“Out for a walk,” Jack replied in a casual tone.
Although the excuse was blatantly weak, no one called him out on it.
Jack’s condition had left them all feeling sympathetic.
Jack had somehow lost his powers after returning from the Shadow Trial.
It was a devastating blow for him.
Felix and Arthur sometimes noticed him crying when he thought no one was watching.
To support him, they tried to stay close, but sometimes, they gave him space, like now, to let him relax and sort his thoughts.
“Where have you been for the past weeks?” Jack asked. “And why didn’t you come inside? Everyone would be happy to meet you.”
Jack stared at Neo, holding Beelzebub carefully in his hands as the caterpillar grumbled and wriggled, soup dripping from its round body.
Neo had grown visibly.
He seemed a head taller, and his skin gave out a healthy glow.
“It’s fine. I’m short on time, and they’re tired. It’s better to let them rest.”
While they spoke, Neo used his Intent to scan Jack’s body.
He found no trace of Void Element’s awakening.
‘Jack was using Void Element with his Necromancy in the future Sphinx showed me,’ Neo thought.
‘How is that possible?’
‘Jack is corrupted by Void, but that Void is mimicked Shadow Element, even if it came from a 100% synchro world.’
Neo frowned.
‘Sure, mimicked Void can corrupt his Core and cause him to lose powers, but it shouldn’t be able to awaken the actual Void Element.’
‘He doesn’t have Void affinity. Shadow elements can’t give it to him.’
Jack’s status screen had Void affinity, since the Akashic Record saw him using it in the future.
The Akashic Record didn’t have much information about 100% Synchro Shadow Worlds.
It couldn’t predict everything related to those worlds, especially since they weren’t connected to Earth.
‘The Records must’ve assumed that the Void affinity Jack gained from there was real.’
‘But that doesn’t explain how Jack used Void affinity inside that vision.’
‘And how can the Akashic Record make such a simple mistake?’
Even if the Akashic Record thought Jack had received Void Affinity, it should’ve predicted others’ futures and realized Jack had no Void affinity in them.
Jack’s future and other’s future would’ve been like trying to piece together wrong pieces of puzzle.
The vision of predicted future shouldn’t form since the pieces didn’t fit.
But there was a vision.
Neo saw it.
It meant Jack having Void affinity was a consistent detail in everyone’s future, causing Akashic Record to believe this was the correct future.
‘Something like this can only happen when Jack got his Void affinity from another source and the Akashic Record didn’t realize it.’
Neo’s eyes narrowed.
‘It already believed Jack got Void affinity from the Shadow World, and it predicted a future like that.’
‘Putting two and two together it had no reason to not believe Jack got his Void affinity from somewhere else.’
Neo’s thoughts churned.
‘Who gave Jack Void affinity?’
Neo was lost in thought when Jack’s voice broke through the silence.
“What’s wrong? You look like you were thinking about something serious.”
Neo blinked, turning to face Jack, who stood a few steps away. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire
“Did something strange happen to you in the past few days? Did someone shady come to meet you?” Neo asked.
“No?” Jack answered, confused.
His expression made it clear he had no idea what Neo was referring to.
“Forget about it,” Neo said, shaking his head slightly. “I’m here to tell you about the Excavation mission.”
“What about it?” Jack asked, straightening slightly.
“You guys will fail, and everyone except Arthur and you will die.”
Jack’s expression stiffened, but there was no surprise or fear in his eyes.
“I see….”
Jack’s words trailed off.
“You guys failed because you opened the seal on Mars wrongly,” Neo explained.
“…Are you sure?” Jack asked.
“I am sure about it. As for the correct method of unsealing, no one knows it honestly.”
“Then—”
“You guys need to awaken your Void Affinity and use it along with Death – as Chaos – to slowly corrupt the seal and break it successfully.
“It should work that way, in theory at least.
“If you think you can’t do that, then don’t try to remove the seal,” Neo said.
“Okay, but who is ‘you guys’?”
“Arthur and you.”
“Arthur has Void Affinity?” Jack’s questioned, surprised.
“He does,” Neo confirmed and he thought. ‘He was bred to be the perfect warrior. Of course, he has Void.’
Neo gave Jack a few more warnings.
“Be careful,” Neo said finally with a small encouraging smile.
He was about to leave when Jack suddenly called out to him.
“Neo, you should come with us.”
Neo stopped and turned around.
“…?”
“If we fail and Mars goes on a rampage, then we need someone to subdue him.”
“Yeah, that’s why I’m explaining everything to you. I trust you enough to know you can handle it.”
“It’s impossible for me.”
Jack’s voice wavered, and he clenched his fists.
Shadow Window and Shadow World.
In both places, he had done nothing to help.
Worse, he had caused more damage.
“What if I make a mistake again? I’m not strong enough to handle—”
“Then be strong,” Neo interrupted Jack. “If you can’t do that, don’t remove the seal.
“Or ask my brother for help. He’ll get you someone strong enough to hold off Mars’ rampage.”
Neo activated his Shadow Jump Spell before Jack could respond.
His figure melted into the shadows in an instant, and he disappeared without another word.
Jack stood there, alone.
‘I hope I did the right thing by pushing him like that,’ Neo thought.
As much as he wanted to help, Neo understood that this was something Jack had to overcome on his own.
He had to stand back on his two feet.
“He really doesn’t know how to talk,” Jack chuckled.
He understood Neo’s intentions were good.
“Now I need to find a way to break the news to everyone.”
He took one last look where Neo had disappeared into and returned to the cafeteria.
“You are back already?” Arthur questioned.