Chereads / The Unexpected Extra / Chapter 20 - Progress (1)

Chapter 20 - Progress (1)

'With that, my mission should be finished.'

Carmilla planned to leave for now. 

On the one hand, her mission had already concluded a bit ago.

On the other hand, while her interest in the boy did grow exponentially, she was warned by her master to not linger around, no matter what. 

There was no better time to leave. That was what Carmilla thought as she stood up and bowed to the boy.

"...Apologies for the rudeness, but I must take my leave."

"..."

Seeing that there was no response, she assumed it to be a confirmation. It wasn't like he could stop her if she wanted to leave anyway, but she felt delighted that things went rather smoothly.

As she was personally interested in the boy's identity, remaining amicable was necessary for future communications. 

However, she seemed to be mistaken about how smoothly it was going.

"Ah? Where are you going in such a rush? Why not stay for another cup of tea?"

"I may have to ask for your forgiveness, for that is quite impossible." She started procuring a portal as she spoke.

There was some hope that the boy wouldn't interfere and just let her go, but that was shattered in seconds.

Without hesitation, he shut off her attempt to leave, forcing her to grit her teeth at his stubbornness.

'Fuck. Is he one of those persistent ones?'

This made her remember that among her master's connections, there were several of those cases as well. 

Serving directly under her master as a [Servant], she was considered by many as a bridge towards a closer relationship. Bootlickers, opportunists, idealists...would try to keep her so they could create a more favorable impression, hoping for a chance to reach a higher power far from reach. 

It wasn't anything surprising, considering the fact that her master was at the top of the [Outer God]'s hierarchy. But putting up with it only became a pain in the butt for her over time.

At first, she was annoyed but couldn't do anything. Nevertheless, getting permission from her master, she went straight for the brute strength method whenever things got "out of hand". 

Submission through fear, while not the best, was too good to not be used.

Divinity - an energy that only [God] and his blessed [Servant] possess, represents a [God]'s strength and influence. On this alone, Carmilla was confident in beating 90% of [God] alone, truly showing the power her master possessed. It was also a testament to her faith and connection with her master.

'Tch. Do I have no other choice?' 

[God] is most powerful within their respective sacred domain - a [World] where they have full authority on operating. Leaving without permission was nigh impossible and breaking out forcefully would cost a lot for someone who didn't have their own [World] like her, which usually leaves her with one option.

"Please don't blame me for this!"

In an instant, Carmilla slammed the boy into the ground head-first.

If the disparity was small, the rest could be made up purely with one's sacred domain. Otherwise, with a difference like heaven and earth between Carmilla and the boy, who was barely comparable to a [Demi-god], being in one's domain or not wouldn't matter.

It shouldn't have…

"There's...nothing?!"

She felt nothing in the grasp of her palm as if she had just mindlessly struck the ground, targetting nothing but the air. Somehow, it was a strange, yet familiar situation.

A cold, almost sneering voice came from behind:

"Say, is doing the same thing again and again your cue? Habits die hard?"

"The same thing? What the hell are you on about?"

Carmilla, not grasping what the boy said, started accelerating herself with Divinity.

At speeds unfathomable to even gods, she grabbed the boy's collar and slammed him into the ground, pounding on him like there was no tomorrow. Each punch grew stronger than the last, producing tremendous impacts no different than earthquakes that could level cities.

It was a pure barbaric and violent one-sided beat-down, devoid of any majestic elements humans would imagine a god's showdown to have. Rather, it resembles a life-death barbarian brawl commonly seen in the Wild West, where only one prevails over the other in the end.

'Got you!' She exclaimed internally. 'As expected, this is still the best.'

At the end of the day, absolute power still stands above everything. She was probably just a tiny bit careless before, given that she had never met a special guest as weak-looking as him. It was just like any other trivial slip-up she was going to bury after thoroughly instilling fear into the boy with extreme violence. 

That was when a frightening monotonous voice crept into her ears.

"Pondered its insignificance, have you not? Foolishness? Resilience? Or simply unaware?"

The dust had already cleared up, showing an unscathed boy staring coldly at her, much to her surprise.

"How human..." Red tears slowly flow down his eyes. "How envious."

Before Carmilla could understand anything at all, excruciating pain coursed through her body multiple times at once. 

The experience was no less than being slowly chewed and gnawed apart, only to get poorly pieced together like a child brute-forcing a jigsaw puzzle. 

Pains. Pains that she thought would never happen to her were torturing her mentally. Flesh torn, Bones crushed, Organs squashed, she was continuously slipping in and out of consciousness as it transgressed.

She wanted to scream, but couldn't. How could that be done when both her physical and spiritual forms were violently spasming in tandem, leaving her no time to rest?

"That suffering. Youngsters. Only once. Imagine. Loop. How long. Who knows?" The boy's face, once again distorted, was reflected in Carmilla's bloodshot eyes. "Ah...I went a little overboard, didn't I?" 

With a flick, he released Carmilla from her suffering. The disappeared cage confining him also reappeared out of thin air, once again trapping him inside.

Fixing his face, the boy unremorsefully looked over the priestess he inflicted pain upon. Her face, though hidden behind a veil, was visibly pale, and her eyes dilated. Bodily fluid streamed onto the ground, disappearing as they came into contact. 

Suddenly, Carmilla jolted awake, her violent coughs ensued seizures. Nonetheless, seemingly still unable to process the shock, she passed out again afterward.

"Though I do admit that I look pretty weak, what makes you think attempting to beat me up again is a good idea? Even after all that time..." The boy paused as he squinted his eyes. "No...Come to think of it, shouldn't she of all his [Servant] recognize me?" 

Was he so immersed in his 'role' that he forgot something as basic as logical thinking?

After all, even he only "woke up" recently, when the word "Storyline" came out of Carmilla's mouth. Like a key finally finding its right keyhole, something clicked in his mind, waking him up.

In truth, not much had changed compared to when he wasn't "awoken". He was still him, and he wasn't about to "release" himself to go solve all this mess he just found out "they" were in.

Of course, if Tep's "Storyline" is what the boy knows it to be, "Progression" is an integral part to proceed onto the next stage. However, the situation Jun was stuck in was the exact opposite of that.

Normally, "they" would either not intervene or just straight up somehow mess with Tep's plan, but this time might be a little different. At this pace, things would really get nowhere, or at worse, really bad, specifically for Jun. In addition to Tep sending an envoy only for such a message, Jun's ego breaking so easily is an indication.

The reason he kept Carmilla back was only because he wanted some confirmation, after which he would be sending her on her way. Unfortunately, things always escalated this way every time, to the point he didn't bother trying to subdue her consciously.

"That said...She is also 'drowning' as well, isn't she? Damn you, Tep."

Piecing each repeating encounter with one another, he became quite sure that she probably didn't hold the info he needed. Nonetheless, was there ever such a harm in trying?

"In any case, it's a shame that didn't work out...Anyways, since our goal actually somewhat aligned this once, how about giving him a hand?" The boy directed his eyes at the blue sky, where clouds had begun moving again. "About time you wake up, 'me'."