(Written while listening to: "Requiem for a Dream(Scott Benson Band ver.)" by Clint Masell .
<<<>>>
[Prepare for appraisal…]
Just as Laito entered the space between dream and reality, his self-awareness has returned.
'AAAAAAAAAHHH! Holy shit! What just happened! That! Was! Insane!' And instantly lost his composure…
Seriously... have some shame.
Laito wanted to vent for a few moments, but he noticed something that distracted him… or rather he didn't notice something that in his opinion he "should have" been able to see.
Which is pretty much anything at all.
From what Laito remembered from the novel he should have been able to see the inner workings of a Nightmare Spell at the moment.
The novel described it as an "endless void filled with a myriad of stars". These stars were connected with each other in a net of intricate silver strings, weaved in some inexplicable design.
But Laito saw, heard and felt nothing at all.
—
—
Literally nothing, not the… "Nothing"... you know.
'That feels familiar… Heh. I guess I'm back to being "Just a loose bundle of consciousness, hanging around in great nothingness".'
'This brings up the memories… I wonder if my ROB will show up…'
'Something in my guts tells me that won't happen… maybe ever again.'
'I guess my current situation is to be expected… After all, I have managed to lose my body during all of that. I vividly remember being reduced to being just a floating disco-ball.'
'Not a pleasant thing.'
'Mostly because disco-balls do not have any sensory organs… unlike light elementals apparently.'
—
—
'I wonder if something is going to happen.'
But for a while nothing happened.
So Laito patiently waited. Unable to sense anything, even his [Keen Sight] was of no use.
He could try to comprehend all the recent events, but decided to wait for the Spell to do some explanations. For now he was just happy with the fact that he managed to not bring the apocalypse upon his world.
A huge W.
So.
He waited.
—
And waited.
—
—
And waited for a while longer.
—
'Damn, Spell are you there?' Laito wondered and as if in response the Spell spoke.
[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]
[A sad orphan, appointed to be apprentice of a Gatekeeper found himself among the dead. Burdened by an annoying companion, he decided selflessly to save her life, potentially putting himself in danger of gruesome death. The good deed earned him the grace of the local Lord. The orphan entered a period of intense tutelage that would break most in his situation. Simultaneously the orphan was slowly subjected to mind controlling hex of a corrupted diety…]
The Spell talked.
And talked.
It described the entirety of Laito's trial.
It was also surprisingly nice.
Often calling Laito things like: good, generous, brave, altruistic, diligent, chivalrous, kind and other similar things.
At some point the Spell started to praise him so much that Laito felt like blushing…
But he had nothing to blush with, so he just listened.
[... with thoughts of protecting a distant world he sacrificed himself to become The Key, so that he could become one with The Gate. In consequence: the opened Gate has allowed the escape of an entire fragment of a realm from the Fate of certain a death.]
[You have defeated 8 awakened beasts: Restless Skeletons.]
[You have defeated 2 awakened beasts: Restless Skeleton Spearman.]
[You have defeated an awakened monster: Restless Skeleton Capitan.]
[You have granted mercy to 9 dormant humans, names unknown.]
[You have granted mercy to an awakened human: Solaient of Astarta.]
[You have granted mercy to an awakened human: Thollior.]
[You have defeated nine dormant monsters: drowner shadow.]
[You have defeated a fallen demon: Wolf-bat Shade]
[You have defeated forty four awakened demons: Mature Splitterlings]
[You have defeated thirteen awakened monsters: Black Mists]
[You have defeated five fallen monsters: Umbral Willthieves]
[You have devoured an entire fragment of a mortal realm]
[You have become The Key and Gate]
[Your actions have reached beyond the realm of reason!]
[Truly…]
The Spell stopped talking for a moment after veeeeeery long time.
Laito almost felt kinda bad for it having to summarize the entirety of his extremely prolonged trial.
Almost.
—
The Spell still didn't resume the appraisal
'Did I get it bugged? Or maybe the Spell is just at a loss of what to tell?'
'C'mon just say "glorious" and give me that sweet divine aspect! If that trial didn't earn me one, then I don't know what could!'
[Final appraisal: One-of-the-kind. Your virtue truly knows no bounds.]
'Huh? Virtue? I wasn't trying to be virtuous. I wanted to help people! Even though it was borderline stupid in many situations, it all ended up okay… right?'
'Nevermind, here comes the big guns!'
Laito excitement reached the apex as it was time at last for the juiciest part. The moment he dreamt for many times while within this Nightmare.
The unsealing of his aspect.
But before that:
[Dreamer Laito Yogami, receive your boon!]
[You have been bestowed a…]
[WARNING!]
'Oh God damnit. Now what? I have been bestowed a warning? You can't be serious!'
<<<>>>
[??? years left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
My tipping jar: [email protected]/marasis (change "@" into "a")
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Author notes:
A lil bit of a shorter chap.
Some of you might have noticed that I have been editing old chapters.
It's just me fiddling with punctuation, grammar and deleting old author notes.
No plot related changes.
So there's no annoying need to go back and check what changed.
Although my biggest worry is G3 dropping some new lore that would invalidate what I have already wrote.
But that's just how it is, with writing fan-fics about something that's still realising.
Anyways.
See ya soon!