Upon diving into it, she realized she didn't have many options.
It seems I must visit that place, she thought. It was the last place she wanted to visit, but fate said otherwise.
With that in mind, she continued her pace.
The hallway seemed quiet and lonely when it was brimming with people just a few hours ago, conjuring the thought that not all things stay the same. Everything would be gone in fleeting moments.
Just as she entertained herself with these philosophical thoughts, she halted her steps when she witnessed something strange.
A man was standing in front of a vending machine. At first glance, everything looked normal, but upon closer inspection, something about him felt eerily off.
He stood still as if he were a mannequin. His chest didn't seem to be moving like a human's. Did he not breathe? How could that be? And why?
Most of all, he stared at the vending machine for far too long. It was wrong.
Rakina didn't try to dive into what was going on, but she had to admit it gave her chills.
Should she investigate what's going on? She pondered the most plausible theories.
Maybe it was a strange monster that left the Tower and could mimic human behavior. With such a thought crossing her mind, she strode over and waited behind him as if she wanted to get some drinks.
What's the worst thing that could happen anyway?
Then, he inserted a coin and pressed some buttons. A loud thud could be heard as the drink fell. The man crouched and grabbed it.
Rakina watched silently, ready to use magic and strike.
Then, he raised his body and turned around, revealing a face that screamed still madness.
A wide smile that never moved. His lips never seemed to fully open or close. His skin was too smooth, plastic-like. Not a pore or hair in sight. His eyes were slightly misaligned. One twitched occasionally, the other stayed too still.
His movements were akin to a bad animation loop. He turned too fast or too slow, like buffering.
When he revealed himself, her entire body instinctively froze like a rabbit seeing a predator approach at terrifying speed.
She couldn't muster the strength to move. Sweat flowed down slowly.
"Hello. My name is Courteous." He spoke, but his voice came first; his mouth moved late. It was like a bad dub.
Then suddenly, his body glitched like Ordinal.
Upon witnessing that, she immediately knew she wasn't facing an ordinary monster.
Come on, move! she thought desperately, and her finger twitched slightly. That gave her hope.
Oblivious to that, he abruptly gave Rakina his drink. It came out so unexpectedly that Rakina eyed it suspiciously.
She raised her head and found him incredibly close to her face.
"I'll let you have this drink," his face performed a full rotation, "if you let me… suck those fresh balloons."
She almost doubted her ears. "Pardon?"
"Like I said…" His smile grew. "Let me suckle on those things, and this drink is yours."
Silence descended, and along with it, the room temperature dropped.
Blue, cold surfaces started to cover the walls and ceiling. White, freezing specks of dust rained down.
"Now," she paused, her voice threatening, "why would you think I'd do that?"
She raised her hand, and just above her head, ice blades materialized out of thin air. They flew at him at terrifying speed, leaving a whistle in the wind.
He dodged by flipping backward a few times. The blade embedded deep into the floor before turning into snow.
It has quick reflexes, she thought and started to analyze a path to victory. Unfortunately, she lacked data and needed more.
"What are you?" she asked, trying to communicate.
But strangely, his body glitched intensely as soon as he heard her question. It seemed to be in pain, too. Rakina was dumbstruck.
What just happened? she thought inwardly and pondered for a moment. Is it because of her question?
She fell silent.
Surely that's not the case. Even if it were, it was simply too bizarre that a simple question could hurt a monster. It's ridiculous, she thought.
However, it was worth the try.
Would any question work? she whispered to herself and then spoke aloud, "Do you like strawberries?"
He didn't glitch. Instead, he assumed a fighting stance and charged forward.
That doesn't work. It seems the question must be emotional, she pondered in her heart.
She then materialized a blade of ice and anticipated his attack with a beautiful parry and counterattack. The man lost his core balance and revealed an opening.
She quickly slashed his chest with a swing to the left.
Her blade tore his skin and should have spewed out blood—but instead, it produced a loud clang, echoing throughout the hallway. Sparks flew everywhere. He was knocked back a few meters away.
Its body isn't organic, she took note of that and realized a physical attack might need twice as much force to defeat it.
Which, by all means, didn't matter to her. Although women are biologically weaker than men in terms of raw strength, it didn't apply to magic.
For Rakina, it was rated E. Thus, she chanted quietly and innumerable magic circles appeared. Different weapons made of ice—axes, spears, every weapon humanity had ever invented—peeked out.
She straightened her arm and launched them. They flew quickly like missiles, raining down endlessly like a torrent.
Facing an endless amount of weapons, Courteous sprinted to the wall and dodged. Then, his body glitched and vanished from the spot.
He vanished? Rakina thought, increasing her guard. Her gaze moved left and right, alarmed for any movement.
Then, she felt a presence coming from her right. She stomped her leg and a magic circle formed exactly at that spot.
He took shape and reached out his hand, aimed at Rakina's neck.
Rakina willed the magic circle to activate. It heeded her command and glowed. Then, a giant sword rose and pierced the man's torso, coming out the other side. The man's movement came to a complete halt with his hand just a few centimeters away from her throat.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked, and the man spasmed crazily as he glitched.
"… I want to be nice." he replied, and immediately afterward, he glitched and disappeared from the spot.
Her eyes furrowed deeply, watching out for danger.
"That's not an answer. That's a copy-paste response." She clenched her blade tightly, waiting for his reappearance. "And requesting such an indecent proposal in return isn't nice. That's just being a pervert."
And then, she heard the vending machine behind her drop a drink. She turned around and found him standing before it. He grabbed the can and reached out his hand, offering her a soda.
"On the house." He offered it. His actions screamed illogical and wrong.
Why does it want to give me something? And this time, it didn't ask anything in return, Rakina contemplated for a moment.
As she mused on such a thought, he opened his mouth.
"I want… a good interaction… like humans do."
Static crackled from somewhere inside him.
"Why? Did someone teach you that? Were you trying to get someone to like you?"
"… I… I… am… pleasant—"
His neck twitched hard to the right. Fingers spasmed. His voice warped into several overlapping tones.
Rakina paused for a moment and dismissed her magic. She walked over.
"Pleasant. Pleasan—Pleasure? Flesh? Be my guuuuuuuu—"
He stopped when he realized Rakina had snatched the can of soda. She drank it in one breath.
He fell silent and watched Rakina with his head tilted to the side. It was unknown what was on his mind.
"Thank you." Rakina bowed slightly.
"Thank… you?" He tilted his head once more.
"Yeah, you say it if someone did something kind." She nodded.
"Kind? Me. Kind. No?" He pondered with a jumbled line, but understandable nevertheless.
"Yeah. Just don't ask me something indecent in return."
"Suckle?"
One hundred magic circles appeared around him. Weapons peeked out.
He looked around and turned to her. "No suckle?"
They vanished in an instant. "Yeah, that's correct."
He became quiet, seemingly processing everything that had just happened. Finally, he spoke.
"… Okay."
After that, he turned to the vending machine and continued staring at it as if nothing had just happened.
Rakina frowned slightly, feeling odd and couldn't help but ponder. What is that all about?
The more she delved into it, the more confused she became.
Henceforth, she didn't entertain the thought much longer and turned around, walking away.
Then, something abrupt happened. Her right hand jolted backward without warning. Thankfully, Rakina followed where her hand went to prevent dislocating her shoulder.
Her eyes widened slightly, stunned.
What's going on? she asked herself and realized her arm aimed at him.
Runes started to form and detach themselves from her skin. Rakina winced in agony. The pain was similar to being showered with boiling water.
The runes attached themselves to him. Gradually, his body turned into golden specks of dust and flew into her body.
What's happening? she thought and struggled by moving her body away from the dust entering her.
It was the first time this happened to her. The fear of the unknown repulsed her.
However, her struggle was futile as the dust persisted in entering her. She prepared for the worst. Something painful.
Yet, she was greeted with warmth and her muscles relaxed.
As this occurred, the runes successfully turned the monster into nothingness but the purest form of data that Rakina absorbed.
Soon, a message popped up in her vision.
[Would you like to save new data?]
She promptly said yes.
[Data has been successfully saved.]