World of Consciousness

The atmosphere inside the apartment style residential suite was gloomy without anyone talking. The three people present were worried about different things. They didn't know what those people who imprisoned them would do to them later.

"Misaka, come out. Stan wants to see you."

"No, i don't wanna see him."

"Do you want to come willingly or you want me to drag you out myself?"

"Uh, fine."

Bean, one of Stan's close friends came over and asked Misaka to follow him. She was not willing at first but she followed him after being threaten. Reluctantly walking out of the prison, Misaka walked over Princess Aiburi without saying anything.

She was not in the mood to talk ever since she was captured again by Stan. Surprisingly, the number of people inside the prison apartment was not only them two but three. Aside from Misaka and Princess Aiburi, there was another one in there. Another princess to be exact, Dragon Princess Darcia from DragonKeep Dukedom.

"That girl, she would be okay wouldn't she?"

"I don't know. We can only pray so."

.With a concerned gaze, the two princess's gaze followed Misaka as she walked out of the front door. Ever since Dragon Princess Darcia was imprisoned together with them, only Princess Aiburi tried talking to her. Misaka was with her usual gloominess hence nobody bothered coming to her to chat.

"Do you know what they planned to do with us?"

Dragon Princess Darcia asked timidly. She was put into this prison at later date compared to Misaka and Princess Aiburi. She was respectful toward Princess Aiburi after she knew who the latter was. Not to mention that she had just reached twenty years of age, way too young compared to Princess Aiburi who was nearing fifty of age.

"Truth be told, I don't know. They never said anything after they captured us days ago."

Princess Aiburi let out a small sigh as she replied. She was not worried about her fate be it death or slavery but she was more concerned about the well being of the demon empire. With her going missing and Selitis's current whereabouts unconfirmed, the crown prince would be under pressure for sure.

At the very least, Princess Aiburi was aware when she was captured unlike Dragon Princess Darcia who was kidnapped during her sleep. Her palace was raided during the night and every other guards present were killed. She just woke up the next day inside this weird looking suite together with the two strangers Misaka and Princess Aiburi.

"I don't think my brother's people will come for me. I am already on the run even before I got captured. What about your people?"

"I'm not sure. I am kidnapped during my sleep so i am clueless about the situation at my place. But I'm sure my father wont just let things be."

"I hope so. For human army to be deep inside demon continent like this, i can feel that a storm is coming."

Gazing toward the clear sky outside the window, Princess Aiburi once again stopped talking. She was lost in her own thought, trying to figure out the reason for the human's sudden attack.

Misaka was now inside the palace of Stoness Dukedom, the former residence of Selitis. She was currently seated in front of Stan inside the throne room. There was nobody else inside the throne room, not even Whacko was present.

"How's your day Misaka?"

With an amicable look on his face, Stan initiated a conversation with Misaka. His tone was polite, totally unlike the usual him.

"Why bother asking? Not like you care anyways."

It was unexpected that Misaka would reply with a harsh tone. Nobody who faced Stan dared to talk to him like that. Most of them would either spoke courteously or stuttering in front of him. He was after all the leader of DarkMonarch, a legit bad guy to the bone.

"Misaka, you know what the truth is. I won't bother with sugarcoated word as I am not someone with glib tongue. Everything i do is for your safety."

"Yeah, yeah. It's for me. But the point is, have I ever ask for it? Have I?"

"U need to understand. This world..."

Before Stan could finish his line, he was interrupted by Misaka.

"Enough. I don't care. Just do whatever you want. My word means nothing anyways."

With a loud snort, Misaka voiced her complaint before she rose from her seat. She glared at Stan for a while before she walked away.

"Misaka, wait!"

"..."

Without even turning back, Misaka walked toward the door of the throne room. She looked totally dissatisfied. In fact, she was infuriated by the treatment she received from Stan. She knew that he did everything for her sake yet it was not what she wanted.

Looking at the leaving figure of Misaka, Stan was reminded of the scene where Mays walked into their meeting room with his woman in tow. He let out a sigh before he laughed wryly at their uselessness when dealing with woman. It never mattered how outstanding a man was, they would never understand women.

Hell, even women couldn't understand each other's.

"You're letting her go just like that?"

"What else can I do?"

Stan shook his head at Bean's question. His gaze then focused on the sky, lost in his own thought. Bean who stayed by his side walked away, leaving Stan alone in the throne room. Even their almighty leader would have that helpless look when dealing with a woman.

Supposedly, his reason for calling Misaka was to tell her about their current plan. If the resurrection of demon lord and the emergence of world god proceeded accordingly, they might even grab a clue on going back. Alas, everything was in vain as his tongue froze when facing that stubborn girl.

----------------------------------------------------

Mays, Ria and Hallel were standing in front of a huge stone gate. This gate was the cavern entrance for the so called Heavenly Wish Trial. With the Earth Key in his hand, Mays looked at his companion's face one at a time before he start speaking.

"Syaitona."

"Yes master."

"I want you to stay here and guard this entrance. Every other spirits are yours to command. Only me, Ria and Hallel will enter this cavern. Any question?"

"No, master."

Surprisingly, all the spirits were obedient this time. Even Mira was not playing around. Her eyes often glanced at Ria who stick close to Mays though.

There were only two part in this trial. First part was a test on one's will while the other one was a test on one's strength. Simple indeed. Yet for the last one thousand years, not even one person managed to pass the first part.

"Kacha!"

A distinct cracking sound echoed as the earth key entered its keyhole. The huge stone gate parted into two before it skidded into the cavern wall. A pitch black cavern was now opened in front of Mays and the rest. The interior was so dark that nobody could see anything ahead.

"You guys ready?"

"I'm ready and waiting."

"I'm always ready."

Both Ria and Hallel smiled as they walked into the pitch black entrance together with Mays. The three of them walked in with their weapon readied to strike.

"Thudd!"

Multiple sound of fallen object reverberated at the same time. The pitch black cavern suddenly changed into a bright cubic room with two doors. Mays was startled when he realized the sound earlier was actually the sound of both Ria and Hallel falling onto the ground, unconscious.

"Ria! Hallel! What happened?"

Slapping their face softly, Mays shouted as he tried to wake them up. His effort was proven in vain as there were no response from the two of them.

"Worry not. Nothing dangerous happened to them. For now they're okay."

"What do you mean?"

Drasca's voice calmed Mays down. In this unknown world, Mays was without doubt the one with the most knowledge when compared to Ria and Hallel. Drasca on the other hand could be said to be the most knowledgeable among them. She have lived for centuries after all.

"This white room. This place was without doubt made by the World God."

"White room?"

Observing his surrounding, Mays realized that he was currently inside a white cubic room. The white room had the perfect symmetrical dimension which could even be perceived by naked eyes without the need for measurement.

"Yes. We have this same room back at our dukedom. Its main function is mental fortitude test. The reason why you are unaffected by this room is probably me."

"Because your consciousness and mine is interconnected?"

"Yep. Sharp as always. But their condition is in no way good either."

"Why so?"

"This state of mind can be as short as a couple of breath or as long as eternity. It depends on their mental strength to overcome this problem. In the world of consciousness, physical strength means nothing."

"is there any way to help them?"

"With me here, of course. Shall we go now?"

Rather than asking whether he wanted to go or not, she asked either Mays was ready or not. She knew that Mays would do anything for his lover and she approved that part of Mays. Such a good man indeed.

Placing both Ria and Hallel each at his side, Mays leaned on one side of the white wall while hugging the both of them.

"I'm ready. Let's go."

"Right away."

Just like that, Mays fell into deep sleep just like both Ria and Hallel. With how peaceful their faces were, nobody who saw them would have guessed that these three were actually in a state of comma.

"Oh, you're in your human form."

"This is the world of consciousness after all."

At the moment, both Mays and Drasca was standing in the middle of a weird looking stone passageway. This passageway was only a one way road with lots of door connected to its side. It was creepy indeed, like one of those horror movie. Mays then entered the door closest to him and Drasca followed close by.

"This place looks familiar."

With his hand touching all over the item inside the room, Mays really felt quite familiar with the room he currently was in. He knew that he had seen this room somewhere but he was not quite sure where.

Drasca who entered the room together with him was frantic. There were a lot of unknown item inside this room. This room was way too interesting to her. She picked and touched everything inside the room carefully. She was entranced by all the exquisite item which appeared in front of her for the first time.

"I remember. This is Ria's room."

"Oh. You sure?"

"Yep, I'm sure. We video call a lot after all."

"Video call? What's that?"

"Ugh, something from the other world."

"..."

Drasca suddenly stop talking in the middle of their conversation. Mays who was busy looking for clue inside the room didn't bother with it either. He already told Drasca that he and every other godkin came from another world. Drasca was skeptical at first but she believed in Mays because she knew Mays was not lying.

"Master."

"Yes?"

"Bring me to other world."

"WHAT??"

Mays was obviously shocked by what Drasca just said. Bringing her to earth? What kind of nonsense was that. She was a dragon, a real dragon. As if something like that could exists in the real world.

"Bring me together with you."

"I'll think about it."

"No! Must!"

"Okay, okay. I'll bring you with me. Stop shaking me."

"Thank you, master."

With Drasca's constant urging, Mays gave in. Drasca was totally adamant on following Mays back to earth. It was a whole new world to her after all. A world full of unknown things beyond her knowledge. She smiled triumphantly after Mays agreed to bring her with him.

Truth be told, Mays wanted his power here to be retained when he got back. Just imagine how powerful he would be by then. Not even the strongest country could fight him. But again, he didn't know for what purpose he was dragged into this world and bestowed with godlike power. He felt that things was not so simple. There must be a purpose. The only way to know the answer was to find the world god.

-------------------------------------------

"These doors are not systematic at all."

Mays grumbled as he exited his eighth door, back to the stone passageway. Among the door he entered, some were rooms, some were hall entrance and some even led to an open field, without discriminating either from this world or from their previous world. Mays also entered a room he didn't recognize at all but he luckily saw Hallel's picture of her younger day on the table which confirmed the fact of whose room he was inside.

"We are the only one who see it this way. This is pretty much my ability. Both Ria and Hallel wouldn't see each other's space unless they have a strong feeling over the same thing."

"Hallel and Ria? No way. They won't have something in common for sure."

Mays immediately refuted as he knew those two lived in a totally different environment. One was a doted princess while the other was a kid from a poor family. Not to mention that in this world, one of them lived in human continent while the other journeyed all over demon continent. Hell, there was no way their consciousness could be interconnected.

Little did he know that the two of them were actually in a middle of death match at the moment. Both Ria and Hallel were now at the very same bar where they beat up the member of DarkMonarch previously. They stared dagger at each other while waving their weapon impatiently.

"You sure you won't regret this?"

"Shut up bitch! Over my dead body. Oraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

With a domineering tone, Hallel asked while holding her great sword upward. Ria didn't waste her time either as she leapt toward Hallel with her shield shoved forward.

"Tch, blockhead!"

"You're the blockhead."

They bickered nonstop as they clashed. This was already their eleventh round of fight. They took a short break every time they were out of breath before they resumed their fight.

This was literally an endless fight. Once, Ria was stabbed at her thigh but it healed right away. The same could be said for Hallel as her arm was once cut yet it healed the next second. They tried not to fatally injured each other even when they knew this was not a real world. They still considered the aftermath even during such a heated fight.

Time passed by. What seemed like seconds outside this world of consciousness were actually days here in this world.

One round after another. One injury after another yet the both of them were still completely fine. Only their mind was exhausted. Despite instant recovery of their body, their mind was overly exhausted. Their movement became duller as days passed by. Their bickering was still continuing though.

"Hey bitch, you're still alive?"

"You're not dead, how could I?"

Ria who was trying hard to stay awake tried to ascertain Hallel's condition.

"Heh, acting tough."

"Same to you."

The two of them were now lying on the floor, gasping for air. Their fatigue was beyond imagination after a hundred rounds of fighting. One might not notice, but the way they talked to each other was more familiar compared to before.

They had cursed and talked to each other for almost a month. Even a normal acquaintance could change into best friends after talking to each other that long. The cursing and harsh word was unavoidable though.

Not too far from them were a clean stone table, around one kilometer from them to be exact. This clean stone table used to be located in front of the inn in this imaginary world but now everything else already disappeared after their long fight, leaving only that stone table intact.

In fact, the reason why they fought that hard against each other was because of that stone table. On top of that stone table was unexpectedly an unconscious body of Mays.

"This blockhead was unexpectedly resilient."

"It was just a kiss, nothing excessive."

Hallel voiced out her thought without her own consent. This already happened since the very moment she stepped past the door into this current location.

"It's not just a kiss, bitch. It's a kiss from my man. I won't let you have it."

Obviously Ria would not let it happened. Mays was his. He was not a commodity for everyone to use. If he needed a kiss to awaken, it was obviously right for her to do it instead of that girl who started liking his man out of nowhere.

Every time they stopped talking by themselves, their mouth would spouted something to heat up the situation against their will. They knew that everything spoken by their subconscious mind was the truth since those were their own thought.

"Why not? He is not your property either. He is free to love anyone."

"And he loves me, not you. Stop trying to get in between us."

"No! I will make him fall for me one day. You have no reason to stop me."

"Of course I do. He is mine and I'm not giving him to someone else."

"Tch, cheapskate."

At the moment, the two of them were conversing with each other like close friends. They themselves didn't realized that.

The first part of Heavenly Wish Trial was a test of true heart. It was a simple test where one's heart desire was left uncontrolled, one's inner desire was ignited and one's action presides over logical thinking. This was also the reason why both Ria and Hallel fought each other with all they got despite the fact that they were companions.

Everything was actually orchestrated by the trial itself. The only way to break through the trial was to detect the abnormality in the trial and destroy it. This part of the trial by itself was already a stage impossible for normal people to pass.

This was the main reason why there were nobody who managed to pass the Heavenly Wish Trial for the last one thousand years. At the very least, the mortality rate was also low considering how most participant were sent out from the cavern entrance exactly one week after they stepped foot into the cavern.

"You ready for next round, bitch?"

"Heh, you're on noob. I'll defeat you fair and square."

Just before the two of them clashed again for their god knows how many round, a loud crashing sound echoed all over the area. Following the loud sound were the clattering sound of broken shard falling from the sky.

"Mays!!!"

"NOOOO!!"

Both of them shouted at the same time when they saw a silhouette of a woman holding a bloodied short sword standing nearby the stone table. Mays who was inside was covered with blood, his condition unknown.