The cost of having power

{Third POV}

In the Fittoa-region.

It's already been more than two hours after the pillar of light appeared.

The shockwave of the light pillar already passed and the pillar itself dissipated.

The people in the fields already recovered from it and were slowly starting to go back to work. Even if that doesn't make the morale of the region's state any better, some tried their best to get their homes back to their former beauty.

However, one person couldn't feel any uneasier. That person was Sword King, Ghislaine Dedoldia.

While aimlessly patrolling around the camp with her sword strapped at her left, she couldn't help but remember how she too late to save her master and mistress when they got teleported into the Strife Zone.

The part of the Central-continent that was constantly at war while new kingdoms rose only to be falling in the following years.

In such an environment, the Beast-woman couldn't save them nor prevent her lord from getting executed for taking responsibility for the calamity.

"Tch." Her one visible eyebrow furrowed and she clicked her tongue in irritation at the noble's antics.

As if out of thin air, the Beast-woman's instincts got on high alert. They were telling her that something powerful was coming to the refugee.

Like any proper full-fledged swordswoman, she grabbed the hilt of her sword with her right hand while holding the scabbard with her left and standing in a stance.

Concentrating on her Beast-kin senses, she tried to distinguish the direction it was coming from.

But when she did, she was astonished and yet confused.

"It's coming from the south, but….up in the sky? And it's coming from the direction of that explosion."

But there was no time for that anymore. Whatever it was she sensed, it was coming here fast.

And in just a matter of seconds, it landed by crashing near the camp.

Swiftly, Ghislaine ran towards the spot it landed.

'Is it a monster? Nonetheless, with this feeling, I'm guessing it must be as strong as a dragon. No. A report would have come before it could arrive. Unless it purposefully came straight to this area.'

Because of the seriousness of the situation, as well as the lack of guards, she quickened her pace.

She passed by Alphonse, the butler of the Boreas household.

"Ghislaine? What is-?"

Ignoring the butler, she kept running to the landing spot.

As she neared the spot of the presumed monster, she saw a crowd of people looking at what might be the monster.

"Out of the way!"

At her command, the people looked at Ghislaine and moved to the side.

Putting up her stance, she slowly advanced toward the monster's landing spot.

But as she did, she saw a familiar figure.

A young lady with red hair swaying in the wind from the rough landing, having her fierce eyes set on the guards that aimed their swords at her while wielding one of her own.

Behind her was what seemed like a winged monster with silver hair and a ponytail tied up together into a scaled tail, while emitting a green light in front of him.

Ghislaine couldn't tell who the winged person was because his back was straight toward her.

"State your name, intruders." One of the guards asked, still aiming his sword at the young lady.

"Rudeus, where did you drag us now?"

The young lady, also known as Eris Boreas Greyrat, asked Rudeus, who was currently attending to Ruijerd's injuries.

"Don't worry. He is alright now."

The green light vanished as the monster stood up and turned his body towards the people who are aiming their swords at them.

Everyone flinched at the terrifying sight of Rudeus's new form.

Even with the many changes to his appearance, Ghislaine recognized Rudeus and was about to tell the guards to stop.

But Rudeus raised his right arm and pointed towards the guards with his index finger.

And in the next second, the guards got crushed to the ground as if the air around them got heavy. They went unconscious immediately from it.

All the people looking at it were astonished, including Ghislaine.

A sudden feeling coursed through her skin.

She looked over and locked eyes with Rudeus. His black eyes with golden iris and slit pupils looked straight at her.

There wasn't any killing-intent or blood-thirst in them, but the sight of such eyes was just terrifying for her to witness.

As seconds passed, Eris looked over to where Rudeus was looking and turned her face into a bright smile.

"Ghislaine!"

Screaming out her name, she ran up to the Beast-woman.

Seeing the daughter of her master run up to her, Ghislaine eased up and was just glad to see her student alive again.

She opened her arm, welcoming Eris into a hug, in which Eris went and stuffed her head between Ghislaine's breasts.

And while these two had their little reunion skin-ship, Ruijerd woke up.

Sitting upright and touching his head he tried to remember what was happening.

As soon as he remembered how he was easily defeated by Orsted, he frantically looked around to get his spear and get Rudeus and Eris safe.

"It's alright Ruijerd. We are in the Fittoa-region now."

At Ruijerd's right side was Rudeus, crouching before him.

Ruijerd's eyes widened at what Rudeus turned into. The wings, scales, eyes, hair, and the white flames on him. It is making him look like a monster in human form.

It was a shock like never in his life before, but not as much as his memory of his son's death 400 hundred years ago.

"I'm at my limit. Take care of everything until I wake up."

At the end of his sentence, Rudeus fell to the left side as the new parts of him disintegrated into white dust.

Once he fell to the ground, everything on him was back to normal again.

No scales, wings, or flames. Everything that remained was his hair still being long at the back and his clothes having their left sleeves cut off, as well as the chest and back having a hole on them.

"Rudeus!"

Noticing Ruijerd's shout, Eris quickly brook from her hug with Ghislaine and looked at the now unconscious Rudeus.

The recent memories of his dead body came up into her mind again. Running towards her two party members, she tramped over the guards bodies as she kneeled before Rudeus.

Flipping him over, she saw the spot where the Dragon God had thrust his hand into him.

The skin turned into an ash-gray color, expanding together with his rips. The spot itself healed and was no longer letting any blood out.

Pushing her head against his chest, she heard his faint breathing along with his heartbeat.

Listening closely, tears of relief started to come out her eyes.

"Thank god *sniff* he is alive."

Eris started to hug Rudeus, careful not to hurt him any more than he already is.

***

{Rudeus POV}

I had a dream. I was standing in the middle of a white void.

Looking back at my body, I noticed two things.

First, my left hand was back. There was only a line going around my arm below the elbow.

To be sure that it was really there, I touched it from the joint until the tips of my fingers, feeling the sensation of my skin being rubbed by my right hand. It was really there.

The second thing would be my chest.

Before, there was a hole that was filled with a red liquid that I could touch through. The red liquid didn't leave any stains on my hand, so I was convinced that it was just an illusion.

But now, there was something else. Rather than liquid it was on glowing cracked hole, sprouting with multiple thin chains.

Another time, I tried touching my chest. Although my hand went through the chains like air, I could feel it touching my chest. There was a rough sensation on top, like the exterior of it was reshaped.

Ending my touchy session, I followed the chains to the other end of it. As I followed them with my eyes they became thicker as they are ascending above myself.

Once I saw the ends of those chains, my eyes widened in shock and I started trembling in utter fear.

Above me were two beings, curled up and restrained by the chains coming out of my chest.

There was a white dragon, covered in scales. It was folding its wings close to its body while holding them in front of it, keeping its head with its long neck in between them.

The other being, a black demon with three horns on its forehead and no skin on its cheeks, revealing its human-like teeth. It was holding its thin arms before its rip cage showing chest while its fists were each before the opposite shoulders.

Both of them were having their eyes closed and didn't move.

Looking a bit closer, I noticed that both of them didn't have lower bodies. As soon as it went below their abdomen, their bodies dissipated into thin air, like a spirit coming out of a lamp.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I'm guessing your curse is fusing with your soul."

Frantically looking around, I spotted the mosaic face of Hitogami to my right side.

He was actually standing a bit further away than usual. With his left hand on his chin he was looking at the two chained up beings above me.

"I don't know how much of a change you'll be going through. It is something I cannot see in my divine power."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

I was done with this piece of trash.

Trust is something you have to deserve. But this person was sketchy from the beginning.

And now he gets nothing but distrust from me. Getting killed and having Kagami show me my traumatizing past life was the last step to cross the line.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about Orsted nearly killing me after I admitted that I know you."

"Trust me. I would tell you if I knew it."

"What are you talking about?"

"That man isn't just any ordinary person. He is the Dragon God, number two of the Seven Great World Powers, and the strongest being in the world."

"Wait, isn't Technique God the strongest?"

"If Orsted went all out, he could destroy this world. But thankfully, he has a curse that doesn't allow him to do so."

"A curse? So, there are more like me?"

"Of course. It's a natural phenomenon that occurs everywhere in all kinds of effects. Don't you have them in your world."

"No. The concept of magic itself is only fictional in my world."

Things like magicians and illusionists are nothing more than frauds. All of their tricks consists of nothing but mechanisms of tools and wiring.

"Interesting."

"Now let's talk a bit more about this Dragon God. Anything else I should know?"

"He is evil and wants to destroy the world. But thanks to one of his curses that limits his power, he can't do that now. There is also the curse that makes him hated or feared by everyone in this world. Much like Laplace's curse of fear that he transferred onto the Superd-tribe. You saw how Eris and Ruijerd reacted to his presence. The reason you weren't affected by it is most likely because you're from another world. It is unclear to me why he wants to kill me as a third curse is preventing me from seeing him. There is also a fourth curse, but I am not sure what it is."

"You can't see him? So, you couldn't have warned me about encountering him even if you could."

"Exactly."

"And this hatred curse. I guess that explains why Ruijerd and Eris were acting like that."

It was most likely because of those mana waves coming from Orsted's head that made them act like that. So, it was because of my other-world soul that negated the curse's effect on me.

It took me a few seconds to notice the important information Hitogami revealed to me.

"Did you just say that Laplace transferred his curse onto the Superd-tribe?"

"Indeed. He used the cursed spears he gave them to transfer it. Remember how Eris reacted when she saw Ruijerd for the first time? That wasn't just the stories doing it. The curse is set into his emerald-green hair which is the same hair color Laplace had."

"That would explain why people turned fearful when Ruijerd washed off his hair dye in Rikarisu."

"But it's not like the curse is staying forever. Throughout the hundreds of years the curse got weaker. And thanks to Ruijerd cutting it, there are mostly only remnants of it left."

If that's the case then everything he will do to get his tribe's honor back from now on will get him milestones high.

Although I don't trust anything this piece of trash is telling me about, I still want to believe for Ruijerd that his action bear fruit.

"Now onto more important subjects."

I pointed with both of my hands at the two sleeping and chained up beings above me.

"Well, if you ask me, they are the manifestations of your curse. It actually evolved so much that it has fussed with your soul."

"So they won't grow anymore?"

"Probably."

"What do you mean 'probably'?"

"Although I'm a god, you are such an unpredictable individual that I can't be completely sure what happens. It is because of that, you entertain me so much."

"You sadistic bastard. Ever since you contacted me, bad things happened to me, one after another."

"Oh, come on. Can you really blame me for all of that?"

"I just know you're trying to trick me. I just haven't found out for what reason."

Thinking about what happened whenever I listened to his advice made my blood boil.

Wait, my blood is actually feeling hot. It's starting to even hurt.

Looking at the chains in my chest, they started to glow, power coursing inwards to me.

When I looked up, I saw the two beings wiggling and squirming a bit, probably waking up. The chains around them were glowing and passing through energy to me.

It felt like my entire body was getting cooked from the inside, making me fall to the ground.

The feeling of heat was the most intense in my chest, most likely because it's the opening source.

Although I knew that it was pointless, I scratch the skin on my chest to get rid of the pain.

"Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. It hurts. P-please.... help.... me....."

"What the hell? Who are you? And how did you come here without my permission?!"

I couldn't process anything Hitogami said, as I was struggling with the pain.

Suddenly, a hand touched my head and the pain eased up a little.

Opening my eyes just a little, I could see the silhouette of a little girl.

The face wasn't visible, but I remembered seeing her once. It was in the vision back at Millishion.

"Are you..... the goddess? The one who.... brought me... into... this world.....?"

She has to be. The one who blessed me with this second chance. The one who blessed me with this divine prestige of experiencing these brand-new memories and feelings.

My consciousness started to fade, as the pain came back to me.

///