Tbate: Resurgence

-Chapter 16 : The Greater Scale-

Arthur Leywin

As soon as I stepped through the portal, I was prepared for something to go wrong. The journey was supposed to be brief—just a few moments of dizziness—but this time, the sensation stretched longer than usual. Much longer.

Sylvie, perched on my head, began trembling.

"It feels... wrong, Papa," she communicated, her voice carrying a hint of uncertainty.

The usual rush of light and colors faded quickly, but instead of growing brighter, the world around us dimmed. The colors drained until everything was shrouded in darkness.

Sylvie’s tremors intensified. "Papa, something isn’t right."

This was new. Sylvie had never admitted to fear before. Alert, yes—on guard, cautious. But scared? Never.

The usual disorienting nausea from traveling through the gate was absent now, replaced by an eerie stillness. I raised a hand and summoned a flame.

Nothing.

The fire floated above my palm, but it failed to illuminate anything. It was like trying to light a match in a void.

I pushed away any stray feelings. There was no room for fear here. Instinctively, I augmented my body with mana, reinforcing my resolve. The unsettling presence in the air was palpable, something dense and suffocating.

I reached into my dimensional ring, retrieving Dawn's Ballad with a swift motion. The sword materialized in my hand, its familiar weight offering little comfort as I raised it in front of me. The eerie stillness persisted.

I forced my emotions aside, locking them down tightly, allowing my mind to focus only on survival. What sort of being could impose such suffocating pressure?

Suddenly, I felt the mana I had gathered disperse as if my body refused to obey. My limbs remained steady, but inside, it was as if my entire core was rattling under the weight of something primal. Something malicious. The pressure was overwhelming, but I wouldn't let it break me. I wouldn’t allow myself to falter.

"Who's there?" My voice remained firm, devoid of the weakness it tried to betray, the edge of Dawn's Ballad gleaming faintly in the void.

Out of the pitch-black void, a pair of eyes appeared—familiar, yet no less unnerving. The star-speckled eyes that had once captivated me now felt more oppressive than reassuring. As they neared, the weight of their presence only grew more intense.

A cold, authoritative voice cut through the air, devoid of emotion but sharp enough to slice through the silence.

"At last. We now have some privacy to speak, undisturbed."

As soon as it spoke, the space around us began to warp and shift. Sylvie’s trembling grew more intense, but I remained still, focused. The chaos that swirled around us eventually settled, and we found ourselves in a stark, white room.

I scanned my surroundings, the blankness unnerving, but I kept my composure. No words escaped me—I simply waited, alert and silent.

In this empty white cube, it was just me, a quivering Sylvie, and the source of those all-too-familiar speckled eyes. By the time my vision adjusted to the brightness, I could make out the cat, now calmly inhaling.

“Haa… What an interesting child... At ease.”

Despite the oppressive aura this being projected, I knew it didn’t intend to harm me. If that were its goal, I wouldn’t be standing here. I quietly slid my sword back into its sheath. The pressure still weighed on me, Sylvie clutching tightly to my head, but I maintained my stance, refusing to buckle.