I Reincarnated As A Stick

Whoosh!

As Aurus disappeared from the sights of the three, Felix and Eleanor initially had the thought of following him, knowing very well that they could definitely do so with the level of power they had. But as they looked at Argentum standing there in a daze, the two decided to stay put, wanting to know what was going inside Argentum’s mind.

Naturally, he was seething with rage, seeing how his original body had gone ahead and killed people that would help out in his goal to establish a place for them to live in without worries. Though, the more he thought about it, the more peculiar the incident felt to him. From what he felt, Aurus was definitely there in body. But as for his spirit, he felt like it was not even there, as if another being was piloting his body while he was away.

In any case, he knew that all of his doubts would be solved once he met up with Aurus once again, deciding to place these thoughts and grudges at the back of his head as he decided to focus on the current matter at hand, appeasing the people of the town.

Seeing that Argentum had returned to reality once more, Felix and Eleanor looked at each other for a bit before Felix decided to ask, “Are you alright, Argentum?”

“Yeah, I’m alright. I’m just a bit…confused,” Argentum responded, albeit a bit meekly. Nevertheless, Eleanor ignored that as she decided to ask the question that both of them had all this time. “While we were fighting against him, you told us not to kill him. Is there a reason as to why you asked us that?”

Hearing the question, Argentum went silent, pondering as to whether or not to tell them. Eventually, he decided to go with the former, having an idea of their personalities after interacting with them for so many times. Even though the answer was something only he and a select others knew, to him, it felt like it was time to tell a few more beings about it.

With a hint of hesitation, he then explained, “The reason behind that is because…”

“Aurus…is my creator.”

“Your…creator?” Eleanor said in response, not understanding what he meant by that. “So you’re saying you’re his puppet or something? But you’re a Pseudo-Animate, no? Isn’t he just an Inanimate?”

Fortunately, Felix understood what Argentum meant, saying, “What he’s probably saying is that Aurus is the one that gave him life in this world. I don’t know what kind of method he used to do something like that, but is there anything else we should know about you and him?”

Seeing that they were somewhat accepting of the new fact, Argentum became a bit more at ease as he replied, “He and I share the same thoughts and memories. If you disregard my body, then you could say that I’m an exact copy of him.”

Of course, Aurus had originally made Argentum as an Animate version of himself, an independent clone of sorts. But after knowing the true nature of the skill, which instead infused the thoughts and memories of Aurus into a Pseudo-Animate vessel, it was more accurate for Argentum to explain it that way to them. Naturally, both Felix and Eleanor went silent as they tried to understand his words piece by piece through their own means.

Eventually, a gaze of understanding appeared in both of them as they lightly nodded to Argentum, showing that they now had an idea in their minds. After that, Felix asked Argentum, “So, how did Aurus end up that way? Surely you know how that happened since you two share thoughts, right?”

“It’s more of an active ability for me to share thoughts and memories with him. Unfortunately, throughout these past couple of weeks, I was completely immersed in the development of the town, which means that I have no idea as to how Aurus turned out like that,” Argentum replied. “Though, his crazed state reminds me of…”

Just as he was about to continue talking, he realized that his next words were only something he, Aurus, and other person knew. Thinking of the multiple possibilities that might happen if he also spread it to others, he decided to stop, prompting Felix to ask with a hint of impatience, “Of…what? Is it something we should know?”

“Uh…just disregard my last statement,” Argentum said, to which Felix narrowed his eyes in suspicion for a second. Eventually, he shrugged his shoulders, deciding to leave it be as he knew people had their secrets. As for Argentum, he could not help but mutter inwardly, ‘Only now did it occur to me that Aurus’s state was similar to the prophecy Torvas gave me. If that’s the case, then how should I help out?’

‘Now that I think about it, Torvas didn’t tell me any way to help Aurus out so that he could escape the prophecy,’ he continued. ‘I should probably pay a visit to the Origin Pantheon once I have the time. Let’s just hope the problem doesn’t worsen.’

“So, what’s the next order of business?” Noticing the awkward tension between the two, Eleanor decided to ask to break the silence, making the two look at her with a hint of gratitude in their gazes. Pondering about it for a bit, Argentum responded, “Well, we’ll have to appease the anger of the people, telling them that you two were able to apprehend the culprit.”

He then continued, “After that, I’ll probably announce the establishment of a defensive barrier around the town so that something like this wouldn’t happen again. Though, you two should hide your faces since the townspeople don’t know of your identities yet.”

“Speaking of which…” As he said that, it was only at this moment that another person popped up in his mind, a person that accompanied him before he decided to join Delmann and Valstra. “I’m pretty sure Helios was in this town while Aurus was around. Where is he?”

“Achoo!” And thus, in another part of Verdant Breeze Town, a dashing young man could not help but sneeze, wondering who was talking about his highly esteemed self.

…

While Argentum and the others were planning out their next course of action for the development of the town, Aurus continued to teleport farther away from the town his clone was developing, a great amount of guilt and regret filling up his body as he continued to lament, “Why? Why did that have to occur in a town with a being I know?”

“Have the heavens given up on me? Does it want to see me fall prey to this primal instinct of mine?” he continued to exclaim out loudly, venting out all of the frustrations and grievances brought about by the instinct he had awakened. Sure, it had the ability to increase his progress regarding the comprehension of his Epiphany at great speeds. Unfortunately, it had the cost of lives, may they be innocent or guilty, just like him.

But eventually, after teleporting for quite some time, he had lost the energy to move anymore, appearing about ten kilometers away from what seemed to be a settlement far smaller than the town his clone Argentum was in. Seeing how he had appeared near yet another settlement, the rational side of his mind instantly reined in on his instinctual side, trying to suppress his uncontrollable urges to kill as much as possible.

Fortunately, it was at this moment that he truly realized that this instinct he had awakened would bring more harm to him than actual benefit. Back then, he had just shrugged it off, thinking that it was a necessary side effect for the progress of his power. But only after truly killing innocent people and being seen by his clone did it finally weigh down on him.

“Aurus, you must control yourself,” he muttered over and over, as if chanting a mantra that helped suppress the primal instinct trying to awaken in his body. “There’s no point in killing a great amount of innocent people. Guilt and regret shall be the only result you’ll obtain once you do so.”

“There are many other ways to enhance your power, Aurus. You still have a lot of skills that you haven’t reached the max level and grade in yet.” As he continued, he gradually deluded himself, which surprisingly helped in suppressing the primal instinct from awakening. Though surprisingly, once he took another look at the village not far away from him, the shackles that he had seemingly placed on the instinct all broke at once, taunting him that he was going to lose all control again.

Naturally, he hastily suppressed the feeling with words filled with the intent to distract himself. He even went so far as to turn his body to face opposite the village, making sure that his body wouldn’t be able to see the village, and in turn, think about the people he could slaughter that would help improve the strength of his comprehension.

But unfortunately, as if the heavens were helping his primal instinct, Aurus could not help but take a quick peek at the village, instantly making his body rotate as he dashed towards it at the fastest speed he could muster. Seeing how he had lost control over his body, Aurus hastily tried to gain control back, thankfully stopping around five kilometers away before he had arrived at the village proper.

“You must not do this, Aurus. There are other beings out there that you can slay, which have accrued a ton of sins and faults throughout their lives. They’re a far better choice to slay compared to a hundred or so innocent people,” he told himself…only for an intrusive thought to tell him, “But wouldn’t killing a hundred innocent people bring you more delight than killing a single vile being?”

“Who said that?” Aurus asked in response…or so he tried. At this moment, it seemed like all of his rational thoughts had become locked inside one compartment of his mind while the intrusive thoughts continued to fester throughout his mind.

“Don’t fool yourself, Aurus. To achieve greater power and reach Divinity at a faster rate, the slaying of a large number of innocent people is a necessary sacrifice for a great being like you. You shouldn’t be shackled by such trifling matters like morality and guilt. In the face of greater power, you should not limit yourself.”

As more and more intrusive thoughts like that continued to pop up in his mind, the rational side of Aurus continued to try and fight back, yet he had not become successful. Instead, with every additional intrusive thought that popped up in his mind, his rational side would gradually become weaker. Eventually, there were so much intrusive thoughts in his mind that supported the awakening of his primal instinct that his rational side had just…

Disappeared.

Pop!

As if it was a response to his rational side disappearing, the luminance of his jade green skin immediately disappeared, turning his jade-like body into a dull jade sculpture of the past. Though, amidst the lackluster surface, one could sense an aura that surpassed what one would sense even from the worst of the worst beings to walk on the world of Erudinia. An aura of killing intent, seemingly coming from the origin of the universe itself.

Losing all senses of morality and rationality, Aurus blankly stared at the village five kilometers away from him before going ahead and using his movement skill to teleport his way into it. As he arrived at the center of the village, he noticed that all of the houses had their lights off, telling Aurus that all of them were asleep…

Leaving them vulnerable for the slaughter that was about to happen.

As he infused his body with a great amount of Wind energy particles, he then went through the houses one by one and started to kill them in the quickest yet most bizarre ways possible, allowing his primal instincts to show another part of itself, a part that sought pleasure from the uniqueness of each kill.

Of course, it was apparent at this moment that for Aurus, there was no more turning back.