Darkness.
An endless darkness where I can't hear, see or even feel anything.
How long have I been here? I should be able to feel ti naturally, but I can't even do that.
And yet... frankly, it doesn't really matter.
I let things go a long ti ago, I didn't really care what happened to since I ran away from my world, from my father.
All I cared about was living freely as I wanted.
I wonder... did I succeed?
Did I manage to save Aiden? I did exactly what he told , but... I don't know what happened.
I tried to strain my mory and rember what happened.
I didn't even know it was possible if Aiden hadn't told , but sohow I managed to fuse with his soul. And then... it was chaos.
Sothing was spreading through his soul, making him sick.
If I had intervened from the beginning, maybe I could have prevented it, but almost half of the process was already over. So I did the first thing that ca to mind.
It was spreading through Aiden's soul. So just like Aiden had said, if I split the soul in two, it was supposed to stop spreading.
Of course, it was a total gamble, there was a chance that I could kill him with my own hands instead of saving him, but he was going to die anyway if I did nothing.
So, in one fell swoop, I split Aiden's soul in two.
When I did this, the chaotic soul suddenly shook violently and began to dissipate.
I tried to hold it together while it was fused with the soul. If it slipped away, Aiden's body would be nothing but an empty shell. So I did my best to hold the soul together and sewed it back together like a tailor.
It had worked.
When it was all over, the soul had finally stopped spontaneously disintegrating and was more stable. So my focus shifted to the other half of Aiden's soul.
I had barely paid any attention to it during the process, so I was truly stunned by what I saw.
The other half of the soul had sewn itself back together, just as I had just done. Not only that, it was in harmony with the part of Aiden's soul I had saved.
They were separate but they were supporting each other, standing together and still moving as one.
The only problem was... as I looked at it, a shiver, a feeling of discomfort ran through . On the outside, it was stable, in harmony with its other half, but inside it was very different.
There was a war going on inside the soul itself, full of chaos. No, it was like chaos itself.
It was inviting in, trying to pull in.
I was so weak from trying to save Aiden's soul, I had no energy left because I had given almost everything to the process and so I couldn't resist it.
So I did what I did before Aiden summoned to this world. I put myself to sleep and put a protective barrier around .
As long as I slept, my energy would be replenished, and this energy would be used by the barrier and protect from that chaos.
And all the while, I would continue to accumulate a certain amount of energy, and when I was finally vigorous enough, I would wake myself up.
That's all I had to do.
I just... had doubts about when I would wake up.
What if it took hundreds of years?
Wouldn't Aiden be dead by then?
If he dies, can I wake up in the real world?
I don't know, but I don't think I have a choice.
Actually... I'm worried.
Things seem to be going well here, but I don't know what's going on outside.
Has Aiden stayed the sa, has he changed, what happened to him while I was gone... I have no idea.
At the sa ti, a different thought popped into my mind.
How much ti did we spend together? I... I was usually in the background, getting inside him and watching what he did.
In fact, did I even know him in the first place?
I thought back to the first ti we t, and my nonexistent brow furrowed.
Aiden... He is very knowledgeable. He even knows the language of the spirits, how to sign a contract with them, and how to get out of the border. It's like he knows more about than I do.
He knows that much about , but how much do I know about him? Are we really bound to each other, even though we have a contract?
'Then let's get along well. After all, a century is a long ti for .'
I suddenly rembered what he had said to .
A century... a really long ti and I, if Aiden is still alive, will spend it with him.
I... should keep a better relationship with him, shouldn't I?
I should be there for him as soone who lives in his mind, as a source of so of his power.
Until now I had underestimated this contract thing, I had seen it as a trivial thing, but the ti I had spent here had helped to realize so things.
Determination flooded my whole body and I focused on the energy within .
How much more do I need? I can't be sure...
In this way, I put all my focus on the energy that I had accumulated inside and watched it build up. One by one, I observed every bit of energy entering my body and tried to calculate whether it would be enough or not; when would be the soonest I could wake up.
Until the ti when I would wake up, I just focused on that.
*******
"I've emailed you the full content of the style you want, download it to your watch and you can start working without fear of losing it."
Just as the professor said, I opened the email and downloaded the file, and an app appeared directly in the main nu of the watch.
The content of this app was all about the 'only half found' content of a style called 'Ambiguous Flow'.
The professor was still hesitant because of the status of the style, I could see from his facial expression that he was not satisfied, but I was grateful to him.
"Thank you for trusting , professor. Believe , you won't regret it."
Satisfied, I closed my watch and drew my sword, pointing it at the professor.
Even though I had just gotten my hands on the style and wanted to study it, I wanted to raise the professor's mood a bit, he looked really pensive.
"We shouldn't stand idle, right?"
Fortunately, I got a positive result from what I was doing, a slight smile appeared on the professor's face when he saw that I was eager to duel with him.
"Yes... We shouldn't wait idly."
The professor drew his sword and pointed it at , and then we just looked at each other around the room without doing anything.
It was training without any skills, just using our swords.
I was not allowed to use any mana, to strengthen myself in any way. That's exactly why Professor Calvin's training was painful, even though I couldn't use mana, he didn't compromise himself too much.
It was difficult to fight with pure sword skill against soone so familiar with the sword, but it was also effective.
Thanks to this, I had beco quite advanced in swordsmanship in just a month and a half.
First, we both took a deep breath, focused on each other and then the professor and our swords clashed.
I thought I was slowly getting to the point where I could stand up to him, but... I didn't realize what was happening for a mont when I lost my balance and staggered with the recoil I felt.
I felt such a recoil that it was as if I had hit an indestructible wall.
"What? Did you think we would always stay at the sa pace? If so, how will you develop, get up!"
The slight smile on the professor's face widened. His earlier hesitation was gone, replaced by a sadistic expression.
Shit...
*******
When I walked out of the training building, there was only one thing on my mind.
Professor Calvin is a demon.
Wasn't this man a guardian of virtue...?
I don't understand why he has such an... evil side.
I took a deep breath despite my aching muscles, headed toward the dormitory building and after a while, I went to my room without incident. I let myself fall on my bed while continuing to hurl insults at the professor.
I didn't stay in bed for long though, instead, I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower.
Normally I would take a shower either early in the morning, before going to bed, or if I was really pissed.
The reason why I showered so early in the evening was that my whole body was covered in sweat thanks to the professor and I was going sowhere.
Today was the first day we were going to et with the new mbers of the 'Study Group'. I couldn't go among them slling of sweat.
After my shower, I changed into comfortable, ordinary clothes. Even though it didn't make much sense anymore, after putting on my usual coat, I took my tablet with and headed straight to the café where the karaoke rooms were.
This way it only took six minutes to get from my dorm room to the usual karaoke room.
When I arrived in front of the room, I didn't knock right away.
Although I'm calm in most situations, I'm a little nervous right now.
When I used to study with Adrian and Julian, there were only 'three' of us, so I was more relaxed, but this ti... there will be six of us.
It's the first ti I'm going to et so many people at once, and besides, I've been quite a loner in the past. My experience for a situation like this is literally zero. That's why I was nervous.
I took a deep breath, poured a small amount of mana into the Absolute Mind, and felt relaxed.
Well... I guess I have to thank it for that.
I calmly reached for the door, prepared to knock on it, but it suddenly opened before I could touch it.
So I found two violet eyes looking directly at .
"Uh... Thank you?"
Celine didn't seem surprised to see .
How did she know I was here?
"My instincts are good."
Ah... True, her passive skill might have predicted that I was here, but if it's going to react even to sothing as simple as this... it's more frightening than I thought.
Although I couldn't help but hesitate at the answer, I slowly went inside without saying anything and Celine closed the door behind so I could take a quick look inside.
Adrian and Julian were sitting like puppies about a ter behind where they always sat, staring at . In the spot they particularly avoided was Lucia, a blonde girl with a rather ordinary black mask on her face.
It's possible to mitigate the effects of charm in this way, even in the ga she wears the sa mask for a while, but it's a temporary solution.
Because a simple mask cannot cover the effects of statistics so easily, it can only reduce them a little because it covers her face.
I turned my eyes back to Adrian and Julian, and when I did we locked eyes and then I suddenly felt like laughing.
Adrian was expressionless, but I could tell he was wary of Lucia.
Julian, on the other hand...
I swallowed my laughter, ignored Julian's silent 'cries for help' and took off my coat once I was next to them.
Thanks to the Absolute Mind, I didn't feel so srized, even though Lucia still looked more beautiful to . I was calm and it served well. Of course, that couldn't be said for the others.
I glanced around the room again, aiming to look at Adrian and Julian and laugh, but then my brow furrowed.
Oh... Sue isn't here?
I quickly checked my watch, then the ssaging app, and looked at the group details.
Sue wasn't in the group.
Not that she had left the group or anything, but she still hadn't joined the group even though I had invited her to join earlier.
I thought she needed so ti and then she would join the group on her own, but the group invitation was not indefinite. It expired yesterday.
Should I nudge her a little bit to co?
I want her to act independently of though, she shouldn't always be guided by .
Still, I'm upset that I couldn't see her...
Whatever.
Celine and Lucia were talking to themselves, and Adrian and Julian were standing in the sa spot they had been just a mont ago.
No lie, the atmosphere was a bit tense.
"Okay!"
At my sudden shout, all eyes turned to and I smiled slightly.
"If everyone's gathered then-"
~knock! ~knock! ~knock!
My words were interrupted by a knock on the door of the room. I turned to the door with a puzzled expression.
"I'll check it."
I quickly went to the door, opened it without waiting, and then I was greeted with the scene I had expected.
An involuntary smile ford on my face.
"Welco, Sue."
I wanted to step aside and make way for her, that was my intention, but then I realized sothing else and paused.
The slight smile on my face instantly disappeared when I saw the figure standing just behind Sue.
My eyebrows raised aninglessly, and my eyes widened. I just froze where I was.
Alysia, with her waist-length silver hair and coal-black eyes, was looking at with her tablet in her hand.
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