Gathering Husbands with a System in a Game Like World [BL]

The explosion threw everyone backward, Kai slammed into a cracked stone pillar while pieces of the ceiling or what remained of it...rained down around him, dust and violet light filled the underground chamber turning the world into a haze of shadows and flickering colour.

The light pillar of corruption still stood at the centre of the formation, only now it was changing, the imprisoned figure was slowly rising into the air, broken chains dangled from their wrists and ankles as violet light wrapped itself around their body like living ribbons twisting and coiling before sinking beneath their skin.

The System immediately reacted.

[Warning.]

[Warning.]

[Host organism destabilizing.]

[Emergency intervention recommended.]

Kai pushed himself to his feet.

You keep calling them a host organism.

[Correct.]

What does that mean?

A brief silence followed.

[A secondary life signature has been detected.]

Kai froze.

A what?

[A secondary life signature.]

You mean there are two living things in there?

[Probability: extremely high.]

"Wonderful," Kai muttered.

Dexter appeared beside him dusting fragments of stone from his shoulders, "Your expression says otherwise."

Elias emerged a moment later looking entirely unconcerned by the fact that half the chamber was collapsing, "Interesting."

Kai glared at him, "That’s your contribution?"

"At the moment, yes."

"Dummy"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing"

A deafening crash echoed through the chamber as Caelum landed lightly upon the shattered stage below, the silver-haired swordsman looked upward his blue eyes fixed upon the floating figure, "Everyone stay back."

Elias folded his arms, "That’s a very bold thing to say to people who have no intention of listening."

For perhaps the first time since meeting him Caelum actually looked annoyed, "You."

Elias smiled, "Me."

"I remember now."

"Should I be honoured?"

"Yes you should be before i crush you."

Kai looked from one man to the other, "You really do know each other."

Caelum’s expression remained perfectly neutral, "Several years ago he accepted a contract."

Elias sighed, "I accepted many contracts."

"You attempted to assassinate a duke."

Elias looked thoughtful, "Oh. That one."

Kai blinked, "That narrows absolutely nothing down."

"The attempt failed," Caelum continued.

"Naturally."

"You destroyed an entire fortress."

"That wasn’t entirely my fault."

Caelum slowly turned his head, "It was completely your fault."

"Agree to disagree."

Dexter burst into laughter then the ground trembled again and everyone looked upward.

The floating figure was changing, cracks of violet light spread across their skin as strange symbols appeared in the air around them before dissolving into countless glowing fragments.

The Curator stepped forward his expression almost feverish, "You see it now, don’t you?"

Nobody answered.

His smile widened, "Perfection."

Caelum pointed his sword at him, "You call this perfection?"

"I call it evolution."

"You call torture evolution?"

"I call sacrifice necessary."

The Curator raised both arms, "For thousands of years every race has remained trapped within the limits of its own body, but not this."

The chamber shook violently.

"Imagine a creature capable of endless adaptation, a being capable of surviving anything, I merely helped it awaken."

Kai frowned.

Mere curiosity but how insane is he?

The System answered immediately.

[Extremely.]

Kai almost laughed, almost.

The Curator continued speaking, "Long ago explorers discovered ancient ruins beneath Voltra, they found traces of something extraordinary, something that should not have existed, something ancient, something capable of changing everything."

"And then you decided to experiment on people?" Kai asked.

"Of course."

Kai stared at him.

The Curator stared back.

"That was not a question you were meant to answer to quickly."

The man blinked, "I know."

Kai slowly turned toward Dexter, "I hate this city."

Dexter nodded, "That’s fair."

Suddenly a section of the remaining ceiling exploded, stone fragments scattered in every direction as a figure descended gracefully from above before landing atop one of the broken pillars, a black coat fluttered around him, grey skin, long red hair, one dark horn, night-blue eyes, a small creature with green-black fur landed neatly beside him.

Nox calmly surveyed the destruction surrounding him then he looked at Kai, then Elias, then Dexter, then Caelum, he slowly closed the notebook in his hand, "...This has become troublesome."

Midnight meowed.

Kai stared, "Who are you?"

Nox adjusted one of his gloves, "A private investigator."

Elias snorted, "You’re a little late."

Nox glanced at him, "And yet I’m somehow still early."

The System suddenly became active again.

[New individual identified.]

[Threat level: high.]

[Further analysis incomplete.]

Kai rubbed his forehead.

Another one?

[Correct.]

Wonderful.

[Agreement acknowledged.]

Then the System spoke again its voice sounding strangely different, calmer, sharper, almost urgent.

[Correction required.]

Kai frowned.

Correction?

[The Curator’s assumptions are inaccurate.]

Kai’s eyes widened.

You know what that thing is?

[Negative.]

Then how do you know he’s wrong?

[Because he believes he has discovered a new life form.]

And?

[Probability of that conclusion being correct: less than three percent.]

A terrible feeling settled into Kai’s stomach.

Then what is it?

The System remained silent for several moments then it finally answered.

[Unknown.]

The Curator burst into laughter as the floating figure began trembling, violet energy spread through the chamber in waves and the pressure became almost unbearable.

Caelum took a step forward, "We destroy it."

Dexter shook his head, "We save the prisoner."

Elias’s smile sharpened, "We kill the Curator."

All three of them turned toward Kai.

Kai looked horrified, "Why are you looking at me?"

"Because you’ll choose," Dexter replied.

"Why would I choose?"

"Because you always do," Elias said.

"I absolutely do not."

Caelum merely waited.

Kai looked upward as the floating figure’s head was slowly rising, the pressure intensified, the light dimmed, then everything became still.

The violet energy vanished.

The floating figure slowly opened their eyes.

Silence descended upon the chamber.

Kai felt the blood drain from his face.

The prisoner was smiling, not weakly, not sadly, knowingly.

Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

The Curator’s triumphant expression slowly faltered.

The figure tilted their head then they spoke, their voice soft, curious, amused.

"How interesting."

The smile widened.

"So this is what the world looks like now."

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