Cultivating Anthro CEO RPG Hero Harem Reincarnation In Another World - Chapter 119

In the beginning, it was all just a game to Akira:

Killing monsters, and collecting their loot. Leveling up, and growing stronger. Constantly venturing forth into ever more bizarre, exotic locales, with a growing cabinet of sexually robust young women to keep him company.

But since then, the rules of the game had completely changed.

No longer was he playing out of simple amusement or reasons of petty ego, but for the sake of ensuring his survival; as well as that of his treasured companions.

To be separated from them, time and time again…

To lose so much and so often, at every perilous turn, with so little progress to show for it; his efforts, thus far, being pathetically small, insignificant, in the grand schemes. Amid countless losses, back-stabbings and betrayals…which left him feeling breathless. Tired. Incapable of moving forward with the same passion he had once carried.

Even the cultivating, while fun at first, had gradually lost its appeal. Until, ultimately, it only served to make him feel more hollow.

CITA was floating across from Akira, no more than a few feet away from him in the black void that they now shared. Though, it might as well have been the distance between two stars.

“This world is alive,” she said to him. “And it seeks to destroy you.”

Akira was on his knees, gazing vacantly into his quivering palms. “Tell me something I don’t know. Since day one, before I had even spawned in, I’ve known that this world’s God wants to see me DEAD.”

“And how does that make you feel?”

Akira buried his face in his hands, curling up like a hedgehog. “Hopeless.”

“So, then, why do you still live?”

“It’s simply because…I haven’t been killed yet. Since either I’m just that good at keeping my head above water, or the God of this world is showing me incredible mercy.”

“Akira-kun, you have died many times.”

Lifting his head, Akira stared at her in perplexity. “What?”

“Did my words startle you?” CITA said, with a teary-eyed smile. You can sense it too, can’t you? That your experiences in Nirvana have changed you.”

“Yeah.” He replied softly, pulling his knees up to his face. “They’ve made me weaker.”

CITA blinked. “Weaker how?”

“I’ve become more reliant on others. Not just to survive, but for my own happiness.”

Through the darkness, there came a loud, mechanical snapping sound like a giant switch being flipped, followed by a blindingly bright, narrow spotlight beaming down from above. Under which stood Ai—suddenly appearing beside CITA—only now, she was fully pregnant again; wearing the same tight-fitting flame-patterned bikini she had worn while she taunted Akira at the pizza monastery.

“Oh, so you’re saying that the feelings you have for us are a burden?” she snapped. “That meeting us in the first place was a total mistake!”

“I used to be able to live alone.”

“But now you can’t…?! And somehow, that’s supposed to be our fault…?!”

“Now, it’s painful to be without anyone.”

“Pfft!” Ai scoffed. “What happened to the old Akira? When did you become such a whiny loser?”—she laughed—”Seeing you carry on like this…I can’t believe I ever had strong feelings for such a mopey coward!”

“That’s not true,” another voice abruptly countered. Causing Ai to gasp, as another spotlight switched on behind her back.

This one, containing Kiki.

“You’ve known way longer than any of us that Akira was more sensitive than he appeared,” she said matter-of-factly. “And it was you that decided to use this knowledge to twist a knife into his back, trying to pressure him into hating you.”

Ai looked at her, grinning with suppressed anger. Saying, “what’s that? The timid new girl is trying to pick a fight with me? Don’t make me laugh.”

Then jumped slightly, in surprise, as Kiki suddenly turned to her with a brave look.

“You call me timid, but the truth is that you’re just as afraid of disappointing Akira’s expectations as I am. Only”—her eyes narrowed, bearing an incriminating stare—”I continue to face my fear, growing stronger as a result. Unlike you: jumping ship at the first opportunity you could find, so that you wouldn’t have to deal with the anxieties you felt anymore.”

“But that’s…” Ai started to say, only to hang her head in shame.

“She’s right, though,” Akira interjected, prompting the two to look at him expectantly. “When it comes to my relationships with others, I’m the biggest coward of all.”

“Akira-kun, I know that’s why you barely lifted a finger to help at all, back when we were trying to escape the Shiroichi School.” She averted her eyes, the corners of her lips curving into a slight smile. “I’m so…honored…that you were so confident I could handle it.” Her gaze hardened, again, as she turned back to him. “But, we probably wouldn’t even be in this mess right now if you’d been the one in charge.”

“But what are you saying?” Akira stepped toward her, grinning madly, as she then closed her eyes and silently bowed her head. “Didn’t you manage to find a means for us to escape, regardless? Without any of my help?”

“No”—CITA said, suddenly, pulling his attention back to her. “We were led into the Virus’s trap: a world outside of Nirvana that constantly loops in on itself.”

“Is that why all this weird shit is happening…?”

“Not quite. The world—the Seaspan server—is fully intact in itself. However, our presences are resulting in unintended, errant phenomenon occurring within the underlying system code. As we ourselves have become like viruses, infecting the Seaspan server with our incompatible data structures which were intended for the Nirvana server.”

Akira, left gawking and staring blankly after her long spiel, wasn’t so sure of what she meant. Although, he could strongly sense that it was bad news.

“Could you…repeat that? In layman’s terms…?”

“To put it more simply…” CITA said, trailing off as her eyes took on a look of intense concentration. While Akira watched, with a growing sense of panic, as the figments of Ai and Kiki then disintegrated away into nothingness.

Until she lifted her head sharply and ominously declaring—

“The ‘shit’ is just about to ‘hit the fan.’”

Akira winced. “What happened to Ai and Kiki? Is any of this really happening…?”

“This is all happening within the confines of your mind. A world, created within a world, through the corruption of data pertaining to the virtual realities that exist within the [Maidé Balls].”

Akira gasped—finally, he had been given something that made some lick of sense!

“So, if we’re causing the world around us to become corrupted like you say”—his eyes widened—”that explains why the [Maidé Ball] in the vault won’t work!”

CITA nodded. “There were originally two [Maidé Balls] in the vault: one containing Ai, and the other holding Keiko. But, because of the glitch, they became fused, and the sole [Maidé Ball] remaining was rendered inoperable.”

“Then do you have any idea of what’s happening to Ai and Kiki right now?” Akira urgently asked. “Are they unharmed?”

“I am unable to surveil them, presently, as my [Magic Threads] cannot penetrate into the confines of a [Maidé Ball]. However, I can still read their biometric footprints on the server itself.”

Come on CITA-san,” Akira grumbled. “You’re losing me with all the tech talk again.”

When, just then, he became startled by several large, pale green HUDs that began popping up in the empty space surrounding the two: showing an ever-shifting array of complex charts and graphs, of such a vast quantity that they very quickly completely filled the entire space.

It was far too much for Akira, or indeed any regular mortal to take in; though he could observe CITA’s head turning ,and eyes crazily darting about in all different directions to process it all with perfect efficiency.

“W-what the Hell?” said Akira. “Is this what goes on in your head?”

“I am now receiving dangerously high psychological stress readings. Physiological distress readings are beyond critical. A biomolecular distortion is taking place, unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed before.”

“No…” Akira murmured, collapsing to his knees, feeling utterly helpless again. Staring upward, with a defeated air. “Ai-chan…Kiki-chan…”

As CITA continued:

“These readings…it is almost as though—”

Akira immediately straightened himself, rising back to his feet with a fiery look. “Tell me what’s happening, damn it!”

However, just as quickly as he had grown angry, he promptly softened. For, up until now, he’d never seen CITA—who was notably part machine, by her own admission—look anywhere close to as fearful as she did, in that moment.

“Ai and Kiki…” she said, shuddering slightly, “are becoming fused, as well.”

“Well then, what the Hell am I supposed to do about it?” Akira desperately asked. “If it involves the system, isn’t that more in your territory?”

To his dismay, CITA shook her head.

“I cannot walk and reside within the world, as you do,” she explained, with a sad look. “My duties require me to extend myself far beyond the dimensions of a regular player’s life, across many servers simultaneously. And unfortunately, my full presence is needed elsewhere.”

Akira became enraged as she then turned her back on him. “Seriously?! You aren’t going to do anything and just leave me here?”

“I go, because I must. As there are presently other servers with a far greater need for my intervention.” She briefly turned back to him, smiling sadly. “To put it in perspective: on the last occasion that I directly aided you, Akira-kun, more servers were annihilated than there are flowers in your world of origin.”

“You mean…’annihilated’ as in—”

“Destroyed. Completely, and utterly, by viruses and other threats.”

“No way…!” Akira froze; at once relenting—his jaw dropping at such an incredible mind-boggling statistic. ‘Deep Karma is so much bigger than I thought. Maybe even bigger than pregnant Ai’s ass—more enormous than I can even begin to comprehend!’

It’s true that he never wanted to be a Hero in the first place, but who was he to complain? He only had one world, and one small group to look after, whereas CITA was out there deciding the fate of millions!

‘For their sake, I need to pull myself together…!’

In a way, being humbled like this had restored a part of his broken spirit. But still, if he was going to be tasked with saving the girls on his own, he desired an answer to one final question before he could begin:

“This place we’re in now”—he glanced down, at the ceiling-less floor that seemed to extend infinitely—”how do I leave…?”

CITA looked unconcerned.

“You shouldn’t see your dependency on others as a weakness, Akira-kun.”

“Huh?”

He heard a crackling sound, like with something flimsy being torn. Just as a set of fingers were revealed through the enswarming ether of unintelligible statistical data.

Someone was breaking into the realm—ripping through it with their bare hands.

CITA was waving.

“Farewell, Akira-kun. For now.”

…

Akira fell forward out of the ripped-open cocoon, panting furiously, falling straight into the awaiting strong, muscular built arms of his revealed rescuer.

She patted him on the head softly, sighing.

“Ara ara, I’ve saved you twice now!”

Despite her firmness, she smelled like cherry blossoms—a season of renewal—and Akira was completely at peace.

“Kanna-san…! It’s you!”