Psycho X Psychic

"So we have our own Spirits? What the hell, then that's just the concept of soul and mind. But being mentally stronger just makes you literally too."

"Yep"

Teren agreed since Trisha was able to put it in simpler words.

"So, are monks and hermits actually the strongest out there?"

"Hm, they are definitely strong. But they only show their powers when the world was truly in crisis."

This made Trisha stop talking to think as she noticed something from Teren's words.

"Does that mean the world was put into crisis already?"

"Why do you suspect?"

"Because you know that they are strong, meaning, you've seen them fight already."

"... correct." Teren nodded and it was praise in Trisha's ears.

He then continued.

"They once thought that I'm a threat so they were one of the groups that chased after me back then. They have what they call Ethereal Spirits... it's a fancy word but you could say that it's equivalent to Evil Spirits, just the opposite."

"Oh, oh... so you fought against them. Details."

Trisha immediately demanded.

"It was during my escape from the Central... the Central is a small country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where the gate of Spirit Plane is well hidden."

"Escape? Interesting... okay, continue. You can tell me about the escape later."

Teren roughly rubbed Trisha's head while laughing.

"You call yourself a pet with that attitude?"

"Tsk! I'm not your pet!"

Trisha slapped his hand away.

"And can you stop rubbing my head? You seem to be getting comfortable doing that!"

She snarled.

"You're right. I was getting used to it. But I really like rubbing your head though."

"Hm... you're just subconsciously compensating since you're guilty." Trisha smiled and placed her elbow on Teren's shoulder. They only have a few inches of difference in height so she was able to do that comfortably.

"Maybe"

Teren didn't deny. He was surprised too.

"Then let me rub your head in return."

Trisha then quickly reached out her hand to rub Teren's head. Teren didn't fight back and let her. After a few moments, she stopped and removed her hand.

"I don't understand, that doesn't feel good at all."

"It's because instead of giving, you're better at receiving." Teren then petted her head again.

"Hmph! But I'm still not a pet."

Teren chuckled because of the fact that Trisha didn't remove his hand this time. He removed it after some time and continued with his story.

"With the destruction of the Central, I was able to escape-"

"Wait, hold on! Too fast, what caused its destruction?"

Trisha waved her hands.

"Umm, I did."

"Oh... understandable."

"You believe that?" Teren asked. He thought that Trisha will doubt his words.

"I mean, yeah, why not?"

Trisha shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, I'll remove the suspicion that you're not taking this seriously."

"-I am."

Teren ignored Trisha's short intervention.

"Since the Central is something like the keeper of treaties between countries, with their destruction, the third world war sparked and the hermits came out of hiding due to the presence of nuclear weapons."

"Wait... does that mean... does that mean the Central has something more terrifying than nuclear weapons for them to be feared by other countries?"

"Of course, they have. They are the holder of Spirit Plane's gate. I even know a woman who I really wanted to escape last time. She can explode far greater than the biggest bombs back then. Additionally, she's basically undying as she regenerates as soon as she explodes so that really changed the state of the war back then."

"... now I'm getting suspicious. You're telling me you caused the destruction of a country that strong? What did you do anyway?"

"I invaded the Spirit Plane through the Spirit War and took almost all Great Spirits I can steal. Of course, no person would be able to handle that so I channeled all power into something like pure energy. That's why I can somehow control Spirits... it's something that was engraved to me that day."

"Wow... you're like... the Demon King who's set on destroying the world."

Trisha commented, unable to digest everything Teren was saying.

"I'm not really that strong. If I am, I don't need to run away. I was only able to use the other Spirits as fuel. You see, some Spirits need something in exchange. Not all will easily live within you and give you their power once you've 'tamed' them. If I didn't convert most of the Spirits into energy back then, I would've imploded."

"I see... that's reasonable..?"

"I know that feeling. But Spirits are something that can't be scientifically studied, they can sometimes but limited. So whatever I did back then, I was able to do it maybe because of what Nature said or I just got lucky since I'm basically the only man who's done that."

"You're freaking me out. So you mean, you're like a celebrity or something?"

"... I've never thought of that way."

Soon, the two have reached their destination. They found that there were fewer people there in the mart than they remember.

"Must be because of what happened last night."

Trisha whispered to Teren.

"I think many are even fleeing from the city. For them, last night was too sudden and unnatural. With the SSDA hiding the truth, many citizens will be left dissatisfied and anxious."

"Last night... so it was just last night when I almost killed you, huh... I almost killed the person who can destroy the whole world. Aren't I too amazing?"

Trisha pointed at herself in amazement.

"Ignoring the fact that I'm not a person who can destroy the whole world, yes, you almost killed me last night."

Teren said while rubbing her head through the hat.

"Ahaha, that was fucking hardcore, ain't it?"

Trisha laughed but this just made Teren think that she's ignoring the fact that she killed innocents.

'She's too soft-hearted to handle that stress even after all the maturity she had gone through.'

The two then went to the cart section to get one. But when Teren was about to grab one, another man approached. This man had a soulless face that imply that he's depressed.

The two stopped and looked at each other.

Teren was familiar with this redhead dude.

'What a coincidence....'