Is there anything I can do?
"Ugh. Think, think...what happened in this scene?"
My brows scrunched up as I sought insight as the author of this world.
Sure, I was concerned and wondering if this was all even real and if I really transmigrated to Cael's body...but I don't have time to ponder that. What matters more right now is that at any moment, assassins would come to kill me.
I looked north, south, and in every direction--only graves, as if extending endlessly. Even if I wanted to run away, there was nowhere to hide.
I paced back and forth, the rain drenching my hair every minute.
I wrote this scene to serve as a part of Cael's backstory, to let his image be a little more intimidating as the novel's main villain.
As such, these assassins were not ordinary either. They were all sent by the six great families, particularly the Nordin family, as revenge against Luke Seryth, who had killed the patriarch's wives...and concubines. Enraged, the Nordin head vowed to completely destroy the Seryth bloodline, and by this point, Cael was the last of them.
However, as the main villain, Cael would naturally not die so easily, and he successfully escaped--albeit narrowly--and would disappear for the next few arcs of the novel.
I drew in a hiss of a breath.
But I'm not Cael.
I don't have any experience in fighting. I'm just an ordinary man who cowered behind a screen in the modern world. At most, I refined my abilities as a keyboard warrior to win against my likewise chronically online foes. There's no way that I'd survive an encounter with assassins now!
I contemplated, "No, wait. I'd given Cael a few abilities to help him match up against the protagonist. Could I use them too?"
I'm in Cael's body, so there should be no problem utilizing his talents as well, right?
I searched my memories detailing on Cael's abilities. Then, as if on cue, a dark grey hologram appeared in front of me.
---
{Name: Cael Seryth}
Age: 17
Race: Half-Demon
Alignment: Cruel (Apathetic)
Talent: [Killer's Instinct]
Traits: [Killing Intent] [???] [Visualization] [Immersion] [Elemental Embodiment]
---
"Is this...a system screen?", the hologram was perfectly constructed, with a 2d form and a half-transparent background. I extended my hand toward the hologram but it only passed through without result.
Reading through the hologram, I realized that it was displaying Cael's information.
It was like a status screen you would see in RPG games, except this time I'm seeing it in reality. I quickly read through it to confirm the information. And as expected, the talent [Killer's Instinct] was there.
[Killer's Instinct] was the main ability I gave Cael, and it was one of the most important. Essentially, it gave him the instincts of a killer, knowing the ins and outs of how to kill. This was what made Cael into a murderer in the novel.
As a side effect, one of Cael's traits had also manifested as [Killing Intent]. It was a suppression ability, allowing him to project his intent to kill as aura. It worked to intimidate, and could even cause stronger combatants to feel danger.
However, there was something strange about the listed traits. One of Cael's traits I'd designated, [Cunning], was missing. Instead, an unknown trait replaced it.
Trait: [???]
"...No matter. I'll think about it later.", I shook my head. I couldn't afford to think about useless things right now. At most, it'll simply be another variable I might have to account for later on.
I tapped my chin, "What's most important right now are the-"
At that moment, I felt a piercing feeling on my cheek, and without thinking, I dodged to the right.
Shtriiick!
The next moment, a dagger flew through the air, cutting the rain and barely missing its shot, landing on one of the Seryths' graves and breaking off a piece of stone.
Crack
"What's important, you say? I'm afraid you won't have the luxuries to think about that now, Cael Seryth.", a voice remarked behind me.
My breath hitched. They're here already?!
Looking back, I saw three cloaked men standing with their unsheathed swords. The person who threw the dagger appeared to be the leader in the middle.
"We meet again, young man of the Seryth household. You must know why we are here.", the leading man uncloaked himself, revealing a knight with deep blue hair, "Let's make this quick."
A logo of a white bear shined in the middle of his armor, "Surrender, and I will allow you to die painlessly."
"Tch.", I clicked my tongue, annoyed at his offer. The blue-haired knight was one of Nordin's men, Lance.
I definitely wouldn't be able to outrun them to the forest. Cael's abilities at this point in the story were barely developed. Even in the encounter, Cael was forced to fight Lance and the other knights. However, through sheer combat talent and technique, Cael was able to break through and cruelly slaughter all of them.
But I knew doing the same thing Cael did would be nigh impossible.
"I-I...Wait, I'm s-sorry...", I stuttered, delaying my response in an attempt to buy time. My mind spun rapidly to think of a possible escape route.
The Cemetery of Heroes, where I currently was. The protagonist had been here before, a few years into the future. I remember he had also obtained an important item here, but that's not the point. There was also something more...something, something that can help me...
Agh! What was it?! My memory was failing me at the worst time.
"How pathetic.", the knight, Lance, scoffed at my feigned weakness, interrupting my string of thoughts, "Your parents were formidable, but it seems they only raised a pup."
I ignored what Lance said. In fact, I encouraged him to say more. One more word he utters, and my life is extended by an extra second.
At that moment, the most vital piece of information, buried in the depths of my mind, surfaced.
"!"
That... That's it! An image of a specific grave appeared in my mind.
There's a way!
But the knights didn't want to wait.
Lance raised his blade, "I wonder what you're thinking in that red-headed brain of yours. Regardless, it doesn't matter. You'll die anyway."
At a speed unperceivable to the naked eye, Lance lunged at me, his sword already at my neck by the time I realized what was going on.
However, I never intended to rely on my consciousness. I felt the strange transition of my instincts taking over my consciousness for half a second and ducked below, avoiding the sword by a hair's breadth.
Not wasting any time, I lunged forward behind the Seryths' graves, letting the two pieces of carved stone take the hit of another powerful slash.
Boom!
The two graves exploded from the impact, a piece of stone flying and nicking my arm. I continued running.
"Not too bad.", Lance said as he watched me scurrying further back into the cemetary.
"Hah, hah, hah-", I panted while I ran with all my life, my eyes darting around the cemetary rapidly, skimming through each and every grave I could make out.
There was one particular gravestone that I remember specifically writing, that the protagonist would find later on in the story.
I gritted my teeth. If I could just get to that gravestone, then..!
This time, another knight, different from Lance, caught up to me. He swung his sword at me, his steps leaving marks on the ground.
Crash!
Using another grave as a shield, I only took about half the damage as blood splattered from my right arm.
"Urgh!"--that Nordin bastard must have ordered them to use dull swords to amplify pain. He probably thought that they didn't need sharp weapons because of course, there was no way a mere 17-year-old would be able to escape death at a trained knight's hand.
What a careless bastard. I pulled out a small piece of shattered rock lodged in the wound.
From a quick glance, a grateful feeling in my stomach emerged as I confirmed that my arm had not been severed. At the same time, a heated pain coursed through it as the rain merged with the flowing blood.
I managed to ignore the pain in my arm as I searched once more through the graves in my vicinity.
And I didn't have to search for long before I spotted it.
A gravestone with a black cross in the middle. An ominous aura seemed to pervade the area around it. It was a gravestone that became cursed over time because of the deep-seated resentment from dying an unjust death.
It created a one-way portal.
If I just touched that gravestone, it would instantly transport me to a different realm. The different realm in question was the Demonic Realm, where cruel demons were abundant.
I gritted my teeth. It was my only chance.
I threw myself to the side, narrowly dodging a fatal attack.
Shing!
A knight struck at me with a sword light, bringing myself slightly farther away from the cursed gravestone.
"You can already see, there's no escape.", a third knight brought his sword down, "Struggling will only prolong your suffering. Give up."
The three knights surrounded me, and soon bombarded me with attacks.
Using gravestones of former heroes as shields, I managed to buy time to save at least a little bit of energy to run my head through Cael's abilities once more, scavenging for any option I could take to spring myself to the grave.
"Stop struggling, you traitor!", a knight aggressively swung down as another grave broke.
Smash! Crash!
Over time, the amount of graves I could use as shields slowly dwindled--until my line of thought stopped at a particular ability.
[Killing Intent]
My eyes flashed with opportunity.
Hesitation. Just a flinch. Even for half a second. That's all I need.
At that moment, I saw Lance's sword glow with a blue aura. I instinctively knew--if that sword even as so grazed me, I'd be blown away.
But I saw my chance.
"You're done, kid!", Lance swung down.
Turning my head back partially, I was directly faced with Lance's sword.
Suddenly, like my head was drowning in cold water, my gaze focused, and my breath sharpened, as all my thoughts condensed into a single, true intent.
Instantly, the cemetery was filled to the brim with a dense, suffocating intent to kill, all of it pressing solely down on Lance and his sword.
"!"
Taken by surprise, Lance's strike momentarily halted, and his grip faltered.
A flinch.
I'm not sure what expression I had at that moment, but I'm sure it was nothing short of pure euphoria.
As I turned around, it was as if time slowed down, I perfectly captured the gazes of the other two knights, preparing a strike as well.
But unable to process them in the urgent moment, I didn't think twice before leaping with all my might toward the ominous gravestone. I stretched my left arm as far as I could.
This was my only, and last opportunity I would get.
"You..!"
Lance saw through my intentions instantly. I was trying to escape--somehow--using that grave.
Straightening his posture and retightening his grip, Lance swung his sword at me as fast as he could, his feet leaving marks on the ground as all his strength was mustered, "Huup!-"
That one moment felt like eternity.
The rain stopped falling, the world narrowed tremendously, my fingers an inch away.
Please..! I pleaded with all my heart.
Then, just as it seemed like my hand would fall only slightly short of it, my fingertips grazed the corner of the stone.
Whoosh!
Instantaneously, my body disintegrated into light and disappeared.
At just half a second later, the grave exploded from the impact of Lance's strike.
BOOM!
Everything around the grave was blown apart with it, dust flew and surrounded the area, creating a dense cloud of smoke.
"Hoo...", Lance exhaled, sheathing his sword confidently. The other knights likewise sheathed their weapons, believing Cael to have been blown from the sword light. But when the smoke dissipated, the original target, Cael, was nowhere to be seen, not even a drop of blood left behind. Only rocks, stones, sticks, and uprooted grass.
Seeing the lack of a body, and the area below the grave blown to smithereens, Lance ground his teeth.
"Cael Seryth!! You rat!"
***
Meanwhile, in the pitch-black, depths of a cave, a crimson-haired, slit-eyed man appeared out of thin air.
Collapsing to the ground, relief finally engulfed me.
I lived.
Slowly, a crooked smile crept up the corners of my mouth, making the ends of my lips part into an almost hysterical laugh. Remembering Lance's face, I raised my middle finger to the air with glee.
"I won, sucker."