Dina opened her eyes to the familiar white space and was met with the worried Paws licking her all over. However, everything was not over yet as the next instant, she heard Zero warn her loudly.
‘Dina! Be careful!’
A huge wave of mental energy attacked her immediately and without thinking she screamed—
“REBOUND!!”
The wave was a wide-range attack and had also affected Paws who staggered about preventing him from seeing the form Dina had now taken.
She was still Feral but the with a change that would have undoubtedly left both Paws and Genad bewildered if they had seen it. As she sat down with her left foot up and her right down and bent to the left, her lowered eyes slowly fluttered open revealing an astonishing sight.
Unlike its usual brown color, each pupil now possessed a different color, one was a frosty blue that seemed to freeze over any existence at a mere glance and the other was a shimmering gold so beautiful and lovely that it was capable of charming all just with its presence.
As she stood up gently, a clanking of chains could be heard as the thick heavy chains which surrounded her neck, wrists, and ankles stood with her. All she did was simply stand, bangs slightly covering her mischievous orbs yet she omitted so much pressure that the entire space was quivering.... no… the entire Styr kingdom was quivering!
‘This is not good. To take on such a high-level form, this world simply won’t contain her existence. She’s too much for this world… just what am I to do? Leaving her would be the worst thing to do in this case.’ Zero pondered for a while and finally decided to send an emergency message to the authorities.
Meanwhile, Dina stood still like a puppet as she watched the holographic words which trembled along the entire space. She glanced upwards slightly, her red lips opening and closing as she lifelessly muttered a pair of words, and instantly the space stopped quivering.
Following that, the holograph blanked out for a while and when it returned, it began displaying strange words—
{Personality recognized.... identity.... recognized.
Welcome, Master}
Dina lowered her head slightly, causing her bangs to completely shield her eyes as a small smirk adorned her face, and just then Genad’s eyes snapped open.
Zero instantly became alarmed, normally, they weren't allowed to indulge the transmigrators too much or they would end up lazy and become too dependent on their AITs even when it came to small issues they could handle on their own but with situations like this that were completely out of the control of the transmigrator, this rule could not be applied and he knew he had to do something!
After all, that was the reason this person was specifically assigned to him, in cases of dire situations like this.
He was fortunate however, as Genad who had woken up glanced dazedly until his eyes landed at the image before him, but just as he blinked the second time the gallant image disappeared, only to be replaced with a falling youth.
“Feral!” he screamed as he immediately dashed forward to catch him.
***
“It’s an emergency message from Zero sir!” a voice reported to Jackson who was in a large room filled with thousands of holographic worlds, he had been monitoring the activities of some new AITs who were being tested.
‘Something so serious but he couldn’t report it himself? That’s strange, and he’s with Dina… what might have happened?’ Jackson wondered curiously.
“Connect the message,” he ordered and the reporter obediently did as told.
Immediately, a holographic form of Zero appeared reporting the details of everything that had happened including some viewings to back it up.
Jackson felt his heart palpitate, and although the hologram in front of him looked nothing like Thalassa and Tana he knew it was them. Even in another form, those eyes… those chains would never change!
But how could such a low-level world trigger the curse? Was he missing something?
Jackson was deathly silent for a while causing the poor male that had reported to begin sweating bullets. This person was one of the major authorities of the bureau and he dared not offend him because if he did, forget being fired, his existence would go through the most horrific experience ever!
Just why did he have to be the one delivering this ah?
Jackson finally cleared his throat after a long thought before saying—
“Let me give my response.”
***
Genad held the pale Feral in his arms feeling complicated, in the illusion he had been fully aware of what he was in but didn’t want to leave. He was reluctant to part with the sweet delight that finally, he was getting what he wanted—his revenge.
The sight tainted his eyes and screwed with him so much that all he could think of was his desire, his want, and his revenge. Revenge dipped and soaked in blood, the blood of all who he resented, and having just a taste of it had been so delicious, so sweet even though he knew it was but an evil illusion he still drowned in it like a fool who wouldn’t stop drinking wine even though it was killing him.
“*sigh* haaaa, yet you escaped,” Genad muttered, his eyes filled with complicated feelings.
He had to admit, without Feral, he might not have made it out of this one. With how delirious he had been, it would only need a bit of time to completely erase his memories even with his mental strength and if that was done… then even for him, breaking out would be nigh impossible.
This child whom he regarded as insignificant had helped him…
/Ding! Awemeter increased to 70%/
This plan had failed, the gnome’s trail was flawed and as a non-gnome, this was beyond him. He had no choice but to find an alternative, but for now, they had to leave.
Genad muttered slightly and instantly a sword was summoned, just like the one he had called in the illusion it was tall, mighty, and shimmered with a bluish hue. When yielded its beauty was undeniable and when slashed, a blue light shone from its trajectory.
It was a legendary grade item gifted to him by his father.
Grasping tightly unto his sword, Genad freely slashed at the space around them, the bluish light forming a circle and in the next minute, the space began trembling. Although it was a powerful space its main energy, the holographic image that guided the trails, had been destroyed and now it was rather simple to break through it.
However, the hands on the sword tightened suddenly, and glancing around Genad’s caution rose to the extremes on noticing that they had entered another illusion.
“Fret not child.”
An old voice called out and with a glare, Genad turned only to see a familiar face. His memory had always been sharp so he could remember the gnome who stood in front of him, he was his father’s work partner when he was alive.
He had been so young when he saw him but Genad always had a good memory so even now he could still recognize him after all, nothing had changed much except the gnome was now a holographic projection.
‘Interesting, maybe there actually is a way to reverse this situation,’ he thought.
“Child, do you now recognize me?” the gnome gently asked.
If there was something similar the gnomes had along with the angels and demons it was long years of life and youth and so the gnome before him although quite old looked rather young.
If not for his voice, one really couldn’t tell if he actually had aged.
The gnome's every action was gentle and held the grace and tiredness of an aged member but Genad was apathetic as he drew his sword at him, a cold glint flashing through his eyes; he didn’t trust this person or hologram.
The gnome’s eyes widened in shock and he suddenly burst out laughing. What a bold child! He was indeed Eugene’s son, unbridled and extremely decisive, that Eugene that was so cruel that he wouldn’t even bat an eye even when the mother of his child was involved; this truly was his son!
Only, this indignant child before him now could move that man. Ah, truly a match made in heaven, what a fitting pair for a father and son duo.
“I guess that Eugene must have been killed for you to actually end up here. After all, what he had wanted the most was to keep you away from all this… but now he’s gone,” the gnome stated sadly.
He already guessed what that man’s fate would be at their disappearance, he had angered the demons and angels alike, his major backing—them, had mysteriously varnished and the humans who were his next choice probably deserted him, after all, they had always been weak-willed creatures no matter how they pretended otherwise.
“I’m sorry child, we ourselves ruined everything. The gnome realm was good but we wanted more, we wanted it to be better, and we wanted to modify it so it would become a mini paradise. Not just the children could use the gnome trails but the aged fellows as well instead of it being a test it would be a resting place for them.
"A beautiful space that held a thin line between reality and illusion; a place for our exhausted minds to rest once in a while, the entire plan was to make the trails multifunctional. But a wrong magic ruined everything, creating a virus, and that wicked thing even after swallowing its creators up wasn’t satisfied and still lured all the gnomes into it with fake information… in fact, we didn’t varnish in but a day, it took a while before we did.
“If only your father hadn’t been busy with your mum and her angel issues then he might have saved us in time.” the poor gnome stated with a sad and nostalgic sigh. Indeed, misfortune only needed a wrong calculation and a simply misused time to befall a person or even a race.
“Is it too late?” Genad asked as he finally lowered the sword, he wasn’t sympathizing with the gnomes but if he could get their help then that would be just wonderful.
“Unfortunately no, the VR, short for virus, is a deadly thing that after erasing one's memories, it’d slowly loads a function that would trap you within the illusion so that even if an external force tried to help you or you managed to free yourself from its influence and tried to get away, the person would instead be harmed. It was like a leech that stuck itself once and would never let go and if forced one would only pluck off its own flesh instead of the leech. It would trap that person in a fake illusion and force-feed them ‘happiness’ until the day they died, as then it would have sucked up their entire life essence.
“As for how you, my child, had managed to break through, even I am astounded. Can you please enlighten this old man?”
The hologram, although a simple projection, held so many expressions and feelings that it almost seemed real, such amazing technicality, it really was a shame to lose such an intelligent race.
Genad only mourned the gnomes' fate for a while before slowly stating, “It was my companion.”
It seemed the gnome found this rather unexpected and looked down at the passed-down Feral in awe. How shocking was it that the one who had finally destroyed that dangerous thing wasn’t a gnome or the child of that man, but this ignorable boy? Just who was he?
The gnomes were naturally inquisitive and were never really the type to hold back, so he directly asked,
“Who might this lad be?”
Genad almost refused to answer when he remembered he might need this gnome, so he answered casually, “My slave.”
“Oh. Your choice is quite unique child but more is the one whom you picked. It’s a pity I can’t question him about the events that incurred for him to be able to destroy the VR but it doesn’t matter anyway, after all, we’re but history, even I am nothing but a phantom now…” the male said, visible sadness dripping from his eyes but eventually he calmed down before looking towards Genad.
His melancholy mood instantly varnished and was replaced with nothing but seriousness. He stretched forth his hands to Genad, saying, “Now, about your reward. Isn’t that why you’ve been patient all this while?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Then. Listen carefully.”
***
[Later that day]
“You’re saying that the gnome ruins suddenly experience a great tremor and now it’s collapsed?” a strange voice muttered.
It was deep, smooth as velvet, and held a gentleness that seemed to purify one when heard. It held a certain mysticness to it and its charm commanded respect.
“Yes sir!”
“Hm, it looks like it's about time to visit the lower realm, isn’t it?” the voice muttered with a chuckle. “Prepare my chariots.”
“Yes, your holiness.”
‘It looks like there’s a little rat who’s been running around for a while now. Could it be related to the demons? I heard the aqua ones have been let out recently… even more, could it be related to Eugene? If it is indeed related to Eugene, then this should be fun.’
A smirk appeared on the face of the shadowed figure and very soon a deep rumble of laughter escaped his lips. It was time to visit his ‘subjects’.