I sprint through the forest, each step sending a sharp jolt of pain through my knees, tears spilling down my face without me even realizing it. The air feels like it’s crushing me, thick and heavy, suffocating with every breath I try to take.

Shit.

I don’t want to die.

Not again.

But the man in the knight’s armor is right behind me, relentless, his presence like a shadow I can’t outrun. No matter how fast I go, how hard I push, I know deep down there’s no escape. I’m going to die… again.

“Get back here!” he thunders, his voice a violent crack that makes the trees shudder. His rage is palpable, cutting through the undergrowth as he charges after me, tearing through the branches like they’re nothing.

I need to survive. I have to.

I just need to know where this place is and why I am here, what the reason for it all is. Then, like a spark of electricity, everything crashes into me like a wave, filling my head with memories I didn’t live. They weren’t mine, but the ones belonging to this body’s previous owner.

His life, before I inhabited his body.

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Tatsou Ren Kurogane, second child to the Kurogane hidden clan.

His older sister and parents tried to save him from this very knight. And then, beyond Tatsou’s life, more memories flood in—the history of this place. I was in the past, in the Shōjū period

Not much was known about it in my era; it was wiped clean, replaced with something new. But the information that now swarms my mind finally fits all the missing pieces together.

In this era, humans are creations of the phoenix, formed to protect humanity alongside selected mythical species. They have something called soul essences, the only thing that can defend them against a Kuyu and kill it.

The Kurogane clan, a part of the higher region, was declared traitors, accused of conspiring with those working for the Kuyu beasts to take over the world and destroy the scattered pieces of the seal held by the Tenshoku Gundan (Eclipse of the Heavens legion).

So I’m back in time, in a period that has been wiped from history. And worst of all, I’m in the body of a boy whose family is probably going to die by his hand.

Suddenly, as I turn around to check how close the knight is, a deep rumble shakes the ground, making the trees tremble and my heart stop.

I freeze as I come face to face with a Kuyu Beast

It’s smaller than I expected, about the size of a large wolf, but its presence sends a chill down my spine. Its muscular body is covered in dense, shadowy fur, streaked with faint, glowing crimson lines that pulse like a heartbeat. The creature’s eyes—large, glowing orbs—lock onto me, burning with an eerie yellow light, a predator’s gaze that pierces straight through me. Its sharp fangs glisten, dripping a faint, glowing venom that hisses as it hits the ground.

A low growl rumbles from its throat, its claws digging into the earth as it prowls forward, the metallic tips of each razor-sharp talon glinting in the dim light. The shadows around it seem to ripple, cloaking its form as it moves, like it’s slipping in and out of the darkness itself.

I can feel its power, primal and raw, oozing from its very being.

“it—this is a Tier One Kuyu!” The man stops in his tracks behind me, his eyes opening with fear so is mines as it lifts up its paws, and comes down on us as he breaks through the very wind itself.

There’s only seconds, seconds for me to act, seconds for me to forget about the pain rippling through my body to save my life, but then I glance at the man, his body like mine before rooted to the floor.

I needed to save him aswell.