"Ringmaster…" Ren's eyes widened the moment he heard the name. All the despair and pain he had felt earlier vanished completely, instantly replaced with fury.
Even though he couldn't use his powers or summon his weapon right now, the boy didn't care. He lunged forward and threw a punch at the other person's face. Even though that man wore his own face, Ren didn't care anymore.
Crash!! As his fist collided with that face, a sound like shattering glass rang out. The opponent's body broke into shards like a mirror, and the surrounding scenery began to distort, changing into a different place.
At first, Ren thought the enemy had escaped—until he heard a voice behind him that sounded like a young girl…
"You shouldn't get so angry, Ren."
He turned to look at the source of the voice and found a little girl with black hair, around five or six years old, standing behind him holding a large bouquet of flowers.
"You…" Ren felt like he had seen her before. It wasn't until he looked around that he realized he was standing in the orphanage he had once lived in—even if only for a short time.
He had been a quiet child, not very close to anyone… except for this girl, who had been like an older sister to him. But because it had been so long, he could no longer remember her name.
Even though the time there had been brief, his memories of that place weren't pleasant… because the people there often bullied him.
"We made a promise, didn't we? That when we grew up… we'd get married," the girl said. Her body gradually aged, transforming into a woman in her twenties—her childish charm completely gone, replaced by the elegance and grace of a scholarly young woman.
"Look, now I—"
Crash!!! Before she could finish, Ren's fist smashed into her face, shattering her body like glass once more.
Ren looked around again. He didn't care what the enemy's intentions were—illusions like that wouldn't work on him. He knew it wasn't real…
Right now, what he needed to do was find a weakness—a way out of this place.
"Ah… you're so cruel. How could you treat your first love like that? Or is that the true nature of humans?"
The same black-haired woman appeared behind him again—but this time, she didn't smile kindly. Instead, she wore a blank, lifeless expression that made him feel uneasy.
"What are you trying to do? What's your goal?! Why are you messing with us?!"
"Hmm? Are you really pretending not to know? Or are you just acting dumb? I simply want what belongs to me."
"Belongs to you…?" Ren had already guessed, but still didn't want to hear the truth.
Until she pointed a finger at him.
"Your body, of course."
When Ren didn't say anything, the woman smiled broadly.
"Judging by your reaction, it seems you don't remember me. But that's understandable… Being locked up in that place for so many years might've damaged your human brain. Though, it does seem those scientists did something to your mind, which I find quite… irritating."
"We… have met before?"
It was clear she spoke as if she knew him—so she might have known his former self.
"Hmm… rather than asking that, why don't you see for yourself? I can show you, if that's what you wish."
She extended her hand toward him, as if inviting him to take it.
Ren hesitated for a moment before asking:
"Why should I trust you?"
"Is it because you dislike me? Or because I played with your emotions? If that's the case, I apologize. I only wanted to create a place where you could relax. I don't understand human emotions… so I didn't know how to present myself to someone like you."
Ren still didn't quite understand.
"Then… why did you capture Sora-senpai? Why are you involved with her?"
"Well… because her blood has special properties that helped us track you. But that no longer matters. Now that we've found you, we no longer need her."
"If that's your wish, I can let your friend go."
"You'll release her?"
"Of course. Just say the word… and I'll handle it immediately," she said, smiling warmly as she stepped closer, making herself seem more approachable.
But Ren couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
From the very start… she had never tried to hurt him. It was as if she wanted him to relax—wanted to manipulate his heart. As though she wished for him to accept this place as his own world.
No, it felt more like… she wanted to make his desires come true.
'Since I can't use Zhongli's powers here… what about the "Eye of the Mind"?'
Ren tried activating the Eye of the Mind ability on her—and in an instant, his eyes widened in shock.
[Ringmaster of the Bloodstained Troupe (Evil Deity of Gaul)]
[Affection: -100% (Deep Hatred)]
[Status: Vengeful Enemy]
[Emotion: Hatred, Hatred, Hatred… (repeated dozens of times)]
Ren's face turned pale at the overwhelming malice before him. He instinctively stepped back.
The woman seemed to sense something… she sighed, her expression changing.
"What a loathsome ability. I had a feeling that wizard's bloodline would leave something behind… but I never expected it to be those eyes."
"…Fine. Then I'll just shatter your spirit. That should be enough."
"Then this foolish contract can finally end."
"What contract…?" Ren wanted an answer.
But she said nothing—only gave him a hollow smile.
Suddenly, a flood of memories poured into his mind again—but this time, Ren could endure it. He clenched his teeth… and lunged at her again, fist raised.
Crash!!! Her body shattered like glass again, and the scenery warped and changed once more.
This time, he was in a familiar hospital room. A bed lay at the far end, surrounded by life-support equipment. Beside it was a window overlooking the hospital's rear garden, where a playground and smiling people could be seen.
Opposite the bed was a flat-screen TV, playing an old black-and-white melodrama.
Seeing the room he had lived in for years, smelling the familiar antiseptic… his body went numb. His heart pounded in fear. He trembled, barely able to move.
He tried to steady his ragged breathing, reminding himself this was just an illusion…
"If only you'd listened nicely from the start… I would've let you live the life you always wanted, all the way into old age."
The voice came from the nurse he used to be close with—now standing before him.
Ren clenched his fists and punched her face, shouting in anger:
"Why… why are you doing this!!!"
Crash!!! She didn't respond. Her body shattered like glass, only to reform into the terrifying face of a man wearing a deer mask.
"If you won't listen… then punishment is necessary."
The masked man grabbed Ren's throat and slammed him down onto a metal bed that had appeared beneath them—strapped with heavy restraints.
Though Ren struggled, it was as if his strength had reverted to that of a child. His limbs were bound tightly, unable to resist.
Suddenly, more masked figures appeared around him—each holding a syringe filled with glowing red fluid.
Ren didn't know what it was, but just seeing it filled him with dread.
"No… don't… please, no!! Someone… someone help me!!"
The desperate scream that left his mouth didn't feel like his own. It was as though he no longer controlled his body. He didn't know who was in control—but it wasn't him. Nor were those memories his.
"This pain is the greatest gift to your father… Be grateful. Be proud."
The emotionless voice came from the masked men, echoing like a canyon whisper.
Then they injected the fluid into his body.
Arms, legs, chest, neck—every part injected burned as if hellfire was flowing through him.
Strangely, Ren felt no pain himself. It was as if another presence in his body was enduring it.
And that presence… couldn't take it.
"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
The boy screamed in agony, his body resisting with all its might. But the restraints held firm.
His veins bulged and turned a dark, purplish black. Tears flowed red and dried into pitch black stains.
Ren could only watch helplessly.
He held his breath, overcome with despair for the boy suffering in his body now.
Time lost meaning.
The experiment continued…
Even Ren couldn't bear to watch. And the boy living it—couldn't even scream anymore.
Even he himself could not bear the sight before him... let alone the boy whose consciousness now resided in his body, forced to endure it all firsthand.
Ren could feel the emptiness of the other's mind... as if he had vanished from this world, leaving behind only numbness and a deep despair so profound that even Ren felt crushed by it.
He now found himself in a white room—worse than any prison. No bed, no sink, not even a toilet... only a single mirror on a blank wall, reflecting his face, as if mocking him for what those people had done to the boy.
The boy's face looked terrible—gloomy and dazed, like someone who had lost his mind. His eyes were ringed with black from the torment of months of experimentation, his skin pale, and almost half of his black hair had turned white from the stress.
Ren, who had limited control over the body, gazed into the mirror at the lifeless doll-like figure.
Though he still felt uneasy, Ren used the opportunity to activate the Eye of the Mind to observe the image of the boy in the mirror.
[Hamuel Tu Faelra Gustav (Last Royalty of the Gaul Empire)]
[Affinity: 0%]
[Status: Neutral]
[Emotion: Despair, Loneliness, Depression]
"So... I really am you," Ren sighed, filled with an unexplainable emotion.
Now, he finally knew... the boy in front of him was "himself"—the original identity who once owned this body.
Ren suspected that the leader of the organization wanted to torment him with horrific memories to drive him into despair. By doing so, they hoped he would unintentionally recall the traumatic memories of the body's former owner. And since Ren had never experienced those memories before, he didn't feel them personally—it was more like watching someone else's memories being projected to him.
Maybe... the original owner of this body was already gone, or truly dead.
He believed so because all he could sense were the echoes of past thoughts—not real memories, unlike when he had been tortured with his own. This felt more like fragmented ideas... and what he saw now wasn't the actual emotion of his true self, but merely the remnants left behind by his former self.
And most likely, that "leader" still didn't know the truth.
Perhaps they could read his memories and emotions—but maybe not truly perceive or understand them.
That might be why they never suspected that Ren and the boy were two separate individuals...
"And we can use that... as our advantage."
Several hours later
Crash!!! A mirror shattered before him, heralding the appearance of a mysterious man clad in a black and red performer's outfit, emerging from the void.
The man wore a mask—half-smiling, half-weeping—and hunched down to stare at the pitiful boy, who sat hugging his knees in despair, eyes fixed on the shattered mirror.
That sound of shattering glass symbolized both fear and hope for the boy who had been imprisoned here for years.
The masked man knew this... and so he reached for the largest shard and held it out to the boy.
"Is this what you desire?"
The boy said nothing. His parched lips trembled, but no sound came out—as if his vocal cords had long since been torn.
Only a single thought appeared in his mind, steeped in hopelessness:
"I... kill..."
"Do you wish for me to kill you?" the masked man asked, having read the memory.
"I... kill..."
"I... kill..."
When the boy didn't answer, but the same phrase echoed again and again in his mind, the man bent lower and raised the shard above the boy's head.
"If that is your wish... then I shall grant it."
Thud!!! The glass shard plunged into the boy's neck.
Instantly, the boy's face twisted into manic rage... and a violent flood of silver-haired Looper's memories poured into the masked man's mind.
"I... will kill you!!!"
It felt as if the world itself trembled violently. Shards of glass materialized out of thin air and pierced the masked man's body from head to toe.
Though he still didn't fully understand what was happening, this was the closest he had ever come to death in his entire life...
In a panic, the masked man—the troupe leader—severed the connection at once. The world collapsed like a torn sheet of paper.
The last image he saw was the boy's mad gaze staring directly at him... his lips moving to form one final phrase before vanishing:
"You... lost?"
The masked man murmured, repeating the boy's last words in his memory.
His fist clenched tightly, causing the shards embedded in his body to shoot out in all directions.
"Interesting... humans."
In the real world
Ren finally regained consciousness. He opened his eyes in shock, startled by the sensation of lips and teeth against his own.
He smelled apple pie—like the one served at the banquet—and the scent of perfume filled his nostrils.
"Why... is Exusiai's face this close?"
The first image Ren saw upon waking was the face of a red-haired girl, eyes tightly shut, right in front of him.
No—more precisely, their mouths were pressed together, and Ren could feel his teeth biting down on her tongue.
The metallic taste of blood filled his throat. That's when he realized she had been injured by his bite—and he quickly released her tongue.
[Spirit of Stone – Soul Synchronization Initiated]
"Huh…?" A system message popped up, and memories not his own flooded into his mind.
Images from Exusiai's childhood to the present entered Ren's consciousness.
His Looper ears and tail receded, replaced by a golden-brown halo above his head and rocky wings that unfolded from his back, lifting him off the ground.
At that moment, Exusiai's sixth sense—"Sajta," or empathy—something she hadn't felt in months since leaving Laterano, was triggered. Her eyes widened in surprise.
Her golden eyes met his, now the same color as hers.
The feeling she sensed was awkwardness, which shocked her into pulling away immediately.
"Uh... looks like the princess's kiss worked, huh?" Exusiai laughed nervously, clearly flustered.
Ren's sixth sense told him she was embarrassed, and her words were just a cover...
Ren, who should've apologized for biting her, knowing she only did it to keep him from biting his own tongue...
But because of Exusiai's temporary influence on his personality, he instead smiled brightly and replied cheerfully:
"Thanks~ I'll repay you with lifetime supplies of apple pie!"
"Eh?!" The direct hit of Ren's brightness and joy sent a wave of flustered warmth to Exusiai's face.
Ren bounced backward and looked toward where Texas was fighting, calling out with energy:
"Texas, I'm here to help!"
"Penguin Logistics, charge~!"
Ren summoned the Judgment Gun from his arsenal and fired repeatedly at the giant alligator battling Texas.
"Apple Pie~!"
Little did Ren know, these memories... would become a scar on his soul for the rest of his life.
-----------------
MyPatreon : patreon.com/TrueAngel?
Check Collections
Now : (ZAW)System Acting Zhongli in arknights World? (Now Chapter 60)
Now : (INSL) I Never thought simulating life could screw me up this badly!! (Now Chapter 73)
Now : (POA) Prince of Angels in Arknights (Now Chapter 46)
Now : (RBT) Reincarnated as a Blood Demon on Terra? I've Hit the Jackpot! (Now Chapter 84)
Now : (VIA) Viego in Arknights (ฺNow Chapter 87)
Now : (ADE) Arknights Die Early (Now Chapter 61)
--------
Coming soon : (ZAW)Texas Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter) (Now Chapter 1)
Coming soon : (ZAW)Exusia Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter)
Coming soon : (ZAW)Lapland Character Relationship Content (4 Chapter) (Now Chapter 1)