The rust-laden wind carried ash particles over the battlefield as the scarlet light of the sky tinged the inert bodies with a false warmth.
The moment Kael Medici tried to breathe, he coughed violently and gasped. Again and again, he expelled puffs of blood that stained the grass at his feet. Only after coughing did the pressure in his chest ease slightly.
It seems that in the end... thought Kael, contemplating the blood red sky.
Around him lay mutilated corpses, rivers of blood, and ruins. The air smelled of iron and death. A raven perched on the empty helmet of a knight, sinking its beak into an eyeball half-buried in the mud.
The place was an absolute disaster.
Cities and kingdoms had fallen. Heroes, villains, demons, elves, and other races lay dead, forming mountains of bodies and lakes of congealed blood.
"...So I've failed, have I?"
But there was no answer. Kael was the only one alive, yet he continued to talk to himself.
"I was so close... Just one more step."
The Calamity War. The final and most devastating tribulation would decide who would occupy the Divine Throne.
The conflict had ravaged the five regions and the seven heavens of the Immemorial era, but, for some reason, Kael had survived.
Surviving was all he had done.
To persevere again and again, to emerge victorious from every battle. To conquer ancestral heritages, dungeons of forgotten eras, and impenetrable labyrinths. Surviving even multiple catastrophes.
His exploits would have inspired legends, but what good were they? Death was already catching up with him.
"This is how it all ends..." he reflected. He never imagined that his second life would end this way.
One step away from the Divinity he longed for.
As the darkness enveloped him, memories of his past life came back to him.
They had begun to appear when he was fifteen years old.
There was no specific trigger. They simply emerged while, as always, he half-listened to his tutor.
They were incomplete, fragmented memories, like snippets of a dream. However, his previous life did not parallel his current one.
He had been a scholar and otaku whose parents died in an accident, forcing him to live among indifferent relatives. He had no choice but to fend for himself.
In this life, although born into nobility, he faced constant scorn for being the son of a commoner from the slums and for his lack of talent.
The limitations of his birth shackled him, just as in his past life.
He had been labeled worthless: a worthless parasite, a wretch without talent or potential.
Rejected by his betrothed, who broke off the engagement; betrayed by someone he trusted; persecuted by his brothers; mocked by commoners so insignificant they barely deserved recognition.
All Kael could do was bow his head and swallow his pride, just to stay alive.
Injustice once burned in his heart.
But the irony was that all those who had called him worthless were now dead, and he alone had survived to the end.
Kael let out a soft laugh and sighed.
All those years wandering the five regions paraded before his eyes.
"It's been a long journey..."
With a cold and indifferent gaze, he felt the breath of death on the back of his neck.
His mangled body, his armor soaked in blood, he began to walk across the gruesome battlefield, amidst mutilated corpses and the sound of ravens feasting. His expression remained impassive.
The sun bathed the earth with golden rays, and Kael advanced, feeling how the dead seemed to drag him to join them.
But he walked on, impassive, through that hell.
His last breath escaped his lips, and his useless body collapsed among the corpses.
Before the darkness consumed him, the last thing he saw was a white lily, pristine and immaculate, blooming absurdly in the middle of that hell.
Theo White, also known as Kael Medici, the Earth transmigrant, the outcast who climbed mountains of corpses to survive, died in silence.
There were no final epiphanies, no regrets.
Her eyes were extinguished.
The lily was still there, indifferent.
[You have died.]
[Spent ■ ■ to ■■ ■■■■■ ■■.]
...
..
.
"...And this one is well trained, I assure you."
"You mean the beast that nearly split my young lord's skull?"
"That only happened because the seventh young lord approached carelessly."
"You mean my young lord is so inept and stupid that he practically invited the beast to attack him?"
They stopped in front of a stable full of magical creatures: three-horned blue horses, red-eyed green bulls, two-headed ostriches, and more.
A hunchbacked, grotesque-faced servant rubbed his hands together and cleared his throat:
"That's not exactly what I meant..."
Before he could continue, the woman threatening him with a sword spun slightly:
"What is your wish, young master?"
"Huh?" Kael arched an eyebrow, confused.
The woman had brown hair and gemstone earrings. On her head, she wore a headdress that matched her skirt, which reached just below her knees, and her impeccably white apron. She was, simply put, an unearthly beauty.
"Lydia?" asked Kael, his gaze vacant.
"Young sir, were you asleep with your eyes open?"
Did it look real, not an illusion? Could it be possible? With that thought in mind, his eyes sparkled with understanding. To confirm his suspicions, he asked:
"Where are we?"
Lydia, with a confused expression, replied:
"Young master, we are in Medici territory. Why are you asking such an obvious question?"
Medici territory... muttered Kael silently. The fog that concealed his memories dissipated almost completely.
Clan Medici.
A clan located in the extreme north of the Kingdom of Aragon, in the Northern Frontier. They were known by many names: The Sovereigns of the Kingdom of Aragon, The Fathers of the Warlords, among others.
Their millenary history was interwoven with countless myths and legends. In addition, members of the Medici clan were born with exceptional talents; they were said to be descended from a god or an immortal.
I see... I have returned to this time. But what caused my return? Kael quickly deduced that he had gone back in time, to the days before he left the Medici clan.
"Young master, did the blow from the blue three-horned horse dumb you down?"
Kael snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the maid, his exclusive servant, assigned by his father.
Though he knew this maid had been sent to watch him and record his every move.
"What date is today?" he asked.
"Wednesday."
"I don't mean the day, I mean the month and the year."
"Did he get stupid? Was that animal's punch that hard?" Lydia arched an eyebrow, confused, but answered anyway.
Wow, so the Awakening Ceremony is still six months away. Kael thought.
As Lydia watched him with concern, Kael crossed his arms and pondered. Then, as if remembering something, he touched the bandage on his head.
"Wait, what exactly is happening now?"
Lydia sighed and began to explain everything without omitting details: how he had been attacked by a blue three-horned colt, how she had kicked him, and more.
"And that's it, young sir, what do you wish to do with this servant?"
"I see... So that happened," Kael muttered, looking at the hunchback with cold eyes. "Then what am I to do with you?"
"It's not my fault! It's the young master's fault for provoking the fourth young master's blue horse! If anything, it should be the seventh young master who should apologize!"
Seeing the servant's smirk, Kael understood who was behind it all.
So... it was my dear older brother's doing again.
Among the young lords of the Medici clan, his fourth brother and sixth sister had tormented him mercilessly in his past life.
Yes, my dear brother is behind this; no matter how much I scold this servant, it won't do any good. Kael thought calmly.
In this world, the law of the strongest ruled. Only the powerful prospered.
So, in the end, someone like him, with no strength to back him up, could do nothing, no matter what he told this servant.
With a sigh, Kael waved his hand indifferently and commanded:
"That's the way it is, Lydia. Kill him."
The hunchback began to plead, "Seventh young sir, I beg your pardon, please...!"
Smack!
He couldn't finish his sentence before Lydia decapitated him with a slash.
The servant's head rolled to the floor, leaving a trail of blood, his expression frozen in pure horror.
A pathetic end.
Kael observed the scene coolly before turning around and walking with his hands behind his back.
This time I will not crawl. I will not apologize. I will not beg. I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goals, no matter the cost... even if I have to become a demon.