Chapter 234: The Voices in my Head

"This is taking forever...how much longer?" I inquired restlessly. 

"Not sure exactly, but I'd say I'm about halfway done with the mental repairs...you sure are impatient, considering the fact that you kinda brought this on yourself," Replied Diablo pointedly

"He has a point, Kuro," Agreed Lazarus. 

"Get off my case, both of you...I mean, it's been like, two months since I killed Shiro already, I don't know how long my body can last like this," I argued objectively. 

"You're forgetting that I made an Elf body survive for about two centuries without food or water...your body is a lot more durable than an Elf, or any other race for that matter, so there's nothing to worry about," Countered Diablo, sounding confident. 

"Wait, when you say my body is more durable than an Elf, what exactly does that mean for my lifespan...?" I asked curiously. 

"Well, once you reach your prime, your rate of aging will drastically slow down, and you should live for no less than five hundred years at the very least, and a little over a thousand at most."

"...sweet. And can I use my Healing Factor to make others live longer to?" I inquired hopefully. 

"I guess so, but you'll have to regularly use it on them to maintain their bodies."

"Not a problem...awesome, there's something to look forward to when I regain consciousness." 

So, yeah...Kuro here, and I'm currently inside of my own consciousness, as I had been since the night of December the 2nd. Admittedly, for the first two or three weeks, I was completely down in the dumps and depressed, overwhelmed by the backlash of emotions after unsealing them...yeah, I'm never doing that again. 

After that, I slowly recovered, emotionally-speaking anyway, and got back to normal bit by bit. And then...I was bored. The mental flood that erupted when I unsealed my emotions took a toll on my mind, and not just physically...my Healing Factor took care of the physical damage in no time, but the psychological damage was extremely severe. 

Fortunately, this area was Diablo's specialty, so he was able to repair the damage...but he needed time. And so far, it'd taken two whole months just to finish up about halfway...not a very encouraging rate. On the bright side, I soon found a way to alleviate my boredom...watching anime through my old memories. It felt so nostalgic, watching anime for the first time since I got captured in my old life. 

It made me wonder why I haven't entered my own consciousness to watch anime before...it just never occurred to me. But this way, I can watch anime in this world, I'll probably do it even after I regain consciousness! Oh, maybe I could figure out a way to show Persia and the others too-...oh, wait, I can't do that without revealing the existence of alternate worlds, never mind. I'm not going through all that again. 

In addition, I'd also been using this time to create some custom Chaos Magic spells with Diablo's help...admittedly, heavily reliant on his help with this, because I wouldn't have a clue about how to do it myself, I'd have only been able to use the handful of 'default' illusion spells. Anyway as a result, I had plenty of sick illusion spells at my disposal now, all of which are triggered upon eye contact within twenty meters...heh, I kinda felt like an Uchiha. 

"Well, now that the whole imposter mess is over, hopefully it'll be a while before anything else happens," I remarked with a hopeful sigh. 

"Not to burst you bubble, but, uh...I think I felt Belia's presence somewhere closeby earlier today...or maybe it was yesterday, gauging time is difficult, so I'm not sure precisely when-," Replied Diablo sheepishly. 

"Wait, what do you mean by 'nearby'!? As in, near the Rustlands, or IN the Rustlands?" I inquired in alarm. 

"Diablo! I thought we agreed to keep that to ourselves until the repairs to the psyche are almost complete."

"Oh, right...I forgot, sorry."

Slow down a sec... 

"I'm sorry, what!? You two can converse without me? And you're hiding stuff from me too!? Not cool!" I protested indignantly. 

"This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you...you would get all anxious and impatient, which wouldn't make the repairs go any faster," Sighed Lazarus, relenting reluctantly. 

"For the record, it was his idea, I was fine either way," Added Diablo indifferently. 

"Why, you little snake...I mean, yes, that's true, but I don't appreciate being thrown under the bus."

"Yeah, well...tough titty, dude."

"Don't call me dude."

Sometimes it's hard to believe that these two used to rule over two of the strongest monster types in the world... 

"Shut up, both of you, you're giving me a headache...and yes, I know there's no physical pain inside my own subconscious, and that aside, my Healing Factor would prevent a headache anyway-...I'm going off on a tangent...whatever, just be quiet, it's annoying...if you insist on arguing, do it so that I can't hear you, you had no problem doing so earlier, right?" I sighed in exasperation. 

"Oooh, burn!" Diablo taunted Lazarus with a laugh. 

"Grr, you annoying Demon..."

"Pfft, whatever, you uptight Vampire." 

"You know what, you two, stop messing around, or I'll mute the both of you! Diablo, since you sensed Belia, work faster on repairing my psyche."

"Fine, I guess that's fair."

"Also, back up a sec, you can sense her? I didn't know that." 

"Well, not exactly, I can't sense her whenever I want...it's more like I can feel her presence when she's close-by, you know?" He explained. 

"I see...alright, get to work on the repairs, in the meantime...I'm gonna watch some anime."

"Oh, I'll join you! Can we watch an anime with a Vampire now?" Requested Lazarus. 

"Sure, fine by me...oh, let's go with Blood Lad."

"Yes, I love that one!" 

Well, I guess this is my life until I regain consciousness...huh, multiple voices in my head, I wonder if this is what it's like to have schizophrenia? 

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Point-of-View: Shiro Blanc

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"Why give them a whole month!? And they put up an anti-Demon barrier too!" I snapped in exasperation. 

"Yeah, that wasn't according to plan, to think that one of them, that Fuo girl, resisted Demonic possession after happening to come across the Demons literally five minutes after I released them, and that woman, Elina Fenegus, managed to create a barrier that repels Demonic energy signatures trying to come in from out, that human has fascinated me for a long time, I've only seen few humans in all my years who can match her aptitude for spell creation...I just love it when things don't go according to plan!" 

...it's no good, this woman is hopeless. There's no talking sense into her. 

"A month from now, will we be a part of the attack as well, or will you simply use pawns again?" Inquired Hacte with a frown. 

"Don't worry, I'll let you two run wild a bit...though we will retreat if it becomes too one-sided in our favor...in other words, if Kuro does not yet regain consciousness. It'd be a waste to kill him while he's in a coma, talk about boring," She replied firmly. 

...I have no qualms with boring. Fine, I'll play along with her till them, and after that, during the attack, I'll hunt down Kuro and kill him. 

"Hey, bad Shiro! I can tell what you're thinking by the look on your face...that, and the fact that you're not arguing. Bad Shiro!" She exclaimed, shaking her finger at me. 

Did she really have to say 'bad Shiro' twice...?

"Don't talk to me like I'm a kid or pet, Boobs," I remarked with a frown. 

"Bitch, considerin' how old I am, you're basically a baby to me! And hey, don't call me 'Boobs', bad Sh-!" 

"I'll call you whatever I want! And stop with that 'bad Shiro' crap, it's really pissing me off! Stupid Boobs..." 

"You're a real handful, you know that...well, I won't tell you what to do, just don't do anything to ruin my chaos, understand?" She remarked, her face turning serious for a moment and a dark, threatening look appearing in her eyes, sending a chill down my spine and filling me with terror. 

"R-right...got it." 

She's always so easy-going and cheerful that it's easy to forget who she is...if I get on her bad side, I'm finished...

———————————————————————————

Point-of-View: Persia Gerit 

———————————————————————————

"No...Kuro still hasn't moved, he's breathing just fine and all, but..." 

"I see...we've got a month before we're attacked, I hope he wakes up soon," Sighed Fuo with a concerned look, "Well, I'll go now, gotta start training. You should too, you haven't been very active since then, have you?" 

"No, I suppose not...yeah, don't worry, I'll make sure to be back in fighting form before the attack."

"Oh, and we can't leave the Rustlands for the next month, because of the Demons, we've sent a couple of Adventurers to Bronztan, to report the situation to them and also to give them a copy of the Demon-warding protective barrier spell."

"Alright, thanks for telling me, Fuo."

"Sure, no problem. Okay, then, I'm off."

"Bye, see you later."

Well, that's a lot to process...I let out a sigh as she left and headed to the bedroom, sitting on the bed, next to where Kuro lay, his eyes shut and his body limp, the same state he'd been in since his fight against Kuro...and the rest of us. I hope he wakes up soon, but I was also afraid...

After all, I hurt him so many times during the time my memories were altered, I almost killed him too...and that drove him to go so far as to seal his emotions, which was why he was now in a coma. I was afraid that...he wouldn't forgive me for that...after all, I couldn't even forgive myself... 

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