OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 301: A Toddler Came to Ask for Candy

Chapter 301: A Toddler Came to Ask for Candy

?

His answer met the robot's question in a heartbeat:

"The Hidden Light."

Ting!

The door whispered their acceptance and slid open, welcoming him inside.

What met his eyes next was a very thick fog, most likely artificial and only present to set the mood.

Emir found that slightly childish, and as he entered, his hope for finding anything useful decreased even further.

From what he could see, a long, oval table bathed in black stood in the middle of the room.

On both sides of that table were a group of seven people, each wearing a dark cloak and masks that hid their identities.

They were already sitting there, staring at him as if wanting to intimidate him.

But he was at the opposite end of experiencing such a thing.

The only thing their staring had done was make him struggle to stop himself from laughing. 'These guys want to scheme against the Order? These? Guess I should've expected as much for a throwaway club that disbanded in the second week of the novel.'

After coughing twice, Emir sat on one of the free chairs, opposite a girl and a boy.

Just as he made himself comfortable, a boy at the end of the table greeted him.

"Welcome, eighth sin, to our humble gathering... Don't mind the theatrics, our members said that a little flair was always needed."

Emir chuckled quietly.

"Thanks, and I don't mind, don't worry."

His voice turned robotic, almost static, as it passed through his mask and echoed through the room, startling the boy right beside him.

"...D-Damn. Too much auto-tune, my friend."

The one who seemingly led this gathering nodded his head.

"We see no issue with your precautions, eighth. No matter who you are, you're welcome here, as we all wish to seek the light."

Emir eyed him for a while, then scanned the rest as he asked:

"Do the rest agree?"

"Yeah, we do."

"Of course!"

"Sure."

"No problems."

"Me neither."

Emir's head subtly flinched as he heard the boy opposite him speak.

"Let's get this over with!"

Then, as the girl spoke, his head snapped in their direction, and he stared at them with wide eyes.

'Holy hell... those dumbasses.'

Aria and Elijah.

They wanted to create a club.

Why?

It was for this.

The two wanted to join this dumb club where they would play pretend, so they needed something to act as a cover, hide their paper trail, their tracks.

That cover was going to be the new club Emir was supposed to accept the application for tonight.

'It's good that he's trying to help, but...'

'Wow.'

Emir thanked the invisible stars for the fog as he couldn't stop himself from face-palming.

'I gotta talk to that kid later.'

With that decided, he said:

"...Thanks for the warm welcome, guys. I'm happy to be here among kin that see through the propaganda."

"I am as well. Now, let me introduce you.

The leader stood up, pushing some of the fog near him away.

"We call ourselves the seven deadly sins..."

'More like the seven slightly lethal wrongdoings, but alright.'

"But we'll call ourselves eight deadly sins from now on..."

'Thanks for including me, bud.'

"While our members are way higher than just seven..."

'Don't lie, we all know they aren't.'

"We still use this name as we rotate the mantle every semester..."

'Don't tell me it's to keep spies out or something.'

"It's to make sure that our objective is completed, as our members are prone to corruption."

'Haa... man...'

To mask his sigh, Emir interrupted by asking a question:

"But why not use a contract?"

"That would leave traces... It's also why we use paper."

'...At least he's not that incompetent.'

"I see, great job."

The kid proudly pumped his chest.

"Of course! I'm from the Order..."

Time slowed.

"after..."

Emir's eyes darkened as Temporal Perception activated without a thought.

"..all."

The mask covered it all though, hiding his narrowed eyes, and intense face.

'This kid...'

His right hand tightened into a fist as he heard those words come out of the kid's mouth, his

nails threatening to pierce his skin.

[Lyra... You heard that?]

His breaths had hastened quickly...

[... Yes, but his face doesn't show up in the database.]

[That's fine, I know he's lying... I'm just asking you what to do with him.]

And then they were back under control.

[Are you mad?]

[You think? Some kid thinks he can impersonate them to play pretend?!]

Maybe not.

[Calm down... call Amon. Let him deal with it.]

[...Sure.]

Emir let out a sigh and stood up, approaching the two opposite him with quick steps.

"Where you going?"

He ignored their leader and pulled the 'named' up by the neck.

"The fuck are you..."

"What the hell..." They resisted at first, but they quickly picked up on the fact that it was Emir who had them

trapped in his grip.

It wasn't a difficult realization, not because of his rare tall height or large body, but because

of his un-mistakingly dangerous presence.

"We've got a code red boys and gals, lock the place up."

The six wrongdoings babbled about something or another behind them as they prepared to

fight, but he ignored them and walked through the supposedly 'locked' door, which slid open

for him without any issues.

"But how?! Sloth, are you sure that code red was in effect?"

"Yes! I sent the command!"

"Pride, we better activate code black and bring in reinforcements..."

Their chatter faded as the door closed shut, locking them in while they were none the wiser.

[You should check their origins.]

He nodded at Lyra's reminder and hovered his bracelet over the door's scanner for a moment.

After a beep that confirmed his access, he asked it to show him the profiles of those who

entered earlier today.

'Hmm...'

Five of them were from sub-branches of Elite families, while their leader was some

commoner kid who had gotten in over his head after learning about the Order.

[Nothing useful here.]

[So we wasted time?]

[I guess...]

Emir shrugged his shoulders, his gaze lowering to meet the two little dumbasses.

"Explain yourselves."

Elijah's grip over his mask tightened as he looked down in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry... I... I know this isn't an excuse, but... I wanted to tell you when we came by but I

forgot about it after you got me a-angry."

While her partner in crime stuttered over his words, Aria stared at her professor unblinkingly. Only when he looked back at her did she apologize, her ears blushing red:

"I-I'm sowwy."

She bit her lip.

|| ||

She messed up her apology.

"........"

She fucked up!

And with every second that Emir stayed silent, her embarrassment continued to grow.

Then, in the next moment, Aria couldn't take it anymore, so she snapped her head down and

joined Elijah in reddened shame.

They were both trying to hide away from his gaze.

[Should I be harsh?]

[Do whatever you want... I don't know how to deal with kids.]

[You know how to deal with everything, though?]

[Yes, but I know it isn't my answer that you want.]

[...Smartass.]

[Gigolo.]

[Oh~. Look at you fighting back.]

[Hehehe~.]

Their telepathic conversation ended in under a second as they shared a laugh and went back to

focus on their respective circumstances.

"To be honest with you two, I'm not angry, really... I'm just disappointed."

While scoffing, Emir turned around, showing them his back as he headed towards the

elevator.

"I didn't expect either of you to be this... naive."

The two didn't give chase, or even show a reaction to his words.

They simply kept their heads down as he walked away, almost tearing up, each heavy step of

This a punch in their guts. Minutes went by, and they stayed there, locked in place, not knowing what to do.

Meanwhile, their professor reached the tenth floor with a smile apparent on his face.

'I've always wanted to say that!'

It seemed that he had fulfilled a little fantasy of his.

Anyhow, after he entered his office, he had a quick bite-some tasty protein bars-and tooka

shower that he didn't need.

His next destination was the training room, a room that he reached in two steps.

On the way there, he grabbed his augmented suit and placed it on the center of his broad

chest.

When a moment passed, he shed his nakedness as the hexagon expanded like slime all over his

body, forming his desired comfy plain black pajamas with its nanobots.

'Nice as always...'

Emir then sat down in a lotus position and cultivated, enjoying the SS-Density Aether only

found in training rooms of this caliber or on the edges of those higher.

He also practiced his strength Art at the same time, welcoming pain as it gave him its regular

visit.

They talked... him and 'pain.'

However, unlike usual, pain stayed for a while, wanting to talk about deeper things...

Things that hit hard and fast.

Things that hurt a lot.

But then, during one of their conversations... someone-no, something-tugged at his

clothes.

Emir opened his eyes, sensing danger.

His senses were blaring at him, forcing the activation of Temporal Perception.

Alas...

He was late.

The activation...

It only prolonged the moment.

It started with a small, soft pull. Something akin to a toddler asking for candy.

Then the toddler turned into a black hole, calling death its friend.

The pull was strong-strong enough to nearly snap Emir's neck in half.

'Ah...'

Emir began to float under the pull, finally understanding what had occurred. Yet even in his accelerated time...

He was late. Once again.

'Fff---'

Late enough to the point that not even Flash Step would save him.

Then...

There was no then.

Everything occurred in an instant.

No, it was faster. Nothing of him could be found in the observable time.

He just vanished without a trace.

There was no 'after,' no lingering presence, no remnants of his existence.

Time ceased its meaning for that moment, rendering his personal cameras useless.

All that remained was an empty training room.

Fshshshshhhhhh...

No...

There was a new addition to the room.

A portal. A hazy, purplish portal; dominated the room.

Yet, even with its aura, it was undetectable to the naked eye.

Camouflaged, it silently rhythmed to its creator's tune. Pulsating slowly, sometimes

shivering.

Eventually however, the very thing that had caused Emir to disappear...

Whoosh!

Had disappeared as well.