Filling In The Emptiness

It didn't take long for the person most experienced in being knocked out to slowly open his eyes.

He peeked out to see a shadowy silhouette.

But because the world inside the dimension was perpetually dark, he couldn't quite make it out.

"You awake?" Hyuk's eyes immediately opened wide when he heard the figure call out to him.

The calm and almost robotic voice scared him…

"You're… Simon?" After taking a good look, the Martial King couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Compared to the drunkard, this youth was like a normal human being being compared to a grizzly.

The only odd factor were the bull-like horns.

But even they looked shinier and tougher…

His clear and focused eyes couldn't be compared to the instability on all levels the geezer had shown.

If you ignored the horns, he looked too 'normal'.

Both in appearance and way he carried himself.

"Is that what you all call me?"

"Isn't that your name?"

The two of them looked at each other funny- No, it was just the Martial King whose face changed.

The horned youth looked consistently the same.

"Fine, then call me that."

"What about your real name?"

"Irrelevant. Anyway, are you a female?"

"…You're screwing with me." Although he looked androgynous, he wore 'manly' clothes today.

Even though there was no emotion in that voice, it didn't seem like he actually cared for his gender.

"…Yeah." And he affirmed it.

Despite Hyuk's high sociability, the strangeness of this sudden joke had quickly threw him for a loop.

It felt like Simon attempted… at least.

Should he think of this in a positive way…?

Or was throwing him off the young man's goal?

It made him suddenly think of something.

"How old are you?" Since they 'rendered' him, it looked like this was him in a different point in time.

But what time exactly…?

"Just turned 18 last week." Seeing how he was easily going along and giving him straight answers to his questions, Hyuk could see that the youth was more thoughtful than he originally seemed.

Although strange, he had a good heart.

This thought gave the Martial King enough presence of mind to look closer at the youth.

Although not as deep, he still had some scars here and there around his arms. Hyuk shook his hand.

This allowed him to sense the callouses that suggested he'd trained with a knife or sword.

There were a lot of other factors to consider.

What was important was that Hyuk could see a deep obsession with training from his looks alone.

This wasn't a body you got from training only a moderate amount. Even his eyes looked strange.

Not in the way he was staring, but in the external appearance. There was unnoticeable swelling…

Had he 'trained' his eyeballs with toxins…?

But why?

"Are you going to keep looking at me?" Hyuk was immediately brought back to reality by his words.

He coughed, looking around to look at the rest.

They seemed to have been treated perfectly with bandages and medicine he wasn't familiar with.

Each of them were laid down on a soft cloth.

The blankets were fairly modern in design, which didn't seem to make sense in these circumstances.

Hyuk looked at the youth's waist, but he couldn't quite understand where his Bag of Holding went.

Or did he even have one in the first place?

"What's that look for?"

"Did you take this out of your Bag of Holding?"

"What's that?"

"Then how…?" Hyuk looked at him in confusion.

That deeply puzzled look made the youth realise there was a 'Spacial Pouch' on the man's waist.

Something that was a rare item in his world.

"…I just accessed my 'Portable Space'. Since the last time I was summoned, I put things in there."

"What's that?"

"We're in one right now, but you don't know…?" It looked like the two of them needed to discuss this.

But first, Hyuk made sure to check up on everyone's condition to see if they were alright.

Nyaura looked like she passed out from shock rather than injury. Her wound wasn't too deep.

The same could be said for Sebastian. He was exhausted from using up his powers just like him.

Velma and Adam were the worst off out of all of them. The latter being in a sort of induced coma.

A featureless figure laid on one side, and the other was in a state even Hyuk couldn't properly identify.

All he could tell was that after the battle, the 'Red Rabbit Divine Physique' had somehow deactivated.

Thus, leading to her return into a human form.

Simon seemed to be especially attentive to her condition, especially when he implied something:

"She would've been fine if your older self wasn't the opponent." He followed with an explanation.

The youth quietly listening while hearing about everything that happened from the beginning.

Right from the moment the two met…

How they grew close in a period of a few months.

What happened to get them all here.

And what their solutions were.

…At least, it was everything from his perspective.

"You know… I was planning on getting you someone 'get intimate' with if all else failed."

"Why?"

"Because no man would decline a beauty."

"But I did though…"

"…That doesn't even count. You didn't-"

"Sore loser." Hyuk wasn't able to reply. Such words felt harsh considering all the effort he'd put into it.

His crestfallen face made the youth back up:

"I was just joking."

Seeing that it was hard to see the difference between Simon's seriousness and jokes, he could only describe the youth as an eccentric. What kind of person acted with such an alien countenance?

He could've at least made body gestures to offset the hard-to-read face, but didn't even do that!

"…Right. So are you a virgin?"

"Are you…?"

"Bitch please. I've slept more than you."

"Incorrect assumption. I also know of rest."

"…You're screwing with me."

"…Yeah." The eccentric answered before changing the subject to what they were both curious about:

"Anyway, we're already in a Portable Space."

"How do you know that?"

"Portable Spaces are connected to the Shadow Realm. The darkness here fit the conditions well."

"That would made my Bag of Holding is one too."

"If it's dark inside, you are probably correct."

"But then… why does this place have proper airflow and visibility? There's nothing here to give us that."

"I do not know."

"…You don't? I mean, I'd heard this place was given to you by Royalty. It's what my friend figured…."

"I'm assuming they used a special method to form this environment. That's all I can make of it."

"But that isn't what I'm curious about. I mean… do you want to have sex? How did you get all this s-"

"Think of the Shadow Realm as an inn, and the access code is the room key I own personally."

"You didn't answer my first question, brother~"

"Don't… Recently… I haven't been feeling well."

"Really, let me have a look." Hyuk spoke while naturally grabbing a meridian on his wrist.

He used his medical expertise to use this opportunity to gain a greater insight into him.

The 'MagiQi Morpher' had vanished, so there didn't seem to be a way to undo this Rendering.

However, what he learnt through a brief scan of his inner power made him realise something important.

Because of this dimension, Sebastian was only able to imbue the darkness energy of the surroundings into him. On the other hand, his Yang Energy was also imbued to make him far more… 'sensitive'.

Hyuk could tell the current Simon felt a lot more touchy about the subject of sex because of this.

He was holding back from letting loose his lust.

'What a strong mind…' As the person who owned the Yang Qi, the Martial King acknowledged him.

Suddenly gaining a large amount of Yang Energy gave a similar effect to a high purity aphrodisiac.

It was weird he wasn't, at the very least, staring the two girls down… instead of talking to him like this.

Or was he trying to distract himself of them?

"You're fine. Just do some 'self-care' to offset some of the Yang Energy when you come out."

"What's that?"

"You're not screwing with me, are you…?"

"I wouldn't lie about this. From what you said, I'm guessing you're related to what's happening to me." It was quite a prudent deduction for Simon to have. He was able to see straight through the perv.

"…Right. Can you help me with our Landlord? I think we're gonna be screwed if he doesn't come out."

"…I'll give it a try." He let the Martial King change the subject only because he didn't want 'sex'.

Simon was someone who'd stayed a virgin for most his life not because he couldn't feel lust, but because he overthought every aspect of every single thing he does. Sex was included in that.

Ever since he learnt about sexually transmitted diseases, he attributed 'intimacy' with death.

A conclusion he'd always kept in his heart.

The eccentric used the Dark Mana that had been imbued into him to 'ripple' Adam's silhouette.

Like a taser being used to start a heartbeat again.

It was the next instant the unsavoury capitalist threw his head up while breathing heavily.

His eyes becoming extremely scared when he noticed the horns growing out of Simon's head.

However, perhaps because of the 'Empty' part of his Semblance, he calmed enough to think more.

The now younger version of the drunkard unconsciously scratched his horns in dissonance.

It didn't seem like he was familiar with the sensation of having nerves connected to horns.

Almost like it was an unusual aspect of his body.

Although Simon looked younger, Adam perceived a lack of 'invincibility' going around his atmosphere.

Almost like the drunkard had become younger…

"Hyuk, explain EVERYTHING to me." He turned his head to the Martial King with emotionless eyes.

The feeling they gave only differing from Simon because they held a dangerous sense of darkness.

Like the years he'd lived here forcibly matured him.

"…We came to save you and 'Rendered' Simon." It was then Hyuk explained more of the context.

The more Adam heard, the more his face became stranger as he looked between the two of them.

His heart had short-circuited. The only emotion he felt was complete apathy after the fear swept away.

He couldn't quite make sense of his feelings…

Should he be crying now?

A part of him wanted to do that. Maybe it would be better to grab onto this expressionless bastard…

…then scream all the things he'd held inside.

How he couldn't believe the 'old Simon' did this to him. That he regretted taking him in as a teacher.

But those feeling suddenly faded from existence.

All that was left was the emptiness of futility.

There was no love or hate in his eyes. Only the nothingness from knowing he couldn't 'thank' him.

After all, he'd almost caused him to lose his mind.

Adam wasn't the least bit thankful to the 'old Simon', nor did he want him anywhere near the new one. Still, it seemed like the eccentric picked up on this. For a brief moment, he looked a bit awkward.

Hyuk besides them was a little nervous thanks to how they looked at each other without emotion.

Before he could break the ice, the 'new Simon' spoke like it was fully expected of him to do so:

"I'm sorry."

The empty eyed Adam looked back into those emotionless eyes. Their thoughts hard to read.

"Did you do anything wrong?"

"…My future self did." The eccentric hesitated a bit.

"Then you don't need to apologise yet."

"…Okay."

Seeing this conversation unfold made Hyuk tilt his head. He couldn't quite make out their feelings.

The Martial King expected Adam's eyes to stay empty for a while, but they changed for a moment.

A brief glint of life appeared in his eyes when he looked at the brunette weakly lying on the ground.

"…Who are these girls?" Although he'd tried to hide his interest, the pervert instantly picked up on it.

He smiled while whispering into his ear:

"I hired them to help." He didn't say the details, but let the Landlord simmer in countless possibilities.

But the method they came wasn't a problem at all.

Despite being in a coma-like state, Adam distinctly remembered the 'bunny girl' that fought Simon.

How she dazzled him with her brawn, beauty, intellect, talent, and everything in-between…

Who wouldn't fall for such an attractive woman?

Within the emptiness of his heart, a small light planted itself like a seed of boundless possibilities.

Hyuk knew what that tenderness was…

For now, it may be similar to admiration and closer to deep worship, but feelings changed with time.

The only problem he found was… the fact they'd already planned to get him married to a princess.

Weren't Adam's relationships about to get messy?