Chương 19: Tokyo Has Six Months

Soren sat in front of the terminal. When he hit Enter, he felt a slight hesitation; the System was pondering whether it should cooperate with something it could not classify. The System continued to process, until the data appeared on the screen.

At the top, graphs appeared, and on another side, diagrams with a lot of information; at the bottom, some geographical distributions were represented, as well as frequency analyses over time, along with severity classifications, and finally, in the center, the response times appeared. Soren began to analyze the patterns and concentrated to achieve his maximum performance. His analytical capacity was indeed surprising; he managed to scan all that information in just 4 seconds.

An experienced WID analyst would need a week to analyze all of that. Soren stood motionless; he quickly realized that those rifts were not random. The System assumed the same, for judging by those analysis notes, the dimensional instabilities ought to be unpredictable, governed by forces far too complex for the Japanese reality. But those dimensional rifts seemed to have a structure that linked them together. Soren concluded that the rifts were forming a pattern, a pattern resembling a spiral.

For he was someone who had spent centuries studying the spaces between dimensions, anomalies, traps of extradimensional forces, and who had learned to read a language of reality when it tore apart. Thus, it became complicated to describe the degree of Soren's analytical experience. It was the same spiral he had seen in Shinjuku, that is, the same signature he had recognized, but with one major difference: this pattern was much larger. With his fingers on the keyboard, he typed:"Show a frequency progression."

The System obeyed without hesitation, and it began to appear on the graph. First month: 47 dimensional rifts. Second month: 62 dimensional rifts. Third month: 89 dimensional rifts. Fourth month: 134 dimensional rifts. Fifth month: 201 dimensional rifts. Sixth month (the current one): 287 dimensional rifts. The growth is exponential; that was what the progression was portraying, it was the classic pattern of a dimensional degradation.

The kind that appeared when something pressed against the barriers from the other side of reality. Soren seemed to be completely in tune with the process he wanted to achieve. Without looking at the keyboard, he began to type once again:"Overlay the geographical distribution onto the historical points of instability."

And the map transformed completely; the dimensional rifts clustered around locations that had been significant throughout centuries of history—places like ancient temples, sacred mountains, and also places where the borders between worlds were naturally thinner. And at the center of it all was MinouseMart; those were precisely the coordinates where Soren had sealed a Class B dimensional rift days ago. That pattern, starting from that point, resembled ripples on the surface of a lake.

Soren leaned back and widened his eyes.

"I am at the center," he murmured.

"I have been at the center the whole time." And suddenly, the System didn't wait for him; an analysis appeared on the screen: System Analysis Pattern recognition: Confirmed. Focal point: 35. 6588º N, 139. 7010º E. (MinouseMart, Shibuya District) Correlation: Presence of Entity C7. Duration: Three years and two months. Start: The pattern began when Entity C7 arrived in Tokyo. Acceleration: The pattern accelerated when the entity used its power. Conclusion: Entity C7 is not responding to the dimensional rifts.

The dimensional rifts are responding to Entity C7. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. System Recommendation: Do not attack, do not be aggressive. Secondary Recommendation: Please, seriously. Tertiary Recommendation: This time we are really serious. Soren stood open-mouthed as he looked at the analysis. During those three years, he had been hiding, living his life—a life appreciated by no human with a shred of sanity.

It had been three years of suppressing his power and his presence, and trying to go unnoticed by everything around him. And during all that time, his mere existence had been destabilizing the reality around him. Yes, the crown wasn't just sealed inside him; even dormant, it influenced slowly, with enough consistency to create an impact on the dimensional barriers. Ever since Soren had arrived in Tokyo, it had been attracting the kind of attention that manifested in the form of dimensional rifts.

And he hadn't counted on that, because during this time, Soren Vonesdar had been broadcasting a signal to the universe. Wasting no time, he typed on the keyboard once again:"Show me the projections if this pattern continues." The System took a processing pause, the screens emitted a signal longer than normal, and then it appeared on the screen. Restricted projection. Current trajectory: Month 7: Approximately 430 dimensional rifts. Month 8: Approximately 645 dimensional rifts.

Month 9: Approximately 967 dimensional rifts. Critical threshold: Month 12: Projected dimensional rifts, approximately more than 3, 000. Rift classification: Multiple Class A, potential Class S. (Dimensional stability in Tokyo is highly critical.) System Note: The projections assume an absence of intervention. With the continued presence of Entity C7, the actual timeframe may be shorter. Warning: This data is classified. Do not share under any circumstances. Note: We are really serious about this one.

In month 12, six months from now—it would be fewer months if he were to use power seriously again, and fewer still if something or someone were deliberately accelerating the dimensional barriers. Elian knew this; that was why she made the call. She wanted to warn him, to show Soren what his presence was doing to the world, the same world she also wanted to protect. She had said:"Look at the patterns of the dimensional rifts; the System isn't broken, it's terrified of you."

Soren took a deep breath, because now, she was right. But he knew her very well, and she was probably using that fear to justify whatever she was planning for her next move. Soren clicked the button and closed the terminal. That data didn't leave his mind. All the numbers, all those patterns, and the countdown whose existence he had been unaware of until tonight. Tokyo couldn't fall like this.

He had two choices: he could leave at the snap of his fingers and disappear once again, taking refuge in a completely remote place where his presence wouldn't destabilize population centers, such as Antarctica or even the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Somewhere dimensional rifts could open without killing anyone. The other option was to stay, understand, and discover what was accelerating the timeline, decipher what Elian was planning, and figure out if Voyéd, the Void King, was returning.

The first option was, indeed, the safest and easiest to execute, but it wouldn't solve anything for humanity or the universe, as the rifts were clustering at weak points, and in Tokyo, three years of constant pressure had already worn them down, and the holes remained in Tokyo.

The second option was what could be understood as the necessary option, and if Elian was right, if it was Voyéd who was using the instabilities, running away to just anywhere would only delay the inevitable, and Tokyo would be left without anyone to fight overly powerful enemies. Better to fight here, better to face the threat head-on, because it's better to fight with the information one has than to avoid the inevitable. For in using his superpowers, there are associated costs.

The increased integration of the crown. Soren sighed. He thought of Mrs. Sachiko, the lady had always been kind, she would bring him miso soup when he fell ill, the relationships he had at his job had already become a meaningful routine, for now Aiko had a podcast, and his old boss who is seeking a peaceful retirement, gave him a certificate of the month, and a whole world, all the families just want to live a life in peace and happiness.

Eva, that kid who saw too much, she was special, the way she looked at him was different, she is a kid with enormous potential. He left the analysis room and walked the empty corridors once again. By 3: 30 AM, Soren had already missed the bus. He reached the elevator at 3: 32 AM, and at 3: 34 AM he arrived at the building's lobby, where the security guard, who looked more like a sumo wrestler, wrote down his departure time by hand.

By 3: 35 AM, Soren was already outside a building that had only two stars on Google Maps. He began to look around at that city that never slept, unaware of how fragile it had become. In his pocket, his phone vibrated. At that hour, it could only be the Director, or else Elian reaching out from a clandestine server. Soren took out his phone, and to his astonishment, it was Eva who had sent a text message.

"I can't sleep, something wrong is happening in my mind. The System is showing me strange things, things like patterns or something. Can you see them too?" Soren read the message a second time; that child shouldn't be able to see System data, let alone interpret it. Without delay, he began typing a message.

"What kinds of patterns?" The kid replied immediately.

"Patterns like spirals, everywhere. Like something is coming to Tokyo." Eva was seeing everything; she could see it all completely naturally. That unusual perceptive sensitivity was no joke. Eva was connected to all of that; she was connected to the dimensional rifts, now to the pattern, and probably to something that was pressing against the barriers of reality. Soren typed once more.

"Look, you should stay at home. I will explain when I can." Without much delay, the kid replied.

"But do you know what it means?" Soren replied to her:"I am trying to find out." Still with the phone in his hand, he continued walking down the street, and a few minutes later, Eva sent another message.

"Alright, be careful, Mr. Gas Leak." Soren put the phone in his pocket and looked ahead at that noodle cart, which was releasing a tempting aroma for anyone passing by—especially tempting for someone who had spent his night off working. He observed that group of office workers, already ready to enter a nightclub; the ones in the back were hugging and talking loudly as if they had hearing problems. That group moved with a stagger, as if a great gust of wind were constantly sweeping through that street.

Being careful is, indeed, excellent advice. At the end of the sidewalk, a young man hurried out of a building, tripped on a step, and knocked over the bags of noodles that a couple was taking home to watch the latest episodes of "Steel Ball Run".

"Damn it! You have to be careful, boy," the man said loudly. It was unlikely that Soren would follow the advice.