Emergency

'W…h…e….r..e…..a..m….I..?'

Aster finally came back from the dreamland.

His entire being went stiff in pain, restricting movement temporarily.

Every time he started to think, even about the smallest details, more pain surged through him.

Something within him felt fractured and on the verge of splitting apart. It was barely holding on.

For a good while, his consciousness hovered between existence and erasure.

The pain was different than physical pain which he knew. It was the type to permanently scar him and was not treatable by chugging down some expensive liquid.

It transcended the flesh and directly assaulted his mind.

'W…h…a…t….h…a.p..p..e…n…e…d..?'

The chances of him becoming forever mentally retarded reached an unholy percentage.

There was no known treatment for this condition. 

[Status: Astral fracture]

But that did not stop a certain sphere from working overtime.

Slowly but surely, it put the pieces back together.

It was in a similar condition while being half dead itself. Nevertheless, its condition did not stop it from prioritizing its host above all else.

The small purple strands that extended to the astral body retracted and pulled the cracked pieces together.

It simultaneously used [Erase] and [Rewrite] to sort out the mess being created on the soul membrane. The soul was divided into 4 parts, sure, but they were parts of one whole.

If one of them is damaged then it would affect the rest. The degree it effects varies depending on what was damaged.

The astral body represents the mind and the ego so naturally it would affect the memories inscribed on the soul membrane the most.

It wouldn't necessarily erase but it would cause it to be blurred or impossible to be accessed.

Then the spiritual body is affected. It is the embodiment of emotions. Without the mind to guide it, it would go haywire and the person would experience a plethora of emotions.

They could go feral due to unfounded rage or get depressed.

Aura is also diminished a lot. Aura is willpower and without any will, it is practically a giant mech suit without any drivers.

The system then extended a few purple threads towards the spiritual body and burrowed under it. 

A fragment of the astral body completely separated and drifted away. Before it could do that, however, a pale blue aura contracted and pulled it back.

The purple threads can only stretch a bit so another 'limb' was required.

Eventually, the Astral body became whole.

And Aster regained clarity.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow.

What the fuck happened?'

An appetizing smell hit his sensitive nose, making his mouth water immediately.

'Where am I???'

His head still hurt immensely but it was bearable. His eyelids were too heavy for him to move.

The effects of the skill [Absolute Sense] kicked in.

White lines in a black void formed in his mind. The white lines formed a 3D outline of a table, dozens and dozens of plates with numerous types of dishes on top, which emitted colorful smoke, and three people.

Judging by their clothes, height, and body shape, it was clear they were women.

'What am I doing here!?'

'Who are these people?'

He couldn't help but get eerie vibes.

SLAM

"HUH! THERE IS NO WAY A HUMAN IS GOING TO BE MY PARTNER!" An enraged voice exploded right next to him.

'The fuck!?'

[[Magic aura sense[Master]] has been activated]

'...

Am I still in that illusion?

This is much worse than that chase'

The 3D image in his mind was now suddenly painted with a dark purple miasma.

It's intensity was poor but the sheer volume of it was staggering.

'The two women sitting in front of me release a considerable amount of miasma but it is nowhere this much!

Does this mean… miasma is just always present here?

Even then, miasma has to be released from something.

How can something produce this much!'

Something registered and it all made sense now.

'That person must be here. He is the only one I know that is capable of this.

At least I know this is not an illusion.

Unless the person running the illusion was an extremely sophisticated, supercomputer then emulating a scene of this scale is impossible.

[Magic aura sense[Master]] perceives any mana, aura, and elemental particles within a 1000-meter radius at level 10.

According to it, miasma dominated the area of at least 1 kilometer from Aster's current location.

That was simply mind-boggling.

It was like mana was replaced with miasma. Thankfully, that was not the case. Mana was still present in the air so using magic was possible.

'Did I die and land in hell?

I want to sleep again.'

The aroma emanated from the luxurious food constantly tickled Aster's nose and triggered a reaction from his stomach.

Frankly, it was a torture.

'I am not hungry, I am not hungry, I am not hungry at all.'

'They don't seem to mind me in the slightest so let's keep it that way.

Got to act dead. Don't breathe too loudly and don't move.'

He started very vigilant and observed the 3 women for any suspicious movement, especially the one sitting 2 meters away from him.

The two on the opposite end of the table seemed to eat in an organized manner while the one sitting next to him ate like a starving beast.

'How come I get to sit next to the barbarian? Is this a form of torture too?'

Hours passed and so did Aster.

Sleep was a method of escapism, a way to get away from the cruel reality and Aster was proficient in sleeping.

Rest was very important.

Except the person next to him didn't seem to know that.

Throughout his nap, he constantly heard grunting and chewing sounds. As a result, his dream was not a pleasant one.

One might say Aster should have focused on a way to escape instead of sleeping and that was a perfectly understandable conclusion.

Regrettably, after being reminded of the sheer power of Lord of Gluttony, Aster gave up.

This doesn't mean he gave up on escape, on the contrary, it fueled his determination more.

He just gave up on using brute force to escape like he did in the illusion.

Aster was sure he couldn't beat those 3 in a direct fight so he bid his time and waited for an opportunity and he certainly knew that it would be more dangerous.

He won't get the cheat of unlimited energy after all. Not to mention, the pain and the fatigue still persisted.

Sleeping was uncalled for, but he would have needed to rest before he made any grand escape anyway.

Suddenly, the mysterious people got up.

"Mei, you should carry him."

"!"

"Uh, *Cough*, Can't you let another servant carry him?"

"The stairway to the altar is narrow. Bringing another servant is unnecessary."

"I understand."

She walked up to unconscious Aster and lifted him up, which woke him.

'Hmm? Am I being carried?'

'Wait, did I sleep? Shit.

Where are we going? How long was I out for? What happened during that time?'

His heartbeat quickened and adrenaline ran through his veins. He was in a much better condition now and could fight if need be.

The white outlines shifted.

CLACK

CLACK

The sound of heels clashing against the ground echoed in what seemed to be a hall.

A sweet smell reached his nose, further testing his ability to keep his face frozen.

'What kind of perfume is that? I sort of like it actually.'

They walked for a while and started to descend at some point.

The dust hung in the air and a sinister feeling enveloped him.

'Where are you taking me?'

He was getting ready to smash his carrier's face when they stopped.

An excited voice echoed. "This is it. This is the Origin of Gluttony."

A similar, almost identical voice exclaimed "This is where demons of gluttony are born!"

"So this is the place." A third voice and the one closest to Aster muttered.

Aster felt uneasy. It felt like someone was staring at him.

"This is where you will say goodbye to your humanity, you filth!"

'HUH!?'

"Me and Noir will open the door now."

'WHAT DOOR'

'What do I do now?'