Chapter 135

We’re Doing It Live

There are a few hard conversations you need to have in life. There is the one where your family pet passed away. There is the one where your parents tell you, that now that you are eighteen you are to go out and make something of yourself away from their house, far far away, in some cases. Then there are the times when you need to tell a pregnant mother that in order to save the universe, she needs to not only sacrifice herself but the soul of her unborn child.

Yeah, straight up Chthulu level mayhem with that last part. I got through about half of the explanation before I realized I couldn’t live with myself if I let Jess or her bastard spawn of a child with Chet suffer that condition. That was why I stopped myself halfway through my explanation and shut up.

I took one long look at General Sharma and realize she is chickening out like a coward. Shaking my head.

“You know what. Never mind. There is a new way. My way.” I say, realizing that going too far into the explanation will mean I likely have to tell a pregnant mother that for the sake of the universe she would just have to permanently kill her child. So that even after I managed to reset the timer on this universe, even after I learned to come back and heal souls, the child would likely now and forever be lost.

Like the worst consolation prize ever. You saved the universe and all it cost you was your child, enjoy your new life. You know, I really hate this universe. I hate the rules of this universe and most importantly, I hate the fact that I am one of the people who is forced to go through each iteration of this life to see the changes and the only changes are that the Celestials and Heralds both are jerks.

Anyways, I am over this, by now my spirit attribute is so high that I should be able to conduct an attack similar to what the Jesses were able to provide with my own soul.

“What? That’s it, you are going to do it by yourself?” Jess says, a look of something filling her eyes.

“Yeah pretty much.” I admit, not wanting to go too deep into the details of what would be required of Jess.

“So what, you are just going to come here, sacrifice yourself and then just leave? Not even going to tell us what this secret plan is on how to defeat a behemoth? You don’t even care if we need to try without you?” Jess says, her hands drawn into fists that are now pounding against my chest.

She hits me, but it isn’t that hard.

I pause, biting my lip, then pause. “You don’t want to know.” I tell her.

“To save universe I think I am willing to do a lot more than you give me credit for.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I am a lot stronger than you give me credit for.”

“If you were this strong, then I am glad I don’t know you.’

“Wha, What! You can’t just do that. No, you tell me and you tell me now what it takes to save the universe.”

“You want to know what it takes, what it really takes? Fine.” I say in a huff. “It takes your soul. You, and me, we are supposed to be a package set in every universe. We go sacrifice ourselves, use our very fragments of our souls. I rip away part of mine give it to you, you add your own soul fragments to it, and then boom after about 50% or more than enough to kill us permanently we are able to destroy the Behemoth.”

I pause as I let that thought go through. Then I continue. “Do you know what that would mean for your unborn child? That they would be subject to the same fate as you. So yes, you and your unborn child could and would likely be enough to save your universe. The only problem is what is the point of living if you don’t have the one you love. If you don’t have the one you sacrificed everything for. What’s the point of saving the universe if your reward is eternal torment.”

At that, I pause and watch as a myriad of emotions and thoughts flow across Jess’ face. She turns from me to Sharma, who has the decency to at least turn away.

“So how are you here?”

“Me? I cheated. I found a loophole.” I almost laugh at my own bad joke, before I continue. “My reward for permanently ending the Behemoth from ever reappearing in my universe. The ability to have a soul that heals on its own and immortality. Because you know, nothing is better than saving the universe and knowing you are forever to walk alone in it.”

“Fuck, man that sucks.” Chet says, and I am so tempted to punch him again.

“Look not from you. I don’t know how you are in this universe, you seem apparently okay here. But my brother in the other universes is a complete womanizing tool.” I admit.

“Oh.” Jess and Chet both say at the same time, then look away from me in an odd form of apprehension.

“What? Did I say something?” I ask.

“Well it is just that you, well what you are describing are a few of the characteristics that…” Chet began, but was then cut off.

“They are part of the characteristics that you had. Well the original you from this universe.” Jess said.

At that I pause and am about to say something, but then dawning realization comes to me. “Got it, so I was the scumbag…” I say.

Then I look at Chet and Jess and wonder. “Wait, if our roles were reversed, then Chet… what class are you?”

“I am a dual classer, a Support Mage and a Psionic.” Chet says.

At that I pause and look to Sharma who seems to be investigating holes in the wall with amazing attention to detail. Looking at her reaction to this, I think she already knew that the roles were reversed and wanted me to sacrifice myself over the happy couple.

“You know what, this universe sucks. So apparently you two could do this in my stead, that is if I for whatever reason die. That said, I refuse to let my unborn niece or nephew die due to my negligence. As such, I am not going to tell the exact process.”

At that Chet looks like he wants to argue, but then stops himself.

Jess too looks like she wants to say something but also decides to keep quiet at the last moment.

“Good. Now, I just need a space suit and a portal to the intended location where the Behemoth is.” I say.

“Can you even do it by yourself?” Jess asks.

“No clue, probably not, but if that is the case we will just have to try something else.” I say.

“I can get you a portal to the location. From there you will just need to come back here to complete the cycle.” Sharma says.

Looking at Sharma I know exactly what she is trying to imply without directly stating it. She is stating that she is the lead Celestial in all of this, the one that when I come back I just reveal her to be an angel or whatever and then this entire series of events will be reset to square one.

“You know, for what its worth. You’re not one of the bad ones.” I admit.

At that Sharma just nods.

“What do you mean she isn’t one of the bad ones?” Jess asks, “you know you have been awfully rude to her since you got here.”

I raise my finger to point out that this is all stupid that I was the one who was summoned here against their will, that I was the one who now has to find a way to kill a Behemoth using an unknown method that I was only the initial part for. Then I decide against it. There is no real point in arguing. For the moment I am just here.

“Can we just get this over with? I think I need to eviscerate my soul in order to save your universe, if I am not mistaking.” I tell the general.

With that she lets out a long breath, then nods. “Right this way.”

I turn to look at Chet and Jess, and can’t help but envy them and their all too perfect world that they live in. Then I realize how messed up my life is, when I realize I am jealous of two people in a different universe that is about to be devoured by a monster they have no known cure for, all because after the monster is dead they will have someone that they can come bac to and start a life with.

Shaking my head I follow the General down her hallway to a hanger area.

“You will use the Mark VIIs, they have a long range teleportation system set up in them. We have already implemented the flight plan that will get you the closest to the behemoth.” General Sharma says.

At that I nod in understanding.

Then a few minutes later I am taken to a changing room where I have my choice of spacesuits. I choose one that allows for ease of movement, then I return to the hanger.

While the ship has a few bells and whistles, all the main components are there. It has an accelerator, a flight control, and most importantly a teleportation nav relay system that looks fairly straightforward to use.

Mentally going over the commands that are needed to get to where I need to go, I feel confident that I can get there.

“You ready?”

I nod, not quite sure if I even know what is exactly going to be requested of me once I get there. I mean sure I’ve gained 500 levels and countless attribute increases since the last time I fought one of these things, but what does that mean? How do I go about weaponizing parts of my soul?

I believe I remember the process to tear apart a chunk of my soul, I think I even remember the spiraling attack pattern that the Jesses then used with my soul as they combined parts of their soul with my own, but then how do I project my soul? How do I even go about hurling the broken particles of myself at an enemy that could kill me with the wave of one massive tentacle?

Honestly I am not cut out for this, the more I think about this, the more I realize just how terrible this idea truly is.

“You having second thoughts?” Sharma asks.

“What? Of course not. Just you know going through the idea of how to hurl parts of my soul as a weapon. I’m really wondering how the Jesses made it look so effortless.” I say.

“You want to know a secret?” Sharma asks, no doubt hearing the doubt that is evident in my voice.

“Sure, what do you got?”

“You don’t have to know exactly what you are doing. You already know the basics right?”

“Yeah, sure break apart my soul in likely one of the most painful processes possible. Something akin to grabbing your own testicles off in a quick twist and pull method, then hand over your manhood to Jess, let her take your sac ball it up and spit it out. Then rinse and repeat as many times as needed, until the monster is dead.”

After hearing my explanation General Sharma just shakes her head and lets out a sigh.

“You know, you have one of the most descriptive ways of describing such a complex action. But it amazes me. You already know the intricate parts. But to be clear your only concern is the delivery method?” Sharma asks.

“Well yeah, how do I hurl my soul at the enemy? You know military tactics 101 and all that?”

At that Sharma just shakes her head. “Let me ask you something, these Jesses, did they learn any new powers to defeat the Behemoth?”

I am about to say that obviously they did, but I pause, as I realize I was with both Jesses. Well at the very least my own Jess from the very beginning, and I know for a fact she never received a new power. She didn’t even know what the magical item shop was. Seeing that look in my eyes, the General smiles a knowing smile. “Right, so now you must ask yourself what they did, or maybe what they attached your souls to, that was able to reach the enemy.”

At that I pause, as the automatic systems begin closing my cockpit around me.

Tsst.

I hear the seals lock shut as I am now in a pressurized container. To my absolute horror the ship starts to roll forward on its, own, all while I try to puzzle out what the General just told me. The fact that she was talking around the subject likely meant it was something that she couldn’t state directly. But what was it.

I am trying to figure it out as I hear the countdown timer to my jump beginning.

Vrrr.

The engine and motors start to pick up torque and speed. Then before it goes anywhere, I have a sudden epiphany. “Fucking hell, I am a moron.”

3, 2, 1….

WHOOSH!