Demon Lord's Reincarnation

While everyone was training, Ren was sitting cross legged on the grass. He was also training by looking into his soul. At his current state gaining more mana wasn't possible since he already reached the limit of what his immature human body can handle. To strengthen himself with mana Ren had no choice but to wait for his body to mature. Only when his body grow up can he store more mana, then refine and strengthen it. Right now he was finding ways to make himself stronger without waiting for his body to grow.

So the only thing that could make him more powerful at the moment were techniques. Currently the only techniques from his demon lord days that his body could handle were limited. So he wanted to learn more moves from those powerful people in his visions. The majority of those guys were human, surely they had techniques that would suit his current human body.

That's why Ren was searching his soul, since he knew that those people were somehow related to his soul. Still Ren wasn't sure if those people in his visions were directly related to him as a being, or if those people were simply ancestors of his now human identity. No matter how long he thought about it, the answer won't come, so in the end he decided to search his soul for the answers he seeks.

Ren concentrated as hard as he can so that he could look deeper into his own soul. When he went beyond the surface he started to hear a voice. It was an arrogant voice which was familiar to Ren, the voice sounded like the man who fought the champion of the ORIGIN in Ren's visions.

"Hey what do you think you're doing, you weakling? Do you want to cheat or something?"

When Ren heard this voice talk directly in his mind, he was stunned for a second but quickly calmed down. He was already expecting something like this to happen, still when it happened it was a bit shocking.

"What do you mean cheat? Also who the hell are you and why are you inside my soul?"

"Oh, you're pretty different from Edge Regius and Rei Kuraki, who were in a similar situation to yours. Also you didn't mind being called a weakling, Ho, how interesting." Ren couldn't see the face of the person speaking, but for some reason Ren knew that the person must be smiling the same smile as his. Why should Ren be bothered from being called a weakling, compared to his former self, his current human form was indeed weak.

"How about you stop talking about things I don't understand, and explain already. Also you should at least state your name first before babbling."

"Heh, fine I shall tell you my name, I'm Leonard Tranor. The one who was once called the human God of Victory. You can call me Leo if you so wish Ren."

A human worshiped as a God, hearing that made Ren smile. The only ones he knew that humans worshiped as human Gods were the so called heroes.

"Well then Leo, tell me what the hell are you doing inside my soul?"

"You still haven't guessed it yet? You and me we're one and the same. I am you and you are me, we share the same soul. So why shouldn't a part of me be here."

Ren already knew that what Leo said was indeed the most likely scenario, but he couldn't be sure until he heard it from the horse's mouth.

"I already guess it was a possibility... But... Hey Leo tell me were you a hero?" When Ren asked this question he immediately regretted it. Ren wanted to take it back, but Leo answered before he could do so, and the answer he heard was the worse possible answer.

"I myself don't really consider myself a hero, but many labelled me as such. Heck most of our incarnations were heroes of their time. The only time we got out of the cycle of being heroes was the time when Rei Kuraki fought the ORIGIN and was able to damage it a bit..."

Ren who heard the answer he feared the most, was now breaking down a bit.

"I the demon lord Kretos was a hero in my past life... I was one of those self absorbed righteous b*st*rds?... Me a hero..."

Hearing Ren mumbling such things made Leo chuckle.

"Oh right, you were that kind of person. Don't worry about it too much, I and the majority of your past incarnations weren't anywhere near the same as those justice freaks. Most of us were only labeled as heroes by others, not that we actively tried to be one. We never did serve justice, we just did whatever we wanted. It's just that many people who witnessed our deeds saw us as heroes. Heck wasn't that the same for you Demon Lord Kretos? Weren't you the hero of the demons?"

When Ren heard Leo's explanation he felt a bit better, but only a bit. He calmed himself before speaking to Leo once more.

"Okay... So then, you are one of my past incarnations... I'm a bit curious, among all my past incarnations how strong was Demon Lord Kretos?"

Knowing that those visions of his were those of his past incarnations made Ren curious. Every one of those people in his visions were strong beyond imagination. If he was to be compared to them, how strong was the so called strongest Demon Lord.

"Hmm... Among the thousands upon thousands of reincarnations we've been through, Demon Lord Kretos is within the top ten thousand."

"Is that low or high in the ranking?"

"We had hundreds of thousands of reincarnations, so I say you're pretty high up the list, technically speaking."

So Ren as Demon Lord Kretos was of a higher ranking, but who knew that there were that many mortals in history that were stronger than him. This knowledge didn't make Ren feel disappointed instead it made him really excited. There were so many people who were stronger than him. For Ren this was proof that he could advance further than he ever dream he could.

"So tell me Leo how high up are you in the rankings?"

"Not to brag or anything, but even among our numerous reincarnations, I stand near the top. We didn't have a meeting to decide, but we could feel it. I Leonard Tranor am in the top ten. I guess you could say I'm near those of the top five."

So the guy Ren saw fighting that ridiculous monster that could make the Gods look like ants was not even in the top five. How ridiculously powerful were his past incarnations?

"So then who is the the strongest among us?"

"The strongest is obviously the first one. The one who started our unreasonable cycle of death and rebirth, the one who started the never ending chain of reincarnations that was different from everyone else. His name is something you wouldn't understand since the language he uses goes beyond the understanding of any being of your era. So let's just call him the original."

"I see... Thanks for answering those questions. Now let's get back to the real topic. Why do you say I'm here to cheat?"

"Obviously I know the reason why you are here searching your soul. You plan to steal the techniques of your other incarnations. It's not like you're the first incarnation that did this, so it was easy to predict." Ren was about to say something in rebuttal, but Leo intercepted him.

"No need to say it, I already know what you're thinking. If we are all one and the same then what you're doing isn't stealing since it was yours to begin with. Is that what you're thinking? Well in a way that's right and at the same time wrong. Indeed all of your past incarnations are you, but at the same time we are of different personalities that share the same soul. We might be similar in many aspects, but ultimately we still have individuality. So if you want to learn our techniques, you mustn't do it like last time were you just glimpse in and tried to replicate the techniques."

"Then how do I learn the techniques?"

"That's easy, you must beat the one who created the technique you wish to learn. Basically You must win against a past incarnation of yours in a match." When Leo said this Ren felt that something happened. He opened his eyes and saw that he was no longer in the forest he and his group were training in. He was now in a white open space and right in front of him was a man who was smiling viciously at him. He knew this man, this was the person in his visions Leonard Tranor. When Ren saw Leo he realized where he was. He somehow manifested a physical presence inside his soul.

"So tell me Ren what do you want to learn first?"