Chapter 680: A Prison, or A...?

Telekinesis.

Remove all the other abilities that he gained, and Riley will still be at 90% as long as he has his telekinetic abilities. He barely even remembers some of the powers he has—he really truly only needs Alice's ability.

Moving things with his mind was as easy as moving things with his hands, and he could even argue that he had better control of telekinesis than his limbs.

If there was one thing in this universe that he could always identify, it was the use of telekinesis; even if it was just as light as lifting a feather, he would know if telekinesis was involved.

And the force that suddenly pushed him down to the ground when he tried to fly up into the air?

That was undoubtedly telekinesis.

...And it was stronger than his.

He had also realized something as he walked through this strange empty land—there were no birds at all. He had already seen several land creatures that he couldn't identify, but not a single bird flew above him.

It was almost as if no one was allowed to fly in this place.

The one using telekinesis—is it perhaps some sort of god?

He was in a completely different universe, after all. Perhaps in this universe, the god of evaniels did not exist; Nothing did say that the god of evaniels was a unique existence like him.

But then again, this dimension is a prison. Perhaps he was completely wrong and the telekinetic force that was literally keeping him grounded is just something that Diana or the norinlads made. After all, this prison is to keep the most heinous and uncontainable villains of his universe—they don't want them flying around and having a semblance of freedom.

"..."

But what if he flies just inches above the ground?

Riley's feet once again floated from the blades of grass and stayed like that for an entire minute—and no force brought him down. And so, he just started moving like that; gaining speed by the second until a skirt of wind exploded around him as he passed the speed of sound.

He continued to increase his speed; the scenery around him, however, did not seem to change as all that welcomed him was an endless horizon of paradise. He continued to speed up... until the hand of god once again slammed him to the ground.

"Hm..."

Riley could really only once again turn himself up to look at the sky. No flying, and no going too fast—for a prison, that didn't seem to be too bad. At least he wasn't inside a glass cage...

...or is he?

Riley stood up; his eyes, still staring at the sky to try and see if there were any cameras around that were watching him. But then again, why would there be cameras?

He was in another universe, Diana and the others won't be able to see what he was doing even if there were cameras there. But then again... maybe they have the technology to do so? After all, Bernard seemed to be sharing the gift of his mind with the universe for 5 years already.

"..." Riley thought about it more, before just shrugging and continuing to hover across the endless sea of grass at the speed of sound. Whatever or whoever the entity was that is using telekinesis, it didn't seem to bother with him as long as he didn't practice his... freedom too much.

Hours passed, and Riley was beginning to think that he might be the only person in this place. But that shouldn't be the case. While he was drifting in and out of death, he heard Diana and Aerith talking about how there should be other prisoners here—a lot of them.

If Riley was going to be trapped here alone, then this truly was a fate worse than death. Well, he couldn't die in the first place, so the only way he would actually pay for his crimes was to not be able to do his purpose—torture and kill people.

How was he going to do that if there were no people? It would have been fine if he was in a void, but he was in a lush world filled with all sorts of life. There were hills teeming with trees and small creatures, there were boulders filled with critters... but nothing fun to torture.

Soon, however, Riley stopped flying as he finally noticed signs of intelligent life—fire.

And not just any fire, but a fire under a skillet. There was also a hammock attached to the trees near it.

Riley looked around to try and see if the one cooking was around, but aside from the oil crackling on the skillet, there was no other noise there. And so, Riley just did the only thing he could do in the situation... he sat down and waited.

He didn't really need to wait long, however, as a grey-skinned person soon stepped out from the trees—carrying what looked like some sort of... fat deer; or perhaps it was better to call it a brown pig with antlers.

"Nek... ruf kafi?"

The grey-skinned humanoid quickly halted his steps as soon as he saw Riley casually sitting beside his fire. Riley couldn't really understand his words, so he just looked at him for a few seconds before letting out a small smile.

"Are you real?" Riley then asked. It was something that Paige taught him—although she wasn't exactly sure if it would work on Riley since his condition was different from hers, she told him that the hallucinations and the illusions would always respond in a way that would give them away if asked the question; especially now that Riley was aware that his mind was deteriorating.

"Ah, ruf kaijin!"

The grey-skinned humanoid dropped the antlered pig on the ground, before grabbing something tiny from his bag and throwing it just within arm's reach of Riley.

"Gur, gur!"

"..." Riley blinked a couple of times as he looked at the thing the stranger threw at him, only for him to recognize what the device was. The stranger started gesturing something to him, but before he could finish his hand movements, Riley already attached the device to the back of his ear.

"Oh. It would seem you already know how to use it," the grey-skinned humanoid let out a small hum as he looked at Riley from head to toe, "So, I guess right. You are a Traveler, no?"

"...A traveler?"

"From the portals."

"Are you real?" Riley once again asked. Portals, travelers—this is sounding like the hallucination he was having before Diana brought him back to Earth.

"No, I'm Nutno," the grey-skinned humanoid started batting his eyes as he looked at Riley, "And you, what's your name?"

"..."

Nope. Riley had no idea if Nutno was real or not. But he seemed to react real enough... but then again, so did the Leville party.

"My name is Riley Ross, Nutno." But whatever the case was, it was rude not to introduce himself, "And yes, I suppose I was thrown here. Judging by the way you are speaking, I assume you're not from... my universe?"

"Oh, no..." Nutno shook his head before lifting the antlered pig and placing it back over his shoulders, "...I was born here. In fact, I was born in a town a hundred steps from here."

"A nearby town?" Riley squinted his eyes as he looked at the oil sizzling on the skillet, "Then why are you cooking here instead of at your house, Nutno?"

"...Because I want to?" Nutno also squinted his eyes, "I heard it from my grandparents, but you Travelers really are suspicious of everything."

"..."

"Come, let me take you to town so I can introduce you to some people that could explain things to you better than I ever could."

"Let me help you with that then, Nutno."

"What do you—!!!"

Nutno took in a small but very deep breath as he felt the weight on his shoulders literally disappear as the antlered pig floated toward Riley. He seemed to want to say something, but just chose to take in a gulp as he nodded and said his thanks.

"Follow me, Riley Ross."

"Are you not going to extinguish the fire, Nutno?"

"Oh, I'll be back here after I introduce you to Logi and the others," Nutno waved his hand as he started walking, "So, what is it like where you are from, Riley Ross? I have truly only read about your kind in stories."

"It is no different from this place, Nutno," Riley casually answered as he let the antlered pig float in front of him.

"Huh. They said—Ah! Where are my manners," Nutno raised his voice as he grabbed a glass bottle from his bag and handed it to Riley, "I got so excited about meeting a Traveler that I forgot to offer you some fresh water. I hope you didn't drink anything from the nearby river, I think something bad died there and we've been trying to find it for a long time now."

"I haven't been to the river, Nutno," Riley just shook his head. He then grabbed a cup from his pocket and proceeded to fill it with water.

"..." As for Nutno, he could really only blink a couple of times as he wondered where Riley pulled the cup from.

"Thank you for the water, Nutno," Riley then nodded as he drank the water. And as he did so, he felt a familiar sting climb from his stomach and all the way through the rest of his body.

Poison—or more specifically, a sedative that would put an elephant to sleep in less than a millisecond.