After that momentary awkwardness, Lisa decides to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Hey Lucas, how are things with Rafaela? Have you gotten closer to her?" Lisa says casually, though her voice still carries a bit of embarrassment.
Lucas ponders for a few moments, searching his memories for who Rafaela was, and says hesitantly, "Which Rafaela?... There are too many to remember."
Lisa rolls her eyes and says irritably, the previous embarrassment completely gone: "What do you mean, which?! There's only one Rafaela at our school!"
Lisa speaks in a venomous tone, though there's a hint of hidden jealousy: "That Rafaela you liked and followed around like a puppy."
Lucas feels a bit uncomfortable with those words, shifting slightly on the bed, only to feel a sharp pain from the simple movement, now seemingly more intense.
Lisa notices Lucas' behavior and asks, annoyed but with visible concern, "What happened? Are you okay?"
Lucas opens his mouth to respond, but no sound comes out. The last thing he remembers is an intense pain in his mind before passing out.
---
In a desolate world, a figure with blue eyes speaks to himself, as if conversing with someone, though he is alone in this vast ruined world.
"Hmm... What is going wrong?... This wasn't supposed to happen..."
"Could it be rejection?... No... That doesn't make sense."
"What could be happening?"
The figure looks around, observing every part of this planet, as if searching for something—or someone—to answer his questions, only to be disappointed by finding nothing.
It must have once been a prosperous civilization, but now, all that remains are colossal ruins and stone corpses, whose size is also massive.
Clapping his hands as if he had a brilliant idea, the figure says excitedly: "I know, I'll resurrect one. At least I won't talk to myself."
The figure extends his hand, grabbing one of those colossal corpses. The blue-eyed figure was not large—just the size of a regular human—but it seemed that a simple gesture could distort space, allowing him to hold something far larger in the palm of his hand.
As if holding an ant.
Observing the corpse for a few moments, the figure says in surprise: "Oh? Its origin hasn't returned to its original space-time? Well... That makes things easier."
The blue-eyed figure simply closes his hand, crushing the enormous corpse, then raises his hand and tears the space with a disinterested gesture, pulling out a white orb from within the rift—an orb so strange it could barely be considered an orb.
Its form was uncertain. It fluctuated between the tangible and the impossible, between the physical and the illusory. And for a brief moment... it didn't seem to be there at all.
Then the figure channels his energy into the orb, triggering a reaction, causing a massive amount of solid matter and energy to form and accumulate around it.
The blue-eyed figure watches it with disinterest, as if it were just a low-budget light show.
Soon, a humanoid creature took shape. It looked very strange—its body was enormous, nearly twenty times the size of an average mountain. Its skin was gray and cracked, with golden magma made of pure energy visible through the cracks. The colossal creature had no face but bore a pair of glowing eyes like two golden suns.
The creature remained still. Though its face lacked features, the energy flickering around its body made its shock evident.
The blue-eyed figure watched the creature remain static, like a statue, with golden magma moving inside its body—its movements visible through the cracks in its skin, as if it were its blood.
At the creature's feet, the blue-eyed figure snapped his fingers, impatiently saying: "Hey! I'm down here! Look at me!!"
The creature lowers its gaze, and the energy around its body visibly calms.
The blue-eyed figure, pleased to finally have the attention he wanted, begins to speak in a bored voice: "Tell me, if you know, of course. Why did my fusion fail?"
But instead of receiving an answer, the red creature raises its foot, attempting to crush the blue-eyed figure.
The expression on the blue-eyed figure's face changes violently, his eyes glowing like a blue void filled with stars in their depths. His tone turns arrogant: "How dare you? Such a pathetic and miserable existence, daring to attack me?!"
The blue-eyed figure waves his hand, and the simple motion causes the creature's massive foot to disintegrate into dust. Not satisfied, the figure destroys the rest of the body as well, leaving only the head.
The creature's head, the size of a small mountain, crashes to the ground with a thud, raising clouds of dust which the blue-eyed figure dispels with a mere hand motion.
The figure sits atop the creature's head, observing the rest of the world as if he were king over all.
Suddenly, an ancient voice full of hatred resounds through the world.
"You... Why did you do this?"
Smiling, the blue-eyed figure responds: "Do what?"
The creature replies with the same ancient, hateful voice: "Destroy our world! Why did you destroy our world?"
The blue-eyed figure, as if remembering something, laughs and says: "Oh right, I did destroy everything—your entire race."
"Yes... But why?!" the voice is filled with hatred.
The blue-eyed figure replies laughing: "Hahahah... No reason, I simply wanted to."
"And that's it? Our race was wiped out because some lunatic felt like it?" the creature says, voice lower and more desperate.
"Exactly! And I hate it too! These superior beings who think they can massacre lesser beings just because they're stronger!" the blue-eyed figure says in a righteous tone, as if he weren't talking about himself.
He stands, looking up at the red sky and gesturing with his hand while speaking in a heroic voice: "Come with me, friend! Together, we'll change this entire universe! Innocent beings shall no longer suffer because of these so-called superior beings!"
The colossal creature's head remains still for a moment. Silence dominates the surroundings. Then, slowly, the ancient voice responds, filled with disbelief and irony:
"...You... Do you have any idea what you just said?"
The blue-eyed figure responds cheerfully, smiling: "Of course I do! It was touching, wasn't it? I almost felt like crying… if I were still capable of that."
The energy lingering in the creature's remains stirs, vibrating with rage, as the voice responds, now firmer: "You exterminated us. Destroyed families. Killed women, children, the elderly... And now... you talk of justice? Of protecting the innocent?"
The blue-eyed figure shrugs and sits again, crossing his legs atop the creature's head: "Coherence is for the weak, my friend. Besides… this whole hero and villain thing… well, it's all a matter of perspective, don't you think?"
"You're insane."
"Correct." the blue-eyed figure says with a smile.
Shaking his head, the blue-eyed figure says: "Well, it was fun talking with you. Now you can die in peace."
Before the creature—or what remained of it—can react, it is completely erased from existence. The blue-eyed figure remains suspended in the air, as if held by an invisible force.
He grabs the white orb again and says: "What an intriguing origin... That creature remained conscious even after its soul was destroyed... It knows who I am..."
The figure's voice grows more determined.
"My plan cannot be interrupted by these little inconveniences. I will destroy its origin, and with it, any trace or remnant of its existence."
The figure grips the orb with both hands, squeezing it slowly.
crack! crack!
A sound like breaking glass echoes across that ruined world, visible fissures forming in the white orb.
"How intriguing... its origin is resisting quite well... It should've shattered long ago."
The figure smiles, applies more force, and finally manages to break the orb.
CRACK!!
The sound echoes across the world, as if the world itself were mourning.
"This is fun, but I must focus on my goals. I shouldn't waste my time on useless things again..."
Pondering the fusion again. But as he couldn't find any plausible answer, the blue-eyed figure gives up.
"Hmm... The fusion... Hmm... All that's left is to complete my plan... The fusion's success will depend on it!"
---
Lucas woke up, confused about what he had dreamed.
"Huh? Who was that with blue eyes?... His body was blurry... Like a living shadow, his outlines fading into darkness..."
He couldn't help but shiver with fear at the memory of the blue-eyed figure and the way he toyed with that stone creature's life.
Disassembling every part of the creature, then mocking its losses as if everything were just a big game.
"Insane."
That was the only word Lucas had found to define the blue-eyed figure's behavior.
Lucas held his head, which still ached. Looking around, the world seemed to be spinning, and he felt he could faint at any moment.
But even with the pain, Lucas still wanted to know who that blue-eyed figure was. Why did he remember that?
But with every attempt to remember, the pain in his head increased—it was as if his body had a defense mechanism to keep him from recalling something.
This continued until Lucas fainted again from the pain.
---
The blue-eyed figure is looking at 'him'—as for who 'he' is, that cannot be determined.
"You shouldn't be trying to remember that yet. You're not following the script."
The blue-eyed figure says ironically, but receives no response from 'him'—though it seemed he didn't expect one.
Smiling gently, the blue-eyed figure says: "Look, we can do this slowly, I'll be gentle. I promise. Some memories today, others tomorrow. I could even give you private lessons about what you don't know."
Still no response from 'him', but it seems none is needed.
The figure's voice grows cold as he says: "Just don't try to remember things that aren't meant to be remembered. Don't unravel mysteries that were never meant to be unraveled. That's not your role."
---
Lucas woke up again, but this time his body was drenched in cold sweat, his heart pounding uncontrollably in his chest.
"He was talking to me…"
Lucas's voice trembled.
Remembering everything the blue-eyed figure had said about not remembering, Lucas decided to obey. After all, from what he'd already seen of that entity, it was insane — and you don't mess with a lunatic who has a weapon.
Lucas decided to calm himself down, since it seemed that blue-eyed figure didn't want to harm him… And even if it did, what could Lucas do to avoid that fate? Absolutely nothing.
Forcing himself to relax, Lucas decided to analyze his memories — just analyze, without digging deeper, so as not to anger the blue-eyed figure.
He recalled the scene of that ruined world, shivering as he remembered the destructive power of the blue-eyed figure, reminding himself not to irritate it.
But something in those memories caught Lucas's attention. It wasn't the stone creature… but rather that white orb. The blue-eyed figure had called it the origin. It also mentioned a space-time of origin.
"Seriously, what is this? I just reincarnated and already have so many unanswered questions."
Lucas said, frustrated. After all, he was just a teenager named ----- in his previous life, an ordinary person. His only notable achievement had been his girlfriend ------. She was a very beautiful girl — a shame she was the cause of his death in his previous life.
Suddenly, as if realizing something—
"Wait… what's my name?"
Lucas's confusion deepened even further. He realized there were gaps in his memories.
"But… those gaps weren't there when I first organized my memories."
Lucas felt his memories fragmenting — memories of his previous life and those of Lucas Gracefall mixing together to the point that he began to lose his sense of identity, not knowing who he was or who he had been.
As his sense of identity began to unravel more and more, Lucas ended up fainting.
---
The blue-eyed figure was looking at "him" again, speaking disapprovingly.
"Hey! Do you remember what I said? Don't try to remember!"
The blue-eyed figure placed a hand on "his" head, transferring a wave of energy and information as he said, "Seriously? What kind of shitty technique is this you started practicing? Are you trying to die early?"
The blue-eyed figure removed his hand as he said, "Well, I cleaned up any remnants or influence from that disgusting technique. I also fixed your identity loss and transferred a new body-refinement technique to you."
"Consider this VIP treatment, since you can't die… at least not yet."
---
End of the chapter.