World Keeper

Chapter 1177: Casting a Shadow

Now that I had Thelsa and her group working on the plan to contact other planets of Fyor, I could consider that universe well and truly taken care of.. At most, I would need to worry about void monsters once people began to properly inhabit the surface of the various planets. However, I didn’t really think that would be much of an issue.

Honestly, there just wasn’t a reason to go to the surface of Fyor beyond scientific curiosity. If there had ever been soil or an atmosphere, it had long ago been destroyed by various monsters or void beasts targeting Fyor. All that was left on the surface was a massive expanse of black stone, and the pillar of mana that reached up to grasp the sun.

As for expanding to the surface simply to acquire more space? That was even more ridiculous. With the sheer size of Fyor’s individual layers, it might take hundreds of thousands of years just to fully colonize and occupy what is already there. Even if the entirety of the Metong Network were to migrate to Fyor, it would barely make a dent in the available space.

That said, I was certain that Aurivy, Bihena, and several others would be studying the spire for quite a long time. According to Aurivy, it is a perfectly safe method of transportation. Whenever anyone opens the elevator on the spire, the spire itself creates an independent space, sealed and isolated within Fyor’s mana core. The barrier around it is dense enough to prevent any form of mana-based monster from being able to pierce through.

Once a destination is selected, the space itself remains unchanged. However, the exit point of the isolated space is relocated to the destination, meaning that there is no travel through the void, no risk of death, or anything like that. If someone wanted to disrupt the transportation after a person was already in the elevator, they would have to have enough mana to overpower the spire itself… and even I didn’t have that much mana. Maybe Aurivy could do it, but that was only because she would be able to find people from the Admin Room to use as targets for her divine domain.

Regardless, it was time to divert my focus to one of the other worlds for now. There were only a few more days left until the invasion against Alkahest, after which I’d need to start preparing for the next round. And knowing my luck, I’d be on the defense. It seemed like I kept being put in defensive matches lately, after all.

Lifre let out a sigh as she leaned back, spreading her arms and legs in her chair. She had just finished broadcasting one of her advanced automatons infiltrating a criminal organization by disguising itself as one of their own, planting it as a spy to use as a future plot hook. “What should I make next, guys?! I could make some really cool transforming ship, or maybe I’d be able to make an advanced particle beam cannon!”

Looking for ideas from her viewers, she turned her head to look at the chat. It had been a while since she took the time to read through chat, as that was not a common occurrence in her stream. A small smile crossed her face as she saw everyone’s suggestions. “Ooh, a warp bomb? That could be really neat! Maybe I should set myself as an overlord of the local sector? I haven’t had a villain arc in so lon--” She paused, staring at one message that flashed by in her chat.

Suddenly, her smile turned frosty, eyes narrowed. “Hey, slimeballs? I saw a message saying that someone had finished conquering Fyor. That can’t be true, right? They wouldn’t do that without calling me, right?!”

Her chat froze, causing Lifre’s eyes to begin twitching. “They totally did, didn’t they? They went off and had this really big adventure without me… Okay! That does it! Villain arc time!”

Lifre put on a helmet that she had on her desk, summoning a virtual display as she muttered. “Going off and having all kinds of fun without inviting me…” Her hands rapidly moved along the interface, working on various blueprints as her viewers watched in equal parts awe and terror.

Sitting on her bed, Lena couldn’t help but roll her eyes, chuckling to herself. I did try to send you a message when they got started, but this is fine. Lena was actually curious to see just how far Lifre would take this villain arc of hers.

If anything, it would be an amusing way to end off her current stream storyline, that way she could start something new without the broken engineer class. As Lena was thinking about that, there was a knock on her door. Turning her head, she saw the redheaded Scarlet standing in the doorway with a smile.

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Surprise, Lena jumped to her feet. “Hello.” She greeted with a nod. “Is there something I can do to help you?”

“I would hope so.” Scarlet nodded. “May I come in? This talk may take a while.”

“Of course, feel free.” Lena nodded, gesturing with her hand to transform her bed into a large, luxurious couch. Scarlet gave a small smile and entered, sitting on the couch. “What can I do for you?”

“It’s about one of your old colleagues. He seems to be plotting something.” Scarlet said, causing Lena to tilt her head, before her eyes suddenly widened.

“Red Shadow?” She asked, to which the crimson goddess confirmed. “What could he be plotting that is of concern to you? Is he going to go on another massacre or something?”

“If it were as simple as that, I would not be bothering you about this.” Scarlet chuckled. “I have been aware of his existence for… quite some time, unfortunately. His is one of the most annoying prayers that I have to try to ignore on a regular basis. If not for the fact that it was exactly what he wanted, I probably would have personally killed him years ago. I can’t even seal his ki, because he will view it as a simple trial, making him even more devout.”

Lena smirked slightly at that. “Rarely have I ever heard of someone being allowed to live in peace as an act of spite… But go on, what’s going on with Red?”

Scarlet puffed her cheeks out, crossing her arms for a moment, before her expression became more worried. “Lately, he has been mentioning in his prayers that he would ‘show his devotion’ in a big way. Whenever he sent those messages, I could sense his bloodlust. I don’t think a regular massacre would evoke that sort of response from him, so I wanted to get your opinion as someone who has been in his head and known him for a while.”

Lena thought about that, glancing over to Scarlet. “Can’t you just use the Admin Room controls to look directly into his mind and see what he’s plotting?”

When she heard that, Scarlet shuddered. “I am never looking into that man’s mind again. Absolutely not.”

Lena’s eyes widened, and she reached over to instinctively put a hand on the smaller goddess’s shoulder. “Okay, I can see your point there. So, you’re worried that he might be plotting to destroy a planet, or something worse, right?”

Scarlet let out a long sigh, nodding her head in agreement. “In truth, I am more worried that his show of devotion would be something akin to trying to kill my father. I am positive that he would not succeed if he tried, but I do not want to risk the chance that he does something unpredictable.”

“Yeah, I can get that.” Lena said, before lowering her head in thought, her eyes closing. “Red… let’s see… The boss is safe, definitely. Red is a psychotic bastard obsessed with blood, but he won’t harm the Keeper. Not because he actually cares about the world or anything, but because the Keeper is connected to you by blood, so that makes him off-limits in Red’s eyes.”

Scarlet seemed relieved by that, but Lena continued. “If he wanted to make a big show of devotion, he would aim for quality over quantity. So, he’s not going for the Keeper, but rather another unique existence. Has he been doing anything lately that would tip you off as to his goal?”

Scarlet hesitated, as if unsure how to answer. “I mean… I’m not sure. He’s been going around and visiting toy shops in various worlds lately, but that didn’t really make any sense to me. I just figured that he was crazy, or maybe looking for bait to lure his target out or something? What could he find in a toy shop?”

Lena furrowed her brow, glancing over at Scarlet. “...Can you show me one of the shops he’s visited?”

Scarlet nodded her head in agreement. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

Lena smiled slightly, lifting one hand. “With your permission, I’d like to look at your memory. If Red finds out we visited the shop in person, that could cause problems.”

Scarlet blinked, but closed her eyes and let Lena place a hand on her forehead. Looking at the memories of someone else without transforming into them was certainly not Lena’s forte, but it was a simple enough use of her divine power, so long as the other person did not resist.

In Scarlet’s memory, she saw a redheaded lycan walking into an antique toy store run by a young ursa craftsman. The lycan walked through the store, glancing over the various dolls on display, and then simply left without ever saying a word. Lena pulled her hand back, blinking. “Oh… yeah… I think I know who he’s looking for.”

“You do?” Scarlet looked over curiously, eager to find an answer to the problem she had been facing. “Is it safe to say that he won’t be targeting anyone from Olympus, then?”

“They won’t be targeted… but they might be implicated if he manages to get who he is after.” Lena said with a long sigh. “He’s looking for the Collector. The Collector is a mysterious man from the ninja clans that went off the radar decades back. He enjoys collecting unique and interesting individuals, turning them into dolls that he puts on display. Before I retired, the Collector was quite interested in acquiring me, but he never had an opening to do so.”

“Anyways, very few people know what the Collector looks like. What we do know is that whenever he settles down somewhere, he opens up a store to sell toys based on individuals found in his collection. After all, he wants everyone to be able to admire his prized pieces. Red must be looking for familiar faces among the different dolls, and using that to track down the Collector.”

Scarlet nodded her head in understanding. “I see… and given what you said, it would be bad for us if the Collector were to perish?”

Lena groaned, laying back on the couch. “I don’t know the full extent of his collection, obviously… but I know that there are a few people in it that shouldn’t be left to roam free. The White Shadow, the King in Silence, and the Exception are all individuals I’ve personally helped him acquire.”

“The White Shadow… she’s not too bad. Really sweet girl, honestly, but she was raised as part of the shadow program, and has the annoying ability to make people forget whatever she wants them to forget. All she’s ever wanted was for someone to remember her for who she actually was, so when she was sent to kill me, I gave her to someone that would always admire her.”

“The King in Silence is a god from one of my earlier missions. Really powerful, with Silence as his initial domain, and Thought as one that he forged. He made a rule on his divinity, one which forbade him from speaking, but in return, he could bring his thoughts into reality.”

“The Exception is an anomaly. He can’t be targeted by any system or special ability. I had a really hard time tracking that guy down. In order to add him to his collection, after I had knocked him out, the Collector had to gather up the entire landscape he was in.”

“Anyways, if the Collector died, all of those he had gathered up until now might be freed. While I do feel a bit bad for White, I honestly think this is the best ending she could get without removing her special ability entirely. And the others… a lot of them are major villains.”

Scarlet nodded her head in understanding. “I see.” She began, before blinking. “A prayer just came from the Red Shadow. He’s saying that he found his sacrifice.”