Chapter 54: Ren's Past

"My wish…is to…become your master!"

At a secluded place, Rinne declared loudly and clearly to Ren.

"Here's how the conditions work: First, you will do everything I say. Second, you will cancel the poisonous effects of your Angel. Third, if you disobey me, you will be sealed back in your box, only when you turn good will you be freed!"

Without hearing the protests of the opposite party, Rinne summoned a collar and attached it around Ren's neck.

"Now tell me, why do you hate Shido-san so much?"

"It's because—"

Ren gritted her teeth, and then shouted:

"—I was born from Mom's hatred!"

Shocked by the news, Rinne froze for a second.

"In order to explain everything, I must tell you a tale as old as time:"

"A long time ago, in a certain place, a young girl appeared out of nowhere. One day, this girl met a young boy, and she fell in love with him."

"She has been living the best moments of her life — but not happily ever after, for soon death did them apart."

What?…this sounds familiar…Rinne thought to herself, but didn't intervene.

"The boy was killed by bad guys, and the girl was so depressed that she cried a sea of sorrow, until her lacrimal glands stopped working. Then, she developed hatred toward the ones who took her love."

"However, when her hatred grew stronger, an unnoticeable reiryoku leaked out of her body — transformed into a humanoid figure."

"—An Abnormal Spirit! Such was the embodiment of the deepest sorrow and the darkest hatred of a young innocent girl. Devoid of blessing, devoid of love, nothing but a pure mutation of her negative emotions."

"And this Abnormal Spirit is me—Ren!"

A…a Spirit born as the vergence in hatred. Rinne pondered with a chilling feeling down her spine, before she asked: "In this case, that young girl was…."

"—you guessed it, the daughter of the Spirit of Origin, my little sister!"

Rinne covered her mouth in shock, flabbergasted by the sudden reveal.

"But why….why are you asking people to fulfill their wishes?"

She asked tentatively.

"To answer your question, I must continue my tale:"

"—Seeing a new Spirit emerging out of the blue, the young girl was afraid, since she was born from her own hatred."

"Fearing that this Abnormal Spirit might get in her way and hurt everyone she loved, she cast a seal on her and trapped her in the gap between the real world and the Neighboring World, hoping that she would never awake or break free."

"That seal was so strong that it would last an eternity. Unless the world was destroyed, there was no way for the Abnormal Spirit to be released."

"But as you can see—I broke free from the seal."

"Probably because someone created a little crack for me, with a formula similar to the powers of reiryoku."

Hearing such astonishing news, Rinne could barely speak.

"Sorry, I'm getting off-topic. You asked why I was fulfilling wishes for people, correct?"

"A simple reason. It's because of the power of my angel [Samael]."

"—The moment it is activated, it creates a large arena around the world. However, it is poisonous, and it sucks out the reiryoku, life, and soul of the wish-taker."

"And once I obtain those powers, I shall move on to the next Spirit, and after that, and after that, until I am strong enough to kill — Spirit of Origin, my so-called mother!"

After saying all that, Ren was panting violently, but her gaze still fixated on Rinne, for she had taken that right from her.

"I'm sorry to hear what you have been going through…I really do…" Rinne sighed softly. "But, our mom is dead, so you don't need to seek revenge anymore."

"Liar!" Ren shouted suddenly, startling Rinne. "If she's dead, how come we are still alive!?"

"We are born from her reiryoku, and we shall perish the moment she's dead! So how come we are still alive!?"

"Being born from her reiryoku doesn't necessarily mean relying on her reiryoku to exist." Rinne signed again and shook head: "As I thought, imbued with all these hatred, schemes and deceits for so long, had soundly rendered you incapable of reasoning."

"Don't lecture me! You can never possibly understand the torment I went through! I hate Mio! I hate her for bringing me to life! I hate her for bringing me to life and sealing me off! I hate everything that comes from her and I imprecate her and her creations for eternity!"

She cried hysterically, raising her hand at Rinne and tried to strike her.

"HAAAAAAA!"

But to her dismay, her actions stopped in midair, and a box appeared out of nowhere, absorbing her body inside!

"NOOOO!"

Her cry diminished gradually, until her entire body was sealed inside the box.

Seeing her anguished sister, Rinne shook her head with a sorrowful look.

"You really need to calm down, nee-san."

—Back to the present—

"Ah…..ha….."

Inside the sphere of [Eden], a girl with purple hair and purple eyes was panting violently, blood dripping down her limbs. Her dress was torn apart, some of her porcelain skin exposed in the air.

"Surrender now, and we won't kill you."

Rinne and Mayuri, their astral dresses not even slightly damaged, declared.

"How benevolent, you won't kill me even after everything I have done?"

Ren laughed scornfully as she spat.

"We will if you keep behaving like this."

Rinne delivered an ultimatum.

Seeing no change of heart from the opponent, she sighed sadly, and decided to apply more force into her attacks. However, when she raised her hand, she suddenly stopped—

—She felt her body turning hot, and her powers were gradually suppressed!

—Flashback—

"Mama, papa doesn't want Rio anymore…"

Rio cried as she rubbed her eyes.

"Damn that womanizer!"

Marina gripped her fist and punched in the air.

"Wait, wait, wait…What do you mean?"

Rinne asked in shock.

While Rio was still crying, Marina explained everything to the mother:

As it turned out, Marina took Rio to see Shido, who was staying at a hotel, and wanted to surprise him. Earlier that day, he just told the three of them that he had looped back from the future, informing them of the danger of Ren. Therefore, Rinne went to confront the villainess while the two tried to play with him.

Hearing the good news from Rinne that she had sealed Ren, the two were so ecstatic that they quickly ran to Shido's room and tried to tell him the good news. However, all they got from him was a bolt-from-the-blue question.

"...Who are you again?"

At first, they thought that he was joking, but after a little while, they realized that he had really forgotten them!

As a result, Rio cried on the spot, and Shido panicked. He asked where her mother was, and it enraged Marina, who tried to punch him in the face. But thankfully, Rio grabbed her shirt and begged her not to hit papa.

Marina listened to the kind little girl, but still glared daggers at Shido. Then, she took her and left the place quickly—

Now that Rinne had heard the news, she was astonished as well. How could Shido forget about them once again?

—Back to the present—

"What is happening to my body!?"

Rinne felt the inside of her body in chaos, and she could barely maintain her position. Only thanks to Mayuri holding her did she not fall.

"Hahahaha, what a pleasant surprise!" Ren smirked as she rubbed her wounds. "You had sex with Shido Itsuka earlier, didn't you?"

"!?"

"Think about it, he was poisoned by my reiryoku, and his semen came from his body…." She maintained her smug expression on her face. "What will happen if it gets inside you?"

"You—"

Rinne came to realize something, and couldn't help but shout.

"—That's right! I knew you would relieve his lust with your body!" Ren laughed hysterically, her face distorted by her laughter. "After all, you are too kind to Miku Izayoi!"

Should have made him wear a condom…. Rinne rued silently, gritting her teeth as she kept the inner reiryoku from going berserk.

However, due to her efforts solely fixated on this, the arena of [Eden] that she created started fading in color. At this rate, she wouldn't be able to maintain this barrier or keep fighting.

But Ren wasn't doing much better either, since she was badly beaten by the two. In this case, Mayuri should be able to handle her alone.

Speaking of which, Mayuri spread her wings and carried Rinne in her arms, flying upwards for a hundred yards. At the same time, the feathers on her wings emitted pure holy lights, shooting dozens of energy beams downward:

"[Continuous Energy Bullet]!"

Every single one of them landed on the villainess below, creating huge smokes around her.

"Finally!"

Mayuri exclaimed happily.

Rinne stared at the smokescreen below, feeling a bit relieved but did not dare to relax; her instincts told her that it wouldn't be that easy.

As it turned out, her gut feelings were right.

Ren was revealed from the smokescreen, and what followed was a huge purple shield that enveloped her entire body. Apparently, she was protected from the attack earlier.

"What the heck is that?" Mayuri couldn't help but ask.

"[Absolute Defense]!" Ren smirked, holding a purple stone that resembled the size of a grape, "just a little something I prepared for emergencies."

In the next second, the tiny grape shattered, and the shield around her disappeared.

It was a one-off ability that she developed from the stolen reiryoku of Tree of Life, and she compressed it into one tiny purple orb. It could only be activated once, but it was worth it in this situation, considering how ferocious Mayuri's continuous attacks were.

"Is that all you got?"

Mayuri asked lightly.

"Of course not!"

Ren suddenly took out another purple stone and crushed it in her hand, shouting the name of an unknown Angel.

"[Ain Soph]!"

Suddenly, both Rinne and Mayuri felt a chill down their spines. It was the same feelings that the Spirits developed when Mio Takamiya activated her Angel of Flower against them, the hazard alert coming from their bodies.

A huge minaret emerged from the bottom of the pink dimension, and was soon transformed into a giant tree that could pierce the ceiling of the sphere, standing firm behind Ren.

The giant tree made the two girls recall the smooth surface of inorganic glass, its tree branches spreading out like a peacock's beautiful tail. In the main center of the trunks, the tree skin started cracking and crumbling, before revealing a delicate wood carving of a young girl.

However, before they could marvel at such breathtaking beauty, the surroundings started changing drastically from the center of the tree.

Regardless of the dead grassland under their feet, the rolling mountains in the distance, or the sky filled with dark clouds — everything was distorted under the power of Ren, and was transformed into a monotonous world consisting of black and white squares.

Seriously, Rinne and Mayuri had the illusion of being teleported to a giant chess board!

Wiping the sweat on their foreheads, they held their breath as they examined the surroundings cautiously.

"This territory ... .could it be—A man-made neighboring world?"

"Exactly, your insights are amazing."

Ren responded to Rinne's speculations positively.

"This is the power of the Tree of Life — [Ain Soph]. It was placed in the Neighboring World by our so-called mother, and I acquired it secretly under your nose."

"Thank you for your active and kind explanation."

Although she received valuable information, Rinne did not feel any easier. After all, if Ren could confess it this easily, it meant that she had absolute confidence in her powers.

"[Edict—"

At this time, Ren raised her hand, and opened her lips slightly:

"—All living things hither, shalt not leave this arena]

Just after she spoke, the giant tree behind her emitted a dim flash, just like ripples in the lake, before spreading throughout the entire black and white world.

Rinne and Mayuri keenly noticed that [Ain Soph] developed a little variation, feeling a bit helpless that their tactics earlier were now used against them. After all, [Eden] was taken over by [Ain Soph] in just one minute.

"What did you do?"

Mayuri asked, despite knowing what she had done.

"Nothing much, just making sure you won't be able to escape."

"It's not like we need to escape."

"Perhaps ... .but in order to acquire your reiryoku, I must be cautious."

Ren put her arms down, and fixed her gaze at the two girls.

If the earlier Ren was a lunatic lady, the current Ren looked like a holy sister from a solemn church of worship.

"Rinne….Mayuri…I admire your loyalties toward our mother, despite what she has done to us."

"But I am not as benevolent as you, nor am I as kind as you. So, I must defy her, and I will dig the entire Earth if I have to."

"Maybe my anger toward her makes no sense to you, but it is everything to me. You have the right to question me, and the right to defy me. This is the only respect I can pay you, so now—"

Ren stopped for a brief moment, before opening her mouth again:

"—please die!"

In the next second, countless light branches formed up around her, unreservedly showing her killing intent.

A/N:

Oh snap! Just how much stronger is [Ain Soph] compared to [Eden]? The difference in language says it all.