The Answer

A disturbing calm surrounds Seth.
Shivering, he can only feel the pain of moving even an inch.

But in the desolate silence, he hears a voice.

"What would you wish for? To always know what to do?

Huh..?

Or to know how much you can do?" asks a voice that sounds like a man.

Seth hears those questions again, echoing in his head.

...That voice again?

A warm light filters through his eyelids, but when he opens his eyes, he can only see a thick fog surrounding him.

Same feeling.
Same place.
Same questions.

He was in the same dream he had three days earlier.

I remember this...

He looked at the place where the voice was coming from and could only make out a completely dark silhouette. It looked like a man, and even though he was far away, his voice was invasive.

"The answer was... neither, neither of the two. I think."

"What a strange answer... explain yourself better."

Knowing what to do.
"It sounds tempting..."

I've always wanted to know what to do, and yet...
After so many years, the desire has only taken away my freedom.

"...AN EXPLOSION!..." The explosion of the capsule appears again, like a flashback burned into his retinas.

At that moment, when I didn't know what to do...
I was free, with my own way of thinking and existing.

Even in the face of death.

Then that same freedom turned out to be really painful.
Maybe knowing what to do would avoid that pain, but...

"But that's a trap! Because if I always knew what to do, I would never try anything new."

I remember that even when I thought I couldn't go on, I kept going much further...

"This is insane... BUT IT'S THE ONLY WAY—!"

"And if I knew how much I could do, I would never go beyond my limits."

He clenches his fist.

"This is my answer! I won't change who I am for the sake of certainty."

"A magnificent answer, but are you sure you want to stick to it? Just look at yourself before you answer."

In the distance, he could see himself, although this version was different.
He looked confused, lost, and bewildered.

Wasn't that me three days ago...!?
That's when I was in the consultation room...!

Seth began to look around paranoidly.
"W-what kind of dream is this...!? Who are you? W-where am I!?"

The figure of the man approaches Seth menacingly with a knowing smile and replies,

"Here, the concepts of the material world do not exist, only the individual, and each of their states hears what is necessary."

Seth steps back, confused.
"So... what I saw at that moment was this!?"

The figure approaches even closer.

"Answer me... that individual you see hesitating, is that you?"

Seth turns his head for a moment and sees himself three days ago.
Distressed, without a spark of confidence, but he looks deeper and hears that urgency for change.

"...I really have to change something, no matter what."

It wasn't just a desire; no matter what, something had to change.
His life was trapped by his circumstances, and he had always known it.

"Yes, I am him, and he is me."

"Being a being full of doubts? How do you intend to follow your answers that way?"

Seth continued to observe the image of himself in the past.

"Even though I hesitate, I know that he, that confused young man, will choose the same thing when the time comes, and that's why I'm still alive."

He looked steadily at that man, that silhouette filled with darkness.

"I will change my conditions. I have known no other way of existing..."

"HAHAHA!" the man burst out laughing. "It seems you choose the path of uncertainty. We'll see if you're willing to walk it."

"Then I will walk, even when I can't feel my feet."

"If that's the case... get up. Get up, errant one, and walk toward nowhere."

There is a click, and everything goes dark.

Seth opens his eyes. He is lying down.

The sky is a radiant blue, without a single gray cloud, as if it had been painted by hand.

The sun does not burn: it caresses.
Everything shines, without blinding.

There is a slight buzzing in the air... like a song he cannot remember.
Beneath his back, he feels a warm, soft surface... like water.

He slowly sits up. The crystal-clear water barely reaches his ankles. It is so clear that he can see his distorted reflection, rippling with every slight movement.

In the distance, there is no land.
There are no buildings.
There is no noise.
There is only endless water.

And that serene sky, a calm that doesn't seem real, too perfect to be true.
Seth breathes... and for a moment, all the weight disappears, there is no pain.

There is no urgency.
Only him, only peace.

But then...

KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!

A sound cuts through the moment, a guttural, torn, high-pitched, and low-pitched scream at the same time.

As if a broken throat were trying to scream through centuries of suffering.

Seth straightens up suddenly; the reflection in the water trembles, the sky trembles.

Everything seems to tremble, but he stops.

For some reason, as he contemplates his reflection, he notices something he didn't understand before.

He sees himself, that familiar-looking character from his dream: messy hair, tired eyes, exhaustion written all over his face.

"Now I understand... I don't regret anything. I am what I am because of my circumstances or conditions. This is me."

He lifts his head and sees it.

The creature.
The same silhouette covered in black, armored tentacles, the same eye, slanted and burning, the beast from before... but even more real, more alive.

Seth takes a step forward, but his feet are rooted to the spot; the water is no longer calm. It has become viscous.

The sun is slowly covered by shadows that twist around themselves; the creature advances directly toward him.

But he looks it straight in its eye.

"Even if you kill me, I'm not afraid of you."

KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!

The beast shoots toward him, as if reality itself had opened up to let it pass.

Then...

CRACK!!!
The ground splits; cracks begin to appear under his feet.

SHAAANK!!!!
From deep within, black spikes of monumental size emerge. They do not come out violently, but solemnly, like statues that have waited for centuries.

They pierce the beast, one through the abdomen, another through a tentacle, and another through the back.

KRRRHHHH!!!!
The creature shakes, but cannot move forward. It is trapped, humiliated.

Seth doesn't move; he just watches... his heart pounds like a drum; he remains calm, but his expression shows that he didn't expect this to happen.

In the midst of the silence, the creature roars.

A single word.

OOOOOMEGAAAAAA!!!

It is not a cry of fear; it is a cry of hatred, a name spat out with age-old rancor.
And just as its eyes fix on Seth again, the beast seems to slowly petrify until...

...everything explodes in light.

KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!

Seth wakes up with a start, hearing that scream again.
As if someone were dragging him from an abyss, the sky turns gray once more.

The smell of dust and burnt blood invades his senses. The heat... the pressure... the heaviness in his muscles.

Everything comes back.

He finds himself lying on the ground. He can't move.

"Agh-g..."

He breathes with difficulty.
He blinks, but his vision is blurry; his body won't respond, his fingers... they won't even bend.

E...everything hurts...

The beast screamed until it lost its voice. It was wounded, right where the spikes had pierced it in the dream.

Paralyzed. Just a few meters away.
That was all that was left.

W-What was that...? It was more than a dream?

He looked up at the beast, that indifferent eye that stalked him...

"YOU ARE NOTHING. YOU ARE NO ONE."
The memory replayed in his mind.

I don't accept this, or this system...

A whisper spoke to him.
"Get up, errant one."

He dragged his hand; his thumbs left a trail on the ground as he tried to stand up.

I get up, not because I can win...

His knees straightened with his back.

I get up because losing would mean not doing it.

Steadfast and panting, Seth prevailed this time over despair.
He turned his head toward the door.

"I can still... get out of here."

SCRATCH

His ankle gave way; he almost collapsed.
His eyes were about to close.

All his failed attempts came back to his mind.
He remembered that day of the registration.

That desperate decision.

That desire...

"...I really have to change something, no matter what."

He looked at the dagger he carried at his waist.

Just... just one more time... he thought. It's my last chance.

He pulled it out and gripped it with both hands.

I have to take advantage of its paralysis to attack it.

Rem energy began to slowly rise from his feet, a small blue trail climbing up his body to his hands.

He began to approach the beast, staggering, dragging every inch of his body to do something... anything.

If I don't make it this time... I'll die.

He closed his eyes and tried to do what Grant did without thinking.

Imbue.

He felt the Rem move inside him, heavy, clumsy. He tried to push it toward the weapon he was holding.

Nothing.

It wasn't like Grant did it.
It wasn't like that.

The energy didn't flow. It remained stagnant.
"Come on..." he whispered, his throat broken. "Come on, just..."

His hands trembled.

KRIIIIIN!

The beast came to its senses.

Its open wounds closed before Seth's eyes, and it looked at him for a moment in which time seemed to freeze for both of them.

Seth took half a step back... and forced himself to stop.

"NO! Even if it's the end for me... I'm not backing down."

FWOOOOSH!!!

The beast lunged its tentacles toward him.

Seth closed his eyes.

“COME ON…! JUST ONCE…!”

Then—
something tensed.

Not outside, but from within.

Something like a scream.
It wasn't a voice.
It was pressure.

The same feeling as in the dream.

The same word, without form, without volume, without language.

OMEGA.

The heat exploded in his legs.
It didn't rise.
It overflowed.

WHOOMF.

A burst of energy. One that found no outlet.
Seth opened his eyes for an instant.

The air around him warped, vibrated, as if reality had become soft. A ring of Rem energy burst violently from his body.

"Wh...what...!?"

SPLAT

Seth landed and smashed against the wall. The dagger fell, spinning, to the floor.

The descending tentacle was thrown backward, as if it had hit an elastic wall. The beast took a step back, surprised.

KRIIINNN! the beast screamed.

Seth felt only pain.

Paralyzed on the floor, his eyes narrowed, and he could barely comprehend what had just happened.

Warm blood ran down his nose; something inside him was burning.

It's the residue of an explosion.
An explosion that
Has no form.
Has no control...

It is useless for attacking.
It only served to survive one more second.

Of which only pain remains.