Chapter 201 Beginning Of A Nightmare [8]

(Since when did you recognize X"s real ident.i.ty?)

"When X made the first appearance after the test."

"Do you mean you uncovered my ident.i.ty already?"

Lark sounded more amazed than nervous.

"It wasn"t very tough to find you. You were hiding in plain sight. One mistake from your side was all it took me to realize who you were." Once I looked back at everything that happened in this world since I came here, X"s real ident.i.ty was as clear as day. "Before you ask me to do the grand reveal can we sign the Oath? It would be troublesome if you go back on your words later."

Lark threw a brown scroll. Reading through the Oath and making sure that everything was the same as we had agreed I channeled my ether into it and both of us were bounded by it.

"With the Oath out of the way. Who am I?"

"You are the cat I"ve been taking care of occasionally."

"Hmm? Cat?" With a confused tone, Lark worded. "That"s wrong."

The Oath didn"t activate. Thus Lark, or one could say X, was telling the truth.

Shortly after Lark decided to leave. "If you have nothing more to discuss I"ll be taking my leave."

"Why aren"t you saying anything about the changes I made in the story?" Lark froze and turned back to me. "Given the b.u.t.terfly effects my action in Underworld might bring. I thought you will threaten me again."

Lark took a moment before answering. He sounded bitter and a tiny bit frustrated.

"....Because what you changed, wasn"t part of the main story. Gladiator Championship was only a background event and our deal was that you wouldn"t change any main event. Anything else?"

"Yes, actually..."

Lark"s eyebrows twitched at my unending questions.

"The Shadow that is following me. Is it a real person or a clone?" Lark was hesitating to answer me, so I pushed a little harder. "I"m asking because it"ll be a problem if it comes to know about my knowledge about the future. Knowing about the Shadow"s real nature will help to take proper preventive measures. It"s for both of us. You wouldn"t want a 3rd party to know about the future, would you?"

"...Clone."

"tsk, that"s too bad."

Answering me, Lark vanished as if not wanting me to question him again.

(Why did you lie about X"s ident.i.ty?)

(You were telling the truth when you said you knew X but not when you said X is the cat)

I turned to the darkening sky through which the Abomination will descend in a few minutes.

"Two reasons mainly"

"One, that cat is suspicious. It behaves oddly human-like for a beast."

Thanks to X"s reaction, one thing I can deduce is that even X doesn"t know about the cat. Either way, X will now look into the cat and maybe I can get some information about it from X in the future.

"Two, there is no guarantee what X will do after I reveal X"s ident.i.ty."

The Oath we signed today confirmed that X wouldn"t harm me until I bring direct changes to the main story. This was what X meant when they said that I only acted in a background event, so they wouldn"t do anything to me yet.

But this contract will expire in 2 months, along with the bet"s deadline. It was best to make use of this grace period to gauge X properly.

Caw- Caw-

The crow returned to my shoulder and pecked on its wings.

"But this confirms it. X is hiding something much bigger than their ident.i.ty."

X managed to keep even a small b.u.t.terfly effect from appearing in the story until I intervened. This shouldn"t be possible with the knowledge from the novel solely. X had another source of information, and if I was correct, it allowed X to predict possible consequences of events to some extent.

In any way, I"ll confront X after having a method of escape and proper backing, secured.

***

-(Present || On the side of Leon and others)-

"What are they...? Was I trying to test someone like that?" "Do I have the qualifications for it?"

Although Cadmus didn"t say everything out loud he couldn"t stop his thoughts from having him face the truth.

Leon managed to defeat Cadmus. The result was surprising but not completely out of Cadmus" expectations. For today, he was satisfied with knowing the extent of Leon"s capabilities.

The stunning growth of Leon from someone weak to one of the strongest cadets fueled the fire in Cadmus" heart. It made him reaffirm his goal. To pursue strength at any cost.

Unlike his friendly exterior, the only people Cadmus respected were those with unparalleled strength, or to be exact, Cadmus respected their strength itself, not them.

Weak and Strong. Strength was the only scale for Cadmus to judge a man.

He knew that the battle between the two was over. Cadmus didn"t want to admit it but he didn"t stand a chance against Leon, not until he doesn"t decide to fight with the intent to kill Leon. Having found Leon"s limit, Cadmus was sure of this.

"I knew Susan was an anomaly, but Leon too?" His lips curled into a smile.

Watching two monsters battle, Cadmus realized how wrong he was to judge Leon.

To judge someone was a privilege the powerful hold over the weak. And the scene in front of Cadmus made it clear who the stronger one was.

Boom-!!

The earth shook when the mighty fist met the ground.

Susan jumped without a second thought and ran around the "monster".

A 15-meter big skeleton figure was floating behind Leon. The skeleton warrior had no weapons and attacked using its fist, it only had its upper torso and was missing everything below its waist, yet it was anything but weak.

Fwooosh-

Air howled as a giant fist targeted the silver-haired girl running on the battlefield.

The fist connected with Susan. She swung her scythe at the last second in a manner that dispersed all force behind the giant fist.

Contrary to common knowledge, Susan"s main weapon was Scythe. It was the one weapon she had been trained by Aegis.

Being raised as a weapon, Susan had been trained mainly to fight against the other alien species, not monsters. As such, the scythe being an uncommon weapon, having proper range, and providing uncanny fighting techniques due to its curved blade was better for combating sentient beings than the sword.

Scythe was a rare weapon and its curved blade allowed the user to use rarely seen techniques. It was a better weapon against alien races who had trained in weapon combat, as it was an unfamiliar weapon to most.

Clang-! Clang-!

Susan kept running around in circles without trying to get close.

If this was her before clearing the [Trial] she would"ve already dived in to attack Leon, but the prize she got changed her tactics.

A beautiful smile blossomed on Susan"s face!

If Nathan had seen this battlefield, he would have received multiple shocks. Susan"s smile wasn"t a small matter. It was something that would only happen when she grows out of her repressed self. Something meant to occur after she grew through hardships!

These past months have greatly affected Susan"s psyche. Hope in the shape of an unknown cadet, and the restrictions Aegis had to lift because of Headmaster. Susan felt the lock on her cage loosening.

But what destroyed the lock was the one news she got before entering the Dungeon. An unknown Irregular clashing against Goliaths and Umbra and yet successfully escaping.

Susan entered the Dungeon very late and on the day she was entering, she got the news about the mayhem in Underworld.

Knowing that the "stigma" Nathan showed in Ward was fake and that Nathan had left for Underworld, it didn"t take her long to make the connection.

She naturally had heard the feats of Goliaths as well as Sword Maiden. And it was precisely because of this that Susan"s trust in Nathan strengthened. The footages she got of the behemoth Spear he created in Underworld was another proof of Nathan"s unequaled strength!

Everything boiled into a single fact.

With newfound confidence, that freedom was near, Susan made a decision for the first time in her life by herself, without anyone telling her to do so.

She chose [Singularity]! She went against Aegis" orders!

Susan didn"t care if she would fail to clear an [Trial] in the future due to the difficulty. For her, it was a small yet her largest step! She had escaped her cage and was soaring through the sky!

Barely calming her nerves, Susan kept looking for an opening to use the reward from her trial. This was the first time she would use the skill, something she received as a result of her own choice! She was smiling!

An opening presented itself to her in the next few seconds. Susan naturally didn"t let it go.

A white flame covered her scythe as she coated it in her stigma. She then used her skill.

"[Equinox Slash]"

"!!!"

Chills crawled down Leon"s spine and he hurriedly commanded the giant skeleton to cover him.

Boom-!

The giant arm protected Leon by intercepting the black-and-white slash in its path. The skeleton did not have a dent in it after blocking the attack.

Cough- Cough-

Leon fell to his knees, coughing blood.

On his chest, a deep red gash was running from his right shoulder to his left waist.

Susan"s attack phased through the Skeleton and only struck Leon! This was the power of Susan"s newest skill!

Leon"s hands quivered. He had taken too much damage. He was contemplating if he should take the Elixir, in front of others, to heal himself.

Scanning his surroundings, he noticed that Cadmus and Ken had been taken to the outside of the dome, while Lilith was nervously watching their fight. She wanted to help Leon, but the scale of their battle was beyond her. In the sky, four overseers except Nathan were watching over them.

"No, I have to end the fight before anything else!"

Badump-

An imperceptible change occurred in the surroundings, but it didn"t do unnoticed by Leon.

His heart thumped heavily against his ribs. He was having trouble breathing; it was suffocating. Something was coming, something much more horrendous than the Royal Demon.

It wasn"t a dream.

"Lilith, Susan, everyone! Leave the Dungeon!"

Badump-

His instincts warned him. He had to leave.

Crackle-

Leon bolted to the person nearest to him, Lilith.

"Lilith, go outside!"

"W-what happened? Why are you acting like this?"

"I"ll explain everything later!" His eyes were bloodshot and his wounds stung, but Leon ignored them.

"O-okay" Lilith"s figure turned into blue particles and she left the Dungeon.

"Su-!!!?"

Thud-

"Ac..kkk.."

Leon fell to his knees. His heightened perception that warned him of the oncoming danger"s strength almost crippled him.

"Cadet Leon, are you okay?"

The overseers landed around him.

"Le...av..e h...urr..y"

Satoru, who saw Leon"s strange behavior, made his decision, "Cadet Leon, is no longer in the condition to fight. He will be el--"

His words were cut off by the system notifications.

[Warning! Warning!]

[@##$#@# has slipped past System defences]

[Warning! Warning!]

[Life support System of Tower will be shut down. All resources will be redirected to suppress ###%]

A thin gray line appeared in the sky.

A gelatinous grey ma.s.s seeped through it and fell to the ground with a plop and...

[@$!$#!#@!%$#$^& has entered Worl#@ @@$!#% !$#!431431]

[ $!#g]

...a nightmare began.