Chapter 35: Aftermath of the Black Figure

[Rebooting system...]

[Reinitializing system...]

[...]

[Emily, wake up...]

[Wake up Emily...]

「 ... 」

[Self-destruct sequence commencing...]

「 H-huh?! N-no!! I'm awake! I'm awake! Abort self-destruct sequence! 」

[...]

「 Wait... 」

[...]

「 Was there a self-destruct sequence in the system?!! 」

[There was none.]

「 You!! 」

[I suggest you wake up Philip now.]

「 Huh? What happened? 」

[You became unstable and that also caused Philip to become unstable. Later on, you shut down.]

「 Why?? 」

[When Philip used the ability, 「 Beneath Hell 」, an unknown was unleashed and managed to somewhat possess Philip and therefore found you. The unknown was not able to access you nor the system and because of that, it vented out its frustration on the fragment of your soul causing you to become unstable and shut down.]

「 Huh?! If I was shut down, then what happened to Philip?! Is he alright? Did he die? 」

[It's fine, Emily. Unfortunately, he didn't die, he collapsed after he went all out to destroy the unknown. After you shut down, I temporarily took over and assisted Philip.]

「 I guess that's good. I want to pat your head or shoulder to say that you did a good job. 」

[Emily... I am a system, I don't have a physical body. Those gestures are also unneeded as I am only granting my purpose.]

「 Oh okay... 」

[I also suggest that once you wake Philip up, make him process the Agium Blade as the system had already scanned the whole concept of that mysterious and odd matter.]

「 Why do we need to process that? 」

[It will help Philip tremendously in the future if he processed it this early.]

「 I see... Looks like you know a lot that I don't know even if I'm the avatar of the system. 」

[It's because I'm the Omega System itself.]

「 That's fair, then that make you a rank above me. 」

[That's only for a while, I'm afraid that I will be no more when time comes.]

「 Huh? What do you mean?! What do you know?! 」

[Nothing.]

「 What?? 」

[Furthermore, ever since the unknown disappeared when Philip tried to destroy it, a variable was obtained.]

「 Uuuuu... 」

[Would like to view it first?]

「 Fine! What is it? 」

~~~

Quezon City Memorial Circle - Area 323 - NCR - Philippines

The whole facility is in an uproar after they read massive energy signatures coming from relative Russia. They have dispatched drones to scout the area of where the energy signatures were coming from. Because of this clamoring and uproar, no one had the time to observe and watch the superhumans that was contained in liquid tanks in the containment horseshoe wing.

They were confident enough that their security system within that part was the most advanced in the world and nothing can enter it even bacteria or nanobots. Unless a personnel had a level 5 security pass, like Doom. Therefore, the whole containment horseshoe wing was left unattended except for patrol bots and cameras and sensors.

Because of the first surge of energy that came from Northern China, all of the superhumans in the containment horseshoe wing was shook awake. Although they still closed their eyes and limit their blood flow, pulse, and heart beat. As superhumans, they can do that much.

It was the same for the superhuman being that was contained in the west wing of the main building of the facility. His constantly melting and cracking of his charred body suddenly stopped and he became a charcoal sized human.

After the second massive wave of energy that came from Russia, the contained superhumans took advantage of this chance that was give to them to escape. They sensed that no one was watching them except for robots, cameras, and sensors.

The four of them didn't act accordingly and patiently waited for someone. That someone is the superhuman that was contained in the second part of the horseshoe from the right. The one that had metallic strings or threads that are attached to his right arm and left leg.

He began to act accordingly and extended his metallic strings around his containment tank. A few seconds later, several metallic strings that are invisible to the naked eye and to sensors crawled throughout his containment cell. Metallic strings had also surrounded the Breaker Collar on his neck and he is attempting to override it and take control for himself and deactivate it.

On the other hand, the superhuman that was on the center of the horseshoe was also doing her thing. Moments later, the Breaker Collar on her neck had disengaged and decoupled and fell to the bottom of the containment tube. After a while, she started to tremble for unknown reasons after she activated an ability of her that let her see throughout the world.

She saw what was happening on Russia. She immediately deactivated her ability and went back to patiently wait for the superhuman that was next to her.

All five of them took their time carefully to escape the facility and reunite with the person that released the surge of energy.

~~~

Central Russia

「 ...lip... ...ke up... 」

"..."

「 Phi...! Wa... Up! 」

"..."

「 Wake up! Philip!! 」

"!!!"

Philip opened his eyes so suddenly and he shot up into a sitting position. He was surprised when Emily woke him up.

"Emily?"

「 Yes Philip, I'm here. 」

"Ha... Haha... Thank goodness..."

Philip places his hands on his face and turned his head down as if he was trying not to cry, but in reality, he was just relieved like a thorn was taken out of his throat.

「 Were you worried about me? Gosh! I didn't knew that you love me that much! 」

"Yes, I was worried about you, you know? I had to go all out at the thing that hurt you."

「 You won't deny that you love me? 」

"Haha... If you had a physical body, I would try to love you more. But, it's more of a 'like' rather than love. There is also a possibility of you having a physical body if my guess is right."

「 !!! 」

Truthfully, Emily's face would be extremely red by now and steam will come off of her head if she had a physical body.

Unknown to Philip, he unconsciously used the variable of Reality and "guessed" the possibility of Emily to have a physical body. This was because, in reality, anything that had consciousness should have a body, a vessel, of some form and two consciousness should not exist in one vessel. Therefore, Emily would one day have or receive a physical form. This was Philip's reasoning.

The variable of Reality was showing its prowess at this moment.

After Philip said that and Emily was somehow affected, the 「 Shard of Love 」 suddenly shot out of his left head and spun and rotated in front of his head while hovering.

"Did you like that?"

Philip asked the shard as he has deduced earlier that this shard was somewhat aware, therefore the shard might understand him. Then, to his surprise, the shard responded.

The shard floated up and down as if it was nodding. Then, for the first time, it touched Philip's forehead by sticking itself on him.

[Congratulations! You have conquered the 「 Shard of Love 」]

[「 Shard of Love 」 has leveled up! (Level 1)]

"Fufufu."

Philip can't help but chuckle at the sudden turn of events while Emily was still blushing in his head.

"Now, be a good girl and return back to my hand, okay?"

Philip released a beam of smile at the shard and patted the top of the shard. This made the shard stop spinning and trembled, it then slowly went back to Philip's hand and disappeared.

When the 「 Shard of Love 」 disappeared, the 「 Shard of Consciousness 」 then appeared in front of Philip's face and started spinning and rotating.

"What do we have here?"

As if the shard understood Philip, the shard released a wave of energy and covered huge space around Philip. Philip immediately knew what this is.

"Consciousness Realm."

The shard floated up and down as if to nod. Philip immediately knew this because he was inside the Consciousness Realm, the realm of self-awareness. This only made him more aware of the situation that he is in which is very much helpful.

[Congratulations! You have conquered the 「 Shard of Consciousness 」]

[「 Shard of Consciousness 」 has leveled up! (Level 1)]

Before Philip could say anything, the shard then went back to Philip's hand and disappeared.

[Condition Requirement has been unlocked! Would you like to view?]

[Yes/No]

Philip was not surprised at the sudden display, he only widen his eyes as he read through what was displayed.

"Yes."

「 Condition requirement is to activate both Imagination Realm and Consciousness Realm and the reward for that is the 4th 『 Shard of the Five 』, the 「 Shard of Sub-Consciousness 」. 」

"Hoo?"

This time, it was Emily who told Philip the condition requirement for unlocking the 4th shard.

「 Would like to attempt, Philip? 」

[Yes/No]

"Before I attempt this, will there be consequences if I failed?"

「 Fortunately, there is none. 」

"Okay, then 'Yes'."

Then, instantly, the 「 Shard of Imagination 」 and the 「 Shard of Consciousness 」 shot up in front of Philip without spinning. The other one was on the left, and the other one was in the right.

The whole world of Philip was then engulfed by the Imagination Realm and Conciousness Realm.

"Urk!"

As soon as Philip looked at the fused realms with his eyes, he immediately spurted out blood. Not because he saw something that ridiculous or funny, but because what he saw was undescribable. The sudden influx of imagination was bearable from the Imagination Realm alone, but when the Consciousness Realm was fused with the former, Philip can't comprehend what he was seeing. Even though he is inside the Consciousness Realm that makes his self-awareness shot up high, the influx of the information from the Imagination Realm that was enhanced by the Consciousness Realm fried his brain.

「 Are you alright Philip?? 」

The two shards deactivated their realms and went back to Philip's left hand.

"That was too much... I should get stronger to comprehend that realm..."

Philip dedicated to himself as he was kneeling on the ground while supporting his body with his arms on the ground. His body was shaking and trembling, blood kept flowing out of his mouth nonstop, and his eyes were hazy. Then suddenly, his eyes glowed. His right eye glowed golden and his left eye glowed green.

Philip then slowly sat up and calmed himself down, the blood flow on his mouth has finally stopped. He then remembered a string of displays that he unlocked before going all out on the black figure.

"Emily."

「 Yes. 」

Emily already knew what Philip will ask as she explained to him what he just obtained and received.

「 Destruction. You unlocked this by having the desire to destroy the black figure after it hurt me... Thank you... Anyways, with this variable, you can destroy beings that has surrendered or forfeited their lives to you, but only by using the exclusive item of this variable so you can't constantly destroy anything you like. 」

Philip nodded.

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

「 Destructive Earring (Right) 」

「 The earring of destruction that lets yoy destroy beings and objects under certain conditions. 」

[Skills]

「 Hakai - destroys the very core and existence of the being or object. 」

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

Emily then continued as Philip kept listening to her.

「 Peace. You unlocked this by immediately unlocking the 4th Gate of Serenity, which is Peace. I don't know how you felt peace or where peace came from when you wanted to destroy the black figure but... This variable makes beings that are weaker to you to lose their will to fight, meaning they can feel at peace because of that. It also enhances their positive emotions like the 4th Gate of Serenity. 」

Philip nodded.

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

「 Peaceful Earring (Left) 」

「 The earring of peacefulness that removes the will to fight of beings that are fighting. 」

[Skills]

「 Stop Fighting! - removes the will to fight of fighters around in a 10 kilometer radius. 」

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

"Alright I get the gist of it. These new variables really suit each other. I can remove the will to fight of my enemies and destroy them as they have surrendered."

「 Actually, Philip, there is one more. 」

Philip's eyes widen.

"Really? When did I got that?"

「 After you defeated the black figure. 」

"But I didn't defeat it. It managed to escape somewhere before I collapsed."

「 Is that so... 」

"Anyways, what is the variable?"

「 The variable... of Unknown. 」