After that, Mike was sent back to his room, and an infernal cycle began: every day, he racked his brains to find a game where he could beat Shinki, and every day, he ended up losing, and had to watch the destruction of a universe, all because of his defeat. When he tried to attack Shinki with spears he Imagined piercing toward him, they had stopped just a few centimeters from his skin, and Shinki had destroyed two universes.
If he didn't show up, Shinki would destroy three of them. Mike was slowly driven to madness by guilt and was willing to do anything to stop the king, but even in the games he knew well, he realized he was no match. Whether in terms of looks, influence, intelligence and talent, he was totally outclassed.
All this was starting to plunge him into depression: he couldn't even eat properly, and had lost several waistlines. He continued to practice using Imagination, but no matter how much he progressed, he still didn't see himself defeating Shinki.
Back to the present
After losing his chess game and returning to his room, Mike played a little on his computer, but even that was no longer fun for him. So, for a change, he decided to do a little indoor sport. After an hour of doing push-ups, sit-ups, squats and jumping jacks, he collapsed to the ground, exhausted. Suddenly, he heard the door to his room open and looked in the direction of the entrance to see in the doorway, a young boy of seven or nine years old, giving him a big smile:
"Mr. Mike, are you okay?" he asked. "I brought you some candy and... uh, why are you sleeping on the floor? Is there a problem with the bed?"
Mike was a little ashamed to have been surprised like that, and it couldn't really be said that he was 'doing well', but he didn't let it show and replied, laughing a little:
"Haha, don't worry Sora, I just worked out and didn't want to dirty the bed, that's all" Mike said laughing with an embarrassed look. "So you said you had candies, right?"
Sora stuck his tongue out at him:
"Nah, I don't have any" he said.
"Oh come on, don't do that to me"
"But sir, it will ruin your whole workout session. I'm just helping you get on a diet"
Sora said this while trying to sound authoritative, making Mike smile. It was him, the little boy who followed him the day after his arrival. He was the son of one of the guards and one of the servants, who was supposed to take leave of him, to go live in his birth world.
However, Sora's mother fell ill and died before his departure, leaving only his father to take care of him. The latter not being able to resign to take care of him, the solution that had been found was to train and accommodate Sora at the castle, to later become aservant.
After Mike's third defeat against Shinki, he came to see Mike, out of curiosity, but also to console him. It was then that Mike had taken a liking to the boy, willingly giving him part of his meals, most of the time in exchange for some candy, and letting him use the computer.
"Okay, I admit defeat" Mike said, patting Sora on the head. "But still, it's not cool to deprive myself when I've already lost so much weight, haha"
"Well, now it's time to build up your muscles, that way you'll become super strong and you can even win against the king, and that will be super awesome!" Sora exclaimed excitedly. "And it will go ziou, shlou, tock and boom!"
Fidgeting in all directions, Sora bumped into the bookcase and a few books fell over.
"Ouch!" he shouted before realizing his foolishness. "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Mike, I'll help you- ouch... pick it up"
But Mike stopped him, seeing that his arm was clearly in pain:
"Don't worry about that, picking up these books will give me the opportunity to do a little more workout" he said. "On the other hand, what would please me would be that you go to see one of the castle doctors and ask him to examine your arm. Can you do that, champ?"
Sora nodded, and quickly left the room, being careful not to hit his arm again. After seeing him leave, Mike tried to bend down to catch one of the fallen books, but his back hurt while doing his exercises, so he fell onto the bed without even grabbing one.
"Argh, what an idiot! Why can't I even understand that workout isn't for me" he complained out loud.
Suddenly he heard the front door open, once again:
'Um, excuse me Mr. Mike?" the new arrival called out in a rather serious voice.
Mike, with a superhuman effort, managed to turn his head to realize that it was none other than the captain of the castle guard. This one, even if he couldn't have been more than 27 or 28 years old, exuded a charisma worthy of his rank, with his shoulders and arms wider than Frey's, with straight, brown hair, swept back forward. and a square jaw.
"Ugh… uh yes, what is it?" Mike asked.
Clearly, the situation was extremely humiliating for him.
"Well, I saw you had a little problem, and you're not really in a position to solve it" he said. "Since I have finished my shift, would you like me to help you pick up these books? I also have some anti-aches ointment, that the soldiers use when they're in pain too, if you like"
The proposition seemed to come out of nowhere, but Mike's back hurt too much to think about it for long:
"Ok thank you. Could you give me the cream first please?"
"Of course"
The captain gave him the ointment and turned around, while Mike took off his t-shirt, applied the ointment to his back as best he could, and put his t-shirt back on.
"Wow, this thing is really magical" Mike said.
He realized that during this time, the captain had put away the books, except for one.
"Did you put everything back in place so quickly? I don't know how I can thank you, so..."
Mike saw the cover of the book while the captain was holding it in his hands, and his eyes widened: he jumped out of bed and snatched the book from his interlocutor's hands without even giving him time to understand what was happening. .
"Sir, are you well?"
Mike didn't even hear it, focused on the name of the book's author: C.Z.N.
"Ah, it's getting worse and worse..."
He had only heard of this author once, but still remembered her perfectly well: it was also one of her books that had been found at the crime scene where Chloe had been rendered unconscious. The coincidence was far too great, especially considering that he had not found any author here whose name matched any of the authors from the Prime World.
In fact, it was even a safe bet that the book was the same. He skimmed through the book, but it was just nonsense talking about something called Fate, which apparently would cause everything to return to its starting point after a certain point. He didn't dwell on it and continued to leaf through the book trying to find something interesting, without success.
"Damn it…"
It seemed like something this guy, Noir, could do: put the answers in front of him without giving him the key to understanding them. First he was beaten in intelligence by Shinki, then by Noir... Even his strong point had become useless. And all these universes were destroyed because of him.
As he let himself be overcome by his dark thoughts, a large hand came to rest on his shoulder:
"Mr. Mike, calm down" the captain said. "Don't give up on your problems! I have enough experience to know that it won't turn out well. Now sit back and take a deep breath"
He said it in a reassuring but authoritative voice. Mike obeyed and sat down in his desk chair before taking a series of deep breaths as the captain went into the kitchen to pour him a glass of cold water. He handed it to Mike on the way back, and Mike happily took it and drank it.
"You're feeling better?" the captain asked.
"Yes, thank you. But tell me, why are you so nice to me, sir..."
"Clark. You can call me that, it's my first name"
Mike raised his eyebrows briefly.
"Really ? Okay then, Clark. But if you don't mind, can I ask you a question?"
""Of course. Is it about my name or the fact that I came to help you when the rest of the guards ignored you?"
"Actually, both"
Clarc laughed heavily, although it didn't last long.
"Haha, I know my first name is quite original around here, it's because my parents chose my name based on that of their favorite comic book character and not our usual names. A bit weird, no? But I don't know, I like it"
"It's definitely a cool name, and it suits you quite well" Mike replied.
Even though he half-hoped he could coax Clarc into allying with him against Shinki, Mike was primarily saying this to spark conversation, since it had been a long time since he had spoken with a person. who was around his age and meant him no harm.
"And so, can you tell me why you're so nice to me, Clarc? After all, I'm just a stranger from nowhere who crashes into the castle. And because of me, my defeats... all these universes... argh..."
Mike was starting to feel nauseous and dizzy, but Clarc grabbed his shoulder again, and he felt a little better:
"Stop, it's the king who's at fault here, not you" Clarc said. "You didn't do anything wrong, on the contrary, you even took care of my son, and I'm grateful to you for that, Mike"
They had now officially switched to a more familial tone:
"Eh? Your son ?"
"Yes, said the guard. I introduce myself again: I am Clarc, the captain of the guard, and Sora's father"