194 Chapter 190: Traumatic Pasts and Troubling Secrets, Part 2

Author's Pre-Chapter Note: This may be early, but I'll be visiting family over thanksgiving week, so I'm getting this posted now while I'm still awake. Updates will resume on regular schedule on the following Sunday (12/04, or 12/05 wherever you are).

Thank you very much for your patience, understanding, and support, and enjoy the chapter.

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{{Clone Sue}}

<Oi. Just what sort of nonsense are you thinking in your head, child?>

At this strange new voice I heard in my mind, from the right side of Jinma's face, a crimson eye with black sclera opened, looking right at me.

"Aniki?!" I exclaimed in shock, and in just that moment, the hole's darkness we've been falling through finally opened up to a new light.

Bright blue skies were all around us, no sign of a ceiling that we fell through was seen. Tall, exotic green trees expanded as far as the eye could see, with no hint of a wall in sight. The heat and humidity in the air hit us all at once. One would wonder if this was all a very immersive illusion, or even a dream, since it's just impossible for something like this to be seen after falling through a hole in a dungeon. The reality is that these are all due to the workings of a dungeon's space, where these very out-of-place environments exist within a dungeon's space due to a mysterious magic. You're in a cave one minute, and then a rainforest the next. From a tropical island in the summer to the highest mountains in the dead of winter. If you thought you wouldn't make it through the driest desert, you'll find yourself in an undersea temple before you know it. If you thought you've been to every place you can think of in the world, everything you know would turn upside down in a place like this. That's just the mysterious wonders of the dungeons in Raiza. I don't think I could ever get over these drastic environmental changes even if I went to every single one of them in the world.

While this view was a sight to behold, I looked directly down to where we'd be falling, and my earlier worries had unfortunately come true.

"Oh come on. A Monster Swarm?!" Gabriella screamed.

Directly below us in a large clearing, surrounding a pond full of a gross green slime-looking fluid, monsters gathered around it in hundreds, maybe even at least a thousand. The majority of them are large and reptilian with different species spreading among them. I recalled Father and Sammy telling me once that these were called 'dinosaurs' back in Jinma's world, which existed in a time long before civilization was even founded. This is when no countries were made up of established borders, nor were there any people around to make such things. It was truly a world when 'survival of the fittest' summarized the way of life in its truest sense, with no law or order to govern its residents. It would be both a fascinating, yet terrifying world to live in for today's commoners, to be sure, no matter what kin we come from.

That aside, this is the first I've ever witnessed a Monster Swarm in such a size in a dungeon. I don't think I read of such a thing ever happening, either. I guess Cyec really outdid herself here with her [Dungeon Manipulator].

"This is bad. We're severely outnumbered," Mametama said.

"What the?! Jinma?! What's up with your eyes?!" Noire exclaimed, suddenly realizing he was awake, but the man didn't answer as he quickly surveyed the situation.

"Everyone brace yourselves, this is going to get bumpy," Jinma said in an eerie, distorted voice and tone, as if another man was saying these words along with him in sync, or perhaps he was saying them through the body's mouth. In fact, I'm sure I just heard that man's voice in my mind just moments ago.

Then, to our surprise, Jinma's tendrils from his [Darkness Manipulation] skill sprouted and grabbed all of us by the waist before we were pulled together in one big clump.

"NOOOOOOO! NOT THE TENTACLES!" Gabriella screamed in terror.

"Calm yourself, woman, this is not that sort of play," Jinma(?) said authoritatively, and very out of character, too, much to my surprise, more so when it shut the Dulahan up. He then pointed his hand down at the Monster Swarm below us, "Now, then. I call upon the flames from the darkest reaches of the underworld, heed my call! Incinerate everything in your path to ashes and smog! [MAGIC SYNTHESIS], [FIRE MAGIC], [CURSE MAGIC], COME TOGETHER TO CREATE [WRATH'S HELLFIRE]!"

From that, a powerful, giant ball of black flames shot from his hand, and my eyes widened at the sudden appearance of this spell, coming from the very line of magic Father forbade me of ever using unless there were no further options of survival. Sure, Jinma(?) has the [Magic Synthesis] skill, allowing him to combine properties of multiple elemental magics to conjure a new range of spells, and he is capable of both [Fire Magic] and [Curse Magic], but I've not seen [Wrath's Hellfire] in his spell list. Hell, I'm certain that he's never attempted to use [Magic Synthesis] up to now. {So how is he able to pull this off in a short time?}

I watched the ball of black flames practically exploding when it hit the ground, quickly enveloping everything caught in its radius. The monsters below us roared in excruciating pain from being burned alive as they ran off in a panic, thereby quickly spreading the black fire to their surroundings. The destruction was powerful, a bit lingering, but relatively fast, as all the greenery below us were burnt to their very cores until they started to crumble into black and gray ash in under a minute or two. The monsters' cries quickly dissipated in the distance as either the smoke filled their lungs or the heat burned their vocal chords enough to not speak anymore, whichever came first before they died off. Even the pond of green slime, which normally serves as one's cushion when falling through a dungeon's hole, had also burned away, something that shouldn't even be possible with normal [Fire Magic].

The frightening thing about [Wrath's Hellfire], or really any spell conjured from [Fire Magic] and [Curse Magic] combined, is that it burns everything in its vicinity until there's nothing left. Anything organic would be burned down to smog and ash, while the inorganic like rocks, metals, and even dirt would melt down to molten tar before it all quickly hardens into a black, hard floor, making it impossible to grow anything from it. Soon, this entire floor in the dungeon will be totally damaged and uninhabitable for any life forms. While there's a mysterious magic that thankfully keeps the black flames from spreading to the other floors, I have no idea whether it can recover from the damage this floor has received.

From the growing fires engulfing the entire rainforest below, smoke and a hot updraft hit all of us as we continued falling. Jinma(?) took that chance to change and morph part of the shadows he bound us together into a large black cloth, while at the same time providing black masks that covered the majority of our faces, save for our eyes. Thanks to that and the updraft from the black flames, our fall drastically changed to a slow descent, and we're able to breathe despite the smog covering the air. It wasn't pleasant, and all our eyes were watering from the smoke, but we now weren't in as much risk getting severely injured from the fall since our only cushion was burned away.

"What's going on here?! Jinma, what was that magic?! And what happened to your eyes?!" Noire exclaimed, slightly muffled by the mask, yet demanding answers.

"Argh, that really did a number, and I can't hold this for much longer," Jinma(?) grunted as he looked up, using the handles in his hands to control our descent's direction the best he could.

We followed his gaze and found the cloth he just made slowly eroding, forming holes in the fabric that wasn't catching as much wind resistance. Due to this, our descent was picking up speed again.

"I don't have time to explain, so listen up," Jinma ordered loudly, "I'll try to lower you guys to safe ground as quickly as I can, but expect your landing to get rough. Keep channeling mana in your masks until the smoke clears, it will keep your breathing stable. Sue, I'm gonna let you go first, you fall at your own pace with your wings. Follow me until I make my landing. Ready?"

"Y-Yes!" I responded.

"On three! Three!" Jinma(?) exclaimed in a rush before releasing his tendril that held me. At his instruction, I channeled magic into the mask he placed on me and unfurled my wings to glide alongside him. I tried not to let him out of my sight.

"Gabriella, Mametama, you're both going next! On three!"

"W-Wait! Hold—!"

"Milord, what's going—?!"

"Three!"

The Dullahan and the cougar cub Familiar exclaimed at once before Jinma(?) interrupted and dropped them both. The two screeched in both shock and terror, but a shadow tendril was still connected to them. That purplish-black lifeline stretched and thinned as it slowed their fall until it reached its limit, snapping off while the two were less than a few meters above solid, non-burning ground. Mametama managed to react quickly and landed on her feet after jumping off of Gabriella, much like any cat would, while the latter wasn't so graceful with her landing as she tumbled into a roll, with sounds of clashing metal ringing out below us. What remained of that broken-off tendril quickly enveloped the Dullahan, coating her entire form in black, and even prevented her head tumbling off her shoulders from the fall.

"Noire! Can you channel your magic into the fabric above us and imagine mana filling those holes?!" Jinma(?) asked.

"I guess … I can try!" Noire exclaimed before putting her focus into following his directions.

I looked up and saw that those holes in the cloth were filling back up by maroon-colored, transparent patches. Thanks to those, the descent has slowed down once again.

"O-Okay, looks like I did it. Now what?" Noire asked.

Jinma(?) nodded and passed the handles he was holding to her, "Perfect. Now hold these tightly and just keep maintaining that magic until you land. I'll see you later."

"What do you—?!"

Before Noire could finish, Jinma(?) slipped himself out of his shadow's hold and dropped down. Immediately after that, he sprouted more shadows that made up membranes extending between his limbs, turning his fall into a glide. His current form resembled a flying squirrel, which quickly put much distance between him and Noire. I was caught off guard by this action briefly before remembering his command, {Follow him until he makes his landing … wait, is this what he meant?!} Upon that realization, I followed him, so I glided down to match his pace.

"You're still keeping up, I see, and we've put considerable distance between us and the others. Good," Jinma(?) said.

{Wait, so he separated himself from the others like this … to keep them safe? And I thought the eroding cloth was a sign of him running out of mana, but is that really true?}

"Jinma … you don't really have full control over your [Devil Eyes] right now, do you? Is that even you?" I asked hesitantly.

"The brat you know as Jinma is currently occupied, but I'm not your enemy. Look," he said as he turned his face to me, and I both immediately understood, yet got even more confused.

While it was true that the iris in his right eye is crimson, which is an indicator for any Devil that they have full control of their power, the one on his left is still white, which meant the [Devil Eyes]'s very power was taking over the user. Under normal circumstances, both irises would be one color or the other, yet Jinma—no, this new man in his body—currently has one of the two colors in each of his, indicating only half is under control, and not by the body's original owner. {I've never heard of any Devil in the past ever having such a thing here, and this isn't even the Jinma I know?}

"I've been meaning to speak with you in person for a while, but not under these circumstances, and I don't have a lot of time," the man possessing Jinma's body said, "I'll make this quick so listen up. There's another being inside Jinma, one made up of the [Devil Eyes] skill's negative side effects that acquired a life of its own thanks to the latent power dwelling inside the brat. That's the one making up the white side of this brat's eyes, he calls him Creep, while I'm taking up his other one, though I don't know what color that looks like right now. The brat named me Sango on our first meeting."

"Sango?!" I exclaimed in shock, {But isn't that the name of … how and when did he know this?}

"I'm doing everything I can to keep Creep at bay after the brat and Nyra blacked out, but I don't know when it will overpower me," the one named Sango continued, "I'm going to do something to lessen the chances of it doing anything rash. I must ask you first, child, can you use [Heal] to recover from severe internal injuries?"

"Huh?! I-I mean, I can, but what are you planning—"

"Great, then if I'm still conscious, I'll see you down there," Sango said before suddenly making his shadow membranes disappear, increasing the speed of his fall as he approached land.

Then, Sango moved Jinma's hands in front of him to hit the hardened, blackened ground first, causing the arms to bend in ways they shouldn't, before his body started rolling and tumbling to a stop like a ragdoll.

My stomach and insides turned and tightened from watching it all before screaming without thinking, "ANIKIIII!"

I quickly caught up to him, not as graceful on my landing as normal to sit beside him, as he laid there unmoving, "Aniki! Are you okay?!"

"There you go … calling him 'Aniki' again," Aniki—I mean, Sango, groaned, "Fuck … guess I can still feel pain while borrowing the brat's body, but I'm surprised how little his stupid defenses helped him soften the fall … no, could it have been worse if he didn't have high defenses while falling at such speeds? Well, he's lucky he won't be feeling this upon waking up with you here."

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!" I yelled, outraged, "IF YOU WEREN'T IN ANIKI'S BODY, IF IT WEREN'T FOR HIS DEFENSES, I 'OUGHT TO—!"

Before I could finish, a black tendril lifted Jinma's arm like a puppet on strings, and morphed his hand to have his index and middle fingers pressing against my forehead. His other hand did the same on his own forehead.

"Now, then … you wanted to know the brat's life up to now, yeah? Then, let's make a brief exchange …"

I then suddenly felt something being sucked right out of me, while at the same time something foreign taking place inside my being. My life up to now flashed before my eyes, but then something unexpected rolled over when it caught up to the present. As if watching from the sidelines, I then saw the life of another's flashed before me … Jinma's life. From the moment of his birth, to his childhood, all the way up to his death on Earth before he met the Immortal he's currently representing as her Champion, Goddess Obina. Then came the moment of his arrival in Raiza and everything he went through up to now.

Within that flash, I understood all of Jinma's struggles and hardships, as well as enjoyment and rewards, at the same time. The constant opposition he faced on a daily basis, the friends and family he came to know and cherish before losing them, driving him into despair, yet doing all he can to move forward on his own. My heart ached with many indescribable feelings as all of those experiences dwelled inside me, but the one thing that stuck out to me the most was the moment of Jinma's birth and what happened with his parents soon after that. From that, I finally found answers that I've been searching for the longest time, yet there are now more questions left behind than ever before.

Finally, after feeling like an unknown amount of time has passed, I was brought back to the present. I found myself crying uncontrollably, with many emotions swirling in my mind as I tried to process what had just happened.

"I see … it all makes sense now," Sango said somberly, whose voice directed my attention back to him as he lowered his hand that was on my forehead, "And it seems … that you and your family have also experienced many hardships under my influence, have you, Tsukima Kurokichi?"