Reborn 11

Kyle was in the room with Claire 2.0. It was the first time this situation happened to happened to him, and he was not sure what to do. He had brought people back to life before, and funnily enough one of those people was Claire 1.0, but ever after being dead for so long, and never into the body of a magical beast.

Surprisingly, things went well.

"Uh..." Claire said while she was waking up. There was no bed in the room anymore, so she was resting on Kyle's lap. "I know this smell." Claire said as she smiled and looked up at Kyle's head.

'Wow that is a really good nose.' Kyle thought to himself. Magical beast had many increased abilities, and smell was not limited. Kyle had never spoken to a magical beast before, and after learning from Asura that it took souls to power it, he did not use it any more.

"Claire, do you think you can walk?" Kyle asked her as she moved closer to him.

"No... too weak. I have to stay like this." Claire said as she closed her eyes and had a big smile.

'This is... a curse.' Kyle came to the conclusion and cast Dispel on Claire. No affect was seen.

"Your mother would like to see you Claire." Kyle said, trying to roll her off of him.

"Fine." Claire said and got up.

"First though, You should put this on." Kyle said while taking off the robe the elves gave him. Claire 2.0 was made without clothing, because clothing can not be made with summoning magic, and there were no clothes in the room for Claire to take.

Kyle opened the door and looked around. It was the middle of the night and Beth was asleep on the couch in the room. He knew Kathy was probably still in her room, and Paul probably got home by now. Kyle went to the door of Paul and Kathy and knocked a few times. When he heard nothing he opened it and walked inside, then beckoned for Claire to follow him.

"Hey, I have someone to show you." Kyle said as he pushed Kathy and Paul while they slept. Kathy was the first to wake and after looking at Kyle she saw Claire.

"Ghost!" Kathy yelled and she pushed herself against the back board of the bed. From his wife's screaming, Paul woke up. He took a look around, saw Claire and yelled the same thing.

"I'm not a ghost, i'm you daughter." Claire said while smiling at her parents. It was very dark in the room, but Claire had no trouble with climbing into bed with her parents.

"No, it's can't be." Paul said as he looked at his daughter, now a few years older than she would have been before.

"I'm really sorry for what happened while I was away." Kyle said. "So I brought her back. She is the same Claire as before, I just removed a curse from her that was making-" But Kyle was interrupted.

"No! That is not Claire, that is an impostor!" Said Kathy, who was now fully awake. "Our Claire is... not in this world anymore." Kathy was squirming around in the bed as Claire snuggled up between her and Paul.

"Claire?" Paul asked.

"Daddy?" Claire asked him back.

"..." There was silence for a long time.

Kathy and Paul were eventually able to accept that the Claire which had gotten into bed with them was the real Claire, alive once more after being dead for 3 years. It was not something forbidden by Saint Ajoras' teachings, and even Saint Ajoras himself was rumored to be able to perform the Resurrect spell, but the question on everyone's mind was; how did Kyle perform the Resurrect spell?

Beth had woken up from Kathy screaming, but did not enter the room. Kyle walked out without Claire and spoke to Beth for a little bit.

"It all worked as expected."

"What worked?"

"The resurrection."

"The resurrection?!" Beth said, not quite believing what Kyle was saying to her. Kyle was speaking as he if just raised someone from the dead, and it wasn't even a big deal.

"Yeah, though I didn't use the Resurrect spell, it was basically the same thing."

"You brought her back to..."

"Yes I brought her back to life. It's an ancient spell, though only two other people I think have ever been able to use it."

"But Akira and Ajoras have been dead for thousands of years, how would you make the spell?"

Kyle took a few steps closer to Beth as he searched his library of dirty novels.

"Beth, theirs nothing I can't do when it comes to saving those I love." Kyle tried to say this as if a breeze was blowing, even though he just told Beth he had love for Claire, Beth was too wrapped up in the moment to realize it.

"But Kyle, what are we going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"The entire city guard is looking for us."

Kyle was shocked. Not much at how the city guard was looking for him, they were clearly doing that for the past 5 years or so, and he just abducted a teenage girl from her home, but he was shocked that Paul was here and not doing anything. He worked with Fred as a city guard. Or at least he used to work with him.

"And Paul is fine with us being here?"

"He said something about not being able to help your father and I didn't press him."

"So you think we are safe here for a while?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then I am going to get some sleep."

"Do... do you need the couch?" Beth asked because the couch was the only piece of furniture suitable for sleeping on in the whole house other than Kathy and Paul's bed.

"No, I'll be find right here." Kyle was only wearing undergarments because he gave his elven robe to Claire, but that was not a problem for him to get to sleep. '[Sleep]' Kyle cast on himself, and then he slept.

In the morning, Kyle woke up and Claire was crouching over him while Beth sat on the couch nearby.

"You look a lot different from before." Claire said, slightly confused. It was dark, and the body she had might have had improved senses, it did not have night vision. Kyle had aged 5 years from the time Claire last saw him, and he had grown quite a bit.

If not for the earlier interaction, Claire might not have accepted Kyle so readily, but effects from the curse may have made her more perceptible to features of Kyle, which made him very identifiable by her. Beth too would have been unable to recognize Kyle if she was not a shut-in. Berry and Cory were the only boys that regularly visited her, telling her how they knew this would happen and Kyle was a bad guy all along.

Kyle looked around the room and saw Paul sitting in a chair at the table and could hear the sounds of Kathy cooking something. Kyle could even hear Kathy whistling.

"Ah, you are up Kyle. Please have a seat, Kathy is making something for us all to eat."

Paul got up from his seat and pulled out a chair at the table. He motioned for Kyle to sit down, but Beth then spoke.

"No Kyle, come sit on the couch. It must have been hard sleeping on the floor like that." Beth was referring to the minimal clothing, no blanket, no pillow sleeping Kyle was doing. In truth, it was more like he drunkenly passed out whiling coming into the house half naked.

"I think I'll sit on the couch."

Kyle got up from the floor and went and sat down in the middle of the couch, stretching at the same time he walked and sat down. Claire then walked over and sat down on the other side of the couch, making it Claire, Kyle, Beth from left to right when facing the couch.

"Paul, are you fine with us being here while the town guard is out looking for us?" Kyle asked him.

Paul sat there for a second and then chose to speak.

"It's fine. Though we are moving around the town under the premise of looking for you and your friend, nobody is prepared to actually arrest you."

Kyle was glad to hear that, but he was not sure exactly what to think. He family had to have been arrested around 5 years ago, so why were they not arresting him now?

"We wouldn't have given over Fred and your mother and brother, but a group of Holy Swordsmen came from the capital to take them."

Kyle was a little surprised, but he knew that the capital was involved somewhere, because his family was being held in the Vegivile dungeon.

At this moment though, Kathy was bringing food from the kitchen. After 3 years of eating elven crafted foods and 1.5 years of being able to eat human food, the dreadful soup that Kyle hated in the past was a fine meal.

"This is great Kathy." Kyle said to her as he ate it all.

"Thank you Kathy." Said Beth as she ate generous portions too.

"Your're the best mom!" Claire said.

"Oh, i'm just trying to be a good mother and host." Kathy said, a little color coming to her face that had been pale the whole day before when Kyle saw her.

"Dear, remember what we talked about?" Paul said, not touching his food.

"Yes, I remember."

"Kyle." Paul turned to Kyle and Kyle stopped eating. They both starred at each other for a few seconds.

"We think you should take Claire with you."

"What?" Kyle did not believe that is what Paul and Kathy actually thought, seeing how upset Kathy was.

"It is clear that you can do powerful things with your magic, and if Claire was to stay here, how would we explain her existence?" That Paul said was true. Kyle had shown them something with the same effects as the Resurrect spell, and Claire was dead for 3 years. Everyone knew it.

"You have to take her." This came from someone unexpected. Beth, who had previously shared jealousy with Claire over the other's interactions with Kyle, was agreeing that Claire should come with them.

"We know what happened to Claire the last time you left, and we don't want it to happen again."

"Wait, that isn't going to happen again, I fixed it."

"We can't keep her in the house her whole life. You have to take her."

Paul and Kathy were both in agreement, that Kyle should take Claire with him on his travels. Kyle was not opposed to traveling with Claire, but he was going to be headed to the capital to get his family from the dungeon, and Vegivile was likely to have a large amount of mages.

Mages were especially good at at killing people instantly, and the variety of spells was mostly for when fighting monsters. The weakest spell from a mage could seriously hurt someone, and if given enough power it could certainly kill.

"I need you to keep her and Beth here for just a few days and then I will be back to get them."

"Why, are you going somewhere else?"

"I have to get my family from the Vegivile dungeon."

"Then you will need my help." Beth suggested that she help Kyle, but she was only 15 and a single person.

"That's alright Beth, I have some allies who will be helping me."

"Then you really have to let me come, seeing what kind of allies you surround yourself with."

'Wait, you are fine with Claire coming with us, but not me meeting random people for an assault on Vegivile?'

"I have gotten stronger while you were gone too."

Beth raised her hand, and from the palm of it a group of parks began to fly from it. Everyone in the room was shocked because she did not use the call.

"I just remembered what you told me and kept trying, and now I can do it." Beth smiled at Kyle.

"Wow that is amazing, but when did you say the call?" Kathy was trying to explain it in her head but was unable. For Everyone besides Kyle and Beth, lightning magic it'self was an amazing thing.

"I didn't use any call. I just did what Kyle told me to."

"Can you use any other spells like that?"

"Um, no, just the one spell."

It was unfortunate, because being able use fire and ice magic at the same time would be able to produce water, but even if Beth could not do it, Kyle still could, and if Claire came, she would be able to do the fire while Beth did the ice.

"Well that is still very impressive." Kyle said. Beth must not have been achieving it the same way he was, but she was not using a call to create the magic, so the effect was the same.

"What kind of allies do you have Kyle?" Paul asked him.

"Elves."

"..." Everyone was stunned. Nobody in the room other than Kyle had ever even seen an elf, or a member of any race other than human for that matter.

"From the elven kingdom?" Kathy asked him.

"That's right. There is even an Elder helping."

"An Elder? Is that like a lord for them?" Paul asked. Even though the existence of the elven kingdom was common knowledge, the intricacies of it's political system were not.

"Well when an Elf reaches over 1,000 years old they are considered an elder."

"1,000 years..."

"Right, so Claire and Beth should stay here until we finish our business in the capital."

"No, I'm coming!" Beth said.

"What if you suddenly leave again and don't come back? Claire will..."

"I already told you, I fixed that. Claire should be fine-"

"I want to go to." Kyle was cut off by Claire who spoke for the first time in a while.

'Neither of them have been in combat before. They don't know how difficult it can be.' Kyle thought as he looked at the two girls next to him. Beth was frail looking and did not keep herself healthy enough to be fighting people, and Claire was just a little girl. Kyle thought about his options on what to do with Beth and Claire while he got into the dungeon and he made decision.

"Fine, you both can come with me."

"Yay! You won't regret it." Beth said and was happy to travel with Kyle.

"You won't regret me either." Claire said.

"I have to get to work now, thanks for the meal Kathy, and Kyle, it's great to see you again."

"It's great to be back."

Kyle finished eating with Claire, Beth, and Kathy after Paul left. Kyle did not have much money while traveling with the elves, so most of what he ate was stolen while under invisibility.

'I'm not a hero anymore, I can do whatever I want.'

This was his usual reasoning. Kyle then told Kathy that she and Paul would be safe if they stayed in Vegiland County, and even though the human empire was probably going to be invaded by the elves, it would be to attack the palace in the east, not some backwater city in the Midwest.

After the meal, Kyle got some clothes from Paul's collection and Claire got some womanly things but kept the robe of Kyle's on. Kyle then went into the street with Beth and Claire. Kyle then stuck out his arms.

"Hold onto my arms you two."

"Okay, but why?"

Claire grabbed onto Kyle's arm without asking any questions, but Beth wanted to know why after she too grabbed hold.

"Because we are going to fly." And then Kyle set off from the ground. Being able to move 2 other people was the maximum for fly magic, and they could not be carrying anything if being held. Because of the way the magic worked, the hands could not carry anything either. This last challenge was overcome by Kyle though because he could use magic without having to aim it.

"Whoa!" Claire and Beth both exclaimed while being lifted into the air. There was a slight downwards breeze, but because it was Fly and not Gust, gravity was being strangely affected for them and they could float.

"This isn't dangerous or anything right?"

"As long as you don't let go!" And then Kyle flew into the sky.

Kyle left Thornberry and went to were the elven party was at when he left the previous day. Unsurprisingly, they were gone. Kyle did not see then on the way back from Thornberry, so he would have to lay low in Vegivile or a neighboring town for a few days at the most for the elves to get to Vegivile and send Eva to the meeting place.

"Can't we just walk?" Beth asked Kyle as he prepared to set off into the sky again.

"I would also prefer walking." Claire calmly said. Kyle thought for a few moments, but then answered them both.

"Sure, we can walk. It will take more time, but It will be fine." If Kyle flew to Vegivile, he would have to wait for the elves to catch up. If he walked with Beth and Claire, he did not know how long it would take because he had never walked the path, he had always used fly when traveling.

"If you see any monsters, speak up quickly and I will deal with them." Kyle said as the three of them started to walk towards Vegivile."

POV: Cindy Valheart

'Damn, he got away!' Cindy cursed as she searched her family's home to find Beth or Kyle, but there was not a trace of either one of them. The only strange thing was the pile of things on Beth's bed, as if collecting the most important things to her. They were mostly clothes, but some of it was jewelry that might not even fit her anymore.

"Mother, I'm going back to the regiment." Cindy yelled at her mother as she stormed out of the house.

"You can't fight him Cindy, he was too strong!" Sarah Valheart pleaded for her oldest daughter to not fight the man known as Kyle Mercer. Sarah knew that Beth and Kyle were friends from long ago, and if they continued they could have become romantic, so Kyle was probably not going to hurt her.

"I know he's strong!" Cindy said as she left the courtyard towards an inn in the city.

'He even broke the sword with just his fist...' Cindy thought to herself the entire way to the inn about how Kyle could have broken the steel sword with his bare hands.

'He said something... wolf Feng fist...' Cindy used the 3rd hero's name instead of the word Fang when she repeated the name of the attack Kyle used on her. Everyone who trained in combat knew about the Feng family, descendants of the hero Feng and users of powerful unarmed arts that could topple buildings with a single punch.

The Valheart home was in the northern part of the 2nd district, which was close to many inns. It was not long before Cindy had gotten to her regiment of the Legion of Holy Swords. Cindy barged into the inn and spoke to her lieutenants who were at the bar.

"Rike, Andy, ready the soldiers, we are headed to capture a heretic."

"Captain!" Both Rike and Andy got up from their chairs quickly and saluted her.

"Don't just stand there, we have to go right now!" Cindy was angry at her subordinates, but most of her rage came from losing the sword fight to Kyle when he only had a sword made from stone. In only a few minutes, the entire regiment of soldiers were ready. They were all trained for 8 years at the best sword academy's in the empire, and like Cindy, they were sent to kill beast-kin and members of the Tsars.

'It is unfortunate that your friend is a Tsar conspirator...' Cindy thought as she waited for her soldiers to settle down in the lobby of the inn.

"The heretic Kyle Mercer was spotted recently in the city. Attempts to apprehend him failed, and thus we are to search every inch of this town. Myself Rike and Andy will be checking his home to see if he has gone back to there, but the rest of you go to the town guard and inform them of their required cooperation. Don't be afraid to go into the 1st district, that is where he escaped from the city last time he was here." Cindy finished speaking and then waved to Rike and Andy to follow her, and she left before anyone else.

"Captain, should we be going to fight him if he is really the mage the reports say?" Rike was concerned about the fact that under the unconfirmed section of the mission description, Kyle Mercer's hidden identity as the black masked slayer was listed. It was well known about a mage who used legendary spells to kill monsters in record time and float the bodies from the far reaches of the county to the city in just hours.

"I already fought him and he is no mage, didn't even try to make a call." Cindy stormed out in front of her two lieutenants. She was still angry.

"But he has to be a mage, he was enrolled at the Vegivile mage school before he assisted the Tsars and did you see his types?" Andy asked Cindy. It was all in the mission description, everything on Kyle Mercer's known past.

"I know, 6, but he didn't even try to make a spell, so if he is pushed back by us with constant attacking, we will hold the advantage." Cindy was confident in her ability to defeat Kyle in combat if she had two more people to support her. It might not have been honorable, but for what Kyle did not her sister Beth, he deserved it.

Cindy had been to the Mercer household a few times, once to take away the Mercer family for their relations to the heretic Kyle Mercer, again to collect the belongings in the house, and again every week or so to check if Kyle had come back, or anything looked like it was moved. If anything was moved, it would be a sign that someone in the city wanted to get something for Kyle, and that would be an important lead to the stagnant mission.

The Mercer house was rundown, or maybe it was always that way. Cindy grew up in the home of the Valhearts, both of her parents worked and her father made good money. She could not understand why someone would live in a house that looked like it was made when the town was still a small village.

The team took a step inside the house and looked around. The door creaked from little use and the floor was dusty. They had stopped coming by so frequently after 2 years. It was clear nobody had been here since they last looked.

"Damn, he hasn't been here." Cindy cursed as she looked around. Rike and Andy were secretly happy that Kyle was not there because they knew the only defense against a mage was another mage.

The next day, Cindy and her soldiers still looked for Kyle while the town guards went home. The guards slowly came to the barracks, but were redirected to help the search effort.

"Hey what is that?" One of the guards asked as he pointed up. In the sky there were 3 people floating up. Cindy looked up at them and muttered to herself.

'He is a fucking mage...' Cindy could not believe how lucky she was that Kyle did not use a spell on her, especially when she did not have her armor on. She should be counting her lucky stars deciding to wear her sword to the house of her family.

It was Kyle Mercer along with Beth and Claire that were floating in the air, and after a few moments they sped away to the south.

"Everyone, we follow them! Call back all members of the Legion of Holy Swords to assemble on the southern gate." Cindy ordered her soldiers when she saw Kyle move at very fast speeds.

'I'll get that bastard this time.' Cindy said with clenched fist.

"Kyle, it's cold." Beth said while leaning against Kyle's chest. Claire was sitting with her back against a tree facing them.

"I don't feel anything." Claire said as she just starred at the two of them.

'Claire has changed more than I thought she would after becoming a magical beast and removing the curse.' Kyle thought to himself as he looked at Claire. She did not seem as happy as before, and her senses have become more acute while her body has increased it's resistance to damage. While walking in the forest, a small monster bit her leg, which only caused the monster's teeth to break.

"Um, what do you think you're doing?" Kyle asked Claire as she made her way to Kyle and leaned against his chest next to Beth.

"You were starring at me so I thought this is what you wanted." Claire said, not showing any emotion, like always.

"You don't have to if you don't want to Claire."

"I... I want to."

'I wonder how Beth feels about this.' Kyle thought as he looked down and saw both Beth and Claire leaning on him in the cool night air.

"Are you alright Beth?"

"I'm... um.... If it's Claire, it's fine." Beth could remember when she first heard that Claire died, and she knew that Kyle brought her back to life just the other day. Beth cared about Kyle, but Claire had actually died from not being with him. What Beth didn't know was that this was the effect from a curse gained by Kyle using Resurrect on Claire when he was born.

"If Beth is alright with it, then it's fine with me too."

"We will need to sleep soon." Beth said as the three of them sat against a tree. It was not too cold, but they might catch something if not careful.

Then at that moment as if by cue, Claire snuggled much closer to Kyle.

"Um Claire, what are you doing?"

"I'm.... I don't know."

"I said it's fine." Beth said and she did the same.

Kyle then thought of a use for his magic and used the advanced fire spell [Heat]. Heat was an advanced spell because it got things hot without a fire.

"This is starting to feel really nice." Beth said as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

'But as soon as I try to sleep, the spell will turn off...' Kyle thought for a second and cast Sleep on everyone. He just needed to wait for the spell to wear off of Beth and Claire and for them to start sleeping normally before he could use it on himself. If a monster got close while he was sleep, his warrior senses would wake him up. Probably.