As birds chirped, I woke up in a hospital bed.
I slowly opened my eyes and wondered, "Where am I? What the heck happened?"
I slowly got up and looked around—no one in sight.
I saw the IV fluids in my left arm and a heart rate monitor beeping to the left.
Just as I looked out at the cherry blossoms outside the window on my right, I heard a robotic voice.
VoidMind: "My Lord, you're awake. I'm glad the Instinct Takeover didn't get you killed. You'd have likely died if no one arrived to help in time."
The robotic voice echoed in my head.
"What the heck happened? And who the heck are you, voice or whatever?" I questioned in my head.
VoidMind: "I'm the VoidMind assistant—an ability that can alter your body and take over if necessary. I'm the closest ability to being omniscient, although in reality, nowhere near close if we talk about the entirety of magic itself. In simple words, I'm an ability you now possess, alongside your other ability, which is Fear."
"It's an ability? Dude, what an ability? This voice is an ability? I've never heard of an assistant type ability," I said to myself, confused and excited.
"I'm confused. Can you explain to me from where it all started? And why am I in a hospital bed? As far as I'm concerned, I didn't have any fatal injury—unlike the kid," I asked VoidMind in my head.
VoidMind: "Yes, My Lord. My apologies for the confusion—I'll explain from the start. But first, how would you like me to talk to you?"
The robotic voice was weird, and the way it was referring to me was something I wasn't used to.
"I'd like you to be a little less formal, more casual, and with a less robotic voice. Talk like you're a person—or a friend—if you can do it," I said to VoidMind.
VoidMind: "Alright. I'll talk to you like a normal person. So, it all began when you gained the two abilities a while ago:
VoidMind and Fear—but explaining that comes later.
Back when you were in the dungeon of the Black Cloaked Manipulator himself, I analyzed that the situation was extremely dire, so I enabled Thought Acceleration. As its name suggests, this thing helps you think at a rapid pace—not directly faster, rather it slows down your perception of time so you can think several times faster than normal.
When I altered your mind and used Thought Acceleration, I analyzed the severity of the situation—and it was to the point where I had to use the last resort.
Since you had also gained an ability called Fear, I used Instinct Takeover. I'll explain both.
Fear is your new ability that allows you to create fear itself—not simply apply fear to your enemy, but manifest fear itself. This ability works by converting the mana inside your body into fear particles that emit extreme terror. The better you get, the stronger the fear becomes. This fear is a force of nature that defies the psychological laws humans refer to as 'fear'—because just by existing, it creates dread.
This is your new ability. And once mastered, it's extremely powerful.
Instinct Takeover is not an ability but a last resort that abilities like me can use when the situation is life or death. When a human is born, the power they possess isn't the full strength of what their ability is truly capable of.
Those with mana have a Regulator—a sort of mechanism inside your body that forms at birth. The Regulator controls the power you can use to match what you should use. The strength of someone's ability is determined by how powerful their mana is for that specific ability. Normally, mana strength increases with practice and experience.
But the actual power you could use with your ability far surpasses what you can use safely. The Regulator exists to prevent you from using more power than your mana and body can handle.
If someone's Regulator doesn't exist—or is damaged—they may never use their ability at the correct strength. It's impossible for the human brain to control that power on its own. The damage to your body and mana is extremely fatal if the Regulator doesn't function properly.
There have actually been people born with a damaged or missing Regulator. It's very rare, and only occurs among prodigies of magic. Usually there's only a few ways the Regulator can be fixed, although almost all of them are not practical.
The symptoms of those are:
Sudden passing out.
Losing control.
Body getting damaged and unusual fatigue after using magic.
Using too much magic at once would cause them to lose absolute control and they'd lose consciousness.
As my name suggests, I'm VoidMind—a completely separate mind from the human one. I have full control over even the Regulator, and Instinct Takeover works exactly like that.
Instinct Takeover completely blocks the Regulator and alters your mind to only think about the situation at hand. A weak Regulator is one thing, but completely shutting it down is extremely—and I mean very extremely—dangerous. There's a real chance it could kill you. Instinct Takeover must only be used when dying becomes inevitable."
VoidMind finished explaining. Normally, something like that would've confused me—but I understood it completely.
VoidMind: "That's because I altered your mind so you wouldn't get confused while I explained it. I also blocked the emotion of excitement, since it would've interfered with your understanding. Better Understanding has now been turned off."
I suddenly felt a surge of excitement and happiness after that. But I already understood everything, and now I was just excited to use my first abilities. I never would've thought I'd gain two abilities at once. But the fact that VoidMind can influence and control my emotions is creepy.
VoidMind: "I cannot, I can only control your emotions only when I'm directly involved like when I told you about the Regulator, otherwise I can't make you an emotionless monster or just give you non existent emotions."
That was a lot more reassuring, I'd very much not like for my ability to make me someone I don't want to become just because it might be better by logic.
But I started wondering—how many hours… or maybe days… had passed since I blacked out?
"How long has it been since I passed out after using Instinct Takeover?" I asked.
VoidMind: "To be exact, you've been in a coma for one month, 14 days, and 18 hours and 13 minutes. Today's date is 02/06/2024," VoidMind replied.
"WHAT?! How long?! One and a half months?! THAT LONG?!" I yelled.
VoidMind: "I already told you, Instinct Takeover is severely bad for your body. Honestly, you're lucky. Normally, you'd be out for half a year. It would've taken at least half a year if we were to average it. Otherwise, it could've turned into an eternal slumber," VoidMind said—this time, almost casually. I don't know why, but it felt like it said it nonchalantly.
It had been that long. I was now more stunned by how much time had passed than anything else. So Instinct Takeover... was truly a last resort.
I pressed my fingers toward my forehead in disappointment.
I suddenly remembered that VoidMind had also told me about the curses, at the time I didn't understand.
"VoidMind, what were the curses you talked about?" I asked.
VoidMind: "The curses I referred to were just what the body itself said it was. When I came into your body I saw two curses in your brain and the soul itself, although the vision I had about your soul was faint, I could still sense the curses were embedded into your soul as well.
The two curses were:
To never fall in despair.
To never become a victim of insanity.
I do not know why these were said to be curses, but I could say when I entered the body these two immediately activated, before they were in your body but kind of disabled, although I do not know how this thing works and why even these two which are more blessings are labeled as curses," VoidMind said.
I was confused as well, and since it was embedded into my soul as well I thought only God of Absolute know about this, if I met him I'd ask him about this, but I decided to ignore it at the moment because it'd be utterly useless to try and investigate since it's not like they are actual bad things.
"I also remembered the sword I created, it was full of dread and fear, what even was that?" I questioned VoidMind while wondering as well.
VoidMind: "That was one of the ability that comes with Fear, since Fear is a unique ability it has many distinct forms of powers you can use Fear in, that form of power was Fear Manifestation and it allows you to manifest fear into physical objects that are extremely powerful and strong, although that ability is quite advanced and it'll be a little while until you're able to use things like Fear Manifestation safely."
So I could use Fear like that as well, this ability is way better than I thought, but after all that has happened by now it's hard to get me surprised so easily.
After a couple of minutes, a nurse popped in through the door.
She stepped in and walked a few steps before realizing I had woken up.
Instead of saying anything, she just went outside after realizing I was awake, to report it—looking a bit shocked and happy for me, like any person would be when someone wakes up from a coma that lasted over a month.
I laid back down on the bed, turned to my right side, my arm and hand beneath my head. Looking at the cherry blossoms, I wondered how worried Misora must've been.
I wondered how the kid was doing, and now I believed that the kid I went to save was the same one who helped me. I had so many questions for that kid.
I wondered more and more about how my life had been, and it was almost happy—if it hadn't been for that dungeon and that damn Black Cloaked Manipulator.
I was lucky. Not only because I had gained two perfect abilities for that moment, but also because Instinct Takeover didn't kill me.
Just as I kept thinking, the door opened. I turned to see a blonde girl I didn't recognize… and Toshiro Fukumoto?
"What is the leader of the Crimson Order doing here?" I murmured nervously as I got up. I saw the blonde girl holding a basket with fruits such as grapes, strawberries, and oranges, wrapped with a green ribbon that said Get Well Soon.
They moved forward and closed the door.
He thoroughly looked at me. I had hospital clothes on—I don't wanna think about how I got these on though.
"Kuroto Kurogane, I'll be straight with you. I'd like to invite you to become a cadet of the Crimson Order for now. When the time is right, you'll become a full member," he said in a slightly serious tone.
I was a bit confused, then I remembered I literally killed the Black Cloaked Manipulator himself, but I didn't understand the cadet part.
"What do you mean by a cadet?" I asked.
"A cadet means just what it sounds like. You'll be an official member of the Crimson Order, although unknown to the public, you'll still have missions like the other cadets," he said, pointing his hand toward the blonde girl. "Like her," he added.
The girl waved her hand at me, and Toshiro Fukumoto continued, "She's our latest cadet. Although new, she's still capable," he said and paused for a moment to think a little, and I respected that.
"I'll be straight with you—I'm trying to get as many cadets as possible lately. You're also one of the people I've deemed worthy of a position as a cadet, because we're currently in an urgent situation within the Crimson Order.
The only difference between a cadet and a full member is that you won't be filled in on our important matters and the secrets inside the Crimson Order. Other than that, you'll be no different from a full member," he finished.
That was exactly what I wanted. I had wanted to join the Crimson Order from the start, and now it would only be a matter of time before I became a full member.
Although I didn't have any questions regarding the Crimson Order since I had already learned what they normally do, I still didn't know the Crimson Order had cadets.
But I had two questions.
"I'll join," I said.
Toshiro let out a sigh of relief, as if he needed me to join—and the blonde girl looked really happy about it as well.
"But I have two questions," I said, and both their expressions shifted back to me.
"First, I want to ask about the kid who was in the dungeon with me," I said, and then looked down at the bed sheet. "I have a sister—she has extremely strong mana like me. Would you please kindly consider seeing if she might be worthy?" I asked nervously, because if she didn't get in, it'd be a problem.
I looked back up, and Toshiro gave a warm smile and said, "Of course. Why would I not consider a wish of the one who killed the Black Cloaked Manipulator—especially something that favors the Crimson Order. As for the kid you're talking about, he's already a cadet and is currently waiting for a partner in the Crimson Order," he said in a happy tone.
"What? That kid? I mean, he's strong, but it's not like he's an adult yet. He's just a kid," I said seriously, stating a fact.
"I thought so too, but it seems his sister—who recently became a cadet on the day you killed the Black Cloaked Manipulator—volunteered for him to become a cadet, as she stated he has both the knowledge and the experience for the job," Toshiro said.
"Well, I can't argue with his sister, who's probably known him his entire life," I said, and looked at the wall, muttering to myself in a way they could still hear, "But I still have questions for that damn brat."
A realization struck me as I remembered that Toshiro said the kid was waiting for a new member to be his partner.
"Wait, what's a partner?" I questioned.
"Oh, I forgot—not many people know about it. People in the Crimson Order work in groups of two, since most of the missions are dangerous and support is needed," he said.
"Wait a second... if he's waiting for a partner, does that mean I'll be his teammate once I enter?" I asked honestly.
"That does seem to be the case," he said.
I wasn't really sad about becoming his partner, but the kid had annoyed me—he confused me way too much in the dungeon.
"Also, I'd like to personally thank you for killing the Black Cloaked Manipulator, I don't think even I'd be able to kill that monster, especially considering the reports from Cadet Daiki," he said and gestured his hands toward the basket and continued, "This is from me and Cadet Haruka," he finished.
"Thank you as well, I know you do have questions and I'll answer them once I join in as a cadet and as long as I'm hospitalized, maybe a few days," I said.
Suddenly the door of the hospital opened and Misora came running from outside in a rush and breathing heavily once she stopped.
"Kuroto, are you okay? You've been hospitalized and in a coma for so long," she asked worriedly.
"Relax, I'm good," I said.
Toshiro's glaze landed on Misora, and his expression immediately shifted.
"Is she your sister," he questioned almost fast.
"Yea, she is," I said looking confused.
"Oh," he was surprised, "Then I'd very much like her to join in as a cadet as well," he continued.
"Wait, really?" I questioned happily while Misora was confused as to why the leader of the Crimson Order was here.