Four days later.
A man, sitting on a small-sized bed in a worn-out, nearly collapsing, dilapidated single-room small house, was sometimes frowning and sighing while gazing at the close yet distant mud walls of his room in silence.
Four days has passed since his violent seizure and loss of consciousness.
And just yesterday, he had woken up from that nightmare, seething in pain all over.
From this estimation, he also concluded that for nearly three days he had endured excruciating pain and torture.
The reason for enduring such pain was quite simple.
Even with his consciousness blurred and senses greatly suppressed, he felt that if he lost hope while enduring this nightmare, all hope would be truly lost, without even finding what was happening or why.
Thus, he chose to endure, gritting his teeth and pulling his soul together.
With his strong and battle-hardened mindset prepared over the years of war, at first he thought he would be able to last without facing any major problems.
Outlasting the pain by enduring it, to find the answers he needed.
This was his goal at first.
But when the process began, shockwaves went through his mind.
His body convulsed and twitched like being possessed by an evil spirit or wraith, his war-tormented, battle-tested willpower, cultivated nearly over 29 years in different battlefields all over the Earth, nearly collapsed and shattered at the first impact.
These things left him speechless, his already blurred consciousness nearly getting destroyed from shock on the spot.
Fortunately, his willpower wasn't so weak to shatter at once and he had an unnerving amount of patience throughout his life, thus seizing the chance and stabilizing his mind within moments to stop the calamity that might have cost his very life just after his successful transmigration over this world.
He forced all his remaining willpower, decisively took control of the situation, and firmly held his blurring senses in check; such that these types of misfortunes could be avoided.
At this very moment, he had also confirmed one thing that changed his mindset completely while suffering and enduring inhumane torture over three days.
That was - he had died in his parent world "Earth" and somehow got transported to another world.
As for what world and how he had been transported here, he didn't know.
Similarly in what form he had been transported here, only soul or along with body - he also didn't know at that moment.
He also didn't know whether he had retained all of his memories and skill sets from Earth.
Although he was anxious, there was nothing he could do as he couldn't even stand up from the floor of his room, continuously convulsing and twitching all over, foaming from his mouth sometimes.
His eyes were dull, losing their brightness as if his life was constantly draining during this suffering, his limbs were flailing here and there without any control, and his senses were suppressed and blurred, thus he was simultaneously in a realm of pain and nothingness, unable to feel anything properly at all and at the very same time, his mind and soul were under great constrain, fighting with another three souls simultaneously - the Original owner's soul, the Returnee's soul and the soul of a Foreign person who was trying to take over this body from the very beginning.
It was a deadly tug-of-war which he hadn't realized at first but understood the moment it began.
Thus not to be outdone and most importantly not to be devoured by these extremely powerful souls and become their nourishment, he had to fight with everything he had.
And thus forgetting about how he had been transported here, or what his current condition was - shoving all these mundane stuff in the back of his mind, he resumed fighting, desperately, without taking a single step back.
He wasn't even in a position to take a single step back at all.
Showing weakness in front of a predator means certain death.
And what was the biggest predator in the world?
A soul that was trying to take over a new body after its original body's death or destruction and thus ready to go for any length vowed to do anything without any remorse or a shred of guilt.
Whether it was to kill and devour another soul or the original soul residing in the body or to fight a foreign soul that was also trying to take over the same body competing with itself to death - nothing was unrealistic and impossible.
Moreover, it was already happening in front of him at that time.
This was his first battle after coming into this world, that too without any prior knowledge about his enemies and without any preparation.
Death in the Original World.
Transmigration to an Unknown World upon facing death in the parent world.
Arriving in an unknown body, only to find himself in a collapsing home, not a palace room or a luxury suit.
And just after arriving, thrusted into a battle concerning life and death where his enemies were unknown.
All of these were more than enough to overwhelm a person who was already living his life in this world, forget about a person who just got betrayed in his original world, died, transmigrated in who-knows-in-what condition, and was sent to the battlefield to earn merits.
The only difference was that if he didn't have any merit at all, he would forfeit his chance of living for a second time.
And there is no one in the world, at least with a stable mind, who would seek death without any rhyme and reason. And what if this was a person who had already died once and then was given a chance to live once more? In no way he or she would ever forfeit that precious chance.
Oliver was also the same.
He too didn't want to forfeit the chance of living once more.
Although his comrade betrayed him on Earth, causing him to be trapped in an encirclement and face death, after getting a chance to live again, his instinctual survival senses ferociously kicked in and forced him to join in this fight to snatch the chance of living from others' jaws.
But he also knew by that time, it would never be so easy.
And his hypothesis was confirmed just by seeing the intimidating battle between two souls, who battled and traveled back and forth like a force of nature, suppressing everything and everyone surrounding them.
Two formidable entities, clashing with all their might, unleashing relentless strikes, terrorizing all around.
Oliver, an Awakened being from Earth, participated in countless battles, before and after his awakening, destroyed several facilities and strongholds, and faced countless powerful beings who employed a vast array of skills while battling each other; had found himself under tremendous suppression at this very moment.
If it was any other time, he might not have believed it, but seeing these two figures with his own eyes, how could he choose not to believe in it?
Unfathomable might.
He, who had fought perilously before his death and even faced several dozens of awakened beings one-on-one all by himself, could not produce such an effect of mountainous suppression over his opponent.
Moreover, in this fight, he was not even an opponent of those two beings who were clashing furiously. He was a mere bystander, watching their battle in awe, and was still getting suppressed by their might.
While watching their fight, within moments, he had already deduced who those mighty figures were. The first one, crackling with Thunderous energy in one hand and Flame energy in the other, was undoubtedly related to the original body in this world.
And as for the second figure, coalesced in a blood-red energy storm, who was matching evenly with the first figure till now from the start of their confrontation was an unknown mountain to him.
As for how did he deduce their identities?
It was quite simple. Souls and bodies have intrinsic connections, when the soul resides in the body, it forms an intangible connection with it, thus carefully nurturing body and soul could elevate one's comprehension and cultivation realms steadily, along with their combat prowess.
All these high-level pieces of knowledge were not part of the old Earth's domain. This knowledge came from the higher realms once Earth was awakened and magic and mana sprouted in its parent world, thus creating the phenomenon of Awakening.
Oliver, who was an Awakened being in the past, although not quite knowledgeable in the matters of body, soul, and their connections, still had a basic understanding of all these things.
And when he transmigrated into this world, in an unknown body, he had instinctively used it to make a defensive posture after waking up from his sleep. At that time, he felt a disconnection between his body and mind - an awkwardness, as if his body was not his, but someone else's. At that time, he was only trying to suppress that foreign feeling to understand where he was or what was happening to him. But as of now, these things were quite clear to him.
He had died in his parent world, got transported here by some unknown power or process, occupied a body that already had a soul and it was not dead, injured, or obliterated in any way. Even after his unjust death in his previous world, he got to live once again. Everything was going quite smoothly until he met another three miniature soul-like persons, who just looked like him...but curse his luck as in terms of martial prowess, they were nothing like him, possessing offensive capabilities that far surpassed his own and would be vehemently victorious once they face him in a battle.
Oliver, albeit a relentless fighter, wasn't a person who would throw his life away to gain a chance of fighting nearly god-like beings, like those two who were fighting now. And not when he had earned a chance to live once more.
By no means, he would engage those two, as he knew under any circumstances, he would stand any chance against them, with or without their realm suppression.
Thus, he finally looked towards the lone, shivering figure, curled up in a corner, looking at those two beings in awe and sheer terror.
Observing this, Oliver started to plan how to salvage this messy situation where there was still a chance at victory - a perilous yet not-so-unattainable shot of a second life, which he was determined to obtain.