71 The New World

Approaching from the air, Zero was free of her restraints. On the ground was the other demi-god, a Type-Zero, as Zero called it. This one was, in contrast to Zero, completely tied down. Her legs were chained together and her hands were completely sealed away in some kind of portable containment units that also served as handcuffs. On her head was some kind of device that appeared to be latching on her skull with visors that completely blocked out the eyes.

This was the Psion created by the Lunarians. If the birth of the Psions were caused by the fragments of the so-called old god, then for the Lunarians, who possessed the whole article, should have no problems manufacturing Psions on their own. However, perhaps due to them rushing to catch up to their foe, or maybe due to some unknown factor, the Psion they produced, while powerful and with quite a few reaching the level of demi-gods, were wild and barely controllable. Rather than soldiers, they were treated more like bombs, and this bomb had been let loose in the middle of the former resort town. Worst yet, this appeared to not be intentional. This one seemed to have escaped on its own and even while her legs were bound, made her way here, destroying all that came upon her path. Her goal, was to maximize the destruction she would cause, as she had been trained to do since the moment she had been born.

"Quite a monster they've made, those Lunarians. What are you going to do?"

"I'll have to fight her of course. Her and the ones like her. They're pitiable for sure, but they are a threat to the survival of those living on this planet."

"Is this what you meant by saving this world?"

"In a way."

"You haven't been very straight forward with me for a while now."

"No need to rush. I told you, I'll show you everything, haven't I, Mr. Phantom? Now watch carefully, take in everything."

At high speed, Zero flew in, and the two demi-gods clashed.

The only one to remain was Zero, and no one else was near her, not a single trace of their existence. It was as if the other demi-god had been erased from existence entirely. No, that's not quite right. It took me a while, but I came to realize the eerie unfamiliarity I felt. The Zero before me, the Zero that remained, that was not the girl I once knew. At first glance she seemed to be the same person and ordinarily, I would likely not argue that. However, this Zero, the one that remained, she was taller. The girl that never grew even a millimeter since being sealed within that white room, she had become taller.

"Zero? Is that... you?"

"The two... had become one."

She had an excited grin as she briefly explained it to me. It was as if she's been waiting for this moment for the longest time.

Then, more and more tremors began to erupt from the eastern side of the town, as if a great number of massive creatures have been roused from their sleep.

"It has been a long time coming. I've been waiting for the longest time."

"Is this what you meant? About saving the world?"

"In a way."

I was beginning to understand, understand that perhaps, when she said 'save the world' what she and I had in mind may very well be very different things.

"What will happen now?"

Her grin grew broader, like a mischievous child who saw through the apprehension of those watching over her.

"Just watch."

The tremors came from the Type-Zeros, a great number of them, along with the one that Zero had defeated, had escaped as well. The Type-Zeros clashed, against Zero and against one another. And each time they clashed, a new being was born from the two. The process repeated over and over again, till only one remained. I had no sense of how much time had passed since the first clash, the flow of time was difficult to ascertain within what I could only describe as a spatial storm, one created as a consequence of demi-gods slamming into one another with all their might.

By the time a retrieval party was formed, made up of those in Nine and Seven's unit, the landscape of the town of Randel had been rendered unrecognizable with a geography that was difficult to make sense of with human eyes. It was only because Seven was with them that they could navigate their way into the eye of the spatial storm.

When they found her, the single being left behind by the Type-Zeros, they found it familiar yet so incredibly foreign. To their eyes, this being looked similar to Zero, albeit, taller, older, likely what she would have looked like had she been able to grow like a normal person. However, they also sensed that there's something not quite right.

Cognitive disruption... That was it. One of the many, and no doubt one of the more easily understood, powers at Zero's disposal. This being likely looked, or rather, the retrieval party likely thought that this being looked like Zero due to that power.

Of those there, Nine and Seven distinctively knew that the one here was not Zero. Yet, at the same time, Zero was undoubtedly still here. Like the many organs and cells that made up a single organism, so was Zero one of the many egos that made up this being. When the being greeted them, it spoke like her, smiled like her, and moved liked her. Zero was still there and she was in charge, that was what Nine and Seven were convinced of.

They asked this being to return with them, requested it to. They could not use force. It was clear to all that laid eyes on this amalgamation of demi-gods, the fact that it could not be dealt with by physical force.

In return, the being meekly nodded.

***

"So, that world was saved?"

As I took a break from telling the story, sipping on the jug of nectar served by a fairy, Six raised the question.

"No."

With a simple reply, I gulp down the drink. No doubt he's unsatisfied with such a vague answer. Still, he waited for me to finish even though unusually he'd be more impatient. I guess he's trying to be considerate of me, which I am very grateful for. After all, I've been talking nonstop for a while now. Though I haven't exactly told them everything I saw, skipping over the unimportant parts such as Zero's escape from the facility and the details of the battle of Randel, the things such as the nature of the Psions and what the other world was like were rather taxing to tell in themselves.

"In fact, the spatial storm caused by the clashing of the Type-Zeros actually shifted the planet's orbit and caused it to slowly hurl towards the sun. On the bright side, in light of what was essentially the ending of their world, all of humanity on that planet was forced to stop fighting and work together to find a solution to prevent their mutual destruction. For once, the Psion knew days without fighting. If the world was to end, at least they knew peace at the end of it, I suppose. But, of course, the world wasn't going to end, not just yet. No one was about to sit by and let it end without doing anything. At least not most, anyways."

I pause for a little, trying to arrange the information in my head. In that time, Corona raises another question.

"What about Zero, or rather, what she had become part of? Couldn't she doing anything about it with all the powers she must now have?"

"......"

"Well?"

Without thinking about it, I turn my eyes away from Corona.

"She said she couldn't, but that was probably a lie. I'll bet she didn't really want to."

"I see."

Looking satisfied, she lets me continue.

"Eventually, there came answers and plans were formulated, two of them actually. First of the plan was to locate a new planet to live on, a simple idea that was going to be difficult to execute. It was something that will take time, and time they did not have. They had only a decade at most, perhaps even less, before the planet burns up. So came a second plan, one that involved the construction of a massive underground shelter. It will temporarily house all of the citizens on the planet. Since living space would be an issue, it was decided that most of the citizens would undergo cryogenic stasis while those who remained awake will work on the first plan. It was feasible, as the power supply would not be a problem. With this coming world-ending event, the Lunarian had finally decided to share the remains of the old god. With that, the shelter would have an inexhaustible supply of power. Once a new habitable planet is discovered, the citizens will be moved there and promptly awakened.

However, Zero, or the being Zero had become a part of, had others plan. After all of humanity had been put to cryogenic stasis, when the planet began to burn due to its proximity to its sun. The being took it and molded it to its liking, creating a new world. With the rest of humanity aside from the Psions, it wiped their minds and morphed their forms, creating four distinct races. Then, it created four administrators for each race that will determine the birthrates, lifespans, and even the territories of the new races. The members under said administrators cannot live outside the influence of their administrators and could only reside in the territory the administrators had set for them.

This was the system created by the being Zero had become a part of to prevent conflicts between races. It made fights for territories pointless and kept population in check so that there will never be a shortage of resources. I'm sure by this point this is all sounding very familiar, so I'll stop being coy. This new world created is none other than Elgardia. The administrators I was talking about were the Keepers, and the four races are, well, the four races here in Elgardia."

I let a moment or two pass to allow the new information time to sink in.

"But wait, I heard that the Beastkins were able to survive in the land of Mankind. They weren't exactly thriving, but they did survive, even after their Keeper died."

"That's right, Oro, they did survive. But, that was only because the Grand Keeper, Seven, made an exception for them. We'll get to that in a bit, but first, I have to talk about what went wrong."

"The [Corruption]..."

"Exactly! As you know, Zero was not the only one within that being. There were others, the Type-Zero. Of the various egos within it, Zero's was most complete. The rest were tortured souls, treated their entire lives as mass-produced weapons. Compared to them, the treatment Zero received was like that of royalty. Still, the Type-Zeros do have their own wills, and while Zero may have kept them at bay for a while, in time, those wills surfaced, and they know nothing but conflict and bear nothing but ill will towards the rest of humanity. Bit by bit, through the administrators, the Keepers, their hatred and fear for humanity at large infected those under the Keepers administration, causing them to turn against the other races. Of course, as every single living creature in this world is under the administration of a Keeper, not a single being was spared from this infection, and so long as Zero and the Type-Zeros continue to have influence over this world, it will continue indefinitely, till all is destroyed.

The first to realize this, Seven, the one who would later take on the position of Grand Keeper, decided to try and suppress the Type-Zeros' influence as well as try to repair the [Corruption] that had been spreading. Against the [Corruption], she created the Purifier with Zero's aid. With the Purifier, the Psions, those that were once numbered children, set out to fight the [Corruption] while not knowing the whole truth. Seven had thought it wise to keep it from them, especially from Nine. And with that, the Psions became the first Champions.

Now I know what you're all thinking. What happened to them? Why is Seven the only one remaining? Why are we here doing their jobs? Well, half of them died, and the other half was sealed.

They called him the Betrayer, the one who led a number of Psions against Seven. That was Nine. He had found out about the truth behind the [Corruption] and began to act on his own. He intended to set Zero free and take her place. He thought that it was possible. After all, his power came from the old god as well. Though not as powerful as Zero, he did have the ability to control minds. He believed that he would be able put the wills of the Type-Zeros under control. Of course, Seven intervened, she wouldn't allow such a reckless plan. And so, as Nine gathered his forces and became more and more of a threat, eliminating those standing against them as they went, Seven was eventually forced to seal them away.

In his rampage, Nine had also slain the Beastkin's Keeper, the Holy Beast. Since the slaying of a Keeper had been unforeseen and it had been done by her own brother, Seven allowed the Beastkins to temporarily live under the administration of the Keeper of Mankind. Though, since that Keeper was optimized to oversee a different race, modifications needed to be made to the Beastkins to bring them under the Keeper's influence.

So there you have it, that's the whole history. Any questions?"

Right as I finish, Oro raises his hand.

"Oro, go on."

"You said that the Betrayer, Nine, he slew the Holy Beast, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"But, when I fought her, she was clearly against the Grand Keeper. Why is that?"

"No idea."

"It's just a guess, but perhaps the Holy Beast is still under Nine's influence?"

I can't help but quirk a brow. I don't think I said anything about Nine's capabilities in this new world, in Elgardia.

"What do you mean?"

"I had a dream. In that dream, I saw someone called Nine and he..."

Oro too? When was he given access to the memories? No, perhaps he connected to it accidentally. It's possible to do, even without administration rights. Our avatars were molded from the bodies of the sealed Champions, after all.

"Well, go on. Don't keep us in suspense."

"No, forget it, it was just a dream. It's probably just nonsense."

Why? Isn't that too much of a coincidence. 'Nine' isn't a common name, or rather, it's not even a real name. He wouldn't randomly dream about some other individual called 'Nine'. Or, has he perhaps noticed it? Looking at him now, his gaze towards me is somewhat odd. Is it just my imagination? Should I pry further or let it slide?

"Dreams in this world aren't necessary nonsense. I mean what I told you were things that I more or less saw in 'dreams'. Go on, tell us what you saw."

It's better to find out. Maybe I'll even get a good gauge on how he felt about it.

"In my dream, I saw that Nine had the power to control creatures, like a Summoner even. Back then I didn't realize it since it went by so fast, but one of the creatures under his control was similar to the Holy Beast. At least, it had the form of a big cat. And, I know it's going to sound weird, but now that I think about it, he looks kind of like-"

"The Grand Keeper?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess he does."

"Well, it makes sense, those two are twins, though Seven haad awoken her psionics earlier. But, a Summoner you say? That's certainly interesting. Still, this Holy Beast is not the same one as the one that he killed. This one was born to replace the last one, and though their forms and positions may be the same, they're definitely different creatures."

A bead of cold sweat runs down the back of my ear, flowing down the side of my jaw and to my neck, and eventually disappearing into my collar. I don't know about the rest, but I see the look in Six's eyes. With his class changed to Archer and the Archer skill [Eagle Vision], he could probably see it clearly. Knowing his uncanny instincts, he might have some ideas popping up in his head.

"Oro, you mentioned that the Holy Beast was there alone, right? That must mean that her priestess must be elsewhere. If we can get a hold of her, maybe we can learn something."

"Should we go search?"

Without raising his hand, which is fine since that wasn't exactly a rule, Six speaks up.

"But we haven't a single clue where to even start."

"Oh, but..."

Six's sight turns towards the Bestial Champion who had been standing silently in the corner with the Purifier beside her. While Oro and Corona probably thinks that she's with us from the beginning, Six and Cecilia does know, that the Bestial Champion came from the Holy Beast's dwelling to deliver the Purifier to us. Which meant that she might know where Celestia, one of Holy Beast's priestess, is.

I turn my eyes towards Cecilia. While Six may have sensed something off, he might not have the brains to understand that I need him to keep his mouth shut. However, if it's Cecilia, if it's her then she might be able to see the subtle panic in my eyes. I don't know, maybe she couldn't and maybe she could.

"Right now, it's more important to deal with the remainder of the Keepers. We can worry about the priestess later, if she's even knows anything in the first place."

"Well, I guess you have a point."

From the looks of Six's eyes, I'm guess that he isn't all that convinced, but thanks to Cecilia, he's beginning to understand that this is an issue that required a touch of discretion.

"There you have it then. If there's nothing else, that will be it for today, thank you for your time."

I let out a timely yawn to let them know that I don't have much time left to talk. While I can see that Oro still has some questions, there's nothing he can do about. He of all people should know how it is. As for Corona, I can't tell what she's thinking. I know she is one to seek the truth, but she's also a little strange. I guess that makes sense. Anyone who is willing to take the hand of someone who was supposed to be an enemy, whose words she couldn't even understand, over the hand of someone who had been an ally, is bound to be abnormal in some way. In a sense, I am grateful for that. Without her on our side, I doubt things would go so well with Oro. Heck, I might even already be dead if she hadn't shielded me.

Those two aside, I should talk to Six and Cecilia again at the nearest opportunity. I won't be able to carry out my plan alone, not even if my body wasn't stuck to this tree. Besides, they trusted me and have given me more patient than I deserve. They have more than enough rights to hear about this, about what I will do next.

***