Volume 1 Chapter 6 ACT.5 The Phantom Thief Incident (III)
With a swift swing of his sword aimed at the empty air, a spectacular spray of blood erupted around Rai.
"Gah──cough!!"
From the cloud of blood that had just burst forth, the figure of a girl appeared, her body marked by a deep slash across her shoulder.
"Sister!!"
As Rai stepped closer to the injured girl, another girl in the same outfit materialized from the shadows, stepping protectively in front of her.
In that moment, Rai felt a rush of certainty; his hypothesis had been right all along.
'So your abilities aren't about spatial teleportation, but rather, you can turn invisible and use a substitute trick.'
"You figured it out!?"
'I sensed something odd last night.'
Last night's encounter had given Rai 2 distinct feelings of unease.
The first was that the girl he fought had shown no signs of guarding her wounded left hand when she reappeared.
Then there was the fact that this second girl held something glowing red in her left hand.
From a distance, it was hard to tell, but since the trinket had been in Rai's possession, it was certain that it wasn't a jewel.
As a result, Rai deduced that the girl's power wasn't spatial movement but rather the ability to conceal herself, enabling her to pull off a substitution strategy.
The lack of guard for her injured arm and the possession of a fake jewel──both made sense if he considered that his unexpected presence had thrown a wrench into their previously calculated plan.
Moreover, there had been rare reports in the past of reincarnators manifesting similar powers concurrently.
It all pointed to one conclusion──
'You two are reincarnators with the same previous life, aren't you?'
At his statement, the two girls remained silent, their lips sealed tighter than a vault.
Rai interpreted their silence as confirmation.
If that were true, it would explain why they shared the same abilities and why the Saint Stella had only spoken one true name of a reincarnator.
'Once I understand the trick, I won't fall for such a magic act again.'
With that declaration, Rai readied his dark blade, glinting dully in the setting sun, and took a step forward.
Just then, the girl who had stepped in front of her wounded companion spoke up.
"Please, just let us go."
It was a plea for mercy.
"We sisters have a younger brother who's seriously ill. To save him, we need money. ──That's why we became thieves."
Upon hearing those words, Rai came to a halt.
Misunderstanding Rai's sudden stop, the girl continued to speak.
"We only stole from a noble house with a bad reputation, and we didn't kill or hurt anyone! We haven't done anything wrong! Once we sell those jewels, we'll live quietly in some distant town!"
'So, you want me to hand over the jewels and let you go?'
The girl nodded silently at Rai's question.
Hearing that, Rai reached into her pocket and pulled out the jewels in question.
Just as hope lit up in the girl's eyes for an instant.
'You're all mistaken about something.'
Saying this, Rai dropped the jewels to the ground and, with a swift movement, crushed them under her foot right before the girls' eyes.
"W-What!?"
'I didn't come here to punish you for your wrongdoings. I'm not here as an agent of the nobility to capture you.'
Consumed by a fury fueled by hatred, Rai stomped down repeatedly, relentlessly smashing the jewels into pieces.
She trampled their hopes into dust.
'I came here to kill you because you're reincarnators.'
With his eyes burning with dark flames, Rai proclaimed this to them.
It didn't matter if they were good or evil; they had no future.
He would end their lives right here.
"N-No! What about my brother?!"
'Let him die on his own.'
"You heartless monster!!"
In an instant, the girl who had shouted that found her head flying through the air.
As her head thudded to the ground, Rai shouted out.
'Don't lecture me on humanity, you reincarnated beasts!!!!'
Walking toward the remaining girl, who could barely rise, Rai advanced.
The girl was losing a lot of blood; she would soon breathe her last if left alone.
Yet, Rai didn't want to give her even that moment's grace.
He couldn't tolerate the thought of reincarnators existing in this world for even one more second.
"Hey, can I say my last words?"
'What is it?'
As he raised his sword to behead her, he paused to listen to the girl's final words.
With that, the girl said one last thing.
"Actually, we're not just sisters ── we're 3 sisters!"
The next moment, a sharp sound resounded behind Rai as the ground was kicked up.
Yes, they had an ace up their sleeve.
There was another presence, one that hadn't participated in the fight, quietly waiting in the shadows with their extraordinary ability.
Rai had completely forgotten about that possibility.
This was a perfect ambush.
Rai had no way to dodge or the luxury of countering.
"──This is for Ana!!"
Just then, as the girl rushed in from behind, dagger poised to plunge into Rai's abdomen──right between the gaps in his armor.
──...I didn't exactly have time to let something like this play out.
Rai didn't know, but I did. I knew everything from the start, so reacting was easy.
Alright then, guess I'll be borrowing his body for a bit.
Thinking that, I hijacked Rai's body, forcibly switching off his consciousness.
I grabbed the girl's wrist, stopping the dagger just before it could plunge in.
"──What!?"
'My bad.'
With that, I swung the hilt of the sword hard against her neck, knocking her out cold.
'Ah, man, who would've thought I'd have to step in? You little ladies are something else! A regular knight would've dropped dead by now──impressive, truly!'
The girl stared at me, her eyes wide.
Was her face pale from shock, or was it from a lack of blood?
'Speaking of which, I suppose this is our first meeting. Nice to meet you, my name is Rai Conwell. I'm a reincarnated person with the ability to read minds.'
"R-read minds? W-wait, y-you're a r-reincarnated person?"
She looked utterly bewildered.
But it was understandable──the very person who'd been shouting "reincarnated folks should die!" just moments ago was now claiming to be one himself.
'Oh, but you've got to keep it a secret, alright? Rai doesn't know about me!'
──Right, we, Rai Conwell, are quite an unusual case of reincarnation, where my previous self and this current personality of Rai are completely separate.
It's a bit of a special case how my past self kind of likes Rai and decided to lend him my body and life.
'Well, I mean, it's not like I'm asking you to keep it secret when I'm about to kill you here.'
With that, I swiftly swung my sword, decapitating the girl I had thrown to the ground earlier.
"W-why would you do that!? We're both reincarnated people!!"
'If that's what Rai wants, then I'll go along with it. It's like I'm his guardian or something?'
With those playful words, I set off to silence the last witness to our secret.
The final child, face twisted in fear, stared at me as I approached, my footsteps echoing around us.
"Y-you're a monster!"
'Yeah, we're both in the same boat.'
With that, I delivered the finishing blow to the child.
* * *
This is not just the story of Purge Knight Rai.
It's also about me, his dear partner, watching over him as the storyteller and avenger.
In the end, it's the tale of Rai Conwell (us).
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)