Chapter 659: Sisters

As we travel through the 9th floor, I let Min-Jae handle most of the monsters, and we talk a lot. It's been a long time since it was just the two of us, and I’ve always felt more at ease when talking to one person at a time. And something about it makes it easier for me to speak up, too.

My intruder doesn’t count. Sophie is getting more nervous the closer we get, and I can only think that she’s quietly considering the merits of not “returning.” I think if she wanted to, she could disappear, dissolve these memories, and let them be lost forever, forgotten, known only to me, who won’t tell anyone.

The fact that I won’t tell Izzy likely makes it even harder for Sophie, since it all ends up being her decision.

To distract her, I let her watch constantly, after informing Min-Jae of her presence and explaining the situation a bit.

Min-Jae, meanwhile, talks a lot about everything that’s happened over the past month, and I have to say this floor suits him. He seems more confident and says he tends to move alone for days at a time. There’s also a lot he’s managed to learn from the materials we stole from the Academy, and even now, he’s taken to carrying some mana stones around to study at all times.

Two days pass like that, traveling, fighting, and having quiet conversations at dawn and dusk. Then we reach the “territory” that Group 4 has taken for themselves.

I would’ve expected the first person to meet me would be the best corgi of the 9th floor, and I obviously turn out to be correct.

Currently, Biscuit is big enough that his head reaches my waist, still perfectly proportioned as the glorious corgi he is. He flies through the forest at a speed that, by my estimation, is at least 6% faster than his previous record.

Min-Jae and I stop the moment we see him, and Biscuit continues floating toward us, waving his legs below him as if he were swimming. It takes a solid minute for him to reach us, and I pull his absolutely huge head into my arms.

“Have you gotten faster again? That’s so damn terrifying!” I rub the top of his head and give him a scratch behind the ears.

(Food!)

He says, and I can hear the excitement and pride in his voice.

“Of course I noticed! Who wouldn’t?”

(Food.)

“Oh, Maya didn’t?”

(Food!)

“Yes, that’s pretty sad,” I agree, continuing to enjoy this big, fluffy corgi.

Even though I love Biscuit in his normal form, his puppy form, and his giga form, this current size is also very pleasant to hug.

He keeps pushing himself against me and sniffing. Each time he does, his wagging tail speeds up even more.

His smart eyes meet mine, and he suddenly shrinks into his puppy form. Tiny budding antlers sprouting from his forehead.

He sniffs again, and I feel our connection start to deepen. In a flash, I find myself forced into my mental space, in the small room with the crib and its open window, snow falling outside.

Mini Sophie looks around in confusion, and then, just like me, she glances down where Biscuit now stands. At which point he lets out a cheerful woof.

Still in his puppy form with those little antler buds, he jumps, wobbles, and runs to where Sophie is sitting on the ground, resting against the wall. From his back, a single purple tentacle stretches out and shuts the window close before he leaps into her arms. I feel a telepathic link forming between them as he jumps at her, licking her, pressing his tiny, cold nose into her face.

At first, Sophie tries to resist, but the little beast won’t stop. Eventually, she gives in, laughs softly, and starts hugging and petting him.

“I can understand him so much better now. He’s almost speaking in complete sentences,” Sophie says after a while, holding Biscuit in her arms as he relaxes. “Is this how you usually hear him?” she asks.

“I don’t think so? I understand him much more clearly than you guys do. Our dear Biscuit doesn’t know how to speak very well. When he communicates, he tends to send out too much information at once. Smells, emotions, all the things he perceives or thinks about. You guys hear one word, but to me, it’s like hearing dozens of sentences at once.”

Sophie’s eyes go wide. She looks down at Biscuit, then back up to me.

It’s amusing to see her like this, so I explain a bit more. “At first, Biscuit was scared of hurting you guys, so he tested things out on monsters, trying to talk to them. But even if they had high levels, it hurt them if he was able to connect. It’s just too much information, and the pressure of Biscuit’s mind can be overwhelming. He kept trying but couldn’t refine it, so he gave up and just picked his favorite words to use.”

“Food,” Sophie whispers.

Hearing that, Biscuit sniffs, twitches, and starts looking around. When he doesn’t spot anything edible, he snuggles back into Sophie, clearly disappointed.

“Yes. I think it’s because he’s my bond that my mind can handle it better. But ever since the 1st floor, I’ve been feeling how strong the presence of his mind is.”

Hearing us talk about him, he lets out a soft woof and twitches slightly when Sophie touches his tiny, budding antlers.

“And this?” she asks.

“Tess can be an asshole, so she wanted to surprise us. But Biscuit already told me about them a while ago, so screw her. The antlers came from that deer, the Champion that was trapped and tortured back on the sixth floor. When Biscuit ate him, he took something from it. Call it absorption, devouring, assimilation, whatever you like. Now the antlers are helping him communicate better. When he feels like it.”

I sense another presence coming up nearby, so I return to the outside world, leaving Sophie and Biscuit alone in my mental space.

Min-Jae and I, with Biscuit in my arms, reach the base as a simple defensive array lets us through. And I’d bet Tess is standing there in one of the trees, watching us from a distance as we approach.

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Then, coming up on a house carved into one of the larger trees, I start seeing all the items we’ve stolen from the Academy, and in between them, somewhere are probably my thermonuclear warheads.

Like that, we eventually see Izzy, and watching through my eyes, Sophie sees her as well.

I won’t lie, I still feel a bit nervous. Even though I know Izzy, somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I might still expect her to hate me, even if only a little, because I wasn’t able to protect her sister.

But of course, the budding teenage empath bears not even a speck of such emotion. She rushes in to give me a hug, and I open my arms for her, and I gently hug her back.

“You were right, it is possible to save her,” she says when she finally manages to speak.

“Of course,” I ruffle her hair and look behind, where I sense what I can only guess is Sophie’s body.

"Dennis and Aaron helped me a lot, and together we found and connected the broken fragments. Lily’s been looking after the body, so somehow everything worked out."

Tess, surrounded by her typical cloak of flickering red and white lightning, lands nearby with her javelins floating behind her. At which point they stop and settle a bit further away so they don’t get in the way.

The blonde glances toward our empath. “Izzy likes to be modest, but most of it is thanks to her. She’s the one who’s spent most of her time searching for and carefully moving fragments back into place.”

(Indeed, a stunning pair of mindblender sisters.)

I send to the space in my mind.

(Don’t put Izzy and me in the same bag. She is pure and kind, unlike me. She doesn’t have a talent for manipulating minds. Her gift is more about understanding.)

(Sure.)

When Izzy keeps staring at me, Sophie becomes quiet. Using senses I can barely perceive, Izzy notices the very thing I expected her to.

“You… you have one of her fragments,” she whispers.

“Freshly plucked from our least favourite feylith gal.”

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“Nat… that… just how dangerous?”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I went to Beyond with the intention of avoiding her. You could also say it was Tess’s fault, at least partially. She pretty much sent me there.”

Izzy widens her eyes and turns to Tess. To that blonde, the unreasonable maniac, just like the rest of our group. Who else would just send someone after the very person who almost killed them? And what’s scary about it is her faith that I could pull it off. Even now, she’s not even trying to deny it, she just smiles just a tiny bit in that way only she can.

“She’s still alive?” Tess asks.

“For now.”

“Good. She should die for what she’s done. Was the piece of Sophie you have embedded in Faora´s mind?”

“Yup. Apparently, the laziest, nastiest, and most cowardly part.”

(I hate you.)

“Nathaniel…” Izzy prods, quietly tugging on my sleeve.

Looking at her, I can only sigh. I’ve thought about it a lot over the past few days, but seeing Izzy now, I’m certain of something even Sophie still questions.

Izzy knows. She understands what young Sophie did and how close it came to causing something terrible.

I wonder if it’s something she knew even back on Earth. Or if she learned about it here in the Tutorial. But looking at her, I can say by instinct and with absolute certainty: she knows.

How scary can this teenage girl be?

“So, how’s your progress?” I ask.

Izzy lets go of my sleeve and looks back towards the tree where her sister is. “I’m nowhere near as good as Sophie, but with some help from Dennis and Aaron, we should be able to do it in a few weeks. But that piece in your head feels very different from the ones hidden in her body or Blackie. It’s like they’re sleeping, but the one in you is awake.”

“Very perceptive, aren’t you?” I praise Izzy, who smiles weakly. “And yes, I think there might be something I can help with, so give me a minute.”

(What do you want to do?)

Sophie asks.

(Isn’t it obvious? And why are you getting nervous now? You seemed so determined before.)

She stays quiet but also doesn’t protest as we enter the tree, where, behind the many layers of defenses, we reach her body. She looks almost as if she's sleeping, even though her chest moves in a shallow rise and fall as she breathes. She is a bit pale, but otherwise looks healthy. Well, aside from the way her shadow seems darker than it should.

Once there, I activate

[Manifestation]

.

(The twins and Izzy seem to have prepared a connection I can use, but you’ll have to help me. Okay?)

(...okay.)

(And Sophie.)

(What?)

(I know you were probably doing it for Izzy. Trying not to use your mental abilities too much. But I don’t think you’ll have any other choice if you want to live, stay with her, and protect her. People are going to hate you anyway, no matter how little you use your mental abilities. So at least give them a reason to hate you, along with a reason to be scared shitless.)

(Yes, Nat. I will.)

There is more I could say about how unfair it is, how much it sucks. I can also think of a myriad of other problems it’s going to bring. It truly is a shitty situation. But as with all the times before, my priorities here are clear. Group 4 is mine, it's ours. And it seems like we’re going to have to be a bit rougher to keep it that way.

I use

[Manifestation]

and project my mind at Sophie’s, using the bridge Izzy and the twins prepared. Sophie holds onto me, and as we delve into her body, she nudges me along, sometimes taking the lead in the process.

It’s even simpler than I thought it’d be, even though it’s probably because of mini Sophie, who does most of the work. But before long, there we stand, mini Sophie, with me by her side, in front of a big wooden door.

“They’ve done so much work,” Sophie whispers while looking around at an array of things I cannot perceive. “The twins, Izzy. It must have taken weeks.”

“So it would seem. Do you just need to open the door?”

She nods. “Yes, my pieces, the ones they’ve already put together, are there. I just need to combine them before awakening them all.”

“So this piece, you, will become the new, main Sophie?”

“It’s not that simple. We will merge, and I will awaken. It'll be like I was when we met Faora, just with a few extra memories from the part of me I represent now. The others were sleeping, so there’s nothing for them to add.”

"In that case, I’ll be leaving."

"Leaving me to decide for myself."

"Yes, because it's your decision to make. But I think we both know what you've already chosen."

"...just get out already."

"See you later."

I leave and reappear in the room, and gesture for Tess and Biscuit to follow me out. Izzy stays behind, likely not even noticing as we leave, focused entirely on her sister’s body.