'This place…'
Adam was now floating in a place filled with starlight and nebulae.
He felt himself falling deeper and deeper into the path he was on, sometimes hearing faint whispers in his ears.
'These voices sound familiar.'
He tried to go faster, searching for the source of the sounds, but to no avail. In the end, he gave up and decided to let himself be swept freely by the nebulae, which were closing in tighter and tighter.
'I don't know why I suddenly ended up in a different universe. If I remember correctly, I was fighting a man with Lu Bu, Sasaki Kojiro, and Sylvia. I wonder how they are doing now.'
Suddenly, a bright light appeared right in front of him, slowly growing larger. Adam squinted his eyes and looked far into the horizon. His vision slowly blurred, feeling as if he was being squeezed between two large, narrowing walls. His body couldn't move, and he couldn't feel anything around him. In an instant, Adam was swallowed by the light.
– –
Point of view: Sylvia
I slowly opened my eyes, seeing only a dark ceiling. I then looked around and realized I was in a hospital. It seemed Nico and Andri had managed to defeat him and brought me here… but where were they?
I tried to get up from my bed and looked around again. There was truly no one in the room, only darkness enveloping it. I noticed the light peeking from under the hospital room door, and some shadows briefly passed by my room door. "Hhhh…"
I could only let out a long sigh, hoping they both were okay too. I began to look at the window, covered by a blue curtain. I felt like I could see the moonlight from behind the curtain. As I was daydreaming, my room door suddenly opened slowly, and someone entered, carrying a plastic bag. It was Mom.
"Mom…"
"Sylvia!!"
Mom dropped the plastic bag she was holding and ran towards me, hugging me tightly. The sound of sobs began to reach my ears as Mom embraced me tighter.
"Mom… it hurts…"
"Ah! Sorry." Mom pulled her hands away and wiped the tears that were gathering in her eyes. "Thank goodness you're awake."
"Why am I here?"
"That's what I want to ask you. What actually happened to you?"
Oh no, I can't tell her. Of course, she wouldn't believe that I was fighting Leonardo da Vinci or Mona Lisa in a dream world; she'd think I was crazy.
I lowered my head slightly and started to come up with a plausible excuse. "I…"
Just as I was about to say something, Mom's arms suddenly wrapped around my neck, hugging me gently. "Thank goodness… Thank goodness you're okay."
I held Mom's back and returned her embrace. Tears welled up in my eyes and fell onto my cheeks. While hugging Mom, I could only sob slightly, apologizing.
"I'm sorry for making you worry, Mom."
Mom turned on the room light—everything became clear now. Mom placed the plastic bag she had dropped earlier on a table with a tulip on it. Inside the bag were some snacks, heavy meals, fruits, and medicines.
I started looking at the clock ticking on the wall of the room; it was 8:45 PM.
Holding her phone—as if sending something—Mom turned her gaze towards me. "I've already contacted your father; he'll be here as soon as possible."
"Thanks, Mom. By the way, can I ask something?"
While taking out items one by one from the plastic bag, Mom answered my question. "What?"
"Who brought me here?"
Mom lifted her head and placed one of her fingers on her chin, as if trying to remember. "Ah! That… a large man and an old man wearing all white clothes and wooden sandals."
I could recognize the description of the large man—definitely Nico—but I was a bit confused when Mom said 'an old man wearing all white clothes and wooden sandals.' That definitely wasn't Andri. Who could he be?
"Actually, that's what one of the nurses said when I first came here to visit you," Mom suddenly interjected.
Not knowing how to respond, I could only mumble, "Oh, I see…"
I actually wanted to ask something about Andri; of course, he must have been with them. But hearing the nurse's explanation that Mom mentioned, it seemed something had happened to him too.
"Sorry, Mom, can you please get my phone?"
Mom took her bag and handed me my phone while sitting beside me. She peeled an apple into small pieces and arranged them neatly on a plate. I tried to message Andri, but there was no reply. Mom placed the knife she used to cut the apple next to the plate with the neatly cut apple pieces. "So, can you tell me what happened to you, Sylvia?" Mom asked, looking at me with a slightly sad expression.
"Y-yes…" It felt bad to lie. Even if I were honest, the percentage of them believing my explanation was zero. Maybe I'll make up a slightly more plausible excuse. "Mom, actually… I…"
The sound of very fast footsteps began to be heard from behind my room door. Just as I was about to say something, the door suddenly opened as fast as lightning, making Mom and me shift our focus there—towards the door. Right in front of us, my father stood, breathing rapidly as if he had run a marathon.
"Dad…"
"Sylvia…"
Still panting, my father slowly approached me. A slight relieved smile was etched on his face. He quickened his steps a bit and hugged both of us very tightly. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry, this is all my fault for not being able to protect you well. I was too busy with my work, which led to this."
Mom and I could only exchange glances, seeing Dad like this. Usually, he looked very calm when facing problems and a bit cool when giving orders to his subordinates, but I never expected there to be a side like this to my father.
I patted his large, slightly muscular arm a few times gently, chuckling slightly. "Dad, it hurts…"
My father instinctively released his hug. Mom told him to stay calm and let him sit beside her—they both sat in front of me.
"So can you explain to us what actually happened to you, Sylvia?" Mom asked again.
Without giving me a chance to speak, my father also looked confused and asked, "Yeah, it's quite strange that you're suddenly bruised like this. Were you bullied at school?"
"W-what? N-no, it's not like that, really! It's just… it's hard to explain."
It was natural for him to think that way. With my face and body condition like this, bad assumptions like "being bullied" would surely come to his mind. Mom held my hand gently and looked at me warmly. "It's okay, just tell us."
For a moment, I could only bite my lip. I took a light breath and prepared myself to explain to them. "You might not believe this story, but…"
I guess this was the right time to tell them everything about who I really was.
With a mix of hesitation and determination, I began to explain. "Mom, Dad, actually I…"
"Huh? It's quite crowded here!"
Just as I was about to speak and explain to Dad and Mom, someone suddenly interjected. A man wearing a school sports uniform stood in front of the door, carrying a plastic bag in his hand. It was Nico. And also an old man wearing all white clothes, carrying a cane, stood beside him. Who was he?
"Who are you?" my mom asked.
Her expression was a bit panicked when Mom started asking, it seemed she also didn't expect this. Nico held his head and bowed respectfully. "Ah, sorry to disturb you this late, we just wanted to visit Sylvia," he explained.
"Sylvia, are they your acquaintances?" my father asked curiously.
I had no choice but to admit it, but not for the man standing next to him. Honestly, I wanted to explain, but there was no time. "Huh? Yes… something like that…"
I don't know why he came here, but his timing was perfect! Thank you, Nico!
Nico stepped into my room, followed by an old man carrying a cane in his right hand. They greeted my parents and explained their reason for coming here.
Apparently, Nico was disguised as a security guard at a store. He explained to my parents that I was hit by a car whose tire suddenly burst and skidded, heading towards the sidewalk, then hitting me. The old man beside him also didn't miss the chance to introduce himself; his name was Yuki Teppei. He was disguised as a driver who accidentally hit me and apologized for the incident. I was only slightly surprised to see his expression was very natural. Was that why he carried a cane in his hand? He was good at playing this drama in front of my parents.
The old man named Yuki Teppei apologized profusely and would cover all my medical expenses until I recovered. He even cried and held my hand due to his carelessness. Of course, I could only follow this script. Nico even winked at me as if praising me for perfectly following the plot.
And so, everything ended peacefully. Dad and Mom forgave the old man named Yuki Teppei. The brief explanation was that it was an accidental collision because his car tire suddenly burst, causing him to skid and hit the sidewalk.
Nico asked for a moment of private time with me and the old man for certain reasons. At first, my parents refused, fearing something might happen, but somehow they managed to convince my parents, and now it was just the three of us here.
"Sorry if we had to lie like this," Nico said.
I shook my head with a faint smile, holding back laughter from the sudden drama. "It's okay, this is quite interesting."
"Ah, before that, I want to introduce you to him. He's the one who helped Adam fight the skeleton and helped all of us find you. His name is Mr. Yuki Teppei."
"I thought that name was just a disguise. Oh! Sorry, nice to meet you."
"Hahaha, don't be so formal, I enjoyed this drama too," Yuki Teppei said, wiping away the tears still welling in his eyes.
Nico patted Mr. Yuki Teppei's back and laughed. "Seriously! How could I not believe you could act like that? I thought this wouldn't work. How did you do that?"
"Hahaha, it's simple."
It felt like someone was missing here, so I intended to ask something about Andri. "By the way, how is he doing?"
The smile on Mr. Yuki Teppei's face suddenly turned grim. So did Nico's. This kind of thing made me even more curious. Mr. Yuki Teppei stood up from his seat and suddenly interjected, "Before that, we need to make this room safe first."
"Safe?" I asked in surprise.
He began to lift his cane and pulled something from it—it was a sword, or perhaps a katana? I wasn't sure, but it was a sword. When he pulled it out, the room we were in suddenly seemed different from usual.
"What happened?"
"Most likely, your parents are listening to us, so I cut off all the air vents in this room so they can't hear what we're saying."
That's a bit impressive! Oh no! I forgot about Andri. When Mr. Yuki Teppei sat back down in his chair, I immediately asked, "So… how is he doing now?"
With an upright posture, Nico began to explain. "The city looks normal, probably because the illusion space created by one of them made everything have no effect on the outside world. And as for those who attacked you and Andri, I managed to defeat one of them, that was Leonidas, and the man who attacked you was defeated by Andri."
Thank goodness, I thought innocent people would be caught in the fight, but I'm relieved the city is fine. Wait… why does it feel like they're changing the topic about Andri? And also, I didn't hear anything about Andri in Nico's explanation. I'm still curious, so I asked again.
"Ah, yes! By the way, how is he doing now? Is he okay?"
When I asked that, their expressions suddenly turned grim again. I had a bad feeling…
This time, Nico relaxed his upright posture, becoming a bit slouched. He then began to explain, "When he started emitting a bright light that made the man who attacked you leave his illusion space, he fell from above, and I managed to catch him. However, when he started to return to his original self, he suddenly disappeared from my grasp."
My body instantly froze. My gaze was blank, staring at the two of them sitting in front of me. I felt like I couldn't believe the explanation coming from Nico's mouth, so I asked him to explain in more detail about what happened to Andri. "W-what do you mean he disappeared? Explain!"
My voice might have been a bit demanding, but Nico calmly explained again. "I also don't know what happened to him, but when I tried to find the whereabouts of the man who attacked you earlier, he also disappeared."
"Maybe he ran away because Adam threw him quite far from us," Yuki Teppei interjected.
"So, Mr. Yuki is also a Saint?"
Mr. Yuki Teppei nodded, then continued. "Yes! Within me resides the sacred soul of the greatest swordsman who ever lived in Japan. He is Sasaki Kojiro."
"So… Andri can't be found now, is that it?"
They both nodded slowly at me. With fear and disbelief, I began to grip the bedsheet tightly, feeling very annoyed that I couldn't do anything for him.
"Could this have something to do with the man who attacked him?" Nico asked Mr. Yuki.
Mr. Yuki just shook his head as if he knew nothing. "I don't quite understand either, but it's possible. After all, he's the dream manipulator, isn't he? He could have taken Andri into another universe along with his dream."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"This is just my theory. I think the dreams we experience every night are reflections of ourselves in other universes."
"So that means we've been directly connected to our other selves in other universes all this time?"
"Yes! Nico, you've seen my dimensional space, haven't you? There, you could also hear faint voices of people there, right?"
Nico slowly flinched slightly. "Ah! That's right! Now that I think about it, not just voices, but faintly, I could also see an optical illusion, like movements of people in other universes. It was really like being in a dream when we sleep."
"Maybe Andri has been trapped by him."
My eyes widened in disbelief when I heard that sudden explanation. How could he suddenly be trapped in his own dream? Or… thrown into another universe? I don't understand. This explanation made my head hurt. In the end, I could only repeat Mr. Yuki's words, "Trapped?"
"It's possible. He might have made Andri push his abilities to the limit, so when Andri was off guard, he could take the opportunity to enter his dream and take him into a parallel world. In short, that man made Andri's dream real, trapping Andri in another universe—a place where his other self lives."
I stared blankly at Mr. Yuki as I listened to all his theories, which made me a little disbelieving. When I looked at Nico, he seemed to be thinking very hard about this problem.
"Is there a way to save him?" I asked.
"Right! You can use that dimensional space again!" Nico interjected.
I didn't understand what he was talking about, but for some reason, he seemed to have found a solution to the root of this problem, so I turned my gaze to Mr. Yuki and asked, "Dimensional space?"
"Yes! Thanks to the dimensional space he created, all of us were able to find you!" Nico interjected.
"Then please! Please help us once more to save him."
Hearing our plea, Mr. Yuki shook his head slightly. "Sorry, it's not that I don't want to, but… both of my katanas are still in recovery. Their souls started to erode when I used them to create a dimensional space and fight Empedocles and the man who fought you. They need time to regenerate."
"No way…"
"So, all we can do now is wait, huh…"
Silence. My room, which had been noisy before, was now completely enveloped in silence. As the three of us began to ponder about Andri, a knock on the door suddenly sounded, making us all turn our gaze.
Behind the door, my parents said they wanted to check what was happening. I didn't want to make them wait any longer, so with Mr. Yuki's and Nico's agreement, they were allowed back in.
"Before that, maybe we should end our discussion for today. Anyway, I will help you for some reason," Mr. Yuki said, after which he stood up.
"Reason?"
"Sorry, I'll tell you when your friend has been successfully rescued."
"Alright, I understand! Thank you for your participation."
Nico stood up from his seat. "By the way, how are you feeling now?"
"Yes, a little better. I think in a few days I can do my usual activities," I explained.
"For a woman, that's a bit illogical. Could this be due to the influence of a Servant's power?"
Whether it was or not, I wasn't sure, but it seemed so. But then old Yuki Teppei began to explain. "Yes, actually, when we become Servants, we don't fully experience pain. In short, we share half of it, and also because of their power, we can heal ourselves very quickly. That is our advantage as Saints."
"I don't quite understand, but for some reason, I can grasp it!" Nico said, scratching his head.
I chuckled softly when I saw that. "You two, thank you for saving me," I said, bowing my head slightly.
"Yes, don't worry! No matter what, I will definitely bring Andri back here!"
"Yes!"
When my parents were allowed in, they both immediately excused themselves for certain reasons. Once again, Mr. Yuki played his role well; he cried again in front of my parents, making them feel compassionate.
After they said their goodbyes, a doctor suddenly entered my room with very soft steps. He wore rectangular glasses and a stethoscope around his neck.
"How are you feeling now?" the doctor asked.
"Y-yes… a little better."
"I see," After examining me, he stood by the window. Suddenly, a curtain covering the window flew open, making the view outside the window clear when seen with open eyes. While looking at the moon hanging in the sky, the doctor uttered a few words that sounded quite clear to my ears, "Don't worry, he will surely return soon…"
"Huh? What do you mean—"
"It's done! It seems you can go home tomorrow."
Hearing that, my parents were very surprised. The doctor briefly explained my injuries, and they weren't too serious. My parents were happy, but for a moment, I really wanted to know what he meant by what he said earlier. Unfortunately, I didn't have the courage for that. For some reason, it felt like something was holding back all my movements, making me unable to move my entire body for a moment.
"Thank goodness, Sylvia, you can go home tomorrow!" my mom said, her eyes starting to sparkle with joy.
"Y-yes…"