Chapter 43 Thank You
Both Alex and Alina stayed still as they flew across the air.
Of course it was not them doing the flying, but Lord Ergo who was bringing them with him/her.
The winds that should have blown off Alex and Alina away were all blocked personally by Lord Ergo.
As for Lord Ergo, he/she did not say anything as they flew across the sky.
"..." Alex looked at his surroundings in vigilance, as if he was expecting something that will jump out at him.
Seeing that they seem to be safe, Alex tried to see if he can speak.
As it turns out, the area of 1 meter around Lord Ergo seems to be normal. It was unaffected even if Lord Ergo was currently flying at speeds faster than the speed of sound.
This just means that Alex was free to speak, which Alex decided to do.
"So, are you going to tell me your real problems already?" Alex inquired as he looked at Alina.
"When you gave me the plan earlier, I could not believe that Lord Ergo will need my help. But from the looks of it, he really needed my help...."
"Well, you really can help Lord Ergo..." Alina replied as she let out a sigh. She looked somewhat sullen, as if her confession made her remember some bad memories.
"Well, first things first..." Alex replied as he looked at the woman beside Lord Ergo. "This woman beside Lord Ergo, she’s not really your sister, right?"
"No, she is not." Alina replied quickly as she looked at the woman who looked like her sister. "Brother, you can undo your transformation now."
"Ugh, at least I can undo this form now!" The woman exclaimed as her skin started to warp in front of Alex.
After just 5 seconds of waiting, the woman changed appearance, as she became a man of hulking proportions.
The sheer contrast between their imagery managed to throw Alex of the loop.
"Thank you for always transforming in my sister’s image..." Alina said as she sent the hulking guy a grateful look. "I always appreciate what you did."
"Well, I am your sister’s husband, so I guess I should do my job to protect her too." The hulking guy said as he rubbed the back of his head. "We all have it hard, right?"
"Exactly..."
Before Alina could say something more, the hulking guy that she was talking with suddenly looked at Alex’s direction.
"Oh, so you are the guy that captured my sister-in-law’s heart huh." The hulking guy seemed to be not hostile as he shook Alex’s hand. "I’m Ricardo. It’s nice to meet you."
"... What did I just see?" Alex mumbled to himself as he gave Ricardo an unbelieving look.
The woman, who looked like Alina’s sister, suddenly changed appearance to become this muscular guy named Ricardo.
Even if Alex had suspected that the woman earlier was not the real version of Alina’s sister, Alex certainly did not expect that this woman was actually a man!
"Let me introduce you to him." Alina said as she pointed her fingers at Ricardo’s direction.
"This guy right here is Ricardo, who is my sister’s husband. He also has the Esper Ability to perfectly manipulate his whole body all the way to the quantum level. That was what allowed him to change his appearance, just like what you saw earlier."
"Ok..." Alex’s words trailed as he tried to understand what was happening. "So this guy, who is your sister’s husband, has been using his ability to pretend that he was your sister. But... why is he doing it?"
After hearing Alex’s question, Alina let out a sigh as she slowly said,
"It is because my sister is not really captured by Lord Ergo. Rather, the truth was that Lord Ergo was someone created by my sister’s actions, and now, both Lord Ergo and my sister occupy the same body."
"...Wow, that is something that I find hard to fathom." Alex said after a few minutes of silence. He glanced at the direction of Lord Ergo, who was surprisingly still quiet.
"Pardon me, but I need more explanation." Alex apologetically said as he tilted his head. "What you said earlier just lacks the right context."
"Fine." Alina replied as she removed her mask.
Her beautiful and enchanting face were once revealed to Alex, and Alex tried to not get dazed as he listened to what Alina was about to say.
"My sister was once the Strongest Esper in the world." Alina said as she let out a sigh. "Her Strong Space Manipulation was already enough to defeat any of her opponent. One can even say that she is unstoppable in this world already."
"Except for the fact that the World Diagram is restricting every Star Esper that there is." Alex interjected as he stared above him.
"Yes, the World Diagram." Alina’s face started to seethe as she clenched her fists tightly. "Because of my feeble strength before, I had no idea about the truth of the World Diagram. But even if I am ignorant of the truth, there is something that my sister did that made me realize that the World Diagram is not the saint that it was purported to be."
"This thing that your sister did with the World Diagram... was it the reason that your sister accidentally created Lord Ergo?" Alex asked as he started to feel that Alina’s story was reaching its climax. "Did your sister try to destroy it?"
"No." Alina’s voice was cold as she gave a grim reply. "What she did was worse than that."
"......"
"Alex, do you know what happened to the first Star Esper after he took control of the World Diagram?" Alina said after a few seconds of silence.
"I know, Lord Gallius told it to me." Alex replied quickly.
"After taking control of the World Diagram, the first Star Esper transcended to the Real World, leaving the World Diagram here on auto-pilot mode." Alex said as he felt some bitter taste in his mouth.
"The World Diagram was left here in order to prevent anyone else from transcending. Not only that, but the World Diagram was also split into two for some reason that is unknown. These two halves were then traditionally passed down to the current WEO President and the current strongest Esper."
Alina nodded as she heard what Alex said. She then stayed silent, as if she was trying to gauge what to say next.
"..."
********************
Alex had to wait for a few more minutes before Alina started to talk again.
However, when Alina started to talk, Alex realized that maybe Alina should have not spoken at all.
"My sister... she tried to fuse with half of the World Diagram..." Alina slowly said as she unclenched her fists.
"!!!!" Alex was not sure was to say, as he found himself speechless from what he heard. Can a person even do something like that?
"Since my sister was the strongest Esper at her time, she naturally had the right to hold half of the World Diagram." Alina monotonously said as she gripped her mask tightly. "Nobody at her time had the strength to stop her."
"Ok, so your sister had half of the World Diagram with her before." Alex said as he rubbed his forehead. "Then she tried to fuse with it?"
"Yeah, that is what she did." Alina replied as she took a deep breath. "If you remember what Lord Gallius told you earlier, the World Diagram is basically a program that manages the whole Esper World. Not only that, but it also had been maliciously manipulated to prevent anyone from transcending."
"I remember that." Alex replied as his blood began to turn cold. "So, when your sister got her portion of the World Diagram, she must have been angered by its power?"
"That is my theory, yes." Alina replied sullenly.
"......"
"My sister.... she was someone who loves to get stronger..." Alina said as she let out a slight smile. That smile however disappeared when she continued talking. "She must have been devastated when she discovered that there is no way for her to transcend because of the World Diagram."
"And when my sister saw the control that the World Diagram had over the whole world, she must have thought that she can get stronger if she fuses with the World Diagram..." Alina could only shake her head at that time as she bit her lips tightly.
"So as an act of desperation, my sister used her Strong Space Manipulation to forcefully combine the space of her mind with the space where the codes of the World Diagram reside." Alina breathed out as her eyes narrowed in hurt, anger and resignation.
"And just like what a normal person could expect, my sister’s attempt failed miserably." Alina said as Ricardo looked down sadly at his feet.
"My sister was able to combine her mind with the codes of the half of the World Diagram... but in doing so, her attempt did something to the portion of the World Diagram that she fused with."
"Let me guess... It gained sentience right?" Alex muttered as he stared at the quiet Lord Ergo. "And this sentience gave birth to Lord Ergo, right?"
"...You are right. Impressive as always." Alina replied although she did not sound that interested.
"I do not know how, but my sister’s power was able to give consciousness and personality to the portion of the World Diagram that she fused with. This new consciousness eventually grew to become Lord Ergo..."
At this point, Alex already understood Alina’s situation.
Since Alina’s sister fused her mind with the codes of the World Diagram, the World Diagram can have access and control of her mind, and essentially, her body.
If the World Diagram has no sentience, and this should be the case, then there is no problem at all for Alina’s sister.
However, the codes of the World Diagram did gain sentience, which spelled danger for Alina’s sister.
The sentient program, who named itself Lord Ergo, must have occupied the mind of Alina’s sister in an attempt to take control of her body.
Naturally, Alina’s sister will fight back, and this led to an excruciating situation where one body was occupied by two extremely conflicting minds.
If Alex was right, Alina’s sister was a female, and Lord Ergo must be mentally a male.
With them occupying one body, both of their genders will manifest in that one body too.
This led to the other people getting confused regarding Lord Ergo’s gender.
Not only that, but the back and forth battle between two sets of consciousness naturally resulted into Alina’s sister degrading into a cycle of insanity.
There could have been moments that it was Alina’s sister with the control of her body, and there’s also moments where it was Lord Ergo with the control of her body.
And from the looks of it, it was Lord Ergo that was taking control of the body most of the times.
"So, because of your sister’s difficult situation, you have decided to just introduce Lord Ergo as an entirely new person?" Alex inquired as he shook his head.
"I have to do it." Alina replied firmly. "I cannot allow anyone to know about what my sister did, especially the afro guy."
"So, you spun a lie that your sister was defeated by Lord Ergo and that she was captured by him. You then made your brother-in-law to disguise as your sister in order to perfect the lie. As for you, you allowed yourself to be enslaved by Lord Ergo so that you can stay close to him to monitor your sister." Alex summarized his thoughts as he was able to unravel the scheme that Alina made.
"That exactly is the con that I pulled off..." Alina said as she gave Alex a hard look.
"Alina..."
"I did all those things to buy my sister time... I want to find a way to heal her. I want to remove her current affliction." Alina said with agony in her features. "At first, I thought that we had to keep on this con forever... But your arrival here gave me the ray of hope that I have been waiting for."
"I..." Alex paused as he saw the look of hope and desperation in Alina’s eyes. Alex knew that if he said the wrong words here, Alina will have her heart shattered into pieces.
Even if Alex was the most heartless person in the world, there is no way that he can allow Alina to be hurt that badly.
"Of course I can help your sister!" Alex boasted as he puffed out his chest. "As long as we arrive at our destination, then we can start the operation!"
"......."
Alex could only clench his fists tightly as he hid the guilt on his features. This seemed to be a success, as Alina gave Alex a dazzling smile that lit up her face.
"Thank you, Alex."
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