The wizard is reincarnated last Time

Chapter 1

The memories of that time are hazy.

What’s clear is that it was the “moment of death” I had so desperately longed for.

Demon Emperor Verkiss.  The emperor of the demonkind, the being who had held the throne for ages, instilling fear throughout the world.

That very being stumbled into the hall, covered in blood.

A tall young man with long, black hair.  Just the form I had initially given him.

“Ah.”

Verkiss spotted me standing in the middle of the hall.

He grinned, casually pulling out the large crossbow bolt embedded in his chest.

Even after that, five or six more bolts and blades remained lodged in his body.

“So, you’ve regained your memories.”

I carefully raised my head to look at him.  I wasn’t nervous, knowing that all of this, this moment I had waited for so long, would finally come to pass.

“Then you also understand that all of this was for nothing.”

Verkiss shrugged, the crossbow bolts in his shoulder rattling.

As if annoyed, he pulled them out and tossed them to the floor.

*Clang*.

The loud noise echoed through the hall.

“It was fun for a while, but I’ve had enough of this game, Luther.”

The Demon Emperor’s black blood writhed, reabsorbing into his flesh.  He didn’t expend his own blood, regenerating perfectly from any injury.  A terrifying monster, thus created.

*Bang!*

With a deafening crash, the hall doors were blown off their hinges.

Verkiss’s royal guard, the Kylacks, and the allied knights, locked in combat, surged into the hall.

The knights’ numbers were considerably fewer than I had first seen.  Even the surviving knights were retreating under the Kylacks’ fearsome onslaught.

I met the eyes of a young knight who barely managed to block a Kylack’s massive axe with his shield.

I read despair in his eyes.

“In my next life, I’ll make sure I can’t feel mana. Mages are such a nuisance.”

Verkiss paid no attention to the chaos unfolding behind him.

His gaze fixed solely on me, he advanced step by step.

Now, only three steps separated us.

…Right now.

“I’m not playing your games anymore, Verkiss.”

“What?”

That single word wasn’t a question about my words, but about his own body, which was beginning to crumble.

Verkiss looked down at his own knees, buckling to the floor, with an expression of disbelief.

I barely held onto my consciousness, lest I be swallowed by the torrent of mana coursing through my body.

“How…”

Verkiss’s face was a mixture of surprise and rage. I never thought he’d be capable of such an expression.

“Verkiss, return to the place you were born.”

As I pointed to the spot where Verkiss stood, the sealing magic I had hidden there began to activate.

Black chains, formed from runes and symbols, shot out across the floor, instantly binding Verkiss’s entire body.

“Ugh…!”

Verkiss gasped, extending a blackened arm beyond the sealing array. He bared his sharp claws and fangs at me.

“Luther, do you think you can trap me with this paltry seal! I’ll devour it all…”

“You can’t escape this seal. It’s made from my heart.”

At last, the sealing array converged into a single point, forming a small, seething sphere.  From within, only Verkiss’s faint groans could be heard.

I poured all my mana into drawing Verkiss’s seal into my body.

A powerful sealing array that could only be maintained by a continuous outpouring of immense magical energy.

Only I, who had created Verkiss, could become his prison.

I willingly accepted this role, making my heart the final bulwark.

My vision swam, and my heart burned as if on fire. Strength drained from my body, and my sight failed. The mana that had always sustained me rapidly dissipated.

The last thing I saw in my blurring vision was the knights, pushing past the Kylacks and rushing towards me.

I closed my eyes, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief, believing that this would be the end…

“But you were reborn again?”

A young girl’s childish voice pulled me from my memories.  A blunt tone that suggested she didn’t believe my story at all.

I pouted.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me.  I’m only telling you because you keep asking.”

“Hmm. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but I don’t really understand… How can you be reborn?”

“When all living things die, their souls disperse from their bodies…”

I stopped talking and stared intently at Selina.

The eight-year-old girl with her auburn hair tied in pigtails blinked, asking, “Why?”

“…I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

I buried my face in the large book.  The scent of old paper filled the air.

What am I even talking about with an eight-year-old?

Besides, I’m only seven.

Discussions about the accumulation and circulation of souls and mana aren’t conversations for children under ten.

Selina chuckled.

“Anyway, so you’re saying it would have been better if you hadn’t been reborn?”

“I didn’t expect it to be like this…”

I had told Selina everything.

Every story from before I was even born.

My terrible past, the agonizing process of reincarnation, and its end.

As time passed, she would probably laugh, remembering the strange stories I had told.

“Your parents would have been sad.”

I blinked and looked at Selina.

“Liv is the heir to the family.  They would have been sad if you hadn’t been born.”

“…Would they have?”

I lay down, using the book as a pillow, and stared up at the library ceiling.

Even if it hadn’t been a strange child like me, someone would have been born into this family.

That would have been better…

Why was I reborn?  Moreover, with all my past memories intact?

The doubts I’d harbored during my short seven years of life resurfaced.

Having lived through the blood-soaked reign of the Demon Emperor, I had hoped for peace to return someday, but I never thought I would be able to live in such a world.

Was it simply luck?

…Impossible.

The insidious mage within me, having accumulated vast knowledge over a long time, whispered softly, “Every event has a cause and a reason.  You know that very well.”

I took a deep breath and chased away the quiet voice.  A throbbing headache arose in that brief moment.

Only seven years old.  There’s not much a child’s body can do.

Just recalling my past knowledge makes my head throb.

Having lost a significant portion of my mana through the sealing and reincarnation, it’s not easy to even think about magic…

Memories, experiences, and knowledge reside within the soul, but physical strength is needed to draw them out.

For now, I have no choice but to live like a seven-year-old and search for the reason for my rebirth.

“Selina, do you want me to read you the stories of the heroes?”

I looked up at the Eldrian family’s vast collection of books that filled the library, searching for an interesting one.

“Yes!”

Selina responded instantly, jumping up from her spot.

I smiled and pointed to a book high on the shelf.

“It’s up there…”

“Let’s get on a chair.”

Selina dragged a wooden chair from near the window.

The book was far out of our reach.  Even standing on the chair, we couldn’t reach it.

“I’ll climb up.  Hold it steady from below.”

I stepped onto the back of the chair. Selina hugged the chair tightly, holding it firmly so it wouldn’t wobble.

“It’s like climbing a tree.”

Selina giggled.

I stretched out my arm and managed to pull out the book I was aiming for.

In doing so, I sneezed from the dust accumulated on the bookshelf.  My body swayed precariously, but Selina caught me just in time.

“Got it.”

**.  A large, heavy book that required two hands to hold.

We spread the book open on the thick library carpet.

Delayna, the capital of a now fallen and vanished empire, was where the heroes’ final battle had taken place.

Since Selina couldn’t read yet, I read the words aloud.

“…After that, Sir Lesis and his companions escaped the detached palace.  The demonkind’s forces still swarmed the imperial capital of Delayna, but their power was rapidly waning.

Our heroes safely returned to the allied forces’ camp and delivered the news of Demon Emperor Verkiss’s defeat…”

It was a book without pictures, with small print, and difficult vocabulary and content.

I didn’t read this kind of book in front of my tutor.

It was obvious she’d be surprised and find it strange if I, who had only recently learned to read, read such a book.

Although I was a strange child, I was trying to act normal.

Meanwhile, Selina was my only friend who didn’t seem to mind what I did or said.

I skipped a few pages of political content and found the part where the story of the heroes resumed.

“…Due to the long war with Demon Emperor Verkiss, the world had become extremely desolate.  The heroes joined forces to restore the world to its former glory.

Allen Lesis, one of the heroes and the crown prince of the Lesion Kingdom, abandoned the throne to dedicate the rest of his life to saving the world.

His greatest achievement was the establishment of ‘Prius,’ the world restoration organization.”

“Prius…”

Selina repeated the word with sparkling eyes. She loved stories about the heroes and the knights of Prius.

“Prius has only one ideology: to exterminate all remaining demonkind and magical beasts in the world, and to restore the world to its former peace…”

“Ah. Wait a minute, Liv.”

I took my eyes off the book and looked up.  Selina was looking out the window over my shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”

“I forgot I had to run an errand. I have to go. Sorry.”

Selina jumped up from her seat.

Startled, I also got up, but I couldn’t stop her if she had to go.

Selina brushed off the dust from her skirt and waved at me.

“Read me the rest tomorrow. I’ll come back after lunch.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

Selina said goodbye and left the library.  The sound of her small footsteps quickly faded, and the library fell silent.

I went to the window, wondering if I could see Selina leaving.

Only the well-maintained garden stretched out before me; the small girl with her braided hair was nowhere to be seen.

She’s already gone?  How fast…

I felt a little disappointed that my comfortable conversation partner had disappeared.

Selina was the daughter of Mrs. Amara, the head housekeeper, and lived in the house down the hill.

She had been coming to our house to play for a long time. Since I was so young, I couldn’t even remember when she started.

Since then, Selina had become my only friend of the same age.

“Liv, Liv!”

A familiar voice called from the hallway outside, and the library door burst open.

“You were here! Where have you been wandering off on your own? I’ve been looking all over for you!”

A black-haired boy rushed towards me with an excited look on his face.

He was covered in dirt and smelled of sweat, as if he had been enjoying his sword training immensely.

“I wasn’t really wandering…”

“Listen, Liv! I have amazing news!”

Hmm, did he knock over another guard during sword training?  I didn’t think much of it, but the news Shuren delivered was unexpected.

“Master has returned! With the people from Prius! It’s been so long! Liv, do you remember your father’s face?!”

Father has returned…?

My eyes widened.