Chapter 61: A Deal with God?
Yuki awoke from his unconscious state. He had expected to wake up wrapped in a wooden cocoon or lying in the ruins of the God Tree, finally stepping outside to see the open sky for the first time in a long time.
He was wrong. Very wrong.
Yuki sat up and looked around, utterly baffled by what he was seeing.
"Where am I? What is this place?"
He slowly began to walk forward, his feet sinking into soft sand with every step.
"I’m on a... beach? Is this place a dream?" he asked himself.
Yuki walked right up to the shoreline and waited for the incoming water. If he was dreaming, the freezing ocean water should shock him awake the second it touched his skin.
Splash.
A wave crashed against his bare feet before quickly retreating back into the ocean. Then another wave came. And another.
"..., guess I’m not sleeping then," Yuki groaned, tilting his head back before burying his face in his hands. "Sigh... What is this place? Why am I on a beach?!"
He fell silent as he stared up at the sky. It was a beautiful, vibrant shade of blue, streaked with pristine white trails—but there were no clouds. Not a single one.
Where is the sun?! How is it daytime without a sun?!
"You’re taking things much better than I expected. Honestly, I thought you’d start losing your mind by now," a soft, melodious voice called out from behind him.
Yuki turned around slowly, confused.
The exact instant his eyes locked onto the entity, the entire world shattered and reformed. He was no longer on a beautiful beach. Somehow, he was now sitting atop a rolling hill surrounded by a lush, sunlit meadow.
"Come, sit," the entity said, gesturing toward a small wrought-iron table shaded by a colorful umbrella.
"Okay...?" Yuki muttered, taking a seat opposite them.
The entity raised a teacup, taking a slow sip and savoring the flavor before setting it gently back down on the saucer. "Are you going to drink? It’s not going to kill you, so you don’t have to worry about poison."
"..."
"No? Suit yourself," the entity said with a shrug.
..., I’ve gotta be dead, right? That’s the only sensible conclusion I can come to, Yuki thought to himself.
"No, you are not dead. You’re just unconscious, and this place is your mind realm."
Oh... so she can read my mind. Great.
Did Vee and the others make it out alive? Are they hurt? How do I leave this place, and what the hell are you?! Yuki asked internally, his emerald eyes locking onto the entity.
"Now, now—one question at a time. And I’d prefer if you spoke out loud instead of in your mind. It’s much more polite that way."
"Did Vee—"
"Yes, they are fine... but not for long."
"What do you mean, ’not for long’?" Yuki asked, raising an eyebrow. "What’s going to happen to them?"
"You kill them," she replied calmly, wiping a nonexistent tear from her eye.
"WHAT?! Why would I do that?! You’re not making any sense! And why would I even believe you? I literally just met you!"
"Do you want to fight? Would that make you understand me better, if I showed you my power?"
"No! I don’t want to fight you, I want answers!"
"Really now?"
"Yes!"
"Ha," the entity chuckled softly. "A sensible one, aren’t you? My name is—"
A burst of unholy, garbled noise echoed through his brain: "fgf5yfvi5rrvi95cji87."
"...,? I—you—huh?"
"..., oh right. I forgot that mortals can’t pronounce or comprehend my true name. Sorry about that," she said casually. "I am akin to a god of this world. An Administrator, of sorts."
"Okay...? What do you want with me, why would I kill my friends, and how?!"
"So many questions! Quite the talker," she sighed. "Well, you don’t kill them—your body does, after it gets hijacked by the Living City Core. And as for what I want from you... well, it’s you. Specifically, your talent for pleasuring women, and the fact that you’re so damn cute."
"Oh... well, um, thanks, but—"
"I feed off the pleasure of others—joy, happiness, ecchi energy, you know the stuff," she interrupted, her tone suddenly becoming blunt and slightly irritated.
"I want you to become my Apostle. In exchange, I will save your life and rewind time to right before all of this happened. I have a war going on in the Upper Realm, and having you in my service would be great. So sign this paper and I’ll send you on your way."
"..."
Yuki looked down at the glowing contract on the table, then looked back up at the Administrator.
".__. I don’t know... this seems a little suspicious. What would I actually have to do? I mean, what happens if—"
Before Yuki could finish his sentence, the entity dropped her divine composure, slammed both hands onto the table, and screamed in his face:
"STOP ASKING ME SO MANY QUESTIONS, FUCK!!!"
The entire meadow shook around them.
"All you have to do is make people happy! How you do it, I don’t give a shit! Fuck them, kiss them, feed them delicious food—it doesn’t matter! Just make them happy! And for the love of Creation, stop taking these stupid field trips to the most dangerous places on the planet! For someone who preaches the ’Principle of Survivability,’ you keep almost getting yourself killed! Go find a harem of fox girls and live your life, you annoying little fucking femboy!"
"I—"
"YOU ARE A FEMBOY!" she shrieked. "Stop trying to deny it! You’re not a crossdresser, you’re a femboy! Now, before I rip your fu—"
SCREECH—!
Right before Yuki’s eyes, the entire world glitched into a blinding wall of static before snapping back to normal a second later.
The table remained completely untouched, and the divine entity was sitting peacefully once more, offering him a serene smile.
"Please sign the paper," she said sweetly.
"O-Ok-ay..." Yuki stammered, hurriedly grabbing the feather pen and signing his name on the line.
"Perfect! Now, don’t be alarmed, but I lied," she stated cheerfully. "I don’t actually have enough energy to reverse time that far back, so you still have to fight the Core for control of your body."
"EXCUSE ME?!"
"It’s fine," she said, waving a dismissive hand. "I’ll give your System AI a physical body and turn her into your official familiar when you win! That way, you don’t have to worry about her being mean to you or turning off whenever she feels like it. You know, to be honest, I’m a little surprised you didn’t just turn that setting off in your System menu."
"...So do I get to pick her form?"
"No."
"...Oh. Wait, what do you mean ’when I win’?! Didn’t you just say it takes over my body?!"
"No, I didn’t."
"Yeah, you literally just did!"
"I have no recollection of that conversation whatsoever."
"Wha—"
Clap!
"Well, that’s that! Goodbye!" she cheered, waving her hand.
The moment she waved, reality dissolved into a rushing river of blinding colors, and everything went completely white.
******************
Yuki gasped as his eyes snapped open back in the real world—only to see the Living City Core’s writhing black tendrils inches from his face.
Crap!
The exact second the tendrils made contact with Yuki’s forehead, his vision went blank, and he blacked out once more.
"YUKIII!!!" Vee screamed, sprinting through the mud toward his limp body.
She dropped to her knees, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him violently back and forth. "Yuki! Yuki, can you hear me?!"
"Vee, I don’t think aggressively shaking an unconscious person is a good idea," Camilla pointed out, walking up beside her.
"Do you have a better idea, then?!"
"...No, I don’t," Camilla admitted. "I’m sure he’ll be fine... probably."
"Nyquella, what exactly is happening to him?!" Malakai demanded, his shadow magic flaring around his arms.
"The Core is trying to invade his mind and hijack his body," Nyquella explained, her face pale with worry.
"What are his chances of winning?"
"Very high," Nyquella said confidently. "He has a remarkably strong mind, a Demon King Candidate’s Core System, and a fully sentient System Interface. It’s a three-on-one—the Core is wildly outnumbered! The only problem is, I don’t know how long it will take for him to wake up."
"It doesn’t matter," Vee said, hoisting Yuki’s body onto her back. "We need to get out of here before this cavern collapses and buries us under hundreds of tons of stone!"
"How exactly are we supposed to get out of here?!" Nyquella asked, looking up at the crumbling rock ceiling.
"I—Malakai?" Vee asked nervously.
"Hold on, I’m doing the math," Malakai muttered, staring intently at the ceiling architecture.
A second later, his eyes widened. "Done!"
Shadows surged off every surface in the cavern, wrapping tightly around the party until they were completely enclosed within a massive Shadow Giant.
Using every ounce of his remaining strength, Malakai launched the giant construct into the air. He anchored its massive shadow arms to the roof of the cavern, pulling themselves forward and crawling toward the section where they had first entered the metropolis days ago.
Maintaining the Shadow Giant took a staggering toll on his body. His essence reserves were rapidly drained, causing the shadow shell to crack and peel away as they moved.
Still, Malakai pushed forward relentlessly. Once they broke out of the ruined metropolis cavern and re-entered the narrow crystal caves, he shrank the construct’s form down to a massive ground-worm, tearing through the mountain’s winding subterranean pathways at breakneck speeds.
Finally, the shadow construct burst through the outer wall of the mountain, triggering a massive snow avalanche behind them.
Once in the open air, Malakai shifted the shadows into the form of a majestic black bird, gliding smoothly through the sky for several minutes before gently touchdown on the soft grass along the outskirts of a dense Elven forest.