Uncertainty and Despair

For the better part of a day, Neto became a soft piece of gum inside Charlotte's mouth. A wild blizzard raged outside the fleshy walls of the snapscale, but she covered him in mucus warm enough to make him sweat.

[Unbound Sense] revealed the Nip Shift's scale like a detachable third eye. It was on a completely different level from the one he experienced in that first gate, including the massive spears of ice, which were flung around like darts by an angry toddler. Thankfully, Charlotte's powerful claws cut through the earth easily. She swam a few feet under the surface where large deposits of thermalite kept them warm.

Although the only words able to sum up Neto's current situation were 'Disgusting' and 'Life-threatening', he somehow felt comfortable. Almost like he was back at the hot springs in Nornenhiem. Charlotte's mouth smelled a bit like raw meat, but it really wasn't as bad as he expected. Perhaps she had a method for cleaning her teeth.

Neto soon felt himself growing drowsy and leaned into this sleepy feeling until it threatened to overtake him.

{I'm sorry.}

A familiar voice swept the tiredness out of his body.

'Rakshasa??'

Neto's eyes shot open. A casual glance down revealed that he was no longer inside Charlotte's mouth, but inside of that infinite abyss where his old system, the eye, used to live.

'I must've dozed off...'

As he expected, not much greeted his eyes. Only the infinite abyss, and a lumpy silhouette on the horizon.

'Rakshasa!!' Neto called once again. He could only communicate through his thoughts, so he did his best to quiet the natural chaos of his mind.

He willed his spirit-like body to speed up from a snail's pace until Rakshasa became fully visible. She appeared to be unconscious, though her tiny chest heaved in and out, signalling the life living within.

'Whew... Dont scare me like that.' Neto mumbled.

He tried bending down to touch her fur, but the atmosphere held him in place.

'Something feels off...'

Sure, it had been more or less a whole day since Raksasha stopped talking to him, but that didn't mean he'd grown used to it. She was his lifeline in the void. The being who guided him towards the strength he needed to forge his own path in this life. If something happened to her...

'H-hey, Rakshasa, please wake up.'

Neto's gut twisted, but he ignored the instinct to run. Of course, with no nerve endings, he couldn't feel her soft fur, nor could he shift a hair on her body. Instead, he passed through her like a gust of wind.

{I-} "I-I'm sorry..."

Rakshasa's voice fizzled and popped. Usually her words came across as rather intense, since her spirit communicated directly into his mind. However, only the first few syllables rendered that way.

'You're sorry? What do you mean??'

Neto's heart fluttered. He had no skin to sweat through. No spine to hold his chills. The waves of pure emotion flowing from the demon dwindled until the distance between them grew insurmountably.

'Rakshasa.'

Neto felt himself choking on an imaginary tongue. Non-existent blood pounded through his non-existent skull, and a cruel hallucinatory heat muddled his thoughts.

'For once... For once, please explain what the hell is going on!!!'

The demon shifted and opened her glittering eyes, like two purple coins. She stretched her tiny limbs, rotated her wrists, touched her horns, and pulled apart her cheeks. Her smile was different now. The innocent beauty Neto fell in love could no longer be seen. An alien eeriness remained. Something ancient. Something cruel...

"I'm Sorry Neto." She began. Her pink tongue flickered out, and slapped against her pitch-black lips. "I really am sorry, but I probably won't see you after this."

Her words punched against Neto like thunders' clap.

'W-what?'

"You're far too naïve, and far too weak to be of use to me anymore. But, I must say, you did a splendid job fulfilling the requirements for my rebirth."

Neto wanted to shout, but he failed to find the right words. Of course, he knew Rakshasa was using him from the start, but for his usefulness to run out so soon... He thought they would be together until he left [Grand Void] at the very least.

"A shard of Levi. That sentence probably has no significance to you, but it is the reason SUN sent you to my world. That is what you are, Neto. A shard of Levi. Unfortunately for SUN, your body wasn't the shard they sent. I was the shard they sent. You were just a vessel."

'!!'

Neto thought back to his ruminations a few nights ago. His intuition seemed to be correct. Rakshasa had known him in his previous life... which meant-

"I wonder if you've noticed, but your body hasn't grown stronger since you began gaining XP. The stat's I showed you were fraudulent. Every ounce of cultivation has gone towards my rebirth. You've only managed to survive because of the skill's I've carved into your being."

Rakshasa's body faded away, as if she were being erased. As her body became translucent, a frightening chill spread through the void.

"W-wait!!! WAIT!" Neto tried to scream, but he had no vocal chords. Only his thoughts conveyed meaning, and they were a jumbled mess of curses and despair.

"You shouldn't tire yourself out. The fight against sun is mine and mine alone. If you survive, I hope you can forget about us meeting, and find a life suitable for you in this world. That is what you want, after all."

With that, the last image of Rakshasa vanished. An unseen hand pulled Neto away from that vivid domain, into a painfully comfortable, forgettable dream.