Leon Greyrat: The Second Son – Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 46 – Despair

Chapter 46 – Despair

— Leon Greyrat —

With the Red Dragon Mountain Range looming over the distant horizon, I couldn’t help but smile at how far we had come.

Beyond those mountains... more specifically, past the Red Dragon’s Lower Jaw near the coastline... was the Asura Kingdom.

My home.

Our home.

After three years, we were finally there.

“Leon! Is that-!?”

“Yes, Eri. We’re in the final stretch now,” I said, interrupting her. “...It’s been a long time, huh?”

Eris looked forward before leaning her head on my shoulder.

“It... wasn’t that bad,” she said, looping her arm around mine. “...Right?”

“...Right,” I said before I planted a kiss on the top of her head.

As one might expect from that sweet interaction, our journey has been relatively smooth so far.

Not too much different from the Millis Continent, which surprised me.

While monsters were able to attack the highway, and we needed to fend for ourselves on the road, there were frequent rest stops and towns littered along the way, so our nights were, for the most part, uninterrupted.

As Eris pressed herself closer to me, I couldn't help but feel a certain set of... assets pressing against my arm.

Assets that I couldn’t help but notice growing by the day.

Well, that made sense. After all, she was a growing young girl and was in the closing in on the peak of her growth period as she was now 15.

Thinking about it... we were both 15 now.

We were both... adults.

I felt my cheeks heat up as I shifted in my seat, making sure the tightening in my pants didn’t make itself known, especially to the girl sitting next to me.

Getting flustered just at the implication of sex... I bet Paul would be laughing at me right now if he were here.

But, no. We won’t cross that line just yet... maybe.

Shaking my head to get rid of the arousing thoughts, I leaned on Eris' head as I guided the horses down the road, toward the gateway of the Asura Kingdom.

Yeah, as for us being 15, we could wait to celebrate once we reached Sharia, and that celebration just maybe have some other... gifts.

But for now, I needed to focus!

Focus on the road ahead, Leon!

Following my own advice, I turned my gaze forward and looked at the empty road in front of us, only to realize a moment later, that it wasn’t completely empty.

The heck?

Those looked like... people?

I had yet to see a person not riding a horse or carriage, save for Eris who walked alongside us, and some guards who walked alongside their caravan, but these two didn’t look anything like that.

Narrowing my eyes, I focused on the two mysterious figures.

“Brother?” Norn asked, looking up from her whittling project.

“It’s nothing, Norn,” I said as I stared. “It’s just-”

As I enhanced my eyes with touki, it was then that I felt it.

Fear.

As the now-revealed man and woman came into focus, I felt my body tense in alarm, making Eris sit up straight as well.

The woman was fairly unassuming, with a blank white mask covering her face and long, black hair flowing down her back.

Despite appearing slightly ominous, she wasn’t what I was concerned about.

Rather, it was the man at her side.

With a long white coat and shoulder-length grey hair, the more I stared at the man, the more the feeling of fear increased, causing my hands that were gripping the reins to tremble slightly.

W-What? What the hell was this?

This was... similar to how I felt around Ruijerd at first, but... much worse.

Gulping down my anxiety, I then activated my Demon eye, causing my fear to skyrocket once more.

W-What... that mana... it was overwhelming.

Both in scale and form.

It coalesced inside the man’s body, not letting a single wisp escape like normal people did.

It could only be described as an inhuman level of efficiency.

And then, there was that mana surrounding the man, different from the mana inside him.

No... that was a curse.

Who... no, what was this thing?

Releasing the breath I had unconsciously held in, I stopped the carriage’s movements as I leaped forward, unconcerned at Eris’ state of paralyzed fear.

“W-Who are you?” I asked, raising my blade.

My fear... I was able to combat it, but as I got closer to them, it had increased.

What... was he?

The man narrowed his golden eyes as they surveyed me and my family.

“Eris Boreas Greyrat... Aisha and Norn Greyrat... and Leon of Rakaz...” the man said, looking at me with intrigue. “You’re supposed to either be dead or leading your group in the east. And that odd mana circulation... Is this his work? What is he playing at...”

Huh?

The fuck!?

“H-How do you know our names!?” I shouted.

I then felt Eris land beside me as she also drew her sword.

“Eri, go back,” I whispered. “He... you can’t beat him.”

“N-No... I fight beside you,” she said, though I could hear her voice trembling with every word.

Summoning a barrier to block off Eris and our carriage, I then began walking forward.

“Answer me!” I yelled.

Who was he? How did he know our names? Why did he call me ‘Leon of Rakaz’? And...

Why... despite the fear... did I want to kill him so badly?

The man looked at me oddly as he massaged his chin. “You... should not be here. Is it his doing? This early? Then... I suppose there’s only one way to find out.”

I widened my eyes as I watched his concentrated mana flare across his body.

Was he attacking?

No. I didn’t have the time to think.

I just had to do!

Letting my touki flow through my body and into my sword, I pushed myself to the limit as I leaped forward, crossing the distance in an instant as the colour drained from the world.

And, with the man simply raising his hand, my Longsword of Light was repelled, sending me tumbling across the road.

What?

Quickly getting to my feet and resetting my posture, I leaped back to get between him and our carriage as I tried to get my breathing under control.

He... deflected it like it was nothing.

That... was the Water God Style.

He dealt with me with the same ease as Master did, but... somehow, I could tell.

That... was an even stronger application of the Water God Style.

After all, I could still feel the tremor of the reversed touki in my bones.

Better than the god-damned Water God herself!

Overwhelming mana... overwhelming technique... overwhelming aura...

This man was not an opponent I could handle.

That... he stopped my magic?

How? Why?

No, I know why. It was to stop me from healing.

But he didn’t do that to my other magic... was he only stopping me from healing?

Shit.

As Orsted began walking towards me once more, I placed my still-intact left hand onto the ground, willing the dirt to form a blade in my hand as I compressed it further, filtering out the unneeded organic materials and minerals and supplying more material with my mana to form a hardened blade of stone and earth.

But before I could do anything with it, Orsted flashed in front of me, his hand sweeping across to shatter the makeshift blade before embedding itself in my chest.

...Huh.

I... was starting to feel a little calmer now.

That... was probably bad, right?

I shouldn’t be calm right now.

I barely registered the feeling of Orsted sliding his hand out of my torso, dropping me to the ground.

Nor did I register the strangled cries of Eris, Aisha, and Norn as all three took in my broken, beaten, and bloody form.

Shit... where was that bastard going?

Was he going to harm them? My family?

As if!

I... couldn’t just lay here and let that happen.

But, no matter how much I tried... I couldn’t move my body.

Did his strike go through my spine?

Fucking shit... that must be why I couldn’t feel my legs either.

Healing... wouldn’t work.

Orsted would just use that technique to explode it, and doing that so close to my heart could be deadly.

How did he do that? Some wave of mana to destabilize the spell?

Whatever, that didn’t matter. I needed to take him out beforehand, then I could deal with healing myself.

But, if I cast magic, he would just finish me off.

At least... if I cast magic seriously...

Orsted stopped as the dirt beneath his feet began to crawl up his legs.

“...What pathetic resistance,” he said, turning back to me. “You surprised me with that strength, but what are you doing now?”

Casting the earth magic to distract him, I continued building the mana above my palm, compressing and visualizing what I wanted to do.

Shit... the blood in my mouth tasted horrible... I had to finish this quickly before I started drowning in it.

Oh... Eris and my sisters were coming closer... I had to let this go before they got too close.

At least they were behind me.

“Hm?” Orsted hums, seemingly noticing the gathered mana in my hand. “What is this? A final attack?”

Right... what did Rudy call this again?

Ah, that’s right.

“Hehe,” I choked out with a strained smile. “It’s called nuclear fission, you fucker.”

What was the smallest thing in the world?

A grain of sand? A human cell? A protein? A molecule?

No... the smallest ‘thing’ was an atom.

And going deeper than that, there was the nucleus.

The building blocks of this world and everything that exists, has existed, and will ever exist.

And I... forced that building block to split.

A small light emerged from my hand, slowly gaining in brightness and intensity as it grew.

Willing the pure, unfathomable energy to concentrate into a projectile, I released it, right at the fucker that was staring at me with interest, as if I was a dog standing on its hind legs.

But, as the explosion surged forth, I watched as Orsted leaped out of the way, nearly unscathed save for the singed hair and coat.

...It missed.

Watching as my attack obliterated a distant mountaintop, setting the sky alight in a flash of orange, I felt my body collapse to the ground, unmoving as my heart began to slow.

That... was all of it. All of my mana.

That... was my final attack.

And now... I would die.

And I couldn’t even stop this monster... fuck.

“So that’s it, huh?” Orsted said, leering at me wearily. “...You are dangerous. Good thing that seems to be the last of your resistance.”

I took in a laboured breath before I felt my head get pulled upwards, my face turned to look up at the crying face of Eris, tears trailing down her cheeks as she desperately covered my gaping wound with her hands.

“Y-You’ll be okay! Y-You’re always okay! You have to be okay!” Eris shouted, choking on her words as they gradually turned into sobs, though her sobs slowly began to mute as I lost my sense of hearing.

That... wasn’t a good face she was wearing.

I... wanted to comfort her.

A pretty girl shouldn’t be looking like that.

She should be... happier.

With the last of my strength, I willed my left arm upwards, just enough to caress her cheek as my thumb brushed her smooth skin, tracing her jaw as I smeared it with my blood.

Ah... whoops.

That was a little gross, wasn’t it?

I hope... she isn’t mad at me...

I then moved my eyes to the side, watching as Aisha and Norn looked on with similarly tear-stained faces, their expressions a mix of shock, horror, and desperation.

Dammit... it seems like I made everyone sad, didn’t I?

I wanted to speak, but... I couldn’t.

I wanted to tell them to run.

I wanted to tell Eris to take my sisters and run away, to live.

I wanted to tell them to eat well, be safe, and find Rudy, or even head back to Paul if he hadn’t left yet. Maybe even Ruijerd if they could find him in the south.

I wanted to tell my sisters to grow up into the amazing women I knew they would be.

I wanted to tell Eris to live happily and find love, but selfishly, to still hold a special place for me in her heart.

I wanted to tell them to get on their knees and beg Orsted to spare them. Just survive and live happily, just like I always hoped for, regardless of their hatred or pride.

But... I couldn’t, for I could not speak.

I’m sorry, you three, for making you so sad.

I’m sorry for causing you so much pain.

I’m sorry for not being strong enough to protect you and myself.

I’m sorry for not keeping my promises.

I’m sorry for missing so many memories.

I’m sorry for not getting our family back together.

I’m sorry...

Shit... what a lousy brother I am... and what a lousy lover...

I promised Eris a life of loving memories and promised myself to keep my sisters happy and safe, yet here I was, bleeding out on the ground, depleted of all my mana.

Truly... a shame.

And with that, my vision went black, as everything faded away to nothingness, bitterness being the last emotion I felt.