as k looks down, at the two demons, parasites in fate.
the milky white box slowly ascends the heights of mountains behind, the clear picture starts to come out.
everything ahead was engulfed in madness, as far as the eye could see, only the sea of red.
and the forest below, trees almost as tall as those mountains behind, while a part cleaned smooth.
seeing all this, with a weird book in hand, k thinks to himself 'while not visible from here, behind those mountains lies an entire population of those demons'
'if the child had made it there, without those two knowing or having knowledge of him beforehand. he might have had enough time to remember his previous memories, be able to save himself and blend with the demons, make his way back and try to do better.'
"hmm"
'but alas, that was just a possibility'
as the 'Travel Cube' slowly reaches double the height of mountains behind, the view that was seen moments ago, slowly fades.
replaced with a clear view of the blue sparkling sea,
a lush green forest without a single spot of damage.
Icy mountains behind that were lifeless just moments ago.
an illusion covered this whole world.
looking from the outside, this world would just seem like a regular rogue, untouched world, without a single sign of intellect life.
"i... really wanted to save this world"
looking toward the child, realizes where the child was actually looking.
not looking at the world below, but above, far away, in an empty patch of space.
as if knowing something was there, even though there was nothing.
"i know"
"..."
a barely held tear falls down again, as the child, still on his knees, puts both his hands against the wall.
"thank you, big bro. maybe this is for the best."
"it is"
then the child clears his eyes with his sleeve and looks at the front again, toward the space
"so big brother, tell me about your gift? how was i there and here at the same time?"
"hmm. well, for starters, do you know what a system is?"
"yeah, i know. i had one, that told me about myself and taught me many things. and it is also a memory back from my homeworld."
"right. the system that's bound to me differs quite a lot from the one you had."
"differs? how?"
"the system that i have is a tool, an equipment, and also a direct compatibility to my talent. unlike reguler systems that tells you about talents or gives you whichever you want. mine is a talent itself."
"your system is a talent? your talent?."
"eh... well it's my work kind of thing. do you want to know what kind of trick i was talking about when i said i had a trick up my sleeve?"
the child, turns his head toward k and nod enthusiastically nod nod "it was kind of like, felt like i had died and then... revived? i don't know, it's kind of hard to make a sound guess. maybe you used your talent to replace me with a lifelike dummy imitating me?"
"well, you are not quite far, but also not that close either.
"let me tell you something about my talent.
"since the system itself is a talent, and i as it's master controls it, i also have one more talent."
the child looks expectantly but also not that surprised now. as the cube slowly takes to the skies.
"the system talent has a name 'Matter Construction' which lets me construct literally every single Element to ever exist. but at a cost of course."
the child doesn't interrupts, listens patiently.
"by scanning an Element through the system's own scanner, it constructs said Element, no matter how complex it is.
"but the cost is, i have to have an agent for it with me, at all times.
nod nod!
"it is a sort of Battery, with which, my system stays charged, and can be deployed at any time, although the construction process takes time of anywhere from seconds to an hour or two"
"hmm! hmm!"
"AND that's where my own talent comes in clutch."
"huh!?"
"that's right! my talent's name is 'Instant Mana Regeneration'."
"instant"
"and for some reasons, my talent makes it so i am able to construct anything instantly, even through the system.
"after all, the fuel my System uses through the Batteries is a elementless mana, or in this case, a pure mana, untouched by any element or form.
"and guess who else has an Elementless Mana?"
"huh? but that's cheating. i have never heard of anyone in my life having mana like that. Golden Mana, Silver Mana, Dark Mana, Blue one being the possession of most. this is a first."
"well, i have been an anomaly to the rules of verse System, in a way, it has acknowledged me without trying to restrict me.
"but, there are rules that even i must obey. not that i can bend them on a whim."
"you can't or can you, big bro?"
k looks into the eyes of this child and smiles without answering that.
"well, about you and that 'dummy' down there imitating you."
"yes."
both of them looks down, seemingly at nothing that could be seen.
"physical world can't interact with the world of souls, like it does with spiritual world. simply put, it is impossible to interact with a soul, for anyone, for even me.
"the system does not allow that, nor anyone ever heard the system itself do something like that. the theory, after it was revealed that the system does not temper with souls, others speculated that it was also incapable of interferring with souls."
"then how was i able to be transferred here. i thought you contructed me a new body. without my other body dying, even while my soul was swapped.
"maybe i thought my soul was swapped with some kind of parasites when that attack almost hit my heart?"
k waited patiently for the child to finish his thoughts, going along the conversation,
"but here's the thing, there is another fourth element, other than flesh, spirit, soul. can you guess what it is called?"
the child shakes his head in utter indifference shake shake
"it's called 'Frequency'."
"Frequency? isn't it just an after effect of... literally everything? i don't even know what it does in the first place, i slept through every history class."
"..."
"what?"
"it's not a lesson taught in history class to begin with."
"it isn't?." the child scratches his cheek in a bit of embarrassment
"anyways, every human possesses a frequency, no matter how much it differs from each other.
"and my talent bound system excels in that category, being able to read the frequencies and wavelengths of humans, or anything matter related.
"and when something is constructed, if the conditions meet the criteria placed by the 'Verse System' it automatically starts- well gives a go ahead and do it."
"conditions? what kind."
"for example, i used my talent bound system on you 5 minutes before your heart was pierced. it instead of constructing a physical body, made a blueprint of your body, and stored it inside it's own storage instead of giving it to me.
"and when i used it right before that attack on your heart, you were transferred into System's 'Travel Cube', you just appeared inside of it, without any of those two demons noticing it, right?"
the child raises both his hands in front of him, looking at them "it is weird how none of them noticed anything wrong about my body."
"that is because when the 'Verse System' gives a go, none can deny it's authority. and when it's the one to make that authority and rules, how can anyone object it in any way?
"of course there are exceptions or two. but not them or us."
the child closes his eyes, arms folded, now deep in thought "i still didn't completely understood about the conditions, what are they?"
"haha, right. simply put. conditions are like this
"[first condition: the target either needs to be a living or none living thing, from anything matter related.] that is the limitation. while it can copy matter, it can't copy frequencies or wavelengths of living beings. that is the work of 'Verse System'
"[second condition: if living, should have no more karma or fate related interference after their death.] for example, are they really dead for good from that Universe? don't worry tho, this one is kind of the easiest to fulfill. well for me.
"[third condition: if they have really died after having been killed in that point of time.] this one does seem complicated. and trust me, it is even more complicated than what it sounds like.
"[fourth condition: if the target's Universe has it's own Heaven or the target is from said Universe? if it does not, the fourth condition will be met.] and the most important condition, it directly addresses the second condition and nullifies the third condition. if it is met, regardless of how much interference the target has, even after it's death, or still alive. they will be replaced with an identical copy of them. just like how i was able to drag you into the travel cube, regardless of what role you played afterward. of course you can't interfere with this Universe since there's already a reagent now."
child looks up "no wonder the second and third condition didn't apply to me. so now the dummy can act as me in that world. it must be being tortured in my behest. does it know that it was replaced with me?"
k looks at the child, noticing a slight sign of sadness, that vanished as soon as it came on his face
"don't worry, it is made to imitate and follow the path created by the 'Verse System'. no matter how much human like it seems, it is just a patch of clay.
"the 'Verse System' copies the frequencies and wavelengths of the target and constructs an exactly predictable path the target would choose, according to it.
"knowing what this System is capable, it very well have constructed the second you, just without a soul.
"from my experience, i have yet to see anyone constructed by the system take an unpredictable path.
"like for example: if the real target is going to take the highway infront of him, or going to jump into the volcano just behind him.
"a sane person will take the path infront of him while a psycopath would jump behind for the fun of it. the dummies will also take the same path as that of their human parts.
"if it was written in your fate to do something later on in this Universe, the dummie will do it in your place."
the child again looks thoughtful "so wait, if it was not me? someone else from this Universe, related to it's fate. would they be saved the way i did?"
"look, you didn't even paid attention to the third and fourth condition"
the child frantically waves his hands up "no no no! i did! but it would be better if you explain it a bit more in a casual way."
"ok, i will explain it in a more easy way.
"first: if the target Universe has a Heaven for them.
"second: if the target gets killed afterward.
"third: is a revival allowed in their Universe? if so, what kind of revival is it? partial revival does not count, nor reanimation. full revival? even i don't know, since i never reached that point nor seen anyone do so.
"last: existence erasure. a bit complicated, but here you go. if your existence as a whole is being erased, your body, your fate, your presence from life itself, your soul if that is even allowed by that Universe.
"and most even i don't know about, since i have never tried this on such cases.
"do you understand now? literally all my knowledge that i accumulated."
"i... kind of understand?"
as the conversation continues so do their ascension.
...
...
...
as the 'Travel Cube' slowly starts picking up the speed.
some minutes later, the cube passes the horizons of this wretched world.
"i really hoped i could see the end, maybe even though i don't want this world to end, a part of my heart still wants to see how this all will find it's peace"
"we can stop somewhere serene and look at the end for ourselves, you know."