Bab 54: Chapter 53
Akatsuki finally finished his story. He looked at the girls. All of them had their face plastered with a grim look.
They are shocked to hear that from him.
"And so, you can do whatever you want to me. Beat me, kill me, anything goes."
He said boldly while bowing his head.
But he failed to notice his mom.
Makina is actually up to something.
"And now it's time for us girls to have a talk." She said and Akatsuki disappeared from tue room.
"Eh….."
Everyone made a dumbfounded face.
"Don't be angry at Akatsuki, okay?"
Makina bowed her head and asked.
"No. I am not mad at him." Momoko said.
"Me too, and I think no one here is." Mizuki said.
"But why? What drove him to do this?" (Selene)
"He truly believes that you girls are only in love with him because of Nebula-chan." (Makina)
"Why is he so fixated on that?"
Momoko made a displeased face while asking.
"No, it's true that you guys are influenced by Nebula." (Makina)
"Eh…"
"Yes. But he doesn't know the full extent. So he believes that all of your feelings are fabricated." (Makina)
"But we are influenced?" Mizuki asked that.
"Yes. Nebula or Sakura-chan loved him way too much. So much that after her death, she wanted to become his guardian god. For that she went on a journey and ended up becoming a full god." (Makina)
"I really hate it. Why are we all going in circles?" Mizuki said.
"The main reason would be that. Akatsuki doesn't understand how a woman thinks. He doesn't understand our hearts." (Makina)
"But him not understanding is nothing new."
All of them said.
"Yes. But because of that, he is hesitant. No, he is in denial. He is thinking something like this. 'There's no way someone can fall in love with me. So I can love all of them albeit one sided.' Or something similar." (Makina)
"Isn't that pretty twisted?" (Selene)
"Yes. But he will continue to love you all. And because of that, he can't choose a single person. And he totally believes that women always fight among themselves for men. So he will love all of you, but you won't even know." (Makina)
Then she brings out 8 rings. All of them were pretty.
"He then made these. These rings portray each of you. And how he sees you. He made those rings to remember you and watch over you." (Makina)
"Is he planning on stalking us?"
"Yeah. He will always watch over you so you get to lead a happy life." (Makina)
Makina was saying things but then once again the scene changed.
They all arrived were in another place.
"Where are we now?"
At this moment, not anything would be able to surprise them. So they ask Makina who is the only one they could think of.
But she herself was confused.
"I didn't do anything." (Makina)
"So where are we?" (Mizuki)
"I don't know. This place is somewhere I can't locate. I don't know where it is.) (Makina)
"For you to not know, where could this be?" (Selene)
They were in a mechanical room. The room was covered with steel from top to bottom and it had a door saying, 'Exit.'
"Let's go." They all agreed and went through the exit.
Then they appeared at a hallway which had another door. It was a pure white hallway but somehow they could tell that they should follow the hallway.
After walking through the hallway and opening the door, they find a chair in the middle of the room.
It was facing the opposite direction.
"Welcome." Said someone.
And they knew right then who it was.
It was Akatsuki's voice.
"Akatsuki, what are you doing?" Makina asked.
"Nothing. I was getting tired of the cat and mouse chase. So I decided to end everything today." (Akatsuki)
He turned around and it was the very same Akatsuki. But something about him was different.
"Where is this place? And why doesn't my powers work?" (Makina)
"This is the Forge. The Forge of creation where all creations start and end." (Akatsuki)
"What? I thought that was a legend. And why exactly are you here?" (Makina)
"No, I told you that I am tired of it. So let's end it." (Akatsuki)
"End what?"
None of them understood what he meant.
"Let's show you the being called Akatsuki. Who he actually is?"
Akatsuki said that and snapped his fingers when the white wall disappeared and big tubes appeared.
Glass tubes filled with some liquid with a human inside.
At that sight, all of them were mortified. It was a scene that anyone would get scared of.
"This is Akatsuki. The project Akatsuki of the previous gods as their successor." (Akatsuki)
But no one responded. Because they are atill recovering from this shock.
"The man Akatsuki never existed as a human in the first place. Or rather, not in this time. He used to be a human from the previous world. But now he is nothing more than a lingering fragment." (Akatsuki)
"So what was it? Who was talking to us? What were those overly exaggerated and weird stories? Who are we then? Are you even real or are we real?"
Finally they all spoke. They had lots of questions. And they demanded answers from Akatsuki.
"This is real. Let's see, Makina, do you know that creation is a cycle?" (Akatsuki)
"I heard rumors that the world is created and destroyed in a cycle." (Makina)
"Yes. And they needed an overseer. Who would oversee this process. That is project Akatsuki. I was created for overseeing this cycle. So I never should have come into contact with the creations in the first place." (Akatsuki)
"But I did. I broke the taboo. After watching over this cycle for an infinite amount of times, I grew weary. I became more alive than I should be. And I came into contact with the creations. The gods of the previous world." (Akatsuki)
"Wait wait, are you saying that you aren't human?" (Mizuki)
"Yes. I am nothing more than a puppet and these are my bodies. My current body looks like this but I can change anytime soon."
Akatsuki pointed at the bodies. It's true that they all have the same face but the structure is different.
Akatsuki is showing them around. They are walking behind them until all of them reached a room.
It is equipped with enough seats. For all of them to sit.
Akatsuki told them to take a seat and even prepared snacks.
But none of them were in the mood.
"I would really love to talk to you about this."
Akatsuki was really happy. He is being very nice. But suddenly a warning bell started ringing.
Like one of those evacuation bells, it started ringing and a red light was flashing.
"What happened?" Everyone else was shocked by that.
Akatsuki said,
"What happened?"
"Pod no. 1997 has malfunctioned. Subject is going in cardiac arrest. Brain hemorrhage detected."
A voice just told him.
"Ahh… I see. I will check it. Sorry ladies but work calls." He said and disappeared.
The alarm stopped and everything was silent once again.
"What are we doing here?" Mizuki listlessly asks.
"I don't know." Momoko answers.
"What is real anymore? Who is Akatsuki? Who are we?" Selene started her rambling.
All of them were mentally tired. They had no idea what was what.
Being caught up in Akatsuki's elaborated plan, they have lost sight of reality.
Akatsuki came back after a while.
"Sorry, one of me died. Had to replace him."
"Eh…" All of them went like that.
How can one of him die? Is what they were thinking.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone