Ch.52 New Beginning (End of the Arc.)

In the core room, half the prismatic radiance given off by Malpetios became pitch-black. However, this darkness wasn't giving out an eerie aura but a cold divine one.

Brian felt he had lost control of his body and half his vision, the sensation was jarring. Luckily, Malpetios had warned him about it and he had experienced something similar before. Thinking back when he was falling into an endless black abyss brought back unpleasant memories.

After a while, it felt no different than using 3D equipment if only more immersive. Brian saw a lot of random things all over this house size room, many of which made no sense. It honestly felt like a hurricane passed by here, yet again, the items and holes around the floor were too smooth. It felt more like someone intentionally made them that deformed, like abstract art.

Looking up, he saw a stone ceiling with stalactites hanging everywhere except a circular area right above him. Although the 'bald' spot made it look weird he now knew he was inside a cave, one missing stalagmites for some reason. Brian's attention was drawn to a large unique stalactite that was shining in golden lights.

He tried to focus on the light but couldn't get any closer, in the end, he concluded it was a geode full of clear glass-like gems. Brian's curiosity didn't stop there as he explored everything around him, meanwhile, Malpetios was having a war of words with the System.

[Warning! The Host body is under the control of an unauthorized System. Attempting to seal the will. Please stand by. Host. Your mental strength is protecting the will. Please do not interfere with your safety.]

"For the last time! HE. IS. NOT. DANGEROUS!! Why can't you get that thru your thick skull, he is no different from a supporting core!"

Malpetios felt like punching the System. After he explained a bit to Brian, he brought up his interface, clicking the log out option. The times he had used the option before had his vision going black for a moment, appearing in his core room the next. This time, however, the process was sluggish as a force tried to repelled Brian from him.

It wasn't until he got the idea to cover Brian in his mental power did the force stop, bringing a different problem. He saw himself moving at insane speeds, leaving the Mindscape and traveling to the edges of his soul space. The problem came from the black spot sealing the wills noticing Brian and chasing us.

I quickly turned into my giant self, throwing the frozen Brian inside my body, this seem to cut the connection as the black spot stopped chasing. After returning to his body he let Brian go, the System having a meltdown right after.

"Look! I'm not sealing him! I give you all the permission you want to monitor and restrict his access in case he turns aggressive, but that's it! I know this is similar to things Fallen Ones have done, I went thru that thing twice out of sheer boredom. I'm not going against the rules, I'm not bringing harm to the World's Will, and I'm paying my taxes..." Malpetios did a double-take; "Ugh... I mean mana purification duties."

The System remained quiet for a long time. Malpetios felt its silence was cold yet not angry, as it considered my words. Malpetios rolled his eyes, he would normally not be so forceful with his words especially since he now knew the System's other identity. However, Q'ill's kid was not in control only being able to shine thru whenever the suppressant was removed.

As for the World's Will, it played Frankenstein with my soul not caring at all about their original owners. Although Malpetios felt that it was partially his fault for not having a one hundred percent synchronization rate, so that they may pass on in peace, he couldn't let go of his attachment to Brian.

Not to mention that he would have become a puppet for the Jewels if he hadn't had The Childs's lingering hatred and pain, requesting for a cleansing. This stupid System needed to think deeper into problems and not just do what it thought was more profitable, like when I requested for the imprints removal.

Leaving the System to its own devices, he stopped shielding Brian while giving the mental equivalent of the stink eye towards the System. Thankfully, it seemed to have gotten the message as it only poked at the mass of darkness that was Brian's soul. Assured, he stopped resisting the force pulling at him.

Feeling like he had just woken up from a long dream, he felt refreshed, the weight on his mind gone. "So how do you feel? It's really strange to lose all your senses huh? Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Prismatic Dungeon Core Malpetios!!" Said Malpetios in a high and mighty manner.

"Pfffttt... haha, you're so humble their kid." Malpetios was a bit disappointed at Brian's response, he wanted to shock this guy to recover a bit of his pride. Brian continued, "I already noticed what you really are, after all, theirs a puddle of water right next to us. However, kid what's with your.... art? I mean, it looks good! It's just that I don't understand all the holes everywhere?"

Malpetios took a look around, his core room was a mess full of ugly things, he quickly remembered he made them out of insane boredom. His core glowed in pinkish-red, as he yelled at Brian to stop looking! Embarrassed out of his mind, he quickly took a look around his Dungeon, finding tons of problems and awful decisions he made this past few days.

The worst one has to be his blender room, it was in such a horrendous shape that he could swear that the only reason his slimes were alive was due to his instincts. Blades and broken shrapnel were jutting out everywhere, looking like a porcupine. The bridge was now a twisted pretzel that was otherwise untouched only due to the 'there must be a way to your core room' rule.

Malpetios got busy fixing all his mistakes, meanwhile, Brian was looking at the spectacle reflecting off the puddle. The core glowed in aurora lights, as they went both into those art projects and the walls. Restoring itself, the art projects melted into, 'liquid', moving to fill the holes and bumps around the room.

After a while, the floor became spotless, as a fountain-like stand appeared under the core, gently spraying crystal clear water like a waterfall. "There!!" Said Malpetios happily, Brian complimenting the cleanliness and beauty of the room. "Hey kid, don't take this the wrong way, but I really feel uncomfortable without most of my senses. It really doesn't help that others got stronger, that light bulb up there is starting to hurt my uhm... eyes?"

"What light bulb? The only light in here is my Cores glow," said Malpetios. Brian had no arms to point to the geode, however, Malpetios could 'feel' the direction he tried to point to. "Oh, that's where I was born, weird, there's no light over there." Using telekinesis, Malpetios carefully searched around Q'ill not finding anything.

"The only thing up there is my friend, Q'ill, she was hurt badly in a battle and has been resting for like a week now." Malpetios wrapped her in a mental cocoon, carefully bringing her to him. "Ugh... is this light ball your friend? Dam my eyes feel like I'm staring at the sun!" Brian sounded like he was in pain, although Malpetios got worried he suddenly thought about something.

"Brian is the light your seeing gold? I'm sorry, I know it hurts your eyes but please try and tell me what you see! I'm really worried about her not waking up after so long." Hearing the kid's worried and desperate voice made Brian suck it up, he turned back to the light ignoring the irritation. What he saw shocked him for a second, but he remembered he was now in a fantasy world and stuff like fairies are most likely commonplace.

"Your friend is covered in light spots with the wings completely envelop by that burning gold light." After answering he quickly turned his vision somewhere else, thankfully this was enough information to affirm Malpetios' guess. It has to be the Holy element that's keeping her asleep, sigh... let me try bargaining with the System.

Malpetios' original idea was to slowly convince the System to treat Brian as a Supporting Core. However, it seems like he needs the Dark element to even see the source of the problem. Even though it was unclear before, Kira's soul base attacks and Brian's existence clearly pointed out that souls are related to the Dark element in some way.

[Host. The will named Brian is an unauthorized System. This will can become dangerous and fight for control over the core. The likelihood for this will to turn into a Fallen One is high. The request for the conversion to Supporting Core can not be allowed.]

Oh? Then what about Sidekick, will he ever turn against me one day? I think you misunderstood my request. Brian is the source of at least a quarter of my soul, which means we see each other as close siblings if not father and son. I already told you that you can monitor him, I also know that the reason you are so worried is due to you having no control over him unlike me with my instincts.

If you let him become my Supporting Core the connection we already have would grow stronger, not to mention you would be able to shackle him. He can only survive as long as I do, if I die he dies. Making him a Supporting Core had no downsides whatsoever.

The debate went on, Malpetios made sure to use logical arguments and his knowledge of Fallen Ones to shut the System up. However, he started to notice the System acting strange. Normally it would digest my words and try to make my wishes happen to the best of its ability, but when it came to Brian it was unusually stubborn.

It turned into a battle of patience as the System rejected and Malpetios countered all its worries. Although he was basically selling Brian as a slave to the World's Will, he himself was already one and it was better than being trapped inside my Mindscape for eternity.

OK! ENOUGH!!! Tell me the real reason you are refusing and don't give me your 'is dangerous' CRAP! It's clear that my idea has no downside, stop running around the bush and tell me or goddammit I will remove the Suppressant and ask The Child even if I hurt my soul again! A long silence was the Systems reply.

Just as he was about to lose his patience it finally answered.

[The soul and memories of the will named Brian have been classified as priceless. The Main System ordered to send the undigested fragments to the collective. Due to the uniqueness of the soul it failed to merge with the Prismatic Core. The implantation of the Supporting Core program is predicted to partially fail. This outcome would not allow the retrieval of memories. Failing the Main Systems orders.]

Hearing its reasoning confused Malpetios, after thinking about it he came up with a better idea. System, I've merged with my Sidekick before I can see all its thoughts, this means that you will be able to see them thru me. On the other hand, I will never allow you to take Brian from me, meaning that I will never give you permission to accept the mission rewards.

Malpetios felt the Systems attitude turn unpredictable but he didn't stop. He wasn't doing anything wrong and was still offering it what it wanted even if it was not happy about it. Malpetios wanted to force the System to look at the problem subjectively and realize it would end with the same result. He didn't want something like the imprints to happen again, even if he knew it would not change the System's way of thinking.

After almost an hour of waiting the System still didn't reply, meanwhile Brian was calling him asking to return to the Mindscape. Back in the Temple's library, Brian fell asleep, Malpetios could sense he was mentally exhausted. Being without a body probably put a lot of stress on his mind, although he also felt bad at first it quickly passed and he couldn't tell the difference anymore.

Looking at Brian's sleeping frame made Malpetios scared, was he going to leave him alone too? Shaking those thoughts off his mind he pondered what to do next.

"Mhmm... The Church must be the reason why I don't have any visitors right? How about if I forced them to come... yah... Yah! In two days I'll have a hundred Pure Mana, something tells me I'll be able to do something amazing then! Also," he thinks back to Q'ills forbidden spell, "I should be able to make her one of my bosses too!"

Malpetios looks at the supporting core, it has grown to half his size now. Although he kept making crystalized mana during the time he was going crazy it couldn't upgrade the core anymore, leaving him with a huge pile of unspent holy element stones. With time and a new element to play with, he started to feed the stones to the slimes trying to get a new variant.

It didn't take long before a holy slime was born. Many new ideas came to his head, as he started to recreate his Dungeon. Unlike before, he made use of the field version, although Q'ill said Dungeons only start to have fields on floor twenty-plus he had no problems making them. The price tag for a field floor was a staggering ten thousand mana, however, this was honestly not a problem with my huge element pool, unlike other Dungeons if his supporting core is anything to base it out of.

"He-he, don't want to come in? Even if the Churches influence on people is enormous I can use it against you! Let's see if you can use any of the bull you normally do in the wills memories when I'm more 'Holy' and 'divine' than your so call Churches! Hahaha!!!"