Chapter 160 I“m the Victim here!
And there it is. With Alina"s words coming out of her mouth, Alex"s suspicions were now confirmed.
Alex"s first world, the Esper World, was actually the Legacy of Tartaros.
But even after hearing that, there is still something Alex was confused about.
How the h.e.l.l did Tetra come out of the simulation and gain an organic human body in the process, while also losing his memories?
Alina was a unique case, since she became a Companion, and her current body was made with the a.s.sistance of the Endless Monarch.
Alex was about to raise this question to Alina, but before he could do so, Alina continued talking.
"Andrew Collins" goal by creating that simulated world was just simple. He wanted to create powerful Espers which he can recruit to the Pantheon." Alina said as she shook her head. "But in order for him to allow Espers to stay in this world, there must be some kind of vessel that will house them."
"So with the collaboration with some top-secret scientists, Andrew Collins created multiple Empty Bodies which can house the consciousness of an Esper ascending from the simulated Esper World." Alina said, this time with her voice turning low. "Those bodies were created to allow any Espers to live in this world…"
"Now, all that Andrew Collins had to do was to accelerate the time inside the simulated world and wait for the first Esper to leave the world and enter the Empty Body." Alina then let out a sigh as she looked down. "He did not wait that long."
Alina glanced once more at Andrew Collins, this time with a blaming look in her eyes. "An Esper successfully ascended from the simulated world, and this Esper successfully fused with the Empty Body that Andrew Collins prepared. Once that happened, Andrew Collins started interacting with his first "harvest"."
"As it turns out, that Esper can still use his Esper Power in this World, and naturally Andrew Collins was happy from that." Alina said as she kicked a pebble off the ground. "The only problem was that this Espers" memory was affected, making him lose any memories that he had of his time in the Esper World. This is an unfortunate side effect, but Andrew Collins can take it."
Alina"s expression then turned dim as she gritted her teeth "Looking at what that Esper can do, it seems like Andrew Collins" experiment was a success. But as it turns out, Andrew Collins created one of the worst disasters ever known in this world."
"This Esper, which Andrew Collins called the First Star Esper, was actually a villain deep inside." Alina said as she gripped her sword tightly. "The First Star Esper did unspeakable things which Andrew Collins did not notice due to his ecstacy."
"…." By this point, Alex tried to focus on listening more.
"Before the First Star Esper left the simulated Esper World, he actually used its inherent program to lock down the whole simulated world." Alina said as she gave a meaningful glance towards Alex. "That lockdown prevented the Espers from the Esper World from ascending, and it also prevented any outside interferences. With that lockdown, even Andrew Coolins himself will be unable to monitor or even manipulate the parameters of that world. That world will be independent on its own…"
"….."
When Alex head this words, he gulped slightly as he realized what Alina was talking about.
"The World Diagram…" This is the realization that Alex had after hearing Alina"s words. That thing that he destroyed in their first mission was actually a scheme created by the First Star Esper to inconvenience the Esper World! How deplorable of him!
"Because Andrew Collins was still rejoicing from the success of his experiment, he initially did not notice what The First Star Esper did. It was only a day later that Andrew Collins saw the lockdown that the First Star Esper did. By the time that Andrew Collins detected it, it was already too late for him. There is no way for him to remove that lockdown, and only the inhabitants of the simulated world can destroy it…"
Alex nodded lightly after hearing this, remembering that it took him and Alina a lot of grit just to destroy the World Diagram. Even now, Alex can still feel s.h.i.+vers regarding what happened at that time.
"But it is the next thing that the First Star Esper did that was worse." Alina said as her eyes started to blaze with anger.
"Just 2 days after he ascended in this World, the First Star Esper became an extremely deplorable Supervillain. Even if he had lost his memories, it seems like his true evil att.i.tude was still with him. Even if he does not know what he did in the Esper World, that was not enough to hinder him. The First Star Esper started killing a lot of people, and he used his Esper Power to torment many. As time pa.s.sed by, his notoriety became so great that he was called by his more infamous Alias."
"At that time, he was given the moniker Monster King." Alina said while Alex heard Lauren sucking in a deep breath.
"In the end, the Pantheon had no choice but to deal with the Monster King personally, but at that time, Tetra was still not a member of the Pantheon, which made it hard for them to fight the Monster King."
"The Monster King"s Esper Power was quite formidable." Alina said as she looked at the Pantheon members above her. "The Monster King can induce powerful mutations on any living beings nearby, even including himself. Not only that, but he can also manipulate these mutated beings to follow his commands or sometimes, even combine them with each other to create stronger mutated beings!"
"With that Esper Power of his, Monster King was able to create the Monster Army that made him a world-ending threat. The Pantheon at that time was lucky to defeat him, although a lot of damage has been done by that point."
"..."
"It was only after the Monster King"s death that the Pantheon discovered Andrew Collins" simulated world. Obviously, they are not happy from it." Alina said as she casted a disapproving gaze to Andrew Collins.
"After they made the discovery, everyone from the Pantheon were scared of Andrew Collin"s simulated world. If just one Esper that came out of that world was that powerful, then what will happen once more comes out? Won"t that be the end of the world?"
"So, the Pantheon decided to kill Andrew Collins and destroy the simulated world. But before they could do so, something happened with the simulated world that was still on lockdown." By this point, Alex could already understand what Alina will say next.
"With the time acceleration inside the simulated world, 500 years has pa.s.sed by inside it compared to the 2 days that pa.s.sed by here in this world. The Pantheon and Andrew Collins was not sure what happened during this time, but it seems like these 500 years inside the Esper World has affected the lockdown itself."
Alina"s face was slightly red as she continued talking.
"After that 500 years in the Esper World, the lockdown placed on it by Monster King 2 days prior disappeared entirely, and with it, came out one Star Esper who decided to ascend from that World."
"The Pantheon was obviously caught surprised by it, as they could only watch as the Star Esper started inhabiting a nearby Empty Body. "Alina"s mouth looked like it was about to develop a smirk, but she tried to stop it from appearing.
"At first, Pantheon was tempted to kill this person, but then they started to think that they could still give these Star Esper another chance. So, the Pantheon adopted a new plan regarding the Espers and the simulated world. "
"The first thing that they did was to freeze the simulation itself, and not destroy it. That way, they can stop the simulated world from spitting out more Espers while still keeping it intact. As for the Star Esper that ascended that day, the Pantheon decided to talk to him properly."
Allina then started pacing all around her as she said,
"To make sure that they sound genuine, the Pantheon decided to tell this Star Esper everything that the Monster King did, and the current state of the simulated world."
"From what I can remember from Nomad"s memories, it seems like the Pantheon offered this new Star Esper a position in the Pantheon, in exchange for them keeping the simulated world safe from any kind of harm. Even if this Star Esper lost his memory too, he still cared a lot about the simulated world, so he accepted the offer by the Pantheon."
Alina then stopped pacing all around her as her gaze went towards the floating Tetra.
"Nowadays, you know that Star Esper as Tetra…"
Even if it was faint, Alex could see melancholy on Alina"s eyes.
This is understandable, as Alina just discovered what actually happened to her home world. Not anybody can just easily recover from that.
"Right now, the simulated world was still on its frozen state, as per Tetra"s request." Alina said she let out a sigh. "Even until now, Tetra did not explain the reason for him wanting to still freeze the simulated world…"
"Maybe its because Tetra"s worried that he had some relatives living there inside the simulated world." Alex thought to himself as he shook his head inwardly. "Maybe he"s afraid of not seeing them alive with him losing his memories. If my guess is right, maybe Tetra will only unfreeze the simulated world if he manages to get his memories back…"
Alex then started feeling broody as he remembered the warm treatment given to him by Tetra"s wife and two children.
Maybe… having them frozen inside the simulation was actually good. At least they are not yet dead, and they still have a chance to meet with Tetra in the future.
Well, that depends if Tetra manages to regain his memories. But right now, it seems unlikely, as it looks like not even Plague can make Tetra recover his memories…
***************
It took Alina a few seconds of silence before she decided to continue talking.
"Once they had the deal with Tetra, they then decided to deal with Andrew Collins himself. Since he was their teammate, they decided to not kill him anymore. Instead, they used Plague"s power to wipe Andrew Collins" memory of the Pantheon, and let him live his life away from them…."
The person being talked about started writhing under Professor Frances" grip, as if he was extremely affected by what Alina just said.
"Down boy, you are just a listener here, so don"t fret like that." Alex heard Professor Frances saying as she waved her arm around, dragging Andrew Collins with it. "I know that your backstory is exciting, but please don"t be this enthusiastic…"
"…"
Even if it was not shown in his face, deep inside him, Alex had the inexplicable urge to punch Andrew Collins in the mouth.
This m****rf*****r acted like he was a victim, when all this time around he was actually the cause of his own misery! He should have not sympathized with this guy!