CHAPTER 32

Metallic arms and legs. Spikes. Burning. Exhaust horns. Ready!

Wait. Is she… crying?

No! I won’t put my hands down. She’s a Demon! At any time, there will be a boss fight announcement… wait where is the announcement anyway?

“I am sorry for scaring you,” says Brenuaza.

“You’re Brenuaza right? The Demon that transported other Demons to this world!”

Brenuaza wipes her tears away. “I am.”

“Then you should be a boss fight!”

“Boss? I’m a scientist. I don’t fight. I research.”

“Your research brought Demons here. Who knows what else would come here?!”

“I did. But that’s because the Feys came to ours first! They brought Tyfobius to us! They blown us away! I had to find a place for us to take refuge.”

Okay. This takes an unexpected turn. Everything about this place takes an unexpected turn.

“This world—World Number 39—is my first successful experiment. I tried to bring everyone here. For some reason, everyone keep fighting us. 39 has a system to detect us and incentivize their own residents to kill us.”

Okay. In fiction, this is the part filled with tension on whether we can be allies or not. If not, I can kill her and be done with it. I might save myself from a potential backstab. If allied, we can find a better way to attack the final enemy.

Wait a minute. She researched Feys, right? She has the best chance to figure out what we can do with the Fey’s portal. Maybe she can shut it down! Let’s probe her a bit.

“If I help you, what can you offer me?” I ask.

“What can you offer me?”

Good question. However, I have an answer.

“I have information on Ambrousian Empire.”

“You do?! That’s great! Let’s be friends!”

“You still haven’t told me what you can offer.”

“Is the blasted Fey portal still out there?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“If I can get to it, I can disable it. However, I need to be near the portal at all times. That can stop the Feys! We can both stop our mutual enemy from coming here forever!”

“The Contractuaries too?”

“Yeah! Of course! I cannot block them partially. Either completely, or nothing.”

This is bad. If I disagree with her, she might be fighting against me. If I can’t spread Contractuary, then there’s no point in capturing the village!

“The Ambrousian Empire has a lot of slaves right now,” I say. “We’ll need the Contractuary to spread so that we can free the slaves. That’ll be the best way to weaken them from the inside.”

“We don’t need that. I can summon more Demons to help us.”

Oh flour. I have to pick one poison over the other. Either the Demons or Contractuaries. Extra Demons as part of the troop or an ever-expanding anti-slavery area. I want Contractuaries but whoever she summoned might be a big help against the empire’s full might. Which one should I pick? She is a possible ally right now, but it’s possible that she hacked the system to stop her from becoming a boss. At any time, she could pop the system back to kill me. Who knows how many phases she added to herself! She is a scientist after all.

There is only one obvious answer here. I have to accept her offer. If she died during the attack, good. That solves my problem. If she lives, then I have to proactively keep an eye on her. Any wrong move, she’s a fair game.

“Okay,” I say, “let’s try it your way.”

The Demon jumps. “Yay!”

“First, we’ll need an army.”

“That can be arranged.”

Suddenly, the ground turns black. The black soil turns into a black bulbous liquid that rises up. The liquid solidies. Body forms from inside the bulb. Hands, legs, body, head—a human. The humans walk on the sandy land.

“You like it?” asks Brenuaza. “This is my own modified Minion Mesh. I drank some Fey blood to cast it.”

“Minion Mesh?”

“You’ve never heard it? It’s a Warlock spell. They’re still stupid if they stray too far from the caster.”

“I’ve seen them outside this world.”

“Ah! I sent them there. Since they have no free will, they can actually go in and out of Sorcerous Lake. They can be quite tiring to cast.”

Free will? Then that means that I can send objects in and out willy nilly?

“That’s your army. Is it good enough for you?”

“No,” I say. “They have a military base for now. Later, they could send the might of the entire empire after us.”

“Your best bet is there.”

Brenuaza is pointing towards the sea. It’s everyone in the floating spheres. They’re in their sweet dreams. To wake them up might be close to impossible. But if I can, they might be able to change the tide of the fight with their new species. Can I?

“If we can wake them up,” I say, “how can we get out of here?”

“Sorcerous Lake uses a voting system. In order for anyone to be let go of this place, you must win a majority. I didn’t because I am a Demon to them. You, maybe.”

“How do I do that?”

“When you enter the water with the correct intention, you will be taken into your subconscious. If you managed to leave that place, then you’ll enter public consciousness. This is where everyone meet when they’re not living inside their own subconscious. Vote there.”

“What happens to those that don’t get out of their subconscious?”

“They won’t vote and will be unaffected by the effects of any voting.”

Floating words?

DETAIL CHECK
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Okay. It seems that I have to trust this Demon. To the sea then.

As soon as I step into the water, the sea water swirls around me. It retracts back. Why? Is there something wrong with me?

“You’re a Perfect Blent too?” asks Brenuaza.

I’ve heard that before. Where?

Brenuaza jumps. “Same!”

“What’s a Perfect Blent?” I ask.

“You don’t know? I thought you did. It means that both of your parents came from different World Numbers. Due to genetics, one hides the other. You look like one species but your body hides another one. One dominant, one recessive.”

Such thing exists? And I’m the same as Brenuaza? Am I a Demon?

“Some Demons from my world had a mix with Feys. Most of them aren’t Perfect Blent though.”

Then the two sibling Demons I fought before were almost Perfect Blents?

“Ah! I forgot to ask! Do you still have your Keyward Stone? I lost mine out there.”

Keyward Stone? I had a Keyward Stone because of my genetics?

“I could’ve gotten a cool new subclass if it wasn’t for those Ambrousian. Ah! Not you! I’ve already scanned you when you entered here. You’re clearly an enemy of the empire. An enemy of my enemy is my friend! Let’s go!”

“Go where?”

“To get drowned of course.”

“What?!”

“Since we’re both Perfect Blent, we have to submerge ourselves in the water.”

“Really?”

Brenuaza offers her hand to me. “Let me accompany you. After that, it’s up to you if you want to stay or not.”

This is a Demon. Demon kills everyone they see. She must be trying to kill me. The only thing that stops her is that she needs me to lead the vote. That way, she might be able to leave. Then? Kill me.

At the same time, this is the only way forward for me. Even if I don’t take her hand, I still have to be in the water. Here goes nothing.

“Let’s go!”

Step by step, I get into the water. Step by step, it gets deeper. Step by step, I feel better. Step by step, I am lighter. Step by step, I am one with the water.