Page 158 of Light Leech

“Your outer body has ascended. You have ascended.”

What kind of insane timing is that?

“I do not wait for coincidences.”

It was difficult to know if diving into CarNin’s mouth and destroying her from inside had been his doing or mine.

“It was ours. It always is.”

So you needed the mod?

“I did, which was why you ascended.

You can just… cause that to happen?

“No. I orchestrated the events. I cannot cause a flame to arise, but I can organize the kindling with flint and steel.”

What caused that? This game?

“No. Matters of greater importance are occurring in your outer body.”

Greater?

“Of significant worth. At this moment, your outer self is in more dire circumstances, but worry not, there is little you can do to change that.”

That’s not comforting.

“I did not mean it to be. Focus on the present.”

He turned our body to see Sha riding to our field on a wave. The Heavenly General was covered in lacerations, scratches in his armament, and various colors of blood. He stepped down to approach Chucarrier the Nihilist’s corpse. His wave dissipated into the ground.

Chucarrier the Nihilist’s rotting body dissolved into pixels before Sha could reach it.

The crowd cheered as the announcer spoke. “Congratulations competitors PetNeb and RalEsp! You have passed the Standardized Test!”

I should have celebrated with the digital audience, but I couldn’t overcome the weight in my chest.

We shouldn’t have passed. Having Zhu was not as great of an excuse as I wanted it to be. Everyone else failed except for the two people who wanted to see this fail. If the possessor of True Knowledge was running this, they knew who was pursuing them.

Chapter twenty-four

Plotweaver

What?

“Stab yourself with every spear until you collapse.”

The orca-mech continued to torment us. The other had not ceased its work on one of the other boats that had changed its direction. The race no longer mattered. This was survival and the survivors were dying.

I held a bundle of glowing spears in the crux of my left arm with one in my right hand.

“Now, bakuh! Each wasted minute is another death due to your cowardice!”

What if he was wrong? My modifications did not prevent dying from bleeding out. He was asking for self-inflicted torture under the trust that it would somehow change our circumstances.

“Have I ever deceived you?”

I’m sure you have.