After Stealing Hero's Mother, I Reincarnated in the Fantasy World!

'How did it...?'

When Rain heard the name he least expected to hear, he got a bad feeling and immediately mentally shifted his gaze to the system.

[...]

But she didn't comment on the rift master's words in any way.

Rain was sure that the Goddess of Darkness who helped him move to this world was not among the known gods of this world. Therefore, he didn't understand how anyone here could know about her.

'If the rift master knows about my connection to the Goddess of Darkness, could it also know about the system?'

The killing intent in the young man's eyes intensified.

The system was his main trump card and if someone managed to expose it, there would be a lot more problems.

'It's lucky that Aelorian doesn't understand the words of a rift master, otherwise it would be hard to explain.'

While these thoughts ran through his mind, his body never stopped moving quickly, dodging his opponent's attacks and striking back.

'I don't know how it knows this, but I'm going to find out and silence it once and for all.'

Rain with even more killing intent began to attack it using his sword techniques.

"Judging by your reaction… do you understand me?"

Apparently not expecting this, it expressed its surprise by parallel swinging its tail at him.

"It is commendable that a mere human knows the language of higher beings such as ourselves. It is an honor to you, human."

Ignoring its arrogant words, Rain dodged the approaching attack.

[Bloodline: Wanderer of the Cosmic Void (92% sealed) → (88% sealed)]

Time was playing against them, and both Rain and Aelorian realized this, as did the rift master. For as soon as its seals were completely broken and it regained its full power, they would lose instantly.

The monster was getting faster and more elusive by the minute, feeling a new burst of strength. It didn't even notice the many arrows sticking out of its body, nor the cuts all over its body.

All of Rain's attention was focused on it and he didn't allow himself to be distracted by anything.

Noticing the fast approaching attack, Rain did not dodge but instead rushed forward, and at the last moment he skillfully maneuvered past the razor-sharp claws that came within a millimeter of his body.

When its blow failed, the monster was in a vulnerable position for a moment, something Rain immediately took advantage of. Still with the same equanimity, he sidestepped the monster, and his blade cut through the air with deadly precision, sinking into its neck. A stream of blood spurted and sprinkled the ground.

The true skill in combat was to achieve the maximum result at the minimum cost. That is, to make movements sufficient only to evade a blow by a hair's breadth. This allowed one to maintain stamina and mislead the opponent when it did not realize whether its attack had reached its target or not.

And thanks to his bloodline, Rain was perfectly capable of doing so. Although he hadn't yet gained an active ability like Aelorian, his senses were already far beyond normal levels.

In battle, it helped to fully unleash Rain's innate fighting talent, allowing him to sense battle and control the pace of battle on a whole other level.

Looking at the ground, the rift master saw so much of its blood for the first time in a long time.

"I've been trapped here for years, and I didn't expect the first person I met to be so interesting."

It could no longer remember the last time it had shown interest in someone, but this young man made it feel unusually excited.

"It's incredibly boring here, so please hold out as long as you can before I eat you."

The monster didn't stop its attacks, just talking between the two of them as if they were now sitting at a table drinking tea.

"Come on, answer me, I can sense by your increased bloodlust that you understand me."

"Make no mistake, I just thought your head would look great in my living room."

For the first time, Rain answered, trying to provoke the monster. And he succeeded, because there was a trace of anger in its previously arrogant voice.

"Don't get cocky, human!"

The wolf's jaws clamped down on his sword after Rain's lunge. Compared to its claws, its fangs were much harder, so the sword, reinforced with spells and runes, could not withstand even a second of pressure and shattered into many small pieces.

'What a troublesome monster.'

Rain jumped away from it while pulling out a new sword from his storage ring.

[Bloodline: Wanderer of the Cosmic Void (88% sealed) → (84% sealed)]

At this moment, the rift master sensed something and a trace of anger disappeared from its eyes, replaced instead by a sly glint.

[Careful, the fluctuations of space around it have changed, it's trying to do something.]

It stopped attacking the young man, who seemed to be able to anticipate its movements, and instantly teleported to the elf girl.

This time it didn't use its claws or even try to attack her, but instead there was a noticeable spatial fluctuation around it with a retracting force.

Realizing what it could be, Rain tore towards them with as much speed as possible and before the retracting force became too strong, pushed Aelorian away.

The next second Rain, along with the rift master, disappeared from the place, leaving the confused elfess alone.

"Rain?"

Her voice sounded, but remained unanswered.

°°°°

At this time, somewhere in the rift.

Cale walked quickly through the thicket, approaching a certain spot. But soon he sensed something and turned back. A look of intense irritation instantly appeared on his face.

'That fatty doesn't move at all!'

A couple hundred meters behind him, he saw his partner, Donat, panting, barely trailing after him.

Cale couldn't keep up his normal speed as he had to constantly stop and wait for his obese partner.

'Did he say he had the bloodline of a Golden Hog? Shit, it's more like the bloodline of a fucking snail!'

If the test hadn't penalized him for parting with his partner, Cale would have already abandoned him and gone off on his own. But now he was doomed to carry him with him.

Looking at Donat once more, Cale clenched his fists.

'Why did it come out this way?'

He had chosen this fat man only after Rain had promised to swap partners with him. Though Cale hadn't shown it in his interactions with him, for all he'd done to Aelorian, he wanted him to suffer.

Cale had seen perfectly well how, during the sparring sessions, Rain's hands had shamelessly explored his girlfriend's body as she wriggled and blushed beneath him. At the time, he could only stand there and clench his fists until they bled, vowing to himself to take vicious revenge on him.

Cale knew how much nobles valued their honor, so he had no doubts about his choice.

Would Rain, coming from one of the most famous families, be able to renege on his word?

No. At least that's what he thought.

But that bastard not only broke his word, but also took his girlfriend before his eyes, taking away his hope at the very end!

The memories made the blood rush to his face again.

'If I meet you here, I'll...'

Cale snapped out of his thoughts because a panting Donat was already at his side.

"Are we t-there yet??"

Veins swelled on Cale's forehead, but he tried to restrain himself as much as he could and only said through clenched teeth.

"No, we're not there yet."

With those words, Cale looked ahead.

'I feel like we're getting close.'

He didn't know how to explain it, but something inside told him he had to go there.

At that moment he turned his attention to the sky. Unlike its calm state of the last few days, it was now swirling with turbulence.

"What's that?"

Unconsciously Cale asked, gazing into those turbulent swirls.

"Looks like a donut."

"Stop thinking about food, fatty!"

Cale hissed through clenched teeth, glaring fiercely at his partner.

'We only ate half an hour ago! And that was the fourth time this morning!'

At times, Cale even wondered if Donat really needed this to keep himself in fighting shape or if he just wanted to eat.

"Did you say something?"

Donat struggled to pull himself out of his daydreams and looked at Cale.

With an effort, Cale came to his senses and said with a smile.

"I say I'll buy you one as soon as we get out of here, so let's hurry."

"Оkay!"

Donat brightened visibly and walked forward. Looking at him, Cale calmed himself and exhaled.

'At the very least, he makes a good meat shield in fights.'

They were currently in third place in the rankings among the test participants, but if things continued like this, Cale was sure that in a couple days they could rise to first place.

At that moment, thunder rumbled in the sky, catching their attention, and it began to rain. The drops fell on them as they both looked up at the sky, which was even more heavily covered with dark clouds.

Not only them, but students across the rift also noticed the change and raised their heads to the sky.

"What's that?"

"It's like the end of the world..."

"Don't bullshit, we're at the academy, it's the safest place in the world!"

"...it looks dangerous."

"No, there's no way I'm dying a virgin!!!"

The guy shouted and turned to his partner, but the latter only gave him a strange look.

"Dude, I'm your brother."

In each part of the rift, students increasingly noticed strange phenomena in the sky.

Some were worried, some were angry, some were excited, and some just wanted to eat...

But they all had something in common - they didn't know the reasons for what was happening now.

***

Thanks for reading, everyone.