Black returned to the Gryffindor table with tremendous Luck, overwhelming Worth, an eldritch Title, and an empty heart.
The cheers didn't matter to him. He couldn't care less about who was getting sorted into which House. He could feel the Sorting Hat's presence in the Great Hall, but it wasn't the same Sorting Hat anymore.
The smiles on students' faces felt distorted.
The anticipation he was feeling in the students' hearts was as dry as desert.
All he had left now were the uncountable Lucky Intuitions and the feeling of… his heart coming out of his mouth.
The Ad Infinitum took control over everything, then. It programmed an Arlen Black Echo, much like Darcie's Echo, to take over Black's body right now temporarily.
Otherwise, if even a hint of mysteries seeped out, getting affected by Black's tumultuous thoughts, it could alert Professor Dumbledore and the Order of the Immortal Lotus at any moment.
Not to mention, the students wouldn't survive the fluctuations in Black's emotions, either.
Black didn't care what the AI did.
He felt lifeless.
His eyes welled up, tears welling up like a boundless sea. Before they could ooze out, the AI used Biokinesis to eradicate their existence.
Suddenly, he felt like laughing, then went silent, and then laughed again.
The irony of the events that had taken place, and the feelings that had coursed through him in a single moment, was just too inexplicable.
Just a moment ago, he had been one of the unluckiest Contestants in the Primordial Tower.
Sure he had over 50 Luck, but it had only been because of the use of Master Curator Title. It hadn't belonged to him.
Now that he was truly Lucky, perhaps luckier than he had ever imagined himself to be, he didn't want it as much as he had before the moment.
How long had he lingered in that moment? Black didn't know.
But it was certainly longer than the time spent on Island X.
Black could trade anything… just about anything … to be with his father once more. For one more moment… he could even trade the Luck if he knew with whom to trade it.
All memories sealed by the Soul King had returned.
Which, in turn, meant that somehow… just somehow… the Storm Pirates had come to be the winner against a Half-Deep One.
That's where things became complicated.
If the presence of the normal Sorting Hat wasn't an ominous enough sign, then it was the absence of the Book.
It hadn't returned.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard wasn't in his Inventory.
If the Storm Pirates had won, then logic stated that his father would have contacted Black again.
Or he at least had sent the Book back, now that it didn't threaten to eat Kai's tale and release an eldritch existence.
And if they had… lost, then whatever happened shouldn't have happened in the first place.
Father… Black's mind was falling deeper and deeper, thinking of the worst possibilities. Only after meeting Alan did he truly understand how much he had desired to experience those feelings.
[Detecting major Cognitive Overload…] The Ad Infinitum, now an Advance Ability, standing at 50% Proficiency, beeped.
Difficulty in Concentrating, Mental Fatigue, Irritability, Poor Decision-Making, Memory Lapses, and Emotional Exhaustion were only a few of the many psychological issues Black was facing right now.
Not only him but beyond the Great Hall, within Darcie's mind, even Kai wasn't faring any better.
The AI had advanced too fast in just a moment, making him think more.
Then there were Lucky Intuitions. Like Parseltongue, they were wreaking havoc inside him. Unlike Calm, which Kai had brewed for over a thousand years on Island X, Lucky Intuitions had only begun taking shape in the last few months as feelings…
And as if that wasn't enough, his own body was rejecting him.
Renewal Taekwondo had ended up as an Elite Ability because of minute, unknown changes within. Without proper assimilation, Black was just moments ago from bursting apart, losing Proficiency.
In other times, this wouldn't have posed a problem.
If the Ad Infinitum could bury mysteries, it could certainly bury everything else, too.
Now, though, with the ominous feeling of losing his father once more, coupled with the Lucky Intuitions which didn't show any sign of stopping, both Kai and Black were losing their minds, the Black Holes within struggling to exist.
If this kept going on, it wouldn't be long before both Kai and Black collapsed, entering a Persistent Vegetative State, interfering with all the plans and future endeavors.
The Ad Infinitum couldn't let that happen.
It took control over the Lucky Intuitions. Through Alan Stormborn, it already knew the kind of doom that was coming to claim Kai's life in the face of the Order of the Immortal Lotus and Higher-Floor Contestants.
These weren't the times for Kai and Black to go into a coma and forget the reason for their existence.
Though the AI was nothing but many, many Kai Stormborns, it was also a true AI.
So what if Alan Stormborn died? So what if he survived? So what if the Book had returned or not?
It had only one task — Use the available variables and come up with the most beneficial solution in favor of Kai.
Black's gaze landed on the changed Stats, his ears buzzing with the AI's beeps.
…
[
Status of Contestant: Kai D. Stormborn
Code Name: Red [Pirate, Fiend, Faceless, Demon King. Demon Slayer, Hogwarts Student]
Officer Rank: Commander of Guard
System: Chaos
Life Halt: 130 years
Cosmic Authority: Nyarlathotep (Outer One)
— Lore: The Evil Pokemon of Alto Mare
— The Devastating Despair
— The Blue-skinned Demon
— The Unforgivable Cursed One
— Lore: The Demander of Truth
— The Scion of Death
— Lore: The Yellow Warlock
— The Crawling Chaos
Bounty: 700,000,000 Berries
Spiritual Class: Immeasurable
Spirit Class: 1
…
Mission Credits: 7,000,000
HP: 350
— HP Regeneration Rate (actual): 17 HP/minute
— HP Regeneration Rate (+100%): 34 HP/minute
— HP Regeneration Rate (+500%): 204 HP/minute
MP: 750
SP: 550
Active Attributes - (3rd Set Quota: 65/100) [Unassigned Points: 0]
— Strength: 23
— Agility: 34
— Stamina: 35
— Perception: 35
— Correspondence: 75
— Breath: 55
Passive Attributes -
— Charisma: 93
— Luck: 157 (+50)
— Worth: 1400
Abilities:
— Elementary Pokemon Trainer: Proficiency 50%
— Elementary Blader: Proficiency 10%
— Advance Seamanship: Proficiency 50%
— Advance Flying: Proficiency 55%
— Advance Ad Infinitum: Proficiency 50%
— Master Telekinesis: Proficiency 70%
— Master Intimidation: Proficiency 75%
— Master Alchemist: Proficiency 1%
— Master Magical Aptitude: Proficiency 1%
— Master Selfless Breathing: Proficiency 2%
— Parseltongue
— Calm
— Renewal Recoilless
— Lucky Intuition
Skills:
— Shadow Space
— Shadow Link
— Demon Progenitor
— Demon Manipulation
— Biokinesis
— Giant's Rage
— Where's Hagrid?
— Timeline's Applaud
— Nothing Is Impossible
— My House, My Rules
Glitch: Blood Devour
— Permanent
— Dementor (magical)
— Golduck (magical)
— Deoxys (magical)
— Temporary
— Magneton
— Gengar
— Dragonair
— Wobbuffet
…
]
…
[Initiating Cognitive Dormancy Protocol…] The Ad Infinitum beeped. [Temporarily putting the Synchronization on hold… Temporarily cutting off Darcie and Arlen Black's Echoes from the parent AI… Alerting all the White Serpent Pirates' crew members…]
Sigh…
Letting out a final sigh, Black let the Echo take over himself.
**************
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