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Hekaton had offered the reincarnated Souls new futures in technologically advanced worlds like Earth as rich people with easy and long lives, which was an already immense temptation to all these people.
?
Most of them had accepted the offer immediately, completely forgetting when they felt bad about killing Veronica some years ago, and simply desiring to kill her so they can fulfill their selfish desires.
However, those that still held integrity within them, such as Mason, Natalia, and Lucas, wanted to do something else, and were in fact, worried about Eustace, Cecilia, Jonathan, Roberto, and the rest of the Heroes of their faction that were still battling in Kritias.
However Fernando and the rest could not care less, and Catalina who was thought of them to have been a good friend of Cecilia and Eustace was now completely different…
"Then, are you ready to be sent? It would be good if you could pick your desired Bonus Skills here… Any change you want in your bodies?" asked Hekaton.
"It would be nice if she could not recognize us…" said Camila.
"Yeah, can you change our appearance?" asked Fernando.
"No, I fear that not so much. Your bodies are the same image as you see yourselves as, giving you completely different bodies might end up altering your mind and sanity, and the soul itself might end up rejecting the body because you need to match your wavelength with your own body… Only if you are sent into the fetus of a baby might it be possible to become someone different, physically. But the bodies I will create for you cannot be too different. However, races can be changed if you desire," said Hekaton.
"What? Races…?" asked Catalina.
"Indeed. Although you were originally humans, I can tweak your race, such as being an elf or a dwarf, as long as it is still humanoid and not so different from human bodies… However, beings such as Beast-kin or Demons might be hard, as their physiologies are quite different from humans," said Hekaton.
As the group heard Hekaton's explanations, they all became excited about becoming different.
The women wanted to mostly become elves as they were pretty and could remain always young, or their variants such as Fairies, Dark Elves, or Night Elves.
Meanwhile, men seemed inclined to just become humans for convenience's sake, although one of them desired to be a Vampire, Fernando.
"A Vampire…? Hm… It could be possible…" said Hekaton.
"Vampires are excellent! They are super strong, have amazing regeneration, magic talent, and more! You are all losing the big game without being one!" said Fernando.
"However, bear in mind that they have a weakness to sunlight… However, I can fix that by giving you the Sunlight Immunity Skill. But that would be one less Skill from the 4 I can gift you," said Hekaton.
"It's okay! Go on!" said Fernando.
As Fernando celebrated that he would get to become a handsome and unbeatable Vampire, Mason, Natalia, and Lucas seemed worried, even more as they saw Catalina act as if they didn't even exist anymore…
"Catalina, are you serious about this? We should go back to Kritias and help our friends there! Eustace... and his family might die! What will they do without our help?" asked Mason, although Catalina glanced at him with scorn.
"You didn't even protect me well, and these bastards still killed me! Do you know? I was done with that world long ago! Do you really want me to go back to a world that is literally crumbling apart? Who s the selfish person in here? I just want to have a new start in a world where I can be and do whatever I want… What is so wrong with that?" asked Catalina with anger, leaving Mason taken aback by her boldness.
"That's… I…" he muttered, mildly surprised by her response.
"Catalina…! How can you even say that?! We were all friends! I thought that you… loved Mason! How can you be like that? And What about your best friend Cecilia, she is still there! And Eustace… and…" muttered Natalia.
"I don't love him! I do not really care about Eustace and Cecilia! I just care about myself now. Do you know how much shit I went through? Give me a break! I want a fresh start. I want a change of air… I am tired of all this suffering, of all this war, blood, and more… I am going to get this done, and then I am going to live a life worth living for. I do not need your approbation for that, nor anyone's approbation!" said Catalina, crossing her arms.
"But Catalina…" muttered Lucas.
"…I already knew you didn't love me… But… this… it still hurts…" sighed Mason, glancing at the floor.
"I-I… I am sorry for not being able to survive… I was… weak…" said Mason, kneeling in the ground as Catalina's words seemed to have inflicted deep wounds on his heart, his eyes seemed sorrowful and filled with pain.
"Mason…" said Natalia, glaring at her friend.
"Mason… don't… get sad…" said Lucas, he did not know what to say.
Leonia patted Catalina's shoulders as she glanced at Mason, Natalia, and Lucas mischievously.
"That's right! You heard her. We are done with the old Kritias, let us go to this fresh and new one for a change of pace. I am honestly tired of that stupid and crumbling world… I want to test my power with even greater foes… I might even keep living there after I kill Veronica," said Leonia with a lot of bloodthirst emanating from her blazing eyes, she had become a woman who only could find joy in battle and on taking the life out of the eyes of her enemies.
"You're a bunch of hypocrites… I couldn't expect less from the idiots that followed the imbecile of Eustace around… Good thing that Catalina seems to actually have a brain, unlike you three…" said Lance.
"Exactly. I do not see any point in even bothering with that world anymore, I am really tired of all of it! I lost everything and could not even avenge anyone… And fuck you, Natalia," said Camila.
"Tch…! You bitch, do you want me to burn you to ashes again?!" roared Natalia, as she tried to attack Camila, but nothing really happened, they were souls that could barely speak.
"Try it! You cannot do anything here other than just talk. You're powerless, we are all equally fucked up," laughed Camila.
"Y-You!" roared Natalia, as she was stopped by Lucas.
"She's right, Natalia, it's useless to fight…" he said.
"B-But… Agh…" sighed Natalia.
"Leave them alone, there is no point in talking with brainless hypocrites," said Fernando.
"I guess so…" said Leonia.
"…"
Christopher had not talked at all, but he was simply silent for most of the time, however, he was also part of Catalina's group, and wanted to be given a nice fourth life.
"After you're done killing Veronica and have no other business in Kritias, make sure to kill yourselves, I will give you a special Skill that is not part of your Bonus Skills, which will give you the ability to die instantly and be sent to my Divine Realm," said Hekaton.
Although such a thing would sound horrible for normal people, those that had lived two lives already did not seem to mind.
"Sounds good," said Catalina.
"I don't think I will use it for a while," said Leonia.
"Alright…" said Camila.
Hekaton nodded in affirmation rather expressionlessly, as the heroes finished picking their new races and bonus skills.
However, Lucas, Mason, and Natalia seemed to still not want to go.
"You three, have you decided what you want?" asked Hekaton.
"We want to go back to our Kritias!" said Natalia.
"Yes… please, we have friends there that we want to help…" said Lucas.
"…Eustace and his family, Gabriel is too dangerous, and we also need to tell him about Josef and the Dominator!" said Mason.
However, Hekaton waved his head.
"That's not possible," he said.
"What? Why?" asked Natalia.
"Your Samsara System has already registered that world has "Completed", therefore you cannot go back there unless I tweak your Samsara System, but that would also delete your former power. Therefore, it is useless to go without any power, you will only get there and instantly die by the catastrophes going on everywhere… Give it up." said Hekaton.
Hekaton's words fell over the trio like rocks over their heads…
The harsh truth that they would never be able to go back…
They still had many friends there, and Eustace and his family, which they wanted to protect…
The little Jonathan that they had grown attached to as if they were his aunts and uncles…
The last humans they wanted to protect…
All of it was now gone…
They could not go back, and they were forced to cooperate with Hekaton.
Forced to cooperate with the damn God that brought so much suffering to them…
It was indeed a terrible fate.
They were so attached to their former lives that they could not even think about having a fresh start as the others.
"If you are unwilling… I could reincarnate you in another world straight away, but it will be random," said Hekaton, offering something that only sounded worse…
"No… We… We are going too…" said Lucas.
"Yes… There is… no choice…" sighed Natalia.
"…I guess… Is there… really no choice?" said Mason.
"Sadly, no. Now, choose your Bonus Skills, and if you are interested in a Race change, select it as well," said Hekaton, showing the trio a few holographic windows, with a list of Skills they could pick, races, and their details.
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