Chapter 137: Complex

  "Can't breathe!" Raito yelped, his voice squeezed thin by anguish and the crushing pressure on his ribs.

  "I think I see my mother..." Yukari cried, her eyes rolling back slightly as air became a distant memory.

  "Oh! Sorry about that!"

  Bob realized his enthusiasm might have been lethal. He broke his hug away from the two runaways, stepping back with a sheepish grin.

  Raito and Yukari collapsed against each other, huffing as much air as their lungs could hold.

  "We are finally back..." Yukari wheezed, rubbing her chest.

  "And Bob almost ended us," Raito said, reaching back to fix his tailbone, which had popped audibly during the embrace.

  Tears welled up in Bob's eyes once more. His lower lip quivered.

  "You know what?" he sniffled. "One more time won't hurt!"

  He opened his arms wide for another round of bone-crushing affection. "It feels like it's been forever, you two!"

  His massive frame approached quickly, like a loving avalanche.

  "Run," Raito said instantly.

  Yukari nodded.

  The two bolted, sprinting to save themselves and their backbones.

  Suddenly, the tense atmosphere of the central room dissolved into a slapstick chase. Bob lumbered after them, arms outstretched, while Raito and Yukari darted around consoles and machinery in a desperate game of cat and mouse.

  Zhu and Mila chuckled at the sight in front of them, the heavy dread lifting from their shoulders.

  "They actually came back," Zhu murmured, her voice soft with relief.

  "They did," Mila added, sheathing her sword. "But... somehow I believed they would."

  "Their bond," Zhu smiled, watching Raito pull Yukari out of Bob's reach, "always ends up much stronger than whatever ordeal they have to face. Even this time, it's no different."

  She observed them closely. "And they... look much more mature than ever. Something changed in there."

  The two women looked at each other and smiled, sharing a moment of closeness.

  COUGH.

  A loud, deliberate, electronic cough rang through the room.

  It was Dr. Iskandar.

  His sudden interruption managed to stop Bob, Raito, and Yukari mid-stride. They froze, looking guilty.

  "Pardon me," the hologram said, adjusting his light-spectacles. "But I believe we have things to talk about."

  Yukari straightened her clothes and stepped next to the projection.

  "That... we do," she said, her expression sobering. "And surely, you as well."

  "Don't worry. I won't run away. I'll talk," Dr. Iskandar promised, raising a hand.

  Raito stepped up next to Yukari. He scanned the bluish, buzzing projection in front of him from head to toe. Curious, he reached out a hand.

  Swish.

  His fingers passed right through the Doctor's shoulder.

  "Whoa, you are right," Raito said, eyes widening. "My hand just goes through."

  "Right!" Yukari giggled. "Such a weird feeling."

  COUGH.

  Dr. Iskandar coughed once more, louder this time.

  "Sorry about that," Yukari apologized quickly.

  "It's alright," he sighed.

  He turned his gaze to the boy. "So... you are Raito, correct?"

  "Yes?" Raito answered, slightly wary.

  "I am Dr. Iskandar. I helped with your situation a little bit," he introduced himself. "Now that we are acquainted... can the two of you tell me what happened? And how did you two escape from the mentalscape? That procedure had a success rate of... close to zero."

  Yukari and Raito looked at each other. A silent conversation passed between them—a shared understanding born of the merged soul-space. They nodded.

  They began to retell their tale.

  They spoke of the metal hallways and the weeping child. They described the onslaught of memories—Raito admitted, with a flush on his cheeks, that he had seen everything of Yukari’s life, from her losing her parents, her lonely childhood in the mansion, Zhu’s harsh training, to her recent struggles. Yukari squeezed his hand, acknowledging that she had seen his deepest shames and traumas too.

  They spoke of the shifting darkness and the blinding light. Of the voices that challenged their resolve and dismantled their egos.

  They described the black sphere, the tendrils of Void, and the moment of surrender where they chose to share the burden rather than fight it. They described the strange, intimate realm where they were physically connected by the very thing that tried to destroy them.

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  "And that..." Yukari finished, her voice soft, "is how we are here."

  "To be honest," Raito scratched the back of his head, "we don't even know most of what we did in that realm. Or how we got out."

  He looked at his hands. "It felt more like someone, or something, let us out. The realm wasn't just my subconscious. It felt like... a trial. A test that we passed and were rewarded for."

  "How... Interesting," Dr. Iskandar murmured, his holographic hand stroking his beard.

  SNAP.

  He snapped his fingers. Two large monitors on the wall flickered to life, displaying complex waveforms and biological schematics.

  "Look there," he said, pointing.

  The group turned to look.

  "Those are the data logs I recorded while you two were diving," Dr. Iskandar explained. "One for Raito, and one for Yukari."

  He magnified a section of Raito's chart. It showed a jagged, violent mass of black static that had previously consumed the entire silhouette.

  "What intrigued me the most was the amount of Void energy within you, boy," Dr. Iskandar said. "That energy used to fill up every crevice of your being, leaking out, consuming you."

  He tapped the screen. The current reading showed the black mass had receded significantly.

  "But after you woke up... half of it was gone," he said.

  He swiped to the next monitor—Yukari's. Previously, her chart had been clean, blue elemental lines. Now, a mass of black static, identical in volume to the missing half of Raito's, swirled within her core reading.

  "What happened in the mentalscape, translated to here, to reality," Iskandar said, fascination coloring his tone. "That missing half of Void energy is now within Yukari. Snapped in half, exactly like how you two described it."

  "Will it be dangerous?" Zhu asked immediately, stepping closer to Yukari to inspect her.

  "No!"

  Yukari and Raito answered at the exact same time, their voices overlapping perfectly.

  "It will not. We know," Yukari said with absolute certainty.

  "I still don't have the long-term data," Dr. Iskandar cautioned. "But... from the initial examination..."

  He pointed to the waveforms. They were no longer jagged, chaotic spikes. They were smooth, rhythmic waves that pulsed in sync with each other.

  "The energy does seem calmer," he admitted. "Less turbulent. There should be significantly lower chances of going berserk."

  "So like... they are sleeping?" Bob asked, scratching his head.

  "No!"

  Once again, Raito and Yukari shouted in unison.

  "We can use them," Raito said, clenching his fist. A small, controlled wisp of black flame danced over his knuckles, not consuming, just existing. "They are now fully ours. They told us that."

  "They?" Bob asked.

  "The voices," Raito said.

  "That energy... is it sentient?" Mila asked, her hand drifting to her sword. "Is there a demon inside you?"

  "Also no," Yukari shook her head. "The Void is just energy. Nothing more. The voices... they are another thing entirely."

  "Sorry, I am not following," Mila sighed, rubbing her temples.

  "Don't try to force yourself to comprehend the Void too much," Dr. Iskandar interjected, his voice losing its academic excitement.

  He looked at the black waves on the screen, his expression turning somber, almost haunted.

  "It is something that is still beyond us humans," he whispered. "I tried..."

  He trailed off, his holographic eyes staring at a memory no one else could see. Everyone noticed the shift in the atmosphere—the sudden weight of a grief that had lasted a hundred thousand years.

  "What the Void can do is still in the realm of what we described as miracles," Dr. Iskandar said, shaking off his melancholy.

  He pointed a finger at Yukari. "For example, look at the girl's arms."

  "Now that you mention it..." Zhu blinked, realizing what had been bothering her. "Lin, when did you... your arms. They are healed."

  "Oh, this?" Yukari grinned, starting to move her arms energetically, windmilling them to prove a point. "The Void patched it up. Good as new."

  "Precisely a miracle," Iskandar said once more, his tone analytical. "Her arms were supposed to be crippled. Her flesh, her muscle, bones, and nerves were consumed by entropy. But now... it's back. Like nothing ever happened. Like the damage was simply rewritten."

  "Can such a thing even exist?" Zhu asked, her martial mind struggling with the concept. "Something so... powerful?"

  "Do you not believe the reality in front of you?" Iskandar countered. "It is very real. Raw. Untapped. And should not fall into the wrong hands."

  The room fell silent for a moment, absorbing the implication of a power that could overwrite reality.

  SNAP.

  Dr. Iskandar snapped his fingers again. Three more monitors lit up on the wall, displaying biological data for Zhu, Mila, and Bob.

  "That is us," Bob pointed out, seeing his massive silhouette on the screen.

  "Correct," Iskandar nodded. "While you three were here, I took the liberty to gather extra data."

  He turned slowly to Raito. "Especially if I wanted to know... who you are, boy."

  "Me!?" Raito pointed to himself, surprised.

  "Yes, you, boy," Iskandar said.

  "Why me?" Raito asked, confused. "I'm just a nobody."

  "Why wouldn't it be you?" Iskandar retorted. "You came here chock-full of Void energy. And that is not all. Look at the genetics chart."

  He pointed to the screens. "Let's take you, Bob. Look at his genetics. This is the standard makeup of the current age of humanity. Altered and distinct."

  Then he pointed to Raito's chart. "But you, boy... you barely share any genetic makeup with them."

  SNAP.

  Another monitor lit up next to Raito's.

  "That is my genetic makeup," Iskandar revealed. "And you are 98% similar to mine. You are more Old Human than New. And why is that?"

  Raito shrugged. "Beats me."

  Iskandar sighed, the sound echoing his frustration. "You..."

  "Sorry, he is dense and an idiot," Yukari apologized on his behalf.

  Zhu stepped closer to her own display, her eyes narrowing.

  "Hey," she said, pointing at the screen. "Mine also looks similar to yours." She pointed to Iskandar's genetic makeup, then traced a line to her own. "And Bob, Mila, Yukari, Raito... everyone has a name listed. But why is my name different?"

  Yukari stepped in closer to Zhu, peering at the screen. "She's right. Why is Mother's name different?"

  Instead of 'Zhu Lihua', the screen displayed the name 'Xiaoling'.

  "Because you came from the Old World," Iskandar said softly.

  Another display lit up next to Zhu's status. It showed a photograph—a high-resolution image of a black-haired young girl, no older than ten, wearing clothes that looked nothing like Calvenoor fashion.

  "I found you in our database," Iskandar said. "Your genetic makeup, if we strip away the massive elemental energy built into you... matches perfectly."

  He read the data aloud. "Name: Xiaoling. Age: 10. Current Status: Missing."

  "This...."

  "Urgh..." Zhu staggered, suddenly clutching her head with both hands.

  "Mother! Are you alright?" Yukari grabbed her arm to steady her.

  A flash of images assaulted Zhu’s mind. Cold metal tables. Various mechanical contraptions humming with ominous power. And screaming. Her own screaming.

  "What was that?" she murmured, shaking her head to clear the vision. She quickly composed herself, her General's mask sliding back into place. "How are you so sure that this young girl is me? You said you came from hundreds of thousands of years ago. The timeline doesn't make sense. As much as I have an extended lifespan compared to most... I doubt I would live for that long."

  "Because the current status is 'Missing'," Iskandar said grimly.

  FLASH.

  More monitors lit up across the wall. They showed rows and rows of people. Faces of men, women, and children. But over almost all of them, a red stamp appeared: DECEASED.

  More and more showed up, overlapping each other until the wall was a collage of the dead.

  The group looked in horror.

  "I have documented the status of all Old Humanity within this structure's database," Iskandar said, his voice devoid of hope. "Nine billion deaths. And six missing."

  He looked at Zhu. "Ring any bells?"

  "Six… Why six? Six Like the six Lords?," Raito whispered.

  "Yes," Iskandar confirmed. "The six Lords... were these six children. Kidnapped. Experimented on. By Silux."

  The monitor focused on six specific files. Six children ranging from age seven to thirteen. All with their status marked as MISSING.

  "Urgh..."

  The flashes in Zhu's head became more vivid. The screams were no longer memories; they felt real. The pain of the experiments, the fear of the dark room... it was all crashing back.

  "Starting to remember?" Iskandar asked gently.

  "Talk," Zhu grunted from her pain, her eyes burning. "What more do you know? About us? About this world? About Silas?"

  Iskandar looked at them all—the survivors of a world he couldn't save.

  "I will talk," he said. "This is finally time for you all to know the truth. And for you all... to know my sins."