30 Bad News

To return to Omeya, Apophis had to go through Monstinopolis again.

When he arrived near the city, he saw the same scene as the first time: a line of people blocked by a tollbooth controlled by about thirty players.

Apophis had no time to waste. He used his ~Firebending~ Skill and simply hurled a jet of flames at the thirty players guarding the tollbooth. 

Their clothes were immediately incinerated while the flesh melted off their bones! Even some poor players who were at the front of the line, waiting to pass, suffered the same fate.

Apophis made no distinction. Fire reigned! Something felt… different to him as he did this. Rather than simply destroying an obstacle, Apophis realized he felt real glee as he destroyed these players without distinction. The sheer chaos and destruction made him feel overwhelmingly powerful.

The scene shocked many onlookers!

A man who was about twenty years old, his hair silver and his physique and features almost alien in their perfection, had simply sped through the tollbooth on his motorcycle and destroyed everything in his path. 

No one had the presence of mind to record the scene in the few moments that it happened, and those who talked about it on the forum were quickly mocked.

The story of a man-torch destroying guild cronies and avenging weaker players was great to hear, but many doubted that it had really happened.

After four hours of speeding on his motorcycle and spending some GC to replenish the motorcycle's fuel tank, Apophis arrived in Omeya.

The city had fallen under the control of a second-rate guild with no real importance by the name of "Gold is Good." According to Apophis's menu, the guild had 235 players. Fairly decent for this stage in the game, but certainly not an overwhelming threat.

The situation was much calmer than when Apophis had first arrived, as the NPC Republican authorities had been chased away by the players and martial law had been lifted.

Or rather, Gold is Good had established their own form of martial law where they were in command.

Thankfully, the players had almost entirely ignored the hospital where Apophis had left the Zetark girl. Since they could heal with potions in an instant, players didn't care about receiving more ordinary treatment.

Despite the violent regime change, the hospital staff members were still present. They had not abandoned their posts, choosing to care for their patients no matter what. They remembered Apophis and showed him again to the room where they'd put the Zetark girl.

Apophis wasted no time in putting his hand to the Zetark's forehead and channeling his Energy into her. As his Energy bar drained, a slight humming sound filled the hospital room, and the machines which monitored the girl's vitals began to beep more loudly and more frequently!

All her vitals accelerated, and then the blood in her veins began glowing.

The blood monitor sparked as power overloaded it, and then—

The glow vanished.

The girl sat up with a loud gasp, staring at the wall in front of her with an expression of sheer terror on her face.

Then she fell back to the bed, eyes closed once more… but in a normal sleep, not a coma. The machines which hadn't been destroyed now described the vital signs of a deep, restful sleep.

Apophis sighed in relief. He'd succeeded!

System: Congratulations on completing the Rank S+ quest "Save the Princess."

Final Grade: A+

Reward: Achieve [Friendly] relationship with Princess Antanria, plus gain 1 Legendary Skill of your choice for your class.

Suddenly, a naked woman with glowing pink skin appeared in the room.

Though he'd never seen her before, Apophis immediately knew her identity: Cortana, the AI who controlled Horus. He was confused and bewildered. How did he know this? Why did he have the bizarre feeling of déjà vu, that he'd experienced something almost exactly like this before?!

Cortana snapped her fingers and a game menu appeared in front of Apophis. "Hurry up and choose," she said urgently. "Complete access to all Esper Skills requires the core of my focus, and I have a vital problem to deal with somewhere else."

Apophis was amazed as he stared at the menu in front of him. As Cortana had said, the menu really contained every single Esper Skill in the game, and, despite having already played for almost a decade, Apophis knew almost none of them!

He wanted to spend hours reading through the list. He wanted to take them all!

Instead, a swiftly moving timer at the top of the screen reminded him that he could only choose one… and he needed to do it quickly.

When the timer was nearly at its end, Apophis finally saw an amazing Skill he wanted to choose called ~Radioactive Fire~.

But before he could press the "accept" button, Cortana told him something that made him pause…

***

System: You have accessed too much information! Please wait while Cortana erases the last five minutes of your memory.

Apophis blinked several times, confused. He felt like he had just lost something very important. He remembered Cortana appearing and offering him the choice of a Skill…

He opened his character menu and saw that he now had the Passive Skill [ Warrior-Esper ]. Why had he chosen this one out of all the Legendary cheat Skills he must have had access to? It was incomprehensible.

A class theoretically had an infinite number of combinations and possibilities. Why bother being a two-class bastard? Apophis could vaguely remember the sensation of being convinced away from a decision, though he couldn't remember a single detail. What had Cortana said to influence his decision?

Well, that was in the past now. Despite his frustration and confusion, Apophis knew that he couldn't find the answer to this problem. He pulled out a Zetark book to study more military and technological information, then sat back in his chair and waited throughout the rest of the day and night for the girl to wake up.

***

Antanria, Princess of the Zetark Empire, finally opened her eyes. She found herself in a very strange room and saw a strange Zetark staring at her. His features were just a bit strange, meaning that he was definitely not a member of one of the Pureblood Families.

But… Antanria's last memories flashed before her eyes. Horrific memories. Was that all a nightmare? Was everything really okay?

Was everybody actually still alive?

"Where am I?" Antanria asked in the Zetark language. "Who are you?"

"I am Apophis," he replied. "I freed you a few days ago from a laboratory. We are currently on the planet Era in the Era Prime system. Though, from what I understand, you would know this system as 'Initium Prime.' How are you feeling?

Antanria said slowly, "I feel… good. As though I have had a very long, very deep sleep. But your words are confusing. You speak as though the name of this system has changed? Is that because of the war? Am I a political prisoner?"

Apophis narrowed his eyes. "War? What are you talking about?"

As she recovered from the dizziness of just waking up, Antanria realized that Apophis's accent was completely different from anyone that she'd ever heard.

She remembered the very last details of her memories and realized what must be the truth.

All those memories hadn't just been a nightmare.

They'd really happened.

So much time had passed that the Initium Prime system now had a new name, and the galaxy was a very different place than the one she'd once known.

And… that was all that Antanria knew. It wouldn't be safe to tell the full truth, surely. Her duty as a princess of the Imperial Family was to do whatever she could to survive, and so she would.

Antanria said to Apophis, "I apologize. That was very silly of me. I woke from a nightmare of a war, and it seemed very real to me. In truth, I have no memory of the recent past, nor how I ended up in the laboratory."

Apophis thought about this carefully. "Well, let's go step by step. What's the last thing you do remember?"

Antanria said slowly, "I just remember falling asleep in my bed at the Imperial Palace. Father, the Emperor, had come to kiss me goodnight, as he always did..."

Apophis leaned forward in surprise. "The Emperor?!"

Antanria nodded. This was a part of her identity that she surely couldn't keep a secret, so she had decided to reveal the basic truth. "Yes… Please forgive me for not introducing myself. I Antanria, Princess of Blood, daughter of Emperor Malekith VI, Heir to the Imperial Throne of the Zetark Empire."

Malekith VI? The last emperor!? Apophis could hardly believe it. Of course, he'd known that Antanria was a princess because of her system information, but he hadn't realized that she was the heir to the Zetark's famous last emperor!

What was the probability that, in the billions of solar systems that make up the galaxy, he'd find the surviving heir of the lost Zetark Empire which had once reigned over all of it? This couldn't be a mere coincidence.

Antanria said, her voice hesitant, "Thank you for rescuing me, but can you take me back to Oralia? To the Imperial Palace? At least, will you inform the Imperial Governor of Oralia that I am here?"

Though she didn't know how much time had passed since her last memories, the princess had decided that this would be her best chance at reconnecting with people who were loyal to her family.

But Apophis was intrigued as he heard this. Oralia was the former capital of the Zetark Empire, a planet now in total ruin. It had been that way for over a thousand years. 

"I have bad news, Princess. The Zetark Empire has collapsed. Oralia is a ruin and you have been in stasis for at least a thousand years. The lab where I found you was so old that it was hidden underneath other ruins that were also considered ancient. I'm so sorry to have to deliver this news."

First, she was shocked. 

Then, tears of anger sprung to her eyes. "How dare you?!" she snapped. "The Zetark Empire rules over a billion solar systems! Every race in the galaxy owes us obedience!"

A thousand years.

A thousand.

She couldn't even imagine a span of time that long.

Antanria's face turned red and blood pounded in her head. She felt like she would faint—

Apophis grabbed the princess's shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Calm yourself, Princess!"

It was a sacrilege for even a member of the Pureblood Families to touch a member of the Imperial Family, let alone a mongrel like this! Antanria instinctively swung her hand to slap Apophis in the face, but he caught her hand.

Antanria wailed, "You bastard! How dare you touch me! Let go of me, you mixed-blood bastard!"

Apophis released her hand and stepped back until she calmed down. Then he said in a level voice, "Your people are gone. There is nothing you can do to change that. You must accept it… though you can still possibly find out what happened to them! This is a complete mystery to the people living in the present day. There is, of course, always the possibility of other survivors."

Antanria replied bitterly, "Survivors like you? Those of mixed blood who have forgotten what our Empire once was?"

Apophis gave a sarcastic smile. "I'm not genetically related to your people. My own race has the ability to imitate the genetics of any other race in the universe. I was born human, but I imitated enough Zetark genetics that my biology is currently that of a mixed-blood Zetark. As for my ability to speak your language, I learned that through another set of interesting circumstances, but nobody else that I know of can speak it."

Antanria was completely disoriented. 

Every aspect of her life was part of an ancient past that the whole galaxy had forgotten. Yet, in the middle of all the fear and uncertainty, she felt something strangely reassuring deep inside her…

It was the energy that Apophis had given her to revive her body. She could feel it pulsing through her veins with every heartbeat. Somehow, Antanria knew that this person standing in front of her was no ordinary man. Even if he wasn't someone she could fully trust with the truth, he had in some way taken on the willing role of her guardian.

Even if it was only to a very small extent, Apophis cared more for Antanria and her well being than anyone else in the whole universe did. He alone knew even the slightest truth of her identity and who she had once been.

"Please forgive me," Antanria whispered. "I beg of you. Please stay… and forgive me."

Apophis was somewhat surprised by this response. He had expected the princess to be completely arrogant and spoiled. "Alright," he said. "Now that you've woken up, is there anything I can do to help you? What do you want?"

She was silent for a moment, then said, "Please, will you… hug me?"

Apophis was more and more surprised. 

Then he reflected that, being just a little girl who had lost everything she'd ever known, including her whole family, it was only natural that she wanted reassurance from the only person who truly knew her in the galaxy.

He thought back to the time when his own mother had died. In the first minutes afterwards, Alexander would have clung to any human in the world for support, if only for a moment. Luckily, he'd had Emma at that time…

Apophis brought himself back to the present. He darkly shoved all thoughts of Emma out of his head. He'd managed to not think of her for months. That was all in the past.

For now, there was a lonely person right in front of him who was experiencing the same loss that Alexander had once felt. She was consumed with the feeling of utter despair.

If nothing else, Apophis told himself, befriending her will pay off in the future. It won't hurt to be civil and comforting now. It's not as though I'm childishly devoting myself to protecting an NPC because I feel sorry for her sad story.

So he stepped forward and took Antanria into his arms for a short time.

As the child melted into tears in his arms, two sensations warred inside Apophis's mind. One was disgust for this distraction when he longed to be out in the world, dominating his enemies and causing chaos among those who stood in his way.

The other was a feeling of pride that he had been strong enough to break through the impossible odds of this quest and be able to give hope to this child, the last survivor of her race. He'd had the power to do what nobody else could.

Eventually, Apophis pulled away. "Come on," he said in a level voice. "You're not sick anymore, and it's well into the morning. Let's leave this place."