Mister Hyde is truly a ‘Monster’!

The sequence of events that happened after I got to Bob's home village was as expected. People were surprised by a sudden arrival of a new 'girl' living at Bob's house. However, they knew him enough to trust he wasn't going to do 'anything bad to me'. It looks like my saviour is misogynistic and rarely gets close to girls at a personal level.

..But if that is so, why did he say this:

"I don't really like women in general, but you... I'll consider you a 'friend' of mine." Why did he suddenly call me a 'friend'? We aren't even at the level of acquaintances yet. How could he say that?!

I don't get it. I don't get it. His words came out innocently, which makes me doubt his intentions...

The only thing I could think of while taking the opportunity to sleep was: 'Could his words have been genuine...?' In the vast emptiness of my inner dreamworld, I found myself to be a confused...

I stared up at the starry sky of the dreamworld until a deep but oddly familiar voice rang in my ears:

"Even if they were... you don't deserve them."

My scattered thoughts concentrated as I realised a arm had latched onto me, stopping my body that was still in its female form from getting up. I used every bit of my strength to turn my head, only to see the corpses of my brothers-in-arms.

'You guys! Why are you all here?! Just leave me alone! I... deserve a new beginning! I want to live!'

The screams of my heart seemed to resonate with the dreamworld as the corpses disappeared, the rekindled fire of resolve burned in my eyes for only a few moments until I saw 'her'. The face of someone who extinguished that fire within me...

"When have your friends ever 'lived'?" The white-haired girl spoke before vanishing into thin air.

Ahhh... ahh... AARGH!!!

"You get attached to people too easily." In my worst moment where I crying and screaming my lungs out appeared a different pair of arms that hugged me. A sublime feeling of 'intimacy' washed away my despair upon skin-contact, but I rejected him...!

"Why are you still here?"

"Did you think ignoring me would work? I already told you: We are the same person." The part of me I'll just call 'Damian' transitioned in front of me by turning his body into ashes, before gazing down at me with a complex emotion of pity and loathing.

"Was what just happened your version of a joke? I have to say... you have really disgusting tastes."

"Oh, that? Think of it as payback for stupidly rejecting such a worthwhile offer. After all, who else can hurt you better than yourself? You've felt it yourself how just... 'right' it felt when we touched. I don't understand why we shouldn't assimilate."

"That's easy. I don't want anything to do with someone who failed to die without regrets." Was the words I said after regaining my composure. I could cover it up, but my mood still plummeted...

"What are you even seeking to gain from splitting your Omni Being from my Uni Being?"

"Nothing. I just want to live more normally."

"Heh, 'Normally?'" He pointed up to a holographic projection that appeared above his finger.

This wasn't of the female 'limb', but his ACTUAL body that was now only a shadowy ghost.

"Not to say a pun or be too ironic, but... You have literally become a 'shadow of your former self'."

"It's fine as long as no one finds out."

"You actually care about others finding out? Like I said before, you get too attached to people you hardly even understand. You'd have no problems if you tried to be more emotionally detached.

Isn't that the reason your heart is still being haunted by ghosts of so many?

Why is it that even after losing your first comrade, you not just once, but continuously kept finding hope in your heart that they'd live long enough to be considered an 'old friend'?

Yeah, I- No, both of us died silently and alone, but you KNOW that 'we' did our best. There was nothing wrong with us." Once again, Damian tried to persuade me to assimilate with him.

"Your contradicting yourself now. 'We' were never in the wrong because I was the dominate one as our past self. Without me, you would have never even tried to get to know these people you'd be trusting your back to. Even so, you have the nerve of criticising how much I care about others? How much I value the bonds I form?" I narrowed my eyes, not falling for any of his sweet words.

The pure loathing within Damian's eyes increased as he stopped saying anything for a long moment.

"You should really be more positive. It's not like we're destined for 'failure', right? We can still form strong bonds apart from our existing ones. This is the time to be more hopeful of the future. And I also don't believe Sapphire is back... She will come back... She'll return, I know she will!" I spoke the words that still remained in the depths of my heart.

"Stop acting like you know others... and stop acting like you know yourself. Positivity gives you nothing concrete and causes people to be stuck in idiotic daydreams. A cold rationality is all you need. Has the world not harmed you enough?"

As expected, Damian still wouldn't budge. He really is as stubborn as a bull. What a rock for brains...

"You should 'love yourself' more. No normal person would give themselves nightmares like this."

"Enough, or else I'll start off with one every time we meet." Damian's left eye twitched at my words.

"Let me get to the real reason I'm here, 'Simon'. It looks like you've taken our Skill Root and turned it into an 'Ability Core'. We can still 'switch' powers whenever we want due to our connection, but make no mistake: You can no longer become a 'Human' after the stunt you pulled. This is what you'll become even if you have the Light Attribute in your 'foundation'." Another hologram appeared above his finger, but this time it was different.

Instead of a 'Creeping Shadow'-like entity that didn't have a true corporeal body, what instead appeared was some sort of 'Shrouding Radiance' that had some kind of chimera acting as a substitute like my Puppet Body. Not only did it look a lot more menacing than my current look, but it also felt like I was a lot more 'familiar' with it.

If only that Puppet Body wasn't also 'female'...

Why are all my body's female by default anyway?

"Why can't I turn Human? And a Male on top of that?" I asked my personal 'Mister Hyde'.

"Like I just said, you messed up your existence as a Omni Being. Anyway, since you don't seem busy and I wouldn't like you to be waiting your time doing nothing. I have something for you to do."

"How about a 'no'? I refuse." I didn't even hesitate.

"You have no right to refuse. I've made a few deals with Sylphy and had already make you 'manifest' in a place with a high number of her Origin Shards. It won't matter if you refuse my task or not since they will gravitate towards you as if strung by fate."

"Fine. What hot mess did you throw onto my shoulders, can't you just leave me alone?"

"No. Also, if you are able to collect about seven Origin Shards or more, Sylphy has promised to impart power to us as a reward. There are two particularly large shards we'll just call the 'Yin Shard' and 'Yang Shard' that you need to be wary of. To take acquire them, either get the user to peacefully hand them over or kill them. How you get them is up to you." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"You're suggesting I should just kill anyone in my way, aren't you? Even though killing is bad?"

"It will be so much easier to kill them without getting to know them, after all. I still don't get why you are dumb enough to see those who are not your relatives as 'people'. Just kill them and return."

"I just don't wanna." I told him straightforwardly.

"Compelling argument, but nevertheless not something I would think of." He sighed before looking at the starry sky himself. The hostility he had before dissipated on his lonely silhouette.

"I don't 'need' power. I'll lose myself again if I have too much. I don't want to become like you."

This time, Damian didn't have any retorts. His face didn't change as he lowered his head to look at me.

"Ever since 'we' remember, everything WE ARE... all that is inside of us... had always tried to fit in with others. It's 'others' who never let us be who we were. Innocence is 'being gullible' and forgiveness is taken as 'weakness'." These words stabbed into my heart much more than any criticisms he could come up with. This narration of the 'story of my life' made me reminisce a little...

"We were never the one to pretend, we were more honest than anyone. And yet, we couldn't settle in whatsoever. We were the weak ones, you know it better than I do. So... Just come back to me." This time he seemed much more desperate than before.

Suddenly, the sadness in his eyes melted away and was replaced by a maliciousness after focusing.

"Tell me the truth. If we told this 'Bob' guy who we really are... would he not turn his back on us? If 'you' seemed dangerous in the slightest, you know he'd be fearful... He might even try killing you."

"...He doesn't seem like the type to do such drastically out of nowhere. He said we're friends."

"He said he considered 'you' a friend. It's funny that he actually chose to befriend a liar like you."

"..." I didn't know how to reply. It was only once I thought about it a little more did I shake my head:

"Its just like I said: I don't care anymore. All I want to do is escape from becoming you. For that, I'll take my stand to oppose you." A different kind of resolve burned in my heart upon speaking this.

"Why?" He asked thud simple question with eyes of true emptiness that had lost all of its light.

"Because you're a monster!" I know it was really unfair to call him this, but it's not like I'm taking being called a 'liar' laying down. Whether it was this life or my past life, he was always a 'monster'.

"...You know 'opposing me' means nothing."

"It DOES have meaning. I chose to make rebelling against my previous self meaningful."

"That so?" He smiled despite feelings no joy. His body started to vanish as left behind these words:

"If I'm a monster, then so are you."

Even though he had left, the scars he left in my resolve still existed. After all, he had never lied...

I didn't know why, but I still spoke to the empty space in front of me as if Damian was still there:

"I want to clear my conscience. I want to be different from others like me... like Sylphy... I will do so even if I have to run and hide. This burden... I don't want to take it. There's no way I don't know myself enough to understand that. However, I'm not shameless enough to ignore my desires. My smallest bit of hope... the candle guiding me."

I didn't question why my pragmatic 'other half' was now working to retrieve Sylphy's power. Even if I tried to persuade myself that I didn't want so much power, a small part of my heart still desired it...

Power... It sounds like it only benefits, as it can allow a person to do many things. However, power also attracts unwanted attention and the wrong crowd. It's not something you can simply save for a unlucky day and expect nobody to notice...

When I woke up, it was the next morning. I didn't even notice how I unconsciously stretched my body in a very... revealing way. The clothes I got changed into last night was some old clothing Bob's cousin had left behind with his mom.

"Hilda, sweetheart, are you awake? Oh~ Just look at you! I never thought Bob would warm up to a girl again~!" Was what Bob's Mom spoke after barging into the spare room they let me use. Wow, I gotta say this woman is a little too friendly to me...

"So..." I smiled while brushing off my nightmare:

"What's there for dinner?"