บท 132: Chapter 132: Green-haired Girl
Some time ago,
"Where am I? How did I get here?" Shido muttered as he rubbed his head.
"Ouch..." Shido winced in pain as a sudden stabbing pain appeared in his mind.
He didn't remember much. He only remembered the time until Eri got injured. Which reminded him -
"ERI!" He looked around in anxiety and saw Eri lying next to him, her expression constantly shifting from fear, anxiety to worry and happiness. It was a myriad of emotions that she was showing.
"Eri!" He screamed once more in worry before he checked her condition. Her astral dress had already disappeared, and her home clothes replaced them. Though it was slightly dirty and covered with mud, she looked healthy enough without a single scar or bruise.
"Phew..."
"Yoshinon!" Remembering his friend as well, he started searching for it, only to find it lying on the other side of Eri. His eyes weren't closed, but Shido could tell that he was currently sleeping as well.
Picking up the puppet, he dusted the dirt and mud off and placed it back on his left hand.
"Now I feel complete..."
After ensuring that Eri and Yoshinon were both okay for the second time, Shido sighed in relief as he started to inspect himself. He didn't have wounds and looked relatively clean apart from the sweat present on his forehead.
However, it seemed that his scream had awakened Eri from her slumber.
"Shido...?" Eri wanted to rub her eyes with her muddy hands, but Shido immediately prevented that.
Eri was startled that someone had prevented her from rubbing her own eyes, but when she saw the eyes that were ever so gentle looking at her and shaking his head, Eri immediately smiled brightly.
"Shido!" Not caring about anything else, Eri jumped onto Shido and hugged him tightly.
"Shido. Shido. Shido." Like a broken recorder, Eri kept saying his name out loud, as if to reassure herself that Shido was really beside her.
Shido was stunned but quickly recovered and started to hug her back and pat her back.
"There, there...I'm here." Shido cooed gently in her ear as he reassured her, "What's wrong?"
"Shido! I thought you would never return!!" Eri bawled and started telling Shido what had happened after he had blacked out.
After ten minutes of recounting, Shido sighed.
He knew what had happened. Because of his overflowing anger and regret, his emotions ran out of control, and his Sephira crystals had temporarily become Qlipha crystals due to his negative emotions corrupting them.
Why did Shido always strive to become cheerful and had a happy-go-lucky attitude?
It was because of his fear of his powers going rampant.
The stronger the power, the more quickly it corrupts. Rarely did anyone with great power not become corrupted by it.
Shido's situation was no different.
Shido had erased Shigaraki and the rest of the League of Villains off Earth's face during the black illumination. This meant that his goal had been accomplished.
However, his alter ego, or his more 'evil' side, went out of control. His power went rampant as he completely destroyed the entire city. The only good point about that was that his most dominant thought ensured that Eri wasn't harmed at all.
"Luckily, you weren't hurt at all. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known what I would have done." Shido sighed with relief, knowing that his alter ego didn't, or more accurately speaking, couldn't bring himself to harm his loved one.
"I'm so sorry, Eri. I lost control of my own emotions..." Shido muttered with shame, but Eri was close enough to hear what Shido had said.
"It's okay...but please don't ever lose control like that ever again, all right?" Eri cupped her hands around Shido's face and looked at him in the eye, "It's scary when no one can stop you, you know? Endeavor-san, Gran Torino-san, Bakugo-san, and Midoriya-san couldn't even get close to you, much less try to put you down."
"Eh! They tried to stop me?! Of course, they can't!" Shido laughed out proudly before getting a smack on the head.
"Stop being so proud of that fact. You almost killed them all, you know?"
"Eh!?!?" Shido paused and asked hesitantly, "Are...they fine...now?"
"They're fine. For some reason, time just suddenly stopped all around us. You can even see the rain droplets in mid-air." Eri explained and pointed at one of the raindrops that stopped directly in front of them.
"Now that's interesting. I wonder who can stop time all around us..."
Shido had a curious and relaxed expression, but his guard was still up. Although he knew that the being who stopped time wouldn't hurt them since he could have just killed them before they were even awake, he still wouldn't trust him. Especially since he wielded power to stop time all around the globe.
He was prepared to unleash Ain Soph at any moment's notice, and if needed, Ain as well.
"So what now? What do we do?" Shido let go of Eri and placed her on her feet before standing on his feet as well.
Eri looked around and saw that everyone was frozen in time. She smiled mischievously and said, "Why don't we prank them?"
"Are you a child?" Shido smiled wryly, but his hands already had a marker prepared from Haniel's storage.
"You really have anything in there, huh?" Eri commented as she watched Shido take out two permanent markers.
"Of course! Such useful storage space, why wouldn't I take full advantage of it?"
"Nevermind. Let's just start."
And so, the two, possibly one of the most powerful beings on Earth right now, was doodling on the number one hero in Japan's face. And while they were at it, they decided to do it to some of the nearby heroes as well.
Shido didn't try to break out of the time freeze and just enjoyed this peaceful world together with Eri.
Half an hour passed while Shido and Eri had their talk. Shido was angry that Eri almost lost her life because she didn't listen to him, but Eri counter-argued that she wanted to stand beside him and not always stay behind him and be protected.
Eri didn't want to be some pretty but fragile porcelain. She didn't want to a trophy girl for Shido.
Hearing her words, Shido just sighed. What could he say or do against that logic? Remove all her power? That would just place her in greater danger.
"Fine! But if you're going to start risking your life in combat, I must be there to always watch over you, all right? At least until I'm confident that you can face off against the strongest being in the world."
Eri immediately agreed. She knew that even just letting her risk her life to get combat experience, Shido was already compromising a lot. If she argued any more, she wouldn't even get a single thing at all.
Though Shido might be gentle towards her and pamper her a lot, Shido was deadly serious and firm in his decision when it comes down to serious matters like her well-being.
Now that the serious talk was over, they decided to go on a date in this time-frozen world. Eri's and Shido's relationship was really good. Even if they had argued about some things, they would always be back to each other's embrace by the next day.
Another one and a half hours passed since they started their date. It wasn't the best idea in the current situation, but they only lived once after all. It would become a new experience for either of them since most people don't get the opportunity to go on a date in a time-frozen world.
Needless to say, though they didn't actually take anything apart from the food, they enjoyed themselves.
"Ahem...I know that the both of you are enjoying yourselves, but please don't cause any disturbance."
A sudden voice appeared behind them, and without warning, Ain Soph appeared, and the world turned monochrome once more.
"Who are you?" Shido immediately pulled Eri close to him, turned around, and asked. His tone was steady and calm, though he was very guarded against the unknown being.
Right in front of their eyes, an old man manifested out of nowhere.
His looks weren't anything special. He had the same grey hair as any other old man out there, a mustache and a little beard to match. His height also wasn't anything impressive - he was the same height as the two twelve-year-olds, maybe even a little shorter.
[A/N: Lol. If you typed 'old man in anime', the first thing you would get in images is not a weak, frail old man. It seems like all old men in anime are all badass and hidden bosses.]
He wore a white singlet, which showcased his skinny and twig-like limbs. Shido couldn't help but feel surprised that such a weak and old man could sneak up behind him without him knowing.
"So, who are you?" Shido repeated his question impatiently.
"Relax, boy and girl. I'm just a harmless old man." The man stroked his five-centimeter beard and took a seat in front of them, "Do take a seat as well."
Shido raised an eyebrow and took a seat, but his angel was still present. The crystal-like branches and flowers loomed threateningly overhead as they each took a sip of their own drinks.
As for where the old man got his drink from? He stole it from the counter.
The trio just drank in silence while Eri took an occasional curious look at the mysterious old man.
"So, are you going to tell us anything about yourself?"
"I'm sure you have some vague idea about me, don't you? You are very perceptive." The old man smiled a little, revealing two rows of blinding white teeth that did not match his age or looks.
"I guess you're some kind of God that watches over this world?" Shido took a guess.
"Wow! So you're really some God, huh?" Eri burst out suddenly, and when she realized that the two men were looking at her strangely, she blushed in embarrassment and sat back down.
"Not really." The old man shook his head and sighed sadly, "Did you know that I actually had a young look just four hundred years ago?"
"Huh?"
Both Eri and Shido were bamboozled by this old man's sense of time.
'Just' four hundred years?
Who the hell uses 'just' to describe four hundred years?
"O-Okay...and?"
"Your face says that you don't believe me."
"Who the hell would believe you?" Shido retorted.
"Even after I showed that I can stop time?"
"I can do the same as well, just not at a global scale. But do I look like I'm 'just' found hundred years old?"
"No."
"See?"
"You look like a thousand years old."
"..."
"..."
Shido was speechless at this shameless old man while Eri just giggled.
How did he even look remotely more than twelve years old? Much less a thousand years old...
The trio remained in eerie silence until the old man decided to stand up.
Shido was just about to ask what he was doing when the old man suddenly did a Dogeza and yelled out, "Please get out of my world!!"
Shido was startled and started floating away from the old man in a Dogeza position.
"Get away from me, you creepy old man!!"
"No!" The old man started floating and chasing after them as well, all while still being in a Dogeza position, "I will never stop chasing you or resuming time until you get out of my world!!!"
Hearing his almost-begging words, Shido stopped flying away and floated on the spot.
"Why do you want us to get out of this world so desperately? We didn't do anything bad to this world. In fact, didn't I even kill criminals for you?"
"I don't care about the good guys or bad guys! I just want this world to survive, and it certainly would not happen if both of you are here!"
Shido was now puzzled.
"I don't think I did anything that would result in the world ending, though?"
"It's not just you. It's your damn race!! Why did a spirit even arrive in this world in the first place?" The old man was now in tears as he rolled around the air and threw a tantrum.
Both children's lips twitched at this baby-like old man before Shido asked once again. He was already tired of this old man's antics.
"Tell me more. What do you mean by my race? Wasn't I the first spirit to be in this world?"
"Damn you, little boy! If it weren't for that green-haired girl, you would have never arrived here in the first place!!"
*****************
A/N: I haven't been writing this book for quite some time already. I'm not dropping this, but I don't really feel motivated to write this compared to the anime world one.
If you want to support me or/and want 14+ chapters in advance, link:
https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 7.5 months ahead (aka 30 chapters going by 1 chapter per week release schedule)
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง