Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - The Two Who Awoke

"... Well..."

His consciousness rose from the depths of the sea, and after an unknown amount of time, Trister finally awoke.

The first thing he saw was white light, a bit dazzling. He instinctively wanted to close his eyes, but... he couldn't.

"I... this is..."

He groaned softly; the air felt strange and dry as it passed through his throat.

I wanted to move my limbs, but I couldn't feel anything; it was as if my body consisted only of my torso.

He tried to move his eyes, but he couldn't even move them; his body was as if it were dead. He could see, hear, and think, but he couldn't do anything else.

Creak, creak, clang, clang.

Strange noises came from the side, but he couldn't see anything. A strange sense of danger sent chills down his spine.

"Hmph~ Hmph~"

Who is it?

It sounds like a clear, beautiful young girl's voice, yet it has a chilling, inorganic quality to it.

Could this be...?

"Julia... is that... you?"

"Hmm~~ That's right/Definitely."

"You... rescued me?"

"You got it right, so you should thank me properly /smug."

Julia was now beside him, looking down at him. Only then did Trister realize he was lying on his back. Julia had regained her original golden-ratio beauty, although most of her body was still not covered by artificial skin.

"Why..."

"What do you mean, why?"

While seemingly nonchalantly answering Trister's questions, Julia fiddled with some tools. Trister couldn't see what they were, but his ominous premonition grew stronger.

"I mean... why save me? Why... why not save Fisher?"

"The same question applies when reversed: then why should I save Fisher but not you?"

"Fisher is the leader of the Extra Weapon team, and also... the person Mr. Yu values most... Logically speaking..."

"Besides the fact that all the Extra Weapon are dead, what's the point of his 'team leader' status?"

"But..."

Trister still wanted to deny it.

If Julia hadn't saved him, he would definitely have fallen into Ye's hands by now.

But I don't know why,

He would rather be captured by Ye's gang than be rescued by Julia.

More importantly--

Julia came to his side again, lowered her head, and smiled at him.

It was a face with artificial skin stretched out, revealing a bizarre smile with metal teeth.

"Fisher may be more important in the grand scheme of things, but to me personally, you are far more important than him, and by a significant margin."

"...?"

Is it important to Julia?

In other words... I'm of great use to her?

What great use is it?

"I don't understand... what exactly do you want with me?"

"I just want your help, why are you so nervous?"

"..." Help?

What can I do to help right now?

"Actually, I've been eyeing your abilities for a long time. To be honest, it's such a waste to give you these abilities. You just tell the people on the planet your needs and let them figure it out themselves, which is why you're so inefficient! If you were a little smarter and clearly explained your research direction and methods, you could create a whole bunch of advanced gadgets that could wipe out humanity in no time!"

"I... I never thought of that..."

"That's because you're an idiot! You're an idiot, aren't you? You're an idiot, aren't you? You're definitely an idiot!!!"

Julia shook her head impatiently (her pupils turning crimson), then waved a thick stack of papers in front of Trister's eyes—

"Do you know what this is? -- No, no, no, don't answer! Anyway, your brain, which is smaller than a walnut, definitely wouldn't be able to utter a single fart -- What? You're saying brains don't fart? That's rhetoric, rhetoric, you idiot!"

"So, what exactly is this...?"

Trister had given up the struggle.

"This is the perfect legacy left by my supreme and great father! Combined with my additions and modifications, it has become the ultimate wisdom! Unparalleled romance! All the beauty in the world! But it is not yet complete. Even if I had the ability to perfect it, I don't have the time to work on it slowly. That's why I need you!"

"... You mean, you're entrusting my people with the task of perfecting your... uh... amazing inventions?"

"Looks like you're not completely hopeless after all! That's right, you're in charge of conveying my design proposal, overall concept, and everything related to it to them, and have them work overtime to get it done for me!"

"But..."

There's nothing wrong with doing this in principle, but Trister has a problem.

"To be honest, I don't think I can understand your great inventions. Communicating them well sounds easy, but putting them into practice would probably be..."

"Shut up! How could I not have thought of something that even your brain, which is smaller than a chrysanthemum, could think of? Clever and lovely Julia already has a solution! Tell me, how are you feeling right now?"

"I... can't move..."

"Can't move? That's normal, because you don't need to move."

Julia snapped her fingers, and a gigantic, oddly shaped machine suddenly floated above Trister —directly opposite him as he lay supine. A screen resembling a mirror appeared on the machine...or was that a mirror?

When Trister saw his reflection in the mirror, he nearly screamed.

He finally understood why he couldn't blink.

The head has almost completely disappeared.

The organs that should have been on the head were reduced to only the brain, left eye, right eye, and the area below the nose and above the chin, each submerged in four transparent jars filled with an unknown liquid. Furthermore, the brain and eyes were covered with wires, and the mouth was merely a hollow hole connected to a mechanically manufactured voice generator.

As for the remaining parts... unsurprisingly, the limbs were gone, the torso below the chest was gone, and the internal organs seemed to have all been removed.

To be precise, the only "original parts" left on Trister's body are his brain, eyes, mouth, and left chest; the rest are either gone or replaced by machinery.

Meanwhile, the "Trister Star remained safely in its left chest, rotating around its heart, with many cameras pointed at it.

"I removed everything except the area below the abdomen and above the thighs. To be honest, I was really surprised that you have both male and female primary sexual characteristics, so I cut that part off and preserved it. As for whether you can understand my knowledge, don't worry, you don't even need to look at these documents..."

Julia pointed to the tube inserted into his brain.

Tiny, worm-like microrobots crawled along the tubes toward the brain.

"I'll use these cute little gadgets to directly 'inject' knowledge into your brain!"

A few seconds later, Trister let out the most piercing scream of his life.

(... Um...)

As the darkness gradually faded, his clouded consciousness became clearer and clearer. After an unknown amount of time, Fisher finally awoke.

Having just regained consciousness, he had no idea what had happened; it took him a few seconds to come to his senses.

(By the way... I... failed...)

Recalling this fact, Fisher's heart sank. Yes, he had failed. He had the upper hand, he had victory in his grasp, but Urushihara, who had endured three billion suicide attacks and should have been dead, had not died. Haoyue, who should have been sealed away in another dimension by Casey and died of old age, had not died either.

Where exactly did the problem begin?

Despite meticulous planning, despite the fact that his and Dastan's abilities could counter almost all superhumans, despite—

No, there are no "what ifs" in this world.

Instead of dwelling on regret, it's better to think about what to do next.

First, figure out the current situation.

"Awake? Humph, you wicked fellow, you deserve to end up like this!"

(...?)

A smug-looking purple-haired girl approached him, hands on her hips, glaring at him.

It is Si Nan Ying.

Damn it, I've been captured after all.

(Hey, you--!?)

Fisher tried to speak, but found that he couldn't make a sound at all, and couldn't even open his mouth.

Or rather, he couldn't feel his own body at all.

What the heck!?

"Hey, hey-- Xiao Ye! Moon Girl! That Xiao Wu! He's awake! He's still alive even in this state, Xiao Ye is amazing!"

A few seconds of silence, and then,

"Coming... Don't rush me. Okay, your task is done. Go help in the kitchen."

"Ugh--Boring--"

"Hurry up and go!"

"Yes, yes, yes..."

The sound of running away, then the three people appeared.

No, he sensed their presence even before they reached Fisher.

A sense of oppression.

It was as if a helpless toddler had been thrown into a tsunami wave tens of meters high.

The overwhelming sense of oppression slowed down Fisher's thinking.

Fisher knew that feeling.

This sense of oppression is something only the absolute strong—those at the top—can experience.

Although Yu He never displayed the aura of a supreme expert in public, Fisher had sensed it from the other high-ranking officials.

Three people appeared before him.

A woman with long, peach-pink hair, wearing a red and black dress, and heterochromatic eyes.

A woman with long black hair, wearing a white cheongsam embroidered with black cloud patterns, and a long sword hanging at her waist.

A woman with long white hair, dressed in unrestrained punk-style clothing, and with cold eyes.

Each of them possessed an extremely terrifying aura; Fisher could almost see the space around them distorted.

Ye, who was at the head of the group, exuded a truly high-level aura of oppression, not inferior even to the deceased Madam and Blood Fiend.

The other two are slightly inferior, but their strength far surpasses that of Special Class Combatant. They would not be defeated even against high-ranking officials in a short period of time.

(They... their strength has been restored!? And... it's one thing for Ye, but why are Tartaglia and Urushihara so strong too?)

Fisher, of course, was unaware that Anubas had transferred most of the power of the Rakshasa True Word and the Truth Incantation to the two of them respectively. Although the amplification brought by those two powers had not been manifested before due to Yu He's contract, now...

(The President's contract has expired? How could that be...? No, it hasn't expired! It's just that they've already accumulated enough funds to return to their peak strength! The contract's restrictions have become meaningless!)

But why? Did they pocket all the money from the Extra Weapon? Transferring the deceased's property to one's own name involves many complicated procedures, and the final interpretation of these procedures rests with the Gray Starling Group. So, in theory, this is impossible!

What exactly did they do?

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