If we hunt and imprison someone who claimed to be helping another, while we ourselves use the exact reasoning to justify our actions, how are we any different than the monster we judge?
Zack addressed the ethical dilemma with ease, drawing on the accumulated wisdom within the stream of knowledge. Yet as he separated himself, the question seemed impossible to answer. It was like the chicken-and-egg paradox. No matter the reasoning, no answer could satisfy everyone.
"Check yourself before we leave," Lux said, cutting through Zack's thoughts.
Zack grunted, refocusing on his journal.
Journal dilemma one-O-one: If you're so sure of which came first, the chicken or its egg, try out our insurance to stay sane routine. No matter how easy the fight, we come back to scan our Sub-Spaces for any abnormalities, using the loophole within the 'Reincarnation artifact.' During this routine check, you have to choose between two cores: one from the stored core within the artifact, and the other, a much developed, current core. Two memories, two choices—and the broken part—both of them are yours. So, which one do you choose, and how do you define which is the real you?
That chicken question sounds much better now, doesn't it!?
"Your path is yours to determine," Lux said, leaving no clue, yet following the rest in selecting the core within their artifact.
Every day's choices build up in time to shape one's mindset—every choice is built upon the last, every divergence shapes the self—whereas these minute discrepancies are enough to drive a Broken-Soul Quazy. Turn a god into an ape.
'Don't ask me why crazy starts with a Q,' Zack scribbled. 'I never cared enough to ask.'
Zack chose to maintain three personal journals; one showcasing his emotional self, the second written in biases thanks to the wisdom stream, and the third, which had a mix of both and showcased his true-self—the one he would lose somewhere in the future, and which shall become my beacon in attempting this fiction (His insurance to stay sane—our assurance into the unknown).
"I'm done." Zack hopped off his bunk, phased through a wall, and rejoined the others on the opposite side of the world.
"Please tell me you didn't do anything stupid," Lux said, already expecting the worst.
"For all you know, I had a brilliant idea."
"Yup! He definitely screwed up." Bazuka collected her winnings from everyone.
"You owe me ten large, brat," Psycho growled.
"Here!" Zack willed a treasure chest full of gold into existence. "Can we act like the gods we are, please!"
"Says the guy with three personalities." Pinky snorted.
"How did you—"
"—Work on hiding your core first, philosophy is only useful to the living." Pinky created and tossed three identical journals into Zack's core. "Which one will you listen to now?" She giggled, her face contracting soon after, as Zack burned the copies without batting an eye. "Not bad—not bad, indeed." She nodded with a crunched-up face.
"How?" Psycho reached for Zack's core—and missed.
"Should've, when you could've." Zack grinned.
Psycho searched for Zack's Sub-Space through the six layers, but couldn't find a hint to its location. "The farther it is, the weaker you become." He pretended to remind Zack while searching for any energy fluctuations. "You'd be useless in a fight." He tried to attack Zack's blind spot, but was blocked by the shield. Without knowing the exact perimeters, he wasn't sure if Zack was even required to be in contact.
"Luck, luck, go away, it's time for me to play!" DJ tried and failed.
A clicking sound made Zack turn over, only to face a point-blank bazooka ready to blow his head to smithereens.
"We don't have—"
—Boom! Before Zack completed his sentence, the entire underground complex was blown to bits.
"Underground?" Lux looked around, impressed by Zack's quick action.
He had transported everyone to an underground bunker that missiles had once blown up. While Barbie's artifact shredded the entire area, equivalent to ten atomic bombs, they had little work to do in terms of a cover-up, rather than waste an orb in resetting the timeline; A little memory loss there, a lot of calculation here, and none were the wiser.
"Which part of—Orbs are our lifelines, don't you people get?!" Zack's serious face slipped, unable to hold back a snicker. "Ten times stronger, and now also ten times smarter. And you had access to my journal, ha!"
Lux stepped forward, forcing the air to carry serious thoughts. "Hiding in plain sight isn't a novel idea." He said, looking at a bracelet on Zack's hand. "Make sure no one touches it by mistake."
"That's brilliant." Zack focused on his logical mind, noting down Lux's technique instead of dwelling on the loss. "I can still overpower him, though." He satisfied his emotional side's ego.
"Mind of a weaker soul always wins over the ego of a supreme one," Lux quipped.
"Soul King doesn't have one!" Zack half-heartedly countered as his emotions took over.
"He wouldn't be broken, if not." Pinky's devastating subtitles killed the banter, except for Psycho, who pestered Lux to reveal Zack's latest hiding spot until they found their next prey.
"Stupid bracelet," Psycho muttered, their souls connected and secrets laid bare. "Of course, he hides it there; he still calls it the first layer."
"And you refer to it as your seventh!" Zack stuck his tongue out. "A simple switch is enough to fool you, you'fool!"
Division X's latest target was a half-tentacle, half-energy-based life-form. It roamed the streets as if it were its domain, trapping anyone with a sliver of power.
Zack poked a mushy, humanoid statue out of curiosity, and it turned into sludge, rejuvenating the creature's domain. "Grew larger or stronger?"
"A bit of both!" Pinky said.
"Is that an answer or a hunch?"
"Yup!" Pinky ignored Zack, breaching the creature's domain.
The creature didn't notice Pinky's clumsy steps, but once Zack caught Pinky's hand, forcefully pulling her back into the group, it scanned him and the entire group in a glance.
"Broken Souls working together!" The creature croaked in an unsettling voice, utilizing different energy fields to produce its vocals. "The rumors seem to be true. I'm not breaking any of his laws." The creature stuttered, not daring to say his name. "So why is it that you care? There is plenty for all." It ranted on while the group bickered amongst themselves.
"Hey, touchy-mushy!" Pinky slapped Zack's hand away. "You ain't our leader yet." She said, reading his mind. "So step back, and observe first." She squeezed a doll's neck within her purse, instantly suffocating Zack in every realm. "Maybe in an eon or two I'll consider your input." She grew a new hand, this one aimed at Lux's doll. "You've got one sentence."
"He read my mind because of my stupid artifact." Lux shot back as if his life depended on it.
"Oh!" Pinky let both of them go, her demeanor turning around, as she cheerfully skipped towards the creature. "If you've completed the requirements to activate your 'Restrictions,' shall we start this dance?"
"This brat!" The monster beamed, exploding into various energy beams and leaving everyone blind, except for a bright smile that hovered in their sense of sight. "Thank you." It released Zack's sense of sight.
'Why did it return mine!?' Before Zack finished the thought, it placed its hand over the bracelet, barging into Zack's core. 'Okay! Now I know why."
It took Zack a moment to regain his footing, but once he did, he rolled up his sleeves, revealing two coiled snake tattoos that shimmered with a pulse of dark energy. "Eskan'mor fusey!" he commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos. The tattoos writhed to life, peeling free from his skin in a violent surge of shadow and light, peeling skin and bone alike. The snakes hit the ground, hissing—a blend of spirit and venom—before lunging toward the creature with predatory intent.
The snake's eyes, blacker than the void and stronger than their senses, locked onto their target, bypassing all the restrictions placed on Zack.
"Not yours." The creature noted in a calm tone, breaking their connection and hiding its core. "Quite interesting." It left a seed of doubt in Zack, making him lash out at everyone who tried to enter his Soul.
Before Zack broke free—within that second:
Pinky reached for the doll in her purse, fully intending to kill Zack. "We can get our leader back once we've dealt with this."
"No!" Lux refused—and Pinky obeyed, not wanting to debate during an intense fight. "Use the unleashed seal on the latest invasion." He locked Zack in place by using a similar attack; chains formed into twin serpents, locking Zack's body and soul across realities, leaving him to figure out an escape. "Psycho, we are up!"
"I'd rather kill our future boss." Psycho threw a shadow-ball against his will.
Bazuka caught the shadow, loaded it into her weapon, and shot it at Lux.
In the blink of an eye, Lux moved to catch the shadow moving in unpredictable patterns, yet the creature calculated and transferred to interject.
"Mine!" The creature tried and failed to catch the shadow. "Ah! I see." It predicted the outcome, its overflowing emotions forcing a smile that cracked its face apart.
Lux caught and activated the shadow, disappearing out of sight.
Unable to trace Lux, the creature aimed to catch the next shadow-ball. It felt the contact, succeeding in intercepting the support, yet it cut off its own hand—sacrificing part of its Sub-Space to escape the wretched snakes slithering out of this shadow ball.
"Once more!" It cackled, spurring Bazuka on, only to meet a stern face, devoid of any emotion or pride.
!! BOOM-CHAKA, Chaka — BOOM-CHAKA, Chaka — BOOM-CHAKA, Chaka !!
An upbeat rhythm flooded the battlefield, sweeping away the creature's influence, its taunts, and advantage, flipping its own domain against it.
"YO…! Did any of ya' fool dare forget your boy?!"
DJ Rizz had entered the stage.
———<>||<>——— End of Chapter Twenty-Six. ———<>||<>———