Chapter 69: Answers and Rewards

I had died once.

Pain, darkness, and confusion weren't new to me.

After I died back then, I found myself inside some weird capsule. I hadn't expected that. I had expected either heaven or hell, and in my case, even Hell would have been a luxury. I deserved eternal damnation, or worse, an endless void of nothingness — forever trapped with my sanity slowly slipping away.

That was what I had expected.

And I wasn't going to claim that I considered myself immortal even after waking up as a devil. The world was fucked; one could die while sipping tea and it wouldn't even be shocking.

But never did I expect to arrive in this place so soon.

"So quiet…"

I couldn't hear anything except my own thoughts. I couldn't see anything except the darkness. I was floating — that much I could tell.

This wasn't the limited space of that liquid-filled capsule that had trapped me back then. This was an endless void, where I could feel myself drifting in random directions with even the slightest push forward or backward.

"System?"

No response. None at all.

It was as if I had been abandoned here.

"Am I dead?"

Was I dead?

I had sustained a lot of injuries earlier, sure, but Asura's Wrath had negated everything. Still, I had no idea what happened after I lost consciousness. Were the devils unable to protect me?

Was I killed? Reduced to a statistic like the countless devils from the legions?

Thoughts swarmed my mind as I roamed the void. No answers. Just questions.

There was no way to tell the passage of time. It could have been seconds, minutes, or even days.

My sense of time was just as fucked as my location.

Still, I didn't stop. I kept swimming, floating through the void, moving straight ahead — hoping that something, anything, would appear.

In situations like this, you didn't even know if you were truly moving forward or stuck in some endless loop.

In my case, I think I was a little lucky.

After a span of time I couldn't comprehend, I noticed a faint light — a fragment of hope.

It wasn't bright or blinding like you'd expect. It was weak, grim-looking, greyish.

Despite the obvious risk, I drifted toward it.

It was a long, slow, boring journey. Frustrating, even, as the distance barely seemed to shrink.

I swam, floated, tried running — and after all that, I still hadn't even covered half the distance.

Even so, I didn't give up. If that was the exit, I'd chase it for years.

And years it took.

My mind screamed that countless years had passed. My heart insisted it was just a trick. I didn't care about either.

After an unquantifiable stretch of time, I finally came face to face with the grey light.

It was a crack — barely wide enough to squeeze through.

I wondered if crossing it was a good idea. Then again, did I even have a choice?

Cursing myself for bothering with logic, I pressed my body against the crack and squirmed through. At first, it felt like being trapped in the crevice of some rock — like those cave divers you'd watch online and laugh at, calling them retards.

Right now, I was the retard.

I pushed myself to the absolute limit, until I couldn't push anymore — and got stuck.

Did I just fuck myself by getting in here?

There was no way I could crawl back. The way out was impossible, and the path forward looked even thinner.

Worse, I couldn't feel my energies. No demonic power. No system. Absolutely nothing to help me.

Biting my lip, I pushed forward — like a cat squeezing through a crack.

And then something interesting happened.

The thin crack widened, or at least it felt like it did. In that moment of expansion, I felt my body lurch forward…

Then down.

And down.

I was falling from a ridiculous height.

I brought my hands forward, hoping to protect my head in case of a crash. But who was I kidding? If this was a real fall, I'd die. No exceptions.

Luckily, it wasn't a real fall.

Soon enough, I found myself floating again. This time, however, it wasn't pure darkness.

There was light — dim, shimmering light.

Stars. Space. The cosmos.

I was in outer space, and I had no idea why.

"Why?"

My body jerked at the sound of the voice.

"For answers, obviously."

My head snapped around, searching for the source.

"Who?" I asked. "Who is it?"

"I am the answer," came the reply. No explanation. Just a simple sentence.

The voice didn't come from any one direction; it echoed throughout the infinite expanse.

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to spot anything that could hint at its presence. "What answer?"

"An answer to a question, obviously," it replied, almost mocking me.

I didn't understand anything at all. It was confusing — worrying, even. I had no power. I was just a body floating in space, completely helpless. If this being wanted to destroy me, it could.

"Oh, I wouldn't," it replied to my thoughts. "There's no reason for me to do such a thing."

That only made things more confusing. The only thing keeping me sane was the hope that I'd eventually get out of here.

"You will get out of here," it read my thoughts again. "You're simply here for answers and rewards."

That caught my attention.

"And what are those?"

It went silent for a while before finally saying something I could grasp.

"Well, wouldn't you like to know why — or how — you ended up in this world?"

That shocked me.

"How a fictional world is real. How you ended up inside it. And what exactly Asura is."

Asura.

That word drew me in the most.

"So, will you be answering those questions?" I asked, hopeful. I really was.

I could go on living without answers, sure. But some part of my mind would always crave them. And if I was being offered answers, I wasn't going to refuse.

"Of course," the voice said. "Look ahead. That is the very reason you are here."

"Look where?"

The voice softened. "Everywhere."

When I finally stopped chasing the voice and focused on my surroundings, I saw something incredible.

The stars, the cosmos — they were circling. Twisting and turning, forming shapes and structures.

Countless stars gathered together, forming a two-dimensional figure — a surprisingly detailed constellation.

"For as long as I can recall, for as long as existence has been a thing, there has existed something called the Source."

The constellation shifted into a circle, depicting what I assumed was the Source.

"Source is simply what I call it — the thing that spat out the concepts of creation and destruction."

From the circle, multiple stars burst forth, scattering and settling into stable positions. The ones that failed to stabilize exploded and vanished.

"Those are what you call realities."

I assumed the stars were what it meant.

"Each reality differs from the others. Some are polar opposites, some only slightly different. And each of them sprouts more branches — more realities — each with something just barely changed."

The stars varied in brightness. Some even glowed identically, almost indistinguishable.

"The more creation spread and expanded, the more excess energy it released."

Each star emitted a faint glow, likely the energy it was referring to.

"That energy eventually gathered, forming a single sentience."

The glow seeped outward, clustering together into a singular mass.

"From the moment it was created, that cluster knew its purpose," the voice continued. "Its purpose was to protect creation and existence."

That finally made me speak up.

"Protect it from what?"

So far, nothing I'd seen seemed harmful.

The answer that followed made me realize just how naïve that thought was.

"Whatever is created must be destroyed. Good cannot exist without evil. Life cannot exist without death. Order cannot exist without chaos," it answered. "To know something is good, something bad has to exist. A comparison is necessary for balance."

Against the existence of the bright mass of light, something else began to form. This one was dark — ominous and chilling.

"If the light knew it was formed to protect, the dark too knew it was meant to destroy, to consume."

The stars soon began to collapse, one being devoured after another.

"The light had to fight. For the first time, it fulfilled the purpose of its existence."

Light and dark clashed. They fought for a long time, and eventually — the dark vanished.

"The light was victorious."

But…

"But not for long."

The darkness formed again.

"As long as Light exists, Darkness will resurface. And the battle will continue."

They clashed again. And again. And again, and again, and again.

Light won, and won, and won — but there were times when Darkness won too. Each time Darkness prevailed, a reality collapsed. Each time Light won, a new reality was created.

What first seemed like Light's absolute victory soon grew complicated. Before long, Light and Darkness began winning and losing in equal measure.

"There was no end to this," the voice said. "But then, Light and Darkness stopped suddenly."

And they did. They no longer clashed, remaining close for a long time.

"But after a long while, they did something interesting," the voice continued. "Or rather… Light did."

One of the stars — one reality — began to glow brighter, expanding and growing larger. Within it, a myriad of colors formed.

"Light created something. A being. An existence. A vessel, you could say."

"Asura…" I muttered instinctively. I didn't know why. I just did.

"Asura. The Champion of Light, Creation, Good, Existence, Life, and Continuation."

I couldn't see Asura clearly. There was no face, no voice — just brilliant colors.

"No one knows why Asura was created. But it is believed that Light and Darkness grew weary of their endless battles and chose to fight through proxies."

My eyes wandered through the void. "That means there's a Champion of Darkness too?"

It was the most logical conclusion. Apparently, it was also wrong.

"Light is creation," the voice said. "Darkness is destruction. Destruction cannot create. It cannot make champions."

That didn't feel balanced. If Light had a champion, what did Darkness have?

Wait…

My eyes searched the void again as the voice echoed.

"Correct," it said. "If Darkness cannot create, it can corrupt."

Among the countless realities, several points of light turned dark. Corruption. Good turning into evil.

"This was the great Proxy War."

Asura moved through existence, erasing the dark spots. Each time one vanished, another emerged. It was Light versus Darkness again — but through intermediaries.

"Asura, however, was not Light," the voice explained. "Asura had a conscience. Asura had intelligence and thought. His purpose was to erase Darkness, but unlike Light — which could not think beyond its purpose — Asura could."

For a time, Asura stopped moving, and Darkness multiplied.

"Asura was stronger than any single corruption. So he waited, allowing enough Dark forces to gather until they could match him."

Hundreds — no, thousands — of dark energies converged.

"Even Light and Darkness were confused," the voice said. "But Asura had a plan."

Asura confronted all the darkness at once, and something strange happened.

"Asura and the Dark forces became equal," the voice continued. "And that was the goal."

"Light and Darkness, Creation and Destruction, Good and Evil continue to fight because it is their nature. They are opposites. They are meant to clash."

That made sense. Too much sense.

"What Asura did was create balance."

Asura absorbed the Darkness within himself, and as a result, his body shattered into thousands of streaks of light.

"Asura became a being of perfect balance — Good and Evil, Creation and Destruction."

For a brief moment, I saw Darkness and Light circling within Asura.

Then it vanished. It didn't last.

"Of course, it didn't," the voice answered. "Asura was the perfect vessel of Good, and a vessel of Good cannot truly store evil. He tried, and he succeeded for a while. But the laws of existence and destruction cannot be broken — and as a result, his body broke."

That… damn. I didn't even know what to say to that.

"But Asura wasn't stupid. He expected something like this might happen, so he made that sacrifice with a purpose." As the voice continued, I saw fragments of Asura releasing energy into different realities. "Asura needed to create a being with both Darkness and Light. He needed a body of perfect balance."

As the explanation continued, the pieces started falling into place.

"Asura tried and failed countless times. It simply wasn't possible for a being to be perfectly balanced."

Nothing was ever fifty-fifty perfect. There was always a decimal of difference.

"So, to create balance, Asura's fragments attempted combinations. What if there were two beings? One good, one evil. A corrupted body with a kind soul?"

It was starting to make sense. Too much sense, actually.

But there was a major problem.

"My soul isn't good."

"It isn't," the voice acknowledged. "Asura later discovered that a soul and body cannot synchronize perfectly either."

That only made things more confusing.

"What he found was that a good soul is always uncomfortable in a bad body, and a bad soul will always try to harm a good body," it explained. It made sense. "So he needed another approach. After ages, Asura's consciousness found a solution. Balance had to exist entirely within the soul — not perfect, but sufficient."

I didn't consider myself balanced in the slightest.

"You aren't, and that's the point," the voice replied. "The body you now possess is that of a devil — a being considered evil from birth. And your soul is human, a being that always exists on the edge."

Devils were indeed considered evil. If not for this universe, I would've kept classifying them that way. But the devils here were closer to humans. They weren't strictly good or bad — they varied.

"Asura chose this reality for that very reason. Devils aren't inherently Good or Evil, yet they are classified as evil. It took him an immense amount of time to find a body as perfect as Faiser's — one capable of handling Space and Time together, the very framework of reality. To maintain balance, power over reality itself is the bare minimum."

That… made sense.

"But why my soul?"

"It was a gamble," the voice said plainly, making me frown.

"Pardon?"

"Light and Darkness grew angry and impatient. They began actively sabotaging Asura, preventing him from continuing his plans. So he had to act quickly. He depicted this reality as a fictional world in another reality — the one your soul originated from."

I frowned deeper. "So you're telling me the author was fed the idea by Asura?"

"A mess had to be created to solve another," the voice replied. "And among those who witnessed this reality turned fiction, very few possessed the mental strength to survive in Faiser's body. Fewer still were mature enough. And among those whose original bodies were destroyed, the number was smaller yet."

"And I ended up being chosen?"

"As I said," the voice replied, "it was a gamble. You were one of the few viable options. It just happened to be you. It could have been someone else."

That stung a little. I wasn't some chosen golden boy — I was an option that got lucky.

But could I really be angry about that?

"Was my death Asura's doing?"

"No," the voice answered.

That… helped. A little.

"Then… it's fine."

It really wasn't. But there wasn't much I could do about it now. And if nothing else, Asura had given me another chance at life.

For that, I was grateful.

"You are a gamble," the voice said. "You might end up being Asura's utter failure. And if that happens, realities will once again be destroyed and reborn — a helpless cycle of infinite death and creation. A monotonous, meaningless cycle."

I could already guess what my purpose was.

To become a being of perfect balance.

But how?

"How can I have balance when I'm mostly not a good person?"

I had done far too many evil things. I had harmed others.

"Be selfish," the voice explained. "Being selfish is balance. Don't be evil. Don't walk the path of destruction for no reason. But don't play the saviour for no reason either. You are not a hero, and you are not a villain. You are a being who exists for his own selfish desires. You care about people — but only those you like and love. You kill others — but only those who deserve it. An evil being would kill even those who don't deserve it. A good being would sacrifice himself even to save an evil individual. That is why you still have balance. Because you are selfish."

That… was the most interesting take I had ever heard. And I couldn't even refute it. Every argument I formed had a counter waiting for it.

"What am I supposed to do besides that?" I asked. "My power is demonic power, which is inherently evil. Even if this world is balanced — where devils can be good or evil — demonic power itself isn't."

"Grow stronger," the voice answered. "Asura's power will do the rest. Asura was inherently Good, and if you continue to grow his power, you will maintain balance. Asura's power will also refine your demonic power, creating harmony between Good and Evil."

That left me silent for a while.

So far, Asura's powers weren't about actively harming others.

Asura's Mind, Mark, Body, Eyes — even Wrath. They were about protection. Protecting myself. Protecting others by marking them, keeping them close, helping them grow stronger. Even Asura's Siphon borrowed energy without harming its targets.

Demonic power, on the other hand, carried inherently destructive elements.

Strangely enough, it all made sense.

"How strong do I need to be?" I asked.

The answer came immediately.

"Strong enough that no threat can ever overpower you. Reach the pinnacle of power, so that Good and Evil remain balanced. So that even if they clash, neither can overwhelm the other. Do not let Light grow dominant. Do not let Darkness grow dominant. If one surpasses the other, the cycle of destruction and creation will repeat in chaos. Let realities exist. Let the beings within them resolve their own struggles without Light or Darkness interfering."

Pinnacle of power.

That was one hell of a goal.

I didn't even know if it was possible. But just like Asura took a gamble, maybe I was meant to take one too. After all, the enemies I'd face in the future would only grow stronger. The only thing I could do was grow stronger as well.

"I think… I understand now."

Not completely. But enough.

"And that is sufficient," the voice said. "Continue to grow strong. Be selfish. Do not become a psychopathic villain or a selfless hero. That will be enough."

I didn't want to be either. So maybe this really was the best path for me.

"That is all the answers I can give you," the voice stated. "And now… I shall give you your rewards."

As it spoke, I finally heard the familiar chime of the system.

[Quest Complete!]

[Quest (Completed): Asura's Retrieval!

Objective (Cleared): Retrieve the piece of Asura's flesh from Rizevim Livan Lucifer]

[Rewards (Obtained): Asura's Truth, Asura's Flesh, Asura's Blood Droplet]

[Asura's Truth: You shall be given information about Asura.

You have already obtained the information.]

So I'd used up one reward without even realizing it, huh?

Well… it didn't matter.

It helped more than enough.

[Asura's Flesh: A fragment of Asura. Can only be consumed by the one possessing the Asura Heart.

Upon consumption, all of Asura's Basic Skill will be upgraded.]

This… was incredible. Minus the fact that I'd have to swallow a dead man's flesh. Still, it answered an important question — no other fragment would work for anyone else as long as I possessed the Asura Heart.

[Asura's Blood Droplet: A single drop of Asura's blood. Can be used on an item to evolve it.]

I already knew exactly what I'd use it on.

My most precious item.

[Core Asura Quest Completed!]

Oh. Right. I'd almost forgotten about this.

[Quest (Completed): Pick Your Poison!

Objective (Cleared): Choose either the Carmilla or the Tepes Faction to fight alongside, no matter what the devils decide.]

[Rewards (Obtained): Asurafication, Demonification, Gloves of Balance]

This…

[Asurafication: Temporarily grants you the ability to transform into Asura, a being of perfect good. In this form, you may heal allies and even revive them, provided they have not been dead for longer than one hour. You may buff your allies and grant them additional abilities from your arsenal during this period.

Asurafication can be used alongside Asura's Wrath. However, using both simultaneously burns your life force.

Using both at once consumes one hundred years of your lifespan per minute.]

[Demonification: Temporarily grants you the ability to transform into a Demon, a being of perfect evil. In this form, you may corrupt, infect, burn, harm, or even absorb the life force of other beings. Any being within your power scale can be killed, their life force absorbed to extend your lifespan. Stronger beings will have their energies and powers halved against you.

Prolonged use may cause severe mental and physical harm, and may result in loss of sanity.]

[Gloves of Balance: Gloves forged from the energies of Good and Evil. They allow you to perfectly wield both Holy and Demonic objects without suffering harm.]

This was insane.

"As I said," the voice sounded almost proud. "Balance. Perfect balance."

And balance it truly was.

Demonification allowed me to increase my lifespan — something I'd need for Asurafication. And since both forms carried heavy drawbacks, I couldn't abuse either.

As for the Gloves of Balance… those could cause one hell of a ruckus. But it was all about balance, right? So maybe a little chaos for the greater good wasn't so bad.

For the first time, I heard the voice laugh.

"Selfish, as you should be," it said. "Now go. I've given you everything you need. It's time for you to fulfill my wish."

I already knew who the voice truly belonged to.

"That I will, Asura."

With that, the black turned white, and my vision faded.

All I could wonder was whether I'd ever meet that being again.

After all, he was long gone — and this was nothing more than the remnants of his existence.

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{A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters + Other Stories. }