Chapter 4

"So, this is a rumoured shelter? It was surprising. I thought it would be more…. You know, shabby?" I took a look at the shelter designation "Oasis" and said toward Aurora who was carrying me. What I said was reasonable because when you thought about Doomsday shelters, you would imagine a dump with barely passable buildings with many downtrodden people on the streets and superpowers struggling to barely save it. Not this mechanical city with pristine buildings and advanced weapons like laser cannons and machine guns of some kind equipped in the wall.

"Well, this shelter mostly consists of Tinkers. Oh, that is what we call those with Superpowers related to technology. As of now, it was estimated that there were over 400 tinkers in it. At least, 120% more than other shelters. It was for that reason that we were in the top ten shelters all over the world. We are even thinking of making it float," Aurora patiently explained.

"I see. You guys have quite an ambition. Maybe, if you could build a spaceship and manage to escape to the Cosmo, you guys would have survived," I nodded at her explanation and was honestly impressed by their ambition. Of course, my spaceship comment was just saying it in passing. Travelling the Cosmo, not to mention surviving, I am afraid that even the true sight of it would corrupt them and turn them into piles of maddened flesh.

"Really? I mean, we already have a spaceship, and we just sent one to outer space, but all of these were destroyed as they were leaving the atmosphere. We never managed to work out what attacked them, but we believed it was from the Moon," Aurora quickly said.

"Ah, she is already on the Moon? Then, I believe you should just forget about outer space, of course, unless you want to fill the Earth with your descendants. If you really wanted to escape, you need a god and even then, as long as you still have a connection with that place, you would be hunted down to the end of the Universe," I just shrugged her hope.

"My space? Why? I mean, from what you had explained to me, those guys as you called "Them" were existences even above Gods. So, I am sure "They" could have spaces like mine easily," Aurora was somewhat confused and rightly so. For her, this was just a cool space where she could store things and plant vegetables. Sure, things like this were valuable in these times. However, "They" were very powerful beings and just a small space like this shouldn't catch the attention of existences like "Them" unless her space was hiding some big secret she didn't know. And she was sure there wasn't anything such as in her space. After all, she had had that for about 3 years now and tested it extensively.

I looked at her in contempt. Idiot, that was the new nickname I had bestowed upon her. For things to be like this, I even wondered if Lord of The Mysteries had deliberately downgraded her intelligence regarding this and given it to her so that she could function somewhat like a depository for the Sefirot he didn't need yet. Now, I am disturbed by the high possibility of that hypothesis. I wished for the power of inspection to investigate her deeply. She gave me a bemused look at that.

"What are you looking at?" her irritated voice disturbed me as I was looking if something had tampered with her head.

I ignored her in the favour of continuing my investigation. I only deactivated the power after I had made sure that indeed nothing is wrong with her. No worm, no string, just slight corruption, but that was alright as long as she stayed smart and did not poke at random things. After all, from what I had gathered, most Beyonders didn't just die in battle, they also killed themselves by looking at things they shouldn't. Like that guy Roselle who seemed to be tired of living since he took a peek at the Moon even though he knew there was something wrong with it. I mean, it was blood-red! Even idiots should know that it was bad news. Even Klein had the habit of seeking death. Like that time he tried to divine the Eternal Blazing Sun. He would have died if not for his status as the main character, and thus, protected by the so-called Almighty Plot Armour. Even as a low-level Beyonder, that guy has enough guts to play games with gods and angels after all.

"Hello?" My focus snapped back to reality as Aurora waved her hand in front of her in a mock attempt to gain my attention.

"Yes?" I answered, showing that my attention is back.

"Good, what the hell is wrong with you? One moment, we were just talking and suddenly, you looked at me weirdly and just lost in your head," she complained, clearly irritated by my lack of attention.

"Ah yes, we will talk more about this when we reach your place," I assure her that I didn't forget about her. She seemed somewhat satisfied with my answer and nodded in agreement.

"Halt," A voice called out as we reached the gate.

"Greetings, I am Delta-943. Asking for permission to enter," Aurora stepped forward and said. Then, it was filled with silence for nearly a minute.

"Acknowledged. Welcome back Delta-943. Please come to the Headquarter later to debrief your mission's status. Now, who is the stranger you brought?" The voice came back and said.

"This is a friend of mine from Before. I vouch for her," Aurora immediately said. The voice disappeared again, and this time he came back after about five minutes.

"Acknowledged, you have permission to bring her with you," The voice said and with the sounds of shifting gears, the gate slowly opened up.

"Come, and please don't run off on your own," she practically begged at the last part.

"Don't worry, nothing could hurt me," I assure her, but that didn't bring the effect I wanted.

"You misunderstood, I am not worried about you," she replied.

"How rude!" I huffed. She stayed silent and quietly led me through the hustle and bustle streets filled with flying machines and giant monstrosities that were buildings. Before long, we quickly reached our destination, which was one of the buildings in what appeared to be the downtown area of this shelter. It was a rather large apartment complex building with about 20 stories. I didn't bother to count it, as I was too busy gawking at everything. I would look like a village girl looking at things like this but damn everything looked so advanced and marvellous. She stopped and looked at me cheekily.

"What? Are you surprised? Marvel at what we humans could accomplish when we have the motivation?" Aurora pridefully declared with a tone that I couldn't put my hand on.

"Yes, this is amazing. I never would have thought that you guys would accomplish this much," I honestly praised them. After all, building all of this wouldn't be easy amidst all the monsters and challenges of supremacy from the new races.

"So, do you still think we would still perish against "Them"?" She asked in an indignant tone.

'So, that was what she was aiming for, huh?' I thought and smiled sadly. Unfortunately, it was all pointless.

"No, you still couldn't stand against them even then. This was unfortunate, but this was the truth. Humanity stood no chance," I replied. Aurora didn't say anymore and led me straight into the building. Then, we mounted the large circular floating door toward her flat. She opened the door and entered it. I also followed her quickly. She seemed upset as she quickly dropped her things and got into the bathroom, even without saying anything. So, I just slumped on the comfy-looking couch in the middle of the room. Before long, Aurora came back, cleanly dressed and all.

"I have to go to the Headquarter to report my findings, please stay here and don't wander off anyw-" "Meow" as she was saying a chubby cat came out from one of the rooms and announced its presence.

"Right, also, please take care of Fluff Ball, I will be back," Aurora said and ran off.

I looked at the thing and its eyes, which consisted of many tiny little eyes, forming a large eye, stared back at me.

'Haha, if this thing is really a cat, I will gladly eat my strawberry-flavour hat,' I lampooned in my head.

I didn't even need to activate Inspect to know that this cat is bad news. I could sense it, the power which its tiny form barely contained. This was the existence at the level of Angel. The only question that remained was, why was it here?

"Greeting the Forbidden Spectator" the cat suddenly said. Its soft, mewling voice made me shiver in discomfort.

"Huh, so that is what you guys are calling me?" I asked as I tried to guess the identity of the cat.

"Indeed, we had been watching you for a while," 'Wow, so creepy. I should wish for a power that could help block any unwanted sights next time,' "You are quite an interesting one, for you remained as a blank spot to us. You appeared out of nowhere one day, walking under our gazes like you own the world. Even as we tried with all of our power, we still couldn't do a thing to you no matter what. You are honestly an intriguing case," the cat said slowly.

"I see, and I don't know what to think about that. So, can you tell me why you are here?" I shrugged off its words and directly asked for the reason for its presence here.

"You will find out when the time comes," the cat said and retreated into the bedroom.

"Okay, that was weird," I said as I looked at its retreating back.