Staring at the flames soaring into the sky and hearing the relentless sounds of battle from the village, Shin stood frozen, gazing at the horizon in a daze, struggling to process what was happening.
Though he'd heard the outside world wasn't exactly peaceful, with a medieval level of order at best, he'd lived in the tranquil Ghost Tribe village for so long, devoid of conflict, that he lacked a real understanding of this world's harshness.
It was like knowing about chaos in the Middle East in his past life—without experiencing it firsthand, it was just something to sigh over, nothing more. It didn't feel connected to him.
As a reincarnator, despite a rough start—nearly dying at birth—he'd survived against the odds, befriended a future world-class powerhouse, and gained the potential for limitless growth.
In his mind, surviving childhood would naturally lead to growing stronger, fulfilling the shallow yet typical male fantasy:
meeting beautiful girls, building relationships, becoming a hero, and marrying three, five, six, or seven gorgeous maidens, beauties, or mature women.
There'd be bumps along the way, sure, but never insurmountable despair. Maybe he'd even become a king.
But... reality diverged sharply from his fantasies. Instead of a promising tomorrow, disaster struck first.
The distant screams and wails snapped him out of his naive thoughts, making him realize how foolish he'd been. His instincts screamed to flee.
Though he'd lived in the Ghost Tribe village for nine years, he felt no emotional attachment to it. Abandoning the village carried no mental burden for him.
Except for the twins he'd watched grow up, he didn't think anyone else was worth risking his life for, but...
"... I should probably check it out. Ram's definitely stronger than me, but... I'm supposed to be an adult. Running away alone now would be..."
Despite the distant sounds and firelight making him so nervous he swallowed hard several times, an inexplicable sense of responsibility drove him to clench his trembling fists, grit his teeth, and muster the courage to run toward the village.
Though he had almost no combat experience, like most of the village, he prided himself on being the most diligent in studying magic.
Having lived once before, he was far more fascinated by supernatural abilities than the natives, who'd grown up accustomed to magic.
Hoping he might be able to help, he raced through the forest path to an open area with a clear view of the village. But one glance left him stunned.
All he saw was death and destruction.
Everywhere he looked, there were only flames, countless corpses of villagers and black-robed figures, and burning houses, fields, forests, bodies—even the ground and sky seemed to blaze in the inferno.
The once-familiar village, which he'd grown tired of seeing, had become a brutal hell of blood, fire, and corpses.
The heat carried the unbearable stench of burning organs and bodies, nearly making him vomit on the spot.
Forcing himself to hold it in, he covered his nose and mouth and charged into the flames and smoke, heading toward the twins' house.
Along the way, he accidentally stepped on a corpse, its expression of disbelief in death searing into his retina, shaking him to his core.
But then he saw her—a blue-haired girl standing blankly at her doorstep.
...
The overwhelming scene seemed to have robbed Rem of all thought. Even as black-robed attackers surrounded her, she made no move, only staring at them in a daze.
The lead attacker raised a cross-shaped dagger, poised to strike, but before the blade could fall, a surge of powerful magic erupted from behind.
A ferocious wind instantly shredded the attackers, robes and all, into pieces.
Rem, barely processing the chaos, could only widen her eyes and stare as Ram, breathing a sigh of relief, ran toward her.
"Sister...?"
"—Rem! Are you okay?!"
Ram, already in ghost transformation, reached Rem's side but had no time to embrace her sister before more attackers charged at them.
"One after another...!"
The young girl spat words filled with hatred as a violent wind swept across the ground, mowing down enemies with overwhelming force.
But in the next moment, a fierce burst of firelight flashed from afar.
A fireball cannon slammed into Rem behind Ram, engulfing her figure. Shin's eyes widened, glowing with golden light as the world seemed to slow to a crawl, like being dragged through mud.
He noticed that, at the last second before the explosion, Ram had tackled Rem to the ground, only to be blown away by the blast.
Rem's cheeks were streaked with tears, and Ram was covered in blood, clearly badly injured. For some reason, her wounds weren't healing.
Ghost transformation didn't just enhance strength—it drastically boosted recovery. With Ram's power, any non-fatal injury should heal easily during transformation.
"The magic in the air... there's something strange mixed in?" Shin, able to see magical flows, hadn't yet had time to celebrate the twins' survival when he noticed an anomaly in the atmosphere's magic.
Ghost transformation forcibly drew in nearby magic to enhance a ghost's physical and magical strength, but Ram showed no signs of this. In fact... her current ghost transformation seemed weaker than her normal state.
That's right—Ram in ghost transformation was weaker than usual. Otherwise, the so-called "Ghost God Reborn" shouldn't have been injured by such an explosion.
Even if the Ghost Tribe had grown complacent, with just a small resistance, enemies of this caliber—despite their numbers—should be easily overpowered in ghost transformation.
"Could it be... the anomaly in the magic is poison? Has Ram absorbed a ton of tainted magic and can't even deactivate her ghost transformation?"
The bizarre situation made Shin, who'd been about to activate his own ghost transformation to rush to their aid, halt his actions.
But at that moment, when no one expected it, a black-robed figure abruptly rose from the pile of corpses and, with a swift upward slash, struck Ram's horn.
"—Argh?!" A sharp cry of pain echoed through the village, which had briefly fallen silent.
Her small, glowing white horn, along with blood spraying from her forehead, flew through the air.
Regret for not noticing the village's situation sooner and for refusing Ram and Rem's company surged in Shin's heart.
But he had no time to dwell on remorse. The shadowy figure raised its blade again, aiming for the two girls. Shin, who'd stopped running and crouched down, finally pressed his hand to the ground.
"—Rock Summoning!"
A rock wall shot up from the ground, shielding the sisters. The blade struck the wall, sparking briefly before bouncing back with a "clang!" ...
(PS: Just a heads-up, the horn can be repaired.)
***