I watched the Omega Level Aquatic Nope from inside the glass dome separating us from the Sea of Corpses. Behind me, Marulk is busy putting some stuff into his notebook, not at all bothered by all the Nope surrounding us.
Then Marulk glanced at the glass and another, much bigger nope flashed into view. "Amazing isn't it?" he commented nonchalantly. "This dome is created to traverse through the Sea of Corpses, no creature will ever go near this thing."
That reassures me a tad bit. "Well Marulk, I am still a bit creeped out so..." I sat down next to him before lying my head on his lap. "Can I sleep on your lap?"
"I don't mind, Haios-san," Marulk replied kindly.
I sighed in relief and closed my eyes. These past two months(read: two years) has been quite hectic. A little bit of relaxation is the one thing that I desperately need. If only we're not in a hell hole, I would've take him out for a date right now.
Wait, that's right, a date!
"Marulk, let's go on a date!" I exclaimed in excitement.
Marulk looked at me for a moment. "What's a date?"
I gasped in shock after hearing that. "A date! Do you not know what a date is!? It's a thing a couple of very, very close friends do. They go out together and have fun!" I exclaimed. "And they are definitely not in any risk of danger, death, or suffering."
The boy thought about it for a moment before smiling. "I know a place, we can have our date there."
"Down there? In the Sixth Layer?" I asked him.
Marulk nodded once again. "Yep, we can have fun, and most importantly, that place is very safe."
A safe place? In the Sixth layer of the Abyss? I must be hearing things! "Where is it? I thought the Sixth Layer is a place filled with infinite danger? A literal hell hole full of death and suffering and something like that."
"Not quite Haios, there are a lot of interesting sights you can see in the depths of the Abyss," the boy has wistful smile on his face. "Like the flower garden we saw on the Fourth Layer. There's an even bigger one down there."
"But isn't that place filled with Category Five, Mimic Class, Nope?" I asked him.
Marulk rolled his eyes. "Well, that's true, but I'm sure it's worth the trouble," he sighed and looked at me in the eyes. "Like how you are worth every struggle and pain I've endured to get all the way down here."
Damn it, he's smooth. "All right, it'll be very inappropriate if things start escalating in this elevator," I told him with a deadpan look on my face. "Why can't you be this smooth and charming when we're not in immediate danger anyway?"
"But we're not in danger," Marulk replied.
I pointed at a gigantic angler fish three times the size of dome passing by above us. "That freaky fish beg to differ."
"What's wrong with Angler Fish?" Marulk stood up and walked towards the dome. He waved at the passing Angler Fish and it... somehow waved back with its head lamp. "Disliking Angler Fishes for what they are is very offensive you know?"
I blinked owlishly before letting myself drop down on to the floor. "Right... Forgive me, fellow Angler Fish..." I muttered.
After complementing about Angler Fish and the Existence of Life in general for a few minutes, the elevator finally come into a sudden stop. I opened my eyes and realized that the dome is now sitting on a...
Okay, I uhh... I'm having a hard time describing this place, but let me try.
An ancient ruined civilization mixed with some wild lives, small plains, more ancient structures that are extremely big. Upside down cities and diagonal cities. There's also this these thin layer of crystals covering some of the cities.
"Capital of the Unreturned," Marulk said after stepping out of the dome. "This place looks wonderful, those photos in Idofront don't do it justice."
I looked around for a moment and saw a gargantuan giraffe-like creature standing in the distance. "Uhh, Marulk, analysis?" I asked while pointing at the creature the size of a building.
Marulk looked at the creature. "That is a Ryuusazai, they're not dangerous as long as you stay away from their territory," he explained. "Also, I can't imagine you winning when fighting against that thing, but seeing your..." he looked at my current attire. "Battle-ready suit that Lord Bondrewd made, you might just win."
"You know what? I think that guy is pretty cool," I said, accepting my defeat. "Let's just continue, you said something about a very safe place right?"
With that, the two of us traveled through the capital of unreturned. Using the Far Caress, we walked through the gaps and uneven terrain with relative ease. The black mass easily formed bridges and downward staircases.
It's a nice change from having me to carry him everywhere.
Suddenly, a loud explosion appeared in the distance. A huge bubble of hot water and air burst out of ground. "We have to take cover!" Marulk exclaimed suddenly as the Far Caress formed into a giant shield to shield us all.
I grabbed Marulk by his waist and start carrying him to safety. We lay low in a small opening on the ground and wait for the situation to get better. "Okay, so, what the hell was that?"
"Geothermal Burst, it happens everywhere in the Sixth Layer," Marulk replied. "Don't worry, it's not that often so it should be safe to head out now."
The two of us walked out of the shelter and looked around. Then I noticed something watching us from the terrain a few levels above us. "Oi! Who are you!?" I yelled out, hoping that it's someone friendly.
I tried to jump in pursuit, only to have the Far Caress grabbing my foot and stopping in midair. "Do you really want to turn into a shapeless blob again?" Marulk asked before dropping me down.
I gulped a little and shook my head. "I seriously forgot..." I face-palmed out of my own stupidity. "Whatever am I gonna do without you Marulk..."
"Well let's find out." The two of us instinctively turn around and saw a young woman standing behind us. She has dark brown hair and bright green eyes with a smug smirk on her face. She wore a black and red robe with cloud-like patterns all over it.
It took me a while to remember exactly where I've seen her before. From the way she looks at me like I'm just her plaything, to the confident aura emanating from her body. It put a nagging feeling behind me head and struck a deep fear inside my heart.
"Vida..." I dropped down on the ground as the feeling of dread and hopelessness struck my entire being. "N-no, please, don't tell me it's over..." I can feel Marulk crouching down beside me, but I couldn't muster any willpower to rise.
Vida stepped forward and reality began to unfold. The ruins around us slowly crumbled away into shapeless blur in the background. The ground below us dissipates into nothing along with the sky above us.
I closed my eyes and let my mind drown in sorrow. Nothing exists anymore... Nothing...
[LINE BREAK]
"Haios, what's going on?"
I snapped my eyes open and saw Marulk inches away from my face. "Impossible..." I said in disbelief. "Y-you shouldn't be exist, you..." I looked around and saw Vida still standing there with that smug smirk on her face. "Vida, what's the meaning of this?"
Vida shrugged and walked towards the two of us. The Far Caress burst out of Marulk's trench coat, but it blurred away into nothing before it could reach Vida. "Wh-what!? How?" I hugged the boy from behind before he could do anything else.
"Marulk, listen, it's no use. This is goodbye," I whispered to him. "I'm so sorry for leaving you here, but there's nothing any of us can do about this."
Marulk shook his head in denial. "No, Haios, don't say that, just..." he gritted his teeth and glared at Vida. "Just who are you!?" he yelled out.
Vida giggled for a moment. "I literally can't tell you that," she spoke in that sickeningly sweet and lustrous voice. "But I have to say, you've grown well Marulk," she flickered out of existence before appearing right in front of us.
"You've certainly grown from being a useless trap..." the young woman slowly dragged her finger along Marulk's chin. "To an interesting love interest for our main protagonist..." neither Marulk nor I could move our body, all we could do was to suffer through this humiliation.
Then, Vida took out a book from her robe. In the cover is a little girl wearing glasses and a young boy with a horned helmet. Below them is a gigantic hole in the middle of an ocean. "Made In Abyss," Vida read the title out loud. "I love this manga, the world building is amazing and the story, it's just so... Unforgiving."
"No, no, don't tell him, please..." I crawled towards her and bowed down in front of her. "Please, Vida, you won, I'll do anything... Just do whatever you want with me, but please don't tell him..."
The young woman kicked me away and it hurts. It hurts so much, both physically and mentally. I looked to my left and saw Marulk already charging towards Vida with my knife in his hand. "Marulk… No…"
A translucent blade burst out of Marulk's chest. He wailed in shock and pain as four blades appeared out of thin air.
Chest, head, and abdomen area. The woman mercilessly tortured the boy with invisible blades. But no matter how much she hurt him, Marulk can't die.
"Vida, please…" I pleaded, unable to watch him suffer like that. "Just let him go, it's me that you want."
Vida kicked Marulk away and walked towards me. "Tch, killjoy…" she muttered before grabbing my hand and forcing me onto my foot. "The Manga hasn't go this far yet so I'm afraid this is the end." Then, Vida glanced at Marulk who's whimpering on the ground in pain. An inhumane grin spread over her face as she stepped on his head.
I just sat there in shocked silence when Vida slowly crushed his head. The sole of her shoes slowly digging into his cranium, the disgusting squelching sound that follows after, the lifeless look he gave me before his eyeballs…
"Are you crying Haios chan?" a hand lifted my chin up and I saw her. That bright green eyes and that twisted smile of hers. "Cry harder, I love it when you do that," she spoke and I'm starting sob uncomfortably.
"Ju-just kill me already!" I slammed my fist on the nothing below me. "Kill me, please, just kill me…"
The girl brought her face close to my ear. "No, I'm not done with you yet…"