After Axel and Iris ended their Divine Connection session, Axel decided to seclude himself at the edge of the cliff near the barrier of the training zone. His blade sat resting next to him on the ground. Iris and Admin watched from afar as he had been at his 'sad boy contemplating by ocean' pose for a few hours now.
"So, mind telling me what happened in there?" Admin asked.
"I'm honestly not sure." Iris replied. "First there was a door that was heavily secured that he DIDN'T want to talk about. Next, we saw him murdering his parents."
"Yeah, seems like him."
"But...that's when it turned odd. He was talking to himself in front of a mirror and was clearly angry about something. When I asked him about it, he smashed the mirror and said he was done for today."
Admin crossed her arms in thought. "Hmmm. Whatever it was brought his system connection down by a few points. His mental stability also fell some. If that keeps up, the mentally constructed world could collapse on you guys if his mental state falls too low."
"That's a thing?" Iris asked. "What would happen to us then?"
"You would be trapped forever in a mental purgatory. That mental construction is what links your consciousness back to reality. Without it, there's no path home. Your bodies would just become empty husks."
Iris took a big gulp as she didn't realize how close they were to possibly the worst fate imaginable. "Got it. Keep him stable."
Axel sat with his feet dangling over the edge of the cliff. He could see the waves crashing against the barrier below, but he couldn't hear anything from outside of it. Ever since they had made the trip inside his mind, he had been beside himself.
"I know you can hear me." Axel mumbled to the other person dwelling within him. "Just know you're not getting shit. This body is mine as well as all the power that comes with it. You should've just stayed gone."
He looked down at his hand and flexed it slowly. He stared at it for several moments to see if it would move on its own or not. When nothing happened he sighed and put it back down. "Or maybe I'm just crazy..."
Axel looked up behind him and saw Admin approaching. She stood next to him and then took a seat as well. Neither one of them said anything for a moment and just looked out over the silent ocean. Admin peeked down at Axel's watch and saw that the mental stability had now dropped to 76%.
"Axel." Admin finally spoke.
"What?"
"You know that I have most knowledge of what goes in your heads as well as your prior lives. Right?"
"I figured as much."
"Then you know I'm going to tell you that you're going to have to stop running from it. I have a pretty good idea of what's behind that door Iris spoke of. What I don't know is what you're so afraid of by letting Iris see."
Axel scoffed. "Why does it even matter? How is that going to make either of us stronger by letting her see those parts of my life?"
"Because of the Divine Connection. You'll only be able to fully utilize it when you've both cleared the strong emotions related to your past and allow the connection to flourish into a Pure Connection. The God Core System is an unnatural connection to the One Core in the first place - because of that any kind of strong influence such as emotions and intents can either hinder/increase the connection. Confront the flaws in your energy and turn it pure. None of that works if you don't face your inner demons so to speak."
Axel leaned back and fell backwards in the grass. "But why me? Couldn't Iris just grab up one of her friends and achieve the same thing? They're basically all tied at the hip anyways."
"It would be too dangerous." Admin revealed. "There's no guarantee we would get the same result if she repeated the same steps she did before or that she just wouldn't kill the other person this time. Besides, I thought you wanted the shortcut."
"What are you, a walking tutorial or something? You always have some long winded answer." Axel complained. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
Axel came off as an idiot, but deep down that was only half true. He did have some sense. He knew that there were quite a few variables that were at play when him and Iris connected and that it probably couldn't happen again with someone else.
Axel reached up towards the sky with his hand. This is all for the sake of my goal, right? He thought.
"Admin, I think Conquest was smarter than I gave him credit for." said Axel. The other person inside him had been right - he knew why he could hear their voice and why he knew it was only going to get worse.
"Explain." She replied.
"Remember how I thought I kept hearing your voice in my head?"
Admin turned towards Axel. "I do." She had a feeling that this conversation after hearing about the incident in the mirror.
"Well, I think I know what it is now. Turns out that Conquest sealing away my power had another effect. The person who inhabited this body before me...is back. I've been hearing his voice for a little while now ever since it happened. And it gets worse. The more the holy energy in me starts to grow, the more he gains power within me. He was even able to move my arm a little." Axel finally admitted. "I think Conquest...knew this would happen."
"That would make sense as to why the other spirit has reawakened...but why would that matter to Conquest? If that was truly part of the aim of someone as crafty as Conquest, I can only assume that this has more purpose than we know of yet."
The ground underneath Admin and Axel began to violently shake as a loud explosion rocked the area.
"What the hell was that?!" Axel said, quickly jumping to his feet and yanking up his sword from the ground. A large cloud of smoke had risen up from the other side of the training area.
Admin zoomed in closer using her vision. She was able to see for miles out by digitally adjusting her own pupils. "Oh? Well that's actually a bit surprising."
Axel turned his head towards her. "What is?"
"I don't think you're gonna like it."
As the smoke began to clear, a figure could be seen standing atop a platform with his head craned in the air in satisfaction.
It was Jayden.
He was drenched in sweat and dirt, but his face radiated with satisfaction.
"I finally did it." He spoke with a confident grin. "Secondary ability achieved."