Chapter 10 Dream of Memories.

In his hazy consciousness. Soma slowly opened his heavy eyes. In his blurry vision, Soma could see a sight that was filled with endless darkness. maybe his mind is still playing tricks on him.

however, after he regained his focus and opened his eyes wide the sight before him was not changed it was still the endless darkness staring right back at him.

Soma raised his right hand but to his shock, he could see his hand just fine. He blinked a few times to ascertain his situation then he raised his upper body into a sitting position.

"What is happening here, I could see my body just fine? Where the hell am I?".

after making sure that there are no problems with his sight Soma stands up. then he raised his hand upward making sure that his way was not blocked by something. Inside the darkness filled space. His mind began to wander around trying to figure out what situation got him here.

Soma raised his left foot first trying to move forward from his place but his raised hand just bumped into something invincible.

The thing that blocked him, has a smooth surface like a glass but soft enough as if his skin had not made any contact at all with something. It has an out-of-the-world texture.

"What is this?".

Soma put more strength to his hand trying to push the invincible wall that blocked his way but not to avail. After trying a couple of methods to push the wall before him Soma finally gave up sighing before all of a sudden the room lit up.

In front of him, a light began to shine in this dark space, and it formed a monitor-like screen with a blank display appeared before him.

The monitor before him began to play some sort of video from a first-person perspective. The display was probably showing a perspective from a kid because of its low view.

Soma could see the kid's little hands were scraping some sand. using a little scoop that is made from plastic trying to make a mound. The place feels familiar from Soma's memories.

"That was ..the park I used to play in. Are these my memories? Ah..".

The view began to shift as the kid now looked at the two figures who slowly waved at him with a smile on their face.

Soma's body flinched. He remembered those faces. there is no way he could forget. as he tries to open his mouth. The monitor began to distort and it was now showing a smiling couple looking at him affectionately sitting on the dining table with a birthday cake on it.

"..Father, mother?".

After seeing the two figures that showed on the monitor. His eyes began to turn blurry as his lips began to tremble trying to hold back his sobbing.

Soma knows that he has already moved forward beyond the tragedy. but seeing the scene before him brings back those happy memories that are buried deep in the corner of his mind. He couldn't help but shed a bit of a tear after witnessing his parents smile once again.

The scene began to change again. He saw the wonderland, beach, and many more fun places he nearly forgot. He visited in his childhood with both of them.

A single streak of tears began to travel across Soma's cheeks. On those happy days he spent with his family, a warm filled his cold heart, and the happy laughter he saw, washed away all of the sadness he experienced after their loss.

However, Soma knows. Those things are nothing more than just a memory, a fragment from the past that he had experienced and he could not go back to those happy times. He began to grit his teeth. The scene before him awakens the longing inside his heart.

"..It's enough". Soma muttered that in his heart, and the scene before him darkened. Before it changed and began to play the piece of another memory.

The surroundings show a dim place, but Soma knew that it was his house from the placed furniture and the atmosphere plastered in it. Then, He saw a big shadow silhouette holding a headless body in its hand. It opened its mouth wide enough to swallow a single human whole. With a hundred razor-sharp teeth like a shark, began to devour the headless body he held.

"..This is?".

Soma's body tensed as a sense of disturbance began to crawl out into his skin. Then, out of nowhere, a ball flew before him and it stopped right before his feet.

Looking down at the thing that bumped his legs, Soma's body flinched.

Because the thing was not a ball at all, it was something more horrifying than he could ever imagine. It was his mother's head with a hollow expression on her face, looking straight at him.

Soma's body trembled, and color began to withdraw from his face. His stomach began to churn but he covered his own mouth to prevent him from puking.

"..What the hell was that?". He cursed. It took only one glance to make him imprint those nasty memories inside his brain, and now his mother's head kept haunting his mind. He shook his head trying to get rid of that disturbing scene.

However, the monitor before him was cruel. They began to replay all of the disturbing scenes that Soma recalls ever experiencing, in his life until now.

The separated body of his father, the dim cold filthy place that confined him, and the lump of flesh that once he called his friend in those hell holes filled his sight. Soma couldn't hold himself back and began to vomit in place.

Soma threw up all of the content in his stomach. However, the thing that came out of his mouth was a black gooey and it had a nasty smell like the smell of human feces that had been stored in a closed space for days.

Soma's face contorted. Not because of the smell but because his head began to throb painfully. An intense flood of new memories filled his brain to the brim, and it began to merge with his existing memories. He clutched his head which felt like it was tearing apart.

[Mental enhancement proficiency raised]

The intense pain began to calm down, and Soma regained his clear mind. With knitted brows Soma's mind began to race. "..What the heck is this, shit? These are not my memories.. Is it perhaps, the memories of Soma from this world?". If that is the case then all of this becomes clear. Because he knew that his real parents were killed in a plane incident and Soma's parents in this world were to die because they got killed by demons.

After calming his mind, Soma then turned his gaze again watching the memories. But now the scene showed something very familiar. It was the main road he made the deal with Devi. The perspective also looked at her silhouette right now. But the atmosphere around them completely changed from what he knew.

Devi, as if frightened, could only stand there watching him while gritting her teeth, no it seems her gaze was focused under his feet. Then the scene shifted toward his feet and found a different demon woman struggling to release herself, from his right leg that pressed against her chest.

The demon girl on his leg began to feel frightened as the pressure around her chest grew heavy. She began to thrash away but not to avail.

"..This?".

The demon girl in question began to choke, her face began to turn purple as her wide eyes were filled with tears, saliva, and even snot, gasping for breath. Then the right leg began to dig deeper, putting the demon girl on the brink of death.

Soma's head began to throb once more as intense feelings of guilt surged in his mind making him grit his teeth and clenched his fist.

"..I had enough!".

Raising his fist up. Soma began to slam it to the invincible wall before him, only to be stopped in its tracks and feel nothing. Frustrated, he raised his other arm and began to unleash a barrage of strikes at the wall, but it was futile no matter what he did.

"Ha.. ha.. ha..".

Soma's breathing became rough and the strength of his attack began to weaken. So as his last attempt, he pulled his right fist behind and clenched it hard, until its nails were dug into its skin.

He prepared his stance with his bent feet in a straight line, and his sight focused on the wall before him.

Soma gritted his teeth and clenched his right fist. he didn't realize it but his right fist showed a faint glow of red color around it for a moment before it seeped into his skin.

"Break!".

Shifting his weight Soma instinctually began to transfer all of the force in his body and concentrated it in his right fist then slammed it to the wall.

After making contact with the wall, it made a cracking sound. Then his fist succeeded in piercing the wall and it broke like a glass.

At the same time, he succeeded in breaking the wall. The monitor in front of him disappears with only darkness remaining and a translucent window before his eyes that notices his condition, but he ignores it.

A straight line stood in front of soma and then it opened like a double door, revealing a bright light.

Soma Squinted his eyes, seeing the bright light that pierced his eyes. He relaxed his stance and began to walk toward the light. "Finally". With a slow gait, he began to approach the big double door, until a black chain began to twirl around his right leg and tried to drag him toward the darkness space once more. Soma was surprised at first but he held on and resisted the black chain that pulled him.

"Kuuh".

Then multiple chains began to appear, restraining Soma's limbs.

"What now?".

Soma's body got dragged toward the dark space once more, as his body began to float with the dark chain that coiled around his limbs. A pair of sharp red eyes stared daggers at him. The silhouette began to show itself and appeared before Soma.

"..Me?".

The identity from the pair of red eyes was none other than Soma but with a pair of goat horns and a bat wing that appeared from his back.

"Yo, brat".

"Who are you?".

"You don't know me? ..Hehe, I am you".

"Ha?".