Chapter 214: Beauty of Souls

"I am the Concept of Life and Soul."

She replied simply.

"Ahh, now it makes more sense."

White said.

"You grow stronger by there being more souls, which obviously come with more life, both of which you absorb."

"Death and Destruction, on the other hand, grow stronger through destruction, which brings more death to your souls."

"If he’s allowed to go unchecked, you get weaker and weaker as more souls are destroyed, and life slowly ceases to exist, while he gets stronger and stronger."

"So obviously, you’re the only concept that is most directly affected by his rampage."

He deduced.

"That is unfortunately true."

She admitted.

"Tsk, sucks to be you, I guess."

White said, clicking his tongue.

"On that note, I’ll have to say you’re wrong."

She replied.

"The beauty behind witnessing souls blossoming every day is the farthest thing from ’sucking.’"

"Even the souls that are born in the worst situations might grow in ways that surprise even you, a Concept that has only known them all in its existence."

"Even now, that they are in danger of getting erased, it only makes the beauty of some shine even more."

She explained at length, only for White to shrug.

"If you say so, I guess."

There was silence for a while before she spoke again.

"Do you know what the humans are doing to you while you remain in this conscious yet soulless state?"

She asked, and White shrugged.

"Don’t care."

"Take a guess... it wouldn’t hurt."

She said, and he finally opened one eye.

"I’m sure Humanity Ascension would choose to walk away with me, or my corpse, if I’m dead."

"It’s a treasure of theirs, after all."

"And what will they do after I used one of my three requests, something they made clear would only be granted if it didn’t harm a human soul, to kill over eight third years in the Academy?"

"Of course, they’re going to slice me to pieces. Or at least, if they’re being ultra-merciful, lock me away in some underground facility, never to see the light of day."

White said.

In the next moment, her astral hands reappeared, pulling at the space above him.

"Once more... you’re wrong."

She said, and the scene revealed itself.

It was a large tower, golden in color, and White immediately recognized it as the Humanity Ascension Tower.

The view zoomed in rapidly, and at the very top, there was a grand hall inscribed completely with golden runes that shone brilliant rays of light upon the body hovering at its center.

That body was, of course, his Unbrawyr body, and even at a glance, White had an idea of what the golden rays from those runes were doing.

"They’re trying to heal me?"

He muttered in disbelief.

"To reconstruct every wound on your body back to its original state, and then further strengthen it."

"They’ve already done that. The runes are now empowering you further at this point, and when you reach a sufficient threshold, you’ll be naturally forced awake."

She said, as White’s brows furrowed before he clicked his tongue.

"Idiots."

"Humans aren’t idiots, White. They’re creatures of hope."

"To you, it makes sense that you’re not worth mercy, and that betraying their trust should result in you being sealed away forever."

"That makes sense logically."

White replied.

"And that’s where you always get it wrong. Humans aren’t logical creatures... they’re emotional."

"See yourself as a traitor, unworthy, or evil, but all the humans see is hope."

"Hope that you might be what they’ve been looking for to put a stop to the war."

She said.

"And you know more than anyone that you’re fully capable of that."

"Yeah, right. By killing an unkillable Concept."

He said pessimistically, whilst rolling his eyes.

"Not exactly. You just need to get rid of his Chosens."

"What makes Destruction’s Chosen special is simply that they align with his intent, Destruction itself."

"That’s the base requirement, and what makes Chosen so powerful."

"But you, being my Chosen, are not chosen because you align with me."

"We actually don’t align at all."

White mused.

"And that wasn’t a mistake. I didn’t choose you for your morals, or because you wanted to save some people’s lives."

"In that regard, I could find a billion better humans."

"What did you choose me for, then?"

"For your soul... your Original Soul."

"Even as the Concept of Soul, I have never seen a soul brimming with so much life."

She said, spreading her hands apart as the multicolored soul reappeared.

"So much power... it’s... it’s almost,"

She stopped herself and closed her hands again.

"Your soul makes you worthy."

She finished.

White’s eyes narrowed slightly before he asked:

"You keep saying it’s my soul, and it does seem to have power. Why not fuse it back with me?"

"You said you swapped it before because other Concepts would recognize it and try to use it."

"Well, the Concept of Death and Destruction is coming for me anyway. Might as well have it to give me more power when facing his Chosen, right?"

"You’re greedy for more power..."

She said, cutting through his words.

"But power without a clear purpose only endangers, especially power like your Original Soul."

"I will never give it to you."

She said firmly.

"...until you show me you’re worthy of it."

"Please,"

White said, rolling his eyes.

"I was born with it, wasn’t I? Doesn’t that prove enough?"

"It doesn’t."

She replied simply.

He looked at her for a while before shrugging.

"I never believed it was mine anyway."

"You will wake up soon."

She said, pointing to the scene, where one of White’s fingers slowly twitched under the golden light.

"And when you do, you’ll be faced with a choice, whether to keep living a lie, pretending the Supernaturals are the enemy and that everything will be fine once they’re gone..."

"...or to pursue what truly matters."

She said as her image slowly began to fade.

"Whatever choice you make..."

"Death and Destruction Will Still Find You!"