Leon felt dazed.

Everything felt vague, and his mind blurred in and out of consciousness.

'What is going on?'

The scent of blood rushed into his mind, tickling his nose.

He felt a certain pain in his neck.

It hurt quite bad, but he still knew he was alive. The pain was certification of this.

It was certification that he was still alive and only unconscious.

The scenery within his mind changed.

Leon found himself in a familiar forest. The trees were sparsely arranged, their slender trunks casting elongated shadows on the thin grass that barely covered the ground.

He was quite familiar with the place.

Because...

He had grown up in this place.

The Evenus Barony.

Swoosh!

A blade cleaved down from above, aiming for his neck.

'Die!'

Just barely, Leon managed to avoid the blade.

Turning his head, Leon's gaze fell upon a familiar figure in the distance. The man had jet-black hair and piercing hazel eyes, standing tall with a sword in hand.

The sight of him stirred a mixture of unease and something else that he couldn't quite explain.

But he also appeared to be younger.

'Julien?'

'Fuck, you're as slippery as always, bastard.'

Ah, this

Finally, Leon realized what was going on.

This was a memory.

A distant memory of his. Back when Julien had changed.

'You're my fucking servant. If I tell you to fucking did you die?'

Julien's expression was twisted, something that Leon felt was quite foreign to him.

He had grown so used to the expressionless Julien that the one before him felt weird.

But this

This was the real Julien.

'Fuck, you cheap bastard.'

Julien glared at him.

It had been a while since Leon had been glared like that by him. He almost missed such look of his.

Leon watched as Julien lowered his head to stare at the sword in his hand.

It wasn't a fancy sword, just a dummy that the two often used when sparring against each other in the morning.

'Of all people why did it have to be you? Why were you the one who was born talented with the sword?'

There was clear resentment in Julien's gaze as he stared at the sword.

Extending his hand, a magic circle floated at the top of his palm.

'This shitty curse magic. What good is it when there is a sword? Damn it!'

Julien cursed, his eyes flickering between madness and sanity.

'Ahh, shit.'

He ruffled his hair, glaring up ahead and extending his sword.

'Fucking die!'

He brought his hand forward, and purple hands manifested from beneath the ground, rendering Leon immobile.

'Ahhh!'

Leon could still remember how he had screamed back then.

Especially as he recalled the sword cleaving down on his neck, severing his neck completely.

The pain matched exactly the pain that he currently felt.

...That.

That was the memory of the first time Leon had died.

*

Leon opened his eyes.

'Uh?'

He started to massage his neck.

The pain was still there.

Or perhaps it wasn't, and he was just imagining it, but the pain felt so vivid in his mind.

"Ugh."

He got up and looked around him.

He found himself sitting inside of a familiar cave and memories started to rush his mind.

'I died.'

Or at least, he thought he did.

But looking at his body, he realized that he was still fine.

There were a couple of explanations for such a situation.

Perhaps an illusion or that he had been revived.

"Ho"

Leon took a deep breath.

If it was an illusion, then everything was fine, but if that wasn't the case

"."

Leon felt a sudden pain coming from his left arm. Turning his head, his gaze fell on the small vial attached to his arm and his expression froze for a split second.

In particular, his gaze fell on the red liquid that pulsed within the tube.

The dosage was less than it had been before.

All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind before he finally closed his eyes.

"I see"

He finally realized what had happened.

".So that's what happened."

He wanted to laugh but found himself unable to do so.

'Where is this place?'

Once he knew what happened, he no longer felt as panicked. He looked around for a few seconds before no longer finding any interest in the place.

He thought back at all the clues that he had managed to decipher so far, and an idea started to compound in his mind.

'Some sort of cult. Most likely another church that worships one of the seven gods, but to a more extreme level.'

The seven gods.

There existed seven main churches in the world. Regardless of the Empire or kingdoms, the seven churches existed everywhere.

Their influence was far-reaching, and Leon was also a devoted believer in one of the churches.

Or more specifically, one of the seven gods.

Mortum.

The God of Immortality.

"Hahaha."

He laughed as he stared at the vial resting by his arm.

.He had a hunch before, but now he was certain.

"The blood of Mortum."

Only 'his' blood was capable of doing something like this.

Leon knew all too well.

He had experienced it before.

Riiip

Ripping off his clothes, Leon lowered his head to stare at his body.

"Hahahah."

His laugh grew more pronounced at the sight that greeted him.

Pulsing with life, he could see every single vein in his body. They glowed a strange blue glow.

"It looks like the accumulation from the previous dosage finally hit the mark."

He brought his hand to his chest, clamping at his visible heart as he slowly pulled out a chalice from it.

The chalice emitted a mysterious black glow as Leon stared at the liquid contained within.

It pulsed with a rhythm disturbingly similar to the substance in the vial.

Hesitantly, he brought the chalice to his lips and drank.

Gulp...!

The moment the liquid entered his body, his veins pulsed with a greater glow, almost blinding everything that was around him.

Power surged through his veins, and he could feel his strength rising, the newfound strength coursing through him.

Closing his eyes, he opened his mouth as a euphoric feeling flooded the depths of his mind.

"Haaa"

***

".I am a fake?"

I stood still while staring at the strange owl and cat that stood before me.

The entire time, they had been talking about things that I didn't quite understand, but if there was something that I understood, it was that they knew something that I didn't.

"Fake"

They had been saying it for a while.

Or more like, they were hinting at the fact that I wasn't supposed to belong to this body.

"What do you mean by that? Do you know what's going on? Are you two perhaps..?"

".."

The owl remained quiet while it stared at me. It stayed like that for a few seconds before it finally opened its beak to speak.

"Your real name is Julien."

"Julien?"

"Julien Dacre Evenus."

The strange owl corrected, giving me a full name.

"That was the name of the person that your body belongs to."

For some reason, I felt my entire body shudder.

The source of it all was the strange owl before me. Its voice was brittle and deep, reverberating through the cave with an unsettling resonance.

As it spoke, I felt an involuntary twitch in my body, my head jerking slightly with each word it uttered.

It was as if I was being entrapped into a sea of ice, slowly sinking deeper and deeper into it.

The way it was looking at me

'He might kill me.'

I swallowed my saliva.

"I had a deal with that human. The deal was something that I followed through with. But"

The owl stopped speaking, its gaze turning shaper and colder. I felt every hair on my body rise under its gaze.

....The situation started to become clear to me.

'What sort of fucked situation was this?'

I suddenly grew nervous.

From what I understood, this was not my real body. I had taken the body of someone else.

Julien whatever Evans.

I refused to believe in such a possibility, but thinking about how my face changed, and my entire body too, the brutal reality was right before me.

'Ah, fuck.'

I felt something rise within my chest at the realization.

'So if I took over the body of someone else, where exactly am I? What about... What about...'

All sorts of thoughts started to run down my mind at that moment, numbing down the words that the owl was speaking.

The fear that had previously gripped me vanished, and all I started to think about was one thing.

'Brother.'

What about my brother?

"Hmm? You're starting to look more like him."

I raised my head to stare at the owl.

It looked back at me with its cold eyes.

Starting to look like him?

What did he mean by that?

"But you're still not the same. You don't show it, but I can see the fear hidden within the depths of your eyes. It's because of him that I've started to understand emotions better. But now that he's gone, I don't see how I should keep you alive."

I blinked my eyes in silence.

Since it was still speaking, then maybe.. maybe there was still I chance that it wouldn't kill me.

And as expected, it indeed was like that.

"The only reason I'm not killing you is because there's a chance he might come back. Whoever you are, know that the only reason you're still alive is because of him. If by the time I deem that is too long he still hasn't come back, I will end you in a heartbeat."

I swallowed at its words.

I could tell that the owl wasn't joking with regard to what it was saying, and I could only close my eyes and accept the situation.

'This body doesn't belong to me, and an owl is looking to kill me after it deems that too much time has passed.'

Great.

How great.

What a fucked up situation this was.

"With that being said, I will help you."

I raised my head and looked at the strange owl.

"There's another possibility that I haven't taken into account yet."

"Another possibility?"

"Yes."

The owl looked at the cat which stared back at him.

After a while, it also nodded.

"It's possible."

The owl nodded slightly, turning its eyes back to me.

"There's a possibility that you didn't take over a body. Instead, you lost your memories."

"Ah...?"

I blinked my eyes repeatedly, unable to understand what it was trying to say.

Lost my memories?

"No, that's impossible."

I was quick to shut such thoughts down.

There was no way.

I could still vividly recall everything as if it had been a few seconds ago, and... and... it was just impossible.

I refused to believe such a possibility.

"You might think it is, but I do not believe so. You may be a different person, but your soul still feels the same. As a will, I can tell."

"What...?"

More unfamiliar terms flowed out of the owl's mouth, and I pursed my lips.

Taking several breaths to calm myself down, I closed my eyes and took one deep breath.

"Okay."

I opened my eyes again, staring back at the owl.

"You said that you will help me, right?"

"Correct."

"I see."

The whole story about me losing my memories, I didn't believe at all. Nonetheless, I decided to run along with it and stopped questioning it.

I needed to find answers to my situation, and the owl seemed to know something.

For that reason, the wisest move was run along with it.

'Yeah, until I figure something out.'

As if it could read my thoughts, the owl's gaze remained firmly locked onto me. I didn't care and just nodded at it.

"I'll cooperate with you."

That was when I opened my mouth to ask,

"....I'll do that, but how should I call you?"

The owl looked back at me before turning to look at the cat who curled over on its own. Then, staring back at me, it opened its beak to say,

"Owl-Mighty."

"...."

I blinked my eyes, trying to make sure that I hadn't heard wrong.

But I didn't.

The silence that suddenly took over the place was an affirmation of it.

Then, staring at the owl and seeing that it wasn't joking, I felt something rise from deep within my chest.

Something sinister...

Something...

"Pftt."

***

I just wanted to address a few things that have been brought up. I understand that some people may be annoyed by some developments, but I don't write things randomly (I hope I don't). I have a goal in mind.

I understand that some might dislike some parts, but if you've made it this far, you must know my style of writing which focuses on build up towards the climax where everything makes more sense.Please be patient.