Chapter 28 100
Even though Alina told Alex that he should not worry about the weird capsule-shaped of the object in front of him, Alex could still not help but feel extremely wary of the object.
"...." Alex looked at his left shoulder quickly, and anyone seeing this might think that he was just checking for dirt in his left shoulder.
But the truth was that he was looking at certain someone right now, with his eyes holding an unspoken question.
"Oh? You want me to tell you if there’s a body inside that capsule?" Asteria tilted her head as she saw Alex’s gaze on her. She then narrowed her eyes as she looked at the capsule with concentration.
"Hmmm..." Asteria assumed a contemplative pose as she stared at the capsule.
"Interesting..." Asteria muttered to herself as her curious look at the capsule changed to a look of interest.
She suddenly flew towards the capsule, entering its body fully, before she came out of it seconds later. Whatever was inside that capsule was already seen by Asteria.
Her reply however, was something that disgruntled Alex.
"Welp, sorry, but I think I cannot answer your question." Asteria replied with a wistful expression on her face.
Alex’s eyes must have narrowed in indignation, as Asteria was forced to quickly add something to her earlier statement.
"In my opinion as your Guide, your mission and bonus mission will be in jeopardy once I tell you the answer to your query. Thus, with my utmost judgement, I shall not answer your question."
"....." Even if Alex was not happy with what Asteria said, he did not dare complain.
Even if he knew that Asteria was sometimes useless, and that she spends most of her times speaking nonsense, Alex knew that she was still doing her job as Alex’s Guide properly.
Thus, if she said that she will not answer the question, then Alex will accept that.
"That just means that I have to observe it a little more..." Alex thought to himself as he frowned a little.
"According to what Alina said earlier, this World Diagram in front of me is only 50% of the whole World Diagram... So does that mean that if I destroy this object in front of me, I will only destroy 50% of whole World Diagram? Hmm... will that already count as completing the mission?"
Alex knew that there is no way he can ask this question right now. But if his hunch was right, then he might probably need to destroy 100% of the World Diagram just to ensure that he will complete the mission.
"Hey..." Alex whispered to Alina while the afro guy was doing some tweaking on the capsule. "If this guy right here has the 50% of the World Diagram, then where is the other 50%?"
Alina’s reply came quickly, and it came along with an unpleasant expression on her face.
"The other 50% is with my current master." Alina replied with a frown.
"Hooo... that is neat." Alex replied as he tried to not show the pissed expression on his face. "But why is the World Diagram even split into two halves?"
"It was done so that the World Diagram could be kept safe." Alina replied curtly. "If someone manages to destroy the 50% World Diagram here in WEO, the whole World Diagram will still work, as the other 50% is still fine with my current master. Of course its performance will be subpar compared to before, but that will be better than just allowing the 100% of the World Diagram to be destroyed."
"That is so irrit- amazing!" Alex exclaimed loudly. "Just hearing what you said makes me think that the WEO itself values the World Diagram highly."
"That is the undeniable truth." Alina said with a sigh as a forlorn expression appeared on her face.
"After all, it is the World Diagram that is currently restricting the Top 10 Strongest Espers from wreaking their havoc everywhere."
"What?" Alex’s eyes widened as he heard what Alina said. Alex’s mind flashed as he remembered about Clint.
Clint supposedly had the power to manipulate all the 4 Fundamental Forces, but even a guy like him has to follow the rules of not interfering on important matters.
If Clint was already that strong, then what could have forced him to follow the restrictions?
Alex thought at first that it was another extremely strong Esper that is forcing all the Top 10 Espers to follow the restriction rule.
But from what he just heard from Alina, it was actually the World Diagram that is restricting the Espers!
"How the hell... could a network of quantum computers have the ability to restrict all the strongest Espers in the world?" Alex said harshly as he gave Alina a disbelieving look. "I find it hard to believe that someone like Clint could be restricted by that World Diagram."
"... That’s the first thing that went through my mind when my sister told me about her getting restricted too..." Alina whispered back as the afro guy began to wipe the surface of the capsule with a clean cloth.
"But even if I find it hard to believe, I know that my sister is not lying to me, so I will still believe in it." Alina said as she glanced at Alex. "How about you? Do you believe me?"
"Well, if it is you saying it, then it should be true." Alex said as he let out a sigh. He had already seen weird things in his childhood, and a computer network that can restrict reality altering mind wizards is just at the right level of weirdness.
After giving this answer, Alex decided to bring Alina at the corner of the room so that he can talk to her more.
Lord Gallius saw what the two were doing, as he made a motion to approach them.
Alex clicked his teeth, obviously unhappy that Lord Gallius is about to interrupt his educational conversation with Alina.
"Let’s pretend that we are talking like a very, very, close friends." Alex said as he clasped Alina’s hands tightly. "That way, Lord Gallius will back off away from us."
"Ok..." Alina’s slight tremble in her voice as she replied helped on their alibi, as Lord Gallius’ face paled a little before he backed away from them. Of course he did not forget to glare at Alex the whole time, as if he was itching to make a gelato out of him later.
Alex ignored Lord Gallius’ piercing gave to him as he continued talking with Alina, of course while he was still holding her hands.
With the current situation of the World Diagrams, Alex realized that he must find a way to full destroy both the 50% of the World Diagrams.
The problem is that, how can Alex destroy both the 50% of the World Diagrams when they are situated at different places?
Well, Alex had no idea on what to do. However, he has three-word principle that he can use on his current situation.
IMPROVISE. ADAPT. OVERCOME.
If Alex has no plan for the other half of the World Diagram, then he will just IMPROVISE one right now.
If Alex faces unknown factors later, then he will just change his plan to ADAPT on these factors.
And If Alex faces a powerful adversary, then he will just have to OVERCOME it.
Alex knew that if he wants to use all these principles right now, then he must make sure that Alina will be in his plans.
It will be only through Alina’s help that Alex can succeed in his Main Mission.
"Seems like meeting you really is not just an unfortunate accident." Alex thought to himself as he glanced at Alina’s masked face.
"Alina, can you please use your ability to make sure that no one eavesdrops on us?" Alex said as he glanced around him warily.
"Ok." Alex felt a wave of power washing through him, and he knew that it was Alina using her ability to lock the space around her, specifically to prevent sound waves from leaving the area 1 meter around her.
Anything that Alina and Alex will say right now will not be heard by anyone nearby.
Thus, Alex and Alina could freely talk inside without any fear of ostracization.
Anyone seeing this from the outside will not suspect anything, as both Alex and Alina looked like a sweet couple that are too embarrassed to be heard.
Alex took a deep breath as he realized that they can talk freely right now.
"I am not angry with you trying to chase me away, as I know that you just want to keep me safe." Alex started to say as Alina dipped her head down. "I understand your reasoning."
"However..." Alex’s carefree smile changed into a stern one as he said,
"I cannot just allow you to stay that miserable." Alex grumbled as he fixed a stray hair that fell in front of Alina’s mask.
"I told you that I do not need your help." Alina replied as she gritted her teeth.
She gazed at Alex intently as she continued talking.
"I am only tolerating everything that you are doing to me right now as we will be separating later. Think of our talk right now as the last talk that we will have. So, if you want to say more goodbyes now, then you bett-"
"Your sister, she was defeated and enslaved by your current master, right?" Alex blurted out, interrupting Alina’s tirade. "And you, the younger sister, is doing her very best to free her, right?"
"....." Alina clenched her fists so tightly that Alex felt that his hand that was touching her hand seemed to break. It was good thing that Alina loosened herself as she replied,
"That is right... Did Uncle Clint tell that story to you?"
"Yes he did. Two nights before our departure." Alex said as he gave Alina an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that."
"...."
******************
What Alex said was true. Two days before the end of his training with Alina, Alex chose to privately talk to Clint about Alina’s real problems.
Since Alex was already deeply implicated, with him even killing MIndbreaker, Clint must have thought that Alex already has the right to know about the truth.
So Clint told everything to Alex, and Alex was partly surprised from what he heard.
According to Clint, Alina’s sister, whose real name was Elizabeth, was the 2nd Strongest Esper, and her ability was Strong Space Manipulation.
This ability was of course leagues stronger that Alina’s ability, which is already hinted by the name of their titles.
Unlike Alina who had to rely on techniques to manipulate space in limited ways, Elizabeth can do manipulate space in any way that she wanted it with just minimum effort.
Elizabeth can twist, bend, or even break the space in her Range!
She can destroy anything in the space around her, or she can make them invulnerable.
She can also technically be called invincible, as her space manipulation allows her to shrug off any kinds of attacks thrown at her.
Physical attacks, mental attack, telepathic attacks, all of these attacks require space to travel on.
Elizabeth can use her ability to banish these attacks on the space around her, which essentially gives her an extremely powerful defense.
With this kind of Esper Ability, it is hard to imagine her losing.
But according to Clint, Elizabeth actually lost to Alina’s current master, whose name was just known as Lord Ergo.
Lord Ergo was considered as the strongest Esper there is, given the fact that he defeated all the other Espers in top 10.
However, Lord Ergo’s Esper Ability is still unknown, even until now.
That just made him more enigmatic and mysterious.
This and the fact that he is plain creepy makes Lord Ergo one undesirable Esper.
As such, Clint was unsure why Elizabeth, who was a very cool-headed person, would try to pick a match against Lord Ergo.
Lord Ergo effortlessly won that match, and Elizabeth was ’killed’ by Lord Ergo already.
Of course this death is not a biological death, but rather a death of the person’s will.
Whatever Lord Ergo did to Elizabeth in their fight was so effective, as it practically turned Elizabeth into a mindless slave that only follow Lord Ergo’s orders.
For Clint, the current Elizabeth was already dead. There is no chance for her to recover already.
But Alina, who loved her sister so much, did not give up, as she did her best to gather money and contribution points to find a way to help her sister.
And out of desperation, Alina employed herself to be one of Lord Ergo’s followers, so that she can get nearer to her sister.
But even with everything that Alina did until now, her sister Elizabeth was still within the tight grasp of Lord Ergo.
****************
When Alex heard all of these 2 days ago, his only thought that this time was that it was a really bad situation for Alina.
But right now, Alex knew that this info that he had can actually help Alex on completing his missions.
Alex only needed to do the right actions and say the right words to nudge him and Alina on the best path for them.
"I have a plan to help your sister." Alex said as his mind stated to IMPROVISE a plan. "You know deep inside your heart, that you sister cannot be saved by what you are doing right now. Heck, you’re even using your contribution points to just talk to your sister!"
Alex then gazed deeply at Alina as he slowly said,
"What you are doing right now is just a desperate attempt to stay afloat."
"Pak!"
Alex felt a stinging pain in his cheeks as he realized that he had been slapped.
Alina’s whole body was heaving up and down, as if she was trying her best to contain her anger.
Alex took a deep breath as he knew that his words has all resonated with Alina.
After all, Alina would only get this angry if what Alex told her affected her.
Alex suppressed a smile as he knew that he has fully gotten Alina’s attention now.
What Alex needs to do next is to keep that information focused on him.
"It might hurt, but you know that it is the truth." Alex said as he rubbed his stinging cheek. "Of course if you do not believe me, then you can just kick me away now. But if you know deep inside you that what you are doing with your sister’s rescue is hopeless, then you should stay and listen to me."
Alex then closed his eyes and waited for 10 seconds.
"...."
He did not receive any kicks or harsh ejection within that time. At that point, Alex knew that Alina will not be kicking him out harshly.
It is safe to say that Alina chose to believe Alex, for now.
"SPEECH 100." Asteria muttered as she gave Alex a knowing smirk. "You get my reference, right? Right?"
"..."