Rebirth: Beasts Bound

... I was being sucked back into my dead body.

The horror in my eyes was vivid. Azrael jumped into the water, swimming as fast as he could to grab hold of Raven’s sinking body.

"Was this the end? Was Raven’s soul going to return back to her body? What would happen to me? At least Raven was alive when I took over her body, but I was dead in that world and soon to be in this. Was I going to vanish forever in both worlds?" The thought scared me so much that it brought me to tears.

I closed my eyes in surrender when the system suddenly appeared. [Soul merging potion, bought with gift card]

Huh? What gift card? What potion? Did the system not want me to die either? I gazed as the potion began materializing in front of me and then finally appeared right before me.

[Warning: Host, you have five minutes. Take the potion or die]

My eyes widened. A chance. I reached for it at once. But the moment my hands reached for the potion, they passed right through it.

Huh!

"God, did you forget you’re dead?" The cat’s sarcastic voice suddenly rang in my ears, and I watched as she paddled with her little paws in the water. Her face had a mix of disgust and discomfort.

"Gosh, I hate water," she spat, grabbing the potion and dropping a little into Raven’s mouth before Azrael could reach her. It tasted sweet.

"Taste? Why could I taste it? Could it be I’m still linked to Raven? But why was nothing happening?" I asked, still staring at the void below claiming my soul. My dead body, lying in a coffin, dressed neatly. In all my life, I had never been shown this kind of respect or care, but for my burial, apparently. My eyes turned cold. I felt nothing but sadness and bitterness inside. Worse, as if mocking me, I saw my fiancé clinging to my sister, crying.

"Crying?!!" I scoffed. Those tears, those obviously fake tears, made my blood boil and my heart ache.

The void closed and my soul was dragged out of the ocean, staring at Raven’s dead body lying still on the shore.

Azrael... I could see the worry in his eyes, the way water dripped down from his hair as he kept pressing hard on my chest. Greenish-black mist swirled around my body as he pressed harder... I wasn’t in my body, but I could feel it... he was trying to wake me up.

Why?

"Don’t you dare die. Only I can kill you," Azrael said, tightening his grip and pushing more power into me. I stared at my hands, watching as they faded.

The cat finally swam out of the water, panting while she lay flat on her back. "I’m never saving you again," she blurted.

"Why isn’t the potion helping?" I asked, and she rolled her eyes. "Don’t speak so soon." She paused and turned her gaze to Azrael.

Suddenly, everything went dark.

I gasped, spitting out water, gasping for air as I stared at the dark sky! Was I back in Raven’s body? Suddenly, Azrael’s head hovered closer, staring straight at me...

"Why the long face? I thought me dying was all y—"

Suddenly his lips landed on mine. I froze. The shock hit me in waves; even my body felt the shivering goosebumps, my eyelids trembling...

Suddenly, the system appeared. [Congrats, you got the two kisses. New S-rank magic unlocked: Manipulation. Reader51, Reader651, and Getpussy21 sent you 1000 gems]

I was staring at it, yet I couldn’t understand a thing. Azrael’s lips parted, and he stared straight into my eyes and pulled me into a tight hug...

"I don’t understand. Why did you save me? I thought you hated me?"

Before I could get an answer, I heard footsteps approaching, my other beast-men. They all seemed drained and weak, their eyes flashing with worry and terror.

"What happened?" Veyra asked, and Ryker turned to stare at Azrael, lunging at him and landing a punch across his face. He staggered backward and gently wiped his busted lip. A maniacal laugh escaped his lips.

"What? You think you can kill me?" he asked in a deep, taunting tone, and Ryker raised his finger at him. "Killing you would be easy, demon," he spat, and my lips parted.

"Stop..." I said, using what little strength I had to calm them down. My voice was low, but it was enough. They stopped their fighting, and I reached out my hands to grab them, but Veyra took them, gently cupping my cheeks.

"What happened?" They all probably felt I had died. They looked like life had been drained out of them. Veyra had flame-like scales on his neck and hands. Even Ryker had that orange haze hovering around him. Were they being affected too?

I watched as Ryker’s eyes blazed orange and an orange mist formed in his hands. Azrael did the same.

"You killed her!" Ryker spat, and Azrael scoffed. "Either way, she would have died, by our hands or by the hands of another." Ryker, hearing those words, got even angrier and laughed maniacally. "Azrael, tonight you d—"

"STOPPPPPPPP!" I screamed so hard I could feel the whole academy wake up. I watched as they paused and turned to stare at me, displeasure visible in my eyes.

"Don’t... Don’t dare do this in front of me. Azrael saved my life... I don’t want you guys fig—" My breath suddenly became heavy and shaky, and my vision turned cloudy.

"Don’t," I muttered and fell backwards. Luckily, Veyra caught me, holding me gently.

"We should go back," he said softly.

Minutes later, I could feel hot water towels pressed against my skin. It made me shiver and groan uncomfortably.

"How is she?" I heard Veyra’s sad voice ask, yet the others didn’t answer.

"Better," I heard the thick voice of Azrael say, and I hissed. That spot hurt so much. But I couldn’t open my eyes. Why? It felt like heavy bags of ice had been placed on them to stop me from opening them.

"You watched everything happen," Veyra snapped. The air suddenly felt hot.

"Chill," Ryker said, but Veyra flashed his dark eyes at him. He had been calm earlier, but I guess something in him snapped.

"She’s just an F-ranker," he called out, stepping closer. Yet I felt Azrael’s strong hands still continuing to clean me.

"So didn’t you get what you wanted? Shouldn’t you have let her die?" Veyra paused and chuckled. "Azrael," he roared, and Azrael finally answered.

"I saved her, didn’t I? That should answer your question," he said and returned to gently cleaning me. I felt Veyra make a step but stopped. Ryker must have reached for him, urging him to stop.

"She told us not to fight anymore!" he said.

But since when could I hear this clearly? I could even hear the chatter of the students outside. Everyone was fully awake now.

"Did she die?"

"Who dared challenge Raven?"

"She’s going to burn this school down to find the culprit—"

"But really, I wished she had died. At least someone as cruel and vile as her would have been cleansed from our world."

I heard all the murmurs and turned on the bed.

"Too loud," I said softly, and my eyes slowly opened. I stared at the door before me and heard the hurried steps of my beast-men rushing towards me.

"Master, are you okay?" Veyra and Ryker asked in unison, yet I didn’t say a word. I just turned my gaze to Azrael.

He watched everything happen. He watched the culprit hypnotize me and push me off the roof. He watched as I pleaded for help, but he only came at the very end... Should I be angry? But really, in the end, he did save me.

I could only close my eyes and mutter, "I deserved that."

I was already in her body. No amount of words would cleanse the sins the original Raven had done. I could only accept it.

"Don’t say that. You didn’t deserve it. You deserve to be safe and happy," Veyra said, but a low chuckle escaped my lips.

"Do you really mean that, Veyra?" I asked.

[Veyra’s affection increased by 10%]

I stared at the system, and it came to my mind.

"System, what really happened there? Why was I being sucked back into my dead body? Why was I here to begin with? What is happening?" I asked inwardly.

[Analyzing, gathering facts... Answers]

....

[Access Denied]