Dina lay on the bed, staring blankly into space after minutes of raging. She sighed. She'd have to wait until Zero was back to fix this mess. As for Riven, well, it was a pity.
However, she was ready for this from the very beginning. It didn't take a genius to be able to tell that the Bureau’s capture method was having her get the target to fall for her before cruelly leaving.
That was why they clearly emphasized the do not fall clause, as it would ruin her mission. After all, you were only heartless enough to leave when you never really loved that person.
‘I'm conclusion, I'm being pimped out. Great,’ Dina thought with an eye roll.
She knew this, but until Riven, she had believed she would easily maneuver with little to no relationship with the target. And boy, was she wrong.
If a millennium-old monster like Riven, whose heart had stopped functioning emotionally, could fall for her, then why wouldn't the others? She didn't want to go about breaking hearts. That would just leave her emotionally drained. And imagining becoming like that sounded very frustrating.
“I'll have to figure out ways to help the target without approaching. But if there's no other choice, then I'll just do it.”
Feeling bored, she stared at her system before closing it again out of frustration. She just did what she had to. What the heck is minus 5,800 points? Zero better have an explanation and compensation for this.
Imagine if she hadn't been sharp enough to use that method! She'd be stuck with Riven in yandere mode. The thought sent shivers down her spine. He was already a beast in bed. How much more if he did it with heartbreak and rage?
“Ugh, thank goodness it worked. But there's something odd about this whole thing.”
The more she pondered this, the more suspicious it seemed. The target falling for her was a bit ridiculous. It reminded her of those transmigration stories where the MC would just exist and do the barest minimum and yet have all the dudes falling for them.
With Jack, it made sense. He had a history with Jerry as a former god. With Genad, it became a bit unbelievable. A cynical and cold-hearted demon bastard who would gladly screw his world over, falling for her. It would make sense if the original plot didn't emphasize so much on his cold-hearted nature. Even the princess, with all her kindness, could be easily betrayed if he needed to.
He was reckless and driven by bloodlust for revenge, and all Feral did was accompany him, and he fell just like that? Realistically, people like that couldn't even fall in love and if they did, it was very difficult—Not just with the minuscule amount of time he spent with him. It would take years just to slightly melt his heart.
And then there was Riven, the most ridiculous case of them all. A million years wasn't child's play. From what Dina analyzed from Emlyn's death, under Riven's hand, she was right. His heart had turned to stone after living for so long.
Meaning at best, what she could do was establish a relationship with him using something he liked— magic. A teacher-student relationship to be exact. But somehow, in less than a year, he fell for her.
“It all makes sense now. There must be some relation between me and the target, and that's why the Bureau hired me!” Dina exclaimed, having an eureka moment.
Especially her identity. The fact they were, in the simple sense, her clones with a different gender and different attitudes and were somehow connected to the target was a huge clue. But what was it? What was she missing?
“Could I coerce Zero to…? No, he'd immediately report to his superiors, garnering more eyes on me,” She sighed in frustration; she had nobody, huh?
But that's alright she had always been doing it alone and had always done it perfectly.
“I can't even access the net without Zero… Damn, where is he?”
***
By the time Zero came back, he was met with a sleeping Dina.
The target this time was powerful. Turns out he had predicted Dina's departure and made plans for it. Sealing off her soul into Emlyn's body and cutting off all external influences—he showed an excellent grasp of the world's law, even more than the gods themselves.
Had it not been for his fate to be stuck in that world, then he would have ascended a long time ago.
Zero's expressionless eyes wandered to the sleeping lady sprawled out hazardously. If she had been awake, she probably would have screamed: ‘I told you so,’ because of her rightful foreshadowing of Riven's prediction. But that was meaningless.
What had impressed him was her swift attitude to use the world's spirit. As long as it sensed an outsider, it instantly kicked them out. Even Riven hadn't become powerful enough to disrupt this, or rather, his awareness of it was not high enough due to their interference.
After the chaos in the first world, they knew better than to let the world spirit and the target be aware of each other. The world spirit would see the target as a threat to be eliminated, and since the target was just too powerful, things might escalate to the world being destroyed, like in Dina's first mission.
This proved to be an excellent decision, as, despite the target's relentless search in the second world, the world spirit still eluded him. After all, the world spirit was one of the beings that knew about their existence, which was something that had to be hidden from the target at all costs.
This was why Dina's situation had been complicated. Some had argued that she simply should have waited for Zero to return, rather than hinting at her identity. While others argued she had done it out of desperation.
At the end of the day, multiple things were considered, including her newbie status and she was left off the hook with a minor compensation. Still, it made him do extra work by wiping out traces of her existence as Dina from the target—He'd probably feel the gap, but it was better than nothing.
“Dina, wake up,” he called her firmly, and with a grunt, the female stood up.
“I'm up,” she yawned while asking drowsily, “So?”
“I pleaded your case and the charges have been dropped,” he responded calmly.
Dina's drowsiness cleared up and she whistled excitedly, “Nice, nice. I promise to never ask for extra minutes again. The moment the meter reaches 100%, we're leaving in that instance.”
“It probably would have happened either way.”
“But still, better safe than sorry.”
Zero was silent for a while as he stared at the carefree lady. How cruel, he thought fleetingly.
Another was suffering from a broken heart while the other couldn't be bothered. Wasn't love ironic? The first to fall was a loser, but the one to fall harder was the biggest loser, and unfortunately for Riven, he was both—he had been completely demolished.
‘What am I thinking? What ridiculous thoughts. A logical host would always be far better than an emotional one.’
“Do you need to rest, or are we leaving now?” he asked Dina, who was still stretching.
“No, I need rest. This world was so draining. I need at least a week off. No sex, no clinginess, and unlimited internet,” Dina proclaimed with exaggerated gestures.
“Suit yourself then.”
“Wait, can I post about… ?”
“No.”
“Aww shucks! Whatever! Let me check my status first before we continue.”
{Transmigrator's Main Identity: Geraldina Veraldina.
Human Age: 19 years
Soul State: Yang
Rank: E
Strength: 50
Speed: 58
Endurance: 22
Agility: 35
Luck: 15
Intelligence: 205
[REWARDS]
Compensation—1500 points; Side Quest— 2000 points.
[SKILLS IMPROVED]
[Kiss Me Liar (Level 2): Make your lie more believable with a kiss. The effect is greater the more you're trusted.]
[Archery (Level 5): Will you look at that? You're halfway to unlocking something drastically… Great! Keep going, you're close to evolving the skill.]}
Dilla heartlessly ignored the side quest, but somewhere in her mind, she felt a light sting. So, he did it….
“Nice, I seem to have leveled up some skills but when did I use ‘Kiss Me Liar’?” Dina wondered.
“Some skills automatically take effect when sensing their host's desires. You probably did subconsciously,” Zero responded.
“So, I might have unknowingly lied to Riven?”
“Knowingly as well.”
“... Did you have to add the last one?”
“I just wanted to point it out.”
Dina: (¬_¬)
She shrugged, “Whatever. Connect me to the internet quickly!”
“As you desire, Dina.”
***
His lover had died. He left him, disregarding his feelings. They say in love the biggest loser was the one who loved most. He didn't understand this until he did.
His lover was beautiful. His skin was pale, possessing an ethereal glow like the reflection of moonlight on jade. His brilliant eyes, holding a luster incapable of replication, were shut tightly. It wasn't that he couldn't change this, but he would rather not.
The glamorous obsidian lashes fanned across his underlids, looking especially stunning, and his red lips, synonymous with a rose's first bloom, were as alluring as ever.
Every morning, he greeted him, and every night, he revisited their old memories with him before cuddling him to sleep. The pictures and videos worked contradictoryly. On one hand, it seemed to fester his deepest pains, and on the other, it was the only thing that kept him sane.
One day, he decided to honor his lover's wishes. However, being unable to part with his lover, he left with him.
Fixing the dystopian world was fairly simple. He ended the sorceress' despair by killing them, and he sent back hell, which had descended to earth, to its dwelling. After that, he brought back the mortals by turning back the world's time.
"Are you happy now?" He spoke softly, before facing his lover, "I kept my promise to you this time."
His lover stared back silently at him, with a pair of dead eyes looking like an exquisite doll. He pulled him into his embrace with a stifled smile, ignoring the coldness which emanated from his body, in a bid to suppress the intense despair that riled up within him.
The next thing he did was survey the world with his lover—this was something his lover had always wanted.
Just as his lover had said, no one could see him due to the curse, but at least they had lots of fun regardless. He visited his lover's family. They welcomed him with open arms and excitement, but then they asked him a very disturbing question.
"Where is Emlyn?"
He frowned deeply. What were they saying?
"He's right here. Are you not magical? How can you not see him?" They stared at him blankly, as if he had suddenly grown three heads, and just as he was about to rebuke them for not welcoming his beloved despite everything being due to his efforts, his lover tapped him lightly.
He stared at him with a brilliant smile. The usual luster appeared in his eyes once again, stunning him. A mischievous smile adorned his face as he stuck out his tongue playfully before speaking, "Psych! Teach! Have you forgotten? I'm not here!" And then he faded from existence.
His eyes dilated as a thick wave of emotion cascaded onto him, sending him to his knees. The magical creatures tried to approach but were stopped by the fierce aura emanating from him.
A low laughter escaped his throat before blowing off into a demented cackle, eyes filled with a frenzied lunacy.
Of course, how could he forget? He couldn't turn him into that. It was such an insult to his excellence. He would never be able to replicate his lover. He was just too perfect, too magnificent.
His lover was... he? His eyes faltered before regaining focus once more as a fleeting thought flashed through his mind. He? She? His lover? Who is she? That was when it dawned on him.
Something had altered his memory. That something had also stolen his lover. They didn't mean to leave. It had stolen them, and it was because of his weakness.
Cries echoed between bursts of his broken laughter in a deranged mix of joy and hysteria. If psychosis had a tone, it would sound just like him.
****
"The paradox of love," an elusive voice reverberated, "So sweet, yet so bitter. Wicked, that one. She's a ruthless woman. But putting that aside, or rather, foremost, as it's the only thing that matters... How far will you go?"
"Anything. I'll do anything."
The elusive figure smiled mildly, "Seems like I met you at the perfect state.”
###
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A/N
It's over! It's ended folks. Woo-hoo! Come on, comment and tell me! Is Riven's POV sadder than the others?? I put so much emotion into this so please toot my horn~ hehe. (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Since you're here I presume you're moving to S2, right? ( ╹▽╹ ). See you on December 8th then! And try to read those Christmas Extras. You'll love it!
See ya in ‘This Transmigration Seems Somewhat Strange [S2]’. ( ˘ ³˘)