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After Leah established the force field, a barrier shielded Zero and Friday from the unknown force their current forms could not tolerate. Even the damage to their existence was healed and reinforced by the field. Their forms seemed more solid and robust than before.
"Are you guys alright?" Leah asked as she entered her sea of consciousness.
She reduced her size and appeared next to Zero and the hovering light blue orb. Because the bird cage containing Zero was getting crowded, Friday reduced its size to the size of Leah's palm.
"What just happened, Master?" Friday asked first, looking around.
Zero was still stunned and began inspecting his body as he regained awareness. He compared his condition before and after and was amazed again when he realized Leah was beyond what he had imagined.
He frowned, realizing he was becoming more human-like.
"Sigh— What else is new?" Zero decided not to dwell on information and events he couldn't control and focused on his role as assigned by the God System.
He looked in the direction where another being had appeared after his host said a single word. "Seems like she summoned a higher being," he guessed, sensing its immense power even through the barrier Leah had erected.
Friday and Leah also turned their heads toward the spot Zero was looking at.
Zero couldn't see its appearance clearly because of the white-colored, cloud-like formation surrounding the summoned being, but he could see a bipedal humanoid shadow inside.
The being walked closer to them as the cloud formation surrounding it dispersed, revealing its appearance.
"Master?" Friday shuddered every time the mysterious being took a step closer. It moved and nestled its body on Leah's left cheek. When its orb body touched Leah's skin, it felt a sense of security, soothing its trembling form. Friday was now calmly watching the approaching figure.
The summoned silhouette was revealed from head to toe as the cloudy mist dispersed from the top.
The shadowy figure unveiled a naked human male with long, silvery hair that reached his ankles. He stood about 185-190 cm tall.
As more of his body was revealed, details became more apparent. He had an attractively thin but well-shaped physique with no excess body fat. The space's light source reflected off his non-bulky muscles. His skin looked pale but smooth in texture.
Each step showed no hesitation, like a warrior visualizing their enemy before an attack: death. Each slight muscle movement displayed power, like a soldier pulling a trigger toward their target: death. Each breath greedily absorbed the life of the surroundings, like time running out for every living being: death.
After this grand entrance, which sowed fear and discord in Friday and Zero, the handsome face turned toward Leah.
The stranger approached until there was an arm's length distance between him and Zero's cage. His inexpressive face frowned.
With his almond-shaped, upturned eyes, he scanned the barrier that prevented him from getting closer, his neon blue irises glowing slightly.
His Roman nose twitched, and he knelt with both knees. He placed both palms on his thighs and bowed as low as possible.
He opened his mouth, "Master— Rain at your service."
A low, magnetic voice reverberated within Leah's sea of consciousness.
While Leah silently looked at her summon, Zero's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. He turned his head mechanically toward Leah, amazed that such a being seemed subservient to his host.
Friday was not faring any better. If it had a face, it would look exactly like Zero's. If it were human, it would show a smug and proud expression as if to say, "See this? This is my Master!"
As the two beside her were bewildered, it was Leah's turn to frown. She started counting down, "Three, two, one..."
A manly, coquettish voice was heard when her countdown ended in Leah's sea of consciousness.
"Master~, what is this barrier? Why can't I cut it? Masterrrr~!"
The dignified being who had been prostrating himself before Leah was no more.
Instead, an exhibitionist-like man was pressing himself against the transparent barrier. His nakedness, including his dangling third finger and hairless balls, was plastered like a piece of abstract art on display.
His audience? The poor three people inside the barrier. Such a display assaulted all three pairs of eyes, including Friday's non-existent ones.
The barrier immediately increased in perimeter and height. Rain, sweat evident on his forehead, tried to resist being pushed by it and succeeded, but only for three seconds. The barrier effortlessly expanded as Leah willed it.
The way the new arrival flipped from a heroic, mighty figure into a putrid scourge of society was so uncanny that Friday lost its orb's lively translucent color and dropped to the ground. Zero's face remained the same, but his expression was more exaggeratedly comical as he pointed at the naked man sliding all over the barrier, leaving behind a trail of unknown fluid like a snail.
"H—Host, a—am I dreaming?! That can't be. This event must be a hallucination." In all his experiences as a system, he had never seen such a being. He might have only been a system for two to three centuries—still a baby in Leah's perspective.
"Eyes wide open, kids. Your big brother just visited," Leah announced with a smirk, then disappeared.
She reappeared before Rain, startled by the miniature palm-sized Leah no bigger than his head. Rain was still stuck against the barrier on all fours like a plunger.
He looked at his Master, stunned. A million questions ran through his head. His Thumbelina-sized Master hovered and smiled at him, and he couldn't help but smile back.
Leah came closer and hugged his right cheek. "How are you?" she asked.
"I am fine, Master," Rain whispered.
"I am happy you are doing well," Leah replied, hovering distantly from Rain after the cheek hug.
With a smile still on her face, Leah returned to her original size. Her smile immediately disappeared as she looked at Rain seriously, with a hint of anger.
In the next second, Rain found himself being pushed back. His body seemed to be forcefully hurled up and back head first. In a split second, he figured out what had happened.
Thinking faster than an average human in the blink of an eye, time slowed down for him, and his eyes rotated to look toward his Master.
He smiled and thought, "Master never changed."
In the eyes of everyone in the space, including Friday and Zero, Leah seemed to be just sitting with crossed legs on top of the barrier in her original place, never moving. However, Rain knew that his Master had stretched her arms and flicked a finger.
She flicked her right middle finger over Rain's forehead with the force of a five-tonne, forty-foot empty shipping container. Everything happened in a picosecond, and she seemed to do nothing while Rain's body was suddenly pushed backward by an invisible force.
Leah again disappeared from her spot and appeared on top of Rain as his body was about to fall. Her body hovered horizontally as she faced Rain. She hit his chest with a palm strike, causing him to fall instantly to the space's floor.
Rain blinked and smiled, then got up from the floor like an old vampire rising from their slumber. His eyes locked on Leah, who was floating closer until she stood before him.
He flinched and looked down at the palm print on his chest. It glowed slightly, then, like living ink, spread tattoo-like symbols all over his body. As the symbols were etched into his skin, a slight neon blue glow emanated from them before fading, leaving behind dark blue colored symbols on his entire body except his face.
Leah came closer, inspected Rain from head to toe, and smiled. Her eyes ended up on Rain's groin. She lifted her right eyebrow, "A tattooed member and hairless balls do not seem right."
Rain frowned and complained, "Master!" He willed some clothes to appear, and they enveloped his body.
Leah moved her eyes from his groin to his face. "I told you multiple times to wear your frickin' clothes."
"But I am not human," Rain retorted in a mosquito voice. He looked like a whipped, wet puppy as he adjusted his clothes.
He wore a European Victorian white shirt and black trousers, similar to those worn during the golden age of piracy in the 17th century on Earth.
He started tying a navy blue band around his waist while grumbling, then his clothes disappeared.
Leah snapped her fingers, and a modern 21st-century suit, including leather footwear, covered Rain's entire body instead. "These clothes suit this world's current century more."
"Sigh—fine, but I don't need these." Unable to resist his Master, Rain accepted his fate but removed the vest and jacket, storing them in his own pocket space.
The engraved tattoo disappeared from Rain's skin, and his presence diminished to that of an average human. He now looked like an unassuming, handsome cosplayer.
Another finger snap sound was heard in the space, and a noticeable change happened. Rain's long silver hair was tied in a high ponytail, and the barrier encapsulating Friday and Zero disappeared.
"Come, I'll introduce you to your new colleagues." Leah turned and walked back as soon as she finished speaking.
Rain followed and saw the space in front of Leah become distorted. They were far from the bird cage with a high stand, but after one step through the distortion, they arrived immediately in front of the cage.
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