Immediately, the connection between Nexus, Universal Battlefield, & their respective viewers were severed, unable to witness what happened next.
******
At Nexus…
Cursed Writer's face distorted into a devilish toothy grin as darkness descended over his face obscuring the upper half of his face.
Seeing this disgusting sight, Original System rolled its eyes before sarcastically asking, "What. You see this coming too."
Hearing the questing, Cursed Writer let out a hideous burst of laughter, frantically saying, "For once no this wasn't written by me! This should be interesting…"
After a short pause, Curse Writer dramatically added, "Maybe, Demi-Shattered will make a move?"
Suddenly, the entire Nexus party room was overwhelmed with the pressure of Cursed Writer's words.
******
Meanwhile at the Universal Battlefield…
The mysterious mirror lake at the center of town had become completely stagnant, motionless water. Unable to provide any information on what was happening on the island.
Seeing this phenomenon, Seal immediately cast out a large barrier of sealing mist over the lake trapping herself, Demon, Eve, and Gramps inside, before slowly saying, "No one leaves or speaks until any view returns…"
With her final word spoken gray chains shot out of the mist surrounding the lake binding everyone besides Seal.
******
Only the reader's view could continue to watch what happened next.
******
As Adrian and Sakura's connection amplified, hazy purple wisps slowly radiated from their forms flowing towards a small space underground.
As Adrian looked around, making Sakura immediately feel violated, which caused a wave of embarrassment to wash over Adrian through their connection.
Watching Adrian's become overwhelmingly flushed, Sakura tried to hide albeit poorly.
In this expansive void her only hiding place was behind the giant screen she used to watch Adrian on the island.
Sadly, her cherry-pink light didn't help her hide in the expanse of darkness.
With so many emotions flowing through his mind, Adrian started to understand where he was, calling out, "Sakura, I know you're there come out. I won't bite… I mean, not you at least…"
Sakura continued to hide while attempting to change the subject, ~Why did the portal lead here of all places?~
With an embarrassed smile, Adrian responded, "... Didn't you say the wasteland holds both my hopes AND nightmares…"
Picking up on his hidden meaning Sakura, glowed even brighter, hinting at her embarrassment, and stammered, ~Y-y-y-you don't mean… H-h-h-how could I be your…~
Scratching his head, Adrian released his transformed state while sitting down, "I mean. What would my hope be if not… the one who was with me throughout this hellhole?"
Pointing at the ground, Adrian continued trying to hide his embarrassment, "If you want me to leave I will… Just wait a few minutes, and I'll take the shard, and be out of here."
Hearing this, without thinking Sakura immediately refuted, "No, you can stay."
With each other's emotions, compounding on their own, it was as if their thoughts and feelings were intertwined making their conversation even more awkward.
But in this expansive void, they were the only two there, creating a strangely cozy atmosphere making neither want to speak, while enjoying the closeness of the other.
As the two sat enjoying the emotions flowing through their connected minds they closed their eyes causing a flood of memories to be shared.
The darkness of the void, the glow of Sakura, and the faint stench of Adrian were soon all replaced by the endless flood of emotion and memory filling the endless abyss with images of their time together, emotions felt when they were together, culminating in the absolute transformation of the void.
Upon opening their eyes the dark, yet comforting void had become a library of memories & emotions, and at the center of it, all stood a fully formed shard.
When they saw the shard in unison they both said in a saddened tone, "Well I guess it's time to return…"
Soon they both burst into a fit of laughter before Adrian stood up fixing his [White Fox Clothes] and bowing towards where Sakura sat hidden.
Suddenly, Adrian walked over to the shard grabbing it before saying, "I love you… Talk on the outside." while stepping out through the portal.
******
As Adrian stepped through the portal both Nexus & the Universal Battlefield returned to normal as their connections were restored.
******
When Adrian fully transitioned back into the wasteland something massive had changed.
The once barren land around the portal was now covered in lush grass and flowers as far as the eye could see.
Just as Adrian wanted to say something three notifications rang out.
[Shard of Hope obtained]
[1/4 Shards remaining]
[Current Wisdom 90% Milestone complete]
Adrian could somewhat understand the first two messages but was confused by the third. Why and when did his Wisdom increase so much?
At that moment Adrian remembered it had always been ticking by in the bottom of his vision since the red screen appeared.
Watching from the side, Sakura could only look at Adrian's curious face with disappointment, too embarrassed to say anything.
Having left the void Sakura and Adrian's connection had returned to only a little stronger than before, but still strong enough to know a little of what the other was thinking.
When Adrian felt Sakura's disappointment he wanted to stand up for himself, yet another two messages cut him off before he could speak.
[Cursed Writer offers 12 words to Nexus in exchange for hidden information to be revealed to the host.]
[Hidden Information: 3 shards collected you can progress to the next zone; 4th shard is optional to gain a hidden reward.]
Sakura, who is technically a Nexus assistant, knew the worth of hidden information very well and was astonished by the trade for "12 words."
Even though Sakura was embarrassed she still told Adrian the importance of hidden objectives in missions.
Upon learning what he could gain from its completion Adrian bit his lip, before bursting into a cloud of blood leaving his afterimage as he ran in search of The Theater to gain his final shard.
The entire time Adrian also kept an eye out for the exit to this wasteland zone, so that if he didn't obtain the fourth shard before the timer ended he could escape without touching the Red sky's light or the gray mist that slowly filled the forest throughout his stay.