Re: Incarnation

In an average high school in Japan, we zoom in on the building on an average day. Inside one of the classrooms a sixteen year old student who is getting a test back from his teacher. He's internally monologuing in his head for some reason like he's a character in an anime or something. “Hello, my name is Kenshi Wantanabe, and I'm just your average sixteen year old high schooler.” A closer look at his test shows he received an A+. The student's uniform also fits him a bit tighter than other students due to him having some clear muscle definition underneath. Far from an average student.

He continued to narrate in his head, despite there being no one but himself to hear it. Except you. But he doesn't know that you, the viewer, exists. “My life is pretty boring, but I don't complain. Though I wish something interesting would happen, I'm just glad I don't have to worry about some nutjob with a gun shooting up my school like an American.” He literally just complained. Also, just to clarify, regularity of school shootings is exaggerated by the news and internet.

“I go to school, participate in after school activities, go home, do homework, then either read Manga or watch Anime whenever I'm not hanging out with friends. All in all, an average life.” Kenshi has a lot of friends, way more than average. A very well liked and social kid. His home is large, his parents are obviously wealthy. Kenshi wants for nothing, he's never known true struggle. Everything in life has simply come easy to him.

He never had to worry about whether there would be food on his plate, a roof over his head, or a bed to sleep in. He considers himself to be average, and doesn't truly know how good he has it. The only bad part of his life, the only normal or average part, is the monotony of it. One day while walking home from school he stopped to see a truck speeding right at him and froze. He found he was unable to move and would likely be hit if he didn't get out of the way.

However, before it could reach him his body was covered in light and he suddenly found himself in a dark room. Or maybe it was just black. The only thing in the room was a simple and modest wooden desk. Sitting at it was an individual with a black robe covering their features. “Ah, it worked. I was worried. I've never pulled a full body into here before. Hello there Kenshi Wantanabe, you have been chosen. Congratulations.”

Kenshi was naturally a bit confused. “Chosen? For what? Who even are you?” The cloaked figure then started spreading what looked like playing cards on his desk. There must have been hundreds because they completely covered the large wooden desk. “I'm something of a moderator or administrator. I didn't create anything, I just help things along to put it simply. I grab souls that have recently passed in other worlds and plop them into the one I manage. Once every generation or so I let someone spawn with a body made to be just like the one they left rather than just sending a soul to be reborn.”

Kenshi put his right hand on his chin and nodded. “So this is your standard Isekai start, except you grabbed me when I was still alive just before I died.” The robed figure laughed a bit. “Oh no, you would have been able to get out of the way in time if I hadn't been trying to grab you. You only froze as part of the transfer.” Kenshi hummed. “I see. So let me guess, each of those cards represents a magic artifact or something and I get to choose from them for my starting item.”

The robed figure nodded. “Each card represents a legendary or mythic level magic artifact. You can look over the table and pick any one item from it. I'll be back in a few minutes so please try to pick before I'm back.” He slides the chair back and walks off into the distance. Kenshi starts looking over the hundreds of cards when he notices a card deck on the table. It's the size you'd expect for a poker deck, able to fit fifty two cards in it.

Kenshi rubs his chin. “I could use his phrasing against him and use this deck box to claim from fifty two high end magic items.” He lifts the box and starts looking over the cards. Reading them to choose the best fifty two items in the lot. “An item that lets me infinitely store things and summon whatever I've stashed in a moment's notice. Definitely.” He placed it in the deck box. “Armor of Gawain. Grants plus eight armor with no max Dex bonus. As long as it is worn, you are immune to all damage both physical and magical for as long as the glory of the sun shines upon you. It's just a chest piece? So I can wear a helmet, gauntlets, and boots on top of it.”

He continued to look through the cards. “Boots of Hermes. Grants haste, increases my base move speed by ten, and increases my Dex score by four. Gauntlets of True Giant Strength. Increases my Strength score by four and lets me use items and grapple things as if I was one size class bigger. Belt of Thor. Lets me push, pull, carry, and lift as if I was one size class bigger. Helmet of Hades. Lets me take on a shadow form that can't do damage or be damaged and gives me advantage and a plus ten bonus to stealth when I'm in the dark. Cloak of the Archmagus increases armor by two, lets me have two concentration spells active at once and gives me some spell slots.”

He added the cards to the box and kept going. “Staff of Merlin basically lets me act as a mage even if I'm not, giving me the spells and slots of a level twenty wizard. There's some legendary rings here, I'll pick ten I like. Shield of Seas. Plus four armor, acts as half cover, and can magically create water on the bottom allowing the user to stand on it and use it like a surfboard. Does four d six blunt on impact if I hit a creature with it after at least ten feet of movement in this mode. Excalibur Ivory? Hmm… There's also an Excalibur Ebony. Might as well take both since they are versatile. Caliburn and Clarent are also here but they are slightly weaker versions of their sibling swords. Wait…”

Kenshi checks the flavor text and finds that there is a special extra ability in addition to the other powerful stuff Excalibur has. “If ye possess the fragments of Excalibur, ye could restore the former glory of the true form. All one must do is possess a heart both noble and pure, hold the fragments and speak my true name.” Kenshi scratched his chin, wondering if there was a translation issue because the text felt somewhat off. He then remembered a similar thing being a part of a popular game back home.

In the game, Creatures and Catacombs, which was created in America, the original writer created a mystery around the Excalibur swords in the game that sounded similar. People spent years, decades even, trying to figure it out. The writer even signed a replica of the sword’s true form that was set aside to be given to the first person to get it right. No one could figure out the sword’s true name. Kenshi even remembered seeing an article in twenty sixteen claiming someone had finally got it but had decided to remain anonymous and not give away the answer.

Kenshi even recalled clearly that the man had taken the secret to his grave. When he died in twenty twenty his name went public and in his will he gifted the sword to someone he knew that figured it out and had agreed to keep the secret. Meaning the only two people to have figured out the mystery both insisted on not telling anyone. “Remembering that frustrates me. I think I'll grab all four just in case. I'm not sure how much time I have so I'll try and speed this along.”

Kenshi scanned the cards for what he thought to be the best and finished picking out the fifty two items and filled the deck box just in time for the guy to return shortly after. He then presented the deck box to the robed figure and said: “After careful consideration, I have chosen this as my one item.” The figure looked Kenshi up and down. “Did you really expect me to allow you to get everything you put in that box as an item because you put it in the box to count it as one? I could easily just send you in with the box full of useless cards. However… you are the first to try that so I think I'll let it slide just this once and allow you to have all the items you picked. It'll definitely be far from boring.”

Kenshi was befuddled by this person's motivations, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Then I'm ready to get started. Do I have some sort of main quest to do? Normally there's a demon king or something to vanquish.” The figure tapped at the desk. “Not exactly, you are free to do whatever you want once you are there. Well as free as you would be normally. Don't go thinking there'll be no consequences. Oh, just a heads up. I know some of the cards say the item is unique but I'm tossing you in with them regardless of whether or not it already exists in the place I'm sending you. This means you might run into a duplicate of something that would normally be one of a kind or unique.”

Kenshi gave a final nod before he was enveloped in a flash of green light and found himself standing in front of a massive tree in a huge medieval looking city. He was wearing the armor he chose with everything else in his magic storage space. He looked around with his mouth agape and took in the sights before he was interrupted by a man in a white robe. “It worked! My theory was correct! Hello chosen summoned. Normally it takes twenty five years between chosen ones but I managed it in fifteen.”

Kenshi looked at the man and tilted his head. “Uhhh… congratulations I guess?” Kenshi felt a bit disappointed, because the man was speaking English and not Japanese. Luckily for Kenshi he is fluently bilingual. “This may come off as strange since we are both speaking the same language, but what language are you using right now?” The summoner had a perplexed look on his face but responded anyway. “Imperial Standard, also known as Common or Ranian Common.”

Kenshi was glad he asked rather than assuming. “You called me a Chosen Summoned. Elaborate on that.” The man bowed lightly and explained. “Once in a generation, God sends us a holy envoy to act on his behalf in our world. Once summoned it is the sacred duty of the Chosen to drive out darkness and spread light. He is given a place of authority in the Imperial and Papal armies.” Kenshi closed his eyes and nodded with a smile. “So I do have a main quest after all. Alright then, teach me everything I need to know about this world so my Isekai adventure can begin.”

The man looked confused. “Isekai? Nevermind, I'll just take you to the library so you can learn everything you need to know to help purge this land of darkness.” The man leads Kenshi to a massive library and starts stacking up books. “I know it's all a bit much but I'm sure you'll manage just fine. After all, you were chosen by God for a reason.” Kenshi nodded and started thumbing through books. History, current events, knowledge about monsters and their biology. “Apparently just like in most fantasy settings back home goblins are nothing more than vermin to be extinguished. Ugh, taking in all this historical and political crap hurts my head. I think I'll just focus on the main plot. Killing monsters and helping people.”

Kenshi spent several hours across multiple days reading up on anything he felt might be useful. Stuff about magic and the kinds that exist as well as checking to see if one of the artifacts he got has a copy in this world. Eventually, Kenshi felt ready to take on a mission. “I think I'm ready. Point me to a threat to humanity and I'll wipe it out.” The man smiled and nodded at Kenshi’s eagerness and led him to the adventurers guild hall to help him sign up and grab a quest. Clear out a goblin settlement.

Kenshi felt like with his gear nothing in this world would be a challenge. Most people would find that boring. Kenshi however wasn't interested in a challenge or risking his life. He was going to do his best to try and enjoy this power fantasy. The goblin settlement was some distance away from the capital city but even then Kenshi was a bit surprised at how permanent the settlement looked.

Although the construction of it wasn't exactly the best, it was still unexpected to see a wall. It was made out of wood, and looked like they had simply cleared out a section of forest and stripped all the branches of the trees at the edge. Then stacked the stripped logs from the removed trees on both sides creating a jagged log cabin wall looking barrier around the village. The buildings themselves looked like they were made from the limbs, sticks, and other things stripped from the trees and logs during this process.

Although it was primitive, it was still impressive. The settlement was intentionally in the middle of nowhere it seemed, as if to avoid people bumping into it by mistake. Kenshi started to wonder how it was located. “So who exactly found out this was here?” A guide that had traveled with him responded. “A Hunter found it while chasing game. These vermin look like they've been here a while. They're entrenched.” Kenshi took out Excalibur Ivory and walked closer to the settlement.

Once in range he raised his sword up, and activated one of the sword's special abilities. The sword glowed and when he swung it down with a heavy effort a wave of light shot out from the sword destroying everything in its path. When he swung down, although it wasn't necessary to do so, Kenshi shouted out the name of the sword in an exaggerated manner. “Excalibur!!!” Kenshi then slowly walked into the village through the hole in the wall.

As soon as he was in the village, a bunch of goblin warriors went on the attack. Though many were wearing garbage leather and using primitive wooden weapons with stones or bones attached to them, some were better equipped with weapons and armor that looked to have been made using the parts of a giant insect. Kenshi didn't bother dodging the attacks. Since it was the middle of the day he was effectively invulnerable.

After letting them uselessly stab and smash at his armor for a while Kenshi gave his sword a swing cutting a massive group of the goblins in half with little effort. He then did a second power swing taking out a chunk of the village. He kept using the special attack until it was out of charges. So now the village has six huge gashes through it and most of the goblin warriors lay ded or dieing. Kenshi moved quickly, finishing them off, leaving only unarmed goblins in what remained of the village.

The man who guided Kenshi here, a bishop from the church, finally entered the village. “I see you're about halfway done. Just gotta clear out the remaining buildings and we'll be done here.” Kenshi gave the bishop a perplexed look. “I've killed all the warriors, I've eliminated the threat.” The bishop's response was harsh. “Any goblin that breathes is a threat. They are wicked, vile, evil things. Armed or not, any goblin left alive will spread its darkness. They pillage towns, steal crops, and kidnap women to do with as they please. They are a scourge that needs to be wiped out.”

Kenshi takes a breath, what he's being told is consistent with how goblins are often depicted in his world. Savages, killers, rapists. So it was no surprise such a thing would be true here. He swapped out the sword for the staff of Merlin and started casting Fireball spells on the buildings one after the other. Eventually the entire goblin settlement is a burning ruin. As Kenshi makes his way out he spots a lone survivor who in a panic runs right into one of the bishop’s guards who was standing at the exit to the town.

The bishop walked to the last remaining goblin and talked smugly. “Looks like we got one rat left trying to flee the nest~ Hero, you'll have to take care of it lest it propagate. It's best to eradicate these disease-ridden vermin.” Kenshi walked over and switched back to his sword and raised it ready to finish the last goblin. It turned to face him and Kenshi hesitated as his hand began to shake. It was a female goblin, and she was noticeably pregnant.

“Hero, why are you hesitating?” The bishop asked. Kenshi's hand kept shaking as the goblin spoke gibberish and gestured in a way that resembled begging for one's life. “She's… expecting. I can't kill her.” The bishop responded simply. “You wouldn't hesitate to kill a rat because it was pregnant would you? No, you'd kill the vermin anyway regardless of the state of its body. This is no different.” Kenshi lowers his sword and starts to walk away from the ruined settlement. “I just can't.”

As he walked away from the goblin and let his guard down and had his back to her, he felt the point of a blade touch the bare skin of the side of his hip. The goblin had managed to get the blade into an exposed part of his body somehow. Kenshi's body reacted as soon as he felt it, before he could even think. With an inhuman speed he had spun around smacking the goblin in the face with the hilt of his sword almost like he had back handed her. Then, once she was on the floor again, Kenshi thrust the sword into her. His movements were fluid, one quick and continuous motion.

By the time Kenshi had a moment to form a thought the deed had already been done. Kenshi pulled the sword out of the dead body, hand shaking uncontrollably. He dropped the bloody sword and put his hand over his mouth and gagged. “I think I'm going to be sick.” The bishop moved to Kenshi and put a hand on his shoulder. “You did the right thing, hero. I know it might not feel pleasant at this moment, but doing the right thing isn't always easy. If it sets your mind at ease, you can talk to the prisoner's my scouts freed while you had the warriors distracted.” A small group of five people in stealthy looking outfits seemingly pop in from nowhere, coming quickly out of a hiding place. They each have a woman in tow.

Kenshi looked at the women, ten in all, all dressed in tattered rags and had various minor injuries. Cuts and bruises mostly. Although most of them were human, there were a few non-humans. One of the ladies was an anthropomorphic cat person, one looked like a dwarf with really dry skin, and one was a pale white almost bug looking woman with dragonfly wings. “Is this a pixie?” The bishop let out a snort. “No, that's a regular elf. A pixie is an elf with stunted growth. Kinda like how halflings are just short humans because of a similar condition.”

Kenshi then turned his attention to one of the women. “Were you prisoners? Why were you being held here?” The one he asked, one of the humans, turned her head and looked away from Kenshi as tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. “They attacked a caravan I was in, killed my husband and took me prisoner.” She let out a sob. “Every night one or more goblins would use my body for its own pleasure.” The elven woman then spoke. “They used me for practice, someone for the males with no experience to… practice on.” The cat girl let out a loud sob as she dropped to the floor. “My once beautiful fur is stained forever by the waisted seed of goblins who used me as a cum rag.”

The bishop's hand gripped Kenshi's shoulder a bit tighter. “You see, nothing but evil monsters. Animals who only live to fulfill their base instincts and desires. They don't deserve to live. They're even willing to fornicate with an elf of all things. I mean look at her, hardly what I'd call attractive. Might as well fornicate a razer locust.”

It was one thing to be told that goblins were kidnapping women to rape them, it was another entirely to be faced with the aftermath of it. Kenshi gripped his sword tighter as he felt a sense of disgust wash over him. “Let's turn in this quest and take on another.” The bishop smiled and did a light bow. “You lead the way, hero.” He gestured away from the settlement, letting Kenshi take the lead.

Once Kenshi has made some distance away from the bishop, the bishop sneakily slides a bag of coins to one of the victims. When he starts to walk away the woman grabs the bishop's robe. “Not so fast honey, we want double.” The bishop almost shouted but spoke through clenched teeth. “Double?!” The woman nodded. “We almost died when your hero started rapidly casting fireballs left and right and blowing the buildings to hell. That's hazard pay, and that's extra.” The bishop grumbled and gritted his teeth. The woman continues after a pause. “Don't try and say you don't have it. You and I both know you've been skimming donations.”

The bishop grumbled even louder but handed her a second bag of coins. Then before walking away he looks at the female elf. “Oh and Zizi, I hope you didn't take anything I said personally. I'd hate to be denied service in the future over some rude language.” The elf girl took on a tone that was somehow both seductive and patronizing. “Oh, you can say whatever nasty things you want to me. Just know it'll cost ya extra. I'd even let you spit on my face for a small fee.” The bishop chuckled. “I'll meet you back at the Crimson Lantern tonight then. I plan on getting my money's worth.”

The woman then asked “How do you plan to keep him from finding out what you did? After all, he's bound to visit the Crimson Lantern eventually.” The bishop let out a short laugh. “I'll just have to pick a mission that has us traveling to another large city. I hear Flowers is doing well. It's in an entirely different region of the country so the odds of running into him again are low.” The bishop then finally followed Kenshi, his work here finished.