"How do you know I reincarnated?"
"Hmph, it's only a child's play for me, especially when my soul is linked to yours. Somebody, surely a god, seems to have manipulated your soul's reincarnation cycle using Destiny Laws."
"Destiny Laws? What kind of laws are those?" Damien was flabbergasted hearing her talk about a law that seemed to be related with destiny itself.
He had heard about scientific laws like Newton's 1st, 2nd and 3rd laws of motion, the law of conservation of mass and energy, and so on. But where did this destiny law come from? Isn't destiny just another philosophical thing?
"Ugh...you are just a big dum-dum. I suppose you don't know that there are many kinds of laws in this world, considering your previous life might have been on a backward planet, or you were just too dumb to know about it."
"You!! — "
"Shhhh, let this goddess finish enlightening you."
'Goddess my foot. You are just an imp with a cute face.' Damien wanted to retort but restrained himself since he didn't mind shutting his mouth for now if he can learn about this new and mysterious knowledge from her.
"As I was saying, there are Lesser Laws, Greater Laws , Supreme Laws and finally Origin Laws which can be considered to be the origin of all laws and are the most essential towards the functioning of the universe including everything in it. And this destiny law happens to be one of the origin laws. In simple words, using these laws, one can manipulate and shape destiny, allowing them to orchestrate the events that will necessarily happen to a person or thing in the future."
Damien narrowed his eyes as he tried to make sense of this law he had never heard before.
He wondered if he lived all these years under a cave. All the scientific knowledge he had learned in his previous life amounted to nothing in front of this new inexplicable knowledge.
'Does that mean I was really manipulated the whole time? Was I like a puppet being pulled along to someone's whims? The calamity, Sofie's death, my transmigration, everything was planned by that god? But why?? Why would a god even bother with me?'
"Do you know which so-called god did this to me, and am I still being manipulated?" Damien asked while clenching his fists so tight that his injured forearm started bleeding again.
If someone now asked him who his most hated enemy was, he would undoubtedly say it was the person who reduced him to his current state, the one who manipulated him and made him lose everything.
The girl sighed as she said: "Unfortunately, I don't know who did this to you. Right now, I am not powerful enough to track that hateful god through your soul. Otherwise—" she gritted her teeth as her voice turned ice-cold, "I would have already found that lowly god myself and sliced his soul into a million pieces."
'Seems like her hatred for that god is no less than mine, but why?' Damien thought as he felt the air around her stifling, and for a moment, he truly felt that he was before a powerful entity and that he was nothing more than an insignificant ant in front of her.
Her voice returned to normal as she said, "Anyway, you are not being manipulated now. Otherwise, I would have seen strings of destiny attached to your soul, and it would have also made it easier for me to track him. I had only detected some traces of destiny laws in your soul, and that's how I found out about your reincarnation, but it seems like his understanding of destiny laws is too poor, or he is too weak since he has done a sloppy job by leaving traces in your soul. If I could recover my power, it would only be a child's play to track that despicable god. Hmph, he must have used some despicable means due to which I was forced to split my own soul and attach one of my soul fragments to your soul to save myself."
'So now I am free from that god's control...and it seems like she attached herself to my soul.'
"But why did you attach your soul to mine? Am I not just a lowly mortal to you?" Damien sarcastically asked.
She snorted as she said, "It's not like I had a choice. I have to admit that your soul is one of the things that truly stand out when compared to other mortals I have seen. Your soul is abnormally strong for a cripple to even host one of my soul fragments. If I didn't see it for myself, I would have never believed a mortal could possess such an abnormal soul. Even though I don't remember attaching myself to you, there is no other way my soul would have linked with yours without my wish. I must have found you in my weakest state and attached myself before my consciousness can dissipate."
'So seems like my soul is kind of special. Maybe that must be why I was so powerful in my previous life. But I don't remember meeting this girl just like she doesn't...maybe it has to do with my lost memories.' Damien mused.
"You referred to that god as a 'he'. Are you sure it's a male?"
"Who cares if it's a he or she. I just assumed that God is a 'he' for now. Who knows, he might have got lustful and schemed against me due to my ethereal beauty after getting rejected by me."
'Whew...even a god gets lustful? Well, she is even this beautiful with a childish face. I am sure even gods would have gone crazy seeing her adult version. Even I can't imagine how much more beautiful she would have been. But isn't this imp a bit full of herself?'
"But what I still don't get is, why would this god even bother with me? Why would he manipulate my life and ruin it? Did he do it because he was bored and wanted some fun? No, even that's absurd. Logically, why would a god even deal with mortals? Or do gods really play with our lives for fun? You tell me." Damien asked as his voice turned taut.
The girl could feel his turbulent emotions in his soul through her soul connection. Her voice turned a bit soft as she said, "To tell you the truth, I have no memories of any other gods. And I have never interfered with any affairs of mortals before as I only remember creating some planets and life forms. I was alone and existed by myself for who knows how many years. After that, everything is blank. I can't recall what happened after that nor how I lost against that god. So, I don't know."
'Wait...why am I feeling pity for a mortal like him...maybe it's because of my soul connection to him...I should recover as fast as possible. Otherwise, this would be bothersome.'
"What the...you can really create planets and life forms??" Damien's mouth was agape as he got shocked at this fact.
"You dumbo, you still underestimate this goddess?"
"Hey! No more calling names. Unless you want me to…"
"Want you to what? What are you going to do to this goddess?"
"Unless you want me to call you a pig face." Damien said with a roguish smirk on his face.
"How disrespectful! How dare a mortal like you insult this goddess. What makes you think I won't send you off to the deepest void in the cosmos for your offense? " She ranted as her face flushed red with anger.
'Hehe...it seems like beauty is always a weak spot for women, goddess or not.' Damien snickered inwardly.
"Pfft, goddess? You are currently too weak that you had to attach yourself to my soul like a parasite. So how could you even dare to hurt me?" Damien smiled smugly.
"You big—" She interrupted herself before she involuntarily called him names as she herself didn't want to be called a pig face.
'Just you wait...once I recover my powers, we will see who has the last laugh.' She harrumphed inwardly.
It was true that she really needed him as a host to house her soul because if her link was cut off, her consciousness would dissipate, and there is no saying whether she can find another person with a soul at least as strong and special as Damien among other mortals and whether it would even link without any complications.
Binding a soul even if it's a fragment as powerful as hers to a mortal's should be impossible practically. It's like trying to place a very hot object in a paper box. It would simply burn the box away, which is why she was interested in finding out why his soul was special.
'Heh...seems like this little goddess can be disciplined. But I wonder where she even learned these words phew.'
"Fine, this goddess would not lower herself to your level and will call you by your name, Damien." She reluctantly agreed.
"You should be grateful that this goddess is willing to address you by your name." She added.
'Oh please, you love yourself too much.' Damien rolled his eyes.
"By the way, why did I reincarnate in a dead body instead of as a baby?"