Chapter 36: Aurora (2)

[Third Person's Point of View]

"-re"

"Sire!"

Violet eyes snapped open, filled with fear and panic. August sat up straight on the cold black marble floor, quickly surveying his surroundings.

"Sire, you're finally awake! I was worried when you suddenly collapsed."

The abyssal devil's image gazed at him with concern and distress.

"How long have I been...?"

A sharp pain ripped through his chest as if his heart was being crushed. "Where is she? I need to see her immediately!" He growled through gritted teeth, trying to push past the agony.

The devil furrowed his brow in confusion at his master's words. Before he could inquire further, August let out a piercing scream.

"No! NO! Not my memories"

[Record Memory]

His powers surged as a CD materialized in front of him, connected to his brain by a delicate silver string.

But just as quickly as it appeared, the string snapped and August's head jolted back. He fell to the ground, clutching his head but still conscious.

The devil moved to help him, but August stopped him with a gesture and sat up calmly this time.

"How long was I out for?"

"7 minutes since you first fell down."

'Something definitely happened in those seven minutes. Something that made me panic when I woke up. Something that wiped my memory clean of those seven minutes just now!'

He tremblingly took hold of the CD, hoping that whatever happened in those seven minutes, was successfully copied in there.

[Read]

Magic surged as memories flashed through his mind.

A red world, filled with tentacles, corruption, filth and overies (?). A big red moon and two purple eyes staring at him, eyes that were almost identical to him, and one name; Aurora.

'What the hell?!'

This was just five seconds into the recording, the rest of which was corrupted.

He tried to recover the rest, but they were destroyed for good, leaving August just as confused as he was angry.

'SYSTEM!'

Anger that kept rising every second. 

'Didn't you GUARANTEE my safety? What the fuck were you doing?!'

[Ding! Scanning]

[Ding! Error!]

[Ding! Retrying...Error found!]

[Scan shows that the user's mind has been forcefully taken to a higher dimension]

'Don't state the obvious. Tell me how? And WHY didn't you prevent it?'

[Ding! Clause 1954 activated.]

[Ding! Searching System setting]

[Ding! Analysing...]

[An entity from a higher dimension utilized the active communication link function of the system to initiate the reversal of summoning your consciousness to its plane of existence. This occurred during the instance in which you summoned a devil]

'Fucking knew it. What about 'the system assures the user's safety' bullshit! You fucking liar!'

The air around August trembled as an intense wave of power unconsciously threatened to burst out of his body.

'You want to deceive me?! Try doing that after I flatten half the earth!'

[Ding! Emergency Situation detected!]

[Skill Evil Desire has momentarily escaped #$&*%@#'s control]

[Ding! Clause 1243 activated.]

[Forcefully suppressing emotions]

A brilliant emerald glow enveloped him as the surging streams of intense energy surrounding him gradually faded away.

'I am fine. You can turn off the emotion suppressor.'

August felt his emotions surging back to the surface, a mix of anger and betrayal. But it was not as intense as before - the fiery rage had subsided to a more manageable level.

His gaze fell upon the ominous figure of the devil looming behind him. "Leave for now. I'll summon you again in a moment."

"At once." Immediately, the devil bowed and disappeared while he quickly removed any evidence of summoning from the room.

'Anytime now'

Just as expected, a blur of white hair appeared before him, the blindfold removed to reveal a worried expression. Satoru wasted no time and quickly examined his student for any signs of trouble before asking, "What went wrong?"

August chuckled nervously and replied, "I was experimenting with a new spell..."

He whistled at the unassumingly at the end of it, like a child feigning innocence after poking his friend next to him.

"What kind of spell sets off level-one detectors across the entire Kanto region? That's usually reserved for catastrophic threats," Satoru was equal part annoyed and amused at his student's antics.

"It's all your fault!" August protested.

"Huh!?"

"You kept deflecting all my attacks without a single scratch. So I thought I'd try using another spell from my favourite anime..."

Satoru couldn't contain his laughter and ended up rolling around on the living room floor for a good thirty seconds before regaining his composure. "What spell were you trying to use exactly?" he asked, trying to hold back his amusement.

"Abisuama," August answered quickly, avoiding Satoru's gaze.

"A-what?"

"A Bijuudama!"

"..."

"You're supposed to use the Mirror Realm for that!" Satoru yelled out.

"But you never taught me how!"

"Oops?"

Of course, he didn't need to be taught how to use a Mirror Realm; his spell analyzed everything, including the incantation method. But Satoru didn't need to know that.

*

'So why don't you explain yourself, System?' August impatiently tapped his foot on the black marbled floor of his apartment as he waited for his system's reply.

Satoru had gone back after teaching him how to enter the mirror realm. He was in a meeting when he hurried back to check on him as soon as he was notified of the alarm. He was a kind and devoted teacher, always looking out for his students. But no one would ever admit that, lest he got an even bigger ego.

[Ding! As previously stated, the operational communication link function of the system was commandeered by an extraterrestrial entity to execute a reverse summoning of your consciousness into an elevated dimension.]

'Why do you have such a vulnerable feature active by default? Hmph.'

[This functionality is intended solely for use in emergencies and, as such, is deactivated by default.]

'Huh? Then why the fuck did you turn it on!?' He was starting to get irritated at his system. 'What kind of fuckery are you trying to pull?'

[Ding! The system doesn't have the authority to turn such a feature on without the user's permission except in the case of an emergency]

'Then who the fuck turned it on!?' This case was getting stranger by the second.

[Ding! Checking Logs]

[Ding! Logs show that the #-*&^%@ has turned this feature on since the system bound itself to the user.]

[Ding! Activating Emergency Clause 7]

[Logs show that the Designer of the Ascendence System has activated this feature since the system bound itself to the user.]

August shivered as a sudden chill crept down his spine, like a cold hand brushing against his heart.

'Who is this 'Designer of the Ascendence System'?'

[Aurora]

"!?"

A cold hand gripped his heart gently from behind as a saccharine voice breathed into his ears, "I'll be waiting for you, Augustus Ashford." 

*

[Augustus' Point of View]

Have you ever felt that sharp taste of defeat, even when everything seems to be going exactly as planned? I have certainly experienced it.

'Have you turned off the communication link?', I asked as a single text box appeared in response directly in the middle of my vision.

[Yes]

The voice and the chilling presence disappeared as soon as the link was broken. It was safe to say I wouldn't be reencountering them anytime soon.

That voice continued to haunt me, just like it had in my past life. The same voice that haunted me up at night and guided me to the system.

The mission promised to reveal some clues about my isekai journey, and it did just that.

That voice represented a link. The link between this world and the tiny blue ball that was MY earth. It represented the hope that I could someday go back to my world.

But simultaneously, I can't ignore the fact that my transition to this new life was not just a random occurrence. The mysterious voice that haunted me in my previous life had some kind of purpose behind it.

At this point, I was heavily suspicious about one thing; The Designer of the Ascendence System and the individual behind the mysterious voice were one and the same: Aurora.

A name that held both deep familiarity and an unsettling unfamiliarity to me.

Aurora was the name of my deceased fiancée.

But that's where my recollection ends. I don't remember much about her. Or rather, don't want to remember.

After discovering my innate technique, the first task I tackled was organizing all my memories into a mind palace. Now, I have a near-photographic memory thanks to this technique. However, when I attempted to recall the last 12 years of my life, I found massive gaps in my memories. A quick visit to my mind palace for answers easily revealed the culprit.

There, in one dark corner of my mind was an unassuming little door, sealed with red tape that warned; Do Not Open. 

Peeling off the tape to open the door was simple enough, but just the thought of it made me shudder. It didn't take me long to realize what it was and why it had been left there for me, by me.

A trauma so immense that my mind had to bury it deep within to function normally. As a result, Aurora's existence gradually faded from my thoughts and she became just another familiar name with forgotten existence.

Based on what little recollection I had left of her; she appeared to be a regular girl. No striking features like violet eyes or mystical qualities, just brown eyes and a unique voice that was distinctly different from The Designer's.

Except for the name being a coincidence, I was sure that my dead fiancée was different from Aurora, The Designer. After all, both were worlds apart.

'System, whose orders take precedence - mine or the designer's?

[The User's orders take precedence over everything, no exception]

Hmm, good. 'Revert all the settings Aurora changed back to default, and notify me what they are'

[Accepted...]

Endless rows of words filled my vision, but my mind was elsewhere. My initial attempt at using my Innate Technique failed when I passed out. Looks like I found the most glaring weakness of my technique.

That splitting headache disrupted my concentration, hindering my ability to properly visualize a spell. In order to avoid these setbacks, I had to immediately devise a way to strengthen and protect my mind.

[Ding! All of the system's settings have been updated. As a gesture of compensation for any inconvenience caused, the system will provide an answer to ONE of the user's previous queries that he was previously ineligible to receive.]

Oh? That's interesting.

*******************************

Hello, Author-san here!!!

We have a rare Augustus POV here!!! 

And guess we are never reaching our chapter goals, are we? Haaah.

Well, don't forget to VOTE anyways. I am planning on updating the next chapter on Friday, but if we reach 266 votes, I'll update tomorrow.

But, if you want to read the next chapter, and two weeks' worth right now~, go visit my Patreon account.

[Link: Patreon.com/Midwintersnow] ['P' lowercase ofc]

See y'all.