"Oh, Haruto, whatever am I to do with you? You're just so adorable, being the naive peasant trash you are. You might be an adopted son of a minor dukedom, but I, I am the heir of one of the 4 great families! One of the 4 houses that make up the royal council. And I will not have my reputation tarnished by the likes of you!"
"Really? You're going to kill me? That's quite extreme, isn't it? What happens if you get caught?"
"Oh, Haruto, that shows even more of your naivete. Money can buy anything, and if that principal has even a shred of morals, well...I might need to rip those morals out of her, you get me?"
"Huh, sounds interesting. That's assuming you kill me though."
Miyuko quailed at his side, visibly afraid of the many men with murderous intent fixated on Haruto.
"Surely these can't be all students, some of them look way too old to be first years."
"Interesting you noticed that, I may have hired some...assassins to help finish off the job. Proper ones. Just to make sure you're extra dead! Hahahahaha!"
Ryuujin guffawed, and his arrogant laugh set off Haruto.
He felt the same urge, the liquid adrenaline in his veins urging him to kill, to rend flesh from bone, slice open their innards.
[Skill: Seraphic Wings]
[Skill: Dazzling Blade]
[Skill Activated: Heavenly Judgement: All stats boosted by 200%!]
In the narrow corridor, the blades proved lethal, finding their marks and eviscerating three assassins, sending blood and gore spraying everywhere.
Haruto wondered how no one had come to check on them or passed through the corridor.
One of the people here must have a illusionary affinity, Haruto deduced.
But it didn't matter. Right now, all that consumed his mind was the thrill of the fight, and as his sword flowed like water, seemingly having no difference between thin air and ribcages, he let himself free to the joy.
He was aware of Miyuko, huddled against the wall, defending herself with an ice wall when anyone got close.
Several co-ordinated pillars of flame launched towards him, just as he was flying in midair when his ability ran out.
He was planning to do a cool wall jump and let more heads roll, but he had no moves so far. Until Haruto considered.
[Skill: Dazzling Blade]
Haruto gritted his teeth, preparing for the pain.
A blade slammed into his left shoulder smashing him into a far wall, safely away from the jet of flame.
Falling to the ground, he panted, clutching his bleeding shoulder as everyone looked at him in astonishment.
Huh, I guess this would be what the kids back in my world would call a 'hardcore move' eh?
He scrambled back up, holding his sword steady.
A laugh echoed around the corridor, followed by a slow clapping.
"My my my, you're certainly a beast now, aren't you? Too bad I'll have to put you down...just like a mad, slavering dog."
Ryuujin closed in, holding his blade ready incase Haruto made any sudden moves.
Just for good measure, the stone wall behind him buckled, forming stone shackles around his arms and legs, leaving only his torso and head free to move.
As his vision faded in and out, Ryuujin closed in, triumphant smirk on his face.
"DON'T HURT ONII-CHAN!!"
A shrill voice came from across the room, and suddenly, a powerful wave of ice swept across the room.
The temperature plummeted to sub-zero degrees, and he got a notification in his mind. [Skill: Permafrost has been used. All effects have been negated due to lower rank affinity]
But everyone else sunk to the ground, tiny flakes of frost forming on all surfaces.
As Miyuko rushed over, Haruto nearly sagged in relief. His little sister had saved him, despite him who should have protected her.
"Onii-chan, are you okay? You're not too badly hurt, let's get you to the infirmary right aw-augghhlerrff!"
A tentacle of blood protruded from her lower right abdomen, tearing a bloody hole through her flesh.
Blood spurted from her mouth, and she sank to the ground, dead or not Haruto didn't know.
The temperature in the room went back to normal, and Ryuujin stiffly rose up, a frown on his face.
"Oh well, it's too bad I had to ruin such pretty merchandise like that. Couldn't help it though."
At these careless words, a depth of anger Haruto didn't know existed welled up inside him, like a fire stoking his organs.
His vision turned into shades of grey and red, and his final conscious thought was: I'm going to tear him limb from limb.
...
Haruto was back in the endless void, floating peacefully in it's depths. If this was death, it wasn't too bad. At least it was comfortable.
Gentle rays of light flashed around him, like sunbeams penetrating through the deep ocean.
Yet below the pseudo sunlight, Haruto sensed...beings. There was no other word.
They were existences, no physical form, yet they existed. Beings of unimaginable power, greed, and evil.
Usually, they wouldn't have paid attention to the human world, too small for them to even consider a snack.
Locked into an endless battle with another plane of existence, Haruto knew this was something beyond humanity, something greater that he wasn't even a pawn of.
Yet one of these beings had taken an interest in him. What did it see? Was the being the cause of him being reincarnated? Haruto didn't know the answer to these questions.
Yet the being, whatever it was, seem to rise out of the depths, just a little, but enough for Haruto to make out a silhouette. Something vast and mighty, an incomprehensible existence made into a form his mind could process.
Ỷ̵̛̟͓̙͙̣̠̣̟̖͚̒͒O̷̧̮̙̪̭̩̺͈̲̣̦̦͔̮̞̣͇̜̓̏̅͒̀͠Ű̶̧̼͚̩͔̠̬͋̿͗̊̃̋ ̴̡̼̜̳̓͛̊͌̾͆́̌̀͘̕̕͠͝͝ͅA̵̗̓̋͑̐̓͗͋̊̓̂̈̅̃́̽́R̶̘̠̐͆̓̐́͌͝E̸̢̨̹̪̯̹͚̟͙̠̳͙̐͊͂̄ ̴̘͑̀̏̀̽̇́̅̐̌͋̉Ṇ̷̢̧̨̹̪̼̩̖̗͉̰̩̜̺̖̻̠͐̍̾͆̕͘͘Ỏ̴̰̼̖̮̪̠̖̰͎̐̄̈̑̅̽̑̐̊͝T̷̢̹̞̪͉̮͙̯̘̳̪̝̗͙͖̎͗̇̔́̀̉̽̊̆̿̑̌̀̐̾̚̚ ̵̩̪̠̜͎͍̘̭͍̣̠͚̻̦̘̄̓̿͋̈́̊̓̈́́͊̎̓̽̇͝Ȑ̴͎̌́̓̎̆͗͑̕͝͠͠É̶̖̽̃̀̂̐̈́́͑̍̊̕A̶̼̖̓̑̆̄̾̌͛̕̕D̶̡̳̼̜͉̣̥͓̭̻͕͍̑̽͘ͅY̴̡̨͍̹̲͙͍̓̎͆̓̓̈́̆̀͗̈́͛́̿̍̀̎͘ ̸̗̗͍̦̝̬͔͊͊̀͒̉́̑͌̓̋̓̓̇̄͊̕Ȳ̶̢̙̺͔̮͖͊͝E̶̡͔͈͖̖̙̘͕͔͎̲͚̙͚̖͋͛̽̀̍̾͐̓̀͠T̶̛̬̣̿͋͒̐́̂̉̅̎̿̕͠͠
The booming voice shattered this peaceful void, snapping back to the real world.
"Haruto! Haruto, can you hear me?!"
He dazedly looked around, at what looked like those fake horror movies where the entire room was covered in blood.
Except this was real. All of it.
Bits of gore were everywhere, and Haruto even saw a dismembered arm on the floor.
The walls were scorched and warped bits of stone lay everywhere, testament to the fight his opponents had put up. Yet while his body was bruised, he didn't feel a single injury that felt lethal or even crippling, in fact, he felt invigorated, energized.
But the most gruesome testament of all was Ryuujin, or what was left of him, anyways.
His head had been smashed to a bloody pulp, his eyeballs gouged out. But what was most damning was that 3 mana blades protruded from each arm and torso, pinning Ryuujin to the wall.
His torso spilled out silvery red intestines, and the smell of urine and feces was acrid in the bloody air.
But the mana blades were...different. These ones didn't seem to fade, instead pulsing gently in time with...his heartbeat?
These blades also were a blood red color, accented with streaks of purple and black.
It was a truly horrific sight, yet in the middle of all this, untouched from the carnage, was Miyuko.
She was already being attended to by the nurse, as everyone else was well and thoroughly dead, beyond anyone's ability to save.
"Wh-what have you done?"