This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

Chapter 121 23.X Interlude: Hard Crash

Shizu inwardly let out a sigh of relief by the time they set foot back on the bridge. She didn't know how or why they even bothered to look at the engine after that, but she supposed that it was for the best, seeing as Shen obviously took issue with what she saw.

"W-What the hell is this?!" the cute kid cursed in a way far beyond her age. "Why isn't it glowing?!"

"It's off right now," Shade scoffed behind the girl, his arms crossed as usual as he flashed his usual smirk. "Of course, it wouldn't be glowing."

"Well, isn't that the problem then?" Shen childishly pointed out, her wrench aimed directly at the engine. "Besides, why are we even fighting over this?"

"Because Moriya is currently predisposed of?"

Shizu inwardly grimaced at Guidance's off-handed tone. The fact that they found him outside staring into the abyss was concerning at first. She could still remember trying to scream at him to snap out of it, only for Guidance to tell her something along the lines of 'looking at a cutscene' like what happened to him before during the dungeon. She still didn't really understand, but after that, she used her [Code Watcher] to look at the man.

Only to frown as something that isn't a one and a zero appeared in front of her.

It was strange... It was some kind of rectangle with a square in the middle of it. It was a symbol, that much she knew. And sure enough, Guidance told her that it was a 'cutscene indicator' of some sort. After that, the princess just decided to drop the issue. She was sure to get her answers from the two Gods in due time anyway.

"He's still standing out there, isn't he," Shade rolled his eyes with a shrug. "I can only hope that our leader isn't completely useless after what he's going through."

"He's not insane, Shade," Guidance chuckled, a faint blush covering her face as she giggled. "He'll come back to us any minute now. Depending on how long it takes, he might have more information for us that we can use."

Information? "You think he's seeing a vision of the future?"

"More probably information from the present," Guidance guessed. "Depending on what it is, it might either help us, or maybe it'd just be something interesting for us to know."

Shizu hummed in understanding. Having a vision was something she was intimately aware of. Granted, her ability to see the future had never appeared again after that one time, but her memories of those visions would hopefully be more than enough to change the future.

She won't allow the Empire to fall... Nor will the [Shallow Deep] be allowed to be ruined by the oncoming war.

"Sire Moriya will surely lead us to success!" Maruki assuredly declared from his spot in the engine room. "He had done so for us through the dungeon, and he will surely do the same for this!"

The princess immediately heard Guidance sigh beside her, "Oh right... I have to fix that, huh..."

"Fix what, Lady Guidance?"

"Our statuses," Guidance explained, her [Manifest] already in her hands as she began using it. "If Moriya's right, then he experienced us dying over and over without us remembering any of it."

"What?!" Shade yelped out in alarm. "Was it the work of an enemy [Manifest]?"

"Nothing of the sort," Guidance shook her head. "It's just this world's way of making sure that we won't be stuck in any single- Wait... Do you even understand any of this?"

"Unfortunately, no," Shade suspiciously voiced out. "And frankly, it's rather tiring being kept in the dark like this."

The princess held in her sigh. As much as she wanted to spread the word of Moriya and Guidance being [Eld] Gods, the Gods themselves adamantly refused to be addressed or even portrayed as such. And as the devout follower that she was, she will simply obey. Although, the sheer amount of thinking she had to do to make sure that she acted her part was rather tiring. She knew for a fact that she was going to slip up one of these days, and she could only hope that the Gods would divulge their secret sooner rather than later.

"Ugh! Why can't I just hit it?!" Shen complained aloud in front of the engine. "Hitting it always works!"

Shizu chuckled at the girl's cuteness. "Shen, you can't just expect that to work all the time. We can't afford to break this [Rig]."

"I'm not gonna break it, Princess! I'm fixing it!" Shen pouted. "Just you watch! I just need time."

"And that's fine," Guidance quickly followed in agreement. "Besides, we need some time to fix our earlier issues anyway."

Shizu could only smile as she nodded at Guidance's words. If that was what they needed to do, then so be it. "Shall I use my [Code Watcher]?"

"Yeah," Guidance gratefully smiled. "This is gonna be a big change though, so get ready for a rather..."

"Don't worry, I can handle it," Shizu quickly smiled back with a determined nod. "Let's go ahead and fix it."

Positioning herself near Guidance's ear, Shizu went through the motions and opened up her [Code Watcher]. As usual, the world bled away into a sea of black and green as ones and zeroes flooded her senses. Unlike before, however, she saw more and more irregularities that weren't just the usual numbers building up in the back of her mind.

Rectangles. Triangles. Circles. Shapes of various types and sizes were starting to appear in the periphery of her vision. Nevertheless, it seemed more like a failing on her part rather than it being a part of the world itself. As such, she simply continued on with her task of relaying to Guidance the information the God needed to change the world.

"And we're done," Guidance nodded. "You can turn that off now."

"Thanks."

Nodding, Shizu closed her eyes, opening them up to see the world back to its original hues. For some reason, a part of her felt like something bad was about to happen the moment... Guidance hit enter...

Wait...

"I'm going to punch it in then... This way, we'll be able to remember everything after each wipe..."

A distant memory suddenly played out in Shizu's mind, rendering Guidance's words in the background mute as she remembered one of the scenes that played out in that haze of suffering she once went through.

The world falling apart... a ship flying through the [Stars]... The war a distant memory as reality itself fought against them...

"Here we go..."

"WAIT!-"

[BZZZZTTT!!!]

....

...

[[*FWWOWOWOOAMAMGNGNIGOHDO y82ye4 p2q7 tas8dh asdaiula1247t238rtasd asdv shd gif *]]

[ERROR!]

[ERROR!]

[ERROR!]

[Re:Mind Engine: CRITICAL ERROR! theseams.EXE HAS CRASHED! REBOOTING...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[reset.EXE NOT FOUND! REBOOTING TO SAFE MODE..]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[safemode.EXE NOT FOUND! CONTINUING WITH CURRENT BUILD!]

[PLEASE CONTACT XXXXXX FOR DETAILS]

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AN: Well then, never thought I'd get this far. I don't even know what's happening anymore, but rest assured that the next volume will be filled with even less cohesion as the world unravels with each adventure our lead goes through. Also, the next volume will be the beginning of me jumping POVs for more coverage. Moriya will still be the lead, of course, but Interlude-style chapters will start showing up in normal chapters going forward.

Also, I'll be dropping more of Guidance's Lore Notes for a bit. They're lite chapters where Guidance goes through the process of building up the world. You might want to read them if you're interested in that stuff.

I hope you continue to enjoy this, if only so that I too can enjoy writing for this as well.

ADDENDUM: The return of two chapters per day is upon us. Hope you all continue to support me ^^