The Secret Society (2)
The members hesitated at the word overthrow. Honestly, how could they be such cowards! Sure, he had executed a few of the worst offenders—users who ignored his warnings and meddled with the Dimensional Pathway—but still.
Hmm. Perhaps it served them right?
Even so, it seemed the moment had passed without incident. The atmosphere, which had crashed and burned under the Lich King's devastating one-two punch, managed to claw its way back to life. Compared to earlier, Karlstein was sweating bullets.
The secret society members, having been sunk by the Lich King's fact-bombing, had spiraled into sudden self-reflection.
What, why are you all suddenly examining your consciences?
Don't do that! Come on, guys! Why the sudden mood of penitence?!
Rage a little harder for me, please.
In the end, it took Karlstein bellowing Overthrow the Juddak! at the top of his lungs and throwing 500P into the gifting system—enough to order two whole chickens—before the mood finally revived.
"Phew."
Anyway.
There were, of course, a few members asking perfectly reasonable questions. And every time one did, Karlstein had to drown them in gifts through the support system while shouting Overthrow the Juddak!
Somehow the whole crew seemed to be broke, because they collapsed rapidly under the chicken offensive.
They don't even have 200P? They were that hard up for points?
It wasn't exactly a fortune, was it? The thought puzzled him, but he supposed they must have had their reasons.
Oh! So there really is something to this.
Watching the users light up at DarknessOfDarkness's announcement, Karlstein nodded along.
Hm? I never actually banned anything, though? Other than punishing a few malicious users who were tampering with the community's transmission channels?
Well, they said it was starting, so he supposed he'd find out soon enough if he just waited.
And so the secret gathering began.
"?"
Guys, what is this? Tell me too! Don't just keep it between yourselves!
O-okay, then?
What, what? This is getting seriously official, isn't it?
Huh?
"..."
Well, might as well do as he was told.
Karlstein closed his eyes.
"..."
Just as instructed, he lowered the barrier of his mind—an openness willing to receive absolutely anything!
"..."
Hmm. They're not running a scam on me, are they?
Just as the thought there's nothing to feel here at all, is there? was forming, after a long stretch of tedious nothing, something gossamer-thin began to make itself felt through the network connected to the community. Something was cautiously, carefully approaching him—groping its way around, taking the longest possible detour through the connection.
Oh! Whatever you are, hurry up and get here!
An invisible, formless thread wavered on the edge of reaching him, drifted, wavered again—and at last, it touched him.
It's finally starting?!
The Incubus. Or, as they were sometimes called, the dream-fiends—a race of mystics.
Generally speaking, the males of the dream-fiend race were known as incubi and the females as succubi: high-ranked demons who interfered with the dreams of others and worked every manner of wile upon them.
And among those dream-fiends, there was one whose claim to the title of Queen could not be disputed—the Succubus Queen, Selena.
A pair of cerulean horns curved gracefully above hair of jet-black shot through with a faint luminescence, and two pairs of membranous wings lay folded elegantly across her shoulders, lending her an air of refined poise.
Succubus Queen.
That her very species name carried the modifier of queen meant that she stood on an entirely different plane from ordinary dream-fiends. Where the lesser fiends clung to life by draining the vital essence of others, she possessed the divine authority to create and command a World of Dreams all her own.
Selena's azure eyes, which had opened gently at some point, curved into a lovely crescent.
Mmmm.
This moment—when Karma came flooding in from the users connected to the World of Dreams—never failed to send a thrill through her.
The sensation of her world, which was as good as her own creation, growing ever more solid, ever more alive.
Truly addictive.
Perhaps it was because the users gathered from so many different worlds within the community, but the essence she drew from them was incomparably effective at sustaining and cultivating her World of Dreams. Beyond all comparison, in fact.
Of course, compensation had been discussed and agreed upon with her clients in advance. Interfering with another's dreams required their consent and cooperation, after all.
I grant them the dreams they desire, and in return I take my payment in Karma.
A win-win for everyone, no?
In truth, there had been a time when she harvested the essence without even knowing exactly what it was, but now she understood it to be Karma.
Efficiency had improved by leaps and bounds as well, ever since the community's administrator overhauled the Karma Points system. She couldn't even begin to guess what he had done or how he'd done it.
Not a single clue.
These days, however, every community update spawned new places to spend Karma Points like bamboo shoots after rain, and clients were no longer so easy to come by.
Even my existing customers are on the verge of slipping away!
Moreover, the World of Dreams came with its own set of rather complicated conditions—she couldn't simply accept anyone as a client. The World of Dreams was, in its way, a delicate work of art.
Still, adding one more should be fine...
Child's play. Something she could do with her eyes closed.
She unfurled the World of Dreams and began drawing users, one by one, through the passage linked to the community.
They would enter the World of Dreams, meet whomever they wished, see whatever they longed to see, do whatever they longed to do, and spend their hours in bliss.
Good, good.
Having studied the process relentlessly during her time in the community, everything proceeded without a hitch. Except for the newest member, she had connected with each of them at least once before, so there was little strain involved.
"Now then... rookie. Where might you be?"
Using her divine authority, she felt her way along the passages connected to the community, slowly searching out the path.
Along the way, her mind drifted to recent memories.
A shiver ran down her spine—memories terrifying enough to make her whole body tremble.
Once, she had carelessly mishandled a passage and incurred the administrator's wrath; she had all but passed into eternal rest.
It was only after reading the announcements that I learned the passages connected to the community are the Dimensional Pathways.
The administrator was a being who knew far too much—and was far too dangerous.
Which was precisely why she had gathered the other eight dream-fiends in the community and racked her brain over how to use the passages without getting caught by him.
Fufu. Just as before, there's no reaction at all.
What a relief. It seemed he hadn't noticed.
After all, the last time she had fumbled with a single passage, some horrifying explosive device (?) had been delivered to her and blown her entire residence to smithereens...
Oh! Here it is!
She had found the passage linked to the rookie known as the Pirate King. Getting this far had consumed a considerable amount of mental energy in itself.
A passage that felt sturdier and broader than any of the others.
Once I connect this one time, it should be easy from here on out.
Just as that thought crossed her mind—
The instant she finally made contact with the rookie along the passage—
Fwoooosh—
"KYAAAAAH!"
Her mind was wrenched away somewhere, as if her very soul had been torn out whole.
Fwoooosh—
Blackness. An impenetrable dark where nothing could be seen.
She collected herself and groped blindly with her hands.
"Wh-where... where is this?"
And then, as her senses returned, she saw it—a colossal, colossal eye.
An eye so vast its size could not even be estimated, filling the entire sky, hanging above her like a second firmament.
Ah—
"Kgh—khk!"
Her mind was crumbling.
Her soul was being ground apart.
N-no! I mustn't stay here!
I mustn't look upon that thing!
A hideous sensation washed over her—the certainty that merely gazing upon it would scatter her very existence to nothing.
"Khaaaaah!!"
As she struggled desperately, thrashing against the dark with whatever strength her body could muster—
The colossal eye that filled the entire sky began to move.
Oh. Oh gods.
A dreadful pressure that crushed her soul by its mere existence!
If that gaze turns this way, I'll be crushed out of existence, soul and all!
Click, click—
Her teeth chattered against each other, rattling audibly.
"Kgh—khaaagh!"
Her eyes rolled back until only the whites showed, and foam began to leak from the corner of her mouth—
Flash—
Fwoooosh—
The connection to that impossible existence snapped clean in two.
"Hrk... cough."
The moment she returned to reality, black, dead blood erupted from her mouth.
"Wh-what the hell!"
What did I just see?
Her entire body shook like a leaf in a gale.
That rookie—the Pirate King—is absolutely not an ordinary being.
Insane. Utterly insane.
Burst capillaries wept blood from the corners of her eyes.
From the briefest of contact, she had come within a hair's breadth of death.
Wh-what on earth have I gotten myself into?
She could not know.