“Long time no see, Amamiya. Well, if we count the time I had only my soul with no body, then I think we’ve seen each other’s faces a year ago,” said the ‘Mage Masher’ Asagi Minami with a bitter smile on his face.
Behind him were the ‘Ifrit’ Shouko Akagi and the ‘Clairvoyance’ Tatsuya Tendou.
Unlike Asagi, these two were clearly being very cautious of Legion.
“… Ugh. Why are you people here? I thought that we came to a previous agreement that you wouldn’t interfere while we made contact with him if we got to him first,” said Kanako.
Indeed, according to the promise that had been made in Rodcorte’s Divine Realm before everyone was reincarnated, Asagi’s group shouldn’t have interfered while Kanako’s group made contact with Vandalieu.
But Asagi seemed unconcerned that Kanako was blaming him for breaking this promise. “That’s not the kind of tone a former idol should have,” he said. “We made that promise with Murakami, so we don’t need to be so considerate towards you now that you’ve left his group… I have no intention of arguing something unreasonable like that. The truth is, if Amamiya didn’t notice us, we would have kept quiet until you guys were finished.”
“Then you should have just left instead of coming out,” said Kanako.
“Don’t ask us the impossible. If we didn’t come out, we would have been mistaken for enemies and attacked,” Asagi pointed out. “Isn’t that right, Amamiya?”
“Of course! We don’t know anything about the rules you have decided between yourselves! Even if we did, we have no reason to play along with them!” said the voice of Legion’s Valkyrie.
Hearing these words, Kanako stopped hounding Asagi. She wanted to complain that he wasbeing unreasonable, but she thought that Vandalieu’s impression of her and her group would become worse if she continued this futile argument in front of him.
“So, why have you people come here?” Legion asked.
“The voice before was Valkyrie, and the one just now was Pluto…” Asagi murmured. “We came because I knew these guys would try to curry favour with Amamiya. And we wanted to make sure that they hadn’t fabricated some convenient-sounding information lies to tell us so that they could use Venus’s power to try and manipulate Amamiya.”
Asagi’s group had learned of Kanako’s movements by using Familiar Spirit Descent to hear from Rodcorte’s familiar spirits, Aran and Izumi. They had headed towards the former Scylla territory and used Tendou’s Clairvoyance to search for them and keep an eye on them.
When Asagi’s group summoned Aran, he had strongly warned them to not fight Vandalieu. Asagi had been unconcerned, as his original objective was to persuade him to change his ways. In fact, he was confused as to why Aran would bother re-emphasizing this to him.
Shouko and Tendou had a bad feeling about Aran’s warning; they were watching Asagi and Vandalieu’s every move, ready to stop Asagi at any costs if anything happened.
“That’s not what we were intending, but… I suppose being doubted like this is just me getting what I deserve,” said Kanako.
She was speaking admirable words, but she felt very bitter on the inside. That was how inconvenient it was for her group that Asagi’s group was here.
Asagi’s group were people that her group had betrayed in Origin, and they possessed all of the information that her group did.
In fact, they were the ones with the information advantage, as they had received information from the familiar spirits even after being reincarnated.
“’Mage Masher,’ did you think that we would come here without having measures in place against the abilities of Kanako and her group?” Legion asked Asagi.
Vandalieu and Legion were unaware that the true power of Kanako’s Venus was the copying and pasting of emotions and memories. However, they had determined that it was an ability that affected the target’s mind. That was why only Vandalieu and Legion, who would be immune to such effects, had come here.
They had also determined that the fragments of the Demon King, which had barrier-nullifying properties, could pierce through Melissa’s Aegis Ability.
The telekinesis granted to Doug by his Hecatoncheir ability wouldn’t be a problem. It would be ineffective against pathogens created with the Disease Demon Job and Dark King Magic that he couldn’t perceive.
And in preparation for the possibility of there being more reincarnated individuals present than the three whose names were written on the letter, Vandalieu had brought fighting forces with him, including the ‘King Slayer’ Sleygar. They were in the surrounding area and inside Vandalieu’s body.
Legion’s tongue grew sharper the more Kanako and her companions flattered Vandalieu, which Kanako and her companions seemed to mistake for hostility.
“I’ll say it to make it clear – We had absolutely no intentions of working with these guys; we didn’t cooperate with them to draw you out with a false letter,” Kanako said hastily.
“It’s true. In the end, we did bring them here as a result, but… we apologize for that,” said Melissa.
But Vandalieu and Legion nodded.
“I know that. There were no signs of you having done such things,” said Vandalieu.
“We knew that those three were hiding there from the very beginning,” Baba Yaga explained.
“That’s why we were observing you for a while as you were talking and came to the conclusion that it doesn’t seem like you’re working together,” said Ereshkigal.
Before Vandalieu and Legion called out to Kanako’s group, they had realized that Asagi’s group had been hiding in order to keep an eye on Kanako’s group.
On top of that, they had come prepared for the unlikely event that it was all a trap.
“I’ll warn you again, but don’t try anything funny,” said Ghost. “There are countless forces surrounding you, including the head-hunting demon. You don’t want your head cut off a second time, do you?”
The facial expressions of Asagi’s group changed clearly as they heard the voices of Baba Yaga, Ereshkigal and Ghost coming from Legion – the voices of their killers. Asagi looked bitter, Shouko looked angry and Tendou turned pale.
“‘Anything funny’ includes fighting each other. Vandalieu has come to hear what you have to say. We’ll eliminate anyone who interferes with that,” said Pluto. “So, we’ve already heard what Kanako’s group wants. Were you intending to do nothing more than observe them, ‘Mage Masher?’”
“Of course that’s not all,” said Asagi, facing Vandalieu. “Amamiya, I’ve come to stop –”
“Wrong,” said Vandalieu, interrupting him.
“What are you saying is wrong, Amamiya? I’ve really come to stop you.”
Up until this point, Vandalieu had remained silent even when Asagi spoke to him, and their eyes hadn’t even met. But he accepted that he had to say this now.
“I am not Amamiya Hiroto. Now, I am Vandalieu Zakkart,” Vandalieu said.
He had hoped that Asagi would realize this without him having to say it.
“What are you saying? You’re our buddy, Amamiya Hiroto. Isn’t that right?” said Asagi, looking at him with a puzzled expression.
Vandalieu’s shoulders fell. “It’s true that I was once ‘Amamiya Hiroto.’ But that was over thirty years ago, and I feel no attachment towards that name. Please call me Vandalieu from now on,” he said. “Also, I am not your ‘buddy.’”
The current Vandalieu felt so little attachment to the name ‘Amamiya Hiroto’ that he could no longer consider it his own.
It wasn’t that he was trying to deny his past or forget it. However, he felt an unavoidable sense of discomfort when he was referred to by that name.
“You… Are you serious? Even if you were reincarnated in another world, the fact that you were Amamiya on Earth doesn’t change –” Asagi began, his voice raised in anger.
Tendou and Shouko stepped in to calm him down.
“Asagi, he is Vandalieu. It’s fine that way, isn’t it?” said Tendou.
“Most of us haven’t changed our names since we were reincarnated, but he’s different. I’m sure there are all kinds of reasons for it,” said Shouko.
Perhaps accepting this for now, Asagi fell silent for a moment and took a deep breath. “Alright. You want me to call you Vandalieu, right? I’m curious as to why your surname is Zakkart, but… I’ll leave that aside for now,” he said. “Vandalieu, we’ve come to stop you. You have to stop using death-attribute magic, right this moment if possible.”
“That’s impossible. Do you have any other business here?” Vandalieu asked.
“… I’m being serious,” said Asagi, his shoulders shaking as if he were trying to hold himself back. “Please give it some more thought.”
“… Please give it some more thought? I want to ask the same of you.”
The other two, standing beside Asagi, were wearing expressions that seemed to say, “As we thought.” Vandalieu looked at them with an expressionless, calm-looking gaze, but he felt irritated and mentally exhausted.
On the inside, he thought that it would be much easier to just fight them here, but if he did that, it would likely become even more troublesome when more reincarnated individuals were reborn in Lambda from Origin.
The situation was still just a discussion, and Asagi and Vandalieu merely held opposing opinions and viewpoints.
If Vandalieu were to eliminate Asagi for that reason alone, he would become the villain.
While Vandalieu was enduring this stressful situation, Asagi seemed to be deep in thought.
“Could it be…?” he whispered to himself, and then he lowered his head towards Vandalieu. “If you resent us because we failed to notice you and couldn’t save you in Origin, then I’m sorry. This will sound like nothing more than an excuse at this point, but… we really didn’t know that you were a reincarnated individual,” he said.
It seemed that he thought that the reason for Vandalieu’s attitude towards him was the events in their previous lives.
Shouko and Tendou, as well as Kanako’s group who had been watching this conversation unfold, seemed to realize this; they followed Asagi’s lead and lowered their heads.
“That’s right, the first thing we should have done was apologize.”
“I’m really sorry. If we had found out earlier, things wouldn’t have turned out like that.”
“I’m sorry. We were so desperate that we forgot to apologize.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry.”
But Vandalieu shook his head. “I don’t care about what happened in our previous lives. It’s troublesome, so please just forget about it.”
Asagi and the others raised their faces and looked at him in surprise.
“You don’t care? You didn’t resent us? I heard that you wanted to kill us,” said Doug.
Vandalieu instinctively looked away. “Please forget the words I shouted in front of Rodcorte after I died in Origin,” he said. “Those were words of hatred spoken when my mind was very strained and I had lost half my sanity.”
Vandalieu had thought things through calmly afterwards and realized that the one at fault was Rodcorte for reincarnating him without granting him anything, and that the other reincarnated individuals were not to blame.
Of course, that didn’t mean that he had no hatred for the other reincarnated individuals at all, but… over ten years had passed since then. All kinds of things had happened during that time, and Vandalieu’s place in the world had changed dramatically.
Thus, the fact that the reincarnated individuals failed to save him and ended his life in Origin was not a big deal to Vandalieu. Part of it was that he simply didn’t have the time to actively hunt down the reincarnated individuals and kill them, however.
“I-is that right? Well, that’s definitely a relief to hear,” said Doug, looking surprised and confused at the same time.
Vandalieu had said the same thing to the ‘Gungnir’ Kaidou Kanata, but perhaps the other reincarnated individuals hadn’t heard the message, or perhaps they had interpreted it as a lie to make them lower their guards.
“That’s right. Ah, could it be that the other reincarnated individuals can hear me if I say it to you?” Vandalieu said, using Flight to fly towards Doug and deliver his message to the other reincarnated individuals. “Hello, can you hear me? I don’t care about the fact that you killed me or even about your existence. It would be more problematic for me if you actually went out of your way to apologize to me.”
“Uoh?! You’re too close, you’re too close!” Doug shouted, instinctively trying to get away from the dead-fish-like eyes that were now in his face.
“Vandalieu, calm down. His eyes aren’t camera lenses,” said Legion.
This was a comical conversation, but Kanako and Tendou found themselves unable to laugh.
He doesn’t even care about our existence… That means that rather than having forgiven us, he’s just not interested, doesn’t it?! thought Kanako.
They say that the opposite of liking something is being completely indifferent, but it’s really true,thought Tendou.
Vandalieu’s words weren’t spoken out of forgiveness, but out of complete disinterest.
“Asagi, you should give up after all. Let’s get out of here,” Tendou whispered into Asagi’s ear.
But Asagi was not a man who could accept this. “No, I’m different from how I was when I was in Origin. I’m definitely going to stop him with my words this time,” he said, brushing Tendou’s whispered warning aside. And then, with a strong-willed tone, he called out once more to Vandalieu, who seemed to be messing around with Doug. “Vandalieu, listen to me! The situation is worse than you think! There’s going to be huge problems in this world because of you at this rate!”
“… Well, I suppose that’s right,” said Vandalieu, his weariness audible even in his flat-toned voice.
“You’re aware of it?!”
“Just what do you think I’ve done, fought against and defeated up until now?”
The restoration of the fallen nation of Talosheim, the occupation of this former Scylla territory. Most importantly, the release of Vida, the goddess of life and love, who had been sealed away by Alda’s divine authority. The acquisition of the surname ‘Zakkart’ by clearing the Trial of Zakkart.
The enemies he had defeated included believers of Alda like High Priest Gordan and four members of the Amid Empire’s Fifteen Evil-breaking Swords. On the Orbaume Kingdom’s side, there was a knights’ order of the Hartner Duchy and one of the resistance organizations that had been trying to recapture the Sauron Duchy.
Among the gods, he had defeated the Pure-breed Vampires Ternecia and Gubamon, as well as Ravovifard, the evil god of release. He had also apparently consumed a god whose name he didn’t even know.
If Vandalieu tried to think of the things he had done that would affect the world outside the Boundary Mountain Range as well, there were this many that just came off the top of his head. Even Vandalieu wasn’t so carefree as to think that these actions wouldn’t cause large problems.
Of course, it wasn’t that Asagi and the other reincarnated individuals knew all of this. Vandalieu doubted they had even figured out that he had revived Vida and conquered the Trial of Zakkart.
“If you’re aware, why haven’t you stopped?! I’m not even joking; at this rate, the entire world will become your enemy! The gods and people of this world will not accept you, someone who creates and manipulates Undead!” Asagi shouted, feeling a sense of danger.
His words were the conclusion he reached after experiencing a little over a year of life in the Orbaume Kingdom, in the human society of this world.
In this world, the existence of Undead was deemed unacceptable by the followers of the Alda religion, which made up the majority of the population. But it wasn’t just them; even a small number of Vida’s followers did not accept Undead. In fact, every single church taught that creating and manipulating the dead out of one’s own selfish desires were evil acts that desecrated life.
No matter how useful Vandalieu’s death-attribute magic was, the people of this world would not accept him as long as he continued to use Undead as his servants.
This conclusion that Asagi had made was surprisingly not far off the mark. Emperor Marshukzarl of the Amid Empire had come to a similar conclusion regarding Vandalieu’s future as well.
They were slightly different, however, as Asagi’s conclusion was based on the people’s emotions towards Undead while Marshukzarl’s conclusion was based on the fact that Vandalieu’s actions up until this point were not compatible with the desires of human nations.
“No matter how extraordinary your Mana is, you won’t be able to defeat the entire world! Even the Demon King whose fragments you’ve absorbed was defeated in the same way!” Asagi continued.
Indeed, the Demon King Guduranis had possessed far more power than Vandalieu, destroyed four of the eleven great gods, completely polluted an entire continent, destroyed the souls of four champions and pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. And yet, he had been defeated by the remaining three champions.
“Like I said, I’m aware of that. I’m doing my best to not make the entire world my enemy,” said Vandalieu.
The reason he was still continuing this conversation with Asagi and not attacking him was for that reason, too.
If there was a dangerous being wielding some of the greatest power in the world who killed others for no other reason than them having different opinions, values and religions… the people of the world would become desperate to eliminate that dangerous being.
But even if a being wielded great power, as long as he could be reasoned with, then things shouldn’t come to that. There would be some that he would never be able to come to an understanding with, but cases in which that led to actual conflict should remain within small numbers.
That was what Vandalieu thought… though the world’s affairs were now in an odd situation as a result.
“That’s not enough,” said Asagi. “It’s true that the death attribute is convenient, and countless people were saved by it in Origin. But there isn’t anyone who will accept someone toying with the dead –”
“Asagi, there are more people who accept it than you think,” said Legion, denying his words directly.
“… I can’t trust the words of you people who worship him fanatically,” said Asagi. “And this is a conversation between us people who have been reincarnated from Earth. Sorry, but stay out of this –”
“Hold on!” said Melissa, cutting Asagi off.
Asagi looked irritated at having been cut off, but he had bigger things on his mind after Melissa spoke her next words.
“That voice, is it you, Hitomi? The ‘Gazer’ Minuma Hitomi?!”
“That’s right, Melissa. I’ve stayed quiet and left the talking to everyone else up until now, but I’ve been here from the beginning and heard everything,” said Hitomi’s voice from beneath Legion’s hood. “Asagi-kun, I can join the conversation, right? I’ve been reincarnated from Earth, too.”
Asagi looked surprised, but he nodded. “Yeah.”
It seemed that he hadn’t noticed Minuma Hitomi inside Legion, as only the members of the Eighth Guidance had been speaking so far.
“Now then, let me continue… Asagi-kun, there are quite a few gods who accept what Vandalieu does,” said Hitomi.
“Gods?! Accepting the creation and manipulation of Undead?!”
“That’s right. The famous ones are Vida, Ricklent, Zuruwarn… You can assume that all of the gods in Vida’s faction are Vandalieu’s allies.”
“… Those are all big names. But how can you be so sure? Nobody knows what the gods are thinking unless they meet them directly, right?” Asagi asked.
“I haven’t met them, but Vandalieu has. Right?” said Hitomi.
“Yes, I met them. I questioned them directly and confirmed what they think,” said Vandalieu.
Asagi and the others opened their eyes wide in surprise as they heard what was already widely known inside the Boundary Mountain Range.
They had already met and exchanged words with Rodcorte, the god of reincarnation, in his Divine Realm multiple times. But they had always assumed that this was an exception, and that it was impossible to meet gods no matter how much one wanted to.
This assumption was actually largely correct. The gods of Lambda were closer to their world than the god of Earth was to its own, but even chosen clergymen could only receive messages from their gods through Divine Messages. Meeting them directly and exchanging words with the gods was impossible unless they became familiar spirits or heroic spirits after they died. This was a commonly-known truth.
But this commonly-known truth didn’t apply to Vandalieu.
“From the time when Zuruwarn and Ricklent refused to hand the souls of Pluto and the others to Rodcorte, I could guess that a number of gods were accepting us, but… Well, I’m sure Rodcorte didn’t tell you everything, so I won’t blame you,” said Vandalieu. “It’s not like I know all of the circumstances that the gods face, either.”
“But from what I heard at the Church of Vida, there wasn’t a single word of that…” Asagi muttered.
“It’s not like the gods of this world are constantly sharing their will with every church and priest. I think it will still take some more time before the Church of Vida changes,” said Legion.
“I-I suppose you’re… right?”
“Asagi-kun… ‘Mage Masher.’ Do you understand now that Vandalieu will not turn the whole world against himself? If you don’t believe him, then that’s fine, too.”
If Asagi were to be honest, he was still half in doubt. If possible, he wanted to hear just how Vandalieu had met the gods, and exactly what they had discussed, but…
“We believe you! So, we’d like to defect to your nation,” said Kanako, using this small break in the conversation to change the topic.
“Rather than defect, it would be immigration in this case, wouldn’t it?” said Vandalieu. “I have a suggestion regarding that. Will you hear it?”
Since Vandalieu was addressing Kanako’s group now, Asagi wasn’t able to ask about the details.
“Alright, I’ll believe you for now. But even gods can make the wrong decisions. If you continue using death-attribute Mana, which is a foreign substance in this world, there might be irreversible consequences,” Asagi said. “Amami… Vandalieu, you’re not thinking about taking over the world with a kingdom of Undead or anything like that, right?”
“Uh, of course not,” said Vandalieu.
As he gave this answer, he wondered why Asagi was so fixated on getting rid of the death attribute in the first place.
After thinking about it, he concluded that it was because Asagi was unable to accept the existence of Undead due to his personal and religious beliefs, which led to a hatred for the death attribute. And from this hatred, he viewed the death attribute as something dangerous, as dangerous as a weapon of mass destruction.
If that’s the case, then this is troublesome, he thought. I can’t do anything about the former, and the latter isn’t wrong. But with the amount of Mana I have, even if the magic I used wasn’t death-attribute magic, I don’t think I would be any less dangerous.
Vandalieu currently possessed over five billion Mana. With that much Mana, he would be able to create a small sun on the world’s surface with the fire attribute, freeze entire nations with the water attribute, cause lightning to rain down from the sky with the wind attribute or cause catastrophic movements in the planet’s crust with the earth attribute. Even if he was only able to use the light or life attributes, he would likely be just as dangerous.
And even without any attributes, he was able to punch holes in space itself.
In other words, Asagi’s fears would not be addressed even if Vandalieu were to stop using death-attribute magic.
I doubt he’ll understand even if I explain that, so I won’t bother. And I should keep quiet about the Undead breeding experiments, too.
“I have to make it clear that it would be impossible for me to stop using death-attribute magic,” said Vandalieu. “It wouldn’t affect only me; it would cause the collapse of the nation that I rule.”
Talosheim’s infrastructure and industries were all dependent on Vandalieu’s death-attribute magic.
Talosheim’s defensive walls, buildings and the moving parts inside its factories were all Golems. The crossbows that were in position to fire at enemies outside the city’s walls were Cursed Weapons.
Magic Items using death-attribute Mana were responsible for everything from preserving food in warehouses and manufacturing fermented food products to creating antiseptics to maintain Talosheim’s hygiene standards and lighting the streets with Demon Fires.
If all of these were to stop working, the nation would face extreme difficulties. Ghouls would face particularly harsh troubles – if the Magic Items that increased their reproductive functions and improved the survival rate of their fetuses stopped functioning, it would become difficult for their species to continue.
If Asagi’s request included purging the currently-existing Undead, the population would fall sharply as well.
It was impossible to comply with this request, and if someone were to continue to insist on it, a fight to the death was inevitable.
“You said you want to stop the death attribute, but what specifically did you even have in mind?” Vandalieu asked.
It would be simple to just stop using magic, but affinity for an attribute was no different from any other physiological function. To Vandalieu, Asagi’s request was equivalent to saying, “Don’t ever sweat again for the rest of your life.” It was realistically impossible.
“There are several ways,” said Asagi. “First, you could die a pseudo-death… a temporary death, enter Rodcorte’s Divine Realm and receive an affinity for another attribute –”
“Ah, please keep it limited to methods that don’t involve Rodcorte,” said Vandalieu.
“… So, it’s impossible after all,” Asagi muttered.
He had been planning to explain the various methods of sealing away Vandalieu’s death attribute that he had heard from Rodcorte, but Vandalieu was rejecting them.
There was no way that Vandalieu would trust Rodcorte, the one who had made a mistake as simple as mistaking him for someone else. It was only natural to be wary of a god who was trying to kill him.
“Then… It can’t be helped for now,” Asagi sighed.
When he was first reincarnated in this world, he had intended to convince Vandalieu to trust Rodcorte once more. But when they had consulted Aran and the other familiar spirits to gain information on Kanako, they had emphasized over and over: “Don’t ever trust Rodcorte.”
In his fear of Vandalieu, Rodcorte had tried to cut off multiple worlds from his circle of transmigration system, including Lambda and Origin.
As the details of this event were related to the circle of transmigration itself, Rodcorte’s familiar spirits had been unable to share them with Asagi’s group, who had already been reincarnated in Lambda as humans.
But they had done their best to try and convey the message that Rodcorte, who had kept his promises up until this point, was now completely untrustworthy.
Given the warning from the familiar spirits and the information he had just heard from Hitomi, Asagi had lost his will to force his intentions on Vandalieu.
As Tendou said, it’s best to leave at this point. It doesn’t seem like he will respond to me unless I learn more about this world, find a way to seal the death attribute away without relying on Rodcorte’s power and explain this method to him, Asagi thought.
He still believed that the death attribute was something that should not exist, and his objective of convincing Vandalieu to see that hadn’t changed.
Vandalieu, unable to see these intentions, was puzzled by the fact that Asagi had given up on this so quickly. But he didn’t say anything.
“But let me warn you, Vandalieu. You should probably give up on the idea of accepting these guys as your allies. They betrayed not only the Bravers, but the Eighth Guidance as well. There’s no doubt that they will betray you as well,” said Asagi.
“What?! You want to speak badly of us now?!” Kanako exclaimed.
“You bastard, you want to interfere with our business just because your business didn’t go so well?!” Doug shouted.
“Don’t try to drag others down, it’s quite pathetic,” said Pluto.
“I think it’s questionable behavior as an adult,” said Hitomi.
Even Vandalieu chimed in. “Yeah, that’s right,” he said.
Not just Asagi, but Kanako’s group as well, froze in surprise; it seemed that they hadn’t expected the support of Legion, the ones who had actually been betrayed.
“Wait a second, why are you guys siding with them? They betrayed Pluto, took advantage of Hitomi and said that they don’t care about Vandalieu, didn’t they?” asked Shouko, speaking in Asagi’s place as he was unable to speak.
Legion’s personalities spoke in turn to reply to this question.
“It’s true that in practice we Eighth Guidance members were betrayed by them… We don’t really resent them for it.”
“We knew that Murakami, Kanako and the others would betray us from the beginning, after all! Things just turned out as we expected!”
“In fact, they were really helpful in luring you guys out so that we could kill you. We even owe them our thanks.”
“I’m not happy that they took the bodies of Pluto and the others away, but it can’t really be called resentment. That only happened after we all died, anyway.”
“Grrrr.”
“Eh? The fact that you don’t resent us is so convenient, but it’s so unexpected that I’m confused,” said Kanako.
That was how much of a lack of resentment there was between Legion and Kanako’s group.
“It’s kind of problematic for you to be confused about it, but… Our final objective in our previous lives was just an elaborate suicide,” explained Baba Yaga’s voice. “In order to make sure we would have no more regrets, we prepared a stage, went wild to our hearts’ content and agreed to meet again in our next lives. Kanako, you and Murakami helped us with that, so we don’t resent you.”
“I see,” Melissa murmured, nodding in understanding.
But then, why are Legion’s words towards us former Bravers so sharp? Tendou wondered.
Hitomi noticed the doubt on his face and began speaking. “Shouko… ‘Ifrit,’ ‘Clairvoyance,’ the Bravers also took advantage of my ‘Gazer’ ability that let me see into the future,” she said. “It was my own weakness that caused me to start using drugs after that, though. Thanks to Kanako and the others getting me out of that hospital room, Pluto was able to treat me and I got to meet Jack.”
“That’s why Murakami and Kanako were like Cupid for Hitomi-chan and Jack!” said Jack. “Well, we won’t forgive you if you try to kill Vandalieu, though!”
It seemed that Legion’s favorable impression of Kanako’s group was related to Hitomi and Jack’s thoughts.
Incidentally, Vandalieu’s attitude was a result of Legion’s influence and the fact that he had simply disliked Asagi ever since his time on Earth.
“To add onto that, the reasons we killed each other were different,” said Baba Yaga, addressing Asagi’s group. “These guys tried to take advantage of us and kill us out of their own desires, but for you guys, it was for justice or something like that, right? Their desires happened to overlap with our desires, but your justice doesn’t have anything in common with ours.”
Asagi sighed, his shoulders dropping. “… If possible, I want to avoid fighting you guys to the death again. Alright, I’m going to leave now without saying anything more,” he said. “See you later, Vandalieu.”
With those words, he turned around and started walking away.
“That time when ‘Death Scythe’ tried to kill you, he was taking advantage of me. I had no intention of complying with him. I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but…” Tendou muttered. “About Asagi, I’ll do my best to try and convince him to not get involved with you guys, so let us go this time.”
Those were Tendou’s parting words, and Shouko followed him in silence.
The mountain road had become quite dark, the three of them didn’t notice Sleygar and Vandalieu’s other allies trailing them.
A short while passed, and then Vandalieu spoke again.
“He just said, ‘See you later,’ didn’t he? … I wonder if it would be bad for me to dispose of him now,” he muttered.
“If you do that, won’t it increase the risk of the Bravers who will be reincarnated here later feeling endangered and forming a group to stand against you?” said Enma.
In small numbers, reincarnated individuals with cheat-like abilities were not much of a problem, but it would be extremely problematic if they formed a large, trained fighting force. If Vandalieu eliminated Asagi here, it was possible that the other dozens of reincarnated individuals would overcome their personal differences and unite against him. He wanted to avoid that scenario.
It would be most convenient if they broke up as a result of their conflicts in Origin, and stayed that way.
“You’re right… Now then, let’s return to the topic of immigration,” said Vandalieu, agreeing with Enma and redirecting his gaze to Kanako.
Kanako raised her hand enthusiastically. “About that, there is something that I would like to suggest! Though even I don’t know why I would suggest this!” she said.
“What is it?” Vandalieu asked.
“I think you should turn us into members of Vida’s races, like Vampires or something!”
Vandalieu blinked in surprise at this sudden suggestion.
“We never agreed to this, Kanako!” Melissa exclaimed.
“Oi, what is the meaning of this?!” Doug demanded.
It seemed that they didn’t know anything about this suggestion.
“Because I never mentioned it. But I think it will be easier to trust us if he accepts this proposal. I’ve forgotten the details about it, though,” Kanako said, giving the two of them an explanation that couldn’t even be called an explanation, showing no signs of hesitation.
“That is surprising,” said Vandalieu. “The truth is, I was going to suggest the same thing and make it one of the conditions of your immigration to Talosheim. You don’t have to be a Vampire, though.”
Melissa and Doug were shocked once more by Vandalieu’s words.
“It’s good that the discussions have gone smoothly,” said Legion.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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RayneVilanore
I wish Asagi would talk along walk off a short pier!
Chalky4Block
Dear god, Asagi really is a giant idiot.
Korath
To be fair, he doesnt have all information like undeads being totally concious and basically not any different to normal human beings besides the body aspect.
Shadow1
Means, an ignorant fool who doesn’t even try to understand anything and impose his ways and ideals on others.
loc
Why would he let them immigrate into his nation they are traitors with ignorant views
MadMaxton
By her own admission Eleanora also only joined Vandalieu because he was the scariest MF around and he was aware that she might betray him at some point for one reason or another. It’s no different for those three now, so I don’t see a reason as to why he should treat them differently.
BeiBei G6
Asagi was a real piece of work to work with. The fact that he was going on and on about his religious beliefs trying to be forced upon somebody else. Goes to show you that his sense of justice almost got him killed if it wasn’t for obvious reasons.
Ronin
He talks about how Gods can make wrong decisions but, doesn’t realize that applies to Rodcorte and Alda. As Van said before he’s the type that tries to push his own opinions on to others and make them agree.
God-stealth0
… yeah you just have to die and become a un-dead
Zenden1st
Van: This aint it chief, I can’t kill myself because that would go against vidas teachings
Double-digit IQ, AssSoggy: vIDa INfLueNtal, vIda sTronG, sOcIal sTandIng hIgh, nOt pOpular enOUGH tO cOnFliCt wItH, (Thinks of gods with halo complex) HAVE TO STRAW MAN!!!
BeiBei G6
Did Asagi never realized that with the amount of mana Van has he is still a danger regardless even if he didn’t have death-attribute magic? He really is a degraded version of Bellwood.
Chiu ChunLing
Asagi probably hasn’t realized anything beyond “I don’t have Death Attribute magic, so nobody should.”
prnewt
His thinking is more like: no one else have death attribute so Van shouldn’t have it, everyone include him can kill other with magic so it’s normal but only him can make the dead become alive so it’s not permited
Alke
Chiu Chun Ling : I really despise this guy and much more than Vandalieu does! 😤😤😤This kind of pple is a pain in the as*s. And he is stupid on top of it! 😒😒
ObserverBias
He’s either not aware of the severe difference in amounts, or only concerned with what he’s learned from living in the “slightly more tolerant” country between Amid and Orbaume, which amounts to “undead scawy.”
.
Which, honestly reflects directly with views of fictional zombies from Origin and Earth, so third time’s the charm as far as he’s seen (three different worlds agree on the impression, so it must be true).
.
That he doesn’t have a clear impression on the difference between a ‘natural’ undead and one associated with Van worsens the gap; if he could have seen Darcia’s training chapter from a while back, or a solid comparison between the Purebreed Vampires that worship Vida in comparison to the ones that worship HeeHeeshaka, even bet on him changing his tune, but that would be cheating and nobody’s really “allowed” the full picture to use as a cheaf-sheet.
SnekyKuro
At least bellwod got the strength to make his stupidity became valid to others
Kuroky
Well there’s still a possibility rodcortex could see them if they don’t convert
Alke
Yeah of course! That’s why it is primordial to convert them. But if Vandalieu knew that he can add them himself to vida’s system without having them changing race, he wouldn’t have bothered doing so I think
FunniFear
Kanako looks dangerous, but I like this character. I hope she becomes a reliable ally.
Chiu ChunLing
Seems like someone tried using her ability on Van.
Baldingere
In fact, I don’t believe Van toys with the death or desecrates them. He cannot bring people who went back to the reincarnation system back after all. He gives poor souls who stayed trapped in this world a chance to do smth and one day pass on, like the golems. Some get reincarnated into plants or stuff, thus allowing them to come back to the circle of life. And some of them even got to live good lives as his citizens. I think he’s kind of helping them. I wouln’t call it desecrating the death for sure.
Alke
Baldingere :indeed! Personally I don’t see a difference anyway, for me as long as they are here, that they are able to move and think, they are not dead. They just have a body that is a little bit different, or just are a different Astral life. Basically, they just changed from race “a” to race “b”. Why making a scandal out of pple changing races?! After all, why would that be different from being Reincarnated while retaining your memories?!
vamptacus
here is an idea, what if van did actually kill himself and went to rodcorte and used the demon king fragments to just kill him there ? i mean the fragments are fused with his soul now right ?
Wan
or ask Zuruwarn to take him there
Wan
Wan
Jason
Is it weird i want van to turn some of them to Vampires himself
It just feels cool if he does it himself, really seals the dhampir thing
Tejing
He can’t. Only Pure-breed and Noble-born vampires can turn someone, not subordinate vampires or dhampirs. Though I admit it would be kinda cool if he did.
Raidanzoup
Asagi is going to put on his Bellwood cosplay one of these days.
Wsteven7o7
Imagined Hainz does not Become Bellwood and Asagi does LOL
BeiBei G6
That would be a Nightmare!?
hungsayori
But Asagi was not a man who could accept this. “No, I’m different from how I was when I was in Origin,”
Narrator : “He is, in fact, no different from how he was when he was in Origin.”
Moonsshadow
Or on earth for that matter this ass is totally used to basically saying my opinion is right and your’s doesn’t matter
XPotato
He’s the true successor of Bellwood. Both are self righteous ass cheeks of the same ass
vigarro
The true Bellwood’s successor
Turix
Narrator: “The boy was in fact much different from how he was before, he had become much much worse.”
hidefreek
Asagi has his own motive with He still doesn’t knew it himself.
But the writter already hinted it.(but it will heavy spoiled)
Chiu ChunLing
Actually, I was pretty surprised at how relatively reasonable he was being until I found out that Aran and the others had emphasized over and over: “Don’t ever trust Rodcorte.”
In light of the fact that he clearly accepts that advice himself, I find it absolutely appalling that he would demand that Vandalieu entrust his very soul in Rotcortex’s hands.
And yet typical of the kind of doublethink that allows him to say crap about how he has some kind of bond from their past life or that he knows anything about what’s best for this world.
Illuvatar
Hahaha, these are the comments which make me always go to the comment section. Top tier comment
Shaggy
Interesante que Kanako no “recuerde” los detalles de por qué sugirió eso, me suena a confabulación con Murakami
121407__A
ching chong bing bong badabing badabong qqqqqqq
XXYY
Wsteven7o7
We have another son of Stupid Princes Alda and Big Racist Bellwood.
Sataniel
bellwood
Wsteven7o7
Hey hermano ahora hay un spañol tabiem espero que esta serie sea mas conocida.
Guys don’t dislike him for talking another language. If you do you are the same as Alda and Bellwood, and they are racist asf.
And let him be that way this novel grows more and we get more Manga chapters.
Don’t hate because he did not talk english i don’t think there is any rule that says only english…
TruePath111
Well that ended… peacefully? The MC ‘Harem’ makes me want to cry though.. Even the characters from earth and origin are better.
I think they should just become Dark Elves. No need for vampires.
Nobody2
Would you fucking shut about about your immeasurable disappointment that all the girls around him aren’t “pure pure virgins” already. I swear your so obsessed with this it’s incredibly creepy
Dean1997
Guy kind of reminds me of Asagi, the way he feels everything should be to his idea of “right”.
Calango
did not you know? his future girlfriend will be a virgin forever, well at least that’s what he will believe! or maybe who knows, he will imprison her by chains and chastity belt
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah. Van isn’t even old enough to be interested in whether girls are virgins. And even if he were, it would still be creepy to be obsessed about it when there’s so many of them.
I mean, I know that he’s reached adulthood in two previous lives, but so what?
The only girl in this story anyone has any right to be upset about losing her virginity already is Narumi. And even in her case, it would be pretty creepy to obsess about it.
Vitor
Yo begin with, I don’t think he was even interested in Narumi, I think he just tryed to sabe her because he knew her and he isn’t a horrible person (contrary to popular belief), for example, when he found that un the ende she still died in the terrorist attack, his only thought was “oh, she did dice after all”, so I don’t know why everyone is so dead set on considering her marrying Amamiya as “NTR”
Bzn
It’s because of a cliche. Boy see’s girl in trouble, boy tries to save girl and dies instead, girl falls in love with boy. When the formula is broken by something like ‘her mistaking and falling in love with a guy with the same name who had also been given his gifts’, it’s automatically packaged and shipped off to the NTR category.
DarkCarnage
umm, dark elf is a born race, not like dark elves can turn normal elves into them like ghouls can turn any ‘people’ race in them.
Tejing
To be precise, all of Vida’s races have a ritual to transform someone into their race, however some of them can no longer perform it, including dark elves.
Vitor
I’m wondering wich kind off mental issue makes one look for human waifus in an Isekai with a freaking lot of different species, also, sry to break It to you and shattering your stupid delusions, but Kanako and Melissa have already turned into elves upon reincarnation
polynesianvibez
wow, they were actually talking like adults.
thanks for the chapter
Wsteven7o7
Don’t count my mother and step dad they are more like monkeys than actual monkeys.
Chiu ChunLing
If they were talking like adults, then when Asagi said “First, you could die a pseudo-death… a temporary death,” Van would have said “You first.”
Van doesn’t pretend that when he uses pseudo-reincarnation or turns someone undead, that it means they didn’t really die.
Also, that was his lead offer? Just die already?
How much more ridiculously bad were the other options?
Hobbes
Heya Yoshi typo here in this chapter:
She wanted to complain that he wasbeing unreasonable,
Needs a space in there like so:
She wanted to complain that he was being unreasonable,
Hobbes
Another typo here:
fabricated some convenient-sounding information lies to tell us so that they could use Venus’s power to try and manipulate Amamiya.
The sentence is a bit messed up grammatically and some there’s some redundant words in there. I would rephrase it like so:
fabricated some convenient-sounding lies to tell about us so that they could use Venus’s power to try and manipulate Amamiya.
I assume the original intent of the author was to have Asagi express his distrust in Venus as it relates to her powers & info about the other groups of reincarnators. I apologize if I’m off the mark. Either way the sentence needs to be rewritten to clarify what Asagi is trying to say.
Hobbes
Hey Yoshi another typo here:
They say that the opposite of liking something is being completely indifferent, but it’s really true,thought Tendou.
Needs a space after the comma like so :
They say that the opposite of liking something is being completely indifferent, but it’s really true, thought Tendou.
Hobbes
Another typo here:
The fact that you don’t resent us is so convenient, but it’s so unexpected that I’m confused,” said Kanako.
The first ‘so’ is unecessary and kind of ruins the sentence flow and thus should be removed:
The fact that you don’t resent us is convenient, but it’s so unexpected that I’m confused,” said Kanako.
WolfLord_Jordon
Thanks for the chapter on a good story
Wondai is absolutely convinced death attribute magic shouldn’t exist.
darkoneko
“I’ve forgotten the details about it, though,” Kanako said” wait, is she saying that because of passive mental encroachement, or did she receive a divine message of sort ?
Tejing
Neither. She’s quite clever, and the next chapter will explain how.
kagemao
It’s funny how many of the bravers don’t realize how despised they are by others. Tendou didn’t even consider that this person, who got press-ganged into using her future sight til she went mad, might resent the guys that put her in that situation. They all were up for getting a “second chance” at a long life, and some wannabe hero broadcasts their identities and makes it so their only safe option is to join his private “humanitarian” army. Then they die and Rodcorte wants them to be his hired killers.
I still don’t understand why anyone would be on a team with Murakami after they found out that he was behind all of their deaths. Vandalieu can break souls, so it’s not like you can use the excuse that dying doesn’t matter as long as one person survives to kill him.
Hobbes
I agree with you, but even though the Bravers organization is an amateur wannabe-superhero group, Hiroto’s reasons for gathering them actually had a lot of advantages given that if their powers were exposed they would have likely be kidnapped and turned into lab rats like Van sooner or later. By gathering, doing humanitarian work, and manipulating public perception they protected themselves from being targeted by the world. Put another way, they put Van’s honorary-noble-plan into effect in Origin before even he thought of it.
Chiu ChunLing
Hiroto was the reason that they were all in danger of being found out. Yeah, maybe some of them were using their powers so recklessly that it was inevitable that they’d be caught eventually, but most of them weren’t.
Hiroto blackmailed them all to join his group of heroes so that he could be in charge, it’s that simple.
Wsteven7o7
We will provably find out and yeah i don’t trust that guy he gives me stupid but not stupid vibes meaning he is just acting it.
antoniojz117
So Asagi is just thinking about his own justice? I mean he didn’t want to acknowledge the feelings of others at all.
Madparadox99
People like Asagi believe they are the voice of the reason of others
Otakukamikazes
Older sisters usually act that way
Superboy8338
Younger sisters too.
unwanted child
just sisters in general
Baldingere
No way. I’m a big sister and I’m not like that pest! Rather, my little brothers are two Gurudanis.
Chiu ChunLing
…is that intentional irony, or not?
LethalDose
When you say it like that asagi souds just like bellwood
Hobbes
Yes, but while it’s self-righteous and annoying, it’s not malicious. So I have trouble getting worked up over his character. I’d rather he just go away and find a hobby.
Superboy8338
But we know he’s not, he’s like a lamer and weaker version of Naruto.
Wsteven7o7
At least Naruto had a reason.
Chiu ChunLing
It’s completely malicious. It’s just dishonest malice.
Psychopaths do this all the time, it’s one of their defining traits, they screw around with people and then gaslight them by pretending it wasn’t malicious.
Asagi may not be clinical, but he completely knows that he’s a self-serving asshole who doesn’t give a shit about anyone else, he just refuses to admit it, cause that would require some basic decency.
Hobbes
But that would require some level of introspection and self-knowledge… and I have no reason to believe that Asagi has or is even particularly capable of either of those.
Chiu ChunLing
It really doesn’t require that much introspection and self-knowledge, the majority of normal humans can figure basic reciprocity before they even hit puberty.
Asagi is clearly stupider than average, but not THAT much stupider.
vamptacus
imagine if alda got together with a trap bellwood capable of giving birth to a child named asagi
FishEater
Sounds like Kouki.
Sailon
Him and kouki are practically tein that where transferred to diferent universes
Meth
Meth
hungsayori
epic
Wsteven7o7
Before meth comes the White
DiscoManiak
Well it seems more unlikely because Van is fundamentally different being from demon king and is actually normal inhabitant of this world of Lambda (well aside from that he has the memories of his two other lifes). And even the demon king fragments are not just things that Van is makimg use of. No, they have become part of his soul so they became even part of this world. So they are no longer something foreign to this world after fusing with Van.
ObserverBias
… I’m not sure there’s a way to hide text, so I won’t say anything about it, but what’s this about a sealing sword…?
KingsLines
The sword that Heinz used to seal a fragment of the demon king, as well as the swords that pierced Vidas body.
Zenden1st
I think they said even if van were to die he would still be reincarnated with the demon fragments