“It’s a little over-the-top. And what’s the point of a codename if it connects to my ability?” Kanata sighed. “Structures, metal.”
With that, Kanata started to move through the building, passing through the walls and floor. He gripped the enhanced resin hilt of his knife and rushed for the room with the three remaining people.
“Gungnir?!”
The big terrorist gave a shout, but Kanata quickly replied with his knife. Then he checked out the remaining two. One of them was a female terrorist, firing haphazardly at Kanata’s back. Even here in Origin, where magic actually existed, a gun or knife was best for quick counterattacks, since magic took time to cast. Of course, the metal bullets just passed through Kanata and hit the large man’s body.
“You’re hot. What a shame,” Kanata said. The white woman’s face paled at the sight of her bullets having no effect, and then he killed her with his knife.
If the president’s daughter weren’t here, he thought bitterly, I would have disarmed this sexy piece of terrorist ass in invincible mode and then fired off one . . . or two. She was too hot to waste. The chance for stuff like that was one of the few good things about being sent to kill people.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Are you okay? I’m Gungnir, from Bravers. I’m here to rescue you.” Hiding his inner thoughts, Kanata introduced himself like a gentleman.
Bravers was the name that had been given to the team of reborn that he belonged to after a certain incident. The full name was Hundred Bravers. A little too on the nose for Kanata’s taste. Thinking about it, that was also the time when we moved from only taking rescue and support missions to ones involving killing targets, he thought. The incident in question had been the rampage of an experimental undead in a secret lab belonging to a European military state. Undead popped up frequently here on Origin, as animals and monsters were sometimes transformed by Magical Power; the team had dealt with such incidents before. But this particular case was something else.
First, there was the prophecy by Koya Endo. He was the Oracle who provided prophesies about the approach they should take. He made his prophecy as always, but it was a strange one. They were to stand, exposed and undefended, when the undead emerged from the lab. They were not to let on about their hostile intent. Then, once the undead dropped its guard, they were to all attack together and destroy it at once.
Kanata had thought it odd that they were expected to give a dangerous enemy such an opening. But when the events unfolded, the undead did indeed drop its guard, allowing them to eradicate it without any trouble. Kanata had really been confused about what was going on.
That’s when things started to rapidly change.
It turned out that the Magical Power from that undead—or, more precisely, the human it had formerly been—was the source of all the latest medical products and treatments exported by that military. It was death attribute magic, something previously completely undiscovered. And Kanata and the Bravers had utterly obliterated the only known source of it, eradicating the undead down to the smallest scrap of flesh.
Of course, all such exports stopped. The new pharmaceuticals and magic items couldn’t be produced anymore, and fighting erupted around the world. Every nation started to try to find—or even create—the second Death Mage, based on the data scavenged from the laboratory and the testimony collected from the handful of survivors.
Kanata and the others were repeatedly asked if they could use their Gifts to replicate death attribute magic. Koya, who should have been able to provide an answer in his position as Oracle, only said, “He was something that should never have existed in this world. What we did was the only way to save him,” and then stoically held his peace on the matter.
Kanata figured Koya was soft, getting all emotionally attached to one experimental guinea pig. But then they investigated the illegal lab, as well as death magic, for themselves and realized just how completely broken that undead had been. If the undead hadn’t simply let them kill it, they would’ve ended up dead themselves. At the very least, more than half of the reincarnated onsite would have been killed. After that, Kanata almost felt the same sympathy that Koya did, although he wasn’t going to start attending church mass every week.
Achieving mastery of death attribute magic was close to achieving immortality. There were those in power who wished to obtain that for themselves, and those in the church who did not want to acknowledge such a possibility. The other test subjects saved by the single undead were placed under government protection for a while, but they eventually escaped and formed a violent terrorist organization called the Eight Guidance. Now they were a major thorn in the side of nations across the world. That had led to these terrorists kidnapping the president’s daughter and Kanata being sent in to save her.
Huh? What’s this walk down memory lane in aid of? In fact— “Gwaah!” When Kanata snapped back to himself, he found himself spitting blood from his mouth.
He could barely speak. “How did . . . you know my weakness? You aren’t . . . the pres’s daughter, are you . . . ”
One moment the president’s daughter had been coming in for a hug, and the next her pointed hand was rammed deep into Kanata’s solar plexus. That wasn’t something the president’s daughter should be able to do.
“It’s me, Kanata.” The girl replied as her appearance started to silently change. The white girl turned into an Asian woman in her later twenties.
“It’s you, Metamor . . . but why?”
Kanata recognized her at once. It was Mari Shihoin, another of one the reborn and—he had thought—a member of Bravers. She had the cheat ability to transform into pretty much whatever she wanted. Mari’s face was as placid as a mask, but her eyes were burning with hatred.
“I used these terrorists to kill you. The real president’s daughter is currently being rescued, right now, somewhere else.”
“To kill me? What did I ever do to you?!”
“This is revenge for my mother.”
“Hey! Wait! You’ve got the wrong idea!” Kanata staggered backward, trying to put some distance between the two of them, but his body was shockingly unresponsive.
He burnt the wound she left, stopping the bleeding while he tried to find some path to survival. “I didn’t kill her! Yes, okay, I couldn’t save her, and in the end I’m the one who stopped her heart. But she was already missing everything from the neck up! Thanks to me, your mom lives on somewh—”
“If she was missing everything from the next up, tell me why her corneas currently reside in the head of a mafia boss?” she screamed. “You scum-sucking monster!” Mari reached for his head even as Kanata scrambled back across the floor on his butt.
This was bad news. Mari’s Metamor was the perfect answer to Kanata’s Gungnir. If he had been uninjured, he might have had a chance to escape, but that wasn’t going to happen after all the damage he had taken.
“H-hold on! You think you can get away with this? You won’t be able to hide it! Hiroto and his damn sense of justice won’t allow it! Please, stop! I don’t want to die yet! She was only the woman who gave birth to you on this world, anyway! Not even your real mom! Aren’t we friends?!”
“No. We’re not. You chopped up my mom and sold her for parts. I would never be your friend.”
Kanata barely heard her say those words, and passed out before he could reply.
Kanata Smith, a member of the Hundred Bravers. On Earth, he had been called Kanata Kaito. He was discovered close to death, transported to a medical facility, and given every possible treatment to no avail. Three days later, he passed away. He had been taking part in a mission to rescue the daughter of a certain nation’s president. It was presumed that a weakness of his Gift was somehow exploited to kill him. Kanata Smith was remembered as the first of the hundred heroes to fall, and his passing had a profound impact on at least ninety-eight of the remaining ninety-nine of Hiroto Amemiya’s heroes.
Watching events on Origin unfold, Rodocolte gave a short sigh.
“That’s the first one.” Kanata Kaito was dead. His death would shake the reborn, who Hiroto Amemiya had done such an excellent job of bringing together. Some of them were now sure to leave his organization. It wouldn’t be long before more of them started dying. Dozens, perhaps, if not more than half.
Rodocolte had done much to ensure that they wouldn’t die easily, but he also hadn’t made them invincible or immortal. The reborn could die, just like Kanata had. It certainly wasn’t going to be only Hiroto Amamiya and Kanata Kaito who failed to live out their natural lifespans on Origin.
“Huh? Where am I . . . gah! Mari! That bitch! She really did kill me!” Kanata appeared in front of Rodocolte, shouting as soon as he awoke.
The other Hiroto had shared a few choice words—and screams—of his own when he showed up here from Origin, Rodocolte remembered.
“Hey! You’re a god, right? Give me another chance! I wasn’t even thirty! That’s not much of a life!” Kanata Kaito was more practical than Hiroto, however. He immediately started to beg Rodocolte for another life.
Rodocolte didn’t consider it all that short to say that over two lives he had lived for a total of more than forty years. Many died almost as soon as they were born, and others before they even got that far. Kanata had also killed people on Origin who were younger than thirty themselves, included the terrorists he killed right before his own death.
“Please! I’ll do anything!”
“That isn’t going to happen,” Rodocolte responded. “Your third life has already been laid out for you.” Just as Rodocolte had done with Hiroto, he told Kanata about Ramda and how he would be reborn there.
Kanata froze up in surprise for a moment, but then he looked sullen. “God, I know I asked for another chance, but can’t you find a better world for it than that?”
“You don’t like Ramda? It’s a world of swords and magic. I thought you all loved those. They have dragons and giants and dungeons with treasure. Princesses, beautiful elves, and dwarves. Unknown islands and continents. There’s a demon king sealed away there, sure, but don’t you find it tickles your desire for adventure?”