The Secret Assembly (3)
“Hrk!”
Selena barely managed to pull herself together. If not for the mental resistance of a Succubus Queen, she would have been reduced to a drooling idiot.
Resistance? What resistance?
It wasn't something you endured or withstood in the first place. There was simply nothing to be done against it.
“Haah….”
Only after confirming that the World of Dreams was unharmed did she finally catch her breath. It seemed only her own mind — the one that had attempted the direct connection — had taken the hit, while the World of Dreams had, thankfully, continued operating normally.
Naturally, the Pirate King had failed to enter.
Who in the world are you?
The question rose all the way to the tip of her tongue. No — more than that, she wanted to kick this whole meeting aside and flee on the spot.
And yet.
“Th-this absolute lunatic!”
She couldn't help but feel a chill crawl down her spine. The newcomer(?) was bouncing with expectation, as if he had every right to be. The being that could no longer even be called a newcomer — this mad existence — was throwing a fit, demanding she invite him into her paradise.
Hurry up and open the door.
Invite him into the World of Dreams.
Was this what it felt like when a murderous madman pounded on your door in the dead of night, bellowing for you to open the restaurant right now?
Ah… could it be that this being already knows everything, and is planning to kill me?
Perhaps because she had glimpsed a sliver of his true nature, every single word out of his mouth began to seem laden with hidden meaning.
If I don't open it right now, he kills me…?
But if I do open it, he kills me anyway.
What am I supposed to do?
“…!”
Or was he tossing her a dilemma and toying with her, savoring the spectacle of whatever choice she made?
What answer should I give? What answer does he want?
If I just run off on my own, won't it come back to haunt me later?
By now, every conceivable thought was running through her head.
The most terrifying existence she had ever witnessed. Even now, that colossal eye refused to fade from her memory.
Sharp, thick, cross-shaped pupils of gleaming gold, gazing down as if to survey the entire world. Around them, fluorescent, aurora-like blood vessels spread outward in a vast spiderweb, while an abyss of purest black wrapped around the eye like a shroud of mist.
“Ugh!”
The moment she tried to recall it again, an unbearable headache came crashing down.
“Hoo… hoo.”
What would happen if a being like that took an interest in me?
No. Focus. Answer him first.
She had no idea what he was thinking, but he clearly had no intention of revealing his identity. It made absolutely no sense to her — but if that was what he wanted, she would simply have to play along.
D-did I hurt his feelings?
What is this?
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead. She had absolutely no idea how to read the room here.
And then, a thought struck her.
Ah! Wait — he absolutely, absolutely hated the Juddak, didn't he?
Ever since joining the assembly, 'IAmThePirateKing' had done nothing but scream for the Juddak's overthrow.
What could have happened between the two of them?
Something told her that a being of this caliber wouldn't slink about in hiding like she did, careful to avoid the administrator's eye — he would stand up and openly defy it.
Her mind spun into overdrive.
But both the Pirate King and the Juddak were alive and well, going about their business. Which meant neither held the upper hand — they were evenly matched existences…?
One thing, at least, was certain: neither of them was a being she had any business judging.
“….”
I've seen him with my own eyes — there's no way I could keep talking to him like before.
However much she wanted to quibble, obviously she couldn't. To her, the Juddak and the Pirate King were equally monstrous — she couldn't afford to treat either of them carelessly.
Anyway, he seemed to hate the Juddak.
Right. Time to read the room.
The Pirate King merely chimed in from time to time; unlike before, he wasn't nagging or pressing her.
S-still, I'm handling this pretty well, aren't I?
She figured she'd spent a good thirty minutes cursing the Juddak. Admittedly, she kept the curses timid and cowardly — the Juddak was unquestionably a terrifying figure, after all.
Around that point, the other users who had entered the World of Dreams began trickling back.
They had all burned through their paid Karma and been ejected, it seemed.
Some were weeping.
Some were glowing with happiness.
Some had dissolved into wistful, dreamy expressions, unable to string two words together.
Right. This is the perfect moment to wrap things up and call it a day.
She had spent all this time lecturing them about the need to fear the Juddak, so the reaction was unanimous. If any of them so much as opened their mouths elsewhere and got their tails stepped on, it would end badly — so she had drilled the lesson in thoroughly.
Just as she finally relaxed, believing she'd steered the situation smoothly—
Fwoosh—
Her nickname began to glow a deep, luminous blue.
A heartbeat of dead silence.
Aaaaargh—
She wanted to scream. Her brain simply couldn't keep up with events.
[You have been appointed a Sub-Administrator of the Interdimensional Integrated Community.]
— Welcome aboard.
She could practically hear the sound of her mental state crumbling to powder.
N-no, I'm not!
Q-quick — send a refusal! Surely he wouldn't force the position on someone who says they don't want it!
At that very moment, a message arrived from the administrator.
[A message from the administrator has arrived.]
— A capable talent, indeed. Unless you wish to sample a gravity warhead, I suggest you embrace your destiny.
AAAAARGH! What is he even saying?!
If anything, she was the one who wanted to ask.
Wh-why all of a sudden?
Mental resistance or no, she was experiencing, with total sincerity, what it meant to have a complete mental breakdown.
Her eyes trembled violently.
This was the crisis of her lifetime.
Around the time Succubus Queen Selena was meeting the crisis of her life and being shaken down to her very soul—
From the Roots of the Great Sephiroth, the voice of a furious woman rang out again and again.
“GRAAAH!! How dare you defy my command?!”
I give you one order — go and retrieve the one who fled with those two others — and you can't even manage that?
Even after I granted you Holy Blood?
She was on the verge of losing her mind.
“It seems I've grown far too soft of late.”
She had realized she would need to step in herself.
Fine. This time, I'll purge the lot of them and start fresh.
I treated them gently and kindly, and now they climb and climb without end?
As her hand swept through the air, a silver gate of light materialized out of empty space.
Passing through the silver gate, she began to trail Criella's traces. First, she sought out the world she had entrusted to Criella and traveled there.
“Ugh!”
The middle of a void?
A searing heat, as if she had plunged into an active volcano, greeted her — so fierce that she was forced to draw upon the power of her Holy Blood to shroud her body.
“What is this?”
Just this?
Shockwaves erupted in scattered bursts, shoving at her, trying to drive her away.
The end of a world?
What other way was there to describe it?
Auroras of red and blue stretched out before her like a boundless sea, and here and there, clusters of enormous rock fragments drifted erratically, sweeping everything around them aside.
Hmm….
Even wrapped in Holy Blood, she could feel the heat. Caught off guard by the unexpected, she faltered.
She had served the Root for a very long time; this was far from the first dead world she had ever laid eyes on.
Every natural catastrophe sweeping across the land like a storm, and a landscape in which not a single living creature remained.
That was what she knew a world's end to look like.
But this kind of ending — never. Not once, not ever.
What in the world happened here?
She couldn't even begin to imagine.
