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It took me some time to process what I heard until it finally clicked.

“Dracula…the impaler… so Vlad III?”
“You know my name then? I had a hunch you came from the same world.”

As I mutter that, Ryuka, or rather, Vlad III replies with a satisfied smile.

“Are you the real one?”
“Exactly what would you consider the real one? I’ve died twice. First in the world back then, and once again in this world. Now I’m merely borrowing the body of my descendant. I wouldn’t be able to tell you how much of me is real now.”

So this means that just like me and Ruri, Vlad III also reincarnated in this world.

But thinking about it, it actually makes sense. I already knew of two others who reincarnated aside of me. So it wouldn’t be strange for the same thing to have happened in the past, and it’ll probably happen in the future too. And it’s not too much of a stretch to assume historical figures could reincarnate too.

However, I never expected that Ryuka’s ancestor was one. But ah, I guess the name Urado is just the way ‘Vlad’ was passed on verbally since then.

“I’m sure you must have many questions, but we can’t afford to keep entertaining you. Shall we get going, forefather?” Ryuka’s father, or Tatsumasa as Vlad III called him, stands up and beckons Vlad III to follow him.

He turns around to go with Tatsumasa, but then looks at Ruri again.

“Ruri, you’ve served Ryuka well. I really appreciate everything you did, so I deeply regret not giving you time to bid her farewell. Forgive me.”
“Farewell? What do you mean?! What are you planning on doing with Lady Ryuka’s body!!”

The way Vlad III spoke like Ruri would never see Ryuka again made her become enraged.

“I told you we don’t have time to entertain you, Ruri. And if you can’t understand that, then I’ll have to make sure you never move again.” Saying that, Tatsumasa unsheathes his katana and glares intently at Ruri. It’s clear he’s seriously considering killing Ruri.

“..! No matter who you are, if you’re trying to harm Lady Ryuka then you’re my enemy!” Ruri also holds her katana and stands ready to fight back.

That’s an act of rebellion that she’ll never be able to turn back from. But whatever is happening, she’s justified in reacting that way.

“Don’t bother, Tatsumasa. According to Ryuka’s memories, that Ruri girl is rather skilled. We don’t have time to fight her.” Vlad III steps in, stopping Tatsumasa from attacking Ruri and glaring at us.

We know they’re plotting something, but as long as Vlad III is in Ryuka’s body, we can’t really attack carelessly.

After a moment, Vlad III bites his finger and then swings his arm, flinging out droplets of blood. Those droplets start to swell in the air and start to take form, creating bones, muscles, and eventually turning into whole bodies.

“Those are…Shiki…”

Ruri mutters that. The blood of Vlad III created more Shiki. But they’re different from those we ran into in the forest, instead looking like warriors in antiquated bulky armor.

“These will keep you busy.” Vlad III says that, and the armed Shiki unsheathe their swords and hold their spears ready to attack.
“Why would some blood turn into them?!”
“That’s what I’d like to know!”

Ruri doesn’t sound very happy either as I ready my magic gauntlets and armor. One of the armed Shiki swings its sword at me, so I dodge to the side and try to slash back at it with a magic blade.

“!”

But my opponent instantly changes the course of its sword, swinging up to deflect my magic blade.

“No-”

The moment I lose my balance, an arrow flies from the distance and strikes my shoulder. At the same time, the Shiki move to trap me between sword and spear. I don’t have any way to escape, so all I can do is cast a stronger defensive barrier around me.

“These guys are strong…”

I kneel within my barrier, enduring the pain as I pull out the arrow stuck in my shoulder. By now, it’s clear that these armed Shiki can actually think properly, unlike the ones before.

A mindless moving corpse wouldn’t know to swing up after I dodged and counterattacked like earlier. And even now, they’re aware of my barrier and aren’t trying to attack for no reason. That’s not something the Shiki in the forest would do.

“It’s so unfair that he can use his abilities even if his real body already died.”

I’ve also reincarnated here, but I didn’t carry over anything special like that so I can’t help but grumble about it. I can’t afford to just hide inside my barrier either.

Ruri is also having a rough time, our enemy’s bulky armor making it impossible for her katana to cut through. For now, she’s only able to strike quick hits before retreating to not get caught up by their attacks, but it’s only a matter of time before they overwhelm her.

Vlad III and Tatsumasa are also gone already. I don’t know what they’re trying to do, but at least they’ve succeeded in restraining us here.

“Ruri, Vlad III is gone! Shouldn’t we be chasing after them?!”
“I already know that! But these guys won’t let us leave!”

Ruri is also aware of that and shouts back while dodging the attacks from one of the armed Shiki.

“Then just go ahead, I’ll deal with them here!”
“Saying that is a death flag!”
“I know! But there’s no need to point it out!”

If it comes to it, I’d still do it, but that doesn’t mean I want to die at all.

“Go!”

I get rid of my barrier and create magic blades on both of my hands before lunging forward. A carefully aimed arrow is also shot at me from the armed Shiki, as their archer had been waiting for this moment.

But I expected that much, so I use my magic blades to sweep it away. At the same time, I use my second magic blade to block a sword coming at me, as another Shiki tried to attack while I was distracted by the arrow.

Still not giving up, the Shiki reaches for a dagger on its waist. Before it can do that, I form a magic blade on my foot and kick its stomach with all my strength. I also use that kick to push myself back and shoot one of my arms with a magic blade at the armed Shiki keeping Ruri busy.

There’s a loud cling as it gets staggered.

“Ruri, go!”
“…Just don’t die!”

After a moment of hesitation, Ruri runs off.

I reel back my arm and stand in the way between the armed Shiki and Ruri.

“There’s no way I’m going to die, I just became lovers with Olivia after all.”

I try to cancel out the earlier flag with another one. At the same time, I see some uneasiness in the eyes of the armed Shiki, barely visible through their helmets. I knew it, they’re not regular Shiki, they’re clearly conscious.

Ahh, I see. This all feels strange because I’m thinking of them as Shiki. It wouldn’t be strange at all if they were actual armed soldiers. The fact that they’re undead is making me confused.

I’m not fighting some reanimated bodies, I’m fighting actual soldiers.

They’re probably better fighters than myself. And while this will contradict what I said earlier, now that they’ve been turned to Shiki, they’re also stronger than regular humans.

Does this mean I’m at a disadvantage now? That I can’t win? No, I definitely can. I have a way to fight. And it’s probably time to use that too.

“Zahhak, activate.”

I jump up and open my magic storage, from which a V shaped object shoots out and attaches to my back. It’s another magic device like Celaeno, but this one grants me additional arms.

This is an improved version of the additional arms I tried hiding within my skirt before. The increase in size means I have to carry them on my back instead, so they’ve lost their surprise factor, but in exchange they’re almost as capable as my regular arms. I’ve also included a magic propulsion engine and internal levitation system to make up for the added weight.

I also take out a magic gun from my magic storage. This one is around twice as big as Black Hawk or White Viper which I usually use, and is called Red Cassowary.

“Time to get serious then, and not quite like myself. Automaton Mode.”

I create a magic blade on my left hand and swing at the enemy in front of me.

There’s a light blue flash as the enemy’s sword blocks my blade. While a Shiki is stronger than a regular human, I’m the strongest magic automaton in the world, so that’s not enough to push me back.

As I put more pressure on our locked blades, the Shiki reaches out for a dagger, but it’s too slow. I deploy an arm of Zahhak and move it forward, making its sharp claws snap like scissors as they move toward the Shiki’s neck.

Seeing that, the Shiki tries to move away, but I don’t allow that to happen. As soon as its stance breaks, my magic blade pierces through its neck, which is followed up by a brutal attack from Zahhak’s claws.

Then as I’m pulling out my magic blade, another arrow is shot at me, but I use the second arm of Zahhak to block it. A moment later, the claws at the end of the arm split open, revealing a muzzle which shoots a large magic bullet that travels at an incredible speed and destroys the archer Shiki’s bow.

I had already designed the claws to function like scissors in the first prototype because I envisioned concealing a gun inside, just like this. However, due to my limited skills in alchemy, the gun isn’t as versatile as the Black Hawk. Since it’s connected directly to my nerve threads, it realistically will never run out of bullets. In fact, it doesn’t require a magazine or anything similar because I control it directly in that manner.

As far as the arm itself goes, it basically operates the same way as my own arms. In other words, I can also control them from afar.

“?!”

I shoot out one of Zahhak’s arms and make it stop right in front of the face of the archer Shiki, and then fire. Its skull explodes within its helmet, and its body falls down without moving again.

There’s three armed Shiki left. It’s time to settle this. I start running and shoot out both of Zahhak’s arms, keeping their muzzles aimed at the armed Shiki.

They realize what’s happening and try to raise their defenses, but they struggle to predict how Zahhak’s arms will fly, as they take sharp and complex turns all over the air.

In reality, I’d never be able to control them so precisely myself. This is only possible thanks to the accelerated reflexes from Automaton Mode.

Then, there’s a high pitched clink as sparks come out from their armor.

They might be strong, but I can overwhelm them with all of my appendages and gimmicks. Zahhak’s movements are actually a distraction, and my real objective is to get them wrapped up in my nerve threads.

The moment one of them notices that and tries to escape, the scissor claws of Zahhak rush at it. There’s nothing they can do against those arms that can fly around freely.

“Time to end this.”

Once they’re restrained enough, I finish charging up my magic gun with mana and aim it at them.

Unlike the three magic guns Ophelia left me, Red Cassowary is one I made myself.

I couldn’t replicate Black Hawk’s ability to fire regular and incendiary rounds, White Viper’s rapid fire, or Blue Hound’s range. It also doesn’t take any magazines so I have to manually charge it up each time I want to fire. The internal mechanism to compress mana and shoot it out as a bullet is also incomplete, and it’s really bulky and hard to manage, so as far as the general design goes, it could be called a failure. But there was one unexpected benefit to it.

The power output is high, like ridiculously high.

Light starts to gather at its muzzle, almost like it’s breathing in before roaring. I reel back Zahhak and pull the trigger at the same time.

“Begone.”

BOOOOOOM!

There’s a loud explosion as a ball of light flies forward and swallows the armed Shiki. The ball of light travels for a few seconds before fading away, leaving a crater on the ground and shattered trees, and the armed Shiki are completely gone.

That power makes it really feel like it’s more of a magic cannon than a gun.

“Ack…it definitely has too much recoil.”

Since it’s more powerful than my other magic guns, it also has a proportionally stronger recoil. It’s almost making my elbow joints hurt and feel numb.

But I can’t forget about Ruri and Ryuka now. I quickly put Zahhak and Red Cassowary into my magic storage and ran after Ruri.