Glenn groaned as he grabbed his chest, his eyes widening when he couldn't feel any wound there, nor the sword that should be sticking out of it. He quickly glanced at his surroundings, recognizing the Magellanic Clouds making the core of his Mana Heart. They had lost their luster, the previously bright stars dimming as they lacked the Mana that usually filled the place to the brim.

"Alright, so, what am I doing here?" The young man mumbled, floating closer to the center of his Mana Heart. Besides the apparent temporary weakness due to the Mana exhaustion, everything seemed to be in order.

"What you're doing here? Well, it's to meet me, of course!" A voice exclaimed happily from within his Mana Heart, startling him. He quickly turned around, suspiciously looking at the void surrounding the Magellanic Clouds until he found the place where that voice came from. Gravitating around his Mana Heart like the Moon around the Earth, was a small ball of light. It was shining with multiple colors, shifting and changing as time passed.

Glenn frowned as he floated up to the ball of light, willing it to stop in front of him. The ball of light froze, before exploding in a small show of lights that shaped into a human form. The young man watched warily as the shape defined itself with more precision, with a build rather similar to his own. Finally, a young man flashed into existence, donning an incredibly well-detailed knight armor of stainless steel, with each jointures being blurred under veils of distorted lights.

He had no helmet, letting Glenn meet...himself.

The same handsome face, only he was wearing knight armor.

"Huh. I don't look half bad in that," Glenn nodded with acknowledgment, his double whistling with a less than impressed tone.

"And you still wear the same suit. You should change clothes from time to time, you know?"

Glenn's eyebrows twitched as he looked at himself, realizing he was indeed wearing his Soulbound suit. He had never paid attention to how he was dressed before, but it was interesting to realize that his Soulbound item was present in himself...

"Wait..." Glenn looked at his waist, chuckling in disbelief when he found the Black-Gold identification dagger hanging onto it.

'We learn a bit more every day...'

"Great, so, anyway, who are you?" Glenn asked as he stared at his armored double, who was grinning from one ear to the other.

"Well, I'm you!" He replied enthusiastically, before correcting himself, "...Well, cooler you. I don't get why you don't wear heavy armor, with your strength that would protect you from a lot more threats..."

Glenn shook his head dismissively, not interested in the conversation.

"No, but, you're me, but how? Are you a god?" He asked warily, remembering what appearance Onnea had when she first presented herself to him. Armored Glenn sneered before lifting his chin proudly.

"Well, not too far from it. I'm sure a few Circles later I might become one, seeing how powerful we both already are even though we're stuck in the Initiate stage."

"We?"

Armored Glenn nodded confusedly.

"Well, yeah, we. After all, I'm part of you, and you're part of me. You know, the whole soul-infusing stuff with that weird-ass hammer?"

Glenn grumbled in understanding as he remembered the small smithing session he had spent the day before. Indeed, he had been infusing his Soul into the metal that was making the weapon, all that for the 'Infusion'.

"So, you're a part of my soul? Huh, I thought it would just put Soulbound on you but in a more custom way..." Glenn mumbled as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Armored Glenn shrugged as he floated around, looking at the Magellanic Clouds with bewilderment.

"Damn, yours is much bigger than mine. And you have three Circles..." He trailed off, before turning back toward Glenn.

"Anyway, yep, I'm the sword you made. I...I don't think I was supposed to grow a consciousness thought, or at least, not like that..." Armored Glenn trailed off as he rubbed his chin, lost in thoughts. Glenn smacked his lips as he crossed his arms, his eyebrows creased.

"So what, you're just going to hang around, and double-check my decisions?"

Armored Glenn chuckled, shrugging dismissively.

"Well, at least we're already used to having another voice in our heads, right? Where's the annoying little bugger? I'm sure he'll be hella shocked when he sees me. Imagine having two Glenns to deal with!"

Glenn laughed with his double, already imagining Diamanes' confusion.

"Haha, I'm impatient to see that. Though, I think I might take an example on him for a few minutes."

Armored Glenn stopped wandering around, focusing back on the main host.

"Yeah, I agree."

"We need to find you a name that is better than Armored Glenn."

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"I double-agree."

"...So?"

"...What, you expect me to name myself? I'm a sword! With a piece of your soul inside, sure, but still a sword!"

"Should I call you Sword then?"

"Hell naw. No, please, make some efforts."

"...Hyde?"

"Already taken, my man. I'd die of shame if we ever meet another earthling."

"True, but that fitted the context so well...Nelg?"

"Nelg? Oh, Glenn, but with the letters switched...Hmm, I think I can work around with Nelg."

Glenn and Nelg shook hands, both wearing satisfied expressions.

"Well, nice to have you on the team, Nelg. I hope you, no, I won't be as annoying as Diamanes."

"...Just consider me as another entity altogether, we're just going to become both crazy at this at his rate."

"...Deal."

The two exchanged a gaze, before looking at the Magellanic Clouds together.

"...So what now?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

"...I'm still a fucking sword."

"...Sigh. Alright, let's begin with that ball of light. Is this what I think it is?"

"I think you know exactly what that is."

"Yeah, but I do need, you know, confirmations and all that? It's still very confusing having my own, lesser double."

"So, first, I'm not lesser. Secondly, yes, it's another Mana Heart. My own, which means I can develop into my being."

"Oh shit, do you think you'll be able to transform into a human at some point? Like some kind of evil clone?"

"...If I'm evil, you're evil."

"..."

"But I don't know, I need to upgrade my Circles first."

"And how do we do that? Do I just let you get enlightened by yourself or something? Like I did? Heh, imagine a sword receiving enlightenment, isn't that crazy?"

"Heh, that would be stupidly fun as an idea. No, it's relatively simpler. Well, it depends on how you look at things. I'm limited to the same amount of Circles as you, but the only way I can grow is by feeding on souls."

"...That sounds very ominous and very, very evil."

"Well, I'm not the one that was praying for a video-like system that would give me experience and level up by killing stuff."

"...You technically are, you are part of me."

"Shit, don't use my words against me."

"...And I couldn't help it! Killing stuff is fucking useless in this world! It doesn't make me grow in power, well, personal power. It makes me slightly richer but nothing too great, so it's a bit useless, you know?"

"Well, rejoice, Glenn! I level up by killing stuff! Oh, and I don't discriminate, as long as it's smart it's worth something."

"...Alright, well, at least that's simple."

"Yeah..."

"So, how do we get out of here now?"

"I don't know, you're the one in control."

"Yeah, I used to be for sure, but I can't come back to the real world for some reason."

"...Isn't that a tiny little bit worrisome?"

"...Nah, it's probably fine. Maybe something about a timer, I don't know?"

"Ah, indeed, you might be right. Well, see you in your head in a few. I'm impatient to see the other bastard."

"Wait—What?"

----------------------------------------

"Gasp—Fuck!" Glenn cursed as he breathed in deeply, the searing pain in his chest still as present as when he felt the sword plant itself in it. The sword was nowhere to be seen, and the only proof of its existence was a new tattoo on his chest, gleaming gently with a blue mystical light.

"Wait, my chest? Where are my clothes?!?" Glenn mumbled, finding himself naked from head to toe, comfortably lofted in a ridiculously massive bed. A glance around informed him that he was in his room in the Cleaner's Workshop Dormitory. The young man rubbed his forehead painfully, before sighing tiredly.

"I feel like I slept for ages..." He muttered, flinching when one voice came from his left hand while another rang in his head.

"Well, that's because you did—"

"You lazy bastard, oh, hey Diamanes, I'm Nelg!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!?"

"Hahaha, look at that guy, he has never been that flustered in his long "ancient-somehow-eldritch-entity's life"."

"W....What the hell? Why do you speak like Glenn but on steroids?"

Glenn grumbled as he listened to the two bickers as they encountered each other, before shutting them both with a clap of his hands.

"Alright, stop. Diamanes, welcome Nelg, another me. He's also my sword."

"Hey, hey~"

"This is pure insanity."

"And Nelg, even though you already know Diamanes since you're me, here's...well, Diamanes. The friendly evil entity that loves to mock everything."

"Hahaha, nice to meet you!"

"Not a nice comment though. Shit, am I in hell?"

"You tell me. So, we'll have to work something out for all of this speaking stuff, because it's already starting to give me a headache," Glenn began,

"Hey, I have seniority rights, so I should be allowed to speak first!" Diamanes exclaimed, worsening Glenn's headache further. His sword Nelg didn't help either, though.

"So, if you think about it, since I'm, you know, a part of Glenn's soul, I was here before we were even brought to this world. Don't be fooled by the name, I'm Glenn and he's me," Nelg explained convincingly, leaving Diamanes wordless.

Glenn sighed, not struggling for a second to imagine how much of a hell his life was going to be starting from now.

"Cough, cough..." An awkward sound came from the desk a bit further from the bed, garnering the three's attention instantly. Sitting with his feet on the desk, leaning back comfortably, Sahro was waving at him with a smile that seemed like it wanted to cut Glenn to pieces.

"Hey, Glenn. I hope you slept well?" The Black Heir squinted, his eyes shaped like crescent moons. Glenn hesitantly nodded, before taking a second to verify whether Sahro was the only one present in the room or if there were any other lurkers.

"What's up, Sahro? How long was I gone for, a day?" Glenn asked carefully as both Diamanes' and Nelg's voice remained shut. The Black Heir passed his tongue over his teeth, before slowly lifting three fingers. Glenn grimaced as he rubbed his face, finding it strangely emaciated.

"Shit, three days? We lost that much time?" He cursed as he hurriedly summoned his Soulbound suit, jumping out of his bed. He stumbled to the side, finding himself a little weakened. He held himself on the wall, waiting to recover his balance until he took a few steps forward, finding them much harder than how they should usually be. Sahro smacked his lips, making Glenn turn his head back toward him.

"Three weeks."

Glenn's scowl as he struggled to walk froze, replaced by confusion.

"What—What three weeks? What do you mean?"

Sahro didn't reply as he tapped lightly on the desk with his only hand, the fingers moving rhythmically. Glenn's confusion soon transitioned to horror and he stumbled back to his bed, forced to sit in due to the shock.

"Shit, no, no fucking way I slept for three whole weeks..." He mumbled, his eyes stretched widely.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" He asked Sahro pitifully, who sneered while waving it off.

"Don't think I didn't try. I had to deal with most of this mess with Milena and Javier. You really couldn't wake up at a better moment though," The Black Heir dusted his pants off as he stood up, walking to the door of the room.

"Join me in the Dining Hall when you're ready, I'm sure you'll need to eat after three whole weeks of fasting."

"Even more so considering what a glutton you are," Nelg added, causing Glenn's eyelids to twitch at the unwanted comment.

"What's going on?"

Sahro's nose creased as the corner of his lips curved slightly upward.

"Reginald found Sir Redan."