Chapter 436: The truth seen through my eyes

"ENOUGH!" All the beastkin present stopped talking. The Chief wanted to stand before Valdel but no matter how hard he tried his body couldn't go against the command of blood. Still, he looked at Valdel with challenging eyes.

"I don't know if you're telling the truth or not. Even though my very soul and blood are telling me that you are who you say you are, but I... No, we need more proof than that. What I see with my own eyes, what I smell from your scent. They're are telling me a different answer from my blood and they're telling that you are a pure human, and it is impossible for you to be my ancestor."

The other beastkin nodded their heads as they heard what their Chief said. Even the head warrior was looking at Valdel with a weird look on his face. On the other hand, Valdel was looking at all the beastkin that were in front of him in disappointment.

"So even after feeling the call of your own blood and soul, you still deny it? Even after I told you my story, you still deny it? All you pups can only see what is right in front of you, and yet you can't even see it properly."

"... What do you expect after saying something like that? We can't just believe you, simply because you said so. If we did that and become so gullible, then the cunning humans would have already killed us all."

"Fine, then what will make you mutts believe that I am who I say I am?"

"Hmm, I need to call the other elders for this. If it's alright with you, can you please wait for a little while?" When Valdel heard what the chief said he sighed as he finally stopped emitting his mana. Once Valdel's mana could no longer be felt the beastkin were able to finally move. The chief then told his guards to quickly call all the elders, they need to arrive as quickly as possible, no matter what they were doing at the moment.

...

As Valdel was waiting for the elders to arrive, Ren and Lara were touring the underground city. Of course, since they knew that the people in this city didn't really like humans, Ren and Lara were hiding their presence. It wasn't that hard for them to go around the city without a single person noticing them. In fact, if they wanted to they could even walk in the middle of the street and as long as they don't hit anyone or somebody particularly powerful was present, no one would ever notice them.

Still, Ren didn't bother doing that since he liked the view of looking above the buildings of the city. This underground city was entirely different from the Divine City above ground. This city reminded Ren of the old human cities he used to conquer back in the day. The walls made of orichalcum filled with different wards, which made it harder for mana to pass through.

This was a countermeasure the humans created to defend against him, who at the time was more prone to using spells and whose physical abilities would drop tremendously without mana.

It did serve its purpose and Ren was unable to destroy a whole city with spells because of it. Still, Ren found that more fun. The harder the humans tried to defend themselves the more fun it was for him.

As Ren was reminiscing about his past life, Lara who was holding onto his arm suddenly spoke. The voice was the same but for some reason, the tone was somehow different.

"Hey, are you thinking about the past?" Ren quickly pulled himself out of Lara's grip and backed away. He then summoned his sword Snertal from his shadow.

"Who are you?"

"As expected, just a few words, and you already knew."

"I said who are you? Are you a Primordial Demon? Did you take over Lara's body?"

"I am someone like you, I'm Lara but at the same time someone different. Of course, I'm not one of those Primordial Demons. Why would I take over my own body, this is mine, to begin with?"

"Someone like me?... So you're a past incarnation of Lara, is that it?"

"That's correct. It's always nice to talk to someone that can quickly follow what's happening."

"So what do you want? Why did you suddenly speak to me?"

"Truth be told, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Well, my reincarnation cycle is different from normal, and it's also different from your style of reincarnation. Unlike you whose past incarnations all reside within your soul like a world filled with only you. My soul and destiny aren't as powerful as yours. Every time I reincarnate, my past personality, my past incarnation follows onto the next reincarnation. When the body and mind of the new reincarnation are ready she then receives all of the past incarnations... Well, she gets everything, my memories, my skills, my feelings. It's all carried over, but I as a person, as an individual will cease to exist."

"I see... Even if that's true, why would you want to even talk to me?"

"You see, the current incarnation is nearing the level needed to absorb my everything, so I'm close to fading away. As I near my end, I just wanted to talk to you for one last time." Lara smiled weakly as her eyes became a bit moist.

"Why?..."

"I am always drawn towards your soul. Every time I reincarnate, it will always be in a world and in a time that you exist, where the strongest mortal soul reincarnates. We have already met a few thousand times in a lot of your past incarnations. Though I did miss the last incarnation of yours, the last time we met was when you were, Rei Kuraki."

When Ren heard those words, one of his past incarnations spoke in his mind.

"Ren can you please allow me to take over for a while."

"Are you, Rei Kuraki?"

"Yeah, please Ren, I think this person really is someone I knew."

"Fine, you can use my body." Ren allowed Rei to take over his body for a while. Once Rei had taken over the body he looked at Lara and with a gentle smile on his face. He tried to speak at once, but something was caught in his throat. Rei then tried to calm himself first, before he slowly approached Lara. Once they were close enough, Rei's emotions started flooding him, but he kept all of that in as he once again smiled at the person in front of him.

"Rina, is that you?" When Lara heard what Ren said she had her eyes wide open in disbelief. She couldn't believe her ears as the name she once had was spoken. It took her a few seconds to regain her bearing as she then shook her head and replied.

"It's been a long time, Rei-kun."

"Yeah, it has been, a very long time. So it turns out that you too had a secret that you didn't tell anyone. Who knew that your blabby mouth can keep a secret for so long."

"Hmph, I did tell you about it once, but your stupid little brain quickly forgot about it." Rina pouted as she responded to Rei.

"Even in this situation, you're going to insult me? You haven't changed at all Rina. Well, it's a good thing Ren gets to have Lara who's a way better reincarnation than you. She's kind, obedient, and extremely loyal. She would never insult Ren and would always stand by him. Not like a certain childhood friend I used to have. Always teasing me, always insulting me, and always hitting me when she got the chance."

"You think Ren has it good, no it's Lara who has it good. She has a childhood friend that listens to her and understands her. Ren is a way better childhood friend than you ever were. Ren listens beyond the words that Lara speaks, it's like he could read her mind that's how close they are. Not only that but Ren's dependable and far-sighted. He's so different from a certain childhood friend that always complained about the little things."

The two continued to talk back and forth, saying more insults than the last. After a while, they stopped. Lara or currently Rina glared at Ren who was being controlled by Rei. Rei who was in control of Ren's body glared back. After a few seconds of intense glaring, the two started laughing at each other.

As they were laughing and having a relatively good time talking to each other, Rina could no longer hold it in as she suddenly started to cry. She then pounced at Rei and without any warning kissed him. As they were kissing the first thought Rei had in his mind was that Rina's lips had some tears on them. After a while, the two parted as Rina wiped away her tears while looking at the stunned Rei.

"I'm glad that I got meet you again, Rei... I wasn't able to say this to you last time, but this time for certain I can say it without any hesitation. Rei Kuraki, I Rina Bright have always been in lo-" Rina couldn't finish what she was going to say as she fainted. Rei caught her and with some tears in his eyes caressed Rina's face.

"Hmph, stupid fool, of course, I knew it. It was so obvious Rina, I've known since long ago... Since, I felt the same way too." Rei whispered into Rina's ears, knowing that she could no longer hear him.