Anamnesis: Queen of the Apocalypse - Chapter 86

“Pitka, are you sure you’re thinking straight? I’m scared by this side of you.”

“Just do the thing, goddammit!”

“Tch, it ain’t fun if you’re the one taking the initiative.”

Lues flick your forehead, the precise kinetic force renders you unconscious.

You don’t know how long you have been unconscious for, probably only a couple seconds but you couldn’t help but think of how fragile you’re because of how you got knocked out from a flick. Waking up, a visible crimson string is connected from your athenaeum to Lues’. A strain of your soul is resonating with the sassy devil. A pathway of the soul, a spiritual wavelength.

Annoyingly, you do remember that she just did the kissing method to tease you, somehow you’re rather disappointed for not getting what you wanted. Now you begin to imitate your partner’s way of discomfort, frowning and gritting your teeth until it shapes like a croissant.

Lues places both of her palms in front of the pathway. “I’ll be taking bits of your mana, hold your consciousness still while grasping the converted energy.”

“Roger.”

Like a television connected by the wave station on a mindless channel of nostalgia. Smooth, the single strain of consciousness strings that takes a lump of mana as its vessel travels through the elongated path that feels like forever, even though it has only been 5 seconds.

Your consciousness arrives at Lues’ gloomy miniature world, currently traveling at the speed of sound. Beasts of indescribable cosmic horror engulfs the sky as countless tiny devils fall down like breadcrumbs as the shattered pieces of the dark sky. Monstrosity, if Lues’ Athenaeum can be described in words, it should be a ‘mind-bending nightmare’. Logic and common sense has left your brain. If Lues allows a normal mortal to peek inside her mana sea, the mortal would go insane and kill themselves right on the spot.

‘Blood God’s Golden Orb’ traumatic experience has been acquired.

If you looked at your partner right at this moment, you would indiscriminately attack her due to the sinister aura she exudes.

Her voice distorts, as if the gap between you and her are separated by reality from the depth of the abyss to the unknown. You didn’t know her, she isn’t the Lues you knew. “I applaud your persistence, MorTal. How does it feel when the nightmare crawls inside your skin? With every fiber of space encapsulating your feeble and ignorant existence. I’M HAVING FuN, I’M AnGuiSh, SaTisfieD—I’m in a really good mood as of now so I significantly toned down the content of my Athenaeum. I will give you a reward if you’re still alive by later.”

“What with the change of tone, Lues! You’re scaring the heck out of me! Did you get mad just because I’m asking for a kiss!?”

Her Golden Orb doesn’t look like a Golden Orb at all, it’s a giant red, monstrous planet-sized circular god-like entity. As soon as the traveling lump of mana you reside awakens the giant monster, the Golden Orb yawns to devour you into the inside of its pure black.

‘Are you sure that your athenaeum is even a miniature realm anymore!? It feels like a bloody alternate universe!’

A tremoring crunch can be felt. The mana is then grinded with something extremely hot, you can’t see anything but the searing heat is akin to the sun itself. The experience didn’t affect your physical body but you can mentally feel it, the feeling of being destroyed again and rebuilt. The Golden Orb not only nourishes the mana she converts, but also forges it like how an iron ore is tempered into a steel by slamming a hammer again and again to remove impurities.

After the forging, thousands of light comes surging into the lump of mana that isn’t so large anymore. It is then destroyed again, tempered, molded, carved, the process feels like years. And just like that, the mana is spewed out like excrement. Surprisingly, your soul is also tempered together with mana. The wound of the broken string is replaced by the natural properties of Lues’ mana sea, where it is supposed to be colorless, now dyed in crimson red.

‘Flower of Perspicacity’ is evolving.

‘Blood God’s Golden Orb’ detects evolution.

‘Blood God’s Golden Orb’ gives its blessings.

‘Blood Flower of Continuity’ acquired.

Your body feels hot, it feels like it’s going to melt. Not trying to waste any time, you pull back the nourished mana from her mana sea. As soon as it reaches your athenaeum, the sky inside your miniature realm turns to red. The worklings shudder in fear of what has happened. You feel like something will go wrong if you don’t do anything. Until, the ‘Flower of Perspicacity?’ is acting up.

‘Blood Flower of Continuity’ is trying to confirm your soul.

Soul is confirmed.

‘Blood Flower of Continuity’ will transform to its owner’s state of soul and Mana sea.

‘Serene Guardian of Continuity’ acquired.

The flower transforms into the physical representation of you. She places her hand upon the sky and consumes the crimson energy into its body. The energy with your soul mark has been reclaimed again. After a while, the entity shoves her own hand into her mouth to take out a ‘Blue Orb’ with the live illustration of the universe inside of it.

‘Blue Orb’ Acquired.

The ball of the universe emits a wave that amplifies any sort of energy within your mana sea, it’s like a pseudo Golden Orb. The amplification turns your mana quality ten times denser and stronger than before.

Your headache is gone, but it is then replaced by the confusion of what in the actual pluck is happening.

“Is this your present?”

The distorted voice replies, “Yes.”

Aside from the morbid experience, the wave of Calamities manage to destroy the barrier.

The entity inside your athenaeum grabs a single strain of your soul and attaches it to her. This allows you to control her directly like a marionette despite it having its own self awareness, while at the same time, the entity provides you a second thinking processor that you can use simultaneously.

Double the mind, double the soul. You’re back to your physical body and notice a significant difference. Everything feels like moving at half speed.

The sinister being in front of you has become Lues again.

“Bullocks! What is happening!? I can’t remember shite!”