Reincarnated Hero System-Chapter 1014: Conversations with Myself IV

[That happened when you reincarnated into Earth V, right after your time as a dragon.] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

I didn’t even get the chance to ask how he knew my dragon reincarnation came first before he launched into his explanation.

[The reincarnation pathways that span the universe connect to different sectors and subsectors of galaxies and planets respectively.

Think of it like a vast system of pipes shuttling souls across the universe and its dimensions. But not all pipes are the same size.

Depending on the world or galaxy’s level, the pathways can be larger or smaller.

Now, your soul—the Deity Soul of one of the universe’s strongest beings—was about to enter the path leading to Earth V.

But Earth V, a young High-Level world, didn’t have a path large enough to accommodate your soul.

Why? Because you had woken up to smack the Dragon godslayer.

In doing so, your seal was nearly fully released, since you needed a significant amount of power to hit her hard enough for it to matter.

Even after spending 499 years as a dragon, your soul hadn’t fully reverted to its dormant state.

So, it was still... well, a bit too big for Earth V’s reincarnation path.]

I raised an eyebrow.

"So, you’re saying my soul was fat?"

Prisma was silent for a moment before finally responding.

[Yeah, your soul was fat. Too fat to fit in the pipe.

And because it couldn’t fit, it ended up blocking the queue behind it, preventing other souls from entering.

Souls started piling up, causing a backlog in Earth V’s subsector.

The Reincarnation Path couldn’t properly fix the issue either, since you’re a Singularity, and your soul distorted the laws that would have resolved it.

So, you woke up again, and this time—you sliced off a portion of your soul to make it small enough to fit through the path.]

"That sounds... painful."

[Not really.]

Prisma continued.

[Once you did that, your soul was finally able to incarnate on Earth V.

As for the piece you severed—while it might have seemed small to you, that was from your perspective as a Deity.

That fragment alone was worth more than countless ordinary souls.

The Reincarnation Path likely took that piece, added a fresh soul core and turned it into an entirely new soul.

The universe operates on a logic-based system, and logically, the Law of Reincarnation wouldn’t waste such high-quality soul material.]

"So basically, the part of my soul that I cut off has reincarnated somewhere else?"

Prisma nodded.

[Do with that information what you will.]

The moment he said that, I understood exactly what he was implying. This time, I was the one to facepalm, muttering under my breath.

"Really, Artemisia?"

That goddess had planned things out far more meticulously than I had given her credit for.

Seeing my reaction, Prisma nodded in satisfaction.

[Glad you’re quick on the uptake.]

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now can I finally ask my questions?"

I didn’t even wait for him to respond before jumping straight in.

"The one who reincarnated me—that was Arthur, right?"

[No, that was the EOTD.]

"..."

[...]

We stared at each other in silence for a solid five seconds before I spoke again.

"Isn’t Arthur the EOTD?"

[I don’t know. You’ve never seen the EOTD’s face. Not many people have.

Sure, he has blue and red eyes, plus Time and Destruction powers, but you never actually saw any definitive proof that the EOTD = Arthur Vaughn.]

I was already 50% certain that Arthur was the EOTD I knew in the future, given the conditions for Eon Sunder Regressio which aligned with the first group of people I met in the past.

The spell had absorbed EOTD’s destruction essence, and among those initial people, Arthur was the only one who comprehended the Law of Destruction.

But from Prisma’s tone, even though he spoke about proof, it felt like he was certain Arthur wasn’t the EOTD.

"Did I ever see both of them in the same place and same time?"

[Nope. Not even once. You only knew EOTD for around a decade before your reincarnations started.]

That bit of information caught me off guard. I’d only known the EOTD for a mere ten years?

’Hmm? Did I just say ’a mere ten’? Fuck, I’m already getting influenced.’

Sighing softly, I posed another question.

"Did I ever ask him about why he hides his face?"

[You did. He said he did so because his face reminded him of "something he would never be". Not that you understood what that meant.]

Prisma seemed lost as he spoke, while I focused on a different aspect.

For a being of EOTD’s level, something like changing appearances should be easy. I wondered why he didn’t just do that. Or was he under some restriction that I didn’t know of?

’Weird...then the person in that dream was EOTD?’

One of my many dreams about this place—Chapter 738—came to mind, and I decided to voice my question.

"Did I ever have a conversation about ’Zanerth’, and ’Altering Past’ with EOTD?"

[Zanerth? Altering Past?]

Prisma looked confused for a moment, but then realization flashed in his eyes, and he responded.

[Oh, yeah. I remember that. The person you had that talk with was Arthur. That was on the same day you started reincarnating, sometime before EOTD showed up.]

Since both of them shared similar characteristics, and in my recollections up to this point, they had never shown their faces, I was mixing them up.

Just as I had that thought, I remembered my limited time and moved on to my next question.

"You spoke of Agnes earlier, so can I assume you also have complete memories of my current incarnation?"

[No, I don’t. Only the bits and pieces you give me. If you want me to know something, just will it.]

Prisma shrugged a response, and I recalled how easily I’d removed his arms earlier. Reversing that feeling, I shared the memories of the day I was sent back in time—specifically, Kayla and I’s encounter with Belphont.

[Oh...Belphont didn’t die? Bummer.]

It seemed I’d had a run-in with Belphont in my past incarnation as well, but I didn’t comment on that and focused on my question.

"You now know how Belphont reacted to my flames—shock and disbelief. Faulin’s reaction too."

As I spoke, I shared the memories, and Prisma’s expression contorted slightly in response.

"Why were they so sure that I was dead?"

Both Faulin and Belphont had been absolutely convinced that ’Prisma’ was dead. Only Conroe had a different take for some reason.

Hearing my question, realization flashed within Prisma’s eyes and he responded.

[I think that has to do with the circumstances of your reincarnation.]

"Circumstances?"

Prisma nodded before explaining.

[This place was being watched by a lot of people since you—the one who ended the Great Valmone WAR—frequented it.]

"Where is ’here’ anyway?"

I knew this was where the war had ended, but what had this place originally been called? The answer I got was easily in the top five most insane things I’d ever heard.

[This is a now-nameless Apex World. But it’s been separated from the main space-time continuum of the universe. Obviously, that was your handiwork.]

"Separated from the WHAT?!"

At this point, this guy had to be messing with me.

[If you think I’m messing with you, I’m not. I can’t.

This place is an Apex World where space-time is fractured and locked to a few moments. Essentially, this entire world is now a live wallpaper.

That’s why that Sun is eternally Collapsing, the moon is eternally broken and these corpses remain here forever, unable to be removed.]

His comparison to a live wallpaper made it easy to understand, but that didn’t make it any less ridiculous.

[In the five years after the war ended, after you went around smacking sense into the survivors, you kept returning here. Because of that, all the intergalactic powers that survived the war were keeping a close eye on this place.

Arthur came by once, drawing a ton more attention. Then, sometime later, the EOTD showed up, attracting even more eyes—since neither of them bothered to hide their presence.

Then you had your reincarnation discussion with EOTD, and when the process started, there was likely a massive surge of energy that no one watching could have missed.

My guess? When your soul entered the reincarnation path, your Race Ruler Authority vanished.]

The moment he said that, the realization hit me.

Race Ruler Authorities didn’t just disappear unless the holder willingly gave them up—or they died.

Considering that it was EOTD who came here, the fact that I never showed up again after that made them conclude that I had died.

And knowing the EOTD, I was sure he hadn’t bothered correcting anyone.

"Now it all makes sense."

When I muttered that, Prisma folded his arms and rebutted.

[Everything always makes sense. You’re the one who keeps making it not make sense.]

He gestured at the apocalyptic scene around us. [I mean, what the hell did you do to this place?]

"Excuse me, that was you."

Prisma instantly shot back at my remark.

[And are you forgetting that I’m nothing more than an amalgamation of your memories? You’re literally having a conversation with yourself.]

He leaned in slightly and added. [Let that sink in.]

Prisma had just spoken when something caught my attention in the corner of my vision. When I turned my gaze down to the base of the hill of corpses we sat atop, there was a door.

A transparent door hinged on nothing but thin air.

And on the other side of the door?

A sink.

A literal toilet sink, just sitting there, perfectly framed by the doorway.

I stared at it for a moment, then turned back to Prisma with a deadpan expression.

"Really, dude?"

Prisma blinked, his expression shifting to mild surprise.

[Well, I was actually testing how much free rein you’re giving me in here, since, you know, this is technically your mind and all. I wanted to see how much leverage I had. Turns out, a lot more than I thought.]

Sighing at his excuse, I shook my head before standing up and dusting off my clothes.

Seeing me stand, Prisma tilted his head.

[So, you’ve asked everything you wanted?]

"Yeah," I nodded. "Just one last thing."

The moment those words left my mouth, Prisma’s eyes narrowed.

[I may be an amalgamation of your memories, but we have the same personality. I already know exactly what you’re thinking, and this is not going to end the way you—]

Before he could finish, my right fist was already flying toward his face.

Prisma raised a hand to block. [I said it’s not going to—]

My left fist slammed into his stomach faster than he could finish that line, carrying enough force to make him double over, clutching his gut.

The moment his hands instinctively moved to clutch his gut, I took advantage of the opening, sending a punch crashing into his face, nearly knocking him over.

"Don’t make my life harder, you idiot," I muttered.

Stretching, I exhaled like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The sigh was pure, undiluted satisfaction.

Prisma, however, wasn’t taking it so well.

Rubbing his face, he snapped, [What the hell was that for? Why are you hitting yourself?]

"Because your life was a damn rollercoaster, and now it’s screwing with me," I shot back.

Prisma threw up his hands, his exasperated expression speaking volumes.

[How many times do I have to tell you? It’s your life! YOU! I’m just a jumbled mess of memories you don’t wanna deal with!] He huffed. [And here I was, planning to be nice and help you out when you hit Transcendence, but nooo, not anymore.]

I had already started brushing him off when those last words made me freeze. Turning back with narrowed eyes, I asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

Prisma’s expression turned smug—only to shift to pure fear the moment he noticed flames ignite around my right fist.

Throwing up both hands in surrender, he practically screamed,

[Wait, I’ll talk!]

Clicking his tongue, he muttered under his breath.

[I know it’s your mind and all, but did you really have to make me a different person for a few seconds just so you could punch me? Talk about hardcore self-denial.]

"Yes, I did," I said flatly. "Now spill before I hit you again."