HDXD: Omni Harem System-Chapter 94: Conclusion To The Night VII

Darkness. Not the absence of light, but a void, a personal liminal space where existence itself seemed to falter. Adam floated within this abyss, his consciousness adrift, untethered from the physical realm. He was aware, yet not; present, yet absent at the same time.

A barrage of different sounds pierced the void: the clash of blades, the crackle of energy, the guttural growls of combat. Through this auditory chaos, a singular voice rang clear to him in that moment, a desire from someone close, as that person’s most inner wish echoed from the physical realm directly in this non-existent one, a voice he recognized all too well.

’I don’t want to die.’

Clara... Her voice, filled with desperation, anchored him, as memories surged: her unwavering loyalty as a result of Recall oblivion, their shared battles short but memorable, and the story they had told each other.

"Cl@r@...

A monstrous voice reverberated through the void, its timbre unmistakably Adam’s own. Drawn by an instinctual pull, Adam’s consciousness honed in on the origin of Clara’s voice. From his position within the non-physical realm, as he looked down into the material world, and he discerned the source of the voice, sensing the depth of her desire.

Instinct took over... In this strange space, Adam’s senses sharpened, allowing him to feel the desires around him, or rather outside of this space.

A new power stirred within him, a reimagined ability of whatever Echidna’s original abilities are, for sure. He couldn’t explain it, but he didn’t need to. His body, or whatever he was now in this space, just knew what to do.

It was like breathing for the first time. No one teaches a baby to breathe, or a wolf to hunt. Some things are just... known. And for Adam, this was one of them. And after locating Clara from this personal plane, his mind locked onto her location, guided by an innate understanding that didn’t require thought or instruction.

And the moment he found her.

He began to see the outside world as if it were a 2D screen.

And from where he was, he saw the cavern and the battle unfolding. Clara, battered and bloodied, faced the noble vampire. The vampire’s hand crackled with ominous purple lightning, poised for a final strike.

But then, Adam’s gaze shifted downward, as a familar connection greeted him. There, lying motionless, was his own body... headless, yet still very much alive, just inactive. Smoke still wafted from the cauterized neck.

"1s th@+ m3?...

Adam asked himself, but no answer came, for he was alone in this world.

And the more he saw things, the more he began to understand.

It was not long after that a realization dawned: he was observing the world from outside his body, his consciousness detached, but his mind clear, as sudden sensations just began to properly register. As he felt the searing pain at his neck, the residual agony of decapitation. Two sensations, two existences...one corporeal, one ethereal.

He was invisible, intangible, yet intrinsically linked to his physical form from here.

Knowing this by instinct alone.

An idea sparked.

Soon after, he began to focus his will, and that will began to reach out. An ethereal hand was created from where he was as it passed through the 2D screen and entered into the physical world. And the moment he did that, he wanted to squash the noble vampire’s head as he saw the existing world as 2D from where he existed in this weird space.

But the moment his hand touched the noble vampire’s head, or tried to touch his head, it passed right through, unable to interact with him at all.

"! gu355 th@t w0n+ wo7k...

Adam said as he tried something else.

This time, he switched the screen to see his body, the screen itself locking onto places in reality where desires can be located.

everything else in reality he could not interact with, because to reality, he did not exist as something interactable, but his instinct was screaming at him that his body was different.

As such, he acted upon that feeling, as the hand moved to his headless body, and the invisible hand touched his body’s chest, and just like he thought, resistance met him. He could interact with his own form if not anything else.

He grabbed his leg, and his body floated upwards. He began to move it around, feeling the physical form from where he existed.

It was weird, he felt his feet being touched, and felt his hand touch and yanking his feet upward, a dual sensation of sorts.

But that was not the only thing he could do.

He felt two sensations, and if he focused really hard on his body key sensations, he noticed that he could control his body just as how a gamer could control their gamer’s avatar. His hand the mouse, and his will the keyboard.

Seeing this, Adam continued to play around with his own body.

As his nonexistent self synchronized with his body. The headless corpse stirred, rising like a marionette guided by an unseen force, as Adam pictured a keyboard in his head. To any observer, it would appear as a grotesque puppet show, but for Adam, it was like playing an open-world RPG game.

"...I c0ul6 w0rk w1th +his."

He said to himself.

Channeling his newfound power, he began to control his body in the real world as he activated Negative Touch, picturing the spell as a combo he could use in-game on PC.

His right hand transformed, bones elongating, flesh receding, becoming a skeletal appendage pulsating with necrotic power. He placed it upon his chest, and with Positive Touch, life force surged, tissues regenerating, bones knitting, flesh reconstituting. His head began to reform, features returning, 1st person senses starting to reawaken.

As soon as he did that, Adam sensed a link between his two forms. He felt his current physical body, which from his perspective can be considered an avatar. Meanwhile, his soul resided in a mysterious space, detached from the physical world, yet still part of the universe.

The sensation was akin to sleepwalking mixed with a touch of schizophrenia. Instinctively, he understood that this place does not exist in the material world, but had a connection to a place called the Astral plane... but at the same time it was not a part of the astral plane, but rather somewhere in between both the astral plane, and the Material world.

In this state, he was both present and absent simultaneously from either of those planes of existence.

As a result, this newfound power allowed him to perceive and interact with the world from both a first-person and third-person perspective, given that the location of his body is present in either.

From the first-person view, he experienced reality directly. From the third-person view, it was as if he were observing his body as an in-game character.

But being able to see and feel his dual existence, the way Adam now saw the world was hard to explain; it was like being in two places at once. Or a simpler way to describe it was that he had eyes everywhere around him.

Or like a daydream.

But unlike dreams, where actions are often beyond control, here he could impose certain rules upon reality around his body in a limited area from his third-person perspective. These rules he imposed resembled the logic of video games or visual novels to some extent.

He could not explain how, but the moment Echidna injected her blood inside him, his desires skyrocketed, and a power that resonated deeply with his passion awakened in him, making this weird power of his awaken.

This led him to believe that Echidn, his monster parent, has some type of ability that allows her to bring desires into reality, although that is just his theory...but whatever it was, this new power of his was a reimagined version of whatever she has.

But that aside, he was now ready to test these abilities on the nameless vampire.

As he watched him.

But the moment he watched him from behind the screen, he saw something appear above his head; it was a health bar...

NO! A translucent interface that materialized before his eyes, reminiscent of a game’s HUD.

┌───────────────────┐

│ Name: Count Casimir Grimjaw

│ Rank: A-Class

├───────────────────┤

│ Health: 6,847 / 6,847

│ [█████████████████████]

├───────────────────┤

│ Astrum Sea (AS): 21,859 / 31,320

│ [█████████████░░░░░░░░]

└───────────────────┘

This interface imposed game-like rules onto reality.

What does this mean? Well, it was simple... Adam’s perception identified Casimir as a formidable adversary, akin to a mini-boss in a video game.

While the concept of quantifying a vampire’s vitality seemed illogical, his new desired base ability forced such entities, or any enemy from as far as he can tell, into a framework where they could be measured and, ultimately, defeated.

Interestingly, from his third-person perspective, Adam also noticed that while enemies displayed these stats, he himself did not possess visible health or Astrum Sea bars.

This distinction can only mean that his unique position allows him to exist both within and outside the conventional rules of this imposed system.

In layman’s terms, he was still behaving normally in accordance with the laws and logic of reality. But Casimir, on the other hand, is operating on a different set of rules that limit him greatly.

And now, Adam was about to get his revenge.

Because right before Casimir was about to finish, Clara.

Adam’s left hand went forward.

The Gates of Magic allowed him to copy his own spell instantly.

As such, he used Casimir’s own spell against him.

"Attributeless Magic: Overwrite."

A translucent, colorless magic circle materialized beneath Casimir’s feet... and the noble vampire’s lightning dissipated instantly, his expression shifting from annoyed to shock from behind his mask.

And chill crept up Casimir’s spine in that moment.

"Feels familiar, doesn’t it?"

He spun around, eyes wide behind the mask.

Standing there alive, somehow, was the boy he had killed earlier. The same brat whose head he had exploded minutes ago. His skull wasn’t fully healed, but it was getting there...his nose reshaping, lips curling into a grin far too confident for someone who should be dead.

And at this moment, his right arm was no longer flesh, rather, it was skeletal, lich-like, pulsing with life force. Golden energy coiled around him in invisible threads, flowing through him as it healed his wounds.

This caused him to stumble a step back.

"How the hell are you alive?"

He asked in utter shock.

Adam tilted his head, a faint, malicious grin spreading across his face. His eyes, now fully healed, gleamed with a sinister joy. The whites had turned pitch black, contrasting sharply with his golden irises, which bore slit pupils reminiscent of a serpent’s gaze. He locked eyes with Casimir, staring him down like a predator sizing up its prey.

"Hehehehe....

He laughed to himself, meanwhile, Casimir commented.

"No... how the hell did you copy that spell? That technique... it took me three hundred years to master the basics of it. How did you, some random brat, copy it like it was child’s play?!"

Adam smirked as his cracked skull continued healing.

"Maybe I just learn fast."

"Is that so?"

"Hmm... What kind of monster are you?"

Casimir sniffed the air, his brow furrowing.

"Strange. Earlier, you smelled like a mutt. Now, you reek of one of those Gordon harlots. Were you using some kind of artifact to mask your scent?"

Said Casimir with a perplexed look.

However, he soon recalled something he had forgotten until now.

"No... those eyes...they kind of resemble the Gordon’s, but where have I seen those types before?...

Casimir wondered as he tried to remember where he had seen Adam’s eyes before, and then it hit him.

"...Wait, are you...

He said, stepping back from Adam, instinctual fear taking over as the image of a certain woman flash in his head, in this world that woman could make even the Antediluvians piss themselves in fear, it would make sense, after all, they were on the Shinso territory.

"Hmmm, scared are we?"

Adam mockingly said.

"It makes sense now, you are the Spawn of that woman, aren’t you... But even then... How.?! No one from the Shinso family should be able to catch us with that woman here... So why... and how did you get past Yarquella’s abilities?"