The Genius Mage Was Reincarnated Into A Swordsman Family

Chapter 105: The Ominous Awakening

Klaus opened his eyes, but the world around him was little more than a blur, a muddled haze of colors and shapes. His eyelids felt heavy, as though weighed down by an unseen force. Blinking several times, he tried to clear his vision, but it only sharpened slightly, the fog still thick in his mind. There was an eerie stillness in the room, broken only by the distant sound of his own shallow breathing.

He was in his bed.

How did he get here?

A dull throb pounded at his temples, and his body ached in ways he couldn’t explain. The sensation was foreign, like he’d been thrown into his own skin without fully inhabiting it. Sitting up slowly, Klaus glanced toward the window. The faintest slivers of light began creeping over the horizon, signaling the approach of dawn. The sky was still dark, but the hint of sunlight on the edge of the world made everything feel more surreal, as if he’d woken at the edge of a dream.

"What… was I doing again?" he muttered to himself, his voice raspy. His mind was clouded, memories flickering just beyond his grasp. Every time he tried to think, it was like chasing shadows that slipped away before he could catch hold of them.

His eyes instinctively dropped to his hand.

The ring.

The cold metal of Greed’s ring was still on his finger, a familiar weight he hadn’t even realized he was holding. "Greed…" Klaus whispered, his heart suddenly racing. If anyone knew what had happened, it would be Greed. They had been through so much together. Surely, Greed would have the answers.

With a flicker of hope, Klaus closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, seeking the presence of the ancient being who had resided within him for so long now. He probed deeper into his consciousness, into the dark recesses where Greed’s voice usually lurked, sly and ever-watchful.

But there was nothing.

No hum. No voice. No presence.

"Greed?" Klaus called out, his mental voice growing more urgent. "Greed!" He tried again, his heart pounding harder. The silence was deafening, an emptiness that filled him with a sudden and overwhelming fear. Their bond—it was gone.

Panic surged through his chest like icy water. He shot up from the bed, his limbs trembling as the room spun around him. He stumbled, his feet catching on the floor, and before he could steady himself, he fell, his body collapsing with a loud thud.

For a moment, Klaus just lay there on the cold floor, the impact knocking the wind out of him. But then his eyes caught something. In the dim light of the room, nestled in the shadows near the edge of his bed, was the black egg.

The sight of it sent a shiver down his spine, fear clawing at the edges of his mind. He scrambled backward, away from it, his heart thundering in his chest. Memories came rushing back—flashes of pain, unbearable and searing, as the runes had crawled out from the egg, wrapping around him like tendrils of dark energy. He remembered their cold, invasive touch, like living chains binding themselves to his very soul. He had blacked out from the intensity of it all, the agony too much to bear.

Now, just the memory of it made him nauseous. Cold sweat ran down his temples as his body shook with the ghost of that pain. Klaus pressed his hand to his chest, feeling his heart pounding furiously beneath his skin. He could still hear the echo of his own screams, feel the way the runes had burned through him.

But how had he ended up back in bed?

And more importantly—why was Greed silent?

His gaze darted back to the egg, and he noticed something unsettling. The dark, ominous energy that once radiated from it was gone. The air around it felt still, almost peaceful in comparison to the malevolent aura it had emanated before.

Without thinking, Klaus rushed to the bathroom, his legs still shaky but driven by a desperate need for answers. He had to know—had the runes vanished? Or had they done something worse?

In the bathroom, the mirror was fogged up from the moisture of the previous night. With trembling hands, he wiped away the condensation, revealing his reflection. He stared at his face, seeing someone who looked far more exhausted than he had ever remembered being. Dark circles hung under his eyes, making him look gaunt, hollowed out by fatigue.

"I feel like death," he muttered to himself, rubbing his eyes. But this was no ordinary tiredness. His entire body felt drained, as if something had sapped his strength during the night.

He began to undress, pulling off his shirt with hurried hands, his breath shallow as he scanned his skin for any sign of the runes. He twisted his body, checking his arms, his torso, his back. Nothing. No marks, no traces of the dark symbols that had burned their way across his body the night before.

Relief washed over him like a wave. He exhaled, finally allowing himself a moment to breathe. The runes were gone—whatever nightmare he had endured, it seemed to have passed. He braced himself against the sink, letting the tension ease from his shoulders.

But then a whisper of intuition crept up from the back of his mind. A cold feeling, like fingers trailing down his spine. Slowly, almost against his will, he turned his hand over, palm up.

His heart sank. Experience tales at empire

There, etched into the flesh of his palm, was a single rune. Dark, intricate, and pulsing faintly, it sat like a brand, a permanent mark that could not be erased.

"Fuck…" The word slipped out of him, his voice trembling.

The rune stared back at him, alive in its stillness. It wasn’t gone. It had just moved. Shifted to the most dangerous place possible—his hand. His mind raced with questions, with fear. Why was it there? What did it mean? And why had Greed vanished at the same time?

Klaus clenched his fist, the rune disappearing beneath his tightened skin, but its presence still burned in the back of his mind. Whatever had happened to him during that blackout, it wasn’t over. The danger hadn’t passed.

If anything, it had only just begun.

And this time, he was alone.