"I was facing an identity crisis," he replied, turning to look down at his hands.

"An identity crisis?" she asked.

"In that mothership, I watched Supernaturals celebrating the destruction of Aether Beyonder Academy."

"I watched them raise their cups as they grandly celebrated their alliance with the Otherworlders."

"And while that wasn’t enough for me to lose my cool and reveal my identity—"

"When the announcement was made that Humanity had arrived to take revenge for one of their academies being destroyed, but for those in the ship not to worry, as they’d be wiped out soon enough, I started to lose it."

"Especially when I looked to the side and found Supernaturals drinking human blood and eating humans."

"I asked myself what I was. A Supernatural? Or an Otherworlder, like I was pretending to be? Or a Human?"

"The answer was obviously Human, but in that moment, it wasn’t clear."

"No human would have seen me in that moment and called me Human."

"I was in an identity crisis, losing who I was. I needed help... and it came."

"What help came?" another Commander asked.

"There was an explosion, and I saw a crack on the floor beneath my feet."

"It was a tiny crack, but it revealed one thing: the mothership wasn’t impenetrable."

"And so I bent to the ground, and with every last bit of energy within me, I activated the skill, Limitless Collapse."

"I didn’t plan on surviving it."

"All I wanted was to drag all of the Supernaturals down to hell with me, so I didn’t hold back."

"And without holding back, infusing every last bit of your life and Limitless Energy into the skill, your Limitless Collapse became a black hole powerful enough to rip open the underside of the Supernaturals’ mothership," another Commander completed.

"Yes. And after that, everything became pitch black until now," he responded.

He watched the Commanders fall silent once more, looking at each other.

And after a silence that seemed to stretch for an eternity, the reply came.

"Your actions are beyond commendable, White Sinclaw," a Commander said, the one seated at the head, and the oldest looking amongst all five.

"You didn’t lose your identity. Instead, you were given an opportunity. A chance to prove what you truly are."

"To take the easy path out, side with the Supernaturals and Otherworlders, or to take the hard path, sticking to your human roots even if it takes your life."

"It’s a choice every human worthy of going down in history books has been forced to face."

"And you have passed, White. And by that karma, you have survived."

He said as White turned down to look at himself.

"And how exactly did I survive? I was at the center of the black hole, with every cell of my body drained of life, even my own heart, not to mention I fell from more than a thousand meters into the sea," he asked.

"Exactly. That’s why the explanation for that can only be karma."

"With you using Limitless Energy, we were able to detect it the instant the ship was blown apart and saw your body fall from the sky."

"You were barely in that water for a minute before you were taken out and instantly brought to one of the most advanced Awakener Health Research Facilities on Earth."

"Your human body was dead, but with the aid of a special Awakener’s power, we were able to separate your soul and consciousness from it, though even that wasn’t enough to take you away from the doors of death."

"In the end, we were forced to gamble everything."

He spoke, before turning to another Commander and giving him a nod.

"We employed the use of a forbidden ancient artifact,"

"A... forbidden artifact?"

"Thirty years ago, when Earth had just been invaded and was rapidly changing, a ruin appeared. A Lord Grade Ruin."

"Ten of the mightiest and most courageous human beings ventured into these ruins, with only three managing to return alive."

"These three brought back a total of ten artifacts, artifacts of immense power, one of which is the Awakening Manual we all now cultivate," he explained as White’s eyes gleamed.

"And among those ten artifacts, one was tagged forbidden to be used."

"We only have an instruction manual for it, and even that is incomplete."

"And the fact that it was incomplete made it a forbidden treasure, as without it, anything placed inside it would no doubt die... well, almost."

He said the last part beneath his breath before continuing,

"With your body already dead, and your soul and consciousness rapidly dispersing..."

"We risked it, putting your soul into the forbidden artifact, which is the orb you’re in right now."

The Commander explained, and White’s gaze unconsciously turned to look around him.

"Against all odds, you weren’t instantly extinguished like the many we have placed in there, hoping we could rejuvenate them."

"Instead, your dispersing soul was gathered, and then it was made to grow by fusing with the unknown element in the orb."

"And after exactly six months, well... here you are, White."

He completed, and White stood there, completely lost for words.

The news was too much to take in.

Firstly, he had lost his body.

Secondly, he had been fused with an orb that no one had survived until now.

Thirdly, he was something that no one understood.

And to top it all off, he had been in slumber for exactly six months now.

Still, one thing was the most confusing, and White voiced it.

"Why?"

"Huh?" the Commander responded.

"Why do so much for me?"

"All I did in blowing up the Supernaturals was to save myself from my own guilt."

"I did nothing to stop Aether Beyonder from being destroyed. If anything, I’ve been asleep through it all, snoring while others were being reduced to bloody gore."

"I didn’t fight the Supernaturals."

"I didn’t save a single human life from the mothership explosion, nor help the war for Humanity in any way."

"So why?"

"What made me worth going to such lengths to bring back to life?"