The Specter of a Forgotten Future

Gradually, Kailan's eyelids began to open and his vision and other senses returned one by one. His head felt heavy and sore as a result of that extreme headache he had in the hallway; the same place where the creature was.

'What was that anyway?'

He completely disappeared in that place, his body crumbled like flour and turned to dust. He had died once again, that's what he remembered.

So now we came to the main question: how was he alive after all this and where the hell did that creature send him this time?

Kailan knew that creature was not a normal living being, as it had such magical energy that it could easily surpass the most powerful existences he knew in the current world. But he left that worry for another time, focusing on the situation he was in right now.

Kailan still couldn't feel his body properly, let alone control it. Aside from moving a few fingers in simple motions, he couldn't do anything, it was almost as if he was suddenly a quadriplegic.

''GARAGHAR!''

Suddenly, his hearing came back and the young man heard some strange sounds around him, but they were utterly intelligible. He was about to consider the next action to take, once his senses had fully returned, but he ended up focusing on the moans and grunts that came from all sides of the place he stood.

The sounds appeared to be of people screaming, talking and some even desperately banging on something. All accompanied by the characteristic sound of birds that crushed the leaves of the dry vegetation around.

He might not be able to understand many things right now and his senses might be dulled, but Kailan knew this situation was far from normal. After all, why were so many people screaming in horror in the middle of a possible forest?

Kailan couldn't understand anything those people were saying, and he couldn't identify the reason for all the fuss either. He started to feel like his body was heavier, it was almost like he was under something.

His senses began to come back more and more, and his skin was icy cold as if he were a corpse, which left him a little stunned. He felt his fingers wrinkle, as if he were an old person.

"What the fuck is going on?

The strange sounds continued, getting louder as his hearing normalized and people approached his current location.

And then, even more alarming than ever, the noises spread in an odd circle around his body. But it was no longer the sounds of grunts and screams that surrounded him, now he only heard the sound of the waves of the dark sea coming towards him.

His senses returned once and for all, surprising him as soon as he saw the situation he found himself in.

''H-huh? AAAAHHHHH!''

All of a sudden, Kailan's body finally fully materialized in that new world he was sent to. But contrary to what he imagined, that he would be reincarnated on dry land and safely; he was actually in the midst of violent waters that were so powerful that they would soon split his body in half.

He found himself kneeling in an uncomfortable position, surrounded by huge waves of water that pushed his body hard along with the tide. Water rushed into his mouth wildly, puncturing his lungs and filling them completely; the feeling was almost as bad as his death in that hall surrounded by madmen.

It was his first time going into the water after a long time. And he didn't imagine that he would go back into the sea like this.

'Will I die once more? But I just died because of that freak!'

''GET HIM OUT OF THIS SHIT, QUICKLY!'', a female voice yelled, as a loud banging sound rippled through the place.

'That son of a bitch, dared to send me to the middle of a dangerous place!', he cursed the dark creature of the sword, inwardly.

''RAAUGH''

Kailan made a piercing, slightly frightening sound, which temporarily ceased all surrounding sounds in an instant. He was drowning like a small child in the sea of ​​the beach, waving his arms frantically in complete despair and trying to fight the force pushing him out of the way, unfortunately to no avail.

His body was too weak and slender for him to get out of there on his own strength. It was almost as if he had lost all the progress he had made in the last 17 years of his hard, diligent life.

'This has already happened twice in this short time! I will not die for the third time in the same day!'

However, he ended up sinking so low in that place full of blackened gray water that he couldn't swim up no matter how hard he tried. His lives were anything but good to live, with only tragedy and misfortune befalling the poor man, but he still couldn't accept dying without fulfilling his desire for revenge, dying so uselessly in that shitty place.

With his luck and the small favor he received from that mysterious being in the sword room, he was sure he would drown like a mere idiot in the middle of nowhere.

Martha, Sacrier, Mildred, with whom he had a romantic relationship, and the other members of the group who were killed after the traitors' ambush, flashed before his eyes; almost as if they were really there.

Was this some kind of illusion that people saw at death's door? Or just some kind of bad joke from the gods, or that creature?

''Fight for your life, don't accept such a death!'' The illusion in Mildred's shape screamed at the young man, motivating him to get out of that situation.

''I DO NOT WANT TO DIE! NOT ONCE AGAIN! NOT LIKE THAT!'', he screamed internally, as if trying to tell his body that it must endure this difficult ordeal.

And as soon as he said those soundless words to himself, a greenish light spread in an explosion form from Kailan's body. Slightly green, glowing particles that looked like shards of glass floated across the site, acting as a barrier and blocking the powerful waves that flowed voraciously in front of him.

BAANKL!

[An extreme desire to live was detected coming from the user!]

[The effect of 'Gift of ????????' has been activated.]

[A spell is being forcefully used by the system to preserve the user's life.]

[???????? says that, for now, this will be his last intervention with the flow of the rules of the universe.]

[????? wishes the user good luck on his journey to becoming stronger and, on the future global domination plan!]

[???????? temporarily disappeared.]

A green circle that glowed as it pulsed formed around him, and he fell to the ground on his back in shock. His senses weakened along with the current state of his body, so he wasn't prepared for what happened in an instant.

Kailan felt like Moses at the Red Sea, when he split the Red Sea in half and was considered a prophet by the people.

The differences were: He was not Moses; He was on the verge of death and he didn't know how long that barrier would last; And lastly, he had no idea where he was, or whose body he controlled.

But anyway, in all his life he never thought that in the end, all his efforts would only lead him to such a pathetic and weak state. Who would have thought that the Sword Saint, one of the strongest humans in existence, would be terrified by mere ocean waves, right?

"Shit, that's all I needed right now." His voice had an ironic tone, and it was strange. Maybe he had swallowed too much water.

Kailan felt his body grow even heavier than before, almost as if he was submerged again. He lost consciousness at the worst moment this could have happened, falling completely to the ground with his eyes closed, facing a life-or-death situation.

''Get him out of there! Wake up, Kailan Rhaast!''

A figure with long hair and a lean body rushed towards Kailan. Snatching Kailan's unconscious body from those violent waves, pulling him to shore.

At the same moment she did it, those strange glowing particles flew towards Kailan and disappeared upon touching his chest.

He opened his eyes quickly, his body still sore and with some minor injuries he had acquired in the course of that chaotic situation. In front of him, dark green hair spread in very beautiful strands, and deep yellow eyes that sucked his soul, watched him deeply.

The girl was a little short in height, but extremely pretty. She was certainly muscular and wore strange clothes with a blazon of a bright sun, with a sword cutting through the middle of the symbol.

''Are you okay?''

''Huk, Haahakh!''

Those minutes he was subjected to seemed like an eternity, and as soon as he woke up he vomited a huge amount of water. It was as if he were one of those water fountains placed in village and kingdoms squares.

His face was burning a little, probably from the saline concentration and some kind of swelling that his eyes, mouth, ears, and nose seemed to have developed from the force of the waves.

He felt a strange nausea and a feeling of sluggishness throughout his body, that ached in every muscle and bone. Maybe he had been underwater longer than he thought and that's why he swallowed more water than he expected, his voice was strange and his appearance completely ragged and destroyed.

At that moment, he thought he looked worse than a beggar.

''What were you trying to do in the middle of a place like this, alone? Trying to kill yourself in order not to fulfill your responsibilities after turning sixteen?''

Kailan, who literally evaporated and died twice in the same day, was not understanding anything that was happening around him and was looking at the woman in confusion. From him being submerged in the middle of a beach with some vegetation scattered around the place, to the unknown girl who yelled at him meaningless things.

He really wasn't getting the flow of things here.

''What... are you... talking about?''

His voice sounded hoarse and frayed, surely the water had a severe effect on his whole body, including his throat. But that thinner voice reminded him of just one thing... Even husky, that voice he possessed now, reminded him of the tone of his younger self.

''What? You are Kailan Rhaast, a commoner residing on the outskirts of the kingdom of Hofart! You were drafted into the military and would be taken to the Draco-Merlin Academy; And don't you dare play innocent, I saw the flash of the magic you used just now!''

Everything the girl said reminded him of memories from his past. Memories linked to the beginning of his entire adventurous life, a few years after the first demonic wave, when he joined the academy to fulfill his military responsibilities.

The girl was trembling fiercely, and screaming in rage, not letting go of Kailan's shirt collar at all. The words that came out of her mouth certainly didn't sound like a language other than the common language, that Kailan had learned while living in the Huiyin world, and so he understood them perfectly.

He also noticed an interesting thing: the woman was calling him by his real name, Kailan Rhaast. Which was definitely weird.

But even if he understood the words themselves, that didn't mean he had any idea what the woman was talking about. His mind was still confused by recent events; from his first death, to the conversation with that bizarre being that he had no idea who he was, until the present moment.

An awkward silence settled between the two for a moment.

"Oh, now I understand."

He finally understood some meanings of what the woman was saying, and with that he discovered: he wasn't simply in the body of someone from Huiyin, he was in his own body.

A copy of it to be exact.

That shadow creature had reincarnated him in the same world he died in, but he wondered how much time had passed in this world since his true body had been killed?

A second chance (for the second time), he certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity for anything. This time... This time he would make all the powerful bastards that roamed the world kneel before him, he would cleanse the world of the maggots that filled it from all sides and then create the ultimate civilization with his own power and knowledge.

But before that could happen, he would have to strengthen himself. And he didn't care how he did it, as long as he became as strong as he could... as long as he became as strong that no one would dare defy or betray him again.

As he thought about these things, his vision began to blur with each passing second, and he became extremely dizzy.

'Shit'

The girl was shooking him around, and his head began to hurt like hell.

His eyes began to close once more, and he fell to the ground with his arms outstretched.

''Kailan? Kailan? KAILAN! Get medical help for him, qu…''

His senses left his body before he could hear the girl's last words. Kailan collapsed limply just like that.