Chapter 330: Conflicted

Point-of-View: Sant A.C. Laus 

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"Yes, my lord, I swear that I will not fail you!" I responded immediately. 

"I truly appreciate your loyalty and devotion, Sant. And therefore, I shall reveal to you a certain truth," Replied Lord Samsara. 

"I would be honored, my lord," I reacted in awe. 

"It is regarding the relationship between myself, Belia and you...the truth of how you came into existence," He began. 

"Ah...I must admit, I am rather intrigued, my lord."

"Naturally. You see, there are countless realities, each with their own divine being to maintain balance in the flow of souls between realities. When the body housing a soul perishes, the soul is sent to a different divine being's reality to the one they were previously in...and memory retention cannot be done twice in a row for a particular soul, if they retain their memories when reincarnating into one world, they cannot do so again when they die and reincarnate next," He continued. 

Interesting... 

"And you are one of these divine beings you speak of, correct?" I asked curiously. 

"Not quite...I was as one point, yes. However, these divine beings have physical forms and can freely travel between their own dimension and the dimension of the living in their reality. I used to be like that at well...however, a physical form meant that it would not be impossible for a mortal to harm me. Therefore, I split myself into three parts," He explained, continuing, "The first part was my consciousness...and the other two parts were you and Belia. I gave you each two opposing personalities in order to maintain balance...I see now that that was a mistake, creating Belia was a mistake."

"Are you saying that I was once a part of you, my lord? I...I feel truly blessed, this is the ultimate honor...," I gasped in reverence. 

"Now for the important part...what happens if you fail the task I have given you," Remarked Lord Samsara. 

"I will not fail you, my lord, but if I do, then I will accept any punishment you wish to inflict on me," I replied without hesitation. 

"I am unable to stay in existence for much longer, at most I have two years before I cease to exist...if that happens, this reality will fall into chaos, there will be no regulation of the inflow and outflow of souls into this reality. There have been other realities where mortals were able to slay the divine being in charge of their world...and those realities are now all lawless, savage hellscapes," He explained grimly. 

"Mortals slaying divine beings?" I responded in bewilderment, "That is a hard concept to fathom."

"Yes, it is...and this is why, if you fail to dispense with both Belia and Kuro, I will have no choice but to restore my former being...which would mean that both you and Belia would cease to exist. I am powerless to affect one or the other of the two of you, I have to affect both simultaneously to restore my former glory. That is why I have not yet used this method to end Belia's existence...because it would mean killing you as well."

"How truly benevolent and merciful you are!" I exclaimed in awe. 

"If and when I combine both your bodies with my consciousness to regain my original form, I would then, once again, be able to travel between this dimension and the living world and put a stop to the unacceptable path that this world is starting to head down, even if that means breaking my own taboos and exposing myself to the risk of being slain."

"I...I understand, my lord. If I prove to be inadequate to carry out this task, I shall gladly submit myself to you," I assured him. 

"Very well, that response pleases me. Now, then, we are almost out of time, this will be the last time we speak till the task is complete or till I am out of time. I must also mention that if you are on the verge of being slain, I will take action and rejoin with you and Belia immediately. Again, if that happens, your consciousness will cease to exist, only I will remain. It is time now, I can no longer keep you in this dimension...farewell for now, Sant A.C. Laus..."

As I blinked, I found myself back in the Laus Domain, on my throne, with a new sense of determination...I shall carry out Lord Samsara's commands without fail. And to do so, I am going to have to change everything in how I approach the current situation that this world is in...Lord Samsara, I swear, I will not disappoint you, no matter what it may cost...!

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Point-of-View: Sylvar Miirphys

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"After the attack...were you or any of the other Elves able to capture any humans alive?" Inquired Bell, narrowing her eyes at me. 

Huh? 

"Wait, that's it?" I responded in bemusement. 

"It is important, Sylvar! If we were able to capture even one of them, we could get information out of them, that could prove to be invaluable!" She exclaimed in a very 'duh!' tone. 

I was only surprised because I thought maybe she was going to ask something about me being a human in my previous life or something like that...but it looks like Sant's memory wiping spell really worked. But now that she mentions it... 

"Actually, yeah...we did manage to capture one human, a woman with feathers on her head. I forgot, I was supposed to tell Lord Laus, I only found out myself this morning, since things have been so hectic," I recalled. 

"Excellent, then let us go now and interrogate this human!" She replied urgently. 

"Slow down, Bell...I think I'd better first go to Lord Laus and tell him about-," I began to suggest. 

"No, do not do that. Not yet."

"Huh?"

Wait, what's happening? 

"It pains me to do this...," She remarked with a conflicted look on her face, "But if we were to tell Lord Laus, he would likely command us to let her go. For the sake of all our people and as well as Lord Laus himself...we should first get the information out of this human and then report it to Lord Laus. I am aware of how low and disgusting this suggestion is, but I-..."

"Say no more. And don't look so guilty...I'll be your partner in crime for this. We'll ask for forgiveness instead of permission!" I interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"Wow...that is terrible," She remarked, trying to keep a straight face, before letting out a stifled laugh before clearing her throat and trying to pass it off as a cough. 

Huh, was what I said that funny? Also, that might have been the first time I've seen her laugh or smile...she has a weird sense of humor, huh? 

"Well, anyway, uh...let's get going, shall we? No time like the present."

"Yes, I could not agree more." 

... 

Thanks to Bell's teleporting, we made it to where the human was being held in no time at all, in a secure tree house deep inside the Elf forest. 

"Sylvar, what brings you here?" Inquired the Elf who was guarding this spot, Esta Grefiel, "Ah, is it time to interrogate her?" 

She'd taken a fair bit of damage when she fought those two humans, the guy with the spear, which is my spear now, and the woman with the trident. She'd volunteered to guard the human girl that was captured, and I decided to entrust her with it because most of the other Elves were too blinded by rage and probably wouldn't be able to resist killing her. 

Esta is pretty sharp though, and she could see what a crucial source of information this human could potentially be, so I was willing to trust her with guarding the human while I was with Sant for the whole Kuro thing. 

"Any problems?" I inquired. 

"None, she is firmly restrained." 

So, apparently, after this human regained consciousness after being captured, she struggled to try and escape, and though they managed to knock her out and restrain her again, she ended up killing eight and severely injuring six others, just in those handful of seconds it took to get her back in restraints. 

To prevent that from happening again, we restrained her limbs with chained shackles and also put up some barriers, to limit movement and also to nullify Mana flow, preventing her from using her Elemental or Demonic Magic, or any other tricks she might have up her sleeve. 

Yeah, I know humans aren't supposed to be able to cast normal spells without the help of some particular type of parchment, but ever since we were brought back down to the planet, so many of the things we thought we knew about humans no longer apply. 

"Come on, let's get started," I declared, as I flew up to the tree house that the human was being held captive in, Esta following after me and Bell teleporting to the entrance. 

As we stepped into the structure, the captive responded, lifting her head up and locking her gaze onto us, her eyes narrowing as the chains rattled slightly... 

"Hehehe...the looks in your eyes...I can tell, you intend to make me go through quite a bit of pain, don't you?" The human greeted us, a chilling smile on her face as she lifted her head up and met my gaze, "But before you start...I don't suppose I could have a drink of water?" 

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