Beyond The System
Chapter 189: Beyond Sinners

“You want to what?!” Griffith barked, his voice rising sharply at the end. “That thing literally, not figuratively, literally melted an entire wall of rock and dirt, Peter. And you want it to light you up?”

In his defense, I might have opened the conversation… poorly. The moment he stirred awake, I’d greeted him with: “I’m gonna ask the snake to breathe fire on me. Might help me form a Fire Essence.” Not my best line.

Should’ve said you’d start with the heat it gives off, Luna offered, far too late to save me.

“Of course I’m thinking about it,” I said, arms crossed, already bracing for another protest. “I need to push this foundation past its current stage. Yeah, Spirit Refinement is progressing. That’s good. Maybe it even leads to a new transformation path down the line, but Body Refinement is different. It requires the elements themselves.”

Griffith groaned, rubbing his hands together as if trying to wash off the idea. “I understand that. I do. But this… this feels beyond extreme, Peter. There have to be safer ways. Ways we can start by researching first. Then move to testing.”

“I’ll start slow,” I promised, echoing Luna’s more reasonable suggestion. “I just need to feel it. The elemental signature. The essence behind the flame. That’s how it happened with water, I think. And this is a rare opportunity. A creature that actively uses multiple variations of Fire Force.”

Griffith glanced back at the resting serpent behind him, its slow breath rising like heat from a furnace. He sighed. “We could put up a barrier. Start with a fraction of its power. Decrease intensity over time and—”

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’ll work. It’s not about shielding or avoiding injury. This isn’t a training exercise. It’s about immersion. There’s something deeper I need to connect to. Something I can’t quite explain.”

He turned to look at me, expression tight with caution, but not skepticism. “I’ve worked with elemental energy for decades, Peter. I know earth better than anyone I’ve met.” There was no pride in his tone, just a willingness to understand.

“You probably do,” I agreed. “But this isn’t about technical mastery. When I connected with water, I understood it. Or… maybe ‘understood’ isn’t the right word. I felt it. Its purpose, its role, as if I saw its path in creation. Trying to describe it is just not possible.”

Griffith gave a low hum, his eyes narrowing slightly. He mumbled something—half-formed thoughts, not actual words as he stroked his beard, lost in consideration. “Experience different forms, you said?”

“Uh. Yeah,” I blinked. “That was it. First the cave, then water... then more water. Then a lot more.”

He turned his gaze to the ground, mind clearly chewing through something. I thought he might share whatever epiphany had started to brew, but instead he just stood there, silent.

“Sir?” I prompted.

He glanced up, blinking as if surfacing from deep thought. “Oh. Sorry. Go on, get back to training. I need to think about something. We’ll handle conversion later. Or once the others wake up. It won’t take long.”

I figured the rest of the team was experimenting with their Inner Space again. Testing boundaries, figuring out what that strange egg was, maybe even trying to gain more control within it. Either way, they weren’t needed for what I planned next.

I turned toward the pillar, that towering spire of energy I'd been circling around mentally since we got here.

“I’m going to touch it,” I said plainly.

Griffith waved a distracted hand, still knee-deep in whatever thoughts had taken hold of him.

I inhaled, deep and slow.

I’m going out for a bit, I told Luna and Wyrem. Anything you need before I vanish into a magical memory?

I’m fine, Luna replied first. Still trying to push through this thing.

Then Wyrem. I need to speak to you about the snake… privately.

Wait, Luna said. Privately? Why can’t I be involved?

It’s worm stuff, he defended—a shocking admission, and one so strange that my mind immediately shifted gears. This was serious. I’ll tell you after. Promise. I’d never keep secrets from my student. You’d pry it out of me eventually anyway. But let me enjoy this moment. Just this one.

A pause. Then, from the flower, a reluctant, faint fine.

I sent a surge of Beast Force outward, isolating Wyrem and myself from the others.

What’s going on? I asked, also noticing something odd. I wasn’t drawn into that void space again.

Wyrem stiffened inside my body. His energy form pulsed, expanding and shrinking like a held breath. Something’s wrong with her. She won’t tell me… She’s known you longer. Maybe you could reach her?

Was her barrier really that revealing? Then again, maybe it wasn’t just that. There were signs. She used to take joy in speaking with the others, inhabiting my body, joining conversations with sarcastic commentary. But I don't think she wanted a new body. Not a human one anyway. There was a love for her new, self-gained form.

And then there was that time I shielded her from her own self-destructive blast. That hadn’t come up again, but maybe it lingered more than I realized.

Still, this wasn’t some tragic end. Everything could be solved just by continuing as we were. Probably. I mean… maybe not the body thing, but her resilience would only keep growing. She was built for Body Refinement, her literal constitution screamed it. She’d even saved my life once. More than once. We always had each other’s backs. There was no reason she’d suddenly lose that.

Unless... it was something deeper. Family stuff. Emotional wounds I couldn’t see. It was easy to forget, but Luna was young. By human standards, very young. Based on her behavior, I guessed somewhere around Vel’s age, maybe a bit older—but still, just a kid.

I might have been overlooking how sensitive she actually was. Sure, she casually injected all kinds of things with lethal poison, but even kids in survival situations could learn to butcher other creatures without flinching.

Peter? Wyrem’s voice pulled me back to the present.

I mentally cleared my throat. I’ll talk to her soon. Promise. Thanks for telling me.

His form loosened, tension draining. We both want what’s best for her.

With another wave of Beast Force, I reconnected to the others.

Then, silently, I reached forward and placed my hand on the obelisk.

#

“I always wondered how these things could record memory,” came a familiar voice, but stripped of its usual charisma. Serith’s lover. “I figured it had to do with the cores. No way is my engineering good enough to do something like this.”

But something was different. This wasn’t the same manic voice that once sold the wonders of a massive school or some continent-spanning innovation. He sounded… tired. Frayed around the edges.

“The Engineers and Kingdom of Stars haven’t let up. Most of our students have already left.”

The image shifted, dragging me into a scene of ghostly quiet. A town, still beautiful, still pristine. Neat stone buildings spaced with intention, carved walkways lined with once-proud gardens. But not a single person in sight. No footsteps. No voices. No open merchant stalls. Just silence.

I recognized this place. Or at least, I recognized the ruins that had once been part of it. This was the second island.

“I don’t know if anyone’s even going to hear this,” he continued, voice lower now, heavier. “Mostly just talking to myself at this point. Tomorrow I’m heading out on a task. Secret one. Not even Serith knows... She wouldn't agree to it. Doesn't want to put anyone in danger.”

His voice cracked as it darkened, slipping into something cold and unfamiliar. “They were ungrateful. Came here freely, learned everything they could, but when they reached their limits… when they saw her majesty, her power, then those bastards, all of them—”

The words cut off, yanked away by the memory itself.

The scene changed again.

Now I stood in a peaceful home, Serith’s. Polished wooden floors stretched across the room, catching the gentle flicker of small candles that lit the space in warm amber. The backdoors were open, framing a serene garden in full bloom.

And there she sat, cross-legged and still was Serith... In pajamas. Actual pajamas. I don’t know where they got it—knowing her, she probably requested it herself. Top and bottom, soft cotton or something like it, embroidered with tiny fox-creatures like the one Thea and I had seen once before.

“I’m leaving today,” he said, looking at the woman he cared for. The grief in his voice wasn’t loud, but it bled through every word. “I wish I could say goodbye to you. To have one more conversation, but I don’t think I can win. So...”

Serith didn’t respond. Didn’t even move.

He shifted closer and sat beside her. “If the king gets here and disturbs you… I can't let that happen. Even among those strangers from other worlds, you’re still special.” He chuckled, though it lacked any real humor. “Who else but my girlfriend could transform the Bloodline?”

He reached out and gently brushed a silky strand of hair behind her ear. “Some Great Ancestor. All he’s ever done is cause problems for us. If we didn’t live so long, we’d never have seen the disasters he warned about. We would’ve just passed together, living our lives in peace.”

His expression was unreadable. Too many emotions trying to surface all at once, none of them winning. Slowly, he reached into his coat and pulled out a folded note. He laid it beside her, fingers lingering on the edge. “Meeting you was the greatest happiness of my life. My only regret… is not saying it enough.”

“I love you.”

The images shifted again.

Now the room was nearly pitch black, just three figures seated around a table, outlines swallowed by shadow.

“Are you sure you want to do this? The risk…” one woman asked, concern wound tight in her voice.

I don’t think he meant to show this.

Serith's boyfriend nodded. “I know. But at this rate, they’ll interrupt her breakthrough. If that happens, she could die. I’m not letting that happen.” His voice was quiet, but final.

The third figure, a man, exhaled slowly. “I can’t let you go alone. The Engineers can be reasoned with, at least. But the king? That man’s insane.”

A heavy silence followed.

Then the man spoke again. “Jerim and I will go to the king’s tournament. Amei, you’ll negotiate with the Engineers.”

Jerim nodded. “Bring my skillbooks. All of them. Anything they might want. I doubt they’ll figure them out well enough to save anything into their systems, but at least they’ll stop whining. I wish I could handle that part first, but…”

Amei shook her head. Her hood still hid her face. “No. I understand. It’d be… hard. Seeing your own people like that.”

The three sat in silence for a long moment, shoulders low, breathing shallow. The voices began to fade, but just before they vanished, I heard one last thing. I don’t know who said it.

“If he can’t be beaten, then we’ll all become something beyond sinners.”