Chapter 3 — The Dark Monarch
Ancient One said gravely, "A monarch of a dark dimension."
What~!
Σ(°△°
"Are you kidding me? A dark dimension's monarch is inside this orange tabby cat?"
Ancient One showed no emotion and even wanted more tea, pouring herself a cup and taking a delightful sip: "Although I don't know what happened to this monarch, it possesses the abilities of a dark monarch, but its energy is extremely low."
Garfield asked Ancient One, "How low?"
Ancient One slapped Garfield's cat forehead, and Garfield found his soul leaving his cat body. Yet somehow his height hadn't changed.
Turning to observe, he found in the mirrored space, an orange tabby cat looking around left and right, utterly bewildered. Beside the orange cat, a black blob floated nearby.
"Why am I still a cat? And is this black blob the Dark Monarch?"
"Your guess is correct; that is indeed the Dark Monarch. It's limited to maintaining basic survival and can't do anything else."
"Impressive, but can I ask why my soul still looks like an orange cat?"
Actually, this was what Garfield really cared about, wasn't it?
If he could become human and learn some of Ancient One's spells, he could completely escape being a lonely bachelor—no, wait, lonely cat—and embrace a life of luxury with beauties on both sides, reaching the peak of life~!
Ancient One reached out, pulled Garfield into her arms, and traced various lines across him with her hands, scanning him. Ancient One revealed a peculiar expression: "Your soul has completely fused with this Flerken's original soul. Now you are it, and it is you. You will carry many of the Flerken's instinctive behaviors."
"Boss, can you lend me a hand and help me escape this sea of suffering? I want to turn over a new leaf and become human again, meow~!"
As the meow slipped out, Garfield instinctively covered his mouth with his paw.
ヾ(?｀Д′?)
"Why has it come to this, meow~!"
The Ancient One explained to Garfield, "This is a sign of soul fusion. However, this situation is not impossible to change."
Garfield seemed to catch a glimmer of hope and hastily asked Ancient One, "Is there a way?"
"Ancient magical artifacts, mysterious spells, and the legendary Soul Stone might help. But I don't have a complete spell to separate you two."
Ancient magical artifacts?
Mysterious spells?
The Soul Stone?
The first two might still be somewhat possible to find, but the Soul Stone? Forget it. Thanos had to sacrifice his own daughter to get that. Besides, it was somewhere in the vast universe on some planet whose name he'd already forgotten. Trying to find that thing? Next lifetime.
Wait a minute, wasn't it true that Flerkens could traverse time and space? Garfield suddenly felt hopeful again.
"So, can I study magic here?"
Ancient One nodded: "You may, but you must swear not to use my magic for evil. Otherwise, I will personally clean up my own sect." Her tone carried heavy killing intent.
Garfield instinctively tucked his tail and his little... area: "Ah, I definitely won't use magic to harm innocent civilians. I'm committed to being a good orange tabby cat who maintains world peace, meow~!"
The Ancient One stared at Garfield.
Garfield corrected himself: "A Flerken, a good Flerken, a Flerken committed to maintaining universal peace, really~!" He used all his cuteness tactics; Garfield felt he might as well lick Ancient One's face with his cat tongue.
Only then did Ancient One's expression soften: "That's right. Now that you want to be my disciple, as your master, I should prepare a gift for you."
Was she going to give me the Eye of Agamotto?
Ancient One reached out toward the black blob, gesturing. The black blob flew to her side, seemingly sensing what was about to happen, and began struggling.
Ancient One conjured a cage in her hand. The black blob jumped, struggled, and bounced inside. The Ancient One stabilized the cage's energy with her left hand while her right hand traced a circle of magical patterns. A complex, profound magical array appeared, aiming at the black blob in the cage.
A golden vortex emerged, generating a suction force toward the black blob. As the suction intensified, the black blob began shaking violently in resistance, expanding and contracting, trying to escape the cage.
"No... stop... do you know who you're opposing?"
The Ancient One said with righteousness: "As the guardian of Earth's dimension, I naturally know what creature you are."
"Damn it, it's all because that worthless wretch rejected me. Even if you extract my energy and banish me, my consciousness will descend again. Stop now, and I'll forgive you."
Hearing the Dark Monarch's lie that not even a three-year-old would believe, Garfield couldn't help interjecting: "Hey there, black blob, even ghosts wouldn't buy that line, you know? Try another approach. How about admitting defeat and begging for mercy, maybe be a servant or something?"
The black blob trembled violently, perhaps from anger, and roared at Garfield: "Bastard, you lowly creature no more advanced than a paramecium! A waste! If I hadn't had an accident while traversing dimensions, how could I have ended up connected with you?"
With Ancient One by his side, Garfield had no fear. He started hopping around, unleashing a torrent of profanity at the black blob, using every expletive he knew for a full ten minutes without repeating himself.
Huff, huff, huff.
Garfield was exhausted from all the activity and stuck out his tongue.
The black blob was also seriously angered. How could a monarch-level existence from a dark dimension tolerate being cursed out by an orange cat for ten minutes?
"Just wait. Once I get out, I'll make you regret this, you tiny, insignificant low-level creature."
Garfield patted his chest: "Know who I am? Ever heard of a Flerken? I'll eat your sorry ass in one bite."
Flerken~!
The black blob suddenly trembled even more violently. Ancient One almost lost control of the cage. The black blob: "Damn it! I worked so hard to steal that from a pair of Flerkens... and this... this... I won't accept it... No... I'm willing to admit defeat... I'm willing to sign a... I..."
Ancient One ignored the black blob's words and continued what she was doing. After extracting more, watching the mass of light change from black to white, Ancient One stopped and thoroughly examined the light blob before finally relaxing.
Seeing Ancient One quite tired, Garfield extended his cat paws and massaged her legs: "Master, how did it go? What about that unlucky black blob?"
Ancient One breathed a long sigh of relief: "The dark energy has been extracted. It's now just a consciousness entity. According to the game memories in your head, it should be considered a reincarnated character with all skills but no level-up growth potential."
That was a rather novel explanation. Wait a minute, why could she see my memories? Did that mean she also knew she was a comic book character?
Garfield felt this was a question best left unasked. When it counted, a person needed to know when to play dumb. As a big orange cat, this was especially important.
Ancient One grabbed the blob from the cage. The blob emitted a flash of light, then pounced toward Garfield.