You… you know what’s wrong with my body?” she asked, her tone uncertain.

“Of course I do,” I muttered. “Anyone with a pair of fucking eyes would know what’s wrong with your body.”

I wasn’t normally one for swearing, but I was really angry. Didn’t anyone tell this woman not to practice Spiritual Techniques when she was suffering from Spiritual Poisoning? That was one of the most important rules when practicing Spiritualism! Also, why hadn’t anyone created the antidote yet? Judging from just what I’d seen of her arm, she was already at a stage where the poisoning could be potentially life threatening. Damn it! Even the antidote wouldn’t be enough to save her without using an advanced form of spiritual massage techniques now.

The woman eyed me carefully before speaking. “None of the elders in my family were able to figure out what was wrong with me. How is it that you know what’s afflicting me?”

“Huh? What do you mean? It’s obvious that you have Spiritual Poisoning. Isn’t that just common sense?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

The two of us stared at each other in uncertainty for several seconds. I went over the conversation we’d just had now, and I slowly came to realize something. It struck me like a Spiritual Lightning Technique.

Nevaria was behind the times. Their alchemy had yet to reach a stage where they could make antidotes to cure Spiritual Poisoning, which probably meant they didn’t even know what Spiritual Poisoning was. In which case, this girl and her family also wouldn’t know what it was or how to cure it.

I sat down and crossed my legs as this knowledge coagulated within my thoughts. After staring at the girl for several more seconds as I calmed down, I finally released a sigh.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get angry,” I said at last.

“It’s fine, I guess.” The girl paused, biting her lip. “Do you know what’s happening to me? You said I had Spiritual Poisoning. Is that what’s wrong with me?”

“May I see your arm again?” I asked in a soft voice.

The girl hesitate for a moment before rolling back her sleeve, sticking out her arm, and allowing me to examine her. I studied the black skin for a moment. It certainly looked like Spiritual Poisoning. Using Spiritual Perception, I sent my consciousness into her Spiritual Pathways, only to discover that they were completely blocked.

“That is definitely Spiritual Poisoning,” I muttered at last. “And it’s in an incredibly advanced stage too.”

“What is Spiritual Poisoning?” she asked.

Now that I was calmer, I was able to think more analytically. I answered her with the knowledge I had gained about one year after Kari had been killed by the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plane.

“Spiritual Poisoning is what happens when your Spiritual Pathways are unable to cope with your own powers, either because they are too small, or because you used a technique that your body wasn’t ready for.” I narrowed my eyes in thought. “It can also happen if you train too much. Basically, what’s happening inside of you right now is that your own Spiritual Power has coagulated inside of your Spiritual Pathways, clogging them up. If you try to use Spiritual Techniques, not only will they not work, but the Spiritual Power will get stuck inside of your pathways and agitate the problem, making things worse.”

The girl paled. “T-that sounds bad.”

“It is bad,” I almost snapped at her again, but I held myself back. I could already tell that what happened to her wasn’t her fault. “Not only do clogged Spiritual Pathways damage your body because your Spiritual Power is no longer circulating through them, but if the clogging persists, you will end up either crippled for life or you will die.”

The girl held a hand to her mouth, her already pale face paling further as all the blood drained from it. “You… are you being serious right now?”

“I am completely serious,” I said.

“I had no idea. No… no one knew what was happening.” The distraught girl stared at me with horror clear in her eyes. “T-the elders tried to force my Spiritual Pathways to unclog, but all that seemed to do was increase the pain I was in. I’ve been coming out here to try and unclog them myself, but…”

“But you haven’t had any luck.” I rubbed my face as she nodded. “Of course you wouldn’t have luck. You can’t unclog Spiritual Pathways with Spiritual Power. That just makes it worse.”

I grew silent for a moment as I thought about this girl’s situation, and now that my anger had completely dissipated, all I felt was sympathy. This girl was suffering from an affliction that no one in Nevaria understood. Given the level of alchemy this city-state possessed, there was no one here who could even think of healing her.

Except for me.

“All right,” I sighed as I came to a decision. “Would you like me to heal you?”

My words startled the girl. “You know how to heal me?”

I nodded. “I’ve had Spiritual Poisoning before, so I know how to fix it.”

A determined gleam came to the girl’s eyes. I could tell from this look that she had a will of steel. It made me wonder what would have happened to her if I hadn’t found her.

“What do I need to do?” she asked.

“I’ll need you to get several medicinal ingredients,” I began as I uncrossed my legs and stood up. “I’ll create a list of the ingredients you need. Once you have them, I’ll have you come over to my place.”

“T-to your place?” she squeaked.

I furrowed my brow. “Is there a problem?”

A dark red blush sprang to her cheeks as I stared at her. She twiddled her fingers a little and looked away. “Well… it’s just that a woman coming over to a man’s place is kind of… couldn’t you do this at my family’s estate?”

“I could, but I’d rather not,” I admitted. “I’m trying to keep a low profile right now. I can tell from how pretty you are and how soft your skin is that you’re of noble lineage. I don’t have any desire to find myself in the hands of the nobility at this moment, and given how… involved the method of healing you is going to be, I’d prefer we do it where I know someone won’t be able to watch us.”

“I… see…” The girl seemed to be considering my words. Her blush hadn’t receded, but I could tell that she had calmed down by the way her pink lips were pursed into a frown. She took a deep breath, then released it. “If that is the case, then I will do as you say.”

I nodded. “Thank you. Now, let’s go. I need to write down those ingredients. The sooner you can buy them, the better.”

“R-right.”

The girl was about to stand up when I held out my hand. She looked at it for a moment before tentatively placing her hand in it, allowing me to pull her up. We were walking back toward Nevaria, and I was lamenting about how I hadn’t been able to practice any of my techniques today, but then I suddenly realized something.

“I never introduced myself,” I said, only slightly embarrassed. “My name is Eryk Veiger.”

The girl looked startled for a moment, but then she nodded.

“I’m called Fay,” she said in a soft, lyrical voice. “Fay Valstine.”