Cipher and the Heavenly Demon sat opposite each other.

He looked around him. Sitting in space felt so trippy. Ever since the first time he came here with the Heavenly Demon, he hadn't returned again.

The Heavenly Demon looked at him. [You should be more careful with that thing. If I wasn't here to help you, you might have gone insane] she said.

Cipher bowed. "Thanks," he said. Still, there was nothing he could do about it. Even back then, the ESP cheat had almost overwhelmed him. It was true that the cheat system had some dangers in it, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He needed these cheats. From what he had seen in the final apocalypse, he was still nowhere near strong enough for what was to come.

[No need to thank me. I'll die too if you die] she said, looking to the side.

Cipher smiled. The Heavenly Demon was still a normal girl after all. "Is this where you live all day?" he asked, looking around.

[What about it?] she asked.

"Must be lonely being all alone here," he said.

[Hmph, I've practiced alone for thousands of years. What does a few weeks matter?] she said.

"I guess that's true," he said. "Anyway, you won't be alone anymore."

[What do you mean?] she asked in confusion.

"I mean... since my mind has split, it means I can stay here with you."

"Well, it's more like I have to. I can't seem to leave this place anyway. Anyway, let's get along from now on, roommate." He extended his hand to her.

She looked at his hand. "How did someone like you unlock the mind realm anyway," she muttered.

"What?" he asked.

[Whatever] she responded and closed her eyes, ignoring his gesture.

Outside, Cipher looked around him. The feeling of having two separate trains of thought at the same time was so weird. Still, this was actually a decent cheat, though he couldn't think of any uses for it at the moment.

Maybe he could use that separate consciousness to perform the calculations of his attacks' damage during a fight. He scratched his head. But he could already do that just fine. "I'll just think about it later," he thought and went to sleep.

…

"It feels weird sleeping and being awake at the same time," Cipher said, floating around the Heavenly Demon. "Anyway, what do you normally do here?"

She didn't respond.

"Do you just meditate all day? That sounds boring." He drifted closer. "Don't you ever get bored? I mean, I know you said you've been alone for thousands of years, but still…"

Her lips twitched.

"...that's a really long time to just sit here doing nothing. Well, not nothing, I guess you're cultivating or whatever, but…"

The twitching intensified.

"...do you ever take breaks? Like, do you need to eat here? Or sleep? Wait, can you even sleep if you're in my head? That would be weird, right? Like sleeping inside someone else's sleep…"

[WILL YOU SHUT UP!!!] she shouted, causing him to instantly go silent.

"My bad," he said softly.

She scoffed and returned to her meditation. Cipher began slowly floating away, looking down. She opened one eye and noticed him drifting further into the void. She sighed.

[Come here] she called out.

He turned around instantly, his expression brightening.

[I'll teach you some meditation exercises to help you get used to your new partition] she said.

"I'll listen to the master," Cipher said, making an exaggerated bow.

[Just do as I say]

…

A while later, the two were meditating silently when the Heavenly Demon opened her eyes. [You can stop now. Take a break] she said.

Cipher opened his eyes. "How did I do?" he asked.

[Your form was good. As for results, people generally can't measure the mind tempering of others, so only you can judge the benefits of your session] she said.

[That aside, what are you doing?] she asked.

"What am I doing?" he asked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She looked at him. [It's strange. From what I know about you, you don't do something that doesn't benefit you in some way. Even when you talk to me, it's because you feel I'm useful and can help you. It's just weird now to see this energetic self of yours. When I look at your eyes now, I don't get the same feeling you normally give off. Now you're just Cipher, not someone scheming. I guess I'm just surprised] she said.

He scratched his head. "You noticed that huh?" he muttered. He then looked to the side. "I suppose I just missed this. After the final apocalypse, when I roamed the empty world, I was first looking for survivors. After some time, I gave up on that and began looking for a way to die. And after a long time, I also gave up on that and started looking for a way to reverse the situation. After all, I had the power to survive the apocalypse. I had to have received it for a purpose, no?"

"And now I'm back and can fix what happened. But it feels like my entire existence is to find a solution to a problem from ten years into the future. I don't feel like myself. I could decide to live the life I wanted, but I feel like I'm wasting time." He paused. "But when I'm like this, it's like there are no consequences to my actions. I can be myself with no consequences because my other mind can deal with the main goal." He looked at the Heavenly Demon. "Am I weird?"

She looked at him without saying a word for a moment. Then she got up. "I see," she said. Her voice sounded different this time. "Would you like to make a house?"

"Huh?" He was confused.

"You said we were roommates, no? Then shouldn't we have a house for that to be true?" she asked.

He smiled. "Yeah, let's do that. But... where do we get the resources?" he asked.

"Just think of something," she said.

"Should I go ask Iris for something?" he asked.

She facepalmed. "Just think of something and it'll appear. This is your head after all." At that moment, a wood plank appeared in her hand.

"Ah, so I can do this." A sword appeared in his hand.

"What are you going to do with that?" she asked with an expressionless face.

"I was just testing it," he said. "Wait, how do I make it disappear?" He waved the sword around. Suddenly, it disappeared. "Ah, I got it." A brick appeared in his hand. "What kind of house are we going to build?"

…

Author's Corner

I felt like we abandoned the whole heavenly demon character after introducing her. Even though she chips in every now and then…its just not the same yk.

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