Chapter 892: Reina Lockheart

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Reina Lockheart, that’s her name.

Nick met Reina when they were still young. Both of them grew up in the Altus Sky Solar System, both were talented, and they fell in love with each other early in life.

As a couple, they once stepped out of their home world to explore the vastness of the Primitive Universe. They’ve visited worlds, both barren ones and prosperous ones. They learned a lot, grew in strength, made friends, and built strong connections everywhere they went.

Nick was a pretty reckless and strong-headed person growing up. Had he been alone in this journey, he wouldn’t have as many friends or have known this many people in his entire life. Hell, it’d be a miracle if he didn’t destroy every chance he had to build strong relationships with people he met.

It was Reina who smoothed out everything for him. She was the friendly one, the approachable, kind, gentle, and reasonable one. Where Nick destroys, Reina reasoned out. She always made sure to placate unnecessary tensions and was the true reason behind Nick’s rise as a legendary figure.

This wasn’t to say that Reina was weak—oh, far from it!

She’s just as talented as, if not more than, Nick. And because of her innate charm, she very rarely loses out on a deal. At least 80% of the resources Nick had when he was still roaming about this chaos realm and building his reputation? Yeah, all of that was won by Reina.

But when diplomacy fails, and Reina finds that she’s beside herself, Nick never has to worry about her. And it’s because Reina was particularly vicious when it comes to preparations.

Nick will confidently say that he had never seen someone so paranoid in his entire life.

If you ever think that you have her cornered, she’ll surprise you by reversing the situation, where you’ll be begging her to release you instead.

If clever rabbits had three burrows, Reina creates ten, just in case. Every deal she makes? Barely had any loopholes, and even those loopholes were traps on their own.

She’s not just five steps ahead of everybody. She’s about 10 or 20 steps ahead. If you can think about it, she had planned for it.

Nick never had to protect her because she can handle herself. And it gives him enough time to arrive to her side if all of her methods have been exhausted.

Perhaps it’s because of this that losing her made it even more painful for Nick. Because he had gotten used to her being prepared for everything.

**

“Oh! Oh, Reina, you clever bitch!!”

Patricia practically collapsed in hysteria, teetering at the edge of crying and laughing at her discovery.

Nick’s heart pounded in anxiety at her state. And the others were weirded out.

“What? What is it?” Nick shook Patricia’s shoulders, demanding answers.

Patricia cackled madly while hot tears poured on her face.

“I should’ve known! We should’ve known! This bitch was never one to suffer a loss! She’s never one to just lay down and die when all is lost!”

“What do you mean? Stop speaking in riddles, Pat! I need answers!”

“She lives, you doofus! That’s what I mean! Well, technically, she’s long dead. But she’s not completely gone! She can be resurrected!”

Nick practically lost his voice right then and there. His eyes glazed, and all thoughts that were not relevant to what he just heard from Patricia were flushed out of his mind.

“She…she’s…!”

It’s as if all intelligence was drained out of him in this state. Nick couldn’t even finish his sentences. He was so stricken by this discovery that he couldn’t even think properly.

“She had lost agency completely,” Patricia clarified, sounding calmer and more rational now. “Her body had been hijacked, yes. She lost all ability to fight back, yes.”

“But a part of her still lives,” she declared after wiping her tears away. “Most of her soul was gone, but its core origin, its source, had been preserved to the farthest reaches of this body’s consciousness.”

“It’s so faint and weak that anybody that’s not well-versed in the aspect of the soul itself will completely miss it. It also consumed just enough origin energy to continue persisting but not enough to be noticed.”

Patricia then laughed at the sheer absurdity of it all.

“Knowing her, I wouldn’t be outlandish to say that she planned for this very moment,” she stated. “She might’ve foreseen that one day, she’d be in a precarious position given her relationship with you and made plans specifically for this.”

“Her survival is actually connected to you.” Patricia looked directly at Nick’s eyes as she said this. “Although she only exists no better as a parasite in her own body, she tied the lifeline of her soul to your longevity.”

“If you died before being able to resurrect her, what’s left of her will disappear too. I wasn’t able to see this before; it’s only clear now that I’ve seen what’s left of her.”

Patricia laughed hysterically once more. “Oh, Reina, you magnificent bitch! How did you even think of this!?”

Typically, Nick wouldn’t let Patricia curse his wife like this, but right now, he truly couldn’t care less. All he could think about was the idea that she’s still alive. That somehow, she had managed to preserve her core existence and the origin of her soul somewhere.

She hid it so well that Bug Empress never found out about it. She tethered the remains of her existence to him, knowing that if he died, she would die too.

She knew that Nick would come. She had faith that he will continue living, survive, and thrive. And she had foreseen this very day where he retrieves her corpse and brings it before Patricia, who now understood souls better than ever, and stages her own resurrection.

“Hah!” Nick laughed hollowly, feeling his taut body collapse weakly next to her.

Hot tears flowed down his face as he gently caressed her face and whispered: “I shouldn’t be surprised, really. You’ve always been my better half.”

He then looked at Patricia and asked, “What should we do?”

Patricia sighed before saying, “Let’s wake her up. Don’t worry, I am confident enough to not mess this up. I can indefinitely support her wakefulness and prevent her soul from dissipating.”

“Hell, I can even lay down a formation that could help her soul start recovering completely! If I were already at the Primal Origin Lifeform Realm like you and had mastered the Origin Soul Laws, I have no doubt that I would’ve directly healed her soul in a snap of my fingers by now.”

Nick didn’t doubt that. Patricia was never one to boast about her skills. If anything, this was her being humble.

“Please. Do what you can. I want—no! I need to talk to her again. See her again.” Nick begged Patricia for this.

He looked so vulnerable as he did so. If Patricia felt particularly devious, she could’ve asked him to pay, and he’d willingly transfer everything in his account directly to her in a heartbeat.

That’s how desperate Nick was to revive her.

But of course, Patricia wouldn’t do that. That’s beneath her. Besides, this was Reina. If there was anybody in the entirety of the Heavenly Stat Chaos Realm she could call her best friend, it would be her.

Forget Nick begging; Patricia will do everything in her power to bring her back, with or without Nick’s help.

And so, she focused.

Her consciousness sank into this well-preserved corpse once more. She trailed along the same path she saw earlier and found Reina’s preserved soul origin once more.

There it was, so tiny, so faint, and so incredibly vulnerable that it made Patricia’s heart ache.

The fact that her best friend had been reduced to this state broke her heart. Even a gentle breeze will scatter this speck of light away if it isn’t rooted to this body.

Patricia would restore her enough to wake up in this body, but she decided against it.

Even though Nick did a good job peeling this body off from the Bug Empress’ control, it didn’t change the fact that it has been corrupted beyond measure.

If Patricia were to restore her soul into this body, Reina’s soul would undoubtedly be corrupted too. And with how weak and vulnerable it was, this wasn’t a risk that Patricia was willing to take, so she thought of an alternative.

She took out a soul anchor from her inner world. One that is pure, untainted, and unfettered with any karma. One that was safe enough to be used to hold Reina’s soul as it recovers in the meantime.

As for whether she’d choose her old body or not, that depends on Reina’s decision.

For now, what’s important is to stabilize her soul enough to wake her up and make sure that she won’t start fading away the moment she does wake up.

With careful hands and procedure, Patricia gently plucked Reina’s soul origin from her body and transferred it to the soul anchor. She converted a huge mass of Origin Energy into pure Soul Force for Reina to absorb, and once she was in a better environment, Reina’s soul began recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As her sole body grew to its original size, she opened her eyes. And the first person she saw was Nick’s old, wizened, tear-stricken, and guilt-ridden face.

A soft smile appeared on her face, and with a raspy voice, she said,

“Took you long enough…”

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