Free Web NovelMatt killed her again.
The black sword crossed her neck in one clean cut.
The girl's body dissolved into golden and red particles, floated for a few seconds in the air of the mental world, and regrouped on the grass.
The girl opened her eyes and breathed hard.
Then she smiled.
"Again!"
Matt killed her again.
SLASH!
Particles, regrouping, grass, eyes open.
"Again!"
Another time.
SLASH!
"More!"
Another.
"Master, that one was faster than the last! I barely felt it!"
Matt lowered the sword.
He'd been doing this for a while.
He didn't know exactly how long, because time in the mental world didn't work the same as outside, but it had been enough for the girl to have died at least fifteen times.
And every time she regenerated, the smile was bigger.
It wasn't working.
Matt closed his eyes for a moment.
'This is useless…'
The girl got up from the grass with more ease than before. She no longer fell when she stood. Her knees no longer gave out. She no longer tangled her own feet.
Fifteen deaths and resurrections had been enough for her body to learn to move with ease.
"Master? Are we going again?"
Matt didn't respond and turned his head toward Noxx.
Noxx was still sitting on the grass, watching everything in silence.
She hadn't said anything during the last fifteen executions. She just watched with an expression somewhere between confusion and concern.
"Noxx."
"Yeah?"
"Come here."
Noxx stood slowly and walked toward him.
Matt spoke in a low voice, but not low enough for the girl not to hear.
"I need you to take over."
Noxx blinked, confused.
"Take over?"
"The punishment. See if she gives in for you."
Noxx looked at the blonde girl, who was standing a few meters away, naked, hair tangled and a smile that hadn't faded once.
"Matt, I don't think—"
"Try."
Noxx pressed her lips together.
She didn't like the idea.
But she nodded.
Matt stepped aside and walked off to one side.
He needed to sit and think.
He needed a moment without having to look at that smile.
Noxx stood in front of the girl.
The girl looked at her with curiosity.
"You're the one fighting me now?"
Noxx didn't respond right away. She extended her hands to the sides and the guns appeared in her palms.
Not the real guns. The mental world versions. Exact copies, with the same weight, the same shape, the same feel. The light one in her right hand. The heavy one in her left.
The girl stopped smiling. The curiosity vanished and was replaced by something darker. More aggressive. Her two eyes — the red and the blue — fixed on the weapons with a new intensity.
"What are those things doing here?"
Noxx looked at her, not understanding the reaction.
"They're my weapons."
"Your weapons? Those pieces of junk are your weapons?"
"They're not junk."
"Yes they are! How are they even here? This is Master's world! They shouldn't be able to exist here! Why did you summon them? You don't need them! Fight with your fists like Master did!"
Noxx frowned.
"Matt asked me to—"
"I don't care what he asked you! Put those things away!"
Noxx didn't put them away. She raised the light gun and aimed.
The girl clenched her teeth.
Bang!
The shot came out clean, but the girl moved with a speed that carried her body to the right so fast that Noxx lost track of her for an instant.
'What…?'
Noxx turned her head searching for her.
The girl was three meters to the right, crouching, eyes fixed on the guns.
Noxx fired again.
Bang!
The girl moved again. Faster. She changed direction mid-movement, going from right to left without losing speed.
Bang! Bang!
Two more shots.
Neither connected.
Noxx's eyes widened.
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'She's too fast.'
This wasn't normal.
A few minutes ago the girl could barely walk without falling. Now she was moving at a speed Noxx couldn't keep up with her shots.
Bang!
Missed.
Bang!
Missed again.
The girl wasn't just dodging. She was closing in. With every shot Noxx missed, the distance between them shrank.
Noxx switched to the heavy gun.
BANG!
The recoil shook her arm.
The shot passed through where the girl had been half a second before.
But the girl was no longer there.
She was right in front of Noxx.
Noxx tried to step back.
She didn't make it.
The girl lowered her body, extended one leg, and swept Noxx's feet out from under her in a clean motion.
Thwap!
Noxx's legs went sideways and her back hit the grass. The guns flew from her hands.
Noxx lay there, staring up at the blue sky of the mental world, the breath knocked out of her from the impact.
The girl stood over her, smiling.
"Unlike my master, your attack movements are pretty easy to read."
Noxx didn't respond.
Not because she had no air.
But because she couldn't believe what had just happened.
She'd lost.
Fast.
Very fast.
Noxx had trained for weeks in this mental world. She'd died hundreds of times. She'd learned to shoot, to move, to dodge, to think in the middle of a fight.
And this girl, who'd had a human body for less than an hour, had knocked her down in seconds.
'Did I really lose that fast against her?'
The question floated in her head unanswered.
The girl was no longer looking at her. She'd turned around and was running toward where Matt was.
Matt was sitting in a black chair.
The girl stopped in front of him.
"Master!"
Matt didn't look at her.
"Master, I won!"
Matt still didn't look at her.
"Master! I beat Noxx! It was really easy! Her movements were so predictable! Master!"
Matt had his eyes closed.
The girl frowned.
"Master!"
Nothing.
"Master, I'm talking to you!"
Nothing.
"MASTER!"
Matt didn't open his eyes.
He was ignoring her on purpose.
The girl clenched her fists.
Then she looked at the chair.
It was an interesting chair. It looked comfortable, and her master was sitting in it with his arms crossed and eyes closed, as if she didn't exist.
The girl tilted her head. Then she turned around and sat down on top of him without the slightest regard for the fact that she was still completely naked.
She dropped herself onto Matt's lap, resting her back against his chest, settling her backside directly over his lap.
Matt's eyes flew open.
"What are you—?"
"I wanted to try the chair."
The girl's voice was casual. Completely casual. As if what she was doing was the most normal thing in the world.
Matt felt everything.
Everything.
Because she wasn't wearing a single thing and the contact was direct and complete.
Matt put his hands on her shoulders and tried to push her off.
"Get off."
"I don't want to."
"Get off."
"The chair is comfortable."
"It's not the chair. It's you that—"
"Exactly. The chair is comfortable because you're in it."
Matt pushed harder.
The girl grabbed both armrests with her hands and squeezed. Her ego weapon strength was absurd. Matt pushed and she didn't move.
"Let go!"
"No!"
Matt stopped pushing.
Not because he gave up.
But because he looked toward where Noxx was.
Noxx was still lying on the grass.
She hadn't gotten up.
She was on her back, arms spread at her sides, staring up at the blue sky of the mental world with a blank expression.
She wasn't saying anything.
She wasn't moving.
She was just lying there, with the guns beside her and her eyes distant.
Matt knew that expression.
It was the same one Noxx wore when she felt like she was useless.
Matt let out a long, tired sigh.
'Damn it.'
The girl, still sitting on top of him, looked at him over her shoulder.
"Master? What's wrong?"
Matt didn't respond.
He was thinking.
The problem was clear.
He had an ego weapon that didn't obey, didn't answer questions, looked down on Noxx's guns, and apparently enjoyed being killed repeatedly.
And he had Noxx, who had just lost a fight in seconds and was now lying on the grass with her self-esteem in pieces.
And the guns hadn't awakened.
That was the real problem.
The entire plan depended on the guns.
Matt and Noxx had spent months working so Noxx could master those weapons.
The idea was simple: when they got out of the cave, Noxx would take the body and present herself to the queen as the "princess" who had completed the trial.
Matt would stay hidden inside, finally free of that farce. frёeωebɳovel.com
But for that to work, Noxx needed ego weapons of her own.
Weapons that answered to her.
Weapons the queen could see and accept as proof that the princess had passed through the Forge Cave.
If the guns didn't awaken, they were useless.
And if they were useless, all the effort had been for nothing.
Matt closed his eyes.
'Should I give up on the guns?'
The thought hurt.
'Should I tell the girl to obey Noxx directly?'
That wouldn't work either. The girl barely obeyed him. She wasn't going to obey Noxx.
'Should I—?'
The girl shifted on top of him.
She'd lifted herself for a moment, just to drop back down with more force.
Matt felt the full impact.
"Can you stop doing that?"
"Doing what."
"That."
"I don't know what you're referring to, Master."
"You know perfectly well what I'm referring to."
The girl turned her head and looked at him with an innocent smile that had nothing innocent about it.
Matt looked at her steadily.
The girl didn't move.
Matt didn't either.
Then Matt did something the girl wasn't expecting.
He hugged her.
His arms wrapped around her waist from behind, crossing over her stomach. The movement was gentle, slow, without violence.
The girl went completely still.
"M-Master…?"
Her voice changed. The mocking tone disappeared. The confidence evaporated. What remained was pure confusion and something else she couldn't name.
"What are you…?"
The girl's body went loose.
The muscles that had been tense, gripping the armrests with ego weapon strength, relaxed. Her shoulders dropped. Her hands let go of the armrests.
Matt felt it and took advantage.
The instant she loosened up, Matt undid the hug, placed both hands on her waist, and shoved her to the side with force.
The girl went flying off the chair.
"Ah!"
She landed on the grass rolling and lay there for a second. Then she laughed.
"That was cheating!"
She jumped to her feet, hair full of grass and eyes shining.
"Master, that was so dirty! You used a fake hug to trick me! You can't do that! It's so cruel! I really thought you were—!"
The girl ran toward him again.
Matt stood up from the chair before she got there.
The girl sat down in the empty chair. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
She settled in and crossed her legs. Then she put her hands on the armrests and frowned.
"It's not the same…"
Matt looked at her.
"The chair is comfortable, but it's not the same without you in it."
Matt didn't respond to that.
The girl stood up from the chair and got into a fighting stance. Fists raised, legs apart, weight distributed.
A stance she'd learned over the last few minutes through hits and deaths.
"Do you want to fight again, Master?"
Matt wasn't looking at her.
He was walking toward Noxx.
Noxx was still on the ground.
Matt crouched beside her and extended his hand.
Noxx looked at it for a moment. Then she took it.
Matt pulled her up.
Noxx brushed the grass off her clothes without looking at him.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I couldn't do anything against her…"
"Doesn't matter."
"It does matter, Matt. I'm supposed to—"
"Doesn't matter."
Matt said it again in the same tone. No irritation. No disappointment. Just the firmness of someone who had already decided it didn't matter.
Noxx looked at him.
Matt lowered his voice.
"I have a plan."
Noxx blinked.
"A plan?"
"Yes."
"For the guns?"
"For everything."
The girl, who had been trying to approach them with quick steps and an enormous smile, stopped a few meters away.
"Master! What are you two talking about? Can I listen? Is it about me? Is it something fun? Are we going to fight again? I want to fight aga—!"
The world faded.
Not all at once.
It was gradual.
The grass started losing color. The blue sky turned grey. The trees in the distance blurred. The black chair disappeared. The ground beneath the girl's feet stopped feeling solid.
"Huh?"
The girl looked around.
"Master? What's happening? Why is everything—?"
◇◆◇
The girl opened her eyes.
Stone.
Dark ceiling.
Cold.
She was in the real world.
Lying on the cave floor, exactly where Matt had cornered her before dragging her into the mental world. Cold stone against her bare back. Dust in the air and the remains of the mechanical boss scattered everywhere.
And above her, Matt.
Matt was pulling himself up. His arms trembled slightly from exhaustion, but he moved with purpose.
The girl blinked several times.
Everything was spinning.
The transition from the mental world to the real one was always abrupt, but for her, experiencing it for the first time, it was worse.
The colors were different. The temperature was different. Gravity felt different. Everything was heavier, slower, more real.
"Master… what are we going to do?"
Matt didn't respond and stood up.
The girl watched him from below, still lying on the ground, still dizzy.
And then she saw something she hadn't seen before.
From Matt's back, two black wings began to emerge.
Matt crouched and picked up the guns from the floor.
The girl frowned.
"Master, what are you—?"
Matt spread his wings.
"Master?"
Matt didn't look at her.
"Master!"
The wings moved.
One push.
Matt's body lifted off the ground.
"MASTER!"
The girl tried to stand. Her legs gave out. She fell to her knees. Tried again. Got to her feet, wobbling.
Matt was already three meters up, rising.
"Master, wait! Don't leave me here! Master!"
Matt kept rising.
Five meters.
Ten.
"MASTER! TAKE ME WITH YOU! MASTER!"
The girl's voice bounced off the walls of the enormous room.
Matt didn't stop.
He didn't look down.
He kept rising until his body disappeared into the darkness of the cave ceiling.
The girl stood on the ground.
Alone.
Naked.
Surrounded by mechanical debris and dust.
With her mouth open and her eyes — the red and the blue — staring upward, toward the darkness where her master had disappeared.
"No…"
Her voice came out small.
"Is he really going to leave me here?"
The silence answered.
The girl kept staring upward for a long time.
Waiting.
But no one came back.
