Chapter 292 A Midnight Tryst
Five years... Half the remaining time vanished? Is going to the past to save Fatima that much of a red flag to the world?
"Are you sure about that?"
Although I know she doesn't have any reason to lie, I can't help but raise my doubts. Namia just sighed, moving forward and touching my forehead. As soon as she did, images started flooding my head.
The calendar shows days, months, and years passing by.
A red, barren field.
Hundreds of thousands of tamers arranged orderly in formations while looking up, a mix of fear and resolve in their expressions.
I, together with all the girls, busily moved around while preparing something.
And the enemy...
"... What?"
Just before I could see the enemy's figure, the images were cut off. Furthermore, as if everything was just a part of a dream, they started to fade from my memory almost immediately.
I blinked a few times, trying to refocus my mind, before looking at Namia.
"...!"
Her nose and eyes were bleeding!
"What happened?!"
I asked as I stood up, pulling a handkerchief out of my [Spatial Storage] out of reflex. Namia snatched the hankey from my hand before wiping her face off with it, clearing the blood away.
"It's nothing. Just the backlash from sharing a vision of the future. It's nothing serious."
She lightly dismissed it, but I could see that her knees were shaking. Did the backlash she received come in the form of a mental attack? I was guessing it was that, seeing the effects on her. But she should be as strong as a god-tamer, so imagining how powerful the mental attack was sent shivers down my spine.
'If I were the one on the receiving end of that, my brain would definitely turn into mush.'
"Anyway, that's all."
Namia turned around, heading to the portal that she had left open the whole time.
"Make sure to take note that five years is still an estimate. It could be earlier or later than that, depending on what path you choose."
"Ah!"
Before I could call her to raise some questions, the portal had already closed behind her. She even took my handkerchief... Well, I still have tons of those anyway.
After she left, I laid down on the bed, hands crossed behind my head as pillows, while staring at the ceiling with cracked paint. I just maintained that position for a while, thinking about this and that while waiting for sleepiness to come.
"... I can't sleep..."
However, the news that Namia left me was something that was greatly disturbing. I originally thought we still had a decade to prepare, but now it has been shortened to a mere five years!
It'll be hard to completely prepare ourselves for the up-and-coming singularity within a decade, much less half of that time!
I don't know how many hours I had been stuck in a negative spiral of worry, but by the time I noticed, the surroundings were already covered in a layer of darkness. I stood up, moving to the window, but there was not even a single dot of star in the black sky.
"Well, this is still the Otherside, after all..."
I sighed lightly.
I took out a thick jacket to fight the cold before opening the window. Everything was dark, but not pitch black. I could still see the contour of the castle and even tell that I was in a spire about a hundred meters up.
"..."
In a fit of impulsiveness, I jumped out of the window and landed on the ground. Just before I landed, I fired a powerful blast of wind to cushion my fall. Although it wasn't completely able to stop my fall, it was still able to slow me down enough that I wasn't injured from landing.
Looking around, the place I landed was a lawn with a garden surrounding it. I needed something to distract my mind, so I decided to take a short walk following the perimeter of the garden.
The night wind blew, sending a freezing chill through the gaps in my clothes.
"Brrrr..."
For some reason, the temperature was colder than even on a stormy winter night. Each breath I exhaled left a large puff of white cloud that was completely visible even in the darkness of the environment.
Rather than feeling irritated, my mind felt at ease. Slowly, only the thought of the cold, the shivers I had once in a while, and the almost unconscious movement of my arms rubbing against each other remained in my head.
While walking in the distance, I saw a small gazebo with a round roof. Rather than the design of it, I was more concerned about the owner of the familiar energy signature that I could see.
"... That is…?"
Why was she out here at this hour? Well, I too am guilty of the same thing, but this and that are different. Curious, I walked toward her as quietly as I could, planning to play a prank on her and give her a little surprise.
"... Ugh...!"
But when I got close enough to hear her painful groan, the silly smile on my face quickly turned upside down.
I continued my silent approach, but this time with a different intention. When I was near, I finally saw what she was doing. Her robotic right arm was releasing arcs of white and yellow sparks as if they were having a short circuit.
Her face was twisted in pain, so much so that looking at it was making me feel phantom pain in my own right arm.
"Fatima..."
Before I could stop my own mouth, her name had already left my lips.
Fatima's shoulders jumped, and she stood up and turned around in panic, looking at me with an ashen face.
"Will...! Why are you here?"
While she raised her own question, she stealthily hid her right arm behind her body, keeping it out of my sight. I lightly frowned, walking closer to her and grabbing her arm.
"W-Wait!"
Although she shouted to stop me, she didn't move her right arm away... No, more like she couldn't move it at all. As soon as I touched it, I could feel the energy inside it rampaging like boiling water inside a kettle, looking for an exit where they could relieve their excess energy.
"This is horrible..."
I only saw her arm closely once, but I could still remember how beautiful the flow of energy was through it. Right now, there's not even a shadow of that beauty.
"Don't worry, I have it under control."
She tried reasoning it out, but I could see in her expression that the pain was still attacking her even now. Sighing, I gently pushed her shoulder down, making her sit down once more. I sat down to her right and let her right arm lay on top of my lap.
"This rampaging energy? Under control? Pfft~!"
I scoffed lightly, making fun of her attempt to diffuse my worry.
"Who do you think is the man before you? I'm the master of energy control!"
I clamped her hand with my right hand and gently waved my left hand across her entire arm up to the shoulder.
"Hnnngh!"
A moan escaped her lips as her body trembled upon my touch... Not in a sensual way, though.
I bet right now she could feel intense pain, as I was actually forcefully moving her energy to their natural paths. The blocked and destroyed parts of her path were remedied by an impromptu energy tunnel that I made. It wasn't hard to do but required extreme precision to the level of micrometers.
"Bear with it for a bit longer..."
I whispered lightly without breaking my concentration. The situation continued for a few minutes, where Fatima would twitch from extreme pain every now and then, while faint moans escaped her lips once every few minutes.
I lost track of time as I was in deep focus, but when I finished the repairs, Fatima's body fell toward me. She was panting hard, and tears were even at the corners of her eyes.
"Good girl... It's fine now."
I whispered to her ears while gently patting her head. Slowly, her eyes closed and soft, sleeping breaths were heard shortly after. Fatima fell asleep.
---
In a certain room in Namia's castle, all the girls were gathered. Of course, they were originally set in separate rooms, but when Ember saw Will and Fatima alone in the gazebo doing "shady" things, she called the others for an emergency stream—no, meeting.
"I'm happy that Fatima reunited with Leader and us, but that is a separate story! She should protect the order; no cutting in line!"
Fang scoffed lightly, pouting.
"Who was supposed to go next again? Fina, was it?"
Igni asked, turning to Fina, who was rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"... I'm in no rush, anyway. I can take my time. How about you, Minerva?"
"M-Me?!"
The newest member of the team, Minerva, shuddered upon being called.
"I, I honestly don't know... O-Our previous master didn't treat us that way, after all..."
"But you have the knowledge, right~?"
Fina's pressing made her blush madly, smoke almost coming out of the top of her head. To her, offering her body to Will was something she couldn't imagine yet. It was a part of their contract, though, so sooner or later, they will reach that stage.
"Well, Master's probably unaware of us using each other around in turns."
Ember sighed, closing the video display when Fatima fainted while leaning against Will's shoulders.
"I guess from now on, let's just make it a free-for-all where everyone has equal chances to gain Will's attention."
"That sounds good, Fina. But what about when multiple of us are around when My Lord gets into the mood?"
"The more, the merrier! I think Leader thinks that way too!"
Their conversation was as if they weren't in a life-or-death situation a few hours ago. Although it was nice for them to forget about it and move on, their recovery was a little too fast.
Will, who was gently patting Fatima's hair, sneezed lightly. Of course, the first thing he suspected was the cold winds, so he covered himself and Fatima with a thick comforter before pulling her body closer.
While watching Fatima's sleeping face, Will felt drowsy himself. A few moments later, he too fell asleep.
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