Tsubaki stood alone within a large, metal arena, her eyes closed as she was focusing. By this point, five years had passed since she was assigned to work with James on comprehending the use of the void’s energy. Her tails lit up, one by one, as energy began flowing along her skin. When this energy reached her right hand, it came together and congregated on her index finger.

The kitsune woman stretched out her hand, poking against the empty space and leaving behind that energy that had gathered. The energy hovered in the air like a black-red ball of gas before slowly expanding. Tsubaki’s brow twitched as she reached out, her hand resting just below the ball of energy.

“Opening the hole uses a lot of energy… but that’s fine. Pierce a hole in a barrel, and the water will flow without further assistance.” As she said that, she pulled her hand away, and a long strand of black-red gas followed. She brought her right hand to her left, and seemed to quickly wave her hands through the air to mold the energy.

Soon, she had formed one end of the gas into a handle, gripping it with her right hand. Following a fluctuation of her mana, the handle assumed a metallic luster, becoming a solid object. Grabbing the rest of the energy between the thumb and palm of her left hand, she slid her hand along its length, forming a sword three feet long.

The design of the sword was fairly crude, but that did not seem to bother Tsubaki. After all, she had just created a permanent, solid object from nothing but energy. Most objects created from solidifying energy would dissolve over time if they weren’t regularly maintained, but such was not the case for items created from the void. It was the origin of all things, and could be used to create anything from the smallest grain of sand to an entire universe.

Lifting the sword, she tested its balance, finally opening her eyes. “Shoddy, but usable… so that’s how you make steel… I should practice with orichalcum and mithral next.” In truth, it was no easy feat to manifest void energy as a solid form, even less so when what you were creating was not a base element.

In order to manifest the void, the user had to visualize the very atoms that they were forming, creating the molecules and binding them together in their mind. For a computer, such was not overly difficult as it only had to be pre-programmed. But, it was far harder to do so with a living mind. If the image was off even slightly, the chain reaction could shatter the entire item at once.

Similarly, the void could be used to create energy, as well. However, the process in doing so was somewhat more challenging, as the user had to envision different waves of energy intermingling. For now, Tsubaki was learning how to master the creation of solid matter, after which she would practice her control of it. Only then would she consider stepping into the realm of creating energy.

Elsewhere, Dana was performing her own test. Unlike Tsubaki, Dana focused on the energy aspect, as that was something which she could program into her spell arrays. She did not have to envision it herself.

Looking over a holographic display in front of her, she checked off one item after another. “Void containment field should work, conversion filter seems solid… time to put it to the test.” Taking a deep breath, Dana walked towards the edge of a large spell diagram, tapping her foot on its outer ring and infusing her mana into it.

Immediately afterwards, she jumped backwards, observing the spell’s activation from the very edge of the metal platform. At the first sign of something going awry, Dana had prepared herself to vacate the area. After all, her test was different from Tsubaki’s in that she was not only creating a small, temporary hole.

Dana’s test required a slightly larger hole, and one that would be semi-permanent in its final form. Thus, there was a far higher chance of it being discovered by an entity within the void and used as a channel into this world.

To prevent that, Dana had established three layers of barriers, which consumed roughly two thirds of the energy which would leak in from the void. Although this reduced the efficiency by a large margin, it was better to prioritize the safety of anyone assigned to operate the formation. As such, she watched with narrowed eyes as a black dot opened up in the center of the array, arcs of blue light springing from the floor to wrap it in a thin bubble.

This black dot let out a steady stream of void energy, which soon filled the containment bubble, forcing it to expand forward. Once it did so, a second bubble broke off, holding within it the bulk of the energy that had just been produced. At this point, Dana began staring nervously at the black dot, as well as the energy field wrapped around it.

It was a difficult thing to balance the energy required to sustain the barriers through the first cycle. She had already failed twice, and had to repeatedly modify her spell design. Gradually, the bubble filled with energy was transported to a different portion of the array, where it shifted from black-red energy to a deep blue, the color seeming to ripple and writhe along its surface.

Now that the void energy had been converted into mana, it was a simple matter of refining the raw mana into a liquid form, and from there into a mana brick. According to Dana’s calculations, each cycle should be enough to produce three bricks, and a single brick would sustain the formation for five cycles.

Seeing that the mana conversion had been successful, Dana let out a sigh of relief, turning to the holographic display next to her. She nodded her head upon seeing that both of the barriers surrounding the black dot were operational, before freezing. Wait… both?

In a panic, Dana looked at the display once again. Both the physical and spiritual barriers remained operational, preventing entities made of matter or energy from breaking through into this world. However, the innermost barrier had been removed. The memetic barrier has been broken?

Perhaps the worst type of void monster was that which did not manifest in a tangible form, but rather appeared as an idea, or a set of rules. There was no way to outright kill such a creature, and it was almost impossible to determine the rule with which to banish it from the first encounter. Thus, panic gripped Dana as she quickly observed her surroundings, before slowly turning around.

Behind Dana, attached to the seamless metal wall encompassing the area, was an old wooden door. Its frame seemed scratched from years of use, and the handle was old and rusted. Dana could feel a sense of familiarity from the door as she looked at it, but quickly jumped away.

There had never been a door along the wall. This was an isolated space created for the purpose of testing her spell. Entering or leaving was done through a dimensional transfer, not through any form of door.

Without hesitation, Dana withdrew a sword from her shadow, slashing at the spell diagram in the distance to forcibly destroy it with a ray of black light. “Get me out, now! I need quarantine procedures!” Dana shouted, knowing that her test was being monitored by either James or Chel.

Memetic entities typically came in three major categories, based on how they anchored themselves to the world. The first type attached itself to a physical location, the second to an individual, and the third was able to roam without any distinct form of anchor.

As the entity had presented itself in the form of a door, the odds were that it attached itself to the location, meaning the testing chamber. However, there was still the distinct chance that it was either free-roaming, or had attached itself to Dana and only manifested behind her as a door due to her proximity with the wall.

Moments after Dana’s call, she could hear the door slowly creaking open, a ghastly pale hand grabbing the frame. However, before it could fully open, Dana had left the area. When she reappeared, she was in a small, dimly lit room with a single bed. A steel, sliding door sat nearby, having a single small window which observers could look through.

Dana rushed over to the counter placed opposite the bed, finding the anchored crystal display. Pulling up the communication function, she hastily typed out a message. “Isolate the testing chamber. Entity is memetic in origin, and manifests as a door. Anchor class, unknown. Danger, unknown. Requesting standard quarantine procedure, please inform Leowynn.”

The standard procedure for quarantine when dealing with a memetic entity was rather simple. First, isolate both the location and the first contact subject. Secondly, inform Leowynn, as she was the only one able to properly destroy these void creatures. After waiting for forty-eight hours, it should be possible to determine certain characteristics of the entity, such as how it was anchored to the world. Doing so would give Leowynn an easier time vanquishing the entity.

“Dana, are you alright?” The elf girl heard Tsubaki’s worried voice soon after her quarantine, feeling a sense of comfort washing over her. No doubt, Tsubaki had heard that Dana had encountered a void entity, and rushed over from her own training room.

However, when Dana turned to look at the window in her door, she froze. The face looking through the window was definitely Tsubaki, but she was as pale as a ghost, her eyes almost pure white. Without saying anything, Dana turned back to the holographic display and typed out another series of words. ‘Is Tsubaki outside my room right now?’

It only took a moment before a confirmation was sent, showing her a live video feed of the hall outside her room. Sure enough, Tsubaki was standing there, and she looked relatively normal. Yet, when Dana looked over again, she still saw that sickly pale face. Furthermore, the door seemed to be aging as she looked at it, causing Dana to close her eyes tightly. She was able to tell from a glance that the state of the door only altered while she was looking at it.

Unable to properly type with her eyes closed, she shouted out so that Tsubaki could hear her. “Entity attaches itself to an individual. Contains sight-based illusory properties. If the individual is in a location lacking a door, it creates a door from the darker memories of the host. If the individual is in a location containing a door, the door will gradually shift in appearance as long as the individual is looking at it.”

“Any individual seen through the door by the host will appear as a stark-white version of themselves with their skin pulled taut. According to the prior experience, upon complete manifestation, the door will slowly open, after which a new entity will emerge. Condition of the host after the door has fully opened, unknown. It is also unknown what will happen if the door opens prior to full manifestation.”

“Please… call Leowynn quickly.” Dana could barely mutter that last portion. She knew that this was a matter of life and death for her. As the void monster had attached directly to her, it was useless for her to try to escape into the shadows. Doing so would simply allow it to follow her. Furthermore, she did not know what would happen when the door fully opened. Perhaps, opening the door would cause Dana to vanish, transporting her to the void to be attacked by this monster.

“Dana…” Tsubaki’s voice grew even more concerned when she heard the girl’s description of the entity. “What memory?”

Dana didn’t answer. According to what they had learned from James, it was possible for certain memetic entities to spread through the sharing of knowledge, especially when it was concerning the knowledge that the entity itself was attached to. That was why she only spoke as if she were an outside observer. If she truly told Tsubaki what door she was seeing, it was possible that the entity would attach to Tsubaki as well. It was even possible that she was not hearing Tsubaki at all at that point, and it was the voice of the memetic entity trying to coax her into talking.

Still, she would never forget that door. She had stared at it for so many days when she was alive. Waiting, hoping for some manner of salvation. The door to her own bedroom, which she had stared at from her bed while she was sick. Right up until the day she died, her salvation never emerged from that door. Her father had come and gone many times, but was unable to cure her.

That was why Dana couldn’t speak any further. If she gave any more details about the entity, it was likely to attach itself to anyone listening. She could only wait for Leowynn to arrive, and keep her sight firmly sealed until then.