Chapter 659 - Sisters

While we travel through the 9th floor, I let Min-Jae handle most of the monsters, and we talk a lot. It's been a long time since it was just the two of us, and I’ve always felt more at ease when talking to only one person. Something about that makes it easier for me to speak up, too.

My intruder dosen't count. Sophie is getting more nervous the closer we get, and I can only think that she’s constantly considering not “returning.” I think if she wanted to, she could disappear, dissolve these memories, and make them forever forgotten, known only by me, who won’t tell anyone.

The fact that I won’t tell Izzy likely makes it even harder for Sophie, since it all ends up being her decision.

To distract her, I let her watch constantly, after informing Min-Jae of her presence and explaining the situation a bit.

Min-Jae, meanwhile, talks a lot about what has happened over the past month, and I have to say this floor suits him. He seems more confident and says he often moves alone, even for days. There’s also so much he has learned from the Academy, and even now, he constantly carries some mana stones he continues to study.

Two days pass like that, traveling, fighting, and having quiet conversations during dawn and dusk. Then we reach the “territory” that Group 4 has taken for themselves.

I would expect the first person to meet me would be the best corgi of the 9th floor, and I’m obviously correct.

Currently, Biscuit is at a size where his head reaches my waist, still perfectly proportioned as the glorious corgi he is. He flies through the forest at a speed that, according to my estimations, is 6% faster than his previous record.

Min-Jae and I stop the moment we see him, and Biscuit continues floating toward us, waving his legs below him as if he’s swimming. It takes a solid minute before he reaches us, and I pull his now huge head into my arms.

“Did you get faster again? So damn terrifying!” I rub the top of his head and scratch behind his ears.

(Food!) He says, and I can hear the excitement and pride in his voice.

“Of course I noticed! Who wouldn’t?”

(Food.)

“Oh, Maya didn’t?”

(Food!)

“Yes, that’s a bit sad,” I agree, continuing to enjoy this big, fluffy corgi.

Even though I love Biscuit in his normal form, his puppy form, and his giga form, this current size is also very pleasant to hug.

He keeps pushing himself against me and sniffing. Each time he does, his wagging tail speeds up even more.

His smart eyes meet mine, and he suddenly shrinks into his puppy form. Tiny buds of antlers sprout from his forehead.

He sniffs again, and I feel our connection deepening. In a flash, I find myself forced into my mind space, the small room with the crib and the open window, snow falling outside.

Mini Sophie looks around in confusion, and then, just like me, she glances down where Biscuit now stands. He lets out a cheerful woof.

Still in his puppy form with those little antler buds, he jumps, wobbles, and runs to where Sophie is sitting on the ground, resting against the wall. From his back, a single purple tentacle stretches out and shuts the window close before he leaps into her arms. I feel a telepathic link forming between them as he keeps jumping at her, licking her, pressing his tiny, cold nose against her face.

At first, Sophie tries to resist, but the little beast doesn’t stop. Eventually, she gives in, laughs softly, and starts hugging and petting him.

“I can understand him so much better now. He almost talks in sentences,” Sophie says after a while, holding Biscuit in her arms as he relaxes. “Is this how you usually hear him?” she asks.

“I don’t think so? I understand him much more clearly than you guys do. Our dear Biscuit doesn’t know how to speak that well. When he communicates, he often sends too much information at once. Smells, emotions, all the things he perceives or thinks about. You guys hear one word, but to me, it’s often dozens of sentences at once.”

Sophie’s eyes go wide. She looks down at Biscuit, then back up at me.

It’s amusing to see her like this, so I explain more. “At first, Biscuit was scared of hurting you guys, so he tested it out on monsters and tried to talk to them. But even if they had high levels, it hurt them if he was able to connect. It is just too much information, and the pressure of Biscuit’s mind was overwhelming. He kept trying but couldn’t refine it, so he gave up and just picked his favorite words to use.”

“Food,” Sophie whispers.

Hearing that, Biscuit sniffs, twitches, and starts looking around. When he doesn’t spot anything edible, he snuggles back into Sophie, clearly disappointed.

“Yes. I think it’s because he’s my bond that my mind can handle it better. But ever since the 1st floor, I’ve felt how strong the presence of his mind is.”

Hearing us talk about him, he lets out a soft woof and twitches slightly when Sophie touches his tiny, budding antlers.

“And this?” she asks.

“Tess is an asshole, so she wanted to surprise all of us. But Biscuit already told me about them not long ago, so screw her. The antlers came from that deer, Champion, the one that was trapped and tortured. When Biscuit ate him, he took something in. Call it absorbing, devouring, assimilating, or whatever. Now the antlers help him communicate better.”

There is another presence coming nearby, so I return to the outside world, leaving just Sophie and Biscuit in my mind space.

Min-Jae and I, with Biscuit in my arms, reach the base as a simple defensive array lets us through. In the distance, I’d bet Tess is standing on one of the trees, watching us.

Then, coming closer to the house carved into one of the bigger trees, I start seeing all the items we have stolen from the Academy, and in between them are probably my thermonuclear warheads.

Like that, we soon see Izzy, and through my eyes, Sophie sees her as well.

I will not lie, I still feel a bit nervous. Even though I know Izzy, somewhere in the back of my mind, I maybe still expect her to hate me, even just a little, because I wasn’t able to protect her sister.

But of course, this young teenage empath bears not even a speck of such emotion. She rushes into a hug, and I open my arms for her. Then I hug her gently back.

“You were right, it is possible to save her,” she says as the first.

“Of course,” I ruffle her hair and look behind, where I sense what I guess is Sophie´s body.

"Dennis and Aaron helped me a lot, and together we found and connected the broken fragments. Lily kept looking after the body, so somehow everything worked out."

Tess, surrounded by her typical flickering red and white lightning, lands nearby with her javelins floating behind her. They now stop and settle a bit further away so they don’t get in the way.

The blonde glances toward our empath. “Izzy likes to be modest, but most of it is thanks to her. She’s the one who spent the most time searching for the fragments and carefully moving them.”

(Indeed, a duo of mindblender sisters.) I send to my mind.

(Don’t put Izzy and me in the same bag. She is pure and kind, unlike me. She doesn’t have a talent for manipulating minds. Her gift is more about understanding.)

(Sure.)

When Izzy keeps staring at me, Sophie becomes quiet. Using senses I can barely perceive, Izzy notices something I expected her to.

“You… you have one of her fragmented parts,” she whispers.

“Freshly plucked from our least favourite feylith gal.”

“Nat… that… just how dangerous?”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I went to Beyond with the intention of avoiding her. Partially, it could also be Tess’s fault. She pretty much sent me there.”

Izzy widens her eyes and turns to Tess. To that blonde, unreasonable maniac, just like most of our group. Who else would just send someone after a person who almost killed them? And what’s scary about it is her trust that I could do it. Even now, she doesn’t try to deny it and just smiles a tiny bit in that way only she can.

“She is still alive?” Tess asks.

“For now.”

“Good. She should die for what she has done. The piece of Sophie you have was in Faora´s mind?”

“Yup. Apparently, the laziest, nastiest, and most cowardly part.”

(I hate you.)

“Nathaniel…” Izzy quietly tugs on my sleeve.

Looking at her, I can only sigh. I’ve thought about it a lot over the past few days, but seeing Izzy now, I’m certain of something even Sophie still questions.

Izzy knows. She understands what young Sophie did and how close it came to causing something terrible.

I wonder if it’s something she knew even back on Earth. Or maybe she learned it here in the Tutorial. But looking at her, I can say by instinct and with absolute certainty: she knows.

How scary this now-young teenage girl is.

“So, how is the progress?” I ask.

Izzy lets go of my sleeve and looks back towards the tree where her sister is. “I’m nowhere near as good as Sophie, but with help from Dennis and Aaron, we should be able to do it in a few weeks. But that piece in you feels very different from the ones hidden in her body or Blackie. As if they are sleeping, but the one in you is awake.”

“Very perceptive, aren’t you?” I praise Izzy, who smiles weakly. “And yes, I think there is something I can help with, so give me a minute.”

(What do you want to do?) Sophie asks.

(Isn’t it obvious? And why are you nervous now? You seemed so determined before.)

She stays quiet but also doesn’t protest as we enter the tree, where, behind multiple layers of defenses, we reach her body. She looks as if she's sleeping, even though her chest moves just minimally as she breathes. She is a bit pale, but otherwise looks healthy. Well, maybe just her shadow seems darker than it should be.

There, I activate [Manifestation].

(The twins and Izzy seem to have prepared a connection I can use, but you will have to help me. Okay?)

(...okay.)

(And Sophie.)

(What?)

(I know you likely wanted to do it for Izzy. To not use your mental abilities that much. But I think you have no other choice if you want to live, stay with her, and protect her. People will hate you anyway, no matter how little you use your mental abilities. So at least give them a reason to hate you, and also to be scared shitless of you.)

(Yes, Nat. Yes, I will.)

There is more I could say about how unfair it is, how much it sucks. I can also think of a myriad of other problems it will bring. It truly is a shitty situation. But as many times before, my priorities here are clear. Group 4 is mine, it's ours. And it seems like we will have to be a bit rougher to keep it that way.

I use [Manifestation] and project my mind toward Sophie’s, using the bridge Izzy and the twins made. Sophie holds onto me, and as we delve into her body, she nudges me along, sometimes taking the lead.

It’s even simpler than I thought, even though it likely is because of mini Sophie, who does most of the work. But soon, there we stand, mini Sophie and me by her side in front of the big wooden door.

“They did so much work,” Sophie whispers while looking around at the things I cannot perceive. “The twins, Izzy. It must have taken entire weeks.”

“It seems like it. So you just need to open the door?”

She nods. “Yes, my pieces that they put together are there. I just need to combine them before awakening them.”

“So this piece, you, will become the new, main Sophie?”

“It’s not that simple. We will merge, and I will awaken. It'll be like I was when we met Faora, only with a few more memories from the part of me I am now. The others were sleeping, so there is nothing from them.”

"In that case, I will be leaving."

"Leaving me to decide it myself."

"Yes, because it's your decision to make. But I think we both know what you've already chosen."

"...just get out already."

"See you later."

I leave and reappear in the room, and gesture for Tess and Biscuit to follow me out. Izzy stays behind, possibly not even noticing us leave, focused entirely on her sister’s body.

***

Next Chapter