Reincarnated in a Shounen Manga

Uriel surveyed his fellow Dream Lords, his gaze sweeping across the gathering. Being one of the older members, he knew everyone here. He had known some of them even before they had forged their pacts with the island.

People had signed the contract for various reasons – some driven by greed for power, others by the sheer need to survive, and a few for entirely different motives. But today's meeting wasn't about that.

What caught everyone's attention, however, was the absence of one among them, coupled with the sight of another nursing injuries. It was evident that their recent visitors had proved to be more formidable than the usual ones. These newcomers possessed extraordinary talent and had grown at an impressive pace.

Breaking the silence, the one-eyed woman, her gaze sweeping the assembly, voiced the thoughts on everyone's mind. "Why's everyone so damn quiet? We know damn well why we're here. There's some scary strong bastard who just ripped a chunk out of this island."

Uriel recalled this woman from before she had embraced the island's contract, back when she was still an Exorcist who had stumbled upon this place by accident. Now bearing a singular large eye, a physical reminder of her transformation, her past beauty still lingered faintly in her flawless, pale complexion, her silky dark hair, and her elegantly draped kimono. But she would never be quite the woman that had been able to even seduce a Dream Lord.

"Yeah, that creature's a dragon. I tried offering him the contract, but he refused," Uriel disclosed. Among the group, he was the de facto envoy for contract negotiations – his charisma and track record made him the go-to for such matters.

"Did you at least gauge his power?"

The room's attention shifted to an elderly man, his long white beard and receding hairline framing his otherwise ordinary appearance, save for the crimson gem embedded on his forehead. This man had been contracted with the island long before Uriel. He was one of the experiments gone awry from the Gardens of Babylon, a testament to the recklessness of that immortal, unhinged woman.

Uriel himself was uncertain how or why this old man had contracted with the island, as he seemed to be the first to do so. Shaking off his suspicions, Uriel focused on the present. “Yes, I tried fighting him.”

The woman with the one eye arched an inquisitive eyebrow. "Well, how did that go?”

"He defeated me with a nonchalant tail swipe that I'm not even sure he was serious with. Which I still haven't fully regenerated from," Uriel confessed.

He might not possess the most formidable regenerative abilities among the Dream Lords, but as an ultimate class creature he still regenerated quite fast. In case his colleagues had not grasped the essence of the situation, he continued to elaborate. "Just standing in his presence was like being next to the very embodiment of raw power itself. Be it in terms of attack, defense, speed, Ord, or anything else. He was leagues above my own capabilities."

Upon hearing this, a few of them furrowed their brows, a couple even betraying hints of worry. However, the eldest amongst them remained one of the select few who wore an expression devoid of emotion. He inquired, "Did you hit him with your cursed flames?"

"When he hit me, I covered myself in a flaming cocoon. So yes, he was hit by my flames. But it was barely even a scorch on his scales, and somehow he dispelled the curse in an instant and regenerated," Uriel explained, the pain of the dragon’s slap still lingered in his body.

That got everyone frowning, as each of them here knew just how dangerous his cursed flames were. They were almost impossible to deal with in the midst of battle. Before fighting the dragon, he would have said 'impossible to deal with' and not added the 'almost'. But recently his perspective on these things had changed.

"That is troublesome" remarked the four-armed elephant as his flesh writhed and mended, the scars of injury slowly disappearing.

A majority of those gathered could be classified as divine ultimate class entities. Because they were formed under the power of prayer from those lower ranked than them who had made a contract with the island. That was how they got their power boosts and all that.

The defining trait of divine ultimate creatures, which in general made them superior to their non-divine counterparts, stemmed from their distinctive capabilities. Uriel's unique gift as a human manifested as the Holy Flames, albeit initially accompanied by modest combat prowess. Yet, after forging the contract with the island, his special ability had changed at a fundamental level.

"So, what should we do?" the elderly man inquired, directing his attention to Uriel.

"Obviously we band together to kill the dragon!" exclaimed the one-eyed woman.

"No," Uriel swiftly dismissed her suggestion, nipping any bloodthirsty ideas in the bud before they took root among the other members. "We won't get in the way of the dragon, and that is my final order. Even if you catch sight of him accidentally, I want you to turn the other way. Even if he is the one attacking, run away."

"Why? Are you afraid some of us might die? So what if a couple of us die, we will take that thing down!" The one-eyed woman was relentless, allowing her emotions to overpower her reason. Ordinarily, the twelve – now eleven – Dream Lords wielded absolute authority here, akin to kings. It wasn’t easy to give something like that up, and bow to the whims of some creature that came out of nowhere.

"Because if we push him too far, he might point his attack toward the island. You saw what that last blast did to the island, and it seems like most of you are avoiding the uncomfortable truth. What if he wasn't going all out?" Uriel delivered his statement as a matter of fact.

This was precisely why he held the mantle of leadership – unlike his comrades, he didn't view these matters through an emotional lens. He didn't take pride in his strength; this island was both his prison and penance.

"Even though I personally have a distaste for dragons, I agree with Uriel," spoke the elderly man. "It isn't like Avalon Island won't recuperate after the damage it already caused with its initial blast, and I doubt the dragon will stay around here forever.”

A grimace of sourness appeared on some faces when those words were uttered. By voicing this sentiment aloud, they had effectively admitted the harsh reality: they were collectively weaker than the dragon. So weak, in fact, that their only recourse was to let such a creature pass unchallenged and hope for the best.

Compromise – it was a concept that many of them had long forgotten. But what other choice did they have?

That was their truth for now. If they try to take the dragon while the island is in hibernation, it could end up with the island itself being destroyed.

"Wow, that guy sounds dangerous," a new voice interjected.

In unison, Uriel and his compatriots shifted their attention toward the source.

How had they failed to detect someone's approach when that person had drawn so near?!

The speaker was a young man with dark green hair and golden eyes. Stark naked, he bore only a dull golden staff that looked like two intertwined serpents.

***

Carpy soared gracefully through the billowing clouds, savoring their soft and wet embrace. With a mere thought, he manipulated the clouds to condense slightly beneath him, transforming them into a makeshift bed of sorts.

Yet, as he lay there, a cloud of uncertainty hung over him, just as dense as the very mists that cradled him. Since that fleeting instance when he'd sensed Master Kon's presence, Carpy had been unable to gauge the progress of his Master’s rebirth. Doubt gnawed at him.

What if something had gone awry during Master Kon's rebirth, a flaw hidden from his perception? The insight provided by Perfect Me, while powerful, wasn't omniscient, especially given the irregularities that arose from Carpy inheriting the ability secondhand.

'This waiting is making me doubt whether this is even the right thing. Maybe there are other things I could do that would actually save Master Kon. Should I have not just immediately used Perfect Me, and searched for alternative methods? After all, Perfect Me only used a method it knew of.'

Carpy's thoughts raced, a whirlwind of thoughts in the midst of his tranquil flight. Anxieties swirled amid the serenity of the sky.

Restless, he extended his senses and enveloped the island like an all-seeing God. In an instant, knowledge flooded him—the lives, the moments, and even past incarnations of Master Kon's companions wandering about.

When thinking of the past, Carpy immediately thought of seeing Master Kon. His heart immediately started beating faster with excitement. He wanted to see Master Kon one last time! Maybe Master Kon could come up with something better? After all, despite him having Master Kon’s memories, he didn’t have his mind or thought process.

But despite wanting to go and see Master Kon, Carpy quickly calmed himself. Even if he were to go and try to chase after a past Master Kon, that wasn't the man who had given his life for him. Maybe the past Kon wouldn't even care about the current one, and would try and change the timeline so the Master Kon who saved Carpy wouldn't exist.

'Ugh, this is all so complicated! It was way easier when Master Kon was the one who had to think about these things!' Carpy lamented inwardly. He morphed into his humanoid form, gracefully descending from the clouds. For a split second he was worried about the height, but such fears were crushed by his sense of logic.

His body slammed onto the ground, creating a small crater where his feet had landed. Then he crouched down and leaped, soaring toward a certain direction while the wind bristled against his face.

He reached his destination in seconds, which was a cascading valley that looked almost endless. But what caught his eye was the humanoid demon with an octopus head that jumpscared a past version of Gem.

Carpy noticed that Master Kon's friend was in no condition to fight and contemplated helping him. In the end, Master Kon would be sad if his friends died, and Gem had somehow survived this so Carpy had to make sure that the timeline played like it had before. That way, nothing strange like Master Kon getting wiped out of existence would come to be.

Just like the creature had sneaked up on Gem, Carpy sneaked up behind the creature and used his hand like a spear to pierce through the creature's back.

He was about to swing his hand upward, but that was how Master Kon had died, and it was an unpleasant memory. So he swung his arm by the side, and bisected the creature, and then grabbed its head and gripped it hard enough until there was a crunching sound, and the head got squished like a tomato.