Chapter 816: Watching "Guilty Crown," a Despairing World Destruction, Seeing the Future
"Nightingale, you don't have to do this."
"This is our voluntary act."
Shining and Nearl flanked the fragile blonde girl, their voices laced with a mixture of concern and gentle persuasion. They had already offered themselves to secure her safety and healing, and they bore that burden willingly.
However, Nightingale simply shook her head. Her angelic face, usually so serene and detached, now carried a remarkable firmness.
"Nearl, Shining, you are willing, and so am I." She looked between her two protectors, her voice soft but unwavering. "Besides, I don't want to leave you. We are family."
"Nightingale..."
Hearing such pure, unhesitating recognition moved the two hardened warriors. A heavy, emotional silence settled over the room.
Ren broke it by tapping his knuckles rhythmically against the wooden table.
"Although I appreciate the depth of your feelings, there are some things I still need to remind you about." He leaned back, his gaze sweeping over Nightingale with a low, appreciative chuckle. "First, I've accepted your request, Nightingale. I am not the type of man to ignore such a beautiful gift when it is offered directly to me."
"Thank you, Mr. Ren," she replied softly, bowing her head.
"Hold onto that 'thank you'. It is a bit premature." Ren's smile faded into something far more serious, signaling the true weight of the conversation. "Even if you belong to me now, it doesn't mean I am going to separate you from your family. After I leave here, you will most likely stay on Rhodes Island for a while."
"Leave?" Nearl stepped forward, her golden eyes widening in surprise. "Where exactly are you planning to go?"
"Another world."
Ren stated it directly, his tone as casual as if he were discussing the weather. There was no longer any need to hide such a fundamental truth from women who had just sworn themselves to him.
"Another world!"
This time, the shock was not limited to Nearl. Even the usually stoic Shining broke her composure, her eyes flashing with deep confusion. They stared at him, desperately trying to discern if they had misheard the translation, or if he was speaking in some grand, philosophical metaphor.
Sitting quietly nearby, Kaltsit glanced at their bewildered expressions. Her voice cut through the room, cold and precise. "You haven't misunderstood. Ren is an Otherworlder. A being even more powerful than a god."
She paused, her sharp feline eyes narrowing slightly. "I expect you to keep this secret."
Coming from Kaltsit, a woman who treated information like loaded weapons, the warning carried immense weight. The three Followers immediately grasped the terrifying seriousness of the matter.
"We will," they promised in unanimous agreement.
Nightingale's gaze remained fixed on Ren, her pale eyes suddenly sparkling with a crystalline, almost childlike sheen. "That... are there really other worlds beyond this land?"
"Yes. Countless ones." Ren didn't hesitate to share the knowledge. To him, it was trivial, but he could feel Nightingale's eager, desperate desire to understand something beyond the suffering of Terra. He looked at the others. "Are you all curious too?"
Shining, Nearl, and Nightingale exchanged long glances. Following their true feelings, they all nodded.
Even Kaltsit remained silent, offering no objection. After all, the concept of a reality completely detached from the blood-soaked, Originium-plagued continent of Terra was intoxicating. Who wouldn't be curious?
"Alright then. I'll let you see for yourselves."
Ren raised his hand and gave the air a casual wave.
The entire spatial fabric of the room warped and expanded rapidly. The sterile walls dissolved, replaced by the plush, soundproofed acoustics of a high-end private cinema. The standard chairs vanished, replaced by a massive, velvet-lined sofa that was far larger than a king-sized bed.
The five of them found themselves seated together on the sprawling cushions.
Directly in front of them, a massive, high-definition screen flickered to life, displaying a carousel of vibrant titles. Bold letters spelled out names like "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba," "A Certain Magical Index," and dozens of others.
"Each of these corresponds to the memories of different worlds I have experienced through the Chat Group," Ren explained, settling deep into the cushions. He had simply extracted the relevant data from his mind and formatted it into a cinematic experience.
He glanced around the dimly lit, intimately cozy space. The ambient lighting was low, the sofa was ridiculously soft, and he was surrounded by beautiful women.
'Tsk, tsk,'Ren thought, highly amused.'The atmosphere in here is absolutely perfect for flirting.'
"To be able to extract and project memories into reality... what incredible power," Shining murmured, her voice laced with genuine awe. Witnessing such casual reality-bending, it was no wonder he possessed the means to easily cure Nightingale's shattered mind and body.
Nearl pressed her hands down onto the soft, highly elastic surface of the sofa bed beneath her, her knightly instincts scanning the environment. "Is everything here real, or is this an elaborate illusion?"
No matter how hard she focused, she couldn't sense a single trace of Originium Arts or false projection.
"It is entirely real. Just something I created casually," Ren replied, waving off the compliment before returning to the main topic. "So, what kind of world do you want to see first? A peaceful world, or a world that has encountered disaster?"
"Peaceful," Shining said instantly.
"Peaceful," Nightingale echoed.
"Peaceful," Nearl agreed.
The three answered in complete, desperate unison. They had lived their entire lives surrounded by war, infection, and death. They simply wanted to see what a truly peaceful world looked like, perhaps hoping to superimpose that image over their dreams of a peaceful Terra.
However, one voice stood out, cold and dissenting.
"Calamity."
It was Kaltsit.
The three Followers simultaneously shifted their gazes to the green-haired feline. They couldn't understand her logic at all. Terra had already suffered through endless apocalyptic disasters. Why would she actively choose to watch other worlds suffer the same fate?
Meeting their confused stares, Kaltsit calmly stated, "I want to see how other worlds face hardship. I want to observe their methods, their failures, and see exactly how we differ from them."
"As expected of you, Kaltsit. Your perspective is always entirely unique." Ren chuckled, giving the woman currently resting in his arms a thumbs-up. He reached out and affectionately patted her head as a reward for her pragmatic answer.
Kaltsit rolled her eyes at him, her expression souring. She absolutely loathed being coaxed and petted like a common house cat.
However, the tip of her feline ear twitched rapidly, betraying the secret comfort she found in his touch despite her sharp words.
Hearing Kaltsit's reasoning, Nightingale and the other two exchanged thoughtful glances. The ancient doctor's logic was actually quite sound. Escapism was pleasant, but knowledge of how to survive a crisis was very useful.
They silently changed their minds.
"Then let us first look at a world that also suffers from disasters," Nearl conceded.
"Alright, let me think... ah, this world is a good example." Ren scrolled through the titles and selected "Guilty Crown."
"This particular world is also plagued by a deadly virus," Ren explained as the screen buffered. "It is an infection that slowly turns people into solid crystals. In many ways, it is quite similar to Oripathy."
"Huh? There are other worlds afflicted with something like Oripathy?"
Instantly, the casual curiosity of the four women sharpened into intense, laser-focused interest.
Ren curled his lips into a faint smirk. "You can see for yourselves."
The massive screen unfolded into a brilliant display of color and sound. The cinematic memory began with the fateful encounter featuring Yuzuriha Inori. As the scenes played out, Ren provided a running commentary, explaining the geopolitical collapse and the current crisis of the Apocalypse Virus ravaging their society.
Watching the baseline humans on screen, Nightingale tilted her head, her pale brow furrowing. "Why do the humans in this world not have any racial characteristics? No animal ears, no horns, no tails?"
Ren let out a short laugh. "Has it ever occurred to you that your racial characteristics might seem very special, or even abnormal, to the rest of the multiverse?"
"Huh? Is that so?" Nightingale blinked, genuinely taken aback. She had never entertained such a notion. To her, Sarkaz horns, Kuranta ears, and Feline tails were just the standard template of life.
Suddenly, driven by a surge of innocent curiosity, she reached out her delicate hand and touched the top of Ren's head. "Now that you mention it... Ren, you don't have any characteristics either."
"Haha, if you want me to have them, I can easily oblige."
Under their astonished gazes, the air around Ren shimmered. Thick, majestic dragon horns smoothly erupted from his temples, sweeping back with an imposing aura. A moment later, a heavy, scaled dragon tail materialized behind him, swaying with predatory grace.
Nightingale let out a surprised cry as the thick dragon tail suddenly coiled around her slender waist. With a gentle but irresistible pull, she was dragged right into Ren's embrace.
"Since you took the liberty of touching my head, it is only fair if I touch yours, right?" Ren murmured, his voice dropping an octave.
Nightingale's small face flushed a brilliant shade of red as Ren's large, warm hand reached up and began to gently caress her sensitive Sarkaz horns. The intimate friction sent a visible chill down her spine. Shining and Nearl exchanged a complicated glance, but neither of them made a single move to stop him. He had earned this right.
Soon after, the movie transitioned to a massive action sequence. The four women watched in stunned silence as the on-screen version of Ren transformed into a colossal, impressive golden dragon, tearing through the sky to rescue the characters from a collapsing lake facility.
"A true dragon?" Kaltsit looked up from Ren's chest, her stoic facade cracking in sheer surprise. "You can actually transform into a giant sovereign beast?"
"It is just one of my abilities. No need to make a fuss over it," Ren replied casually, still stroking Nightingale's horns.
To the women in the room, the man sitting with them already seemed entirely all-powerful. Transforming into a mythological beast was just another terrifying layer to his existence.
Slowly, the shock faded, and Kaltsit allowed herself to become fully immersed in the projection. She watched with a clinical, unblinking gaze, witnessing firsthand the desperate choices made by a humanity pushed to the brink by a crystallization plague.
Initially, the world on screen maintained a fragile, violent stability.
Then, the anomaly occurred.
Ouma Shu embraced his destiny, transforming into the true King of the Void. The cinematic memory shifted into a terrifying montage. The Apocalypse Virus mutated, accelerating beyond all control. A massive wave of jagged, purple crystallization erupted across the globe, violently enveloping entire cities, consuming the earth, and bringing everything to a suffocating end.
The private cinema fell into a deathly silence. The four women watched, paralyzed, as millions of lives were frozen forever, turned into lifeless, beautiful crystal statues.
"Has the human civilization of this world... been completely destroyed?" Kaltsit's voice was barely a whisper, her sharp eyes drooping as the heavy weight of the tragedy settled over her.
The others fared no better. Shining's hands were clenched tight, Nearl's jaw was locked, and Nightingale buried her face against Ren's shoulder.
The atmosphere of absolute, inescapable despair radiating from the screen made it difficult for any of them to breathe. Looking at the crystal-entombed ruins of Tokyo, they didn't just see the fall of another world.
They felt as if they were staring directly into the inevitable, horrifying future of Terra.
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