Sorry for the three weeks without chapters, I'm in a Criative Block, and sorry if this chapter was bad.
//
Luki opened his eyes to a strange ceiling above him, an endless white void stretching farther than his sight could follow.
It had been so long since he had seen anything that wasn't stone, dirt, or the suffocating darkness of the Dungeon that, for a brief moment, the brightness itself burned against his eyes. His vision blurred as if his mind refused to accept something so clean, so empty, after spending so much time buried beneath the earth.
— What is this… the afterlife of this world? — he muttered while slowly standing up.
The moment his hand touched the ground to support himself, ripples spread outward beneath his palm. The surface moved like water, yet it held his weight without difficulty. Every step created small waves that disappeared into the endless white around him.
Recovering his balance, Luki scanned the horizon, trying to understand where he had been brought. The entire place was monochrome, devoid of shadows or landmarks, making distance impossible to judge. It could have been an endless world or merely a small room. Somewhere far away, a faint sound echoed through the emptiness, too distant and distorted for him to identify.
— Strange, isn't it? I thought the same thing at first. After a while, though, you get used to it.
The sudden male voice made Luki instinctively leap backward into a fighting stance. His body reacted before his mind could process anything, muscles tightening as his hand immediately moved toward his waist.
Only to find nothing there.
— If you're looking for it, you can take it back. I don't have much use for it anyway.
Luki's eyes narrowed as he turned toward the voice, and for the first time since waking up, genuine confusion crossed his face.
The speaker sounded like an adult man, calm and oddly detached, but the one standing before him was a child.
No… not merely a child.
The hair, the clothes, the birthmarks, every detail was identical to the person Luki used to be in his previous life. It was like staring directly at a fragment of his own past given form. The only thing truly wrong was the voice coming from that small body, deep and mature in a way that completely shattered the illusion.
The child held out the Blade of Hestia toward him with both hands. The image was almost absurd; the sword looked far too large for someone his size, nearly reaching the ground even while being lifted.
— Who are you, where am I, and why am I here? — Luki asked, his voice sharp and cautious.
The boy remained perfectly calm under the pressure of his stare. No irritation, no tension, not even amusement appeared on his face. It was less like speaking to a child and more like speaking to something that simply imitated one.
— Why ask when you already know the answer?
— That's a pretty cliché line for a kid to say. What comes next? You'll tell me you're me, and this place is all inside my head?
— Almost. But not exactly. I think things like that are usually wrong.
Without another word, the child tossed the sword toward him.
The Blade of Hestia slipped from his small hands halfway through the throw, clattering against the watery floor before sliding across the surface until it stopped directly in front of Luki. Even then, he didn't move to pick it up.
The child tilted his head slightly.
— Aren't you going to take it?
— Will I need it?
— No. But it would be happy if you held it.
Luki continued staring at the child for a few silent seconds. The familiar appearance and the absence of hostility made him lower his guard slightly, though not completely. If there was one lesson the Dungeon had carved into his instincts over those long months, it was that relaxing completely meant death.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the boy, Luki slowly crouched and grabbed the Blade of Hestia.
The instant his fingers wrapped around the hilt, the engraved letters along the black blade lit up with a soft glow. At the same time, the Falna carved into his back reacted violently, blue-white lines pulsing beneath his skin as if resonating with the weapon itself.
But the light wasn't what unsettled him.
It was the emotion.
A powerful feeling surged through him the moment he reclaimed the sword. At first it felt like longing, heavy and painful enough to tighten his chest, but that sensation quickly transformed into relief and joy so intense it almost didn't feel human.
As if the sword itself had been waiting for him, missed him.
— See? I told you. It likes you. It never reacted like that when I touched it.
The voice suddenly came from right beside him.
Luki's body tensed instantly as he jumped backward, his grip tightening around the sword. He hadn't heard footsteps. Hadn't sensed movement. One moment the child was several meters away, and the next he was standing beside him as if he had always been there.
Usually, he could instinctively perceive danger, presence, movements and shape even through walls. But in this place, there was nothing. Either the white world itself interfered with his perception, or the being before him simply existed outside the range of what his instincts could detect.
Neither possibility made him feel better.
— I'll ask again. Who are you? And where exactly are we? — Luki asked, his tone firm but controlled.
The child looked at him with mild curiosity.
— Do you genuinely not know, or are you pretending not to? We should possess the same knowledge.
Luki remained silent.
The boy let out a small sigh before turning his gaze toward the endless white horizon.
— I suppose perspective changes how memories are interpreted. In any case… I am you. Or more accurately, a representation of your essence.
— And what exactly is that supposed to mean?
The child turned back toward him, expression calm and unreadable.
— It means I am everything that you are, stripped of the restraints you place upon yourself. Morality. Ethics. Fear. Social conditioning. All the unnecessary chains people force onto their own minds.
His voice remained strangely emotionless, but there was something unsettling hidden beneath the calmness.
— Everything you see, I see. Everything you feel, I feel. Your desires are my desires. Your instincts are mine as well.
The child slowly spread his arms to the endless white world around them.
— The difference is that I have no limits. I am a being made only of freedom and chaos.
Luki stared at him for a moment before letting out a tired sigh.
— Yeah… that sounds very cool in theory, but also incredibly dangerous. I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of a being made of pure freedom and chaos existing inside what I assume is my head.
The child shrugged lightly.
— You shouldn't fear me. Everyone possesses a "real self." I merely gained form through outside interference.
— Easy for you to say…
After that, silence settled between them.
The boy made no effort to continue the conversation, simply standing there with the same detached calmness as before. Luki, meanwhile, remained still while trying to organize everything that had happened since waking up in this bizarre white world.
The more he thought about it, the more obvious the answer became.
He slowly rubbed the back of his neck.
— Okay, let me guess. I'm inside my own mind, and now I'm supposed to have some deep conversation with my true self, discover hidden truths about myself, and awaken a special power or something like that?
— Exactly. Down to the smallest detail.
Luki couldn't help letting out a crooked smile as he relaxed slightly and slid the Blade of Hestia back into its sheath. If this really was his own mind, then constantly acting defensive probably wouldn't accomplish much.
— So what happens now?
— I don't know.
Luki blinked.
— …You don't know?
— I don't know.
The child answered so naturally that it somehow became even more irritating.
— But you said you were me.
— I am. That's precisely why I don't know. What you don't understand, I also don't understand. I only know one thing: you must recognize and accept your desires for this power to fully awaken.
— You're clearly hiding part of the explanation. So stop speaking in riddles and tell me directly.
The child opened his mouth to answer.
His lips moved normally.
Sound came out.
But what reached Luki's ears wasn't language.
— H̷͕͑c̶̞̓ḵ̴͒!
An unbearable metallic screech exploded inside his head.
Luki immediately covered his ears and stumbled backward, his face twisting in pain as the distorted noise clawed against his eardrums like dozens of overlapping screams.
— What the hell was that?!
The child tilted his head slightly.
— I told you what I wanted to say.
— Don't give me that crap! It sounded like someone shoved a horror movie jumpscare directly into my brain!
— I noticed. Apparently, I'm not permitted to tell you that.
Luki slowly lowered his hands, still grimacing from the lingering pain.
— Permitted… by who?
The child raised one arm and pointed toward the distant horizon.
— Him.
Luki followed the direction of his finger.
At first, he saw nothing, only the endless white world stretching infinitely outward. Then he noticed it... the very fucking sun.
...
Dust still drifted through the Dungeon while the dragon remained standing amidst the ruins, heavily wounded… but alive.
And Luki was gone.
Silence spread across the battlefield as everyone stared at the blood staining the shattered floor. Bell clenched her fists so tightly that blood dripped from her palms, unable to accept that someone who had stood against the strongest adventurers in Orario moments ago had simply vanished before their eyes.
Even the gods had fallen silent.
Among them all, however, Hestia reacted the worst.
The moment reality settled in, divine light erupted from her body.
BOOOOOOM!!!
A blinding wave of white radiance exploded across the Dungeon alongside a pressure so overwhelming that adventurers instantly collapsed to their knees, their bodies trembling uncontrollably beneath the weight of unleashed divinity.
The gods recognized it immediately.
Arcanum.
Not partially released, but completely unleashed. The essence of a god, authority over an aspect of things and the universe in general.
At the center of the storm stood Hestia, or rather, something wearing her shape. Her body had become a mass of blinding white light, with only two glowing eyes visible within the radiance as they slowly turned toward Hermes.
The messenger god was already on his knees, struggling just to remain conscious beneath the overwhelming divine pressure flooding the Dungeon. Blood dripped from his forehead as cracks spread beneath his hands from the sheer weight pressing down on him.
For a few seconds, Hestia said nothing, she only stared at him.
— ...I trusted you.
Her voice echoed unnaturally through the ruins, distorted by the unleashed divinity surrounding her body.
— Even knowing the risks… I still trusted you.
The pressure intensified instantly, forcing several nearby adventurers flat against the ground.
— Hestia… I'm sorry. This was my fault. I'll accept any punishment, just don't-
— Don't touch your Familia?
The glowing eyes within the white radiance narrowed.
— Do you know what you took from me? After everything… after all of this… you still dare ask me for mercy?
Hermes lowered his head in silence.
That silence only made the divine fury surrounding Hestia spiral further out of control.
— Hestia, please-
The Dungeon exploded again as Hestia's foot slammed against the back of his head, smashing him face-first into the floor hard enough to crater the stone beneath him.
BOOOOM!!!
She struck him again.
BOOOOM!!!
And again.
BOOOOM!!!
Each blow shook the entire Dungeon, carrying none of the restraint expected from a goddess. Hermes could no longer even raise his head, blood spreading beneath him while the surrounding gods watched in grim silence.
Because they understood. Hestia truly intended to kill him.
— You took him from me.
Another impact widened the crater.
— You convinced me to let him go.
BOOOM!!!
Tears mixed with the unstable radiance surrounding her body.
— And now you dare beg mercy for your Familia? What about my family…? My Luki…
For an instant, the divine pressure spiraled completely out of control.
Hestia grabbed Hermes by the hair and violently lifted him from the crater, his face covered in blood and barely recognizable beneath the damage she had inflicted. Still, he refused to resist.
She pulled him close enough for their foreheads to nearly touch.
— You said you would accept any punishment.
One of her hands rose toward the air in clawed shape.
— Then this is your punishment.
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then Hestia felt them.
The countless bonds connected to Hermes spread throughout the world through his Falna. Across Orario, the Dungeon and distant lands alike, people suddenly collapsed clutching their chests as invisible pressure crushed their hearts.
Panic spread instantly.
Inside the Dungeon, Hermes' expression twisted in pain as he felt every connected life trembling beneath Hestia's grasp.
— You took everything from me, Hermes.
Her fingers slowly began to close.
— So now I'll take everything from you.
Hermes closed his eyes, accepting it.
But before Hestia could finish, another hand suddenly seized her wrist.
— HESTIA!
Hephaestus stood beside her, holding her raised hand, breathing heavily as divine pressure tore through the air around them.
— Stop this right now!
— Move.
— No! Look at him!
Hestia tried to pull away, but Hephaestus grabbed her shoulders and forced her to turn.
— He's alive!
Hestia froze.
The overwhelming pressure flooding the Dungeon faltered instantly as disbelief crossed her face. Then, deep within her consciousness, she felt it.
A faint connection, weak, but unmistakable. A Falna, the only Falna she evwr gave.
Slowly, she turned toward the distant ruins where he had disappeared. Thin streams of glowing blue energy drifted upward from beneath the rubble before fading into the air.
— …Luki?
Without even looking back, Hestia hurled Hermes away and vanished.
BOOOOOOM!
The barrier of light shattered completely.
An instant later, she appeared beside the ruins and swept away the collapsed debris with a single motion of her arm, revealing the figure buried beneath.
Luki lay motionless on the ground, covered in blood, yet strangely unharmed. No wounds remained on his body, not even the most tiny scars, as though every injury he had suffered had disappeared completely.
Above his chest, a small blue flame quietly burned.
Hestia's voice trembled as she fell to her knees beside him. The divine aura around her fading away.
— Luki… can you hear me?
She pulled him into her arms immediately, relief and desperation mixing together as she felt the warmth of his body and the soft rhythm of his breathing.
But something was wrong.
His heartbeat was accelerating unnaturally fast, and the blue flame above his chest flickered stronger with every passing second.
— Hngh…
Luki suddenly grabbed his own chest, clawing at himself violently as blue smoke began pouring from his pores. At the same time, his hair slowly shifted color and started growing longer beneath the spreading blue glow.
— Luki?! What's happening to you?!
He couldn't answer. His body only trembled harder as the blue energy intensified around him.
For a moment, Hestia could only watch helplessly.
Then she had an idea.
Quickly lowering him onto the ground, she pressed her hands against the Falna on his back and let divine blood fall onto the markings. The symbols flickered weakly before dimming again.
— Why isn't it working…?
Then her eyes widened.
— Fucking Hephaestus' childish mind. The sword!
Luki's blade tore through the air and flew directly into her hand. The moment her blood touched the weapon, the runes engraved into the blade resonated with the one on Luki's back.
FWOOOM!
Blue light erupted across both markings simultaneously.
Hestia immediately began updating his Falna as divine text rewrote itself beneath her fingers at impossible speed. At first her expression remained tense, but little by little, shock overtook her face as she read the changes unfolding before her eyes.
— This… can't be…
In the distance, everyone watched silently, hoping for a miracle.
Then the entire Dungeon disappeared beneath an overwhelming eruption of blue light.
BOOOOOOM!!!
...
Luki walked beside the child version of himself through the endless white space in silence, both of them staring toward the massive light resting on the horizon.
Calling it a sun felt wrong.
The thing radiated warmth and light like one, but there was something deeply unnatural about its existence, something that made Luki instinctively uncomfortable the longer he looked at it. Even shielding his eyes barely helped.
— So… that thing brought me here?
— Probably.
— You say "probably" way too casually for something this absurd.
— We know so little, and I can deduce even less. This thing isn't natural here or to us, and it reacts every time I cross certain lines. Apparently, whatever is happening with us requires you to figure things out on your own.
Luki sighed tiredly and rubbed his face. He already doesn't like to think about problems, but what to do when the problem is on his own head?
— Still, there's one thing I know for certain. If you want to move forward, you need to understand your true desire.
— And how exactly am I supposed to do that?
— I don't know. Think about what you want.
— That's extremely unhelpful.
The child simply shrugged.
Luki fell silent after that, trying to organize his thoughts, but every answer that surfaced felt incomplete the moment he grasped it.
Strength? He wanted that, obviously, but don't?
Peace? Maybe. But he knew himself well enough to understand he would eventually get bored of a quiet life.
Freedom? Harem? Domination? None of it felt like the real answer.
The child watched him struggle for a while before speaking again.
— Since you seem to be having difficulty, let's simplify this.. Do you want money?
— What?
— Wealth. Riches. Luxury. Is that your desire? We understand that this isn't the answer, but say it anyway. Maybe it will help.
He thought about it seriously for a few moments before shaking his head.
— Not really. I mean, money matters, contrary to what idiots online liked saying. Life becomes infinitely worse when you don't have enough to eat or nowhere to sleep. But money itself isn't important. It's just a tool for buying things you need.
— Then maybe what you want is comfort. Perhaps you wish to return to Earth and live that peaceful life again.
— Not that either, I never cared much about having expensive stuff. As long as I had decent clothes, food, and enough comfort to live without headaches, I was fine. Hell, I spent weeks living inside an abandoned church here and barely complained.
He paused briefly before adding:
— Though… if I could go back to Earth just to eat modern food again, that'd honestly be divine.
The conversation continued after that, gradually drifting into deeper territory without either of them noticing.
The child kept asking simple questions while Luki tried answering honestly for the first time in a long while. What made his life meaningful? What made him happy? What keep him moving forward even with his life on the line?
At some point, the white emptiness around them began changing.
Grass slowly spread beneath their feet, soft and alive. Trees emerged in the distance while the blank sky above shifted into blue, clouds forming naturally as mountains rose along the horizon.
The empty world was taking shape alongside his thoughts.
The child eventually dropped onto the grass with a satisfied sigh, lazily moving his arms and legs against the ground.
— I'll admit, the void had its charm, but this is definitely nicer.
Luki barely reacted.
He remained staring at the distant sun-thing with a thoughtful expression, so distracted that he didn't even notice the changes happening to his own body as well.
The child watched him quietly.
'He's getting closer.'
RUMBLE!!!!!
Then suddenly, the entire world shook violently.
The sky distorted like disturbed water while the ground beneath them trembled hard enough to interrupt Luki's thoughts completely.
— What the hell?!
— Damn it… Hestia's updating your Falna. — The child immediately sat up, his expression darkening.
As if responding to those words, the sword hanging at Luki's waist began glowing with blue light. At the same time, the world around them started collapsing. Mountains faded apart into particles, the grass dissolved beneath their feet, and cracks spread through the blue sky above.
Luki stared around in alarm.
— Wait, what's happening?!
— You're waking up. Your Falna and Skills are updating all at once, and since you went so long without doing it, the drastic increase in power will fix all physical and mental problems, and you will wake up.
— Isn't that a good thing?
— Normally, yes. But if you leave now, this'll probably be the last time we can interact like this. You need to find your answer before that happens.
— What?! I was already having trouble getting some peace, and now you want me to do it under pressure?
Another violent tremor spread through the world.
Even the child was beginning to look nervous now. Then suddenly, his eyes widened as though realizing something.
— Touch it.
— What?
— That thing shining. If that thing really brought us here, then maybe it can show you what you're missing.
Luki hesitated, turning his head to the sun on the horizon and the child.
— That sounds unbelievably dangerous.
— And standing here complaining while reality collapses around us sounds smarter?
Before Luki could answer, another piece of the world disappeared into white nothingness.
So he ran. Straight toward the distant light.
The closer he got, the more unbearable the brightness became. It no longer felt like ordinary light, but something that pierced directly into his mind, bypassing his body completely.
Still, he kept going.
Then finally, when he felt close enough, he reached forward and touched it.
The moment his hand made contact, memories exploded through his mind.
Seeing Orario for the first time.
Looking up at Babel.
Meeting Hestia.
Entering the Dungeon.
Holding a sword.
Fighting monsters.
Nearly dying.
Laughing.
Discovering things that should not exist.
For the first time, Luki saw those moments from outside himself, and slowly he began noticing the common feeling connecting every memory.
The wonder, the excitement, the thrill of stepping into the unknown and finding something waiting beyond it.
It seemed like such fun, leaving home without knowing if you'd return, giving your life for something that might not even be worth it in the end, giving everything to achieve something.
The collapsing world around him faded completely back into white as understanding finally reached him.
— My wish… — His voice trembled slightly.
A smile spread across his face, a huge, genuine smile.
— I want…
Light exploded from all sides, emanating from his sword, from himself, from the sun in his hands; the white void was flooded by an intense light that seemed to blind everything.
— I WANT TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE!