It was already dark, but Nero was still unconscious.
"We don't know when she's going to wake up." Breno suggested, "It's getting dark, I think we'd better camp near the safe area".
"Breno's right, Choko." Jana agreed, "Come on, we'd better set up a tent for her to rest."
"Hrm." Choko wiped the trail of tears from her eyes and nodded: "Yes, that's right, we've buried this man's body too. We better not stay here too long."
Choko took Nero in her arms and started carrying her. Jair and Breno had offered to take her, but Choko insisted that she would do it.
They didn't think much about it when they saw her wanting to do it. Since she was the strongest in terms of individual strength in the group.
They then walked south, where the nudist beach was located. Near there, is a barrier where the monsters cannot approach, so there are always hunters near this place to rest or spend the night.
When they felt they'd already crossed the barrier, they also noticed that the area had other people camping. They didn't think much, and they started setting up the tents.
After the tents were ready, Jana whispered, "I think it's best to always have someone on the watch when we go to sleep. We can't be careless: it would be too late if we were attacked in our sleep."
"That's true." Jair said, "I can take the first shift. I'm not sleepy right now."
Choko laid Nero in the tent, "Jana and I are going to sleep first with Nero, you can wake us up after three hours. Then we'll keep watch, okay?"
"Are we going to do two a shift?" Jair frowned, but then he nodded.
Breno didn't think much either and nodded.
Knowing they'd have to wake up soon. Jana and Choko entered the tent where Nero was sleeping.
-
-
'Huh? Where am I?' Nero opened her eyes confused. Nero tried to say that out loud, but it ended up being only in her head.
She tried to control her hands, she couldn't, it was very strange and scary. The ceiling, walls, and floor; these were all blindingly white.
It was like she was just a spectator and she was watching a 3D movie.
Without prior warning, the body, which she no longer had control over, began to move. Walking along the corridors on alert. These actions confused Nero, who wondered what was going on and where exactly this was.
Nero was sure she'd never seen this kind of place before.
The person in control of the body walked in front of a door. They had to put a password into the door's scanner. She pushed the door open cautiously, before walking in.
Inside this room, the person in control, turning her head. She looked towards the monster's tear shaped core. Nero recognized their look from the slimes that she had killed. They shined brightly with a magnificent glow; much greater than anything she had seen before.
Nero could feel her happy feelings, go through this body. This was strange to her since she was sure that these feelings of happiness did not belong to her.
Approaching, whoever was in control of the body, put her hand on some nuclei of monsters and made them disappear.
After she did that, cautiously, she left the room unnoticed. Then Nero watched her walking between the halls again.
"Number Zero?" A voice echoed in her ear, "What are you doing out of your room?"
A very tall man with a pair of horns on his head asked. Nero was surprised by the voice she heard next.
"I was just walking. I was bored in my room." She answered emotionlessly, but with a creative tone.
Nero recognized this voice, but not at the same time. It was her current voice, but only childish. The voice also gave her shivers along her spine.
"You know you can't be in this area." The man said, "Come on, I'll take you to your room."
She said nothing just nodded. After that, Nero found herself following the sturdy, dual horned, six-foot tall man. Nero looked like a child, from the height, on this man's side. She also followed the gaze of the this body towards the strange looking horns.
'These must be memories of the former owner of this body?! Although I still can't understand what they were saying.'
Nero could see that in this white room had just a bed and a small bookcase. There was a door inside the room slightly ajar revealing a toilet and sink.
"Number Zero." The man with horns commanded, "You haven't taken your medicine yet tonight, take it and go to sleep."
"Number Zero!" The man with horns harassed her and took out the medication. He handed her the medicine to take.
The man with horns didn't care that she didn't respond to him, so he just waited to see Number Zero swallow the medicine.
He waited twenty minutes after she had swallowed the pill. He nodded with satisfaction, then left the room and locked the door.
At this time Nero could understand that people were calling her Number Zero.
Nero could feel her body go into a state of numbness and her thoughts started to delay, leaving her mind vague and slow. Nero could barely form what she wanted to think, it was a state of pure agony. To Nero's surprise, that didn't last long.
A few minutes later, the effect of the "medicine" had passed. So, she saw Number Zero got up out of the bed she was lying in. She went over to the bathroom door and locked it. She felt happy once again as she picked up the monster cores.
It didn't seem like she had the same system to absorb them. Unlike what Nero was used to doing, after picking up the monster cores; without the option of some system, she was able to absorb the cores.
She sat cross-legged while holding one of these monster cores and began to meditate. Nero could feel her mind relax and enter a state of calm.
A few minutes later when she was doing it, Number Zero picked up another monster core. She did it over and over again. Nero could say that she was getting stronger by the second. But when she finished absorbing the energy in those monster cores...
Her upcoming actions have concerned her. She wrapped her right hand in something semitransparent with a hint of a blue shade. When she finished doing this, she put her hand far into her mouth and throat.
Nero became pale from this situation. She felt that pain herself, it was an almost unbearable pain. Even if she wanted to ask her why she couldn't find a way to communicate.
One thing that also led him to disbelief was when she saw herself in the mirror. It was the appearance of a girl; around ten or eleven years of age.
'Number Zero...' Her eyes were purple-pink and long black hair flowing just above the lower back. Her hair, it was very different from the current pinkish white color that she knew.
Her light skin began to turn pale white. The pain of her hand in her throat began to build up; rising up from her stomach. The smell released burned her nostrils, as she blanketed the sink with the contents of her stomach.
She cleaned up, unlocked the door, and laid back in her bed.
{Edited By: KaylaDarkfire}