Chương 42: The Return and the Emptiness

Kurogami advanced with firm, agile paces through the dense vegetation, cutting through the pitch-black of the ancient forest beneath the final rays of dusk. He did not grant himself the luxury of stopping to rest. Physical fatigue weighed heavily on his shell after spending eight long, tortuous days trapped in the dark depths of that Gothic abyss, but the digital timer in scarlet letters ran implacably across his mental interface, marking the ten-hour countdown of the biological collapse. Every minute was precious.

His shadow half operated in the background, continuously consuming mana from his internal tank to knit and regenerate the tissues and ribs fractured by the fall. The lethal limit of his mortality was a constant reminder, but the urgency in his thoughts was dictating the tempo of his march during those nine hours of desperate running toward the capital. I need to reach them quickly. I want to at least be able to smile honestly at Selene before the system changes my mind...

As it turns out, this total loss is not impossible to be reversed in the future. I might be able to regain control of this if I ask a witch for help, but the contractual notes of the dark-covered book say that this witch belongs to another world... Or I can try to do something that greatly pleases the Goddess of the Void so that she fulfills a wish for me as a reward. But I highly doubt that entity would do such a favor for a person who wishes to kill her.

I performed that reincarnation ritual with a book alongside Selene and Astaria, but I didn't know which world I would appear in. I ended up reincarnating into the modern world and, later, was teleported into this current medieval isekai world. It's ironic how things happen: I died at sixteen as a King and came here at sixteen once again. The Goddess had nothing to do with my ritual and my reincarnation on Earth; she merely chose me now as a Constant because of my past as a King.

I still haven't understood what that means. The Game's skills are very good; I am becoming strong and I am already Diamond Rank. I only managed to evolve so much because of Selene, Liora, and Mireya... I used them to achieve this goal. Akari is a useless piece, but her mystery might make me discover more about the shadows. Now I cannot discard her and also her memories... she is not trustworthy. Mireya can still betray me at any moment. I can only trust Liora and Selene... No, I am wrong.

Liora is not trustworthy; she might be manipulating me. Only Selene... Only in her can I trust. I wonder what would have happened to Astaria... If they are not at the inn, they are at the training cave; I need to go there first. Night had already claimed the sky completely when Kurogami finally reached the entrance of the training cave, a comfortable, protected recess in the rock near the city. To his total surprise, he did not find an empty hall.

Inside, the welcoming warmth of a rustic campfire illuminated the damp walls, revealing the group gathered around the flames with countenances exhausted and dejected by their leader's eight-day disappearance. The second I crossed the entrance and my silhouette cut through the firelight, I fixed my focus on the visages present. The mage Selene, the assassin Liora, the healer Aurelia, and the warrior Lyra... all ordinary humans.

In contrast, the assistant Akari and the molecular alchemist Mireya are the only Nekos of that group. Mireya tinks with her reagent vials... her capability with Molecular Alchemy is absurdly good, even without any formal evaluation from this medieval world. So Selene truly did what I requested on the day of the kiss and brought Aurelia into the party... In the next millisecond, the environment exploded into a wave of relief and pure happiness.

Selene and the girls paralyzed in shock upon seeing him alive after the eight days of disappearance, and the scene split into three reactions with entirely distinct behaviors. Breaking all of her posture, the mage Selene ran crying desperately toward him with open arms. Right behind, Liora advanced maintaining her firm composure and the normal countenance of a cold assassin, exclaiming with pure loyalty:"Leader! You are alive!"

Meanwhile, Akari emerged jumping with joy, clapping her paws on the ground with her feline ears fully raised on top of her head, shouting euphorically:"Master, you came back!" The mage Selene approached closer, analyzing in shock the physical changes in Kurogami's shell:"What about this coat? It looks like wolf pelt..."

"This? I went through a lot of things and ended up doing some things... and I also brought the ores for our project."

"And this grey streak in your bangs?"

"Ah, yeah... I don't know, it just appeared, that was it. I think it was because of the pain of the fall." Selene collapsed into tears and emotion once more:"I am so happy... Those eight days you spent away, I thought you would never come back!"

"But I came back. Yes... just as I also promised you, Selene, that I would never abandon you all. I came back, Selene." Upon hearing the direct promise that he would never abandon them, Selene broke all of her rigidity, ran, and embraced me once again, crying out loud in pure relief against my chest. However, right in the middle of that warm contact, the ten-hour countdown reached absolute zero in my mind. My consciousness was instantly dragged into a dark trance.

Before my mind, my own shadow detached itself from the rustic ground and materialized as a dense, black smoke, with two brilliant red eyes flashing in the midst of the pitch-black. The creature of dark mist oscillated, echoing with my own gélid voice: The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"What do you think you are doing, Kuro? Do not trust them! Not even Selene!"

"I will not accept this from you. Put yourself in your place! I am you now, I have total control of this board, not you! I changed, I am not the same! Is there no way for me to change this? How do I reverse this? Leave me with at least ten percent of bodily emotions!" The dense mist of red eyes oscillated in the pitch-black of my soul, dictating the diagnosis with a cruel mockery through my own voice:"Reverse? Do not change the transition. Do not dare express bodily emotions... The Goddess did not fail.

She left twenty percent of your bodily emotions on purpose... This is merely a test of hers to see how you will react playing with a mutilated shell. You may not have lost everything now, but soon you will no longer be able to love. To reconfigure your soul and have the rest back, you would have to speak with a witch... but they do not exist in this ordinary medieval world; you would have to manage to cross through worlds and break the board's barriers."

Before despair could take over, the purpurine essence of Rina—the girl from modern Earth whose loss had shaped my own sanity—manifested as a protective force directly in my consciousness, revealing in her own glare that her soul remained engraved and fused to my existence across the eras.

With a snap of devastating mystical authority, Rina's energy expanded and banished the black smoke of red eyes once and for all, which began to rapidly dissipate in the pitch-black of the soul, releasing a final echo of defeat with my own gélid countenance:"Goodbye, King Kurogami... You have defeated me." The tender and painfully familiar voice of Rina echoed one last time in my thoughts, bringing comfort in the face of the pressure:"Kuro... You just need to resist.

I know it's a lot of pressure, but you are the strongest person I know, so don't give up." The trance closed instantly and the warmth of Selene's body was still there, but I felt my organism cool completely. The partial collapse and the divine test locked my face in a paralyzed rigidity of ice. No matter how much emotion I have... they will never exist in my body. I have always been like this, empty. A great emptiness in the soul. So it doesn't matter if I still have ten or twenty percent.

Wanting to keep the political and protection plan intact, I used my shadow mana in a mechanical way to force the maintenance of that smile of joy on my locked face, replying out loud to the three of them as I walked toward the campfire to sit down with them:"Yes, I came back, Akari, Liora, and Selene." The healer Aurelia was keeping herself cold and not at all joyful with my return, and her sister, the warrior Lyra, maintained the same silent distance near the stones.

In the corner, the molecular alchemist Mireya was in her normal behavior, tinkering with her rustic reagent vials.

"Did you bring the ores?" Mireya asked.

"Yes, I brought them. And I am happy to see you again, Mireya." The comfortable atmosphere lasted a few seconds. Lyra took a firm step forward, displaying a malicious and provocative smile:"Apparently, I heard that you made Liora dress up as a maid and say master several times, and then did things with her."

The maid business had never happened; it was merely a malicious gossip or distortion invented by the warrior Lyra to provoke and expose the paranoid and jealous thoughts of how the girls saw the hero behind his back. Using the remaining twenty percent as a controlled social mask, I decided to simulate emotions mechanically to play a trick on them and test the reactions of that harem.

"Ah, really?" Aurelia crossed her arms in the corner of the cave, narrowing her eyes severely:"So you really did it... I knew your kindness had a price, Kuro."

"Do I look that perverted?" Selene broke the embrace at the exact same instant, backing away with her cheeks red with irritation:"Yes, you actually look a bit like it! There was the moment when you had your face in my breasts... and you didn't even apologize properly!" Mireya wagged her feline tail with disdain in the background and agreed coldly:"You actually do." Liora, dying of embarrassment from the exposure of the rumor, quickly turned her face away and stammered:"You are my leader, so...

I won't say you are... but that at the inn was a misunderstanding!" Akari took a leap forward, puffing out her cheeks and raising her feline ears to defend her master tooth and nail:"Master is master! He is a good person! He would never force me to wear strange clothes!"

"Selene, the breast business was an accident. And it's normal for us to love each other, isn't it? You were supposed to trust me."

"But your actions prove otherwise!" the mage raged, irritated.

"You can't see a woman without already falling in love! How can I be sure that I am the only one?"

"Selene, that's not true. Wait... it is a little bit, but it's not that true. My type are women like you..." Upon hearing that direct phrase, Selene disarmed her irritated posture in the exact same millisecond, becoming all happy, proud, and silly around the flames, thinking she had won exclusivity in my heart. However, without any filter of shame due to the paralysis of emotions, I continued listing the names all at once with a rigid expression, throwing the bait to watch the circus burn:"... Also like Aurelia...

like Mireya... like Liora... like Queen Liria... like Commander Kaelia." The entire cave exploded before the shamelessness of that list. Upon hearing their names cited to their faces alongside queens and commanders I didn't even know personally, the reactions were immediate. The mage Selene let out a violent huff of hatred, spun on her heels, and marched furious out of the cave's central area. Aurelia and Mireya closed their countenances severely, looking completely sour-faced and puffing, with deep irritation.

In contrast, Lyra let out a loud laugh at the audacity, while Liora gave a giggle of pure nervousness in the corner. Akari remained standing before me, clapping her hands to the side and asking with expectation and an immense brightness in her demi-human eyes:"What about me, master? Am I also part of your ideal type?"

"You are almost my age, Akari... but for now, you are just a student to me. I accept you in the group, but I don't want any romance with you right now, so wait for now. That's it." Hearing the firm, protective, and sincere tone of a master, Akari accepted her position with respect and nodded her head in a cute way, knowing she needs to focus on training and wait for the right time, without being hurt. Aurelia and Mireya observed the balanced posture, relieved by the positioning.

I don't feel feelings for Akari yet, I cannot feel her that way. I have to focus on the others and on the mystery of her not having the memories... She is not trustworthy yet, I analyzed strictly inside my mind, keeping my dark eyes focused on the board. Ignoring the goddesses and focused on advancing my main piece of harem and power, I turned my static face directly in the direction of Lyra's sister, using my mask to access the vanguard move:"Aurelia, do you want to go on a date?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to. I have no reasons to go out alone with you."

"I'll pay."

"It's not a matter of money!" Aurelia raged, irritated by the static countenance.

"Do you think I'm a rental girlfriend? I have my own dignity!"

"I thought about going to buy some clothes in the city and wanted to buy some for you too."

"I'm not going."

"Please, go, it won't cost anything. It's just a short walk."

"Fine then..." the girl huffed, defeated and crossing her arms.

"You won by insistence. But don't think this changes things between us." This almost never fails... Persistence is a good weapon to go out with women. Suddenly, Selene, who was watching the entire scene from the corner of the rock with crossed arms and a sour face, took firm steps back in our direction. Her irritated countenance softened into a deep seriousness. She stretched out her arm, firmly held my wrist, and leaned her body forward.

"Let's talk, then," Selene said, her voice coming out in a low, cutting tone that made the other girls fall silent around the fire. The mage pressed her lips directly against my ear, discharging a whi sper laden with mystery, possessiveness, and intimate cumplicidade of past eras, definitively closing the board of that night:"I made Aurelia join."