Reincarnated as the Baron's son: My Infinite Card Upgrade System-Chapter 100: The Zone

Alaric was still knelt on the ground, eyes widened in shock and limbs trembling continuously.

The cause? Henry Bartholomew was right in front of him, what he was in his former life before he became Alaric Montclair.

Once a military personnel turned Baron.

The past he ran from had somehow caught up to him, even in another world.

"Oi, say something. Shouldn’t you be happy to see me? It’s been a while," Henry uttered, though not a single smile could be seen on his face.

Alaric thought to himself, ’This is just an illusion done by the woman.’

He didn’t want to believe it was himself from the past. How could he? He was right where he was; there was no way there could be two of him.

Alaric knew this—it was logical and pretty easy to grasp. And yet, the more he looked at Henry, the more his entire being began to crumble.

"What? You’re not going to say how you missed the old you? Are you not going to hug me and tell me everything great you’ve accomplished in this new world of yours? Why are you suddenly keeping quiet? You know how to brag about your success. How is this any different?!"

Alaric couldn’t raise his head. Instead, he looked to the ground, the entire situation crumbling on him.

Hina poisoned him, and the woman here claimed to have been the one to influence that action, all in the name of letting him die so she could bring him to this world and trap him here.

And now... now he was right in front of the one thing he never wanted to remember.

This wasn’t himself when he joined the military. No, this was Henry Bartholomew, right before he ever became a soldier, right when he was still a mercenary.

"Look at me!!!"

Henry suddenly yelled.

"Quit running from your fucking past! You know damn well what comes next! You know what I want to say, you know how I’m going to say it. That’s why you’re so afraid. Have you become that weak? So weak the truth scares you?"

Henry then grabbed Alaric by the chin, raising his face to his gaze.

"I am your truth," his words laced with darkness. "So? Tell me. How do you like that new world of yours?"

"..."

"Must be nice, right? Having so many people love and respect you. Being able to overcome every issue with the push of a button. The Creator herself supports you. Bravo, Alaric, bravo!" Henry laughed.

Alaric opened his mouth as if about to say something, only to give up halfway.

"Ahh~ I remember when all we had was our trusted guns to get us out of any type of trouble. It was all we ever needed. Now look, you live for the praises of others, helping the very people that ruined our world."

"They are not... the same," Alaric finally spoke.

And this caught Henry off guard, though not enough to make him think anything of it.

"Oh? Is that so?" Henry let go of Alaric. "Do you remember your reason for taking part in the Hhss project? Of course you don’t, because you didn’t have a choice in the first place. You were merely a puppet to them, reusable, a toy, their favorite toy."

Alaric remembered.

Right after he became a soldier, he didn’t know what to expect from humans. He was never among them to begin with.

During a war, he lost both his parents and had to survive by himself ever since he was a kid.

He joined dangerous factions and helped them carry out dirty work, all for the sake of living. He was good, so good many people wanted him to work for them, and yet, all seemed to want him dead.

Henry went on to be by himself, having little to no human interaction with people, except a mysterious girl—a girl who always showed up in his dreams.

After a while, he never saw her again. It was then he decided to join the military, a way to not lose his humanity while doing the same thing he loved: fighting.

"You remember, how we suffered, how the world made us suffer?! Annabelle, Rukia, James, Sheldon, Luke, Vavi, Rose, Peter..."

Every name mentioned left a hole in Alaric’s chest, causing him to grip his shirt as if trying to reach for his heart.

"You remember all of them. They all died because we trusted too much. It was our fault, and you know this. It has always been our fault. If only we weren’t so gullible, they would have lived. We are the reason they are dead, every one of them."

Henry stood in front of Alaric, looking down at him.

"And what do you do? Right, you entered a new world and went right back to where we ran from. Did you think their deaths were no longer on your head just because you left your old world? Don’t be stupid! We promised revenge—on the world, on the very people that killed us!"

Pointing at Alaric, he yelled,

"Does this look like revenge to you?! Answer me! Alaric!!!"

Alaric went numb, unable to give a fitting reply.

Deep down, he knew everything Henry had told him was the truth.

After coming to this new world, all he wanted to do was focus on his mission and get back to the real world.

Days passed, and he began to come to terms with the fact he could no longer return and was now stuck in the new world as Alaric Montclair.

He didn’t want to get too close to anyone. He couldn’t trust them. Being from a different world wasn’t enough to make him open up to humans.

But Ava, Hina, Kika, Rashin—these people all changed his view on life before he knew it. In the end, he was betrayed by the very ideal he clung to.

"You’re pathetic. You should be lucky the goddess has anything to do with us. We are not worth any love we are given. Because, simply put... we bring only pain to those who love us. We... are a curse."

Soon after, Henry disappeared, and in his place stood the goddess, who was being chained to the ground.

Her long hair dragged against the ground behind her as she knelt before Alaric.

"I’m sorry. You must be so hurt after that," she spoke with a soft yet attractive voice. "I had to remind you what you were like. It was the only way I could get you to agree with me."

Alaric was still numb, his head facing the ground.

"I am the Creator, one of the only surviving gods in this world. I know you’re curious as to how I know you, but this isn’t something you can know now. Not yet. Instead, I want you to stay here with me, where you’ll be safe. Here, take a look."

The system notification showed before Alaric.

[You have gained 500cp.]

[You have unlocked the End Point feature.]

[You can now look into the future.]

Alaric’s eyes finally had some light in them.

The End Point, a feature he had been trying to get for a while, was suddenly within his grasp.

Being the opportunist he was, Alaric instantly wanted to know what could happen in the future.

If he was going to be stuck in the Zone with the goddess, then he needed to avoid that. And if he was going to get out, he would take his time to get answers out of the goddess.

Gulp!

’Activate the End Point.’

[Request confirmed.]

[Activating End Point.]

For a brief second, Alaric saw the smile on the goddess’s face, one that hinted she knew more than she was letting on.

But there wasn’t enough time for him to think about it, as the next second, he was standing in a world filled with only destruction and isolation.

In this world, people ate people, monsters ruled, and everything that was supposed to be born from happiness no longer existed.

"What the hell?"

Alaric was confused.

There was no way anyone would allow the world to get plunged into darkness and not do anything about it.

He tried looking for the Montclair Barony, and even that no longer existed.

Well, except for one person, Hina.

She was crying, her voice loud enough for anyone to hear.

But it wasn’t just that—there was a man in front of her, the man all her tears were meant for.

It was him.

Judging from how pale his skin was, Alaric was able to guess he was dead.

This world had only chaos and a few people who happened to survive whatever must have destroyed the world.

Somehow, Hina was part of the survivors, and only she survived in the entire barony.

"What kind of future is this?! When does this happen? How does this happen?!!!" Alaric yelled.

[The system cannot answer.]

Alaric bit his lip. "You’re telling me the entire world gets destroyed? There’s no way I couldn’t save them, you have to give me an answer!"

[You are not a match for the god that devours.]

[The goddess wishes for you to survive.]