The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 346: In between

Zombie's consciousness was drifting in the void, his body was too exhausted for him to wake up but at the same time, his mind was already well rested - creating the odd situation.

Well... this certainly is awkward...

Zombie thought to himself and his own voice resounded through the ocean of endless darkness.

Yeah, pretty much.

What the...?!

Even though he didn't really forget about the sealed overseer living inside of his body, suddenly hearing Patience's voice coming from behind him instead of, well, inside of him, was a really shocking experience that forced the gasp out of him.

The boy turned around and there she was, the bright orb floating freely in the darkness.

The first thing that popped to Zombie's mind at that sight was...

...screen saver...

You're a screensaver!

The orb of light trembled with anger and scoffed back at the boy, demonstrating that she could in fact still read his mind if she wanted.

Khahaha! As if! You look like an orb, go bounce in the corner - if there is a corner somewhere in this weird place... umm... Huh?!

Zombie laughed and tried to wave his hand before he realized, that he had no hands in his current form.

Just as Patience in front of him, he was now just a flaring orb too!

The two of them only differed in color - Patience was a radiant white just as how she was in her original form while Zombie was vibrantly violet.

Huh... odd... I kind of expected to be blue in my own subconscious...

Zombie frowned or tried to frown but the only difference was noticeable in the tone of his voice as there was no visible change to his sphere-like appearance.

If this was your own consciousness then you probably would have been. But this place is something very different.

Patience denied and darted from one side to the other giving the best visual cue she could for shaking her head.

Excuse me...? Then where are we and why? And if this isn't in my head then how come you are here? This doesn't make any sense, unless... Oh, for the love of...! Don't tell me I'm actually dead and without you pulling the strings from behind, the system didn't stop my soul from leaving and I'm about to reincarnate?!

Zombie gasped, floating back from terrible suspicion.

What...? No! Perish the thought! Nothing like that - this place might be a bit dreadful but even so, there is nothing to worry about.

Patience denied in a calm voice, offhandedly letting him know that she knew exactly where and why they currently are.

...

The boy went silent and even though there was no change in his appearance of the vibrant violet orb, it was rather clear that he was rolling his eyes.

Look around. Carefully. We aren't here alone, although the others will not be able to hear us, since they don't even know that they are here themselves in the first place.

Instead of explaining it, as she would normally do, Patience encouraged her host and danced around, enjoying the freedom of movement in her orb form.

...?

Zombie raised his brow – or at least tried, and looked around once more.

He didn't saw them immediately, but there were there all along...

...few lights in the distance, surrounded by darkness just like the two of them...

...different lights, looking like the lonely stars.

There was one red one, two green ones, two light-blue ones, one blue, one orange, one yellow, and one other violet just like Zombie.

Anything comes to your mind after seeing them all?

Patience asked sounding as if she was smiling.

All of those share their colors with sins...

Zombie sounded as if he furrowed his brows, deep in thoughts.

...and their number... this can't be a coincidence either, is it now... In that case, are those the representation of the avatars of sins and their official heirs registered in the system...?

He asked, turning back to the expectant Patience.

Yay! We have a winner! You are spot on with that deduction! Then? Will you be correct twice? How about the place we are currently in?

Patience twirled and bounced around as if it was some sort of a quiz show and she was the overexcited host, and instantly asked another question.

Here's a hint – we are not on a physical plane but we still are well within the boundaries of the world my creator has made - and you saw a message about it too!

She generously threw in a hint, though it really wasn't telling the boy anything.

Ah... right... you weren't really in any shape to care about the messages that popped up when facing the sigil-empowered ant, were you, mister all-consuming boundless wrath? If not for the superbia you brought with you from the first playthrough, you would become an heir to the throne of wrath right then and there with how strong your anger was!

Patience sounded as if she furrowed her brows in realization and sighed.

Did something like that happened? I only vaguely remember using some new skill to decimate that repugnant thing that had the guts to remind me of what that other repugnant filth has done to me...

Zombie asked and scoffed – if he was in his physical body, he would have massaged his legs, specifically the tendons area, while saying that line.

One thing lead to another, and you got yourself registered as an official heir to the throne of pride. From now on when the current avatar of pride will die, you will inherit the title without any additional steps.

Patience sounded as if she shrugged her shoulders and explained.

And as for our current whereabouts - since I am not cruel enough to keep you in the dark alone - this is the sin of origin nucleus – a separate plane, from where the avatars of sin get their power.

In the end, she gave up on asking questions and surrendered to her role of a tutorial.

...separate plane you say... so, not within the system...?

Zombie asked in surprise.

This place exists side by side with the system and is intertwined with it, but works on its own rules. That's why the skills available for the avatars and their heirs are far more powerful than any magic-based skill.

Patience answered him flawlessly.

No, no way. How can they be more powerful? My Cranberry and I killed three avatars – four if you count Wrath, but that was because you interfered so...

Zombie bounced from side to side and pointed out.

No, you are the one who has it wrong – both the Heretic title and the annihilation bash are consecutively a title and a skill that get their power directly from the sin of origin nucleus, same with the soul devouring venom that was exclusive to the wielder of the Venomancer title. Funnily enough, soul devouring venom and annihilation bash were both getting their energy directly from the nucleus without being filtered by the power of the respectable sins so they were even more powerful. You never fought as underdogs nor on equal footing – you always had the high-ground against the avatars - in your first playthrough that is.

...oh...

After getting something like that revealed to him, Zombie was a bit overwhelmed, to say the least.

That brings us to your newest skill - the pride-based Overpower. It allows you to choose one single concept – be it something like a STR stat or even something like a whole skill of your opponent – if you use Overpower with that something in mind, you will momentarily get something twice as powerful in return.

HUH?! Hold on, what?!

Zombie gasped in disbelief while Patience continued.

With the ant, you were focused solely on its physical strength that managed to tear through your superbia empowered physical defense, so the moment you subconsciously activated overpower, you found yourself being twice as powerful as it was and hence managed to kill it with such ease... though, it has completely exhausted you and that's why we end up here...

The white orb danced around overjoyed, before stopping in place, suddenly sounding dispirited.

Wait... we shouldn't be here? And didn't I gained this skill and become an heir way too soon? What if the system will count it as cheating and will send Eternal right away before we get rid of his Invictus title?!

Zombie twisted and turned around as if looking for an exit from the endless void.

Hold up. You're misunderstanding a couple of things – first of all, there's nothing wrong with just being here - a part of your mind simply drifted here since the connection between your power and this place was still very fresh. Second of all, try to look into the memories of the events that will occur – is your character already an heir or not?

Patience asked the panicked boy.

...it's...

Zombie sounded as if he closed his eyes, focusing on the intercepted memories...

Ah! Yes, I was!

The boy gasped with relief.

Exactly – we're not cheating, we're following the story to the letter.

Patience laughed happily and bounced around Zombie.

Oh, and I almost forgot – Congratulations on taking the real first step on the path to the secret true ending, Zombie.

She declared, sounding as if a big bright smile bloomed on her face.