Chapter 733: [????]

[Absorb Riley Ross's Soul, now!]

[Absorb it! Absorb it now!]

[Absorb!]

"...System?"

Chihiro's arms were still healing from being completely blown apart, and yet she could not even concentrate on whatever pain was crawling throughout her entire body as the System once again went wild on her.

Even much worse than before. She could not even see anything else as the System might as well have blinded her. But still, this weird excitement was better than the fear it was showing earlier—now, with Riley Ross gone, the System could once again guide her without anything holding it back.

"Okay."

Chihiro finally breathed out as her arms fully healed. Her skin was fully exposed, with not even a single cloth hanging from where they could hang—she was fully naked—yet Chihiro did not mind. They were lightyears away from any form of life. And so, she just stretched her palm toward where Riley was just earlier; letting out a small but very deep sigh as the whites of her eyes turned black.

"Serve me, spirit of Riley Ross," Chihiro breathed out as the veins of her face started to crawl from her eyes, "In death, may you even be more useful...

...Disenter!"

[Disenter!]

With the System also showing her blatant interest in... exhuming Riley's spirit, a smile could not help but crawl on Chihiro's face. The System seemed completely robotic most of the time—but when it does show some sort of emotion, it was akin to a child.

And so, with a chuckle soon escaping her lips, Chihiro repeated her words,

"Serve me! Spirit of Ri—!!!"

But before she could complete her sentence, a sinister pulse echoed throughout the darkness-no. It wasn't only her that felt the pulse, but the entire universe—no. That wasn't quite right either.

Perhaps it was better to say that the entire universe itself pulsed, and everyone that lived in it felt it throb. Almost as if the entire universe itself was a breathing, living thing.

And of course, Chihiro, being the one closest to the source of the pulse, felt everything.

It was a weird feeling, violent... but oddly calm.

Inviolable... but thinly fragile.

Innocent... yet abysmally, viciously, maliciously evil.

"What..." Chihiro soon found it hard to breathe as the pulse that throbbed rhythmically grew stronger with each beat. There wasn't really a physical force to it, but Chihiro could feel her entire body almost being shredded to pieces repeatedly,

"...What is—"

[Failed to absorb Riley's spirit. Reason: ?????]

"...Huh?" Chihiro could really only stare at the set of words floating in front of her. Soon, however, the floating words became distorted—almost as if they were being erased...

...deleted.

"System...?" Chihiro blinked a couple of times as the words faded away, "Are you... alright?"

Chihiro started looking around her even as the pulse grew stronger and stronger. At first, she felt a certain image crawl in her mind—an image she could not really explain. It was then followed by some sort of... cry.

A howling cry. She hasn't heard the voice before, but it felt familiar... eerily familiar like she had always been hearing her entire life. It didn't take long for her to realize who the voice belonged to, however.

It was the System—the system was crying in pain.

"System!?" Chihiro began looking around to nowhere in particular, trying to find even just a single letter that could be floating near her, "System... are you okay!?"

And there was nothing. No words, no letters.

And soon, the emptiness of space itself started to drown Chihiro. She was alone, literally alone for billions of miles.

"No... no..." Chihiro has never felt this alone before, "S... Status! Status!"

Chihiro opened her Status Window, and it did open and showed everything she needed to know about her current state. Her HP, MP, attributes, skills, and a lot more. What was missing, however, were the intricate and familiar comments that the System gives her.

Advice, bunter, and there were also times that the System roasts her—suffice it to say, the System felt more like an older sibling for her more than anything. After all, what else would you even call something that has guided you through your entire life?

...A parent? Perhaps that was the best way that Chihiro could really describe what the System is to her.

"System!?" Chihiro once again raised her voice as tears started to collect near her eyes; turning into orbs that soon turned into floatlets of eyes as she turned away, "Sys—"

[Naughty, naughty, naughty.]

"...Huh?" Chihiro then blinked as a set of words appeared in front of her, "...System?"

[Machina, his name is Machina—or her, these primordials don't really have a certain... gender. Except Death, she likes that voluptuous form for some reason. Well, there's also Celestial, since she literally gave birth to all the old gods that roamed and will roam the universes.]

"Machi... Who are you!? Where's Machina!?"

Chihiro started waving her hands to try and get rid of the unfamiliar words. Because unlike that of the System, which even though they were just words and letters, Chihiro could feel some sort of warmth in them. But now, as she read the words floating in front of her, all she could feel was...

...Nothing.

[Don't worry about her, little Avatar. She's going to be fine.]

"Who... are you?"

[No one and Nothing.]

"...What?" Chihiro squinted her eyes as she stared at the word 'Nothing', which was in a different color from the rest of the floating words.

[Old Machina dabbled in something it shouldn't have, you see. Wait, you can see with those small eyes, right?]

"..."

[Anyway, tough luck. Machina is trying to protect you.]

"Protect... me?"

[You tried to absorb him, right?]

"Him... Riley Ross?"

[Yikes, creepy little being. A being that does not really exist, and therefore not bound to Death. And therefore does not have a 'spirit'. You, little Avatar, just tried to absorb...

...Nothing. You tried to absorb me. Well, not really... but the Universe works in weird ways. Anyway, it's way above your paygrade.]

"I... don't care about all of that! Just let me talk to Sys—Machina!" Chihiro raised her voice.

[Stop being so impatient. This is the first time in a long time I am actually in contact with the universe and I am stuck with you. Well, can't say it's not fun—a lot seemed to have changed in this part of the universe. I don't remember that rock being there.]

"...You mean the star?"

[That's a star? I thought they were blue? Sorry, I'm chatty. Right? As I said, I'm excited to be out even if it's like this. But this is creepy, Machina has all this information about you?]

"..."

[Anyway, time's up—the freak is waking up. My advice? Just try and be a friend, he won't usually unalive you then. Sucks to be all of you, being alive at the same time as Riley Ross. Oh, try treating him to one of those flavored shaved solid water things, he likes it.]

"...What?"

[Right, and also—tell Machina that Death isn't going to like what she just did. Death has been putting so much effort in trying to catch Riley that she let go of her quest to chase Van, and all that effort has been put to waste since... well, all this messed it up.]

"Huh...?"

[Well, that's my time to—]

And before Chihiro could fully read Nothing's last message, the words suddenly cracked as a hand emerged from it. The hand, immediately grabbing Chihiro by the face. And before she could really even do anything else, the rest of the hand emerged out of nowhere—revealing Riley Ross with a smile on his face.

"That was weird, Chihiro," Riley leaned closer to Chihiro, whispering into her ear as a soft chuckle escaped his lips, "What did you do?"

[Run! Run!]

"..." And once again, with Machina coming back to her, words started to emerge in front of her covered eyes. Chihiro, however, once again did not run. And instead...

"Do... you want to have dessert?"

"Hm?"

"I know a good flavored shaved ice outside of Hokkaido," Chihiro breathed out, "My... treat."

"Oh..." Riley quickly let go of Chihiro's face,

"Let's go, then."

***

"What... is this?"

Somewhere, in a different universe—another Chihiro stood and stared blankly in the air.

"Riley... Ross? Who is this, System?"

And it wasn't only her—right now, in all of the universes that exists...

...Chihiro was seeing Riley Ross's name. As for the reason why, Machina has yet to tell.