World of Chyraea

Jaxin's eyes fluttered open.

…where…?

He was lying on cold, hard, flagstones, with two tall, grey walls stretching above his head on either side of him. For a moment he thought he had been mugged in an alleyway, but then in a rush it all came back to him. The Lords… his friends… and his mission.

Just my luck to be transported to this world only for it to be a smelly alleyway.

He clambered to his feet and dusted himself down. He was wearing a simple cloth shirt and leggings, along with a leather vest and shoes, with two bracelets on his wrists, one a silvery-white metallic colour and the other a dark red with black edges.

Good, at least my swords are still with me, stored in their bracelet forms.

At that moment, he felt a pang in his head and a surge of energy coursed through him, before a voice clicked on in his head.

"Greetings, Dark Sovereign, Jaxin Zhang. Was your 20-year sleep well? This is a recorded message left by Rieng."

…! Rieng left me a message in my head…? Higher Beings can really do anything… wait, I'm also technically one. I gotta ask them how…

"Unfortunately, we will not be able to be in contact with you as often as before."

Oh. Before, during the battle against Mazog, the Lords' voice were constantly in our heads, giving us advice and pumping us with energy. It was almost as if we were together on the battlefield.

"This world only has one main continent, which is gigantic, and is called Chyraea. There is more than one race of sentient beings in this world, and the others have already arrived here for half a year. Your arrival was delayed because of the time it took to process your power. The place you are currently in right now is called Eldrith, and is the capital of the kingdom of humans, Etherea. It should be easy to get yourself situated here. That is all. Please rebuild your army and regather your strength. Until next time, Dark Sovereign."

Jax exhaled and leaned against the stone brick wall of the alley to regather his thoughts.

Can I use mana here…?

He made an attempt to gather his Dark Mana in his palm, but there was no response through his young body.

That's understandable. I only formed my mana veins at eighteen years old, and currently my body has reverted back to the body of a fourteen year old.

"Master?"

The familiar voice of someone he knew made him jump. A wisp of purple energy, which looked more like smoke, detached from his shoulder, but remained connected to him by a thin wisp.

“…Quix?”

“That is correct, master!”

Two glowing slits that resembled eyes appeared in the wisp, and it looped around Jax’s head like a fairy. Quix had been Jax’s closest and most loyal summon back in the war, and had accompanied him since his 101st regression, being his first ever summon.

Yeah, I need to rebuild my army from back then. After all, along with all my other strengths, necromancy is still what lets me fight on par against the armies of the Sovereigns. At least I still have Quix… but where are the other generals…?

“Master, the other generals are trapped in a dimensional rift,” Quix explained. “I was the only one who wasn’t confined there, but I am unable to release even a slightly stronger form at the moment… so I don’t think I’ll be too useful in a fight.”

“It’s because I don’t have mana or energy at the moment,” said Jax, flexing his fingers. "I need to replenish my power enough to be able to summon you guys again. In the war, I had an almost infinite mana pool and mana veins at their peak."

He clenched his hand, and felt the weak force within it,

"Now, I don't have anything."
"Master, you have me."

"As a wisp of energy that doesn't even have hands, yeah."

He opened and closed his hands again.

"Hmm, no. My strength and speed and whatnot are definitely above that of an average human being at the moment."

He drew back his fist and punched the stone brick wall next to him, and his fist sunk into the rock, sending a spiderweb of cracks slithering across its surface. He withdrew his hand, leaving behind a dent at the point of impact.

"Step one: gathering information. Step two: finding a backer to establish a foothold in this world. Step three: getting stronger. Step four: regather my old allies. Step five: unite the people of this world against the Sovereigns. That's my master plan."

"Solid plan," said Quix. "And how many years is this plan going to take?"
"I don't know," Jax said. "Uniting a new world is different than uniting Earth, because if this world has anything similar to mana, it'd already have been here for eons. People won't look to new users of their power as heroes like on Earth. They'll only look to those who prove themselves as heroes." 

Just then, a scream cut through his thoughts.

"…that's definitely the scream of a young girl," Jax muttered. "I just hope it's a noble."

"Don't you know who I am!?" the girl demanded. "I am the youngest daughter of the Gilsend house, Edith Gilsend! If you even so much as touch us, you'll live to regret it for the rest of your lives!"

She pushed her younger brother behind her back, but they were pinned against a dead end, and the four bulky thugs were lumbering closer.

"Hehe, little miss," one of them said, licking his knife, and showing off his wicked scars in the dim light of oil lamps. "We of the Bandit Union have no fear of the Ten Great Houses. Selling you off will earn us quite a lot in the mountains."

"What are you doing?" scoffed the biggest and meanest-looking one, who looked like he spent his spare time face-planting on sidewalks. "Hurry and grab them already. Sell the girl to the mountaineers, and the boy to the slavers."

"Yes, sir!"

"Can I have some of the money?" Jax asked from in between two of them.

"A-AAAAAAAAH!?!?!?!?!?"

The thugs leapt backwards in surprise, but quickly regained themselves when they saw that it was just a boy.

"What are you doing here, kid?" one of the thugs grunted. "Can't you see we're busy?"

The thug leader eyed him up and down.

"From the looks your clothing, you don't seem to be affiliated with them… but…"

The leader narrowed his eyes as he took in Jax's build and his bright eyes.

"…you'll make a good worker in the mines. Grab him as well."

The three goons chortled and started forwards towards them, and Jax felt a tug on his sleeve.

"Hey," Edith whispered. "Are you stupid? Now we're all going to get sold!"

"Nope, we aren't," Jax said.

"Huh…?"

The first thug, who looked like a cross between a gorilla and a hippo, reached towards him, and Jax punched him right on the nose, sending him catapulting backwards like a beach ball.

"What… could it be that…"

Jax grabbed the second thug's face with on hand and slammed him down in the flagstones, embedding him on his back in the ground. The third roared in anger and brandished a kitchen cleaver, but Jack shattered it with his foot and gave the thug a ferocious kick to the neck, snapping it in an instant. A few drops of blood dribbled from the man's lips, and then he collapsed with a thud.

…he… killed him!!

Edith covered her mouth with her trembling hands, while shielding her brother from the gory right, trying not to be sick at the sight of the man's twisted neck.

"Kuhuhu…" the leader rumbled, drawing himself up to his full towering height and mashing his massive fists together. "What great fortune for me. To think I would meet a kid awakener."

He licked his lips with hunk of grey muscle that was his tongue, and gave Jax the ugliest smile he had ever seen.

"COME HERE, MY LITTLE BAG OF GOLD!!"

The tank of a human being lunged forwards, but Jax sidestepped and punched him in the side. The brute grunted, but shrugged it off with his physique.

"Tch!"
His muscle density is no joke. It's no ordinary build.

Jax manoeuvred his way around the giant's clumsy and heavy blows, striking his stomach, chest and face with quick, sharp blows, sending drops of blood flying across the alleyway. He bellowed in rage and stampeded forwards like a military tank, trying to tackle Jax and sweep his legs out from under him, but Jax jumped over him and the ogre crashed into the stone wall of the alleyway, leaving a gigantic hollow.

"You… little… rat!!"

"If fists don't do the trick, I guess I'll just cut."

Jax plucked one of the fallen bandits' knives from the ground and slashed the leader's stomach open in one strike.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!"

His meaty hands fumbled at the gash in his belly, which was spewing out a waterfall of blood, and before he knew it his knees had also been slashed. He fell with a thump to the ground, and glared up at Jax with his mean little piggy eyes.

"You… brat. Do you think you'll be safe after this? The Bandit Union will never let you go after you do this."

"That's only if they give half a thought for you useless lumps of skin disease," Jax scoffed. "And even if they do come, I'll make sure to send them after you."

"B-brat!! YOU'LL REGRET THI-"

He didn't finish, because in the next second his massive head was off his shoulders.