System vs Rebirth

"I don't think I have to answer that question though."

Anna suddenly felt a presence appearing behind her and hurriedly turned around. Her instinct was telling her to raise her left elbow, resulting in the collision with two hands.

"!!!" Anna never thought that she would find another person here. But when she raised her head, she saw her own face. She caught Anna's elbow.

Both of them suddenly released their lightning. The spark formed a shock wave that pushed them back.

Anna couldn't help but take another look at the person who had the same face as her. At the same time, she also noticed the numbness in her arm. The other party's lightning was surprisingly far more powerful. It was like a whirlpool that engulfed everything.

Anna asked, "Who are you?"

"You shouldn't have asked that question when you already know the answer." The other party spoke with the same voice as her. However, her tone was extremely cold.

"!!!" Anna's expression darkened.

"In the rebirth situation, what do you think is the easiest to transport?" The Thunder Berserker Spirit raised another question.

The answer was obvious. In fact, that was the only answer, considering her body should have died with Noel. It was even more convincing after meeting the Sword Saint.

He once used the Soul Contract with her, proving that soul indeed existed. After she died, the soul must have been transported to this timeline and took over the real Anna because her soul was simply stronger than her.

Yes. In this situation, there was only one body but two souls. Her real soul occupied the body this entire time, but what about the original Anna's soul? The answer was obvious. It had been residing in my consciousness. Anna was simply not aware of it or the Thunder Berserker Spirit might play a part in hiding her.

"…" Both Annas stared at each other. The original Anna suddenly leaped forward while shouting, "Just give me my body back!"

Anna didn't plan to lose until she fully understood the entire situation. So, she grabbed the original Anna's hand.

Both of them were releasing their lightning in the same area, causing their lightning to clash with each other. But surprisingly, Anna was the one losing in terms of lightning. Her hand was the first to go numb as she ended up leaping back to regain some distance.

"Wait. I have a lot of questions. Let's talk about this!" Anna tried to stop her, but the latter didn't care and simply charged at her.

"There is no need to talk. Weren't you like that in the past too? You killed anyone who disagreed with you even if they were innocent people!" The original Anna shouted.

Anna grabbed the original Anna's hands, trying to stop her. Their lightning once again sparked, but the result remained the same. Anna was the one losing.

"It's useless. No matter how many times you use it, your lightning won't be stronger than mine. You can't even use the lightning from the Thunder Berserker Spirit perfectly, you're not worthy of that body!"

Anna gritted her teeth, enduring the pain in her hands. The original Anna's lightning was more violent than hers. It was truly the lightning coming from a berserker. Unlike the current Anna who had refined her control, the original Anna focused on the explosive power of that lightning.

"I'm not going to give you back this body."

"You freaking intruder. How dare you occupy my body?! You even ended up falling for him!"

"I know that I occupy your body, but he is not our enemy anymore!"

"You may be right. But that's because of you! My current enemy is you!" The original Anna glared. Her eyes were filled with a lot of anger. "I will defeat you here and take over your body. After that, you won't be able to leave this place and see how I will steal your man! The only thing you can do is witness everything from this place."

"You!" Anna gritted her teeth. She never thought she would be this angry to 'herself.' The lightning around her body began to become even more violent as she let out a roar. "Aaaahhhh!"

The original Anna also released her lightning at full intensity. But, surprisingly, they were equal this time.

"I have been waiting for this chance. I have trained myself to reach a level where I can defeat you." The original Anna was distorted as if her anger had begun to take over. Her physical ability and her lightning became even stronger.

Anna started losing and even took a step back. If this continued, the original Anna would definitely overpower her.

As the original Anna said, it appeared that she had been training in this place for a long time without her knowing. Everything was for the sake of defeating her soul here so that she could take over the body.

However, the thought of her helplessly watching how her real body acts like nothing happened and Noel falling for the 'same' Anna caused her to feel so much pain in her chest.

"I am not going to let you!" Anna gritted her teeth. She withstood the pain and neutralized the lightning.

At the same time, Anna couldn't help but think about what the original Anna had been watching this whole time. How did she feel when her body was taken over by her? She must be feeling the same thing as her.

On the one hand, Anna wanted to be selfish and chose to remain the one controlling the body. On the other hand, Anna could somehow understand this hatred.

If it was the previous her, she might not be able to calm herself so quickly. And Noel's training seemed to bear some fruit, considering she could imagine all the possibilities that the original Anna experienced.

Anna said, "You should know that it's because I took over your body that everything started going better, right?"

"So, should I thank you for kicking me out of my own body?"

"No. What I'm trying to say is that it's better if we talk about it. In the past, I've been incapable of acknowledging my faults. You should know that now it's different."

"If you acknowledge your fault, then switch with me. You have done enough!"

"No way. I'm not going to let you get Noel! I, too, have a dream that I want to fulfill."

"Because of your damn actions, I can no longer see him as an enemy. However, it doesn't mean that I can't bully him."

"Do you think you can do it? He is not that kind of person."

"That's why you should give me that body. I will show you that I'm capable of doing so. You just have to push him down and get the deeds done until he can't do it anymore! Even though your soul is older, your actions are too pure. You old hag!"

"What did you say?!"

Both Annas started applying their strength to show their anger. None of them was planning to give up.

The Thunder Berserker Spirit, on the other hand, remained silent. In fact, it looked like he was amused when watching these two girls fight.

They might be different, but they are derived from the same person. So, it was like they were fighting each other for someone.

There was another reason why he actually trained the original Anna's soul in this place. And Anna seemed to have realized it, albeit the original Anna prevented her from thinking about it.

"You…" The original Anna started to get annoyed.

"What are you? You are me." Anna frowned. "My offer still stands. Let's talk about this. It will be nice if we can reach an agreement."

"Don't talk like you are above me!" The original Anna shouted.

"Because I am!" Anna shouted back as she tried to kick the original Anna. The latter avoided it, but they ended up releasing each other.

Both Annas lowered their hands as they formed a sword.

Cling!

Even though the original Anna was different, she had watched and felt how Anna used her weapon, so she started using everything she had experienced.

A series of clicking sounds reverberated. In just five seconds, they had exchanged ten blows with no one gaining an advantage over the other.

Anna couldn't help but remember the first time she met Noel. The anger might not be as intense, but their action was a bit similar. In the past, she overwhelmed Noel, but this time, she couldn't suppress the original Anna.

That was why she tried another approach.

She asked out loud, "Thunder Berserker Spirit. Why did you train her?"

"Is there a problem? Both of you are my contractors, so I don't think it's a problem, right?" The spirit nonchalantly replied as though it wasn't a big deal.

"Mhm?!" Anna widened her eyes in shock as if that answer had given her a realization. When she thought about it, both of them had the Thunder Berserker Spirit, one body, but two souls.

Normally, people only had one spirit, one soul, and one body. Noel might have two spirits, but Anna realized that she had now become something similar to Noel, but the difference was two souls.

In the first place, two spirits would allow Noel to have two Spiritual Energy Reserve. In that case, what would two souls give?

That realization actually gave her a shock and caused her to be distracted for a split second.

"An opening!" The original Anna hurriedly kicked Anna's hands, knocking them up. After that, she tried to slash her apart, but Anna skillfully rotated her blade, stopping it at the last second.

The original Anna didn't give up and she hurriedly caught her before pushing her down. Her hand tried to reach for Anna's face before electrocuting her, but Anna blocked that hand with her other elbow.

Even though Anna was pinned to the ground, it didn't seem that the original Anna gained that much advantage.

In fact, this allowed Anna to ask out loud, "Thunder Berserker Spirit. If having two spirits allows you to have two times the Spiritual Energy Reserve, what happens if you have two souls in one body?"

"!!!" The original Anna hesitated for a moment, allowing Anna to take advantage of that opening to kick her. She then stood back up as the battle stopped at a standstill.

It seemed that the original Anna was actually curious about the same thing. She had just never thought about it.

The Thunder Berserker Spirit smiled as though he had been waiting for this question. "The spirit only resides in one's body. Why do you think so?"

"It's to create all the essentials like Spiritual Energy Reserve as well as the bridge that connects the spirit and the human, Assimilation." The original Anna answered.

"Correct. Then, what happens when there are two spirits residing in your body?"

"That's…." The original Anna contemplated while Anna answered, "I heard it from Noel. The bridge that connects the spirit and the human is the Spirit Seal. If we have two spirits, we will receive two spirit seals, or two bridges. This also applies to the reserves."

"You will basically be able to reach the limit twice. After all, the spirits are contracted to the bodies, not souls or anything else. In that case, what do you think about the soul? There is a spirit with a soul. You have witnessed such a person and I think you have understood a bit about the soul. So, what is the soul's role in your body?"

Both Annas fell into deep thought this time.

What was actually the role of the soul? They had never thought about it. They tried to connect the Spirit Seal, Spiritual Energy Reserve, Soul, Body, and their lives.

What did they actually learn regarding the spirits? Was there something related to the soul? Or had they just never thought it was related?

Seeing their confused expression, the Thunder Berserker Spirit gave another hint. "One of you already has them, but the other hasn't formed them."