“Wh-what do you know about Bubble Universes?”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  Now that question threw me off the loop. What does she mean by that? What am I supposed to answer? While I won’t claim to be an expert on this subject, I do know quite a fair bit and that alone leaves me unsure on what to start. No, seriously, what does she want me to say to her? A Bubble Universe is a different universe from the real one? That it only exists on the Sea of The Universe? But what is the point of me saying this? She more than already knows this or at the very least should. I do know that, when they reach the end of their life, their “death” will trigger an explosion, releasing a tremendous amount of energy towards the Sea. Then, said Sea will use it to “construct” another Bubble Universe, restarting the cycle.

  “Since there is so much that I can say to you, you have to be more concrete to that question as otherwise, I don’t know where to start.”

  “Sorry… What I wanted to ask is, do you know why a Bubble Universe collapses?”

  “Well, that’s because they have reached their limit...”

  Limit of what?

  Now I understand her question although she still framed it poorly. Either way, why does a Bubble Universe collapse? Just saying that it reached the end of its lifetime is incorrect. They don’t age like us humans and all living things to be more concrete. No, in their case, once they are formed, their “core” has a certain amount of energy, one that also has a limit to how much it can hold of course. As time does its cruel thing, the Bubble Universe creates more energy within itself, said energy is then absorbed by the core while a small amount of it leaves the universe itself, going towards the Sea. Once the core has absorbed enough energy, reaching its limit then, without any warning at all, as the inhabitants of that universe won’t even know it (by conventional means of course), the core will “collapse”, exploding in the process. In theory, if the Bubble Universe does not create energy, then, it will never absorb past its limit, making it “immortal” per say and basically circumventing said limit. Just wait a second, now that I’m saying this, I’ve never “seen” a Bubble Universe with little energy on its core… Since I’m no scholar in this realm I might just be spewing ignorant jabbering into the world but, what would happen if a Bubble Universe does not have enough energy?

  Will it literally collapse on itself as it does not have enough energy to sustain itself?

  “That is exactly what’s happening here. This universe is ready to burst because it has reached the limit to what its core can sustain.”

  And I was going off track without any need it seems. Welp, at least I know that this Bubble Universe has a deadly extra amount of energy stored within the core. Hmm, maybe that is what the Shadows are trying to consume? However, while this sounds extremely dangerous and even a stupid idea that would turn itself around on whoever tried to do so as the Shadows are unpredictable beings, wouldn’t that actually be a good thing for the Bubble Universe? If we wanted to go through with it, we “only” would need to basically stop the Shadows from getting far too strong as I doubt a Shadows whose strength equals C rank can reach SSS rank in a matter of a second, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months hell, even years! They have a limit to how much they can consume per “minute” but yes, said limit will depend on their strength as an C rank will be able to consume less than an A rank Shadows but, I do believe it’s always the same in terms of percentage. But even then, to those A rank it will still take some time for them to reach S rank. I would say that, our job in this case, once they reach let’s say… S rank, we eliminate them and just let a new one take its place instead. I’m saying S rank because I’m here as otherwise, I would limit at B+. But the more that I think about this, will they even be able to upset the balance? If the Bubble Universe produces more energy than what they can consume then, we will be only delaying the inevitable.

  “What I think you have to do is to defeat the shadows and prevent this from happening.”

  “And, how am I supposed to do that?”

  “Over there.”

  Just as I was about to think on how the hell I'm supposed to do something this unbelievable and imaginable, she somehow pointed towards a rather interesting “thing”. When I say pointed, I mean it figuratively, I had a feeling she did this, because as you know, she does not have arms right now… In this form that is. Any-Anyway! I’m wasting too much time yet again! Right after she said that and of course after curiosity got the best of me, we both “walked” up to said “thing”. It’s nothing more than a device somewhat similar to the one that I had to activate a little while back. The one where it opened the colossal door and allowed me to go through a bridge. Yes, that one, the one that got demolished by the Crystal Whale. Do you remember? I hope so, but moving on. This device seems to also follow the same principle as that one but, in this case, part of it is already “activated”. This time around there is not a line in the ground where it would light up once I’ve activated a crystal or something like that. No, in this case I simply will need three stones that contain magic on them, I would guess. I say this because there is already one of them on the device, making it partially activated. The stone is coloured in orange, shining brightly and filled with magic. Also, while I said that I will need three stones, that’s actually not entirely correct as one of them is already on the device. Not only that, I'm guessing the number of them as there is nothing here telling me the exact number. I might be wrong or correct however, thanks to the position of where the stone is on the device, I would guess it to be three as said stone do divide the device in three parts.

  “How did I miss this?”

  No, seriously, how did I miss this? First of all, this thing is not small at all to the point I could probably notice it all the way back in the “room”. But let’s say that I didn’t notice it back then, I just fought a bunch of Shadows right around this area, I’m more than sure that time around I would’ve noticed it. To make it even less probable that I would miss the damn device, my earlier usage of Magic Sense would allow me to sense it if it was hidden to the naked eye while with Magical Eyes, I would be able to see it. And yet, even with all of this, even though it was right under my nose, I somehow was able to miss it.

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  “The device only appeared after I defeated the Shadows, right? Maybe it’s a reward for such?”

  “I think that is possible as the Bubble Universe is trying to protect itself from them.”

  Now that is a good theory to have or maybe it really is the reality of this situation as she sure seems quite assured of what she’s affirming. Huh, first time that her voice has some confidence behind it but, anyway, I can see it happening, however, why did it reveal itself before us? Both The Void Queen and Miranda know that I’m here to help out and while the same can somewhat be said about the Crystal Whale, what about the Bubble Universe itself? I don’t think it has any type of “will” whatsoever, let alone the ability to actually have any type of rational thought. The only possibility that crosses my mind is that the Crystal Whale has enough control of it that it allows it to do these types of events. But if that really is the case then, with that much authority on its fins couldn’t it just kick the Shadows out of this universe? Maybe even end them instead? Argh man, am I once again overthinking it?

  “That makes sense but, why have something like this at all? If I just need to deal with the Shadows, wouldn’t it be better if I didn’t waste time on this?”

  “There must be a reason for it, no?”

  Ah, back to normal it seems. There is more than uncertainty in her words as even confusion seems to be mixed with it and of course, her tone of voice follows the same principle. But to be honest, I’m also on the same boat as I’m beyond confused about what I’m supposed to do-Not really… I’m only confused as to why all of this is here and what I have to do with it, my end goal is still the same and that, oh boy, I’m not confused at all. I have to defeat the Shadows and save Kiana, it’s that simple, what’s troubling me is the path for such as I still think I will be wasting too much time unlocking a damn door for the next area, one that might as well be locked just because. Think with me, it has been only one month on her story, I more than doubt, I have progressed far enough to unlock another area. Tch, there isn’t much of a choice really unless just keep going with their whims. I could go back and ask Miranda and with the goddess of luck on my side, maybe even directly The Void Queen but I more than doubt they will answer me or at the very least give a straight answer.

  Why do they have to make this so difficult?

  “Well, standing here won’t get us nowhere. Let’s move on, I do know that once this device is activated the door in front of us will be unlocked as a seal is currently preventing us from going forward.”

  Miss Pink Orb didn’t say anything back to what I said but I can tell that she did nod in agreement as the orb did bounce a little upwards and then downwards, indicating it in a rather odd but extremely cute way. Huh, never expected for a simple light orb to be this cute… Anyway, where we are there is not much that we can do, we could have a quick look around but I don’t have much confidence that we will find anything useful. Even if I once again use Magic Sense, I still doubt I will find anything else even though this device just appeared… Don’t worry though, I did use the skill the moment the device appeared as I wanted to be sure nothing else also decided to spawn out of thin air. However, the goddess of luck seems to have lost interest in me and that alone has hurt my feelings by quite a bit but, because of that inconvenient fact, I have found nothing. Well, this only leaves us with a choice, right? Yep, the building or should I say school? Either way, we both “walk” up to the entrance but before reaching it, we did climb a set of stairs for such, ones that seem to be tiled with marble, one that is coloured in a snow-white colour. It does shine by quite a bit but, what makes this more noticeable is the massive difference from the tiles up to this point as not only they are well, different, the massive contrast between colours makes it seem something akin to the difference between the sun and the moon. Though, they look extremely well as that difference of colours are actually well matched together.

  “This is it, however, I do have to warn you before we do anything. There is a teleport magic circle here, the moment that I open this door we will be teleported to god knows where.”

  I just have to warn her before doing anything as I am a little concerned where this might lead us to. If I was alone, even if I end up facing The Demon Lord itself, I can handle myself but her? In this form? I’m not really seeing her do much, let alone protect herself and because of that, I’m afraid and worried that she can get hurt-

  “Don’t worry, I’m prepared for it.”

  And that shut me up but with it, it sent all my worries and concerns to oblivion. After all, her tone of voice was one filled with confidence, completely aware of what could go wrong or more so the consequences of what she’s doing. She has prepared for this.

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes.”

  I’m not going to keep at it nor am I going to try my hardest to persuade her to change her mind. She has shown to me that she’s determined to go forward, confident enough to push forward and well aware of what might happen and the possible consequences of her choice. Her voice as I just said, it’s much different than what she has shown until now, a massive difference from her usual uncertainty, almost as if she’s afraid to let out her thoughts be known to others but in this moment, her determination to go through with it this is enough to tell me that she means what she said.

  Though, why wouldn’t she?

  We are here to save Kiana. Just her being here with me even on that form is already enough to show me, the world and even Kiana herself that she’s more than willing to go far for her. Who am I to stop her in her tracks just because she might be putting herself in danger? Now that sounded a little iffy… I mean, I won’t let her walk towards death itself of course, what kind of Hero I would be if I allowed for such deadly idiocy to happen? However, it’s exactly because I’m the Hero of this world, her Hero, it’s my job, duty and even will to protect her and to make sure that she’s able to accomplish what she came here for, all without getting a single scratch on her face. Orb in this case.

  “That’s good, the moment you waver in your determination then, it’s over as you won’t be able to do what you desire, let alone actually save Kiana. But I do have to apologise as I doubted you for a few moments. It seems I was letting my concern get the best of me.”

  “Ah, do-don’t apologise! I... I’m actually afraid but it’s just as you said. It does not matter how much I cry, how much it hurts, how much I regret my decisions and how much I want to go back in time… If-If I stay still and don’t move forward, I won’t be able to save her, nor will I be able to apologise to her for failing to keep her safe.”

  I always knew there is more to her story that meets the eye however… In her perspective I’m the one that is a new character on her story. A character that just met the main protagonist and yet…

  I simply cannot remove the smile that I have on my face as I hear her say this. As I know that, Kiana has a good friend willing to go far for her. Willing to put herself in danger so that she can be saved.

  Even though I don’t know who Miss Pink Orb really is, her actions speak louder than any words she could ever speak, telling me that she's indeed a kind woman. This, of course, leads me to believe that it's not her fault for what happened to Kiana but just a sequence of uncontrollable events that happen to happen.

  Fate is cruel but reality somehow is even worse than it and unfortunately, the two of them happen to get caught by claws of them, suffering the tragedy and despicable consequences of such.

  “As I said to The Void Queen, I will make sure that Kiana is saved. I will do everything in my power for that to happen and as the Hero of this world, as her Hero, I will go above and beyond, bending even the rules of universe itself to my will so that I will make it a reality.”

  ……..

  ……

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