Chapter 2: Reincarnation (2)
'Hm…? What's going on?'
I couldn't feel anything; all of my five senses were completely unresponsive, and it was as if my body didn't exist, along with my breath. It was way weirder than being a soul within the reincarnation centre.
'Great Sage, where am I?'
Although strange, I, for some reason, knew that the Great Sage would answer my question.
[Answer. Master's soul is synchronizing with his new body.]
'I see. How long will it take?'
[Answer. Around two minutes, Master.]
'Then, Great Sage, what are your effects?'
[Answer. The Unique Skill 'Great Sage' has the following effects...
Thought Acceleration: Increases thought processing speed by a hundred times.
Analytical Appraisal: The ability to analyze and appraise a target. This ability highly depends on the Master's strength, along with his knowledge of a target.
Chant Annulment: When using magic, the chant is no longer necessary.
All of Creation: The ability to comprehend any non-concealed phenomenon in this world. Depending on the things the Master understands and the information he knows about, additional information can be inferred. In other words, the Master needs to have seen the phenomenon at least once, or have prior knowledge about it.]
'So, do you have prior knowledge about this world?'
[Answer. No, Master, I don't.]
'What about the Tensura World?'
[Answer. Not at this moment, Master. But if the Skill 'Great Sage' were to reconnect with Veldenava's 'System' within the Tensura World, the information would automatically be available.'
'Hm, that so? In that case, Great Sage…activate Thought Acceleration.'
[Answer. Activating Thought Acceleration.]
Before I could say anything more, my senses started coming back to me, making me realise that my soul had almost synchronized with my new body.
"It's been a whole minute, and it's most likely dead. Can I go back to my lab now?"
'I haven't even been born properly, and someone is already proclaiming me dead?'
The voice belonged to a man, and from how it sounded, it was easy to tell that someone had forced him to do something he had absolutely no interest in.
The first thing I noticed was my ability to understand their language, which was a good sign.
"My Lord, please don't say that about your little brother. And he's breathing just fine."
'A woman's voice?'
And from what that woman said, the previous voice belonged to my older brother. Although, it doesn't seem like he cared much about me.
Honestly, it was a bit sad since my original older brother always spoiled me rotten.
A few seconds after that woman's voice came, I slowly opened my eyes, expecting blurry images when my retinas were bombarded with light, along with slight discomfort. However, surprisingly, none of that happened, and my vision was better than it had ever been.
But something was weird. I could see colours, along with the ceiling, which should be impossible for a newborn baby, as anything beyond 12 inches should be blurry for a newborn child because they were nearsighted, not to mention colour-blind, at least for the first few months.
But then again, this wasn't my original world; for all I know, I might as well be from a completely different species.
In front of me was a bewitchingly beautiful woman who appeared to be in her mid-twenties. She had long, green hair that dropped past her shoulders, along with light blue eyes. The woman held me in her embrace, holding me gently while looking at me with a loving smile, her eyes slightly watery. Calling her mother should be fair.
Contrary to her bewitchingly beautiful appearance, she just permeated this motherly feeling.
"Look, honey, he looks so adorable, and he takes after you."
From my mother's voice, I could tell she wasn't the one who referred to my brother as 'My Lord,' indicating that there were at least two more people inside the room. That was good.
If that weren't the case, the family hierarchy would've been a mess.
Wiggling around a little in my mother's embrace, my eyes landed on the man sitting next to my mother, who was most likely my father. He was a very charismatic-looking man with a cleanly shaven square jawline that complimented his sharp features. He looked around the same age as my mother and had short black hair and blood-red eyes. His appearance made me wonder if I was born into a family of vampires.
"Look at his eyes and hair; unlike his brother Ajuka, he completely takes after me."
'So my brother's name is Ajuka, huh? And if I take after my father, I have red eyes and black hair. The basic Iseaki Protagonist Pack. But shouldn't it be white hair and blue eyes, the basic Fanfic Pack?'
My father's voice was heavy, unlike my mother's gentle voice, but it was, by no means, harsh. Although my father looked like a vampire, his eyes held a gentle quality, and from the looks of it, it was most likely thanks to how he was looking at me on the verge of crying.
I had guided a bunch of babies out of their mothers' wombs in my life, and most of the time, the father was the most emotional and hurried. Although I did sneak doses of the virus into the babies' vaccinations, curious about how their bodies would react to it.
My original hope was that they'd adapt to it, but alas, not a single child adapted to the virus created by my blood, and all of them died before reaching the age of five.
It was a shame, truly.
"Shouldn't he be crying?"
Hearing my older brother's voice again, I turned my head to the right.
And I had to admit that, for a baby, the motor control over my limbs was too good, further solidifying the assumption that I wasn't born into a human family, or if I was, they were anything but normal humans.
"Ajuka, when you were born, you didn't cry either. And unlike you, he hasn't destroyed anything yet."
'Destroyed? I'm a bit sceptical about what that means.'
Across the giant bed, two people were standing. The first one was a bewitchingly beautiful young man, as he appeared almost identical to my mother, looking like someone in his early twenties, with light blue eyes and green hair that were slicked back.
'This guy was definitely a trap in his teens.'
From Ajuka's expression, it wasn't difficult to tell that he was being forced to stay here.
And honestly, looking at him was very confusing. My older brother appeared to be only a few years younger than my parents, which made some weird scenarios pop up in my mind.
'I'm falling to the dark side.'
Ah, who was I even kidding? I fell the moment I bribed the manager to play a 30-second clip of Boku No Pico on international television in between my interview, which was the world's most heated topic thanks to the vaccination that was about to be introduced. And by no means was the clip I had them play human-friendly.
Right before the reveal of the vaccination that was considered the Holy Grail of modern medicine, they played 'Never Gonna Give You Up,' too.
Surprisingly, the person I bribed died of a heart attack the next day, so my name never came out. Lucky, aren't I?
Natural causes of death could be so convenient sometimes.
The channel was soon forcefully shut down after millions of people sued them for reasons no one cared about. But it was possible that most of my negative karma came from that incident.
The good old days.
.
.
.
Behind Ajuka was a beautiful woman with short, neck-length blonde hair styled in a bob cut and grey eyes, but there was a visible tint of yellow in them. She appeared to be the same age as Ajuka, wearing red-themed body armour, along with a silver-hilted sword hanging from her waist.
If it weren't for her calling Ajuka Lord, I would've mistaken them for a couple.
Either way, I more or less realised how 'Thought Acceleration' works. Although my thought process was accelerated a hundred times, it didn't change how my body functioned. So unless I was in a fight or doing research, the only thing it'd be good for was to do large internal monologues between conversations.
'Now that I think about it, I have zero experience in fighting.'
To be fair, I had never even slapped someone, much less been in an actual fight.
With how weak my previous body was, even in my mid-twenties, my physical abilities were lower than those of an average teenager.
"My dear, what should we name him?"
"Hmm. I prepared so many names for him, but I can't decide on a single one."
Honestly, I'd prefer anything other than NoobGamer69 or Bob Uchiha.
On an unrelated note, my online name was Inuttedwhile911happened.
I still wondered why my account was banned.
While my parents had a conversation about what my name should be, the woman standing behind Ajuka interrupted.
"Lord Sebastian, why not let My Lord name his younger brother?"
"Alice, that's a very good idea. Ajuka, you can do it, can't you?"
My father was, for some reason, very impressed by that idea. With how uninterested Ajuka looked, I wouldn't be surprised if he directly refused our father's request.
Thinking about it now, my father had a striking resemblance to Sebastian from Black Butler, so maybe I now know who the final boss of this world was.
Ajuka looked at Alice from the corner of his eyes, and his face gave her a 'Why are you even here?' look. Soon, he let out a sigh of defeat, accepting our father's request.
"Fine, I'll do it."
"How about Ajuka?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
'...'
[...]
Forget about the four of us; even Great Sage, a unique skill from another world, was dumbfounded at the lack of effort Ajuka put into naming his younger brother.
The best he could come up with was his name—I don't even know what else to say.
'You could've at least reversed it, something like Akuja, but damn, bro.'
"I mean, it works, doesn't it? After all, I go by Ajuka Beelzebub, so his name being Ajuka Astaroth should simplify things."
"I mean, you're not wrong. We can keep Mini-Ajuka as his nickname."
'Father, don't fall for that bastard's bullshit!'
Ignoring the fact that I was born into a family of Devils, I raised my hands towards Ajuka, trying to curse him out loud, but the only thing that came out of my mouth was a child-like cry.
"See, he likes it."
'Believe me, I don't. I want to hit you with a ball of magical energy, or—huh? What's this green circle—a magic circle, perhaps? But I didn't even do anything.'
The circle in front of me was larger than my body, and just as I was about to retreat my hand, a pitch-black ball of condensed energy shot towards Ajuka.
Looking at the surprised faces of both Akuja and Alice, I couldn't help but wonder if I was in some serious trouble. Although I couldn't see the looks on my parents' faces, I guessed that they were also surprised by this, too.
From their reactions, both Alice and Ajuka were able to follow the ball's movements as the latter raised his right hand, casually slapping the ball away with the back of his hand, directly towards the ceiling.
And here I was, worried about this guy's safety.
Boom!*
The ball of energy hit the enormous chandelier above Ajuka and Alice, making the room shake slightly. Maybe I wasn't used to my new life, but I was expecting someone to at least react in some way. However, much to my surprise, all five of us calmly stared at the ceiling, which, for obvious reasons, was slowly falling apart.
Thanks to thought acceleration, I could clearly see the pieces of glass shooting in all directions, and just as the ceiling was about to fall, Ajuka snapped his fingers, making everything go back to normal in an instant.
Well, that was surprising, to say the least.
'From the looks of it, my powers most likely work based on imagination...'
Although I didn't mean to do anything to Akuja, I did imagine a condensed ball of energy hitting him, which was exactly what just happened. A few moments later, the magic circle in front of me also disappeared.
"I guess my baby didn't like his brother's name after all."
'Yeah, tell him, mother.'
Mothers did understand their children well.
"Well, it's all Ajuka's fault, to begin with."
"I'm being forced to stay here, father; what else can you expect?"
"The first thing he does after being born is attack one of the Four Great Satans… As expected of your brother, My Lord."
Except for Alice, whose mouth twitched when she looked at me, my parents and Ajuka had barely reacted, even after my magnificent display.
"Alice, you might not know this, but after his birth, Ajuka released a wave of Demonic Power strong enough to make the doctors pass out; that's why we asked them to leave us this time."
'To be fair, I would've resigned after that.'
Hearing Sebastian's words, my mother giggled with a trace of nostalgia in her voice. As for Alice, I could tell that she was busy reassessing her behaviour around my older brother.
'So this energy is called Demonic Power, huh?'
"After causing a mess, Ajuka had the same innocent expression as his brother, looking around with curious eyes."
My mother leaned forward and gave me a small kiss on my forehead. To play along, I raised my hands towards her face, almost grabbing her nose, while making child-like noises as I randomly started moving in her embrace, much to her pleasure and pure joy.
'Great Sage, can you examine my body to see if it's any different from a human's? And try to find the source of Demonic Power inside my body.'
[Answer. Starting analysis.]
[Master's body is mostly similar to that of a normal human, except that it is far stronger and more durable. The only physical difference is the bat-like wings sprouting on your back. As for the source of Demonic Power, nothing could be analyzed. A more detailed analysis could happen after the Master's strength increases.]
'No extra organs, huh?'
At first, I thought that Demonic Power was produced by a separate organ, but that seemed not to be the case.
'What about my immune system?'
[Answer. Master's immune system is far stronger than a human's.]
That made me wonder if Devils have any diseases that could be weaponized.
'Well, it's not like I'm in a hurry. It hasn't even been an hour since I came to this world.'
There were so many things I wanted to test out, but I had to wait until I was somewhat older.
"... Azrail."
'What did she say?'
Because of my inner monologue, I missed what my mother had just muttered.
"Hm? Celis, did you say something?"
So my mother's name was Celis—Celis Astaroth.
"Azrail Astaroth, that'll be my baby's name."
'Azrail…? As in, the Angel of Death? How did she even come up with something like that?'
As far as I knew, Azrail referred to the Angel of Death in Hebrew.
'Funny how in both my lives, my names are related to Angels. Though the things those Angels symbolize are complete opposites.'
With a happy smile, my mother hugged me. Soon, Sebastian started hugging both me and my mother from the side, and honestly, it was getting hard to breathe. To not die on the same day I was born, I started moving a little, and both of them gave me some room to breathe.
"Azrail, huh? It doesn't sound too bad."
Ajuka, it was better than anything you could ever come up with.
"Lord Azrail."
Alice also nodded to herself, smiling happily.
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