Yet the person that had stolen his clothes, with only his briefs left behind, and knocked him out was not Ainsley but infact...
***
My eyes silently stared at the man's unconscious body. The blood flowing out of his nose resembled that of a spring river, which seemed as if there would be no end to the water it supplied. Exactly as the description I had imagined, so did his blood endlessly flow out.
Once the realization came to me, I panicked as I hurriedly ran over to check his pulse. My pupils shrunk as I felt nothing in return despite touching every vein that was visible on his body.
'... I killed him.'
Of course, this wasn't actually the case. Due to the fact that the body I currently possessed had absolutely no functions or nervous systems that allowed me to feel or sense quite literally anything, even pain, naturally I wouldn't be able to feel that the man was still alive and pulsating. But apparently I was too frantic at the moment and had shortly forgotten about such an important detail that I had already assumed that he truly was a corpse now.
I dug my face deep into my palms as my guilty conscience criticized me to no avail. Back in my original world or what I should be calling now my past life, I was a normal everyday citizen who abided by the law. When it came to the topic of murder or homicide, I would always feel repulsed and disgusted by the people who would do such things. Then again, there were some cases in which the murderer's actions could be 'justified' so I would often get thrown into a mix between sympathy and disgust.
Now that I myself had become the very same kind of person to do the crime I abhorred most, I suddenly felt like the biggest hypocrite to ever live in history. Well, the man wasn't actually dead, nor did I 'kill' him on purpose but since I was unaware of this at that time, I had unknowingly fooled myself into thinking that I was no better than the people whom I hated the most.
As if the world did not care about my existential crisis whatsoever, golden dust suddenly appeared out of nowhere as it circulated in front of me. The light emanating from the beautifully bright moon enhanced the glow that came from the golden dust as it glistened like a pure diamond shining in the night. It gathered in one place as it formed into a scroll-shaped item, and it unrolled to reveal a smooth looking surface. It floated midair without needing any sort of support, and the surface of the scroll had something moving around it. It seemed as if it was writing something down as it left letters and words in the aftermath. The font was exceptionally fancy yet plain at the same time.
{Punish and Terminate.
That is your sole purpose.
Abide by our orders, and do accordingly with what is demanded of you.
Completing missions is your top and only priority.}
Seeing the familiar set of words and sentences bundled up together in the same place made me feel as if time itself had momentarily stopped. It resumed once more as the final line to complete the sentences appeared on the scroll.
{You are a [Punisher].}
Putting these lines altogether would create the opening introduction of the webnovel that is 'The Final Punishment'. They were used in order to present the readers with a proper overview of what the main character would be like and what their goal revolved around. Now that this position was forcefully shoved onto me without my proper consent or will anyone in my shoes would definitely want to curse the universe for enforcing such a ridiculous scenario.
The scroll faintly shook as if it found my exhausted expression to be amusing, and a new message was written as my eyes continued to observe it.
{Dimension: Steampunk
Location: Ulgrid(Floating Island)
Organizing mission details according to the assigned dimension...}
'Steampunk dimension..?'
My eyelids lowered as I thought carefully about the dimension I was stuck in. I raised my head and took a quick inspection of my surroundings. I slowly approached the edge of the rooftop and held on to the railings that prevented people from possibly falling to their doom. An unknown emotion surged inside of me as I witnessed the breathtaking view. Several peculiarly designed houses were positioned, each in different ways. Some higher than others; few placed on a completely different platform, and the rest were either diligently forming a nice line or making a zigzag pattern. The tower I was on was in the center of it all, having a few bridges connecting the floating platforms that supported the buildings everywhere.
The scroll swiftly flew to my side as it displayed to me the results.
{Details have been successfully organized.}
{|Steampunk Dimension|
Missions:
•Enter the portal(Complete)
•Attend the evening party(Complete)
•Meet Lumiere Welle(Complete)
•Damage a robot(Complete)
•Take the damaged robot to meet the mechanic(In progress...)
Notice: Target's information will be revealed after the completion of all your missions. Another mission might be added depending on the target's behaviour.}
My eyes easily scanned through the information and I inwardly sighed after coming to a conclusion.
It did not really matter to me whether or not it would take me a long period of time to pinpoint who my target was going to be since I had already read the webnovel beforehand. Although what I found odd about it was that the steampunk dimension arc was supposed to be introduced in the middle section of the story. Eventually I decided to accept that this was going to be how the flow of events would unfold as I narrowed my eyes among the houses that stood out the most in particular.
Bam!!
At the abrupt sound of a door bursting open, I averted my attention as I turned my head to see what caused the ruckus.
Three bulky robots made their way inside as the wheels supporting their lower bodies squeaked occasionally while also allowing them to move around. The first one took the lead as it extinguished the fire using the hose connected to the tank it carried on its back. The second one was impressively swift as it darted around the broken blimp and professionally secured the surrounding area with cautionary tape. The third one was the one robot to speak as its voice box spoke with an endearing tone.
[First-aid. First-aid. First-aid.]
It held a first-aid kit in one of its hands as it searched the area for any potential injured patients. My conscience was quick to react as I energetically picked up the man who was still unconscious. The trace of blood smeared on his face as if it wanted to make a mustache worsened the guilt I felt and I neatly wiped it off by using one of the tablecloths nearby.
The medical robot noticed that a person was approaching it while simultaneously dragging an unconscious person with them. It tilted its head in confusion as it stared at the man... er... wait what? Its eyes beamed as it scanned the 'person''s body and its system slightly malfunctioned after receiving the results. Is it a man..? No, perhaps a woman? But why does their body resemble an athletic man? And even if they were a 'man' where is their...
The uncomfortable amount of time its eyes stared in between my legs, which contained no genitals, caused my inside to feel hollow.
'Alright, I get it. I'm just as confused as you are, buddy.'
I positioned the unconscious man's body like I was showing off my new pet, and I anticipated for it to help him. I still had a bit of hope that the man might still be alive as I patiently waited for the robot to take action.
It did take action, however, not in the way I had expected it to.
It placed its first-aid kit aside and snatched the unconscious man's body away from me. I was caught off guard but soon let it slide as I entrusted his body to it. Apparently the trust I had was completely one-sided as I witnessed it quickly undressing the man. I was too dumbfounded with what was happening, so I only stood still as my jaw dropped down. Once his clothes were entirely snatched clean, only leaving his underwear alone, the robots head stiffly faced my direction and ominously grabbed my shoulders.
The robot did not allow me to fight back as it forced me to wear the clothes in the blink of an eye. My thoughts had yet to process what had just happened as I rubbed my forehead.
The reason behind the robot's actions was very simple. Due to the malfunction that broke its system caused by scanning the main character's weird body, it had concluded that the 'person' was in fact an 'advanced lifelike mannequin' and assumed that it needed help in getting 'dressed up'. Seeing the only set of clothing nearby being worn by what looked like another mannequin, it undressed the 'normal mannequin' and dressed up the 'lifelike mannequin' instead.
The medical robot felt somewhat satisfied as it turned around and proudly left the scene. My senses returned to me as the realization of what had happened finally hit my head. The robot was only a few meters away from the exit when suddenly a hand firmly held its arm with the intention of stopping it. It glanced a peek at the person who had stopped it from leaving.
I shoved the almost nude man's body to the robot's face expecting it to react in the way I wanted it to. I was extremely baffled with the fact that it decided to dress me up in the clothes of the unconscious man rather than actually helping him. Even if he might've already been corpse, my morality was unwilling to accept it... Though he wasn't genuinely dead, it was just that I kept assuming that he was.
The medical robot's system was carefully repairing itself after experiencing such a shock moments ago. Once it was fully repaired it scanned the unconscious man's face and its eyes immediately switched to the color red. Its system was able to identify that the unconscious man was no other than Lumiere Welle himself. The man whom they were sold to and sworn to serve under. It tossed Lumiere's body aside and eerily looked towards the man who it now labelled an intruder.
[INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!]
Its voice box blared out a with tone that suited its robotic appearance. It continously repeated its message over and over again causing me to shield my ears. It didn't hurt, no, but it was definitely annoying that's for sure.
The other two robots, which minded their own business until now, instinctively reacted to the security protocol and they positioned each of their arms forward. The hand they were stretching out transformed into a gun and the sound of a laser charging up filled the entire rooftop.
Peew-
I ducked the split second before it could even graze my hair. Thankfully, the rooftop contained no walls, nor were there any buildings close enough for the laser beam to reach thus letting me calm down a bit. Just as I had conjured up a plan to escape, the scroll magically popped up again and reminded me of a certain detail.
{•Take the damaged robot to meet the mechanic(In progress...)}
My left eye twitched as I gnashed my teeth back and forth. As much as I hated it, I prompted my feet to run and I turned around a corner that seemed like a dead end. But the risk I made was worth it as I found the main factor that would allow me to complete my current mission. The tiny damaged robot I had hidden earlier was still in the same spot I had placed it. Well, it wasn't as if it had a choice to begin with since its body was broken to the point that the robot couldn't even move a centimeter. I gently carried it in my arms; meanwhile, the three robots were merciless as they quickly approached the corner we were in. Due to the figure being too fast its movement was slightly blurred as it darted from out of the corner.
I swallowed a sigh as I jumped over the railing, whose purpose was to prevent me from falling yet ultimately became useless against my irrationality.
The robots had their behavior return to normal as if the 'intruder' was just a pigment of their imagination.