Otherworld Adventure

As the two passed through the hole in the void, the administrator immediately retrieved the World Tree's Thorns but before he could grab ahold of them, he was uncontrollably sucked into the spatial tear.

'N-No!'

The swords also fell into the tear but the black and chaotic tunnel that he was passing through made him lose sight of the Thorns. The administrator frantically looked around but could only find Cecil who was just ahead of him.

His spiritual body wouldn't last inside this chaotic tunnel, but the same could be said for Cecil. As his body was passing through the spatial tunnel, the turbulence struck and severely damaged his body.

'Damn, it's better than dying when I've already made it here!'

The administrator had planned to house himself inside another array created by the World Tree's 4 Thorns that he had acquired from Cecil, but with the swords gone, housing himself inside Cecil's body was the only way.

The administrator made a beeline towards Cecil's body and quickly hid inside it. Cecil who was nearly unconscious couldn't feel the pain from the injuries he was acc.u.mulating because his senses were turned off and he had directed all of his power into maintaining his mind and his life, however, he immediately felt that something foreign had invaded his body again.

'You sick bastard... you really won't leave me alone, huh?'

Cecil protected his brain and heart by putting up walls made of what little energy he had left. He made sure to make them iron tight so that the administrator wouldn't be able to snuff out his life.

He maintained it for god knows how long, however, he didn't let up his guard but for some reason, the administrator who had invaded his body didn't do anything this time. It just isolated itself in one corner of his body, far away from where his heart and brain were.

'What's this bastard planning?'

Time passed. Cecil and the administrator were now just silently guarding against the other, but Cecil felt that the ball of light which had invaded his body once more was acting strangely. He had tried to probe the administrator with a small attack, but it didn't respond to him. He even tried to speak to it but yet again, no response.

'What's wrong with him?'

Cecil had gained a little bit of mana from his natural regeneration which was now slowly coming back to him, but when he used it to scan the administrator, there was nothing out of the ordinary. It was like it just chose to ignore all of Cecil's probing and not bother with him.

******

The stalemate between the two of them continued, but even as time passed by, Cecil didn't let his guard down. His Ki and Mana were slowly regenerating and he was using the new supply to restore his badly injured organs.

His organs had been slowly deteriorating for a while before it suddenly stopped in the next moment. He didn't know the cause but it was welcomed, especially since he couldn't have any more of his body weaken if he wanted to survive.

Cecil had protected his heart and brain first because if he lost either one of them, he would immediately die. Now that his mana and ki were recovering, he could now focus some of his energy on healing his other organs.

'Wait a minute... my Mana's recovering? How? I'm pretty sure the void was sucking out all of my mana and I couldn't even generate any of it earlier...'

It was then that Cecil finally realized and questioned that his mana and ki were recovering. Before, they only continued to deplete, even his natural recovery couldn't keep up with the depletion caused by the void he was in.

He slowly released his consciousness back to his entire body and his senses began activating one by one, however, Cecil immediately regretted doing this in the next instant.

"ARRRGHHHGGGRRRRHHH!!!"

Cecil let out a pained roar and coughed. He immediately felt the pain from the severe damages done to his body and wanted to immediately retract his senses again, however, he knew that he couldn't.

If he left these injuries unattended, he would die sooner or later even if he tenaciously tried to cling to his life like earlier.

He couldn't even speak because the inside of his throat was frozen. All of the nerves on his body were frozen and slowly deteriorating, he couldn't even feel anything else besides the numbing pain.

"U-urgh...urk..."

"Hello?"

"Kurhk, grhk..."

Cecil's eyes were frozen shut but he could feel someone was nearby, he struggled to try and ask for help, but he couldn't see nor hear anything.

"Hello?! Are you okay?!"

"Hrgph, hurrghh..."

"Hey! We need a medic over here! Hurry!"

*****

Cecil felt his body being lifted and carried somewhere. He could feel people slowly try to pry his limbs from their stiff frozen posture, but they seemed worried that it might break due to having been frozen.

In the next moment, he felt some heat, but it wasn't enough to melt his frozen body. However, he felt the heat encapsulate him and slowly begin to intensify until it reached a comfortable level. Cecil felt relieved, wherever he was, he was getting help from some people.

'I don't know when I got out of that void, but I think it's thanks to the intruder?'

Cecil directed his consciousness into his body and observed the silent and stationary ball of light inside his body. Even now, the intruder still hadn't said a word or moved from its location inside his body.

If Cecil wasn't wrong, this thing was most likely the trial administrator from the Myriad Tower of Strife, the one who was constantly screwing with him throughout his time in the trials. However, he had a slight change of opinion about the fellow.

For some reason, it had found a way out of the void and it had the decency to bring him with it outside of that godforsaken place instead of leaving him to die like it had 'originally' planned.

Cecil felt his body slowly begin to warm up even more and the pain from his frozen nerves began to fade away. His body had finally returned to normal but the problem was that his insides had received some severe damage.

It wasn't only damage from being frozen within the void of space, but because of the spatial turbulence, he had to tank with his body. Of course, he didn't know about that since he wasn't aware of it but the main point was that he was injured, severely injured.

Even if he used his Ki and his healing arts to regenerate his organs, his energy circuits had all deteriorated and it was going to be tough to even circulate his energy inside his body. He struggled to circulate his energy, but a shock caused him to stop trying.

He immediately opened his eyes due to the shock and tried looking around, however, the bright light that was glaring down at him caused him to groan.

"Urgh..."

"He's conscious now, ma'am. His vitals look stable. I'm surprised we were even able to save him. His state was dire and he was no better off than a dead man," A man in a long white garb said.

"Is that so...he suddenly appeared out of nowhere when the dungeon formed so it was a real surprise," A young woman replied.

Cecil didn't know whether it was because it was just bright or not, but the light in his eyes didn't fade away. He was only able to see the faint silhouettes of the people talking but even then, he could only barely hear them.

His nerves were still damaged so his hearing was a bit impaired, however, his eyes... everything was just bright and difficult to see. If his eyes were damaged, it would make sense that his sight would be black instead of being so bright like it was now.

"Hello, can you hear me?"

"Ahh, urgh, krrkk..."

"I'll take that as a yes."

Cecil could only reply with some unintelligible grunts due to his still severely damaged vocal cords. Even making those sounds hurt him, but the pain was still bearable.

'Dammit, if only I could circulate my Ki...I'd be able to heal myself quickly!' Cecil inwardly cursed.

He tried to struggle and get up, but his body was weak so he could only fall back into whatever it was he was laying on. He presumed that it was a bed since it was rather soft and it didn't hurt as much when he fell back.

"You sure are a tough one. Even after being in that state, you were able to survive and now, you're trying to get up!"

"Keep an eye on him doctor. Don't let him do anything reckless."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Make sure to treat him well, I have to go now."

"Yes, ma'am, you don't have to worry about a thing. A VIP from the Carnegie family will naturally be treated with great hospitality, but may I ask, what's this patient's background?"

"...You do not need to pry into that, just make sure you take good care of him."

"Yes, ma'am, as you wish."

The doctor walked over to Cecil who was still trying to get up and injected something into the IV drip. Cecil was just about to reach out and grab the person who had walked close to him, but before he even could, he felt his body slowly become sluggish and his mind falling faint.

'W-what...did they do...?'

"Ahh...urrghh...rhh..."

Cecil's struggles stopped and he fell asleep, not knowing what had happened.