40 Confronting Doubt

"I'm not gonna make it..." Ai said quietly, sobbing into Amari's embrace.

"O-oi, yes you will sis, you'll be ok. What happened?" Amari brushed Ai's hair, attempting to calm her down.

"Hmmm, so that's where she went." Azura mused, walking up to them, she reached out and grabbed the key in her hand as her sapphire eyes turned amber.

"Time didn't pass for us, but it did for her, she went to the Cathedral of the End, a place disconnected from time and space." Azura explained as everyone looked at her in confusion.

"So your 'husband' is 'that man'." Azura nodded as if understanding something. "Then I am glad I bound myself to you, did he remove his mask?" Azura asked as Ai nodded, her face still buried in Amari's embrace.

"When the man at the end of time removes his mask, the truth is revealed up until death."

Ai looked up at Azura, eyes wide in fear. "S-so, I really will fail the last trial."

Azura looked down to the ground. "Yes, that is your predetermined fate, but if he knew that you would fail, that you would die, he never would have bothered to show you. What did he tell you?"

Ai wiped away the tears. "He said he had faith in me, that he believed I would succeed. But if he knew I would die, why would he say that?"

Azura brushed her hair behind her ear. "I think there is something else at play here, what he shows is certainly unavoidable, but perhaps there is already something in the works to bypass that pre-determined fate. A spatial anomaly perhaps? This would make the most sense as removing you from existence for a short time might cause an error. It could also be a time paradox however this is highly unlikely, given that the next paradox won't happen till well after the time the virus takes effect."

The entire group, except for Ai, looked at Azura in confusion. "I don't think a spatial anomaly would be the case. The virus latches on to the body with the plague, and the soul with the virus, utilizing a spatial shift wouldn't work, even if body and soul were separated, in fact, I think separation would only hasten the loss of sanity due to the soul not being grounded to the body. Sure the body might survive, might even recover, but my body would be nothing but an empty husk." Ai said, astounding everyone, even Azura.

"My, you are quite intelligent, little Ai." Her eyes turned amber. "That certainly makes sense, your intellect is indeed even higher than mine. You are certainly worthy to be bound to." Azura smiled warmly.

"T-thanks." Ai said, blushing slightly. "Anyways, I trust what you're saying. I think I'll make it somehow. Maybe through some means I don't have yet, which brings up the next topic for discussion." She turned to the party. "Since the virus is basically 'on-hold', I would like to pick up a few quests on my own."

"Absolutely not." Amari rejected it immediately.

"Ah, sis, I can handle myself pretty well, at this point, I am confident that I can even handle a Level 20 monster by myself." Ai explained, puffing her chest out in confidence.

"Tentacles." Amari responded simply.

"..."

"Fine, you can come with, sis, but only kill the ones with... those!" Ai relented to Amari's simple argument.

Amari smirked and crossed her arms, looking quite proud of herself.

"You're afraid of tentacles?" Azura asked, puzzled.

"I... Don't... Do... Tentacles..." Ai shivered as she said the cursed word.

"Ah, that's quite a shame, I guess I probably shouldn't introduce you to my precious familiar, he is quite... charming." She said creepily as she licked her lips.

Ai and Lia shuddered, Amari facepalmed, and the rest of the guys blushed. Lia smacked Kenji for blushing.

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"Not good, not good, not good, not good."

A man with messy hair in a modern-day business suit sat in front of a monitor in a room with server racks filled with advanced technology that glowed with a neon blue color. The racks went on as far as the eye could see in every direction.

Typing away at the keyboard, the man finally found what he was searching for.

"Damnit, the bitch is still trying to revert the System."

The man looked at one of the live videos, watching the woman in black as she sacrificed another Level 20 adventurer, his blood poured out over the altar, flowing into the circuit-like patterns spreading out and into an engraved magic circle on the floor.

*BOOM*

One of the machines on a nearby rack exploded. An error message popped up on the man's monitor.

[Warning: Selis world integrity at 56% | Spatial Collapse will begin to occur at 50%]

"Shit! Come on!"

The man pulled up another window, the image on the screen showed a girl with silver hair and eyes, Andromeda.

"Come on, where are you. I hope you are as far away as possible. Shit's about to get real down there."

The man took a sip of coffee and pressed [Enter]

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Several shards of mana flew through the air, slaughtering the small group of goblins that decided to attack the merchant's cart that Ai took up the job to protect.

Ai sat at the back of the cart, swinging her legs as she formed another magic circle that split into three smaller circles.

'Hehe, who would have thought that you could go the other way with this spell.'

A few more goblins jumped out of the nearby bushes, aiming their bows at Ai.

"Heehee, that's it, provide some entertainment for this princess. [Magic Darts]!"

The missile the appeared above her hand shattered into several smaller pieces that launched at the assaulting goblins, however, before the darts reached their targets, killing the goblins, a small barrage of arrows launched toward Ai.

She nonchalantly waved her hand in the air, summoning a barrier that the arrows bounced off of feebly.

Ai sighed. "This is kinda boring, I want something bigger to attack."

Amari poked her head out from inside the cart. "Oi, sis, don't say that too loud, you might scare the patrons. We've still got a few hours left till we reach Rubar, after that we can go take care of that Troll."

Ai smiled and clapped her metallic hands together. "I know, I can't wait!~" She had been wanting to try out her [Magic Ballistae] again to see how her level improved the spell, hoping to create an even bigger crater out of the muggy swamps that the troll was said to reside in.

"You sure you ain't a sadist, sis? You're a little too keen on the whole explosion stuff."

"Oh like you don't get off on slaughtering powerful enemies with your ridiculous strength."

"Get off? Er, I don't know what that means, but sure I get a little excited when I fight a strong enemy."

Ai shrugged. "Eh, same thing. Just let me have my fun."

"Oi, crazy ass princess." Amari said as she laid back down in the cart.

Ai shot out a missile into another bush that they had passed as a goblin fell out of the bush with the large shard of mana sticking out of its chest, her amber eyes turned back to normal.

Ai sighed in boredom when she could no longer sense any threats nearby.