Life is but a small illusion.

—Random dude trying to sound cool.

I remembered that random quote, and wholeheartedly agreed to it. Life is but a small illusion, for what truly is important is the reincarnation!

Thinking such random thoughts in the quiet atmosphere, Xiru guided me to the Midday Pavilion, the place where the family would all eat lunch.

Unlike dinner, lunch was a casual occasion, and one could eat at any time. It seemed to be at around one o’clock, so my half-sister—the one that beat me up—should be there, eating my candies.

Oh, I forgot to mention it, but lunch was the only time candy was given to us children.

If I went now, she’d surely steal mine!

Worrying about that, I was about to tug the hem of Xiru’s dress, but I decided not to at the last moment.

Isn’t it shameful for me to lose to a two-year-old?

Me, the (former) Demon King?

Shameful, isn’t it!

Not like I had a sense of shame in the first place, but small details like that aren’t important at all.

Thinking about it, isn't it really quiet here?

Not quiet as in a bad way, but quiet as in tranquil.

—Ah, the peacefulness and serenity of walking on this bridge, surrounded by the calming waves.

The small thuds that our slippers made on the polished hardwood gave a peaceful rhythm.

Maybe I should relax and stop thinking?

I haven’t truly taken a break ever since I could walk.

Letting the melody of the splashes of the waves take over me, I continued walking, guided by Xiru.

At that point, the only thing on my mind was the splish-splash of the waters hitting the bridge’s supports.

—Yet, in the back of mind, there was a hint of wrongness.

Who cares? It’s probably nothing important.

Thinking that, I closed my eyes contentedly.

Wait, quiet?

Why is it so quiet?

Wasn’t it teeming with activity before?

I quickly opened my eyes the second after I closed them and looked behind me.

Nothing.

That’s good. I worried for nothing.

No.

My three-year-old eyes aren’t sharp enough to sense many things.

Someone could be using invisibility. Though unlikely, it’s possible.

You can’t be too careful, after all.

So, as a precautionary measure, I used my soul to sense around me.

The hardwood floor. Bacteria squiggling upon it.

A nail’s a bit off.

Sun angle is 104.65°, surrounding temperature is 28.36°C, the color of Xiru’s panties is pink with green stripes.

Air density, normal. Fluctuation of demonica, none. Fluctuation of aura, none. Fluctuation of divine power, none.

No, wait, there’s a little bit of divine power. A cloaking-type divine item?

Shape seems to be a kind of blade… And the location should be a meter behind us…!

I quickly yelled for Xiru to duck, and, seeing that she didn’t, pulled her down to the floor, letting us luckily escape the thrown knife or dagger.

And then, red lasers escaped from my eyes, burning hot, and they seared though the invisible assailant’s flesh, completely destroying his puny mortal’s body.

Haha, you think the three-year-old me could do that?

All I could do was tug at Xiru’s dress, letting the blade just slightly miss her heart…

Fortunately, she moved to look at my small self, or else she’d have died right there.

It was a close call...

Following the hidden blade missing, I heard a small tch and sensed another blade, this time aimed at me.

I tried to move my legs to dodge—but, would my small, weak legs let me?

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The answer was no.

I could only spiritually watch the invisible blade, inch-by-inch, move closer.

I could only watch as death’s scythe approached.

Was this going to be my death?

Perhaps I was too lucky in my last life. Going from a nameless orphan to the Demon King did require a lot of luck.

But three years. Isn’t that a bit short?

Well, I was cursed in this life, so maybe this is a blessing.

I closed my eyes and soul sense. Why would I use them, only to see the gruesome scene of my death?

Just when my eyelids fused shut, a warm fluid was felt on my face.

I know this smell—blood. Hot, fresh blood.

Yet, I felt no pain. There was no feeling of a sharp knife or dagger cutting into me.

That could only mean…

“Shilu!”

My undeveloped vocal cords didn’t pronounce her name correctly, but that doesn’t matter.

What matters is if she’s okay.

I reopened my eyes as soon as I said her name.

Only to see a mutilated left arm lying on the floor.

Xiru’s.

She must’ve used her arm as a shield to divert the knife that was thrown at me.

To prove my assumption, a thunk sound was heard, and I saw a quivering knife in the wood next to me.

Where is Xiru?

Is she still alive?

After a few seconds, I spotted her and saw her fighting the assassin, a man in completely white priest robes, in clear pain, with the enchanted jade dagger she always has hidden somewhere in her clothes.

There were fragments of a jade pendant, most likely the object used to cloak his body and the knives, scattered around the area.

Xiru must’ve broken it by using some kind of dragon-sight to sense the divine waves then attacked the source.

The attacker was armed with one of the throwing knifes, and by the fact that it didn’t break under the attacks of the jade dagger, it was probably enchanted too.

Xiru managed to pull the knife out of her chest, but a bleeding hole was left behind. She could only have the will to fight while suffering the immense pain of having blood pour out of her chest by virtue of her dragon bloodline.

Indeed, the dragon bloodline is strong, for her arm was slowly growing skin and the hole in her chest was slowly closing.

Yet, such a power came at an obvious price.

Her face was pale, and the aura waves she excluded only weakened.

The assailant continued to attack relentlessly, knowing that it would be bad to prolong the fight and let reinforcements arrive.

He thrusted his knife forward, aiming for Xiru’s heart, but she used her right arm to bring the dagger to divert the thrust.

The next second, he moved his knife slightly upwards and did an overhand swing.

The dagger managed to block it, but Xiru’s face grimaced in pain under the attack.

Using that opening, he used his other hand, equipped with another throwing knife, and thrusted towards her unprotected front.

With her dagger locked against the opponent’s knife, and with the opponent not letting her move it, she had no other option but to dodge.

Her pained body, weakened by the injuries, couldn’t dodge in time, and a red line appeared on her side.

I wanted to call for help, but there was nobody in sight.

Just water and wood.

What could I do, what could I do?

At this rate, Xiru’s going to die.

She will die.

Wait, can’t I join in the fight?

I have a weapon right next to me.

No, no. I’m three! Even if I fight, I’ll get killed in an instant.

But, Xiru’s going to die!

She’s the person who fed me, cared for me when I (fake) cried, and taught me how to speak and walk.

She’s been with me ever since I was born.

What the hell, I’ll do it.

If she dies, I’m probably going to die next anyways.

I went up to the knife, and pulled at it.

Nothing happened.

Yes, I’m only three. I can’t do this.

I should just run away and call for help.

But then, Xiru would die.

I have to do this.

I have to do this.

With new vigor, I once again pulled on the knife.

This time, it came out.

A weapon in hand, I faced the enemy.

Xiru was still fighting the priest-robed man, but she looked even paler and weaker.

A dozen or so cuts were on her body, ruining her beautiful maid dress.

I had no time to hesitate.

I moved as quickly as my three-year-old body would let me, in something like a cross between a run and a hobble, and approached the assassin.

Fortunately for me, he was engrossed in trying to kill Xiru and wasn’t attentive to his surroundings.

Most likely, he didn’t think a small child like me could attack him.

At a couple meters away, I started to change my aim from speed to stealth.

As inconspicuously as possible, I, hugging the railings, moved past the battle scene towards his back.

When I was safely out of his vision, I moved out of the edges of the bridge and went a meter behind him.

Just then, he made a side swing at Xiru.

But, she only realized a little too late and couldn’t react.

Soon, her stomach would be cut open.

Dammit!

Without caring for balance, I rushed forwards and jumped. Of course, as a three-year-old, I couldn’t jump far. Not even enough to reach his heart.

So, while in the jump, I released the knife, putting as much force into it as possible.

Hah, but my maximum force is virtually nothing.

Even so, the knife sped up and pierced his heart.

Yes, it was enchanted.

The man, after having his heart destroyed, died like anybody would.

Losing force to propel it, the knife aimed at Xiru’s stomach fell out of his hand and clattered on the ground, doing no harm.

The knife stopping Xiru’s dagger from moving was cast off to the side from the force Xiru was applying to it.

Not knowing of the enemy’s death, Xiru managed to cut off his head before finally collapsing.

To save Xiru quickly, I ran as fast as possible to the Midday Pavilion, where there should be the aura-medics eating.

I thought of moving slower sometimes, but I already did the whole fiasco of killing the man, so I can’t let Xiru die after all this.

Gritting my teeth at those thoughts, I continued to muster up the strength to go at full speed.

As I arrived at the Pavilion, twenty minutes away, people saw me frantically running in.

The Midday Pavilion wasn’t a walled pavilion like the Grand Aura, but a roofed structure with no walls and only a stone railing-like structure to prevent people from accidentally falling into the water.

Therefore, I was visible to everyone in the pavilion.

The people eating were confused at my appearance, first, why was I running? And, second, where was Xiru?

Ignoring their questioning faces, I looked for the medics.

When I saw them, I quickly tugged two of the medic’s clothing to get them to follow me.

I was the son of their employer, so they followed me, along with the third aura-medic that was eating with them.

Probably, they were also curious why Xiru wasn’t with me.

When I came back with the medics, they were shocked at the amount of blood.

Xiru was still alive even after all this.

In a coma, with her barely breathing, and her heartbeat faint, but still alive.

Noticing the seriousness of the situation, they immediately started to try to heal her.

Stopping the bleeding and prolonging her life until they had more people and resources was all they could do.

After the preliminary treatment, one of the medics was sent out to get more people and a philosopher’s stone—a magical stone from the East that had many mystical properties—to help heal Xiru.

Ten minutes later, fourteen other aura-medics and an alchemist came in.

The seventeen aura-medics first closed the hole in her chest and healed the cuts, but couldn’t re-attach her arm.

This is where the alchemist came in.

In the East, there were different types of powers, namely alchemical and life-force.

She first took the cut-off arm of Xiru and converted the flesh into life-force.

With that life-force, she used the philosopher’s stone to insert the power into Xiru.

Her arm, which was but a stump now, suddenly flared with green energy and a new arm was growing. At a snail’s pace, sure, but it was growing.

It took a half-hour for it to finish healing, but it looked the same as normal afterwards.

Seeing that, the aura-medics breathed a sigh, and took her to their pavilion to let her rest in comfort.