Chapter 132 - Reality-Warping Alien

Agent Feena departed for Exestia aboard a powerful VTOL aircraft, its engines roaring softly as it ascended into the sky, vanishing like a silver arrow into the horizon.

The open field—nestled beside the grand arena of Orbital Tech—was just a short distance from KAWAII Headquarters, and it didn’t take long for us to reach it. We were among the first to arrive. 

Around us, WAIFUs and support unit students began to trickle in, some with anxious urgency in their steps, others dragging their feet in half-asleep stupor, like they’d just rolled out of bed. The contrast was almost comedic—panic interwoven with sluggishness.

Myrrh, Fei, and I stood in formation, eyes drawn upward. The skies above were a chaotic canvas of terror and beauty. A meteor shower—no, a full-scale descent of Cosmic Beasts—continued to streak across the heavens, blazing trails of fire as they hurtled downward. But the Archonlight Tower stood like a silent guardian in the distance, its shield flickering with unseen energy, holding back the apocalypse above.

Every time one of those monstrous entities dove toward us, the barrier—thin as glass yet mighty as legend—would intercept them with pinpoint precision. The moment contact was made, the beasts disintegrated in a flash of radiant energy, their vaporized forms bursting into the air like deadly fireworks. If we hadn’t known the truth, we might’ve admired the light show. But there was nothing celebratory about this rain of death.

Still, the assault was unyielding. One after another, the beasts came crashing down, erupting into dazzling pops and crackles that echoed like distant thunderclaps. The sky shimmered with a constant pulse of tension, never allowing us to forget the fragility of our safety.

“Will the Archonlight Tower’s barrier hold?” Fei murmured beside me, her voice trembling with worry.

“My mother told me that the Archonlight is the purest and sturdiest form of particle energy,” Myrrh answered, her gaze steady on the skyline. “As long as the tower is powered, we’ll be safe.”

“You sure?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. A knot twisted in my gut as I looked back up at the chaos above. “Because this… this feels worse than what happened fifteen years ago.”

That moment—fifteen years ago—clawed its way back into my consciousness. I was only four years old then, a tiny, trembling toddler, sobbing amidst the ruins of a desolated city. The sky had been ash-grey. Buildings around me were scorched husks. And standing above my fragile body was a Cosmic Beast, its grotesque form wreathed in smoke and crimson glow, ready to end my life with a single swipe.

But then she came—Mirana Alicent.

The legendary heroine WAIFU. The beacon of Earth’s last line of defense.

Myrrh’s mother.

She descended like a divine bolt of justice and obliterated the beast with such ferocity that the image burned itself into my young mind, a permanent symbol of salvation. I owed her everything.

“I’m sure of it,” Myrrh said firmly, trying to sound confident. “The Archonlight Tower here in Xyraxis is far more advanced than what Earth had back then. The particle energy, the lattice amplification—everything is enhanced. The technology we had back home doesn’t even hold a candle to what Xyraxis can offer now… I think.”

Fei glanced at her sideways. “You don’t sound so confident.”

“Ah, it’ll be fine,” Myrrh replied, forcing a grin as she rubbed the back of her head, her cheek tinged with a soft blush. It was the kind of smile that hoped no one would press further.

I said nothing. My thoughts were far away—trapped in a loop of that haunting memory. I could still see the white room where it all started: my kindergarten classroom. We were all dressed in spotless white uniforms, sitting on the floor in a blindingly white space that smelled faintly of sterilized air and chalk dust. Innocent. Untouched.

Then—nothing.

Darkness. A void. And when I opened my eyes, I was alone, surrounded by smoking wreckage and the distant howls of monsters.

That white room... It kept resurfacing in flashes, vivid and disjointed. Why do I keep remembering it? Why does it feel like more than just a school room? Like it was important… like it was planted?

That same sterile white room, now just a memory behind the veil of trauma… What the hell was

 it?

“Zaft? Zaft?”

Myrrh’s voice gently pierced the fog in my mind, pulling me back to reality. Her face was just inches from mine, her sapphire-blue eyes brimming with concern. She tilted her head slightly, peering into my dazed expression. “Are you okay? You’re spacing out.”

“I—I’m fine,” I stammered, quickly shaking my head in an attempt to clear the lingering images.

Without warning, Myrrh reached out and pressed the back of her warm palm to my forehead, her brows knitting tighter. “You don’t seem sick. Don’t tell me you had another meeting with your Outer God robot again?”

“No, it’s not that,” I murmured, my cheeks flushing with heat. Her touch lingered just long enough to throw me off balance. “It’s just… I kept remembering something. A memory from when I was four. There was this classroom. Everything was pure white.”

Myrrh leaned back slightly, arms folding under her chest. Her brows furrowed, lips pursing in that thoughtful way she always did when piecing things together. “A white classroom? What about it? Tell me more.”

I hesitated. My eyes flicked to Fei, who had been silent all this time, but was now watching us with quiet interest. Her posture straightened, and though her expression was calm, I could see the curiosity behind her eyes—just as puzzled as Myrrh.

But I didn’t have much to give.

“That’s all I remember,” I said with a slow shake of my head. “Just… white. The room, our uniforms. Like we were all trapped inside a memory sterilized of color.”

“Have you asked Ismail about it?” Fei chimed in, her tone thoughtful. “I remember him mentioning something about a cult. What was it… the Cult of Mechanoss?”

I sighed. “No, I haven’t seen him since we raided the Neo Terrestrial Reich’s base. He brought it up once, but we got interrupted.”

I paused.

Well, I got distracted.

“I was too busy hauling home a so-called million-dollar briefcase,” I added dryly. “Turns out it was actually an anti-matter bomb. A real bargain.”

Myrrh facepalmed, muttering something about my survival instincts needing a software update. "Don't remind me of your stupidity back then, you goon."

I chuckled weakly, but the unease inside me didn’t go away. That white room... that forgotten fragment... and Ismail’s half-finished warning. The pieces were still scattered, just out of reach.

By now, the open field had become a sea of students—WAIFUs and support units alike, buzzing with nervous energy and scattered conversations. The once sparse assembly had grown into a full crowd, a patchwork of uniforms, tired faces, and restless murmurs.

Just as Myrrh, Fei, and I were still wrapped in our quiet brainstorming, a familiar voice cut through the noise, snapping us out of our thoughts.

“Zaft! Fei! Myrrh!”

We turned, and there he was—Remuel, striding toward us with his usual swagger, his hand raised high in an exaggerated wave. Trailing just behind him, a bit less enthusiastic but unmistakably present, was Cindy—his ex-WAIFU, with her arms crossed and her reddish-orange hair bouncing with every step.

“My goodness, Fei,” Cindy said, her tone sharp but laced with concern. “I went to your room to wake you up, only to find it completely untouched. You never came back to the dorm after finals. Where in the world have you been?”

Fei clapped, but a hint of a smirk played on her lips. “Busy being a chaperone for these two lovebirds,” she replied dryly, jabbing a thumb at Myrrh and me.

Remuel’s eyes lit up as he clapped his hands together. “Whoa! I knew

 it! You should’ve invited me—I could’ve turned it into a double date!”

Before he could bask in his own imagined brilliance, Cindy smacked him square on the head with the palm of her hand. A loud thwap! echoed slightly above the chatter of the crowd.

“Do you seriously think Fei would agree to date you, you walking embarrassment?” Cindy snapped, her voice a perfect blend of older-sister irritation and righteous fury.

“Ow! C’mon!” Remuel rubbed his scalp, but shot back with a grin. “Still better than letting her get back with Neil, that egotistical greaseball of homosexuality.”

Then, as if realizing something mid-sentence, Remuel’s smile faded. His eyes flicked around, scanning the crowd. His brows slowly furrowed.

“Wait… where is that idiot?” he asked, more serious now.

The banter hung awkwardly in the air for a second too long. The weight of Neil’s absence settled on all of us like a passing shadow.

Myrrh, Fei, and I exchanged uneasy glances, each of us frowning with the same shared hesitation. The silence between us said everything: should we really tell them? The truth was wild—borderline unbelievable—but if anyone deserved honesty, it was Cindy and Remuel. They were more than classmates. They were our comrades at arms (at least during the Midterm and Finals)… and friends.

Fei took a shaky breath, her fingers curling around the hem of her skirt as she slowly bowed her head. “The truth is…” she began, her voice barely above a whisper. “Neil was abducted. By Dianca. They went to that mysterious planet floating above Xyraxis.”

For a second, Cindy and Remuel just stared at her. Then they glanced at each other—eyebrows raised, expressions blank—and in perfect sync, tilted their heads in bafflement.

“Who’s Dianca?” they asked in unison.

Fei blinked, taken aback. “Wait—what? You don’t remember her?” Her voice rose with disbelief. “Dianca Fritz? The idol? She streams games and sings all over the Net! She was the emcee during the Licensure Examination Tournament! Literally the girl with long wavy blue hair and like… ten million subscribers?!”

Cindy crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one hip, giving Fei a deadpan stare. “Fei… are you sure you’re awake? Because this sounds like the kind of nonsense you say when you skip breakfast and chase it with a cup of black coffee and three hours of VTuber reruns.”

Remuel leaned forward slightly, squinting at all three of us. “Wait a sec… are you drunk? Did you guys go drinking without us?”

Cindy gasped dramatically, smacking his arm. “Again?”

Fei groaned in frustration, her face flushing red. “We’re not drunk! This really happened! We saw her wings! Her giant Frame Unit!

 The whole sky practically cracked open when they left!”

But their confused expressions didn’t budge. Myrrh looked down, her voice quiet.

“…They really don’t remember her.”

A chill crept into my spine. It wasn’t just disbelief.

Something, somewhere, was wiping Dianca’s existence from the minds of everyone—like she’d been rewritten out of the world itself. It's not just Agent Feena. Now we're sure it was erasure.

“Ah, I get it now!” Remuel suddenly blurted, jabbing his finger toward the sky. “You’re saying Neil got abducted by aliens and went to that floating planet up there?”

The words hit me like a jolt of electricity.

Aliens.

We’ve always called the Cosmic Beasts that—extraterrestrial horrors from beyond our world, our galaxy… maybe even our reality. And suddenly, fragments from one of our old lectures resurfaced in my mind. Cosmic Beasts weren’t just invaders. They were reality warpers—creatures capable of bending truth, memory, and even existence itself.

And that’s when it all began to click.

Dianca Fritz. The idol. The emcee. The girl with the long blue hair who smiled and sang like she had the whole world in her hands.

Now—erased.

Her name, her face, her fame… wiped from the minds of everyone. Everyone except for Myrrh, Fei, and me.

That’s not normal. That’s not human.

A heavy chill settled in my chest. The only beings I know who could distort reality that thoroughly… were Cosmic Beasts.

And yet, it wasn’t some mindless monster. It was Dianca. She abducted Neil, and not just randomly. It was all planned. She practically orchestrated our alone time, our date—kept Myrrh and me conveniently distracted while she made her move.

She wanted Neil. Badly. And she wanted no witnesses.

Then my mind snapped to the Machine God’s Gospel—the one etched in my dreams like a divine curse:

[Kill Dianca Fritz]

And the mission I’d been entrusted with:

[Cut down the Cosmic Tree before the Cosmic Goddess is resurrected]

My pulse quickened.

If I connect the dots… if I follow the clues… all of it points to a single, terrifying conclusion.

I turned my gaze skyward, the floating planet hanging like a malignant moon over Xyraxis.

“Dianca Fritz is the Cosmic Goddess,” I whispered.