Three Days Later...
VORATH was sitting inside a carriage, on his way to his new mission.
A mission that would conveniently allow him to avoid attending the Academy of Magic and Martial Arts.
The academy was an institution created to train noble teenagers and a few talented commoners, allowing them to develop their abilities before eventually taking important positions in society.
For most people, attending the academy was an opportunity.
For VORATH, it was a waste of time.
He had never attended school in his first life.
His sword had been his only teacher.
With it, he had learned only what was necessary: swordsmanship and the most efficient ways to kill someone.
During his long life, VORATH had never even learned how to read or write.
In this second life, however, things had been different.
As a noble, he had received a proper education. He had learned how to read, write, and calculate. He had also received lessons in military strategy, economics, politics, and even how to rule.
It was something normal among nobles.
The children of important families were given private tutors from a young age until the day they entered the academy, where their studies would focus mainly on magic and martial arts.
For that reason, attending such a place made no sense to VORATH.
He had already learned everything he had been missing from his first life.
And in his previous life, he had learned something far more important.
Power.
Now, he possessed both sets of knowledge.
And for the first time in a very long time, he had no immediate goals.
All he wanted was to become stronger.
Strong enough to never lose anything again.
Strong enough to prevent the destruction of the universe.
Not because he wanted to be a hero.
In truth, VORATH had no interest in saving strangers.
He simply did not want to lose to his own sword when the time came to face it in the future.
If achieving that goal required him to save the entire universe...
Then so be it.
Indirectly, he would end up saving everyone anyway.
VORATH turned his gaze toward the carriage window.
It was not pulled by horses.
Instead, two beasts more than three meters tall walked calmly along the road. A tattoo representing his family's crest was visible on the side of their bodies.
VORATH watched the creatures for a few seconds.
"These servants of my third mother are incredible... I wish I had the ability to tame beasts. But my cultivation is already everything I need..."
He sighed.
Three hours later, the carriage finally arrived at its destination.
A small village.
As soon as VORATH stepped out of the carriage, he found the guards who had escorted him there.
All of them had their heads lowered.
VORATH looked around.
The village was small.
Far too small.
He slightly frowned.
"Why am I in a village? Wasn't I supposed to be sent to an arena?"
He narrowed his eyes.
"Looks like my father tricked me. Tsk, tsk."
After observing the area for a moment, VORATH turned toward one of the guards.
"Do I have a deadline for completing the mission?"
"No, sir."
The guard swallowed before continuing.
"You only need to prevent this village from being completely massacred within the next two days. After that, the mission will be considered complete."
VORATH remained silent.
"What do you mean?"
The guard took a deep breath.
"Well... Young Master..."
He looked toward the village.
"This village is normally empty because of the monster attacks in this region. However, because of this mission, it has been repopulated with criminals."
VORATH raised an eyebrow.
"I see."
He paused.
"You can leave now. I will complete the mission."
The guard stared into VORATH's eyes.
After a few seconds, he simply nodded.
He began walking backward, but stopped before leaving.
"Sir..."
VORATH looked at him.
"With all due respect, everyone currently living here is considered a criminal. But there is something you need to know."
The guard took a deep breath.
"They are not criminals because they are bad people."
VORATH remained silent.
"Everyone here is a thief who stole from stores just to get food. They are nothing more than beggars who were previously invisible to the eyes of the nobles."
The guard clenched his fists.
"Even so, they accepted coming here despite the dangers. They came because they simply wanted a place they could call home."
He lowered his head.
"And they came knowing exactly what dangers awaited them for two reasons."
VORATH continued looking at him.
"The first was the threat of being sentenced to death for their thefts."
The guard raised his head.
"The second was the promise that if you managed to complete the mission, they would be pardoned."
VORATH remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he let out a quiet sigh.
"I see..."
He looked at the village again.
"So my father was really that cruel."
His eyes became slightly colder.
"He threatened these people and then promised that if I managed to protect them, they would be pardoned."
VORATH turned his gaze back toward the guard.
"But don't worry."
A small smile appeared on his face.
"I will save them."
He paused.
"Well... as many as I can."
The guard looked surprised.
"Having no casualties is impossible. And I only need at least one person to remain alive for the mission to be considered complete, correct?"
"Y-Yes, sir."
The guard bowed.
"The mission is simply to prevent the village from being completely eradicated."
He hesitated before adding:
"Excuse me, Young Master."
The guard quickly left without looking back.
VORATH watched him disappear.
"Tsk."
He crossed his arms.
"I'll show that old man and my brother, who assigned this mission, that they shouldn't underestimate me."
He then began walking through the village.
As he moved through the streets, VORATH spread out his senses.
Almost every house was occupied.
The people remained inside, as if they genuinely believed those fragile brick walls could protect them from monsters.
VORATH continued walking until he reached the center of the village.
There was a well there.
He sat on its edge and began to think.
"Monsters tend to follow the strongest souls..."
His eyes swept across the forest surrounding the village.
"And this village is completely surrounded by a forest."
He rested his chin on his hand.
"Military strategies wouldn't work. After all, every villager here is an ordinary human."
Little by little, VORATH began to understand the reason behind the mission.
"I see..."
He let out a humorless laugh.
"My father and brother expect me to give up once I'm overwhelmed by the monster attacks."
VORATH closed his eyes.
"Or they expect me to choose the easiest path..."
His expression remained indifferent.
"Protect only one villager and let the rest be massacred."
He sighed.
"They expect that after watching an entire village being destroyed, I won't be able to handle it and will abandon the mission to prevent more people from dying."
VORATH remained silent.
"That old man is cold..."
He opened his eyes.
"But he knows how to read people."
A small smile appeared on his face.
"Even though I kept my expression emotionless, he realized that I have some kind of trauma related to death."
VORATH looked toward the sky.
"Little does he know that I don't really care about the deaths of strangers."
His expression became slightly more serious.
"Of course... there is no way he could know that this is my second life."
He closed his eyes again.
"The only deaths that truly traumatized me were those of my parents."
For a few moments, he remained silent.
"But I'd rather take another path."
VORATH took a deep breath.
"I want to leave my life of revenge and hatred behind."
He opened his eyes.
"I have no regrets anymore."
A barely noticeable smile appeared on his face.
"I resolved everything in my previous life."
He then stood up.
"Now I can live this life without regrets."
VORATH sighed.
The hours passed.
The sunset disappeared beyond the horizon.
Strangely, no monsters had appeared.
VORATH narrowed his eyes.
"..."
Then he realized it.
"Damn it."
He covered his face with one hand.
"How did I not think of this?"
If monsters really attacked the strongest souls...
His family would never send him here without some form of protection.
"Then there must be family guards hidden somewhere in the forest."
VORATH looked toward the trees.
"They're probably here to rescue me if things get out of control."
His expression became serious.
"And while they're doing that, they're attracting the monsters' attention toward themselves."
A chill ran down his spine.
"Damn it."
He quickly began thinking.
"If it were only my soul, I might attract the attention of a few hundred monsters."
His expression changed.
"But..."
VORATH looked toward the forest.
"If the people watching over me are much stronger than I am..."
He swallowed.
"Then what the hell is going to attack this village?"
His strategy had to change.
Immediately.
VORATH began concealing his presence as much as possible.
The bodyguards were probably already fighting monsters.
In that case, to the monsters, he might not be much different from an ordinary mortal.
He let out a quiet laugh.
"To think my father and brother would sacrifice even the family's bodyguards just to make me give up..."
VORATH shook his head.
"By attracting hordes of monsters toward them."
Without wasting any more time, VORATH jumped into the well.
As he fell, he noticed something strange.
The well was more than fifty meters deep.
And it was completely dry.
When he reached the bottom, VORATH simply sat down and began meditating.
He controlled his breathing.
Then he spread his senses throughout the entire village.
"When one of the villagers is attacked, I'll leave this place and begin the hunt."
He closed his eyes.
"With some luck, I'll only have to wait a few hours until dawn."
A cold smile appeared on his face.
"Then these damn monsters will have to retreat."
A few minutes passed.
Then...
VORATH felt one of the life presences in the village disappear.
His eyes immediately opened.
He frowned.
"What's going on...?"
A second later, all nineteen remaining presences inside the same house disappeared at once.
"What...?"
VORATH stood up.
Without thinking twice, he began climbing out of the well.
As soon as he reached the top, he ran toward the house.
But when he arrived...
He became confused.
"But..."
He looked around.
"There was a house here."
There was nothing.
No building.
No rubble.
Nothing.
VORATH narrowed his eyes.
"How is this possible?"
He observed the area for several seconds.
The longer he looked, the stranger everything seemed.
Then he realized something else.
He couldn't remember why he had left the well.
"What...?"
He put a hand on his head.
"Why did I leave the well?"
VORATH froze.
"I should have waited for a monster to attack."
His confusion deepened.
Then he felt another presence disappear.
His eyes widened.
VORATH ran again.
This time, he found the answer.
A creature more than ten meters tall stood before him.
Completely black.
No eyes.
No mouth.
No identifiable features whatsoever.
It looked like a gigantic mass of living smoke.
The creature was devouring a house.
The building was slowly disappearing into its black body, as if it were being consumed by smoke that corrupted reality itself.
VORATH immediately recognized the species.
Thanks to his lessons, he knew exactly what stood before him.
"A Devourer..."
His eyes became cold.
"Now I understand."
Devourers were a relatively fragile species of monster.
However, they were also among the most dangerous creatures in existence.
Everything a Devourer consumed was erased from existence.
Not merely its body.
Its very connection to the world was destroyed.
Even other people's memories of whatever had been devoured disappeared.
The only way to recover those memories was to kill the Devourer responsible.
Even then, the victims could never be brought back.
Devourers primarily attacked ordinary humans because their souls were weak.
Furthermore, they were extremely stealthy monsters.
They were almost never discovered.
After all, if no one witnessed the attack, there would be no evidence that they had ever been there.
VORATH wasted no time.
He drew the magical weapon he had received before leaving.
He aimed.
Bang!
The shot pierced the Devourer's body.
The creature died instantly.
VORATH lowered the weapon.
"Damn..."
He looked at the remains of the monster.
"How many people did this thing kill?"
Then he felt something.
Memories began flowing into his mind.
VORATH closed his eyes as the information was absorbed.
A few seconds later, he opened them again.
"Fortunately..."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Only two houses."
Even so...
More than forty people had died.
"Damn it."
VORATH clenched his fists.
"At this rate, I'll fail the mission."
Fortunately, the sky was already beginning to brighten.
Dawn was approaching.
This would allow him to organize his strategy more effectively.
VORATH looked toward the village.
"In the end, I'll have to choose someone to protect above everyone else."
He sighed.
"If I try to save everyone, I might end up saving no one."
VORATH remained near the destroyed house, waiting for the sun to appear on the horizon.
When the first rays of light emerged, he began moving.
This time, he searched for houses with large concentrations of people.
"Fortunately, no powerful monster appeared..."
He paused.
"But a weak one was already enough to kill so many people."
VORATH had never truly understood the power of mortals.
In his first life, he had gone from being an ordinary mortal to a divine being without ever truly interacting with other humans.
His life had been reduced to losing his parents, encountering the Eclipse, spending thousands of years training, and finally seeking revenge.
Aside from his parents...
Only now, in his second life, was VORATH beginning to truly interact with other human beings.
"I need to choose someone to protect."
He continued walking through the village.
For several hours, he spoke with different villagers.
He tried to determine whom he should protect.
In the end, his choice was not based on strength, talent, or usefulness.
It was based on something much simpler.
The villagers themselves had chosen to protect a child above their own lives.
Because of that, VORATH eventually found himself holding the hand of a boy who appeared to be a little over eight years old.
He crouched slightly.
"Boy, what's your name?"
The boy answered strangely.
Even though he was in a terrifying environment, surrounded by the constant threat of monsters, he showed no fear.
No sadness.
No anxiety.
It was as if he were completely devoid of emotions.
"My name is Ethan, sir..."
VORATH smiled.
"That's a nice name."
He extended his hand.
"Mine is VORATH."
After establishing a few strategies, VORATH spoke.
"Ethan, I'm going to take you inside the village well. You'll stay hidden there."
The boy looked at him.
"I'll stay nearby. If anything appears, scream. I'll hear you."
Naturally, VORATH had no intention of actually leaving him alone.
Therefore, he decided to take an additional precaution.
He separated approximately five percent of his soul and connected it to the boy.
Such a small amount of soul could naturally regenerate over time.
However, there was still a risk.
The soul was directly connected to the strength of the body.
Even a five-percent loss could take decades to completely recover.
Furthermore, if VORATH suffered a spiritual attack while his soul was divided, the consequences would be far more serious.
Still...
After analyzing the situation, VORATH reached a conclusion.
It was a risk worth taking.
If Ethan were attacked by a monster that affected souls...
VORATH would know.
If another Devourer appeared...
He would know that as well.
Five percent of his soul was an insignificant price compared to the possibility of protecting someone.
Even if he had to wait several decades to completely recover that portion...
It was far more worthwhile than doing nothing.
VORATH held Ethan's hand.
"Let's go."