In This Rebirth, The Male Lead Is Mine [BL]

Rise had felt absolute despair before. He also felt strong heartache once. He thought he already felt any of these emotions and that feeling them the second time would hurt less.

Thinking back, did he feel this kind of nervousness but tinged with anticipation? No, it was more of the combination of the two and an intense state of incredulity.

No preparation could prepare him at this moment.

The moment his hand touched the flesh, a weak consciousness seemed to immediately want to communicate with him. The low, confused whisper that resounded from within him.

[You’re like me...] The voice sounded like a seven-year-old boy. Rise’s breath hitched as the voice spoke once more.

[We are not supposed to be here.]

This time, the voice changed to that of a more developed voice of a teenage boy. However, it was obviously from the same speaker but with a different age.

Rise bit his lips, and his fingers from his left hand that was not touching the flesh twitched slightly. Unease crawled through his spine, making him swallow lots of saliva.

”I don’t understand what you mean.”

Rise did not say this out loud but muttered it in his mind. He had the feeling that the flesh or the voice would be able to hear it nonetheless.

Sure enough, the voice responded.

[I also don’t know.] The voice now changed to a more mature voice. It continued, [I only know we are not supposed to be here.]

Rise knew this voice, or whoever it was, might be confused by something. Of course, the reason he was also acting dumb was that he did not trust this flesh one bit.

”Why? Why are we not supposed to be here?” He again muttered in his mind. His concentration was wholly in this conversation, waiting for the voice to answer.

A moment of silence stretched, and it led Rise to assume that he triggered something that was forbidden for the flesh to say, so it could not respond.

Just as he was about to ask another, the voice sounded from within him again. The answer that made Rise froze, his breathing became erratic, as his eyes widened in disbelief.

[It will ruin the author’s arrangement. Our existence... is not in their favor.]

The voice, now elderly, resumed after not hearing any response from Rise.

[How did they call us?] It paused, and soon an enraged tone of an adult roared, [Cannon fodders!]

The word, cannon fodder echoed repeatedly inside Rise’s mind. He was suddenly shaken as he subconsciously stepped back, his hands then withdrew from the flesh, trembling as he grasped it with his left.

The voice left in his consciousness after the contact was cut off.

Visibly shaken, Rise stared dumbfounded at the flesh.

”What happened?” Kamille was instantly beside him, observing him. ”Rise?” He called Rise’s name.

Rise blinked and met Kamille’s questioning gaze.

”Are you alright?” Kamille again tried to gauge his condition.

Rise’s face paled, and his breathing also became hurried. Slowly he calmed himself down, and with Kamille’s support, his breathing quickly returned to normal.

”I just...” Rise tried to explain, but his mind was not quite there yet.

He hated to admit it, but... The author’s existence weighed heavier to him than Epsilon’s existence itself. For them, novel characters, the author was already synonymous with God, someone who held their life and death.

While he continued to convince himself that he would eventually take and fight the author, the reality was that he had a long way to go.

Rise closed his eyes firmly and felt Kamille pull him in an embrace and caress his back slowly.

They stayed like that for a few minutes as Rise used the time to relax.

He felt quite pathetic, but this was real. Compared to the author, he was insignificant. Rise’s confidence was through the roof, but admitting he was scared, he did not see wrong with that.

Rise was terrified, that was true.

”I’m just surprised.” Rise finally said something after a while, his head leaning and nestled at Kamille’s broad chest. Loving every minute of it.

Other than that, he did not say anything more. Kamille also did not insist or urge him. It was as though, Kamille could sense how hard it would be for Rise to reveal everything that was on his mind.

After calming down, the two returned to the foot of the flesh. It was still pulsating, but for some reason, it weakened considerably.

”It used its vitality to talk with us.” Kamille instantly knew the situation. ”We don’t even need to do anything, this gate will naturally collapse.”

The gate node, was truly peculiar, and it also did not bore any hostility to them for some reason. Kamille could not see any malice in it.

As it was related to the beings beyond the gate, it should be more powerful considering it was alive. However, from the first time they entered its vicinity, it never showed any ill- intentions.

Rise looked at the disgusting flesh with a conflicted expression. He could not imagine that he would be able to encounter this gate node, which for some reason knew the existence of the author and the anomaly of himself.

”It would die soon... is it?”

Kamille nodded, ”Yes.”

Rise fell silent. Finally, he reached out again and touched the flesh.

”Who are you?” Rise asked, not just out of curiosity but to find out if this massive flesh was related to anything with the plot.

Obviously weakened, the voice came out as a mere whisper.

[I don’t know.] The voice of a toddler and continued with the voice of an elderly. [I should be not important.]

The voices were odd, but they gave off a kind of interesting contrast and reality.

”Do you know me?”

This time, he wanted to know if this flesh could recognize him.

It paused, Rise had the feeling that the flesh was staring at him even if he could not see any eyes from it.

[I don’t know. But...] It paused for a moment, and a weakened sigh sounded. [You’re probably more important than me.]

Rise suddenly had the urge to laugh. Important huh?

How important? So important to become the protagonist’s stepping stone?

”You’ll die soon.” Rise bluntly informed, although he knew that the flesh knew it more than he did.

A laugh of different ages sounded, eerie, but it gave relief and comfort for some reason.

[I’m long dead.] This was now a combination of the voices.

”How did you return?” Rise’s jaw tightened, waiting for information he also wanted to know.

Between the author and the one who gave him the ability to return, Rise did not have any favorable impression of the two, but the latter was a possible ally for sure.

Silence stretched, and soon a loud thump echoed until the flesh was slowly getting smaller. It wanted to use the remaining vitality to answer, as though it was the price it needed to bear.

Kamille watched all of this unfold; he never once interrupted. His gaze also did not turn gray, to gain information about what was happening.

Still, if Rise could see his expression, he would be startled.

This time, Kamille had an interesting grin and an unusual glint within his eyes.

His expression carried a wild anticipation, sending shivers down one’s spine.