Chapter 17 - Heads or Tails [3]
—I stood there in the darkness, waiting for something to happen.
A pitch black realm that expanded endlessly. A bottomless ocean where no light seeped through.
'What the hell do we do now?' I bit my fingernails.
I knew everything from the back of my head, but Higher Aleph?
Nothing, I don't know anything about it.
We were physically and mentally exhausted; there was nothing we could do.
A lot has happened in the past two days, turning my once mundane life into an unpredictable series of events.
I first met Noah Heavenfall, the novel's protagonist.
We were then transported to the Aleph Dimension against our will, an event that should've taken place 3 years later.
Hell, Eldias were supposed to be revealed during the 3rd year of Arcadia.
Noah may have already known who Xelthatl was; however, surprisingly, he had an Exitium stone in his pocket. He was naive enough to give it to me, a stranger he had just met and assumed I was trustworthy.
After that, we explored Celia, the capital of Eclecia, where we obtained a legendary artifact. When we were about to go back home, we entered the Highest Aleph by pure chance.
Everything should be calculated, even if it is viewed from the perspective of an omniscient viewer and writer.
"Was it because of that dream I had earlier?" It took me a long time to realize I was no longer an author but someone who existed in this world.
…What's next? A fate worse than death.
There are only two choices I can make: end my life or struggle until the end.
An illusion of free will that leads to a miserable conclusion.
…
…
...
'Quiet… it's too quiet.' My skin turned pale from the deafening silence.
How were we even breathing?
I gazed at the white platforms glowing in the distance. They were the only source of light in such a place.
It's enough light for Noah and me to see each other.
As 3-dimensional beings, we could not hope to comprehend what truly lay in this realm.
The only entities that are present in the Highest Aleph are me, Noah, and Xelthatl, the eldritch god itself.
"We aren’t… out yet…" I scoffed, my laughter bleak and emotionless.
"Yeah- urk…!" Noah stumbled and held his left foot. The amount of mana he used must've taken a toll on him.
"Can you still move?" I checked to see if he was fine.
If we try hard enough, we can move for another 20 minutes at most. Any more than that, we'll collapse and die a pitiful death.
"I-It's fine, I just scraped myself on the way here." He stood up and acted like it wasn't a big deal.
One wrong move, and we'll be subjected to eternal damnation.
'Haaah… I have to calm down.' I took a deep breath.
My hands were shaking, my lips were turning dry, and my skin was sickly pale— it felt like my heart would pop out of my chest.
The fear of the unknown was driving me to insanity.
Slowly, I checked the Exitium stone's condition to see if there was any reaction.
"There is no reaction… nothing at all."
The Exitium stone remained pitch black, signalling that there was no escape.
—Snap!
It was as if something inside me broke; I had reached the limits of my knowledge.
We needed to avoid the Highest Aleph at all costs because I knew nothing about this place.
"Kuro…" Noah tried to say something, but couldn't.
"This… This can't be happening." I bit my lip, feeling the despair consume me.
Escaping Aleph? What bullshit was I spouting?
"How… what are we going to do?!" Not only would I be subjected to eternal torture, but I was also about to doom the world.
"It's all because of me." My voice turned hoarse.
"If only I weren't born in this world… then everyone would've been safe and sound…"
"KURO!!" Noah shook my shoulders aggressively.
Ah, that's… that's right, Noah was here with me.
You're telling me that Noah, the one in front of me, has to endure endless pain and suffering just like this?
For what? For himself or to save the world?
I don't care if I'm selfish. I'm not a self-righteous prick who does it for the greater good.
I wanted to live. I wanted to die without regrets, to fall in love, have kids and die of old age, not pass away in a lonely place like this.
I… I didn't want to die after I was given such a chance.
—Slap!
...
...
"What are you...?" I tilted my head, confused why Noah slapped me in the face.
"You have a way out of this, right?" Noah looked at me earnestly. His eyes weren't glowing red—they were his normal ones.
Maybe it was out of fear, but at this moment, he trusted me without hesitation.
"Why… why do you trust me so much…?"
"Because you're the first one to trust me. If it weren't for you, we would've already died." His eyes held determination for both of us to make it out alive.
"If that doesn't work, then blame someone else! And if that doesn't work either... then blame it on me instead!" He stopped shaking me, his face showing pain.
"So please… never give up."
…
Ah… I finally understood what I had been missing this whole time.
I never had anyone to rely on. The only one I could depend on was myself.
Yet here was Noah, trusting me with his life—a trait that made him beloved by the cast.
…
…
"…Devour everything." The shine in my eyes returned to me.
All it took was recalling two words that came to mind when I touched the Ichor.
The girl's voice echoed in my head; the answer had already been given to me a long time ago.
'I can do this…!'
I became more composed when I thought of a solution to get out of this place.
"There we go. Welcome back, Kuro."
"Y'know, this is the second time you hit me on the face."
"Then don't do that stunt in the first place." Noah raised his hand into a fist.
The two of us, both polar opposites in our roles in the world, smiled at each other.
It's like he said—we're two sides of a coin, people who we weren't supposed to meet, but here we are.
—Thud!
Our fists collided to show that we grew closer than ever.
I stood up and prepared our only means of escape.
'…If only he weren't so dense towards the heroines.' I chuckled.
—Fwip!
I took the Exitium Stone and the Ichor and placed them separately in my hands.
"Haha… that's right, I completely forgot about this ability."
Once again, the Ichor possesses three main abilities: Form, Conjure, and the crucial key to our escape: Copy.
As heretical as it sounds, a sinful thought occurred to me. What if I absorb the Exitium stone into the Ichor using Copy?
Xelthatl has never faced anyone who could kill them, even during the story.
At the end of the novel, Noah only sealed them out of our world, not killed them.
However, the Exitium stones carry a fragment of Xelthatl themselves.
If I were to find the rocks spread across the globe—
—Then killing even a God might be possible.
"Step aside." I closed my eyes and mustered up all the strength I had.
—Vooom…!
I infused the Ichor with as much mana as I could muster, liquefying it to create a mould that would allow me to use the Copy ability.
'Urk… I have to endure it…!'
In its regular form, Ichor was a golden sphere.
To change its shape, I infused the Ichor with mana, enabling it to convert into liquid.
From here on out, I can use the Copy ability. However, Conjure is a different case as it only requires my mana and knowledge of a specific artifact.
Copy is an incredibly unique but simple procedure.
All I had to do was place an inanimate object inside the Ichor.
Thankfully, the Exitium stone was only the size of my palm, while the Ichor is slightly bigger.
I could easily put it in without any problems—well, I'd appreciate it if it were that easy in the first place.
'My mind feels numb…' My nose started to bleed, a clear sign of mana exhaustion.
Merely reshaping the Ichor had nearly caused me to black out, and I hadn't even started the process of infusing the stone into it yet.
"Kkgh…!" My hands were starting to react, inscribing strange golden circuits on my left hand.
"Kuro!" Noah shouted as he lost patience and rushed to help me.
"I'm fine…! I'm fine." I interrupted him, not wanting to make things worse.
With blood and sweat, the Ichor was now in its liquid state.
'All I have to do is insert it…' I carefully inserted the Exitium stone inside the Ichor and braced myself for what was about to happen.
—Nyooom!!!
A golden light shone incomparably brighter than before.
Although it was supposed to go in the Ichor, my left hand was affected due to the malicious energy the Exitium stone had.
—Badamp… Badamp…
'Please work…' I prayed; the thought of this succeeding overrode the pain I experienced.
This was a gamble, a gamble that would determine our fate.
The Ichor shared the same properties as the Exitium stone; both were practically remnants from different gods.
'It feels like my body is being ripped apart...!' The Ichor and the stone tried to resist each other, like magnets facing the opposite way.
—VOOOM! VOOM…! Voom… Tick!
'Has it calmed down?' The fusion between the two fragments finally quelled down, and alas…
The Ichor overpowered and absorbed the Exitium stone, polishing it and transforming the stone into gold.
"Did it work?" Noah asked, his voice filled with disbelief after a long silence, still astonished by the spectacle.
"I think so…" I doubt myself because we aren't out of this place yet.
"…" We remained silent, both of us feeling an odd sense of peace in a location I had labelled as "extremely dangerous."
That's why we felt antsy when in the past two stratums, we were desperately fighting for our lives.
I knew this should have happened nine years later, but Xelthatl is omnipotent; they should've known by now that we were here.
Then again, taking six years to take over a universe isn't really a stretch.
"We could probably get out now, but how do I use this thing?" I scratched my head in confusion.
"Can't you try to make your own portal?"
"That's… not a bad idea."
Should I infuse it with more mana…? No, I don't think I have enough.
I'm one step away from losing consciousness. Noah was also at his limit.
He looks much more pale than before.
'I wish a portal would appear right in front of me…' I silently wished.
⌈Permission granted.⌋
"…What the?" I looked at the stone, startled by the voice that came from it.
⌈Access to portal: EARTH. Initiating in T-minus: 60 seconds.⌋
"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Noah asked, looking at me with confusion as I seemed to be talking to myself.
"You don't hear that?"
"No…?"
I examined the Exitium stone again and noticed strange glyphs forming around the Ichor.
'This seems to be Eclecia's language. Why can I understand it?'
Since entering Aleph, everything that had happened felt like a blur—a puzzling experience with no clear answers.
⌈T-minus: 30 Seconds.⌋
'No time to be thinking.' I shook my head and gave Noah a hand, "Here, can you stand up?"
"Mmm, thanks," He replied as he took my hand and got to his feet.
⌈Portal to EARTH procedures completed. Usage remaining: Zero.⌋
⌈Time remaining for next usage: 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 54 seconds.⌋
'One whole year…?'
That was quite the penalty.
—Voom…! Clack!
Out of nowhere, a crack in the fabric of space formed in front of us.
After the horrible things we witnessed in Aleph, we weren't surprised by such phenomena anymore.
From here, we could see Earth's greenish terrains—something I missed so dearly.
—This time, it looks just like home.
"Are you sure this won't be another trap?" Noah asked, expressing his doubts about the supposedly safe portal before us.
Noah wasn't the only one feeling paranoid; I had my doubts about whether this portal was even real. But we had no choice and decided to step forward.
"What choice do we have?"
With each step, we moved forward, and a sense of relief washed over us.
Our journey was finally coming to an end.
I could return to the life I envisioned, and Noah could go to Arcadia to achieve his dreams.
…
…
—Bzzt!
⌈Error detected, restricting access to the dangerous individual.⌋
"Huh?" I stepped through the portal successfully. However, Noah, who was holding onto my shoulder, couldn't get in.
—Bzzt! Bzzt!
"What the…" I continued trying to pull Noah into the portal, but a red barrier blocked him from leaving.
"I knew this would happen… things weren't going to go this smoothly, huh?" Noah grimaced, holding his left leg tightly.
"You… your leg! What happened to your leg?! Answer me!"
⌈Eldritch magic: Vanum has been detected in an individual.⌋
"Va…num." The realization finally hit me.
"Looks like it." Noah laughed bitterly.
Even if he had been infected with Vanum, I didn't care and kept trying, not realizing it was already too late.
"No… NO NO!!"
—Brrr! Brrr! Brrr! Brrr!
Three times, fourteen times… I kept trying, yet no matter what I did, the portal kept preventing me from doing so.
"I'm… I'M DEFINITELY GONNA GET YOU OUT OF HERE! YOU HEAR ME!"
"There's no use-"
"SHUT UP!!" I cut him off and persisted.
"I finally have someone… that I can trust!" I didn't care what happened to me.
"Stubborn, aren't you? Then… at least tell me this, Kuro." Noah held my wrist and stopped me.
"Why don't you want to be someone special?" He accepted his fate a long time ago.
“That’s… because…” I couldn't even answer his question.
Who is gonna save the world if he is gone?
I'm not talented, I'm not smart or strong, and I have my limits. I realized this undeniable fact years ago.
"Ever since I killed someone, it wasn't what I had in mind." The memories of the first time I took a human life still haunt me to this day.
In the end, I never got over it—the blood on my hands never went away.
I pulled the trigger because I had no choice. I knew I had no choice but to kill to live.
So if I were to take Noah's place… then I'll have to kill someone over and over again until I fail and let everyone down.
The responsibility is too heavy to bear.
"I'm selfish, I am already aware of that. But since you exist, the protagonist, and everyone else… I knew everything would be fine in the end…"
—"I just… I don't want to lose people precious to me anymore…"
…
"But… it was fun, right…?"
Noah no longer has any mana to use the Eyes of Verity. Even so, he believed every single word I said.
"No! It wasn't-"
"Don't lie to me." Noah smiled; his eyes were already hollow from within.
"This world is cruel, my first friend… that's why you have to become stronger, strong enough so you don't have to fear anymore."
—Vooom…!
⌈Portal to EARTH, closing in T-minus: 5 seconds.⌋
"NOAH!"
Uttering his last breath, he cast wind magic one last time to push me away.
"You can do that for me… right?"
—VOOOM!!!
With his final act, Noah pushed me away using wind magic.
Even in his final moments, he saved me with a smile on his face.
He was someone who risked his life for others, someone who prioritized their safety, someone who could truly be called a hero.
And yet, I had mocked his ideals.
…
...
...
Right now… at this moment.
—I truly feel like a monster.
"NOAAAH!!!"
—Crack!
"Fate… works in mysterious ways, doesn't it…?" His last words echoed in my ears.
His name is Noah Heavenfall, the main character who could have changed the course of history.
Today, his status is unknown; left in another world to rot.
From now until the end, the only one left who can save the world—
—was me.
[Prologue End]
