The law of Fiction: Harem in the fiction world
Chapter 181 Ch 179: The Awakening [Pt2]

Yohan had been feeling those disturbing instances of energy spikes for some time. But it was not until he stopped to feel the biggest wave did he consider that something might be wrong with Shizue and the central cord.

So far, the energy spikes he had felt had not caused alarms to go off inside his mind but the recent one had caused his insides to freeze in fright. It was similar to facing the first key in his last world.

He could say with certainty that the central cord was online and ready to take a conscious step in this world.

"Master Yohan is everything alright? You went pale all of a sudden."

Diantha, the one who was attuned to Yohan's emotions stopped to ask him as well. She was not the only one who looked concerned.

Khole had taken out a reading device as well but it had gone well past a 'shot circuit' state as soon as the weird energy spike had hit it. There is no way to retrieve the original product anymore.

"I guess the central cord is making some weird movements. The energy spike just now was too powerful to be felt by human senses. Is it even safe to step any further?"

Khole asked the question from a purely objective sense of science. He was likely not going to risk his life for results he could get from outside. But at the same time, he was not going to stop anyone from advancing.

"Hey, don't tell that you all are having cold feet right now. Our target is almost in sight so we cannot stop here and now."

​ Liza spoke up. She was the only one unaware of the danger they might be headed into. She was young so she had an excuse but this ignorance of hers might cause her to lose her life soon.

And usually, Yohan would say he would not care about it but he did not have a good feeling about what lay ahead. It was better for him to go alone.

"Listen, there is a change in plans. Khole, take Diantha and Liza with you and ward off this area somehow. I need you to isolate this area for the next few days while I go after the central cord."

Yohan knew it would be better to face the central cord alone. He was not sure what the central cord was capable of but it had built up a network in this world. If that were the case then it would not be impossible for it to control the network.

'And if that is the case, then having more people with me would end up being a disadvantage for me.'

Yohan could see the start of a protest build up on Liza's lips. She was the only one who was not getting the seriousness of the situation. In that way, Yohan both envied and felt annoyed by her.

Thankfully, Khole was there to drag his sister away. He was swift as he took hold of Liza's hand and Diantha took her other side to ensure that she did not make a run for it.

"We are willing to trust you, Yohan Strout. But do not let me down or it would not be good for you."

Khole warned as he left the vicinity. Yohan had a feeling that Khole would be able to pull off what was asked of him without flaws. And now it was up to him to take care of his side of the mission.

The first thing to do was to replace out where Shizue was being detained. But it was not impossible to do even with his system down. All he had to do was to follow the emission of this great energy.

Yohan took a few steps, only to collide with a small but cool metallic device. He picked it up, only to see a map drawn on the surface of the machine. It coincided with the place where Yohan could feel Shizue's signal coming from.

'Khole managed to outdo himself here. He is a genius.'

Khole had managed to read Yohan and even leave behind something that would help him out. It could be called nothing short of a genius institution. And Yohan was really glad he had Khole on his side.

He quickly made he was inside the base, this time following the map. The further he went, the more intense the opposing pressure got for him. By the end, a normal human would have collapsed.

But Yohan was no normal human and he easily walked while avoiding the fallen bodies around him.

In the middle of the electromagnetic field were two people who were still conscious. One was someone he expected to replace all along - Shizue. But the other was someone Yohan should have expected to see -Bernetta.

Shizue had Bernetta caught by her throat and the redhead seemed not to be resisting. She was saying something Yohan could not speak but he could feel Bernetta's energy slipping out of her body.

She would die if things were kept up like this and Yohan wanted to prevent her death if he could help it. It did not sit well with him to see his partner die this pathetically.

So he decided to interfere. He knew that his attacks would not hurt Shizur's body since it seemed like she was using the central cord's power so he projected his magic toward her.

The central cord sensed Yohan's magic and instantly let Bernetta dropdown. Shizue's body turned around to block the attack but then turned confused when it was too easy. Yohan had made his attack seem more powerful than it was by masking it.

"Yo, surprise. I guess it is our first time meeting so I should give my greeting while I still can. I hope we can talk our differences out, central cord. Or rather, the second realm key."

Yohan did not expect the attack back to happen as fast as it did. But he did manage to dodge it completely this time and with some space to spare.

And the central cord growled as soon as it noticed that it had missed its attack. It sounded far angrier than it was supposed to be.

All this while Bernetta watched from the sidelines as she tried her best to remain conscious.

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Bernetta had jumped down as soon as Shizue had committed her first murder. There was some weird energy being emitted by her body which put Bernetta on edge. She wanted to stop Shizue before she did something she regretted.

"Shizue, stop. There is no need for you to be this aggressive and-"

Shizue attacked her. Out of everything that could have happened, this was the last thing Bernetta expected. Shizue had never laid her hand on Bernetta before, no matter how annoying she got.

So this was not only new but completely unexpected. It caused Bernetta to not even protest as she was being squeezed.

"Life form is detected. Code #45921, Name : Bernetta. Classified as an A+ life form. The urgency of keeping alive 80%."

Shizue was speaking as if she was a stimulation. She did not sound like herself and Bernetta was afraid for her. She had no idea what her partner was going through but she wanted to understand.

The energy that Shizue was giving off was too much for Bernetta's mind to handle and she had to focus more than she ever had to just to keep herself conscious.

'I can do this. I just need to make sure I do not lose consciousness.'

Bernetta knew she could do this. She had to make sure she could do this.

"Shizue, you can fight this. Please come back to me."

It was an earnest request from Bernetta and it was her final attempt to wake Shizue up. She was going to lose consciousness any second now and it would no longer matter after she did.

However, just when she felt like her windpipe would be crushed, something happened and Shizue let her go. She was flung at her side as something hard collided with Shizue's side and managed to knock her back a few steps.

Bernetta could make out Yohan's familiar silhouette as he stood in front of Shizue. He stood rods still as if he could not feel the pressure Shizue was emitting out of her body. He was the ray of hope in this dark world for Bernetta.

'I cannot believe how far I have sunk. To be depended on someone I have only known for about a week to save me and Shizue. How pathetic.'

But despite Bernetta's thoughts, it did not change the fact that she had been reducing to asking for help from Yohan. Her eyes begged him to understand her position.

And miraculously, it seemed as if Yohan did understand her position. And a little too well at that since he was able to keep up with Shizue's stare.

"Scanning. Error, unidentified tech detected. Further detection would be needed to understand the tech. Kindly stand still and cooperate with me."

Shizue sounded curious as she dove toward Yohan but he was not willing to sit still as well. He dodged her attack and their battle began in earnest after that. All Bernetta could do was sit down and watch it happen.