The next day had arrived, and Simon walked into the azure-lit hallways expecting another day filled with paperwork. To his surprise, his entire team was rushing to gather supplies.
No one said anything to him; the situation was already clear to him. A camera in the Hollow World had picked up the Signature of an entity.
(What the fuck?!)
He was almost certain that no other entity could enter this world. And the one before him did not have white hair as Leo described.
The man in the camera looked timeless. He wore an elegant, deep blue regal robe adorned with gold chains, beads, and belts. He had short, charcoal-black hair, a crown meant for a king sitting atop it.
"Who is that?!" Simon exclaimed.
"No clue, they just randomly appeared," Silas responded.
Out of everyone there, he seemed to be the most nonchalant of them all. The only things he gathered were not even his, but Ezra's.
The entire time Simon had been in the room, the entity had not moved once.
But he could see the time at the bottom of the screen still ticking. Was the entity somehow manipulating it? Or was it seriously just that clueless?
No, the closer he looked, it was as if he knew he was being watched — like he was aware of their presence.
Simon didn't have time to focus on this; he needed to gather his things.
He rushed along with the others, shoving his hands into his gloves and going towards his daggers.
Scratch. Screech.
All of them stopped their actions, turning around to see the feed stuttering.
Static crawled across the screen, the man's head slowly beginning to lift. His gaze did not wander; it did not search. It locked eyes with them directly.
"Thou hast been keen of thy observation."
The man had a singular golden eye open. His words were calm, almost as if he were declaring war against them.
His mouth opened, and words that the group couldn't understand spilled from its contents.
"Axtā axxa maxru u arxu"
A black, thick fog enveloped the camera almost instantly. Soon after, the camera was destroyed. Before this happened, Simon noticed — the man opened his other eye.
Inside this eye was a transcript in a language he could not begin to understand. A hoarse voice suddenly came into the room, a singularity that was not there before.
From here on, I will begin to translate his words. Please note that this is not what the group hears
"Thou Art Thee Before and After."
What was first a slight buzz created a harsh banging sound in their ears. Simon held his own, trying to cover the echoing words, but it did not help.
The rest shared similar symptoms, with Ezra even bleeding from his nose.
This was the one downside to Heaven.
Being in an environment sensitive to Hollow World activities helped them — it put them at risk when it came to grave threats like this.
The confined blasts and echoes were relentless, causing the group to drop like flies. They were still conscious, even if barely.
Simon tried to activate his Signature, but this was useless. He couldn't get it to activate due to the frequent usage recently.
This made him realize he had not focused on refining his core, leaving him in this state.
His breathing intensified, forcing his mind to try and use his Signature under the pressure of the entity. The dice flickered to life, but still, it didn't budge.
(Is this because of me pushing my fate? When did this start? What did I change that was so drastic?)
Simon tried his best to recall, but with his brain feeling as if it might pop out of his head, he couldn't.
Leo could only kick and writhe in pain, trying his hardest to hold back a scream.
Silas, although was covering his ears, his expression did not change.
Ezra did the same as Simon, trying to block the noise out as much as possible. Haruto did the same, except it was much worse for him.
Simon was as useless as everyone else in this situation.
In fact, the only person who could actively focus among them was Evelyn.
The only thing they could do was try to crawl their way out of this confined space.
Simon tried his best to compose himself, taking his hand off his ear. He soon realized that this sound was targeting his brain directly.
With this, he began to pull himself towards the door to escape.
This was his chance to reverse the tides!
The entity, however, would not let this come to fruition.
The royal man began to stride forward towards the closest gateway, each camera he walked past going black. He began to mutter again.
This time, the room was filled with Louge Gas, and pressure forced Simon down again.
"Ixa bxxāṭi u mūti, ixa ašû u lā axûti"
Evelyn gripped the table tightly, activating her Signature.
[Distortion]
The Louge Gas swiftly turned into oxygen, and all of them gasped for air under the weight of the room.
"Throughout Life and Death, Existence and Non-Existent."
Lights began to flicker on and off, devices barely held onto life — not to mention the humans.
An intense heat covered the room, making Evelyn pour more spiritual energy into her Signature.
Everything at play became polar opposites, but she would not be able to maintain this for long.
The entity was close to leaving this replica world, taking a deceptive step forward.
Why would it want to leave this world? How was it there in the first place?
"Šīxxtu ša axīlūti axa xpēši ušēṣi"
The man stretched a hand forward, preparing to finally leave.
This was bad, if he had the power to affect the human realm with just his voice...
It was entirely possible he could survive the oxygen levels there.
"A Will Brought To Fruition By Mankind."
He finally held a hand out onto the train tracks before him. However, the pressure around Simon and the rest was immediately lifted.
Everything reverted to normal in an instant.
(What? What happened? What is this?)
They all quickly turned to the cameras. Shock painted the entity's face, his eyes shrinking to the size of a pea.
"Thou dare?!" Pain coursed through his veins.
Spurt! Spurt! Spurt!
Gallons of blood emptied out from his wrist. An electric current held onto the base of his hand, as for the rest...
(Don't tell me.)
It was on the other side of this mysterious wall.
(A Neil?!)