The atmosphere in the King's Chamber was suffocating. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and searing heat, like a furnace that had been pushed past its limit.
Toya lay in the center of Haruto's massive, silk-draped bed, looking small and fragile against the luxury. His skin was a frightening shade of crimson, and visible wisps of blue steam were rising from his shoulders and chest. His eyes had rolled back, and his breathing was shallow—he had completely lost consciousness.
Haruto stood at the foot of the bed, his hands clenched into fists. For the first time since this "game" began, he wasn't bored. He was terrified. He looked at Toya's suffering and felt a sharp, heavy weight in his chest.
(Haruto's Inner Thoughts):I did this. I wanted to help him, but I treated him like he was a Level 99. My mana is a poison to him because I didn't know how to throttle the connection.
Ivory stood by the window, her arms crossed tight, her silver eyes glowing with irritation. She wouldn't even look at Haruto.Bellona was sitting on a
"A Level 5 vessel cannot hold a Level 90 stream. You didn't just 'buff' him; you nearly erased his physical existence."
nearby chair, nursing her hands. Her palms were red and blistered where she had caught Toya earlier. Even a War Goddess's skin had been singed by the sheer intensity of the mana leak. She didn't complain, but the sight of her burnt hands only made Haruto feel worse.
Lustra was pacing back and forth, looking confused and restless.
"I don't understand... it's just mana! Why isn't he just getting stronger? Why is he melting? This doesn't happen in the heavens!"
Asobi was the only one moving. She hovered directly over Toya, her translucent hands glowing with a soft, diagnostic purple light as she scanned his vitals.
"Boss, listen to me," Asobi said, her voice echoing with the weight of centuries.
"This isn't just a 'normal' mana fever. This is a special case. As a High-Tier Spirit, I've seen this before. Spirits like me... we are literal batteries of unlimited mana. That's why humans and elves hunt us, capture us, and sell us like items just to boost their own levels."
She looked down at Toya's steaming chest.
"Usually, a Spirit chooses to transfer mana slowly. But if a Spirit's power is forced into a human without a proper 'filter,' or if the soul isn't ready... This is what happens. Their internal organs start to cook. They aren't 'leveling up'—they're being erased."
Haruto stood there, his shadow long against the marble floor. He didn't look up. He didn't want to see Bellona's burnt hands or the steam rising from the boy he promised to protect.
"I don't care about the 'how' anymore," Haruto said, his voice low but sharp. "I know I messed up. I know I messed up badly. I don't need a history lesson on Spirit hunting, Asobi. Just tell me... how do I fix him? Now."
Asobi drifted back, pointing toward the window.
"A Spirit knows the symptoms, but only the Goddess of Intelligence knows the cure. The 'Logic' of the soul belongs to her."
Everyone's eyes turned toward Ivory.
Ivory let out a soft, tired sigh. She looked at Haruto—who was standing with his head bowed in shame—and then at Toya. The silence in the room was heavy.
"Fine," Ivory said, her voice regaining its calm, commanding authority.
"Step aside. I need to perform a deep-scan of his 'Root Directory.' If the mana has already fused with his nervous system, I'll have to rewrite his basic biological laws just to keep him breathing."
Haruto didn't move for a second. His eyes were still cast down, hidden in the shadows of his hair, but when he spoke, his voice was bold and steady, echoing through the massive chamber.
"Do whatever it takes, Ivory," Haruto commanded.
Ivory stood up, her hands glowing with a soft, fading silver light. She had spent the last few minutes weaving complex magical threads around Toya's vital organs, creating a protective barrier to keep his heart from bursting.
She turned to Haruto, her expression unusually serious.
"I've stabilized his physical form for now," she said, her voice quiet. "But Haruto... can I ask you one thing?"
Haruto didn't look away from Toya's unconscious face. "Ask."
"Why is saving him this important to you?" Ivory asked, her eyes searching for him.
"He's just a human we met yesterday. Why are you risking so much—even your own mana stability—for him?"
Haruto paused. A shadow of a smile crossed his face, though his eyes remained focused.
"I don't know," he admitted.
"Haruto, be serious," Ivory pressed.
"I am being serious," Haruto replied, his voice turning bold and cold.
"I don't have a logical reason. But I saw him. This guy was ready to join a team with people he didn't even know. He didn't care about his pride; he bowed his head, he begged, he did whatever it took. That means he has a goal—something so big that he's desperate to reach it. If a human is that desperate to change his destiny, then even a God of Creation shouldn't stand in his way. That's why he has to live."
Ivory let out a small, soft laugh, her tension finally breaking.
"You really are a strange man. Fine. There is one way to fix this, but it's dangerous."
"Tell me," Haruto commanded.
"I have protected his organs," Ivory explained,
"but the human brain is the most complex 'organ' in existence. It doesn't just function; it processes memories, signals, and thoughts. Right now, his brain has shut down to protect itself from the heat. To jump-start it, we have to enter his Subconscious—his thoughts. And while I navigate his mind, you must feed his Mana Core directly with your own Blood."
Haruto didn't hesitate for even a second. He reached for a small blade on the bedside table.
"Fine. If my blood is the 'Admin Key' he needs to reboot, he can have it."
The tension in the King's Chamber reached a breaking point as the true cost of the ritual became clear. Lustra stepped forward, her eyes wide with genuine concern.
"Wait, Ivory!" Lustra called out, her voice unusually sharp.
"Entering a human's brain... isn't that one of the most dangerous things a Goddess can do? Messing with someone's thoughts isn't like fixing a broken bone. If you trip over a single memory, you could rewrite who he is!"
Bellona nodded, her burnt hands still trembling slightly.
"She's right. If the 'Sync' goes wrong inside his mind, Toya could lose his entire personality. He might wake up having forgotten everything—his goals, his name, his soul. Or worse... the mana overload could turn him into a Demon, a mindless berserker who only knows how to kill."
Haruto felt a cold shiver crawl down his spine. He looked at the blade in his hand, then at Toya's sweating face. He wasn't just risking Toya's life anymore; he was risking Toya's very humanity.
Asobi floated between them, her purple mist swirling darkly.
"She knows the risks, Bellona. We all do. But look at him—his brain is already 'Thermal Throttling.' If we do nothing, he dies as a nobody. If we do this, he has a chance to wake up as a King."
She turned her translucent gaze toward Haruto.
"Ivory is right. This is the only path. It's high-risk, but it's the most effective 'System Reboot' we've got."
The atmosphere in the King's Chamber turned heavy with a silence so thick it felt like physical pressure. Every eye in the room—the Goddesses of War, Love, and Intelligence, and the System Spirit—was locked onto Haruto.
"The choice is yours," Ivory said, her silver aura flickering.
"But there is one more risk you must understand. We are not in our true Goddess forms right now. My magic is suppressed in this world. I cannot simply teleport us to his Core; we have to physically journey through his Thought World."
She stepped closer, her expression grim. "We will have exactly three hours. If Toya's physical body dies while we are inside, his Thought World will collapse and 'delete' itself. Anyone inside that world when it dies—including us—will be erased from existence."
Haruto looked at his friends, then at the dying boy on the bed. "Can I go alone?" he asked, his voice steady.
"I don't want to risk all of you for my mistake."
Ivory shook her head.
"If you go alone, the 'Defense Mechanisms' of his subconscious will tear you apart. Your chances of survival are near zero. Plus If you die there, Haruto, we all die, because our mana is tethered to yours."
Suddenly, Bellona stepped forward, slamming her fist into her palm, a fierce grin breaking through her concern.
"Count me in! I'm not letting him go into a fight without his Vanguard. Let's do something 'stormy' for once!"
Lustra sighed, tossing her hair back, though her eyes were glowing with determination.
"Ugh, fine. What kind of Goddess would I be if I let a friend's soul wither away? Let's save him."
Ivory looked at them and felt a rare spark of warmth.
"It's settled then. Toya's heart is pure, which means his mind-scape won't be a labyrinth of lies. It will be honest, which makes it easier to navigate."
Asobi floated over the group, her purple mist expanding to cocoon them all.
"The kid is innocent and clean-hearted. That's the only reason we have a shot at this. I'm ready to bridge the connection."
Haruto stood motionless at the foot of the bed, his gaze fixed on Toya's struggling form. Silence stretched across the King's Chamber as everyone waited for the "Admin" to speak.
In his head, a conflict was raging. Why am I doing this? Haruto thought. Saving people? Playing the hero? That's not who I am. I came here to escape boredom. I wanted a game where I could just relax and enjoy the spectacle.
But then, he looked at Bellona's burnt hands. He looked at Ivory's uncharacteristic worry. He looked at Toya—the kid who had nothing, yet bowed his head and offered his loyalty just for a chance to change his fate.
"I called this world a game," Haruto whispered, his voice gaining a dangerous, sharp edge.
"I thought everything was just data and pixels. But in a game, when a teammate falls, you don't just stand there. You clear the enemy."
He looked up, his eyes burning with a new kind of fire.
"I never had a family before. I was alone in a void of boredom. Now? I have this massive house, a group of high-tier goddesses who actually care, and he who called me 'Brother' without hesitation. If I let him die because I'm too 'bored' to try, then I'm the one who's a glitch."
A smirk finally tugged at the corner of his lips.
"Besides," Haruto added, his tone shifting back to his usual witty self.
"Asobi said it herself—exploring a human's thought-world is completely uncharted territory. It's new. It's dangerous. And knowing how messed up his life has been, his mind is probably the most chaotic, non-boring place in this entire reality."
He stepped forward and held out his hand toward Ivory.
"Let's go. I'm not losing my first 'Brother' to a server crash. We're diving in."
Ivory stepped to the center of the chamber, her silver hair whipping around her as she unleashed her full theoretical power. The air hummed with the sound of a thousand crystal bells.
"Very well," Ivory declared, her voice echoing with a divine authority she hadn't used since they left the Lunar Realm. "We move as one. We do not separate, we do not falter. Our target is the Mana Core, and our mission is survival!"
With a sharp motion of her hands, she slammed her palms together.
Suddenly, the golden light of the King's Chamber was swallowed by a blinding, electric blue explosion. The walls of the mansion dissolved into streaks of data and light. In that instant, a massive surge of power returned to the Goddesses.
As they were pulled into the vacuum of Toya's mind, the casual clothes they wore in the human world shattered away. In a flash of celestial energy, Ivory was back in their Divine Goddess Armor—the same legendary gear they wore the day they first tested Haruto in the Lunar Realm, with the weight of infinite knowledge.
Then, the "drop" happened.
It felt like being thrown from a skyscraper. A violent, bone-rattling jerk slammed into their souls as they broke through the barrier of Toya's subconscious. The sensation was so intense it felt like their very atoms were being rearranged.
CRASH!
They landed hard, not on marble, but on cold, cracked asphalt. As the blue mist cleared, Haruto looked up and gasped.