Born From a Forbidden Union, Humanity hates me.

"This is very technical, and I understand."

Reon frowned at his own remark.

"This might even be pure speculation, but the ideas came with the research. And in fact, I might have proven the concept itself."

Titania nodded, her head full of contradictions and validations about her power.

"Now, there's the question that worries me."

He looked at Henrietta.

"Am I the same person I was before placing my soul inside the device?"

"What do you mean?"

Confused, Henrietta tilted her head slightly to the side.

"What I've placed inside the device is the electrical signature of our brains, or, in other words, what makes us who we are."

"You can even call it the soul if you feel inclined to."

"But now that my soul has returned to its body, which should've been impossible, what does that make me?"

His eyes darted left and right, looking around the room.

"I feel like I am me. I have my memories, and all the achievements I gathered are still engraved in me."

"But I can't shake the feeling that the real Reon died that day."

"I'm sure the soul is more than an electrical response in the brain, so-"

Speaking his worries away from his wife's ears, Reon was about to continue when Titania took a step forward.

"Whatever you think, you should not trust those thoughts. The souls I have recovered were those of Reon and Orianne. There is no mistake about this fact."

"The body is compatible with only one soul. Sure, hijacking it like Miasma does is a possibility, but it is nothing more than that: hijacking."

"If the souls we have placed inside the receptacles were not yours, they would have been rejected before we could even try to make it work."

The Remnant smiled with a relaxed expression before nodding.

Henrietta immediately took this chance to add something she had noticed, too.

"There is another proof to suggest that you are the real person."

She walked to Amelia's desk and gently picked up the notebook her daughter used to write her culinary discoveries in.

"The book in my possession, which I obtained as a proof of my belonging to the Remnant, writes by itself the fate and destinies of the entire world."

"When the page writing your entire story was turned to its last, your story continued from where it had left off."

"You are the real Reon. Whatever you might think you are, do not let yourself get lost. I understand your confusion, though, since you are the very first people to have been revived in such a way."

For a moment, Reon seriously pondered their words.

It was true that, overall, he felt like his old self.

'Maybe the fears have spoken for me.'

He looked at his palms before closing his hands. As his eyes closed, a mocking smile drew on his face, directed at himself.

'I'm glad Orianne isn't here. She would've laughed in my face for even mentioning this.'

'Still...'

When he opened his eyes, he looked at the two women.

"Thank you for answering my worries. I feel relieved."

Titania shrugged.

"This was expected. There are many unknowns concerning your circumstances. I will be sure to monitor your condition closely in case something comes to pass."

Reon nodded, relaxed. His gaze locked onto Henrietta's before turning his entire body to Amelia.

"I'm getting back on the topic. This tangent wasn't far from the matter at hand."

"Your daughter is unconscious, and that is a fact. You don't need me to make this observation."

"What I can tell you, on the other hand, is that she has blocked all paths to our physical world."

He walked toward the desk Henrietta was standing in front of and carefully took the chair before going back next to Amelia.

All the while, he continued to explain.

"Deep inside the soul lies a place I call the 'Inner Sanctum' of a living being, unknown to the concerned party. It is usually impossible to access it."

Henrietta stopped for a moment before observing a peculiar point. She immediately asked Reon.

"Could it be the 'Source' we refer to?"

"Hmm~"

Placing his thumb and index finger on his chin, he thought.

"Most likely. I heard it a couple of times while watching over Orion, so I can picture it easily. Let's say that those are the same."

Titania, Henrietta, and Heto nodded.

"The source is where the soul lies. It is similar to a shield that protects the soul from external factors. These observations were made thanks to the countless children's souls we had to release."

Every time Reon mentioned something about the Magic Institution, where the magical lab was found containing hundreds of capsules with living test subjects, his expression darkened.

"Amelia is currently deep inside her source. I heard she was like Orion, capable of accessing her inner sanctum effortlessly."

Giving a simple nod as an answer, Henrietta confirmed his suspicion.

"That place can only be considered the deepest layer of the subconscious."

Reon looked toward Heto, who looked completely unsurprised.

"Your thoughts on that?"

Since standing next to Amelia, Heto barely looked away. He kept observing the girl lying in her bed, but not her external appearance. He was looking at her astral body.

"Your suspicions are correct."

Heto nodded with a neutral face.

"Her situation is bad in and of itself, so listen calmly, Henrietta."

With a sigh that only represented the sadness of a mother, she listened.

"This girl... Your daughter, she's grief-stricken to the point where she relieves the same nightmare over and over. She's damaging her mind by doing so."

"Not only that, but her physical body won't be able to hold for long either..."

"She's not a Remnant... yet. Right?"

Henrietta looked at Amelia. She placed the notebook on the desk before approaching the foot of the bed.

"..."

She placed both hands on the wooden frame and sighed again.

"She's as human as can be. I tried to make her drink juice and milk, but she wouldn't even swallow. Just looking at her face tells you she's malnourished."

"It's been three weeks. That's why I had to ask you for help."

Her nails sank into the wood as she glared down.

"I... am powerless."

Reon looked at her with a compassionate look.

"In the end, we're all parents who treasure our children. You used your power and tried to bring her back yourself, isn't it?"

"I sure did."

With a shrug, she separated from the bad feelings weighting over her mind.

"You and Orianne would hit it off pretty quickly in that case. She's been wanting to talk to Amelia since the day Orion introduced her to us."

His face turned serious at this moment.

"But right now, forget about all of that. My duty as a man and as a father is to bring Amelia back to us."

"I have to keep my son's expectations of me as high as possible."

Thinking of his son's admiration and respect, he couldn't fail.

"Heto. I will channel my mind through her source with my magic. Would you please open her subconscious for me to enter?"

Titania suddenly took a step forward.

"That is far too dangerous! I cannot let you proceed!"

"I understand your concerns, but trust me. This is not my first time."

This was frustrating for both Henrietta and Titania, but there was nothing they would be helpful with this time.

"I can do that. As a matter of fact, I can hold it open indefinitely."

Reon pondered before giving more detail.

"Do not let it wide open. Amelia possesses five elements within her. If you let it open too long, they might counter-attack and damage her instead. It had already happened to her before."

Heto nodded.

"Alright. I'll keep it barely open. But in that case, you will need to hurry and appease the poor girl."

"That's why I'm going on my own accord."

Henrietta turned to him with a disapproving face.

"I should've been the one to bring her back..."

"But it's impossible for you, isn't it?"

Reon stood up from his chair and walked next to her.

"You were alongside her on that battlefield. You don't have the right words to ease her aching soul because you know how it ended for her."

"Amelia lost her most precious counterpart. Instead of driving the world to its destruction, she decided, maybe instinctively, to fall into a comatose state."

He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"If it were me, I would have destroyed everything anyway. This world isn't worth a single instant without Orianne."

Returning next to Amelia, he sat down. His words appeared to have eased Henrietta's worries, as she nodded gently.

"I'll... leave my daughter in your capable hands."

"You can count on me."

The angel's eyes shone similarly to those of a Hero she knew very well. Eight wings stretched freely behind the man's back as he placed two fingers on Amelia's forehead.

Reon looked at Heto before the two nodded at each other in confirmation.

An electric current traveled from his nape, went down his left arm, and entered the unconscious Amelia.

Immediately after, Reon blacked out on the spot, frozen in place.

...

In the living room, the women were all gathering.

"Is that Sirius?! Ooooh~"

Orianne crouched down before hugging the large dog. She rubbed her face all over his white fur, enjoying his warmth and fluffiness.

"You know, you scared me when you've entered the Abyssal Trials. It could've ended very badly for you."

She honestly felt relieved to see the dog actually being fine.

"Woof!"

Sirius sat on the spot, enjoying the caresses. Soon after learning of his master's survival, he recovered from his depressed state and even began to eat well again.

"The Abyssal Trials? What's this?"

Olivia, who was right in front of her, asked carefully. The person in front of her was a demon of the purest blood, the demon that others feared.

The stories passed down about Orianne from her family weren't exactly the pleasant kind.

Her instinct screamed to look down, but she refused to.

"It's... Well, I have no reason to hide it at this point. I can't go into details, but it's what Orion went through previously."

"The Abyssal Sovereign form?"

Orianne nodded. She released Sirius immediately and stood up. On the other couch, Stella waved at Sirius, who walked toward her without an ounce of hesitation.

"You said you couldn't go into many details, so there's no point pondering about it. Is there a story you can tell us? I heard Henrietta say that she was going to help Amelia awaken."

"It's going to take some time. Is it possible?"

The Lord of Noctelagia asked with a genuine interest in her ancestral stories.

"Hmm~"

Orianne looked at the girls around the room, one by one.

"I can see the stars in your eyes."

"Why not? Since Reon isn't here, he won't be pestering me not to tell you some things."

The devious smile on her face told the girls what kind of relationship she had with her husband. Nonetheless, she always had this loving expression when thinking of Reon.

"Alright, then..."

There was a spot next to Deveralna and May, so she walked toward them and sat down carefully.

"I'll tell you one story. It is a horrible one, so get ready."

The group frowned, understanding that what they had asked for wasn't going to have a happy ending.

"It was somewhere around a month after Reon and I became the respective leaders of our factions."

"We had learned about a group of humans having settled in the northern part of the island."

"This place was called..."

"The Magic Institute, which researched the Elemental Overload and its aftermath."