Chapter 183 – Burn it!
The door to a house smashed against the wall with a loud crack as Noah kicked it open with a face full of fury and holding a lit fire torch in his hand.
“Where is it?!” He roared barging into the main room.
“Wha…wha…what are you doing, user?” Asked Ugy, startled in his seat.
“Where the fuck is it, you sleazy motherfucker? Where is this abomination?!”
“What are you talking about?” Asked Ugy incredulously.
“Where is this nightmare?!” Shouted Noah in fury.
Yuko with a meek face looked from behind the corner not understanding what she could have done to infuriate him so much.
Noah noticed her from the corner of his eye and turned to her with his eyes burning in fury.
“This does not concern you, Yuko. Don't get involved.” Said Noah surprising her before turning to Ugy once again.
“Why is it when you don’t like something, then I am the only one at fault?”
“I ask you again plush bastard, where is it? Don’t fucking play with me or I will grill your plush ass together with that abomination!”
“User….
“WHERE IS THE NEW NIGHTMARE THAT YOU RELEASED?” Roared Noah, shutting Ugy up.
“He did WHAT!?” Screamed Yuko barging into the main room and staring daggers at Ugy as she stood at Noah’s side clearly showing which side she was taking.
“I did not release any other nightmare than Yuko.” Said Ugy, raising his hands in a pacifying manner. “You forbid me from doing it, remember? I can’t go against your direct order. You have the admin authorization.”
“Don’t lie to me!” Exclaimed Noah but immediately saw the face of the plush bear change into cold and emotionless. Ugy’s eyes glazed as if there was no soul behind them.
“System can not tell an intentional lie to any direct question from the administrator.” Said a soulless voice from the plush bear's mouth making both Yuko and Noah’s faces change in surprise. The next second emotions returned to Ugy’s face as he grabbed at his throat and coughed as if he was choking.
“Ah, this…Don’t listen to me.” Said Ugy through coughs. “I sometimes speak nonsense.”
Noah and Yuko gazed at his dumb performance to cover the incident.
Ugy was a sentient, part of Noah’s system. But there were still standard functions that were absolute and Ugy could not go around them. Automatic notifications and some automatic replies to basic questions about systems functionality were part of these absolute functions.
This notification reminded Noah of all the times when they occurred. It seemed there was a rule to them too. And Noah started to understand that rule. Ugy could not outright lie to Noah. But he could bend around that rule by not answering clearly or simply hiding what he knew. However, there were occasions when Ugy was very truthful with him, which Noah now suspected wasn’t a willing choice on Ugy’s side. Whenever Noah pressed him hard for replies absolute functions would overpower him forcing him to give a good reply.
“If he can’t lie… Then, when he said he did not release anyone except me…It should have been true, right?” Said Yuko. “Umm, what’s going on, Noah?” She asked seeing as Noah lowered his hand that held the torch.
“I…I could swear…but…then…how can?” Muttered Noah in confusion swinging the torch in his hand.
“Noah. Let’s talk this over in a civilized way. Ok? Let me take care of this before you burn this whole house.” Said Yuko in a soft voice as she slowly reached toward his hand and grabbed the torch below the burning fire.
“...you said?” Muttered Noah suddenly freezing ramrod straight as if hit by lightning.
“What was that?” Asked Yuko not hearing his question.
“What did you just say?” Asked Noah this time loud and clear as his voice started to regain its anger.
“I said…” Started to repeat Yuko gazing at Noah warily.
“Take care? You would take care?” Said Noah this time she indeed saw that the fury returned to his face in full force. But he was strangely looking over her. She turned to look in the same direction as him and saw Ugy’s face change from confused and innocent into something that could be described as “Oh shit.”
And it was not the “Oh shit I did something bad, but Oh shit he knows what I did.”
“Take care. Take care.” Repeated Noah with a livid face. “You took care of it, right Ugy?”
“Look…” Said Ugy standing up with a serious face ready to take full responsibility for his action…and a second later jumped through the window falling outside in a shower of broken glass before starting to quickly run away on his plush legs with “pata pata” sounds. But before he could cover just a few meters, something caught him by the ankles, making him go down face first with a “plop” sound.
“No, you’re not.” Said Yuko through the shattered window pulling at the spider string that she spit to capture the treacherous plush bear.
“Good job, Yuko.” Said Noah, nodding with a smile. He never saw her do this before and it was an interesting surprise. Normally spiders produce spider strings for their web from their lower abdomen. It was true with the real Arachnas as well. But she was not Arachna in the usual sense of things. She was a product of a fantasy world. And her body relied on the rules implemented into her by the author that made up that fantasy. And fantasy Arachnas often spit spider webs from their mouths to capture their prey. Quite useful to not let the treacherous system get away in this case.
“So, did he lie after all?” Asked Yuko as she pulled the plush bear through the window and dropped him back on the armchair before spitting another web at him, that bound him so that he would not be able to run anymore.
“No. He can’t lie to me it seems. So he told the truth. He never released another nightmare. Of course, he didn’t. He did not have to. Because he never sealed him. I applaud your craftiness, you sneaky bastard.” Said Noah shaking his head as he gazed coldly at the squirming plush bear.
“That was my mistake, right, Ugy? It was my command back then. I did not say ‘Seal it under a mountain’. I said ‘Take care of it, Ugy’. Oh, you little… I was hyperventilating, throwing up, and wasn't in the right state of mind. I had been hit by the nausea of post nightmare story sickness and you used it as an opportunity. The only coherent words I could say back then were ‘Take care of it.’ And that was enough for you. You are not able to release Nightmares from the prison without my authority, but when I did not give a direct order to seal it, you used that chance to sneak the nightmare away and released it into my mind realm in secret, letting it roam free here this whole time.” Explained Noah staring daggers at Ugy. “So technically you did not lie to my last question. Well, I will rephrase it. Where is the other non-sealed nightmare?”
“What are you going to do with it?” Asked Ugy.
“Burn the fucking thing to ashes.” Said Noah with a face full of contempt.
“Umm Noah…” Said Yuko, stepping away from him and taking a deep gulp as she gazed at Noah's dark face. “So which nightmare are we talking about?”
“The most recent one.” Said Noah not taking away his gaze from Ugy.
“If you are going to commit suicide. There are better ways to do it.” Said Ugy, watching back at Noah with a firm gaze. “I can list a few painless methods for you.”
“What?” Said Noah surprised at Ugy’s words.
“You can’t destroy it. But if you are going to harm it my deal with it will be annulled and it will retaliate. You would most likely die shortly after that.
“Recent.” Muttered Yuko with a thinking expression. “Recent?” She repeated rubbing her chin.
“Wait. By recent…you mean…?”
“I just found out that I am exuding a very delicious natural foresty smell that Dryads are very fond of. Just like it was when I exuded a spider smell when we were seducing Tessa. And there is only one plant-type nightmare in my mind. The one that…
“YOU RELEASED THAT!!??” Screamed Yuko in fury, staring at Ugy. “Of all the things, you let THAT…that thing to roam free here? Near me?”
“What’s the problem? It only preys on women. So why are you both so angry? It’s not like there are any women here.”
“Give me that.” Said Yuko, snatching the fire torch out of Noah’s hands so quickly he could not react in time. “I will grill this plush bastard.” She added jumping at Ugy.
“Yuko, NO!” Shouted Noah grabbing her and pulling her away from the plush bear. “Wait! Stop! Don’t do it! Let’s be civilized.” Shouted Noah holding her body as she struggled, swinging the torch around and screaming.
“That’s what he wants. You can’t do it! Listen to me. If you destroy this body he will be released from it. I will not be able to force him into a new one. He can reject it.” Tried to explain Noah. “You will not be able to play with him anymore.”
“Tsk.” Sounded Ugy’s voice as Yuko started to calm down, making her eyelid twitch from pent-up anger.
“Then we torch that abomination!” Screamed Yuko and Noah once again held her down as Ugy rolled his eyes.
“Ok, stop! Just…calm down. Ok? Let’s talk this over.” He said, snatching the torch out of her hand as she stood there glaring at Ugy and grinding her teeth in a scowl.
“Don’t tell me you're going to allow it! That…thing! Is unacceptable!” Said Yuko stomping her spider feet that literally pierced the wooden floor with their sharp ends.
“Let’s hear him out at least.” Said Noah sighing. “Well, what do you mean by suicide? Why can’t we seal it back?”
Ugy sighed and started to explain his actions. Which took almost ten minutes. And occasionally there were angry screams of Noah’s voice inside the house followed by the sounds of breaking objects, turned-over tables, and shattered windows as the chair flew out of it. Noah could not take out his anger on Ugy so the furniture took the brunt of his fury.
At the end of that long discussion, there were piercing screams of Yuko that ended with her stomping out of the room slamming the door into her basement so hard that the whole house trembled.
This indicated that the second nightmare was staying and it was none other than Noah’s fault. It was his negligence in giving unclear orders to Ugy. His underestimation of the level of his systems degenerate being. Just as Noah thought Ugy could not get worse, the plush bear showed him the new low that he could fall to in his eyes.
“You are one crazy, perverted, degenerate fucker ever walking this world, Ugy.” Said Noah leaving the house.
“….um…would someone please untie me?” Said Ugy after a minute realizing that everyone left while he was still bound with a spider web.
“Heeey. I did it with good intentions! It will be beneficial for everyone!” Shouted Ugy alone in the room. “Heeey. User? Yuko? I can’t move a finger. Heeey…” No one answered to his please.