Waking up in the afternoon, Ray sat up in the bed and tried his hardest to suppress a yawn, and failed. He gracelessly yawned then slapped himself and stood up.
Making his way into the dark bathroom, he opened its door and making sure that there was no sunlight let out a sigh of relief.
Soon he brushed, washed his face, had a relieving poop time and finally had a good bathe with cold water.
Why would a guy with the power of flames bathe in cold water?
He came out with a new pair of clothes he was wearing, a sleeveless shirt and blue shorts.
Sitting on a chair, he summoned the Soul Rune and began reading it.
Soon Ace woke up, brushed his teeth with Ariel, washed his face and came out and changed his dress.
Ray was practically glaring at his runes, seeing all his skills, abilities and gifts.
He was contemplating on ways to fight with his new powers, the most effective way, he was thinking of all uses of his powers and all ways to kill his enemies swiftly.
He raised his eyebrows when both Ariel and Ace stood before, he sighed and looked at his two friends.
"What? Not gonna bathe?"
Ace scoffed. "Nah, its been two weeks since the start of this, I feel to bath in the pool at night." Ariel nodded, standing beside his friend.
Ray looked at them with a deadpan expression then shrugged.
"Whatever, but don't forget the dangers, just cause we did not find any clues of danger after killing the Iron Beast doesn't mean all this is over.
In fact the real battle is about to just start."
"We know." Ariel said, and smiled brightly.
"That's why I am looking forward to tonight, heh! It's been ages since bathing in a pool, many dead bodies staring at us just makes it all the better." He paused and then his smile grew even larger.
"It would be nice to feel all of them staring at my body."
A silence passed in the room followed by Ray sighing and then his expression faltered for a moment.
"Stare at your body? You plan to swim naked?"
The question caught both Ace and Ariel off-guard as they stared at Ray.
"Of course not!" Ariel screamed.
"Oh Ray, I did not know you were interested in such stuff, is that why you act weird around us?" Ace asked and Ray grew pale.
"What? Are you guys for real? Of course I'm not interested! Why would you even think of that?"
"I have my doubts on that.." Ariel whispered, loud enough for Ray to hear.
The abnormal guy sighed, and composed himself.
"Whatever, just look out for danger."
"You mean look out for a man trying to steal glances on us." Ace replied.
Well sadly it was not the pleasant pool and a perverse teen spying that was waiting for them, the thing waiting for them that night was....
Death.
Death.
Death, and death was all he saw, that was all he felt, that was all that happened to him.
With all his remaining strength, he stood up watching Ariel's severed head and Ace's dying body slowly moving, his hands trembling as he tried to hold his friend's severed head but sadly the head was a little far for him to reach out and catch it.
He gritted his teeth, his body was shaking and fuming with anger. Suddenly, he lunged forward-The fiery flame sword shining brighter, he grimaced as he aimed a slash at the mysterious man's waist, but he did not attack instead just jumped back.
In the place he was just standing seconds ago, now there was a woman there.
She appeared out of nowhere and stood as if she was always there, a crescent shaped moon crown rested upon her forehead. Her skin glowed with a soft, silvery light...She looked gentle yet felt untouchable. There was no hostile expression on her face, just an emotionless mask of calm indifference-or maybe it was not a mask itself and her true personality.
Neither Ace nor Ray had any ways of knowing it.
Long strands of pale silver hair flowed endlessly behind her, shifting as though moved by an unseen breeze, even the mightiest warriors of the past and the future-if there was a future would stop their work, to ogle upon her beauty.
Her flowing white garments drifted like mist, never still, layered with a subtle glow that made her seem unreal, but again this was not normal anyways.
Her silver eyes seemed to glow equally as the rest of her body, as her divine eyes gazed upon the three boys, she stayed completely still and her expression was unmoving.
Ace could not help but stare at the divine being before him, her beauty was so divine, he even forgot his friend's head that he was piercing with his dead eyes moments ago. It was not his mistake, any man and even women would stop anything and look at her holy presence.
All except one. Ray was momentarily stunned by her beauty but shrugged it off seemingly with no problem as he looked at Ace, it was then that a expression of horror crept onto his face.
"No.." He whispered, Ace was still staring at the goddess except it was his dead body that was staring. The mysterious man he and Ace were fighting minutes ago had killed him. The said man was still in his dark attire, the man's entire body was covered in black and dark cloak, his lower left hand was visible, two gold bracelets resting around his hand.
While the Moon goddess gave out an aura of beauty, the man seemed to have been made of dark aura.
The last thing Ace saw before he died was the magnificent and stunning divine beauty of the Moon goddess.
And just like that, Ace Paradial died, just two weeks after awakening his Soul Rune.
And his friend Ray turned and glared at the moon goddess and the man behind her. A feeling of profound fury rose into his very being.
"Sorry..." He whispered.
And then his very being caught in flame, he grimaced, his body completely in flames. His sword glowing brighter than ever as he glared at the two beings before him.
The Iron core did not burn.
The silver armour that the Iron beast wore fit Ray perfectly, it had an ability to make itself suitable for any type of person.
And under its protection Ray lunged forward-towards Moon goddess.
He opened his eyes, the bright light of the sun encompassing him. For a moment, everything seemed normal but then his eyes widened.
'The sun.'
He raised his hand, trying to cover the sun and just when he was about to turn and find a shelter, he noticed it.
'Why is my hand so small?'
Not just small.
Fragile.
The fingers were thinner, shorter, the skin smoother—untouched by scars, untouched by battle. There were no calluses, no faint burns from gripping a blade too tightly, no marks of training, no proof that he had ever fought… or lived.
Well he had not fought long but still how did his adolescent body turn out to be like a hand of a newborn.
His breath hitched.
"No…"
His voice came out soft.
Well only he knew what he said because to everyone else, they only heard. "Gna" or something like that, what would you expect from a baby anyway? Talk right after it was born?"
He was lying on grass.
Not blood-soaked ground of the ship. Not the dreadful place where Ariel's head had rolled. Not the place where Ace—where he—had died.
The air was… warm.
He could hear it.
Birds.
Wind brushing against leaves. For a brief, terrifying moment, everything felt peaceful.
His heart began to pound.
Fast. Very, very fast.
'No way.'
Around him, there were no corpses of any sucked out humans, Ray and Ariel were not there too, and the moon goddess and that mysterious bastard was absent as well.
His mind went overload, trying to find the reason and his current situation.
Ariel's severed head, The cold indifference of the goddess.
The slash.
The darkness he felt briefly.
"I died." He muttered but again it sounded like some unknown language of babies.
He had died.
His breathing grew heavier.
Then…
'No… no, this doesn't make sense…'
But it did, it made too much sense.
The sunlight. the field and this new body.
'I died, and was reborn.' His mind suddenly became blank.
'Reincarnation?'
As much as he loved to go into another world like he read in countless novels, experiencing the feeling himself was not at all exciting, it was haunting.
Where was he? What was his new name? Was he an orphan or a prince? Did magic exist in this world? Or is this world somehow connected to his?
Questions bombarded his mind but answers...None. In the end, he only did one thing...
He cried. It was a very intelligent thing to do, hearing a baby cry, someone was bound to come console him...Most likely it would be his new mother.
And just like he thought, a woman in her late twenties walked and stood above him, watching her baby cry. She sighed and carried him.
"Ah! How much do you cry, my little runt?" Her voice was smooth, mesmerizing and kind but the words she said were not, but her tone was gentle, and her feeling was full of love. Her touch was protective, and her eyes were calming.
Who else but a mom could be this complicated and lovely at the same time.
His mother calmed him down, or rather he felt tired of acting to cry and stopped crying, she did whisper many comforting things to him as well, reminding him of his mother in his previous life.
The mother whom he failed to protect, the mother he failed to save, and the mother to whom he promised. A broken promise...
Could he really just break a promise to his mom so easily? But again, he died....
How could someone expect him to keep that promise now? Surely his mother would understand, right?
He was quiet, for a long time...
And soon he was entering his new home, with his new mother, to live his new life...and yet, he could not forget.
Any other person reincarnated would be happy seeing the huge home they would be living in, certainly they were rich...Well Ace did not have time to feel happy, he was contemplating.
He was seeing, thinking, and planning.
The first thing he had to do was simple but hard and boring.
Act as a baby.
'How tiresome.'
Well Ace somehow found acting as a baby to be tiresome, wouldn't such a job be full of sleeping and free time? And free food, and free caring too? How could someone find it tiresome?
Well sadly it did not seem like Ace would explain that but well we all have our guesses.
Well as much as Ace liked this tiresome job of a freeloader, he had to do many things, and the most important was to summon his Soul Rune.