The Second Chance of Reincarnator

After he was done looking at the Peeking Mirror, Kael started heading back to the misty graveyard to return back to Whitesky.

Creak!

When walking, one of the doors of the dilapidated shacks in the town creaked open and made Kael flinch.

He pulled out the black revolver from the holster, pointed it at the open door, and felt a few sweat drops fall down his face.

"…Who is there?"

He asked.

However, no one responded, as the shack was empty like before, and it was just a gust of wind that blew the door open.

"…Whew."

He holstered the revolver and, with a sigh, approached the door to close it, but then, in the ceiling, he saw the dangling marionette.

It was the same marionette that he saw when he came to the Realm Between for the first time, and it was still there.

"…I am sure that the Society of Knowers have checked all the buildings in this ruined town, but none of them took that marionette off the ceiling.

"Maybe they thought it was as creepy as I did and didn't want anything to do with it."

Kael spoke to himself and then walked over to the doorway, but as soon as his feet landed on the other side, he felt a chill run down his spine.

His instinctive ability—Street Smarts—was warning him of something, but he couldn't understand what.

However, to be sure, he took a step back, but at that moment, the marionette started smiling creepily, and one of its strings shot out from its orifice.

Only Kael's right hand was still inside the room, and the string stabbed right into his hand, and when it did, it made him stop in his tracks.

"What?"

Kael looked at his right hand, and he couldn't move it—the fingers didn't even move—but he was able to move the rest of his arm.

'…This is indeed Cursed Artifact. This is why Street Smarts warned him. If I had entered the room, and that marionette had stabbed those strings at me, I would not have been able to move a muscle.

'I would've then been trapped inside the shack till next Sunday until someone comes here to rescue me!

'How terrifying!'

Kael pulled out his black revolver with his left, aimed the barrel at the light string that was almost transparent, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet cut the string, and Kael's hand became free, which he immediately pulled out of the room.

"…What a terrifyingly powerful artifact. It must be Dangerous Grade, at least, right? It seems to be able to only operate inside this small shack.

"Why is that?

"The radius is perfectly inside the shack and stops at the doorway. It's the intended design. Is the effect in whatever room it is in or building?

"It also has a hangman's knot around its neck. It's intended. It might be that it must be hanging from the ceiling to work."

Kael thought out loud and wanted to test the theory.

He pulled out his revolver, pointed it at the ceiling above the dangling marionette, and pulled the trigger.

With a bang, the bullet shot out, hitting the ceiling above, and made the marionette drop to the floor.

Some of the ceiling pieces fell all around the marionette, but it stayed intact.

'…Let's see.'

Kael carefully put his right hand inside the room, very close to the barrier between the doorway and the room, and felt along the edge.

The strings didn't come, and the lifeless marionette was just lying there, with a creepy smile on its clown face.

Slowly, Kael put his entire right arm inside the room, reached out to the marionette, and picked it up.

He pulled it out of the shack and touched the hangman's knot around its neck, which was made from real rope but, of course, made small enough to fit around the marionette's neck.

"I am now in the possession of a second Cursed Artifact. I am really becoming a collector at this point."

With a wry smile, Kael said.

He didn't know where to start, but he planned to find out more about this Cursed Artifact before doing anything with it.

'I-It's not Cataclysmic Artifact, right? I wouldn't want accidentally cause the whole Dark Jewel's Corner be made into marionettes…

'It shouldn't be. This marionette has been here, who knows how long, and it hasn't affected anyone except inside that shack.

'It should be fine…

'Hopefully this isn't one big mistake.'

…

It was a grey morning with clouds hanging heavily in the sky and slowly moving over the Dark Jewel's Corner.

With the bell ringing, the Ore Hackers headed to the mines, the loud steam locomotives screeched down the tracks, and the marketplace opened.

In Orion's Street, the banging of hammers sounded as the construction workers worked tirelessly to start building yet another one.

In the yard of the orphanage, the children played in the tree house, on the tree swings, and in the sandbox.

The beautiful nuns watched with smiles on their faces while talking among other sisters of the orphanage.

It had been a stressful year for them, but it all changed with Willow's sudden donation, which gave them breathing room so that the orphanage wouldn't close down.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The twigs cracked in the Backyard Forest of the School of Divinity and Mysticism. It wasn't any students, since they all had classes indoors.

"…"

With a cold look, Nefarious Humility walked from behind the tree, looked at the school mansion with a cold look of death, and then he lifted his hand towards the grey sky.

His hand was holding a purple glass ball.

"…Haha."

"Heh…"

Rav'akari behind him drew their black swords—the trademark of Rav'akari—and looked towards the school with ill intent.

"Trapped Space."

Nefarious said coldly—the voice of his echoed as if he were inside a cave—and at that moment, the purple glass ball shattered in his hand.

At that moment, a dome of dark energy suddenly formed around the entire school and its surrounding area.

It looked like that dome was made of purple glass since it was somewhat transparent.

"Go…"

Nefarious said, and with laughter and excitement, Rav'akari started running towards the school mansion.

"Ivy…"

Nefarious whispered coldly under his breath, then stepped into a walk and headed to the school.

While all of this was happening, no one in the Dark Jewel's Corner noticed anything amiss, as none of them were seeing that purple glass dome.

It was invisible to them.