SSS Awakening: Starting With Infinite Soul Copy

"Don’t...Please don’t kill my boy."

The woman’s trembling voice echoed through the cottage as she wrapped her arms tighter around the sleeping boy, hurriedly backing away.

There was fear in her eyes, but it wasn’t of the plague that had infected her son and could turn him into a cruel monster at any second.

It was fear of White, who remained seated in silence.

His eyes picked up on something, but then he heard heavy breathing and turned toward the man beside him, who looked completely pale now, his earlier forced smile long gone.

"I..."

He spoke again, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"I know he’s infected. But he’s still my son."

He said, and White’s eyes drifted toward the boy before pointing right at him.

"Your son is long gone. And the monster will awaken...now."

He said.

The veins on the boy’s neck began to twitch rapidly, and his eyes snapped open, pitch-black darkness swallowing the whites entirely.

"Oh no."

The woman cried as she looked at her son growling at her like a demon.

"Quick, Numbar! The flowers!"

She cried out in alarm as Numbar quickly turned toward the table, picking up the flowers, but then,

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

A mind-numbing scream tore through the room, sending horror through his spine as he turned back to witness a scene he couldn’t believe.

It was that of his own loving boy, clamping its huge monstrous maw down upon the face of his wife.

There was a sickening crunch of teeth sinking into flesh before, and all at once,

CRAAAAACK!

The sound of skull cracking apart echoed out as the maw bit down, tearing away the upper half of her head and devouring it in a single gulp.

"No... No."

Numbar screamed out in disbelief and horror, watching his own wife’s body fall lifelessly to the ground as his son slowly turned his gaze toward him with a smirk.

The sight of it made him fall onto his butt, backing away in terror.

It was like a signal for the monster, who pounced at him with its mouth widened.

He managed to dodge on instinct, but the maw bit down on his right shoulder instead, severing the entire arm.

Another chilling scream echoed out before he cried desperately.

"Help me!"

SHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!

A silver flash cut through the room, and then,

THUMP!

A head quietly rolled across the ground, belonging to none other than the boy with the abyssal maw.

Calmly, White pulled back his sword and sheathed it before turning toward the man, who now held the headless corpse of his wife in his remaining arm, crying his eyes out.

He had not only lost his son, he had lost his wife and an arm as well.

The sight of it made White pause, and a question occurred to him.

What is mercy really?

Was not killing their sons before their eyes out of fear of causing them pain truly mercy, when just moments later those same sons would rip them apart?

Or was killing their sons immediately the true mercy, because he knew they would become monsters soon enough?

The first path seemed like a necessary evil.

To wait for them to call upon help before killing.

But...that would only lead to the loss of innocent lives.

The second path would make him a monster in the eyes of their parents, for they would regard him as the evil who murdered their child before them and inflicted eternal pain upon them, not as a savior who had spared them from the inevitable.

So, which path was kinder?

What was mercy really?

"I...I know now."

White said to himself, nodding quietly as he slowly stepped away from the house.

__________

A merciless silver sword held by a cold-eyed, horned royal guard.

He came with no invitation and spoke not a word, cruelly driving silver through the heads of little children while they remained fast asleep.

The begging of mothers could not deter him, neither could fathers hope to overpower him.

He was a wave of evil that no walls could stop, and no home survived his descent.

No prayer stayed his hand, no tears could make him bend.

Only silver flashed... and mourning followed in the end.

___________

Eventually, White found his way back to the gates of the royal castle.

His reputation had spread faster than he himself could travel, for the moment he arrived, the gates were immediately pushed open.

To the civilians, he was evil.

To the guards, he was the mightiest sword of royalty, the one who had best carried out the order given to them.

They looked at him with respect, knowing well the necessary evil he had faced, yet looking into his eyes still made even them step back in fear.

Eyes that had long lost their warmth, yet whose blue glow shone brighter than ever.

He stepped through the gates, walking deeper into the palace until he arrived before the throne room.

With the quest completed, it was time to report to the king.

But upon opening the massive crimson gates and stepping in,

There was no king.

A brief sensation of teleportation flickered through him, and the next moment his legs stepped into a familiar throne room.

Gargoyle monsters lined the walls, while at the far end stood a single crimson throne where a woman sat with crossed legs, looking at him with quiet interest.

She stared into his eyes, and a grin slowly spread across her lips.

The change was clear.

"So this is what it was about?"

White’s voice echoed out, sounding deeper after spending days without speaking a single word.

"To turn me into an evil?"

He asked, turning toward the woman who giggled softly.

"Is that what you truly think your actions were, deep in your heart? Evil?"

She asked.

White remained silent.

He knew exactly what his actions were, but how could doubt not exist?

When you heard the cries of mothers and pushed fathers to the ground while driving a sword through the hearts of their children...

Even if you knew it was mercy, how could the thought of evil not creep into your mind?

"That, White... That..."