ตอน 24: A talk with an alternate self
"S-Serafall!" Gold growled out as he was unable to move within the frozen time. He somehow remained conscious of the things transpiring around him.
"Can you feel it Gold? The power of my love wrapping around you?" She spoke into his ear with a smile as she took a moment to feel up his body frozen in time.
He finally lost the ability to speak, yet he was still aware of everything. He had lost, he understood that.
"Now then, nothing will stop me from making you mine." Serafall whispered as she took out the 7 pawn pieces.
Gold watched with unreadable thoughts as the pieces were pressed onto his chest. They began to glow red as they were all mutating.
As the red pieces were slowly inserting themselves into his body, he blacked out.
∞
It's dark...
A world of darkness as far as the eye can see. My own footsteps were the only sound that I could register in this dark world. This darkness felt neither warm nor cold, but despite feeling nothing from it. I felt both dread and fear.
A primal fear that wouldn't let go of me as I dragged the weight of fears through the dark. Of course when there is darkness, there is light. Like a night-light to ward away all the monsters in your room at night, a tiny sliver of hope remained within me as I continued my never ending journey towards the light at the end of this world.
I don't know how I ended up here. I don't know how long I've been here. My legs feel heavy and it's difficult to breathe. But for some reason deep within my soul, I felt as if all my problems would just vanish the moment I reached that unreachable light.
The last thing I remember before this was Serafall shoving her 7 pawn pieces into me. After that I found myself here alone.
I was an idiot. An overconfident idiot who was playing the role of a king. There were so many things that I could have done differently. I am no king, I'm just a truck driver. I probably could have dealt with Serafall so many other ways that didn't involve violence.
I even entertained the thought of just accepting her proposal, she didn't seem to be bothered too much with other women as long as she was first. But the moment that things like marriage or engagement or lovers were brought up, I instinctively backed off.
I'm a damn coward....
If there is one thing that I hate to admit, it's that I'm afraid of commitment. You would think that if you were in an ecchi-anime world like DXD then getting a harem and girls would be the number one goal other than getting overpowered. But to get a harem and lovers it would require being in a committed relationship.
I prefer casual relationships, like one night stands or sex friends. I always preferred to have the luxury of keeping to myself and just chilling in my free time. Being in a relationship means that I would be sacrificing a lot of that and quite frankly, I just don't like the idea of change.
There are sayings about people resisting change, it's more like people resist being changed itself. When one is forced to leave their comfort zone and face the world. Such a change is often daunting to people, especially to me. Perhaps it's a mental defense mechanism or something, I don't know. I'm not a psychologist.
I just know that I was fine with the way things were. Just doing things at my own pace and if I did something, then it would be something I wanted to do. Whether it be helping others, stepping out of the house, speaking to another or enjoying the silent peace of a bachelor's life. I wouldn't have to think too hard about it, since all I had to consider was my own feelings.
Now my fears have gotten me in this shitty situation. Walking an endlessly dark world with no path in sight. The only thing I can see though is the destination that is that golden light at the end of it all.
Am I still human? Serafall was trying to turn me into a devil before this, but I don't feel much different right now. Besides the empty depressing feeling that seems to be oozing all around me.
Myriad thoughts ran through my mind as the negative feeling continued oozing around me. Yet despite distracting myself with my thoughts, I didn't feel like I've moved even an inch closer to that light.
"What the hell should I do?" I muttered out with a sigh.
"Grow the hell up." My head swerved at the sound of another person.
"Who...?" He was wearing clothing similar to a soul reaper from Bleach. His hair was gray, with a few strands of black. It looked like it had gone gray from stress or some other reason. His eyes emitted rays of resplendent light that seemed to offset the darkness of the world. "...Hessian?" I blinked at the familiar face.
I knew this guy, he's Hessian Aversis von Schweinorg. An alternate of mine. As for how I met him, before I died he actually somehow got my number and called me to run over Lancer from Fate cause a certain Hero of Justice doubted my truck driving. If I remembered right, I sent him to Disgaea in front of a prinny.
"Damn right! Now listen to me you bastard!" He pointed towards me in what seemed to be annoyance.
"You need to get your shit together and fix your damn mistake!" Hessian declared as the light in his eyes continued to hold back the darkness.
"Mistake?" I questioned with a raised brow. I noticed his eye seemed to be twitching so he took a deep breath.
"YOU LEWDED THE LOLI YOU IDIOT!" He shouted with such intensity that I had to cover my ears. What did he mean by lewded.... ohhhhh.
"In my defense, that was an accident." I defended myself. It wasn't my fault that Koneko happened to literally jump right on that spot that day when we were all naked in the tub.
"Doesn't matter! The godamn FBI has gone crazy looking for you! I'm not even actually here! I'm just a sliver of will, my real body is locked up somewhere like nearly every other Aversis in the multiverse!" Hessian complained while sounding truly pissed off. "If we Aversis's make mistakes, we deal with it! Unlike you who's freaking hiding out in a godamn hidden world!"
"Wait then how did you find me?" I asked as I was truly curious at how he was capable of finding me despite no one else besides my boss should be capable of locating this world.
"I am connected to every Aversis in the multiverse whether they know it or not. The moment you entered your inner world, I was able to pinpoint your location." He explained. Honestly that's impressive considering there are hundreds, possibly a couple thousand of us out there.
"Oh, so this really is my inner world." I commented, taking another look around. "Seems depressing." I muttered out.
"Of course it is. With the little control you have over your inner self combined with your current state of mind, even your friend over there is being suppressed." He pointed at the light at the end of the world.
Huh, so all this darkness originated from me. Another depressing problem to think about.
"But enough about that, you need to godamn go deal with the whole Interdimensional FBI problem! They are literally detaining all Aversis's. I think the only one that didn't get caught was Shiro due to the specific world he's in rejecting foreign intrusion." He said with a sigh
"Which Shiro? The ice dragon or the hard to kill guy?" I asked
"Ice dragon. Wait, don't change the subject!" Ah damn, it's hard to manipulate conversation flow when speaking to an alternate.
"Well, I don't know how I'm gonna do that when I can't even deal with this damn yandere curse." I sighed as i let myself hit the ground on my bottom in defeat.
"Like I said before, grow the hell up." Hessian repeated what he first said.
"The hell do you mean?" I rolled my eyes at his annoying vague statement.
"Exactly that, grow up. Even if this isn't my original body, my heavenly gaze can still see through all." His eyes shined resplendent light again.
I stayed silent at that statement. The Heavenly gaze was a cultivator thing, it involved seeing through the origins of all things. The truths and falsehoods or something, I forget since it never concerned me. At least don't think it did.
"I can see it." He looked around at the darkness of the world. "The physical manifestation of all that plagues your thoughts." he turned back to me
"The answer is simple, grow up." I still don't get what the hell he means by that, no matter how much he repeats it.
"You know, they say the definition of insanity is trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result." I retorted as he rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Your trivial fears towards things involving relationships, your fear towards the possible change it could bring to you. Grow the hell up. We have already died once, twice if you count the life before that." He clarified. Then he pointed his thumb to his heart. "No matter what. Things will always change around you, whether you see it or not. The answer is to always be yourself!"
"No matter your direction. Whether you climb the highest mountain, walk the loneliest path, smash your way through the earth or even remain in place. Things will continue to change." His entire demeanor seemed to have undergone a change. He looked sort of like an old man now, until it shifted back the next second. "It is how we adapt to those changes, that defines us." he finished
I became a bit speechless at that. I looked to the ground mulling things over again. For a moment I sighed. "Well regardless, I've already lost. I couldn't beat that damn overpowered yandere curse." I looked up from the ground. The darkness seemed to be fading a little as the scenery around started to open up.
"It doesn't matter if you were cursed or not. Even if you hadn't recieved that curse, you still would have been forced to deal with a yandere eventually. It is bound to happen to every Aversis, no exceptions." Hessian shook his head as if he understood me.
"Why's that?" I asked confused at why that would be the case.
"Shitty Author." Hessian stated with a deadpan expression.
"Damn Author." I clicked my tongue understanding what he meant. Damn author was nearly as bad as those damn readers.
The darkness continued to recede as Hessian finally turned off his resplendent eyes. Honestly I felt better after this little talk. Still doesn't change the situation I'm in though.
"Not a bad world." I heard him comment as we both took in the true form of my inner world.
"I think your tastes are shit if this is only not bad to you." I commented as I took in the scenery.
Beautiful flowers and nature filled the world. In the distance, a pristine castle surrounded by white walls stood tall as the light continued to shine there.
*TEAR sfx* I looked up and narrowed my eyes at the sky as glowing red giant pawn pieces seemed to be trying to force themselves into the world.
"Tsk, I'm out of time." Hessian clicked his tongue as I turned to look at his fading false body. "Hurry up and deal with your problems. The food that they give us in detainment is terrible." He whined as his body continued to fade.
"I still don't have a solution to be honest." I honestly spoke. Although the situation was dire, I felt much m ore calm than before.
"You forget, an Aversis is never alone." He said before completely fading out of existence.
Standing up from the grassy ground, I understood what he meant and sighed as I thought back. He was right. It's time to grow up.
The scenery around me changed as I teleported off into the distance. It was my world, which meant that I could control where I went. Appearing within a spacious room, I took a deep breath before focusing my gaze at the person within the light.
"I need your help."
∞
"Why did they stop?" Serafall muttered as the 7 pawn pieces seemed to be halfway merged into Gold's body. They were stuck, as if something was rejecting the merge. She narrowed her eyes at the small amount of golden radiance behind the pawn pieces, stopping them from fulling entering.
Losing her patience, she raised her hand to see if she could force them in with power. Dense demonic power gathered within her palm. She didn't want to kill him, so she lowered her power before attempting to force it.
Slowly moving her hand forward, the golden radiance began to falter. The sound of shattered glass came as the evil pieces broke through the golden light. She smiled as the pawn pieces were finally moving again. Moving her hands forward to finish the merge, she widened her eyes as a vice-like armored grip clamped down on her wrist.
"Hands off my master, devil." A regal voice caught her attention as small tremors slightly shook the world.
"Who the hell are you?" Serafall narrowed her eyes at the newcomer who appeared out of nowhere. She was a tall and curvaceous woman, clad silver and blue armor with a cloak. Her long blonde hair was tied in a bun, adorned with a golden crown. Her piercing emerald eyes seemed to command respect. But most of all, she was radiating insane power. Despite that, Serafall wasn't the least bit intimidated as she glared at the woman who was stopping her from claiming her man.
"His partner." She stated as Serafall seemed to get triggered from the declaration as she flared out demonic power to clash with the tall woman.
Artoria gripped her lance as a visage of a goddess manifested above her. Her eyes were filled with life. Gold was unsure if she was Artoria or Goddess Rhongomyniad, but the one thing he wondered at the moment was.
"Why the hell are all the women around me so overpowered?" Gold said as he ran off to hide in his truck to stay out of the battle between the two women.
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