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As if fate was playing with them, just in the middle of a relaxing trip to a Dungeon, Ervas and Veronica met with a reincarnated person, one of their former coworkers from Earth, and also one of the Human Heroes led by the Hero of Light and Bestellen… one of the people that destroyed everything they had.
?
It was even humorous and ridiculous that they met him just out of the blue, without any preparations, without any warnings, and… he was also a monster, an Armored Ant, one of the weakest monsters that could spawn in the Dungeon of Metallic Monsters.
Ervas and Veronica were capable of remembering Daniel through their Memory Retention Skill, although they had barely interacted with him in the printing company on Earth, he portrayed himself as a 'good' guy, he was friends with Eustace and seemed to always lighten the mood of the office with his plentiful of jokes, he was a big brother figure to most of the younger workers, while he was also a nice guy with the ladies…
Of course, Veronica's presence back then was very small, to the point that she was often called a ghost by her female coworkers. Daniel never noticed her until a handsome man named Eustace, who seemed to be Daniel's best friend invited her to the party after work…
Such a party was actually to celebrate the end of the semester and the coming of the short summer break. As bad as it seemed, the company where Veronica was offered paid vacations, although it was a short vacation of one week.
And from Kritias, Veronica does not remember him, as their appearances had obviously changed when all her coworkers reincarnated in there. She actually did not know the names of any of the heroes that attacked her, but she was sure that they were her coworkers.
…And amongst them, Daniel, who was a good friend with Eustace, who was the Hero of Light, must have been in the front lines, probably slaying the last battalion of warriors that she had, and also putting pressure on her.
The moment Veronica realized that the little talking ant was a reincarnated person, she did not immediately assume that it could have been one of her coworkers but decided to ask about the Samsara System, and as the little Ant realized that they should be reincarnated people if they knew about the Samsara System, he ended up realizing even more things and assuming correctly that one of the two in front of him must have been Anastacia… or Veronica, as she was called before. This was because no one else had died before him… although, after what Gabriel revealed that he had joined the faction of Demon Gods, Daniel suspects that more of his friends might be reincarnated here in due time…
Ervas who was spectating everything unfold immediately connected the dots and guessed the same thing as Veronica, and through a surge of pure rage that they could barely contain, their souls automatically fused and appeared out of their bodies as a grotesque specter, giving in to their rage, they grabbed Daniel and almost killed him, the grief of remembering what had happened and the sheer rage of finally confronting one of the culprits of her fall and that of her beloved people made them convert into a furious demon god-like entity.
Their range was even more enhanced as Daniel had asked them to forgive the life of his ant colony, the only family, and friends he had through his short third life… However, the moment he showed such concern over his own family was the breaking point for the two, as they found his statements hilarious, as he desired for them to show mercy over his family, despite him never had shown any mercy when he slew the countless of demons, not even warriors or soldiers, but the band of heroes had annihilated many villages of citizens that had no battle prowess and were simply innocent people that wanted to live.
At least, if the humans had only killed the soldiers and warriors of the Kingdom, she might have not held much resentment… However, the breaking point was that they slew the innocent without any concern nor worry, calling anyone that was a demon or a beast-kin as monstrous beings that did not deserve to exist.
Before they could kill and devour his soul, they were stopped by their family, bringing their insane minds back to reality.
They separated their combined souls and went back to their bodies, as Daniel, the small ant, fell into the ground and gasped for air into his little lungs… he had only implored for the forgiveness of his family, but he deep down knew that he deserved another death for what he had done to Veronica… and up until now, he had accepted that he would die once again to her hands.
However, instead of it, he was dropped into the ground and asked a question by Veronica and Ervas at the same time, as if they were perfectly cinchonized.
"Tell me… How far are you willing to go for your family, Daniel?" they asked at the same time.
The rest of Ervas and Veronica's party fell silent as they glanced at the scene, they knew that something important, something way beyond their comprehension was happening and that the little ant on the floor was something more than a weak dungeon monster.
Daniel was asked something that he had already decided long ago, he was willing to do anything for this little colony… despite him being once a glorious hero, companion of the Hero of Light, he was now but a measly ant… Daniel had even a wife and children in his previous life, and when he realized in what he had become, he had fallen in deep despair, yet, through the help of his brethren and the queen, he found a new place to call home, within the colony.
Although he could not help but still remember his wife and child, he planned to one day met them again somehow, but for now, he wanted the colony to live and survive in the dungeon, and to grow one day strong enough to leave it and explore the unknown world where he had come, which he did not know was a Mirror World of the original Kritias.
He was willing to give his life and atone for the sins he committed to save their life… and now he was willing to do the same again.
"Anything… Veronica… Kill me and leave them be, I implore of you… Ungh…" muttered Daniel.
Ervas and Veronica's serious expressions suddenly broke as they sighed with expressionless eyes at the same time.
"Sigh…"
"…Huh?" asked Daniel.
"For real, you're such a handful guy!" said Veronica.
"Are you really attached to a colony of ants that much? Weren't you a glorious hero of the human kingdom? I would have guessed that you would have tried to kill yourself if you were to become a measly ant…" said Ervas.
"Kill… myself? I thought about that a lot on my first week in here… but the bonds I made with these ants, my family and mother, made me find a new reason to live" said Daniel.
"No, I think those are simply the ant colony hormones, specifically those of the queen, that make you feel as if you're doing something that gives meaning to your life," said Veronica.
"Exactly, you're probably still an asshole," said Ervas.
"…That's… Well, it might be true… But I just want to… I just want to hold onto this life. My life was taken so abruptly in my previous life… I still worry every day about the safety of my child and my wife…" muttered Daniel.
"So you even had a wife and a child?" asked Ervas.
"So you were all settled there, huh? Killed a million demons and beast-people and then you had the good life with daddy Bestellen!" said Veronica.
"What a nice life, isn't it? Too bad you're now an ant" said Ervas.
"…I am well aware of being an ant. And I am also… well aware of what I've done… Please, kill me…" said Daniel.
"No," said Ervas and Veronica at the same time.
"…What?" asked Daniel.
"Killing you would be giving you what you want, right? Killing you would be making you feel as if you have atoned by your sins, right? Do you think that death is the release of what you've done? Come on, you already died twice" said Veronica.
"That's…" muttered Daniel.
"Do you think that by dying by our hands, all of your sins would simply be made obsolete? Like a cleansing? You're wrong. The damage is already done, Daniel," said Ervas.
"I… I…"
"You are just as selfish as your last life, are you not, Daniel?" asked Veronica.
"Do you think that we will kill you now? We gave in rage, but now that we have cooled off, we have a way better punishment to you" said Ervas.
"P-Punishment…? Please… not my family!" said Daniel.
"Not that, they're innocent people. Do you think that we are as sick as you?" asked Veronica.
"Ah…" muttered Daniel.
"You will atone for eternity at our sides, become our slave," said Ervas.
"Slave…?!" asked Daniel.
"You will spit out everything you know too, and you will serve us well… Do you like your little atonement, Daniel?" asked Veronica.
"That's… It is… I will accept it… It is the least I could do- Unnghhh!"
Suddenly, before Daniel could finish speaking Ervas and Veronica merged their souls again as they grabbed Daniel with their claws.
"Then a pact it is! I curse your soul!" they roared, as a large piece of their merged soul detached from within them, seeping like a vicious parasite into the tiny ant's soul.
"Unngggyaaaaaaa!"
Veronica and Ervas glanced at Daniel's golden-colored soul, which was then attacked by a small worm-like soul piece of theirs, the spectral fiend seeped into Daniel's soul and expanded itself like a vicious root all over…
"This is something new, but we shall call it the Curse of Enslavement… If you ever dare to defy us, it will eat you up from your soul" said Ervas and Veronica.
"This is… the least I could… deserve… Uunngh… Aaghhhh…" Daniel shrieked in agony as the pain of the vicious specter parasitizing his soul was incommensurable, making him finally fall unconscious.
The tiny Ant fell into the ground once again as Ervas grabbed the whole sleeping colony and put Daniel in there, the colony was then moved inside of Veronica's armor through the Space Expansion Skill, to rest until they were to wake up…
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Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)