Seducing the Guideverse With My System — Raising an Anomaly [BL]

"What do you mean you can’t wake him up?" Loki was the first to move after Ambrose’s defeated revelation. They crossed to his side, carefully catching Orion’s chin with three fingers. "Orion?"

Ambrose could only shake his head, slowly getting up. "It’s no use." His voice cracked, eyes already blinking to fight back the faintest signs of dampness. "H-He’s not responding."

"To physical stimuli, maybe." Loki wasn’t giving up. Their fingers traced Orion’s forehead, resting there as their eyes batted shut. "What is happening to you, boy?"

Devon and Viktor made it to Ambrose’s side as well, the latter pulling him into his arms for comfort while the former frowned.

"What’s Loki doing?"

Ambrose didn’t have an answer.

All the trio could do was watch as the lord of chaos stayed still. For several seconds, the only sound audible was the moans of the zombies outside.

Viktor hurried to the windows, bolting them shut... but instead of sealing them with frost, he glanced back. "Maybe we should leave these. For air."

Ambrose only acknowledged with a nod, crossing his fingers. All his attention was pinned on Loki now.

After a while, the SSS-Rank opened their eyes, inhaling sharply. "That can’t be good."

"What?" Devon instantly panicked. "W-What? Is he... is he dead?"

"Gods, no!" Loki seemed mortified. "You can see he’s clearly still breathing. He’s just..." their gaze went to Ambrose. "His mind appears to be keeping him paralysed in this dream state. Like a self-defence mechanism."

Viktor’s brows crumpled. "And you know how exactly?"

"Memory, desire and emotions in general are my forte." Loki shrugged. "I can take peeps into his current mind activities via navigating his memories. It’s fascinating. I’ve never seen a mind as complex—"

"So he’s trapped like that?" Ambrose cut in, voice hoarse. "Like... is it temporary or...?"

Loki’s lips pursed.

Even Devon seemed to be coming to the same dreadful conclusion, which only made Ambrose’s heart rate pick up. He tried steadying himself, leaning against the nearest wall.

"It’s..." He swallowed. "Is it permanent?"

Loki hesitated. Only after seeing the desperation in Ambrose’s eyes did they speak. "I... don’t know."

★★★★★

Meanwhile, unlike what Loki suggested earlier, Valentine couldn’t be less interested in anything than he was in the zombie plague.

On the contrary, he found it annoying.

The Necromancer stood watch in front of the floor-to-wall-sized glass windows, one hand buried in his pocket while the other held a mug of coffee.

His eyes scoured the streets of Aurelia, following cars pulling to a stop before zombie-infested streets, others ramming through said streets, not caring about the zombies.

And of course, Hunters struggling to keep civilians safe.

He should probably be down there helping.

But not without making some... assessments.

"These aren’t ordinary undead." He murmured. "Undead zombies don’t go about ’infecting’ people with a bite."

A snort escaped him. "This looks like something crawled out of a child’s nightmares." A pause. "Gods below. Why do I feel like I know exactly why those words explain what’s happening?"

Orion.

That would explain why the plague happened so suddenly. Even if it were some kind of Necrotic curse or aether-related anomaly, it would take weeks or at least days to spread globally.

And that’s only if it were from a powerful source.

"This is just like his previous outbursts." He shook his head, ignoring the sudden influx of wind behind him. "His dreams and imagination... reshape reality."

"Oh, wow." Gabriel’s voice cut through his monologue. "Glad you and I have the same suspect on who’s behind this madness."

The space god shut his portal with a flick of the wrist, striding to Valentine’s side. "Actual people are dying because of this, Val." He blinked at his face. "Have you seen the recent numbers from Aurelia alone?"

"I refuse to follow up with this news." Valentine was unmoved. "Like previous times, the boy’s mind will correct things. Back to the way they were."

"Except he never caused a global fucking apocalypse during previous times." The rise in Gabriel’s tone forced Valentine to angle his head to him. "Can you take this seriously? The world governments and Hunter Federations are searching HARD for whatever is behind this. If they find out it’s that little boy..."

Valentine’s plain expression twitched with something else.

He couldn’t help but imagine someone like President Josiah getting his hands on Orion. Strapping him to a lab as they tried understanding the latest world-ending ability.

Or silencing him entirely.

Those thoughts made his fist clench in his pocket.

Although he didn’t show it facially, his words grated with a sterner edge.

"Take us to Ambrose’s house."

★★★★★

"There has to be a way." Ambrose had gotten up and began pacing around his son’s room. "There just has to be. W-We could get a telepath and..."

His eyes lit up, darting to Loki. "... Couldn’t you navigate his mind and pull him out? Get him to wake up?"

Loki opened their mouth to answer.

Before a single word escaped, space rippled violently inside Orion’s bedroom.

A circular portal tore open beside the bed, forcing everyone to turn.

Gabriel stepped through first, Valentine following a heartbeat later. The moment their eyes landed on the gathering around Orion’s unconscious body, every trace of relief vanished from their faces.

"What happened?" Gabriel demanded, already crossing the room. "Why’s everyone—"

"Orion won’t wake up." Ambrose’s words came out strained. "We’ve confirmed it. He’s... he’s the one behind all this." He gestured helplessly toward the crimson sky beyond the window. "Apparently he stumbled into Viktor watching a zombie movie before bed."

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a slow curse beneath his breath.

"Then we have to wake him." His gaze swept over the sleeping child before settling on Ambrose. "People are dying, Rose. We can’t let this spiral any further."

A heavy silence followed.

Then Loki cleared their throat. "There... might be another way."

Every eye turned toward them.

"I can’t simply pull Orion out," they admitted. "But I can send the consciousness of a few of us into his mental space. Directly into the dream his mind is keeping him inside for protection."

Valentine folded his arms. "Meaning we’d enter the source of all this."

Loki nodded once. "And convince him to wake himself up."

Nobody spoke for several long moments.

Finally, Devon exhaled. "If that’s our only shot... then let’s do it."

One by one, everyone else nodded in agreement.

Ambrose looked from Orion to Loki, determination slowly replacing the fear in his eyes.

"Alright." He drew in a deep breath. "How do we begin?"