Transmigrated into Eroge as the Simp, but I Refuse This Fate

Chapter 335: Blink

They stood like that for a moment—father and son—watching each other from across the still-crackling aftermath of something no one in the room truly understood.

Dominic didn’t blink.

Damien didn’t falter.

He stood tall, skin bare and damp with condensation, the residual heat of his Awakening still dancing along the floor beneath his feet. There was no outward display of power now—no elemental halo or raw surge—but Dominic didn’t need any of that. He could feel it. A subtle density in the air. The way the mana bent ever so slightly toward Damien like it wanted to orbit again. That presence—undeniably Awakened.

But more than that, there was clarity in the boy’s eyes.

A clarity that hadn’t been there before.

‘Thank god,’ Dominic thought.

Not with relief.

Not with surrender.

Just… acceptance.

He’d never let it show. Not once during the hours of watching that dome tremble, rupture, twist. Not when readings collapsed, not even when the mana screamed like something alive. But he had worried. Deep down, behind all the plans and projections—he had worried for his son.

And now here Damien was.

Whole.

Changed.

Alive.

Kael finally let out a long breath behind him, breaking the tension like only Kael could.

“Damn kid,” he muttered, shaking his head. “You nearly blew out a twenty-million-credit dome, scared half the technicians into seizures… and now you’re just standing there like some kind of mana messiah.” He squinted. “Also, you’ve got a ridiculously long shaft. Did the Cradle optimize everything or is that just family genetics?”

Dominic closed his eyes for half a second.

Then turned slowly toward Kael.

The man was grinning.

Wide. Shameless.

Like he hadn’t just watched the universe bend inside that chamber.

“Fine,” Dominic said flatly.

He reached into the side of his cloak and tossed a folded cloth toward Damien. Mid-air, the artifact flared—activated by proximity and biometric lock. Threads unraveled with a flash, wrapping Damien in a second-skin layer of fitted black weave. The fabric shimmered briefly before settling—mana-responsive armor, tailored, engineered, protective.

And decent.

Damien looked down at himself, gave the faintest smirk, and rolled his neck.

Damien looked down at himself.

The fabric clung tight to his skin—warm, seamless, familiar. His breathing was even, but shallow. Controlled. His fingers flexed once at his side, and the weave adjusted with the motion, as if syncing to his newly Awakened flow.

And then—he exhaled.

A long, steady breath from somewhere deep inside his chest. Not dramatic. Not labored. Just… full.

“It’s over,” he murmured.

The words barely escaped his mouth, but they reached both men across the chamber.

Kael tilted his head slightly. His grin had faded now—not gone, but softened into something more grounded. He studied Damien with the look of a man still not sure how real what he was seeing actually was.

Dominic stepped closer, but said nothing yet.

And Kael—Kael, ever the first to speak when the silence got too heavy—was the one to break it.

“Kid…” he breathed out. “You really did it.”

There was something different in his voice now. Less bite. No mockery. Just raw truth wrapped in disbelief.

And maybe respect.

Damien didn’t answer.

He didn’t need to.

Dominic moved forward, his steps slow but unhesitant. He came to a stop directly in front of his son—closer than Kael had ever seen him allow anyone to be—and raised one hand.

No speeches.

No ceremony.

Just his hand, reaching out—

—and placing it firmly on Damien’s shoulder.

The grip wasn’t tight.

But it was real.

Grounded. Present.

A tether across the chaos of what had just happened. Of what Damien had become.

He didn’t speak.

Didn’t need to.

And Damien, in that moment, didn’t need the words either.

The silence said enough.

That gesture—the weight of it, the confirmation behind it—meant more than anything Dominic could have voiced. It told Damien everything he’d needed to know.

The silence didn’t linger long.

Dominic gave Damien’s shoulder one final, firm squeeze before turning. The motion was clean, practiced—already shifting into movement, into response. Kael followed suit, tossing Damien a sidelong glance with a tired half-smile.

“Time to move, messiah.”

Damien snorted once under his breath, then stepped in behind them—flanked by both men, one at each side, as they made their way toward the exit corridor carved into the heart of the dome.

The air outside the sanctum still shimmered faintly from residual energy, but the paths ahead were clear. Or, at least, they had been.

Until the screech.

It started low—metal scraping against something too vast to see. Then it stretched—long, high, broken at the edges, like air being torn open by pressure that didn’t belong here.

The ground responded immediately.

Rumbling.

A deep, trembling quake rolled through the structure, not enough to break the reinforced dome, but enough to shake dust from the ceiling and hum through their bones.

Kael paused, his hand already moving to the sidearm he didn’t need.

Dominic turned to the technician at the platform above. “Seal the chamber.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Understood.”

With a pulse of light, the rear sanctum gates hissed shut behind them—thick, mana-lined slabs locking in place one after the other.

Another screech echoed—closer this time.

They could feel it now. A presence. Massive. Ancient. Not quite physical, not entirely elemental either—but something drawn to what had just happened here.

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah. That’s not from our side of the map.”

Dominic’s voice was clipped. “Let’s retreat. Now.”

They moved.

Down the long hallway, the lighting flickering slightly from the strain on the deeper systems. Dominic led, Kael on Damien’s other side—keeping pace, eyes tracking every shadow.

And then—

Damien stumbled.

Just a half-step.

Nothing dramatic. Nothing visible in his breathing or posture. But his balance wavered for a blink, his foot misaligned with the incline of the stone floor.

Kael caught it immediately.

“Easy,” he said, reaching out to steady him. “That’s normal.”

Damien straightened again, jaw tense.

Kael gave him a sideways nod. “You’re Awakened now. Your body’s still adjusting. Core’s rewriting your internal structure—breathing, muscle feedback, even how you anchor weight. It’ll feel off for a while.”

Damien exhaled slowly and nodded. “Noted.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Yeah,” Damien muttered, already moving again. “I plan to.”

They pressed on.

The hallway narrowed as they passed through a sequence of reinforced mana gates—each one sliding open only after a pulse scan confirmed their identities. The scent of scorched air and old metal lingered—residue from containment measures too ancient to scrub away.

Behind them, another tremor shook the dome.

Each gate sealed behind them with a hiss and a thud.

They kept moving.

Kael didn’t speak again. Dominic didn’t need to. The pace said enough—urgent, but not panicked. Controlled. Intentional.

The corridor eventually opened to the central lift chamber: a tall, narrow shaft embedded into the inner spine of the facility. A glowing ring traced its base, mana-fed rails arcing upward into darkness. The platform waited.

Kael reached for the side panel and slid his keycard through. The floor vibrated as the system engaged.

“Brace,” he said.

The lift snapped upward.

No inertia dampeners. No smoothing enchantments. Just speed.

Stone and steel blurred past them in streaks. Damien adjusted his stance, grounding himself instinctively as the new balance of his body made the motion feel sharper—too light in the legs, too heavy in the lungs.

Then—

Light.

They breached the surface with a low hiss of pressure release. The platform slowed just enough to keep bones intact before locking into the upper track with a final shudder.

They emerged into the open.

The sky above was a roiling grey—not quite storm, but close. The dome’s surface shimmered faintly overhead, casting the base in a muted blue haze.

The compound itself stretched out before them. A sleek grid of high-grade alloy structures, mana-beacon towers, and outposts ringed with ward pylons. Functional. Industrial. No ornamentation. This wasn’t a place meant to be seen.

Dominic stepped forward immediately, scanning the horizon.

“We’re leaving now.”

Kael didn’t move.

Damien exhaled behind them, his steps a fraction slower now, but steady.

Kael glanced over.

“Not happening.”