Seeing his brother, Zeno lying unconscious on the ground bleeding to death, Adam's face betrays an expression of anger which is quickly replaced by a sense of concern and urgency.
He runs up to the unconscious Zeno and presses down on his wound to stop the blood flow. He doesn't know what else to do as he wasn't knowledgeable in this field. He turns to his companion who was with him before he encountered Zeno in this state.
"It is a shallow stab wound. Luckily, he will be fine with proper patch up."
Another person who was accompanying Adam till now gives his suggestion after checking Zeno's condition.
"Hey, you two. Back off! He is ours!"
Diaz, who was approaching the fallen Zeno notices two entrees to the place, both of whom he doesn't recognise at first.
As they turn to face him, he recognises both of them. One is Adam, son of late Larry and a popular Grade 9 young Advancer. His feat of exterminating 20 red slimes at once was something that not even the Meisters in their village are capable of.
The other one is Peter, one of the priests of the Village Church. He is not a high grade Advancer or anything but his words as the priest holds some weight amongst the villagers.
Even if they are bigshots, Diaz can't allow them to help the kid, when they have finally managed to get a hold of him.
"You guys better not interfere in our work. Boss Ripper wants to see that kid."
Diaz warns cautiously. He thinks using the name of Ripper might cause them to back off as the latter was someone no one normally wanted to associate with.
Hearing this however, Adam wasn't the least bit afraid. On the contrary, he couldn't suppress his anger any longer and decided to lash out without thinking anymore.
"Do not kill him. Just make him suffer."
Adam says in a low voice, as if to himself. But it was not.
A huge hazy transparent figure rises up from Adam's back like a ghost appearing from the coffin. Its overall figure is similar to that of a wild beast. But because of its semi- invisible appearance, one cannot make out what it is. Being transparent, its presence could only be felt by the shiny red eyes and the vibe of intimidation around itself.
BLEEEEEEAAAAKKK
*Thump* *Thrash*
The hazy figure gives out a high pitched growl as it jumps out from Adam and raining physical attacks upon Diaz. It was like seeing a wild dog play around with its chew toy except here the dog is an invisible enemy.
'Owww … What's happening? What is attacking me? Aaargggh!!'
Those were the thoughts going in Diaz's head as he was being handled by the hazy figure. If Zeno was here, he would recognize the hazy figure to have some similarity with the beast that helped him in the forest.
"He….help! Urggh… Somebody help me…."
Those were the only words Diaz make out after being hit continuously. Visible attacks in the form of claw marks and stomp marks appear all over Diaz's body one by one. To an outsider, it only looks like Diaz is being thrown around with no mercy by some invisible force.
All this time, Adam was just nonchalantly watching all this unfold as he bring his attention back to Zeno. He takes up Zeno in his hands before giving him to the priest.
"Please save him."
Adam asks the man who agrees by nodding his head. He knew he could only trust the man if his brother is to be saved. The man takes up the unconscious Zeno and goes running off away from here.
Just as the man leaves Adam's view, the air of concern around Adam vanishes, replaced by an atmosphere stifled with vengeance. If one looked closely, even his pupils seems to have a reddish tint and his bloodlust could be felt by anyone even outside the clearing.
'I don't care who send you. None of you will leave this place intact.'
Adam decides in his mind as he faces them again. Seeing Diaz almost dead, he turns his attention towards others in the clearing, the dagger guys and Debbie who was coming out of her paralysis.
*Bleak*
As if sensing Adam's mind, the hazy figure who was assaulting Diaz leaves him alone and goes in to attack the other three. By this time, Diaz had become almost like a ragged doll bleeding both internally and externally with his clothes tattered and bones shattered.
"This is a crisis. Why is this boy meddling now? Our sources didn't say anything about this. We need to regroup."
Debbie, who was coming out of her paralysed state, says to herself as she notices the three others being thrown here and there just like Diaz was thrown a moment ago.
She tries to go to their rescue before being stopped by the Adam who appears in front of her like a mirage.
++Fleeting Cloud Steps++
++Resonance Fist Technique++
He goes in for a punch as he appears, but she manages to block it, grabbing the Warhammer she had left on the ground. Her quick thinking saved her from taking a beating.
*crackle* *crackle*
Even then, the construct in her hands crumbles and she gets thrown off towards one of the shops due to the impact. Still she manages to come back without being much hurt and uses her
She knew that this boy was even stronger than her even though they are the same Cosmic Grade. Moreover, he possesses some sort of strange skills, different from the Construct Gift related skills they all have.
'I should have known that boy must have been someone important, seeing he managed to hold on till he did. Looks like I have to call some backup.'
Debbie realises as she starts to take out a device which looks like a palm sized stone, from her pocket.
"David, we have an unusual situation here. The Devil boy is fighting us."
She whispers into it before proceeding to retaliate even though she knew she had no shot at winning. Her aim was to keep fighting till help arrived.
By this time, the other three people were also incapacitated and the transparent hazy figure remains in its position waiting for the next command.
Adam proceeds to unleash a series of Resonance Fist techniques at Debbie who was almost evading them coupled with Fleeting Cloud Steps used for moving discreetly. He doesn't care whether his opponent is a female or weaker than him. To him, someone who dared to touch his family wasn't worth sparing.
*Swoosh*
Just before he could give another punch before taking her out, he is interrupted by a construct attack from nowhere aimed at him which he evades fast. It is a gauntlet construct with extended claws attached in between the closed knuckles. Someone else has entered the fight and Adam quickly recognizes who it is.
"Why don't you just stop for now, little devil boy?"
A tall man enters out of nowhere, in between the two saving Debbie at the last moment.
Devil boy was the nickname the villagers gave to Adam seeing him fight during the last Dungeon Break with his unusual skills. It was like he has a ghost who does the work for him.
The man who appeared now obviously knew Adam and his unusual skills since they had once exchanged fists and both of them didn't go unhurt. He is also the same man who was with Debbie above the high structure when the chase began.
"Did you think I would stop just because a Grade 15 Advancer like you joined, David?"
Adam asks back trying to maintain his dominance.
"Hopefully yes and I would be happy if you would call me Sir David instead of just David.
At least I am someone who is your father's age."
The man replies back with a touch of humour. He is David, one of the chiefs in Ripper's mafia. He maybe a theif by profession but whatever he earns out of it goes for the people in the slums too. Hence he has a unique place in Outsiders' hearts.
"You are a robber just like them and I don't respect robbers." Adam replies back. "Moreover you all hurt my brother and you are telling me to turn a blind eye to it?" Adam asks as he tries to control the hazy beast to stay still. Even though he is staying tough, it takes a lot of him to control the beast.
"How were they supposed to know that he was your brother? If we knew, we would have just come to you to talk about it.
One of my men accidentally stabbed your brother and he knocked out more than half of them while you almost killed 4 of my men and one of my best fighters."
David responds pointing at the men and Debbie. Fortunately for her, her thick skin and muscles helped her take the beating from the boy without getting hurt much more.
"Let's just say it's even. We won't bother your brother ever again. But just don't let him come in our way too."
David gives his final offer hoping to cool things down. Even though that kid was the reason Dinian was caught in the first place, he didn't want to antagonise Adam any more, especially when they stabbed the kid and made things worse. It seems he himself would have to talk with boss Ripper about leaving the kid alone.
"...."
Adam doesn't say anything to that but recalls his transparent friend back before leaving the clearing. He just wanted to vent his anger at them at the spur of the moment and he has done enough. He knew when to stop before it becomes a major problem.
Debbie, the one who suffered defeat at the kid's hand was not pleased with the result but she doesn't have the strength to back it up against him.
"Don't be upset, Debbie. Adam was trained by Larry and Larry was someone who had even kicked our boss's ass. It's already praiseworthy that you were able to hold on till now."
David tries to cheer up Debbie seeing her upset. Even though they have like a superior and employee relationship, they were also friends at the core.
"It's not just the devil boy. The previous kid, his brother also had some sort of skills which even I couldn't do anything against it. That is what's bumming me out."
Debbie replies as she recalls her experience of being paralysed with no means to help herself.
"Why haven't we heard of him till now? Will he become a bother to us just like his brother and father?" She asks David as that thought struck in her head.
"We will see. With Larry dead, there is no one who can stop us if we go all out. But we have to take care not to make enemies out of everyone we meet.
Now let's wake all of them up. At least they can carry the ones who are injured."
David answers as he goes on to wake up the lot of them. This is an unusual experience for the robbers to be on the receiving end. But to the onlookers, seeing a fight occurring in the market is a daily incident.
~Night time~
Faraway from the market, above the hilly area leading to Village Church, you could see many houses passing along. Under one of these houses, Zeno is sleeping comfortably in a bed until he jerks himself awake suddenly.
"..… Where am I? I didn't die, did I? Profile, are you there?"
He looks around only to find himself within a wooden cottage. The only last thing he remembers is seeing Adam's name on a screen before blacking out. Which means Adam saved him once again, just as he did from the dungeon.
"Are you alright, Zeno?"
A female voice calls out to him from his immediate left which spooks him suddenly. He turns his left to see someone familiar.
"Syra, uh.. I didn't see you there. What are you doing here? Matter of fact, where am I?"
Zeno asks confused. He didn't expect to see her here at all, wherever this place is.
Syra was sitting beside the bed holding a book in her hands. She was reading it to pass her time till he woke up. But what Zeno couldn't understand was, why was she here.
Last time he was awake, he was stabbed by one of those dagger constructs thrown by the tall dude, Diaz from Ripper's gang. And now,he is lying down somewhere in the company of a young lady.
'I really am in a fantasy world, I must say.' Zeno muses in his head.
"You are in the outhouse belonging to the church, Zeno. You were found hurt and my father brought you here to be treated.
Who is Profile, by the way?"
Syra asks, detecting something suspicious. She doesn't know anyone by that name. Moreover it doesn't even sound like a person's name.
"No one, just something random that came upon my toungue unknowingly." Zeno defends telling a lie. 'I really should keep my mouth shut sometimes.'
'Seriously Profile, what happened after that?' Zeno asks in his head.
[User was saved by the timely rescue by the subject named Adam and some person accompanying him, who brought User here to be treated.]
'I see.'
Zeno responds back in his head. Even though he is glad that he is still alive, he is also frustrated that he had to suffer a defeat like that.
He already knew that this world is a world where strength determines everything. But to be continously chased around like a prey, he wasn't a fan of that.
'I need to step up my game.'
Zeno decides in his head. He checks the area around the stab wound treated and wound over with some cloth.
'So, there really are people who treat wounds in the conventional way, instead of using some skill.' Zeno comments in his head.
Seeing Zeno check out the wound, Syra felt obliged to explain more.
"My mother is sort of a healer by profession. She knows how to treat wounds and all.
But what's surprising is that I didn't know you were the kind to get into fights. What happened to you?"
Syra asks with genuine concern.
The Zeno she knew was a meek boy who was afraid to face anyone. He was her friend, one she cared. But did he think back the same way, she never knew. Then one day, he suddenly drops out of the Academy and was never seen again. She also leaves the Academy due to some family matters. Now out of seemingly nowhere, he is back but different.
"Maybe I am not the same person you once knew." Zeno answers back honestly.
Before she could ask back what he means by that, a voice from outside the cottage calls out to her.
"SYRAA!! Did the boy wake up?"
"Yes…., yes Mother"
She forgets what she was about to ask him because of the sudden interruption. Not knowing what else to do, she leaves through the door to disappear outside.
"Did I say something wrong? Well, it doesn't matter."
Zeno says as he tries to get up. He could feel the pain from the stab wound as he gets up, but it is still tolerable for him. Just as he gets up, a woman holding a tray with food, enters through the door.
"What do you think you are doing, brat? Sit down there!!"
On seeing Zeno standing, she puts the tray atop a table and gets him back on the bed.
'Okay, she must be Syra's mother.'
Seeing her shout at him like that, Zeno knew she was the one who treated him. And he could only obey her at the moment. After all, she did save him.
"You are not completely healed, boy. And where do you think you were going?"
She asks with a motherly intimidation. Being treated this way, he didn't know how to answer her.
"I was just confused, Ma'am…?"
Zeno pauses as he realises he doesn't know her name.
'View'
🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲
Name: Mary
Age: 37
Cosmic Grade: 12
(200/400,000 exp)
Energy Points: 300,000/300,000
Construct Gift: Rope
Job: Priestess of the Reedling Angelic Church, Village Physician
Inbuilt skills:
Create Rope Lv6 (29%)
Rope Bind Lv 5 (32%)
Rope Clothing Lv 4 (39%)
Techniques:
Wound Dressing Lv6 (40%)
Wound Stitching Lv4 (29%)
🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲
'Alright alright. Let's settle down for a moment. Shall we?'
Zeno talks to himself in his head as decides to lie down back on the bed. From his recent experience, high levelled females are highly aggressive and he definitely doesn't want to end up on their bad side.
"It's Mary. You can call me, Priestess Mary just like everyone." She answers seeing him stop in his sentence."Now go on, eat it."
She gives him the food on the tray which he gorges without any question. After all, he was quite famished from today's events.
While eating, he notices Syra looking at him from outside the door. That is when he notices that she forgot to take the book she was reaading with her.
"I think, she wants her book back." Zeno tells Mary pointing at the book, who also turns her attention towards the door.
"What are you looking at? Go back to your house."
Mary orders Syra, who flees from the spot not wanting to earn her mother's ire.
'She really has some temper.'
Seeing Mary scold Syra, Zeno hurriedly eats up the food in hopes of being able to go back home sooner.
"Can I go home, now?"
He asks as he finishes his meal.
"Go home? In this condition? Absolutely not!" She answers giving no chance to discuss.
"But my brother would be worried." Zeno responds back not wanting to stay here any longer. 'Why isn't he here, anyway?' He asks himself.
"He IS worried. That's why you will be staying here for a while.
I heard he fought them off after you were brought here.
It seems that they reached some sort of agreement" Mary answers back.
"What agreement?"
"Until and unless you don't meddle in their works, they won't go after you. Even though that's what they agreed, your brother wanted to make sure you were safe. That's why you will be staying here for some time."
"What about the Academy? I have classes tomorrow."
"Well, you can't go to classes in this state, can you?
Your bag and money pouches are there in the cupboard. And you shouldn't walk alone with that much money."
Mary advises as she takes away the tray and does a quick cleaning of the room.
"Also, if you feel bored, read that book Syra left. It is one of our religious texts.
I still can't believe Larry didn't teach you anything about our religion. Whatever, I expect you to learn it completely before you go back home. Sleep well."
She says just before leaving him alone in the cottage.
"But…, I… don't even know anything about what you just said."
Zeno says out to the thin air now that she left. The real Zeno never went to the church or anywhere and Larry didn't encourage him to go either too.
In his previous life as Noir Rivera too, he maintained an atheist approach. The thought of living a life which is controlled by someone above doesn't sit well with him.
'I really think her primary aim is to make me a believer before I leave this place.'
Zeno muses in his head as he tries to read the title of the book.
'I know this book. This was in Larry's room too. Well, I will read it later.'
Zeno decides as he looks around. Looking around however, he finds nothing of interest.
'Since there's nothing else to do, let's get some sleep.'
Just as he decides to go to sleep when he is bombarded by a series of notifications.
[Emergency situation underway]
[The Abyss fragment has become active.]
[☠️ Caution Alert☠️]
[☠️ Caution Alert☠️]
[☠️ Caution Alert☠️]
'Hold on, what's the big deal?'
Zeno asks back. Before he could ask anymore, suddenly he feels a stabbing pain on the back of his left hand.
Raising it upwards, he notices a shiny white tattoo of a Shortsword appear on the back of his hand only to find its outlines on the verge of breaking. The tattoo looks alive and appears to be breaking from within.
The more it breaks, the more pain he feels. The pain felt like his soul was being torn apart and being stitched back together.
"Dear lord! Is this retribution for whatever I did?"
Zeno says as he falls down due to the pain. He tries to enter his Mindspace through the pain to find out what's going on.
As he enters, he notices the dark black mass of Abyss fragment absent from the bottom of the Mindspace and instead it was on his side, completely taking over the Shortsword Gift of his predecessor. Thankfully, Profile's white blue structure was still intact.
*crunch*
The Shortsword Gift was getting destroyed and devoured by the Abyss fragment just like how a wild animal chomps down on its prey leaving nothing behind.
Seeing the pitiful state of the sword, Zeno couldn't help but turn to Profile.
'You were the one who said this thing won't be a problem unless I don't awaken the other Gift. Care to explain?'
[Abyss is an erratic entity. It doesn't conform to norms of reality]
The robotic voice of Profile still manages to reach his mind even through the pain.
"Is that the only reasonable explanation you could come up with?"
Zeno asks back, feeling tensed.
Within moments, the Shortsword Gift of the real Zeno is completely devoured by the fragment. The dark mass of energy continues to swirl uncontrollably taking the position of the sword gift as if biding its time for another attack.
"So, how do you fight this thing, now that it's active. You have any idea?"
Zeno asks Profile on whom he depends for everything. Even though he was trapped in that Abyss fragment for God knows how long, it didn't show this kind of behaviour during that time.
[None. Everything now is upto User]
"WHAAT?? What are you saying, you terminator freak?"
Zeno screams back at Profile's shining blue white brain structure which was strangely silent without any hurry considering the emergency situation.
"Do I look like someone that can hold that thing off? What am I even supposed to do?"
Zeno responds back, being paranoid. He was not even trying to stay calm using his
[Don't know. User survived once. User can survive again]
[Whatever happens, do not lose your mind]
Profile warns before going offline. Even though, this was all happening, there was no sense of dread and danger displayed by Profile. It was as if it knew this was bound to happen sooner or later.
"You, sick son of a-"
Before Zeno could complete his sentence, the dark mass of energy extends its black tendril to surround Zeno completely.
His vision becomes completely black to find it once again replaced by visions. These visions were also about someone's memories but it seems like it is the memory of the Abyss.
Memories of terrifying monstrous beings and aberrations horrifying enough to scar his mind were being injected into his mind, slowly eroding it.
"Oh God! What are these things? This really must be retribution for everyone I killed. But still, this is too much. Somebody, stop it!!!"
Zeno screams internally since he couldn't feel his body anymore and thus was trapped in his own Mindscape.
Thoughts belonging to numerous entities instigating desire to get free and wreak havoc slowly try to erode his soul. With this much amount of influx of thoughts, Zeno felt his own thoughts and identity slip away. But he tries to hold on remembering Profile's last minute warning.
[Cold Mind is being triggered]
[Cold Mind has levelled up]
Thankfully that trait helps him keep a sane mind not letting him lose his own thoughts. Still, the memories keep on coming, adding fuel to fire of his trait's level up.
[Cold Mind has levelled up]
[Cold Mind has levelled up]
[Cold Mind has levelled up]
.
.
.
[Cold Mind has reached its maximum level limit]
[User's mind has reached the State of Absolute Sound Mind]
After a seemingly eternity of memories, his mind has completely adapted to the new situation. At this stage, he doesn't feel anything anymore. He isn't paranoid anymore. He knows that all of these must end shortly.
He is still able to remain calm and collected even though he is continuously seeing numerous repulsive memories flash through his vision. It was like his mind couldn't be scarred anymore.
{Detecting entry of Great Void fragment into the reality of Gaia}
{Danger level: Cataclysm}
{Initiating protocol to eradicate the threat}
Out of nowhere, the nostalgic voice of Gaia rings in Zeno's head even though his vision is still fully black.
Outside the Mindscape, the body of Zeno is lying defenseless on the ground with no signs of the turmoil happening in the Mindscape being shown outwards.
The only noticeable change is the appearance of weird black lines originating from where the Sword tattoo used to be, spreading to the whole of his body.
Just as Gaia's notification rings in Zeno's head, numerous thunderclouds appear simultaneously over the wooden cottage. Even though it is not a rarity for lower clouds to touch the hilltops, anybody outside could see that this was no set of normal clouds.
*clap* *crackle* *BOOM*
A lightning strikes through the cottage roof to the very spot the black lines are originating. Strangely, Zeno's body is left unharmed, but the same couldn't be said for the cottage. The affected roof part is partially charred looking like it could burn anytime.
Everyone in the surroundings wake up from their slumber hearing the deafening thunder. The priestess Mary, the priest Peter, their children Jeff and Syra all rush outside cautiously only to see the cottage on the verge of burning.
"Holy Angel! The boy is still inside. Peter, lets-"
*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*....
Before Mary could complete her sentence, torrents of lightning continue to fall upon the cottage almost completely charring it. All of them cover their ears trying to not become deaf hearing it.
After a minute or more showering of the lighting, the thunderclouds vanish from the area as if nothing happened.
"Is this what is called the Heaven's Smite?"
Peter asks Mary, horrified. In all the years he has lived, this is the first time he has seen something like this.
Mary is also the same and feels terrified at the phenomenon that has happened.
"What will I say to that boy's brother…?"
She comments holding her head not being able to believe what just happened.
"I will take a look inside."
Jeff, seeing his mother's distress, rushes off into the partially charred, burning remains of the cottage to check whether anything's left. He encounters burning vestiges of the wood blocking his path, but finally manages to reach the body of Zeno which really surprises him a great deal.
"It's a miracle. He… is still alive."
Jeff utters as he checks the boy. Surprisingly, the body of the Zeno was lying unharmed completely covered in soot from head to toes as the wood around him was burning away.
Almost all his clothes he was wearing, were in tatters. Fortunate for him, the pants weren't that burnt leaving him clothed enough. Seeing the boy alive, Jeff rescues Zeno from the spot and brings him outside.
Seeing Jeff come back with the boy in his arms, Mary asks Peter to salvage anything they could find out of there before rushing off. But there was almost nothing there left of any value. All the accessories and furniture inside were completed charred. Zeno's bag and its contents were also completely destroyed.
The gold and the bronze he had in his pouches has completely melted and almost fused to become a multicolored alloy. The only thing that survived out of it, was the pen he got as a reward from the rich Simon's house.
"What do you think, mother?"
Jeff asks as he brings Zeno to a clearing. Mary checks his vitals and finds nothing wrong even though there should be something wrong. Syra watches silently, filled with concern having no idea on how to help anyway.
"He looks just fine. His breathing is normal. His hair is all gone. His stab wound dressing is completely burnt, except for that, nothing bad."
"Are you sure?" Peter, her husband asks, joining them after checking the wreckage.
"How do I know? This is the first time, I am seeing something like this."
Mary overreacts back at Peter who also doesn't know what to do.
"Let's take him to Grandpa. He must know something."
Syra suggests seeing Zeno lying motionless like that. She knew if there's anyone who could help him in this situation, it would be Grandpa.
"But, he doesn't like to be disturbed-" Peter interrupts.
"Screw that. This is an emergency situation.
Jeff, carry the boy into the pathway. We are going to the mountains."
Mary gives the final verdict as she orders everyone around.
However, no one notices a new purplish black tattoo that has appeared over the back of his hand taking the place of the destroyed Shortsword. It is a tattoo of the lemniscate symbol representing the concept of Infinity ♾️.