I opened my eyes.
It felt like watching a live video, seeing through the lens of another person. Though I couldn't forcibly physically control what I was viewing, what I saw was simply a battlefield.
The controls felt weird adjusting my vision; it felt like I was invading another person's home. Well, I hope I don't get sued under some sort of policy
Whoever's body I ended up inhabiting or sharing is the right word, I quickly prayed good luck.
"Goodluck!"
Weirdly enough I felt free, almost as if chains were broken.
*RATTLE*
The chains wrapping my body bursted and exploded into silver particles.
"HOLY CRAP! Ahem, I mean heh, guess I can't control my awesome power."
Moving to more serious matters, I saw it. The now crimson patches of grass. Scattered chains and thin slices carving into the ground beneath.
Yuno barely hung on brushing against the multitude of chains. Asta struggled to break free from the chains.
A cold breeze swept by.
"..."
Though watching the show I've seen countless situations of the main cast being brutally beaten up, but seeing it; battered children, unyielding teenagers. It only fueled the pre-existing resentment in my heart.
I hardened my mind.
I straightened my focus.
"Let's deal with this first." I thought to myself, thinking of Reue, the body I ended up 'inhabiting.'
"Your prayers were heard, leave the rest to me. Your name is Reue, right?." I muttered mentally, softening my tone.
I wasn't too sure if Reue could hear me, hell I'm just assuming that his name based on hearing the star.
But I said it anyway.
As if on cue, I could feel a sense of relief wash over me, as if I just gained partial access to pilot this body..
I narrowed our eyes.
In response a deep surge of magic enveloped our body. Tinges and mixtures of every colour streaked through. A constantly shifting kaleidoscope, performing a complex dance.
I-no We could instinctively feel it.
The phenomenon known as magic. We could feel every cold breath that we took, we could feel the lingering mana in the harsh wind and the refreshing vitality of the plains surrounding us.
We felt it, a path to create our very first spell. Our path forward.
The mana surged wildly.
In front of us the sparkling star reappeared, emanating an ethereal white light and slowly transforming into the form of a grimoire.
Inhabiting Reue's body, I could feel his genuine surprise and the slight tremble in his eyes.
The grimoire cover was ever changing, colours shifted slowly complimenting each other.
It moved smoothly like clear spring water flowing.
"Raise your right arm." I whispered, the body-no, more specifically Reue listened without the slightest hesitation.
"Thats right, listen to me!" Drunk on power, I quickly wiped my thoughts and continued to focus
The book fluttered through pages.
As if unopening an ancient seal, magic power wildly grew, spiraling out.
It was still than enough.
"DAMN how am I supposed to control-, it's too damn wild." Using what partial control over the body I had, it felt like trying to bind a tiger with a single thread.
"It's definitely because of Reue's weak body! Useless container for magic! And the worst part is, he actually fully trusts me!?" I screamed internally.
Revichi stopped in his tracks, holding a firm grip on Yuno's grimoire he stared intensely at Reue.
More specifically, the grimoire in front of Reue. His mouth opened wide, but no words came out.
Being a previous magic knight Revichi encountered a number of situations, however it was never as abnormal as this. Then again the more strange the situation, the more money one can gain!
Revichi calculated, as his gaze lingered on Reue's grimoire and saw the ever changing colour and the bright light illuminating. His eyes filled with greed.
"That settles it." Revichi thought to himself as his kleptomaniac mind gleamed with value.
"It doesn't hurt to try. besides high-risk, high-reward." Revichi smirked as his grimoire swiftly flashed through pages.
"Chain Magic: Sharp-shot!"
Multiple small portals appeared beside Revichi and sprouted metallic arrows that darted towards Reue.
"WATCH OUT!" Yuno shouted, noticing the spell from the corner of his eye as the bombardment of chains stopped.
"OH CRAP!" I internally screamed I can't even get this mana under control, how am I supposed to defend?
"MAY DAY MAY DAY!" I continued to scream inside, but the composure I was portraying seemed calculated. With Reue's arm raised forward trembling slightly trying to control the fierce mana.
I forced Reue's eyes shut, with a calm smirk plastered on the face.
"Yep I'm dead."
*DING*
"Or not?" I slightly opened Reue's eyes. In front I could see grey hair flutter in front of me with a small stature. Comically, the boy held a large black greatsword twice his height.
The presence was immense. It was suffocating, it felt like an anomaly that repulsed any form of mana or magic close.
"I can fight too!" Asta yelled as he stepped forward positioning him as the vanguard in the fight with the ominous 5-leaf grimoire gleaming in front of him.
"ASTA MY SAVIOUR!" Noticing the 5-leaf grimoire there's no doubt about it.
For some reason, I felt a sense of connection surrounding Asta's grimoire as his shadow grew long taking the form of a mysterious being with horns.
The shadow glanced at Reue, no it glanced at something deeper. It glanced at me.
"Creepy."I thought to myself, restraining the urge to speak to it. I shook those thoughts away and focused on what was more important.
"Thank you Asta, give me a few minutes. I will defeat him!" I spoke loudly. My tone was deeper than I tended, carrying a sharp tinge. It was probably Reue's influence.
"Not if I can do it first!!" Asta readied his stance as he deflected a few more piercing chains.
"What?!" Revichi froze for a second and rapidly blinked. A small sense of urgency grew within him, as he swiped throughout his grimoire.
"Deflecting my chains? THIS MANALESS BRAT!" Revichi shouted.
"DIE YOU PEASANT!"
"Chain Creation Magic: Python's Maze!" Bursting from the ground a trail of silver chains with python heads grew tiny fangs and targeted the duo, swimming, jumping and slithering.
"MY MAGIC IS NOT GIVING UP!!" Asta dashed forward, gripping his trusty greatsword as he went in fearless as a spark of determination ignited his body. His shadow grew larger eerily taking the form of some sort of demon, unnoticeable to most.
His muscles twitched with each movement, followed by a violent wind with each swing.
"HAAA!"
Though Revichi caught off guard, he was a former magic knight and safely distanced himself.
"Nice job, Asta." I remarked.
Harsh echoes of metallic clashing and constant shouts could be heard all over the battlefield.
Focusing on my magic, I centralised my thoughts into a single point. It was hard to do it alone.
Luckily, I wasn't.
"You can hear me right, Reue?" I mentally whispered.
Reue blinked, confirming he heard the other existence that inhabited his body.
"He's awfully quiet…" I thought to myself but disregarded my thoughts immediately.
"I need you to focus on something, a feeling perhaps. If you struggle, don't be afraid to ask for help when needed." I comforted Reue, well at least did a solid attempt at it.
"Yeah I have no clue myself, what feeling? I tried to dig deeper but all my thoughts are muddled but for some reason." I sighed.
"What do you feel, Reue." I muttered
"Regret" Reue still sharing control over his body gritted his teeth as he focused his now opened eyes forward, tensing his face.
"I wish I could be stronger, I wish I could have done things right." Reue declared
"And I wish I could show that bastard ahead of me a piece of his mind or an ounce of what I feel." Reue stated, with each word and feeling portrayed with it the control of the magic eased slightly throughout his speech but varied, but still eased.
"Yep, a mental note to never hurt this kid!
The mana swirled, resonating with Reue's thoughts.
"But it did give me a slight idea though." I thought.
"You know the answer, trust your gut ." I remarked
"I'll try my best.." Reue replied confusingly, but understood the gist of what I implied, however it was mainly because he could feel the change of control throughout conversing.
"This basically translates to can you figure out the answer because I don't know-" However, before I could continue my monologue, a sudden spike of mana concentrated around us.
It felt precise and controlled.
"A man grasped the cold blade, drips of blood flowed down, a river of agony."
Reue closed his eyes, muttered, concentrating on his raised arm.
The grimoire furiously wrote pages of words, beside Reue colourful orbs floated and elongated, shaping into different sizes and forms.
In the distance, Revichi could feel the absurd growing power of the attack, while riding his chains like a surf board to keep his distance from asta he targeted a few sharp-shots to Reue.
"DIE YOU BSSTAARD" Revichi shouted.
Asta, anticipating this, pivoted his body and deflected most of the incoming attacks back to Revichi.
However, despite Asta's extreme agility, one managed to slip through.
"WATCH OUT!" Asta warned
*WOOSH*
The arrow-piercing chain flung back violently as if repulsed by nature.
Yuno stood up, bloodied and both arms raised. He couldn't perform any precise magic.
However, he could take advantage of his enormous mana pool to create a wild and unpredictable burst of wind.
"ARGHHH"
"That took a lot out of me." Yuno sighed, stumbling back to the ground as he drained most of his mana. He looked to the sky and felt the immense presence enmating from Asta and the whirlwind of mana from Reue.
"Looks like it'll be a challenge for the wizard king." Yuno clenched his fist, closing his eyes. His gaze drifted to Reue.
Resonating with Reue's thoughts, the air trembled.
"The river drowned a man, weak and pathetic."
The orbs behind Reue finalised its form, sprouting white jagged great swords. The hilt was a golden cross, with a pure white grip. A soft glow enveloped each sword.
"The man drowned but not because of the river, but because of his unsatisfying greed that he never repented for."
The swords became streaks of lights white that arced towards Revichi.
Reue's and my thoughts synchronised.
"!!!"
Asta and Revichi felt the impending presence.
However, neither of them were able to break free out of the deathly dance they took.
Reue's swords stopped briefly and orbited purposefully around Revichi.
Like gods passing judgement, the swords stopped.
It pointed their tip towards Revchi.
They have reached a verdict.
"Swords of Justice." We muttered, barely audible under our heavy breath.
"ASTA NOW!" We shouted in unison as we clenched our first. The swords cascaded down, streaking towards Revichi.
"WAI-" Revichi spoke barely having time to glance at the incoming swords
Asta, having full trust in Reue, dashed forward leaving a trail of dust behind. His hand gripped tightly, veins showing. He firmly positioned his own greatsword.
"HAAAAAA!" Asta yelled.
Revichi, barely assessing the incoming attacks, decided to command his surfboard of chains to act like arrows to redirect the swords of justice.
"Tch.." Revichi grinded his teeth.
White, black and grey streaks swept the battlefield.
Immediately the swords met the chains.
However, what was meant to be a deafening clash of abilities, silence was heard.
The swords of justice permeated through the chains, phasing through Revichi and planted itself on the ground where Revichi was standing.
Revichi's pupils dilated.
"Illusion magic: Swords of justice…" We corrected ourselves, as if hearing Revichi's astonishment.
"Wha-"
Before Revichi could utter a single word, Asta's sword came swinging side-ways.
"HAH!" Asta grunted
Crashing it into Revichi's rib, it shattered the swords of justice into shards of white light, quietly dancing into nothingness.
Revichi crashed sideways onto the ground.
"HUFF HUFF" Reue and I gasped for air, wiping the sweat.
"Goodjob, let's go." I praised Reue with a slight warmth in my tone.
'HOLY HELL WE ACTUALLY BEAT THE GUY AND GOT OUR FIRST NEW SPELL, LET'S GOOOOOO!' I screamed internally.
"Yeah.." Reue, depleted in mana and physically exhausted, obeyed and trudged his way over.
Not too worried about the enemy's condition, we waltzed into the dust storm to confront both Revichi and Asta.
A black greatsword swung back and forth in the air.
"COUGH COUGH!"
"OI YOU NEARLY KILLED ME THERE REUE!" Asta yelled but his throat stuck on the millions of dust particles.
"NEXT TIME AIM BETTER!" Asta continued to shout, though he was angry about being slightly misdirected a slight tone of relief was heard.
"Haha sorry about that… I won't do it again-" Reue tiredly apologised on behalf of himself and the other noisy being in his body.
Picking up Yuno's book near the floor, I nudged Reue's body towards Revichi, closely examining the injuries.
"Huuuh." I muttered under Reue's breath.
"What is it?" Reue said aloud, confused as he walked closer to Revichi to examine the changes."
"You okay?" Asta asked sheathing his sword back into his grimoire, as he quickly glanced at Reue's opened grimoire.
"YOUR GRIMOIRE HAS 5-LEAFS?? Asta yelled, pointing at Reue.
"Yours also has 5-lea-, wait what did you say about mine?" Reue questioned
"!" Asta's pupils dilated as he quickly scanned his grimoire shouting in disbelief in the process.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Reue tilted his head as his gaze switched between Asta's and his own grimoire.
His eyes widened.
"Wait a minute…DOES THAT MEAN REUE IS A DEVIL HOST? AND I'M THE DEVIL???" I screamed internally as I panicked and thought back to all my prayers and the times I went to church.
"I WAS A DAMN CHRISTIAN IN MY PAST LIFE. THIS MAKES NO SENSE"
"Wait no no I'm no devil what the hell!" I continued to shout.
However before we could continue, all of a sudden I could feel a forced sway as our vision became blurry. It felt like a giant mace swung at our head.
"Hey kid! You alright?" I asked concerned, though I felt the same I resisted, but alas I wasn't the host.
The vision darkened and everything seemed hazy for a second.
"REUE!"
We blacked out.