"Did I die?"
"And what happened to Earth?"
I asked with a tense voice. I hadn’t realized how rigid my body had become, my breath seemingly trapped inside my lungs. My entire attention was focused on the screen in front of me, waiting for an answer, while I clenched my fists.
[Well... as for your death, that’s rather obvious. It is impossible for you to still be alive in a mortal vessel after everything that happened.]
Well... I suppose I had expected that.
I didn’t understand anything that was happening, but at that moment, I had felt death in my bones. And then... I appeared in that place.
Aster took another look around.
He couldn’t see what was on the other side of the glass because it was fogged up, and that brightness, as if the sun itself were right beside him, didn’t help either.
It was a beautiful place, but it was silent.
There wasn’t even a sign of life.
Turning his attention back to the screen in front of him, which still hadn’t answered his question, Aster began to grow tense and impatient.
"Answer me! ... What happened to Earth?"
[Well...]
"Tell me!"
My voice came out louder than I intended.
[Extinct.]
The guide replied in a softer tone.
"What?"
Aster’s voice came out weak.
"Extinct?"
"What do you mean by that?... Tell me!"
[Ah... very well.]
The guide gave up on hiding the truth and laid everything out, within the limits of what it was allowed to say.
[Exactly what it sounds like, Aster... Earth was extinguished. Annihilated, pulverized. And not just Earth.]
Aster took a deeper breath as his body trembled.
[In truth, the destruction of Earth was merely a consequence of something much greater... The solar system where it existed, as well as the sector where Earth was located... all of it was merely a microscopic part of something infinitely greater.]
"W-what? What do you m-mean?"
My voice trembled as that supposed guide told me things my mind couldn’t keep up with or comprehend.
[Well, actually, what...]
"DON’T SPEAK!"
A voice echoed through the void where the guide’s existence resided.
That sweet yet cold voice ordered it to remain silent.
The guide, which had been answering Aster, immediately fell silent.
[Ah... why hide this from him?] the guide asked, unable to understand the intentions behind that voice.
"THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT TIME. IF YOU TELL HIM THIS NOW... YOU’LL ONLY FILL HIS HEAD WITH THINGS HE CANNOT DEAL WITH YET, AND THAT WILL MAKE NO DIFFERENCE AT THIS MOMENT..."
The voice fell silent for a few moments before continuing.
"KNOWING THIS WILL ONLY DISTRACT HIM FROM WHAT REALLY MATTERS."
The guide remained silent, understanding the meaning behind those words.
[All right...]
Aster, unaware of their conversation, noticed that the guide had stopped responding.
"What happened? Finish what you were saying."
[I’m sorry, Aster, but I cannot tell you that right now... Be patient. Later, when you qualify to know... I will tell you.]
Aster bit down hard on his lips, irritated by the lack of answers.
His situation was already chaotic enough.
After the chaos on Earth, he had died. Then, somehow, he had ended up in that strange place, talking to something he didn’t even understand.
Based on the web novels he had read, he had a vague idea of what that screen might be, but he didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
"Argh..."
Aster let out a deep, strained sigh.
"Putting that aside... what really matters to me is..."
He stopped for a moment.
"If what you told me is true, if Earth really disappeared, then the people who were on it..."
I couldn’t finish speaking.
My heart ached as that thought terrified me.
I didn’t need to finish.
The guide spoke for me.
And my greatest fear became reality.
[Obviously, they all died.]
[Every form of life on that planet ceased to exist.]
Upon seeing that merciless answer, Aster’s face lost all color.
His face turned pale as the image of Jasmine’s sweet and gentle smile surfaced in his mind.
He lost his strength and fell to his knees.
Rivers of tears streamed from his eyes as the light within them slowly disappeared.
Aster began to resemble an empty shell, completely lost, while his tears continued to flow without any sign of stopping.
The guide inside Aster panicked.
[Aster, calm down!]
The screen, as if releasing a roar, tried to bring Aster back to his senses as he sank deeper into a swamp of darkness.
The guide hadn’t imagined that the young man would break down this badly.
It began wondering if it should have remained silent while desperately trying to find a solution.
Then that voice returned once again.
"I GAVE THIS TO HIM."
A dark light with a silver edge flew toward the guide’s core.
Upon seeing what it had received, the guide seemed uncertain.
[Are you sure? Giving this to him?... You know this could be a problem. And besides... wouldn’t giving this to him violate the rules? It could make it seem like you’re favoring him.]
"JUST DO IT!"
The voice was direct, leaving no room for argument.
[All right.]
Once again, the screen appeared directly in front of Aster, displaying a series of warnings.
[Warning! The host has received a gift from ######. A skill has been acquired.]
[Registering skill within the host’s soul.]
[Congratulations! You have received the SSS-Grade Skill — Nirodha’s Expulsion.]
[As the host is currently unable to activate the skill, as an emergency measure, the skill will be activated through the system.]
When the skill was activated, Aster, who had been sinking into a swamp of despair, suddenly felt, for a brief moment, such profound lightness that it seemed as though none of the turmoil inside him mattered anymore.
Then, his focus returned to reality.
"Arhhhhhhhhhhh..."
I let out a long breath as I realized that I was drenched in sweat.
The skill was deactivated as soon as Aster returned to his senses.
"What happened to me...?"
My consciousness is hazy. It felt as though I were drowning, and then...
Aster narrowed his eyes, still staring at the floor.
"That coldness... devoid of any warmth... pulling me back..."
He took a deep breath.
"That was terrifying."