Mushoku Tensei: A different path

{Third POV}

Dragon God Orsted was done with the final strike on his opponent.

His opponent was a young magician by the name of Rudeus Greyrat.

At first, he didn't bother too much with the boy, even if he never met him in any other time before.

But for that reason, he needed to make sure that he wasn't another apostle of the Human God, Hitogami.

The boy knew his name, so Orsted did what he always did to Hitogami's pawns. Kill them immediately on the spot.

At first, his strike against his chest failed, due to the Touki of the young magician being too strong.

It was odd why a magician would use a technique like that, but Orsted deemed it simply as a precaution from the Human God.

And yet, the child surprised Orsted again.

Not only did he use chantless magic, but was also able to severely damage Orsted's hand.

Just as the Fire Magic, that spell was perfect in mana control like Laplace did.

Orsted thought that it was a shame that such a talented mage had to turn to the side of the piece of trash that is Hitogami.

But he can't let a potential enemy live. Not even if he's this strong and immune against his curse.

Pulling out his hand from the magician's chest, he let go of his head.

The boy fell to the ground with no restraining motion from it. He was dead right away.

From the side, Eris watched as she saw Rudeus's dead, blood covered body on the ground.

All she could muster to say right now were slurs of denial.

But then reality hit her. It was an even worse feeling than what she had felt in Millishion.

"Was he someone important? Sorry about that Eris Boreas Greyrat. But one day you might understand it. Let's go, Nanahoshi."

"Y-yes."

Orsted and his companion were already on their way, when Eris started to scream in anguish for help.

"Ruijerd! Ghislaine! Grandfather! Father! Mother! Therese! Paul! Anyone, it doesn't matter who, just save him. Rudeus is gonna die!"

The other girl who heard her screamed started to tremble a bit. No matter which world, such scenes will always only be heartbreaking to watch. More so in real life.

"Hey Orsted. Shouldn't you let him live?"

"Hm? What do you-"

While cutting off his continued walk, he was cut off in his sentence from the sudden sense of danger coming from the boy's body.

Orsted stood on guard while anticipating another attack. Although he gave him a lethal strike, the boy might just try to fool Orsted again, so he was cautious this time.

A bright-green light shone over the thought to be the lifeless body of the magician.

The light covered the whole body and healed the open hole through the chest completely, as well as heal a new left hand.

As the green light started to demolish, the young magician stood up with his eyes closed.

His entire body started to burn in a white flame. The flame expanded, forming a burning orb that covered his whole body.

After 5 seconds, the flames dispersed, revealing a person with astonishing features.

Behind his back were a pair of wings. Humerus and phalanx are obsidian-black, and the membrane in a glittering silver.

A second pair of wings like the ones on his back, came from his hips. It fused with the lower part of his robe, beginning below his belt and ending slightly above the hem.

Those wings looked as if they were not made out of flesh, but spiritual energy.

His sleeves and boots were covered in black scales up to the knees and elbows.

Even his shorter left sleeve grew equally long as the other.

All his finger joints were enveloped in white rings while the skin turned gray.

His feet had each three claws at the front and a single one at the back, all of them aimed to the ground beneath him.

Ankles and wrists were burning in white flames like shackles.

His hair was shinning silver with the back hair being much longer and tied together until the tip with slightly darker scales, making the tied hair seem like a dragon's tail.

His ears turned long like an Elf, but resembling the wings of a dragon almost in a triangle shape.

Three gray diamond shaped crystals, floating close to his forehead and burning in white flames.

Beneath both his lower eyelids were transparent white scales that stacked into a line, going down until the bottom of his jaw.

The spot Orsted previously thrust his hand into was now burning in a gray flame.

Opening his eyes, he revealed his obscure eyes.

The white flesh of his eyes is pitch black, while the iris glowed in a metallic-gold and with slit pupils in the center.

"Rudeus?" Eris was confused like never in her life before.

That Demon Dragon was none other than Rudeus.

"What in the world are you?"

Orsted couldn't explain himself what he just witnessed.

At first, he thought that the young boy used his trump card at the last moment. But this form is nothing he would ever have anticipated.

Coldly and without care in his eyes, Rudeus lifted his right hand and aimed it at Orsted.

Orsted tried to block the magic attack with [Disturb Magic], but he felt twisting points shot against his abdomen.

There was no more time to dodge as he didn't anticipate such a technique.

As he stumbled backwards a bit, the surrounding air got heavy making him lay down on his back. Orsted knew this sort of magic. It was Gravity Magic.

And yet again, before he could do something, the sound of crackling thunder was heard and Orsted was hit by Rudeus with his [Electric].

Not wasting any more time, Rudeus unfolded his wing and used multiple extended mana arms to grab both Ruijerd and Eris, as well as their necessary stuff from their carriage including their weapons.

They then all flew through the air with a swirling wind thanks to Rudeus using Gravity Magic and Wind Magic to lighten everyone and everything enough.

"Rudeus?" Eris couldn't explain what just conspired before her.

After just witnessing him getting such a lethal blow, she thought he may never wake up again.

And now he physically changed so much that she doesn't know what to question anymore.

"Don't worry. Just leave everything to me."

His voice was calm but with a hint of confidence.

After gaining enough distance, he turned around towards where Orsted was.

Rudeus could tell through his sharpened senses that Orsted already recovered and was looking at Rudeus.

Inhaling deeply, he gathered a large amount of mana in his throat. Opening his mouth which showed his sharp fangs that weren't visible before, he let out a large and booming soundwave towards him.

Even with the naked eye one could see the ring of soundwaves that descended from his mouth towards his target.

The sound wave hit the ground Orsted was standing at with great force, resulting in a large radius around Orsted to get crushed with dust flying up.

Rudeus wasn't done yet. He knew that all of these spells won't be enough to defeat one of the strongest people in the world.

So, he readied himself for another spell. One that he wasn't aware of how to use, but somehow knew how to execute.

Pointing both of his palm to the ground, he sent in another large portion of mana together with a second larger portion of ambient mana before the palms of his hands.

In the making process, the spaces between the scales on his arms glowed brighter each second and his finger rings turning purple.

An orb with clusters of colors constantly shifting and changing inside, with a transparent exterior formed before him and grew exponentially large.

After 10 seconds, the orb stopped growing and reached the size of roughly one meter.

Curling all of his fingers inward he released the spell to descent to its target as Rudeus shouted the name of the spell.

"[Bright Sky Wave]!!" The orb was flying towards the mountain road.

Just like the girl, Orsted could do nothing but observe after recovering himself from the previous attack from Rudeus.

The Dragon God already started summoning a stronger [Dragon Gate].

"Nanahoshi, get over here!" Orsted shouted towards the girl he was travelling with to come to him.

"Y-yes!" The girl said she ran for her life like never in her life before.

'What did I do to deserve this? And what kind of Magic Item is he using to do all of this?'

As they both prepared for the incoming orb, the orb shone before them and exploded. The explosion itself consisted of one large explosion that later on caused many more explosions on its outer layer, just like a firework.

But the explosions grew upwards, causing it to be formed into a pillar made of bright light.

The earth shook so much that even people on other continents experienced the resulting shockwave.

***

On the way to Millishion in a carriage, Lilia and Aisha were escorted by Ginger, a royal guard of the Shirone Kingdom, to return to Paul, who waiting for their reunion.

"Mother? How long do you think it will take until we see big brother Rudeus again?"

Aisha was still dejected about having to split from her older brother. She rubbed the forehead protector she received from him, remembering the promise she agreed with him on.

Over the months, she started to understand better why he stole his master's panties. The feeling of loneliness was awful, but less than knowing that the person was in danger, like when her mother was still held captive.

"I don't know dear. We can only hope that it won't be too long."

After she said that, she patted her daughter's head and tried her best to give her a reassuring smile.

She wasn't even convincing in her tone of voice, as she was worried about Rudeus every day and night. Not just about his physical condition, but his mentality as well.

Although she didn't ask him personally what was happening to him, or if he was alright, she knew that something was wrong.

'Sir Ruijerd said that him and Paul were having a fight. I have to ask Paul what exactly happened between them.'

She already prepared to scold Paul if it was his fault. No matter how many excuses he may bring, the change in Rudeus was not something she could take in so easily.

Out of nowhere, the carriage started to shake as the sound of an explosion paired with multiple smaller explosion sounds was heard.

"What was that?" Ginger said.

"What's happening?" Lilia said.

"Mom." Aisha out of sheer fear jumped to her mother's side as she closed her eyes.

The horses that were pulling the carriage were panicking as well, as the driver tried to calm them down.

Ginger opened the door and looked towards the carriage-driver.

"What's going-....what in the world is-"

She was unable to finish her sentences. What she saw wasn't aimed at the horses, but the bright pillar of light illuminating towards the sky from behind the carriage.

As Aisha and Lilia saw the pillar of light as well, their eyes widened. Even after more than a minute, the pillar only slightly dissipated.

All three of them recognized the light. It was different, but similar to a lesser version of it.

The [Bright Sky Wave]. A God Class spell that covered the whole world's sky less than a year ago.

"Is...that big brother?"

Both Lilia and Ginger looked towards Aisha, their face asking why she thinks that Rudeus was the one causing this catastrophic spell.

Confused over why they looked at her like that, she tilted her head.

"Big brother told me that it was him who caused it. He didn't tell you two?"

Ginger was trembling with fear while sweating from her forehead.

'To think that the family of such a person was held captive by the royal family. What would have happened if Prince Pax angered him too much?'

The imagination was a nightmare itself for Ginger while she set to her mind to never anger the magician known as Rudeus ever again, by making sure that his family is safe.

On the other side, Lilia was even more worried.

Such an attack had to be aimed at someone strong. And if the one who casted the spell wasn't in some kind of protected area, the caster himself would be in danger as well.

Lilia looked at the pillar again and inwardly prayed for her lord's safety.

***

At Millishion, the capital of the Holy Kingdom of Millis.

There, Paul Greyrat, the leader of the Fittoa search and rescue squad, was just done training for the day. He was on a training ground close to the headquarters of the squad.

Listening to Geese's advice, he trained on every free occasion he had while leading the squad again.

Of course, he was scolded by the other members of his team to have skipped so many meetings before, but he managed to get his enthusiasm back on track.

And yet, he made sure to spent enough time with his daughter as much as he could.

It was due to his son telling him about how he never realized that Rudeus was afraid of going outside.

'I'm worthless as a father. I hope I can atone for any of that.'

He was still taken aback at what he told him. To have never realized such an important part of his son was such an embarrassment for him. And another person fixed it for him while he wasn't doing anything at all.

After splashing some water on his face, he wiped himself with a towel.

"I need to get back to Norn. I can't neglect her like Rudy. She is normal, so she will struggle just as much as him."

After cleaning himself up from his training, he headed back to his daughter. But suddenly the earth beneath him started to shake.

"What the hell? What is-"

In shock, his eyes widened at what he saw in the sky arise. A pillar of light rising upwards to the sky, while the earth was still shaking a bit.

"Rudy?"

Paul recognized that light immediately. It was the same kind of light that covered the sky not long ago.

'Why did he launch that spell again? He will die from it this time.'

He fell to his knees, interlocking his hands together and pushing it against his forehead while closing his eyes.

'Rudy, please be safe. Ruijerd, Eris, please help him.'

After a minute of prayer, he opened his eyes again and looked towards the pillar of light that was slowly but surely dissipating.

***

In the floating sky castle [Chaos Breaker], the Armored Dragon King, Perugius Dola, sat on his throne.

A sudden shockwave paired with a loud explosion sound with multiple smaller ones made him snap his eyes open.

Then suddenly, a flash of light appeared before him, and turned into one of his twelve familiars, Arumanfi of the bright, kneeling before his lord.

"Lord Perugius, there has been another cataclysm."

"What? Is it that boy again?"

He already knew that it was Rudeus causing the [Bright Sky Wave], but Arumanfi confirmed that he supposedly was dead after finishing his spell.

"It is hard to say. The caster doesn't seem to be on the ground, and the explosion covered the south edge of the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw. But I will keep on searching."

"Hmph. Fine then. Go on."

As soon as he heard his lord's words, Arumanfi disappeared into light.

Sitting down on his throne and putting his hand on his temple, Perugius sighed.

"What in the world are you? Is it perhaps you, Laplace? Have you already reincarnated and started your war?"

Asking no one, he waited for his familiar to come back and report.

***

At the north of the Demon-continent, the great Demon Empress, Kisharika Kishirisu, was wandering around aimlessly.

"Uuuuuurrrrrgh. Why are you so blue you stupid sky? Although you were bright white just a while ago, you turned back to this color."

She started to remember the day when wide spell covered the entire world's sky in a white blanket of spreading explosions.

Even with her All-Seeing-Eye, she couldn't find the one who was the center of such an apocalyptic spell.

"Who was that? Did Laplace reincarnate already and send a signal for his revival?"

Then the earth beneath her shook, and she was swaying around while flailing with her arms in panic.

"Whawhawhawhawhawhawhat in the name of the Six-Faced-World is going on?"

Soon, she readjusted herself and looked over to a rising pillar of light.

"Wait, could it be?"

Her right eye spun like a slot machine, changing into her All-Seeing-Eye.

After a bit of searching around the source of the light pillar, she found the caster.

"A young-looking boy. A mix between human, demon and dragon, floating in the air with a bunch of stuff. A human girl and a Superd hanging in the air next to him. Interesting. He uses Gravity and Wind Magic on a level higher than Laplace."

As she looked a bit closer to the magician with dragon and demon features, he looked straight at her in a slightly surprised look on his face before narrowing his eyes.

Before anything else happens, the Demon Empress cut off the transition of her mana to her right eye and flinched backwards in fear.

"Fwuh. That was close. Although this one is sure he couldn't locate this one, it's better to be safe."

She rubbed her forearm against her forehead to whip off the sweat.

Freezing midway through after noticing something odd, she trembled intensely.

"W-Was my eye j-just fooling me, or was t-that actually a Human-Demon-Dragon?"

Knowing fully well how strong a Demon-Dragon is, she feared what will happen.

A Demon part for magic, Dragon part for Touki, and a Human part for fast learning. A combination that could bring terror to this world.

Clutching both of her horns, the Demon Empress screamed towards the sky.

"Dear god, what kind of monster has this world brought onto us? This will be our all end."

***

{Rudeus POV}

Well, that was weird. I think I just sensed some mana-eyeball watching us hanging in the sky just now. But that seems interesting, though.

I can already put extensions of my body with mana into shape. Using that to get my field of vision to another point seems useful for many things.

With this new form of mine, I should have even sharper sensations of my own and outer mana than before.

And it's because of that sharpened sensing that I know that Orsted survived my [Bright Sky Wave].

However, it was a lesser version of it. And he did use multiple spells to lessen its effect while protecting himself and the girl from it.

Closing my eyes and clutching my chest with my right hand and putting my left palm over it, I prayed for the girl to survive.

While I was curious over how she got to this world, and if she knew about what happened that night, I knew the next time we meet, she will be pissed and/or frightened of me.

"Rudeus?"

Opening my eyes and breaking off my prayer, I looked to my left side.

I saw Eris hanging in the air from my extended mana hands. Our eyes meet, and I could see the red from not only her crimson pupil, but from her crying.

Of course, I knew what caused her to cry. She just witnessed me dying. And now she is just confused over what is happening. Especially the part where I turned into a monster.

I turned around and readied my wings, pulling them upwards.

"Don't worry. Let's get to somewhere safe first."

I tightened the grip of my mana hands, making sure to not get Eris, Ruijerd, or our stuff, falling to the ground.

Once everything was ready, I manipulated the mana in my wings for the right speed. Pulling them downwards we flew off in incredible speed. So much so that I used Barrier Magic to stop the air from pushing Eris, Ruijerd and our stuff back.

I only needed some Touki manipulation before my eyes to get a cleared vision.

Thanks to the Dragon part of my curse, using it in such a manner is rather easy. A little too easy even. Although I'm not complaining, it is strange how my body knows how to do these things on its own.

Maybe I was guiding myself too much with my mind, and paid too little attention to what my body itself was doing. Perhaps that was the problem why I couldn't use Touki before turning into this monstrosity.

As we dashed through the sky, my vision became blurry. I don't exactly know why, but I started to cry out tears.

It could be that I was starting to be ashamed of what I have become. But I still have a mission to fulfill. I can start thinking of what to do after Zenith was rescued.

'Maybe then....I can die peacefully.....'

I increased our speed and set up another barrier around Eris, Ruijerd and our stuff, keeping the pressure from the wind a bay.

Our destination is closer than ever before.

///