The underground space was as large as a soccer field. At the moment, it was so quiet that only the sound of machinery remained.
The space itself was dim, making it feel as if a daemon might burst from the shadows at any moment.
Kain stared at the center of the chamber, every muscle in his body tensed.
Perhaps after completing the technology exchange, he should have simply left the Mako behind and walked away.
As for whatever happened afterward, he probably would not have felt too guilty.
Now, all he could do was hope the bait this mad scientist had thrown into the Warp would not bring back some absurd swarm of countless biting insects.
If something happened to this agri-world, and the nearby forge worlds, hive worlds, and so on were dragged into disaster with it, then he would be one of the culprits.
Hm?
It was coming.
The center had begun to glow. The bait engine that had been thrown into the Warp was about to return.
As the space suddenly lit up, the air seemed to twist. Then the vanished Warp engine returned.
Almost at the same time, a daemon's shrill scream echoed through the chamber. A daemon had been brought back with it.
However, the abnormal state of the daemon before him left Kain stunned.
At his side, Cawl let out a strange cackle. The way he looked at the daemon was utterly naked in its hunger.
It was as if their roles had been reversed. Cawl was the daemon, and the daemon was the lamb waiting for slaughter.
A daemon, something that had never known fear, actually showed panic and terror in that moment.
But the main target of its fear was not Cawl.
Nor was it Kain, who had already expanded his Untouchable field.
It was that piece of Materia.
...
Sector 7 of Midgar, at a bar called Seventh Heaven.
Tifa, the bar's poster girl, got off work early today and would also be "taking a few days off."
"Tifa!"
Just as Tifa was about to leave, someone suddenly called out to her. It was a tall man with bronze skin and two arms that looked somewhat unusual.
In truth, one of his arms was gone, replaced by a mechanical arm fitted with a machine gun.
This man was one of the key members resisting Shinra—Barret Wallace, a member of Avalanche.
In the past, Barret had trusted Shinra, just as Tifa once had. But after a Mako reactor accident, Shinra had burned down Barret's hometown, Corel, to cover up the truth, nearly slaughtering every villager there. From that moment on, he saw Shinra for the evil it truly was and became the leader of an Avalanche cell, determined to expose the company's true face.
"Be careful!"
"Mm."
Normally, Tifa should have trusted her companions and sought their help and protection.
But Barret had a child to care for. If they truly encountered someone as terrifying as Sephiroth, she might drag him into danger too.
Besides, she was only going to "rest" for two days and avoid that one day.
Yes. They had already confirmed when the day from Aerith's prophetic dream would occur.
It was tomorrow.
According to Aerith's memory, she had seen a news report in the dream. Shinra had developed a new tourist attraction in Wutai, and its official opening ceremony was being held.
As for the ribbon-cutting ceremony for that tourist attraction, the date had already been announced. It would be tomorrow.
So as long as she and Aerith avoided the circumstances from the dream tomorrow, everything should be fine.
As for the place where they encountered Sephiroth in the dream, they still were not entirely sure. But judging by certain regional landmarks, they could roughly infer that it should be Sector 6.
Then they only had to avoid Sector 6.
Returning to the present issue, Tifa had not told Barret certain information, specifically the matter concerning Aerith. Even so, Barret had noticed that something about her had been off lately. Though he had not pressed her hard, he was still worried about her safety.
As for Aerith's situation, Tifa had decided she would tell Barret a little after they got through that day.
After returning to her lodging, Tifa packed a few things, then headed toward an agreed meeting place.
Half an hour later, she arrived at the place where Aerith usually sold flowers and saw her waiting there.
"Sorry, Aerith. I made you wait."
"There's no need to apologize. There are still ten minutes before the time we agreed on. You're not late or anything."
Aerith spoke in a slightly playful tone, making Tifa, who had looked a little apologetic, smile.
"Then let's go."
"Mm."
The two of them looked as if they were simply strolling around, a little aimless, but in reality, they were trying to confuse Shinra's surveillance.
Aerith had always been under Shinra's watch. That was information they had gotten from Mr. Kain, and Aerith herself had confirmed it as well. She had known all along that she was being monitored.
So now, they needed to mislead Shinra's watchers.
Tifa would lead Aerith in seemingly random circles, then eventually use her familiarity with certain areas to bring Aerith into hiding and shake off Shinra's surveillance.
In the blink of an eye, they seemed to have successfully gotten rid of Shinra's observers.
Next, they only had to pass through the area up ahead, take another detour, and they would arrive at one of Avalanche's secret hideouts.
However, at that moment, both of them abruptly stopped.
Something strange and gray-black was drifting around in front of them.
The thing could pass directly through walls.
"Don't tell me those are the Whispers Mr. Kain mentioned."
Tifa spoke in a low voice, her expression turning grave.
According to what Mr. Kain had told them, in the works he had seen, their world was a game with multiple versions. In one version's setting, there were special entities called Whispers. They were supposedly guardians of fate, and they would obstruct anyone attempting to change the course of destiny.
In other words, their current actions were changing fate, and these things had appeared to interfere.
"Probably."
Aerith's expression darkened as well.
Did that mean her fate was already fixed?
"This way!"
Tifa immediately grabbed Aerith and ran in another direction. But they had not gone far before the Whispers appeared ahead of them as well, lunging at them like savage beasts.
For a moment, the two of them were swept up as if caught in a hurricane, staggering backward.
"Here!"
They changed direction again. This time, the other side did not seem to stop them.
They ran and ran. When they passed through an alley and were about to turn right, the wall ahead of them suddenly collapsed, blocking the road. It was the influence of those so-called Whispers.
The next second, they came crashing over. Aerith let out a cry of pain, as if being touched by them caused her suffering.
Damn things!
Tifa had no choice but to keep pulling Aerith along. Otherwise, those things would keep slamming into her.
The two of them fled in a rather sorry state, darting around in every direction.
"What's wrong, Aerith?"
Aerith had suddenly stopped in her tracks, even though there was nothing in front of them.
But before Aerith could answer, Tifa followed her stunned gaze toward a screen mounted on a building.
A news broadcast was playing on it. The report was about Wutai's new tourist attraction and its upcoming official ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Wasn't that supposed to be tomorrow?
As the reporter explained, in order to let people enjoy some of the interesting sights at the new tourist attraction earlier, they had decided to open it one day ahead of schedule.
What kind of joke was this?
Tifa glanced around, and her expression changed slightly.
Only then did she realize they had run into Sector 4.
Was this a fate that could not be changed?
"It's exactly the same."
Aerith murmured in a daze. It was exactly the same as the dream.
And after murmuring those words, Aerith's face changed again, because in the dream, she had also muttered, "It's exactly the same," without understanding what she meant.
Now she understood.
"Aerith, run!"
Tifa's expression changed abruptly, and she forcibly dragged Aerith into a run, because she had seen a figure standing atop a building.
Although the figure was somewhat far away, it looked very much like Sephiroth.
They ran frantically, turning through several alleys, before Tifa suddenly slammed to a stop.
Because someone was standing directly in front of them.
Her pupils shrank, and she immediately pulled Aerith toward the other side.
However, no matter where they went, they would see that man. And each time, he was closer.
Damn it!
Was this the same as Aerith's dream?
The same as the dream?
The moment Tifa thought of that, she immediately logged into the Hyperdimensional Channel.
She could only trouble Mr. Kain.
He had clearly just survived such a massive crisis on his side.
At that moment, she had truly thought he had died. His head had been gone, after all.
But then he had logged back in, proving he had survived. That alone felt unbelievable.
Even so, less than a day had passed, and now she already had to ask him to come over. But she really had no other way.
So after logging in, Tifa immediately used the Cross-World Invitation to send a designated invitation to Mr. Kain.
Wait. Was Mr. Kain online?
The next second, his ID appeared among the available invitees, proving that he was indeed online.
As for why she could send an invitation on her own, that was because Mr. Kain had asked her for Mako twice that morning and had directly given her twenty energy coins in advance.
She was truly sorry.
But she could only trouble him to come save them.
(End of Chapter)
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