Collide Gamer

Chapter 320 – 01=/=Th

Chapter 320 – 01=/=Th

“You know,” John said to Momo as both of them sat atop his fortress tower, grinding more orcs, “I have to wonder what is coming after this.”

“If you mean in a matter of time, the group fight,” the support answered in a matter of fact tone.

“No, I mean after… this,” he gestured at the whole world.

“The Assault is going to despawn, and you are getting experience points,” Momo continued with dry answers.

That was exactly what happened, the moment she stopped talking.

“For someone who is connected to my thoughts, you are being incredibly snarky right now,” John pointed out as he looked at the reward. The numbers were getting pretty large, to the point where he wondered if Gaia would just lob off some zeroes eventually. He would need to run another Assault to get his next level.

“Yup, call it the revenge of the secretary, master-pervert,” Momo said already pulling her e-reader out of her inventory now that she no longer had to look out for arrows; “Serious answer, I am trying to not look at your thoughts whenever I can because they will be gone someday and I want to minimize the weird silence.”

John closed the window and made an understanding noise, “Huh, I guess that makes sense… anyway, my question in detail then: I wonder what will await us back in the USA? According to the info I could dig up on the Abyss Auction, there are lots of medium-sized guilds vying for power, and because there haven’t been any central authorities in ever, there will be at least a few of the Thana level people as well.”

“You just answered your own question: fractured guilds and powerful individuals,” Momo sighed; “Here is a counter-question about something I have been wondering.” She smacked closed the leather lid of her e-reader and actually locked her white eyes with his for this one, “Why do you want to conquer the USA in the first place? The way I see it, you already have everything you could want, from women to money, and power will naturally come to you over time thanks to that busted ability of yours. There is no reason for you to have ambitions that high.”

“Except for one thing,” John raised a finger and wiggled it teasingly, then he had to suppress a sneeze from the dust filled air before he answered. That’s what he got for trying to look cool, a nose full of crumbling walls. “Ehem, anyway, this whole conquering thing is not about me wanting power.”

One of Momo’s eyebrows darted straight towards the direction of the ceiling, “Details, please, or do I need to suck everything out of your dick so you will tell me?”

“I wouldn’t be against that idea,” he joked and earned himself a light, berating tap to the head with Momo’s staff in response. “No, what I mean is that the current state of the US is disgraceful. I don’t like seeing my country splintered up and weaker than those around it,” he explained.

“Really? Patriotism? That’s your reason?” Momo asked.

“Yes,” John shrugged. “Don’t act like it is a bad one just because it’s simple; patriotism has given rise to many of the best things in history.”

“And some of the worst,” the support pointed out, “…then again the total lack of any kind of patriotism also has led to some major catastrophes. Everything in measure, I guess.”

“Yup, preferably metric, which is exactly what I will introduce to the American Abyss once I am through with it,” the Gamer announced.

“They shall bow before your superior wisdom in measurement systems, Master,” Aclysia agreed.

“Indeed, they will… just got to grind a lot to get there,” he sighed. “26 years of daily grinds, I am not looking forward to this. Hope Gaia has enough template changes.”

“I will entertain you, don’t be afraid,” his weaponized maid sighed into his ear.

John checked his clock to see if he could somehow justify a quickie before they had to go to the fight. He couldn’t, it was a mere hour until the fight. Technically, they should have been there already, but complaints from all sides, about how this was a terrible decision from the side of the organizers, towards Lydia had made her begrudgingly accept that they could go later as well.

This had been without consequence thus far, and John doubted it would change, but they still needed to get over there. So, sad as it was, he couldn’t bend over Aclysia and fuck her up the ass in an abandoned house right now. It was a real tragedy.

They returned to the mansion through the gate and almost ran into Rave in the process. “There you are!” she said. “Come, quick.” She didn’t sound playful in the least. John immediately switched gears, the smile on his face vanishing and making room for a serious expression.

“What happened? Something with Thana?” he asked as they went back with hasty steps. His mind immediately leaped to the blood mage and the vulnerable state she had been in. In the morning she seemed fine again, but John would have been a moron to not suspect that this was somehow tangled up with her.

At the very least, the fact that they were walking, albeit quickly, instead of running meant that this was at least under control. “Yes, and ya will see, hard to explain,” Rave answered, and they quickly threw off their shoes in the entrance.

His girlfriend flew up the stairs, and he was right behind her, where they met with Lydia and Thana herself, standing in front of the open door of the room next to his and Rave’s. Thana’s room. The princess was only looking at him for a moment, nodding at the open door before continuing to stare into the air, lost in thought.

Thana, on the other hand, seemed shaken beyond belief, pale even beyond her usual unhealthy tint. Hasting to their side, John joined them at the door to look at what had them this concerned. The moment he looked into the room, his eyes widened in confusion.

What had been a completely furnished bedroom was now completely empty and filled with dust and dirt. At least that was John’s first impression, but as he stepped into the doorframe and kneeled down to inspect the layer on the floor more closely, he was proven wrong.

The room wasn’t just empty, it had been completely stripped of everything. The wallpaper had been ripped off the walls, the shelves, bed and mattress had all disappeared. All of it seemed to have happened without even the faintest trace of any of these things being moved elsewhere, seemingly having just vanished.

But as John picked up a handful of the dust and looked at it closely, the truth became apparent. The furniture, the wallpapers, the computers and everything else that had been in that room, they hadn’t just vanished. No, they had been ground down to the smallest possible particle whoever did this could make them into.

The dust in his hand was a mixture of broken and torn materials, even the feathers filling the cushions had been ripped fibre for fibre, the quills destroyed. There was nothing in this room anymore, aside from naked walls and a layer of scraps on the floor, in which the footprints of a small woman were left. The dusty trail led away from the room and towards his.

“Can somebody fill me in?” John asked, looking at the ground beneath his feet where someone, where Thana, had dusted off her feet.

 “I hoped you would be able to tell me something,” Lydia said. “I was with Thana all morning, this must have happened over the night.”

“I didn’t hear a thing…” John said and glanced into the room again.

For this level of destruction to have happened without there being any sounds loud enough to wake him up meant that whoever did this had been beyond careful in their approach. “I don’t remember anything,” Thana’s voice was a silent quiver. “I was just standing in front of John’s door all of a sudden. I was afraid. I don’t remember this.”

If she was telling the truth, and John had no reason to doubt her words, then that only left the timespan between them going to bed and around midnight when she knocked on his door. That wasn’t even three hours, for all of this destruction to happen. It wasn’t impossible, obviously it wasn’t, the proof was right before his eyes, but highly discomforting.

John did the important thing first and embraced the blood mage. “Calm down, we can panic about this in peace,” he mumbled.

“You are making no fucking sense,” she answered, holding back tears of panic. “What did I do this time? I don’t remember this. Why is my brain this fucked? Why do I have to be this fucked up?” She sniffed, clearly trying her best to not break down on the spot. “At least I always knew what I was, a disgusting monster, but I was my monster. What is happening?”

“Ya can cry, ya know?” Rave said, patting her on the head; “Ya already did it thrice, we won’t shame ya.”

“You dumb whore, I only cried twice, ever,” Thana cussed at her. “At least that’s what I fucking thought.”

Holding her in his arms, John turned to Lydia. “She can’t fight today,” he said out loud. Whatever this was, it wasn’t good, and he wouldn’t let it come to pass. The princess closed her eyes in thought, the fact that she didn’t respond immediately gave John cause for concern.

As did Thana tensing up in his arms and then freeing herself. “NO! I can fight!” she shouted at him. “I refuse to let my fucking brain be the reason Lydia could lose this tournament.”

“There are more points in the future, and I can carry this on my own,” John pushed back.

“You might be able to,” Lydia agreed, “but I can’t lose yet another three points to the twists of fate. Thana, you will fight today and not again afterwards unless we figure out what this caused.”

“I beg you, Lydia,” John said in a grave tone. “Do not do this.”

“My decision has been made,” Lydia’s iron eyes were looking in his direction but they were focused on something beyond him, beyond all of them. “It pains me to treat a friend in such a manner, but I will use her as a tool as long as she is still functioning. Especially because today is so crucial.”

“I will not comply with this,” John’s tone was grave.

“But I will,” Thana said. “You can fuck off with making decisions for me!”

“You heard her,” the princess’ iron eyes only became darker as she killed her own empathy for the situation to make the hard decision a ruler had to make. “So will you keep to your word and do your best to help her even in this situation or will you betray me and our agreement?”

What was more valuable, the safe present or the prosperous future? John understood her thought process, understood why she held Thana hostage to gain his strength, understood that there was no correct answer here.

There was no way John could know that his idea to immediately go get help for her was the best one. Maybe she would be gone for the rest of the tournament, maybe that would cause Lydia to then lose. The princess decided to place her bet on Thana being able to control herself for at least today, aside from her initial shock, the blood mage seemed stable enough to warrant this.

But he wasn’t happy about this whatsoever, he could neither bring himself to agree with the princess’ viewpoint nor flat-out deny it. There were too many maybes.

He remained convinced that this could only lead to catastrophe. Thana was frail, there was no doubt about it, not physically but mentally. Using her like she was a blunt sword because that was the best weapon around right now didn’t sit right with John. However, that very same sword demanded to be used. John’s advice on the matter went ignored. If he wanted to protect Thana, there was only one choice here.

“I have now seen the worst of you, Lydia,” John said with closed eyes. “Have it your way.”