The Undying Warrior's Rewind

6

“Yes. Our investigators analyzed the core wound on the beast," the Tower Master said proudly, pointing a bony finger at me. 

"No magic circles. No elemental residue. Just raw, localized kinetic violence that pierced a Grade-4 abyssal hide. A classic Hoke Berserker Awakening. You survived the poison, you faced a crisis, and your ancient blood answered."

What the hell? No Elemental residue? And he knew about the poisoning? 

A slow, dangerous smirk formed in my mind, though I kept my face looking like a confused, innocent idiot. 

Oh, old man. You have absolutely no idea, but I am going to milk this misunderstanding until it runs completely dry.

"I... I had a Berserker Awakening?" I whispered, looking at my hands in mock horror. 

"Is that why everything went blurry? I just remember getting really, really angry because it stepped on my favorite boot, and then... then Geraldine was gone..." I squeezed out a fake sob, covering my face. 

"She was burned to ash! I couldn't save her!"

"Do not weep for the girl, Ethan. Her loss is a tragedy for the kingdom, but your awakening? It is a miracle," the Tower Master declared, his eyes flashing with political greed. 

"The royal court is in a panic. The rift in the sky proves the ancient prophecies are coming true, the apocalypse is leaking. The King needs a symbol. The people need a hero."

He leaned over my bed once more, placing a heavy, gold-embossed scroll on my lap.

"By royal decree of King Reginald III, your expulsion from the Royal Magic Academy is officially annulled. Not only are you reinstated, but you are being registered directly into the Sovereign Elite Class as a National Hero.”

“Me, a hero?” I fake gasped.

“The 'Hero Berserker of the Capital.' You will receive a monthly stipend of ten thousand gold coins, unlimited access to Tier-2 dungeon vaults, and a private training courtyard."

Ten thousand gold coins? Unlimited vault access?

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing out loud. I went from a broke, poisoned dropout in a moldy room to a government-funded asset with a black card, all because this old man did some creative history gymnastics.

"I... I will do my duty for the kingdom, Master," I said, putting a hand over my heart, looking like a patriotic sucker.

"Good. Rest well, Hero Ethan. The Academy academy transport will pick you up tomorrow morning. The principal and the student council are already preparing a grand welcoming ceremony for you." 

“Woah!”

The Tower Master nodded sagely, completely satisfied with himself, before spinning around and sweeping out of the infirmary room, his robes billowing behind him.

The moment the heavy oak doors clicked shut, the frightened teenager vanished.

I threw off the white sheets, sitting up straight on the edge of the bed. I tore the band-aids off my forehead and ripped the bandage off my foot, flexing my toes. 

My Tier-1 core was pulsing beautifully, the pure energy from the red stone I had eaten earlier completely stabilizing inside my chest.

I pulled the mysterious blood-red scroll out from under my tunic and unrolled it on the bed. Now that my mind was clear, I scanned the glowing abyssal script, reading the list of names written in blood.

My smile turned sharp, cold, and utterly savage.

Geraldine wasn't the only one. According to this contract, a total of twelve vanguard commanders from my past life had transmigrated into this timeline. 

The abyssal gods had sent them back to infiltrate this world's elite nobility, ensuring that when the main apocalypse arrived in five years, the kingdom's defenses would be entirely rotted from the inside out.

And guess where the remaining eleven traitors were currently hiding?

"The Royal Magic Academy," I chuckled, a low, melodic sound of pure malice vibrating in my throat. 

"Every single one of them is currently a teenager, sitting in the elite classrooms, pretending to be wealthy prodigies."

They thought they were playing a grand game of political espionage. They thought they were going to slowly poison this kingdom and hand it over to the abyssal beasts. 

They had no idea that the Apex Sovereign was currently sitting in a recovery ward, funded by the king's tax dollars, armed with an unhinged 'Berserker' cover story that gave him a license to kill.

"You guys want to play spy?" I muttered, rolling the scroll back up and sliding it safely into my pocket. 

"Fine. I'll play the big, dumb, aggressive hero who 'accidentally' beats his classmates to death during sparring matches because his bloodline is too wild to control."

The political landscape of this kingdom was a joke. The Hoke family had been sidelined centuries ago because the royal court feared their martial power, favoring the clean, polite, predictable magic of the tower mages. 

They had starved my current body's lineage into poverty and insignificance. But now, out of sheer, unadulterated terror of the purple crack in the sky, they were practically begging a Hoke to save them again.

I stood up, walking over to the window of the magic tower. Down below, the streets were still being cleared of the centipede-monster carcasses, but the royal heralds were already riding through the squares, blowing silver trumpets and shouting my new, ridiculous title to the masses.

“Hear ye, hear ye! By the grace of the King, the young master Ethan of House Hoke has awakened the ancient Berserker blood! The savior of the capital! The slayer of the vanguard beast!”

I watched the peasants cheer, a look of profound amusement on my face.

Tomorrow, I was heading back to the academy. I was going to walk through those golden gates not as the trash dropout they laughed at, but as a heralded national savior. 

The eleven traitors would be watching me, trying to figure out if I was a threat or just a lucky brute.

"Enjoy your luxury while you can, kids," I whispered, pressing my hand against the glass window, watching the distant spires of the academy glitter in the afternoon sun. 

"The Hero Berserker is coming to class. And I don't do curves on the grading scale."