"Huh? What are you going on about Roach?"
"This guy right here! I almost died to one before I t you!" the hulking armored lizard cheered.
Drawing a blank, I looked towards his wife; she, on the other hand, furrowed her eyebrows, then shrugged.
"I assu you asked us to eat the malice of this Reaper. My lord, this man does indeed have malice, but it is not what is causing his tornt. His malice is directly feeding one of our kind. A Reborn. I have not seen it personally, but Roach seems to have."
"Eh? But I don't see anything."
I looked at the lying prince and tried to focus my vision. Fundantally, Reapers and Reborn have different ways to be detected. One registers as a void; the other, an object. But currently, I only see a Reaper.
'But then again, Bifrons hid in Stefan, so it's not like there is no precedent.'
"Exa, use Insight."
[Understood.]
{Insight}, Jas's most powerful ability was a really powerful ga breaker. I personally experienced the trouble of not knowing what you were fighting. Ignorance in battle was deadly. Video gas trained most gars to understand the value of information.
Knowing an opponent's strengths and weaknesses helped you plan. It also gave a margin of safety. You run when needed. And exploit everything you can. Items, skills, or even locations; everything is fair ga.
And my Wifey's latest {Fate} was one I specifically asked her for. Thus {Insight} was not only a powerful {Fate}, it was a mark of Jas's loyalty to . According to her, it sees the information from the Akashic records.
Most ani and manga enjoyers would have at least heard this term. It is often a late ga word. One only applied to the most OP of abilities. And it made sense. The Akashic records, as I understand, hold all the universe's information.
In short, it was like looking at God's notes. It could not be falsified and showed a glimpse of the truth, regardless of whether you wanted it or not.
___
Na: Olamide Ayotunde
Race: Reaper | Class: Shifter (Hybrid Path) | Origin: 3rd-Gen Descendant
Fate: {Ogun's Minotaur}
Danger Rating: A
Combat: A | Assassination: E | Support: D | Defense: A
___
Na: N/A
Race: Reborn | Class: Tokoloshe (Dream Demon) | Origin: Reincarnator (Mikko Koskinen)
Entropy: {Dysphoria}
Danger Rating: A
Combat: D | Assassination: S | Support: C | Defense: E
"…"
And it now verifies sothing for that I never wanted to know. It seems that every single thing we have ever killed was, in fact, a reincarnator.
I found it weird initially. During my first night, I fought a giant, ugly fish-like thing called a Corpse Eater. I used it as an improvised missile to smash the undead. It was the sa fight I created {Booster} in.
And the dirge Siren I first t Robert Acwellan. I almost forgot about it. But, before I killed the Corpse Eater, I carved into its body. I actually stole the souls from its soulgem. Back then I knew little, so I never questioned why an Undead even had a soulgem.
But it is different now. As I uncovered the secrets of Hellsgate, the more it clicked together.
"Correct. This ans the bodies that die on Earth are reanimated in hell. And by the directive of Mother Nature, she infuses these bodies with spirit."
At that ti I didn't see the aning behind Philip's words. Zombies were dead people. That was fact. But were they still zombies if there was an actual conscience in them? Did it count as murder if you killed sothing that followed its primal instinct?
What if the zombies we have been killing had people trapped inside? They just couldn't control the bodies. The Bible said Hell was ant to punish bad people. Was this the punishnt it ant?
I clenched my teeth at the realization. I was never averse to murder. I knew getting what I wanted ant that I had to force my will to beco a reality. But how would the rest of the world react to this knowledge? How would Hellsend react?
"Sigh…"
I took a deep breath and massaged the tip of my nose. I turned around and saw the rest of my girls looking at with concerned expressions. They often ntioned that they could feel what I thought about deeply.
Yet none of them reacted with surprise at the realization. If they had {Limitless}, then it ant if any one of them used {Insight}, they would have understood the sa thing I did. Which was that undead, monsters, and the demonkin. All Reborn. Were in fact forr humans.
"Did you all know?" I asked, a bit crestfallen.
Bella ca closer and took my hands in hers. "We did. Jas noticed it first and told us. We knew even before you returned from the 32nd floor."
"It was surprising, Anata. But it changes nothing," Aki declared with conviction.
"Whatever they were, all that matters is whether they help you or want to kill you, Darling. To the Sirens, that is all we care about. Whether we save or we kill. That is our core principle."
"We are murderers, Possum. It's all the sa to us."
"I see. You're right."
The girls were right. Regardless of what we had to do, it didn't matter. Giving rcy to the Reborn was exposing our side to needless risk. As the main owner of {Insight}, while I only had limited uses, Jas did not.
Like with the other realizations, the girls did not hide the info from . But they waited for to learn it on my own. This was their way of showing concern for my ntal health.
In frustration, I clenched my jaw and balled up my fists. I intended to have the entire world fight the Reborn. All because we needed to close Hellsgate. Fighting mindless beasts and conscious people was different. But in the grand sche of things, they weren't.
"Okay," I replied.
"Successor? May I ask what the matter is? Isn't Prince Olamide just experiencing a soul collapse? From Juno's words, that is not the case?"
I took a deep breath before facing Zanele.
"Yes, that is the case. Prince Olamide is not experiencing a soul collapse. There is a being called a Dream Demon inside him."
"Huh?! But we could not detect anything? How can this be? It never ca out all this ti; are you sure?"
A loud crash made the ground shake. Roach's tail, the culprit, was smashing the ground energetically. He then pulled out his lance.
"Reapers talk too much. Let's just kill it! If we kill the host it will pop right out!"
"No!" Zanele scread as she moved between the sleeping prince and Roach.
Roach, who began to make growling noises, was suddenly yanked from behind. Juno, the only one who could treat him as such, ca forward and stared at the Soldat Matriarch.
"Zanele. This Reaper is lost. According to your own records, it is impossible to take out Dream demons. Has this Reaper been in floors deeper than floor 45? When was the last ti he dived into Hellsgate?"
"Dream demon? What is that? I-I do not know. I haven't kept in contact with Prince Olamide; I only heard that he has gotten sick and could no longer fight."
'Exa?'
[Juno has been given access to the Graveyard network by the Sirens. When the ladies and I were investigating the Reborn, we consulted her. She confirms whether what Reapers know of the Reborn is accurate and has begun to amass info on the Reapers.]
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