CHAPTER 330: I AM YOU

Leo felt a throbbing in his head as his eyes fluttered open. When he looked around, his eyes widened in shock.

"Where the fuck am I?!"

He tried to move but he couldn’t . He was chained to the ground as he was forced to stare up at what he could only describe as a Cosmos spreading above him. There were 12 stars of various sizes and colors circling around around a Sun of sorts.

He couldn’t exactly call it a sun as half of it was emitting a black light while the other half was that of a bright white light.

The longer he stared at it, the more his head hurt.

Not because of the brightness, but because it felt wrong. Like it wasn’t meant to be seen by mortal eyes. The pulsing rhythm of the stars overhead made his heartbeat quicken, syncing in unnatural ways. Each time the black and white halves of the sun spun, he felt his body seize, like the air around him shifted and bent under invisible pressure.

Then came the voice.

"You’re awake."

Leo flinched. He hadn’t seen anyone else. But the voice came from everywhere at once. It echoed in his mind, in the space around him, in his very bones. Deep. Hollow. Endless.

Turning his eyes, his gaze shook at what he saw.

’It’s...it’s me?!’

Staring down at Leo who was chained down was a carbon copy of him staring at him from within the white light. The only difference between the two of them was the fact that this Leo had Golden Eyes and white hair.

He had a presence to him that Leo could only describe as a saintly or divine.

The glowing figure hovered effortlessly above the ground, bathed in that eerie, pure white radiance. His robes fluttered despite the lack of wind, and a faint ring of light circled his head like a halo that pulsed in time with the stars.

"We have fallen out of balance," the White haired Leo said, his voice calm and resolute, yet undeniably grave. "We are divided and as we are now remain incomplete."

Leo grimaced as the chains binding him rattled. "What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?"

"I am you," the figure answered simply. "The part of you that seeks order. That values life. That fights for peace even when the world screams for blood."

Leo’s breathing quickened. He didn’t like this. It was too quiet, too surreal, too staged. His body ached, but worse than that, something in his chest felt like it was being pulled in two directions.

Then the light above dimmed.

Only slightly, but enough for him to notice.

Saint Leo stopped mid-sentence. His golden eyes shifted upward. His expression tensed.

Leo followed his gaze.

The dark half of the sun was moving. Expanding. Crawling like a living shadow as it stretched past its bounds and began to swallow the light. The rhythm of the twelve circling stars grew erratic. The pulse no longer a heartbeat but a war drum.

And then it happened.

From the dark side of the sun, a shape began to fall. It did not crash or descend. It dropped, like gravity had yanked it down with sudden intent. It landed without a sound just a few feet in front of Leo.

Another Leo.

This one had wild black hair and crimson eyes that seemed to drink in the light around him. A crooked smile played on his lips. He looked almost bored, but the air around him trembled with menace. Hate. Violence. And something else. Amusement.

"Took you long enough to wake up," Dark Leo said, cracking his neck with a slow roll of his shoulders. "I was starting to think you were gonna let this pretentious bitch finish his little sermon."

Light Leo said nothing. He only watched.

Leo looked between them, heart pounding. "You’re me too?"

"Of course I am," Demon Leo replied as he squatted down to Leo’s eye level. "But unlike him, I don’t pretend. You know what we really want. Deep down."

Leo’s throat was dry. He forced the words out. "What do we want?"

Demon Leo’s grin widened.

"To Kill."

Leo blinked. "Who?"

Demon Leo tilted his head, amused. "Everybody~"

Leo’s breath hitched as he stared at the version of himself grinning like a devil in human skin. The chains around his wrists began to feel colder. Tighter.

"You’re insane," he muttered.

Demon Leo chuckled. "Probably. But you felt it too, didn’t you? That pull in your chest. That hunger. It’s been there ever since we got back. You just buried it under guilt and fear."

"I’m nothing like you."

"That’s where you are wrong. You are me, I am a part of you. I wouldn’t even exist if you didn’t agree with me on some level. Besides some of your friends would make great companions~! That Lily girl is very interesting~!"

Dark Leo’s gaze shifted to the Green star floating by. Leo was shocked as he saw Lily in it’s light. She was surrounded by corpses and blood. Each and every one had been pierced by plants. Leo was horrified.

Leo recoiled.

"No... that’s not real."

"Isn’t it?" Dark Leo said with a smirk. "That’s the thing about us. We lie so much we’ve started to believe our own delusions. You think she’s innocent? You think any of them are?"

Laughter slipped from his lips as Dark Leo continued to speak, thoroughly amused.

"Adam wants to kill his family, Your so called sister has blood on her hands, You just saw Lily’s true nature. You chose each one of them as your friends. You all share one thing. Your natural inclination for destruction~!"

Leo clenched his fists. His chains groaned under the pressure.

"Shut up."

Dark Leo’s smile widened. He stood slowly, pacing in a circle around the bound Leo. The black sun above pulsed in sync with his steps.

"Touch a nerve, did I?" he asked casually. "You knew it already. That’s why you’ve been running. Not from us. From yourself."

Leo shook his head, refusing to look at the stars above. But the images wouldn’t leave him. Lily’s empty eyes as vines pierced flesh. Adam’s calm expression while blood soaked his hands. Luna’s hands covered in blood.

"You could have stopped them from becoming like this," Dark Leo said. "But you didn’t. You helped them. Encouraged them. Just by being there, you guided them to this fate~!"

The white light flared.

Light Leo stepped forward, voice steady. "Enough."

Dark Leo turned, raising an eyebrow. "Finally ready to talk again, huh? I thought you’d float up there pretending to be God a little longer."

"You have overstepped your bounds and as a result, our body is breaking down. Leo must restore the balance or only one of us shall remain in the end.

Dark Leo snarled and stepped back, eyes blazing with hatred. "And what if I want that one to be me?"

Both holy and demonic energies twisted and collided before Leo, crackling with raw power. The air thickened, charged with a fierce heat and cold all at once. Chains biting into his skin, Leo’s breath hitched as he struggled to focus. He had been reduced to a prisoner of war that was about to rage within.