Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 1016

"Oh! You broke the rules! You can't attack me from outside the door!"

The attack from beyond the door ceased in an instant. Jenkins cried out, but he was already prepared. With a swift motion of his left hand, he raised the empty cup hidden up his sleeve.

It was a testament to Jenkins's sharp reflexes and keen eyesight. The water arrow was caught squarely in the cup. A continuous stream followed, gushing from the monster's mouth and pouring entirely into the vessel.

When the stream finally stopped, the cup wasn't filled with black liquid. Instead, it held a single black droplet suspended in its center. This had originally been Jenkins's Bestowal, a ring capable of holding a vast amount of liquid, but now it had been corrupted into a Cursed Item.

"Returned to its rightful owner."

With those words, Jenkins reached to take back his ring and shut the door. But the monster outside unexpectedly thrust out a hand to block him. At the same time, the alarm clock behind him started laughing again, and the door felt as if it were welded to the floor. For a moment, the two were locked in a stalemate.

"Hand over the umbilical cord!"

"Are you insane? That's against the rules of the Mysterious Realm!"

"Give me the umbilical cord, or no one is leaving this Mysterious Realm today!"

As it confronted Jenkins, it finally opened its eyes. Staring into them not only made Jenkins feel as if his brain had been struck by a hammer again, but he also saw that those eyes now contained the same pinkish, fleshy threads as the environment around them.

"Greed is the original sin!"

Jenkins vaguely understood. Aside from the bronze-skinned monster, the other knockers were natives of the Mysterious Realm, "legally" present and thus unafraid of the fleshy carpet. But this monster had entered from the material world. It didn't belong here, and the Mysterious Realm was not about to be hospitable.

"Hand over the umbilical cord!"

the monster threatened again.

As he spoke, he prepared to summon the White Bone Holy Sword and strike the hand blocking the door.

But before he could summon the sword, a strange sound reached his ears. It was like the clattering of thrown dice, spinning and colliding. As the sound echoed, seeming to ring right beside him, the entire world was instantly washed in black and white.

It was as if a color photograph had faded into an old, monochrome print. At the same moment, the world ground to a halt.

This was no simple pause in time; everything—fate, concepts, time, and space—had frozen. In this black-and-white world, Jenkins was surprised to find that while he couldn't move, he could still observe and think.

Three dice of unknown origin appeared beside the monster. Each was the size of a fist, and they landed on 3, 2, and 6.

It seemed to represent some kind of result, or perhaps a judgment. A giant hand reached out from the void, shattering space, and seized the static form of A-05-1-4490, which was as frozen as the monochrome world around it.

Jenkins could just barely glimpse the world behind that giant hand. A single moment's observation was enough to make him mentally black out for a few seconds. Fortunately, in this completely static world, his frozen body remained unharmed.

Behind the giant hand was a dazzling world of debauchery and splendor. Jenkins swore he saw gambling tables, humans and bizarre creatures of all kinds, and banknotes from every era fluttering through the air...

Another three dice fell from the sky, this time landing on 2, 5, and 1.

An ethereal fire ignited, engulfing A-05-1-4490 in the giant hand's grip. The black-and-white flames burned the bronze-skinned monster furiously, inflicting tangible damage. Since the monster couldn't move, it looked like a statue set ablaze. A sense of inexplicable dread made Jenkins want to tremble, but he was powerless to do so. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel•fire.net

"The Casino of Misfortune?"

That was Jenkins's first thought upon seeing the world on the other side. Once the name surfaced in his mind, he realized this was another realm under the control of some sovereign power.

He vaguely guessed this was a punishment, just as the third set of dice was thrown.

Three ivory dice tumbled through the air, finally revealing their result: 6, 6, 6.

A tidal wave of cheers from an unknown source washed over him. Then, thousands upon thousands of hands emerged from the spatial tear where the giant hand had appeared. They seized the motionless monster, the scales, and the mountain of Cursed Items upon them, dragging them all toward the rupture.

The process was incredibly fast. When it was all over, the black and white of the world swirled together, dissolving everything into chaos. Even Jenkins couldn't escape it and fell into confusion, then unconsciousness.

"A-05-1-4490 illegally entered the Mysterious Realm and attacked me, so it's been punished. But what about that alarm clock?"

In the instant the world began to blur, Jenkins found he could move his body again. Just before he passed out completely, he turned his head and saw a similar arm grabbing the alarm clock. Behind it was the same dazzling casino, and the clock's face was frozen in an expression of shock.

"Just as I thought, the same punishment..."

When he regained consciousness, the sly twin moons shone down on Jenkins and the professor. They were standing in a barren field. The professor was still walking forward, but noticed Jenkins had stopped and turned back to look at him in surprise:

"Is something wrong? Is there something amiss around here?"

"Oh, sorry. It's... nothing. No accidents."

They were back at the same spot where Jenkins had first seen the figures chasing them in the woods. He stood stunned for a long moment, and the professor didn't disturb him.

He glanced at the innocent-looking cat on his shoulder; it wore an expression of having missed out on a delicious meal. He felt his pockets. The bottle containing the umbilical cord was still there, proof that what had just happened wasn't a hallucination. But everything else he had gained was gone.

"What... just happened? Did that sovereign being rewind time in the material world?"

he thought, uncertain. He took out his pocket watch and checked the time. Half an hour had passed since he and the professor had entered the Mysterious Realm. Time hadn't been rewound; some great power had simply thrown them out of the realm and erased the professor's memory.

"I bet the fate of A-05-1-4490 and that alarm clock was pretty grim."

Thinking this, he couldn't help but feel a touch of schadenfreude. They deserved what they got. It was the right ending.