Arc 2 — Abrupt Halt
Chapter 5 — Dead Late
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‘Boring.’
Flinging the controller onto the sofa, Loki grumpily picked up a handful of gummy bears and tossed them into her mouth.
She was currently in Yurei’s mansion after descending onto [Earth] as a mortal. Normally, a Deity cannot descend but given the anonymity as well as obscurity of where she fell, she could easily keep up with the continuous strain of Origin Energy leaving her body in accordance with the [Divine World] Laws.
Growing tired of playing Online PvPs, Loki switched to lazily surfing channels on the room-wide flat screen tv.
Channel after channel she flipped. Some comedy, some news and some anime. Rinse and repeat.
As the flickering photons and sound waves were registered by her mind, she couldn’t help but reminisce about Yurei again.
‘It’s been three years since then. Y’er late ya know that? So soo late. I don’t even have it in me ta punch ya anymore. Just come back already, shit just isn't the same without ya.’
Five years ago, when a sudden Spatial Distortion formed in Japan, the Deities thought it to be another Transmigrator and dispatched the Novii to take care of it.
Yet despite their numerous attempts, they failed to apprehend the intruder.
‘Keke, back then he evaded even Fate’s machinations.’
Due to Yurei escaping every time Fate created an opportune moment for the Novii to apprehend him, Reincarnation had to step in to personally seize his soul.
And even after descending, Yurei escaped his grasp when he peered into his soul.
‘That was a good one. After waking up he changed for the better...i think? Said something about his soul resembling a mirror tho.’
Thinking back on it, Loki found many discrepancies. Discrepancies she made the rest overlook when Yurei left.
For one, they never tried to converse. Now although this could be easily answered with Yurei being a atheist, his atheism would have to border conviction for them to be unable to use Thought Transmission. And such conviction can only be born through a prolonged period of time.
Furrowing her brows, she pondered more about it.
Two, even if Yurei had such a firm mindset about Deities, they should still be able to use Telepathy and yet all of their attemps at piercing his surface thoughts in order to communicate were in vain. This meant that his mind was as strong as a Deity’s despite being a human—
‘No... he had a shit tonne of Spirit Energy, so maybe a Spiritkin... no, A Sprite.’
Grasping an accurate read of events, Loki sat up and interlaced her fingers, a brooding expression on her face hidden behind her fingers as she outright glared at the table.
‘A Sprite would connect it all. His ability to overcome Fate as well as the fact that he’s a Returnee.’
While Spiritkin and Sprites may seem the same, they have one glaring difference. Spiritkin are born out of copulation when a Spirit is within a Material world like [Earth]. Being a resident of the world, they have a fate and fortune as well as an extended lifespan based on the Spirit’s strength.
But Sprites are not. They are most often born out of powerful emotions like hatred and fury when they are flooded with an influx of Spirit Energy at the moment of their death.
‘Although he did have all that shit, he didn't do any damage when he returned... and while it does check out with when the fox came, hmmm, how is it~ it doesn't seem like his ‘playstyle’ as he calls it. Or was it intentional?’
Guessing that overthinking about it was pointless, Loki questioned Reincarnation’s words.
‘Has there ever been a case of a mirror-like soul?’
There were none. As far back as Loki could remember, there was never a case of someone cultivating a reflective soul even before the Humans separated from the Novii. Add on to that the fact that a mere glimpse of Yurei’s soul left Reincarnation inanimate for a day—
‘His entire life’s strange. Even more strange is that he disappeared for a while after leaving our world and came back with that bastard all happy-go-lucky. Well, atleast he didn't show it on his face...’
‘Was this all that shit’s move? From back when he was a two-faced insufferable prick?’
Remembering her thoughts on Sky when he once wandered their world many years ago, Loki couldn’t help but doubt her own understanding of the Conceptual twisting and warping into something far more hideous.
‘Has he been lying to us all this time? Then—!’
“Graah!”
Scratching her head full of dull red hair, Loki materialized a chilled can of beer in her hand and drained it in one go.
“Puwaah! No use in worrying ‘bout that! I’ll ask ‘em when Yurei returns.”
Suffering from a mild brain-freeze, she made the can disappear and in its place, between her fore and middle finger a playing card appeared with a jester depicting her silhouette on it. Should Yurei see it, he would immediately recognise it as the card he gave to her when they were playing Black Jack. All three of them including Sky.
“Cheh. You’re still alive and ya know it ya prick.” ‘Otherwise this card would’ve crumbled to dust ages ago.’
Indeed. Since the card was an energy-construct made of Yurei’s Origin Energy, unless he made it otherwise, which, given his capabilities back then, he couldn't, the card would disintegrate upon his untimely death.
“Just hurry up and come back already!”
* * * * *
“Is this really necessary?” Pride wondered out loud as she eyed the bizarre scene her eyes took in.
In front of her would be what could be described as a modern [Earth] resort. With a large blue pool full of Spirit Energy as a stand-in for water, there were all sorts of energy-constructs based on [Earth].
For one, the jacuzzi in the corner where Sloth was. She was resting with her head on a floating tube and her loli body, clad in what could be described as a white school-swimsuit, was submerged underwater as Diligence was ‘sunbathing’ on an air mattress right next to her wearing child-sized aviators.
Next, she could see Gluttony, Envy and Kindness near a grill with dozens of vegetables and uncooked meat drifting near them. Looking at Envy’s expression as she bit into her meat-filled kebab with alluring fatty juices made her want to have a taste as well.
“One can’t play to their fullest if they play the same game everyday Ri. Aha! Two-pair!”
Hearing Greed retort to her, she looked to the side and found her, Chastity and Lust playing poker with Greed laughing maniacally as her two opponents groaned in resignation.
“Woohoo! I won!”
Turning her head in the direction of the shout, she could see Humility, Temperance, Patience and Charity in swimming trunks as young shotas with Humility not showing a hint of his appellation as he cheered at his victory in their race.
Taking all of this in, Pride reckoned that it would be fine if she also partook in the experience.
“Milady, how about a drink as you rest?”
Looking diagonally to her side, Pride could see her maid Sofi —clad in a simple green two-piece and pareo— holding a tray with an assortment of drinks. Looking her up and down, she had to hand it to her, Sofi looked good in it with her physique and pink hair complimenting the light colour scheme.
“I suppose I shall. More importantly Sofi, you look stunning in that. I’m sure a certain someone will say so as well.”
“T-thank you milady. Hehe~”
Directing a small smile towards her maid who coolly blushed in embarrassment, she took a sip of cold cider, a sizzling sensation running down her throat as her dress-shirt and pants changed into a black two-piece with a pareo, her tail amusedly swaying about from underneath as she found a place to lay down on.
Walking towards one of the free spots besides the pool a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
“Come to think of it Sofi, where are Ra and the rest?”
Looking down at her liege who had a smile on her face, Sofi felt her tail swish about slightly faster. Keeping her emotions in check, she replied as normally as she could.
“Milord Wrath had taken Prince Yurei and Sir Sebas to the badlands as per usual.”
“Sparring again, I take it?” She asked with exasperation, her smile turning wry with a hint of loneliness in her eyes.
“...yes milady.”
“So, when will they arrive? Surely not when the day’s over is it?”
.
.
.
Although she asked in jest, at mention of it, Sofi seemingly kept quiet. Though it didn’t show on her face, Pride had known Sofi since she was a kid. She could easily sense her displeasure through a single glance.
‘She hasn't seen Sebas the whole day, has she...’
“It’s alright Sofi. Tell me by when they will arrive,” Pride asked gently, urging Sofi to speak up.
“They were…”
“Hmm?”
“They were supposed to be here by now. Haah.”
.
.
Silence. There was only quiet in the vicinity of Pride and Sofi. It was as if space itself was separated from the rest of the resort as not a single sound of chatter reached the ears of the two.
‘Ah. I shouldn't have said that.’
Unable to bear the lull a moment longer, Sofi hurriedly added, “Milord Wrath said he would happily accompany you when we arrived milady.”
“...Fu~ So, you are saying that Ra would’ve arrived before I did?”
“Y-yes.”
“…”
“...”
“Immediately go and drag them here,” she said with narrowed eyes, a hint of Killing Intent leaking out of her.
“On it milady!”
Dispelling the barrier, Pride allowed Sofi to leave the premises, her light-green bikini changing into a medieval-Europe Victorian style maid outfit as a streak of pink and black rushed past her eyes.
‘Ra is never late. Although he’s never early either, he prioritises timeliness more than me.’
Gazing up at the misshapen sky, Pride looked in the direction of the badlands, where Wrath and Yurei would usually spar.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
* * * * *
Rushing across the said badlands were Wrath with Sebas in tow looking worriedly at him. Normally Wrath would easily leave Sebas in the dust with his stride. Yet now he was reduced to scampering on the ground due to the inability to wield his energies outside of his body.
The cause of it was on his back. He was carrying Yurei in a humanoid-shaped barrier made of Conceptual Flames. Unlike normal flames or flames that were made of energies, these Conceptual Flames were based on Wrath’s Concept.
Right now, in the local environs of Yurei, everything seemed to be devoid of vitality. Were it not due to Wrath’s flames sealing him up, all of the energies around them would rush at a terribly faster rate into Yurei. Sadly the downside to this barrier was Wrath’s own Origin Energy being absorbed at an astounding rate with Yurei’s limp, charred body helplessly resting on his back only adding on to the ever-increasing drain.
‘Fucking Dragon shit! At this rate-’
“Sebastian! Use everything you got! Just rush ahead and inform the rest! And Don’t You Dare Be Late or I’ll Fucking Rip Your Soul Apart!”
“!? Yes milord!!!”
“HAAAAA!”
Screaming out in tandem with an explosion of Aura, Sebastian streaked past Wrath in a brown blur before escaping the range of Yurei’s influence. After that, he continuously teleported until Wrath could see only a dot in the sky.
Noticing his flames being devoured faster and faster, Wrath grit his teeth and shouted out his frustrations before leaving a trail of flames in his wake, his speed increasing to around half of what he was normally capable of.
“I really hope you’re unconscious ya brat! Otherwise this is gonna hurt like a Dragon’s flames! Resonance!”
‘HAAA!!!’
‘She must’ve noticed by now. Hurry up Pride, I’m barely holding him back. He’s literally-’
* * * * *
“This is ba~ad.”
“Huh. What do you mean Thii?”
Although Diligence didn’t understand what Sloth suddenly said, Pride felt even more apprehensive as she listened in before feeling it as well, her Existential Pressure leaking out in reflex due to her rage.
‘I fucking swear, if you are late in this, Wrath…’
“What’s wrong Ri?”
“Thii?”
“Ri has already noticed ri~ght?” Sloth asked with half-closed eyes. Not even a hint of sleepiness could be seen in them as she also released her restraints.
“Huh? Noticed what?”
“What’s this? You two in on something?”
“Yu” Pride quietly said, barely containing her rage, chaos already whirling within her.
“Huh?” “Eh?” “What?”
“Did something happen to Yu?”
*PULSE*
.
.
Silence enshrouded the place. Unlike before, the whole villa was now lulled into a chaotic calm with the Weight of Thirteen of the Highest Conceptuals Existences manifesting simultaneously at a single location in the [Spirit World].
It was in this silence that Sloth and Pride answered.
“Yu~ is-”
“He’s-”
* * * * *
“Oi. This ain’t a funny joke Yurei” Loki muttered as she looked at the card still in between her fingers turning dull.
“Stop Messing Around You FUCK!!! A SPRITE CAN’T SET OFF SUCH FLAGS!!!”
*BOOM!*
Immediately the entire room was wrecked in havoc as a literal maelstrom brewed within. Cracks formed on the walls, the leather of the sofas ripped apart, electrical discharges could be seen between the tv and gaming consoles right before they exploded into shrapnel. Yet despite all of that, Loki wholly focused on the card as it continued to grow a deeper shade of grey, gradually darkening into black.
“STOP! FUCKING!”
* * * * *
In what can only be called a poor set of coincidences, literally across worlds, four beings deeply connected to Yurei muttered the exact same phrase at the exact same time.
“dying”
