First Person POV:
The cold breeze from the AC filled the room, following the absolute silence.
The door opened with Hayato and Riku coming in, breaking the utter silence.
I was still unconscious.
"We're carrying him to the hospital. It's already been two days—he'd die from dehydration otherwise," Riku said to Hayato as they stepped toward me.
Hayato nodded. He stepped ahead, going to carry me on his back.
Before he could start carrying me, my eyes started slowly opening.
Hayato realized and stopped at once, correctly assuming I was finally waking up.
My eyes opened.
"Where am I?" I muttered.
Riku and Hayato sighed, knowing I wouldn't need to be taken to the hospital.
I slowly sat up, not remembering how I got here.
Before I could see them, my eyes remained closed, reflecting on what happened.
I remembered the two guys.
And then I remembered how I heard the voices of the two guys asking me for help.
I also wondered how long it had been since I went into a coma once again.
VoidMind: "You only went out for two days—could barely call it a coma. You were able to manipulate your Regulator and draw out enough power that wouldn't affect you enough for there to be a risk of death, but the Regulator knows best, so it did have some little consequences."
So suppressing the Regulator even a little has consequences.
Riku sat on the chair while Hayato sat in front of me on the bed.
"Tell me what happened that day, and especially about the two enemies," I asked Hayato, noticing and looking at him.
Hayato's expression shifted to anger as he began explaining what had happened that day.
When I understood the two enemies were just some missing young teenagers, my face expressed how frustrated I felt, but it was even more so on the inside.
Words couldn't describe my anger and confusion. I didn't know whether to be angry or be confused because I didn't understand why and what really was happening.
But my expression changed back to completely normal—so normal even Hayato and Riku became confused as to why I was like this now.
As a matter of fact, the anger wasn't an issue for me—it was the confusion that mattered more.
Because confusion would lead to getting answers, but anger would lead to me losing to the abyss itself.
And losing isn't an option ever.
"Can you tell me who even are these people?" I asked Hayato, meanwhile Riku said he'd get me some water.
"It's not that I won't tell you or I can't, but if I do tell you, it would lead to more questions which I may or may not be able to answer even if I so wish. It's best that you don't get to know what all of this is about. If you do, it'll lead to consequences that might be hard to deal with," Hayato replied, his tone serious.
I understood him.
Riku came back with the water, and I drank it, relieving the dehydration.
There wasn't anything further to be questioned, so I asked Hayato and Riku to leave and tell everyone about me.
As he left, he told me that I needed to go back on the same mission, but a little less urgently.
The moment those two left, I clenched my fist in anger.
"Damn it," I spoke in a bitter voice of regret and anger.
"Who are they? And who do they think they are, weaponizing innocent children like that?" I continued with an even more aggressive voice.
I just sat there, only to lay down again, reminding myself there's nothing I can do at the moment.
Third Person POV:
Hayato and Riku headed back to the meeting room and sat on their chairs while all the full members were present.
"So, he woke up," Toshiro said, certain Kuroto had woken up.
No one spoke, so Toshiro continued.
"The Hollow Nest is either going to act or hide themselves again for a while because of their weak members' loss and the two kids' kidnapping failing. It would seem they're hiding instead, because we searched through every corner of Tokyo yesterday, but they didn't make a move. That means we have more than enough time to not send the cadets urgently to the raid mission," Toshiro said, getting everyone's attention back.
"I know for a fact that you want them all to raid the dungeon, hoping for all of them to True Awaken at the same time so no one would be left out. But considering we're soon getting two new cadets, do you think they'll arrive before the others set out for the mission? Because if they don't, it'd be utterly useless to not send the others just because Kuroto is unable to go," Yuki said.
"I knew you'd ask about that. I talked with my younger brother and Chihiro Murakami. They'll, in fact, be joining today, so you don't have to worry about that," Toshiro answered.
Their expressions turned a little less remorseful upon hearing the good news.
Two new members were joining: Toshiro's younger brother, Tatsuki Fukumoto, and Haruka Murakami's older sister, Chihiro Murakami.
Toshiro choosing these two was the same reason as choosing the other cadets—although it's unknown why and on what basis he chooses them without question.
"What do the government and other important Orders have to say about this?" Saya asked.
"The government asked for answers, but I denied. And the Silver Order's members confronted me, warning me that they might take our position as the best Order," Toshiro said bluntly.
"Damn the Silver Order. They think they can manage both True Awakened and non–True Awakened in the same place and expect it to work out while still following the conditions," Hayato said, frustrated, slamming his fist on the table.
The meeting ended, they still remained in the room, scrolling through their phones and each in their own thoughts.
First Person POV:
Laid down, my head feeling a little dizzy from the deep sleep, I thought of the two kids' screams and the real emotions I heard.
They were crying on the inside, and the more I reflected, the more intense my rage got.
The door knocked.
"Come in," I said.
The door opened, and Misora entered.
She rushed toward me.
"Are you okay?" she asked urgently and worriedly.
"I am better than before at least," I said boldly as I yawned.
Misora sighed, relieved that I was okay.
"Can you tell me in detail what happened that day?" she asked, worriedly.
I nodded and grabbed her hand.
"VoidMind, transfer only the memories of what happened instead of what I felt. I don't want to let her know about things like that," I said to VoidMind.
VoidMind: "Understood. Just say 'Execute!' to trigger memory transfer."
"Execute!" I said.
After a second or two, Misora had comprehended the memories.
She sighed, knowing not too much had happened other than just my face getting messed up.
I asked her who it was that healed my messed up face. She told me it was Riku—and he did it in an instant, literally.
Our chat went on for a few more minutes. We just talked about day-to-day things, and then soon after, she left.
She also told me two new cadets would be joining us, although she didn't know their names.
Just when she left, the door knocked again.
"Come in," I said.
It was Riko. She entered and sat on the chair, while I sat up with my back leaning against the bed's headboard.
Both of us smiled at each other, forgetting the horrifying things.
"So what do you have to say?" I asked Riko.
"Nothing, just came here to check in on you," Riko replied.
We just sat there for almost 30 seconds, lost in our thoughts.
"Figured you'd come, huh, God of Absolute," I said as he appeared to my right, his back laid on the wall.
He smiled, and Riko got a bit shocked.
"Long time no see, Riko," he said, waving his hand.
"Let's take this somewhere else," he said, and then snapped his fingers.
Floating in space with no ground in sight, seeing countless glittering stars from all sides far away from us, the three of us were a couple meters apart from each other, forming a triangle-like shape. I was feeling a lot better than before. The air felt fresh although it was space.
"I don't think you came just for a casual talk, God of Absolute," I said.
"You're right, I didn't," he said.
Following a silence, he spoke again.
"I am here to give you a puzzle that may or may not lead to something you'll want to know. It's not a puzzle to answers. It's not something to questions. It's more like a prophecy—and Riko, you should listen as well," he said to us.
We kept our silence as he started to speak.
"In a world where darkness disguises itself as light... two beings shall step forward.
One will be the darkness, unhidden. The other will be the light, disguised as darkness.
The two shall battle for a long time—and the one with the greatest resolve shall return.
If the darkness wins, it shall become the dictator of the world.
But if the light returns... it shall be branded a monster—the Monster in the Shadows of Hope.
He'll be the light, but none shall take his side. He'll be the hero, but all shall wish him dead.
He will make decisions that ruin his life, but he who carries the greatest resolve shall never break.
On the other side where darkness wins, the darkness shall remain what it truly is, but now in disguise. It will rule over the world—openly... yet masked in a false reputation of a hero.
That is the fate of the darkness disguised as light—and the light disguised as darkness."
God of Absolute spoke—his voice echoed in our minds, carving it in.
We didn't say anything, lost in our own thoughts, trying to figure out what the prophecy might lead toward.
"Oh, by the way. It's not just you two that heard what I said," he said.
"What do you mean?" Riko asked.
"The other three god reincarnations heard it as well. They're present here, but you can't see them, nor can they see you. It's just that they heard what I said too," he explained.
I figured God of Absolute might pull something like that, but it worked in our favor.
I wondered more about what the prophecy might mean.
But no amount of thinking could figure out what it meant.
Not because I was bad at it.
It would seem God of Absolute simply didn't want us to think too deeply about it. That's why no definite answers were coming into our minds.
I stopped thinking too deeply, but I still wondered what it meant.
"VoidMind, I want you to remember the prophecy word for word—exactly. Do NOT forget it by any means," I said to VoidMind.
VoidMind: "Understood. The prophecy will never be forgotten."
"I guess you all want to go back," God of Absolute said to us.
We nodded, and then he snapped his fingers.
We were back in the room.
The two of us sighed, feeling a little weird from that.
"It looks like he isn't going to let us think too deeply about the prophecy," Riko said.
"It seems that way. Well... it might be for the best," I said.
"You're right. Well, I'm leaving now because Daiki might think something's wrong with how long I've been in your room," Riko said.
"Okay, goodbye. Guess we're meeting again when the two new members arrive," I said.
She stood up. We gave each other a fist bump, and then she left the room with the door shut.
I laid back down on the bed.
"Damn it... what the hell is happening? First there's so many questions I already have—and then God of Absolute comes in with a prophecy that I have no idea what it means... I'm getting more and more questions without any answers in sight," I said in a half-raised voice of frustration.