From Human to Skeleton: Revived with Infinite System Crystals

Ty, picturing the orb of the creature he just killed, noticed it replaced a green-colored orb. To his dismay, the creature's orb was much smaller than the rest: a shard the size of a dime, while the other souls were all the size of a small basketball, Ty thought to himself.

Reaching out to grab onto the shard he had absorbed, the small crystal soul shone and disappeared as Ty opened his eyes again, now glowing a bright yellow. "This is definitely an odd situation. I suppose I still have so much more to learn about this power," he mused.

As the night sky suddenly lit up as if it were daytime to Ty, the breeze and smell of everything became heightened.

A small voice echoed in his mind, stating, "Soon I will destroy," before fading away. Ty placed a hand over his head in confusion.

Before he could think about anything else, the growl of creatures was heard from the forest entry.

More creatures, shaped like wolves, lunged toward him. He effortlessly sliced and dispatched them, but one managed to latch onto his shoulder, baring its fangs as it locked eyes with Ty.

Shocked, Ty saw tears rolling down the wolf-like creature's face as it muttered, "Kill me."

Instinctively, Ty had already punctured the wolf creature's stomach with his hand, and it melted away, rotting on the ground.

Suddenly, a gust of wind surfaced. "This must be Nana's," Ty thought as he quickened his pace down the forest path, wondering why she'd go this far out of her way.

Coming upon a massive lake at the center of the forest, he saw many monsters and creatures laid dead, from giant spiders to small green creatures, and many other odd-looking creatures. There, he saw Nana sitting atop a rock, glaring down into the water as the moonlight shined off the bottom, giving the reflection of a moon into the lake.

Ty slowly walked up to her. As he approached, she snapped her finger, exploding Ty's head, revealing his skeleton self for a small moment before it regrew back, and the image of his past face took shape again.

Sitting down next to her, she just stated, "Sorry, I thought you were another monster."

"It's okay; well, it wouldn't have been okay if it was anyone else because they would be dead right now. But I doubt anyone else would have been able to get here so quickly."

"But, it sure is a beautiful sight. You wanna talk about what happened back there, Nana?"

"Well, first off, it would have been nice of you to mention having an entire encounter with some asshole while I was sleeping," Nana said, rubbing her face, trying to hide the show of tears.

Sitting down next to her, Ty stated, "I know you had a rough life, probably worse than many, but you still get back up and try to find a reason to smile, Nana."

"It's okay, though, to cry sometimes and let others in, and just be honest with what you're feeling."

"No one will fault you for that."

"Everyone I've ever cared for has ended up dying. I barely even remember what my parents looked like before they were murdered, and I was sold into slavery. Abused and cursed with this mark since killing my captors and being sold further."

"Every moment of my life in that world was utter hell, and I still don't know why. What was the point of all of that, just for it to be vanished in a moment's notice?" Tears fell down her eyes.

"It was all hell, but why do I miss everyone so much?" she said, beginning to cry more.

Putting a hand around her, Ty stated, "I wish I knew. I'm still trying to figure my way through all of this."

"I would like to imagine that what we suffer and endure matters eventually, but only if we make it matter."

She continued on, stating, "Even with the Demon King judging souls and everything that he does with the planets, I just don't see the point. Is he just someone so bored he can do nothing but create pain and suffering for thousands of worlds, or is there some other reason he creates all these worlds?"

"I don't know if he's mentioned it much, but there are other realms and domains outside of this one."

"I come from a place called Earth," Ty said, looking up towards the night sky. "He told me it was the mortal realm. It wasn't a perfect place and is suffering from many problems, but to this day, I can't dream about anything else but getting back there and meeting with a certain someone again."

Pondering over Ty's words, she stated, "And what will you do if your world is destroyed like mine was?"

"I don't know," Ty answered honestly, "but I've come to the realization the only way to have any answers is to get stronger. We have to somehow bridge the gap in power between us and the Demons, Angelic people, and everyone else who sits on their thrones thinking they are above us."

Nana, running her hands through her dark blue hair, responded, "I see, so your answer is to get strong enough to protect your world."

"I guess since I've lost my world, I will make it my mission to help you in protecting yours. And you can make up for slicing my hand off by taking me out to dinner on this planet of yours one day," she said, with dried tears in her eyes, offering Ty a warm smile.

Ty, showing a shocked look after hearing this, asked, "Why would you want to do something like that?"

"I know we're good friends, but you shouldn't burden yourself with my problems, Nana. I want you to chase your own dreams, whatever that may be."

"You are still breathing and kicking. To our last moments, we must do all we can for those we love," Ty stated, thinking he was offering strong words of wisdom, as Nana gave him a slightly annoyed look.

"You really are stupid, aren't you, for all that power you've got?" she retorted.

"I just told you I lost everything I cared about, outside of a few people, and for better or worse, I can't shake my feelings for you, Ty Hockenson. Protect what I love, right?"

As the moonlight shined down on the forest, she simply uttered, "Well then, I love you, and whatever that entails, I will be ready for it."