Seifu was sweating. He knew reincarnations were quite difficult to perform, but he had not expected such resistance from the Otherworld. He glanced at his companions to check on them and was shocked by what he saw.
Senshi, the noble lady warrior, was shaking from exerting all of her will to contain the spell, while Ko’s eyes were closed as she reinforced Senshi’s blue aura surrounding the casket with her own. Seifu had never seen the two like this. It was probably the quietest they had been in a long time. He wondered how Gakusho was handling the situation as he looked across to the opposite side.
Sweating profusely, shaking, muttering incoherently, Gakusho was, unfortunately, even worse than his normal self.
“This is not a good sign.” thought Seifu, ‘If we fail this summoning, the Windhaven Nation is doomed… which means we will lose our status as gods…”
Just when Seifu thought it couldn’t get any worse...
“LLOOOOKS LIKE YOU COuuLD UssEE sOOMMEE HELLppp BREEEEEzies!”
All of the Four Winds went into full alert, despite the ritual continuing. They knew this psychotic voice. They were quite familiar with their banished Deity Lord: Tempest, God of Weather and Disasters.
“I’LLL GiiiVEE YoU SoMME GUuuuuSTTooo HEhehehEHEHEHhe! THISSSss oNE’S sOUL iS Way AbOVE yOUR AbiLitIES!”
Barely recovered from the shock and still casting the ritual spell, only Seifu, the Calming Wind, managed to speak, “W-w-we appreciate the help Lord Tempest but-”
“bAAAAH I bET YoU dO, Seifu, you WEAkLinG. AnD I’M sURE yOU’RE yOU’re woNDerINg hOW I eSCAped… I MAde A DEal!!! MWHAHAHAHAHAhahahahhaha!”
“Who in their right minds would be crazy enough to release Lord Tempest?” thought Seifu.
“COme On OUt! FiLL YoUR EnD oF thE BarGAIn, LORD MAHUYAN!”
The Four Winds almost stopped their incantations from the shock. Luckily, magic circles began to fill the room and enhanced the Four Winds auras.
A strange voice filled the room. It was a very passive and deep metallic voice. “Understanding. You Four Winds are obviously confused. I have freed Deity Lord Tempest from his bonds... with restrictions of course."
Though the load of the summoning spell had been considerably lightened, Seifu still struggled as he spoke for the group, “And what restrictions might those be exactly?”
“Irrelevant. You minor Gods should focus on the reincarnation at hand. You need only know that the one chosen shall be receiving the Emperor blessings from both Tempest and I.”
The Four Winds nearly doubled over. The [Saint] blessing from minor gods was already an extremely rare and powerful blessing. The blessing of [Saint] could only be granted in two ways: One could either receive it directly or climb up the ladder of blessings by defeating all of those who had the blessing that was a step below the [Emperor] blessing. The Deity Lords’ motives were obvious; they wanted the Saint-Sage for themselves. However, Seifu was still in disbelief. How could one man be strong enough for all these blessings?
“My Lords, do you really think this Reincarnate can withstand your blessings?”
“Unexpected. I thought you were already aware of this Reincarnate's abilities. Even Deity Lord Tempest in his banishment could see the potential of the one you are calling forth from the Otherworld.”
The Four Winds eyes were gaping by this point.
“Condescension. I would not have come here unless the benefits for me were substantial. This is an opportunity that cannot be missed. Consequently, you cannot afford to fail. Continue your ritual. Our motives merely align in this case."
“But-”
“Impatience. Compliance is mandatory to guarantee a pathway to potential success for all parties involved. And this opportunity has a limited timeframe.”
Seifu made one final fearful plea, “But is the Windhaven Nation not outside of your domain?”
“Refusal. Magic is my domain, West Wind. The decision is thus mine to make. Begin casting your blessings. It is time to finish this."
Magic circles aligned with the casket, following its shape, outlining it at multiple angles until it was sealed in a globe of bright red magic circles. The chamber began to shake; dust and debris began falling from the ceiling which began spinning until the form of a cyclone surrounded the casket. Magic circles began surfacing on the inside edges of the tornado.
Within this magical chaos, the Four Winds cast their blessings… and then dissipated into their own Auras.
“A SHaME i cAN’T sTAy AnD SeE wHAT wE hAVe, Hee hEE HeE! aH wELL. TiME tO gO!”
The cyclone calmed immediately and the debris that was thrown about the room finally settled. The kaleidoscopic magic circles enveloping the room only increased in size and number. Within the red circles, bright blue runes began to glow, lighting the entire room up.
“Intrigued. I will grant him these abilities. What will be his full potential... I wonder...”
The magic circles increased still, as the reverberant voice of Deity Lord Mahuyan finally faded to silence. Terrarth would soon welcome a new, powerful identity into its world.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
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He awoke to find himself surrounded by utter darkness. He felt nothing. He saw nothing.
He could not even feel the weight of his mind amid the abyss. Whether this was heaven or hell, he could not say. What he did know was that this was the end.
This was it. No more body, no more pain, and no more sorrows. Lost in the blank void of the afterlife, he finally felt as if his soul was at ease for the first time. He was dead and by now long forgotten. Nothing more could be expected from his soul.
Or so he thought.
A metallic monotone voice rang out amidst the nothingness.
{Searching for Reincarnation Data}
...
The voice startled him. He had not expected his solitude of darkness to be interrupted. Anger began to fill his soul. How dare someone interfere his long-awaited rest.
{Reincarnation Data Located}
...
Reincarnation. Absurd. He had not chosen death just to be sent into yet another body. Death was supposed to be the ultimatum of life, not the beginning of another pointless cycle.
...
{Initializing Data Retrieval}
…
Despite his lack of a body, he could feel his soul ignite with the flames of fury. He had chosen Death. He was not about to be sent back to a world he hated.
…
{Data Retrieval Completed}
…
{Extracting Reincarnation Data}
…
{Error: Partial Data Corruption}
…
{Reattempt Data Extraction?}
…
The voice asked a question while his soul boiled with rage. At first he assumed the question was rhetorical, but the silence following the question led him to believe that it was waiting for someone to answer. It was peculiar but only momentarily distracted him from his anger.
…
{Warning: Unknown Effects can be caused by Partial Reincarnations}
…
{Confirmation: Reattempt Data Extraction?}
…
The voice still seemed to desire a confirmation of sorts. His anger quelled as he resigned himself to his fate. He sighed and hoped the voice would just do what it needed to do and leave him alone…
...
{Confirmation Accepted}
…
{Transferring Uncorrupted Reincarnation Data}
…
There was no relief as the annoying metallic voice continued to disturb him. He had already accepted that his destiny was out of his hands now.
…
{Uncorrupted Reincarnation Data Successfully Transferred}
…
{Reattempt: Analyzing Corrupted Reincarnation Data}
…
{Analyzing}
…
{Analyzing}
…
The monotone voice was becoming increasingly annoying. If only it had a more human voice.
…
{Processing request}
…
Request? What request had he made? The voice’s most recent announcement confused him.
...
{Confirmation: Is this voice acceptable?}
…
The voice had completely changed. It was now more along the lines of a professional female secretary’s voice. The man was stunned at the change.
…
{Confirmation: This voice was selected based on your preferences. Is this voice acceptable?}
…
It had picked this voice based on preferences he didn't even realize he had. Perhaps there was more to this voice than he had thought...
...
{Analyzing}
…
{Analyzing}
…
{Analyzing}
…
“Analyzing” seemed to be this voice’s favorite word. Now that it had a better voice, he thought the voice should have a name… But what would suit this voice… Perhaps... Analise…yes, that would be perfect. He chuckled at his embarrassing pun.
...
{Renaming Accepted}
...
The voice accepted her name. Interesting. The man wondered if there were other things he could change about the voice. Perhaps he could even give her a more physical presence in the dark abyss he was located.
…
{Problem Detected: Abnormal Amount of Reincarnation Data}
…
All that analyzing was for this result? His opinion of the voice went down. What was even the purpose of this voice?
…
{Proud: Primary Objective: Analyze}
…
Another brief answer from the voice. For some reason, it was now announcing its emotions at the beginning of its statements. It must have been trying to emulate a human, but it was doing a poor job of it. The voice cut through the man’s thoughts once again.
...
{Depressed: Objective Failed}
…
The voice sounded utterly disappointed with herself. He almost considered comforting the voice because it sounded so down. He still had yet to understand what this whole process was about other than the hints about reincarnation.
…
{Clarification: This is the Official Reincarnation Process between dimensions}
…
The voice had had already mentioned reincarnation several times, but now his fears had been undoubtedly confirmed. His frustration began to mount yet again as he realized there was absolutely nothing he could do to prevent the reincarnation.
…
{Announcement: Time Limit for Data Analysis has been reached}
…
{Warning: Preparing Soul Transfer}
…
He suddenly felt his consciousness began to fade. Though he had no eyes to close, he could feel his nonexistent body quickly slipping into a comatose state. He fought to stay awake but all too soon, his soul slipped away into a deep sleep...
…
{Announcement: Soul Transfer Successful!}
...
{Announcement: Tertiary Objective Complete: Modified Primary Objective}
...
{Ecstatic:I look forward to working together, Master Saint-Sage!}