Second Mind

He furrowed his brows and grabbed Nihility by the collar. His blood had started to boil with rage—his behavior clearly showed that he hated that name.

"Don't call me by your name, Adam!"

"Come on, you're the one who took my body from me," he said with absolute ease.

"You know I don't have a name. Did you really believe it when I said it was Adam? Yeah… you were supposed to."

"Forget everything else—why have you been in control ever since we walked through the door?!" he snapped, and yes, he was right. Adam was Nihility. Not him.

"Why? Because if it were you, you'd lose control. I'm thinking about what benefits both of us, second mind." Adam placed his hand on his arm.

His anger surged even more, but at the same time—he was scared.

"I'll never forgive you. Even if the body is yours."

He let go of Adam's collar.

"I know… better than anyone else, Na—"

But fury grabbed Adam's shoulder.

"Isn't that enough already?! Shouldn't Saten be taking the trial right now?"

"You're right," Adam said with a grin.

Raika saw himself standing in front of him—and strangely, the copy was smiling

—

"Welcome."

Raika stepped back. There wasn't a trial like this last time—actually, there shouldn't be a trial at all.

"Don't be afraid! If I kill you, it'll hurt me too," the copy said, stepping beside him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get you through the trial… but it'll only mean this trial ends here."

Raika wanted to speak, but couldn't. And as soon as the copy snapped his fingers, the place around him shifted.

—

They had skipped the final trial.

He was lying on the ground, and man stood before him.

"Awake now?" man asked, offering his hand.

"Ah… what just happened?"

"Don't you remember anything?"

"No… I was just talking to my copy," Raika said, taking his hand and standing up.

"Maybe it's better if he forgets," man thought, looking around. It looked like a regular church—actually, it was just a full-on church.

The two of them turned to look around. They were standing on dark-colored marble—everything looked high quality.

The walls were painted white. They walked toward the door. The stained glass windows were painted with all kinds of shapes and colors.

Just as man was about to open the oak door, a hand landed on his shoulder. Should I make this part more action-packed? …Eh, forget it.

A typical nun, with narrow green eyes, was looking at Raika and man.

"Would you like to join our sect?" she asked, holding out a piece of paper.

The handwriting on it was so awful—even my old handwriting looked better. What was it like? Kind of looked like Arabic… but in English.

"No, thanks!" man grabbed Raika by the collar and dragged him out of the church. It had tall, pointed towers.

"Hey! Why are we running off like this?"

"These people are insane!"

"Insane?"

"I'll explain later!"

They continued along the stone road and entered the town. The houses here were either all wood or planks—some two-storied, some snowy homes.

And again, stone-paved streets.

"Hey! Let me go already," Raika said.

man released him and turned around.

"Whatever you do, never—and I mean never—agree to join the sect," he warned. And just as they were about to step fully into the town—

"Master!"

From up ahead, a tan-skinned man in flashy clothes came running toward man.

"Who's that?" Raika stared at the oncoming figure.

"A piece of meat…"

The man stopped and began breathing heavily.

"You were here, Kaviel?"

Kaviel's black hair was both messy and neat, and he had a slim build.

"Yes, Master!" he said, saluting with a hand to his forehead.

"Why is everyone around him insane?" Raika thought, then asked man,

"This is the piece of meat?"

Man nodded. He placed a hand on Kaviel's shoulder and put on a fake smile.

"Sieo warrior or whatever you are, just take us to wherever we're supposed to be," he said with a charming grin.