Born in Another World With Two E Rank Skills!?

The smoke from the burning farm choked the horizon as Kael and Mira arrived with the headmaster and a contingent of city guards. Flames licked at what had once been a peaceful settlement, now reduced to scorched earth and ash. Crops were destroyed, animals slaughtered, and the sky above shimmered unnaturally with residual shadow magic.

Kael activated Omni-Vision. His eyes burned with the sheer volume of tainted energy that hung in the air like oil on water. Shadow magic pulsed in waves, thick and chaotic. But beneath it, something else lingered—a pattern. A deliberate orchestration.

Dalen stood beside him, his face carved from stone. "They used the beasts again."

Kael nodded grimly. "But it's not just destruction. It's a ritual. A siphoning."

Mira stepped forward, hand glowing with soft light as she touched a dying cow lying in the rubble. Her magic flickered violently. She recoiled. "It's twisted. It feeds on anything magical. It doesn't just destroy... it converts."

Dalen raised a hand. A sphere of silver light emerged from his palm and hovered over the ruined ground. As it expanded, it projected a memory-like illusion—the last remnants of lingering magic caught in the fabric of the world.

They watched shadow beasts tear through villagers. One figure stood in the center of the chaos: tall, cloaked in ink-black robes, his face hidden behind a smooth obsidian mask. As he raised his arms, the beasts swarmed around him and the light of the world dimmed.

A voice echoed from the projection—distorted, low, and reverberating with menace:

"Let the roots of magic wither. Let light and flame falter. Soon, all that remains will be shadow."

Kael felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Dalen muttered, "So it's true. The rumors from the southern provinces. The Lord doesn't want control... he wants annihilation."

Kael turned to Mira, his voice low but firm. "We know now. He's creating the shadow beasts not just to spread fear or power, but to corrupt the world's magic. He's using them to infect ley lines, magical creatures, even people."

Mira's face paled. "But why? Why destroy magic itself?"

Kael shook his head. "We don't know yet. But the way the magic reacts here, it's like rot spreading from a wound. If he keeps this up, the entire continent could lose magic."

"He calls himself Maldrath the Hollow Flame," Dalen said quietly, his gaze locked on the horizon. "A heretic once sentenced to execution by the Arcanum centuries ago. But somehow, he survived. He must've delved so deeply into shadow that even death couldn't claim him."

Mira's voice was barely a whisper. "Hollow Flame... the name was in the old scrolls. The one who burned his own affinity out."

Kael clenched his fists. "He's not just attacking places. He's poisoning the source."

The guards began tending to survivors, and the headmaster moved to rally the mages. But Kael stayed where he was, eyes on the swirling dark sky.

They had a name now.

They had a goal.

And the war for magic had already begun.