Demon Lord's Reincarnation

Ren woke up and found himself in a dark empty space, of course, he did not panic as not only did this place feel very familiar to him, but he also felt no restrictions were placed on him. Ren used his mana sense to see where he was yet all he could see was an endless abyss. 

\'Did I die? No, even if I did die as a reincarnation of the Strongest Mortal Soul I should have entered that specialized soul realm... Is this because our soul has weakened again?... No that can\'t be it, the ORIGIN had already solved that problem. So then where am I, was I really captured?\'

"Why do you look so worried?" 

The moment he heard a voice from behind him Ren reacted quickly and got into a defensive stance. Ren who had just had a very tough battle was tense but then he realized that the voice sounded familiar. 

"Why are you acting like that, do you want to fight? Oh right, what a stupid question as one of my reincarnations of course you want to fight." 

From the darkness, a figure emerged it was the most powerful person Ren knew, this was the original incarnation the origin of the Strongest Mortal Soul. 

"I see, so I really did die in the end... I guess I failed you, huh? So what\'s going to happen next?" 

"Huh? I think you misunderstood something, you didn\'t die you just fainted you overused a power way beyond your current limit." 

"What does it matter if I fainted or not, that Old God will sacrifice me to the ORIGIN either way, so I\'m going to die anyway." 

"How come you suddenly became so pessimistic?" 

"I\'m not pessimistic, I\'m a realist. I fought with everything I got, no, I gave more than that and I still lost. You should know that the Old God wants to offer me up to the ORIGIN, so maybe the final battle will start any second now." 

"No that won\'t happen, since you were saved." 

"Huh? Who was able to save me? None of those near me had enough strength to fight an Old God"

"The one who saved you was one of Edge\'s original companions the Dragon Tanith."

When Ren heard the name Tanith various memories flooded his head. Edge once showed Ren various scenes in his life, and in those scenes, Tsukiyomi and Tanith had prominent positions. Of course, Ren remembers the powerful obsidian Dragon. Ren then realized what the shining mark on his chest that glowed before was. 

"I see... So that\'s what it was..." 

"Why do you look so disappointed? Never mind I can already guess what you\'re thinking. Hmph, do not think of such superfluous things, you survived, for now, that\'s all that matters." 

"Heh, I guess you\'re right... So what happened after I fainted?" 

The original incarnation waved his hand and a floating screen appeared from the darkness. On the screen, the scene when Ren faints was shown, it then shows Tanith\'s appearance as well as her talk with the Old God. After they were done talking Tanith gave something to the Old God which made the other party leave. Once the Old God was gone, Tanith started to observe the unconscious Ren and after a while, she picked him up and placed him on her back. 

"So that\'s how I was saved."

"Well now that we got that all cleared... Congratulations!"

As the original incarnation\'s voice fell a blinding light appeared above their heads with the words Congratulations flashing before Ren\'s eyes. 

"You have proven your strength, I was already expecting you to be able to barely fight against that many Demi-Gods, but as expected of one of my reincarnations you went far beyond that. You actually fought an Old God and forced him to show his true face. The progress of your strength is quite good despite the limitations at the beginning." 

"Hmm, so are you going to continue that story of yours?" 

"Of course, I never go back on my word, but before that, there is one final test you must pass." 

"Hey! You never said anything about another test!" 

"Well, I just decided on this new test now. Why got a problem with that? It\'s not like you have anything better to do."

The original incarnation looked at Ren in such a way that it felt like Ren could hear the other party\'s voice without him even opening his mouth, it was like he was saying "are you stupid or something?" Seeing that look Ren could only sigh as he scratched his head before he replied. 

"Fine, whatever the challenge is I will do it! Come on then, original one bring it on!"

Ren\'s fighting spirit was ignited. The change between being reluctant and forced to do it, into a burning hot-blooded passion was something most incarnations of the Strongest Mortal Soul could do. No matter how many times he sees that change from his various reincarnations the original couldn\'t help but smile as he too remembered the origin of why he had such a personality trait that sunk into his very soul. 

"Heh, since you\'re able to speak so confidently then let\'s begin. The test before was a test of your physical power, but this time it\'s a test of your mentality and spirit." 

The original incarnation lifted his finger and pointed at Ren. The surrounding darkness was engulfing Ren but he did not move from his spot as he knew that this was part of the test. As per usual there was no fear in Ren\'s eyes as the darkness slowly took over his five senses. 

"I forgot to warn you, this is a test that I had all of my reincarnations take. Among all of them, only a handful was able to barely pass. This test is something that could break even those guys that are known as fearless." 

Ren clicked his tongue as he knew that the original incarnation did not truly forget to tell him, surely that guy waited for this moment as he just wanted to tease him. Ren\'s sense of hearing was about to be fully taken over when he once again heard the original incarnation\'s voice. 

"I hope you don\'t disappoint." Those were the last words Ren heard when all his five senses disappeared.