Isekai Journey Of The Magic Archer

[Rein's POV: ]

"In the courtyard's dust, I stand and wait, as a spectator to their eager fate.

Their laughter, their screams and their enthusiasm rings, so free, so bold, it stirs the memories I thought had grown cold.

They spar with joy, they hide their intentions, they fight with their skills and abilities, no killing intentions present in their innocent minds, unscarred by strife, Unknowing of the cost of a Real life."

The battlefield had been my Home for a long time.

So, seeing this Training brought up more than what I had expected…

"I see the spark in every swinging blade, I see the light of every glowing spell, and I hear the screams of every vanishing, defeated child…

But feel the weight of all the ones I've laid…"

This was a battlefield simulation training but the teachers didn't add the actual, darker elements of a battlefield, or a war this time around since this was Their first time.

But it wasn't going to be the same when they entered an actual battlefield…

"I carried a scythe through fire and ash, I walked the lands scorched by the flames of hatred, and I was at the forefront… swinging the blade, spilling the blood… taking away a father from their children, a son from an innocent family."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Though nostalgic, I didn't like this.

"Where magic crackled with each brutal clash, where comrades breathed their last breaths. On a battlefield, on a war field, in the hell of the mortal world… I swung my blade Not for glory, not for pride… But for the life of me I didn't understand."

It's fascinating, you know?

'How one can take a life with a simple gesture of their hands, and someone that had existed in this world for Years would just… vanish. How fascinating is that?'

Especially on the battlefields.

It's not a rare sight seeing pits full of dead bodies.

Actually, it is a very common sight.

"I remember battles drenched in red… Where every friend I lost stained my head.

The spells I cast, the foes I slew… But, never the faces of those I knew."

Those days were different.

"Now I see their eyes, full of hope and fire,

So much like mine once, burning with childish desires."

And these are different days.

"They want to be legends, to carve their name on stones of Blue,

But they don't yet know… that glory feels like shame."

How can I even compare that and this?

'Heaven with hell would simply bring scorns to an angel.'

But I'm no angel, I'm no human either…

"I recall the rush, the taste of power,

The strength I wielded in my darkest hour, the dominance that brought serenity. The deaths that brought familiarity.

But…"

With every victory came a hollow cry. A piece of my soul was left behind to die.

"WE play 'at' war, so young, so sure,

But I still feel the wounds that never healed."

Every spell they cast, every strike they land, I see my once trembling, blood-soaked hands.

I grip my scythe with fingers worn and scarred, A relic of a time that left me marred.

"Magic hums, still waiting in my veins, A bittersweet reminder of my darkened chains."

I watch in silence, a tear of strange joy in my eye. I watch them laugh, a heart beating high.

'They're yet to learn what Loss is. They have yet to learn what Remorse is.'

They will never know what WE have lost.

And it is for the better…

For the fate of a war criminal, or a veteran, is to carry that burden of human suffering…

[{ "You alright?" }]

[{ "Now I am." }]

Thankfully, some fortunate ones find someone to share that burden with.

[{ "Then, when will you stop?" }]

[{ "In a moment. I'm just wrapping things up." }]

Being a fortunate one in this situation though, is not something to be proud about…

"Aghhhhhhh!"

So, we are on the battlefield. And, I'm doing some long range throwing.

-Ooooooooooong!

And, it's fun.

'I'm a magic scythsman, but the students only know that I can use a scythe decently. They had no idea that I, a mage, would barge into them and take them down with a scythe.'

Magic is one thing and the scythe is the other.

'They thought that I wouldn't be as good with the scythe as I have been with magic until now, but they had underestimated me.'

First they got oinked by the scythe when I first attached Quin's and the rest of the bases and now they are getting attacked by magic.

They are a pretty miserable bunch, but, well, this is a battlefield. It's not my fault that they cannot handle even the simple long range spells.

'I'm pretty far and yet they cannot dodge these simple (tier-2) spells. It's a shame… they will only find spells of (tier-4) and higher on the battlefield. What are they going to do when they are faced with actual challenges? Accept death?'

We cannot have that now, can we?

They have to get a little stronger and more open to the unexpected things if they want to get used to something that might actually happen on the battlefields.

'I'm helping them so they should be thankful for this help.'

They should owe me their l;ifes if they do happen to find themselves in a better position on a battlefield.'

Anyway…

-Ooooooooooong!

-Bam!

Creating another ball of water and sending it to the other side with my scythe, after confirming it hitting a student from the other team, and seeing them vanish, I placed the scythe back into my storage space.

"Well then. Shall we go now, Barny?"

[{ In these many decades that we have been together, master, you have only called me by the name that you gave me. Why the change after so long? }]

Branwen didn't really like that cute nickname I gave him. I can feel the way he feels so uncomfortable every time I call him that, but he should just get used to it.

"You can just ignore it, but I like this name. I'll keep calling you Barny until I find a reason not to… if you feel really uncomfortable, just create a reason that will make me not call you that."

He's a good boy so I don't think he'll do anything to stop me from calling him something other than the name I've given him.

He kind of likes that name.

But, well, this is a temporary thing. He knows that well.

"Anyway…"

We used the {Air Steps} and moved to the other side of the battlefield to the far south at the camp that Eula had created with the rest of our crew.

They did a good job with it actually, it isn't that bad a thing.

"You're finally here."

Eon was here already and Eula was here as well. Ball was back as well, but he was wounded from head to toe so Eula was looking after him right now.

There was pretty much no one else with any visible wounds on their bodies among the other members of our group and that was not because of Eula's healing abilities.

'She was also experienced on the battlefields so she knew how to use the ones who knew practically nothing about an actual battle.'

She took care of them and while giving them orders that they had to follow as well as they possibly could, she also gave them appropriate buffs and healed them.'

She made sure to take on the actual strong opponents herself since she was the strongest among them, plus with her blessing, she was practically invincible on a battlefield.

Her order had raised her to be someone that would stand tall at the end of all kinds of bloody battles.

She was a veteran who had fought on many battlefields. And, that was visible in the way she fought the other groups.

She was strong individually, and she made sure the others around her were safe so that we could use them when the time to fight the actual threatening individuals arrived.

"Those snipes were crazy cool. Why didn't you tell me about them?"

I wanted to shout at this bastard as well since by now, the entire battlefield knew how he had taken down perhaps some of the strongest that could have destroyed all the predicted odds on this battlefield.

He took down Luna, he took down prince Alph, he took down Carla even though this was the first time she was on a battlefield, and he took down Xlor that had flown away even from my assault.

'I would have taken him down if I had the chance, but that bastard is also a veteran.'

He knew how to use his origin skills and that really made him different from most of the other students.

He was strong, so it was a good idea to take him down before the others. We can take down captain Alpha, and Quinny is mine.

Liz will be a problem, but we don't really have to worry about her with Tia and Zoe still in the game.

Ezra will be furious so I know she's going to come for us like a wounded tiger so the two of us are going to have to settle the score.

'She really loved prince Alph alright…'

Eon will have to go for the others, he will also have to deal with Zoe and whoever is left between Tia and Liz.

There's Mia and Vienna as well, so we still have a lot of competition left.

"We should start with the next phase of the plan, ok? Let's talk about the unnecessary things later."

He didn't really wanna talk about the other things since the battle had just started. But, it's nothing like the actual fights… those blood pumping, anxiety inducing fights.

'It almost feels like I'm playing house with some kids.'

I shouldn't feel like this, but the teachers have simply done a wonderful job with this place.

'It reminds me of the time when that bastard blew up that battlefield…'