Endless Debt

Bologue slowly opened his eyes, intense sharp pain lingering in his mind. After waking up, he didn't immediately move his body but squinted and pondered some matters.

He no longer remembered the visage of that void world, leading Bologue to surmise that he hadn't died, merely fainting due to ether exhaustion.

Bologue's condition was terrible, but he personally felt it was manageable. The prolonged time in the Black Prison had trained Bologue's willpower to be exceedingly strong, just as he often mentioned.

Focus, endurance, tenacity...

After a few deep breaths, Bologue squeezed out a sliver of strength from his battered body. He raised himself, panting heavily, and looked to his side.

Aimou lay beside him, faint glimmers lingering atop her shell. However, for some unknown reason, these lights only covered her upper body, leaving her lower body shrouded in darkness.

Recalling his memories before fainting, the two of them had fallen prey to the Calamity. Countless writhing crimson tendrils stirred up a storm of ash, followed by scorching winds engulfing all living things in flames.

Even thinking back, Bologue's steadfast heart would ripple ever so slightly... The bastards at the Order Bureau actually kept a Calamity here.

Once the Calamity awoke and broke free, the entire Oath City, Opus, would become its feast, allowing it a grand indulgence.

Bologue didn't dwell on this too long. He was just a Condenser, and he was trapped in this damned place, uncertain if he could even escape.

Such matters about the Calamity should trouble someone like Nesanel, and for now, it seemed the multiple seals set by the Order Bureau remained intact. The Calamity was calm, and his previous attack was merely its sleep-talk.

With these thoughts clear, Bologue began pondering another question.

How many Calamities were there in this world?

Bologue didn't think the Calamity he faced was unique. It was once a Seeker of Glory, offering its soul to the Crimson Queen, receiving her Protection, and ultimately falling to become this world's Calamity.

This world has more than one devil like the Crimson Queen; she has numerous siblings. Perhaps the Calamity is the same.

"Aimou, are you okay?"

Bologue ceased thinking about these matters and, showing concern to Aimou beside him, asked.

Aimou seemed a bit off.

As an Alchemy Puppet, Aimou didn't express emotions with every detail like a human; more often, she was like a corpse, sitting quietly with only the light in her pupils flickering.

Logically, Bologue shouldn't be able to penetrate the steel shell to explore Aimou's emotions and thoughts directly, yet he somehow instinctively sensed it.

Aimou seemed a bit off.

To Bologue's concern, Aimou didn't offer much response. Her eyes flickered a few times as acknowledgment before falling into deep thought.

Bologue struggled to move his body. With ether exhausted, he was no different than an ordinary man, incessant pain coursing through him. Thankfully, Soul Shards were at work here.

Invisible glimmers rose around Bologue, providing him with a meager amount of ether at an excruciatingly slow pace to counterbalance his injuries.

"How long was I unconscious?" Bologue asked.

"Three scorching winds swept outside, roughly over an hour."

Aimou calculated the time by the number of scorching winds passing by.

"Really? Not too bad."

Bologue exhaled deeply, fearing Aimou would tell him he'd been unconscious for several days again.

Not knowing if the flesh outside had calmed down, Bologue didn't intend to leave now. He needed to properly rest, even if he couldn't recover much strength, just to ease his mind a bit.

As well as dealing with... some team members' mental states.

During his training days, Geoffrey taught him many things, not only various coping strategies but also methods to handle teammates.

Of course, Geoffrey didn't teach him to kill teammates when necessary but how to inspire them when they've lost motivation.

Bologue didn't really listen to this part because he felt he didn't need teammates, although later, when paired with Palmer, despite Palmer often acting like a deserter, he never shrank back from battle.

Bologue laboriously moved his body closer to Aimou's side. The two lying together didn't create any warm scene. It was more like a dead man and a dying person huddled together, whispering about whether to go to the Celestial Kingdom or to Hell.

"Aimou?"

Bologue continued to call out, but Aimou still didn't respond.

The current feeling was a bit odd; Bologue felt like a teacher comforting a withdrawn child.

In fact, Bologue had some guesses earlier, but due to the urgent situation, he didn't have time to discuss these matters with Aimou. But now, he thought it might be a good time.

"Aimou? Aimou, listen to me."

Bologue repeatedly called out to Aimou, an unfamiliar patience in his voice.

Reaching out to hold Aimou's head, Bologue felt like he was handling a life-sized doll, slowly turning her head to meet her blue-tinted pupils in a gaze.

"So, Aimou, did you feel what death really is?"

Bologue asked, serious.

During his fall into the Great Rift, to ensure Aimou wouldn't break from the fall, he and Aimou remained in a Shared Chord Body state until he hit bottom, bloodied and maimed, while Aimou safely detached from him at that moment.

Everything was going smoothly, except for one thing.

In the Shared Chord Body state, Bologue and Aimou were in Empathy. Aimou could sense Bologue's pleasure and detect his pain... even his death.

At the moment Bologue hit bottom and died, Aimou felt that same sense of death and experienced a real death herself.

Bologue was already accustomed to death, but it didn't mean he wasn't afraid of it, not to mention a creature like Aimou. From earlier conversations, Bologue could sense that Aimou was sensitive to death.

This probably explains why Aimou's emotions were so out of control when Bologue woke up; she not only thought she really died but also experienced death alongside him.

Aimou still didn't respond, and Bologue didn't continue to press her but sat quietly beside her, awaiting the next round of scorching wind to start acting, unsure of what exactly to do.

Perhaps to continue delving deeper inside, hoping for luck to find the Fourth Outpost, or possibly trying to escape to the periphery, where the land was desolate, and going there would just mean waiting to die.

"Nothing truly belongs to me."

A faint voice sounded, Aimou's voice was so low that even Bologue couldn't hear it clearly.

Seeing Aimou finally respond, Bologue turned his head, looking at Aimou with anticipation, pondering what could be wrong with this alchemy puppet.

Aimou slowly raised her head, her azure halo gazing at Bologue, her emotions were somewhat complex, saying such words wasn't easy.

"Are we friends, Bologue?"

"Of course, we've been through life and death together."

Bologue joked, this was something Palmer often said to him, every time Palmer needed his help, that's when this guy remembered he was his partner, a good brother who went through life and death together.

"Are we friends?"

Aimou repeated again, she didn't care about Bologue's flowery adjectives, she was very serious, as if the next words would be a sacred vow.

"We are friends."

Bologue repeated seriously this time.

"Friends shouldn't lie to each other, right?"

"Yes."

"We have absolute trust in each other, right?"

"Yes."

After a series of monotonous and repetitive dialogues, Aimou's lifeless demeanor became much lighter, while Bologue comforted himself that Aimou was an alchemy puppet, her cognition was slightly different from humans.

But what Bologue didn't expect was that the childlike dialogue just now had an extraordinarily powerful binding force on Aimou.

"Yes, I experienced death, and the feeling of death is terrible."

Aimou whispered, like a child scolded.

"It's dark, cold, like walking in a lightless wilderness, no matter which direction you go, there's no end, only eternal loss."

Listening to Aimou's words, Bologue said nothing, he had experienced countless deaths, logically Bologue should be the most qualified to speak of death, but Bologue would never die, no matter how severe the punishment was, it was meaningless to him.

"But still very lucky."

"Lucky for what?" Bologue asked.

"I finally understood what death is, such opportunities are rare," Aimou's voice had a hint of laughter, "death is no longer an unknown fear for me, it can be understood and accepted."

Bologue didn't understand what Aimou meant, next Aimou drove her body, and opened her arms to Bologue.

"What are you doing?" Bologue asked.

"Hug," Aimou said, "we're friends now, shouldn't we hug?"

"Are you sure?"

Bologue looked skeptically at Aimou, indeed, the cognition of the alchemy puppet was still different from humans.

"Shouldn't we hug?"

Aimou questioned Bologue, she spoke of her understanding of hugging.

"Animals only expose their belly when they're relaxed, humans are the same, after opening their arms, the chest loses the protection of the arms, exposing many important organs to others."

Aimou remained in the open-arms position, waiting for Bologue's response.

"Hugging is a proof of trust, I expose my important organs, even my heart, to you, letting down all guards, you can choose to attack now, pierce my heart, tear apart the trust... or you can choose to expose your important organs, and hug me back, a complete proof of mutual trust."

Bologue's gaze was slightly dazed, he was stunned by Aimou's words, never expecting that in Aimou's eyes, hugging had such a notion.

"Don't you trust me, Bologue?" Aimou didn't understand Bologue's hesitation.

"No... just..."

For a moment, Bologue didn't know what to say, hugging was normal, but Aimou's explanation seemed somewhat odd.

But odd as it was, in such a situation, Bologue felt it was very reasonable.

Yes, very reasonable, after all this was Aimou, the unique Aimou.

Without thinking, Bologue initiated the hug, Aimou, like a big doll, was embraced in his arms, Bologue didn't feel anything special, just somewhat cold, heavy.

Thunderous roars swept across, scorching winds engulfed the silent rift, sweeping up massive ashes, but all this had nothing to do with the two, they hid in the cave in the rock wall, hugging each other, like travelers warming themselves in winter.

When the violent tremors ceased, Aimou whispered in Bologue's ear.

"Alright, you can let go."

Bologue noticed that Aimou's emotions were a bit off, he let go of Aimou, only to see fine cracks spread over Aimou's body, the reason why the lower half turned dull was because the body's structure was completely damaged.

"Aimou, you..."

"It's alright, I'm not afraid of death anymore, it's no longer unknown to me, and... it seems I don't have any so-called 'death,' for me, it's more like 'damage.'"

Aimou leaned back, unconcerned.

"To put it in terms you understand... I'm out of power."

Her voice was cheerful, but beneath the body, the ether storage units were either broken or depleted, the ghostly blue light in her eyes flickered incessantly, seemingly about to go out any second.

Bologue remained silent, his face darkened.