Chapter 1: History of the Five Heroes and Magic

"What a pleasant surprise. Sword King Alucard. Saintess Merlin. Arash of the Divine Bow. Great Sage Odette. And finally. The being the elves worship, the Spirit King."

Inside a castle bathing in the lava of the demon world, a thunderous voice boomed. Those who heard his voice shivered.

His voice reached his servants who were near his thrown. They shuddered as they felt his power being released to intimidate the intruders.

The four heroes and the Spirt King.

The latter stood in the lead.

"Even in your state, you are still a threat to humanity."

He was a man who could be described as having reached the peak of the humanity's perfection. His white hair fluttered in the wind and released a scent similar to nature after it rained.

The spirit king was what they called him.

"We heroes were tasked to slay all evil. Why did you abandon your humanity?"

A man cladded in divinity unsheathed his sword. The sword was covered in the blood of those demon scum he slayed in the name of the great goddess, Sol.

"Ah, Alucard. Your righteous mouth still makes me nauseous."

The Demon Battle God Rodion stood up from his thrown.

"M-My lord! You do not need to stand up for these mortals!"

His servants desperately tried to make him stand down.

"You are not fully healed!"

It was three hundred years before that he battled against the Dragon God after her planet was destroyed. She escaped to this planet with her children.

Rodion had to battle the Dragon God after she entered his domain. He succeeded in killing her but was left with a scar that would need to heal for a few more hundred years.

Rodion's massive figure stepped down from his throne of bones. The muscles on his body bulged and released a powerful aura.

As he looked at the four heroes and the Spirit King, he pondered.

'This may be my final battle. If I had to estimate then I am at fifty percent of my full power.'

He was known as the strongest out of all the Evil Gods in the North Solar System. Even his father, Surtr had to kneel before his might.

He was an evil god that could make the divine gods themselves tremble from hearing his name alone.

Rodion looked up at the sky as the heroes came closer.

A red moon reflected in his eyes.

It was caused by the red miasma the Red Abyss dungeon released during its active period.

He spoke when the heroes were a few metres away.

"I have lived for a million years on this planet. If I wanted to then I could destroy all life in this world."

"Then why didn't you?"

A woman spoke as she held her staff. She was the Great Sage of this era.

"Because this is my home."

"...Your home?"

"Indeed. In my years of conquest I have only wanted one thing...." His entire body released a heavy pressure. "Peace."

With a loud roar, his red body enlarged several times as horns and wings grew from his back. His face turned into that of a goat. The Demon Battle God took his true form.

-But as along as you who try and hinder me from my ideal future, I can never be at peace. I have watched my children be killed by you only because they have my blood.

"We will slay all evil. That is the teachings of the goddess, Sol."

Alucard summoned his Holy Sword without flinching at all at Rodion's figure.

-That goddess is truly annoying. When I finish with you then I will pay a visit to the God Realm.

"You will not!"

With a loud roar, Alucard activated his holy sword's first release.

"Keep him busy while I perform a spell."

At the Spirit King's words, Odette, Merlin and Arash, the divine archer nodded.

All of them went full power and approached the Demon Battle God, Rodion.

-With this prayer to the Celestial Realm, I command you...

Spirit King, Xio made a praying gesture with his hands. His entire body was covered in a white aura as tens of millions of spirits entered his body.

Odette casted a spell along with the help of her sister, Merlin.

"[Solar Storm]!"

The clouds spread apart and bathed the dark demon world in light. A yellow ray fell down and shot through the magic circle above the Demon Castle of Rodion.

-Gyaahahaha! Do you think a spell that weak can harm my flesh!?

With a harrumph, the giant Rodion grabbed the spell with his bare hand. Alucard was flung away when he tried to attack him.

Even while that was happening, Xio still prayed to the Celestials.

-With this prayer to the Celestial Realm... I command you... Spirits of the laws and nature ...

BOOM—!

The spell was thrown towards Alucard.

"Alucard!!"

It landed causing a massive explosion to rise.

-Impressive.

Even after an Upper High rank spell was thrown against him, he remained unscathed.

"I'm fine! Why are you using such weak spells!? Xio ordered us to hold him back so use your most lethal magic!"

All three of them nodded.

Arash summoned his Divine Bow.

Odette's endless pool of mana drew a magic circle of the God rank.

Merlin used a divinity buff to increase their power output.

-Hoho. Bring it on, heroes!

Rodion arrogantly roared and opened his mouth.

A dark purple cluster of energy formed, spinning at violent speeds of light.

It was natural that nothing would stay standing while all this pressure from so many techniques were being released. The castle walls crumbled, the residences disintegrated and the entire demon realm broke apart.

Even the God of Order who must balance all the power of the world was scared to stop them.

"Now!"

Alucard changed his holy sword into its second form. A torrent of light fell from the sky.

All four of them used their strongest moves against the strongest evil god to ever exist.

RUMBLE...!

BOOM—!

The entire continent felt the power of their battle. Even the residents from the spirit realm felt it.

–God rank magic-[Wish]. [I wish for the angel of miracles].

While the heroes' spells were clustering against Rodion's power, a bright light appeared from the sky.

An angel with six arms, holding three grimoires flew down to the mortal realm.

Rodion's eyes opened up wide.

He was aware of what it was.

The archangels of the Upper God realm.

'What? Who summoned it?'

His focus was on the four heroes all this time.

He forgot about the strongest member of the hero party.

Xio.

-Thank you for answering my call.

Xio spoke in spirit language.

The angel flapped its wings and casually waved a hand.

-I will make one sacrificial wish to you.

The angel nodded and let go of one book. The book manifested into a type of energy.

The angel opened its mouth.

-

What is it that you want to wish for, young one?

-

It was a voice they felt ring inside their heads. Even while he was standing there, Xio felt his knees would give up on him from the pressure being released from a being of the Upper God Realm.

"Sacrifice my soul to slay Rodion."

He pointed at the Evil God who was still holding the heroes' spells at bay.

'Sacrifice?'

Alucard looked towards Xio. There was a smile on his face.

'Do whatever it takes to win. I have but a fraction of my true power. Fighting the immortal god took a lot out of my body so I am willing to sacrifice to save this world.'

That was his words to Alucard before.

-NOOOO!!! You beings must not interfere with the mortal realm! You upper angel scum!

Rodion shouted as he felt himself being pushed back.

-

Commencing implementation of wish. You have permission to use a covenant.

-

The energy from the grimoire formed a rune.

"Good..."

With one last chuckle, Xio turned towards his comrades.

All of them were looking at him as well.

"This is goodbye to all of you, but do not worry for I will reincarnate in the future."

He looked towards Odette as his figure was slowly turning into light.

"Odette... I will give you the chance to kill Rodion."

Rodion powered up even more and broke free from the spells.

"You are the light of humanity. Be there for them in my last few breaths."

The torrent of power flew towards Odette. It entered her body, sending power she never knew she could have into her core.

As if being controlled by something, she raised her staff and mouthed the words.

The angel was the one controlling her body because of the wish of the deceased soul.

"God Rank Magic-[Graponia]."

Rodion attempted to kill the angel before it finished chanting. Before he could, a black cluster of energy formed above Odette's hand.

Both her and the angel's mouth opened at the same time.

"Disintegrate."

-

Disintegrate.

-

WHOOONG

That day a universal law was broken when all the elements within the universe formed a single destructive force.

The entire world was thrown into disarray when history itself was shifted.

The strongest evil god, Rodion was slain.

-------

"—And that was the tale of how the five heroes slayed the all-powerful Demon God. Everyone lived happily every after. The end~ Did you enjoy it?"

"..."

My eyes were wide open as I looked at my mother.

'That... That was so awesome!'

I thought that she'd read me a boring nursery rhyme or something but the depiction of the five heroes was quite enjoyable the more I listened. The way she imitated the voices of the people inside the story was kind of funny. I wanted to hear more but I was saddened by the fact that it was something that happened a thousand years ago. There wasn't even a kind of sequel.

Although it might've been tweaked to make a story, I still enjoyed listening to their battle. There were even pictures of them fighting the demon god.

She closed the book and put it aside. After wrapping me up in cloth, she pulled up her sweater.

"Time for food~"

Her perfect oval shaped jawline, her pointed nose and beautiful smile. I couldn't even describe her in any other way. She was just stunning.

Her sweet breastmilk went down my throat.

"Such a good baby, aren't you? I thought I had to stay up all night to watch over you but my baby didn't cry once." She kept speaking to herself as I greedily sucked on her milk. Her eyes were filled with love as she gazed at me.

While feeding on her, I glanced around the room. Almost everything was made of wood. The walls, the window pane, the floor and the toys lying around.

Plus, the house was so quiet. Normally at home when I'm trying to sleep, the neighbours next door would be blasting their awful music.

What's going on? Where was I? My questions were only left unanswered. I couldn't even speak to ask this woman either. Speaking of which, she called me Clyde, right?

That was my name? It does sound like a good name for a boy.

"There we go~ My little boy must be sleepy now, right?"

My mother smiled gently and kissed my forehead. She was right. I suddenly felt this feeling of wanting to sleep when my belly got full. I couldn't resist the urge to close my eyes.

'Ugh...I can't think straight...'

Her lovely voice soothed my ears as I embraced sleep.

*

Months passed by and I was finally able to crawl on the floor. This was the moment I was waiting for. I could finally move on my own!

My mother's name was Eleanor and my father was George. They are just your average people that became independent at a young age. I wasn't really sure what they did in the past.

Anyway, the land we live on belonged to an earl affiliated with the Kingdom of Colchis located 10km to the west of our village. There was a map in our house so I could study it from time to time when I get bored.

I witnessed something out of the ordinary when father came home with an injury on his shoulder. Mother used some kind of light that permeated around the wound and instantly healed it.

It was really magic. 

That was my answer to my previous question. I was reborn into a fantasy world. Actually experiencing this felt normal. Why didn't I meet a god that gives me an important mission to save the world? Or perhaps a princess who offered up herself so I can defeat the demon lord and save humanity?

Did that mean I wasn't the protagonist of this world? I didn't feel any stronger power within me. Maybe it took time to unlock.

'What's this?'

When I was spying on my mother who was making food in the kitchen, I saw a book lying underneath a cupboard. It was a book with a brown hard cover and strange letters on its front page.

"...!"

I struggled to get it out with my short arms. My mother turned around when she heard me and quickly approached.

"Oh dear, is something there that you want?" A blue type of dust came out of her hand and went underneath the cupboard.

From what I could see, she released her mana into the atmosphere. I wondered what uses it had other than picking things up.

"Hm? Ah... it's my old magic spells book that I got during my adventurer days. 『Elementary Magic Introduction』. I haven't seen this in a while."

She picked me and the book up and put me on the couch after giving it to me.

'She was an adventurer?'

Her magical abilities weren't as flashy like I sometimes imagined magic would be. Judging by how tired she looked after using a couple of spells, her talents might've been average. Father was a knight who protected our village from what I'd heard. He always complained about bandits when he came home. 

Mother then left me on the couch and went back to cooking. There was a portrait of a woman with white hair on the cover. She was holding a staff in her hand while a magic circle was in her other hand.

I opened the book with its strange letters.

[『Introduction of Magic 』Where did it all begin? ]

That was the first title.

I could strangely read it for some reason.

----

What is magic? What's its driving force that allows it to manifest into the world? For that to be answered, let's go back to the days of the old. The era where the four heroes were born 1000 years ago. 

The Great Sage was born into a magic-less world. Only swordsmen were the dominant people in this world.

People had mana but they had no idea what to do with it.

The question everyone had was how did she become the first mage in existence?

One day when she saw one of her neighbour's house burn down from a forest fire, she used it. She used magic for the first time. At that time it was called Manipulating nature instead of magic.

When she saved the family from their burning house, everyone asked her for her teachings.

Naturally this was the birth of the first ever mage academy to exist. The Royal Academy of the Colchis Kingdom.

It is one of the oldest known academies in the world.

-

Royal academy? I heard mother and father talk about this kingdom as well. They mentioned something about their family living there.

The name of father's uncle is Duke Luxembourg. He was the lord of a city called Hurge. The city was fairly far from our village so I hadn't seen our extended family yet. Apparently, we were one of the Luxembourg's branch families. The Astley Baron family.

I read further as mother was distracted with cooking.

---

She became the first director of the academy. Her goal was to change the world.

Her words were:

"I want to use my power to protect my people and get rid of evil."

The Great Sage and the Saintess. They were two sisters that became legends in this world.

The Sword King, Alucard that heard her words also became tied to her.

She amassed many achievements over the years of her lifetime.

One of those achievements was her magic books.

It lists all of her spells that she used throughout her lifetime–

--

I closed the book and sighed inwardly.

'Can I also use magic?'

It was worth a shot.

"Time for your milk~"

As I sat there with my arms folded, thinking seriously, mother picked me up and opened her apron for me again.

'I'll think of this another time."

◇◇◇

Three years went by. Time flew quick since I was a baby. I had no responsibilities and only had to eat and sleep. I couldn't do much since my body wasn't developed enough to go outside. I only had to wait. That was the best thing to do at the time.

I haven't been out of the house much either. The only people I've seen so far were mother and father. They were seriously protective of me, their only child.

That aside when I saw my mother dozing off on the cluch, i used that chance to sneak out of the house. My legs didn't work well as I had hoped but I could at least drag the magic book with me. It was a relief it wasn't heavy.

When I walked through the open door, a vast plain of grass spread out before me at the back of our house. My destination was the tree on top of that hill.

It took great efforts to make it but I was finally able to each after a few times rolling down the slope.

'Is that the kingdom?'

In the distance over the horizon and forest, a huge wall that could even be seen from where I sat came in my view. I could also see multiple big buildings.

The building that caught my eyes the most was the castle in the centre of the kingdom. Even from where I sat, I could see the white castle's majestic design.

A strong gust of wind then slapped my face and made my bangs flutter.

I turned my attention back to the book on my lap.

[Basic Elementary Magic]

The most basic and easiest magic to learn. After a person succeeds in the spells in this book then they move on to the Intermediate magic book and then onto the Advanced(or High) rank magic book. Mother lost hers a few years ago. She told me during one of her monologues. She's a good conversation partner, even if I don't reply. I mostly get all of my world knowledge I currently possessed from her.

I opened up the book and began reading the first paragraph.

The text should've been hard to understand for the average child but I could read it just fine. Normally eight year olds start with this book if they have the aptitude for magic. And here I was, a three year old reading and understanding the theories of the book.

'Maybe the god who reincarnated me gave me the ability to understand.'

I was at least grateful that they weren't a piece of shit that didn't want to give me anything.

"First spell... 『Gale』"

I wondered what this could be used for.

–Breath of the wild.

I spoke the basic chants that acted as a activation for the magic circle that should form.

–Manifest the particles of wind to create a weapon crafted by nature.

As I held up my hand, a small green breeze manifested and kept getting bigger by the second.

WHOOSH

It was getting harder and harder to keep my eyes open from the accumulated wind.

'It worked?'

The ball was getting bigger and bigger as more mana got sent into it. I was beginning to feel drowsy.

'No way. Am I that weak that my mana reserves are so little?'

I thought my life this time will be filled with enjoyment as I become a strong mage capable of blowing away my enemies.

My anger caused me to send more mana into the spell, which intensified the drowsiness I felt. The gale of wind was beginning to feel heavier by the second.

I scrunched my face and aimed my arm at the nearest tree. Since I was leaned against another tree, I wouldn't fly away from the force of the spell.

"『Gale』!"

The spell flew towards the target at lightning speeds and tore apart the ground as it flew. I couldn't believe my eyes by what happened next.

BOOM

The force of the spell was so powerful that it broke apart two more trees. The poor trees fell over onto the ground.

'Huh?'

But my shock didn't last as I fell down against the tree as my head felt like it was spinning. My consciousness faded after a few seconds.