Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

While Charlotte was chasing Rose down, chaos was erupting in the stands as the survivors were bickering with each other.

Despite all being subjected to the Systems of The World Border, they can understand each other with <World Language>, but it was removed even if they tried to draw or formulate a plan to win the Game of Hope.

In the Game of Hope, there is always a Twist. And it is Charlotte's choice to reveal it or not. For the Twist of this Game, the players cannot communicate with each other.

Like what YHWH did to the people of Babel, taking away their language and scattering the people to never unite again.

So they only had themselves to think of who to bring back, out of over a trillion people who died from the attack, only four million can be revived. People began to collect the coins, hoarding them all to themselves.

Eventually, this led to fighting amongst themselves, as if consumed by madness, in order to bring back those they cared about.

With how someone who stopped a world-ending threat died that easily in Charlotte's hands. They only had one feeling.

Desperation.

Time is ticking and they instinctually know it.

"I'll bring you back... my son—", a mother was punched in the face by a wolfman, taking away her two coins. And from the previous attack, she soon succumbed to blood loss.

A spearman choked out an elf, taking their coins, and adding to his own pile.

"Elessa...", a woman cried out for her lover, desperately hugging the coins, hiding in a dark corner. 

The wolfman kept on collecting coins, trying to revive his whole clan who perished.

If anyone sees this from an outside perspective, it would seem like this is madness.

Someone had the bright idea to attack Charlotte, if she is defeated, this nightmare ends— she grabbed them by the left shoulder and kicked them on their right side, ripping them in half.

Her heterochromatic gaze of gold and silver stares down at the corpse with her cold gaze, inspecting the organs that spew out.

She spotted something interesting, a perfectly spherical gem connected to their heart. That gave Charlotte a good chuckle. Because the twenty-four planets do not just contain those who originated from The Pale Court, but also The Plague Garden.

Then she kept on hunting for Rose.

 

=0=0=

 

I went after that woman in red and black into the tunnel leading down to a resting area. While I hum to myself a tune.

Hmm...

Red mist covers the entire ground, it smells sour... no, this is the smell of gunpowder.

"Hah... this should be fun.", I smiled, summoning a few gold coins to my hand. And I threw them into the tunnel, ricocheting them against the walls as they lit up in golden flame.

"O' hero of another world, are you so cowardly to run away from the fight?", I taunted, "Well... you cannot run from me forever."

Oh, she is at the end of the tunnel, staring down at me with her scarlet eyes. I must say, she really has style. A dark red coat, gloves, and tricorn hat? That's nice, and leather gloves too. Not to mention she's wielding a gunblade.

Gunblade is the most impractical weapon ever created, but it's cool.

"Rite of Gunpowder.", she bit her lips, and let blood drop onto the floor...

BOOM!!!

The red mist exploded in a chain reaction.

"World of Chalk."

I manifest my Inner World for a brief moment - The world around me flashes black and white for a second before it returns to normal - creating a barrier that separates me from the attack. 

It seems like I can use this willy-nilly now, but it feels very mechanical... I don't like how this System operates MY power, not following MY way. I want out as soon as possible.

At the same time, the ricocheting coins reached her. She tried to dodge them, which was half successful but some got lodged into her body, making her cough up blood.

"Boom~!", I snapped my finger, triggering the soul-destroying fire of the Legacy.

"AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!", she screamed out of agony, but she still raised her gunblade at me.

Bang!

She missed me, and I responded by shooting Fallen Starlight. Like always, eight beams of light exited the barrel, going towards the hero.

"Darkness Run!!", she tried to escape by sinking into the shadow.

But to run away from the condensed hatred of the people who despise God, they who made God feared.

"Nowhere to run, my dear..."

The beams bend and twist, penetrating through the door, hunting her down like relentless hounds.

Hmm... I am in a world controlled by Systems like a game.

"Reveal Status."

"Reveal Status.", I tried again.

"Reveal Status."

I closed the status screen before it could fully form, it was not as interesting as I had hoped. Still, negative Charisma?

"Hehahahahaha~", I spun myself around, grabbing Rose by the neck.

"Let... go... of me!", she struggle to string her sentence.

While I just stare at her with my glowing eyes, my wicked grin bearing my fangs at her. The lights of Fallen Starlight were about to reach her, but I stopped them with a snap of my finger.

"Let's see if you are a Fake... or the other one.", I dropped Fallen Starlight, then I plunged my free hand into her chest, making her scream.

Ah~ music to my ear.

Hmm~ oh, she does have a stone attached to her heart. Seem like you aren't a Fake...

So this is to prove which origin is superior. Between the Life from The Pale Court or The Plague Garden...

I took my hand out, and I began to drag her by the hair back into the arena. While she continuously coughs out blood.

"Everyone, time is up~", I announced as I threw Rose before me.

Everyone stared at their defeated hero, then at me with absolute horror. Ah~ my chest is beating so fast~! Look at me more! Feel the despair running in your heart!!

Hahahahahahahaha~!!

I am the Silver Princess of Humanity, after all~

"Let us tally the coins, and see how many got revived..."

 

=0=0=

 

Everywhere in the arena, the coins disappeared in their hands and people came back.

The wolfman got his family back, embracing them while howling in joy.

A girl hugged her lover, the two girls shared a tight embrace.

A spearman nodded before hugging his best friend.

People celebrated their friends and family's return, all cheering under the glittering golden dust.

But...

"O' Ancient Souls of Divinity, may you be Forgotten."

The moment Charlotte spoke sent chills down people's spine. She held her hand close to her chest as she emitted a golden light.

"O' Spirits of Nature, may you Return to Nothing."

Her body began to dissolve in glittering gold and silver lightning. Utopia flew away, as fast as he could, going upward until he exited orbit.

Charlotte grinned as she vanished. Then the entire arena shook as if something just grabbed it. They look to the sky, and see a towering giant, holding up the arena like a toy in a snow globe.

"For you, People of a Faraway World..."

Her voice booming, her gold and silver eyes leaving burning trails as she began to tighten her grip.

"...may your Existence be Denied."

Then with both hands, she crushed the globe - the machinery of the stadium could not hold... it exploded in her palms.

All the people desperately gathering coins, the happiness when their beloved revived, the prospect of returning to their homeland. Like an ember desperately burning above an ocean...

It was all for naught.

"Phantasmal Denial."

BOOM!!!

They never had the chance, they had never escaped the Game of Hope. From the moment Utopia fired his first shots, their fate was sealed.

For the Road towards Salvation, one must travel the Path of Pain and Despair, with only Ambition to go onward. And to fuel one's own Ambition, one must snuff out others' Hope.

That is what it means to be Human, brewed in the cauldron of conflict and destruction from the beginning.

Charlotte landed on Utopia's palm, where she summoned Fallen Starlight back into her hand. She returned to normal as she watched the crumbling arena fall down. She wears a satisfying smile, considering it a job well done...

But she does not stop here.

"Strings of Order and Dream intertwined."

Her body ignited in black flame, her pupils flashed a color of deep blue before turning completely silver.

"Embrace the Abyss, Dive into Infinity."

Charlotte jumped from Utopia's hand, and then she smiled, holding her hand out as she fell. Her Silver Knight followed.

Streaks of blue and black dyed her hair, and inky blue sludge flowed out of the gem, which molded into arms.

"A Construct of Righteous is what I am, a Flag all desperate to grasp."

The cockpit opened, and Charlotte entered. The entire mecha began to be filled by the sludge, leaking out of the cracks amongst Prydwen.

The entire mecha changed. Its four arms merged into two and the bottom formed a pair of mechanical legs.

"Through History of Bloodshed, Our Mind dedicates to Justice."

A halo made of the blue sludge formed above Prydwen's head, dripping the substance as if desperately trying to stay together. Like a mockery of the very concept of Holy.

"With Creativity and Dream, Nothing is Impossible."

The Rose Compass face plate split into four, sliding around the head to reveal a head that looked like a crusader knight's helmet, but the cross was replaced by the image of the eight-pointed star.

"Henceforth, I shall Enact Judgement."

The visor glows a blazing blue light, leaving a trail of azure flame as they descend.

Like a meteor, the mecha closed its wings, descending down towards the ground.

While down below, the City of Lenovia was in disarray. The bits and pieces of the floating stadium littered across the city, destroying houses and killing hundreds of people.

Then the silver and blue meteor came crashing down—

Before anyone could do anything, the entire city was wiped from the impact. Its memories are erased by a being out of their understanding.

Such is the power of the Silver Princess and her Silver Knight, the representative of the most evil race in the universe, and the traitor of the largest army.

Amidst the desolate wasteland where a once prosperous city stood is the Faux Angel, bleeding out the blue sludge of Justice and Reverie.

A blue screen appeared in front of the angel.

Inside the cockpit, Charlotte smiled. That is enough time for her to destroy the world, that is if the Ego of the World does not get in the way.

Far away, on top of a hill overlooking the destruction is a man small in stature dressed in a white robe that perpetually burns at the tip. His hair was a metallic shiny white color, swaying to the wind weirdly as if it were alive. Wearing two pairs of sunglasses on top of each other, he sipped his coconut out from a straw before letting out a breath.

"What in the name of The Pale Court is going on?"