Ander smirked from a resting position as he watched his captain land on top of a pack of monsters. He’d expected something big, but this was barely within the expected parameters. At least, that was until he realized that his captain did so with a double wind barrier, meaning he did so hoping to get shot at by those strange projectiles. As expected, nothing visibly pierced him, and those who could do so had been deftly dodged. What caught his senses was when he swapped himself with a plant mimic while everything was obscured.

Junicho laughed as he looked at the sight. “If you didn’t tell me that he would do something like this I’d think he was a fool.”

“He’s planning to take out everyone who pulls the trigger. He’s culling the weak through non lethal methods. They fire and boom, bullets in their legs.” Ander stated knowingly.

“Why bother? Wait, how?”

“Why? Anyone who can’t take a bullet won’t survive us using about twenty five percent of our destructive capabilities plus he warned them.”

Chiyo scowled. “Isn’t that cruel?”

“He’s a healer first. The less people in danger the less he has to worry about. Before destruction there must be preservation.”

Junicho replied bluntly., “He told them that if they shoot they will be starting and ending a war against him. It’s quite obvious.”

The wave of bullets that should have come was immediately reflected a foot and a half lower and a little to the right. Resulting in a series of nonlethal injuries that were essentially self-inflicted. Those with automatic weapons may have ended up with missing limbs altogether.

An overzealous member of the Slayers nearly blew themselves up with an RPG that had been caught and contained in a ball of wind. When it exploded, the wind pushed the RPG wielder back thirty feet.

“Now then. Are you willing to listen, or do I need to actually go on the offensive?” The plant mimics pretending to be Kyrion stated.

Ander sighed and asked, through a megaphone he had commandeered from a tent, “Are any idiots with guns willing to open fire at him again?”

One of the commanding officers left their tent and looked at the scene and hundreds of injured soldiers. Then he looked at the young man sitting on a lawn chair, sipping from a coconut, with an umbrella over him and his coconut.

The commanding officer looked at the hail of bullets around him and the fact that not a single patch of clothing had been so much as pierced. Then he eyed the hair and face skeptically. “Stop! He’s technically one of us! He’s with the U.S branch! Who fired first.”

“He landed in between our formation!” The first one to shoot both times started as he held his leg.

“Did he land on anyone?”

“Well no but!”

“Did he rally warn you?” the commander asked coldly. Of course, he knew that Kyrion had warned them, but he wanted to make sure.

“We’ll yes but.”

“Then you shot one of your own who came mostly in peace. I’d ask him to tone down his destructive force but given what you’ve just seen. He’s capable, are you as capable?” The commanding officer stated.

Kyrion smirked as he touched his Divine Essence and lazily waved his hand in a circle, healing everyone who had gotten shot while removing any debris. He was on his sixth coconut. Mimic plants, it seemed, loved coconut milk.

“Now that I’m here, you all should go. For me to work at my best I want to minimize collateral damage. All these people will just get in my way, limiting my wide range spells!”

Ander shook his head.

“Did he just heal everyone?”

“Yup, barely an inconvenience. He’s trying to monopolize this event.”

“Why would he want that?”

“My strongest technique doesn’t differentiate between friend and foe and gets stronger with each life it snuffs out. Kyr has a series of wide range, highly destructive attacks that he will avoid using if people are in the way. Which means more punching, less actually using his abilities.”

“Ah. Wait, your strongest?”

“I believe the kill count was in the thousands, when I used it last, and It’s attracted to metal. I won’t be using it here, regardless.”

“He came in from above the clouds and landed with enough precision and power just to kill the monsters around him and you have a technique that can wipe out armies.”

“That isn’t common in my world, most people have the endurance to resist. We’re just working toward that next tier of power. Honestly if we came here a year later. You’d be dealing with true monsters. The kind that won’t go down when a regular bullet pierces our skull. Although I doubt that would take down my captain as he is.”

“He’s already there?”

“There is some chance that he’s either piloting a clone while hidden below or, watching from above.”

A head popped out of the ground from within Ander’s tent. “Why are you giving away all my secrets?”

Chiyo jumped and brought down her sheathed katana with swift and deadly acuity, destroying Kyrion’s melon-flavored head.

“How rude,” said a familiar voice right outside their tent. The man wore a Slayer’s hat but had no other regalia signifying his rank, position, or unit.

“But I just.” Chyio was shocked by the ease, enough not to taste the melon.

“What’s with you and your family smashing my melon messengers?”

Ander looked at him bluntly. “Fiance, I’m proud of those reflexes and you had it coming last time. What are you doing here?”

Kyrion looked at the old man and scowled. “You have less than twelve days if you avoid combat or further injury. I assume this is for you?”

Kyrion withdrew a bonelike object covered in odd gems and symbols, with golden trim on each side, that resembled an open mouth.

“What is this?”

“Ander didn’t tell you?”

“I wasn’t sure. You’re better with this soul nonsense.”

“Fine, as you are now. If you were to die as you are, your soul would be destroyed and removed from the eternal cycle of death and reincarnation that I expect happens from one world to the next.”

“My soul? So no afterlife?”

“There is no afterlife, but in a way, you would have peace in nothingness. Sadly, this idiot doesn’t want you to have that peace.” Kyrion replied in English. A creature in his hat leaned down and whispered into Kyrion’s ear, causing his green eyes to turn purple and his posture to shift slightly.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Ander couldn’t understand, but he felt insulted.

“If you wear this before you croak, it will condense your soul and catch it. From there you can offer advice when called upon by a family member or descendent or be freed by them. When free, you can choose to reincarnate, go to the afterlife, or become a spirit/core granting power to someone of your choice unless for the former or being used by whoever frees you/uses you while in core form. Think of it as a guarantee that you won’t lose your soul on death.”

“Why would I use something like this? I’m content?”

“Aside from the fact that missing souls can damage a multiverse over time, you’d be able to look after your daughter, or look after your descendents if you want, I bet you could become a guardian spirit.”

“So it isn’t another chance at life, but a chance at choosing how I die.”

“Correct and wrong. If you really want to stay in this world I can put your soul inside a false body but it would be short lived and unsuited for combat. You’d be a golem powered by a soul and when it dies you’d face soul erasure.”

“Ah. How does reincarnation work?”

“When you speak to the person in charge, I believe they give you a choice between being born into your own family without memories or a different one without memories. Honestly, I don’t know anything else and can’t tell you how I know this much.” Kyrion could, but his body was starting to burn from the inside as the possession began to cause internal damage.

“Where did you get the bone for this artifact?”

“Don’t worry about it. I had a bit of free time.” Kyrion lied. He actually made it from a bear that happened to be in the area where he landed and proceeded to craft it while waiting underground a few minutes ago. The enchantment was a simple one, and it was easy to get the initial personalization done. Once it catches the target’s soul, it switches to a form describing the owner and their life.

“Right. And someone shot at my plant clone.” Kyrion sighed as he teleported from his spot and kicked the soldier with the trigger finger in the head, sending them to Morpheus. The plant clone sighed and retreated into the ground; its vacation was over.

From there, Kyrion made his way to the umbrella.

“He seems more aggressive than you?”

“He isn’t normally like this. I think he’s irritated that they keep trying to kill him. It’s more the intent, than the act.”

“It was never going to work, yet the act of aggression is telling. They must not trust the new arrivals. Be careful Ander.”

A draconic roar made the area go silent as everyone outside eyed the long blue serpentine dragon flying towards the group.

Kyrion scowled at the group. “Why haven’t you left yet? Go on and get to safety.”

“Like we would retreat.” Said one of the Slayers. A series of bullets shot toward the dragon, only to bounce off a barrier and fall to the ground.

Kyrion sighed as he sat back in his lawn chair and retrieved another coconut. He could wait.

“Ander, should we evacuate?”

“I’ll let him handle this dragon. It’s the price for the gifts.”

“That’s insane.” Chiyo stated.

Junichiro squinted, “Should we get to safety?”

Ander sighed as he kicked the head-shaped melon, revealing a magical circle under it. “We’re fine unless you’re ready to start fighting.”

“How did you catch that?” Chiyo asked.

“The secret to all of Kyrion’s techniques is misdirection. If you’re watching what he’s doing you aren’t paying attention to what’s happening. Never trust your eyes while fighting him unless you’re looking to be led off a cliff while chasing a butterfly.”

“What is he, a magician?”

“It’s how he was taught to think when in combat. Distract and plan, don’t think in steps but in stages, and make sure what your opponent sees is what you want to show them.”

“Why tell us this?”

“Attacking him is suicide in a situation like this. Things are about to get hot.” Ander stated as the circle began to glow.

The on-cue blue flame covered the island, burning every plant and animal to ash. Oddly enough, every human was alive. Although every member of the parties had many layers of protective wear burned off. The area under Kyrion’s umbrella and Ander’s tent were completely unharmed.

“Coldfire. Now that’s new.” Kyrion sipped on his coconut and wondered if he could take a few trees with him as the dragon came down and crashed into the umbrella.

Kyrion rolled to the side and flew away, taunting the dragon as he sent a weak wind blade.

The wind blade tore off a scale and drew blood, much to Kyrion’s surprise. But it also confirmed that this dragon must have been relatively young if it was this weak. That, or it was more offensive than defensive.

A blast of blue flames shot at the retreating Kyrion, freezing and superheating the sky between them, causing a burst of steam and air to knock him forward.

The blow caused Kyrion to briefly lose control of his aim and crash into a brush of trees. Getting to his feet, Kyrion found himself standing between two ogres.

The ogres attacked with wooden clubs, aiming for Kyrion’s head.

Kyrion pushed himself off the ground and propelled himself through the ogre’s torso, piercing through it and exposing its organs to the air. From there, he sliced down with two fingers, splitting the second ogre in half from head to toe.

The dragon appeared above in the time it took to eliminate the ogres. Letting out another blast of cold flames.

“Wind wall!” Kyrion summoned a significant barrier of solid wind to redirect the incoming blast.

Blue flames arched away from Kyrion as they intercepted, causing various trees to freeze and splinter while the shards that shot out caught fire. Many needles found their way into Kyrion's back, doing enough damage to knock him forward and break his concentration on his spell.

“Well, that’s new.” Kyrion sent out two blades of wind, no longer restricting their power, and watched as they easily cut through the scales. As the old scales fell, Kyrion noticed that he wasn’t looking at blood but another set of bright red scales under the first.

“You’re molting! That isn’t fair.” Kyrion stopped moving and stared at the dragon head-on.

“Little human snack. I eat, evolve.”

“Hmmm…is this number nine? I think it is. Oi, little lizard, I’d stop if I were you. Threatening to eat me is a terminal condition when acted upon. I am dangerously close to this happening ten times.”

The dragon paused to take in a breath. “You will be good with ketchup!”

“I feel insulted. Giga Rend!” Kyrion encased the serpentine dragon in a ball of wind with thousands of large cutting blades that rotate and cut in every direction.

The dragon bucked and shook against the barrier while letting its breath attack loose, shaking the world around it. The temperature change disrupted the wind spell, allowing it to break free.

“Ack. Earth spear.” Kyrion gasped for air as his wind affinity was damaged. He couldn’t use it offensively or defensively for a while—just flight.

A series of earthen spears erupted from the ground and slammed into the dragon, distorting the blue scales and causing it to wiggle in response, yet the fresh scales underneath were unharmed.

“Now you’re pissing me off.” Kyrion thrust his left hand forward, causing the stones around the dragon to turn into hands used to slam the dragon into the ground. From there, hundreds of stone arms wrapped around the creature, pinning it temporarily.

Quite a few soldiers stayed and fired multiple shots at the now-trapped dragon, discovering firsthand that their enhanced bullets were not enough.

“Oi! I’m not going easy on i,t so you can throw sand into the dessert! Get out of here!” Kyrion focused on keeping some give in the arms so that it could bend but not break easily. The arms would break eventually, however.

The advanced fighting force finally made their retreat. They would take time to get away from this fight, but it now meant that Kyrion didn’t have to worry about collateral damage, and those remaining had their own ways of surviving an encounter like this.

The dragon broke through earlier than Kyrion wanted it to, but later, he expected it to, allowing the red-haired man to shift tactics. “Beneath the flesh of Gaia is a land of burning…Nothing.”

“I beseech you great crea…nope.” Kyrion sighed as his stone arms were destroyed.

“I’ll need to use my own blood.”

A blast of cold flame shot towards Kyrion, forcing him to evade. His hand was simultaneously burned by an impossibly hot flame while frozen to near absolute zero. What’s worse, the damage was insidious and would spread to his elbow if given a chance.

“Wind blade.” Kyrion removed his arm from below the left elbow, cutting off the spread and causing fresh blood to flow from a now-open wound.

“I offer up my blood as a sacrifice to the land.” With his stump, Kyrion traced a magic circle in the air.

The dragon attacked, attempting to interrupt the spell. Only for its target to vanish.

“Where human go!” The dragon turned to no avail.

“In hopes to offer a helping hand.” Kyrion’s horns had regrown while the world’s mana flowed through him.

“How!” The dragon heard the boy’s voice from behind; sadly, its body made quick turns, a pain to manage unless it aimed to leave itself open.

“I beseech access to your molten blood.” Kyrion stated, pausing his incantation to down a large plastic bottle of limeade.