-Asher Frostblade's point of view.
The feeling of losing himself to mental weakness certainly has Asher in trouble that could ruin everything.
A mage has no power if his mentality is weak.
But then, why does Asher now have a weak mentality?
The answer lies in reincarnation; entering a new body with emotions Asher never had before certainly affects the mentality, making it weaker over time.
Something Asher didn't expect.
At the mere sight of blood, be it from monsters or humans, Asher could lose his sanity and come to feel satisfaction at the sight of blood and deaths before his eyes.
Which would lead him to lose all rationality and not being able to control his own body. This is what now has Asher worried.
"I must avoid seeing monster deaths for the time being."
For the time being, Asher has been feeling addictive excitement, distorted pleasure and a small portion of lucid insanity.
This has been happening for a little while now just by seeing blood. Of course, it has only happened at the sight of monster blood or monster corpses.
"Haa... Damn, I never thought I had a weak mind."
Perhaps fate had given him a second chance to live a new life, but in exchange for a weak mind that could corrode Asher over time.
Having experienced the feeling of not controlling himself, Asher had emerged from the cave.
Sweat was running all over his body and his heart was pounding. Wide-eyed and unable to close his mouth from the ragged breaths, Asher tried to control himself.
"Haa... Haa... Haa..."
He was feeling more and more tired and his whole being was trembling inside.
"Heh... This is being... Weak-minded... Very low mentality."
It certainly caught Asher off guard. Although this is the first time he's lost his sanity, previously, a few months ago, Asher started to feel strange, and now he realizes what it is.
Still, Asher did not stop to rest and continued to search for the mana crystals.
He wasn't tired physically, but he was tired mentally. On the way, he would start to see something blurry, but after a few seconds he would return to normal. It was like this for the next few hours.
Stopping at the bottom of a leafless tree and leaning his back against the trunk, Asher sat for a moment and took a deep breath.
"Huam... I feel tired."
Not physically.
But mentally, he was tired.
"I think I'll... I'll sleep for a while."
Resting his head on the side of his shoulder, Asher closed his eyes slowly.
Mental tiredness usually recovered after sleeping for quite some time, so Asher tried the same, and without realizing it, he closed his eyes.
***
-Change of scene.
It was a normal day. He had opened his eyes and looked at the room around him.
Right next to it was a table with some papers and a gun with some bullets around it.
Light was coming in through the window next to him, as he looked into the closet, he stood up and quickly grabbed a black jacket. Looking at the window again, it appeared to be 4 or 5 o'clock in the afternoon.
That meant that today's work was close. Although it bothered him a little to work today, he had to do it on orders from his boss and because today's work was important.
Knock, knock.
That's when someone knocked on the door. He quickly grabbed his gun, hid the papers under the bed and ended up picking up the bullets scattered around the table.
He put on his shoes, looked at the door again and then spoke.
"Come in."
Slowly, the door began to open and then....
"Uh... Hey, Amelia, why are you here, did the boss also give you the same assignment?"
A woman with ice blue hair and eyes of the same color, Amelia, looked at the man in front of her and her lips curved into a smile.
"It looks like it, but Asher, what were you doing just now? You look strange."
Seeing Amelia's mocking look, Asher answered her:
"I was sleeping, do you have a problem with that?"
"Haa, you're always like that."
"I'm going to the bathroom, wait for me for a moment."
Leaving Amelia alone, Asher walked to a door right next to the closet, turned the handle, opened the door and entered the bathroom.
He quickly grabbed a toothbrush, put some paste on it and, after a few seconds, began brushing his teeth.
Two minutes passed and then she finished. She grabbed some hair cream and applied it to her hair.
Jet black hair and hazel eyes, half dark, were reflected in the mirror in front of him.
After combing his hair, he said:
"Perfect, an assassin must be well groomed."
Was what he said as he saw himself combing his hair in an elegant way. He looked at his sharp face as if he were a model, fixed his jacket and then walked out of the bathroom.
Closing the bathroom door, Asher looked at the woman from before, standing six feet tall, while he was six feet, ten centimeters taller than Amelia.
"Are you done?"
"Yes."
Amelia stared at Asher, then held up her thumb.
"You look good. Even though you're twenty-four, you still look very young, Asher."
"The same goes for you. At 24, you look just as young since we met at the orphanage."
"..."
Amelia, however, said nothing. Then she turned and walked toward the door. She felt glad for Asher's compliment, but also not.
"Wait."
Amelia glanced at Asher before opening the door.
"What's wrong?"
"I haven't told you about the assignment yet."
"Oh, that's right."
"..."
Asher looked at Amelia thinking....
"This fool..."
However, he couldn't blame her. Amelia, since she was little, was always very distracted and aloof, so Asher knew very well about her personality.
Knowing that she is also forgetful, he showed her the papers that contained information about a particular person.
After a few minutes of explaining things about the assignment to Amelia, the two left the room.
A few hours had passed and they were on top of a building, just inside a rather large apartment where a billionaire tycoon lives. Of course, this was the assignment: assassinate a billionaire.
Asher and Amelia were hiding inside the apartment. It was large, with several rooms, and the whole place was dark; after all, they were waiting for the billionaire to enter the apartment.
"Remember that we must kill him with one shot. In case you miss, we'll have to fight."
Asher reminded Amelia.
Both of them are veterans at this, but sometimes Amelia used to miss the shot and then they would end up fighting with the bodyguards of the charges.
Although Asher could fight alone and it wasn't a problem, he would leave the gun to Amelia. Although he missed sometimes, she had a perfect score, even higher than Asher's using guns, so he used to let Amelia shoot instead of doing it himself.
Crunch.
Then the door began to open, and slowly the light from outside began to pour in. That's when a fat man in a black business suit resembling an office suit slowly walked in, followed by a row of muscular men in typical bodyguard attire and typical black glasses. Of course, they were armed.
As the fat man entered, one of the bodyguards went in first, checked the place out and quickly turned on the lights. Asher and Amelia were well hidden and in the perfect position, so they didn't see them.
"It's clear. There don't appear to be any intruders. You may go in, sir."
"Thank you. There wouldn't be anyone anyway. This building has the best security in the country."
"I understand that, sir, but it's still best to check for..."
"Yes, yes, enough."
Entering, the fat man sat down on an oversized L-shaped sofa. A large TV with luxurious decorations on the sides and the great view that was right next to it, from where you could see the whole city and its large buildings full of lights in every window.
"Haa... Today was a tiring day, but at least I managed to sell those fake guns to those idiots."
As the man muttered quietly, Asher and Amelia heard it all.
"So it's true that this guy was selling fake weapons to our organization, huh?"
Asher thought as he looked at the man, frowning slightly.
Then, looking at Amelia, Asher indicated for her to shoot.
"Okay."
Affirming, Amelia slowly took aim and then pulled the trigger of the gun.
Bang.
The sound was barely a whisper as the bullet exited the gun, and unnoticed by anyone....
Drip, drip, drip.
Blood started pouring out of the fat man's head, as his body slumped on the couch. The guards noticed immediately.
"Shit, quick, there are assassins in the place, look for them!"
The bodyguards moved quickly, drawing their weapons, and then it was Asher's time.
"Give me the gun."
Amelia handed him the gun, but just then, a door behind them opened and one of the bodyguards, looking at the floor, found Asher and Amelia.
"Here it is..."
Bang.
Without letting the man finish speaking, Asher shot him in the head.
"Get up, everybody get up there!"
But it was too late, the other men moved and then Asher frowned.
"This I didn't think would happen..."
"Heh, looks like you didn't get the 'let's make it quick and then go get something to eat' thing."
"Tks... You shut up, you idiot."
As Asher raged at Amelia, the men quickly arrived, unbeknownst to them.
Squeezing the trigger of the gun, several bullets flew out, and several bodies fell to the ground with a hole in their heads.
"Get out of here, it's a waste of time if we keep going."
Asher indicated to Amelia.
It was certainly a waste of time. After all, the assignment was dead, and that meant there was nothing more to do.
The mission was complete.
Running in the direction of the windows, Asher and Amelia jumped out and smashed the panes.
Before their eyes unfolded a dizzying drop. As the two descended, the men began firing.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The wind whistled as they fell, but then Asher pulled a small device and....
Explosion.
An explosion covered the place where the bodyguards were, and at the same time, Asher activated a parachute and grabbed Amelia.
"Then where will we go?"
"Anywhere. Do you want a five-star restaurant?"
"You... you fucking asshole."
Without listening to Amelia's words, a few hours quickly passed.
Certainly, the mission was a success, but they also made a bit of a fuss in the process, though that was not in Asher's plans.
In the end, all was accomplished, and there were no significant mishaps.
As they ate some burgers, Amelia spoke up, still somewhat annoyed.
"Better not take me with you to lunch next time."
Amelia frowned as she looked at Asher.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."
"You... Haa, I better not say anything else."
Amelia was quite annoyed with Asher, but she knew what his personality was like. She had known him for many years, exactly a little over twenty years.
It was back then when she was pretty much kept away from the other kids at the orphanage, before she met Asher.
But her happy days at the orphanage ended when a man picked them up pretending to be her father. With that excuse, Asher and Amelia were sent to an organization of assassins.
Since then, the two have remained best friends together. Gradually, however, Amelia had noticed Asher losing his emotions over time, and now, in the present, she watched Asher being unhappy.
"He lost his emotions completely."
Amelia's thoughts were the same every time she was with Asher. She certainly felt sad to see her first friend, whom she had known since she was five years old, lose his emotions and no longer be the way he used to be.
"Huum... You should go."
"Yeah, see you later. I'll look for you when we get another mission, Asher."
"Yeah, whatever."
After an hour, Asher returned to his room, where he had spent his whole life. It was a ten square meter room, with a kitchen, a bathroom, no TV, and a bed in the living room next to a desk, a closet, and a shelf full of fantasy books.
"Mmm, let's see... I think I'll read this novel I haven't read yet."
***
-Scene change.
Slowly opening his eyes, Asher looked down at his hands.
"Haha... Why did I remember that just now? It's been so long since..."
He paused as he thought about Amelia for a moment.
"I wonder if she... Is still alive in the other world."
Even though Asher died in his previous life, he didn't know if his friend Amelia was still alive. It had been a long time since he last saw her, and the memory Asher had just had in his sleep made him think of her after a long time.
"Huum... Well, I'll keep looking for the mana crystals then."
Getting up from the ground, Asher stretched his body and then started walking, looking for a cave where he could find mana crystals....
__________________________________________________
Note from the author:
In case there was any confusion with the chapter, what you read was a small part of Asher's previous life, a memory of him from a year before he died and reincarnated