“There.” Mia said, triumphantly planting her hands on her hips, looking at the results of her work. The two adventurers had been reduced to drooling messes, twitching in their restraints while twitching occasionally. They had been tortured for 2 minute intervals, stabbed, slashed, bisected, and then subjected to it all again when Mia loaded on started the process over.
At first they screamed, then begged, as they struggled to process what was going on. To outsiders it would only look like Mia had simply touched their boots and then instantaneously they went from loud and annoying yelling to this.
[I think you may have went overboard] Ami chastised.
‘eh, I am sure they have done worse to Roxie.’ She titled her head, the mouse still right where she left her. She outstretched her hand “Come on Roxie, let’s get away from these guys.”
“I...” Roxie raised her hand to take hers, but hesitated, her gaze shooting between Mia and her two companions “what did you do…?”
“Taught them a lesson.” She smiled, taking Roxie’s hand “come on, I’ll introduce you to my sister.” She then started leading her along through the crowd.
“I-Mia, what happened to you?” Roxie asked “I-I’m sorry… I didn’t, uhm…”
Mia glanced back, Roxie was skittishly scanning the crowd, trying to avoid eye contact with Mia, even when she wasn’t looking at her “it’s fine.” Mia sighed, seeing her in this state made her regret not going back, even if she did it to stay with her sister “what’s done is…done…” she shook her head “The explosion wasn’t your fault, and you saved me…so it is fine.”
“I…I’m sorry…” Roxie sniffed, apparently struggling to hold herself together.
‘… just what did they do to her?’ Mia once again found herself questioning what this girl went through in the month they were separated. She was even considering going back for round 2 of torture but the sudden cheers of everyone in the lobby brought her attention to the front, where everyone was now shooting spell after spell in rapid succession at the barrier ‘Trevor convinced them.’ She sighed in relief, and with Roxie in tow, she walked to her sister.
“Oh Mia? You are ba- oh my!”
When they had reached her sister, Ria was prepared to welcome her sister back with open arms, that quickly shifted to worry once she saw the state of Roxie, rushing past Mia and looking her over. “Mia, who is this?! Why is she so-“
“This is Roxie… the one I told you about that made me join her party.” Mia interrupted her sister, going behind Roxie, who froze up, and gently grabbed her armored shoulders “She was with… idiots… and now she is going to join us, after this…” she motioned to the entrance “…is over.”
Roxie carefully looked behind her “y-your party? B-but I-“
“Wasn’t your fault. What happened, happened.” Mia nodded ‘if anything… it’s my fault…’
“Hm…Alright!” Ria smiled “First we have to get her cleaned up, something to eat… probably some medical attention…” Ria mumbled the last bit, trying to be subtle about eyeing Roxie’s scars.
“N-no wait! My title… you don’t-“ Roxie tried to bring up her title, one that would take an unfair amount of EXP away from her party members, regardless of how much she contributed to the fight, but Mia interrupted her.
“We are both heroes, need less to level up anyways.”
Ria nodded, agreeing with her sister “Besides, you saved her, right?” Ria patted Roxie’s head, her hand immediately shooting back up after touching Roxie’s unwashed hair, a shiver sent running through her entire body after Ria realized Roxie had not washed in a long time. She quickly composed herself “…so you are fine in my book.”
“I- but I- y.y.you…” Roxie glanced between the two, tears filling her eyes as the dam holding it back broke, tears running down her face as she cried into her hands.
“There there~” Ria said, very carefully patting Roxie on the head “its fine now.” Ria then shot Mia a look, expecting her to explain, fully, what the hell went on with this girl to put her in such a state.
Mia shrugged, flinching as the hall erupted in screaming, cheers, and celebration as the barrier shattered, everyone rushing out the entrance and immediately shooting spell after spell at the Gaia cult members that had held them in for so long, the hall quickly emptying of most adventures “that’s good…”
“Only a matter of time before this can return to normal.” Ria said, still awkwardly comforting the little mouse.
The three stayed there for a few moments, watching the hall clear out, when someone ran up to them “YOU!”
“Wha-!” Mia turned towards the shout, but was immediately picked up and was shaken aggressively.
“What did you do to our leader!” The man shouted.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“Hey! Let go of my-“ Ria stood up, readying her sword but was kicked clear across the hall in the instant, leaving Mia at the man’s mercy and Roxie frozen in fear, unsure of what to do.
“What did you do!” he shouted again, halting his shaking and shouting into her face.
Mia took a second to gather herself, the shaking had left her dazed and confused “I, what? Who?” she opened her eyes, trying to focus on the person in front of her. He looked familiar, someone she had seen awhile ago but she couldn't put her finger on it, still shaken up. “…who?”
“Our leader! Roy!” He yelled, pointing back to the entrance of A-1 “He has been weird since you did something to him, but now he shape shifted into this, this-!?”
“AAAaurgh-!”
Everyone that was still in the hall, which was just guild staff, a handful of adventurers too weak to help outside taking shelter inside, a few high leveled adventures protecting the hall, and the rescued kids all turned their attention to the entrance to A-1, as a tiger beastkin shot up from inside, slamming into the floor of the hall then flipping himself over to his feet.
He looked back, his eyes widened, and he dashed over, kicking his teammate to the guild staff and grabbing Mia by the collar “You! What the fuck did you do to Roy!”
“Gah-!” Mia felt his claws dig into her skin, barely managing to not break the flesh “R-roy? Nothing!” she forced out “He… should be fine. Didn’t do anything!”
[Oh boy…]
“Oh yeah?” Ryker sneered, swinging Mia around to look at the entrance “then what the hell is that!” He yelled, just as a black creature dragged itself from below, its drooping appendage slapping across the floor as it let out a gurgling war “THAT! Is Roy!”
Mia blinked, still struggling in his grasp “T-that is…Roy?” she asked, not believing it as another lanky creature rose behind him, it’s eyes swimming down the length of its body.
[He handled it worse than I thought]
‘Ami?!’ of course she knew what was going on… ‘explain, now.’
A barrage of spells launched from the remaining adventurers, taking immediate action as they realized the threat in the hall. Fire, ice, water, lightning, a variety of elements were slung at the creatures that recoiled and groaned as their bodies were ripped apart by the onslaught. Still, they remained, tanking the damage as their bodies reformed, the fire only stalling them.
[Well, there is a phrase… how did it go… ‘he looked into the abyss, and the abyss stared back’? it is a similar situation.]
‘What? What does that have to do with anything?!’ Mia inwardly screamed, as she was tossed aside by Ryker, getting caught by Roxie.
“If you are not going to stop this, than I am.” He growled, getting ready to once again face his once friend turned monster.
[Before that, if I may suggest, cut them off before anyone foolishly tries to fight those things?]
‘Fine, explain while I do.’ Mia leaped forward, slowing down time as she ran passed Ryker towards the entrance, beginning to erect a wall of true ice to block off the entrance among the spells.
[Well, it should be obvious. Going back in time you, and anyone you drag with you, goes through [Void], most people are fine going through it without realizing what is happening, it will just appear like they instantly went back.]
‘Get to the point…’ Mia complained, rapidly burning through her large pool of mana as she closed off the large entrance gates.
[but for powerful people, or people who are sensitive to such things, they can catch a glimpse of it… they *looked into the abyss* so to speak. What happens after that… depends on them. They might get a little bit freaked out, like your aunt, or not care and move on without thinking about it, or in Roy’s case…]
The monsters growled, time returning to normal as the barrier was complete, as they banged on the true ice, not being able to puncture or break it. Their goo smearing on the ice or quickly rushing towards a crack made by someone’s spell before Mia fixed it.
[The *abyss looks back*, they dwell on it, their weak will consuming them as Void seeps into the cracks. Their subconscious mixing with void and turning them into…well… anything, usually monsters, but by the very nature of Void anything could happen.]
‘…so if one is Roy and then the other is…how did he turn?’ she asked, glancing at the other, she could swear a bit of the goop was waving at her…
[A victim? Getting any amount of Void on you can open you up to it’s influence, but getting a lot on you can force it.]
‘Neat.’ Mia sarcastically said, eyeing the approaching adventurers who had stopped their magical assault ‘so, how do I fix it? Go back in time?’
[Well, you won’t like it, but it is a simple fix. They are now one with Void, you just have to touch them and throw them back. Don’t worry, you are immune to the effects of touching Void, you swam in it every time you died and [Time] offers some default protection.]
‘So, save then save and touch them… and load…that’s it? ‘Why wouldn’t she like that? It seemed all to easy, they couldn’t even break her ice. ‘And this will fix them? Right?
[Yup that is it. But, no, they are one with Void now… they are dead.]
‘Eh? But going back in time…’
[Won’t fix them. Void exists outside of time. If you loaded in an attempt to get to Roy before he turns, he wouldn’t go back to where he previously was. He’d still be right here, at the top of the stairs, now overlooking a room filled with more victims.]
‘What?!’ Mia screamed, “why didn’t you warn me?!’
[I did, several times when advising against taking your sister back, and when you first took Roy back in time and he started showing signs.]
Flustered and angry, Mia shouted ‘Yeah but you didn’t tell me he’d turn into a monster and start turning people!’ her eyes darted to the opposite side of the room, towards the adventurers she had tortured ‘and what about them?! Will they turn?’
[Annoyingly, I cannot yet tell you every little detail, unless it becomes relevant. And no, they were not even aware they were going back in time. A certain level of comprehension and intelligence is required, it is why your sister is fine with short hops and only gets a bit of mental trauma from the repeated act itself.]
She turned back to the two monsters, the group behind her staring her down, expecting answers ‘…when can I get more answers before everything becomes really bad?’ she asked, debating her options. There had to be another way out of this without removing someone like this ‘wait, won’t doing this make a paradyme?”
[Simple, level up Time. And it is paradox and yes it will, but [Log] will take care of it.]
‘Isn’t log broken?’
[It will do it’s best to take care of it.]
Mia slouched, cursing herself for this predicament and cursing Ami as well for not being straight forward enough with his. She should have loaded when Ami warned her, but she thought nothing of it cause Roy had annoyed her the most during her attempts to stop Hiiro.
‘At least it’s simple…’ she sighed, all she had to do was freeze them both and touch them, without this suspicious mob of powerful adventurers, some of which could apparently break her true ice, to let her do it.
‘…easy…’