Chapter 191 : Soul issue (1)
"My soul... why is it fractured?!" Alex exclaimed out loud with a pale expression.
His first thought was that it was caused by the strange black heart. This cursed thing must have surely messed with him more than he thought and was the cause of his fractured soul!
This thought caused Alex to become livid, a vicious and mad expression crawling its way on his face.
The more he thought about the turn things took, the madder he got. That thing had not only invaded his body, but it had also fractured his soul. What was next? Completely destroy his soul? Absolutely not!
"I wouldn't let myself be killed just like that!" Alex uttered with a deep cold tone.
Without him consciously doing so, the smoke inside his body billowed out and quickly filled the room, its usual array of multiple colors that once made it beautiful now shimmering with an ominous light.
It was as if just by feeling the anger of its master, the smoke also became enraged and was now intent on destroying the source of its anger.
Slowly, the smoke began rotating around Alex, forming a swirling vortex around him.
Alex snapped out of his murderous thoughts when he felt that something wrong was happening.
Looking up and witnessing the forming vortex of smoke, he sighed. "Calm down," he said to himself.
Taking a deep breath, he forced his raging heart to calm down, something that had become easier after the enhancement to his mind.
'Thinking about it logically, it doesn't make sense for that thing to enhance my strength just to kill me an instant later,' Alex thought once he calmed down.
'No, in fact, there may be some sense to it. In this world, nothing comes freely. Maybe the price for the enhancement is to have my soul fractured," Alex hypothesized before shaking his head a moment later, 'there is also a problem with that train of thought.'
'Having my soul fractured should be something very painful, but I felt nothing. I even felt a comforting warmth during the enhancement, so I guess it probably wasn't the enhancement that caused such a fracture,' Alex realized.
Alex pondered on the matter for several seconds, but seeing that he couldn't come up with a good reason for there to be a fracture in his soul, Alex decided to look at his soul once again. Perhaps there was something that he missed.
Closing his eyes in silent meditation, Alex focused once more to observe his soul.
It was then that he remarked something that he didn't notice the first time, mostly due to him freaking out when he witnessed that his soul was fractured.
The thing is, his soul wasn't fractured at all!
What Alex thought was a fracture was actually the point of contact of the two parts of his soul.
Hearing that someone else beside him knew about his most guarded secret, Alex felt...vulnerable.
The fuzziness of his mind returned once again, his eyes glazed and he was suddenly hit by a wave of vertigo.
[Don't react so much. If anything, I have to say that the show was quite entertaining,] the goddess of lust said, trying to lighten the mood, but it was as if her words couldn't get through to Alex.
[Tsk, bothersome] the goddess clicked her tongue in irritation.
[HEY! Stop being a pussy and get a fucking hold of yourself, don't make me regret my decision to take you as the carrier of my sin!] The goddess spoke in an angry tone.
The sudden outburst of the goddess caused startled Alex awake and after a moment, he regained his composure, although, judged by the frown on his face, he was still pretty troubled.
[Good, now where were-]
'Wait!' Alex interrupted the goddess. 'If what I've been told is true, then you had a meeting with the previous Alex, right?' Alex questioned.
Despite his best efforts, he couldn't seem to recall when the previous Alex had a meeting with the goddess of lust. According to what Lilia explained, he was supposed to meet the goddess so she could explain how her artifact functioned and inform him about the Sin's Game the first time he fused with her artifact.
[Yes, I did meet him,] the goddess answered in a nonchalant tone.
'Then, aren't you disturbed by my existence? After all, I'm the fusion of the previous Alex and another person, namely Jack, but the one you have chosen to carry your sin is simply the previous Alex.'
[Don't you think it's a bit late to ask such a question?]The goddess chuckled before replying in a light tone, [To answer your question, no, your existence doesn't bother me. Quite the contrary, the previous one couldn't do anything on his own anyway.]
Hearing the last part about how the previous guy couldn't achieve anything on his own, Alex felt a pang in his heart. After all, he was the fusion of that "previous guy" and Jack, and if the form of his soul is anything to go by, then he is more Alex than Jack. Not that he wasn't aware of this fact.
[Now, let's get back to your little problem,] the goddess spoke, her usual alluring voice returning.
Alex immediately cast aside the feeling of indignation he was experiencing and concentrated on hearing what the goddess was saying, aware that this might determine how his life unfolded.
[Like I said previously, your current situation isn't as disastrous as you think,] the goddess stated. [Sure, the souls of the lazy one and the soldier haven't completely fused, but it doesn't change anything for you right now. It will only matter if you don't find a way to perfectly bring them together,] the goddess explained.
[Ah, before you ask, yes, if the two parts were to separate before you find a way to bring them together,] the goddess mimicked the sound of an explosion and added in a theatrical tone:
[They explode, and you die in terrible, terrible pain.]