The man's figure again appeared in front of Arthur. But unlike before, when he just lay still, words came out of his mouth.
"Do you really think you'll be anything when you grow up, you piece of junk?"
Boom! His head exploded, along with his body, when Arthur's punch hit him.
"You're a shitty adoptee, found in the trash!"
Boom!
"Next time I catch you near my daughter, I'm going to spank you both, and I'm going to kill you!!"
BOOM! Arthur couldn't hold back his intense hatred, causing his veins to swell and he threw a mighty punch.
But this time, as Arthur fumed with intense rage, the man's figure did not appear again.
"Fina-" Arthur thinly sighed, but only for a short while. He saw that a new figure began to form in front of him. His gaze got even colder, and he already started walking towards the figure.
Arthur didn't want to hear any more disgusting words from this man, intending to destroy him before he could appear.
But when he raised his arm to punch, Arthur's figure stopped. Tears streamed down his face as he knelt.
"Alice..." Arthur reached out to touch the face of the little girl who appeared in front of him. But when he realized that his hand was bloody, as was his entire body, he gave up.
Only before his hand dropped, a small hand lifted it again, making him touch the small face.
"You should stop being such a silly!" A cute, tarnished voice rang in Arthur's ears.
"You…I…" Arthur couldn't stop his tears, nor could he form a sentence.
"I know, love you too!" A bright smile appeared on the little girl's cute face, causing the dark space around Arthur to shift into an infinite, starry universe.
A smile also appeared on Arthur's face as he slowly rose to his feet. His green eyes also glowed brightly as he stared at the small figure.
"Thank you..." Arthur said, but more like he was talking to the wind.
The little girl, who was looking at the starry universe around her, jumped in surprise at hearing Arthur.
"Y-you…" She spoke in a strange voice.
"Yeah, I noticed. You're not her, but you still helped me. I'm grateful to you for that." Arthur looked at the little girl's figure a moment longer.
Suddenly, the girl's figure turned into a glowing globe of light. She looked like a little star.
"Who are you?" Arthur asked as he looked at the star.
"I don't know!" The voice in the star was vibrant.
"Do you know what you are?" Arthur asked again.
"No!" The voice responded a little more dejectedly.
A complicated smile appeared on Arthur's face.
"So I'm really not going crazy and you have a conscience of your own… less bad!" Arthur let out a sigh of relief.
He again spoke to the little star: "It's possible for you to get out... well, from me?"
"I don't know that, but I can tell you that something is holding me back!" The little star's voice was sad, but soon excited again.
'With the enthusiasm she talks about, it seems like it's good news...' Arthur thought, with a strange smile on his face.
"Little Star... I can call you that?"
"You can! I loved it!"
"Okay... I want you to answer me honestly! Can you control my thoughts?" At that moment, Arthur's voice and expression turned serious.
"..."
After a few moments of silence, the cute little star voice spoke, looking a little depressed.
"I didn't mean to hurt you, just give you something you would never experience alone..."
Arthur didn't respond, but he could hear the truth in her voice.
Considering everything that has happened to Arthur since his early life, childhood and adolescence, a cold, indifferent and even a little aggressive aura formed in him, and that was who he was. He wouldn't give smiles to those who don't know, much less help. And if someone went over a certain limit, he would act aggressively.
But with recent events, Arthur began to notice a change in his actions, making him kinder to others, even helping them. But he wasn't that person, and now he figured out why he was acting that way.
"I see... as we're stuck together, and you've helped me vent my hatred and give you a chance to see her again, I'm just going to give you a warning: Don't ever do this again!" Arthur's voice was calm at first, even a little affectionate in the middle. But in the final part, a touch of intent to kill and a majestic will were expelled as well.
Little Star trembled slightly, even darkening a little. She was afraid of the cold look Arthur gave her, looking like the reaper's gaze.
After a few more moments of silence, Arthur spoke again.
"Do you have any kind of connection to the system?"
"System? Are you talking about that?"
As soon as the little star's voice stopped, system tabs began to appear around Arthur.
"I don't have access to do anything with the system, but I can do these things. Plus, it looks like that's exactly what woke me up."
"Woke up?" Arthur asked, intrigued.
"Yea! I was sleeping, but these things started appearing around me, and I came here out of nowhere. Since then I have stayed here. I think I was influencing you when this space started to darken, so I glowed and it went back to normal. I knew I was influencing you by instinct. I can't understand, that's why I can't explain it either!" The little star's voice sounded innocent, but it had some deep secrets that not even Arthur could guess.
"Okay... If you can't get out of here, feel free. I don't trust you, but I know your existence depends on me. Instinct." Arthur spoke as he smiled.
He imagined that this space would be his Mind Space, which was inherent in him, but constructed that way by the Constellation skill. That way, everything here was controlled by him, but he still didn't know how to access it the way he wanted. That's why the existence of the little star went unnoticed by him. She had no bad intentions and seemed to be connected to him, which is why the ability didn't consider her an invader and attacked her.
Despite being calm, Arthur was nervous inside. He didn't want something inside him that he didn't know what it was. She wasn't an enemy, but she could be, she wasn't a friend, but Arthur didn't want to go to the trouble of making her be.
He was also nervous about the secrets surrounding her appearance here. How were the two connected? Did the system send her here to help me? Or the scariest of all: Did she come here, or was she already here?
Arthur's brilliant mind could only come up with a theory, but never prove it.
It was at that moment that curiosity about himself and his origins began to surface.
After a few moments of silence, Starlight's voice rang out.
"Hey... why did you did that?"
"That what?"
"The shot... I feel like you didn't did it to protect someone, but to-"
"Ssshhh! Enjoy the silence…" Arthur interrupted her, putting his finger in his mouth and saying nothing.
Silence filled the area again. But Little Star couldn't take it.
"You don't have to live your life thinking about others. Striving to live your own life can be fun."
"That instinct of yours even seems like mind-reading." Arthur replied something different from what she expected.
"You!" Little Star was silent again.
Arthur gave her a smile as he recited:
"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced - Soren Kierkegaard. I read it somewhere once."
"Do you understand?" Arthur asked.
"No..."
"I figured...but thanks. You reminded me that I haven't experienced everything. I didn't have enough fun…" A smile formed on Arthur's face.
"And I need to get you out of here too-" As Arthur spoke, his conscience faded and he magically disappeared from that place.
Little Star remained motionless, and even the light around her stopped. She floated to where Arthur was and stood still. If she had a face, she'd be wearing a sour expression, as if she'd lost something. She was clearly forbidden by Arthur not to read or mess with his thoughts.
She didn't admit that she lied to Arthur about "instinct", but she already knew he noticed.
Being forced to do nothing left a lonely feeling, and although Arthur was hard on her, she didn't feel bad. She felt a kind of warm, like a little sister being scolded.
And having lived with Arthur since she woke up a short time ago, reading his thoughts, she could understand his character very well, his pains and difficulties. She clung to him, and knowing him now made an emotion well up inside her.
She didn't know who she was or what she was. But she felt that as long as she was with him, everything would eventually come to light.
"Come back soon…" Her low voice echoed through the seemingly infinite universe.