I am the one who will 'Remain'

Chapter 14

Niobe gets up and looks at Ark, no fear on her face, only respect in her eyes.

"Thank you, I tried for the last 50,000 years to solve my problem, but you did it in just a second. Now I can try again to level up, to 'Universal level.' If you need anything, just say the word."

"Can you tell me how you were injured?"

"Of course. When I was fighting on the front lines in the 'Space Conquering Era,' I fought a really strong mind demon. I was alone on a deserted planet, no help, no way to contact anyone. I had to fight this demon completely alone. I fought for 3 days and 3 nights with him. In the end, I managed to defeat him. But not completely. I only destroyed his body and soul, but his mind managed to leech somehow onto my mind, and that's why my eyes were completely black — because of that mind demon. I had to always be on my guard against him, feeling like I was going crazy. I tried many different things to get him out of my head, but nothing worked.

That's why I didn't try to level up anymore, because I knew that I would die if I gave the demon even a small chance. Even a moment of weakness would be fatal for me. But now, in just a second, you destroyed him. Now I am finally free. I can be me again with no fear of going crazy."

Melody sees her smiling face and thinks, So she had it really hard until now, and her eyes are blue like the sky. She looks so much better now than with those scary black eyes.

And if she managed to destroy the demon's body and soul, how did his mind survive? I'll ask her later how that works.

Ark just looks into her blue eyes and says:

"Now this is the right way to look at someone. And yeah, I had to draw him out by making him think that you would die."

Niobe looks at the young man, and now she really understands the saying, Don't judge a book by its cover.

"We can go back to my office now; you both passed your test."

Then they fly into the sky, disappearing in a few seconds.

The people watch them disappear, and then all hell breaks loose. Some are watching the videos they took, some are calling their friends, some are talking about the unbelievable match that took place.

The trio reaches the gate at the pyramid, and when they go out, Niobe looks at Ark and asks him:

"You are more powerful than me; do you even need to attend this school? Because if you wanted, you could go directly to the royalty planet where the most powerful reside."

Ark looks at her and answers:

"I'm not in a hurry; I want to take my time and enjoy everything. And besides, what I need could be closer than I thought."

Melody looks immediately at him with a look that says, What?

Ark just smiles and keeps on walking.

Niobe doesn't understand, but she now knows what he wants, and she will do everything in her power to make everything how he wants it to be.

When they are inside the university, it's like some kind of celebrity has walked in. All students that see them look at Ark and Melody like they are some kind of circus attraction.

All look like they have questions for them, but they don't dare to, because the principal is still the principal, so they can only look, but not touch.

Ark and Melody just walk calmly behind the principal.

When they reach the office, Niobe goes behind her mahogany desk and takes out a container holding a bottle of something black. She calls for someone to bring three glasses, then she sits opposite them and tells them:

"Wait a moment, I have something very special for you to try. I've kept this bottle for more than 10,000 years for a special occasion. And today I can finally open it."

Ark and Melody just look at each other, and they see that they both think the same: they don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Then a woman comes inside the office with three glasses. She puts them on the table, and when she sees what is on the table, she can't believe it. She looks with a yearning look at the drink. But she turns around and leaves.

Then Niobe opens the transparent container that holds the drink in frozen space. She takes out the bottle with care and puts it on the table. Then she takes a device from her space ring and puts it beneath the bottle. Slowly, the bottle gets colder and colder until it's perfect to drink. Then she pours the black liquid into the glasses, takes a long look first, and only then drinks a small sip, closing her eyes like it was something more precious than liquid gold.

Ark and Melody take their drinks and look at them. They think it's just normal 'Coke Koala.'

Then they look at Niobe and see her taking her time drinking it, like she feels sorry that it's lesser and lesser in her glass. She then says:

"This is an original bottle from Old Earth. Some people tried to make it again, but they didn't manage to replicate the exact taste. So now, original bottles are really, really rare. I fought for this bottle with my life to be able to get it. I've kept it for 10,000 years, but it's worth it."

Melody thinks that if she tells Niobe about the tons of different bottles in her space ring with different flavors, she would probably give her life trying to take her space ring.

"Yeah, this is something incredible that you managed to keep safe until now."

"I haven't told a soul about this bottle, not even my family knows about it."

Ark just looks at her, his thoughts a mystery.

Melody then asks, changing the topic:

"How did the mind of the demon manage to survive if you destroyed his body and soul?"