Chapter 32: To the Russian Runestone

Alleyway - Akihabara City - Japan

Philip and John decided to leave the alleyway as the expansion of space earlier has cause quite a ruckus because of the shaking of the buildings and the ground.

Philip carried Erica on his arms in a princess carry position and they decided to fly to the west where Philip's original destination supposed to be.

John agreed to this and decided to follow him.

~~~

Eastern Russian Continent

John talked to Philip while they were flying towards the west. He first talked about himself and his power.

Turns out that he is a superhuman like Philip and everybody else, but there was something that was different.

"Hey John, were you hit by a golden rock on your forehead before you gained your abilities?"

"Hm? There's no such thing that happened to me. Before I just knew it, I had these abilities."

"I see."

"Also, call me Hex, not John."

"Well, I kinda like John than Hex though. It rolls off the tongue better."

"..."

Philip pondered for a moment as to why and how John obtained his abilities. Was he born with it or someone bestowed it on him. He suddenly remembered Mystery and Mysterious as they were called "superhumans" back then and they were born millions of years ago.

Philip then sighed and decided not to dig deep about John's origin. Philip also told John about the current situation of Earth.

'Emily.'

[Scanning...]

[Scanned!]

「 Name: John Greminn 」

「 Race: Poly-gon 」

「 Alias: Hex 」

「 Power: Hex 」

Philip was surprised and amazed at the new information display by the system. This was the first time he saw this pattern as he did not saw the summary of statistics when he was dead.

「 Hex 」

「 The power to create indestructible hexagonal shapes and patterns that originate from the user. The shapes are hollow and the lines on its sides are indestructible. The shapes expand or contract as distance increases away from the user. The shapes can demolish anything in its way as it rotates and spin around the user. 」

Philip was also surprised at how John's power is actually quite powerful. If the lines of the polygon is indestructible, then it truly can demolish anything in its way.

John then told Philip the story about him and Erica running for 10 years in the other dimension.

Apparently, the first thing that John saw was Erica running away from invisible beasts in the dark and bloody dimension that they were in. John decided to save Erica that time and accompany her.

They can't build or hide anywhere within yhat world as it was a flat land and the ground is indestructible. There was also an indestructible roof in that world.

As time went by, they have saved each other many times by a hair's breadth, using her Fuzetzu and his Hex. Looking closely, the power of Fuzetzu and Hex was almost the same as it demolishes anything in its way as it expands.

Then after running and running for who knows how long, Erica has somehow managed to create a Fuzetzu that distorts space. About that time, the space distortion suddenly sucked them in and they returned to the real world.

After John told Philip the story, Philip then looked at Erica's face on his arms. He remembered when she cried loudly on his chest. He took a pity on her.

'What a poor girl. She had endured so much to the point that she immediately slept on my arms.'

「 What? You falling in love with her?! 」

'What?! No!'

Philip looked at Erica's face once again. Soft cheeks, short hair that reached her chin, and bangs that covered her eyes. Petite figure and flat chested. Erica's body gives off a vibe that makes anyone who looked at her say that they will protect her.

Suddenly, Philip remembered back when they had a meeting and introducing themselves to the other omega ones, when Erica looked at Philip and the wind blew her bangs that covered her eyes to the side, he saw the beautiful ruby red eyes that were hiding behind her bangs. Philip somehow felt a tiny tug in his heart at that time.

[9 Gates of Serenity: 2nd gate opened]

'What?'

「 What?! 」

"What the?"

This time, John was surprised as he felt that his feeling of exhaustion and fear is dissipating as it was replaced by the feeling of satisfaction and warmth.

He didn't know what was happening and he decided to ignore it.

Emily on the other hand, had a tone that makes someone think that she was jealous about something.

*TING*

*CLICK*

Then suddenly, Philip felt a click and a ting from deep within him. What happened next surprised him and Emily.

[Condition requirements have been met. You have received the 「 Shard of Love 」.]

「 WHAT?!! 」

'What?!!'

Philip suddenly stopped flying and floated in the air. This also made John stop flying after he passed Philip due to him abruptly stopping.

The 「 Shard of Love 」 then came out from his left hand and hovered towards Erica. It spun and rotated on top of her head.

John saw everything that was happening including the shard.

"Philip, what's that?"

Philip didn't answer him and ignored him as if he was not there. He wanted to frown but can't because Philip's 2nd gate is still open. Little did John know, Philip was actually in a different realm.

As the 「 Shard of Love 」 hovered above Erica's head, Philip found himself in another realm. The realm was very pink in color with pastel colors here and there that resembled clouds and violet curves went here and there.

Philip then spoke to Emily.

"Emily! It's not what you think!"

「 Love Realm 」

Emily ignored him and showed Philip about his whereabouts and what realm he is in right now.

'Wait! Why did I even tried to explain the situation to Emily?! It's not like I was found out by my wife'

Philip cursed himself inwardly.

「 W-w-w-whaaa? 」

Philip forgot that Emily can also hear his thoughts no matter what. But then, the unexpected happened.

The 「 Shard of Love 」 that was spinning and rotating above Erica's head suddenly flew toward Philip's head, in front of his forehead. The shard then spun and rotated like how it spun and rotated at Emily.

「 ... 」

'...'

Emily and Philip became speechless because of this situation. No one can muster up the courage to speak first.

Moments later, the 「 Shard of Love 」 went back to his left hand and disappeared and they came out of the Love Realm and saw John looking at him in the distance.

Noticing Philip's gaze as they made eye contact, John spoke.

"Philip?"

"Ah! John!"

"What happened? What was that shard that was floating?"

"Ah! That was a... Healing shard! Yes, a healing shard. It healed Erica from her injuries and exhaustion."

Philip decided to keep his shards as a secret and told John a lie.

"Okay? Let's continue our journey?"

John suggested as he saw Philip agitated for some reason. He knew that the healing shard was a lie, he can tell from Philip's voice.

"Yes, let us."

John and Philip continued their flight toward the giant Runestone in the west.

Moments later, Philip broke the ice and went ahead and asked Emily what happened earlier.

"Emily?"

「 ... 」

"What was that earlier?"

「 I don't know. 」

"What do you mean you don't know?"

「 Ah right! I can tell you. 」

"Hahaha! Seriously, no need to be tense."

「 It's your fault! 」

"Yeah yeah, it's my fault. I'm sorry."

「 W-wha! You don't need to apologize! 」

"Hahaha! I know I know, I was just teasing you! Teehee!"

「 !!! 」

Philip mimicked Emily when she was saying 'teehee' when she is teasing him. To Philip's surprise, Emily didn't counter from that. If one could see Emily right now and if she had a physical body, her face would be flushed deep red as she was still blushing a few minutes ago.

[Scanning...]

[Scanned!]

Emily decided to change the topic as she scanned the 「 Shard of Love 」 in Philip's 「 Hotbar 」.

「 Shard of Love (Level 0) 」

「 ... 」

「 Love interest (2): Erica, Emily 」

Emily paused for a second before she move on to the next information.

"That's it? No information about the shard itself?"

「 ...There's none... 」

Emily suddenly became timid and shy. Philip decided to ignore that, especially the "love interest" part of the shard.

It looked like the shard earlier scanned the potential love interest of Philip and it hovered above Erica and on his forehead where Emily is in his head.

Nonetheless, Philip was happy as he obtained the 3rd 『 Shard of the Five 』. He was surprised that the third one was love, he started to think about what the 4th and 5th one would be.

John on the other hand, kept on observing Philip as he was acting weirdly ever since he stopped. He decided to not mind it as he was somehow trusting Philip, as if something's telling him that this individual will lead him to something amazing.

Several minutes later, the giant Runestone kept becoming larger and larger as they are flying towards it. By then, Erica was about to wake up.

Erica woke up and she slowly opened her eyes.

The wind swept her hair and her bangs were brushing on her face. As her bangs was collected on one side, it revealed her ruby red eyes. Her eyes reflected the rays of the sun as she looked forward. She saw a familiar person.

Unknown to her and Philip, the 「 Shard of Love 」 was creeping up at the back of Philip's head, as if it was shy at Erica and hiding behind the white spiky hair.

What Erica saw was majestic. Her vision was filled with a pinkish aura as she stared towards Philip. His appearance was like a white knight on her eyes.

Philip noticed this and looked towards Erica on his arms. But then, Philip was also affected by the 「 Shard of Love 」 behind his head.

What Philip saw was majestic. His vision was filled with a pinkish aura as he stared towards Erica. Her appearance was like a beautiful princess in his eyes.

「 Philip! 」

Philip snapped out as Emily called onto him. The pinkish aura faded and he caught at the corner of his eye the 「 Shard of Love 」 as it quickly flew towards his left hand.

"What the?"

Philip can't help but exclaim in confusion. He looked at Erica once again and he saw that she was blushing and he hid her face with her two hands. He also blushed and looked forward at the giant Runestone as they come towards it.

「 So, this is the power of the 「 Shard of Love 」? 」

Emily can't help but exclaim on Philip's mind. Philip then just sighed.

Several more minutes later, John, Philip, and Erica arrived at the giant Runestone. They landed a few meters away from the Runestone.

Philip then gently placed Erica on the ground as she got off from Philip's arms. John then asked Philip.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Just stay back and let me handle this. If my guess is right, then we will be fighting a dragon."

Philip smirked as he turned his back towards John and Erica. He then walked towards the giant wall in front of him and prepared himself.

'Emily, are you ready?'

「 Yes, Philip. I am ready. 」

Emily became bolder as she was now confident in speaking Philip's name, unlike earlier. Emily prepared himself as she will be scanning the giant Runestone as Philip will touch its surface. They need to be prepared in case the system will shut down once again because of the Runestone.

Philip first read the floating purple Runestones on the surface.

====================================

「 Breaker Essence (Runestone) 」

「 Russian Runestone 」

「 Rank: 5th 」

====================================

Philip nodded and began to touch the surface of the Runestone and closed his eyes. Emily then immediately scanned it.

[Scanning...]

A few moments later, a dragon emerged from Philip's subconsciousness. The dragon came from the Runestone. Philip decided to pull out his hand but to his surprise, he can see the Breaker Dragon approaching the other dragon. The other dragon was not yet revealed as it was a silhoutte before it reached Philip, but one thing's for sure, the dragon had large wings. The dragons fought each other and by then, Emily has finished scanning the Runestone.

[Scanned!]

Philip immediately pulled his hand away from the Runestone along with the Breaker Dragon.

*RUMBLE*

The ground around them started to rumble and the giant Runestone rose above the ground and floated.

*ROOOOOOOAAAARRR*

Just like last time, a dragon's roar was heard as the giant Runestone floated. This startled John and Erica and they unconsciously stepped back.

Philip then powered up as golden aura enveloped his body. He smiled and said,

"Time for the second mini boss and the second poké... I mean second creature in my collection to summon!"

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!!!*

As if the dragon heard Philip, it let out a loud roar.

"This one's feisty!"