"...A pity I couldn't stay up any longer."

Staring at the chains that were behind his arms and legs, the other Ren's face remained impassive.

While walking toward the distance, the rattling noise of the chains filled the darkness.

Clank. Clank. Clank.

The sound did not persist for long as his feet soon came to a pause.

An orb of white and black loomed before him in the dark space as he muttered.

"Not bad..."

As he extended his hand to touch the orb, a small gap appeared in the black threads surrounding the orb, allowing his hand to pass through briefly before he yanked out again.

A sizzling sound rang in the air as the other Ren gazed at his hand which had turned semi-transparent.

With his brows furrowed, he murmured.

"Almost."

"Almost what?"

A familiar voice suddenly echoed out, forcing Ren to turn his head abruptly.

His eyes were immediately drawn to a familiar figure.

"...Surprise?"

An ambiguous smile spread on the familiar figure's face as he stared at the white orb in the distance.

Pointing at it, he asked.

"So is this the secret that you've been keeping away from me?"

Calmly walking toward the white orb, Ren carefully inspected it as he walked around it.

Throughout the entire time, the other Ren didn't say anything as he just calmly observed him.

This persisted for a good minute before the other Ren eventually started to speak.

"...Did you plan this since the very beginning?"

The moment his words faded, Ren's feet came to a pause.

Turning his head to glance in his direction, Ren placed his hand underneath his chin.

"Planned?"

Caressing his chin, he thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"Not really. I was just testing something"

"Testing something?"

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Carefully staring at Ren, the edges of the other Ren's lips curled a little.

"If my guess serves right, you purposely lent me your body so that you could test whether there were any drawbacks to it. That's quite the bold move..."

"It was."

Halting his feet in front of the white sphere, Ren carefully looked at it.

"It doesn't take a genius to understand that nothing is free in this world. For you to have gained access to such tremendous power, just a little body trauma wouldn't have been enough..."

Extending his hand, Ren carefully moved it toward the white sphere.

As his hand approached the sphere, the black threads revolving around it suddenly gained vitality and began wiggling.

Not minding it, he continued moving his hand forward.

"You definitely had some sort of goal planned when taking over my body, and I can finally see that it has something to do with this white orb."

His hand touched the black threads and the black threads quickly escaped away, revealing a clean white outer surface.

Following this, his hand slowly sunk in.

Throughout the whole time, the other Ren did nothing but stare at Ren doing whatever he was doing.

This didn't last for long as Ren slowly removed his hand from the orb.

With a complicated look on his face, he lowered his head and murmured.

"...It's just as I thought."

Raising his head to glance in the direction of where his other self stood, Ren's face sank a little.

"That white orb is my soul, isn't it?"

"...It is."

Without denying anything, the other Ren calmly looked toward the white orb and nodded his head.

"It's as you've guessed. That is indeed your soul."

Without showing any changes in his expression, Ren pointed at the black threads revolving around the white orb.

"...What about the black threads?"

"Them?"

Turning his head to stare at Ren, the other Ren calmly extended his arm.

Immediately after his actions, the black threads revolving around the white orb started moving like crazy, as they quickly tried to entrap the white orb.

"You can say that they are a backup plan."

"A backup plan?"

"Yeah..."

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A calm nod from the other Ren preceded a sudden deepening in voice.

"A contingency plan in case you disappoint me."

"A contingency plan in case I disappoint you? Sounds like quite the plan..."

Rather than being surprised or angry at the other Ren's words, Ren just calmly stared at the white orb in front of him.

"I already have a pretty good idea of what you're trying to do. I'm glad everything worked out for the best and I found out about this now..."

Turning his head slightly, Ren just looked at the other Ren for a second before disappearing.

"I'll be seeing you soon."

His last words deeply echoed throughout the black void as the other Ren stared in his direction.

This persisted for a good minute before the other Ren turned to look at the white orb next to him.

"Whether you've figured it out now or later, it doesn't change the inevitable future..."

As he muttered, he raised his hand and forced the black threads around the white orb once again to go crazy.

"...Everything is still under my control."

***

"I knew it..."

Slowly rising from my bed, I opened my eyes again.

As I was still processing the information that I had just learned, my thoughts were rather scattered.

Regardless, I was soon able to sort them out inside of my head.

In the brief moment of time that I touched that white orb, I was able to finally tell how a lot of my thoughts and actions were being controlled by him.

Or least, how.

"It's through my soul..."

Despite not knowing much about souls, what I gathered during that short period of time in the black void was that the black threads surrounding my soul were things my other self planted to control my soul.

The more it corrupted, the more he was able to alter how I felt, how I acted, and basically what made me, me.

"I guess power never really does come for free..."

It was only a hypothesis for now, but...

When the other me took over my body through Monarch Indifference or through schemes such as the Angelica incident, his true goal was to damage my soul so that he could exert his influence on it.

I wasn't exactly sure what his end goal was, however, if there was one thing I knew at this moment, it was that I needed to find a way to heal my soul.

This was the only way I could ensure that I would be free from his influence.

I used to believe that someone's soul couldn't be healed. That, however, was based on memories in my head.

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Knowing that my memories were purposely altered by him, I came to the realization that there was perhaps indeed a way for me to heal my soul. It was just that he purposely left it out since it would go against his wishes.

Coming to this conclusion, I knew exactly what to do at the moment.

Standing up from my bed, I took my phone out and scrolled through my contact list.

"Looks like I have to make a couple of calls."

***

The next day.

"Huaammm."

A yawn escaped from my mouth as I felt the morning breeze. As I stopped in front of a large gate and stared into the distance, a thin smile formed on my lips.

"Morning Professor Voss."

"Nice to see you too."

Leaning against the side of the entrance of the Lock, Kevin rolled his eyes. Under his eyes were glaring black circles, clearly showing his exhaustion. He was dressed in Lock's black professor uniform, which perfectly highlighted his bulked-up body.

Moving toward me, his face turned strange as he cocked his head a little.

"Did you dye your hair? You didn't strike me like the guy that would do that."

"Circumstances..."

Just like everyone else, I decided to be vague regarding the situation about my hair.

Despite Kevin already knowing about the entity inside of me, explaining everything was going to take a long time, so I brushed the subject aside.

"Let's set the topic of my hair aside, care to bring me to Douglas?"

"Alright, but don't forget to meet me after you're done. We still need to talk about the trip."

"Sure, sure."

Turning around, Kevin scratched the side of his head as he entered the gates of the Lock.

Letting out another yawn, I followed him from behind.

'I hope this helps me...'

Last night, after making a couple of calls, I was able to make an appointment with Douglas. Given his age and experience, I thought that he might have a clue with regard to something that could heal my soul.

After all, this was now my current top priority.

Further adding to that, I also was planning on making a trip to the Lock's Treasury, the cube.

Since I had accomplished the task they had given to me last time, it was only right that I took what was owed to me. If there was nothing that could help me with regard to souls, I still had a couple of things in mind that I really needed for myself.

One such example would be a cure for all the mental problems that I was currently having.

With potions no longer being as effective as they were in the past, I needed to find a solution right now.

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Though I wasn't sure yet, I had a feeling that if I didn't keep this in check, I might end up losing myself again.

It was only just a hunch.

But I didn't want to risk it.