Chapter 154: The Fragment
Hajin woke up floating somewhere.
It wasn’t the darkness of that time he nearly died, nor was it the memory space where the gods held their meeting, no, this felt entirely different.
The space around him was completely empty, a vast expanse of dark void that stretched out endlessly in every direction, but unlike the cold emptiness he had experienced before, this space felt warm, like being embraced.
He drifted forward, his body weightless, turning slowly in the void until his eyes caught a faint light in the distance.
Curious, he pushed himself toward it, the movement effortless in the zero-gravity space.
As he got closer, the light grew brighter, resolving into a massive, perfectly spherical golden orb that pulsed with a slow, steady rhythm. The mana radiating from it was incredibly dense, washing over him in waves of pure, untainted warmth that felt exactly like the healing magic Vella used, but magnified a thousand times over.
He drifted right up to the edge of the orb, squinting against the glare.
The surface was translucent, swirling with golden energy like liquid sunlight, and when his eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, his breath caught in his throat.
’What the hell,’ he thought, his eyes widening in complete shock.
Inside the orb, suspended perfectly in the center of the golden liquid, was the Goddess of Reincarnation.
Her wings were folded neatly around her, her pale skin glowing softly in the light while her eyes were closed in a deep, peaceful sleep. She looked exactly like she had when she appeared to him in the flower field, carrying that same maternal, divine presence, except right now, she looked incredibly fragile.
’Is this the fragment?’ he wondered, drifting a few inches closer until his face was almost touching the surface of the orb.
It made sense. The system was a resurrection engine, tracking the fragment’s recovery with every bit of soul energy he gathered. If the fragment was slowly rebuilding her soul inside his core, then this had to be what it looked like on the inside.
He reached his hand out, wanting to see if the surface felt solid or liquid, but the moment his fingertips brushed against the golden barrier, a harsh, blaring sound shattered the quiet void.
[ WARNING: Unauthorized access detected. ]
[ Host consciousness is intruding on the core fragment chamber. ]
A massive red system panel flashed directly between him and the orb, its harsh crimson light completely overpowering the gentle gold.
Before he could even pull his hand back or process the warning, a terrifying, invisible force clamped tightly around his chest.
It yanked him backward with enough force to instantly turn the golden orb into a tiny speck of light in the distance before vanishing completely. The sensation of moving at unimaginable speed tore a scream from his throat, the void blurring into streaks of pure darkness as he was violently ejected from the space.
His eyes snapped open and he shot up from the mattress, desperately gasping for air as if he had just been drowning.
His chest heaved violently while his hands immediately grabbed the heavy quilt, his fingers digging deep into the fabric as he tried to ground himself.
"Master!"
Juna was out of her chair in an instant, her hands hovering nervously over him while Loccy practically scrambled onto the foot of the bed. Vella walked closer, her eyes filled with genuine concern as she looked down at his panicked state.
"Are you alright?" Juna asked, her ears pinned flat against her head while she looked him over for any new injuries, "did you have a nightmare?"
He sat there for a long moment, forcing his breathing to slow down while the violent sensation of being ejected from the void slowly faded from his nerves.
He looked at the three of them, taking in their exhausted expressions and the bright sunlight streaming into the room.
He finally let out a long exhale, rubbing his face with both hands to clear the lingering dizziness.
"I’m fine," he muttered, dropping his hands to look back up at them, "but how did I get here? The last thing I remember is fighting that assassin."
The room went quiet for a moment before Vella took a step forward, her expression serious as she began explaining everything that had happened after the fight.
It took a few minutes to get through the entire story, detailing how the Beast King’s residual mana had completely corrupted his mind, causing him to act unhinged, how he had smiled while finishing off the dying assassin, and how he had violently struck her when she tried to pull him out of it.
He sat on the bed, listening in silence while the hazy memory of the alleyway slowly trickled back in.
"I see," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck, "so I lost control."
He didn’t remember the smile or hitting Vella, but he did remember the overwhelming wave of exhaustion and sheer anger that had hit him right before his memory cut out. The Beast King’s mana was no joke, and swallowing it raw had clearly pushed his mental fortitude past its limit.
"That was a good teaching moment," he said, looking down at his hands, making a mental note to never use demonic energy while already completely drained.
He lifted his head, his gaze shifting to Vella, taking in the faint mark that was already healing on her cheek thanks to her own magic.
"I’m sorry," he said, his voice quiet but completely sincere. "I didn’t mean to hit you, Vella. And I’m sorry for making all of you worry."
Vella blinked, clearly surprised by the direct apology, before a small, understanding smile touched her lips as she gave a slight bow.
"It is alright, Master," she said softly, "we know it was not truly you."
Juna crossed her arms with a light huff, though her tail was swaying in a relaxed rhythm. "Just don’t do it again. Dragging you back here wasn’t easy."
Loccy simply nodded in agreement from the foot of the bed.
He looked back at them, a thought suddenly crossing his mind.
"Wait," he said, his brow furrowing slightly, "if I passed out in some random alleyway, how did you guys even know where to find me?"
"A light," Loccy said from the foot of the bed, her ears twitching.
"A light?" he repeated.
"It was a floating square of blue light," Juna explained, crossing her arms while her tail swayed slowly behind her. "It suddenly appeared right in front of us while we were sitting in the room, and it had strange letters written on it that we somehow understood perfectly. It gave us your exact location."
He blinked, his mind going completely blank for a second.
’A light with letters?’ he thought, staring at them, ’could they be talking about the system?’
He knew the stream viewers could see what he was doing, but the system interface itself was supposed to be completely invisible to anyone else in Ouro. The fact that it had actually manifested physically in front of his summons to give them directions was entirely new information.
’It actually appeared before them?’ he thought, his frown deepening. ’It can do that?’
He thought back to what had just happened in the void moments ago, the way the massive red warning panel had flashed in front of his face before an invisible force physically grabbed him and violently yanked him across dimensional space.
The system wasn’t just a passive interface that recorded his stats and managed his stream, it was incredibly mysterious, and he was starting to realize he had no idea just how many things it was actually capable of doing.
"That thing," Juna said, her voice pulling him out of his thoughts, "is that what you use to talk to those people you mentioned before?"
He looked at her and gave a slow nod.
"I never fully believed it," she admitted, letting out a soft sigh as her ears lowered slightly, "the idea of invisible people from another world watching us felt... absurd. But after seeing that light appear out of thin air just to save you, I believe it now."
He opened his mouth, about to explain that it was a bit more complicated than just invisible people watching them, but before he could get a single word out, a loud, undeniable growl echoed through the room.
It wasn’t just his stomach.
A second later, Loccy’s stomach let out an identical sound, followed almost immediately by Juna’s, and then, much to her obvious embarrassment, Vella’s.
The four of them had been running on fumes since last night, and the sheer amount of energy they had all burned through had finally caught up with them. The serious atmosphere that had settled over the room evaporated instantly.
He looked at the three of them, letting out a short, tired laugh.
"Okay," he said, throwing the quilt to the side and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. "Food first."
