Two Worlds' Finest
Volume 1, Chapter 1: World's Finest Mage
Part I: Endsieg
The Empire's Military situation was deteriorating by the day at this point, the attempted offensive into the Russy Federation was critically defeated, the Salamander Kampfgruppe completely collapsing, all because of that damned intelligence leak! I've already begun considering defecting or fleeing the Empire in hopes of surviving as chances are, regardless of my age, I'm likely to be tried for morale purposes by the enemy. My best hope would be to flee to another nation and hope they believe that the Empire had groomed her from a young age into being the ideal soldier. It would completely anger anyone I knew from the Empire, but I might be able to get away with it.
Course these thoughts are only racing through my head as I look on at the even further deteriorating situation around us. I was leading the 203rd in a supporting attack meant to stop, or at least slow down the approaching Rus tank army, however we were now being quickly surrounded by what was a mixture of Russy, Commonwealth, and even Unified States Volunteer mages. Don't get me wrong, the 203rd is the best of the best, the culmination of my best efforts, however there was no way we were leaving this fight without significant casualties, if we got out at all.
Even still, the 203rd, at least it's more battle-hardened veterans, should be able to survive, our main strategy currently being to pierce a hole through their encirclement and rapidly begin a fighting retreat. Theoretically, if half of our unit wasn't exhausted from using much of their mana firing at the approaching armies, we would be able to guarantee an escape, though the price would vary, but now… well it wasn't looking good.
The battle began rapidly, we had managed to get a few seconds to prepare, however from where they were already positioning themselves, escape wasn't an option. We could likely fly and try to escape vertically, however much of the 203rd didn't have the mana capacity to sustain a high-altitude fighting retreat, and I'd look like a bad commander if I just left half of the 203rd to die, even if it was the only way to save the other half.
With arguably the highest mana output of anyone in the 203rd, thanks mostly due to my cursed Type 95 Computation Jewel, I took the lead, fighting off and shooting down a number of mages. I mostly focused on Commonwealth and US mages, as while this seemed to be arguably more of an 'elite' mage force among the Russy Federation, they were still average at best, though it meant the Russy Federation was learning by iron and blood, and their mages were getting better. I was actually doing a lot better than I expected, and much of the 203rd was holding their own, though a handful had already been shot down or at least injured, it wasn't over yet, and more casualties would come, but for a moment, and just a moment, victory looked more achievable.
Until reinforcements arrived. Like seriously, what the hell! How could they have that many mages to send into one battle! They're outnumbering us 4-1 at this point if you don't account for those already shot down.
Most of these reinforcements were Rus mages, and many were only average in skill at best, but the sheer numbers at this point, and the fact these newer mages could simply hide behind the veteran Commonwealth and US mages meant that the 203rd was overwhelmed. It would only take a few more minutes of fighting before mages started falling out of the sky from lack of mana as much as mages were falling as they had been shot. At this point, it was unlikely many in the 203rd could even pull off a successful escape, let alone a fighting one. There were only two options; surrender, or fight to the last man. At least, those were their options.
I had a third option, escape. Despite all this fighting I still had a decent bit of mana I could use left, and I could still make a fighting retreat and then flee deep into the Empire's territory. With such a retreat, there would be no way I could return, I'd have no choice, this was it, the end of the Devil of the Rhine, time that I left the Empire.
Unfortunately, fate would take that another way.
As soon as I flew upwards rapidly to make my escape, I was hit with a powerful beam of magical power. It was an attack I had only seen one other mage do, and it was that one American mage that really held a resentment towards me, though I would never know why. I put up my shield quickly, but it wasn't enough, it shattered almost on impact as I was launched in the direction of the beam before I began falling to the ground. I was barely holding onto life, my body burned and likely without some limbs after that blast, but my consciousness was already fading by that point, and I had little care. At that moment I thought about being X, the entity that had brought me here trying to force 'faith' into me, however he failed. He said no more reincarnations, but so be it Being X, I got the endsieg, and whether I was destined for eternal damnation of a never-ending existence in the void of nothing, I was satisfied knowing I had, even in death, defied that entity to my last breath. I had the last laugh.
But I would keep laughing.
Part II: Being Y
"I should be dead, however if this is the afterlife it's awfully… purple." I mumbled as I looked around, having been suddenly transported after my death, my best guess is that this has something to do with Being X.
"It's not quite the afterlife, I'm afraid." said a voice that rang out. It was a feminine voice, far different than the loud, firm, masculine voice of Being X and as an elegant girl in what looked to be the Empire's officer uniform appeared on the large throne in front of me I just stared at it, one thought in my head;
['FUCKING DAMNIT NOT AGAIN!']
"Despite being the strongest mage in the whole world, and leader to other similarly strong mages, you let yourself get surrounded and perish." The girl on the throne giggled after saying this, much to my annoyance.
['Now she's mocking me… I only hope they're at least more tolerable than Being X']
"So what are you exactly? Another self-proclaimed deity intending to hurl me into another war? Are we going for World War 2 this time? Perhaps Korea? Vietnam? I hear the Yugoslav Wars were a great time!" I say sarcastically, folding my arms together and gazing at… whatever she is.
"Don't worry, I am very much different from the God of your most previous world. You see he snatched you from Earth, and because your soul originates from there, and he seemed more than willing to let your soul drift into non-existence I took it upon myself to bring you here. So I have an offer for you. You can either have your soul wiped and reincarnated, removing any memories you had, or you can reincarnate with all your memories, a few skills of your choice, and a nice family so long as you fulfill one request for me."
"Oh great another one of you… At least you seem more considerate than Being X. Regardless I'm not going to go and call you a Goddess either, I think the title 'Being Y' suits you. About that request, what is it you'd want me to do?"
"You'll be reincarnated into a world of swords and sorcery, though sorcery and magic is an aspect I'm sure you're already acquainted with, and you will have one goal, slay the hero before he destroys the world."
"Doesn't sound like much of a hero if he's destroying the world… Regardless from what I'm gathering, it seems like my options are be reborn without any memories and wiping my soul clean, which in a way is basically the same as killing me, or I can be reborn again, and do whatever I want so long as I slay the hero before he destroys the world?"
"That's correct, once your mission is accomplished you're free to enjoy a new life as you please!"
The deal seems fair enough, but it's hard to gauge her true intentions. She's certainly more tolerable than Being X, but I still can't trust a self-proclaimed god like this.
"I'm afraid that I can't trust you. I've had a bad enough experience with a certain Being X, and I'd rather not get my hands full with a Being Y."
"Then how about I prove it to you? For one, I will not try to force faith on you, the one you call Being X has always been forceful with pushing along faith, especially recently. The world you originate from is a world without one single god, but is rather a free domain for other gods with their own domain to try and gain influence in, that's why they're so insistent on increasing faith as it increases their influence and power they have over the world. We lost our influence on Earth long ago, mostly due to him, so believe me, I am not in any way working with said 'Being X.' To further prove myself, I will let you reincarnate with your Computation Jewel. The curse placed by him will be removed, however as I cannot have foreign magical technology like this to go rampant, no matter how one redesigns it, any type of Computation Jewel will only work for you. How about that? The deal remains, you keep your Jewel, and I'll even sneak in your rifle, and you don't have to worry about me forcing on faith, I have no need to regardless."
I sighed, it is a decent offer. I still can't trust them, but I believe it's best to look at this like a business deal between 2 people and view this Being Y not as my boss, let alone my goddess, but rather as a business partner, and to be fair I wouldn't mind extending my life a bit.
"Alright fine, I'll take your offer, but I will only be viewing you as a business partner I've made a deal with, do not expect me to worship you, or even directly take your orders unless it's beneficial to me."
"If that's how you wish to view it then that's fine." She then disappeared, reappearing a second later at a table with two chairs. It looked like a tea party, though instead of tea on my side, it was coffee. Even if this is another Being X, at least they were nice enough to get some good coffee. I sat down and began drinking the coffee. It is one of the best I have ever tasted, though arguably Visha still made it better, maybe it was because Visha made it and not whatever this is.
She pointed a finger towards my head and spoke again "You have until 18 years after you're born, and here's all the information you'll need to know." As she said this, waves of information rushed my mind. It is quite useful actually, and things work very differently, not to mention this world's still closer to medieval times. I suppose that's what she meant when she said 'swords and sorcery.'
Suddenly the area around us changed, we stood in a transparent sphere with segments labeled with the letters A through D and S, likely some kind of ranking system. The floor we are on looks like bright randomly colored tiles and above us is… is that a fucking disco ball? "So I assume we're doing something here?"
"Right you are, here you'll be picking your skills, normally humans have up to 5 skills, one from each rank. Normally it's incredibly rare, but I just happened to give you 5 randomly selected skills that just happen to be convenient for you."
I'll give her one thing, she seemed to also have a knack for finding bypasses in the rules, as overall it seems her ability to control or influence the world is limited, so they might truly not be as big of a deal as Being X, though I still don't trust them. For now I had one question, "Would it be alright if I somehow found a way to save the world without killing the hero?" The main reason I wanted to know is that if possible, avoiding a fight with the Hero, who seems freakishly overpowered, would likely be a good idea.
"If you can somehow do that, then yes, that will work, though… The question is if it's even possible. Anyways go ahead and pick your skills! I'll get out of your way so you can decide."
Just on queue she disappeared, and suddenly… is that music playing from the disco ball? Whatever, I'll take a look at the skills and pick what's best…
Part III: Deciding Futures
After a few minutes I make my decisions, I get one skill of every rank, so I get 5 total.
[D Rank Skill - Aging Resistance] Inhibits the user's aging rate after the development of their secondary sexual characteristics.
[C Rank Skill - Marksmanship] Improves the user's ability to aim ranged attacks including long-range spells, bows, and any other ranged weapon.
[B Rank Skill - Limitless Growth] Allows the user to break through their natural limitations
[A Rank Skill - Enchantment Forger] Allows the user to make their own enchantments and removes restraints on most enchantments
[S Rank Skill - Mana Manipulation] Increases Mana Recover Rate, Decreases mana uses, amplifies Mana Growth, allows full control over one's internal mana flow and the mana in their immediate area.
Each skill has its own advantages. Starting from D, there ultimately weren't too many which were actually useful due to how common they are, though one did seem intriguing and even had me questioning why it was in D rank, I opted for Aging Resistance, it would likely allow me to live a longer life and stay young and fit for longer and while that won't help much with the Hero since he'll be here in 18 years, it's good to have for afterwards. Many of the C-rank skills provided advantages to using certain weapons or tools, as such I opted for Marksmanship. I was already a pretty good shot, however this made me even better, so it was good to grab.
My B-Rank Skill Limitless Growth is fairly self explanatory, I can't beat the Hero with normal human standards, and this along with my S-Rank skill will allow me to maximize my magical output. My A-Rank skill is Enchantment Forger, which allows me to make magical enhancements and enchantments to items, most notably my rifle and perhaps my Type 95. From what I can tell, magical enchantments and enhancements aren't too common, however with this skill I can easily make heavily powerful ones and make my gun easily into a superweapon on par with some of the rarest and most sought after items in this world. Lastly was my S-Rank Skill Mana Manipulation, which aside from rapidly improving my overall mana growth, recovery, and capabilities, also allows me to have complete control over my magic and the magic in the air around me. While my control over magic around me only reaches about 6 feet, it's enough to change the mana flow around me to do various things. The most notable thing though is how I can control my own mana flowing out of me when I use spells or even Formulas with my computation Jewel. The most notable change is the fact that it allows me to maximize the efficiency of my mana usage, using the least amount of mana needed for a spell or whatever. This allows me to rapidly regain my mana storages while using the least amount of mana one could possibly use. Another point comes from my Enchantment Forger which with my Mana Manipulation skill could allow me to much more easily make enchantments that are far more fragile to establish, and perhaps even fragile to contain.
Lastly, and most importantly, it allows me to far more effectively flow mana through my Computation Jewel, and theoretically, it should double the output due to its increase in efficiency. While the Type 95 is an incredibly precise tool, it was never fully upgraded to remove the kinks, with the curse Being X gave it being the only thing maintaining its stability, though the curse part of that is gone now, the stability portion should remain according to Being Y. With Mana Manipulation though, the unoptimized parts of the Jewel can be made up for, allowing its full theoretical maximum power to be used, allowing me to use it at twice the power. Of course I highly doubt I'm going to come out of the womb with the Jewel, so it might be even a few years before I get it.
Lastly I got to decide out of 6 Elements to choose from. My choices are Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, and Dark. While I don't believe Water will be directly necessary, and Earth not fully necessary, with the rapid pace I can increase my magical skill, I shouldn't have a problem handling all four of the main attributes, though Light and Dark aren't particularly useful to me.
With everything decided the area around be shifts back to the purple area I started off at, Being Y back in her throne as she seemed to be looking over my choices, "Interesting choices, nothing all to fancy, though Magic Manipulation could be interesting, and enchantments are a fading trade, so I wonder what you'll do with those. Anyways, it's time to be reborn. You will be born in the noble house of Tuathe Dé which makes their living as assassins. I'm aware that's not quite your calling, however you can learn quite a bit from them. Also you'll be born with a cute twin brother, so don't do anything naughty with him… not that I think he'd let you." She giggles as she finishes her sentence, lights springing up in a circle around the area in lights as what I can only assume was my soul being taken away to be reincarnated once more.
"Welp, I've done it once and I can do it again. The Rhine front was hell, so it's gonna take a lot for Being Y to try and top that. I might not have secured victory just yet, but Being X, I assure you, I'm still laughing."