[MA] 395. Way Too Nervous (Patreon)

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[A/N: Chapters this week: 1/3 (a late chapter!)

Next chapter: Thursday]

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E'livia woke up to her soul shaking like a bagatisk. It took her a moment to notice there was a pattern to the trembling. It was meant to shock her awake without actually injuring her.

By that point, she had already gone a little wild with the one doing their best to wake her up.

She couldn't be fully blamed. Anyone would use their full force if they woke up with their soul under "attack." So, she deployed her domain and used it to kill the one "attacking" her. The target resisted her domain's direct attempt to squish him, so she locked him in place and went for his head and heart—as she detected he was a biological biped. Her right hand pierced a robe, skin, flesh, and bone. It held the target's heart and turned it into pulp. Her left hand went for the brain—

Oh, she didn't have a left hand any longer. One didn't simply heal from an injury caused by a Prophet using Void Energy. She would need assistance with that.

The lack of a hand grounded her back in reality, and she realized what was going on. So, she knew she wasn't entirely to blame. There was no questioning it.

And yet, she hated the feeling of extreme guilt already eating her heart away.

It had been bad enough after she lashed out against the Outsider for being annoying. Lashing out like that was normal back home, just part of her personality. The sect's formations would've triggered and protected everyone, and she would get punished for her initiative, not for actually almost killing someone.

But here...

It was his fault for looking at her like all those annoying boys back in the sect! Of course, it was!

But, kiles, she was feeling terrible already for attacking a mostly non-guilty—though annoying—guy. Now, she had crushed his kileng heart!

She wanted to say she was sorry, but she wasn't that stupid. Instead of immediately trying to make things right, she teleported away firstt. She still recalled the feeling of the spear approaching her head from behind. She still recalled his aura.

His Path.

The Outsider wasn't like her. In fact, he wasn't like any of the people in the Myriad Worlds, except maybe the Destiny Realization cultivators who fought the real wars instead of policing the World Tree's inner worlds. Everyone in the Myriad Worlds had grown up under the Gardener's care. They did fight and kill and die...

...but nothing that could turn someone into what she had felt in that Path.

Shen's very existence had been forged in conflict, quenched in blood, refined in lethal purpose. He didn't seem to realize how dreadful his Path was. How forceful and definitive. It had shocked her more than the fact that an aura could infiltrate the Third Spatial Boundary.

His Path had made her feel something new: a genuine fear of death. He would have killed her after her first attack because that's what he did. He was an executioner, a weapon of death, an unsheathed blade merely looking for an excuse to fulfill its purpose.

So, now, she retreated because she feared he would counter-attack after her mistake and kill her somehow.

He didn't. He couldn't, actually. She was still holding him with her domain, and he could do nothing to counter it—not without releasing his own domain, which he wasn't doing. She suspected he couldn't. Most who developed domains before mastering a Law couldn't push them into the outside world without breaking their souls.

"I'm sorry," she said. Meanwhile, she sent what remained of his heart back to its rightful place, inside the hole she created in his chest. The remains would make healing easier. "Will you attack me if I release you?" She allowed his mouth to move so he could answer.

"No," he replied and quickly added. "The Void orb. Can you get rid of it?"

E'livia looked around and felt the surroundings with her domain. Heavens, that Outsider made her unable to think straight! How could she ignore an Ignited Void Insertion Point like that?!

She put her guard up, looking for the Prophet and preparing to flee in the opposite direction when she found it. Feeling the weak Axioms in the area gave her a bad feeling; what had the Prophet done while she was unconscious?! Failure to detect her foe made her so anxious she almost didn't hear the Outsider's following words.

"The Gardener erased the Void Prophet from existence," he informed. "From what I understood, the Prophet tried to kill the Gardener. For some reason, the Gardener didn't like it. Now, focus. Can you get rid of the orb?"

E'livia didn't doubt the boy. The story was too outlandish to be made up. Moreover, the Gardener's intervention could explain why the local Axioms had weakened. She could only thank the Gardener for saving her life—again. Even if only in vengeance for the Void's attack, not for her.

"Yes, I can, of course," she replied. "It'll take a while. I won't be able to move while doing it. I mean, I can move during the Cleansing, but I'll have to start over. Don't even think of using it to attack me. I'll be able to protect myself."

Heavens, she hoped he didn't kill her. What was her Dad thinking when she sent such a monster with her? Even if the Outsider didn't kill her, hadn't her Dad heard sheltered girls like her fell in love with bad boys all the time? What if the Outsider had a dragon Engraving going from one arm to his back, a phoenix Engraving going from the other arm to his back, a black wyrm leather jacket, and rode a golden-horned red and blue qilin? What if he gave her a ride on his qilin as they fled the Myriad Worlds to explore all of Reality together, just the two of them?

Of course, she would rather die than marry outside the sect, but her Dad would lose her girl all the same! He was crazy! This was madness!

E'livia glanced at the Outsider. He was rather dashing. She was so used to white, golden, and bronze-skinned people that his dark blue skin made him look a little mysterious and made her curious. His white hair was nice. His proportions weren't bad—not as many muscles as she liked, but it would do.

Of course, he had not to kill her for them to even speak properly.

Kiles, he made her way too nervous. So what if he was hot? She couldn't date someone she feared would attack her at any moment. And even if that feeling disappeared, she didn't want to be with someone so dangerous. She didn't like that in the rebellious males of the tales. She liked good guys.

"I already promised I won't attack you," the Outsider said, annoyed. "What are you waiting for? It's the Void we're talking about! Get rid of the orb!"

She had been so distracted by her thoughts that she hadn't heard him promise anything the first time. Still, she didn't dwell on it—or on how she hated his tone. She grabbed her remaining three wings, ripped them from her back—painful, potentially crippling, but necessary—and threw them on the Ignited Void Insertion Point. She then used the Origin Avon Life Fluid coming from her wings to draw a massive three-dimensional ritual circle around the Insertion Point. The golden blood shone brightly in proximity to the Void Energy.

The last time she did this, the Insertion Point spat a Prophet on her. This time, nothing happened. So, she moved until she stood before her ritual runes.

"You can return my daggers now," she said before she fully focused on the ritual.

He had been wise to take them away from her before waking her up like that and was holding them. She didn't like the humiliation of asking someone to return her weapons, which she should've taken care of, but it was better than remaining weaponless. She had replacements in her spatial piercing, but they weren't as good as her main weapons.

Outsider Shen shrugged and simply opened his hands. She picked the blades with her Path and brought them to her. Paradoxically, it made her feel considerably less safe. If he wanted to kill her and was willing to return the daggers, it meant he was confident of ignoring her defenses no matter how well-equipped she was!

"Thanks," she barely said and turned her back to him.

Usually, the next hours would be very dull as she reached a balance between willpower consumption and recovery and remained there until, with the ritual and the Life Fluid's help, she ground the Void Energy in that place to nothingness.

Instead, a very tense E'livia did her very best not to think about the Outsider on her back as she potentially saved the world.

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Shen had been forced to use an emergency soul therapy trick he had learned... somewhere. E'livia wouldn't wake up no matter what else he tried. He was glad he had grabbed the girl's daggers before doing it, as he had been taught. He would've survived lacking a brain if she had used her daggers by instinct instead of her hands, but it would have been annoying, and who knows if she would've stopped there?

Speaking of which, it had been entertaining to see a real heart get pulled from inside him instead of the Heavenly Lightning that was replacing and mimicking the massive hole in his chest. When she returned his heart, it reverted to being just lightning. He could guess how it worked because Reality could create matter out of nowhere—even he could do it with his Laws—but not why. Why was the façade important? Why shouldn't people—at least those too weak to notice the tribulation—know about his condition?

Moreover, the experience had also been enlightening. He learned his "Heavenly Flesh," the illusion replacing the gap in his chest, made him immune to physical attacks in the area. He had felt nothing as she pushed her hand into his body, crushed "his heart," and removed it. That might come in handy during a fight.

Right now, he had to decide whether to trust the girl.

Shen had witnessed a town full of people who were vessels for Void Energy. Then, he saw a Void Prophet from the same race as the girl. Now, she was supposedly getting rid of the orb—or she might be becoming a Prophet in her own right. For all that he knew, everyone in the Myriad Worlds worshiped the Void and wanted to become Prophets. The girl certainly had shown enough disregard for his life when they met, so she wasn't the epitome of ethics and morals.

Shen had had a good experience with the previous Prophet, but who knew if the Void still wanted to repay him after his request caused the Gardener to kill one of its Prophets? He didn't want to find out the answer until he became B-rank, at the very least, and could better protect himself.

He debated with himself and decided he had no real choice here. He still wanted the Void Energy gone to accrue some merit with the Gardener. He couldn't kill E'livia without her father killing him. His only choice was to hope for the best—and run at the slightest sign anything was wrong.

Shen sighed. Things would be so much easier if the girl didn't try to pretend to be afraid of him! She had effortlessly held him with her domain when she woke up and showed him the disparity between the two of them. He was helpless against a domain holder, who could change Reality around him to make it impossible for him to move. She could also prevent his Aural Realm from infiltrating the boundary between the third and fourth spatial dimensions. Yet, there she was, pretending to be scared of someone whom she could kill with a flick of her mind.

Heavens, Shen hated being weak. He'd better change that quickly.

"Before you start," he said, interrupting the girl who had obviously just started. But she had said it would only delay her a little. He didn't feel guilty for those few seconds lost. "Could you tell me how to cultivate in my realm?"

He didn't trust her, but he had nothing to lose by asking her about it, either.

Shen couldn't recall what to do to reach B-rank. It wasn't the Heavenly Lightning that stopped him; the knowledge seemed to be missing from his mind. Not knowing how to grow stronger was eating him away, and it got even worse whenever he was reminded of his weakness.

He could tell he was C-rank without mastered Laws. He knew he had to master his Laws to reach B-rank but had no idea how to do so—or how to cultivate at all. Everything was missing, from the very first step for a commoner to start cultivating. It was almost as if someone was scared that a single memory on the subject might trigger others, so they had removed everything.

Shen hated being manipulated like that, but whether the responsible were the Heavens or the Gardener, he could only endure for now and do his best to remedy his weakness—until he became strong enough to seek revenge.

"Please," Shen added, cupping his hands before himself and bowing humbly to the girl's back. "This is really important to me. I'd be very grateful."

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