Shun fell quiet. The atmosphere became heavy.
If Shun were in the man's position, would he be able to do the same? One lives for more, or more for one.
Shun couldn't find the answer. In fact, he'd be afraid and might not choose at all. Perhaps when he came to his senses, there would be no one left but himself.
"Am I selfish and evil for that?" the man asked himself with a click of his tongue, annoyed at himself, or maybe at what others thought of him.
"I don't regret my choice, but one thing is certain. I regretted not making the call earlier—before the Eclipse even happened, no, before that." He continued his rambling.
Shun could only listen quietly.
"But well, it's not like you can change the past, right? From here onwards, it's just me and her. We can enjoy the trips we planned together, the adventures we wanted to embark on, and the parks we wanted to visit.
"That said, I'm worried about what's going to happen in the future."
He paused for a moment, searching for the right words. "The world might change because of the Eclipse. Damn it! Why did it have to happen in the first place? If only those Yomnoire fools had tried to be reasonable, all of this wouldn't have happened!"
Yomnoire… Shun recited quietly, and a memory resurfaced.
'Is he talking about the Yomnoire family?' Shun asked himself with doubt and continued, 'They caused the Eclipse?'
They didn't seem to be fond of destruction, but of their gods. Maybe that love was simply too extreme, and it corrupted them? Shun could only shrug his shoulders. There were many pieces of information missing.
Furthermore, the man could be lying because he couldn't bear the weight of causing innocent lives to vanish, so he blamed it on a third party.
Of course, this was just speculation. He needed to find more information before coming to a conclusion.
Shun shifted his focus to the man and more interaction showed he was a bit screwed loose in the head.
"If only they hadn't tried to seal the entity inside Katherine, all of this wouldn't have happened."
… What?
Shun's mind slammed on the brakes. His thoughts came to a halt as he digested the information, almost doubting himself.
At this point, something about the man seemed to shift. The air stirred ominously with despair and intense fear.
Shun looked at the man's eyes. They had changed into something deeper—older than the universe itself. Just before he could contemplate that, before he could even think about what the heck was going on, he noticed the scenery outside had changed.
Red as blood, with clouds dark as the void itself. In the distance, strange floating shapes slowly came into view, each blooming like a flower before launching a devastating beam that caused a thundering boom and hellfire that licked the heavens.
"It seems the time has come."
The man turned his head to Shun. His eyes were blank.
With an open smile, he let go of the steering wheel and waved his hand toward him. Then, with a voice that seemed to shake the very balance of the universe, he opened his mouth. "So this is where you've been hiding?"
---
Shun snapped his eyes open and sat up abruptly.
"Huff… huff…" His breathing was quick and short. Sweat trickled across his cheek.
What was that? Shun asked himself, bewildered and refusing to accept that such a thing had happened.
Whoever that thing was, it was terrifying and extraordinarily strong. If Shun encountered it again, he doubted he could defeat it.
And it seemed to have found out where he was. Naturally, the thought that it might get here anytime soon crossed his mind.
If it came here in their current state, they would be massacred.
Time was of the essence; they had to flee this place at once.
With that in mind, Shun prepared to pack his things quickly and leave, but then he halted his steps, realizing he was being hasty—again.
He could only blame it on his curse. He sighed and noted to himself that he should do something to snap himself out of this hasty mode.
Hmm, never mind, let's do it now, Shun thought to himself, pondering what he could do to regain composure if his emotions got agitated or he lost his cool.
A physical cue would be nice, and he would have to do it after every scenario involving cosmic forces.
He thought for a moment, and a few ideas flashed through his mind: a snap of fingers, breaking his own fingers, tapping his glabella, or maybe just dancing.
A lot went through his mind, and he found one that might suit his needs.
He curled his middle finger and placed his thumb just before it. Then he flicked his own head as hard as possible.
It jolted his mind open, and his eyes seemed to gain clarity. Overall, he felt soothed.
This might work! Shun exclaimed internally.
Anyhow, that whole scenario with him being a sheep was a wild experience, and he couldn't help but ponder what it all meant.
An inevitable disaster creeping closer with each passing tick? Or simply a nightmare conjured by his mind? That seemed unlikely.
Reviewing what he learned there, he assumed the place wasn't real at all—it was merely an illusion—but not everything within it was false.
Those two figures, the cybernetics, the ambushers, the five circled spots, the Yomnoire family wanting to seal the being inside the girl, and the car that had to take another route that seemed safe and shortest, yet never reached its destination.
He believed these things represented something that would help him understand more about what this floor meant, and possibly serve as a key to finishing the temple faster.
Of course, this was just his gut feeling, not a definitive answer.
Storing those things in the corner of his mind, Shun quickly moved on and brought out the prune from his inventory.
———
Name: Fruit of the Heavens
Type: Resource
Rarity: Special
Description: Cultivated and propagated in ■■■■. Once consumed, it will increase your potential to the fullest.
———
He clenched his fist tighter, eager to see how strong he could become. This might be his only chance. He snapped the dried plum in half and consumed it in one breath, storing the leftover in his inventory for a certain someone.
He waited for a moment, anticipating every possible outcome that might transpire.
Nothing happened—or so he thought—until his consciousness went blank.
He couldn't see anything or anyone, just pitch darkness, and he could only hear his own breathing.
"Where am I?" His voice echoed in the void.
Then, he felt a great presence just before him—standing, or perhaps crouching—he couldn't tell.
[You are not me.]
A system notification appeared.
[I am not you.]
It continued.
[Without me. Without you. One is many. Many is one.]
Shun kept reading.
[Be the one. Be the many.]
Shun frowned slightly, trying to digest what those words meant, when suddenly, a mysterious force shattered the pitch darkness into black shards of glass that scattered across the universe.
The surrounding area was immediately filled with colorful stars, galaxies, and nebulae.
Simultaneously, this force flung Shun across the galaxies at speeds faster than light.
Everything became distorted into blurry motion, and the stars and galaxies around him stretched into straight lines, slowly forming into a tunnel.
As he was dragged across the universe toward somewhere unknown, the speed slowed slightly, revealing a pirate ship in the distance.
Then it blurred again as the force pulled him onward. The speed decreased once more, allowing him to glimpse a sword embedded deep in stone before it too vanished into a haze.
He slowed again upon seeing a strange-looking doll, but the force didn't let him stop, turning it into a blur.
As he advanced, he saw a strange plane, and the force slowed immensely, letting him take in the sight.
It had no form or even concept—just a pure white spot in the myriad spectrum of the universe, as if the universe itself refused to touch it, corrupt it, or corrode it.
[The Constellation Monarch God warns you not to stare into the ■■■.]