Ch 114 – Limitless Mind

*** (The Day Later)

'Hmm? Where could it be?' Imerda thought to herself. She currently wore a long-sleeved white shirt, a light brown skirt, and her black-rimmed glasses.

Looking around with confused eyes, she scratched her head and continued to walk around the area, trying to find the Love Heart Bakery both Lute and Maria spoke off yesterday. As she continued to wander around the area aimlessly, she suddenly felt someone bumping into her from behind.

"Hmm?" She turned her head around to see who bumped into her, only to see the face of someone that made her heart skip a beat.

The one who bumped into her was a blond-haired girl with sky blue eyes, her skin was white and fair. She also wore a pink dress with long brown boots. Her demeanor was both reserved and meek, making anybody want to protect her, yet for Imerda, she only felt a sense of fear, 'M-Maria! The protagonist of Sage's Magic Academy!'

"I-I'm sorry! Were you hurt?" Maria asked, causing Imerda to regain her senses and opened her mouth.

"N-No, I'm fine."

Hearing her response, Maria let out a relieved sigh before she raised her eyebrow, "Emily-san?"

"Yes? Wait, why do you know my name?" Imerda blurted out, before finally remembering why she knows it.

"It's because we're in the same class, Emily-san," Maria smiled. Bowing her head in shame, Imerda felt embarrassed as she can't help but curse herself because most of the time she spent in class was looking at Lute.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot that. It's nice to meet you, by the way!" Imerda held out her hand, which Maria grabbed and shook.

"It's nice to meet you too, Emily-san. Now, I must go on my way," Maria bowed her head and prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Imerda called out.

"Hmm? Is there something wrong, Emily-san?" Maria asked, in response, Imerda shook her head.

"Do you know where Love Heart Bakery is?" Hearing her question, Maria's eyes widened in surprise before she lightly chuckled.

Nodding her head, Imerda let out a sigh of relief and asked one more time, "Really? Then can you show me where it is?"

"Sure, I was also just about to head on over there," Hearing her, Imerda was a bit surprised at the lucky coincidence and felt relieved.

Now with Maria in tow, the duo walked towards the bakery, while their friendship grew closer.

"Eh?" Imerda lightly muttered upon arriving just outside the bakery. Upon one glance, she couldn't help but feel a sense of familiarity with its… exterior.

It was pink, grandiose, and also a bit jokey in appearance. Especially considering the large "Love Heart Bakery" written in calligraphy over the entrance, with a pink heart for the "o" in love.

"Are you sure… That this is a bakery?" Imerda asked, wondering if this was actually a legit bakery and not something else.

"Mmm!" Maria nodded her head, while a small smile appeared on her face.

Gulping, Imerda walked up to the door and grabbed the handle. Twisting her wrist, she opened the door and didn't expect what happened next.

"Maria-chan, you're finally here! Welcome… back…"

There he was, a person of short stature with dark purple eyes and long raven black hair. His skin was white as snow and smooth to the touch like a babe's bum. His lips were soft and pink like Sakura as if entrancing anyone to touch them. Not only that, the most shocking factor was how he was wearing a maid dress of black and white, along with a pair of black thigh highs.

"L-Lute?" Imerda asked, her mouth agape while her eyes widened in shock. It was as if Truck-kun just came ramming in from nowhere without any warning.

"… W-Welcome back, Master. H-How can I help to please you today in our special Sunday in Love Heart Bakery."

Lute bowed his head in shame, his face turned as red as a plump tomato.

***

"So… You and your family run a bakery? And Maria also works here?" Imerda asked, munching on some bread as he looks at Lute sitting opposite of him.

"Y-Yeah, pretty much," Lute lightly laughed, his wry smile and blushing face was permanently ingrained into Imerda's mind yet her face remained still on the outside.

"Huh, I didn't expect that," Imerda muttered, before hearing footsteps beside her.

"Here's more bread, Emily-san," Maria said, passing Imerda a brown basket which she graciously took and smelled the delicious bread inside. Looking at Maria, she can be seen wearing a butler outfit consisting of a long-sleeved white shirt, a black vest, and black pants. Smiling wryly, Maria simply nodded her head and turned away.

As Maria walk away to stand behind the counter, Imerda coughed lightly and spoke, "So… do you run this with your parents?"

"Well… Hm… Well, I run this bakery with my friend and little brother," Lute laughed lightly, coughing along the way as he explained his situation.

"Oh, you have a little brother?" Imerda asked.

"Yeah, and the two should be coming now in a few moments," Lute said, sighing lightly. Just like he said, Imerda heard the bells ringing and the entrance opened, and she finally saw the supposed "friend" and "little brother" of Lute.

At first sight, Imerda was greeted by the sight of a rather tall man, more than 180cm in height, wearing the same butler outfit as Maria, consisting of a long-sleeved white shirt and black vest, along with black pants. On his face, she unexpectedly saw a white mask closely similar to the ones she wore as a Student Council, yet vaguely different as well, such as it being flatter and such.

And behind him, Imerda saw a young boy walk in. His eyes were a deep crimson, his hair was long and black, yet shorter than Lute's hair. He wore a crimson hoodie and black pants, along with black shoes.

"Eh?" The boy muttered upon seeing Imerda.

"Da… Onii-chan, who is she?" the boy asked, turning towards Lute as he grabbed the tall man's hand lightly, as if wary against Imerda.

"She's a friend from school. His name's Raiden, by the way," Lute said.

"Yeah…" Imerda muttered, her eyes slightly dilating upon seeing the boy, for the boy closely resembled one of the game's characters, a romantic target in fact.

'Holy fuck! It's Raiden! The shota romantic target! The Crimson King!' Imerda almost reeled back in shock upon seeing Raiden's face. She almost shouted out her disbelief but managed to hold it in.

"I-It's nice to meet you, Raiden-kun. I'm Emily, your big brother's friend, and classmate," Imerda greeted with a light smile.

Hearing her answer, Raiden started to drag the tall man behind him toward their table.

"Hello! I'm Raiden! It's nice to meet you, Emily-neesan!" Raiden greeted with a smile, before holding out his hand for a handshake.

Grabbing it, Emily shakes Raiden's hand and watches him grab the stuff held by the tall man beside her and bring it towards Maria.

"Oh, thank you, Raiden-kun," Maria smiled, grabbing the basket held by Raiden and bringing it to another room.

"No problem, Maria-neesan!"

Watching him walk back to them, Lute coughed and introduced the tall man beside Emily, "And that's Kira, my friend and co-owner of the restaurant."

"I-It's nice to meet you, Kira-san," Imerda smiled, turning her head towards the tall man beside her.

Nodding his head, Kira shakes her head and walked away into the distance, disappearing from her view as Raiden reappeared, sitting down on Lute's lap.

"Umm…" Imerda lightly chuckled, feeling awkward at how Kira was so silent.

"Don't worry about Pa- Kira-niisan being silent, he's just always like that!" Raiden grinned, his body shaking around on top of Lute's lap.

"Really?" imerda asked, raising her eyebrow as she munched on some bread.

"Yeah, Kira is just like that," Lute laughed while patting Raiden's head.

'Huh, I can't help but feel that they aren't just "friends" and "brother." But I might just be feeling weird from how tiring yesterday was.' Imerda thought, before dismissing her suspicious thoughts away and looking back at Lute.

'Oh, well, now I at least could I spend some free time in Lute's bakery whenever I have the time. The people I'm around with are really interesting, huh?' Imerda smiled.

And so, Imerda now finds herself entangled in a web of new discoveries. From meeting Lute's "little brother" to finding out that Maria works at Lute's bakery, what new adventure could await her?"

***

"Goodbye, Lute-kun!" Imerda stood at the bakery's entrance with Maria right beside her.

"Goodbye! I'm going back home!" Maria greeted. She was now wearing back to her pink dress and out of her butler outfit.

"Have a safe trip back home!" Lute shouted.

"Goodbye, aunties!" Raiden waves his hand in the air, bidding the two farewell.

Kira also silently waved his hand in the air, saying his farewell in his own way.

And so, Imerda opened the door. Taking one last glance at the bakery, she smiled and left along with Maria, leaving the bakery now silent.

Standing up, Lute manifested a purple portal in front of him.

"Take care of the bakery for me, Raiden-kun, Kira," Lute said, his eyes gleaming a dark purple light as his outfit changed. Changing from a maid outfit, it turned into a black suit and black pants, along with his aura changing at a rapid rate.

"We will!" Raiden said, his eyes glowed crimson while a small grin appeared on his face. Beside him, Kira's eyes turned golden light. The two's aura also changed rapidly, indicating something of the utmost importance and in an urgent matter.

Nodding his head, Lute turned around and his face became cold and apathetic. Taking his first step, Lute walked through the purple gateway, as his first step to finalizing his main plan is about to start.

As the purple gateway closed behind him, Lute found himself standing in an endless dark plane. It was devoid of light, only the existence of air allowed for a human being to exist within the dark void he stood on alone. Walking forward with silent footsteps, Lute suddenly halted and looked around the area.

"Hmm, this place will do," Lute muttered, his dark purple eyes glowing brightly as he waved his hand in the air, and a sword colored a bright gold, with a blue handle appeared. Weirdly enough, even with the restriction of only having the Pendragon bloodline be able to wield it, Lute grabbed it just fine.

Holding it in front of him, Lute lets go of the sword and watches it float in the air silently. Raising both of his arms towards the glowing center of the sword, he presses both of his open palms towards it and pulled slightly.

With a silent pop, a golden sphere suddenly got pulled out from the sword, illuminating the dark void all around him with near endless light.

"The fragment of Angelica, the Goddess of Light. It seems like my conjecture of Faith, or more precisely Mental Energy, is true. To think a powerful being such as her relies on other beings to grow more powerful, I wonder why? Beings such as gods who rely on faith, hmm… But this is pretty much the same energy Buddha uses, so it increases the chance of success for my experiment later on once it's completed. But with this, a pure sphere of Mental Energy that I have been growing these past few days, it's finally strong enough to reach great completion for my Limitless Mind."

Lute grinned brightly, the golden sphere in front of him then turned a dark purple color in an instant, as if it was corrupted by another source. As he held it with both hands, Lute watches as his body slowly disappeared and disintegrated into dust, as if he was dying similar to the snap of a purple giant.

And so, under the extreme bright purple light, Lute's body fully disappears, leaving only the purple sphere in the dark void.

And yet, a voice appeared from nowhere.

"Akasha is finally completed. With this, I finally achieve one of my plans to become a body-less entity, a being with no body and soul, yet retain the ability to think, a being similar to the planets that Rick knows of. With this, the foundation of the other two is set in stone. Now, I'll only have to turn Kira into a conduit of Mental Energy, and later change Raiden's conceptual control," the sphere glowed and dimmed in random intervals as if it was speaking aloud.

As the area around the golden sphere warps, a humanoid being soon reappeared back from the darkness. Dark purple eyes, long raven black hair, skin as white as snow, it was Lute back from the dead.

"Hmm, so this is what it's like to control a Vessel. Strange indeed, now I have three layers of control over a body, I control this body through the mind, soul, and now add my conscious self, a Mental Entity. Losing my original body really does allow more room for growth," Lute hummed before he grabs hold of his dark purple sphere once more.

"It's time to grab two more Vessels to accelerate my plans rapidly. Considering I'll be heading to the Southern Continent soon, I'll only need two Vessels in the Western and Eastern Continent to lower the risk of me being found out by Angelica."

***

In the Western Continent filled with lush forests, a young elven boy can be seen sitting down on his white bed. His body was frail and weak, his bones can be seen showing while his countenance was that of a person dealing with a chronic illness.

He coughed lightly, before looking back down at the book he held in his hand.

'I already spent many years trying to find a cure for my disease, is it really worth the time spent studying to find a cure for myself?' the boy wondered, coughing once more as thoughts of failure plagued his mind.

And yet, within his mind, a dark purple light appeared, causing his eyes to slightly lose their glow for a split second before regaining it once more.

"No, if I give up now, then all the time I spent vying for knowledge would only go down the drain. I promise, that I'll find out the secrets of life and find a cure for myself," the boy muttered, before steeling his resolve and continuing to read once more.

***

In the Eastern Continent of Demihumans, a frail boy that appears to be an orphan can be seen.

On his head, a pair of animal ears can be seen, along with a tail on his hip. He wore ragged clothes covered in dirt, while a horrendous stench emanated from his body. Due to his dirty body, one can't really determine what race of demihuman he was.

Yet, he silently read a book while inside a dark alley, his eyes were filled with brilliance as if his condition didn't matter to him.

"Oh? Look at this?"

"Hoh? A beggar reading a book? Precious knowledge shouldn't be wasted on beings like you."

Hearing the voices, the boy turned his head to see two beings appear inside the dark alleyway. Both were young boys with features similar to those of lions. With lion ears and a lion tail, they held a snarky grin on their face.

With a bang, the boy was kicked on the chin and he watches as the two grabbed his book with snickering faces.

"Hmm? What is this?"

"I think it's math."

"Math? Ha! Math is useless in front of raw strength!"

As the boy watches the two about to destroy his back, his eyes lost their glow for a split second before regaining them once more, anger, unlike anything he showed before suddenly coursed through his whole body.

Instantly, his eyes turned into that of a fox's while his muscles bulged. With a kick to the ground, he appeared right in front of the one about to tear his book and plunges his arm straight to his neck. But he didn't stop there, he turned around in rapid motion and plunges his arm straight to the other boy's chest, plucking his heart out.

As if regaining his clarity, the boy widened his eyes and hastily grabbed his book. Yet endless hunger prowled through his stomach, stopping him in his tracks as he salivated. Licking his dry lips, his eyes returned to that of a fox, for a monster was born.

AN: This chapter has 2770 words.

Those two won't be seen until much later, though it would be epic what they'll become later.

Power Stones, NOW!

(August 8, 2022 – 257th day of writing)