The Author's POV

Chapter 589 Broken pride [2]

As I watched the demon place his hand against Melissa's hand, everyone's eyes turned white.

'What's going on?'

Their sudden actions startled me as I tried to understand what was going on, but before I knew it, my vision darkened and I was suddenly transported inside a dark space.

'Where am I? What's going on?'

Just like before, I couldn't move my body.

I felt completely trapped.

As I stared into the blackness before me while wondering about what was going on, I noticed that it had started to change, and it was not long before my surroundings started to change as well.

Suddenly, white tiles appeared in the air and shot toward the ground before they neatly positioned themselves together.

That wasn't all.

Also, desks began to form in the air before positioning themselves in what appeared to be a medium-sized room. About half the size of a standard living room.

Books, files, glass panels, and awards?

…one by one a room started to form and my height suddenly started to shrink.

I had many questions that I wanted to ask, but my body was immobile. The only thing I could do at the moment was just watch as a scene unfolded in front of me.

In just a few minutes, everything was set up, and by the time the last tile was placed on the floor, everything seemed to look gigantic.

'No, rather, it isn't the surroundings that are gigantic, but it's me.'

I came to this realization when I found that I was holding onto what seemed to be a small drawing that I couldn't quite understand. They looked like doodles, yet at the same time didn't.

'What happened to my hands?"

Most notable about the situation was the fact that the hands holding only the paper seemed to belong to a child.

Their size…

They weren't even a quarter of what my hands looked like.

They were quite frankly tiny.

The confusion within me only grew as time passed, but I didn't have much time to ponder over the matters as the door of the room suddenly opened.

Clank—!

'Eh?'

A familiar figure emerged from behind the door.

It only took several seconds for me to recognize the figure, and when I did, I was left in a state of shock.

'Octavious?'

He looked exactly the same as the Octavious I knew. But why was he here? What exactly was going on?

Amidst my shock at Octavious's sudden appearance, I realized that my body was shaking.

I felt a weird emotion surge from deep within. One that I couldn't quite describe.

What was it?

Excitement? Anxiety? Happiness?

I wasn't exactly sure.

Taking a timid step to the back, I hid the paper behind my back. All of the actions that occurred were not something that I could control, as the body moved on its own.

"Father."

Opening my mouth, what sounded like the voice of a little girl escaped from my mouth.

'Father? Octavious?'

It was at this moment that I finally realized that I was in what seemed to be Melissa's body, and the events that previously transpired before coming here started to flood my mind.

'Right, didn't the demon say something about breaking pride? Is this what he meant?'

When I realized that I was seeing her memories, I realized that perhaps everyone else was also seeing the same thing.

'…This is bad.'

I thought to myself as I tried to move the body in any way.

In an attempt to stop what was happening, I tried to come up with anything, but my efforts proved ineffective.

It was simply impossible.

What was even worse was the fact that I was forced to watch the entire thing as I couldn't close my eyes nor turn my body away.

"Father?"

The man's feet never stopped moving toward the desk that sat all the way across the room despite the girls' calls.

Once he arrived at his desk, pushing the chair back, Octavious sat down on the chair and started to look through a stack of papers. Completely disregarding the girl's existence.

In the meantime, my feet gingerly headed toward his desk. Coming to the side of the desk, and finally getting a glimpse of Octavious's side view, my head raised a little, until I was finally get a good look at Octavious's face.

Once again, I felt a weird feeling enshroud my body.

This time, I could make out what it wash

'Anticipation.'

The feeling that I was feeling right now was that of anticipation.

Anticipation of him noticing me.

...but that never happened as thirty minutes soon elapsed.

In the thirty or so minutes that passed, not once did Octavious ever turn to face me as I timidly stared at his serious features.

In that span of time, I could feel my feet start to hurt.

Before I knew it, my body took a step forward and my little hand clasped onto his trousers.

"Let go."

As my hand touched his trousers, Octavious's words echoed. Immediately, I let go of his trousers.

"What do you want?"

Finally getting his attention, he lowered his head to stare at me.

'Those eyes…they are the same as now.'

Closely observing his eyes, I realized he hadn't changed since this event happened all those years ago. They were still as hallow and lifeless as they were now.

"Um…"

Exerting more force onto the grip of the paper behind my back, my body shifted toward the right and left before I took out the paper and handed it to him.

"Here."

I felt hints of shyness coming from my body when I handed him the paper. Clearly, it meant a lot to the little girl.

"What's this?"

Taking a look at the paper, Octavious grabbed it and examined it for several seconds.

"A scribble?"

He asked.

My head immediately shook.

"No."

"No? Then what is this? Some sort of molecular structure."

"Yes."

A feeling of elation swept my body as my hands shyly twirled behind my back. A bright smile also spread across my face.

"Uncle Thompson told me that I just discovered something amazing and wanted me to show you."

"Oh."

Taking another look at the paper, Octavious quickly lost interest and crumbled the paper in his hand.

The smile on my face froze, and my eyes blinked a couple of times. It was only after Octavious tossed the paper in the trash that he everything finally sank into the little girl's mind as my head raised up.

"Don't disturb me with this nonsense again. Get out of my room."

Before I could even reply, Octavious waved his hand, and I felt my body shoot up in the air.

Clank—!

The door burst open and I shot toward the room's entrance.

Clank—!

With a loud sound, the door behind me closed shut and my body suddenly started to enlarge before I dropped to the ground.

"Haaa…haaa…"

Drip—! Drip—!

I gasped for air heavily as sweat dripped from my face and hair covered my vision while they scattered on the ground where I lay.

Every part of my body burned, and I could barely move my muscles, but…

"Again."

My hand moved toward the right and tightly clenched what seemed to be a long pole.

'A spear.'

I thought.

Feeling the grip of the pole, I used it to support my body up and it was then that I was able to see where I was exactly.

'A training room.'

At the moment, I was standing in a white room with wooden tiles at the bottom. The room was surrounded by large glass panels, and from there I could see the reflection of a familiar figure.

'…Is this really Melissa?'

She looked nothing like herself, with wet hair falling behind her back, no glasses, and sweat dripping down her face. It was as if she had become a completely new person.

Especially since the Melissa that I knew disliked exercising.

"How about it young miss? Should we stop for now?"

Right then, my eyesight focused on a female figure wearing a black suit standing opposite of her. She had short black hair, an oval-looking face, a small nose, and large eyes.

She was stunning.

As she pointed the tip of a long spear at me, her heroic and charming figure appeared especially impressive.

"You look exhausted, it's best if you don't continue training."

"No."

Melissa shook her head, as I felt the grasp of the spear tighten.

"We're not stopping until I pass out."

Taking a step forward, she charged to where the female combatant was and firmly thrust the spear in her direction.

Her movements were rather smooth and sharp. In no time they reached the lady standing on the opposite end, but…

A casual swipe of her hand deflected Melissa's attack and redirected it toward the ground.

"Sloppy."

The lady murmured before I felt a kick on the back of my leg and I dropped to the ground.

"Ugh."

A small groan escaped my lips as I fell to the ground. My body seemed to have lost all of its energy as I dropped several times to the ground as I tried to get up, but in spite of my best efforts, I couldn't get up.

"D..Damn it, not yet!"

"Give up young miss."

The lady from before spoke. Her words only served to incite a hidden anger that rushed out from within my body.

Glaring at the lady, I spat through my gnashed teeth.

"I said, only stop when I pass out!"

Her threatening aura seemed to have worked somewhat, as the lady stopped insisting that she'd give up and just let her do her thing.

"As you wish."

Taking a step forward, the servant disappeared from the spot before reappearing right in front of me. Her movements were lightning quick, and although I could react to them, my body couldn't, and was soon thrown all the way toward the other end of the training ground.

Crash—!

My body quickly crashed against the walls.

I had originally expected to feel some pain while I crashed against the wall, but to my surprise, I didn't.

It seemed as though we couldn't feel pain in this imaginary world.

Nonetheless, I may not be able to feel pain, but I could still feel what Melissa was feeling.

Frustration, anger, and resentment.

Drip—! Drip—!

With more sweat dripping from her forehead, I slowly raised my head and glared at the lady.

"Again!"

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