I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 921: Black Eyes, Sky-Blue Hair

Adam glared at the imposter, at its polite posture. Hand down toward Quintella, back slightly bent in, if not exaggerated politeness, enticing theatrics. Even its voice had shifted. No more mocking or varying between low and high chuckles, but the mellowness of his sister whenever she discovered new pastries. It should have smelled like honey.

But Adam only felt the stink of deception behind it all.

His gaze trailed to the lidless eye on the standard beside the desk. For a heartbeat, he lost himself in the runes forming its iris. The legacy sanctum of House Dreadmarche...

Then, his eyes softened at the real Quintella. She slept so peacefully in the large bed, likely lost in dreams of honey and sweets... likely never to awaken unless the imposter allowed her to. The fake knew about his weapons, spells, and even his ability to use qi, yet didn't seem phased in the slightest, as if none could threaten it.

He would bleed on a hundred battlefields to save her. Not when the tremors could wound her. Not in this room, which could leak his secrets to the teachers and Haldris at the slightest damage. The imposter simply leveraged these facts to force him to jump willingly into its trap. And if it could impersonate Sarah and Quintella, it could also impersonate him.

Adam closed his eyes, blowing out an exasperated hiss. "Spare me the lies. You want to replace her with me, to fill in the secrets she doesn't know, and walk the college as me."

"Mhh." The imposter's lips curved like a knife. "What will you do? I'm not forcing you into anything since you hate it. You can walk out, give up on your sister, and let the forgotten room work its magic on your memories. The choice is yours."

"So, I must either sacrifice myself or her. That's the choice you're offering me?" Adam tapped his middle finger against his forehead, his eyes narrowed. "But don't you have a mission of your own?"

"Oh, you know about that, too. I'm impatient to learn how." It waved its hand toward the standard, ending the movement in an upward arc. Yet, his voice betrayed the movement with a tone of extreme boredom. "Yes, yes. The forgotten regent of lost memories wanted me to find an heir to his knowledge. But he aimed beyond the sky. I have awoken thousands of times in the last fifteen thousand years and tested hundreds of candidates. None ever came close to what he had hoped for. Now? I don't care for this impossible task. I'll enjoy my time until slumber claims me for light knows how many decades."

"I'll pass Serevan's trial." Adam stepped forward, knuckles white. That was his only real choice. Succeed where thousands failed, inherit the legacy as he had planned anyway, then... He pointed at the imposter. "Wouldn't you be free if I did? Would you fool around, shackled in the same boring college, when the vast world beckons?"

Silence, thick and heavy, strangled the room as they glared at each other. He watched the imposter's smirk falter for a heartbeat. Then, it grunted through twisted lips. "You'll succeed? Do you think yourself the wisest? The most unique in the entire realm because of your mana and qi? Hahaha!" Its laugh held no amusement. "I hoped twenty-eight times. All talented lads who entered this room on their own. They've either turned to dust or toil for the traitor by now. You... you'll be no different."

"Try me." Adam walked to the bed—walked inside the trap—each step measured, his voice a low rumble. If only he could kill the imposter... Nevermind. He bent over Quintella, the palm he used to restrain Bao, finding her warm cheek.

As he smiled at her, Bao leapt from his shoulder. She nudged her favorite human, crying for her to wake up.

"Protect her, Bao." Adam patted her soft fur.

Bao shook her head. No, they would do it together. Adam couldn't let the horrible fake Quintella do what she wanted!

"I'll be fine. Quintella, too." Adam forced out a grin, but only managed to twist his lips. "I'll be back before you notice it. You know it; I never lie."

"Let this be your first and last lie, then." The fake Quintella gripped the back of Adam's neck, and he allowed the dark mana enshrouding it to touch him.

Drowsiness assaulted his eyelids, making them impossible to keep open. Still, he turned as darkness encroached on the edges of his vision, to gaze at the imposter's shifting features. Blond hair shortened and turned sky-blue. His sister's sweet face grew more angular, more manly, and soon, he was peering into two black eyes. Black? His eyes were the same color as his hair...

A sleepy chuckle escaped his lips as he collapsed onto the soft mattress. "More unique than you thought, right?"

He succumbed to sleep under Bao's aggrieved growls.

The imposter scrutinised his raised palm. His dark pupils trembled, and a shudder ran down his spine. There was nothing he couldn't morph into, unless... It reminded him of when he had morphed into Serevan long ago. The bones thick like limbs were no challenge, and neither were the flames burning in the lich's eye sockets. But the nerves of the realm's chosen tower? They were something impossible to reproduce, even to him, which meant...

"The devil's eyes... Did Haldris succeed in recreating mythical humans? No... Impossible! His hands, too! The magician?" He gripped between his biceps and forearm, feeling the tendons. "The hanged man's tendons, too! Huh?"

His heart felt different. His legs, bones, genetic code, and mana circuits as well. Nothing felt like the real Adam. But it was his abdomen that made him question his reality.

"A dan tian represents the temperance?! The Realm of the Four Monarchs would never allow it! Did Haldris... No, he can't. No human can endure the flaws of so many mythical parts. Even the virtuous Leoric turned into a vengeance-starved beast, while Serevan fought his impulses daily. Haldris merely channelled their strengths to avoid the side effects. Though it relieved them from their flaws, he never, ever dreamed of integrating their organs into him... What in the shades of Vaelthryn is happening?"

Biting his lip, he ignored Bao's growl to press his palm on Adam's forehead. Dark mana surged as he murmured. "I need answers. Now."

The room twisted in indecipherable shapes, and soon, he found himself inside Adam's mind. But the place he saw was far from the archipelago, or even Kumari Kandam, the bastion of the exorcists he knew.

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AN: Happy New Year!