Reincarnated in a Shounen Manga

The whispers persisted, accompanied by a haunting voice revealing dark secrets. They threatened to plunge my mind into madness, yet vanished from my memory in an instant. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to do something, as it felt like my mind was slowly slipping.

Abruptly, a clash resonated nearby, and a gust of wind pushed me back. The nine-tailed fox had launched an attack. Hastily, I opened my eyes, scanning for the unconscious Sei and Agon. However, my gaze inadvertently fell upon the creature's corner, and my vision distorted.

Cursing inwardly, I found myself staring at the unimaginable—an existence defying logic, akin to a black hole hovering inches from my face, obliterating everything around me while leaving me untouched. It tugged at my thoughts and my sanity, shattering my mind into fragments before reassembling it, making me whole once more. Once again... Whole..?

{Perfect Me}

'Order: look away!'

In an instant, my neck snapped to the side with such force that threatened to break it. But thankfully, it saved my mind.

The situation deteriorated further as the mere thought of the creature caused blood to pour from my eyes, nose, and ears. Blood became my taste, scent, and even sound, resembling rushing water. An agonizing pressure built up in my forehead, as if my brain were a serpent attempting to break free from its bony confines.

{Perfect Me}

'Order: erase the memory of witnessing that monstrosity in real-time.'

I chose my words carefully, ensuring Perfect Me understood my intention. Given my current state, I couldn't afford any risks that might lead to the deletion of memories spanning back to when I first encountered the mirror monster manga in my previous life.

A jolt of pain coursed through my brain, a feeling of Perfect Me severing something, and the memory of the creature vanished. One moment it was there, and the next it ceased to exist... chilling indeed.

Gathering Sei and Agon, I hastily left the confines of the pyramid, refraining from glancing back, and embarked on a search for Anika.

***

Carpy nestled in the cold, comforting waters at the sea's bottom. A pair of water demons timidly approached, seeking to become his subordinates.

However, Carpy swiftly dispatched them before they could even touch him. He could detect the repugnance emanating from these old water demons—worthless creatures that preyed on the vulnerable, such as children, the elderly, and the disabled.

Despite his imposing size, Carpy couldn't help but feel like the carp fish he once was, on the verge of being sold in a market. He thought that evolving would give him something more, maybe bravery or unbreakable willpower. But he was still the same, and while the body evolved, the mind didn’t change.

Suddenly, Carpy sensed a surge of panic from his master, Kon, who was also injured. How had he failed to perceive? Just moments ago, everything seemed fine, but now Kon's aura was disturbed. Something had obstructed Carpy's senses!

Blaming himself, Carpy burst through the ocean's surface, causing a downpour in the nearby city. He sped towards the golden pyramid, only to find it in ruins. To Carpy, this was unusual. If such a catastrophe had occurred, he should have easily been able to sense it. Moreover, within a dark sphere, two monsters clashed, their presences overwhelming Carpy's senses.

As Carpy approached, he found Kon and his three companions standing atop a platform of water he had created for Master Kon.

"Carpy, let's get out of here," Kon said. "Don't worry about the city; Tamae No Mae has no interest in its destruction. Although that creature is dangerous, it's not yet powerful enough to threaten someone like her. However, it can still cause harm. It's not the type of monster you can defeat solely with brute force."

As always, Kon turned Carpy's lapse in judgment into a valuable lesson. The fish demon listened attentively, struggling to concentrate due to his disbelief at his own mistakes.

Carpy explained the situation as they fled, with Kon resting on his head. Relief washed over Carpy upon hearing how his master had deceived the nine-tailed fox. "I apologize for my mistakes, Master Kon. If it weren't for your cleverness in outsmarted the nine-tailed demon—"

"Outsmarted her? Absolutely not. Haven't you been listening to the story? She is a demon thousands of years old, and she is hundreds of times smarter than me," Kon frowned.

But hadn't he entered the battle against one of the strongest demons and emerged almost unscathed, while the demon fought that... thing? Regardless, Carpy knew better than to argue with Kon when his mind was set.

Carpy turned his gaze toward the demons locked in battle, their clash sending them crashing into a mountain near the city. Amidst the chaos, he caught sight of a bizarre creature, an amalgamation of geometrical shapes. Its head was a leg, its mouth a nose, and its finger resembled an eye. Skin spikes adorned its form, and it seemed to emit an eerie spinning motion.

"Carpy!" Master Kon's urgent call snapped Carpy out of his trance-like state, preventing him from hurtling into the ocean. It dawned on him that he had been unknowingly drawn towards the monstrous entity. "Carpy, don’t look at that thing and don’t attempt to sense its nature."

"Yes, Master Kon," Carpy agreed, and they swiftly veered away at top speed. Anika, the girl who had been unconscious, stirred awake, her body trembling. Master Kon, seemingly displeased with her, delivered a sharp slap to the back of her head. "Hey, get yourself together. You're supposed to be Anika, the tenacious one. Don't act weak now."

Anika snapped out of her stupor immediately, tears welling up as she looked at Master Kon. "I… is that how you see me? A- As a coward?"

"No, no, it's just a figure of speech!"

Carpy didn't need their telepathic connection to notice his master's unease. Thankfully, his attention shifted as Sei and Agon, the other two unconscious companions, regained consciousness. Sei, the creator of mirrors, appeared solemn, gazing into the distance with a vacant expression.

"That woman just had to get possessed by a demon. Now I won't even get a chance for revenge," Sei sighed, his Ord behaving oddly in response.

Ord, being an emotional energy, reacted to the feelings of its user. If someone felt powerless and afraid in battle, then their Ord would mirror those sentiments. Although it would be a minimal decrease in power, there was a reason that the strongest Ord users usually exuded confidence.

Abruptly, Master Kon delivered a sharp slap to the back of Sei's head. "Stop brooding! Weakness is contagious, and if you continue, I'll thrash you to oblivion."

***

Sei was originally meant to have an arc where he would battle his mother and emerge victorious. However, that seemed unlikely to happen now. He would be a valuable asset for the upcoming fights; his disheartenment and lack of progress could be a death sentence to the rest of the world. "If you're so concerned, then strive to become strong enough to defeat the nine-tails, take it out of her current body. Then you confront your mother and punch her teeth out."

"Hey, there's no need for insults like that!" Agon objected, but we both disregarded him. I meant it literally, not as an insult.

Sei understood that and stared at me. He didn't exude the usual confidence of a shounen protagonist, but he still tried to smile and replied, "Yes."

However, his response lacked conviction, and I glanced at my fist. It had been a while since I had used it like this. Cracking my knuckles, I turned towards him. "Brace yourself. I'm about to awaken your once-in-a-thousand-years talent."

"What?"

Before he could respond, I punched him in the face. My fist stung a little, as Sei's half-demon nature had been resurfacing. "Shut up and discard your uncertainty. If you don’t, then you’re gonna receive a second round of… lessons."

Sei didn't get up; instead, he remained lying on Carpy's head.

Did I knock him out?

"What the hell do you know about it?!" Sei suddenly yelled, catching me off guard. "Once-in-a-thousand-years talent, yet I can't even keep up with a bastard with a mere 65% talent!"

Did he just call me a talentless bastard? I never knew someone could be so arrogant even while whining.

"I train relentlessly and possess talent that people supposedly consider godly. But what has that done for me?! Since the academy, I haven't even come close to catching up with you; you've already grown several times stronger since the war, but I've barely improved in the past six months!" Tears welled up in his eyes, but he quickly covered his face with an arm.

In the original story, Sei was vastly superior to everyone else in his generation, a dominance that lasted well into the later parts of the narrative as I remembered reading it. However, my presence here changed that.

I knew Sei had far more potential than me, but telling him that would be futile. He might even get angrier, thinking I was pitying him. "Nevertheless, you possess once-in-a-thousand-years talent. You can overcome the nine-tailed fox. There’s nothing stopping you except yourself."

"She's a demon who has lived for thousands of years, encountering many talented individuals like me, likely killing them too," he responded without hesitation.

He was right. I couldn't refute that.

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Agon raised his hand as if he were in class, seeking permission to speak. "But I don't sense Orochi's presence, and he isn't communicating with me... I-I think he might be gone."

Damn it…

“This wasn’t a bad time to tell you, right?” Agon asked, scratching the back of his head.

No, it wasn’t a bad time… It was the worst time.