"...What?" the other Eliot said, his voice flat with disbelief.
"Let explain in a way you can actually comprehend," Eliot stated. At this condescending tone, a vein visibly throbbed on the other Eliot’s forehead.
"I never intended to kill her. She was far too valuable to just... kill. Instead, I thought of enslaving her. That was the main reason I agreed to follow her, and not because I saw so ’enforcers’—please, I am not that stupid. I wanted to follow her to the mystic world so that when the situation presented itself, I could simply capture her and find a way to enslave her. I couldn’t think of such a thing freely, knowing her ability. Only a fool would expect soone like her to exert restraint; the chances were barely 13%. But I decided to change the plan after seeing her group. Catching her alone was no longer a possibility, as that group obviously didn’t trust . That was why I instead used her to level up when the system presented the opportunity," he concluded, leaning back in the chair. The other Eliot suddenly felt incredibly foolish.
"I see... so you baited into making a fool of myself?"
"You were the star of your own show. If you were truly , you wouldn’t think so shallowly. Killing her? Where would I find such a valuable potential slave again?"
"...But that doesn’t excuse your carelessness. If you had died at that mont, it would have all been for naught," the alternate Eliot countered, to which Eliot closed his eyes in contemplation.
"I have learned from that mistake. The fault in my thought process was not accounting for all the mbers of her group. I didn’t expect soone like..." He looked at the blue-haired girl suspended by the wall. "...Her. By the way, you still haven’t told what she’s doing here or what happened after I lost consciousness." Eliot looked back at the alternate.
"...She enslaved herself."
This ti, Eliot was truly shocked, his eyes widening in utter disbelief.
"I don’t know what she was trying to do. Maybe you can ask her that when you et again. What I did see was her extracting your essence... in other words, your soul."
"That’s not supposed to be possible."
"It isn’t... which makes curious what she really is. She can’t be human... it’s just not possible."
"So... those system sounds I heard... the slave seal initiation... it was to stop her?"
"Yes. As I said, she enslaved herself by taking in your soul. All the system had to do was re-establish a connection with the stolen piece. With the connection established, it forcefully rged a part of it with hers. Then... the whole enslavent process began."
"The whole enslavent process? You don’t know what it is?" Eliot noticed the hedging.
"Look, there are a whole lot of things you don’t know... and as of this mont, you can’t know them yet, unless the tistream would be destroyed and we would never rge."
"Tistream? rge?"
"I said it from the very start, I AM YOU. But a version that survived what all others couldn’t... death by Annabelle’s hands."
"Wait, that doesn’t make sense. So my life is in a loop?"
"No, I AM the loop. I deviated from the original script that should have taken place and ca to the knowledge of things I should have never known. Because of that... THEY found out where I was and ca for . I should have died, but soone saved . That’s the reason why I am here now in a place ti does not influence, the only place THEY can’t find ."
"I know I shouldn’t ask but... Who are THEY?" Eliot was in no mood for cryptic words. If he could help it, he would find out what he needed to know before it beca a constant, nagging thought.
The alternate gave him a dry look. "The mont you know who THEY are, THEY would know who you are."
"That doesn’t make any sense."
"It doesn’t... at least for now. When we rge, you will understand. All you need to know is... the goddess has no hand in your past life suffering. Yes, I shared that thought after she betrayed too, so you must have it as well. But... that’s not the case. It’s instead related to sothing else you will find out down the line. She’s just a selfish bitch we need to enslave."
"...What about the person that helped you escape?" To this, the alternate smiled, a flicker of genuine warmth in his eyes.
"Don’t worry. The TI will co."
"...Can you not be an ass?"
"Look, I hate the cryptic shit too, trust , but it’s the only way we survive until we’re strong enough to face THEM."
Eliot sighed. "So... do I reincarnate again after dying?"
"...Actually, yes. In fact, we would have continued in the circle of reincarnation if I didn’t deviate."
"...What did you do differently?"
"What...?"
"To deviate, what did you do differently from and the other versions that died?" Eliot pressed.
"That’s not a good idea,"
"Why?"
"...Because you could be tempted to do what I did. Alright, ti is up, ti to go back." He was about to flick his hand when Eliot stopped him.
"Wait, what exactly am I supposed to do about my mana problem? It’s only a matter of ti before my body breaks down permanently."
"Stop reversing your mana flow, then. If you haven’t noticed, you can now manipulate mana like a normal person. All your smartness, and you didn’t notice that?"
"I didn’t," Eliot replied, failing to realize the young man was being sarcastic.
"Listen, I settled everything before you even woke up in this world. My only paynt is that you survive till the rge... Godspeed, Eliot."
The world warped.
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