12 12 Distraction
Author's Note: The next chapter will be the last one I will publish. See you peeps in a few months.
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Death. It scares me. I'm afraid that I'll end up bringing death to more people.
Logically speaking, I'm not making a lot of sense. I killed Schtrom, a Devil who can create more Devils and plotted to destroy the Empire through any means necessary, so what I did should be justified. It is justified.
We were enemies. Yet the act of killing an evil man bothered me. Killing his lackeys bothered me even more.
I found it hard to understand. I've spent a lot of time trying to make sense of why I feel so shit. But I never figured out why.
Allowing the issue to continue bothering me wasn't an option. Therefore, I came up with another solution apart from therapy.
I just need to not think about it.
Going to therapy in another continent was complete bullshit. It just seemed like a suitable excuse.
The idea of distracting myself proved somewhat successful. During the week that Kurt was away, I spent a lot of time creating Shin's dragon necklace. The decision to do the crafting process legitimately, such as mining the ores myself, learning how to process them and whatnot kept me busy the entire week.
After sending Kurt off through a gate that led to the royal capital, I buried myself under my next project: World Travel Magic.
I didn't know how to use it. I was inventing something completely new.
It was the perfect distraction.
The question of whether or not it was possible was completely theoretical. I managed to get sent in this world somehow, so by the same logic, I should manage to get sent somewhere else somehow too. Thinking about it, since I was sent to this world, it's also possible that others did as well.
So for the first time in almost a year, I stepped outside my little cabin. Passing through a gate, I arrived in one of the libraries I've visited before. I didn't forget to keep myself invisible. I really wasn't in the mood to talk with anyone.
I failed to find anything regarding other world magic the last time I came here. The reason why I was back despite that was because I was looking for evidence of otherworlders like me.
No longer in the realm of magic, but History. Theory will only take you so far.
And after delving deep into the history of the world, I believe I found one.
"The Genius Mage, Kono Masschita."
200 years ago, she created a magic tool called a Citizenship Card which bore a similarity to my modern world's personal authentication system of passports, but more advanced. My grandparents should have mine. Since I left so suddenly, I never got to receiving it.
Apart from that, there is another common factor between the two of us.
Kono Masschita almost died when she got hit by a carriage at a young age. My first memories of arriving in this world were of nearly freezing to death due to the rain and all sorts of injuries from a demon attack.
Masschita nearly died. I also nearly died.
Masschita made a magical passport. I made a magic-based lightsaber. Both things resemble things from the modern world.
Coincidence? I think not.
The only problem is that bringing someone, in another world, to the verge of death doesn't guarantee that I get reincarnated to their world. I also don't get to keep my body, nor would I be able to control which world I land in.
I sighed. How troublesome. If I was a dragon like Alduin, I can go to wherever I want with pure, physics-defying speed alone...
The thing is, I can always summon Ddovaah for one small favor, like going to another world for example. But that's no good. That'll be taking the easy way out.
Back to experimentation then.
I teleported to just outside my cabin. Using magic, I cleared out some of the trees to make more space. While doing that, I also set up a barrier to protect the outside and conceal any magical fluctuations I could cause.
From my spatial storage, I pulled out a necklace. One of my prototypes. It only had one enchantment. If this isn't enough, I'll make a stronger one.
Once I wore it, my magic power began to overflow. It's a good thing that I made a barrier beforehand. The cabin behind me had already collapsed from the magic pressure.
World Travel Magic—Attempt #68
Gates served to connect two places that the user has already visited. The one I'm making isn't like that, which is why I call them portals.
I've never been successful with creating portals, even at short distances. My imagination was quite lacking in that regard. But if I'm gonna do something, I might as well go big.
The magic power converged into a spinning vortex. I spent a good minute stabilizing the portal, turning the vortex into an unmoving, circular hole in midair.
With a closer inspection, I could see a very faint outline of what might lay on the other side.
This looks promising.
I used up around 10x my magic capacity on this particular portal, made possible with the mana regen effect of my enchanted necklace.
Brute-forcing through it is the way to go, huh? That's gonna be a bit difficult.
While it is possible to inject more magic power into it, I didn't want to risk losing control and turning into... well... a Devil.
Even I have limits.
"Feels weaker." I probed the portal with a stick made of pure magic power. My #1 attempt at a portal revealed a firm, invisible barrier. This one had a springy quality to it, but not by much. Still, maybe I can do something about it now?
I equipped a wooden practice sword. While taking a stance, a coat of physical enhancement magic and haki covered me and my weapon.
Then, I stabbed the portal at full force.
The sensation of striking something travelled up my arms. My sword had pushed the barrier a tiny amount inwards. A moment later, my sword rebounded, and me along with it. I barely managed to keep my footing. Well, that didn't work.
So I took out my lightsaber and tried again.
The red energy that formed the lightsaber's blade turned pitch-black with haki. Then, I stabbed the barrier.
Usually, my high-tech weapon would slice through whatever material or monster that was unlucky enough to pick a fight with me, but the invisible barrier held strong. The recoil this time was enough to send me sitting on my ass in deep contemplation.
Should I? Should I jack it up a bit more and try again? I don't wanna be a Devil though...
In the end, my curiosity got the better of me.
I'll be careful.
15x my magic capacity later, I tried to hack through the barrier again. The recoil this time was far more powerful, powerful enough to fling me a few meters back.
Fuck. That just made it even more elastic. But it isn't as firm as before, so I guess this counts as progress?
Injecting 20x my maximum capacity allowed me to see a faint yellow color on the other side. The blurry outlines were clearer too. From what I could make out, it looked like some sort of room. I also started hearing a faint hum. It kinda reminded me of old fluorescent lights back in my old world.
At this point, I've already confirmed that the invisible barrier was safe to touch barehanded. I punched it with haki at first before moving on to yeeting a nearby Wild Hog at the barrier. It bounced back, completely healthy.
30x my magical capacity later, I started to sweat. Keeping the portal stabilized was starting to get hard on its own, much less stabbing at it with my full power.
Controlling 50x my magical capacity introduced me to a concept I had never encountered since my otherworldly awakening.
Sweating balls. Massive balls of sweat. Sweat the size of balls. Ballsy sweat balls sweating sweaty ball sweats.
I can't control any more than this. It doesn't help that I feel tired and sleepy all the time...
Still, since I injected a shit ton of magic power in the thing, the results became apparent.
I stabbed the barrier, and this time, I managed to make a tiny, almost unnoticeable crack on its rubber surface. I didn't have much time to celebrate before getting yeeted across the forest. As I kept pouring magic power into the portal, the rebound became increasingly stronger.
After teleporting back with a few bruises, I healed myself before adding more powerful barriers around the experimentation area.
By that point, I was reaching my limit. My head felt like shit, the portal was on the brink of collapsing, and I've been swinging and getting flung away nonstop. Regaining stamina was a natural process that magic couldn't directly fix, much less mental fatigue. I was sure that even if I stopped here to rest, nothing can stop me from having a lengthy nap.
Whatever nightmare I will have the displeasure of experiencing scared me a bit. And if I stop here, I'll have to try again, which will result in another nightmare to haunt me.
I'd like to avoid that.
All or nothing.
I gripped my lightsaber. I couldn't control more than 50x my magic capacity, so I couldn't weaken the portal barrier any further. The only option left was to make myself stronger.
A gentle breeze accompanied the sound of rustling leaves. The wind blew on my face and ruffled my hair.
"Tiid!" (Slow Time)
Then the wind stopped, and the world was dyed blue. Time was moving slower than when I flung Schtrom through a gate or flew through the skies looking for Devils. This was me using the first word of power to its absolute limit.
It may look like time had stopped, but it was simply passing that slowly.
With my sword aimed straight at the portal, I shouted a second time.
"Wuld!" (Whirlwind Tempest)
The Thu'um immediately took effect, and my surroundings became a blur.
Something broke. It wasn't me or the lightsaber in my hand. I hit an obstacle and pierced through it with little resistance. Knowing that much was enough.
I was successful.
The Thu'um retreated, and my momentum disappeared with it. The world that was dyed blue because of Slow Time went back to its normal color.
Feeling more than tired, I dropped to the floor, looking up to the ceiling with heavy eyes. My ears began picking up strange noises. I wasn't mishearing things before. I really was hearing the humming of fluorescent lights. I can see them now, and the noise was louder now that I'm here on the other side.
It's kinda annoying...
As I fell into slumber, that fleeting thought marked the beginning of my troubles.
******
I've been having the same dream since that day.
I walked down an endless, dark corridor. Walk, walk, and walk some more.
Only walk forward and never back. Not even given the freedom to turn around or look to the side.
Simply wandering, wondering what lay ahead.
For weeks, I would walk, searching for something, and find nothing, yet I still keep walking for that was all I could do.
My body refused to stop, and the exhaustion never set in. But my mind felt heavy, slow, and ill.
For months, I would walk and try to remember why I was there in the first place. I never arrive at an answer.
For years, I would walk, but despite only going in one direction in that endless, dark corridor, I didn't know how to return.
I've walked for so long that I've forgotten parts of myself. I walked with the purpose of finding something in this empty corridor, but maybe, in my mind, I have always known there was nothing here for me.
Torture. It was torture.
******
"Fuck."
I woke up with a start.
Completely unpredictable and incomprehensible. That's what dreams were supposed to be. Variation was to be expected of a normal dream, not consistency. My dreams, however, have been one and the same.
My memory of what took place remained hazy. They always were. That's just how it was.
My body, however, remembered.
I wiped the tears forming in my eyes. My heart pounded against my ribcage loud enough to hear. The rivers of sweat clinging to me felt unpleasant to the skin.
Torture. It must have been torture, whatever nightmare I had.
*HMMMMMMMM*
Hmm.
*HMMMMMMMM*
Pretty loud.
*HMMMMMMMM*
These lights sure are noisy.
I pushed back the thoughts related to my dream. For now, I needed to know where I was.
The portal was gone. Instead of a forest, yellow wallpaper surrounded me from all sides, illuminated by old and noisy lighting. The air smelled weird too.
Strange...
I'm certain that this was my first time coming here, but this place looked familiar. I've seen this place somewhere in the past... perhaps from the Internet back then? My memory is hazy.
Where am I?
I couldn't confirm whether or not my portal actually led to another world. However, where I am now does remind me of my old world, so that's something.
I picked up my lightsaber from the floor. Ew. Kind of wet. The carpet is kinda soggy. A quick flame bath did the trick.
First things first, getting a good grasp of my new surroundings was important. I didn't know anything about anything so changing that is priority numero uno.
Before I went around though, I wore my Daedric Armor. Who knew what kind of enemies will attack me? I don't wanna die too soon. Wearing my now perfected suit of armor will help with that. Hopefully.
Looking around, I could either go left, right, or center.
Right it is.
More choices. I decided to keep going right in a straight general direction until I found a dead end.
Five minutes passed, and I started to get suspicious. Another five minutes of walking confirmed that I wasn't tripping balls.
This place seemed to go on and on.
...Left this time.
Five minutes of going left resulted in nothing more than the same yellow scenery. If this wasn't weird, I don't know what is.
I turned on my heels and started walking back. Immediately, it became obvious that something wasn't quite right.
"No way."
A dead end. A wall blocked my path forward like it was always there. Obviously, it wasn't. That would mean I walked through a wall earlier without noticing it.
It seems that there's no turning back. Again, I turned around to continue from where I left off.
"...huh."
The layout of the walls had changed when I wasn't looking. My perception should have been sharp enough to detect some movement or other indicators even while I was looking away, yet I noticed nothing.
"I see."
This pretty much confirmed it.
"So this is what another world is like," I mused.
Blue flames emerged from my finger tip. I burnt a smiley face onto the wall before heading off.
When I looked behind me, the smiley was still there. But as soon as I turned a corner and peeked back, my scribble had disappeared. It wasn't that the wall fixed itself. The layout of the room was the one that changed.
Search Magic.
Magic power rushed out like a tidal wave. The smiley face was drawn with magic, so it should leave behind a magical trace I could detect.
Said trace couldn't be found despite my range spanning tens of kilometers in diameter.
I tried to make a gate to my scribble. When I passed through, I didn't actually return to where my scribble was. I tried multiple more times, but the gates failed to lead me back. Teleportation returned the same results.
"The walls don't just rearrange out of sight. It's more like the space in this area is jumbled."
It reminded me of Shin's analogy when he first explained Gate Magic to me.
Imagine that the world was like a thin piece of paper. There are two points, Point A and Point B, and to get from one point to the other, you'll have to walk. In this case, walking is represented by a line connecting the two.
Using gate magic is the same as folding that piece of paper so that Points A and B overlap. With the distance between the two made practically non-existent, you can walk the same distance as before in one step which is done through a gate.
Right now, that thin piece of paper that's usually flat is practically crumpled up. That's how I see it anyway.
Getting out of here will be a challenge, assuming there's a way out.
"If I can't find one in 20 minutes, then I'll resort to Plan B."
The "B" stands for Brute-force, by the way.
After boosting myself with physical enhancement magic, I jogged all around the place.
My surroundings turned into a blur. The humming and buzzing of the lights remained the same. I wondered how expensive the electric bill must be to keep all these lights running. Since that wasn't my problem though, I kept jogging.
Then finally.
"Aye..... FONSI!" *Guitar sounds*
Despacito marked the passing of 20 minutes. I must've ran a marathon and a half. Still didn't find anything though.
Immediately, I punched the wall closest to me. My Daedric gauntlet was both protection and weapon. I didn't need to worry about hurting myself while wearing it.
Dust blew all over the place. I used wind magic to blow the smog away. A quick glance showed pieces of yellow wallpaper scattered on the ground. The wall, which wasn't that thick, had a fist sized hole in the middle.
The wall was surprisingly fragile. I didn't even use physical enhancement magic. Heh. I'm probably just too strong.
I peeked through the hole I made.
There's something different on the other side.
I punched and kicked the wall a few more times until I could fit my body through.
Well, that's not weird at all.
Behind the wall was a hallway with a bunch of doors on the side. The hallway kept going as far as I could see.
From an infinitely jumbled yellow room, I go on to find myself in some kind of infinite hotel?
The doors had no numbers on them. I tried opening one, but it was locked. I punched it down and it revealed... nothing? Absolutely nothing. Not an empty room, but straight up nothing.
Yeah, I'm not going in there.
I decided to explore the area further.
The farther I got from the entrance I made, the less I heard the buzzing of those annoying lights. Instead, faint piano music began ringing in my ears. I'm liking this area a whole lot more already.
Each door I passed was just like the one before. All of them were locked, and when I busted them open, they had nothing inside. There were some doors that sounded like there was water or machinery inside, but like always, I found nothing.
Meanwhile, the background piano music was getting louder and louder. I used magic to dull my hearing when it got too loud. I thought the music was coming from somewhere really far into the hallway, but then its volume started to weaken even though I've only gone forward. Weird. Where was the music coming from? Was someone playing in one of the rooms? I definitely didn't see a piano in the rooms I checked.
All in all, there wasn't much to do apart from going forward. It was similar to the previous area, only that doors were added and all I could do was go straight.
I reached for the nth door with my patience running thin. I've already gone through more than a hundred doors. Any more and I'll resort to Plan B again.
It's not locked?
The handle rotated without much effort on my part.
Finally, some progress.
But before I could push the door open...
"Do not go in."
"Who's there?!"
I turned my gaze towards the source of the voice. The hallway that stretched as far as the eye could see became heavily distorted before I knew it. What should have been a symmetrical hotel hallway now appeared warped and uncanny.
My observation haki didn't pick up anyone nearby, nor did my Search Magic. However, my eyes told me otherwise.
Someone—no, something was walking down the heavily distorted hallway towards me.
"Do not go in. You will be lost forever."
It sounded like a woman, yet it didn't look like one. It looked as if a humanoid shadow with exaggerated limbs came to life.
As the entity approached, it pointed its pitch-black arm at me. It had no mouth on its pitch-black head yet managed to speak regardless. "Better to keep going. Or go back."
With a kkkkksssshhhh, I drew my red lightsaber and pointed it at the unknown entity. When it saw my weapon, it stopped. Since the entity had no face, I couldn't get a read on it, but it should be cautious of me now.
"...you don't want me to go in this door?" I asked. The question of how long this thing had been watching me sent shivers down me timbers. The only reason why I detected it now was because it allowed me to.
"Listen close. You will hear. Sound of danger."
The entity must've picked up on the fact that I've been using magic to dull my hearing. I doubted that it knew what magic was though, considering that I didn't detect any from it. But the way the entity distorted the space around it was definitely not normal.
Or maybe, it was normal in this new world.
"...no, I don't think I will," I rejected the invitation.
The entity might be leading me to a trap. For all I know, the magic dulling my ears could be protecting me.
How am I even hearing the entity's voice in the first place? With my mind? Because my ears are basically deaf right now...
The entity spoke.
"Many monster behind that door. Noisy monster. And flood." The entity waved its humanoid arms. "No want clean up."
That sounds like bullshit. What are you, a housekeeper? Hotel housekeeping?
I don't fully trust this... whatever it is. But if there is a chance that it's telling the truth, I wouldn't want to make a mess and anger it.
"Don't trust me... understand. Only hope you listen."
The distortions around the entity grew. I nervously watched the light from the ceiling lights warp to the point that it couldn't illuminate the hallway any longer. Pitch-black darkness consumed the walls, the doors, and whatever was beyond.
Don't make me start rapping dragon shouts motherfucker. I had no plans of holding back if need be. This entity was dangerous as hell!
Just as quickly, the distortions disappeared, and the hallway returned to normal. The entity was nowhere in sight. It left with whatever strange sorcery it had.
Before I could sigh in relief, a piercing pain dug into my head.
Ah! This again?!
I clutched my head. Foreign knowledge ingrained itself into my mind while my body felt like it was being stabbed by countless needles. Faintly, my surroundings seemed to distort as well, but the distortions vanished when the feeling of being stabbed by needles gradually disappeared.
Umm, what the fuck?
Once again, I somehow learned another skill that I couldn't do before.
Okay. I know that this entire 'suddenly getting knowledge thing' is definitely not normal whatsoever. I thought it was related to the magic in my previous world, but if it's still happening here, then it must be something else.
I don't know why it's happening to me. It's not like I got this from that spinning wheel from back then. I don't think it's haki-related either.
But there is one thing I cannot deny.
It's super fucking useful.
This is the first time that I felt my body change. Learning blacksmithing or magic or swordsmanship strengthened my body and mind, but this time it felt like an additional body part was being added. I even learned about what the change was and how to use it.
Things that I couldn't see before were laid bare before me. The unlocked door I planned on entering before now seemed to be made of static. Seeing this, my sixth sense immediately went bonkers, and I jumped away from it.
That entity wasn't lying. This door was dangerous.
I waited for a while, just staring at the static, waiting for monsters or whatever to come out. There were definitely a lot of dangerous things in there.
Nothing came out even after some time. Slowly, I backed away from it before continuing to walk down the hallway that was now in shades of black and white.
I looked around with new eyes. All the doors on the hallway were gone. Nothing was preventing me from taking a look inside.
As always, most doors simply had the concept of nothingness inside them, so they were probably the locked ones from before. But as I kept traversing the hallway, I saw one with blue light inside it, one with dirty water inside it, one with mirrors inside it, and even a garage door.
After some time, I realized that I can make my sight go back to normal. I can switch between the two modes of seeing a door or seeing what's inside. It wasn't x-ray, but more like I can see things for what they truly were? It's basically hacks.
The garage door and the one with blue light are the two with the least amount of danger in them. I've decided that I'll go through one of them after I was done sorting my new abilities.
Apart from the sudden ability gain, my body also changed. Physically, I couldn't tell the difference—I took off my armor and checked every nook and cranny—but it feels as though I'd gained an extra set of limbs. More than that, I also gained the knowledge of what I can do with those limbs AND the muscle memory to use it incredibly well.
If I do this...
I grabbed the air in front of me. I don't know if you know this, but you shouldn't be able to grab empty air.
But somehow, I did.
My armored hand had turned pitch-black before I knew it. The already dark Daedric armor I had on became even darker. Distortions twisted the space around my arm. I felt fine—comfortable even, although it was weird to suddenly be able to do this.
I decided to go further. The distortions grew in number, surrounding me completely until I couldn't see the hallway or the doors lining it.
My vision switched modes, and I saw a different scenery.
Holy... So it really goes on forever?
What I thought was an infinite hotel hallway was actually just really, really, really long hotel hallway. It had an end. However, right as I'm observing it, the hallway was continuing to stretch even longer, spawning more doors that lead to who-knows-where. And more surprisingly...
There's more?!
There was more than one hallway. There were at least a thousand in my general vicinity, all running parallel to one another. Everything about the hallway I was in and these other hallways were completely identical... apart from one thing.
With my new abilities, I walked over to a hallway beside mine. Space was supposed to be jumbled up that I couldn't use gate magic without ending up somewhere else, but I managed to cross over just fine. It was as easy as breathing.
Once I was inside the new hallway, I retracted my power. The distortions weakened before vanishing, and I went back to looking like normal.
Even in this new hallway, I could hear faint piano music playing in the background. The doors, the interior lighting, and so on were completely identical.
Then I heard a gasp.
I turned to look at the source.
"..."
"..."
I came face to face with a woman lying on her stomach, practically hugging the floor.
"..."
"..."
She was completely still. Her eyes kept widening by the second.
"..."
"..."
I think she stopped breathing.
"..."
"..."
I tried to talk to her.
"Hey there—"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
After letting out a pretty weak scream (I forgot that magic was dulling my ears), her whole body went limp.
Did she pass out?
I poked her with a stick of magic power. Unresponsive. She was breathing, but definitely unconscious.
She definitely passed out.
Officer, I didn't even do anything! We just met!
Sighing, I scratched my head. It made a metallic noise.
Oh.
Right. I had my super scary armor on.
That explains it.
Welp, I can't do anything about what's already been done. I decided to wait until she was awake before asking her some questions.
While I was examining her, I saw blood around her feet. She was bleeding from a rather gruesome wound. Nothing a little healing magic can't fix, however.
Once that was done...
"And as for you guys," I looked at the... creatures farther along the hallway.
There were three of them. They've been watching me do my thing this entire time.
I felt their hunger and bloodlust. It was a familiar feeling. Having lived around a forest, this wasn't the first time I was seen as prey by a beast.
"I'm warning you. Leave us alone."
With a growl, they gnashed their teeth before lunging at me. Their bloodlust reached its peak. It fueled their mad dash for murder.
I looked them in the eye.
And they stopped.
No, that wasn't quite right. Fear froze their bodies in place. All they could do was shiver.
My willpower overwhelmed their own.
"Fuck off."
An invisible force escaped me and washed over the creatures.
I ingrained my presence deep into their minds. Resistance was futile. They were beasts led by instincts with no sentience to speak of.
In the next moment, they passed out, frothing at the mouth.
"Wait, what?"
I withdrew my conqueror's haki. Passing out and all that wasn't uncommon or anything, but I only meant to use the bare minimum to scare them away. There were even large cracks running across the hallway now...
...It looks like I got stronger again.
