Chapter 9: Gone?

4:00 pm, I had to be in GeoScope TV advertisement...nothing much really happened...they just made me say a few lines which I completely didn’t understand.

It’s now 5:00 pm and for an hour, the Gatekeepers would have a meeting...is what should’ve happened.

It seems that something has grabbed the attention of the higher ups and every world leaders are now at the same place.

Instead of a meeting, this is more like an assembly.

Will this really be over in an hour? Just as I thought of that, I found out that Shella is also here with his father.

Come to think of it, the place where we are all at is part of the Maize Industries. Maybe the ballroom is also here? Something like an after party of what will happen right now.

To understand more, we are currently inside of the Maize Industries’ main building. All of us are facing the window, looking outside where something large is covered with a huge cloth.

Hmm, it should be something the Maize Industries will be presenting but...just what is it that caused every world leader to gather?

Those present aren’t just people from this world, it includes people from other worlds. The supreme Highgods of [Zoulang] are also present and a few Sovereigns that were once Highgods that I knew of like Misty and my uncle David.

The kings and queens of other worlds are also here.

Eu, Aeran, and Freya also seem to be here but as they are talking to some important looking people, I didn’t go bother them.

Curious, I sent out my divine sense to inspect what this huge thing is. This won’t be a huge robot right?

Spreading my divine sense, I found out that it’s indeed not a robot. What’s covered by the cloth is a sphere made of two circular tubes, intersecting at the middle of two sides which would form a ‘+’ when viewed from the front and a ‘ϴ’ when viewed from the side.

I also found out that inside, there are four particles. Two of which are mana and qi while the other two are…

“Everyone! I’m sure you all know what we’ll be presenting so I’ll just cut to the chase. Presenting to you, the Maize Particle Accelerator!” (Bryan)

Shella’s father, Bryan Maize, speaking from a stage, laughed and waved his arm to signal his men to drop the cloth covering the sphere, no, the particle accelerator!

So this really is…

But for it to be shaped like this...moreover, to have mana and qi.

“As everyone knows, there are two main energies that are currently discovered when other worlds are discovered. Mana, and Qi. So we had a thought that our technology should also advance if we apply both of these energies in our current technologies right? From everyday items and gadgets to weapons of war, we have all spent years to research the combinations! But we’ve only scratched the surface! With this new type of particle accelerator, we will unlock the door to a new future. A new generation. And a new era!” (Bryan)

Bryan gave speeches that aroused everyone to the peak of excitement. But for me, I’m only thinking if this won’t blow up...I think I read in a comic book somewhere before that this thing blows up which resulted to people gaining powers and also casualties…

It won’t happen here...right?

…

...It wouldn’t hurt to be careful...I’ll just maintain my divine sense on it and observe it carefully to make sure it won’t explode…

“Hehe, it’s pretty cool right?” (Shella)

Suddenly, Shella came up next to me and started a conversation.

Actually, I already knew she was approaching me so it didn’t surprise me at all but I still made a slightly surprised look. I don’t know why, I guess it’s just a habit…

“Yeah, it’s definitely innovative.” (Lucas)

“Yup! I wonder if a magic that can make me a bit older will be possible. I want to be the same age as you!” (Shella)

“Haha, I’m already 6000+ years old though...” (Lucas)

“What!?” (Shella)

“Don’t worry, if you want to match my age, there’s a way. Usually, it would be a hard one but with me here, I can make you an immortal easily.” (Lucas)

After all, I can just use [Soul Manipulation] to strengthen her cultivation rate like what Crow did...Crow...Ugh, stop...stop, let’s not think about that guy…

Whenever I thought of him, I would have this annoying headaches and I would suddenly feel insecure…

“Really!?” (Shella)

“Uh...eh? Ah, yeah.” (Lucas)

Shella’s happy voice snapped me back to reality to which I just nodded.

She seemed really happy that she hopped up and down...right, I should probably do the same to the other girls right? Well, I’ll ask them first of course.

As for my family...I guess I’ll ask them...but it may be a bit of a problem.

After all, if I make them immortal too, then I have to do the same to their family. Ren is fine since he is married to Lilith, a vampire so he’ll probably accept. For my parents...I don’t know. Maybe they’ll want to remain mortals so they can grow old together with their siblings. As for Rose, my little sister...she hasn’t even found a boyfriend and is still a kid…I’d rather not make my little sister a legal loli...

Steph’s family too...and Shella’s...as for Lily, she said she’s an orphan. She doesn’t know this but I’m actually searching for her parents when I stretch my divine sense throughout the world. Though, I don’t exactly know how to find them, I just do. Maybe one day, I will be able to find them.

As for the other girls, Eu, Aeran, and Freya are already races that will live long. Aleris is now a demigod so apparently, she’s also an immortal. Vil, Fen, and Mei are all already Highgods so I don’t need to help them.

Momo and Mii are...wait, why did I just count them as well?

*Cough* Anyway, let’s think about this again in the future.

Bryan’s speech is about to end so I should pay close attention to make sure that this thing won’t explode.

“And now, without further ado! Start the accelerator!” (Bryan)

“Systems online!”

“Initializing Maize Particle Accelerator!”

“Particle accelerator stabilized!”

“Releasing particles!”

“Particle speed 100%!”

“Initiating particle collision in T - 5!”

“4”

“3”

“2”

“1”

…

There was no loud boom or bang so it should be a success.

Phew, it’s good that nothing bad happened...hm!?

“Ladies and gentlemen! I am proud to announce that-” (Bryan)

The instant I noticed something was weird, I had already unconsciously teleported outside and surrounded the particle accelerator with my divine sense, ready to teleport it away.

However, the explosion was simply too fast and as I was about to teleport it...it already exploded.

*Boom!*

+ + +

“LUCAS!!!”

Whether it was Eu, Aeran, Freya, Shella, or Lily who was on the scene, they all shouted loudly and immediately ran outside.

Eu, Aeran, and Freya didn’t care about anything and just smashed the window and jumped while Lily and Shella had to run down to the gate. Lily’s speed is naturally faster than Shella and as she was too worried, she didn’t bother to pick Shella up and ran ahead.

On this, Shella didn’t blame her as she, herself, was too worried to have time to blame someone.

Misty and the other [Zoulang] cultivators were actually the first to arrive on the scene with their teleportation.

Misty sent out her divine sense and breathed a sigh of relief upon finding Lucas’ body amongst the rubble, still with a pulse.

Seeing Eu and the others arrive, she backed off and let them reach Lucas.

“His heart's still beating.” (Misty)

“He’s breathing too...good...good...” (Eu)

“Lucas! Why...why isn’t he waking up then!?” (Freya)

Aeran, upon reaching Lucas’ body and finding out that he’s safe, also heaved a sigh of relief, then begun chanting her healing spell.

“[Nature’s Blessing]!” (Aeran)

Green dots of light appeared from the surroundings and flowed into Lucas. His body glowed with a slight green then dimmed down.

However, he’s still not waking up.

“Lucas! W-what’s happening!? Why is Ran’s healing not working!?” (Lily)

Lily had just reached Lucas as well and when he saw them sigh in relief from afar, she also did. However, when she saw that Aeran’s healing didn’t wake him up, she began to panic again.

“I...I don’t know...” (Aeran)

“Healing won’t do anything. Lucas’ body can already selfheal. Something’s wrong...” (Misty)

Suddenly, Lucas’ eyes opened.

“Lucas!”

The girls shouted and were about to embrace him, but, feeling something was off, they stopped and looked at Lucas weirdly.

“...Heh, so you’re...his girls huh? This is...his world...” (???)

Even though Lucas retained his voice, there was something off about him. One thing’s for sure though, this was not Lucas.

“Who are you!? What did you do to Lucas!?” (Freya)

“...I’m not...an enemy...don’t have…-ch time…wha-...-ever you did...to Lucas...his soul disa-...-rd...fi-...find him...him...sa-save tha-t...fool………” (???)

The voice was broken up and sounded really weak which gradually became softer and softer until...he closed his eyes again and never woke up…

Everyone looked at each other for a while, still not understanding what was happening.

“Whatever the case...it seems that Lucas’ soul isn’t inside his body right now. You must protect his body! If another person’s soul or a wandering soul were to find themselves inside his body...then Lucas won’t be able to go back.” (Misty)

“Ah!? Quick! Hide him!” (Eu)

“[I-Inventory]!...It worked! He’s inside my inventory now!” (Freya)

As Lucas’ body didn’t have a soul, he was considered as an object and was able to be placed inside the [Inventory].

Thinking that he’s safe now, they all breathed a sigh of relief for the nth time. However, Misty barked at them.

“If he’s in there, how can he also go back!?” (Misty)

“T-then, what should we do!?” (Freya)

“Give him to me! I’ll inject some of my soul to him for now, if a soul were to go inside, I’ll know immediately! If it’s not Lucas, I’ll just kick him out! In the meantime, you guys find a way to bring back his soul!” (Misty)

Following her instructions, Freya gave Lucas’ body to Misty where she made him lie in front of her as she sat cross-legged before him and placed both of her palms on his chest.

“I won’t be able to move from now on and will be unprotected. Have some people stand guard while the rest go quickly find a way!” (Misty)

“Y-yes!”

“Oh, and none of you better touch me! Otherwise, I’ll get turned on and lose concentration!” (Misty)

Everyone almost tripped when they heard that.

This girl...can actually still get turned on even in this situation!?

“Also, it won’t matter if it’s a woman or a man...I love them both...” (Misty)

This time, some actually tripped for real!

While they left Misty there with some Gatekeeper standing guard, the rest busied themselves in finding a solution.

“Papa! What happened!? Why did your machine explode!?” (Shella)

Shella was crying as she throw a tantrum on her father who was sweating profusely from what happened.

“I, I don’t know! We already ran it this morning but nothing went wrong! We even ran it two-three times to make sure!” (Bryan)

“Which means...this was sabotaged!?” (David)

Lucas’ uncle who was also looking for Bryan for an explanation frowned.

“It must be those [Death Eaters] again! Damn! With all the world leaders gathered here, of course it would be a perfect time to kill them all!” (Trask)

“We already took that into account which was why we called in every Rank S and above [Gatekeepers]! They shouldn’t have been able to slip in!” (Bram)

“Which means...either they have already tampered with the accelerator already before the event or...there’s another traitor.” (Ban)

Hearing this, everyone’s looks became solemn.

“Mr. Maize, find out the cause of the explosion. In the meantime, we’ll go visit an old friend.” (Ban)

“Y-yes...” (Bryan)

While the girls busied themselves looking for a way to find Lucas’ soul, Ban and the others went back to HQ and used the teleportation portal there to teleport to a certain location.

[Tartarus]

A dark a dreary cave where numerous cells are placed.

Inside one of these cells, a woman with unkempt hair was quietly sitting on her bed, staring on the wall in silence.

“Momo.” (Bram)

“...” (Momo)

Bram called her out but she still remained silent.

“Momo, tell us what you know about the [Death Eaters]!” (Bram)

“...” (Momo)

“...Lucas is in danger. Tell us what you know.” (Ban)

“Lucas!?” (Momo)

Hearing this familiar name, Momo finally turned around.

“What happened!? Isn’t he still in [Zoulang]!? Did he get back!? What happened!?” (Momo)

“You...sigh...he just got back the other day. We still haven’t told him about you and I think he just got to know about it today...anyway, there’s an explosion that happened today. He was the first to jump in and save everyone like always...no one was injured thanks to that but he...” (Bram)

“He’s in a coma. He's alive, but his soul has disappeared. We need your help to find him.” (Ban)

“No way...” (Momo)

Momo’s body trembled as she heard the news.

“The [Death Eaters], we want to know their plans and who they have inside the [Gatekeepers].” (Bram)

“I told you, I’m not a part of the [Death Eaters]! Everything I did is for the [Gatekeepers]!” (Momo)

“How!? How can you say that!? What’s your aim!?” (Bram)

“I...I can’t tell you! I promised him...no matter what, I can’t tell you!” (Momo)

“Him? Who’s him? Crow?” (Ban)

“NO!” (Momo)

“Then who is it? Tell us!” (Bram)

“...I can’t...if I do, everything that he has done will all be for naught. And next time...he might decide that he won’t need me anymore...” (Momo)

“Then what can you tell us?” (Ban)

“...There’s someone...we have an ally inside the [Death Eaters]. I can’t tell you who this person is...when the time comes, that person will help you. If what you said is true, and that the [Death Eaters] were the ones responsible, then that person will help. If that person didn’t, then this isn’t the work of the [Death Eaters].” (Momo)

“If not them...then who is?...Which organization is large enough to cause such an incident?” (Ban)

Momo just shook her head then sat back to her bed, staring on the wall again.

Ban just sighed and walk back.

Black lines formed on his forehead, thinking of what’s about to come.

It seems...another wave has begun…

And if Lucas isn’t on their side this time...then who will turn the tide? Who can save them all?

“I hope Mr. Maize has found a solution to this problem...” (Ban)

Author's Notes

Before everything, to those saying Fen is 6000+ years old, she's not. She hatched in the last chapter of Volume 7(Zoulang 1st arc), in the 10 year timeskip. And she probably didn't hatch on the 1st year so she should be around 6-7 years old by then. Volume 8, I don't think a year had passed there...when Lucas decided to stay, he didn't take anyone with him and had Fen and Vil go back to Earth where only 5 years passed so she should be only 12 or 13-ish. At most, 15 years old...

Anyway, there seems to be a lot of people talking about Mii, well, just wait, she'll be the main star next volume...I wonder if that's a spoiler? Owell haha!

Next volume will be mindblowing! Can't wait!...Well, In have to wait since it's hard to find time to write...

So, any ideas where Lucas' soul went? I'm betting my whole life that no one knows!...Except for the guys I already spoiled!

Japtem Version