Chapter 192: Identity Crisis

“Hey, I’m back!” Jin shouted upon returning to Ruby’s room, but his face showed a faint frown upon seeing Fafnir there.

Emeralda followed him and took off her shoes. Although she controlled herself better, Fafnir still saw that her eyes didn’t see him in a good light.

He couldn’t help but sigh inwardly and use some mana to write: “She is sleeping. I hope you take good care of her and feed her, please.”

Jin forced a smile: “Sure, just some wine and she’ll start eating like a fat pig! Though… It’d be better if Dante came here and helped me, you know.”

Without waiting for Fafnir’s response, Jin entered the room and sat on the bed next to Ruby. As for Emeralda, she went to the bathroom, not giving Fafnir a single glance.

’It’s truly not my fault.’ Fafnir wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t do anything.

Helplessly, he left the room and closed the door, then used Shadowstep to appear in an alley.

’I can’t really blame them for thinking like that, but that’s truly frustrating.’

It was obvious to them now that there was something wrong between Ruby and Dante.. Her calling for Dante all the time, and referring to him as “my lord” raised a lot of questions in their minds.

And Fafnir’s existence only made everything worse.

From their perception, Dante had suddenly disappeared, Ruby became crazy, and a mysterious guy appeared in front of them with no explanation.

Not to mention how Ruby was talking to Fafnir as though he kidnapped Dante.

Also, the fact that Fafnir had the same Shadow Aspect raised more questions. He had no doubt that they thought he used Dante for something wrong.

Of course, Ruby didn’t tell them that Fafnir was Dante’s shadow. Even in her insane state, she was still loyal to Dante and didn’t share his secrets, but that only made everything more complicated for Fafnir.

He couldn’t tell them what truly happened, he couldn’t tell them what he was, he couldn’t tell them about Ruby’s slavery, he couldn’t defend himself without lying or showing the truth.

In the end, he had to accept that he was a potential villain in their theories that they made without enough information.

“I’d have killed them if I were you.” Greed suddenly said, his voice had no hint of hesitation.

“Dante told you that you’re free to do whatever you want, right? You have the responsibility to do your best in the competition and stay with Ruby, but he didn’t talk about the others.”

“You can punch them, kick them, take Ruby from them and take care of her yourself, and if they try to take her from you, you can kill them. It’s all up to you.”

Fafnir frowned: ’I won’t kill or harm them unless it is an absolute necessity. If it brings good to my master, I’ll do it without hesitation. And you should shut the fuck up and disappear. I know how you use words in manipulation.’

“Manipulation?” Greed raised an eyebrow, as though he were confused: “What manipulation? I told you over and over, I genuinely care about you. You aren’t the same as Dante, you’re closer to me.”

“Unlike Dante, you were born as a demonic dragon with the Greed Bloodline, just like me! I have reasons to care about you.”

Fafnir gritted his teeth as the memories of Dante and Fafnir surfaced in his mind: ’I’m not Fafnir. I’m my master’s shadow and ability. I’m a demonic dragon because he is a demonic dragon. I have the Greed Bloodline because he has the Greed Bloodline.’

’The majority of my identity is Fafnir, yes, but a part of me is also Dante, and it isn’t a small part. Just like fruit juice, I’m neither water nor the juice that made it. I’m a mixture.’

“Yes, yes.” Greed smirked: “Keep convincing yourself that you aren’t him, even though I gave you real proof of that.”

’And you keep convincing yourself that I’m him, even though everything else is telling me otherwise.’

After saying that, Fafnir closed his eyes and ignored Greed.

He had been appearing frequently to him right after Dante went into the Abyss.

That was the first time that happened to Fafnir. He had thought that Greed couldn’t leave Dante’s side, as the relics were attached to Dante.

But he was proven wrong.

Greed was, somehow, connected to both of them.

And Dante didn’t know about that, because he was in the Abyss, unable to access Fafnir’s senses.

It was completely wrong and dangerous. Knowing Greed, he wouldn’t be here for no reason.

And he was already acting suspiciously.

The first thing he tried to do was to convince Fafnir that he was an ally to him, not an enemy.

He had talked about how much he cared about Fafnir, how much he wanted his safety and only good for him, how similar they were to each other, and how he was only trying to help.

But how could Fafnir believe him? He had Dante’s senses, so he had seen everything.

And he knew so well that Greed could never be trusted. Following his words could be deadly.

He had to imagine that Greed never existed and make his decisions without considering his words.

He even had a new method to make his choices, which he was sure that Dante would also be using.

However, Fafnir couldn’t help but remember what Greed had said about his identity…

“Fafnir, the World Runes aren’t omnipotent or omniscient. They can’t create anything out of nothing. They just use some already-existent knowledge and resources to do their magic.”

“And of course, this includes the class abilities!”

“Fafnir, you are made of two different things. The first is obviously Dante. You are made of his shadow and a tiny amount of his spirit. That’s what gave you his aspects and abilities.”

“But, but, but, you’re also made of Fafnir’s real soul! No, not made of it, you are the soul itself in a different body.”

“The World Runes can’t create an identical clone with its own personality without a soul. They can use Dante’s soul to make an identical clone, but that would have harmed him significantly and forced him to share his stats. This means he’d have lost the privilege of having a shadow that always gets 50%, and later more, of his stats without affecting his own growth.”

“Instead of getting two points of vitality, he’d have got 1.5 or only 1 and the remaining points would go to his shadow. This is more like a downside than an ability.”

“Using a real soul to create the said ability was the best option for the World Runes, as a real soul could remove that downside and start growing with the owner of the ability like a soul weapon.”

“And you, Fafnir, as the previous owner of the body, were the best option for the World Runes. Choosing you strengthened that link and allowed you to directly have up to 60% of Dante’s stats while being only a Rank 2 being. That’s an ability that even the other extraordinary beings would envy Dante for!”

“Fafnir, you have always been the original Fafnir.”

After remembering what Greed said, Fafnir shook his head violently.

’Yes, that’s stupid and has many loopholes. How is having a soul allowing me to bypass that downside and grow with my master? If that’s real, I’d still need to take more than half the stats that my master is getting.’

’Additionally, the domains and aspects are tied to the soul. If I have Fafnir’s soul, why don’t I have his aspects and domains? If I could use the Time Aspect the whole time, I’d have done that already to help my master.’

’And Fafnir had died! My master got his class hours after the body swap ritual was used. Even the World Runes recognized Fafnir as dead and showed my master’s state as Fateless because of it. Is it possible for a soul to stay alive for hours after the death of the body?’

Fafnir was about to dismiss those thoughts, but he suddenly remembered something.

’Wait, is it really possible for a soul to stay alive for so long after the death of the body?’

Fafnir couldn’t help but have some doubts.

Dante had seen the Ether in a state that was between life and death.

His soul wasn’t in his body.

The real question was, for how long could Dante have stayed in that place?

’But I don’t have any memories about being there. From my memories, Fafnir’s vision turned into complete darkness after using the ritual and the memories stopped. Nothing special happened there.’

The more he thought about that, the more he believed that Greed was lying.

…But what if he wasn’t?

If Fafnir turned out to be the original, what would that mean for him?

And… what would that mean for the relationship between him and Dante?

’Count Anas seemed to know so much about souls… should I ask him?’

At the same moment this thought formed, an obsidian-black coin materialized in Fafnir’s hand.

Ting!

Fafnir tossed the coin, which showed a side with a crown upon landing.

’I won’t.’

Tossing the coin now wasn’t about not choosing misfortune, it was about using misfortune to make an unpredictable decision.

He remembered it clearly.

Greed couldn’t predict anything that was completely tied to luck.

And misfortune was just bad luck.

’It might be the wrong decision, but it’s okay.’

’Using this method means that neither of us know the outcome, and that’s all I need.’

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