Chapter 15: Awakening {short}

I awoke in a void, a chaotic realm stretching endlessly.

Two strange beams of light hovered before me. Looking into them, I could see reflections of myself, or rather, another "body" of mine, calmly brushing and rinsing my mouth.

According to my remaining memories, I was near the border of the Impact continent. As the memories of the past flooded back, the surroundings suddenly darkened. And then, I woke up in this void.

However, things weren't as bad as I thought. By accessing the memories of the body currently in reality, I gleaned quite a bit of interesting information.

"First, I must escape this cage."

In the outside world, that body was preparing its luggage to depart when...

WHOOSH!

Without much effort, I tore this fake reality body in half. Blood splattered everywhere, even onto the robot.

"This is much better..."

I turned, stretched my shoulders a bit, and looked up into the empty space. Just as I predicted, everything I'd experienced so far was fake.

This was a five-dimensional "pocket" space created by my younger sister. Let me explain: the energy sustaining this world came entirely from Aurora. Or, more precisely, she had overlaid a virtual reality onto my real reality.

Everything looked similar to my real world, but the way it operated was incredibly unstable. Just looking at the awkward dialogue and the illogical battles between my fake body and those A.H.M. guys was enough to understand how flawed this scenario was. But never mind that, I'll deal with that later.

Now there are two important things I need to investigate: First, why did Aurora create this space? Second, who forced her to do it?

Actually, I already have the answer to the second question, and I've also answered the first.

Since my mother's reincarnation 30 years ago, we've chosen different paths. I left the Mikata continent to wander, and my sister and... well, a few other siblings I don't care about, have completely disappeared. Perhaps R.E.D. captured Aurora while she was somewhere remote.

In short, everything is still just a hypothesis right now. I can't look too deeply into the past to confirm it anymore. The name of my stingy older brother, the God of Time—well, you know, all gods are brothers—it seems he sensed this intrusion and locked down the timeline, preventing me from entering. He's quite a fussy guy.

I grabbed the lapel of my jacket and flicked it.

*CRACK!*

My expensive designer vest instantly vanished, replaced by my familiar combat attire.

"Oh well, why think so much? I'll just go and ask the girl myself."

I tidied up the tents, neatly tossed them into my storage space, and hoisted the robot onto my shoulder. According to the events of this simulated world, it's considered my partner, right? Oh well, it won't cost me anything to bring it along, I'll just leave here first.

I leisurely walked down the mountain. On the steps leading down, I came across a small shrine. In this place dominated by Western styles, an Eastern architectural design? What a ridiculous design flaw. But oh well, a little prayer probably won't kill anyone.

"But... what's the point of praying to a god?"

I chuckled at my own contradiction, but still clasped my hands and closed my eyes before the stone statue.

"May everything go smoothly."

End of Chapter 15