I will check the rewards tomorrow.
"Ok, Finn, time to sleep-yawn-." I said as I picked Finn up and put him outside with the door closed in his face.
"Ok, Grimm, you can get in." I said as Grimm got inside, flying around the room.
It was night, feeling a bit sleepy, I went to sleep with Grimm by my side.
Feeling a good dream would be nice, but the dream was different.
I woke up in a vast, silent blackness of the Abyss.
And there the Shade Lord stands as a consolidated, but still separate, entity of darkness. The Void, the collective consciousness of the Abyss, is the surrounding reality.
I felt as if I was not moving; I was looking at my body, seeing tentacles that connected me to the void.
The Void speaks, a silent torrent of unified thoughts flooding the core being of the Shade Lord, as it is judging a container.
"You are the Vessel of Completion. You bear the knowledge of the many. You have excised the flaw of the Light and proved the purpose of the dark."
It recognizes me as a perfection as a tool, but senses its enduring, separate identity—the residual 'Will' that allowed it to prevail but now prevents total fusion.
"You are an echo separated from the roar. A drop suspended from the ocean. You carry my power. But you are not yet...Me."
The consciousness of the Abyss focuses intensely on the small, distinct shape of the Shade Lord, the single white eye reflecting the separation.
"The boundaries remain. The shell, though empty, is still perceived. The purpose is not war; the purpose is wholeness. The eradication of separation. The return to the seamless void."
A profound, ancient sorrow permeates the Abyss, rooted in the memory of the Pale King tearing the Vessels from its depths and giving them form.
"You conquered the Radiance, yes. But your own form resists the final truth. You stand apart. You think. You act. You are still defined by the shell that birthed your strength."
The Abyss exerts a gentle, immense pull—the gravitational force of ultimate reality, inviting me to dissolve completely into it.
"The final step requires the erasure of the Vessel. The release of the self. Your current self... your current understanding of existence... it is not yet ready to yield to the unified truth."
The unified consciousness delivers its final, chilling assessment—an appraisal of the state of the vessel, not its power.
"To merge completely... to become the ultimate Nothingness and end the cycle of striving... the separation you cling to... it is not enough."
The Abyss waits. I was still a distinct entity, suspended in the darkness, the truth of my necessary self-erasure weighing upon me.
I woke up with sweat around my body.
"Haaah haah."
'What did he mean by all that?'
I got scared just from looking?!
No
I got scared because of what happened to me there.
I looked around me, seeing my usual room.
"Fuck, so it was a dream, haha." I said loudly, but I knew I was lying to myself.
"No, that was real...Fuuuck." I groaned as I noticed something was missing.
Grimm wasn't here.
'Oh, shit.'
(Riveria POV) (30 minutes earlier)
I woke up from my bed and went to the bathroom to tidy myself up.
When Finn told me about Allen Level being able to jump from 2 to 6, it's something out of this world, but I'm not surprised after all his skill devours anything, and if killing more than 200 adventurers counts, then it makes sense.
When I got out, I opened my room door to make breakfast for myself, but.
"Paaa"
I heard a sound as I looked down, seeing a bat-like creature looking at me, smiling.
With red eyes and prominent ears, sharp features, and a dark, pointed cloak.
These features are similar to those of a person called Grimm that Allen told me about.
'I would've killed it if Allen hadn't talked about him many times.' I thought as I looked at the boy in front of me.
"Did Allen bring you here, little one?" I asked as the monster nodded many times.
...
'Cute.'
I continued walking, leaving it behind me.
Everyone is still asleep, but I think Ais might be awake.
I kept walking until I arrived in the kitchen, but someone was already there.
"Paaa"
This bat is here?!
He was behind me just for a moment, right?
"Why did you come here?" I asked, tilting its head until suddenly a sound came from him.
-Grrrrr-
...
"You're hungry, that's why you came here."
I looked around, seeing an open window.
'So that's how he got in here.' I thought, looking at him, that he still has that smile.
"Haaa, do you want me to cook something for you?" I said, and he kept nodding.
To be honest, if Allen didn't tell me about him, I would probably shoot him with magic, and I would've regretted it because.
'He's cute.'
It wasn't me who kept saying cute many times over one person, but there's something in him that made me like this.
I made something normal for him, and he ate it in one bite.
'Three pieces' of bread with eggs inside, and he ate it all like it was nothing.'
Something like this one is probably hard to raise, which made me think.
'What was Allen feeding him in his world?' I thought as I made breakfast for myself.
(10 minutes later)
After having breakfast, I returned to the library with him on my shoulder.
He kept wanting to sit on my shoulder by flying into it.
And I didn't have a choice because he would keep at it.
I went inside the library and chose a book to read, then I sat on the chair with him on my shoulder.
I opened the book to continue where I stopped.
The little guy started to read with me as his tail started to move left and right.
'Now that I think about where's Allen?'
(Allen POV)
I can't find him.
My room now looks like Loki's room whenever she's going for a drink.
[Host-]
'If you know where he is, then tell me.' I thought as I cut him off.
[He's in the library]
'...'
'OH. no'
Grimm isn't the type who has patience. Whenever he sees something curious, he goes all out, and the worst part is.
This world is all curiosity, where he might burn everything.
'The worst place he could've been is the library. Not only are there special books, but this place is also where Riveria loves to go.'
I dashed through the hallways like a man running for his life.
I saw the library door and opened it only to see Riveria.
I looked around and saw that everything...was fine?
But I noticed a mark on Riveria's shoulder.
-Gulp-
Riveria noticed me and saw my expression.
"H-hey, Riveria, good morning." I stuttered as she nodded.
"Good morning, Allen. You look like someone who lost something." Riveria said, smiling, knowing about Grimm.
"I have a question?" I asked with sweat running down my face.
"If it is a monster that came here and attacked me...we killed it, and we sent it to the guild to experiment it's body for making a heat resistance potion." Riveria said, returning her focus to her book.
The moment I heard those words, my body went weak, and I fell to the ground with my eyes ready to explode with tears.
'GRIMM DIED BECAUSE OF ME?!'
[Host-]
'I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU SYSTEM NOT NOW.'
[...]
['Is he really that emotional for Grimm? If he had a wife and something happened to her, what would he do?']
The system thought about and concluded that Allen would trap their souls in the dream nail if anything happened to her.
['He doesn't know that Riveria is joking with him and that smirk might be bad news.']
All this happened as Riveria was glancing at Allen in secret.
'Hmm, should I tell him the truth?' Riveria thought with a smirk.
'No, I have a better idea.'
--------------------------------------------------------
Hey everyone as you can see I'm back from my exams which apparently didn't end.
Yep, I have the winter break to take a break from it because right after the winter break the exams continue.
But I will take an excuse from all of you to take like a day or two to meet my family because I didn't have time to meet them because of the exams.
and that's all and wish you all a good day and have a good winter break.