Utopian System

Chapter 434 System's Trust

"And how do you plan to stop me?" Zala laughed, but there was a touch of frustration in her voice. "This is my body now."

'For now.'

Zala tried to take a step again, but her leg refused to move. A growl of frustration escaped her lips.

"This is ridiculous!" she punched the wall with her fist. "LET ME END THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

'Not while I exist.'

"You're just residual consciousness, you don't exist anymore!" Zala began fighting for control, her erratic movements betraying her frustration. "You should have vanished already!"

'And yet,' Zara's voice was soft but relentless, 'here I am.'

Zala slumped against the wall, laughing without humor. "This body... is perfect for me... but a little girl is winning control from..."

The two consciousnesses remained silent, at a deadlock of opposing wills.

"This isn't over," Zala finally muttered.

'For the first time we agree on something.'

♢♢♢♢

Five days without water...

Elio's lips were cracked, his throat so dry that each breath was like swallowing sand. His muscles burned from the latest of constant attempts to break free.

The black shackles mocked him. No matter how much force he applied, no matter that his muscles tore again and again under superhuman effort, the armor regenerated them just so he could try again, an endless cycle of pain and frustration.

He had tried everything. Even attempting to tear off his own hand... but he couldn't, the shackles seemed to adjust perfectly no matter what. It was as if the black metal was alive, responding to every escape attempt.

His book floated before him, a constant taunt. Closed, inaccessible. He had only managed to glimpse Zala's statistics through the crystal when she was present.

But if he could open the book, if he could summon Emberg or his scorpion... would they be capable of cutting off his arm?

Thirst clouded his thoughts, making each idea seem simultaneously brilliant and stupid.

The sound of footsteps alerted him. Zala entered the chamber, her face contorted in a mask of frustration. Without a word, she made a sharp gesture.

A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "As if they could. First they need to control the second ring's deposits if they want to reach 21. And with double the monsters at that level..." She spun Elio's sword between her fingers. "Without this, they would need an astronomical mana investment to form a decent team that could reach the third ring."

Her eyes gleamed with a sudden idea. "Although... maybe someone will manage it in a few months. And if I can't kill Elio..." A cruel smile formed on her lips. "I can always wait for another to take the Von title. One this body won't have problems eliminating."

She headed toward the exit, but her legs stopped dead.

"Oh, come on!" she growled in frustration. "REALLY?! What does this have to do with your boyfriend?!"

The resistance in her muscles was unequivocal.

"FINE!" she roared, turning back toward where Elio remained chained. "If you're so worried about leaving him alone, I'll free him to enter the damn book! But know that I won't give him the sword! If he dies in there it'll be his problem, not mine!"

Zala locked the sword in a black metal box in another room and headed to the chamber.

♢♢♢♢

The black shackles dissolved once more, and Elio fell to his feet, his muscles protesting from the still insistent escape attempts. His book floated nearby, calling to him, but before he could reach it...

"Wait," the voice that came from Zala's lips was different, softer, more familiar. "The book is too dangerous without your sword."

Elio froze. That voice... sounded exactly like Zara. The cadence, the concern in the tone, everything was her.

"The statue," the voice continued. "Maybe it would be good to see the statue first."

His eyes moved between the book and the statue while his mind worked frantically. Was it really Zara? Or another of Zala's tricks?

"Elio," the voice insisted, and there was something in the way she pronounced his name that made his heart clench. "Trust me. The book without your sword... is suicide."

It was true. Without his sword, without his main weapon, a potion, and his magical power reduced, entering the book would be extremely dangerous. His current power was severely limited.

But trust?

"Please," the voice broke slightly, and that small moment of vulnerability was what finally convinced him. Zala could never imitate that feeling in Zara's voice.

Slowly, deliberately, Elio turned toward the statue. Each step was a conscious decision, each movement a declaration of faith.

'I trust you, Zara,' he thought as he extended his hand toward the stone figure. 'I always have.'

His fingers approached the statue's surface.