The way back.

The choppers quickly went past us.

The way home was a little more than a kilometre away. It was a route I had run across multiple times and familiarised myself with.

It would usually take me 10 or 12 minutes running between school and home. But I never ran that length as if my life depended on it. But even if I did, it would at least take 7 or 8 minutes. I wasn't necessarily slow by any means. By normal standards, I was damn near an athlete by that standard.

But that 7 to 8 minutes were embarrassingly long compared to the time it would take this old man to get home while in his master mode.

JiiJii was carrying me on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The last time I remember seeing the world from this height was in my last life. I was barely 178 centimetres tall now. And I was at the very least 10ish centimetres above what I had gotten used to seeing.

The long sturdy legs on JiiJii didn't belong to a man in his 90s. He was a human. His life span was just as long as a normal man's. He was really just a human who could use mana to some extent.

As he ran carrying me on his shoulder, the first bomb went off meters behind us. The sound shield seemed to have been taken off. Anyway, the military didn't care about who was who. Even though we were still in the vicinity they continued to bombard non-stop.

Seconds after their arrival the battle commenced. Without even a confirmation.

"Yo Rune, make sure none of them shoots us, or the gym." I said over the lens.

After going through all of that it would be tragic if the thing that killed us was a missile fired by our own people. I understood how it might be difficult to distinguish us from the rest of the crowd. I mean I was wearing the terrorist's vest.

"Yeah, I just sent that info over. Ah, and the gym should be fine. It's underground." That run-down building was capable of going underground?! Whoever designed the school clearly didn't have their priorities straight.

"Cool cool." I turned around to check on the destruction. And as far as the eye could see there was destruction.

I wonder how strange this scene would look in the third perspective. A fourteen-year-old boy getting carried away by an old man. I am definitely the villain in this situation. I should be the one carrying someone as ancient as him. But in my defence, I was the one who-

A sudden sound of high pitched static. Like someone was dragging a fork across the blackboard. It propagated around the whole village.

"Eh?" I tried to cover my ears but immediately after that, another deafening sound emerged.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" A laugh that I couldn't exactly find the origin of. It was loud and deep. And muffled. There was no way the sound of the school's speakers reached all the way over to the middle of the fields. We were halfway home. JiiJii kept on running.

I was suddenly reminded of the sound barrier back at the school's gate. This was definitely sound magic. Moreover, it was high-tier sound magic. There was a powerful mana user among the ranks of the terrorists.

This was disastrous!

I didn't doubt JiiJii's abilities. But I sincerely believed that if there were to ever be a fight amongst someone of that calibre, I might have to see blood. I was definitely sure that I- at the very least wouldn't be able to fight them. Not like this.

The only thing that could have saved us now was getting back home.

"JiiJii hurry up."

"I'm already going as fast as I can."

It made sense. After all, I had a lot of things weighing us down.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Like a broken record, the laugh played. Over and over and over. "You heathens finally decided to show up!" The culprit revealed his voice.

The sound of bombs and gunfire.

"What's going on?" I whispered. This was bizarre. I was preparing myself for a hellish sound that would blow my eardrums away. But all I could hear was a taunting voice.

"RIGHT INTO OUR TRAPS!" The man chuckled.

And then abruptly, as if those words were triggers, JiiJii collapsed.

Along with his body, which was moving at a frightening rate before the fall, I got shoved to the ground. Both of us tumbled over. Fallen amidst the dirt, I felt the shield that JiiJii gave me disappear.

I couldn't feel pain… But my body was at its limit of damage. Any more and I would risk death or permanent damage.

I turned over to face the old man, and he looked at me with a bleeding nose.

And then the 'trap' started to close its jaws. The choppers up in the air began to fall. Grenades, debris, the scene inside the school started to make their way outside. There were fires in the fields. Growing by the second.

"DIDN'T ANYONE STOP TO THINK WHY THERE WERE SO MANY OF US? FOR JUST A TINY SCHOOL? HOW PATHETIC! HOW PATHETIC IS THE MAN WHO REACHED OUT TO THE OUTER WORLD AND SNITCHED!" Those words were directed to me.

"YOU SHALL NOW EXPERIENCE THE RETRIBUTION OF GOD! NONE OF YOU BEASTS IS WORTHY TO WIELD MANA! NEITHER THE DEMONS NOR THE ONES WHO ACCEPTED THEM INTO OUR HOLY LAND!" He shouted.

"You can't use mana, can you?" I asked JiiJii.

"I was already nearing my limit." He answered while coughing.

I was reminded of how external mana control wasn't a norm anymore. And if that wasn't the case there was only one thing that explained this. A spell that eats away at people who have little to mediocre amounts of mana-

"Mana poisoning." I turned around to face the sky and put my wrist to my forehead. "There's more than one high-grade mana user here. The military can't deal with this."

"It's just one thing after another." He turned around to face the sky as well. We just laid there as the village was getting laid to waste.

I checked my condition. The kids should be safe, they weren't open to external mana yet just like me. The strong who control the mana would be safe but I doubt there are any on our side. Anyone with a slightly above average amount of mana should experience nausea. But mana poisoning to them would be like mild food poisoning. But anyone who only controlled a small portion of mana would feel it run rampant around their body.

Like JiiJii next to me.

"It's only some time before the battle gets here, you should leave." JiiJii coughed. "I have experienced plenty of life. You should at least be able to walk back. Who knows maybe I'll get back too, once my body calms down." For the first time, he was quaint.

"Stop being sentimental and playing the victim. You're the reason why I'm lying here. The confident old man couldn't even take care of himself." I pushed myself up. The house wasn't all that far away.

I grabbed his arms over my shoulder and started dragging him.

"Oi what are you-"

"Just be silent. It isn't that far away... And my conscience doesn't allow me to just ditch you."

"Pch."

The military wouldn't hold. Probably.

"How strong do you reckon the people who came are?" I asked Rune. I needed a conversation to keep me from passing out.

"Well, they are military, but honestly, most of our strongest are centralised in the capital."

"Small country problems." Basically, the military in the countryside was no stronger than really good policemen.

"You're right about that."

"So the only person we can count on right now are-"

"Your parents and Yuuno."

"MY PARENTS?!" I knew Yuuno was coming but when did my parents decide to show up?!

"They were the first to leave actually. Threw up a storm while they were at it too." Yep, that sounded like them. Nothing can hurt their dear child- me.

It sucked how even the strongest of this country were straight-up weak compared to the previous version of me. Had it been my demon lord self I would have just teleported here after scanning the entire country. A couple of metres passed and the house was in sight.

"I can walk now." JiiJii pushed himself off my back.

"You sure?"

It was rare for a person to survive this high level of mana poisoning, but to be able to suppress it was insane.

"Nhhnn… Can't use magic but just walking should be fine."

"That's what you get for being weak." I commented.

"Hey! I just don't specialize in mana is all." Excuses. At least we were moving faster than when I had to carry the both of us over.

Soon the house was a few steps away.

"Obaa! Open the field for me!" JiiJii called.

"I'm coming!" Obaa-chan yelled. I could see her get dragged outside by Clintarou.

"Are all the old people inside?" I asked.

"Ye, they came and I pushed them all in the bunker."

"Good!" She shouted while disabling the protection field. "Oh." Clintarou ran out of her hand as JiiJii went inside.

He ran with his tongue hanging out and his natural smile. He was going to pounce on me. But I really was in no state. Let's just dodge him bullfighting style. The dog was old but still cheerful.

I sort of bent over to invite him and then got ready to dodge to my left.

"W09F!" He barked before running to the right.

"Now's not the time to pl-" Clintarou charged straight at me.

As I dodged to the left the dog, with his tongue hanging out leapt. To the side.

To the side?

Knowing something was very wrong. Twisted. And with the nauseous feeling of dread in my stomach, I dared to turn my eyes sideways.

Two assailants clad in armour and a helmet. Different from the other terrorists.

And then there was a sound of a gunshot.

My heart stopped.