Echoes of Hollow

Repeated tapping echoes through the grand hall where Alyia sits. Her fingers continuously strike the table beside her, causing small cracks that spread further with each impact.

Sighing, her gaze of discontent shifts to the one seated across the round table. A deep breath escapes her lips as her eyes roll, scanning the space around her: a hall predominantly illuminated in white and gold, with golden light bathing everything in its glow.

Sculptures embedded in the walls depict a massive winged army, with the central figure—bearing long golden hair and a flaming sword—being none other than the one standing in front of her.

"What is your answer?" asked the angelic man.

"Ha! Are you seriously asking me that?" Alyia glared at him. "Where is he? When I agreed to 'one favor' back then, this is not what I had in mind."

"I'm sorry, but he cannot be located at this time. My father has been absent for some time and entrusted me with handling this matter."

"Oh, really? And why don’t you just handle it yourselves? Wouldn't that be far simpler and less troublesome?"

"Unfortunately, we have other responsibilities," the man replied with a faint smile. "This, whether I like it or not, is the only viable option."

"Is that so...?" Alyia clicked her tongue, and with one final tap of her fingers, the table shattered into countless pieces. The cracks spread, even reaching the pillars supporting the hall. Everything trembled. "Then why not just ask me to take on the other pantheons outright? Isn’t that what this favor implies?"

The enormous doors swung open as winged warriors entered, armed with spears, swords, and bows—all aimed at Alyia, their hands trembling.

The man raised his hand, commanding their respect. Immediately, the guards bowed and exited the room.

"I'm sorry you see it that way," he said. "But that’s not what we’re asking."

"You’re trying to reason with me? Seriously?" Alyia chuckled, her laughter echoing through the hall and beyond. "Don’t treat me like a fool; this isn’t amusing. Some details may differ, but I’ve seen how all of this ends. Unlike you, I know the outcome. He cannot, and will not, be controlled by you. Everything—even your mortals—will be consumed."

"Hmm. I’m glad to hear that."

"Huh?"

"If that’s the case, then it means he succeeded in his goals. What’s there to change in this reality?"

"Hm, I see," Alyia muttered. With a single wave of her hand, everything that had been destroyed was restored. "Fanaticism isn’t exactly attractive, you know?"

"Call it what you want. I see it as devotion, faith, and love."

"If you say so..." With the room restored, Alyia sighed. "Fine. Tell him I’ll do it. I’ll start with the flame, just as you want."

"Thank you. I—"

"Oh, one more thing—how’s your brother? The popsicle?"

"Sam...?" the man murmured, more to himself. "He’s fine. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it’s nothing. I ran into Baalzephon wandering around my neighborhood a few days ago and wondered if managing hell alone was proving to be too much."

"I don’t understand. No issues have been reported. Are you—"

"Ah, really? Fine then, forget it." Her body vanished into thin air, but her voice lingered in the hall for a few moments longer. "Until next time."

"Not that I care to see you again," she added at the end.

Pensive, the man remained seated. With three pairs of wings and silver hair, an angel materialized beside him, kneeling.

"Go..." the man hesitated. "Check the dimension where he resides. See if it’s been destroyed or if it still remains intact. If it hasn’t... Go."

With the sound of wings beating, the angel departed as swiftly as he arrived.

***************

"Let's see, first lesson," Lior said, seated beside Teodoro and the other irregulars, on a boulder that seemed to have been sliced flat by a sword strike. "Control."

"I already told you this won’t work!" Teodoro exclaimed. "First, he needs to learn how to use something before he can control it. Your logic makes no sense!"

"Oh, come on. He learned how to fly just by watching us. Learning to use mana is the least of his problems."

"..."

"They don’t seem like..." Addiah murmured near Yang Kai’s ear, "...two babysitters arguing?"

He nodded, agreeing.

"You have a point..." Teodoro admitted. "But that doesn’t mean he can do anything."

"Oh really? Mana is about materializing ideas, thoughts, or whatever else. As long as you have enough mana, you can do anything—just keep that in mind, got it?"

Hye nodded.

"So," he looked toward a small mountain nearby, "you saw my mana flow, right? And what about the 'laws of the world'? Can you see those too?"

"What did he do?!" the three irregulars asked in disbelief.

"Laws...? Are you talking about things like gravity?"

"Yeah, maybe. Gravity is enough. Try creating one strong enough to crush that pile of rocks."

"Hey, what are you talking about? Creating something like that would require a huge amount of mana. Even if he has that much, he won’t be able to do much after that."

Why create a new flow in an environment that already has its own? Hye can see it, like a river flowing in all directions—coming and going, meeting and parting, always. Sometimes thin and weak, other times as intense and vast as an actual river.

"Instead of creating, can I just alter it in that spot?"

"What...?" the four asked, all wide-eyed.

Taking a step forward in silence, Samael observed each of Hye’s next actions.

The winds ceased, but the mana continued circulating intensely. Everyone could see the flow to some extent; however, some saw more than others. Like Hye, Samael saw every detail, while Lior and Teodoro could see the rivers, but unless they focused, the intricate movements within the flow easily escaped them. Meanwhile, Addiah and Yang Kai, straining to see, barely noticed the most visible intertwining waves.

The flow expanded, creating a current so powerful that Lior and Teodoro had to limit their vision, as they might have drowned from how submerged they’d become according to their current limits.

They looked at Hye, stunned, only to see him calmly intensifying the mana flow even more. The mountain trembled, the creature chained to the ground roared in desperation, and as the red skies cracked, something beyond the mana seemed to fight to enter that space, pushing the limits of the dimension and tearing them apart from the outside in.

They rose, fearing to miss even a single moment of whatever that was. But as they felt something tremble on their hands, Lior had to turn around, facing the falling sky.

"Hey, you...!" The crack expanded, and descending with the fragments of the shattered dimension, a mana flow so grotesque emerged—visible to the naked eye and tangible to anyone present—that in the blink of an eye, the mountain was reduced to nothing.

"Control..." Teodoro muttered, lying on the ground with the others. "He definitely needs to learn how to control this." He looked at the fragments floating through the air. "...Whatever this is..."

Lior stood up, throwing Yang Kai onto the stone and, after carefully placing Addiah next to him, snapped his fingers in front of them.

"What the...?" With his hands on his head, Kai felt his brain being squeezed. "Damn it! What the hell just happened?!"

"Is everything okay?!" Lior asked, kneeling as Addiah showed signs of even the slightest pain, placing his fingers on her forehead.

"Yes, I..." Her vision blurred, making it difficult to see more than a hand’s length in front of her. When it cleared, Addiah couldn’t believe it—fragments of the very dimension they were in were floating before her eyes. "These things aren’t what I think they are, are they...?"

He nodded. The urge to reach out and touch her hand to check if she was truly okay was strong, but his fear held him back, making him retreat.

"Seriously? You’re really just going to ignore me?"

"You’ve been submerged."

"Submerged? By his mana? That’s ridiculous."

"Yeah, genius," Teodoro said sarcastically. "So I guess you both must have become like lobotomized people by your own will, right?"

The tremors didn’t stop, and the pain in their minds didn’t cease either, indicating that the mana superiority was so overwhelming that in just a few moments, they’d been exposed to severe damage—both physical and possibly internal. And that’s something Addiah, especially, doesn’t want to believe.

Clenching her fists, she stared at the cracked hole in the sky.

"If you had so much mana, why didn’t you use it earlier when you punched me?" Lior smiled. "Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. On the contrary, I’m grateful for it. Getting hit with that much mana all at once might’ve hurt a little."

"It’s not that I didn’t want to, I just couldn’t."

"Couldn’t...?"

Hye nodded. His eyes wandered, focusing on something invisible to the others—his system.

[Warning!]

[A new variation of the "Void" skill has been discovered.]

[Name: Void

Description: ??

Variations:

Void Gateway: ??

Manifestation of the Void: ??]

Both as curious and as confused and frightened as Addiah and Yang Kai, Lior and Teodoro approached. However, despite wanting to, neither of them actually questioned Hye about it.

"This just complicates things even more..." Lior said, pointing at the hole in the sky. "Besides control, there’s not much we can teach you."

"And it doesn’t even seem like he needs it..."

"Yeah, there’s that too."

Together, the dimensional shards flew toward the sky. They merged, and starting from the growing cracks, they restored their fullness.

"So, are we leaving already?"

"No!" Both replied in unison. They looked at each other, cleared their throats, and then said, "Or rather... there’s still the creature, and as you can see, those two can’t fight right now, so... we have to stay here and make sure they’re okay."

"So?!" Teodoro muttered to Lior. "Where the hell did you get that 'so' from?!"

"Wouldn’t it be easier for you to be honest and just say you want to see him fight?" Yang Kai suggested.

"Shut up!" both of them shouted, pushing him away at the same time. "You don’t look too good, so go rest a bit."

"Hey, I’m not sick! And I thought the person who should be protected was someone else, no? What happened to 'Remember to stay close to us'?"

Lior glared at him, making him stop talking immediately. Sighing, he turned his gaze back to Hye.

"He’s right," Lior admitted. "Sorry, I—"

"Is it possible, instead of five, to make it just one head?" Hye asked, as his dagger appeared in his hand.

"What...?" After a brief moment of doubt, Lior had to be struck in the foot to quickly snap back to reality. "Ouch! I mean, sure. That’s totally possible."

With the chains undone, the beast rose. However, unlike its body, its mouths remained bound.

"So, which one do you want?"

Flames spread across the sky, and roaring, the creature did its best to intimidate those before it. But it had no effect.

"You know this is a hydra, right?" Addiah asked, sitting next to Lior as she watched Hye step away.

"Well, the heads leave no doubt," he replied.

"Then you know what that means, right?"

Lior nodded.

"...But do you think he knows too...?"

He and Teodoro exchanged worried glances. But the thought that the answer might be 'no' almost made them laugh.

"You know, he definitely—"

Hearing the rumble echo and the ground tremble, he silently turned his attention back to the creature, whose head on the ground was spinning while a new one emerged from its now doubled neck.

"Oh, damn... Do you think I should bind this new head too? Or..."

"Yes," Teodoro replied, offering a small relief to Addiah. "If he gets hurt, just heal him later," he continued, smiling along with Lior.

In disbelief, Addiah shook her head in denial while placing her fingers near her eyes.

***************

"Hmm, for you to be so calm while playing,"

Hearing the voice, Nura ran, but never, in any way, left the ice cream jar behind.

"I believe Lior isn't home yet, right?" asked Alyia, holding the girl by the back of her shirt.

"Yeah, he went out with Teodoro and his boyfriend. Oh, and there were two other people too."

"Two others..? Tom and..."

"No, it was those two who appear on TV from time to time. The ones people keep comparing to Lior and Teodoro."

"Ah, yes, them..." Turning her gaze to Nura, she found a child with her mouth covered in ice cream and an empty jar. Alyia smiled. "I thought I told you not to eat this before leaving?"

"Well..."

Placing the girl on her lap, she sighed.

"Do you know why I don't let you eat this?"

"...Because it's yours...?"

"That's part of it... But it's not just that."

Raising her hand, a flame forms, hot and vivid. However, emerging within it, cold and corrosive, an intense chill takes shape, gradually snuffing it out.

"Do you understand what I'm saying? This is what will happen to you if you keep going."

"But you're fine..." Like a flower, the girl wilted, shrinking.

"Well, I... we are different."

"But we’re family."

"Even so. Lior is my twin, just like you and Kemur, but that doesn’t mean we are identical." Smiling, she brought her hand to the girl's mouth, and as a napkin appeared on her fingers, she wiped her mouth. "Or are you telling me you're exactly like your brother?"

The girl shook her head, vehemently denying it.

"Then, now that you understand, promise you won’t do this anymore?"

"And if..." she hesitated, "I manage to master it like Mommy? Can I eat it again?"

"Hmm, yes." Smiling, Alyia kissed her on the forehead. "When that happens, I’ll make a whole jar and give it to you."

"For me too!" exclaimed Kemur, turning toward the two.

"Oh, what a shame, you lost."

"What? Ah, damn it!"

"Hey!" Alyia flicked him on the top of the head. "What word was that, huh?"

"Sorry... But I want one too."

"Yes, yes, I know. Now go back to watching the game. Look, you already lost again."

"What? Again?! F...!" Turning around, the boy's eyes met Alyia's. "...I didn’t say..."

"Yeah, I know. But it was close."

"..."