CHAPTER 98: DUAL PERSONALITY

(Few hours ago)

"Ha! Ha! Ha!"

The sound of labored panting echoed through a dark chamber, as the figure of a young, beautiful lady with black hair, slowly fading into white, and eyes that gleamed with dark gold in one, and moonlight gray in the other, emerged.

‹Isn’t it my turn yet, you goody two-shoes? Still brooding over the consequences of my actions?›

"Shut up!" the princess screamed, cold sweat cascading down her body, causing her black nightgown to cling tightly to her skin. "I don’t want to hear anything from you."

‹Don’t give me that nonsense. You know you’re a fragment just as much as I am›

"And so what?"

‹You think our main soul cares about what we do? I love Kai and you love Kai, so why can’t we just agree on this?›

The princess lingered for a moment, then spoke in a cracked voice. "What do you want me to do?"

‹Kikiki... now you’re talking like a Hohenzollern,› the voice, sounding like a darker version of Reni, paused.

‹You know it too, don’t you? Kaiser is the person the main soul is searching for. Isn’t that why you haven’t reported yet? Why you left me, the bad soul, inside this cursed world? Since I can lie and you can’t?›

Reni, now collapsed on her knees, the shoulder strap of her gown slipping down her chest, murmured, "I know..." She then added, "But that’s not the reason I did any of that. It’s because you were becoming too reckless."

‹Was it because of what I did to Kai when we first met? Or because I killed a student during Deerheart’s attack? Hmm... or maybe it was because I made you massacre all these people›

Reni lifted her gaze to the dead corpses scattered around her, then to the white door stained red. ’No. Even without you telling me, I still would’ve killed them.’

‹Then what’s the issue? We both want the main soul dead so we can have both her body and Kai to ourselves, right?›

Reni gritted her teeth. ’Yes, it is for Kai.’

She reassured herself. ’Then what is the plan?’

‹According to the vision both you and I saw, the demonic humans will come to take the bloodline of the Mad King from us. And as you know, unlike the main soul, we have no tie to that talent. So why don’t we just let them take it?›

Reni slowly stood to her feet.

The only flaw in her other self’s plan was that they weren’t sure if Kai would try to save them, and if he did, she wasn’t confident she could stop or interfere.

‹Are you afraid Kai will ruin our plan?›

’Honestly, yes.’

‹I doubt the demonic humans will allow that. And you know it too, right? Kai is the knight from the original soul’s dream, her oldest dream and her hero, and that’s why we fell for him so easily. Though I would’ve still fallen for him either way›

Reni nodded. ’Yes, you’re right. As long as the main soul doesn’t meet Kai and nothing unexpected happens, we’ll get away with it.’

She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

Yes, she was confident such a plan would succeed.

...Frieren Hohenzollern, daughter of the reigning Emperor and one of the most powerful Awakened in the history of Meltonia. Her mother wasn’t a mere commoner, but the daughter of an archangel, thus making her an archangel herself.

Later, her father, Akaza Hohenzollern, inherited the blood of a good demon and ventured with his coven to conquer the largest gate: Tomb Thebes.

A gate renowned for its mysteries and its connection to the ancient gods.

No one knew exactly what transpired inside the gate, but following that incident, the members of their coven retired and became clan heads, while he, father of three, murdered his own brother and seized the throne in the most ruthless manner imaginable.

The gate was sealed, and Black Fang—who at that time held power equivalent to that of the twelve great clans of nobility—ceased to exist. News spread of the coven defeating the Mad King’s pet, Fenrir, and the world hailed them as heroes.

Months later, two children were born, one from the Reinhardt family and one from the Hohenzollern family.

After the day the two children were born, the members of their coven, except Cassius and Akaza, never spoke again.

But what the world didn’t know was that they never truly defeated the Mad King’s pet... No, even the mere pet of that legendary figure was too powerful for six S-Ranks.

And when all hope seemed lost, Emily Hohenzollern, Reni’s mother, awakened her blood. The beast spared them and shared his energy with the core members of the coven.

He granted nearly all his power to the main trio: Akaza Hohenzollern, Cassius Reinhardt, and Emily Hohenzollern.

This triggered a chain reaction of energy that birthed a Weaver, a fusion of angelic blood (representing life), demonic blood (representing death), the four energies embedded in the core Fenrir passed on, and a faint trace of primordial energy from the dungeon.

These unstable elements combined to form a false Weaver, but unlike most, this one was free.

That’s how she was born: Frieren Hohenzollern.

But her soul was never destined for peace. Like every Awakened whose power levels fluctuate with obsession, hers was warped by her fixation on her knight.

If the knight from her dreams never appeared, she would die at the age of ten. That was the prophecy from Fenrir.

To prevent this, her mother used the last of her prana energy to create new souls from her daughter’s soul, splitting fragments of her personality into two parts, so that even if their daughter sealed herself away to wait for her knight, her body wouldn’t become an empty shell and deteriorate.

But this meant their daughter would be trapped inside the world of her own consciousness until the knight appeared.

They searched for him, but all of the self proclaimed knights died.

Reni stared into the void, gripping the dagger tightly in her delicate palms, faint cuts traced along them.

Her gaze grew cold as her other self stirred. ’Someone is coming.’

‹Then let’s leave›

’Why should I run? And it’s just that little child anyway.’

As if summoned by her thoughts, the door swung open, revealing the figure of Amy rushing into the moonlit room, panting.

Amy almost vomited at the sight of the corpses before her. "What... What?"

"What did you do, Reni?" Amy’s voice shook as she slowly backed away from Reni, who still clutched the dagger.

Reni’s dragon summon, silent throughout her mental collapse, remained seated on the bed in her human form. She looked from Amy to Reni and sighed. ’Aren’t you going to talk to your friend, Princess?’

Reni, looming over the pale corpse of a man, turned to Amy and smiled gently, as though nothing had happened. "Hey, Amy."

Amy fought the urge to throw up. "Why did you do this, Reni?"

Reni stepped away from the body and inched closer, eyes narrowing. "But what did I do?"

Amy’s eyes twitched, her voice rising. "What do you mean by ’what’? You just killed these people!"

Reni scowled. "I want to ask you something, Amy... You like Kai, don’t you?"

Amy stepped back, gripping her gown tightly. "Yes, Amy likes Kai."

Reni nodded. "Then did you know this man planned to harm Darling? Not only that, he intended to take us from him."

Amy waved her hands angrily. "Wasn’t it just a silly vision?!You didn’t have to kill people, there were so many other ways!"

Reni’s face turned blank. "Are you really that naive?"

"What?" Amy asked.

Reni smiled darkly, dropping the dagger. "Do you think people change that easily? He was going to hurt someone you love, and you’d rather wait for him to strike than stop him first? Shall I tell you something else he did, Amelia? He killed Kai. Ten times." She leaned close to Amy’s face. "Ten times, Amelia. My Darling died ten times."

Amy tried to pull away, but Reni grabbed her arm. "Now that I think about it, Amelia... Why do you like Darling? No, let me rephrase. Why do you think Darling would like someone like you?"

She bent slightly to wispher in her ear. "You speak like a five year old child. You can’t protect him. You’d forgive the ones who hurt him. And you wouldn’t even sell your soul for him." Her golden eyes shimmered moonlight gray. Amy couldn’t tell if she was hallucinating, but she saw hearts in the princess’s eyes.

"But I would do anything for Darling, even clean up the evil he can’t." She gestured to the corpse, her gaze fixed on Amy’s profile. "This guy wanted to take me from Darling. So I just made sure he couldn’t."

Amy had begun trembling.

"I love love love Darling, you know... So if you know what’s good for you, stay away from him." Reni still wore the sweet smile even as she passed her. "But I won’t stop you from liking him. As long as Darling has more allies, right? And I do mean allies—nothing more."

Amy’s knees buckled.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t kill.

She could. She loved Kai too. She understood pain too.

But that didn’t mean she’d abandon her humanity for love.

’No... that isn’t...’

Amy covered her mouth. ’What am I thinking?’

She stared at the floor...

Her humanity or Kai? If she were forced to choose one day... would she truly pick Kai?

As Amy’s thoughts spiraled, a loud voice snapped her back, but before she could even turn, a blinding spell erupted nearby.

If she didn’t move, she was going to die.

Amy shut her eyes. At that range, there was nothing she could do.

But just as she braced herself for the impact, a second warm golden light, that seemed to oppose the moonlight gray flames, enveloped her.

In an instant, she vanished from the building as it exploded in flames.

Beside her stood Neko-sensei, cloaked over her premium looking combat suit.

"Are you okay?"

Amy stared, stunned, then nodded weakly.

Neko-sensei smiled and turned to the figure of Reni in the sky, black and red magic circle around her, miasma swirling like storm clouds above.

"Why can’t my kid just have a normal, peaceful life."

She sighed and flicked her finger.

Amy, who was still on the floor, began to levitate, golden light spiraling around her. "I have something to do. So follow me, little Reinhardt."

Amy, still confused, murmured, "But what about the academy?"

Neko-sensei raised a brow. "What about it?" She kept walking, then added, "They’re not children. I’m sure they’ll figure it out."