Luna's pupils trembled, and her heart raced in her chest. Of course, she could guess his name with such glaring hints.
"What irony," she muttered under her breath.
Of course, it didn't prove anything. Yet, she felt a warm sensation spread over her chest. She finally knew his name. And she was the only one who did since he had never shared it for eleven years. A dazzling smile vanquishing the dark clouds of doubts filling her mind stretched on her face the next second.
"Idiot," she whispered, passing her arm under his armpit.
Then, she hugged him, feeling his feeble muscles and cracking bones twitch. She also heard his heart hammering against his chest and the wind flutter as his hesitant hand moved towards her back.
"I want to believe in your determination and love. But promise me! You'll return to me one day."
Upon hearing her earnest words and feeling her gentle and vibrant warmth, Prometheus' hand finally rested on her delicate back. For a moment, he allowed his mind to enjoy, forgetting about the burdens threatening to crush his heart into millions of pieces. Forgetting about his guilt and forgetting about the uncertain future.
He pulled back slightly, just enough to look into her sparkling eyes, and nodded.
Unfortunately, this fleeting moment of peace couldn't last.
"We must prepare everything before they answer," he started, staggering a few steps back before recovering his solemn expression. "I thought about a system-like interface to help humanity progress and get you new knowledge. If we spread them around the sixteen worlds and make it possible for you to scan anything they see or hear passively, you'll catch up with older worlds in a flash."
Luna fell silent for a moment, a calculative light flashing in her eyes as she pondered the idea. After ten minutes of silence, she answered, her lips curling downward in bitterness.
"It's a great idea. But it will cost me too much... At least a fragment of my core, and I'll probably fall into a coma for more than a decade."
"Did you plan to go somewhere during that time?" Prometheus asked, a wry smile stretching his lips. "I think sleeping will be better than spending that time brooding and panicking alone, anyway."
"Humph. Alright! I'll do it! Give me two days to customise it and integrate some useful features!" She answered, stifling her laughter behind a mask of annoyance. But she knew he had a point. Her life had been nothing but stressful since she awakened.
Maybe a bit of rest would be for the best.
He nodded, sighing in relief before walking on the white slabs until he reached a window letting filter the sun's bright light.
"When you said you personalised your room, I thought it would be something like my apartment, not a humongous tower. But it's great," he said, smiling brightly.
"My second idea was for you to challenge humanity with trials and reward them after they complete them. However, here is the trick. With the system, you'll scan areas corresponding to their levels and send them there through a world passage. Then, you'll collect the energy and items they got by killing their enemies."
"That's... A great idea!"
Her eyes lit up upon hearing the daring plan. Because of his earlier stunt, she already possessed the coordinates of sixteen slumbering worlds, each rich with its own energy. In other words, he planned for her to plunder them while sleeping!
"That's why you said a mutually beneficial relationship. I help them progress while they feed me energy! Brilliant! But I must ensure their survival then," she exclaimed, her mind already racing to implement the ideas.
Since the number of humans she had on hand was limited, she would add a few safety measures to reduce the damage they sustained and bring them back before they died entirely. That way, she would indeed raise an army of champions instead of her initial plan to sacrifice them all for one.
However, her mood suddenly dived as she remembered the most crucial part of the plan.
"What about the reincarnation spell? I don't have enough knowledge to do it!" She said, panic dancing in her eyes. Everything else would be meaningless without the spell.
"I'll get you that knowledge today. I just need to find someone proficient in soul magic, right?" He smirked, pointing towards the vast empty lands. "With it, you'll be able to link everyone's souls to you, too!"
"Sigh. You'll have to kill a few million creatures if you want me to heal you a little and open a passage," she answered, closing her eyes to calm her hammering heart.
Where did he get these crazy ideas? When she focused on preservation and recovery, he took proactive measures with high risks but high rewards in return. However, the craziest part about it was that it was possible!
She nodded, grabbing his shoulder to bring him back to the cave.
"You'll tell me later how you'll convince those worlds' leaders to conduct the summoning."
Her voice echoed as the scenery changed before Prometheus' eyes as he offered her a mysterious smile in answer.
For the next three hours, tremors uplifted the ground, and the earth rumbled as he obliterated swarm after swarm while Luna gradually treated the wounds he incurred after using her core.
"I can open a passage now."
Her sweet voice reached his ears as he wiped his sweat with his tattered coat's sleeve.
"Great. Open one to Andreas' plane. He is waiting for you. Follow him to find someone named Elisabeth and pull her into your dream. Show her Earth and convince her it is a prophecy. In the meantime, I'll look for the knowledge," he answered, his breathing uneven but his heart light.
A bright future would soon replace this gloomy nightmare... and he would finally rest.
"Sure! You will succeed! After all, I know you can be the best!"
Luna raised her fist, encouraging him for this last mission before focusing on the empty cave. With an elegant movement of her hand, a swirling vortex of pure mana hummed to life.
The next moment, they both crossed it, leaving the desolate Earth behind and stepping into a vibrant world filled with mana and bizarre creatures.