Retired: Nice Guy. HAREM SYSTEM UNLOCKED

Chapter 18: 18. I broke the door... I broke the door.

All my senses were focused on her, and only her, working overtime.

”You see, I idolize the Mother so much that I wanted to become like her, follow in her footsteps. That’s why I traded my powers to get access to the Forbidden Library.”

There was a long silence between us that I wasn’t sure what to make of. She just stopped.

”Because the Forbidden Library is beyond the human mind, she gave me one power. All my senses are bound to the Forbidden Library.”

”Why are you telling me all this?”

Sister Maren giggled at my question, a dumb and smart question, depending on how you look at it.

”Because you questioned my eyes, silly. This morning.”

”To put it simply, all my senses work with the Forbidden Library and feed me information about my surroundings. In depth.”

”That power is broken, but when did I ask about your eyes!? I never said anything–”

My eyes widened instinctively as I came to a realization. She can read minds, for real.

”That’s right. Unlike my other senses, my eyes are more powerful and overfeed me with information. And this morning, when I saw you with my eyes, you questioned it afterward. Remember.”

Oh shit. I have to be careful, she can read minds. What kind of information are her senses feeding her right now?

”In those brief few seconds my eyes saw your secret. A secret you can’t tell anyone.”

Sister Maren said with an innocent smile that wasn’t innocent. My secret? That means the system? She knows.

”That was my first time pushing my eyes to their limit.”

She took a hair clip out of her pocket, her hand moving upward, presumably to pin her long bangs up. I should have stopped her, but my dumb ass took a step back instead.

”To think I would reach my goal this way. My eyes can’t see what you don’t know, but I want to find out. How?”

The sound of the hair clip snapping into place echoed louder than it should have. The surroundings seemed to be vibrating. Her eyes were closed.

”How did you manage to achieve what I desperately want? The path of a god.”

Her sentence finished, and in less than a millisecond her eyes were open, locking me in place.

”Tell me, Mark–”

”AHHHHHHHHHH!!”

A girl screamed so hard it was as if her lungs were bursting open. Her scream broke the cosmic tension between us.

Sister Maren turned toward where the scream came from, and I noticed the surroundings were vibrating in place somehow.

It’s the eeriness everyone had been talking about.

”Elias, come with me.”

Sister Maren said, and I followed with a delay. We moved forward, she was sprinting, but her clothing was making things harder. So I slowed down to match her pace.

”No, no, no. Come out of my body!!! DON’T EAT ME–”

The screaming became inhuman, as if a body was screaming and talking without lungs. I saw the tension rising in Sister Maren; she was holding her dress up to a point where I could see her thighs, to run at a faster pace.

But it didn’t do anything, the other half of the dress kept slipping again and again.

”My insides!!”

It was getting out of hand, I had to do something. I pulled Sister Maren closer, lifted her up, carrying her in my arms. Then I sprinted as fast as I could.

”Huh? Elias...”

She looked up at me, but I was too focused on the path forward. Then she rested her arm on my shoulder — I guess that meant she didn’t mind being carried.

We were getting closer and closer, students were out of their rooms, can’t blame them. They had a lot of questions regarding the screams, and I was about to give them more.

I passed by students, carrying Sister Maren in my arms at full speed toward the location of the scream.

”There, Elias. Put me down.”

I stopped, under the stairs. There was a broken trapdoor, stone bricks around it as if someone was trying to hide it from common person. We reached the trapdoor and it led to a pitch-dark place. Not sure if it was a place or not.

Then suddenly, the surroundings started vibrating, this time... out of place.

”I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry, I broke the door.... I broke... the door. I’m not real. I’m not real.”

Our eyes landed on the ceiling above us, and I saw the girl, her body parts out of place, submerged in some semi-transparent buds of slime-looking substance, sticking to the ceiling.

Or more like shaping her.

”Finally, at last, I can breathe. A new host.”

Her voice changed and came from all directions. She began touching her body like she cherished it now, moving with distorted motions.

”Elias, run from here. She hasn’t lost control, an insect has eaten her, she’s dead. Before the insect completely restructures her body, run.”

What? How can she tell? Oh yes, the eyes. Sister Maren was more than serious, I should take her advice and leave. Besides, I can barely cast a spell.

At my first step, the girl who was sticking to the ceiling jumped on Sister Maren with incredible speed. The impact sent Sister Maren slamming into the wall.

Her body hit the wall so hard the stone wall cracked, and she dropped down, struggling to lift herself up.

”Elias... find Seraphine. Now!”

She said with a weak throat and her last bit of strength, then passed out. I hadn’t seen anything like in this shape before, is it real? I don’t want it to be. My heart wouldn’t stop beating.

What should I do? Find Seraphine, she said. Where is she anyway? Will this insect-possessed girl even let me find her in the first place?

”Ha ha ha. Humans are so weak. Yet you people have the audacity to tamper with things you shouldn’t. And your reason, curiosity? What a joke.”

The insect girl’s shape was settling, the semi-transparent buds of slime-looking substance settling down to shape even more of her new body.

”Where do you think you’re going? Human!”