Endless white mist poured out of the crack running across the giant egg.
It was heavy. It churned, coiled, and slithered over the ground within the Mirror Dimension, covering every nook and cranny in a matter of moments.
Outside, the Lesser Boundary Field ceased to exist, simultaneously.
Kai had been worried about the Old One's and Deep One's gazes during Selene's sudden completion of the last phase of evolution. He had also been worried about the Timeline's gaze while playing with the Impossible Improbability.
Now that both events had already happened, there was no need to keep things mysterious more than he needed to.
Kai had spent over a thousand years with Cersei, Petyr, and Rintaro. Even then, the closest being who had managed to brush against his heart was Selene.
Because, unlike the Book's Characters, who had their thoughts dictated by their tales, Selene had been brought up by him and him alone.
Also, now Kai definitely couldn't afford to interfere with the Contestants. No matter how indirect a way he went about it. With Ad Infinitum, he had already confirmed how quick the Systems were in picking up subtle, hidden details, affecting and manipulating his rewards.
Kai's rather not take risks which could result in him gaining nothing.
So, with a thought, he took back all the Sub-AIs dancing around in Contestants' minds.
The reaction was instantaneous.
As if watching a movie at one moment, and then realizing you were also a part of the movie, not of the audience, in another, the Contestants jolted, their pupils trembling with fear.
"Hey… Did you also experience…"
"What's this white mist…"
"Look over there… Is that an egg…"
"The Supreme Protector… What did he do to us…"
Endless, concerned, and fearful whispers overtook the space around Kai.
But it was the 29 Contestants of the 7th and 8th floor who hardened their looks the most, rage bubbling in their eyes along with hopelessness.
"You will never get away with this!" one shouted, his eyes burning blue and black.
"How dare you mock the ancient tradition?!" a woman stepped forward, taking out a rope.
"So what if you are the Supreme Protector?!"
"You are not above the Empires!"
Kai's chuckle was like the voice of a demon, devil, and god mixed in a hideous, contorted reality. "What have I done?" he asked, innocently lifting his hands. He then looked at his current prize. "Sigel, did I do anything?"
Tina's heart was in her mouth. She gulped. "No, my lord," she declared the truth for everyone. "I didn't sense an iota of Mana or Breath from you."
Kai smirked.
Nothing Is Impossible… What a Skill! Kai shook his head in sheer joy. It doesn't even consume Mana or Breath. Things are getting more abnormal and absurd as I am reaching the real Peak…
Kai was thinking about another Skill he had recently acquired when the intention hit him like an avalanche.
-… Master…-
Kai almost stood up. -Selene…- he hissed, his breath almost quickening. In the last few years, there was nothing more he had been hoping to see but the Ghost Basilisk evolving and finally coming out of its shell. -… you OK, girl?-
A cool, white mist had covered everything now from the earth to the knees. The curls within it seemed to have minds of their own, licking, sniffing, and marking everyone.
-… I… see…-
When Kai received this reply, his hazel, purple-rimmed demonic slits narrowed even further. He so wanted to plant Ad Infinitum into the mist and search for the serpent, but even he wasn't this much of a fool.
Any rash action now could be taken as him interfering with the Contestants, effectively ruining all plans.
So, like everyone, Kai waited with bated breath.
And then it happened.
With a massive crunch, the entire giant egg broke down becoming mist, too.
The lake of white mist rolled, coiling over itself, gathering between the Contestants and the Supreme Protector.
Little by little, it began taking shape, becoming a massive pillar.
Kai saw the pillar towering over 20 ft in length above the earth, and when he saw the pillar branching off in three separate pillars, his heart thumped.
"Is it Mist Mist Fruit or something?" a Contestant suggested.
"No…" an 8th-Floor Contestant stepped forward, his Perception screaming murder. "… Its viler than anything I have seen…"
They simultaneously looked at the Supreme Protector and finally realized…
"… He can't interfere…" one of the 29 strongest said.
"… Something's happening… We are on our own…" another declared, steeling her heart.
Kai could scarcely give a fuck to whatever the bugs were discussing.
The misty lake had begun taking a definite form now, looking like a humongous Runespoor with three heads.
The Contestants also connected the dots. "Hey… Is that…"
"Enough!" An 8th-floor Contestant of Chaos' Valley stepped out, wearing a black skin-tight suit. His black eyes were filled with dense bloodlust, and his wrath dropped low along with his long, thick beard.
"Choker…" Tina mumbled out the name. "He specializes in spells from Fairy Tail Random World…"
Choker gave a hard look to the Supreme Protector and then snorted. He crouched and let out a powerful shout. "Ahhhhhhh!"
Crack!
Lightning cracked around him, making everyone back up. Curse and Corruption coursed through the bolts of lightning, giving it a distinct black appearance with a white core.
Black Bolt!
"I will… end it…" Choker's voice intermingled with the booms and bangs. Then, pouring all his Mana in the Charge Triggered Skill, he hurled his right hand, firing the thickest bolt of lightning anyone would have ever seen.
The things that happened next, shocked not even the Contestants, but the white-haired Demon King himself.
The giant mist Runespoor dispersed as if it didn't exist in this reality at all.
All eyes, even Kai's, had to fall to behold the… three beings who had appeared in its place.
"Darcie Malfoy?" Tina brokenly stood up, forgetting her fear in shock.
The three beings all looked like 11-year-old girls.
In the Contestants' eyes, the one at the leftmost was wearing a white jacket over white jeans and white sports shoes, her short white hair giving her a boyish appearance.
The one in the middle was wearing a plain white gown, her long white hair reaching to her waist.
And the one at the rightmost was wearing a white cloak, her face hidden under a hood.
Other than the pure, ethereal whiteness, they shared one more thing.
Their eyes were closed.
Shocked, and beyond stunned, Kai left his throne and stood up, his eyes reflecting the Stats only he could see hovering above the girls' heads.
Crackkk!!
On the other side, already on the verge of exploding, Choker thought nothing and just fired the corruptive bolt of black lightning at the girls, sensing the monstrous danger his Perception was picking up.
Booommmmmmm!!!
The black lightning snaked toward the girls, and none thought for a second they could do anything to dodge it. Even if they had a mist form, the corruptive lightning was heavily effective against them.
It was then the rightmost girl, wearing the white cloak, lifted her head under the hood and opened her eyes.
Yellow… Two, murky yellow pupil-less eyes reflected the booming lighting.
The girl lifted her right hand and pointed at it with an innocent, snaky smile. -Time.-
As if that was a cue, the girl in the middle also opened her eyes with an unmatched nobleness.
Her eyes also lacked pupils and they were stones. -Space.-
"Oh… my… god…" someone exclaimed.
One moment the destructive bolt of black lightning was hurling itself through the space. In another, it stood there between the girls and the Contestants like a black snake swimming over the invisible ocean.
Girls… "There are only two…" someone pointed out.
The third girl, wearing a white jacket and jeans, had disappeared at some point in time.
She blinked into existence with the creepiest smile on her face, her dark black eyes showcasing no pupils looked like millions of worms wriggling together in a hideous perversion.
She opened her mouth, which looked like a black maw with unknown depths. -Devour.-
BANG!
With a monstrous bang, a body exploded.
In the next instant, the blood, flesh, and bones got sucked into the girl's mouth.
And the world forget if an 8th-floor Contestant, named Choker, even ever existed or not?
*******************
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