His Wandering Soul

A long, long, time ago, a weary soul was born.

A soul rejected by its body, a wandering ghost.

It passed through many sets of corpses, wielding them as its body until they broke apart.

Early on in their life, they met someone.

Someone who loved them.

The body's older sister.

That was the first time a body lasted longer than 6 months.

A year, it lasted him a full year.

A year of his older sister's care in the slums, a year of understanding Human culture and their ways.

Yet, in the end, as always, his body died.

It died protecting his sister.

That was the first time he protected someone.

After he passed away, he watched his sister.

She was finally adopted.

He continued watching her.

She was raised in a loving family of four.

He continued watching her.

She completed elementary education and was capable with her hands.

He continued watching her.

She became an adult.

She found a lover.

She got married.

He never stopped watching her.

The first person who protected him, and cared for him.

He watched over her till the end.

Until her final moment.

It was then, at the end of her life, that he figured out why he was so insistent on watching over her.

She was left with a choice at the end of her life.

Be buried with her husband on a beautiful hill.

Or be buried in the corner of the slums, where his rotten bones lay.

Her children convinced her to rest peacefully.

Her grandchildren nestled in her arms as they suckled on their thumbs.

And with her ailing old bones, she made her choice.

To rest beside her brother.

He never forgot her dying words.

The words of the only person he ever loved.

[My life doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the one who gave it to me.]

[If I have one regret, it is this.]

She looked upon his 'grave'.

[That I couldn't be the one to protect him.]

[That I wasn't strong enough.]

In the end, she stated one final, whisper of a word.

"Sorry."

She did not know that her brother had been watching over her for decades.

And that brother finally figured it out.

His purpose.

It wasn't anything special.

Just...

He had to be strong enough.

So that if he ever found someone he loved once more he could grant his sister's wish.

The wish of holding no regrets.

---

Many years later, the wandering soul arrived at their final body.

A decapitated corpse.

He decided for this to be his final life.

He named this corpse, 'Reynauld'.

The name of his sister's brother.

His name.

Only the old 'Reynauld' was nowhere to be found.

The one whom his sister loved was gone.

Burnt away by decades of horrors.

But his goal remained the same.

Wipe away her regrets.

Become stronger.

No matter the cost.

No matter the process.

-----

Reynauld's backstory was well known within the community for being the only 'purposeless' boss.

Unlike the bosses of other Acts, he was the only one to have a minor reason for his actions.

He wasn't anyone or anything important.

There was no sad backstory, no tragic ending. Nothing edgy nor corny to make fun of either.

It couldn't be called fun, joyful or interesting either.

It was a dull backstory.

Nothing special.

Until Revshika's backstory was discovered during one of the later Acts.

Then everyone understood why someone so 'dull' was placed within this Fragmented Realm, and why it was so 'dull' in the first place.

Aranea used to be very interested in this plotline.

But seeing it and experiencing it left her empty.

Was it as horrible as she remembered?

Didn't she cry reading her backstory?

Hadn't I filed a complaint on their website?

So why?

Just why do I not care now?

Phew...

...

Yeah, It's fine.

...

...

Yup.

It's not that important, I know.

Aranea gazed past Revshika's drowned body, at the womb within a womb, at the endlessly chained cocoon of vermillion behind her.

It hung in the sky.

Radiating the dark innards of Reynauld's core laboratory with a wailing red light.

She finally found her.

All that was left was dealing with the Deformed Demons surrounding her.

And the eyes of the reaper gazing chillingly into her back.

-----

The rabbit doll was still waiting in her new dormitory.

Savana kept it safe, waiting for the opportunity to give it to her.

[I have to.]

She had no choice but to do so.

[Because I want more of her.]

She had to give her a thank you present for helping her out.

[I want her to look at me.]

She wanted to get along with her squadmate.

[I have to have her.]

The rabbit doll was just a gesture, a simple gift, nothing special.

[It's special.]

Savana scrunched her knees together, her eyes dazed into the ripples on the crimson liquid beneath her toes.

Her mind was focused on the suffocating feeling in her chest.

A muscle spasm?

An injury?

...No.

An...

Emotion.

It felt like an emotion.

But it was a new emotion she hadn't felt before, a heavy burden on her chest that felt like it just wouldn't go away no matter what.

And the more she thought of Aranea, the heavier it became, the more painful.

Then she remembered Silvia.

She remembered her mother's gift.

Her keepsake.

And it all fizzled away.

The emotion in her heart dissipated, cooling her mind.

Silvia sat on the opposite end of their small campsite beside Luliya, she was pestering her friend as usual.

Savana still didn't understand how those two were friends, she also didn't understand why the Saintess was blind nor how she could 'see'.

The Saintess was a bigger mystery to her than Silvia.

That Divinity of hers was extremely potent, it even felt like it would burn her away at times.

Yet, for such a Divine being, for the Holy Church's Radiant Goddess to be here, on the Abyssal Frontlines, in danger...

None of it made sense.

It was irrational, illogical and utterly redundant.

The risk was too massive.

Yet they took it.

They sent her off and paired her up with them.

And it just happened to be in the Squad involving a Prince, Aranea and Luliya's friend, Silvia.

Very suspicious.

Someone was pulling some strings somewhere, and the reason for it was all but invisible to her eyes.

"Lu~! Come on, let me-!"

"No." Pushing Silvia's face away with her palm, Luliya glanced silently at Savana's curled figure in the distance.

There was no way Savana could detect her sight.

Ever since she saw the fizzling embers of that black flame...

It reminded her of 'that'.

Itching her face, Luliya lowered her head and dodged Silvia's sneaking hands.

"Stop sneaking up on my ears."

"Tch-"

Clicking her teeth, Silvia adorably twisted her head away from Luliya, "No ice creams from me then."

Those words brought forth a sliver of a smile on Luliya's face, her hand reached for the earring she received as a gift from her sole true friend.

Sole true friend...

That shouldn't be the case.

She used to have another.

But she had yet to meet her since that day.

Luliya didn't know what to say when she met that girl once more, she didn't know how much that girl must have grown since, both physically and mentally.

She wondered if she might have grown into some of her mother's facial features by now.

She wondered if what she heard about that night was true.

If what Aranea did was real.

If it was all a lie.

But the eyes beneath her bandages made her wonder.

How would she feel if it all turned out to be true?

"Luliya, what are you thinking about?" Silvia's sharp eyes caught onto the slight shift in Luliya's facial expression.

"Nothing."

Leaning over at Luliya, Silvia let out a meaningful smile, "Are you sure?"

Pushing away that teasing face of hers, "I'm sure."

Silvia cutely pouted her lips and pulled away, "If you say so~"

Luckily dealing with this bratty friend of hers kept those thoughts at bay.

Whether that was a blessing or a curse she did not know.

-----

It's sickening.

The cost of production of so much Lacaris Ichor.

It surrounded Reynauld's true laboratory, plunging it into the darkness. This much was more than enough to complete his Ascension.

The Ascension Pool itself was almost complete.

Only the final ingredient and its condiments, the Catalysts, remained.

The Drowned Revshika.

The twisted monstrosity Aranea.

The Saintess, Luliya Moon.

The owner of the unique Attribute, Silvia Le Imulla.

The owner of the Absolute Star, Savana.

The Barbarian, owner of a never before seen physique, Moglit.

The first two were all he needed, the other 4 were a delicious dessert to perfect his meal.

Everything was finally coming together, the only thing Reynauld needed now was for them to make it past it.

Her majestic imprint.

The echo of her existence.

The remnant of her untouchable power.

Revshika's Shadow.

The statue flows with songs of her lost past.

It bends its will to the Fragmented Realm.

Drowning it beneath her almighty presence.

It was the world's sun.

The world's heart.

---

The lowest.

Trash.

A waste of oxygen.

The sensation of falling further into the darkness.

The urge to end it all.

The world at the bottom of it all was hollow.

If you attempted to check her vital signs then a singular, striking string would play.

The sound of a deceased person.

Every day, every hour, every minute and every second of every day felt the same.

A repetitive occurrence of the thing called 'life'.

Perhaps even those known as 'Demons' lived a better 'life' than her.

It was a choir of broken instruments, a theatrical made up of the ugliest characters.

A novel with zero sales.

That was the life of the character she was playing.

It was just an act.

Nothing serious.

Right?

...

...Right?

...

Sorry.

I should focus.

But the fire on her skin...

The urge to scratch...

The thirst in her throat...

It was compiling.

-----

The assault squad stood before the enormous statue.

There was no real attack plan, only positions, roles and keywords for changes in the 'plan' in case of any abrupt changes.

A tumultuous cacophony of 'noise' throbbed across the stale air around them.

Their aura was tangible.

It wouldn't be a surprise if the entrance at the bottom of that succubus-like lady suddenly spewed with Corrupted Monsters, Beasts or something worse.

The cloth surrounding her body still had something odd flowing within it.

Entering that statue was most likely more dangerous than remaining out here.

But staying out here was like putting the cart before the horse.

Idiotic.

They knew no way out of this Fragmented Realm.

They had no food.

Only water conjured with Magic.

It's already been a day.

Any longer and they would run out of energy.

No, they already ran out.

They were simply running on the puffing fumes of charcoal embering in their chests.

Lucas took a deep breath, shattering the stiff atmosphere.

His next words would begin the journey into the mouth of the beast.

His confidence had built up in the last 24 hours, his leadership capabilities were shining once more.

"Now then."

Clapping his hands together:

"Shall we go?"