Chapter 129: A Dream II

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in a place shrouded in mist.

Erick’s first reaction was surprise.

Nana was still crying, but the sudden change of scenery startled her, quieting her down a little as she clung tightly to Erick.

With a vein popping on his forehead, Erick pushed her away. After confirming that they had appeared in a relatively safe location, he ignored Nana, who looked at him aggrievedly, and began exploring their surroundings with curiosity.

Nana could only quickly trail him.

As he surveyed the area, Erick spotted a weak female demon passing nearby. He swiftly captured her and interrogated her.

What he learned was rather interesting.

They had teleported to another realm known as the Fallen Realm, the birthplace of demons and the dark land they ruled.

Moreover, the demons had conquered countless realms, leaving destruction and ruin in their wake. Many worlds had fallen under their dominion, their inhabitants slaughtered or enslaved until nothing remained of their former civilizations.

In the future, perhaps even the planet Erick came from would suffer the same fate.

At least, that was what the female demon’s account suggested.

Erick listened to the explanation without displaying the slightest concern. Once he had learned everything the demon could offer, he killed her. Then, he simply activated the dark mark again and returned to the dungeon with Nana.

He wasn’t too worried about the future.

He had never cared much for humanity, after all. His work for the Association was little more than a convenient way to pass the time. It was just that, after years of pretending to be a good Esper, he had grown used to playing the role whenever necessary. So, whenever a threat emerged, he would fight it, save whoever happened to be nearby, and act as though he were genuinely invested in protecting the world.

It was an easy enough performance.

And if the world eventually fell apart?

Well, that would hardly be his problem.

After Erick and Nana left the dungeon, the second Disaster-Level Dungeon was eventually cleared, though only after countless casualties. B City was destroyed in the process, and the devastation extended to several surrounding cities.

Many Espers died fighting the monsters, their final moments immortalized as heroic sacrifices in the stories that followed.

Erick found none of it particularly moving.

A few peaceful months passed, allowing humanity to believe, however foolishly, that the worst was finally over.

Then the third Disaster-Level Dungeon appeared.

This time, the demon that emerged from the dungeon was on an entirely different level, even more powerful than Slar, who was actually following respectfully behind him.

Even Erick, who had become an SS-rank Esper by then after eating many treasures and acquiring several powerful high-rank skills, couldn’t so much as scratch him.

The demon introduced himself as Drak.

He was a Demon General.

Behind Drak and Slar, an enormous army of demons emerged.

Under Drak’s orders, the demons swept across the entire realm, slaughtering humans and reducing every continent to ruins. The disparity in strength between the two sides was so overwhelming that even the most powerful human Espers could do little more than delay the inevitable.

When Erick attacked, he was defeated so easily that Drak didn’t even have to move. Slar, who had previously been injured by Erick, looked down at him and laughed.

Drak scoffed coldly.

"If this is the strongest your realm has to offer, you might as well stop resisting."

Erick could still remember the contempt in that Demon General’s voice.

He had been accustomed to being the strongest, or at least one of the strongest, among humanity. After all, everyone around him had always praised him, and no one else could match him. Yet against Drak, all his strength, all the treasures he had collected, and all the power he had painstakingly accumulated amounted to nothing.

Even if he didn’t care about anyone else, he was at least proud of his own strength.

So when he lost so easily, he was dazed for a while.

But as he lay there, battered and on the verge of death, he found himself thinking that perhaps dying would not be so bad after all.

What reason did he have to keep living?

He had never cared about anyone else. He had no great ambitions, no cherished dreams, and no one whose death would leave him heartbroken. If his life ended here, what would he truly lose?

Nothing.

Yet, just as he closed his eyes, ready to secretly self-destruct and take Slar and Drak, who were mocking him, down with him, the Gaya System suddenly intervened.

It teleported him away before he could self-destruct and kill the two demons.

When Erick finally regained his bearings, he discovered that he had been transported to a hidden place from which he could see Drak, who was shocked and ordering the demons around him to go and find him.

In that place, Erick saw Nana, who had gathered a group of Espers to rescue him. They had witnessed his defeat and, despite knowing how hopeless the situation was, were still willing to risk their lives to save him. After all, to them, he, the strongest Esper, was their realm’s hope. Yet, just as they were preparing to act, he suddenly appeared beside them.

Erick had almost laughed in Nana’s face after learning everything.

How ridiculous.

If even he, an SS-rank Esper, had been defeated so effortlessly, what did Nana expect a handful of S-rank and A-rank Espers to accomplish? Did she genuinely believe they could defeat a Demon General who had reduced him to such a miserable state?

In the end, however, he said nothing.

He simply allowed the group of Espers to heal his injuries and take him away.

And so began their long struggle for survival.

With their realm descending into ruin under Drak’s invasion, Erick and the others went into hiding, moving from place to place as they evaded the demons hunting them. Along the way, they rescued more Guides and Espers, gathered resources, and fought whenever necessary. Gradually, their numbers grew, and they became stronger, clinging to the desperate hope that one day they might reclaim their world.

Throughout it all, Nana and the others regarded Erick, the strongest, as their leader.

They spoke passionately about avenging the people of their world who had died, protecting the survivors, and eventually killing every demon that had brought ruin upon their planet. Their determination never seemed to waver, no matter how hopeless their circumstances became.

Erick found their idealism amusing.

Revenge?

Saving the world?

What a tedious collection of aspirations.

Still, he humored them. He followed along, fought beside them when necessary, and allowed them to believe that he shared their goals. After all, it was far more entertaining than wandering around alone.

What they didn’t know was that they would have died long ago if not for the Gaya System.

Time and time again, it had helped Erick avoid danger, guiding him away from situations that should have ended in their deaths. Whenever they encountered a powerful demon or stumbled into a seemingly inescapable predicament, something would happen to ensure that Erick survived.

And because he survived, the others survived with him.

At first, Erick had been unable to understand the system’s intentions. Why was it helping him so persistently? Why did it seem so invested in keeping him alive, even when he himself couldn’t care less whether he lived or died?

Eventually, he reached a conclusion.

Perhaps the Gaya System had chosen him to save humanity.

After all, he was the only Esper to have reached SS-rank. Perhaps the Gaya System had witnessed the destruction of countless realms at the hands of the demons and had finally decided to nurture someone capable of fighting back. And Erick was that person.

It was a reasonable assumption.

Or so he had believed.

It took him a long time to realize just how wrong he was.

The first signs had been subtle. Every so often, Erick would lose consciousness without warning. When he awoke, the battle would already be over, and the people around him would be staring at him with expressions of shock, respect, and awe.

Apparently, he had single-handedly slaughtered a powerful monster or demon with overwhelming ease, displaying abilities he had never used before.

Yet no matter how hard Erick tried, he could never recall what had happened during those missing moments.

At first, he had dismissed the incidents as the result of exhaustion or some strange side effect of his Gaya Skill. But as time passed, they became increasingly frequent. The gaps in his memory grew longer, and the powers he supposedly displayed during them became more terrifying.

Something was wrong.

Deeply, irreversibly wrong.

And when Erick’s body finally grew powerful enough, he discovered the truth.

He met the owner of the Gaya System.

Then, the System he had once believed to be his greatest ally, an idiot who he thought had been tirelessly trying to make him powerful enough to one day defeat the demons, revealed its true intentions without the slightest hesitation. It had never intended to help him save anyone. It had never cared about the countless lives lost to the demons or the destruction of his realm.

It had been preparing him for something else entirely.

His body.

His strength.

His abilities.

Everything had been carefully cultivated for the sake of its master.

The master of the Gaya System had appeared in his consciousness first. That entity stared at him with its crimson gaze, its voice carrying a chilling indifference.

"You should consider yourself fortunate. Among all those who received the Gaya Skill, you were the most suitable vessel."

Erick stared at him.

For a moment, he simply stood there, absorbing the meaning of those words.

Then he laughed.

He laughed so hard that his chest ached and he could barely breathe, the sound spilling from his throat until it bordered on hysteria.

A vessel!

That was all he had ever been!

The Gaya Skill, the very ability he had relied upon to survive, the power that had elevated him above every other Esper, had never truly belonged to him. It had been the means through which the system gradually eroded his consciousness, reshaping his body into something suitable for another being to inhabit.

Every treasure he had collected, every battle he had survived, every step he had taken toward becoming stronger had brought him closer to this moment.

He had thought he was growing powerful enough to fight the demons.

In reality, he had been preparing his own body to be stolen.

How absurd.

How utterly, laughably absurd.

He continued laughing, even as the truth settled over him with suffocating clarity. What else could he do? Rage would change nothing. Resistance would accomplish nothing. The very power he had depended on had already sunk its roots too deeply into him.

And when the time finally came, Erick could do nothing but watch.

His consciousness faded, slipping away piece by piece as another being took control of his body.

The last thing he experienced was the slow, unbearable certainty that his soul was disappearing.

The real Erick vanished.

And someone else opened their eyes in his place.