SSS Awakening: Starting With Infinite Soul Copy

The words didn’t exactly sound like a roar or powerful, yet White watched a sonic wave ripple towards him.

He crossed his hand, trying to grip his feet hard to the void, but failed.

He was thrown far back, about three meters, before he rose upright, eyes narrowed into the distance.

’To continue or go away as instructed?’

It didn’t take him more than three seconds to decide.

He stepped forward.

There were more chains on his path, each further entangled, and he kept his distance from them, careful not to touch even one.

In such numbers, they obviously served a purpose, and whatever that was, he wanted no part of it.

The voice only called out once, and it took White about an hour of venturing quietly through the chains before he finally arrived at the center.

Just like he guessed, all the chains coalesced there, but what lay at the center was completely unexpected.

It was a being, suspended in the depthless void.

The chains White had been following, threaded through its body at multiple points, running through bone and anchoring deep within its core.

One had to understand that those chains were hundreds of times larger than White, yet they looked like strands of rope compared to the being.

That alone showed just how enormous it was.

Its body was humanoid, folded inward, the spine curved, shoulders pulled tight as though forced into compression.

Nothing about the posture was relaxed. Every part of it seemed held under constant pressure.

Its back was split along the spine, and from within, even more chains were forced in.

Its surface wasn’t skin.

It looked astral, but not like White’s, which seemed more shadowy.

This one had a solidified, pitch-dark, compressed layer stretched over a dense internal frame.

It held no reflection at all.

White couldn’t see its face.

Though its head was lowered forward, it was also turned away from view, making the face invisible from this angle.

There were no runic lines on its surface, no visible essence energy, or anything to signify it held power. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It looked almost ordinary...

But looking at these gigantic chains etched with powerful crimson runes, it was clear that nothing about this being was ordinary.

"I said to go away."

Its voice rang out once more, and now that White was so close, it was so piercing that his soul form wavered like a dying flame.

His hands instinctively reached for his head, as though they were about to be torn apart.

But it was an ephemeral sensation, lasting only a moment before he regained himself.

__________

Every soul carries a nature, and the Otherworld responds solely to the soul.

__________

The words he had read echoed through White’s mind as he stared silently at the entity.

’This is my nature?’

He asked in disbelief.

This was obviously something far beyond him... or could it be that he had found the wrong Otherworlder?

But... it was the only one in this area.

He had wandered for a long time, searching again and again above, yet found nothing.

Only by moving downward had he found this.

"Were you the one who tried to deceive me? Create the illusion of my flame turning white to send me away in the wrong direction?"

White asked, though he was met with silence, which in a way was an answer.

"The fusion will not work without both parties’ acceptance. There was no need for that."

He said.

The Otherworlder had tried to misdirect him, sending him in the wrong direction, but according to the manual, both of them had to agree before fusion could take place.

If the Otherworlder didn’t want fusion, then misdirecting him would be pointless, since without its acceptance, fusion is impossible.

"Do you know what happens when the source soul becomes unable to handle an Otherworlder’s power?"

The being asked him, and White paused.

That was a question he had no answer to.

"Corruption... Death of the source soul."

It said.

"What happens after the source soul is dead? Does the Otherworlder take over the body?"

White asked the more important question.

"It can."

It replied, confirming one of his worst fears:

The fear of thinking someone was human, when in truth their soul had already been corrupted, and all that remained was an Otherworlder wearing human skin.

"You’re not the first to be sent to me."

It said, and White’s brow furrowed.

If he wasn’t the first... then why was it still here?

"You deceived them all away, like you tried to deceive me?"

He asked.

"It worked on some..."

It replied.

"But I’ve fused with more than a thousand souls now."

"I don’t believe that. Not up to a thousand people practice this in my world."

White responded.

CLAAANK!

At that moment, a faint reverberation echoed through the chains as the humungous body shook lightly.

"You didn’t possibly think only your world is capable of Otherworld Dream... do you?"

It asked, and the words froze on White’s lips.

Of course.

If there were different realities, then there would be different worlds.

The Otherworld Dream manual had been found by humanity in an ancient ruin, but did that mean only humans had access to it?

What race had placed the manual there in the first place?

With that confusion cleared, he was confronted with a far more unsettling realization.

"If you have fused with thousands, yet you’re still here. Then..."

White said, and in the next moment, raised his head in disbelief.

"Yes."

The voice responded, confirming his fear.

"All were corrupted. All souls... extinguished."

It said, and an uncomfortable chill crawled over White as he spoke again.

"If they were all corrupted, that gives you up to a thousand chances to take control of their bodies. Why are you still here then, locked in chains?"

"Look at yourself..."

The figure replied.

White’s gaze unconsciously drifted to his own soul form before returning to it.

"Can that little body of yours fully contain me?"

The answer was obvious.

No.

It was simply too massive.

But White didn’t believe that was the only reason.

Anyone would choose to exist in reality, even if only for a short time, rather than remain here, locked away in darkness, chasing away the chances of that happening.

To White...

It felt like this being was choosing to remain sealed, not that it was truly trapped.

And that raised the ultimate question.

"What..."