The past still haunted me.
The hard choice I had to make between my happy life with Emilia, and the life I could have had with Karlia.
I thought I had settled it all, but I was dead wrong.
Once again, Karlia fought for my sake, finding herself in unbelievable torture as a result.
She did it all for me.
And now I had a choice to make.
One person... or the entirety of existence.
It wasn't even meant to be a decision. It wasn't meant to take deliberation.
But... but...
"I can't abandon Karlia!"
"I can't abandon everyone!"
The cognitive dissonance only kept getting more severe the more I dwelled on it.
These two clashing ideologies made it impossible to make a decision and choose.
I had someone I loved other than Karlia, but I also loved Karlia dearly.
How could I make the right choice in this instance?
The answer appeared to me like an epiphany.
"I... I can do both."
The true reason behind that lie in the power of an Arcana I had used carelessly in the past.
[The Moon].
Of course, I wasn't planning on making a spontaneous decision and possibly threatening the mission on both ends thanks to my incompetence, but... what if I could achieve a perfect replication?
That would work, wouldn't it?
No... it wouldn't. Not really.
'In order to save Karlia, and only Karlia, I need to take a different approach.'
Karlia was someone I cared about, but ultimately lacked enough will to choose.
'Which is why I have to use an imperfect replication.'
I knew the consequences, but this was for the best.
'I want to make a version of me... a version that CAN choose Karlia!'
I could finally correct my past mistakes all those years ago, and fix the regret that now plagued me.
If I could love Karlia enough to save her, damning everything else... that would be the only version of me worthy of even a fraction of the love and devotion she showed me.
Which was why I did exactly that.
********
Within the Great Sage's Archives stood two versions of the one called the Great Sage.
They were identical in every respect—in power, in memories, in intellect, but that was where the similarity ended.
In appearance and emotions, they were completely different.
On one side of the room was Jared Leonard: blond hair, a teenage appearance, his usual demeanor, and the quality of power he possessed.
On the other side was... Lewis Griffith?
He had dark hair, and a focused hairstyle. He was taller than Jared Leonard, and he wore a dark cloak instead of the usual white that Jared donned.
These two looked at each other and smiled.
"Looks like the version of me that loves Karlia the most is still you, huh?" Jared smiled at the person who stood in front of him.
"And how do you feel? About her?" Lewis returned the smile.
"I feel... nothing. Well, I have a faint recollection, but it's not enough to form actual emotions. I suppose I bled everything out to form you."
That response was the satisfactory one.
"This way, none of us have to choose." Jared smiled at his opposite half.
"We can just follow our preferred path." Lewis grinned as well.
"It looks like I'm inept in this form, though."
The replication has succeeded, but that only meant the 'Jared' that was reproduced was the Jared before his reincarnation.
Lewis Griffith's Inept form.
"Aether won't be able to properly function where you're headed. Plus, utilizing Aether in that place will only put a target on your back."
The Nether's realm was bound to be rife with chaos and evil. Having the opposite energy in such a place was bound to be suicide.
"Without Aether, how will I survive, though? I'd be instantly vaporized by the Nether around."
There was that aspect to consider. Without the power of Aether to fight off Nether, his body would be easily corrupted, and.hr would die.
"I have a Nether repelling device. It should protect you from the surrounding Nether. It should also defend you from powerful attacks, but it's durability isn't infinite."
"I understand. And what of the means of getting to Karlia? She's in the Root of the Nether Realm, isn't she?"
This was the major problem. Reaching the Root of the Nether Realm...
"T-that is... the wall I can't overcome." Jared muttered, clenching his teeth as he gritted his fist.
It was impossible to invade the Root of the Nether from any branch of the Aether Tree. Even from the Root of Aether, it was highly problematic.
If it was that simple, then the Nether would have just done that instead.
"I understand what we have to do." Lewis Griffith sighed, both hands in his pockets as he smiled at his partner.
"Really? And what's that?"
"Obtain all the Arcanas in the other world. That way, I'll be able to achieve enough power to reach the Root."
"But how are we certain that world has Arcanas?"
"I'm sure that Crazy Neron must have been well aware of the feasibility of the plan when he sent you Karlia's coordinates and the world you should send me to. Besides, since you have all the Arcanas, you can try a resonance with the Arcanas. You'll most likely get an opposite effect of repulsion, which will prove the Law of Opposite Interactive Relativity that I postulated back then. Ah, it seems I'm getting sidetracked."
Jared simply stood, almost dumbfounded as he listened to himself speak. How could he have forgotten something he had postulated himself?
No, he hadn't lost his intelligence or memories. Perhaps it was his new memories that somewhat clouded his older ones.
But with this version of himself, things were different.
Lewis Griffith remained the Great Sage through and through.
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[A/N]
Last chapter for the Lost Worlds Arc coming up next. It has been an adventure, hasn't it?
