Roland reacted almost perfectly on cue. He had already gathered a fist full of the heavy duvet, snatched it away from the bed, and flung it between them. The onrushing assailant shot towards him and sliced forward. Omega's mechanical chime continued ringing with warning voices.

Given no time to think, Roland released the duvet and dove across the king-size bed. The sounds of iron ripping through the heavily quilted duvet startled him, followed by a burst of pale feathers as the dagger severed the quilt. Roland felt sickly in his gut after seeing that.

There was no logical explanation for a dagger cutting through that cleanly. However, he held no second to waste and beelined towards the door. Wearing the imposing-looking iron helmet, the knight stepped forward and pulled the long sword away from his tall scabbard.

Roland's mind emptied all unnecessary thoughts weighing him down. Somehow, his body still remembered his elite-level training from his old world. His eyes never left the tall sword falling towards his head. But he was as calm as water and kept his frame low while maintaining his rush towards the knight.

The sword suddenly accelerated. Roland's eyes flashed wide with shock, but he swiftly ducked lower before changing his direction and making a sudden dash to one side. The sword sliced down. Its bite caught the end of his trailing braided locks, narrowly missing his frail body.

The force alone sent a burning shiver across the side of his face. Roland landed heavily on his feet, and a terrible pain assaulted him from his heels. He gritted his teeth, flipped the dagger upwards and sprang forward like a leopard. Aiming for the space between the knight's armpit. The knight moved quickly in an attempt to parry, but Roland kept his eyes lasered in on his target.

He swiped forward and felt his dagger sever flesh. The bite was too shallow.

'Shit! I missed.'

The knight abandoned using his sword and instead kneed him right against his midriff. Roland felt the air snatch away from his entire body as the force of a horse's kick sent him flying back.

He slammed harshly against the floorboards and rolled a little. His mind was in a daze, but he groggily picked himself off the floor and steadily rose to his feet again.

However,

"Arghhhhh" A terrible pain made his knees buckle, and Roland crashed back down again.

He took a nervous look at his ankle and was left in horror by the sight of bone sticking out of his foot. And then it suddenly hit him. Sure, he had muscle memory and experience of his old world, but Roland made a fatal error. This juvenile body had no training nor experience to carry out the movements his old self could once fluently make after years of honing his body into a machine.

A snigger filled his ears from his rear.

Lost in a daze, Roland tried to move swiftly, but his body refused to listen. The shadow loomed over him, and a dagger arrived, slamming into his back. Roland lost control of his body and found himself staked into the ground like a helpless doll.

"Guaaaaaaaargh!" hurled free from his mouth. He clawed at the floorboards harshly, his nails chipped and broke.

He didn't want to reward them with the satisfaction of hearing him scream, but the pain rushing through his entire bones was so unbearable he could only wail bitterly.

"Buahaha! Now-now, that was a surprise little one. We came here looking for a hostage, and look what we found instead."

Roland felt another terrible sensation as the dagger twisted into the gaping wound.

"My-my, The long-lost cripple, hiding away all safe and sound- guahaha! Well, It's not so surprising come to think of it." Roland felt the assailant's warm breath behind his ears as he leaned closer.

"I did hear of some rumours that old boar Brutus had a soft spot for your whore of a mother.Tsk! Tsk! It's a shame what happened to her. "

Roland could barely lift his fingertips. His entire body turned as heavy as lead all of a sudden. And the gaping wound against his back had changed from pain to a stiffened coldness. His memories of his past life have already taught him what this sensation likely meant.

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'I'm dying...again...I'm dying.'

{Warning! Host in critical danger! Vitals plummeting! Unknown agent detected. Host at risk of incurring fatal wound! Warning! Warning!} Omega's voice chimed away in his thoughts.

"Listen, it feels me with great joy to know that I, Oswald, a simple fellow no more important than a lowly servant, will be the one to kill a grandson of the great Salazar. Goodbye, little prince. You won't be missed."

Oswald pulled the dagger free. Roland's body jerked away from the ground, but that weightless sensation lasted momentarily. Gruesomely, he felt the weight of a giant pounding into his back repeatedly. Oswald stabbed him over and over again—unrelenting, savagery, and very much enjoying every sordid second.

Roland had to admit to himself that he was shocked. Why on earth was this happening to him so soon, and why was it so barbaric?

The pain bled into darkness, which swiftly sent Roland's consciousness sinking into a pit of nothingness. The entire ordeal happened so quickly that Roland was astounded by how weak he was compared to before.

He was at least grateful; he was spared hearing the hysterical laughter of that psycho continually stabbing him in the back.

'Sigh, a second death. ' He thought to himself in the dark.

'...How embarrassing.'

As if matters couldn't get any worse, that incessant mechanical noise thrummed in his mind without end.

{Warning host in critical danger!}

{Warning host in critical danger!}

{Warning host in critical danger!}

{H-h-ho-s-t...I...criti-...dan...dan...dang...er}

Silence descended. Finally, he was at peace.

It was a soothing realm of forced peace and painless embrace. Roland saw nothing, heard nothing and yet felt everything. He wondered how long this state would last. He didn't recall this happening the first time; his first death felt a lot more final.

'Wait, I can still hear my voice, so that should mean I'm not quite dead...right.'

A tiny freckle of hope bloomed in his mind. Roland seemed to be a fellow of manifestations. Within the dense, thick darkness, he saw a little light sparkle into existence—a tiny seed of life birthed through the embrace of a cold and lightless fog.

Roland heard a whisper first, a childish heckle breaking through the dark. Fear filled his thoughts, but a sudden warmth invigorated his once formless body. Then, as though a God or benevolent guardian snapped its two fingers, the most beautiful sunrise was unveiled. He rubbed his dreary gaze and set his half-closed eyelids across the endless land of golden wheat and tall grass.

A giant sun half rose away from the distant fold of the horizon beyond. Roland could barely believe what he was seeing right now. He looked down and saw brown hands caressed in the bristling grass—his own hands. His own? Not Roland the boy, but...

That delicate laughter filled his ears again.

Zachary's heart tightened like a pair of hands had wrapped around the beating organ. He spun around in haste, praying he wasn't dreaming this. And there he saw her face—her little round face and her almond-shaped eyes.

The box-braided hair trailed down her little neck. Zachary could barely contain himself. Seeing her face again, a swell of tears welled against his two eyes. He sunk to his knees and simply cried his eyes out.

"Na-naraiyah?" He muttered brokenly. The little girl creased a toothy grin before running towards him. A speechless Zachary opened his arms, and she fell right into them. Her little frame melded into his body. She was real.

He held her tightly, squeezing her delicately with all the warmth he had in his heart. His tears stained her summer dress, but Zachary didn't care one bit. He never got to say goodbye to her, the most precious thing he held dear to his heart—his little sister. She was alive.

"Big brother, why are you crying for?" her childish voice asked him

"Naraiyah, h-h-how (hyuk) You're alive, I thought...I thought I lost you. Wait..."

Zachary wiped his tears away with his sleeves. He gently pulled the little girl away and beheld her deeply. Her wild braided hair was fiery red, strikingly contrasting her unblemished pecan brown skin.

His fingers unwove the tangle of her messy, fiery red hair.

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. The red hair was his family's unique and peculiar defect, but his little sister's familiar freckles resting on the hill of her puffy cheeks were unique to only her.

Zachary's emotions finally cooled, and he had no idea how this was possible.

"N-no, this can't be...am I...Naraiyah am I de-dea-"

"Brother, it's alright. Look at me." She held his cheeks with her dainty hands. Zachary felt his heart melt beneath her large brown eyes.

"It's alright, don't be afraid. This is all part... of the traveller's course (of the traveller's course)

Zachary's brows furrowed, and he heard a second voice overlapping his little sister's. A sinister voice.

"Wait Na-naraiyah, say that again?" He squeezed out forcefully

Suddenly, a terrible outcry marred the peaceful air. Zachary tossed his gaze to the clouded air. Something was up there, something big.

"Naraiyah, wh-what is..." Before he could finish his sentence, a baleful chill descended upon him. Zachary moved his gaze back towards his little sister, and a shriek startled free from his slightly opened mouth as he crawled away from her.

Half of Naraiyah's face had melted and turned into a decaying skull. Her gaze was devoid of emotions, and Zachary could only stare in horror as a cruel smile creased against the little girl's half-melted round face.

"Dear traveller, (Dear traveller) Why is it thou fears death so, (Why is it thou fears death so) and yet embraces the road of crimson so willingly (and yet embraces the road of crimson so willingly). Look, see the hills, aren't those skulls your own doing? (Look, see the hills, aren't those skulls your own doing?)

The overlapping voice definitely spooked him enough to want to turn around and run away, but more so, Zachary still felt conflicted, staring at the appearance of his little sister. Reluctantly, his eyes shifted towards the rolling hills where her fingers gestured. And upon doing so, he wished he didn't.

The sun turned carmine red while a pile of smoky bones towered high in place of the once-green hills. Zachary swallowed harshly and narrowed his gaze. Countless piles of bones towered up high. The bones and skulls of humans.

The skies ruptured again, but this time, he noticed a gargantuan-sized silhouette behind the clumps of gathered clouds. Zachary saw a creature with five heads and two mighty wings ferociously blot out most of the sky.

"What in the world is that thing?" He muttered, almost breathless from the shock. A sense of looming doom arrived, and all he wanted to do was...

"Run...Run as fast as you can.

Run towards it. Find it, seek it, quickly...before he finds yo-"

*ROARRRRR*

Zachary felt the entire world quake beneath his feet. He shifted his startled gaze towards the heavens and saw the skies melting away like a horrible dream. He felt a pull against his sleeves, and the little girl with half a face glared into his gaze. Those once brown iris were no more, and a strange pool of shimmering brown gold took their place instead. Zachary felt his heart lurch. He gritted his teeth regretably. His initial fears were correct.

"Y-y-you're not my sister." He squeezed out his mouth. She wore a deranged smile as her lips gently parted.

"No, I am not. And you...are no longer her brother... aren't you...Roland Smoke."

Before Zachary could react, she shot forward, her mouth gaping horribly wide.

Darkness arrived swiftly enough.

He blinked a few times and sank into a sea of nothingness again. Just before he lost consciousness, he heard a familiar mechanical sound.

Followed by a clear-sounding announcement ringing within his thoughts.

{Memory Synchronisation complete}

{Undead Bloodline...activated.}