Chapter 124 - A Destroyed World

— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —

"Urgh…"

As I woke up, I was immediately assaulted by a sharp pain in my mind akin to a searing headache, but… much deeper.

Shit… is this what a bad hangover felt like?

I always used detoxification magic to remove the effects before it got bad, but if it felt anything like this, I could understand why Dad was always so jealous of me and Rudy.

But still, with much effort, I was soon able to open my eyes despite the throbbing pain, only to be greeted by the scene of a blood-red sky.

What…?

I… was just in the Demon Continent, right?

The Demon Continent didn't have such a sky…

A subtle feeling of unease washed over me as I slowly moved my head to the side, my eyes soon finding the ground I was currently laying on, but it was completely different from what I expected.

It was black and purple, with small hills that crossed the distance, but yet it was completely devoid of life, without a single plant or sign of life in sight.

And the ground… it didn't seem like dirt.

It was… like a completely different material… a mix of crystal and rock, yet something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

What… the hell?

Slowly moving my body, I brought myself to sit up, nearly falling back down as a wave of intense nausea assaulted me.

Ugh… I… nearly wanted to throw up.

What was this?

I hadn't gotten sick since I was but a toddler, but even then, I doubt that it was supposed to feel like this.

It was a sickness I could feel in my core, something that spread throughout my body, but felt distinctly separate as well… like a sort of corrupted energy that permeated my soul.

Wait… energy?

Wincing at the pain that throbbed in my head once again, I closed my eyes as I tried to focus on the surrounding mana, not trusting myself to use my demon eye with my current condition.

And then… I noticed it.

The mana… it didn't feel like mana at all.

No… it was mana, yes… but it was different.

Gross… vile… it felt… wrong.

What was this? This mana… it felt similar to the mana that was in Shizuka, the mana that had caused her to contract Drain Syndrome.

Was that what was making me sick?

Turning my focus inward, I noticed that my mana was nearly depleted from the previous fight, but thankfully, there was none of that vile mana in my body.

Then… what was making me feel so shitty?

Wait… if mana was in everything, and permeated everything… was it possible that the air here was affected by this vile mana as well?

If so… that would be incredibly annoying… and dangerous as well.

To counteract that, I would need to constantly generate air with my own mana to keep breathing, and as for water, I would probably need to generate my own as well.

That is, if there was any water around here anyway… which, from what I could see, wasn't very likely.

But to generate air and water constantly… that would be incredibly taxing on my mana… which I didn't have much of.

And from how the ambient mana around here was 'corrupted', I couldn't count on my usual regeneration rate either.

Well… that was, if I regenerated my mana normally.

Taking a deep breath out, I closed my eyes and focused on the ambient air around me as I let out some of my mana, spreading out in front of me and taking control of a portion of the corrupted mana as I slowly took it back into my body.

Now… how would I deal with this?

When Rudy and I developed the method to cure Shizuka of her illness, that was only done by taking out the corrupted mana from her body rather than outright 'cleansing' it, so this would be uncharted territory.

But… I could do it… I think.

From what I could tell, corrupted mana was simply ambient mana that had left to fester and compress, almost forming a new element that was akin to poison for humans, and from how desolate this place was, it seemed that this poison acted as such for the environment as well.

So it was simply a manner of reverting that compressed, corrupted mana back to normal.

As for how this place was filled with this corrupted mana, as well as where the hell I was… those were questions for later.

Feeling the corrupted mana in my core, near where most of my body's mana was gathered, I slowly began deconstructing the mana, focusing on decomposing it and reverting the energy back to normal as I remained seated while meditating.

It was… akin to untying a knot. Unravelling the compressed mana bit by bit, with some parts being more stuck together and taking more focus, and other parts easily coming undone with minimal effort.

If this was before the fight, I doubt I could do this so easily. 

But after the breakthrough in my fight against Laplace, the feeling of taking control of external mana and converting it to my own felt… natural.

And it helped immensely with this new technique as well.

My back straightened as I felt all the corrupted mana finally return to normal, forcing it into my core as I felt my body heat up at the influx of energy.

Wow… that was a lot of mana, to the point where I was fully recharged.

I guess it really was quite compressed.

Hmm… now that I thought about it, I could feel that my control over my mana overall was enhanced, as well as how much mana I could contain.

Was that… because of my strengthened soul?

Well, I knew that mana was linked to someone's lifeforce, and lifeforce could logically be linked to one's soul… so I could only assume that was the case.

But still… despite this, I wouldn't be able to take in the mana naturally, or I would quickly find myself suffering under a sickness like Shizuka had.

I would need to control the ambient mana and clean it before taking it in as my own, and to do that, I would need to periodically meditate like I had just done… and to make sure I didn't accidentally take any in through natural regeneration, I would also need to constantly focus on the ambient mana and limit my intake…

This… was not going to be fun.

Again, any other person would probably die of mana depletion or end up sick like Shizuka, so I was comparatively lucky, but it would still take a lot of focus.

Hell, like this, I probably wouldn't be able to sleep until there wasn't any corrupted mana in the air.

Opening my eyes once again, I briefly surveyed the land before looking to the side, coming across the sight of a body.

The body of a certain Demon God.

Getting to my feet, I winced at the stiffness of my muscles as I made my way over to him, instantly noticing why my instincts had not alerted me to him sooner.

He was dead, with lifeless eyes staring up at the sky, and his chest unmoving.

But oddly enough… I doubted it was from that final stab I inflicted upon him, for while he was bleeding through the wound in his chest, more importantly, his body was… destroyed.

I might have called it decomposition at first glance, with some bone beginning to show as his skin and muscles decayed away, but it was… different. 

Black and purple rot, or perhaps it was mould, spread throughout his previously pale white skin as crystals formed on the edge of his bones, as if eating away at his very being.

How the hell did that happen?

Was it to do with the mana around here?

Maybe… but either way, considering what state I was in when I woke up, it was a good thing that he was no longer a threat.

Shaking my head, my eyes narrowed in on the bracelet that was still wrapped around his wrist, the pristine silver metal a stark contrast against the dreary surroundings.

Now that I thought about it… that must be the sacred treasure of his.

And that flash of his mana… it must have been the activation of that which brought me to this place.

Crouching down, I reached to take the bracelet off the wrist, flinching as Laplace's arm began to crumble at my touch, flaking into a mix of red, white, and purple dust that fell to the ground.

Gross…

Standing back up, I placed the sacred treasure on my wrist as I tried to focus on the thing, and what I felt as I did so… was nothing.

Hmm… quite unimpressive for one of the five sacred treasures that would take Orsted and I to the Man-God… but maybe there was a certain thing I needed to do for it to work correctly.

And speaking of that… 

"This must be another face… huh?" I mumbled to myself, scanning the surroundings again.

I had left most of the planning of those side of things to Orsted, as he hadn't really explained much to me anyway, but from what I knew, we needed all the sacred treasures passed on to the old Dragon Generals in order to reach the void world, where the Man-God resides.

And for an individual treasure… it was able to send the user to another face.

As for which face this was… well, I wasn't sure.

But I wouldn't find any answers by just standing around here.

So, generating some air in front of my mouth, I took a breath of fresh air into my lungs before I stepped forward.

"Gah!"

After which, I immediately faltered, dropping to my knee as I clutched my head in immense pain.

W-What… the fuck… was this…?

'Peek-a-boo! Ah! There's that cute smile, Kento!'

'Pass the ball, Kento-san!'

Argh!

'Please come to the stage to receive your diploma, Nanahoshi Kento.'

Mother… fucker!

'Come play with me, Big Brother!'

W-What the hell… these memories…

The first kiss… it was with… Eris?

No… or was it Shimizu?

The memories continued to flood in as I remembered everything.

Words that I wasn't supposed to know, I now knew, and with a meaning that I was completely confused by. But soon after thinking of it, the meaning came naturally.

Shizuoka, Japan, grade school, telephones… words and symbols I didn't know… wait, they were the symbols that Shizuka and Rudy used… so they actually had meaning even all the way back then…

Wait… my mother… it's Akiko… right? 

She always sang me lullabies when I had trouble falling asleep…

No… that was before… it's Alice and Mama and Lilia now… 

Now?

What changed?

Where am I? This isn't Earth!

Wait… who am I?

I'm… Kento?

No… no… I'm not… right?

Who… who… who am I?

As soon as that question rang inside my mind, I felt myself begin to slip away, the new foreign memories beginning to overwhelm my own.

Or… were they all my own?

Where was the line between reality and fiction?

Was any of it fiction?

But either way… once that fear of being completely lost and changed into someone completely different struck true in my head… I finally gained a semblance of clarity.

"Haa!" I shouted, taking a few moments to breathe as I continued to clutch my head. "I… am Leon Anemoi Greyrat, dammit! The… de facto King of Asura! The husband to four of the six most amazing women in the world, and the son of the other two!"

Eris, Sylphy, Roxy, Ariel… those were my wives.

Mama Zenith, Lilia, and Alice… those were my mothers, with one of them having already passed on.

Paul was my father, Rudy and Alaric were my brothers, Norn and Aisha were my sisters…

Aria, Anna, Ars, Emilia, and Roana were my children.

And I… was Leon Anemoi Greyrat, the Elemental God, and the one that would remove the Man-God from existence for daring to threaten my beloved family.

Okay… yes, that was me…

Finally, I felt the pain in my head subside as the memories of Kento's were stored away in the corner of my mind, becoming part of me, but not changing who I was as they remained untouched.

Or perhaps… they were always a part of me?

This was really difficult to discern.

What a fucked up situation.

"Ahh… and really fucking dramatic," I mumbled as I wiped the tears out of my eyes that had bubbled forth from the pain.

Honestly… even having my arm and legs cut off didn't feel that painful.

And I guess that headache and sickness from before wasn't from the corrupted mana, but rather from my memories… or maybe a bit of both, if I was being honest.

But still… there was the issue of where I was, and Kento's… or rather, my memories, were not helping.

Hmm… this was definitely one of the other faces though… I was almost sure of that now.

Well… let's get going then.

Getting back to my feet, I began walking forward, my mind heading towards the next issue.

Survival.

This place was devoid of life, and seemingly poisoned with that mana as well, so to survive in a land like this… I would need to use my magic for air and water, and as for food…

My body paused as I felt a few presences closing in on my position, my mouth widening into a smirk a moment later.

Well… maybe it was my lucky day.

Turning to the direction of the presences, I unsheathed my sword as I prepared to face whatever was coming for me, the rumbling of footsteps beginning to enter my ears.

That… sounded like a wolf pack.

So there were actually monsters here? As in, there was life?

I wonder how they were able to survive-

…

"What… the fuck?" I muttered in shock as their forms came into view.

At first glance, they might have seemed like the wolves I had expected, but… they looked unlike any other beast I had seen before, monster or normal animal.

They had a large, pulsing core of pure darkness where their head should be, a plating akin to scales stretched across their deformed body, and six sharp legs that were bent sideways, allowing them to crawl like a spider.

Gross…

Taking a breath inward, I felt my mana transform into a mix of touki and the wind element as I shaped it over my blade, and crouching down, I launched forward, releasing a slash of concentrated wind as I closed in on them.

The first two were cut instantly from my magic, a straight line stretching across where their necks would be, and yet… they didn't fall.

They didn't even flinch, and they didn't bleed either…

I ignored the confusion in my mind as I swiped my sword to the side, releasing a maelstrom of fire and wind this time as I diced the five gathered monster's bodies into pieces, but just as I expected to sheathe my sword to mark a finished battle, I was forced by my instincts to leap back and evade as a pair of them attacked.

…What?

They were… completely fine?

Even after that last attack?

No… that wasn't right… I could see that they were cut, and a few were still dropped to the ground with their legs scattered across the ground, but… they were slowly getting back up, looking no worse for wear.

Regeneration?

It seemed that way… but how?

Healing of that level was on par with the Hydra we defeated back in the Teleportation Labyrinth, but even then… that was without the fire.

The attack I released just now should have carbonized their cells instantly, so unless they were somehow cutting off the dead cells, they had another, weirder way to regenerate.

Could it be… that black core in their heads?

I had a feeling it was.

And so, this time, as I coated my blade in fire, I then released a slash towards them, the bright wave of flames acting as a distraction as I shot forth a storm of stone bullets behind it, aiming to pierce their cores as the air boomed from their speed.

With the sound of shattering glass upon impact, as the flash of fire receded, I watched as the five beasts all dropped to the ground, their black cores melting into a sludge that spread over their bodies as they all seemingly died.

I say seemingly, because now that I thought of it, I hadn't noticed them breathing, bleeding, or… really anything that would indicate a sign of life.

These weren't monsters… nor were they beasts… instead, they were something more unsettling… a true description of 'monsters'.

More specifically… they fit the description of monsters from the Void World.

Orsted had only explained it briefly.

He mentioned how they were a complete different species that mainly resided in the Void World, and when we went to take down the Man-God, there was a chance we would be met with some resistance from them.

These… must be those creatures, right?

But I wasn't in the Void World, since Laplace didn't use all five treasures… so did they escape?

I suppose it would be more accurate to say 'invade'.

The history of the world before the emergence of the Asura Kingdom was extremely shoddy, only being kept to some rumours here and there, and none of the commonly told stories mentioned the previous faces of the Six-Faced world… but maybe these monsters had somehow crossed the border of the faces and ended up in this place?

Odd… very odd… but I guess it didn't matter too much to me, as long as they didn't end up doing the same with the world I lived in, that is.

If they did… there might be some trouble.

These guys were very strong in comparison to other monsters, and if one accounted for their regeneration, they could very well be considered S-rank monsters… although I could deal with them quite easily, I wasn't exactly the standard fighter, and having an invasion of these things with larger numbers would be… very bad.

But that wasn't the most important thing.

The most important thing was whether I would be able to solve my food problem with this, so while I doubt it would taste good, I should check if their meat is…

My thoughts trailed off as I looked over to the bodies of the assumed void monsters, watching as their bodies began to disintegrate into nothingness.

Not flakes, not dust… nothing.

Wait… maybe it wasn't nothing?

Activating my demon eye, I nearly knelt down in pain as my vision was engulfed in a blinding light.

Right… this corrupted mana that was all over the place was concentrated, so I should have expected this… so I would just need to tune the sensitivity to a lower degree, considering the ambient mana I was used to.

Taking a few moments, my view came back to a relative normal as I looked back at the bodies, watching as their bodies continued to crumble, transforming into corrupted mana that rose and dispersed into the air.

…I see.

I guess meat was not on the menu.

And maybe… this was what could explain the concentration of corrupted mana here, if these things would release it into the air upon their deaths… so I should expect more of these monsters roaming around this place.

Ah… but now what was I going to do for food?

I could generate salt and other vital minerals with earth magic, and for the rest of my required nutrients, I could keep myself healthy with healing magic to regenerate and substitute the required proteins and vitamins.

In case of a situation where I couldn't get food but still needed to maintain my peak performance, I had already tested that this method would work… but that was assuming a few days of going without food, not however long I would be stuck here.

And there was one issue with an extended length of time.

While I could remain healthy, that wouldn't fix anything to quell the instinctual hunger from an empty stomach.

I… guess I would need to deal with that feeling through mental will, and if it gets too much…

I slowly looked down at my arm, narrowing my eyes in thought.

Healing magic could regenerate myself… but I would really rather not resort to such a thing if I could help myself.

While there would be no health issues if I used detoxification magic on it, morally speaking… I really didn't want to do it.

But still… that didn't matter.

What mattered most right now, was finding a way back, no matter what.

I needed to keep my promise to Kento and to myself… to get back in time for Eris' second child, make them all happy, and keep them all safe.

But how would I do that? I didn't even know how to use this sacred treasure…

Looking into the distance, I felt an instinctual pull towards a certain direction, and as I narrowed my eyes and enhanced my vision, I could barely make out what seemed to be a swirling storm far into the horizon.

Going off a simple feeling wasn't the greatest… but it was better than nothing.

And waiting around here wouldn't do anything.

So… it was time to get moving.

I had to get back as soon as possible.

While I already missed them, and I was sure that the feeling would only increase as time passed, I didn't need to get back as fast as possible for me… but rather for them.

Ah… and there was that too.

I… probably caused quite a mess back home in getting transported here out of the blue.

I just hope they all weren't too upset by such a thing… and if they were… well, I would be back soon.