I reincarnated as the Duke from the North.

THE DUKE

 

From a single swing, he created a mana slice dwarfing what I could ever do with maxed-out mana capacity. A thought and Zhi’s gift flashed into my hand. With the Jian sword, I slashed three times. My mana slices dissipated as soon as they made contact. No other choice; I leap over the large attack.

“Not so fast!” I heard above. My greatsword whistled through the air, and my Jian clashed with it just in time. Pushed back to the ground, I moved to run, but purple vines caught me once more. Appearing out of nowhere, a smiling mage lunged with my Greatsword. I leaned my body to the left, trying to catch the Greatsword with my arm.

It disappeared. I heard that same whistle and guarded my back. My body rattled as Vel's power reverberated through my tired body. A mana repulse from my Jian pushed off Vel, and I no longer heard his breath behind me. Nor in front or above.

Left!

My left palm glowed gold as I tried to parry and then sharp pain on my right.

“ArGHhh!” I swung right at nothing and heard laughter far in front. Blood from my obliques dripped from my greatsword.

“Unfortunate. I wanted to go deeper. I shall try again.”

I mana sliced the vines, and Vel vanished with his damned teleportation. The wind drifted, and instinct made me jump to the right. Two lasers shot at me from two different directions, vaporising where I was. My Jian, coated in mana, braced against another laser. I spun away, and a lightning ball stood in my path. The shock of millions of volts nearly exploded the skin of me. More pain than I have ever felt lasted only a second before I was shot off in the pews again.

As the world twisted and turned, my blade whistle alerted me to Vel's attack. I parried up the large sword and parried it down as Vel attacked again with fury. Full awareness came back, and my back was against the crushed wood of the audience seats. My cloak and clothes sizzle and smoked like my body. No doubt, without Qi, I would've been as cooked as the meat I ate.

Vel made a heavy slash, forcing in the broken seats. Wrathful strike after another, he smashed my greatsword, my Jian. Some much glee on Vel’s face. The cold wall of the large chamber was on my back. This… This is good. No longer needing to look at my back, I could guard more efficiently.

Purple vines grew out of the stone wall, strangling my neck and limbs tightly. I gasped for air that would never come. Vine squeezed my forearm until I dropped my Jian. Dragging my family heirloom, Vel sauntered to me as if victory had already been awarded. The Jian floated up and melted into globs of red-hot steel. He looked at my redding face, and with a wiggle of his finger and a realising smile, the vines let their strength off my neck a tad.

“I tried. I studied you. Tried to figure out what made her love you so. It was different between Kyros and her. They were “fated.”. She learnt to love him. Had to! Or the world would suffer. But with you….” Vel’s grip on my sword tight, with pursed lips, he struggled to speak the words. “Like the tales. Love at first sight.”

“Are you jealous?” I grinned.

I feel something cold and sharp fill my intestines. I looked down and found my stomach pieced by my greatsword. The pain was so great, I couldn't even scream or shout. Vel drove the sword deeper; I felt the sword of Osberg cut my insides with its sharper edging. Under the cap, his face was cold, surgical.

“Jealous?” He twisted. “Yes.” From the wall and my body, he yanked out my sword. “You have no idea how hard I worked, how much had sacrificed!”

I cough out blood. “And…what? You think….she will be impressed by this! The murder! The…hiding!”

Vel’s eyebrows twitch like the thought had not crossed his mind.

“I had to hide! You saw her reaction! You saw how screamed for him! I couldn't bear her uttering his name any longer!”

“So…” My blood leaked onto the floor. “That's why you became… a coward. You knew it all. Let hundreds fall to the cursed months ago. For what!?”

“Yet it would have been worse without my help!!” Vel slashed at my shoulder. Mana armour and gold skin braced against the sharp edge before I was completely cut in two. Turning on Lighsight, I made my mana tether as slim as possible.

I hope this works…

I willed my attribute allocation window close to me and tapped it with the thin tether.

“I had to bide my time! If a mage uses their powers outside, the seekers come destroying all I had worked for! But you…” Vel slashed down and pulled my greatsword edge along my shoulder.

“AAARHHHH!!!”

50 points from intelligence to sense.

“Always ruining things!! Always taking her away!!” Vel away, closing his mouth with nervousness. “It was supposed to be me this time, the protagonist.” Vel hugged himself as he turned back to look at Vanessa.”

The faint energy around his spells was much clearer now. I could see how they wobbled. Their frequencies. If I could disrupt them just for a moment…

“In my world, you were the least popular male leads.”

“W-what… What are you talking about?”

“Fans loved the prince’s ‘jerk to everyone but sweet to Vanessa’ attitude. People laughed at the Cardinal's one-liners and how he flirted with her. But you…were boring.” I tried and matched my mana to the vines’.

Vel seemed quite taken aback. “Bor-Boring? I am boring?!”

“Weak. Asocial. Rude with no upside. Know it all. Jackass. Simp. You were not adored.”

“I-” He looked into my eyes and saw I said the truth. My mana hummed and I failed again.

“All the effort. The hiding. The manipulation. The mindjacking. At this point, it would put you below the cursed.” Mana hummed. Vel listened, not sure of his own feelings or how to react.

“No…NO.” Vel threatened me with my greatsword.

“No one likes you.” I continued. “And wiped her mind because you know she would hate you too.”

Vel looked back at the floating Vanessa. “No,no,no.no… she is kind and thoughtful; s-s-s-she will understand.”

“Why would she understand the sacrifices?”

Vel turned back.

“Hehe. Yes, I know. Every time you use a spell, it becomes glaringly obvious. The smell taints. No one seems to notice I do. More rotten than a hundred dead bodies. Is that how many you sacrificed, Mage?”

Vel looked down with guilt.

“Fifth circle researcher. Never fought during the Cursed War. Doubt you had thrown a single fireball.” It worked. Now I wait for a chance.

“Now you are soooo strong. Wearing that silly crown, are you proud of yourself? When you bought the girls from the horn in exchange for your runes, did it finally fill that insecurity inside?”

I spit my blood and phlegm on Vel. “Are you jealous?" My power, my strength. It is mine. The woman you obsess over is mine; the life you want is mine!”

“Are you sure-” He looked at my chest.

I chuckled. “I knew it. You did something. What are you concerned about? What are trying to hide!?”

Vel breathed in and exhaled. “I wanted to show the difference between us, and once satisfied with your punishment, I had other uses with your soulless body. But fear my anger will never be sated until you are a smear of blood on the wall.”

I heard three taps on the ground, and I smiled wide as I bled to death. In my mind's eye, I swim into the depths of my QI. Circles spin to their limits. Mana hummed around my body.

“DO IT THEN YOU USELESS COWARD!”

Vel stepped in with my greatsword, thrusting with all his strength.

Kurt

 

I slipped through the shadows, around hundreds of stone golems and winding tunnels, always finding new people to save. Time was being wasted, but people needed my help. As a guard of Osberg, I couldn’t ignore their pleas. But one instance of a rescue became worthwhile when a fighter whom I saved showed the way to the ring by willingly escorting me.

"See, it's just as I said!”

I looked up at the large shimmer shield made of floating runes, obstruction, a broken door, and a cloaked man.

“Mmm. Go join my men; you will be safer there.” As the fighter ran back, I readied my water sabre for a fight.

“The duke's captain?” The figure turned around. The broad-chinned man's skin was darker than any alararian he had seen. Wearing circle spectacles his hair was woolly, bouncy, and seemed to float. From a palm much lighter, runes flickered and shone. From a bearded face, he smiled like a kind teacher.

“I mean no harm. We have the same goals. The elimination of the criminal mage.”

“Seekers…”

“You know of us?”

“How couldn't I? I remember when my brother was taken by one. Never mind that; you have a plan, seeker?”

"Indeed, we do. We can only open the shield for a short time before he will notice.”

"Slip in and attack the mage when he is distracted.”

The seeker laughed. “This is why I like soldiers. To the point. Take.” From his robes The seeker took out a dagger and threw at me to catch. A rainbow light shimmered on its metal. “Use your water with it and it will shred mana like parchment.”

I concentrated water around the dagger, and the same rainbow light changed my water.

“Good. I am ready.”

“Remember to keep Umbra Steps working. The moment you let it go, hundreds of spell with come your way.”

“Noted.”

How does he know…

The mage breathed in and started chanting. A finger touched the shield, and a hole the size of a person materialised. I wasted no more time and sped through with Umbra steps. The hole closed behind me, and I walked through the audience walkway.

I heard master screams. I ran with silent steps to the ring. At the other end of the giant chamber, I saw my master tied to the wall with purple ropes, his blood dripping from horrible wounds on his shoulder and stomach.

“M-”

No. I have a job to do. A duty to fulfil

I found her in an instant. The duchess floated next to a conspicuous blurry figure. A faint energy seemed to connect the mage and the invisible man.

Memories flow in my mind.

I followed him. Yes. To a secret room. Blood marked the walls; dead bodies lay. Clay dolls with glowing eyes.

I tapped the ground three times. I slipped across the ground with umbra steps at high speed. With the rainbow dagger in my grip, I lunged at the invisible man with all my strength.