A wet, squelching sound fell from the sky.
The pitch-black monster now looked like a small tornado whose barbs had converged, touching down perfectly and gently. Its body writhed and twisted, finally gradually taking on a human shape.
Louis had never liked becoming a solid, inky form to attack or do anything else, because every ti he did that, he had to mold a new face for himself to hide his true features. But things had co this far — it no longer seed to matter what his face looked like.
Aboli had vanished, Sylus was in power and scheming who knew what, and the plot had been twisted so badly even its own mother wouldn’t recognize it.
The monster’s jet-black body gradually took shape: a pair of sea-blue eyes flashing in the dark like the rarest gem, a straight, high nose, plum-colored lips pressed together, and hair slightly tousled by the wind.
He cast his eyes over the humans huddled and prostrate on the ground. There wasn’t much emotion in them, but Julia froze for a mont — and she didn’t notice Lily’s pupils suddenly quiver.
"Y—you are..." Julia murmured, not sure what she wanted to say; the feeling was so odd she felt like laughing.
The young man tossed down a jet-black card. As if following an order, the card flew straight into Julia’s palm. Louis looked at her and said softly, "Take it. Live another life."
The mont he finished speaking, the airship descended beside them, bringing a strong gust.
They could leave right now. With money, they could take on new identities and citizenships. They couldn’t start anew simply because no one had ever helped them before — this ti, soone would pull them out of the mud, however belatedly it seed.
Louis didn’t look at Julia’s pained face again; he turned and walked away.
Behind him, Felix’s shout rang out: "Leave! Good — leave, go, go! Bastard, I always knew you didn’t belong here! Finally, you’re leaving — go, get out, go back where you belong!"
Louis’s steps faltered for the briefest mont, but only the briefest — so quick no one noticed — and then he kept walking steadily into the night.
Felix scread, veins bulging on his forehead and neck, his throat raw from the yelling, tears almost spilling from his eyes — just reflex tears, Felix told himself.
"Get out, you bastard... You didn’t even look at once." Felix muttered, fresh blood and blazing fury mixed. Soone sobbed, but the night would swallow everything.
"Go. Hurry, if you don’t want to be caught."
Felix hauled his battered body forward and dragged Julia with him.
Julia didn’t even have tears left on her face; she snatched Lily up, and with two other survivors, they scrambled aboard the airship.
All the while, Lily kept her eyes wide on the direction Louis had vanished, not even blinking until they were seated on the craft.
Louis didn’t know where Julia’s group would go. He had done what he could — he was too small to protect anyone.
The ground was cracked and parched like a desert in the darkness at the border between Zone 5 and Zone 6; no decent plant could survive here.
Louis slumped to the ground, not caring whether his clothes were dirty — they were already too torn, the sort of clothing he would never have worn in his original world.
"Host, are you all right?" The uneasy voice of 666 suddenly rang out.
Louis narrowed his eyes, then abruptly leaned back, letting gravity throw him onto the ground with a resounding, painful thud. System 666 imdiately cried out: "Host, what’s wrong? Don’t die, you can’t die — we can discuss this!"
"A system that doesn’t even know whether its host is alive or dead? Are you foolish, or are you pretending to be innocent?" Louis sneered.
666 didn’t get angry — it just hiccuped and sobbed: "I was just too anxious and worried, boo-hoo. Although it was my fault for being late, sothing blocked my way. I worked hard to find you; your strength proves you’re alive. You even bent the plot and forged unbelievable connections. You truly are the best host I’ve ever seen — and of course you’re my first host; choosing you out of countless options was the best decision I ever made!"
666 sniffled as it spoke, then swelled into reverent praise, full of blazing energy.
Louis felt at a loss for words — this suddenly appearing system was unlike any system he knew and seed more like a foolish dog.
He narrowed his eyes. "So you’re saying you brought to this world and then just left here alone to let the plot run its course, indifferent to whether I lived or died?" How surprising — he’d even had a chance to be the protagonist, ha. Louis thought without emotion, his smile utterly forced.
666 drooped: "I didn’t an to, Your Grace." After a pause, it burst out excitedly, "But you handled everything perfectly. You’re truly remarkable!"
Louis raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did I do? No — tell about your mission first. Why did you choose , and what task should I perform?"
666 imdiately switched into work mode. In a serious tone, it stopped sobbing and said: "I am System 666. My mission is to collect fragnts of rogue souls that shouldn’t exist in these small worlds."
"Fragnts of rogue souls that shouldn’t exist?" Louis repeated softly.
"That’s right," 666 explained. "Worlds that function according to rules have pillars that uphold them — central stories that support the world. But so worlds beco ’polluted’ by these soul-fragnts. These fragnts often invade the pillars of a world, beings usually called protagonists. Recovering them helps the world reboot and return to normal operation."
"And what if they can’t be recovered?" Louis asked.
"Then the world will be driven to the brink of destruction — like this world. These soul-fragnts are usually affected by the character they imitate, forming character-like personalities, but deep in their cores, they harbor destructive instincts. No matter how the plot is twisted, they lead to the sa outco: the world’s destruction."
Louis frowned. "So you an the protagonists in this world aren’t original protagonists but soul-fragnts."
"That’s correct, host. Otherwise, Sylus wouldn’t have been able to defeat Aboli — that would never happen in the original plot." 666 replied.
Louis: "How many soul-fragnts are there?"
666 stamred, "I... I don’t know either."
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