The cafeteria was mostly vacant, with there being a sparse few students who had missed their dinners and made-do with snacks. Jyorta munched his food, a jelly-like substance smeared within hard bread. Taste-wise, it was nothing much to comment about but, it had the highest nutritional value among the snacks.

He had taken a total of four pieces, with each piece twice bigger than his palm. He later planned to issue for a snack with taste after completing the hard bread, intending to satisfy his taste buds.

A petite figure appeared, calmly siding into a chair next to him, acting natural. She placed her plate on the table, blowing off some remnant food particles, her actions painting a scenario of cuteness.

"How is our star doing today?" Laila said, her voice ringing out in a melodious tune, soft to the ears.

"If anything, you are the real star." The blue soul tried to overlay the false persona over him as usual, falling silent, looking at the previous Jyorta's persona attuned to his. After the false persona had been destroyed, it hadn't had the time to create a new one.

In preparation for such cases, the blue soul severed the connections that represented his emotions of fear, apprehension, and cowardice. Now, Jyorta turned into a person incapable of expressing said emotions. Even though he could still feel them, he would be unable to express it, be it in his speech, tone, facial expression, body language, scent, and hormonal reaction.

He could display the rest of his usual emotions, behaving normally. After noticing the false persona displaying clear limits when faced with Psychic Ancestor Marble the other day, he planned for an alternative. After all, it wasn't easy to overcome the emotion of fear in a matter of days.

Humans always feared the unknown and darkness. Sages from the ancient times secluded themselves in remote caves, untamed by nature and untouched by light. It was done in preparation to overcome their instinctive fear. Though, they took decades to make it happen; even then it wasn't guaranteed.

Things deeply rooted in the genes are almost impossible to overcome in one generation. In order to do it, drastic measures must be taken.

Jyorta's fear too stemmed from his instinct, the instinct of his soul. His body didn't exhibit any fear towards Laila nor the Wisdom Parasite in him. After all, the two of them had similar strengths. But, in terms of his soul, the one sitting before him was an old monster, one who stood at the peak of humanity for more than a century, Rhachis Ancestor Space.

"It was a surprise when I saw your score." Laila surmised, "After all, you had been in a coma for 5 years. The opportunity for you to study shouldn't have been long."

Her words held a lot of meaning; she was indirectly probing him for the details. Jyorta acted like he hadn't noticed it, "The scene from that day…"

A memory flashed in his head, turning his mood worse. The blue soul in him hurriedly extracted the memory, sealing it up within a corner of it. But, once accessed by the brain, the memory was bound to exist. When stimulated, it was bound to resurface again. Regarding this, the blue soul was helpless.

The environment was pitch black, with no traces of life. It could neither think nor move, sealed in the confines of a black container. It neither experienced sunlight nor had a body to feel it. It had lived in such an environment for more than a decade. Even though it couldn't think, each memory was vividly imprinted into its soul.

When the previous Jyorta slept, it was the time when it could barely feel alive, connecting to his brain and using it to think. The rare times when Jyorta had a dazed look was when it could take in the grandeur of the world. This resulted in its longing for a body, one to call its own.

Moreover, bottled up in a place, having no attachments to its previous life, maintaining an ego, and a personality with questionable origins, it was slowly becoming twisted. Its thinking process turned to one of cunning, devious in nature.

It started to plot for the death of Jyorta, so that one day, it could walk on this land in a body it could call its own. But, the rate of its invasion over Jyorta's soul was slowing down. After all, the more he grew, the more his life experiences turned to be, and the larger and more condensed his soul became.

The blue soul had a life experience of 20 years worth in the modern world, judging by its experiences. The more Jyorta became older, the greater his influence in his body. Whenever he lacked some energy in the soul due to its attacks, the body enacted through a mystical means to rapidly replenish it. But, the blue soul was a lone soldier, facing against a strong foe that was backed by an ocean.

It was pressed for time; Jyorta was assimilating with the memories stored in his brain, the ones that were part of the blue soul, detailing its thoughts, plans, etc. It was only a matter of time before Jyorta devoured it.

All sorts of emotions mixed up and finally erupted; the blue soul planned to take control of Jyorta's body, irrespective of the cost. It then converted the soul of the language teacher's Wisdom Parasite, using it to make her lose control.

Moreover, her mental condition was at an all-time low, thanks to her inability to give birth. It made use of that weakness to gain control of her body—using her Wisdom Parasite—and started an assault, murdering his classmates.

Except for Jyorta, George, and Laila, the blue soul's plans killed 27 students and the language teacher—a total of 28 lives. In the end, the previous Jyorta managed to sense its existence, the memories he had obtained surpassing its expectations. If it had delayed any longer, it would have never obtained a chance to step foot into this world.

The first time it opened its eyes as Jyorta, it felt euphoria. The feeling was unexplainable in words. After being trapped in a dark place for more than a decade, it had finally witnessed sunlight. It was the day when its dark and twisted emotions abated, recovering to normalcy.

'I mourn for the 28 lives I had taken. But, if I was in that situation a second time, I would have re-enacted the same. I usually strive for public welfare, showing great compassion and moral values. But, when left with no other choice, I will choose to save myself. If I have to describe myself in one word, it would be a Hypocrite.'

"That day…" Laila muttered, her expression dark. Without any mention, she could link it to the disaster she had faced. Moreover, it was the switch that brought out her true self, unearthing a century of preparations.

"Every time I sleep, I recall the incident. After I woke up from my coma, I had forgotten all about it. But something happened a few days after that, making me recall everything. After that, I could never forget it despite my efforts in trying to bottle it up." Jyorta shook his head, his voice automatically turning hoarse.

"I never wanted the situation to repeat itself ever again. It was then, my sister told me to study earnestly. She said that once I finished my 11th standard, I could use the knowledge to empower myself. Only after my Induction Ceremony did she tell me the actual details." He then let out a self-deprecating smile.

"I was tutored by Sir Rishinik Walta until a week before my Induction Ceremony. Only later did I find how expensive his services were. My sister used up most of our parent's savings and had to take dangerous missions one after another to support me. The least I could do is produce some acceptable results in exchange for that."

"So, it was Sir Rishinik Walta; no wonder," Laila nodded, her gaze heavy. She then slapped her cheeks, forcing herself to smile, "Actually, his brother tutored me. So you see…"

"Haha," Jyorta chuckled, letting out a fake smile. Finished with his food, he stood up, "Let us both work hard so that we never have to experience it ever again."

He took in the view of his blue soul, feeling the world become dark. There was his blue soul, looking big, emitting a blue hue. Hovering next to it was his subsoul, the tiny wisp belonging to his Wisdom Parasite, looking murky. It had also grown a tad larger as compared to a week ago.

The vision of his blue soul extended to a sphere with a radius of 1 metre around him. In this range, he could detect the existence of all souls unless they were blocked by a barrier. But, he experienced it forming only on Tier 3 Warriors and Espers.

As he turned around, he had taken a step when he activated his blue soul, focusing on his back where Laila had been sitting.

There was a blue wall to his back, looking extremely flat. Its surface was perfectly smooth, glistening like the moon. He couldn't see past a millimetre beneath the surface, the density of the wall apparent.

Jyorta took another step forward, going beyond a metre from the wall, finding a lack of souls in his range other than the ones in his body. He calmly walked towards the designated place to drop his plate, his gait smooth and steady. The blue soul in him had severed all the connections with his emotions.

'Based on the theory of the curvature of a Sphere, I wanted to estimate the size of her soul; but, it's flat. She is no subsoul; that is for sure. I wonder what happened between them when Ancestor Marble came to know of her existence.'