Ning stood on a tree, watching in every direction for signs of movement. As the night had fallen, he had realized a problem that he hadn't seen happen during the day.
His crown grew way too bright.
It seemed, he noticed, that the further away he was from one of the participant, the more his crown would shine.
Right now, it felt like there was a high wattage bulb hung right on top of his head.
So, he had to watch out for anyone that would come and try to steal his crown.
Time slowly passed by as he waited, but fortunately, no one seemed to come by. Still, Ning didn't let down his guards.
He slurped on his Aether fluid he had as he slowly absorbed that and that only, making sure to not touch anything that was outside of his body.
While he waited, Ning noticed something in the distance slowly walking in his general direction.
He got ready for battle. But when he saw the person, he stopped and showed a confused face.
The person that walked through the thicket of trees was a girl in her late 20s. She had silver-white hair flowing down on fair face. She wasn't tall or short, and wore a flowing dress of pink and green.
Her face showed signs of fear and anxiety as she never dared to look at him at all, keeping her eyes towards the ground.
That only gave Ning a very clear view of the crown on her head. That was what confused Ning so much.
'Why did someone with a crown come to me?' he thought in a confused expression.
"He-Hello," the girl said through a voice crack. She was really nervous from what Ning could see.
"Hi, what are you doing here?" Ning asked suspiciously.
The girl slowly lifted her head up and looked at Ning before looking back down. "I- I was hoping to get you help," she said.
"What is it?" Ning asked.
"Can- Can I work along with you? We both have crowns, so I was hoping you could help me protect mine," the girl said.
"Can't you protect it yourself?" Ning asked.
The girl quickly shook her head. "I… I can, but I don't want to hurt others," she said.
Ning's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How did you get the crown?" Ning asked.
"Through luck… or bad luck, I guess," the girl said in a low voice.
Ning looked at her for a second and said, "very well. You can stay around. But if too many people come, I won't help you, okay?"
"Yes, yes. Please, I just don't want people to come. That's it," she said.
"Okay," Ning said and continued absorbing his Aether as he kept an eye on the girl below.
He wanted to use Omni-Analysis on her to see what she was like, but that hurt him way too much mentally. Without the system being active, he didn't know what would happen if he accidentally looked at someone with a very high power level even when compared to him.
The system usually put him in coma when the mental stress got too high. However, what about when it wasn't there.
'No, no. I can't do that,' he thought. He would be able to analyze people that used Aether, Qi, or were body cultivators so that was something.
'Well, I can just ask her, can't I?' Ning thought.
"Miss, can you tell me your name?" Ning asked from above.
"Sorry?" the girl jolted out of some thought as she looked at Ning with fear and confusion.
"Your name," Ning said. "I'm just trying to make idle talk to pass some time."
"Oh, it's Nova Fable," the girl said.
"I see. Nice to meet you, Miss Nova. I am Ning Ruogong," Ning said. "If it isn't too much to ask, may I know what power miss Nova uses?"
The girl got suspicious and nervous, as one would if they were suddenly asked to reveal something that gave them an advantage.
"Are you going to hurt me?" she asked with narrow eyes.
"What?" Ning asked. "No, I have no such plans. I merely wanted to know what power system you had. What is the source of your powers."
"S-Souls. We get powers from our soul," the girl said.
"You get power from your soul?" Ning asked curiously. He had never expected soul itself to be a source of power.
"May I ask how you cultivate this soul power? Do you sit around absorbing soul energy, or… is there some other method," Ning asked.
"I'm not comfortable talking about that," the girl said.
Ning wanted to push more to learn about this curious soul powers, but in the end, he decided to drop it.
"Then which planet do you come from, miss Nova?" Ning asked.
"P-Planet Briford," the girl said.
"You were alone in this planet before you came here then? How long were you alone? What happened to the others?" Ning asked.
"Others?" she asked as her mind moved and she saw it once again.
Bodies flopping into the ground all around her. Voices being silenced one by one. Everyone died, while she survived.
Even though she didn't want to.
"No! No! No! No! No! No! No!…" the girl clutched her head in between her palms and started rocking back and forth as she wished away the thoughts in her mind.
She didn't want to see the visions at all. However, the more she wished she didn't see it, the clearer her visions became.
Very clearly, she could see the dead bodies of her friends and families. Her mother's loose arms fell from her shoulders mid hug. Her father held her too, but his arms were starting to loosen as well.
Her sister lied dead not far from her, and so did her friends.
Outside her house, she could see a street full of dead bodies, and she knew that was not the end of it.
She knew that all the people in the entire world had died that day.
And it had all been her fault.
