Another Stupid Isekai

"I can help you", I suddenly heard in my mind. Those weren't really words, which I discovered a second or maybe two later, as I focused on them more. Those were raw thoughts that just bloomed in my mind like an uninvited weed that grows even in the most carefully tended garden.

"Hope?", I asked, because that's the only person whom I could think of. That mysterious being was definitely there, waiting, observing. The other psionic like The Great One, was currently too busy to contact me at all.

"It's me, Hope", I heard in response. "I've seen your struggle. I've seen the struggle of those you care for. I've seen them pay with their lives to make sure the mission would succeed. I can help. Allow me in", I was told.

Call me n idiot, but something was immediately off. Hope didn't say a thing to me during the whole thing, but now decided to say something? Right when I was staring at a bunch of overlords so powerful that each was capable of destroying a whole planet just by themselves.

We were trying to kill each other and we unleashed hell upon our battleground.

I couldn't really tell who it was. Maybe because I was so damn tired and damaged. Maybe because my body was about to fall apart and was only held by the skill acquired through the device, but this message didn't make my mind immediately click, making me sure that it was the person that the voice claimed to be.

It could very well be any of the assholes ahead of me.

"No", I answered. Then I felt a bit of pressure on my mind, as if whoever it was tried to get inside even without my invitation. Unfortunately for them, my defenses were really strong, and still intact since most of the battle transpired on the field of reality, not inside the field of thoughts. The pressure vanished, leaving no trace of who was actually responsible for this maneuver.

This voice didn't actually change anything in my situation. I was still against the three overlords who were able to stand on their feet despite all the injuries and the damage constantly provided by the hostile environment.

The battle of wills continued.

I was desperately trying to find a way, while not collapsing, with the weird encounter still on the back of my head, like a lurking ghost.

Then it struck me. There was a way out. A very simple one. I summoned a voidling on the platform ahead of me, among the overlords. They immediately destroyed it, mustering up enough strength, but I replied with another one and another.

One of them eventually collapsed. The two others were butchered a moment later. I won.

Maybe in a very unimpressive manner, but I still was the one who was victorious. It didn't change my situation, but it did make me forget about the intrusion into my mind.

The situation was terrible, and I felt awful. About to collapse at any moment, especially when some of my 'Dreadnought' abilities were fading away since I was no longer fighting. Suddenly I felt so heavy. I haven't felt like that in a while. My eyes were closing down on their own. It was so hard to keep them open. Each blink was like brushing against death itself.

But I found a solution, or maybe the solution found me. It was staring at me from the other platform in the form of voidlings who just butchered the overlords.

I made them cut a piece of the enemy each and paved a road for them to rejoin me. At the same time, I used every little bit of any type of energy I was regaining to protect myself from the environment.

It was still devouring me, but maybe a tiny bit slower.

Reunited with my minions, I made them carry me away toward the closest safe point in the sea of lava. I didn't really know where one was, and on top of that, I was blind, so the direction was actually picked at random.

The voidlings' vision didn't help at all too, since, as I said, it was a true sea of lava.

They fed me some genes as we were desperately trying to escape. If I could I would shadow walk the hell away, but the device was still active, preventing me from doing that. Surprisingly the close proximity of my minions helped, as they were blocking some of the heat.

It still was a ruthless march, and I didn't even finish myself, as they were practically carrying me. Eventually, after hours upon hours, I reached a rocky piece of land that was solid. The air was toxic, but with a little bit of magic, I was able to produce enough for myself. Without all the heat I was also able to slowly regain enough strength to at least travel normally.

This led me to find the plaza and the device, where I consumed the fruit. To my surprise, it was untouched by anything which was happening everywhere around the whole planet. Maybe the damn piece of bio-technology fixed this part of the world, or maybe the overlords desperately tried to leave it undamaged during our fight, that it was able to survive like that. In the end, it didn't matter.

The consumption made me even stronger than I was, a true monster, but I still ended up sitting on my ass, staring at the devastation ahead.

I needed days to get my strength together. And even if I was to somehow get it all back, the general supreme, who was awaiting me, probably accompanied by several strong warriors, was an obstacle I had no hope of overcoming.

To tell you the truth, I just wanted to pack my things and leave. Never come back. But, sadly, I didn't have such an option.

After wasting hours, just laying down, to gather enough strength to try something that blossomed in my mind, I eventually got back on my feet.