WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior: Volume 1 Read online

  WIDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior

  Volume 1

  Brandon Varnell

  Edited by

  Crystal Holdefer

  Illustrated by

  Mikel Harford

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  WIEDERGEBURT: Legend of the Reincarnated Warrior, Vol. 1

  Copyright © 2019 Brandon Varnell & Kitsune Incorporated

  Illustration Copyright © 2019 Mykkel Harford

  All rights reserved.

  Brandon Varnell and Kitsune Incorporated supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce creative works that enrich our culture.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use the material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  To see Brandon Varnell’s other works, or to ask for permission to use his works, visit him at www.varnell-brandon.com, facebook, twitter, Patreon, and instagram.

  If you’d like to know when I’m releasing a new book, you can sign up for my mailing list at https://www.varnell-brandon.com/mailing-list.

  ISBN: 978-0-9989942-7-7

  Contents

  1. The Ending is Only the Beginning

  2. Back to the Time Before it all Fell Apart

  3. Our First Meeting for the Second Time

  4. Shopping for the Future

  5. Beginning to Train

  6. Embarrassing a Princess

  7. A Chance Meeting or a Fateful Encounter?

  8. Healing Fay

  9. The Training Continues

  10. Weighted Clothes

  11. Training to the Max!

  12. There’s a Snake in my Bed!

  13. A Reason to Become Stronger

  A Quick Word for Kindle Readers!

  Afterword

  Sneak Peak

  Manga Page 1

  Manga Page 2

  Manga Page 3

  Manga Page 4

  Hey, did you know?

  Brandon’s LNs

  American Kitsune

  WIEDERGEBURT 2

  A Most Unlikely Hero

  Arcadia’s Knight

  Journey of a Betrayed Hero

  Rift

  Executioner

  Follow me!

  Chapter 1

  The Ending is Only the Beginning

  The air burst all around me. Despite the fact that I was currently a being composed of lightning at that moment, I felt an indescribable pain that forced me to revert back into flesh and blood as my concentration slipped. Flames seared the hair off my arms and caused my skin to crack and burn. Blood seeped from my skin, looking almost like lava leaking from cracks in the earth’s crust.

  Though I quickly circulated my Spiritual Power, channeling the water element through my body to heal my wounds, I did not allow myself to sigh in relief. More explosions were detonating all around me, forcing me to swerve in every direction. What’s more, by channeling the water element and using it to heal myself, I had been forced to split my attention two ways.

  The lightning covering my body had grown weaker as a result of my split attention. In that moment, seven figures appeared above me. I glared up at the winged beasts flying over my head. They were naught but shadows. However, those shadows were currently surrounded by intense Spiritual Auras that crashed into me like tidal waves rolling over a small village.

  One of those great beasts released an avian cry before it swooped down, and the moment it did, the blazing heat surrounding my body grew even more fierce. Sweat broke out on my skin. It quickly dried up under this unfathomable heat. I could feel my skin getting singed once more, and I knew that I could no longer afford to run.

  Since this creature was using fire, I decided to use water.

  Dissipating the lightning in my body, I took a deep breath, and then circulated my Spiritual Power again. Instead of the sensation of static crawling across my skin, something soft and almost gel-like covered my body. One step further. Grimacing as the heat from the creature closing in caused steam to rise from my body, I channeled more Spiritual Power into myself and transformed my entire body into water.

  The great beast was finally upon me. What had appeared was an avian of such immense size that even the dragons living in the Misty Mountain Range could not compare to it. Wings of orange and red fire flapped, causing heat waves to distort the air. Colorful designs ran along its body. It was a mixture of red, orange, yellow, and blue. Its plumage was a brilliant white that burned like an illuminating flame. Red and yellow tails trailed behind it as though simulating the ends of a shooting star. Intense crimson eyes glared at me with a hatred that I knew was mutual.

  Gnashing my teeth together, I turned around, tucked my fist into my torso, and put as much Spiritual Power as I dared into my next attack.

  The beast drew near. I waited until the last second. Then I quickly spun around, dodging the beast by a hair’s breadth. It was so close that my body, currently composed entirely of water, was beginning to boil. Steam rose off my body as the water creating me evaporated. However, I did not let myself get distracted. Thrusting out my fist, I channeled my Spiritual Power through it and created a massive spike of water that extended from my arm.

  Even though the intense heat from the flames surrounding this creature was immense, I was no weakling myself. Water evaporated and created waves of billowing steam. Even so, the spear held firm, refusing to dissipate as I encapsulated it with my Spiritual Power, and it soon penetrated the beast’s chest. Rather than spewing blood, what emerged from the creature was a bright white flame.

  As the beast cried out in pain, I immediately retracted myself and prepared to attack again.

  That was when one of the other beasts swooped down. I saw the shadow and sensed the intent to kill and quickly moved away. Once I had reached what I deemed a safe distance from the firebird, I released my control over water and transformed into lightning again. Everything around me immediately slowed down, though I knew this was just my perception of time dilating as the synapse in my brain accelerated to the speed of light. With my newfound power, I was able to safely jump several dozen meters in less time than it took to blink.

  The bird that had swooped past me was just as massive as the firebird, but instead of being coated in flames, this one had green and white feathers. Its soft feathers gave it a very gentle appearance. However, I knew from the thousands of razor-sharp cuts I’d received during my earlier engagement that I couldn’t underestimate its deceptively soft appearance. A long tail moved behind it like a tassel. If I looked closely, I could see the atmosphere around it being cut by thousands of wind blades.

  A loud crash caused me to cast my gaze toward the ground. Flames spewed from the ground down below as the fire bird crashed into the forest. I felt a sense of grim satisfaction as the creature shrieked in agony. Brilliant white flames, the lifeblood of that great beast, were spewing from its chest like a fountain.

  I did not have much time to admire my handiwork, for the green bird released a sharp cry before charging at me. Knowing that my element was weak against this creature, I used Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step to move away as quickly as I could, but the beast remained stuck on my tail, creating
a vacuum that cut through the atmosphere to increase its speed.

  Frowning, I once more split my attention. I didn’t do much this time. Channeling the light element into my finger, I took careful aim and sent a condensed beam of light at the wind bird. What I got in return was a satisfying shriek as my attack sheared through one of its wings. Light wasn’t strong against wind, but it wasn’t weak either. Greenish white blood spewed from the area where the limb had been severed. Without both wings, it was unable to maintain flight and fell to the ground below.

  However, just like before, I was given no time to celebrate my success. Five other birds had just descended. Each one was just as big as the previous two. Each one possessed the ability to control a different element to perfection.

  All of them had reached the zenith, the Fourth State of Spiritualism, just as I had with my two main elements.

  A powerful beam of light slammed into me without mercy, burning my back as it sent me sailing toward the ground. My scream was lost to the wind. My body felt like it was being thrown into the sun. Everything hurt. But I did my best to shunt aside the pain, increase the flow of lightning through my body, and roll out from underneath the powerful beam of light.

  The beam continued on. It struck the side of a mountain several kilometers below. An explosion, so massive that the wind buffeted me despite its distance, went up, sending plumes of smoke and rubble into the sky. When the attack died down, the mountain was gone. In its place was a crater so large I was sure it would be visible even if I moved beyond this planet’s atmosphere. I grimaced when I noticed how the entire ground inside the crater and several hundred meters out had been turned into glass.

  “Damn…”

  I looked at the result of that attack, and then turned back to glare at the beast who’d caused it. The massive bird flapped its wings as it glared back. This creature looked like it was made of pure light, a combination of white and yellow feathers that appeared both soft and translucent. Yellow eyes glowed with a power that seemed almost divine.

  While the bird and I entered a glaring contest, an intense killing intent slammed into me, forcing me to swerve from the spot where I’d been floating.

  Six spheres made of water flew past the spot where I’d been. They slammed into the ground far below. Each sphere created a crater that easily spanned ten or fifteen meters across. Earth cracked. Fissures appeared as trees were felled. It was absolute devastation.

  I could not admire the damage this attack did, for the moment I dodged it, I was forced to move again. This time, five blades of darkness cut through the air. They were nothing more than black ripples that caused space to distort. I swerved over one of them, and then flew down to avoid another. Twisting my body, I managed to avoid two more, but the last one had been aimed at where I would be rather than where I was.

  “HA!”

  Channeling light into my palm, I slammed it into the blade of darkness, causing the air around me to crackle as arcs of light and dark Spiritual Power raced across the sky. Gritting my teeth as the dark blade pushed me back, I released a furious cry and poured even more Spiritual Power into my palm. The dark blade exploded as I finally tore through it.

  The creature that had released this was a bird made from darkness so pure it was like a black hole. Sharp wings covered its body. The only part of it that wasn’t black were its eyes, which were pure white and contained no pupils. Alongside it was a bird with blue feathers, one with yellow feathers, another with brown feathers, and the light bird that had attacked me earlier.

  I took a heavy breath as sweat poured from my brow. However, I knew I couldn’t stop. Without even trying to recover, I released the restraints on my Spiritual Power, and then I began absorbing the surrounding elements. I drew water molecules from the air and used them to bolster my strength. The friction generated from energy leaping from small molecules was also absorbed into my skin and increased my Spiritual Power. My body became energized as though the last several hours had never happened. I could feel the Spiritual Power coursing through me like a tempest. Light mixed with water and lightning inside of me, some of which leaked out because my body simply couldn’t withstand the power output.

  “Dammit… I had been hoping to save this for your boss,” I muttered in a bitter voice.

  Whether or not the five elemental birds heard me, they certainly knew that my threat level had suddenly increased. All five of them screeched as they gathered their own Spiritual Power. It congealed around their mouths, forming spheres of condensed energy. Barely a second had passed before they launched their attacks. Five beams of water, lightning, light, darkness, and earth flew toward me.

  I did not meet their attacks head on. I wasn’t stupid.

  Using the power of light, I immediately vanished from the spot where I’d been standing. Their attack went through my afterimage. I didn’t give them a chance to be surprised. Reappearing several meters above the most troublesome of the five, I turned myself into a streak of light and descended before it realized what I was doing. I barely felt any resistance as my body blew a hole clean through the black bird.

  Landing on the ground so fast it was like I had teleported, I looked up to see that my attack had done what I intended. The black bird now had a large hole in its chest. What’s more, the edges were frayed flesh and refused to heal. While darkness was the antithesis of light, the same was equally true.

  “Kari, I still have no real grasp over your affinity, but it is only thanks to you that this was possible,” I said to myself as I watched the massive bird slowly break into particles of darkness.

  My attack enraged the four remaining birds, who quickly descended toward me. I didn’t even need to use Spiritual Perception to feel their intent to kill me. Almost before I could even move, they had each launched their own attack. The four elements of water, light, lightning, and earth swirled around each other to create a mixed beam of power so large it could engulf a small city.

  But I was no longer there.

  As their attacks slammed into the forest floor and caused even more damage to the environment, I was already in front of the water bird. I reached out with my hand and touched its head. The bird’s eyes were crossed as it stared at me, but I just smiled at it. I’m sure my smile was quite cold.

  The water bird lit up as I shoved as much lightning into it as I could. Even though the water composing its body was quite pure and couldn’t generate electricity, I could use my own water element to force impurities through its body. My lightning then ran rampant through it. With a shriek so loud it was nearly inaudible, like the pitch was higher than my ears could detect, the bird lit up like fireworks during the summer solstice. Smoke soon rose from its body. However, it was too slow. This attack could definitely kill it, but the other birds would get to me first.

  Clicking my tongue, I raised my hand, which had turned into a five-meter blade of lightning, and brought it down. My attack created a seam of light within the bird, a small line that appeared from its beak to its tail feathers. The bird peeled apart at the seam, the two halves almost gently falling away from each other before the elemental beast turned into water that rained upon the ground.

  Barely a second had passed before something sharp pierced my back. I couldn’t even cry out in pain as the air was stolen from my lungs. The ground beneath and the sky above blurred past me in dull streaks. Gritting my teeth, I turned my head and found the enraged eyes of the light bird glaring at me. It had pierced my back with its beak.

  “Don’t think…” I struggled to raise my hand. “Don’t think…” Light, lightning, and water swirled around my arm as I channeled all three elements. “Don’t think this will be enough to do me in!!!”

  With a roar of defiance, I crashed my fist into the light bird’s beak. A loud cracking sound echoed from the beak as an incision line appeared. One incision became two, then two became three, four, eight, sixteen. It quickly multiplied before cracking underneath the power of my fist.

  The bird immediately
stopped flying as it thrashed and screeched in pain. However, the forward momentum it had generated was enough that I was not able to stop flying until I generated enough force with my own Spiritual Power to stop myself.

  Reaching behind my back after I had stopped moving, I pulled out what remained of the beak from my back and tossed it away. Warm blood spilled down my flesh. I ignored it as I eyed the three remaining elemental birds. The lightning bird, the earth bird, and the now-injured light bird.

  “Ha… ha… ha…”

  My shoulders heaved as I glared at the birds. However, I didn’t think my glare was very effective. The Spiritual Power flowing through me was fluctuating. The aura covering my body flickered in and out. I didn’t reveal my thoughts, but I was swearing up a storm internally as my Spiritual Power started running dry.

  This technique I was using wasn’t complete yet. What’s more, it was hard to absorb the natural elements when I was using more than one at the same time. If I’d had time to finish it, then maybe I could have already ended this battle, but it wasn’t like I could have waited until I was ready—not after Erica told me about what happened while I was gone.

  It looked like the birds were just about to renew their attack, and I was prepared to re-initiate hostilities, but all of us suddenly froze in place as an intense Spiritual Pressure filled the air. My breathing quickly grew heavier as sweat formed on my brow. It was a cold sweat. I tried to take in a breath, but the pressure was causing my lungs to struggle with the simple act of taking in oxygen. It felt like something was crushing them.