Endless Journey: Infinite Realms Chapter 344 Is this an enemy attack?

Chapter 344 Is this an enemy attack?

With Alex's 'persuasive' words, he was able to stump Alina into silence.
A few seconds later, and Alina's body shuddered as she glared at Alex.
"…Fine, I agree with your plan. Let's proceed with the consciousness fusion with the Esper World."
Alina said these words with great difficulty, as if it took everything from her just to say it. Her fists were even clenched, which shows how tense she is right now.
"I promise you that you will not regret this Alina." Alex replied as he tried to not look that proud. "I am really happy that you agreed with me."
"Hmph. Just make sure that your plan will work. Because if it doesn't…"
"Yes, it will really work." Alex hastily said as he inwardly wished that his plan will really work. Because if it did not, who knows what Alina might do to him!
"So, do we do it now or later?" Alina abruptly said as she her tense body started to relax.
"Do what?"
"The consciousness fusion!" Alina shouted as she glared at Alex. "What? Do you still want to delay this?"
"But with the way that you are hesitating about this, I thought…"
"You thought that I would like to take some time first before attempting the consciousness fusion?" At this point, Alina started to sneer as she shook her head. "Alex, once I make my decision, I will get on with it, no matter how much I struggled to make that decision."
"Wait, so that means…"
"That means that I am already ready for this consciousness plan, right now." Alina said as she crossed her arms. "So what are you waiting for? Hurry up and do it with me already!"
"…Okay. You're the one who said it." Alex replied as he let out a wry smile.
He did not dwell on the fact that some of Alina's words sounded a little daring, as he decided to focus on their serious plan.
"Okay, now sit cross-legged on the bed and close your eyes." Alex did not waste any more of his time, as he immediately went on giving instructions to Alina. "Once you assume that position, do your best to calm your mind down. As much as possible, your thoughts must be empty, and your mind must be serene. Do you understand that?"
"I do."
"Then start doing it now. Don't worry about anything else. Just focus on emptying your mind. As for what happens when you succeed on this, just leave that to me."
"Ok."
What happened after that went as expected.
Alina sat on the bed in a cross-legged position as she closed her eyes. She then followed Alex's instruction to empty her mind, which proved to be a little difficult at first.
Fortunately for Alina, she had a lot of experience with meditation, which allowed her to achieve the 'empty mind' state that Alex had wanted her to reach.
Once Alina reached this point, she patiently waited for what will happen next.
She did not think about anything else right now, as she serenely waited for Alex's next move.
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"Okay…. Now that you are in this state, I can easily bring you with me." Alex muttered to himself as he placed his right hand on Alina's forehead. "The truth is, I should have been the only one that can fuse with the Esper World… But White Alex made me realize that I can bring you with me, as long as your mind is in a 'zen' state, which is essentially your state right now."
After Alex said these words, he waved his left hand as he summoned an object out of Alina's Storage.
"Thum."
The object that came out let out an audible sound as it hit the floor, making Alex smile as he saw it.
"Esper World…" Alex muttered to himself as he stared at the disco-ball like apparatus in front of him. Its wires and other parts were still in perfect condition, making Alex feel still awed just by looking at it. "It's been long since I have been inside you. Hehehehe, those were really the fun days. Its too bad that you have to be in this kind of state… "
After saying these words, Alex glanced at Alina furtively as he continued talking. "Well, don't worry about that anymore, for I will be coming to rescue you!"
Of course Alex's goal in 'helping' the Esper World was mainly for his own power, but still, he had to say nice things to the Esper World, right?
"Ehem, I forgot that you are paused right now. My bad." Alex said as his right hand started to glow. "Well, let's just see each other later!"
Alex then placed his left hand over the machine, with his left hand starting to glow too.
With these actions, Alex found himself in between Alina and the Esper World, with his right hand on Alina's forehead, and his left hand on the Esper World itself.
"Good, now all the conditions have been met. All that I need to do now is to initiate the process." Alex said as his forehead glowed too.
"Hong!"
Alex's whole body started to tremble as fat beads of sweat appeared on his face.
His eyes went red as blood came out of his ears, nose, and mouth.
"Kehoff!"
Alex then started coughing and spasming at this point, with each of his cough expelling bloody bits of flesh out of his body.
No matter which way one looked at it, Alex seemed to be undergoing a great torture right now, which obviously was taking a lot out of him.
If Alina could see what was happening to Alex now, she will surely panic and will obviously stop the plan.
However, Alina is currently stuck in her 'zen' state, which made it impossible for her to see Alex's condition.
"With my body as the furnace, I implore my mind to reach the unreachable dimension!" Amidst through the pain that he is feeling, Alex squeezed out these words as blood continued to leak out of his mouth. "Flow, flow like a river. My mind will be the boat that will bring me to the promised land!"
"Boom!"
Alex's body then slumped down on the bed, as darkness covered his vision.
Alina's body collapsed too, as she was also affected by the darkness.
Both of their bodies started to emanate the aura of death, with their vitality suddenly plummeting down like a rock.
This aura of death just continued to get stronger and stronger as time passed by, making it look as if these two could lose their life any moment now!
"Beep beep beep."
The only thing that seemed to be alive inside the room was the machine simulating the Esper World, with its mechanical body suddenly letting out beeping sounds.
"Beep beep beep."
This sound could have sounded amusing if it were heard on any other day, but right now, it only sounded like an ominous beat.
"Beep beep beep"
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[Alina]: "Where am I? Where is this place?"
Alina was not sure on what happened to her earlier, as out of nowhere, she suddenly felt herself blacking out.
When her awareness returned, she found herself right inside a place that was vastly different from her room earlier.
[Alina]: "Is this an enemy attack?"
Right now, Alina found herself inside what looked like to be a dark cave, which seemed to be infinitely large in her opinion. Alina could not fathom how large this cave could be, as her Esper power fell short of scanning its whole size!
The size of this cave was not the only weird thing about. Even the darkness inside this cave was too much, even for someone like Alina. Her powerful sight could not pick anything up inside this cave, which had Alina shook.
After all, her eyes were her strongest sensory power, comparable to her space scanning skill!
Her eyes, which can see through illusions, lies and even darkness, were actually 'blind' right here in this cave!
This is something that Alina did not expect at all!
[Alina]: "This must be an enemy attack! I don't know how this happened, but I must prepare myself now!"
Without waiting for anything, Alina quickly assumed a fighting stance, with her whole mind prepared to make an attack at any given moment.
She also started to gather her Dark Energy inside her body, as she discreetly prepared some of her most insidious Dark Magic.
[Alina]: "Whoever you are, just reveal yourself. I don't care how many you are there. Since you have conspired against me, you should be prepared to fight against me!"
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Excuse me, Miss Alina. I apologize for disturbing you. I am not here to fight you. I am just here to talk to you."
[Alina]: "Alex, is that you?"
Even if Alina's hearing was not comparable to her sight, she knew Alex's voice when she hears it.
The voice that she heard right now was exactly like Alex's, which was hard to replicate in her opinion.
However, Alina felt that there was also something different about the voice that she just heard now, which made her somewhat doubt it.
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Well, I am not Alex, but you can say that I am a part of him."
[Alina]: "…You're telling the truth. So you're not an enemy?"
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "I am not. I am just really here to talk to you."
[Alina]: "Since you are telling the truth, then I shall hear you out then. Now, come out and face me."
Alina then relaxed her body as she waited for the speaker to walk towards her.
But to Alina's irritation, the person that just conversed with her did not show up.
[Alina]: "What is your problem? Didn't you want to talk to me? Why are you not showing yourself then?"
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Miss Alina, I only said that I want to talk to you. I don't need to show myself in order to do that, right?"
[Alina]; "You little…"
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Ehem, why don't we just start talking already? From what I can see, you still have some appointment with Alex, right?'
After hearing these words form this speaker, Alina's eyes went wide as she remembered what she was supposed to do today.
[Alina]: "The consciousness fusion! I should be doing that with Alex right now!"
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Good, so you remember it. That makes it easier for me to give my message to you."
[Alina]: "I don't want your damn message. Let me out of here! I need to meet Alex right now!"
At this point, Alina was not interested with talking at the mysterious speaker anymore. Even if he sounded like Alex, Alina was still more worried for the original Alex, who was supposed to be executing the consciousness fusion right now.
Why would Alina waste her time with a mysterious speaker when she can just use it in order to help Alex out?
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Alex truly is lucky to have a partner like you."
[Alina]: "Stop flattering me and just tell me the exit!"
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Don't worry, Miss Alina. As long as you will receive my message, you will be able to meet up with him again. So please, just sit still and let me give my message to you."
[Alina]: "So you're still telling the truth… In that case, just start talking."
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Hahahaha! I'm happy for your consideration Miss Alina!"
[Alina]: "Wait. Before you tell me the message, can you first tell me who you really are?"
Even if this speaker was telling the truth, Alina could still not help but feel as if there was something wrong about this speaker. She was not sure why, as this speaker truthfully said that he was only interested on giving Alina a message.
[Alina]: "Tell me your real identity. Only when I know who you really are that I can feel safe talking with you."
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Hoh… so you have been learning lessons from Alex then. Good for you."
[Alina]: "So, who are you?"
[[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Hehehe, you can just say that I am one of Alex's 'powers'. You know about his story of talking with us, right?"
[Alina]: "You are still telling the truth, so I can only accept what you said. So, which one of his powers is you?
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Oh, I just have to tell you that later. For now, let me give the message okay? After all, this one is very important, especially for Alex. You wouldn't want an important message to be delayed, right?"
At the mention of 'very important', Alina immediately abandoned her intention for more interrogation as she waited for the speaker to continue talking.
[Voice which sounded like Alex]: "Hmm, since you are not questioning me anymore, then I guess I can start giving the message to you…."