-『CHAPTER 02』-

« Incarnation of Primordial Origins »

— ? —

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I recoiled back while the hole in my chest began regenerating in a rapid pace. A mindscape is a world wherein death didn't exist so the only way for one to truly achieve a mental death is for the person to succumb into absolute despair and entirely lose one's willpower.

This woman could kill me a million times but as long as my will wouldn't be overwhelmed by her's then I won't cease to exist and could battle mentally against this woman until her will eventually breaks.

Anyhow, this situation is truly baffling.

Why did I lose control of the specters all of a sudden?

I didn't ordered them to attack the original psyche but when I tried recalling them, I found out that these batch have been overwhelmed by an intense feeling of self-preservation. 

Its as if they were afraid of something...

Only the weakest specters have acted this way and my few stronger ones still resisted the compulsion of attacking the original psyche but clearly they too were rattled for some odd reason I couldn't fathom.

In any case, I thought the Goddess would reincarnate me as her but as soon as I became aware that I'm in this woman's body, I've noticed that her consciousness is still active despite the fact that I'm now being reincarnated as her. 

On normal scenario, the original personality should had disappeared once the reincarnated psyche which is me began to assimilate her memories. However, while I'm on the process of receiving my new memories, the original persona began resisting and started to inflict mental pain onto the both of us. 

The pain became so unbearable when she started mentally burning herself and paired along with the head-splitting headache that I was receiving from the deluge of new memories, I just couldn't take it anymore and had to make her stop thus I finally appeared before her. 

"Tch, so you had a regenerative ability? Well this complicate things."

The original persona sneered before bombarding me with a volley of fireballs. I really didn't want a full on confrontation since she's the original host of this body but alas, I couldn't remain passive either plus I hate the feeling of pain thus I summoned the specter of a Grand Magus that I've devoured back in the purgatory and equipped it as my first anima. 

One of the four eyes in my face began glowing red as the memories of this specter began flooding into me. While this orb only retained some fragmented magical knowledge, I still acquired some various magical spells and I opted to use the strongest magic this specter knew.

We're in the world of dreams so I can project any spell without the need of understanding the complex magical theory behind it.

" [ «Lord of Vermilion» ] "

Ten destructive bolts began descending one after another within the area where the original psyche stood. Each bolts became more powerful than the previous one and by the time the tenth one had descended, more than half of the original's body had already burned to cinders. 

I silently watched her half dead mental projection fell down into the ground and lay there unmoving for quite a period of time. It took her at least half an hour to realize that all her injuries aren't real and she could just heal it instantly by merely thinking of it disappearing.

This is the world of the mind after all.

A place where anything's possible just as long as you have the rudimentary knowledge of the things you wanted to mentally project.

 The original psyche finally stood again as her fresh wounds began reversing until her mental body now looked back to normal once again. A sheer flabbergasted look of pure wonder and confusion was etched across her face as she checked every parts of her body.

Finally her expression began showing a combative look as she positioned her body in a fighting stance and began attacking me once again. 

I already expected this outcome so I wasn't really that surprised at all but a tinge of aggression began to awaken deep within me possibly due to my mental connection with her.

Her bloodlust is heavily affecting me and I too began countering her Pyromancy with magic of my own.

Spell after spell we exchanged a volley of magic that can never be accomplished in real life. Everything is powered by our imagination thus mana wasn't really needed.

I narrowly dodged a lance made of flames that she threw at me and retaliate with a quick zap of lightning that she received on at point blank yet she even didn't show an expression of pain and acted nonchalant as if being electrocuted didn't fazed her at all.

Hoh...Interesting!

I imagine myself showing a wicked grin as I wordlessly invoked [ «Spatial Rift» ] and teleported right in front of her as I began to cast numerous grand spell in quick succession.

Let's see if you can still retain your sanity after facing this all.

I mentally thought confidently as I began to call forth all the magical arsenal of the specter of the Grand Magus.

" [ «Napalm Vulcan» ] "
" [ «Frost Nova» ] "
" [ «Diamond Dust» ] "
" [ «Stone Curse» ] "
" [ «Earth Grave» ] "
" [ «Storm Gust» ] "
" [ «Jupitel Thunder» ] "
" [ «Vacuum Extreme» ] "
" [ «Lord of Vermilion» ] "
" [ «Varetyr's Spear» ] "
" [ «Heaven's Drive» ] "

I stacked all my most destructive spell without any hesitation. 

While everything here is merely an illusion, the pain we felt is still entirely real and it can even make one go insane if one experienced a colossal tribulation all at once. 

Magical dust billowed all throughout the area as the spell residue slowly begun to subside. Located at the center of the impact lies the charred remains of the original persona and I stood in front of her as I begun to minimized myself into the same height as a normal human being and made my body appear humanoid.

"Rao tu you still want du continue?" I stated in a rueful voice before adding, "E know dryd oui can still hear se cehla fa can't really die eh this place pid bmayca hear se out okay?" 

No response.

I let out a sigh before I bent down and sat right beside her corpse in a loose lotus position. I then looked upwards while thinking of a proper explanation for this whole debacle.

Initially I wanted to verbally explain myself since I never had the chance to talk to other people up until now and I find I'm slowly getting addicted to talking but then I realized that I couldn't properly convey what I want in this method since I've only assimilated twenty percent of Arkdian language so instead, I tried conveying what I want through telepathic resonance this time.

[ I'm also a victim here you know? The goddess who had let me into this world didn't specified that your still existing even as I take control of your body. I just assumed that you died when your memories began automatically flooding into my mind. ]

I then shifted my sight towards her as I positioned my body towards her before kowtowing in the most respectful manner I could muster.

[ I promise that I would properly take care of your body and your loved ones and any ambitions that you seek in life, I will try to accomplish it so... ]

I finally raised my body and stared sincerely at her.

[ Please cross the afterlife without resentment and yield your body unto me. ]

Silence.

"..re...fuse..."

The corpse slowly began to writhe as its blackened skin began to regain its colors. Her scorched hair began to grew as well as every stand began to show its former luster. Her head finally moved as she shakily propped up her body and stood upwards in a swaying manner.

"I...refuse to yield!"

Tears began falling down her cheeks but the resolve seeping through her eyes felt so daunting that my will was almost quivered for a fraction of a second just by merely looking at it.

"I still have so much that I wanted to do in life so who are you to decide my fate for me! Do you think your trifling spellworks can easily bend my will!? BRING IT!! I dare you to unleash your full wrath then we'll see whose got the stronger will between the two of us!"

I started listening to her tirade with an empathic stance but by the end of it, all the specters inside me have began reacting in mad hysteria. Her bloodlust have thoroughly seeped into me and I too have begun wanting to duke it out to see who will have the right to exist.

Resolve against Resolve.

Winner takes all.

[ So you want a contest of Will? ]

I call forth three of the most unbroken specters I've collected and equipped them into me as each of my four eyes respectively began glowing in colors of red, blue, violet and silver as the complete four anima slots are being used simultaneously. 

A surge of knowledge came flooding into my mind as my body amassed in size to compensate my sudden rise of aptitude. I focused onto my second anima which is the specter of an veteran engineer from a scientific world and his knowledge concerning modern weaponries began surging into my mind.  

I then began accelerating upwards  higher and higher into the sky as my body became circular akin to the shape of the sun before—

BOOM!!

—I splintered myself as my body shattered into a several dozen broken pieces. 

All of it began descending at a rapid pace and I imagined every single one having an uranium-235 nucleus whilst also having a high-speed neutrons split each nucleus, inducing a subatomic fission as I timed the explosions when the pieces hit the ground.

The outcome?

A hail of nuclear fire.

Several atomic mushroom clouds began rising one after another and the small piece of me that I've still retained floating high above the skies looked down at the wanton destruction I've rained down below.

[ DO YOU YIELD!? ] I shouted mentally over and her response instantly came right after.

"NEVER!!"

I formed a manic grin before gathering all my pieces down at the ground together into one single coalescence. I then changed the composition of my splintered pieces to an isotope of hydrogen such as Tritium and Deuterium before forcing these particles to unite whilst I casted the spell [ «Vacuum Extreme» ] and  [ «Varetyr's Spear» ] onto that unitary coalescence. 

I then eyed the rapidly regenerating original persona before teleporting her with  [ «Spatial Rift» ] right at the core of that lethal amalgam I've created before snorting.

[ If a hundred fission bombs can't break your will then how about being incinerated right at the center of a singular nuclear fusion? Behold the might of the cosmos, the genesis of a star! ]

A giant orb made up of billowing yellow flames began amassing within this mindscape. She tried to escape but I casted all my paralyzing magic at her so that she would be trapped inside that mass of pure destruction.

I could hear her continuous agonizing screams as her imaginary self disintegrates at the core of this pseudo star. 

[ DO YOU YIELD!? ] I repeated yet again but this time her voice finally didn't answered back.

I waited for quite awhile as I try to feel her current state of mind. At this point all I can sense from our mental connection was nothing but an extreme sense of anguish and pain before—

Crack!

—Her psyche finally splintered due to the tremendous pressure and torture she's been constantly suffering inside that death star I created but alas, it still wasn't enough for I could still felt her will barely holding on. I sifted through all my specters and accessed my third Anima which was a non humanoid Hivemind that can make complex mental hallucinations. This specter is rather special for it can induce a person into believing that their living a fake life as if it was real.

Controlling this specter is hard even for me but I still managed to induce the original psyche into a reality phantasm as if she escaped from this mindscape and continued on with her life. 

However I cannot create a complex day to day hallucinations since that would take so much time, effort and mental capacity to pull off thus I made these events appear as if its quickly happening in between timeskips. 

I based this false reality phantasm on the memories I've already assimilated and I started the hallucinations on her way towards a foreign land as she go on about making a territory for herself. 

The false memories progressed as if it was real, and she proceeded on expanding her territory to all regions before finally colonizing half of the continent. She then established an empire for which she was crowned as the founding ruler with all her constituents loving and showing adoration for her.

I made it look as if she's living the perfect life for a part of me still felt that this original psyche should at least experience some good memories before she ceased into existence.

I made it so that everything's going well for her in this false future. Currently her joy is at its height and she seemed to have forgotten all about me. I made this false reality so wonderful with her having a devoted caring husband with two adorable daughters as she rules her nation without much trouble.

I internally sighed as I let myself into the mirage world I created and watched from a distance the original psyche laugh with a carefree expression as she plays with her two children.

...Its finally ripe.

This is the moment I've been waiting for.

The greatest despair can only descend if it falls from the peak of happiness.

"Now then, if this doesn't break your resolve then I don't know what will."

From this moment on afterwards, I quickly changed the flavor of the hallucinations.

From a sweet and easygoing lifestyle, I began making her false life harder and harder as one bad events happened after another.

Her motherland waged war with the empire she created, Famine plagued all of her cities as insurrection sparked all over her territory. 

Her grandfather died a shameful death and her two children got abducted which then were tortured brutally. Their two severed heads etched with expressions extreme horror were the only thing that was returned to her.

Her relationship with her husband deteriorated and she realized that he's been cheating along with her closest friend for which eventually led to him confessing that he never actually loved her and thought of her as an emotionless being that only lusted for power and authority.

All her generals and close aides betray her one after another as she rapidly lose territories and the adoration of her citizens. 

Finally her nation loses the war and she got sent back to the enemies country to be killed in a public execution. 

Along with the jeering crowds I watched her by using a disguise as an indistinguishable bystander as she slowly marches towards the execution pedestal with lifeless eyes. 

She didn't make any form of resistance even when the robed executioner placed a rope at her neck. Countless of mockeries and curses fly her way but it seems she had already lost her sanity and was just staring blankly into space. At last the time of her death finally came and the trap door holding her feet suddenly opened down and she loosed her foothold as she began to struggle whilst being suffocated by the noose tied on her neck.

I moved towards the execution pedestal and stood right in front of her without anyone noticing me as I silently observed the fire of her Will began to wane. Before we began fighting, her fire was burning brightly and hard but now it look so weak and dim as if a mere wisp of wind can snuff it out. 

In my estimate, she only had a minute left and I simply stood there as I patiently waited for the time her resolve finally diminished yet within her last breathing moments, I suddenly felt another presence suddenly forcefully intruded upon my reality phantasm but before I could even go on and search for this sudden interference, the original's hollowed eyes suddenly opened and she—

Grab!

"—At last you've finally loosened your guard, you damned monster."

I tried wriggling out of the hand grappling my neck by shading off my humanoid disguise and revert back to my true formless self but to my horror...I can't seem to be able to!

W-What's going on!?

All my four eyes roamed around as cracks began appearing everywhere from within this reality phantasm that I've created. 

Soon I heard a shattering sound as everything splintered like shards of broken glass and the original's middle aged appearance suddenly regained its youthful vigor, just like the way she looked back when we were fighting beforehand.

"You conniving twit sure put me in a long agonizing nightmare,"   She then dragged my face close her's to the point that were almost eye to eye and a spine chilling expression formed into her face. 

"I have to repay you a hundred folds of sufferings due to the sick and twisted hallucinations that you had let me experienced."

Apprehension instantly overwhelmed me as mentally shouted, 

[ How can you do all of this and restrain all my powers!!? ]

The original persona finally drew back her face as she stood straight before giving me this 'Are you absolutely retarded?' look that seems to be laced full of mockery.

"You, a mere petty mind intruder thinks it can surmount the orginal master of this mindscape? Hmph, what foolish audacity but alas, for your feeble anal retentive mind, let me expound to you your one crucial mistake..." 

A wicked sneer then curved into her face. 

"...Your one mistake was that you give me time." She then paused for a second before adding, "I'm rather bad at dealing with sudden unexpected situations you see, and you've caught me completely off guard. I didn't have enough time to learn anything about the situation but once you trapped me into that huge ball of fire, you made me feel pain so agonizing that it actually split a portion of my psyche."

All of sudden a miniature ten inch version of her materialized out of thin air as it stood at the top of her shoulders.

"This small portion of me hid in the farthest corners of this mindscape but it seemed you didn't sensed its presence since you've been fully preoccupied with that fake reality. While your busy making false hallucinations in that nightmarish phantasm, this little one was also busy learning how things work on this mindscape. She realized that this place is the representation of our subconsciousness and that she can practically do anything in this place."

I looked incredulously at her.

Was I defeated by this mere...simple little thing?

[ N-No that's not possible! I can read your mind even back in that reality phantasm. You're entirely clueless and also wasn't aware that your psyche had split, I'm absolutely sure of it!! ]

She shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "Well indeed your right. I wasn't aware of it but this little one had only decided to reconnect and share her research and findings when I was already suffocating from being hanged publicly, but those few short seconds were still enough to made me realize that your only an intruder while I am..."

All of a sudden, a myriad of stairs began appearing around our vicinity in a haphazard fashion as the place slowly becomes a massive confusing labyrinth. 

She casted some form of restraint magic onto me before finally loosening the grip on my neck. Her smaller self then jumped out of her shoulder as the original psyche slowly ascended from the ground as she positioned herself in a crossed-leg sitting position high above the skies whilst looking down at me as if she's some sort of celestial entity that can decide my fate based on her sheer whims alone.

 

"...The owner, master and God of this mindscape."

All of a sudden I felt the assimilation process began reversing and she instead began acquiring my memories. I tried to cut our mental connection but it was to no avail. I simply just stood there like a hapless criminal before a judge as she silently sifted through my memories one after another.

At some point she suddenly stopped the whole process before sporting an apprehensive look. She gave me contemptuous look before asking,

"Who's this Goddess you made a deal with?"

 ~ ♚ ~