Regnum Aetern: Dual Rebirth

Adrian sat in his room, gazing at the dark sky outside the window as the cold breeze ruffled his hair.

It was now around midnight, yet no stars could be seen in the dark sky above. The air carried the faint scent of rain.

Just then, he heard a light knock on his room's door, drawing his attention.

He sharpened his gaze.

"It's open; you can come in."

Moments later, the door opened, revealing Hazel wearing light clothes. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes were as calm as a lake.

No, it was clearly not Hazel but a creature possessing her body. It stepped inside the room and closed the door behind it.

[I know that we didn't discuss the method of contact beforehand, but did it really have to be a message disguised as a love letter? This girl was so excited that she went to sleep a lot later than usual. Couldn't you have thought of something else? Now she will spend all her time trying to figure out the identity of her mysterious lover.]

Adrian tilted his head.

"Are you, perhaps, feeling bad for her? If so, then maybe you shouldn't possess her body without her permission. I used that method because it seemed the simplest and most secure. Moreover, I could not care less what she does from tomorrow."

He pointed at the silver box lying on the table.

"I have brought what you were looking for. I hope you are prepared to fulfill your end of the deal."

The creature walked to the table and opened the silver box, taking out the mirror shard from inside.

[Yeah, it really is the last shard. With this, I have collected all the shards.]

Adrian narrowed his eyes internally.

'It has all the shards now? Does that mean it even took the ones in the possession of the imperial family? But I haven't heard any news of a recent attack on the imperial family.'

The supposed leader of Nebulous Veil had previously said that it was going to personally step in to take the shards in the imperial family's possession. But it would really take an absurd amount of strength to pull off what Adrian was thinking.

'Is that what this fragment relic is capable of?'

That gave even more credibility to the words it had previously spoken.

Unable to control himself, Adrian asked what had been on his mind since their last meeting.

"I have something I wish to ask you. Just what did you mean when you said that something big is coming? And exactly how am I supposed to prepare for it?"

The creature pulled the chair and sat down.

[As I have told you, I have been feeling a shift ever since you and your fiancée came to the academy city. It is as if some outside force is interfering with the original flow of the world to force outcomes that otherwise should not happen. Entities on my level are extremely perceptive and in tune with the world, which is why I can sense things that nobody else can. And I can sense that the interference of that outside force will grow stronger with time, bringing about even more significant events. I have no idea what those events will be or whether they would even be something bad.]

The creature raised its head and met Adrian's gaze.

[What is certain is that either you or your fiancée will be the center of those events.]

'So that's how it is…'

Adrian was pretty sure that it had nothing to do with Evangeline. It was all about him. And he even had a pretty good guess as to what that outside force was. It was a suspicion he had been carrying since the moment he reincarnated.

'Is it the entity that reincarnated me?'

If that really was the case, he might be close to figuring out the purpose of his reincarnation.

As Adrian was lost in thought, the supposed leader of Nebulous Veil channeled its mana and began materializing mirror shards one by one.

Soon, there were nearly a hundred such shards on the ground.

The creature stood up from the chair and crouched down.

[It's finally time.]

And so, it began assembling the mirror shards, as if trying to put together puzzle pieces.

Watching it, Adrian spoke without realizing.

"It really is a mystery. Since you are a fragment relic, your power must be your function. But I just can't figure it out. You can possess people's bodies without permission, materialize existing objects, and I have also noticed that you are using some sort of perception-altering power to keep yourself from being noticed by others besides me. These powers don't seem to have any apparent connection to each other. Does that mean that a Grade Three fragment relic possesses more than one function?"

The creature paused and looked at him out of the corner of its eye.

[You are quite observant. But I'm afraid your guess is wrong. All fragment relics only have one function, regardless of Grade.]

Adrian tilted his head.

"But if that's the case, then—"

[I don't know whether you are aware of this or not, but a fragment relic is no different from a living being. Which means that, on top of the absurdly large mana pool and reality-altering function that we have, we can also climb the mana ladder and ascend to higher Phases like any other living creature.]

Adrian's eyes widened in realization.

'But that would make them… the strongest entity in the world as long as they are old enough.'

The being continued.

[But there is only one difference. Unlike any other living creature, fragment relics can't awaken Origin abilities. This suggests that Origin abilities have nothing to do with the mana ladder at all. Moreover, the mirror is supposed to show the true nature of what it reflects, so why does it always show the name of the Origin ability while reflecting a living being? How can Origin abilities be a living being's true nature? The shard doesn't show anything when reflecting me.]

"Is that why you are doing all this? To gain the answers to your questions?"

The creature calmly nodded and began assembling the mirror shards once again.

'I think I have gained a better understanding of this fragment relic.'

Adrian finally understood the reason behind the creature's actions and behavior. He understood why the creature was sharing all this information without any hesitation. It was extremely confident in its strength and didn't think anything could threaten it.

That was why it was so nonchalant.

'Well, I guess I have learned plenty of things from this while talking to it, so that's a good thing.'

Soon, the creature was done assembling the mirror shards, forming a large mirror that covered most of the floor of Adrian's room.

Standing up, the creature turned to him.

[It is finally time to uncover the truth behind the broken letters. Allow the mirror to capture your reflection, and then I will use my powers to temporarily tap into the power of the Grade Three fragment relic, Reflection of Truth. It will be quite brief, so keep your eyes open if you don't wish to miss it.]

'So it's letting me see that as well? Its attitude is so nonchalant that it borders on arrogance. But then again, it's good for me since I am also quite curious. Something is better than nothing, after all.'

He stared at the being's expressionless face for a bit, then asked.

"Why not just use the reflection of the girl you are possessing?"

The supposed leader of Nebulous Veil let out a sigh.

[Because she has yet to awaken her Origin ability. I was originally planning to temporarily abduct someone and wipe their memories afterwards, but I don't need to do all that now since you are already here. Now then…]

The creature placed both its hands on the assembled structure of the mirror. Meanwhile, Adrian leaned in while facing downward, allowing most of the mirror shard to capture his reflection.

Moments later, his reflection in all those mirror shards grew blurry, and grey letters appeared on the surface of every shard simultaneously, displaying the exact same words.

⟦A▮▮▮▮r▮▮▮ o▮ Origin: Immutable⟧

Adrian sharpened his gaze.

'Let's see what these broken letters are hiding.'

Meeting eyes with the creature possessing Hazel's body, Adrian nodded as a signal, and the creature nodded back. Then it shifted its focus to the assembled mirror and channeled its mana through its hands onto the mirror's surface.

Moments later, something incredible unfolded before Adrian's eyes.

The mirror shards began to… converge together.

The process was slow at first, but it gradually sped up. Moments later, all the shards converged into one, and what had looked like an arrangement of mirror shards now looked like a mirror with cracks running through its surface.

Those cracks also began to slowly vanish as the creature continued channeling its mana into the mirror.

Adrian sharpened his focus as the last of the cracks vanished.

The moment that happened, all the grey letters on the mirror's surface converged into one, forming a new and different set of grey letters.

⟦Authority of Origin: Immutable⟧

The moment Adrian laid eyes on those letters—

"-Aagh?!"

—he felt an intense pain, as if his head were splitting in two.

"Aaaaagggghhhh-!!!"

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