Rebirth-Transcending All Beings-Chapter 66: Normality [2]

More than a month had slipped by in the strange cocoon of the Space-Time array — though to Vergil, it might as well have been a blink or even an eternity.

He didn’t know how many minutes or even seconds passed outside. And for the first time in forever, he realised he didn’t care any more.

"So is this freedom?" Vergil questioned the air — rhetorically answering himself.

Life wasn’t a battlefield, clawing for survival against overwhelming odds nor the desperation to seize power to trample others.

’A peaceful prison made by fate... all for me.’ Vergil smiled. That was the most apt description.

Luminare — his "mother," though the word still felt weird whenever he called her that — had been teaching him the world’s language.

He refused her at first, shrugging her off with an adolescent bitterness.

"What’s the use, moth—er?" he asked. The word mother still didn’t roll off the tongue properly. "There’s no reason for me to learn."

She snapped her finger against the center of his forehead, sending a jolt of pain through him that forced a painful wince.

"Although you don’t have a use for it," Luminare said with a small smile, cuddling him. "Do you plan on doing nothing while you’re here?"

"Lazy boy," she whispered in his ear.

Vergil’s veins popped out. Luminare had already found his weak spot. He had always tried to help Luminare whenever he could, but unable to cope with the boredom, he grudgingly agreed.

Now he could almost write simple sentences — even if he still mangled the grammar badly enough to make Luminare write everything again.

The Blood was still at work — the entity that caused him ruin was also his salvation.

It had made a perfect copy of his heart and from time to time, it would emerge — peering at the isolated cavern. Perhaps curious before resting once more.

It’s abilities were terrifyingly useful. It could sense killing intent in a fifty mile radius like a liver radar. And even more, it could regenerate his organs using its own nutrients and the demonic energy he had.

He exhaled slowly. ’That’s enough reflection for now.’

Standing up, Vergil had grown used to feeling it stir in his chest. Perfectly in unison.

"Should I head back now?" Vergil muttered.

------

Twenty days ago.

The blue flakes crackled softly over the fire fed by dry logs and dried moss.

Luminare sat across from him this time, legs folded gracefully beneath her feet like a shrine maiden. Her eyes gleamed with a depth that made Vergil feel small.

"Do you want to know how you’re still alive," she asked suddenly.

Vergil was sprawled on the ground, tilting his head. "You already—"

She cut in. "Just because your body was regenerated doesn’t explain it all. The soul leaves the body after the vessel dies. So what do you think?"

"Luck — maybe fate just wanted me alive to suffer."

He expected a joke or even a flick to the head for his comment. Instead she rose up, moving to sprawl next to him.

"What happened to being royalty?"

Luminare pinched his cheek gently. "You know better than that." She murmured, cuddling him.

Vergil hitched. "... mom, stop it."

She froze on the spot, eyes widening. "You didn’t stutter."

Vergil flinched slightly, looking away. "Don’t expect another."

"If you say so," she teased, arms wrapping around his neck with a soft embrace.

The spear nearby hummed once with divine light, wanting to rebuke her actions — but Luminare’s sharpened gaze silenced it instantly.

"You’re alive because your Blood Baby carries half of your soul." She answered, letting the words hang in the air. "Even if your body falls, as long as the blood baby lives, you can be rebuilt — unless you run out of Lifespan."

Vergil blinked as he processed the words, slowly embracing the softness of her arms with quiet reluctance. "Then... what about my arm?" He probed, melancholic.

"— Vergil, you’re fixating on it again." Her grip tightened reflexively. "When your Blood Baby awakened, it locked your current form as its true state, just after you lost your arm.

She paused. "This is your origin — the beginning."

Vergil’s breath stilled, the truth pressed down on his heart. And without warning she changed positions, putting his head on her lap.

Her fingers ran gently down his unruly hair, before lightly tapping his forehead like a lullaby.

Something about this feeling would have made him cry.

"It’s alright," Luminare tapped gently. "You think having your arm back would help you reach god."

Vergil had told her his goal. And she didn’t question nor mock him. She reassured him that maybe one day he could try again.

He didn’t know what she meant but — he was reluctant to go back.

"You can chase your past all you like — but sometimes you’ll only find shadows of what you’ve lost."

He wanted to retort, to mention his true thoughts — yet deep down, he swallowed them whole.

Then, a teasing glint entered her eyes.

"Besides... are you trying to escape me, Vergil?"

She leaned closer, whispering conspiratorially. "Because if you are, you’re not doing a good job."

Vergil’s unguarded giggle was contagious and Luminare couldn’t hold it in either, their laughter filling the cavern.

’Perhaps things could stay like this.’

---

Now.

Vergil stood alone. Not at the main chamber but where he arrived. The spike that pierced him now loomed taller than ever, as if trying to reach the outside from the abyssal chasm.

Yet it remained untouched and immaculate — cleaned of all traces of blood by Blood Baby.

He sat beside it, tilting his face towards the invisible ceiling of darkness. Only a faint strand of light protruded, before disappearing into ebony sky of stone.

No stars for him to gaze. Nothing but dark and regrets. — things that could never be fixed.

The sour bonds he couldn’t fix. The friends he could have made. And the academy he hoped to attend — for the strength to challenge the geniuses of this era.

A fleeting dream that would vanish like a passing phantom.

He rose up, facing the spike as if it were a monument. For a long moment he just stared, before a stubborn smile formed.

He turned his back on the spike — and on his dream.

Back toward the firelight.

Back toward the home he had, for now.

Back toward "mother."

---

Vergil hummed softly, walking along the narrow stone pathways. It was a new habit of his when his mother helped him memorise all the pathways of the cave system.

He liked the way it reverberated back at him, allowing him to improve with time.

"Should I become a musician?" he smirked faintly. "I’m also learning the violin from mom — what do you think Blood Baby?"

Something stirred inside him, but instead of exiting from his ribs, a red mist leaked from his left eye — before forming its body.

It hovered before him like a small crimson spirit — its body larger than before after regaining enough nutrients.

"Gu?"

"I’m thinking of changing careers," he spoke seriously. "No more fighting, so — you up for it?"

Blood Baby only flailed its tiny arms. "Gu!?" It squeaked, confused.

"You don’t even know what I’m talking about," Vergil chuckled.

The blood baby floated closer, pressing their foreheads together. It hummed faintly — mimicking Vergil.

"That’s right," Vergil resumed humming. "Like that."

They moved on, both humming together before the Blood Baby yawned, eventually turning into a mist that seeped into his left eye.

--

Vergil stepped into the small structure located in the massive chamber. No creature dared approach — any that did spontaneously ran away.

"I’m home... ’Mother.’" He called as he entered through the wooden door.

Luminare lay on a fur-strewn bed, her glowing white hair spread across the makeshift pillow. Two handmade torches hung on opposite sides, lighting the space and her spear rested in the corner.

For a moment he watched her. She was just like him — a sad person who was abandoned like he was — but unlike him, she was satisfied with the life she had now.

"Devil-spawn," the spear sneered from the corner, quiet enough for him to hear, but not enough to wake her.

Vergil didn’t answer. The spear’s venomous tone had long since lost its sting.

He slumped against the far wall, exhaustion pressing on him from walking so much.

"Nobody wants you here. Even if master welcomes you, I certainly will not."

Vergil closed his eyes. His thoughts lingered on the time he had spent in this cave.

"Maybe so," he whispered. "But I will continue enjoying it while I still can."

The spear fell silent, confused.

Vergil rose, moving to lie on the bed beside Luminare — pulling the thin blanket over them.

Above them was only a wooden roof and still, he found himself humming again. Not for any reason.

Just because he wanted to.

And eventually, despite the spear’s muttered curses, he drifted into sleep.

-------

[Relationship with Luminare has increased to Rank 3]