Chương 186: Chapter 185 - Pangea (LXIV)

Give everything? I wonder how many of them truly grasp the weight of those words. As for me… hmm… I'd give everything for Mom and Ayu. The world inside The Tower may be fake, but Ayu? She's here and she is real. I glance at her briefly, standing beside me, her sword grip resting against her heart. I guess we've fulfilled the second favor. I send a wave to Lukas." I only caught the second half, but nice speech." He stays focused on the group, his expression serious, but responds with a wave."

Cheers for the feedback. I'll save you a front-row seat for my next motivational gig." I can't help but let out a faint chuckle. How does he manage to say something like that with such a straight face—and in front of all these people? I don't know if he'll be a good leader, but damn, he would've been the perfect politician back on Earth. I smile, lowering my sword as the others do the same, and turn to Ayu. We exchange a small nod." Alright, we'll be taking our leave. Good luck with the rest," I send him." Luck?

Alright, I'll take it. See you once I get this on track," Lukas replies, his tone holding that mix of seriousness and casual ease he always seems to balance. And with that, we leap away, leaving Lukas to manage the follow-up. I can't deny I'm a bit curious about what comes next—how he'll break the news about Chiara, or Rakesh's squad death, or even the new weapon. Well… whatever it is, I'll see the results when they come.

"What do you think?" I ask Ayu.

"It was good. I like the focus he gave it," she says, her tone thoughtful. Then, she looks at me, her expression shifting.

"But… do you think it's not worth living in this fake world?" Huh? No way. Ayu had the exact same thought as me?! I laugh, shaking my head as I move in front of her. She pauses, looking up at me with a curious smile.

"That's one part we both seem to disagree on. Real or fake, as long as you're here, I want to live to my heart's content." I reach out and gently caress her cheek with my hand.

"I want to live too," she says softly.

"I can sacrifice my comfort, my pride—but I still want to live by your side. All the way to the end. All the way back to Earth… I want to be with you." She leans up on her tiptoes and presses a soft kiss to my lips.

"Remember the promise you made me." The promise? Oh… I nod, holding her hands in mine. Unfortunately, the gauntlets block the warmth of her touch, but it's enough.

"I know." She nods, looking ahead.

"Alright. I suppose you'll be starting your training. I'll check on Chiara and focus on mine too. I'll stick to training just outside the cave until she's better." Chiara. For a moment, I'd almost forgotten about her.

"How is she? Any improvement? Does she recognize you?"

"Not right away, but eventually. She called my name and even hugged me out of nowhere. After that, I tried talking to her, but…" Ayu hesitates, her brows knitting together.

"She started acting like… like a kid? It was strange. The conversations were simple, like, ' You're good, Ayu,' or ' You have a pretty face.'" I can't help but chuckle.

"Well, for once, I have to agree with Chiara." Ayu shoots me a pout, but it doesn't last. Her expression shifts again, this time growing more worried.

"But… it's hard seeing her like that. And… as time went on, it got… even worse." My eyes narrow slightly, but I stay quiet, letting her continue.

"Well, at first, it was like a childish version of herself. But then… then she started criticizing herself. Saying she was pathetic, weak, useless, a murderer—just tearing herself apart. It was disturbing, really. She cradled herself, bent over, hiding her face behind her knees." What the hell…

"Ayu, why didn't you call me?"

"There was no danger, Alonso. And honestly, I don't think you being there would have been the right call. I tried saying something, tried to lighten it up, but it was useless. In that state, it was like she couldn't even register my words."

"Weird… and what happened after that? Did she pass out?"

"No… there was one more thing," Ayu said, her voice quieter now, almost disturbed. The fuck…

"There was another change. It happened while I was sleeping. I heard this noise, and when I woke up, I saw her against the rock face of the cave, writing on the wall with her tendrils. It was… I don't know how to describe it. Weird scribbles, scrambled symbols—just all over the place. I tried to stop her, to talk to her, but she just kept murmuring things I couldn't understand." What kind of horror movie is this? This is no normal breakdown, no matter how messed up it was.

"Do you remember what she wrote? Can you send it to me?" Ayu nodded, and the image flowed into my mind. Equations? Wait—these are Maxwell's equations. But there's something new—a term added alongside them. It doesn't replace anything; it builds upon the framework, subtly shifting its entire structure. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The term looks like it's introducing a time-dependent field—a coupling mechanism directly affecting the displacement current. It's subtle but powerful, implying some form of dynamic interaction that isn't part of classical theory. And then there are the integration limits… not infinite, but constrained. They're bounding the field to a localized region, yet the boundaries aren't fixed—they're dynamic, shifting.

It's almost as if she's describing a self-regulating system, an electromagnetic field confined to a specific area but adapting over time to maintain equilibrium. Chiara… what the hell were you trying to create? I shake it off. I will discuss it with Houston later. He is probably digging into it right now.

"And what did she say? The words she murmured."

"It was… three words, over and over again," Ayu replies, her voice uncertain.

"One was'stable,' another was'resonance,' and the last one… was'equilibrium.'" Stable, resonance, unity.

"Strange… I understand a bit of the stuff she wrote. It's about electromagnetic wave propagation dynamics. I'll think it over later," I say, letting the thought linger for a moment before setting it aside. Ayu nods softly, but the unease in her expression is unmistakable.

"I can help with Chiara today," I offer, gently holding her hand.

"You can take a break. Don't push yourself too hard."

"It's fine," she says, her eyes dancing with mischief.

"But really, you playing caretaker to a helpless young woman? Alonso, you're mine—let's not start any misunderstandings." I stare at her, her playful expression lighting up even more. Alright, touché.

"Being possessive, are we?" I pull her closer, leaning in just enough to feel her breath on my skin.

"I like it." Her teasing smile doesn't falter—it dares me to go further. So I do. I grasp her waist, pulling her tightly against me, and press my lips to hers. The kiss deepens quickly, our tongues battling for dominance, her warmth consuming me entirely. The heat builds, searing and undeniable. But… now's not the time. We part, and my eyes linger on her wet, glistening lips.

"Alright," I say, my voice slightly lower than usual.

"I'll leave you to it. Anything you need, just message me." She shakes her head, a mock sigh escaping her lips.

"That's the seventh time you've said that, silly."

"Well… seven. The number's getting into our heads, isn't it?"

"It's a good number," she replies with a smirk, her tone suddenly teasing.

"You know, now that I think about it—can you imagine having seven kids?"

"Seven kids?!" I burst out laughing.

"Managing seven little Ayus might actually be harder than climbing The Tower."

"Hey!" she elbows me—not so softly—in the stomach.

"Ow, okay, okay. Fair enough," I say, holding up my hands in surrender.

"Anyway, I'll be on my way. Take care and…"

"For god's sake, don't say it again." My mouth snaps shut mid-sentence. Yeah, I wasn't going to…

"Today, same time as two days ago. Prepare for the spar," she says, her tone turning sharp but her smile mischievous. I blink.

"Oh, glad you remembered." She narrows her eyes, the mischievous smile widening.

"It'll be fun." I chuckle, giving her one last wave before we part ways, heading in different directions. So, I guess it's time for some VR fun." Houston, what's up? Did you manage to check Chiara's scrambling?" A soft sigh comes through, and his response is short." Come here first. We'll talk then." That didn't sound good… I head back to the cave, lying down on the bed and closing my eyes. The familiar shift washes over me, and the world changes.

I'm now standing in front of a somber, lab-coated version of myself, his arms crossed and his expression unusually grim.

"Bad news, I suppose?"

"Time will tell, I suppose," Houston says, his tone measured.

"For now, hear me out. You can do whatever you want afterward."

"Alright, I'm all ears."

"First, let me point out how freakishly groundbreaking Chiara's work is. I can't even begin to describe how insane—and utterly genius—you'd have to be to come up with something like that. She's basically trying to expand human knowledge on quantum electrodynamics to account for all the unexplainable phenomena tied to the Pillar… and she's onto something. I mean, Chiara might be awful as a person, but as a scientist? She's in a league of her own.

Honestly, even I can't compare—she's really, really—""Sounds like you've got quite the love-hate relationship with her, Houston," I interrupt with a grin, trying to lighten the mood. His expression remains deadpan.

"This is serious, Alonso. Take it seriously. Because if my hypothesis is correct, Chiara is undergoing a mutation." A mutation? My grin fades as my face hardens. Like Ayu? Like me? But… well, that would explain the erratic behavior.

"I don't know if I mentioned this, but mutations, as you can imagine, can go either way—be a blessing or a curse. Unless, of course, the entities behind The Tower decide to meddle and tip the balance in one direction or the other. In Chiara's case, if what I've deduced is correct, her mutation is both—a curse and a godsend, wrapped into one."

"A god-sent power? Quite the words… So, what do you think it is?"

"Instead of giving you my hypothesis, I'll tell you what she's trying to do, and you can take a guess," Houston replies, his tone calm but laced with gravity. On with the cryptics... I nod, motioning for him to continue.

"According to the direction her equations were going, Chiara's intent is to somehow enforce a stable equilibrium from several decoherent sources. Now, that may not sound too hard, right? But the problem is that these decoherent sources are mutually dependent, and all of them seem to be linked to a complex mathematical model that aligns very well with what I understand from the Pillar." My eyes widen. Wait… different sources… linked to the Pillar… the fractured mental states…

"Chiara's mind is fractured into several parts?!"

"That's also my guess," Houston says sharply.

"But of course, this cannot happen naturally, which leads to the conclusion that it is indeed a mutation and validates some of my previous hypotheses. Now, more information would be needed, but all the data we have points to that being by far the most likely scenario."

"Let me explain so you can grasp how insane this is. Let's use your case as a reference. Me and Darius—we weren't born from your mind fracturing. We were additions to it, a set of independent neural pathways attached to the Pillar. The key here is independence. We don't directly affect you. In fact, you've seen it yourself—I can literally die, and you would still function without any issues."

"Now, according to Chiara's approach, the sources she is analyzing—her fractured parts—are dependent. That means they're interconnected, directly influencing one another. And since she's treating each as decoherent, they're not even aligned. It's essentially a tangled mess. If one collapses, it'll drag the others down with it." The hell…

"But… but then…"

"How is she even alive? Good question. I don't know." Houston pauses, his tone darkening.

"But that's not even the craziest part. The craziest part is that, even in that broken state—where there should be no order, no rational thought—Chiara, subconsciously or not, is trying to revolutionize quantum electrodynamics theory. She's attempting to achieve an impossible state of coherent equilibrium inside her mind by—by taking into account the fucking Pillar." I swallow hard, my throat dry. I stare at Houston, and his unflinching gaze tells me everything.

"So… so this thing… if it works, then… then what?"

"If this works? Then a monster will be born."