Chapter 31 to 33
Chapter 31: Declaration
As Shiori also looked at the window Nash was focusing on, she saw several bullets crash the window and fly into the room, but they were all only passed by and didn't hit either of them.
"Shiori, behind you!" shouted Nash, then pulled a dagger to block the back attack. Shiori, at the same time, turned around and saw Ri Liu was already clashing blades with him.
"Ri Liu!?" gasped Shiori, but immediately related to the bullets that flew in just now, "He transformed himself into one of the bullets??"
"Shiori!" said Nash, exchanging the attacks with Ri Liu, "To where Mei Niang, the one sniped from!" After said, he was kicked by Ri Liu outside of the house.
Shiori reacted by rushing out to the forest, remembering the direction the bullets came. As the bullets came into the window, the possible direction with the shadows was at the East. She rushed there and found there was no one in that direction after a while.
"She ran away..." muttered Shiori, "but must be not far."
She looked around the place, but only trees and bushes saw, while Yoricks shut its eyes and sensed the surroundings. Despite the effort, they still failed to find Mei Niang.
Yoricks used the ability, Keen Sense, which got from Nash, which shot Shiori and was in sync with her upgrade, to find out where Mei Niang hid. "Beneath!" said Yoricks, and quickly the ground Shiori stood had a big crack.
Shiori quickly reacted and jumped away, right before the ground shattered with big smoke of ashes and dust. She landed and saw a pair of hands appear on the ground, which seemed to grab her both legs.
"Well, it looks like you two got some interesting things to resist," said Mei Niang, who slowly got up from the ground. She then got up two feet on the ground, and the big crack behind her quickly regenerated until it became the ground that had never happened before.
"The land regenerates..." thought Shiori, and have Yoricks turned into NovelKnights. "You can control the land at will?" asked Shiori to Mei Niang. That seems the question is dumb to answer after observing.
"Well, I can control some of the elements with its energy..." replied Mei Niang, suddenly stopping her words.
"?" Shiori noticed Mei Niang's face in sadness and confusion.
"He did tell you not?" asked Mei Niang.
"... Yeah..." replied Shiori.
"Then you already have your quest done, aren't you?"
"But I have to defeat you guys as well as Author to get back to my world as soon as possible."
"Which means we have no space for negotiation," said Mei Niang, pulling out her sword summoned through her energy and readying her battle stance.
"What do you mean 'we have no space for negotiation'!?" shouted Shiori, "We can still talk about this! Why do you want to stop Nash so badly, or why do you guys keep the box and tell me lies!?"
"!" Mei Niang was surprised by the phrase ‘keep the box and tell her lies’. "So she didn't find it on her own?" she thought, still on her guard.
"Although we haven't known each other for a long time, months, or years, I already considered you, Ri Liu, and others as my friends." said Shiori again, heartbreaking tone, "Were you guys desperate to respond to my feelings, and with Author's heart as a fan, to... 'imprison' me in your world?"
"This is getting absurd..." Mei Niang thought, "Also, what is this sudden turn of her emotions, and abnormal energy flow? Mental breakdown? Could say so, but why is she...
getting controlled by the energy?"
"I need your answer, Ms. Mei Niang," said Shiori her voice suddenly calming down, "Does he, that Author want me to stay with him, like how the other one's fate was sealed to be in his world in the end?"
"Author does not, and would not cross the line," said Mei Niang, slowly closing in with her sword lowered, "We simply want to help you, and give you enough freedom and rights to live in our world for a while."
"For a while?" asked Shiori.
"Yes... For a while," replied Mei Niang, "After all things are done, @#$%^&* give us back the box."
"The box? Why would I give you the box?" confused Shiori heard Mei Niang's words, while herself were slowly surrounded by black smoke.
"What? I didn't say that -" explained Mei Niang, but were interrupted by Shiori's Novelknight strikes her all of a sudden.
Mei Niang dodged the attack, and shouted, "Shiori, we didn't mean to-" But not until her words ended, notice the energy inside Shiori quickly covering her brain, specifically, the neuron system. "The energy went rampage? But how? Is this because she spends too much with Nash?"
Mei Niang switched off her goggles, then prepared the battle stance again, "No... I must not make the blame too early..." she thought, "For now, focus on making Shiori back to normal."
"Ms. Mei Niang... I thought you would express a different opinion," said Shiori, calmly, but the tears flowed down her cheeks without knowing, "I will return to Rissa and others, say no more, other than that."
Meanwhile, at the battlefield where Nash and Ri Liu were at...
"Just hope Shiori can hold on until I get there..." whispered Nash, then said to Ri Liu, who stood distanced in front of him, "So do you mind if you step aside? I have to get Shiori back to her world."
"What a rare and weird question you asked in front of your enemy, Nash," said Ri Liu, "Did you forget the lesson as well?"
“I do remember the lesson: To bring happiness to the people, this had I swear since the day I joined the force... I did nothing wrong about that besides stealing the book.”
“Interfere world's plot flow, their every destruction and sudden end have the trace of yours,” said Ri Liu on commit Nash's ‘sins’, “Yes, besides stealing the book, we received several reports and evidence that points against you. What a great crime you commit, Nash.”
"But aren't those you guys committed too?" replied Nash, "World interruption or not, my only hope is to grant people their own freedom, their own fate and destiny to hold themselves. I merely wanted to help, just like you guys did."
"That ain't helping at all," Ri Liu opposed, while his sword lowered, "Several reports mentioned people of most worlds you walked had disappeared, as well as some characters, and we have found that they're the locals encountered. Explain this, Nash."
"They insist on following me. There's no other option. It's their will."
Said, Nash took out a sword using his energy, "And you were against it. Are you still a role model for your people?"
Energy starts overflowing through Nash's body, which can be seen by Ri Liu, who prepared his stance for combat. Just a short moment, the overflowing energies compressed back into Nash, and Nash himself striked towards Ri Liu without noticing the starting move. Ri Liu managed to block the strike with his sword by instinct and directed it to his left, with the weapon turned from defence to offence, have the sharpest part slashed toward Nash's neck.
Surprisingly, Nash's neck blocked the slash with several black rods that came out suddenly. The sparkles seen shocked Ri Liu and turned his body to back kick him for distance. "Black rods came from his neck? This is getting strange." He thought while switched the sword to assault rifle to fire several shots at him, then quickly switched to big knuckle on his both hands and charged toward Nash who deflected them.
Nash, after deflecting with his swords, quickly switched to knuckles and parried Ri Liu's punch attack. The shockwave due to the clash of both punches moved the grass and trees around, as well as the shock saw by Ri Liu on Nash's knuckles equipped, specifically, the shape and pattern had surprised him.
Ri Liu quickly pushed himself away from Nash, and Nash, who is free from the close range combat, raised the knuckles up high and slammed to the ground.
"LET'S GO!!!" shouted Nash.
The slammed ground cracked, and a lot of spikes made of earth came quickly from it. The spikes won't stop, and the direction spikes keep coming out was toward Ri Liu. Ri Liu didn't dodge, but using the same technique to stop the wave, and prepared his stance with one hand at his waist behind. After a breath, he made a quick palm to the spikes, and the shockwave made had shattered the spikes toward Nash. Nash used the same technique to block the wave.
The first clash ended with shattered spikes all over the place.
"That knuckle..." thought Ri Liu, "It was Gigi's, a member of Justice. Combining with the book he held, maybe that world's already..."
Still, Ri Liu has to ask Nash to confirm, "Where did you get that?"
"?"
"The knuckles you equipped."
Nash looked at the equipped knuckles, "Oh~ you mean this, the knuckles of Da Fister."
After words, Nash stopped and looked at it, then looked at Ri Liu with a smirk.
"I 'borrowed' it."
Ri Liu didn't get baited of his answer, instead, confirmed that the knuckles used by Nash are not literally 'borrowed'.
"I will return to her, I promised. She trusted me after journeys together, so I have this. Want me to prove it? I can bring her out if can, just need a schedule..."
"Nash, put them down and surrender," ordered Ri Liu, pointed his weapon that changed from knuckles to sword at Nash.
"For the sake of the people here, I can't, for now," replied Nash.
All of a sudden, the ground trembled, and the explosion came from the forest. Both of them looked at the forest with a big pile of black water splashed high and around, making a black rain on the spot.
...
Inside the forest...
Mei Niang, due to the momentum, pushed back a quite medium distance from Shiori. Her both hands were covered with water balls that didn't drop as the rotation kept functioning. She looked at Shiori with cautious and seriousness. Shiori, on the other hand, walked through the black rain. She wore herself in black armour. Specifically, it's the armour made with black ink, and itself looked like Novelknights, with Shiori's inside. Her both hands transformed into a tentacle that served as whips or as swords.
"The touch earlier," thought Mei Niang, recalled from the encounter earlier, that she managed to deliver some attacks on Shiori's Novelknight armour before pushed back, "Although it's hardened, but the agility didn't decrease. It seems to have a quick reaction when the threat is within the radius.
If my guess is right, the armour itself might be related to Newton's Third Law or something, which is totally troublesome: Hardened when encountering fast attack; trap someone when dealing with slow ones..."
After thought, she decided to lower her hands and let the water around her hands evaporate.
"What's wrong?" asked Shiori, "Another talk?"
Mei Niang didn't answer, only putting her hand on the ground while half-kneeling. Shortly after, the ink around her began to move towards her hand, letting Shiori in surprise with realizing her next plan, and quickly moved backwards.
As Shiori placed herself, the ground around her shakened, and rooted up spikes to trap her, but at the same time Mei Niang noticed the ink she was gathering accelerates, and spiking towards her without further delay. Mei Niang managed to dodge most of them, but her gathering hand injured from pulling late.
"Listen," said Mei Niang, tried to persuade, "We aren't going to imprison you in our world -"
Not until the word ends, Mei Niang sensed a massive amount of energy flowing from Shiori, which gave her a huge tension.
"Bad feel..." Mei Niang thought, then shout at Shiori while charging towards, "Shiori!"
"[Domain Expansion: Archives Of Forbidden Knowledge]"
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Chapter 32: Determination
Outside Nash's world, in the outer space, sat silently a huge rift that a huge fleet had it surrounded.
Behind the fleet, have a team with a middle battlecruiser (a huge Starcraft 2 Spaceship), which appeared as the flagship.
A.A. was standing straight in the control room of the flagship, staring at the rift that gave her a strong, bad feeling.
"Sir, our drones are down," said an operator while working in front of a computer.
"Not again..." Mumbled A.A.
"Sir!" said another operator while looking surprised at his computer, as the rift shown in the screen enlarged itself, "The size of the rift increased again!"
"Wide the area! Focus all batteries on the rift!" commanded A.A., while looking at the rift again, "That Ri Liu... still haven't gotten over the matter?"
But then, she remembered the time flow between one and another dimension is different.
A.A. switched on the holographic screen that came out from the Starboard, then contacted Ming'r.
After fuzzy, Ming'r's face appeared on the screen.
"A.A.? What's the matter?" asked Ming'r.
"Ming'r, can you help me analyze the rift I sent to you just now for the time flow?"requested A.A., then sent the data collected from outside the rift to Ming'r.
Ming'r read the data received on the computer with her focus from left to right, "Give me a moment..." said Ming'r, "I need to do some research."
"Wait for your news," said A.A., then received a call from another officer. She opened the transmission and moved it to the right side of the screen and asked, "What is it?"
"Sir, there's a request from people that was not from the city... and he's waiting for the call from you."
"Patch it through."
The call was accepted, and came a male voice that was modified into low pitch.
"Are you the commander of the fleet that surrounded the rift?" asked the voice.
"..." A.A. didn't reply, but ask back,"Who are you?"
"I'm a peasant, of course," replied the voice, "And you know what? It became a hot topic among us already."
A.A. was a bit surprised but didn't ask further. She instead signalled the officers to track the source and ordered another one to track the drone or any unauthorized objects nearby via radar. After done, she asked, "You didn't come here just to tell me about the news, is it? What's your objective?"
The voice replied casually, "Well, I'm here to suggest, since you're a commander, which is one of the high officers in military... Why don't you just blow the rift? It would be easier to solve the problem."
"Oh? So you're telling me that I should blow up the problem along with the hostages inside?" despised A.A. of his suggestion, "How about you do this instead? I can give you a quick experience on this"
"Threatening me?" laughed the voice, then said with a helpless tone, "Well, I can actually do that, but right now I'm somewhere far, so I can only suggest, not actually do it..."
A.A. was signalled that the source was found and was ready to be sent in front of her. A.A. nodded, which approved the action, and then she turned around to the door behind her, waiting for the voice's true appearance.
"Well, you can actually do that, as I might invite you to my ship," said A.A.
"Don't be ridiculous, ma'm!" The voice ridiculed, "You tend to find me among the crowd? Don't make such a joke, 'Commander', as I bet -" said again, but the voice quickly yelled and went silent.
The next thing the voice knew was in front of her after opening the door. Truly a male, but with a jacket and hoodie wore, and the male was restrainted his arms by two soldiers left and right respecitvely. The male looked at A.A., full of shock and cold sweats.
"Bet on what? I won't find you and give up?" said A.A., then walked towards the male. She lifted off his hoodie and showed his face with a pair of spectacles. "Look at you," said A.A. again, "Such a pathetic look. Hiding behind the screen, and you throned yourself as a ruler."
She turned around, facing her back to the male, "Bring him to the board."
The two soldiers had him to the board, forcing him to stand beside A.A. "Such a beautiful view, isn't it? With stars surrounding the rift, the rift didn't show fear on it." said A.A., then later looked at him,"Would be a shame if you didn't be like the rift."
Seeing the male didn't respond, but only cold sweats answering, A.A. smirked, and ordered all the officers in the room, "Attention to all soldiers! This brave man is such a worthy to march himself in front of me, judging our decision, judging our presence of being a soldier, who willingly serves our body and blood for our motherland! As a reward, he will now command us all onto the annihilation of the hostages within the rift!"
"Wait, I didn't ask for thi-," said the male, full of fear and anxious, trying to defend himself from the 'accusation' brought by A.A.
But A.A. ignored him, continued, "He proudly said to me that the little cost brought can be exchanged for every species' future! He bravely announced that the sacrifice is a must for the greater good! Like how our soldiers bravely sacrificed themselves for our time to get revenge! Like how our people sacrificed themselves for the victory we sought!"
"Commander, I said this on a whim, I-"
"Therefore, I have the command on him! Our every action, our consequences, as well as his, will be nailed by his decision. No words against or will be faced execution!" said A.A., then looked at the male, "Your command?"
The two soldiers pushed him to the officers, where the eyes were waiting his order. The male were afraid, and his leg was shaking hard. A.A. saw the opportunity, continued pressuring him, "We need your order, Commander! Blow up the rift or not!"
The male's face went pale, and his lips were turning white. "You do it, commander! I don't want to give the order..."
"Alright then..." said A.A., then looked at the rift with determination, which was felt by the male.
"Concentrate all batteries on the rift!" commanded A.A., and all officers and soldiers quickly positioned themselves in the battle stations. She smirked at the male, "Would be nice if you and me were dragged into this abyss."
"COMMANDER NO!" shouted the male, but the process continued. He then shouted at the soldiers, "Cease fire! I repeat, cease fire!"
"Oh~" Are you retracting your words now? Unfortunately, I cannot. This is the decision we made, no turning back now."
The male thought of his future will be ruined just because of his whim and ironic judging. He quickly kneeled in front of A.A., said with a trembling voice, "Please, commander! Don't give such inhuman orders for them! I regret my decision, commander! Please! Recall the order!"
Seeing A.A. didn't react. The male was truly in panic, "Commander, you win, you win! Please, don't give such a cruel order from me! I will not make such lowly requests or comments like this!"
"Hold!" ordered A.A. again, and all officers and soldiers stopped their work, looked at A.A. and the male.
A.A. walked to the male, and violently grabbed his hair, "Look at me, you coward. I was thinking of you being brave to say such an unresponsible, inhuman order, and I 'admired' your decision. I was wrong about you and didn't expect you to cry and have your pants wet in front of the souls prepared for the sacrifice."
"I...I'm sorry..." whispered the male, with tears flowing through his cheeks, and the voice trembled more than before.
"Even a dog can bite to the end, but you're worse than a dog," said A.A. again, "What a disgrace as a human, and I was thinking you would look at the destruction of the rift and hostages inside with a smile."
"Please... forgive me..."
"Such a disappointment," muttered A.A., but can truly be heard by the male. A.A. have all officers continued their work and retracted the order. "Throw the trash away from me."
The male was taken away from her sight.
A.A. sighed, and her eyes flashed a moment of disappointment. "Truly a coward..."
"Truly an intense fight at your side," said Ming'r behind the screen.
"You want to taste that too?" Ridiculed A.A. to her.
"Oh no, no, I'm not ready for the 'inequivalent exchange'..." laughed Ming'r, then said, "You could have killed that guy just now, usually."
"Tired to kill him and have his blood spilt my face," said A.A. "Well, I was truly thinking of how far he can endure, but here's the result."
"Well, not everyone's determined like you," said Ming'r, "I will call you back later."
"Ok," A.A. sent her wave of goodbye, and looked at the starboard, and later at the rift with concern.
"Determination, huh..."
...
Meanwhile...
Mei Niang found herself trapped in a place of bookshelves, with countless books filled the space. She deducted the boundaries of the domain unleashed by Shiori, which might be limitless in volume measurement, and noticed the black liquid was designed as the ground, which she currently stepped on.
As she looked at the reflection of herself in the puddle, the self became Shiori.
Mei Niang was surprised and took a few steps backwards. She then heard Shiori's voice echo, "Fate was meant to be written by their respective masters..."
Mei Niang looked around and found not even a shadow spot. The voice echoed again, "Nash's only wish the liberation of the humanity, why did you reject it?"
"His so-called liberation is a lie. You spent some time with him, and you should have known that," said Mei Niang while closing her eyes.
"Then what's the true liberation? Could you find it by denying Nash's?"
"..." Mei Niang didn't respond, but concentrate herself to track the sound. After careful listening, she has her hand filled with light, with the white holy energy shaped as a sphere. She seems to have found Shiori's location.
Suddenly, the puddle she stood, formed a lot of spikes, and have Mei Niang skewed. Unfortunately, the skew is fake, with Mei Niang turning into a cut wood trunk.
Shiori knew this was a trick for her to appear, and the moment she popped out her head, Mei Niang would quickly attack her. She decided to stay in the shadows for a bit longer.
"Judging the situation, Shiori might go with the run and gun..." Mei Niang thought while camouflaged herself with the environment. " 'Archives of Forbidden Knowledge', huh? As well as the domain expansion that referenced from JJKS (Jujutsu Kaisen)... Well, some of my skills and abilities were also borrowed, so I can't argue the originality and plagiarism.
Still, from her gaze of determination..." thought again while recalling herself into the battle earlier... She had a plan.
Mei Niang then took out some mini speaking drones that linked to her goggles and tossed them to the open area. The drones then flew everywhere after Mei Niang activated them. As the drones were flying, Mei Niang began her words:
"Look. I knew you felt sympathy on locals of this world where they can't define their fate in that brutal place, but at least they can fight for it."
As Mei Niang spoke, she paid attention to the drones. Not long after, two drones were shot down each in different directions. Not enough, she thought, and continued her persuade.
"I was in the church too, and I agree with him! If we don't fight for our own fate by our own hands, who else will?"
Three more were shot down, and the source was still in different directions.
"At least I now know she's with the domain and not showing up as herself," thought again, and decided to let the drones flew further.
Mei Niang then revealed herself in the open area. "I have done hiding, and so do you!"
After words, she felt a presence behind trying to grab her head. She back kicked the presence and surprised her kick penetrated the presence, which formed as black liquid. She wanted to retract her leg, but for another surprise, it was stuck within.
Saw the 'hand' was inches to her head, Mei Niang flamed herself and managed to get out of the restraint, but didn't distance herself, as the liquid figure dissolved and became a part of the floor again.
The floor is also a part of her domain, she thought. Thus, running is not an option as long she stepped on it. She pulled out her sword and had massive light and fire energy enchanted on it.
Mei Niang grabbed the sword with two hands and put it beside her waist. "Shiori! If you want the moment, this is it! Come with all you got!"
"As you wish," said Shiori, who appeared behind Mei Niang again. Without Mei Niang reacting, Shiori's two fingers were charged into her brain and took out a bookmark from it.
"Such idiotic action," pitied Shiori, while looking at the bookmark and fallen Mei Niang, “Now I wonder what's your game with me?”
As Shiori slowly stick out her tongue for the bookmark's taste, noticed it began flashing rapidly. In Shiori's curious, Yoricks quickly took over the body's dominance, and threw the bookmark away.
The bookmark exploded after thrown, left both Shiori and Yoricks in surprise. “She... This had gone too far!” thought Shiori, while Yoricks sensed a presence quickly close the distance in front of them. Shiori traced the presence and found out it was Yue Liu, who was not in the team until this moment.
Yue Liu quickly prepared the sword Mei Niang enchanted on, to swing on Shiori and Yoricks. “Yue Liu!? How-”
“Excaliber!!!”
The sword swung and was parried by Shiori's arm blade. But Yue Liu's sword didn't back off, and still in the clash with Shiori's blade.
“Shiori!!” shouted Yue Liu, “Snap out of it!"
"I'm awake and know what I'm doing, Yue Liu!!" shouted Shiori, "I'm doing this not only for myself but also for them, the one in and out of this world!"
"This is an excuse for rebellion, selfishness!"
"Rebellion is indeed our name, but not for own selfish!" explained Shiori while Yoricks prepared the ink tentacles to thrust. "You know nothing about them, then how come you want to save them!?" said Shiori, "That's why we are here, to save them from endless torture!"
As the ink tentacle struck at Yue Liu to reduce his strength, Shiori and Yoricks didn't notice Mei Niang was already behind them. By the time Yoricks noticed when Yue Liu's body was moved due to the pierce...
"Mei Niang's body..." thought Yoricks while quickly sensing her and found out she's already behind them, with another sword enchanted and swung from their bottom right.
"Your Highness!" shouted Yoricks while liquify Shiori. But it was too late.
The sword, enchanted with light and fire energy, 'slashed' Shiori with Yoricks in half.
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Chapter 33: Not Endgame.
...
The fight ended for a while. As well as Shiori, who lied front on the ground. While passing out, Shiori flashed her memories through her brain.
"Light the fire, lads..." Shiori sleeptalked of her moments during jailbreak, which caught attention of Mei Niang and Yue Liu, who were resting at the side.
"Sleeptalking," said Mei Niang.
"Yeah, sleeptalking," agreed Yue Liu.
Mei Niang looked at her carefully. Shiori was now not getting overwhelmed with abnormal energy flow again, and her body was still in one piece.
As well as Yoricks, who were too involved in the slash. Yoricks was the first woke up in the glass of ink, which was prepared by Mei Niang from her inventory and dumbfounded of the current situation.
"What..." said Yoricks weakly.
"You're still weak to do anything," said Mei Niang, "Have a rest, then we will meet up with Ri Liu and Nash."
"You..." said Yoricks while looking at Mei Niang and Yue Liu, who was bandaged his body, then quickly looked at Shiori.
"Your Highness!"
Seeing Shiori was fine, Yoricks finally sighed in relief.
"...What do you guys truly want from us?" asked Yoricks, as Mei Niang and the team were truly confusing, "You guys have the book retrieval as a bluff, actually was to have us change behaviour to Author's will, and using us as a key to regain his own existence in public's sight."
"In your perspective, it is," said Mei Niang, which shocked Yoricks. Mei Niang turned focus from Shiori to Yoricks, "Since you two are the protagonist, Author will arrange this kind of plot to get his book back. Book retrieval is our main objective, of course, but it was unexpected that Shiori chose to tag along."
"It was also Author's arrangement, is it not? Otherwise, the story will end shorter than it is."
"Can make it too," said Mei Niang with her both hands supporting her body from back. "By the way..." reminded Mei Niang, "Did you guys manage to find the box?"
"Yeah, it was at the lake not far from here."
"Not found yourselves or Shiori?"
"Nash has the box, which is another curious fact,"
"..." Mei Niang had the mentioned fact a quick thought and deducted the theory and reason in her mind.
"But still, why does he want to do this..." mumbled Mei Niang, then noticed Shiori was slowly getting up on her own.
"Uh..." mumbled Shiori while having her hand on her face, "What..." Shiori then looked at the surroundings, found herself were still in the forest. Lastly, she noticed Mei Niang and Yue Liu at the side.
"You guys..."said Shiori, who was still blurred. Quickly, she was shocked that both of them were still not knocked out. "Wha- How?... Wait..." Shiori recalled the battle earlier but found only her disappointment on Mei Niang's words and a quick leap to her current condition.
"Ah... I failed..." said Shiori, sat on the ground with depress, "I wonder if I can load the progress or not."
Said again while taking out her book and searching for the load button, but only a sigh of disappointment after search.
Mei Niang approach to her with a drink. "Here, have this," said Mei Niang while giving the drink, "This may help you recover."
Speaking of recovery, Shiori quickly checked her body and relieved that her body was still in one piece, didn't have a trace of slash, not even her clothes. While Shiori checked, Mei Niang covered her from Yue Liu and Yoricks's line of sight with her clothes.
After checking, Shiori received the drink from Mei Niang, "Not poisoned?" asked Shiori, replied Mei Niang with a slight shake of her head. After thought, she drank it and found herself slowly recovered a little amount of stamina.
After a while, Shiori finally uttered her doubt, "Why?"
"Everyone's have a choice, you too," said Mei Niang, "As member, as your companion, and as your friend, it is our duty to stop another from madness and astray."
"Nash must have told you everything, isn't it?" asked again Mei Niang of the same question. Shiori lightly nodded. She knew, yet she still had to be with him, as the promise still stays: to monitor him, to follow him, to pull him from a lost road. However, now she was said by Mei Niang and others that she's the one lost in it, and they need to punch her back to her sense.
"Even so," said Shiori, "I still need to help Nash and the locals. Nash was right, Ms. Mei Niang, even if his deeds were totally wrong.
You're smart too, isn't it? If you tagged along with him, you will find his wrong deeds were reasonable." said Shiori again, "So please, let Nash complete his salvation on himself and on the locals here."
"..." Mei Niang and Yue Liu were stunned of her words. They're not stunned of her blindly follow but have an observation during her times with him. Should they oppose her words were totally below average? No, because this is how the real words can come out from real observation done in the limited time; Should they approve? Neither, as Nash's doing was already a threat to other worlds' future as well as their every existence, and this is not allowed for their personalities.
"Despite all the reasons he brought, still can't change our perspectives on his world-destroying crimes," said Yue Liu, "Law and order is equal to people, and we can't make exception, even if the doner is of royalty, or us."
After words, Mei Niang stood up and got Yue Liu on his foot, then picked up Yoricks in the bottle and delivered it to Shiori.
"We will try our best to stop his mad ride," said Mei Niang, then have her idea told to Yue Liu, "Yue Liu, can help me find a way to transfer all people out of this world?"
"Tried," Yue Liu shrugged his shoulders, "The teleportation here under inter-communication, which was shut down by Nash himself when he created this world. He tends to trap not only the locals here but also us and other intruders."
"This will be tricky..." mumbled Mei Niang. Yue Liu then continued, "At least we need to defeat Nash before sending them back to their world. But if Nash calls them during our fight..."
"Yeah, it will be troublesome for us with Nash's using them..." Mei Niang had a quick thought on the issue. Suddenly, she had an idea, as well as Yue Liu.
"How about you/I distract them away?" synchronised both of them, then quickly agreed among them.
Yue Liu, despite the injured body, was still able to move freely like it was nothing. In a second, he dissappeared from their sight.
"Was he a ninja or what?" dissed Shiori behind them. Mei Niang ignored her diss and said to her, "Let's go! We're rendezvous with both of them!"
...
Meanwhile, at Nash's battlefield.
Nash was half-kneeled, slightly exhausted due to the fight. His sword was barely gripped and felt heavier than before to him; Ri Liu, on the other hand, still stood with no trace of it. "Stand up," ordered Ri Liu while walking towards him, "Or you want to end this now?"
Nash took a deep breath and slowly on his foot. "I can still fight," he said, with both his hands holding the sword.
Despite Nash being exhausted and on the brink of defeat, Ri Liu still didn't let down of his guard. "Something's wrong," thought Ri Liu, "He only used weapons to fight, but not with the skills on the book... As if... he's playing?"
Ri Liu then stopped in front of Nash. For Ri Liu, this probably was the stupid move to go that wasn't his intention at all...
Wasn't his intention at all...
Intention...
"!?" Ri Liu quickly realized the move he had done just now had made an opening for Nash. He wanted to react, but his body won't distance from Nash. Nash, on the other hand, grabbed his fist and quickly punched Ri Liu's diaphragm but quickly blocked and restrained with his entire arm forcely moved to his back.
"Tck," Nash knew the coming but didn't react much faster than him. He struggled to get out but he was totally locked by him.
"Surrender, Nash. You're now arrested," Ri Liu said strictly, then saw Mei Niang came out of the forest, followed by Shiori and Yoricks.
"Nash..." Shiori said weakly, and felt helpless of the situation set in front of her.
Mei Niang stopped her step in front of Nash, who due to the body forcefully bent, his head at the same level as hers. "I don't wish for a heavy punishment on you, but if you can cooperate with us, we can help you on the locals salvation," said again, but not with strict and scolding; instead, she told Nash with a tone of sympathy and the eagerness on helping the lost lamb. Even Ri Liu knew from the conversation until just now. Nash only wanted to help those who suffered the harsh reality and manipulated life, by convincing them to fight with him for fate and destiny they want.
Only some questions they're still not understand: If Nash's intention on helping them is true, then what of their battles with combatants just now? And the purpose of using girls as supplicants...
All questions will have to wait until the interrogation later.
"We fight our own fate with our own desires..."
Nash mumbled on his own, which can be heard by Mei Niang, Ri Liu, Shiori and Yoricks.
"We shall not surrender in front of inequality..." Nash mumbled again, and his words have them more confused.
"Our happiness is based on our own ideology, with negotiation and non-brutal selection, that strive among the spikes and stones..." said Nash, with his volume's getting louder and louder, until his volume is enough for Shiori, who stay the furthest, to listen clearly.
“This is how we promised together, Shiori, to build a world where people gets their own happiness together!" shouted Nash at Shiori, led Mei Niang and Ri Liu realized his intention.
"Bad feeling... Shiori, don't listen to his-" shouted Mei Niang to Shiori. Just when Mei Niang turn around, received only a huge, slant slash to her body, made her blood poured from cut-half body with only her left hand was still with her head.
And it was Shiori's doing, with a huge pair of scissors cut her like a paper.
"Game... is not over," mumbled Shiori after the cut, with her eyes opened wide, and her dark yellow iris with a red pupils.
"Yeah... this is not the endgame yet," said Nash, with a smirk in his face, like he had planned and made this work.
-To Be Continued-