I Refused To Be Reincarnated

As Luna's voice boomed with rage, Adam's eyes bulged in shock despite the noise of reality collapsing like glass around him.

He had learned so many things during this memory recollection. Much more than what he had hoped for. Yet, like a hammer striking a vase, each revelation shattered a part of his beliefs. Despite the glistening shard crashing around him, he remained silent, too engrossed in his thoughts to notice them.

'Prometheus was... a hero?'

This ludicrous idea rumbled like a thunder strike in his mind more than anything else. Even if he refused to admit it, he had objectively been one. Between the preservation of humanity, the creation of the system, his scam-like plan to reincarnate earthlings, and their access to the dream place, he had to admit it. Prometheus was brilliant and much crazier than him.

He had been much more powerful, too. He couldn't help but shudder in dread each time he remembered his last battle and how overwhelming the magic world's overlord was.

His goal to defy him suddenly sounded like a poor joke. He only witnessed his playful side and a few spells, yet he knew.

He lingered for a moment, taking a deep breath to fix the raging tremors running through his spectral frame before continuing.

He knew the magus could obliterate Earth in a blink if he turned serious.

As an arcanist, Shepard could already ravage a kingdom in a single day. He couldn't doubt the prowess of a magus. The better solution was for him not to provoke this force of nature and to keep living in peace.

With a loud exhale, his focus shifted to the last scene... the moment of his birth.

'I'm truly just half his soul,' he thought, a bitter feeling clutching his heart.

Despite his mistakes, Prometheus had been an incredible man undeserving of such a sad end. Yet, his awakening meant his death. Somehow, he wavered after everything he had witnessed...

"I don't want to die, either!"

His conflicted yell echoed in the disintegrating plaza. No matter what had happened, he was someone else, not Prometheus. And Julius, too. He was no longer Atlas, the prankster or humanity's ardent protector. Instead, the boy was his brother and friend, someone he had educated and nurtured with his own two hands.
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Despite his deep respect for his original self, Adam vowed to protect his brother,, at all costs.

However, a frown creased his brows the next moment as something didn't add up. Prometheus clearly longed for death in his last year. Well, Adam could understand why after he fought for eleven years only to realise he would end up as the last human. Carrying the burden of seeing everyone die except him had crushed his heart progressively until he couldn't endure it anymore.

So, would he try to reincarnate despite his earlier refusal? In his friend's body, no less?

Doubts gnawed at his heart like a swarm of tiny insects as he pondered.

With his understanding of him, he knew Prometheus wouldn't. And if he wouldn't, who kept sending messages to coerce him into reincarnating into Julius?

"Was it Luna?" He gasped, icy sweat forming between his brows. Forget about the magus. He would die before seeing his shadow if Luna targeted him.

"You are right."

Prometheus' voice resounded, feeble yet striking him like an explosion. Then, his vision cleared, making him realise he stood before the towering gate again. Prometheus leaned against his copy, gazing at him with a warm smile before continuing.

"You slumbered for a month after Luna reincarnated Atlas, which is why you awakened in August, while Julius was born in July. Later, the magic world agreed to conduct the summoning. I suspect the magus pulled the strings behind the scenes. Maybe he aimed to locate our world through it or just wanted to steal our knowledge.

Anyway, Luna divided humanity into sixteen batches and reincarnated them into the sixteen worlds I found before falling into a deep coma."

Prometheus exploded into a fit of coughing after his long explanation while the copy massaged his back, his lips distorted in irritation.

After a moment of silence, he continued.

"You should have guessed already. Luna is inside the tower, managing it and your interface passively as she sleeps. But she never accepted my choice... That's why your trials were on the harder side."

Noticing Adam's trembling fists and clenched jaws as his words lingered, his eyes softened.

"You benefited from it, too. After all, she awarded you the first Manacore Heartgem she produced, so don't resent her."

"I will never forgive her! She even branded me a heretic!" Adam shot back, raising his fist in rage.

Prometheus gazed at him in response, his eyes sparkling meaningfully.

"But you stole a colossal volume of mana from her, probably enough to reincarnate half of humanity again."

Silence filled the space for a second as Adam's expression became complex. After a moment of reflection, he replied.

"And she sent me to fight that mad bastard, Ignatius!"

"That's... true. But the tower's design is to help humanity grow. Why don't you try to see what you got, too?"

Adam fell silent again. He knew Prometheus was right. The trial alone helped him banish the madness threatening to consume him. He also met Misha, someone he would never forget.

As he pondered, his face shifting each second, Prometheus spoke again.

"She planned for it to help you fix your flaws."

He clicked his tongue, recognising Prometheus was right despite his unwillingness to forgive Luna. Then, he shifted the subject to a more pressing matter. After all, Luna would be of no concern if he died.

"Now what? Are you going to absorb us to become whole again?"

A tense silence engulfed the room. The copy trembled, unwilling to die, too. Yet they all knew that only one of them would leave this place.

"You are blunter than me, like to prank more than Atlas, and are as proud as Luna," Prometheus chuckled, a mysterious smile stretching his lips and a bright ray of relief flashing through his sunken eyes.

Like a flowery field he enjoyed looking at, the emotions and interactions with his friends transcended mere memories, branding themselves into Adam and turning him into a fine young man.

He lingered for a moment before shifting the topic and leaving the question unanswered.

"It's time."

As his voice resounded in the white room, a strange phenomenon struck all sixteen worlds simultaneously.

A seizure jolted a hundred thousand youths celebrating their thirteenth birthday, causing them to collapse and wriggle in pain to the ground.

In the Ashford mansion, the clinking of metal reverberated as Julius' chained body trembled like a battered leaf before Nathan, Reynard, Alexander, and Gabriel's somber expressions.

"What is happening?" Gabriel asked, glaring at the active magic circle brightening the room under Julius.

"The ghost is probably trying to come out," Nathan said, a calculative light flashing in his eyes. He knew everything about Julius, including the hour of his birth. "We can wait a bit longer before considering drastic measures. He'll turn thirteen in twenty hours, at eight in the evening."

Yet, he didn't know that Luna hadn't cared for those details and chose efficiency. The moment thirteen years passed, she had planned to awaken everyone's memories simultaneously!