(3)->REINCARNATION-III
---SAINT CLIFF, OLYMPUS---
--Seiya's POV--
"Wh-Wh-What.....?", was the only thing that came out of my mouth when I heard what Ariadoa said to me. My mind went blank and I could not make sense of the words I heard. It was times like these that made me question whether I suffer from Dyscalculia. When I finally understood her words, I wondered whether I had misheard her. But, just as I was about to ask her as if looking at the confused look on my face, she answered with a slight small on her face,
"Yes, you can meet your parents by leaving your body and reincarnating as their son in their new lives. Moreover, using this method, while much more difficult, will provide many other benefits for you and your parents as well. Still you will die as your soul leaves your body and it will be a very painful process as if your body is being torn apart.", mentioning the last part, her mood worsened as was evident by the expression on her face.
'Yes! I did not mishear!', was the only thought I had on my mind without paying any heed to the pain suffered or the benefits offered. I could finally reunite with my parents. However, this feeling soon turned into anger and frustration. For an entire week, he had to deal with the pain of not losing his parents but also at the prospect of never being able to see them again. As if sensing the change in his mood, Ariadoa asked,
"What happened Seiya-san ?"
Restraining my heavily conflicted feelings, I said slowly but forcefully,
"If you knew about such a method before why didn't you tell me before ?"
Upon hearing my question, a look of sudden realization appeared on her face and she quickly explained,
"That was because we did not want to give you a false hope which we too were unsure of until today. If we did that and it turned out to be impossible then it would only hurt you even more. Moreover, Ishtar-sama wanted you to go through this experience and learn how to deal with your emotions without having a permanent emotional trauma. She wanted to do this for two reasons. Firstly, this would enable you to stay in control of your emotions and keep calm even in the most distressing situations. Secondly, this would allow you an insight into the laws of life and death which would surely help you when you ascend to Godhood one day. Thirdly, this would make sure that this incident did not leave a heart demon which could obstruct your ascension to Godhood."
Hearing her explanation and learning that what they did was for his sake, how could he remain angry at all. Instead, he was now feeling guilty about how he felt angry towards them and even doubted them even if for a moment.
'Guess I have yet to completely restrain my emotions completely and learn to be calm in difficult situations.'
Sighing, I made a vow that, in the future, I would never doubt Ariadoa and Ishtar-sama, not even for a moment, no matter what happened.
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--3rd Person POV--
Seeing that he had returned to his usual self with a small yet gentle smile on his face, Ariadoa understood that, just as Ishtar-sama had said, Seiya had learned some very precious lessons from this painful experience that would help him achieve great things in the future. Smiling and giving him a small nod as if to say, 'Well done!', she said,
"Let's go! Ishtar-sama is waiting for us. She will tell you about this in more detail."
Seiya: "All right, let's go back!"
He returned a smile to her while she turned to open a portal to an area outside Ishtar's tower.
Seiya: "Hah! I really want to learn how to open a portal like that."
Ariadoa: "Well, there are many ways to learn this but the simplest and the easiest method is to become a God, so, I suggest that you better start working towards it!"
Hearing this Seiya could only let out a sigh as he knew how difficult it was to ascend to Godhood and even with all the help he was provided with, he may still never be able to take that final step but he would never give up for the sake of being with Ariadoa forever.
The sky had turned dark and all the buildings in Olympus lit up bright and anyone watching Olympus from the sky above would find it to be a beautiful sight of three rings of light arranged concentrically with threads of light connecting them. Continuing their small talk, they finally arrived at Ishtar's office where Ariadoa knocked twice. A moment later, a voice came from the closed doors, allowing them in.
When they entered her office, they saw Ishtar sitting on her favorite cushion sofa. Sometimes they wonder if she ever gets up from it because they have never seen her off it. Putting aside their curiosity they approached her and gave her a bow in greeting.
Seiya/Ariadoa: "Good evening Ishtar-sama."
Ishtar: " Good evening to you too."
Ishtar greeted them with a smile. Both of them nodded to each other and separated. Seiya took a seat in front of Ishtar while Ariadoa sat on the free chair in the corner of the room. Looking over at Seiya who had an expectant expression on his face, Ishtar straightened herself preparing to give him an explanation.
Ishtar: " I think Ariadoa has already briefed you about my idea and you already have a general idea about the plan. Now, you can ask me any questions or doubts that you have in your mind. I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities."
Of course, Seiya would not let go of this valuable chance to finally get some answers to the questions regarding the unusual event responsible for his parent's death that have been bugging him throughout the week. Moreover, he must also ask Ishtar about this process of hers in detail, after all, it took her an entire week to even confirm its possibility. So, without wasting any more time, he closed his eyes and delved deep into his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Ishtar just sat on her comfy sofa with a gentle smile on her face looking at Seiya waiting for his questions with calm patience as if she knew that he would take quite some time to arrange his thoughts and ask his questions.
Ariadoa, on the other hand, was sitting on her chair and looking at the two of them without making any noise so as not to disturb Seiya who was deep into his thoughts. After thinking for around 5 minutes, he opened his eyes and straightened his posture seeming ready to ask his questions. Ishtar seeing this also focused her eyes on him.
Seiya: "First of all, please tell me the unusual circumstances regarding my parent's death, after all, all 18 anti-matter reactors self-destructing (or exploding) at the same time is not something that occurs as a usual occurrence or is a coincidence."
This was the first question that came to his mind and also the one he was most curious about. Ishtar, also having expected this question, answered it with a heavy face,
Ishtar: "The matter regarding this incident is a bit complicated. You see, there is a terrorist organization named Free the World known only to a few government agencies, which consisted of fanatics who believed in a world where mankind is free from the restrictions imposed by society and its ideals, and the only way they could achieve this was by destroying mankind itself and then they would restore civilization according to their ideals or at least that's the conclusion they reached. So, to realize their dream they created a new kind of virus named Radical-6."
Ishtar: " This virus, instead of affecting the body, affects the psyche of a person and without any visible signs other than sluggishness, corrupts a person entirely making the person in question have suicidal and cynical thoughts, leaving the infected with no other option but to commit suicide especially using methods that would end up with a large number of casualties. After making their preparations for purging the world, they decided to start this event with a bang, as your people call it, and as you would have guessed by now, they infected the staff working in the anti-matter reactors with Radical-6 and the rest is as you know."
Hearing this long and detailed explanation, Seiya was dumbfounded. He could not believe that a group of people (or lunatics), he did not even know of until now were responsible for the death of his parents. Moreover, they also wanted to destroy his home-world completely. Seiya, now very much wanted to eradicate these people so he said,
Seiya: " Ishtar-sama, please allow me to back to my world and erase these cynical people from the face of my planet!"
However, Ishtar could only shake her head to this and seeing the look of question on his face, explained,
Ishtar: " I am afraid that is not possible, Seiya. Firstly, you are a champion of the Gods and thus considered a part of our forces, and according to our treaty with the Irregulars, cannot directly interfere in the affairs of a world that has not been affected by a celestial being. If we do that, then they gain the authority to affect your planet as well which would not end well anyway. Secondly, and this makes the first point kind of useless, but your world has already been destroyed."
Seiya could not explain the surprise and sense of loss he felt on hearing this. Even if his parents were no longer there, it was still the world he was born in along with all his relatives, friends, and acquaintances. Now hearing that his previous world no longer exists, he realized that he no longer had a place to return to after this, and other than Ariadoa who was his love, and Ishtar who was like a lovely grandma, he was truly alone in this world.
<A/N: There were no Gods who were truly his friends because they were more like acquaintances.>
Seiya: "But how can my entire home-world be destroyed within 10 days."
Ishtar: "After that starting event, the world was thrown into chaos. Those fanatics released the virus in all the major cities throughout the world. The transportation system was the first to fall as they never knew when their driver/pilot crashed their vehicle/train/plane. After that, the virus reached the government offices and as soon as the leaders were infected, they launched their nuclear armaments after themselves which resulted in a nuclear holocaust which resulted in 1 billion casualties followed by a nuclear winter that made most of the planet uninhabitable. Now, the people are living in a world with no future for any kind of civilization. Now all that exists is anarchy and more people are dying day by day and it is only a matter of time before mankind is finished."
All of this still felt unbelievable to Seiya. He would not be surprised if somebody were told him that all of this was the plot of some sci-fi movie.
<A/N: *Cough**Cough*>
Seiya could only sigh at this but did not continue to ponder about it as he had more pressing concerns than the fate of his already destroyed home-world. Just as he was about to continue asking his questions, Ishtar interrupted him,
Ishtar: "I know that you want to ask about the matter regarding your parents and your reincarnation but before you continue, I must inform you that this method requires you to pay a certain price to get the chance to reincarnate. Of course, you could gain much more as well depending upon your efforts."
Sure enough, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Of course, he would never blame Ishtar for this as this price was fair for everyone who wanted this chance and, to be honest, he was more than happy to pay it as he would not be indebted to anyone for this.
Seiya: "What's the price ?"
Ishtar: "The price is to save a world."
Seiya: 'Well, that was surprisingly simple. I was thinking more on the lines of sacrificing a part of my body or soul.'
Releasing the breath he didn't he was holding, he continued asking,
Seiya: "And which world do I have to save?"
This would help him prepare for the challenges ahead so that he could save that world as soon as possible and continue with his reincarnation. But, he didn't expect Ishtar's next response at all,
Ishtar: "The same world where your parents reincarnated to."
This news was both pleasing as well as horrifying. Pleasing because he would be able to meet his parents soon and horrifying because any world in the need of saving was certainly not a haven for them. Focusing on the matter-at-hand, he asked,
Seiya: "What is the threat level of this world?"
Ishtar: "We don't know. In fact, we don't even know whether there has been any Irregular activity in it or not."
Seiya: "But I thought that Olympus has been constantly monitoring all the inhabited planets in the multiverse!"
Ishtar: "Well that is true for all the universes except for one, i.e, the Dreamscape Universe which is constantly expanding with a new world being born every moment, after all, it is the manifestation of the imagination and dreams of all the mortals in the multiverse and as imagination is endless and so is the Dreamscape. We usually do not bother with the Dreamscape's worlds as most of the celestials usually look down upon it as the creation of mortals. Moreover, the Gods cannot enter the Dreamscape universe directly due to the restriction of the laws of the Dreamscape while the irregulars do not have a good method to lead an invasion as their powers are subjected to the restraints of the world, meaning, they can only have the same amount of strength as the maximum allowed in that world."
Seiya: "Then why do they want me to save this one?"
Ishtar: "Because of the new policy that they are trying to implement to use the faith of the mortals of the Dreamscape universe so that more people ascend to Godhood and fill up the ranks in our fighting force and you would be the first Hero to be granted this opportunity. That is why, I said that you could gain much more from this and if you are successful, then you can even bring your parents along with any other family that you will have in your new life to Olympus after their deaths."
Seiya: "But you once told me that only celestial beings are allowed to live in Olympus even for the family members that Gods had when they were mortals."
Ishtar: "And that is another benefit of this method. When your soul reincarnates, your then-lifeless body would be left behind which can be used to create celestial bodies for the souls of your family members after their deaths, and the power of faith which you gained after saving Ixphoria can be directed towards your family members so that they can prolong their new lives as well while you will use the faith that you gained from that new world would be used for your ascension to Godhood."
Seiya finally understood her plan and he could say that if accomplished, the result would be even better than the original outcome. He also understood that the reason he was chosen for this mission was because of Ishtar which just increased the gratitude he had towards her and made him realize, once more, that she truly cared for him as her family. Moving on, he still had some questions to ask,
Seiya: "But if the irregulars are not the threat then what am I supposed to save them from ?"
Ishtar: "All I can tell you is that the world was originally similar to your home-world but whether naturally or through some outside interference, its inhabitants experienced a sudden change which seemed to be a boon for them on the surface but has led their world to a point where it is stagnating and if it continues down this path, it will surely be destroyed."
Seiya: "And since I would be reincarnated into a new body instead of transmigrating with my current one, what about my powers, especially the Dragon Core?"
Ishtar: "Your powers will be bestowed upon you by the world itself. These powers would have limits so as not to break you or to lose control of your powers, but you can break through those limits with sufficient effort along with some ingenuity. As for the dragon core, that would be hidden deep within your soul as it is linked to you, but you will only be able to use it when you can completely control your powers in the future. Until then, it would only play a passive role by constantly changing your body from within so that you could bear its transfusion when the time comes."
Finally getting the answers he wanted, he dropped his head and contemplated the issue for any other questions or problems, he could encounter but it seemed that Ishtar had taken care of everything.
Meanwhile, Ishtar looked over at Ariadoa, who has been quiet this whole time, with a questioning look on her face. Ariadoa, seeing her gaze, nodded to Ishtar who nodded in return as well. Ishtar then again looked at Seiya and said,
Ishtar: "I think we should begin your reincarnation process, after all, it would take quite some time to reach this new world and you have to be there when your mother becomes pregnant so that you can enter her womb at the right moment."
Seiya could only nod his head to this, but suddenly he asked,
Seiya: "By the way, what's the name of this world?
Ishtar: "Although it is called Earth, you see, there are many Earths present in the Dreamscape and so it is better to call it Earth-22 as it is the 22nd Earth that we discovered in the Dreamscape."
Seiya: "Then why didn't you choose the other Earths?"
Ishtar: "Because it is much easier to become a Hero there and gain the power of faith."
'And because that's the world your parents were in.', she said inwardly because she can't let him know about this as this is breaking the rules and she didn't want him to feel even more indebted to her.
Seeing him turn silent, she understood that he has finished his questions and therefore asked for his final confirmation,
Ishtar: "Are you ready?"
Seiya held his head down before finally looking back up at her with eyes filled with the desire and determination to succeed.
Seiya: "Yes, I am ready!"
Getting up from their seats, they walked out of Ishtar's office and arrived at a huge arch-shaped gate, also known as the Space Bridge, through a portal. The Space Bridge had ancient characters written on it forming an array that opened a long-distance portal to every world present in the multiverse or that's what Seiya until now.
Ishtar: "First of all, you will drive your soul out of your body, which mind you, would not be a pleasurable experience as you have not trained any esper abilities nor are you a God. After you have separated yourself from your body, you will travel through this gate to the edge of the Dreamscape universe's branch office. From there you will be escorted automatically as I have already informed them to use Aurora's beam as the laws of the Dreamscape universe do not allow for spatial teleportation through its boundary."
Seiya: "And how do I separate my soul from my body?"
Ishtar: "I will help you by using my soul force to create a strain between your soul and your body to reduce the pain as much as possible and you would use this strain to sever the ties between your body and your soul. If you were to do it by yourself, then the pain would be as much as 10 times worse, not to mention it is 10 times more difficult to do as well."
Seiya: "Tell me again, why can't I just go ahead and kill myself instead of going through this arduous process just to separate my soul from my body."
Ishtar: "That is because firstly, this would end up damaging your body and soul. Secondly, if you die, then your soul would be taken directly to the Underworld, and there even if you do go for reincarnation, though the chances of you ascending to Heaven are much more prominent, you would not be able to decide where you would be reborn and can only make a request regarding this which may or may not be accepted. So, instead of taking chances, we are going through the painful yet effective method. Now, if you do not have any other questions, I will go inside and set-up the space bridge for opening the long-range portal."
Explaining the process about to be followed
Seiya: "So this is it, huh?"
He then turned towards Ariadoa only to find her looking back at him. Their eyes met and they could see the love they had for each other. No words were needed as they both knew what the other wanted to say and after a few moments of deep silence, both of them approached each other and closed the distance between themselves. Both of them faced each other and could feel their heart beating frantically as if telling them to take the next step. Seiya, being the man he was, took the initiative and pressed his lips against hers and the next moment his tongue was in her mouth. Both of their passions ignited as they savored the feeling of their tongues intertwined with each other, wiggling, pulsating, and making contortive sweeps in each other's mouths. They only separated when they were out of their breaths and could not hold out any longer.
Though their relationship was long past this stage, the thrill, and excitement, they still felt at the prospect of kissing each other was proof enough that the both of them truly loved each other, not only on a physical level but also at a spiritual one as it is only then that even as time passes, the feelings that a couple have for each other never fade away.
Looking at the heavily breathing face of his lover, he could not help but have the thought to take her with him but he knew that it was not possible as she was a Goddess. Moreover, he would never be this selfish that he would take Ariadoa with him to face all those hardships. Trying his hardest, to imprint the image in front of him into his soul, he said,
Seiya: "I love you Ariadoa and I am sorry that I cannot be with you until this mission is over but I promise that when we meet again, I will ask for your hand in marriage right in front of them."
Ariadoa: "Hmm!"
Hearing the confession of his love and his promise of marriage, Ariadoa smiled sweetly with slightly moist eyes that would make anyone who saw her right now have a nose-bleed just because of the combination of cuteness overload of her face and the sex appeal of her body and not even Seiya was immune to it as blood sprayed from his nose and he fell with blood coming out continuously from his nose.
Seiya: 'Ah! If not for my parents, I would have no qualms about dying here.'
Ariadoa soon came out of her stupor from the scene in front of her and there was a flash of glint in her eyes. With a serious and resolute face said to Seiya,
Ariadoa: "You must remember to keep your promise, no matter what, alright!"
Seiya: "You know I always keep my promises, don't you? Still, I swear upon my love for you and my parents that I will keep this promise, no matter what happens!"
Before Ariadoa could reply to him, Ishtar's voice came from the Space Bridge,
Ishtar: Alright, the bridge is ready. Now all that remains is for your soul to sever itself from your body. Come, we will now begin the process. Try to feel your soul as I apply my soul force to create pressurize it to come out. When you feel the soul presence, try to use the senses of the soul to see the bindings to your body and use your soul force to forcefully sever them, I will try to help by increasing my soul force."
The process went without a hitch and Seiya's soul was now outside his body and was looking back at his now lifeless body. He could still feel the pain a bit and to say the least, it really was something. He could not imagine what 10 times would have felt like. He wondered if his soul would perish immediately because of the pain itself. Anyway, he was now done and could start his journey to reincarnate and meet his parents again.
Seiya: "I am ready to go Ishtar-sama."
Ishtar nodded with a smile on her face and started the bridge. A portal then appeared on the bridge. It was similar to the portals used by the Gods, only that it was much bigger. She then turned back towards Seiya and said,
Ishtar: "The portal is ready. You can go through it now."
Bracing himself, he gave her a nod for the final time and started walking to the portal. Stepping in through the portal, he turned back to see Ariadoa, only to find her saying something but he could not hear her voice nor could he return to ask as the portal was already closed.
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Seiya's journey to his new home could be described with one word: monotonous. His journey started at the branch office of Olympus. The celestials present there had already been informed about his arrival and were ready with an Aurora beam to send him to his destination. Everything that he would require during his journey was already prepared for him. Actually, there was only one thing that he would need and that was a stasis pod filled with large concentrations of ether to prevent his soul from eroding. That is because a soul cannot live in the physical world without binding itself to a flesh body or inanimate objects.
Sitting inside the pod, Seiya felt what it was like to be a pickle, living in a vessel filled with preservatives. Though it was very comfortable, it still did not help his awkwardness at the situation. Moreover, sitting inside a pod with nothing to see other than different colors of light certainly did not help the situation at all. During these three months, he was missing his time on Ixphoria he spent with his now dead or retired companions. Not only that but he was also missing the fighting with the demons too. This was a surprising as well as a disturbing thought, to be honest. So, he started thinking about the times he spent with Ariadoa. Ah! Good times! Another thing that surprised him was that he could not recall all that much regarding his life in his home-world but he did not ponder about it too much. After all, he would never be returning back there anyway.
---EARTH 22, DREAMSCAPE UNIVERSE---
-3 months later-
Seiya was about to enter the Earth's atmosphere. He was thinking about his next steps, as he had to figure out where his parents were. The only thing he knew about their location was that they were in Japan which helped him figure out that this world really was similar to his own.
As he was thinking about these things, the pod was finally about to enter the Earth's atmosphere....
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\\Author's Note//
I am not going to say anything about the word count anymore (4700). You would say that I should have written another chapter to write to complete Reincarnation then buddy, I am sorry to say this but that would have made things worse. I wanted to add so much more into this and even include the birth but it was the word count that stopped me.
Now, you would say that "BUT THIS IS A MHA FANFIC! WHY ARE YOU ADDING ALL THIS B.S. INTO IT? JUST GET TO THE FUN PART ALREADY!", Right? But as I have already told you guys, I am writing this to create a story that I enjoy, and the only reason that I am writing this with these many details is so that I can use the same base to write the other fanfics that I will write in the future (if I am successful with this one) and also give the MC a real personality as someone who actually lived a life and how this has affected him now and will continue to affect him in the future as well.
I finally wrote my first romantic encounter even though it was only a kiss but still, I did it. By the way, if someone feels that I need to add even more details (or reduce them, but who would say that?) then please comment here to let me know and I will do my best to improve them by getting involved in some romantic encounters in real life..........*Cough*
Now comes the clarification regarding some things
1) As you may have noticed, I changed Ariadoa's dialogue at the beginning. The reason was that it did not seem natural enough to reflect what I wanted her to truly say. I have also made the changes in the last chapter to reflect upon these changes. I also added some small details in the 'The Setting' chapter which you really do not have to know. I mean, seriously, this is an MHA fanfic, and as I have already said it is there for future projects.
2) I realized a mistake I made in the first chapter where I wrote the function of ' Sanctum of Souls'. It actually stores a copy of souls, after all, how can a body be alive without a soul. It has already been fixed by now.
3) I mean all the talk about Godhood would make you think that this is a wuxia novel. But don't worry, it is not a cultivation level. I have simply taken some elements in order to measure the power of MC in the future and Godhood is basically the goal he is striving for.
4) I know many people would complain about the cause of his parents death being too complex which is actually done so three reasons. The first two are regarding my future fanfics. Firstly, because the families of the Heroes are protected from accidents except for in the case of world apocalypse. Secondly, I wanted to use it as a plot device in one of my future fanfics. Thirdly, I wanted to give a small tribute to one of my favorite visual novels.
Now if you have any other things you need to clarify, feel free to comment here and I will do my best to help you.
I will be releasing the next chapter either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and the update frequency will decrease too (as much as only 1 or 2 chapters a week)as my college classes are going to start soon and my exams are approaching too. The frequency will increase again during the summer break. I hope you understand.
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