Chapter 345 Is it now my time to be Relieved?

The mysterious speaker then launched itself into a tirade, as it uttered words and sentences for Alina's ears.

Alina went silent as she let the speaker talk, creating a tense atmosphere between the two.

[Alina]: "…"

As she listened more to what the speaker was talking about, her eyes inadvertently narrowed as she glared at the mysterious speaker.

Anger was present in her features, which was a rare sight to be seen on her usually calm face.

And her mood seemed to get worse and worse as the speaker continued talking, which resulted in her face looking more and more angry.

Even when the speaker was done talking, the scowl on Alina's face did not even weaken by a bit.

[Alina]: "With my eyes, I can see that you are not lying. But why… why are you saying this to me? Can't you just tell this to Alex himself?"

After Alina asked this question, the mysterious speaker only let out a chuckle, as if it found Alina's suggestion to be quite funny.

[The voice which sounded like Alex]: "Actually, even if I wanted to tell the message to him, I cannot, since we just talked with Alex earlier. The energy that we used up just to talk to him earlier, which came from Alex himself, made it impossible for us to have another meeting with him today. That is why we decided to talk to you, as your current state allowed us to talk to you, even for just a short amount of time."

[Alina]: "Oh really?"

[The voice which sounded like Alex]: "That is the truth, you know it."

[Alina]: "Hmph, even if what you told me was the truth, is it really fine for me to say this to Alex today?"

[The voice which sounded like Alex]: "Well, that depends on what you want. If you want to tell it to him now, then do it. If not, then just tell it to him on another day…"

[Alina]; "But if I delay talking to him, you can just be the one who will end up telling everything to Alex.

[The voice which sounded like Alex]: "Oh don't worry about that. Now that I have given you the message, it will only be up to you whether Alex should know it or not. I and my other friends have no more obligation to tell it to Alex, since the responsibility is now in your shoulders."

[Alina]: "What? But that's-"

[The voice which sounded like Alex]: "Well, well, well. It's been fun talking with you, Miss ALina. Hehehe, I hope you and Alex will have fun later!"

[Alina]: "Hey!"

[The voice which sounded like Alex]: "Farewell, our Mistress."

[ALIna]: "Hey!"

Alina's complaints were rendered useless, as after the mysterious speaker gave his farewell, Alina's vision went dark again as she lost her consciousness.

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

"Ugh…" Alina found herself opening her eyes again for the second time today, which can be considered to be an achievement in her opinion.

"!!!"

At that moment, Alina's sharp mind managed to recall the conversation that happened in the dark cave, which prompted her to jump up in surprise.

"…" As seconds pa.s.sed by, Alina's thoughts started to calm down, as she realized that she was at a new place again.

This time around, she was also in a dark place, although it was different from earlier.

The place that she is in right now can be compared to a night sky, as Alina could see numerous dots of stars adorning the landscape around her.

These dots of stars, combined with the balanced darkness all around Alina, created a sight which was enough to even put Alina in a slight daze.

"This… this definitely is a new place." Alina thought to herself as she let out a sigh. "Hmm… is this the place where Alex should have been to?"

As she thought of this to herself, Alina could not help but look down on her body.

To her surprise, she found that her whole body seemed to be both transparent and immaterial, which made her feel a little shocked for a few moments.

"My body is transparent and immaterial right now. Does this mean that this body of mine is my soul?" Alina thought in wonder as she remembered Alex's story about his soul meeting up with his powers inside his soulscape.

No matter which way Alina looked at it, her body right now was similar to Alex's description of a soul before, which made her feel more a.s.sured.

This feeling however was replaced with wariness as she suddenly felt the approach of a presence behind her.

"Who!" Alina immediately crouched down as she touched the hilt of her katana, making her ready for any kind of sudden attacks.

Her body tensed up once more, as she started to gather power once again.

If this new presence behind her attacks her, Alina will not hesitate to cut it down!

"Woah, woah, woah. Easy there Alina." Alina's tight hold on her katana slackened after she heard a male voice behind her.

This voice sounded similar to Alex too, although this time around, Alina did not feel any suspicion after hearing this voice.

"Alex, is that you?" Alina asked warily as she did not dare to imagine talking again to that mysterious speaker. She slightly loosened her hold on her katana, as she regarded the newcomer with both curiosity and wariness.

"Hah? What is that question? Of course I am Alex." The man behind Alina replied, which made Alina sigh in relief.

"…You're telling the truth." These were the only words that ALIna said as she relaxed her body. She then turned around as she looked at her witty partner. "That's good."

And with that, most of Alina's negative emotions for the day disappeared, as she looked at Alex's excited face.

Nothing seemed to be different on Alex right now, although his body was also at the same state as Alina's, although his was 3 times larger than hers.

This could be the result of some kind of [special condition in the soulscape, but right now, Alina was not interested in it.

She was only focused on Alex, who was now giving Alina an inquisitive look.

"Alina, did something happen while you were meditating?" Alex, whose appearance was displayed in front of Alina, slowly said as uncertainty appeared on his eyes. "After all, its weird for you to act like this, especially when you just woke up… Did you encounter something? Or was it someone?"

"…" After Alex said these words, Alina repressed a s.h.i.+ver as she remembered the 'talk' that she had with the mysterious speaker earlier.

"Ah don't worry about that Alex. I was just shaken up earlier." Alina replied as she let out an inward sigh. "Really, there's no problem with me. I was just a little muddle-headed earlier."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, I am sure about it." Alina replied as she crossed her arms. "So there's no need for you to be like this. I can already take care of myself!"

"…"

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

When Alina saw Alex's appearance as a soul body, she immediately had the impulse to tell Alex the message that was given to her earlier.

After all, this message can be said to be vital for Alex.

But after she saw the undisguised enthusiasm on Alex's face right now, Alina lost the drive to give the message to him.

"Forgive me Alex, but the message will have to wait, at least after we finish this consciousness fusion." Alina thought to herself as she saw Alex's beaming face. "You… you will understand my reason for this delay once I tell you everything later…"

While Alina was thinking of these things, Alex suddenly gave her a reply, which forced an awkward grimace from Alina.

"Alright then, keep your secrets." This was Alex's reply as he shook his head wryly.

"…"

There was no doubt that Alex knew that Alina's hiding something, although Alex seemed to be not that interested on it now.

"I don't know what happened to you, but I am not focused on that right now." Alex continued talking as he ignored Alina's discomfort. "We are here to achieve our original goal, which is the consciousness fusion. We… just have to deal with the minor matters after we succeed here. For now, let's pour our attention on our original plan!"

"…" Alina did not give any reply to that, as she just gave Alex a slight nod.

"….If that nod means that you agree, then I think we should proceed immediately." Alex said as he held Alina's right hand. "Come with me, let's go meet our target today."

"Our target? Do you mean the-"

"Yes, I mean the consciousness of the Esper World itself." Alex said as he gave Alina a grin. "After all, we are about to fuse with it today. Of course we have to meet it first."

"…So let me get this straight. Right now, you were able to do something that will allow us to see the consciousness of the Esper World easily." Alina slowly said, as the matter of the 'important message' started to get buried at the back of her mind. "Is that what you did?"

"That's what I exactly did." Alex replied smugly as he started pulling Alina along with him.

"Truth." This was what Alina could only say as she reluctantly followed Alex.

"…"

As Alina started to follow Alex, her eyes never stopped moving as she continued looking all around her.

All around Alina, all that she could only see were the 'night sky' and the 'stars', which made her feel as if she was walking through s.p.a.ce right now.

Each step that she took with Alex gave her a new view of the 'stars' around her, which filled her up with some kind of mystical feeling.

"Alex, is this place the soulscape of the Esper World?" Alina asked as she felt more and more comfortable with her surroundings. "Maybe its just me, but I can feel some kind of familiarity with this place."

"Well, you're actually right, Alina." Alex replied as he continued brining Alina with him. "This place is the soulscape of the Esper World, where the soul and the consciousness of the Esper World resides."

".."

"As for us two, both of us right now are soul bodies." Alex said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, don't ask me how I was able to bring your soul here. I just barely did it earlier…'

"…" At this point, Alina was already numb from all the surprises that she had received. It was just too much, that Alina had already developed a small immunity against it.

Right now, Alina was not worried on how her soul got here. She was more worried on how her soul could be safe on this place, especially when they are here in order to enact the consciousness fusion!

"Alex, maybe its just me, but isn't this dangerous?" Alina muttered as she observed her transparent skin. "After all, even our souls are actually on the line here. Even if I have now great knowledge about things like this, I know that one small mistake can lead to our souls getting damaged forever."

"Alina, I know that this is dangerous, but this is the only way that our consciousness can interact with the consciousness of the Esper World." Alex said as he let out a sigh. "Our souls… must be in close proximity the with 'soul' of the Esper World before we can attempt the consciousness fusion. If our souls are not in close contact with each other, then our fusion plan won't have any effect at all…."

"...Wow, so our souls must approach each other?" Alina muttered as she let out a wry smile. "I'm not sure if I should be relieved or worried by that…"

"…"