Mushoku Tensei: A different path

(Rudeus POV)

As my eyes opened, my right eyelids struggled to open at all. I reached out to it only notice that I was missing my right hand.

Instead of panicking, I used my left hand to touch my face.

There were burned marks on it, shutting my probably severely injured eye.

Sitting up, I looked around the place I was laying at before realizing that my left eye suffered some damage as well.

Everything looked blurred, and I struggled to determine my location.

"What the fuck are you doing here!?"

A loud scream rang through my ears as if a person were standing in a tunnel yelling to another.

"You shouldn't be here. This is my realm. You do not have permission to just barge into this place Rudeus!"

"…Hitogami?"

I recognize that treacherous voice anywhere. It's that wannabe God's voice. But as his scream pushed me out of my trance, memories of the Red Dragon reappeared in my head.

"Rudy?!"

A different voice then reached me, one that gave me more discomfort than annoyance.

I heard a few hasty steps coming towards me before the person stopped before me.

My sight was still bad but there definitely was a person crouching before.

With both of his hands, he examined the state I was in. Most of my body was still numb from the fire attack.

His hand then stopped at my face, only the left side having the sense of touch left.

"It… it really is you, Rudy."

Hesitant as the voice was to speak, I recognized it too. It was Paul.

"Paul? Is that you?"

"Y-yes. What happened to you?"

"Oh, how lovely. A father and brat reunion." Hitogami sarcastically said.

A sudden surge of anger ensued in my head as I turned my head to where I thought he stood.

"Send me back, right now!"

"I would if I could but as I said, you came here without my permission."

"Bullshit! You just want to get back at me by letting Paul see my state."

"And it almost looks perfect. Just needs a little more death to it."

"I killed Death God and took his title after you sent him to me."

"Hah! Do you think that was my plan? The Red Dragon you are currently fighting was the actual plan. You will- huh?"

A burning sensation ran through my body and I went down on my knees.

It wasn't like getting incinerated, it was the feeling of boiling. I could hear squirming, probably from the manifestations.

"No, no, no, nooooo! How? Why do you always escape my plans?!"

"Rudy, what happened to you?"

With my left hand, I grabbed Paul's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

My vision was starting to get better, and I saw his parental worried face.

"Whatever you do, don't listen to him. Do NOT under any circumstances say his name to anyone. And be careful of those who speak out his name as well."

"Wait, this is all confusing. What does…"

His next words went into an echo before I started to lose consciousness again.

***

I was still feeling hot, boiling to be exact. My left eye sprang open to the bed of clouds covering the sky.

With much pain running through me, I sat up from the spot I was laying at.

There was white fire burning around me, but I could feel that it wasn't the source of my boiling sensation. I could barely see it, but I think my curse may have healed me to a certain degree like it did with my hands against the Black Dragon's acid.

There was still some burned marking on me, but I was mostly tended to.

But in the next moment I fell down, pieces of wood and stone falling with me.

My fall wasn't soft at all, there were pieces that scratched and stabbed me, but only minor.

"Rudeus. There you are."

Sara's voice reached me, but I wasn't in a state to answer. She removed some of the rubble from me before supporting me to move.

I opened my left eye to see the state of our surroundings. Places were on fire and structures damaged.

What stunned me the most was that some of the adventurers were still fighting the Red Dragon.

No, it was more like the dragon was testing their strength by deliberately letting them attack them. It's a sort of test to see which one is worthy to be fought against. Signals of disappointment practically fumed out of it.

Sara wanted to leave this place before it could notice me being alive, but I retaliated.

"What are you doing? We need to get you out of here."

"No. I can't… I can't let them fight it."

That monster came here specifically for me. I was too depressed to notice it, but it could have followed us after we went back here. Meaning, I'm responsible for this. I'm the one who brought it here. And I'm going to be the one who will stop it.

"I have a special attack that will definitely kill it, but you're gonna have to trust me."

"What?! Idiot, I'm not letting you do that."

I looked her deep in the eye, hopefully the fire in my spirit reflecting in them.

"…... fine. But you better not get yourself killed."

'No promises.'

Next I needed to get the thing to stay in place more to let me hit it, since I didn't know how much set up time it needed.

My mana started to move on its own, and opened my pocket dimension. Soon my mana hand took out was something of horrifying mystery to me.

"What the heck! Is that the eye from Death God. Why do you have that?"

"I… I don't know."

When did I put that in there? I don't remember picking that up after ripping it out of him.

'You're welcome.' Kagami's voice rang through my ears.

No… he's not telling me to do what I think he wants me to do. But given the circumstances, this might be what I just need.

"Sara."

"…"

"… I'm so sorry."

I pushed her off to get access to my left arm.

In the next moment, I formed a mana hand and ripped my damaged right eyeball out. The pain was excruciating and on a totally different level.

Putting Randolph's eye inside was easier said than done, but I still managed it somehow.

With my left hand, I then channeled my mana for a King class Healing Spell, mostly touching the Demon Eye to force it to connect with me.

The feeling of the eye nerves connecting to an unknown organ was creepy.

Once my spell was done, I opened it and felt the surge of mana flowing into it clearly. It wasn't like the Demon Eye of foresight, but on a much more complex level.

Before I tried out this new eye, I proceeded to heal myself a new right arm.

After that, I tested on how I could use this eye. I quickly came to a rough conclusion on its application.

The barrier formed by it doesn't seem to need a constant supply of mana, just the amount set to solidify it.

With the Demon Eye, I can see how I want to form the barrier and what shapes are possible. I can even form loopholes into it to let myself or others in.

I need to keep it simple though since my mana is already running low, but at the same time, if the dragon uses its phoenix garment, the mana will be burned off.

Since the dragon was busy finding a new opponent, it just stood there, taking hits from the adventurers. That arrogance will result in its downfall.

"Hey, you overgrown-peacock!"

From hearing my yell, the Red Dragon's attention shifted to me, and it ignored the others more than before.

"You should've finished your work properly." Then I ran off, trying to lure it out of the town.

Through some kind of twist in fate, the dragon understood my words, angry growls coming from it and soon stomping from its running.

I chose a route that would avoid getting people into a cross fire at all cost.

The dragon would occasionally shoot out a fire attack, but I dodged or blocked them while still running.

It didn't take long before we both got out of the city and on a more open area, but I was still running.

The further we could get away from people the better I can release my attack.

And then the attack from the Red Dragon I was waiting for came right around. Engulfing itself in its fire, it flew right at me like a jet phoenix.

That was my intention as I have been waiting to solidify the barrier I have prepared.

It was a multilayered ramp that directed upwards with a loophole in the bottom of it down which I slid into.

After that, the dragon went upwards again and couldn't stop due to the momentum it put into its attack.

There was another spell that I have set up for my next step.

Up in the sky where the dragon was heading to, a powerful cyclone was released, keeping the still fire engulfed dragon within it.

This was a superior spell to the Saint class Wind Magic [Violent Storm], the King class Wind Magic [Terrorizing Skies]. Usually, this spell would go down and hit the ground, but I made it stay up there as a storm cage.

I haven't picked up on the King class spells yet, but the description of it should be similar to what I was doing.

My show wasn't done, I had one more spell to end this monster's tyranny.

With my left hands up, I formed a small hollow orb made of mana with holes on it. Using additional ambient mana, I expanded the orb to make it suck in even more mana inside itself.

Pain within my left hand ran through, and I had to clench my teeth to endure it just a bit longer.

As the orb finished, I released it with my left hand. My forearm and hand ended up exploding right after that.

Coursing up to the sky, it eventually hit the Red Dragon right in the chest.

At first, a massive bubble formed that expanded with each miniature explosion erupting inside it.

After what sounded like hundreds of explosions, the outer bubble exploded as well, the shockwave dispersing the cyclone I had formed and shaking the ground beneath me.

This was the third time I had to use [Bright Sky Wave] and it was the weakest of them all but the second most self damaging to me.

All it took me was one arm, which I had predicted already.

That was the last bit of mana I had inside to use.

As I laid on the ground, still looking up at the sky, I watched how my most destructive attack dissipated. I can't tell if the Red Dragon's dead or not, but even if it wasn't, I'm in no condition to fight for a prolonged period.

***

I fell unconscious and didn't know how much time had gone by.

"He's here!" I heard Suzanne yell before she ran over to me.

"Hi, Suzanne. How are you doing this fine morning?"

"What? Did that thing crack your head? Why are you so chill?"

"Meh. Must be the amount of blood I'm losing."

As she kneeled beside me, she noticed the bleeding stomp on my left.

I have neither motor nor mental power to heal myself at the moment, so I am bleeding to death.

"That explosion, was that-"

"[Bright Sky Wave]? Yup. You are looking at the originator here."

Exhaustion of both mana and stamina have caused me to be unable to tell lies. Not my best day indeed.

Others soon came along to witness my miserable state. Including Sara and Soldat.

"What the hell kid? You are out of your mind for taking on that dragon alone."

"No shit Sherlock."

"What? It's Soldat. What, do you have peripheral problems with that eye?"

"… nevermind."

No one gets my jokes. Isn't physical pain already enough?

"If it's alright for you all, I'll take a rest. It has been… a day."

No answers reached my ears as I closed my eyes again and let fatigue take me down to the mindless sleep I needed.

Three dragons in one day. I really am a Great World Power it seems.

///