The mind of the flux user that created the sacrificial chambers was neither an engineer or an architect. Therefore, once his flux and helmet of light ceased to be, so did the rigidity of the erected structure. If what awaited beneath the imminent collapse was not mayhem, the wooden fingers and eyes rolling into masses brought about more screams and reactions.

  Upon Camilo rescuing Iker by pulling his hand, Iker only realized now that he was in total shock.

  That was because both his gun and Bastian were gone.

  "Where's Bastian?"

  "Who?" Camilo asked.

  Iker sensed the briefest lapse after Bastian let go of him onto the concrete, but there were so many confusing considerations to juggle at once. The lapse, the disappearance of Bastian, the disappearance of the gun, the conflicting memories, Camilo not knowing who Bastian was, and the terrible and ominous gut feeling pouring over his being from the asleep lion cub Camilo was cradling.

  Confusion is the point.

  "Let go of the lion cub," Iker commanded. "He can go with the rest of the talking animals escaping."

  Iker glanced up at the sky to take inventory of his drones, and they were all adrift past the float of Cupid above the trio. Nothing was left to chance by the drones; when more Alkrezians spotted Iker and the scurrying talking animals, more partying holograms spawned as hopeful distractions. Out of hatred the cultists could only try to swing at the in-rhythm holograms.

  Nice try.

  How dare you?

  And I oo-

  Really?

  Hah!

  Just stop.

  Is that all you got?

  Ez.

  "Am... am I the one creating the holograms?" Iker asked. With his mind racing, it was only after Iker asked that question that he realized that Camilo did not respond to his previous command.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "What's wrong with you?" Camilo wondered.

  "... what do you mean?" Iker asked.

  "Wait... are you dealing with the same thing too?" Camilo asked. "To be honest... I don't remember how I got here."

  Iker shook his head. "First, just wake up the cub and let him go."

  If Iker understood anything, is that there was no point in trying to understanding everything that was happening. If memory, time, reality, simulations, and dreams are all being toyed with at once, then all he could do was trust his gut. Getting paralyzed by the unknown will buy Ameen, Ember, and Mave—

  "Wait? What's the lion cub's name?" Iker asked.

  It became apparent that Maverick, the lion cub, was only pretending to sleep as reality paused as soon as he opened his glowing amber eyes. The most jarring thing was how quickly the utter silence manifested; even the everpresent electronic music ceased. By instinct, Iker called upon a drone he only used once because of how mentally scarred taking a life left him.

  But wait... the first people I ever killed were those women—

  It was indeed true that confusion was the point, as Maverick took advantage of Iker's need to understand which timeline he was in. Within the mere moments Iker wondered about when he had first had taken the life of another human being, the cub with now-revealed esper abilities ascended above the digitally frozen Camilo and became akin to a missile with protracting claws as the substitute nose cone. Upon awareness of the incoming attack Iker's jugular was slashed clean.

  Not looking to make the same mistake again, he acted upon his first thought and became an angel sidestepping his toppling physical body.

  He doesn't see me!

  Indeed, the levitating cub was now descending onto the concrete based on a perceived victory.

  I mastered kaya in a previous life... but like... I never tried healing another person. Or would healing myself be exactly life my powerful rege—

  Iker decided to focus. Even though Maverick could still not spot his flux becoming the form of an angel, it did not mean it was going to stay like that forever. Iker had no idea of any attacks he could do as an angel, so he decided to use his own body instead. He grabbed on to his own right hand, noticing that his left was still intac—

  Focus. Focus. Focus damn it.

  Opting out of figuring out whether his left arm was going to be chopped off in the future of this timeline, he instead had to deal with the surprise of his angel form being able to interact with his own physical body. Thereupon he got his own physical body to land a perfect punch onto the spine of Maverick. Even though his body was more blood, organs, and bones than a cub, Maverick's nervous system remained intact, resembling an effulging and cosmic tree amid the splatter. Then his glowing nervous system swirled into a portal.

  While angel Iker was trying to heal the outpouring wound on his physical body, from the spawning portal a sun-like mane burst through to the present reality. The force from both his entrance and inherent flux forced Iker to pick up his own body and fly away as fast he could. Landscapes, crowds, and the atmosphere ceased to be, leaving behind only hypostasis.

  Now with the eternal grid in each direction, Iker flapped only one of his wings to quickly spin to see what was left behind. And Maverick, probably known by other names in other realities, was now a jade coil slithering on the invisible and infinite floor. It did not take long for the spawned being to find his bearings, his radiant mane and face sprouting from his overlong body to glare at Iker in midair.