Scumbag Fate System-Chapter 90: Distortion Alert

Reinhard headed toward the arena the next morning when movement near the fountain caught his attention. The same fountain where he’d encountered Yor after meeting Alice and having dinner with the other club members.

This time, instead of Yor, it was Rika staring at the water.

He saw her eyes slightly glowing with her brows furrowed in deep concentration. What is making her use her precognition?

She was constantly moving her head left then right in rapid succession, tracking things only she could see. Her whole body was tense like a bowstring pulled too tight.

Reinhard changed direction immediately and walked toward her.

What was Rika seeing with her precognition? The worried expression on her face suggested danger, but there were no visible threats around the peaceful fountain area. Other students walked past without concern, completely unaware that anything might be wrong.

Was it another void distortion forming? But Yor wasn’t here to handle it. She was still away healing those siblings. If a distortion appeared now, the club would have to find another way to seal it before it spread. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"Rika?" Reinhard called out gently.

She jumped at his voice, her concentration breaking completely. Her foot slipped on the fountain’s wet edge, and she tilted backward with a small cry of alarm.

Reinhard moved without thinking and caught her around the waist. Then he pulled her away from the water and into his arms before she could fall.

"Reinhard!" Rika gasped while her hands gripped his forearms for balance. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," he said while making sure she was stable before loosening his hold slightly. "You looked like you were about to fall in even before I spoke."

Rika blushed, but she didn’t immediately pull away from his arms. "I was distracted. My precognition was showing me something strange."

"Strange how?" Reinhard asked while keeping his tone calm despite growing concern.

Rika finally stepped out of his embrace, though she stayed close. She fidgeted with her glasses while avoiding his eyes.

"Since my first class, I have... I’ve been sensing void distortions appearing." She admitted quietly.

Reinhard’s expression turned serious. "Multiple distortions? Where?"

"That’s the problem... I don’t know." Rika shifted anxiously. "I’ll sense one forming, and then rush to the location where I sensed it... But when I arrive, there’s nothing there. No distortion, it’s just normal space."

"How many times has this happened?" Reinhard asked.

"Three times today alone." Rika’s voice grew smaller. "I’m worried about what might happen without Yor here to absorb them. But when I investigate, they’re just... gone. Like they never existed."

She looked up at him with fear clear in her crimson eyes. "What if the problem is my senses? What if it’s the thing broken? What if I’m seeing things that aren’t real?"

Reinhard could see how much that possibility terrified her. Rika’s sensing was her defining trait, her contribution to the club, and the thing that made her valuable. If it were failing, what would that mean for her?

He reached out and gently caressed her hair. "I understand why you’re scared. But I doubt it’s you."

"Then what’s happening?" Rika asked as she bit her lips."

"The void distortions might have evolved," Reinhard suggested carefully. "Or changed their behavior patterns. We have already seen them appearing faster than before. It wouldn’t be a surprise now if the patterns have unfortunately changed again."

Rika grimaced at the thought. "I hope you’re wrong. If distortions are evolving to be harder to predict or track, that makes them exponentially more dangerous."

"Have you told Sirin about this?" Reinhard asked.

Rika shook her head quickly. "I’ve been afraid to mention it. What if I’m wrong? What if I’m just making mistakes? I didn’t want to worry her over nothing."

"I understand, then we will just have to investigate more then."

Rika smiled weakly at the reassurance, some tension leaving her shoulders.

Then both of them froze simultaneously.

Rika trembled while her eyes narrowed with sudden focus. Reinhard felt it too, a tingling sensation at the back of his neck like invisible eyes watching from somewhere unseen. The same feeling he’d experienced when he first joined the Resonance Club and encountered a void distortion.

Something was here, and it was close.

Rika’s eyes blazed brighter purple as her precognition activated at full strength. She glanced around rapidly, head turning in quick jerks as she tried to pinpoint the source. Reinhard stood behind her and activated his own precognition without conscious thought. His vision shifted, showing him five seconds into the future.

The fountain water swirled.

A black disk that was two feet in diameter appeared above the water. The void energy rippled outward in visible waves of black lightning.

Then it vanished.

The vision ended, snapping Reinhard back to the present.

Without any words, they both rushed to the fountain’s edge. They peered into the water but saw nothing for three seconds, and then reality twisted.

A swirling black disk appeared exactly where Reinhard’s precognition had shown. It was floating above the water’s surface, edges spinning like a vortex, and then it vanished completely.

It wasn’t like when Yor devoured it. But more like it was being moved or running away.

Rika stared at the now-normal fountain water with her mouth slightly open. "It really is appearing... It’s not my imagination. But then how is it possible the distortions are forming and disappearing within seconds?"

"Most likely they are changing..."

She nodded. "You saw it coming as well... You activated some kind of future sight right when I did."

Reinhard stayed silent, watching her work through the implications. Rika’s analytical mind was clearly working overtime. Her eyes studied his face with the same intensity she used when examining void distortion patterns.

"Do you have a future-seeing Sigil like mine?" she asked bluntly.

Reinhard opened his mouth to respond, but Rika continued before he could speak.

"But that doesn’t make sense because I also saw you manipulate space that one time. When you grabbed the air and shifted the Void being attacked away at the last second."

"You used your precognition at that time?"

"Yeah. I thought that was your Sigil... But if you’re able to see the future as well." Rika crossed her arms with her brows furrowed. "That would explain some of the things you call us and the odd way you move out of danger."

Reinhard nodded and said. "Let me save you the trouble. I have multiple Sigils."

Her expression shifted from confused to stunned. "That’s impossible unless."

Before Reinhard could respond, he saw Rika tremble, and then she gripped her right arm.

"Something’s happening." She gasped while her whole body went rigid. "A Void Distortions... For some reason, now I can feel it."

"Where is it forming-"

"That’s the thing... It isn’t just forming but has been growing-"

"Where?" Reinhard quickly asked.

"The feeling is coming from the basement in the Library."Rika grabbed his arm with surprising strength and began pulling him away from the fountain. "We need to go now! I can feel it growing even faster now!"

"Okay, lead the way."

They ran together across campus, heading towards the library and going through shortcuts. Within twenty seconds of nonstop running, they saw the library before them.

"How big is it?" Reinhard asked with a frown.

"Major classification," Rika panted. "Maybe bigger. The field radius is already affecting the basement level. If it keeps expanding at this rate, it’ll breach into the main library within minutes."

They burst through the library’s main entrance. The librarian looked up to scold them for running, but Rika didn’t slow down. She pulled Reinhard toward the stairs leading to the restricted basement archives.

"Wait!" the librarian called out. "Students aren’t allowed down there without—"

The floor beneath them shuddered, and the shelves began falling down. Several students cried out in alarm as the building itself groaned with structural stress.

Reinhard and Rika continued down the stairs into the darkness. Emergency crystals flickered to life as they descended, casting everything in a harsh red glow.

The temperature dropped with each step.

Their breath came out in visible clouds, and time seemed to slow slightly.

They reached the basement level, where ancient texts and artifacts were stored in reinforced vaults. The distortion pulsed in the center of the main chamber, a massive swirling vortex of black-grey energy that warped reality around it.

But this distortion was different from the ones Reinhard had encountered before.

It had a shape this time.

And as they watched, the void energy began condensing into something solid. Something that looked almost like a person made entirely of darkness and distorted space.

Rika’s grip on Reinhard’s arm tightened painfully. "What is that? Distortions don’t have physical forms. They’re just fields of warped reality."

"It might be similar to the Void." Reinhard said lightly.

Rika’s eyes widened, and she said. "No..."

The humanoid shape turned toward them. It had no face, no features, just an outline of a person crafted from the void itself.

Then it spoke. "You... sense us, but you shouldn’t be able to do that."

It took a step forward, and reality cracked beneath its foot like breaking glass.

"What are you?" Reinhard asked while his hand moved instinctively toward where his sword would normally be.

The void entity tilted its head in an eerily human gesture. "We are what remains when people are consumed by distortions... Echoes given form. And you..."

It pointed directly at Reinhard. "You carry the Void within yourself. We can feel it. Taste it. You’re like us but also not like us."

Rika’s eyes went wide with shock as she turned to stare at Reinhard. "What is it talking about? Void within you?"

The entity laughed in a distorted way. "He hasn’t told you? How amusing."

It spread its arms wide, and the distortion field expanded another ten feet in all directions. "Shall we show her? Shall we force the truth from you?"

Reinhard felt the system pulse with an urgent notification, but there was no time to read it now. Because the void entity was charging directly at them, and they had seconds to react before it reached them.