{Rudeus POV}
The Red Dragon's Lower Jaw was a valley with just a single road, and unlike the Holy Sword Highway, it wasn't a straight road.
Once we pass by these mountains, we arrived at the Asuran Kingdom.
It will take a while until we arrived at the Fittoa Region, but we still went through more than half of our long journey.
That's when we encountered two other people coming from the opposite direction.
A man with silver hair, and golden eyes, wearing a simple white coat made of what seems like fur.
His face looked like he was the grumpy type of guy. And his eyes were sharp, as if he were always looking out for trouble.
He doesn't wear any type of armor or weapon, but from the aura exuding from him, you can tell he doesn't particularly need one.
Then there was the girl, the person next to him. She had long black hair and seemed to be quite young.
The number of people I have seen with black hair in this world is quite low.
Yet despite that, I had the feeling I have seen her somewhere. Somewhere long ago, I thought.
She wears a plain white mask. It doesn't have any sort of ornament nor markings on it.
Just a plain white mask that doesn't have any features. But for that reason, it's rather noticeable to look at.
But I would certainly remember someone with such eye-catching hair and wearing such a weird mask.
What got my attention to them, however, was both of their mana signals.
The man was sending out some kind of weird mana from his head. If I didn't use my senses, I would have not felt any of it.
And the girl….. I can barely sense anything from her besides her items, which seem to have some sort of mana induced into them.
It is unusual, since I thought that everything in this world has mana.
Even if I fully concentrate on trying to sense her, the mana from the silver haired man gets in the way. His mana signals are much too strong to just analyze the girl.
Because of my attempts to analyze signals, I didn't realize Ruijerd's and Eris's current expressions.
Both had pale faces and were sweating profusely while tightening their grip on their equipment.
I realized that it must be the silver-haired man doing this with his odd mana.
With each step closer to our carriage, he would make Ruijerd and Eris stiffer. So much so that they both gripped their weapons so tight that their hands turned pale, much like their faces.
We can just ignore him since we go in different directions.
"…hm?"
But he noticed us right before we went by each other, as if he actually intended to ignore us from the start as well.
He looked at Ruijerd and narrowed his eyes.
"You… are you a Superd?"
Something's strange. How did he recognize Ruijerd as a Superd if his head was shaved and his jewel hidden behind his forehead protector? Are there some sort of defined details on Superd's that I don't know of?
Looking at Ruijerd again, he was pouring down sweat and his hand that was gripping his spear was trembling. Eris as well.
"Rudeus, do not move. You as well, Eris." His voice was trembling.
I have never seen Ruijerd like this at all.
"That voice, is it Ruijerd Superdia? I didn't recognize you without your hair. What are you doing here?"
The man just casually says as he stepped closer to us. Ruijerd readied his spear and I readied my magic.
For a moment like these, it's better to be cautious and prepare for everything dangerous. Not because my mind said it, but my instincts.
They told me that fighting him is not gonna end well. It may sound ridiculous coming from someone who only has 3 years of outside experience.
But for the first time, I solely listened to my instincts themselves.
"And that red hair, Eris Boreas Greyrat. I see. You love children Ruijerd Superdia, so you escorted them from the Demon-continent until here."
"How do you know my name?" Eris sprung up and shouted while still trembling with her hand held tightly on her sword hilt.
They don't know each other, so why is he talking to them so casually as if he talks to old friends?
That broke my limit.
I don't think Eris ever met someone like this. And if she did, she would immediately tell everyone about it.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?"
As Ruijerd thrust his spear in his direction, he questioned his name as well.
The silver-haired man might have heard Ruijerd's name from the Demon-continent. He is well known over there and was the target of some subjugation before.
However, judging from Ruijerd's reaction, he is obviously not an acquaintance. Otherwise, both him and Eris wouldn't aim their weapons at him.
"And you are... who?"
His gaze finally come to me and I locked eyes with him, keeping a calm expression.
"It's impolite to ask one name before introducing yourself, sir." He flinched in surprise at my remark.
"You... you don't feel any fear from me?"
"You may look scary, Sir, but that is all."
I don't think I was rude in my tone of voice. In fact, it should have been polite.
Something about the mana excusing from him is making these two act terrified, and it's not his facial expression for sure.
He recovered from before and relaxed a bit.
"Well. I guess it's fine. It's Orsted."
Orsted. Certainly, I haven't heard that name before.
"My name is Rudeus Greyrat."
"Greyrat? I don't think I ever meet you before."
"Likewise. I never meet you as well, sir Orsted."
This conversation has turned to something weird. As if I could forget someone so socially awkward.
"What are your parents names?" Another weird question.
Just who is he? How does he know those two? And why... do I feel like he knows something too much?
Maybe if I mention Hitogami might help? Probably not.
I can't trust Hitogami, and if I want to stay away from him, I need to avoid talking about him. And yet, his aura is the opposite from Hitogami.
"Paul and Zenith Greyrat."
"…Hm? That's impossible. Paul didn't have a son. He should only have two daughters."
"What?" All the confusing things are just making my head dizzy.
It's one thing if he knows Paul, but how does he know that he has two daughters? And what's this about him not having a son?
He knows something important. It's got to be. Otherwise, he wouldn't know about all the other things.
Putting all my courage together, I asked him something important.
If he does know more than what I think, then asking this could be my only chance for proper answers.
"What do you mean 'impossible'? Do you perhaps also know something about the cause of the Metastasis-Event?"
My question made him look at me for a second, and then he put his right on his chin. Is he doing a thinking pose?
I need to find out what he knows. Unlike with Hitogami, I doubt he will lie to me.
"To answer your first question, I cannot answer you. And to your second question, I do not know how that calamity happened."
I slumped back in disappointment. What did I hope to hear? Of course he wouldn't have an answer to any of these two questions.
But the feeling deep inside of me just couldn't stop trusting what he had to say.
Maybe it's just because of Kagami's accusation of me ending Rudeus Greyrat's life or being the cause of Paul's demise.
All in all, I'm getting too stressed about recent mind blows and I can't get over them.
"Well, whatever. Thank you for your time. We will take our leave now."
We were about to move again when suddenly Orsted started asking a question.
"You. Could you have heard the name Hitogami before?"
Something within my senses foretold me that something bad will happen if I answer, but I ignored them and regretted it the next moment. I couldn't help but let my guard down.
Somebody else mentioned his name, and it's someone who doesn't make any sense, just like him.
"I do he-"
Within a fraction of a second, he launched at me and aimed his hand, formed into a sword, at my chest.
Instinctively, I put on my Touki just in time. Putting on Barrier Magic was too late, since my Touki is more reflexive than mind processing.
"Rudeus!"
Ruijerd tried to help me, but Orsted was too fast.
As Orsted's sword-hand hit my chest, a dull sound of two metals colliding with each other was ringing through the air of the mountain-range.
I flew backwards a little as my head hit the ground and slid against it from the velocity of the hit.
Once I stopped sliding, I immediately started casting Healing Magic on myself. I only suffered a mild head wound and a slight concussion, but my head and ears kept ringing.
My Healing Magic isn't fast, so through my recovery process, I could only hear sounds of like Ruijerd screaming and a barrage of metal clashing.
There were some talks from them, but I couldn't hear out what they were saying.
After seconds of fighting sounds, it stopped. But only for second.
My hearing slowly came back as I could hear Eris scream on the top of her lungs.
Slowly, my headache goes away, and I opened my eyes and watch what happens.
Eris was sent flying against the wall. As the dust cleared, I saw her spitting out blood from her mouth.
Looking around a bit, I saw Ruijerd lying on the floor unconscious.
"...w-wha...?"
What happened while I was recovering? Did Orsted do this?
"Ah. So, you're awake. That Touki of yours is strong."
Shifting my gaze, I saw Orsted right before me, looking down on me.
I tried doing something, but he put his hands on my chest and the air in my lungs pushed out.
Blood came out of my mouth and breathing became difficult.
The first thought that came to my mind was that he probably thought that I was just a normal mage.
He hasn't seen me use Healing Magic without the chant, since he was distracted from fighting Ruijerd and Eris.
I should use that to my advantage and launch a surprise attack.
"Do me a favor. Tell the Human God that Dragon God Orsted will kill him." Then he just walks away.
Is he so cruel that he lets me bleed out or suffocate to death? What a cruel thing to put into fate's hands.
But did he say that he is the Dragon God just now?
He is a Great World Power. And number two nonetheless.
So, it was obvious from the beginning that we would lose to him.
If this were a game, then he would be a Boss-monster, and I'm just a low level side-character.
But despite that fact, I want to defeat the opponent in front of my eyes.
I prepare a [Stone Canon] underground, while putting in as much mana into it as possible. Even putting in ambient mana into it for extra boost.
Why do I consider killing him? Because he hurt two of the most important people in my life.
Ruijerd's kind heart, that just got misunderstood because of Laplace's spears, helped me and Eris cross the Demon-continent.
Without him, crossing that wasteland would have been impossible with the skills I had before.
But even if he is strong and an experienced warrior, he got defeated by Orsted.
And Eris. She always impresses me with her swift talent in swordsmanship.
I would lie if I said that I wasn't a bit jealous towards her.
Unlike me, she used that talent of hers for a long time and with passion. But I wasted too much time and didn't improve for years. Not until my accident.
She protected and saved me many times on our journey, while being hit by the reality of her parent's actions midway through.
I still don't know what she thinks of her parent's action with her, and I know I shouldn't ask her about it.
And now, both of those important people of mine are hurt, and a rising sensation of bloodlust came over me.
'Kill him. Slaughter him. Destroy him. Make him pay. Make him suffer. Let him know who he messed with.'
Kagami's voice range out as I squeezed every bit of mana I could muster into this spell while making sure that the stone is solid and tough as possible.
For once, his voice wasn't irritating. It was motivating. And it worked to persuade me into cold-blooded murder.
From the corner, I could hear someone speak out some incantation.
Looking to the side, I saw Eris, trying to chant a spell. But she couldn't speak out right and her spell failed.
However, Orsted got distracted by her, and I had an opening to shoot my spell.
As I launched my spell towards him, the drill shaped stone spun with such a ferocious speed that it flew in a white-flash and heated the air around its trajectory, making a loud fuming sound.
For some unexplainable reason, Orsted turned around and caught the [Stone Canon] with his bare hand.
It shattered and fell into many scorching pieces.
Looking at my target, I was speechless.
Orsted was still alive, standing a few meters away from the spot he stood at before.
On closer inspection, his sleeve was burned off to the elbow, while his arm only had slight scratches. His palm, however, was burned to a crisp and gushing out blood.
That was all my attack did. Even though I put in a significant amount of mana into it, it failed.
"Was that [Stone Canon]? It was perfect to even penetrate my Touki."
His cold, sharp eyes that had a hint of curiosity in them looked at me.
"There wasn't any incantation. So, you are capable of chantless Magic? Then Why haven't you healed your wounds yet?"
That easy to answer.
My Healing Magic may have improved in being used without the chant, but doing it without it takes a lot of concentration, which in return takes a bit more time than normal.
Unlike my Attack Magic, my Healing Magic is slow. So to do it without chanting, I have to only concentrate on healing itself.
But I didn't say all that out loud and used a Wind Magic spell to push us apart from each other, while using an extended mana arm to grab [Aqua Heartia] with my left hand.
With my staff, I can put out larger spells against Orsted.
But I have to be careful not to risk Eris's and Ruijerd's lives.
As soon as I had [Aqua Heartia] in my hands, I put in mana for an [Electric].
I made sure that the amount of mana was large and that it would be devastating.
His Touki may be strong, but my [Electric] isn't easy to dodge.
I pointed my staff at him and Orsted pointed his left hand at me.
"[Disturb Magic]"
As he said that, I sensed that his magic in my left hand to disrupt it, resulting in my spell not taking shape.
In the next second, as I was about to switch my staff to my right hand, I saw Orsted's left hand move quickly as I felt a sharp pain in my left hand as the sound of glass shattering rung.
I didn't dare to look, but I knew what just happened.
Orsted used his speed to destroy my staff and wounding my arm.
Slowly, I looked towards my left arm, and it's as I imagined it and much worse.
Around my left side are pieces of [Aqua Heartia]. The magic crystal shattered into many shards, and the rest of the staff broke into uneven wooden pieces.
But the worst part was my hand, or rather my left arm. Everything below the elbow is gone. There is only a blood gushing stomp.
Panicky, I grabbed the open wound and casted Advanced Healing Magic on it, to stop the bleeding.
I scrunched my face as I tried to endure the pain of my lost limb.
The spell also healed my broken rips and lungs in the process.
If what I read in my book is true, I could reattach the severed limb and heal it back on me with advanced Healing Magic.
Orsted just stood there curiously watched with anticipation for the next scene.
I even noticed that he already healed his arm that I damaged so much.
He can use chantless Healing Magic as well? And so quick?
Ruijerd was right, the upper ranks are much stronger.
Once I was done healing, I lifted my right hand and combined both Fire and Wind Magic to form a devastatingly strong spell.
The amount of mana was larger than the last spell, and my arm started to hurt from pushing so much mana at once out.
What I imagined was the most catastrophic invention of my last world I know of.
A nuclear explosion.
"Oh? So, you can use silent Healing Magic. And you broke off the Disturb Magic. And that next spell of yours.... in that case..."
He lifted his left hand again and out of thin air, a silver window ornamented with a dragon appeared.
From what I could tell with my sensing ability, he formed the window with his mana and used magic to create the final product.
But because of my blood loss and my current spell, I didn't care to analyze it any further.
I launched my scorching ball of fire, knowing that I won't survive the resulting explosion.
"Open, [First Dragon Gate]." as he muttered those words, the window opened.
My spell went right at it, but it seemed that the window absorbed the spell.
The frames started to crack as my spell did only a small explosion which Orsted easily dodged.
"What an impressive amount of mana. Even [First Dragon Gate] couldn't bear such size. It's at the same level as Laplace. I understand why Hitogami choose you as his apostle."
"...what? Apost-"
My sentence was cut short by an overwhelming pain. It felt like my muscles are getting spasmed.
Hitogami was right. My body can't handle this amount of magic casting.
And because my body never fully recovered from casting [Bright Sky Wave], it happened sooner and hurts even more.
The two spells I just used certainly had an amount of mana in them that I never used before.
My usual spells were always kept lower, but that is because I didn't realize just how much mana I actually had until I could sense it.
I tried casting Healing Magic on me, but the pain stopped any sort of mana manipulation.
"What's wrong? I thought you could use Healing Magic without the incantations."
Orsted stepped towards me as I could do nothing but groan in pain and spit out blood on the ground.
As he came close to me, he looked at me with his cold surveying eyes again.
"How peculiar. Your hair turned white. Could it be that your body can't handle such magic? What are you planning using such a broken pawn, Hitogami?"
I couldn't keep my consciousness up for much longer, but Orsted simply lifted me up by my head.
"...a...ah...Ru...deus..." Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Eris struggling.
"Well, it doesn't matter. Die."
His hand flew in terrifying speed into my chest and through my back. Blood splashes all over me and I soon blacked out completely.
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