Chương 40: The Tear and the Goddess Game

Seven full days had passed since the mission in the cave of Ithrya, when Kuro had plunged into the dark rift of the abyss. That same night, the penumbra of the central inn's quarters seemed to suffocate Aurelia's thoughts. Lying on the room's bed, she stared at the wooden ceiling in the midst of total paranoia, her mind muddled from the instant she had begun to feel disconnected flashes regarding her own existence. It's as if I am a book and pages are missing... Who am I truly? Who is Kuro?

Why am I here in the kingdom of Ithrya when what I feel for him is pure fear? I am the adored chosen one of the Goddess Ariana, but... I don't really believe in her. It's as if I am just a small, insignificant piece on a larger chessboard. Who is moving the gears? The cold dawn gave way to sunrise in the capital of Ithrya. In the bustling dining hall of the lodging, the group of women gathered around the rustic wooden table to plan their tasks in that predominantly female world.

The paladin and mage Selene adjusted her light garments, yawned, and calmly notified the group:"I am going to rest all day today. We need to recover our energies before any new movement." Akari, who was beside her, reached out in a hurry, grabbed the clay mug, and took a generous gulp of the coffee Mireya had prepared. In the exact same millisecond, the Neko jumped from her chair, twitching her feline ears while wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Uhhh, hot!" Recovering from the fright, Akari slammed her hands on the table and stared at the paladin with a completely spoiled expression, initiating the biggest tantrum in the world in the dining hall, stomping her feet on the floor and whimpering loudly to break the leader's resistance.

"No, no, no, no! We are going to the guild right now to pick up a mission, Selene! It has to be a mission near the ancient forest, where master fell! Mistress, please, we need to look for him!" Selene looked at the teenager's pouting face and ended up laughing at the Neko's insistence, giving in shortly after. Mireya and Aurelia, who acted as efficient support for the group, counter-attacked immediately.

"I am not going," Mireya declared from the counter, entirely serious while handling her molecular alchemy vials.

"I am not going either," Aurelia manifested from the corner, adjusting her garments with a shiver running down her spine. Lacking patience for the contestations, Akari spun her body with speed and landed a direct, dry punch straight into Aurelia's stomach. The impact caused Aurelia to instantly lose her breath, collapsing to her knees on the wooden floor, coughing and trying to regain her breath. Liora and Selene observed the scene and cracked up laughing at the Neko's explosive temperament.

Liora adjusted her posture at the back of the corridor and exclaimed between fits of laughter:"Why so much violence, Akari? Although it was well deserved!" Beside them, Lyra took a firm step forward, initially irritated by the aggression against her sister. She arched her eyebrows and yelled out loud:"How dare you do that to her?!"

In the next millisecond, seeing Aurelia's grimace and Akari's triumphant pose, Lyra couldn't handle the chaotic atmosphere; she turned her face to the side and began to laugh out loud as well, dissipating the morning seriousness of the dining hall. After the commotion, the group marched together out of the inn. At the exact second the women stepped onto Ithrya's street, reality cut sharply into the dark depths of the subterranean abyss, exactly seconds after the Boss's petrification.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Kuro remained standing before the solitary stone table in the hidden chamber, supporting Reina's body with his left arm. His dark eyes focused on the perfectly lit screen of the functional cell phone that gleamed in the pitch-black, displaying the textually clean title: Goddess Game. Amidst the tremors that caused dust to fall from the galleries due to the collapse of the defeated monsters, Kuro acted with speed.

He extended his free right hand, grabbing the device and the ancient dark-covered book that rested beside it. Out of pure military paranoia and veteran mistrust, Kuro stared at the device with disdain before moving. I don't trust anything that comes from that entity. This device could explode at any time on purpose or be a tracker. It's better to keep this tucked far away from me.

Acting on this survival logic, Kuro opened the rustic backpack he had made with abyssal wolf pelt and threw the device and the book inside, mixing them among the heavy ores and the Orichalcum so they would remain isolated. He picked up Reina firmly and resumed his run at full speed through the damp galleries, fleeing the cave-in. Within the isolation of the escape tunnels, his partner's debilitated voice broke the silence.

"Kuro... what do you want to do when we get out of here?"

"I still don't know what to do..." Kuro broke down, his voice strained by the effort and anguish, revealing the blind knot that fried his brain.

"I love the current Selene... the Rina who passed away on Earth... and I know Aurelia is alive in that world and she is nearby. I feel like I can make Selene and Aurelia remember the versions of them that I knew, because both are close by in this region of Ithrya... But if it doesn't work, Rina won't return unless I truly turn back time. I don't know what decision to make. I need answers; I need to evolve to find out what to do."

Reina blinked her heavy eyes, her breath weak against his shoulder as tremors shook the stone tunnel.

"So you prefer to erase everything you've lived through until now just to be able to rewrite the past on modern Earth? You prefer to erase the kiss and the devotion that the current Selene feels for you?"

"I love her..." Kuro confessed, spotting the crevice of natural clarity emerging at the end of the stone corridor.

"At least... I want to love her. I feel attracted to her. But my feelings are fading away bit by bit because of all of this... Still, the feelings fading away won't change the fact that I will always love her. But I don't have the power to change the past yet. While I try to find a way out within the Goddess Game, I will protect Selene, Aurelia, and the other current girls. I want to have other chances and reach other ends on this chessboard."

Reina closed her heavy eyes, listening to his venting as the natural clarity of the sun emerged at the end of the stone corridor. Before breaking through the deep exit barrier, Kuro lowered himself with dexterity, pulled the straps of his wolf-pelt backpack containing the minerals onto his back, and finally stepped onto the surface, under the natural sunlight at the mouth of the ancient cave.

Sheltered by his arms under the solar clarity, the total loss of internal mana caused Reina's body to suffer the collapse of biological drain. The temporary adult human form she had assumed for the fight dissolved completely, and she rapidly shrank until returning to her standard normal size, which was exactly Akari's adolescent stature—the same form as when Kuro had originally found her. With that debilitated body, she offered a weak smile:"At least... I managed to see the light...

Kuro, I am going to turn into a crystal so I can recover my energies and go back to sleep..." Right after her words, her body dissolved entirely into particles of purple energy and condensed into a gleaming purple crystal upon the palm of his hand, entering a forced hibernation. Kuro tucked the gem into the pocket of his coat and remained still for a few seconds at the mouth of the deep cave, staring into the deserted immensity of the ancient woods.

His face was one hundred percent locked due to the sixty percent of lost humanity, but the weight of the loss pierced the rigidity for a single millisecond, allowing him to shed a single, solitary tear for Reina. The tear vanished into the glow of the pocket. Kuro took two steps to the side at the stone entrance, opening the wolf-pelt backpack right there to analyze the device's data before advancing into the dense woods.

Upon opening the backpack, the device's interface lit up, displaying an unexpected notification on the screen, flashing in direct response to that pure spark of feeling he had demonstrated: [Special Notification: Recovery of Humanity Detected] [The emotional trigger generated a rustic spark within the hollow shell. Current Humanity restored to 50%] Kuro analyzed the notification out of the corner of his eyes and advanced to the King's Updates interface, which displayed the following data: [Current Level: Diamond / Class: Assassin, Alchemist, and Shadow] [New Skill Acquired: Shadow Step – Level 1] Effect: Traverse short distances, vanishing and reappearing up to 3 meters away. Cooldown: Once every 10 minutes. [Biological Modification Updated: Current Humanity at 50%. Facial rigidity partially softened. Emotions partially suppressed] Right below the rustic notifications, the system's brackets began to flash frantically across the lower interface, revealing the immediate mechanical threat: [System] Congratulations, Constant. You have defeated the Shadow Queen. [System] First-kill reward granted. [System] The Registration Terminal will remain active for 30 minutes. [System Warning] Temporary Registration Terminal activated. Time remaining until self-destruction: 00: 30: 00.

Kurogami locked his dark eyes onto the display, and a flash of cold irritation crossed his thoughts as he read the countdown warnings from that divine entity. So this device really is going to explode in thirty minutes on purpose. I knew nothing coming from that goddess could be trusted. I predicted the danger before even laying a hand on this. The timer kept ticking down in an accelerated countdown on the rustic screen, gleaming and reflecting in his opaque pupils under the sun at the mouth of the cave.

He slid his finger to enter the device's main menu, and the icons of three locked applications reluciram before him: Ranking, Register of Constants, and Ascension. The chapter closed exactly on that image, with Kuro staring at the three applications ready to be clicked against the thirty-minute clock. Who am I truly in this second version? Who is Aurelia truly in this third version of hers? I need to evolve. I am going to evolve to the absolute maximum.