Maids VS Apocalypse

"Back on track." Having just finished another piece of steak, Natalie placed down her cutlery and looked straight ahead. "There is no point in hiding it. We already know you have the System. We also know its Level and main functions."

For a while, Mark only opened his mouth to place more food in it. He kept his calm and observed the woman sitting across from him, his mind working on a solution all the while.

He wanted to avoid giving them anything important, but something told him there was no point in trying to hide anything.

"Don't you want to know more about it?"

That question caused him to pause. There really was no point.

Lowering his cutlery and leaning back in his chair, Mark heaved a long sigh.

"Alright, you got me." He said. "Just... don't jack up the price too much. I don't want to be stuck in debt forever."

Natalie smirked.

"Don't worry, all this info is for free. You are free to do what you want after you hear it. As long as you don't side with our enemies, of course."

"That's one big caveat," Mark commented.

"Of course. You don't expect us just to let you go if we happen to be on opposite sides, right?"

"Well, makes sense."

He cut a piece of the salmon and brought it to his mouth.

"So? Are you going to start the exposition or what? I'm sure the readers are dying to know more about the lore."

"Hm? That's one weird way to put it." Natalie blinked twice. "Anyway, let's start from the beginning. I'm sure someone as young as you knows about the multiverse theory."

"Let me guess, the multiverse is real?" Mark was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to bang his head against a wall. "Are we seriously starting with this?"

"I know how you feel, but this is serious."

The multiverse was one of the most cliche, overused plot points in fiction. Mark wasn't expecting a lot from a system novel, but hearing her mention the word multiverse, he couldn't help but grimace.

"Twenty years ago, near the end of the war, certain groups from your world made the discovery," Natalie explained. "It was a part of the war effort, but ended up backfiring worse than any of the genetically modified abominations that were in style at the time."

Pausing, she picked up her cup and stared at it, saying something outrageous before chugging. "Instead of a world that's similar to yours, they opened a gate straight to hell."

Mark stopped moving his jaw. A gate to hell, that's exactly how he would describe the hole Malarak stepped out of.

"Hold on..." Mark felt like they casually brushed over something very important. "Why do I feel like you have been talking as if you aren't from this world?"

Natalie blinked twice, her eyebrows rising the next second as if she just realized something.

"Right, I was going to get to it at some point." She pointed a thumb at herself. "Most of us Peace Keepers aren't from this world. Our job is to go to worlds where humans are about to wipe themselves out and stop the fighting. You know, keeping the peace."

Mark's face grew pale. He flipped what she said a few times in his mind then asked, still dumbfounded.

"You... you are from another world?"

"Yup." Natalie replied.

"What are you so surprised about?" Ramsay spoke with a frown. "It's not that difficult of a concept to grasp."

"Yeah right." Mark snorted. "I have been sitting with a bunch of aliens for some time and didn't even realize it."

"Now that's a little harsh." The large woman pointed a finger at him. "We are still humans, you know."

Mark stared back at her for some time then sighed.

"Well, I don't really have a problem with that part." He said. "What bothers me is that I never heard anything about you. A secret organization full of superhumans from another world that mainly works in the shadows? As I said, you don't sound very trustworthy."

"Well, if things went well you would never have heard of us." Natalie sighed. "The only reason we are forced to act in the open is because of the Dimensional Collapse."

Mark's ears perked up. He remembered the countdown and that he had slept through two whole days, leaving him with little more than seven days before it hit zero.

"If it's the countdown you're worried about then there is no need to be concerned," Natalie added. "We patched things here and there and bought ourselves a few more days. It should be back to two weeks from now."

As if to confirm her words, a system screen popped up.

[Time until Complete Dimensional Collapse: 14:03:56:54]

Mark stared at it for some time then sighed. Scooping some of the mashed potato, he spoke before putting it in his mouth.

"What's up with this thing anyway? Is there a point if anyone can mess with it?"

"The timer is just an estimation," Ramsay replied in Natalie's stead, seeing that she was too busy with her drink. "It decreases along with the Dimensional Border's durability so repairing it would do the opposite."

Mark swallowed his food then took a moment to think.

"Why not repair the whole thing and be done with it?"

He thought it was a logical question, but the annoyed look he got from the large woman and her subordinate told him things weren't as simple as they sounded.

"You can't completely repair a broken Dimensional Border," Natalie said. "The best we can do is patch the Rifts whenever they appear."

"That sounds like a pain," Mark commented. "What happens if you don't make it in time?"

"That's what we call the Complete Dimensional Collapse." She answered. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"... oh..."

Mark felt like he just got a better idea of what would happen when the countdown hits zero.

"Dimensional Border. A border between dimension..." He muttered. "Does that mean this world and the one with all the monsters will merge when it collapses completely?"

"That's about it." Natalie answered, having heard what he said. "They call it the Underworld. Long story short, it is a world where most humans went extinct while the rest were driven mad by some Cthulhu-like beings."

"... Is this going to get any less absurd?" Mark asked after a moment of silence.

"Oh, we're only getting started." Natalie raised her eyebrows as if to show she wasn't joking. "The Underworld is full of monsters like the ones you fought the other day, and they like nothing more than to feast on fresh souls. They don't have a lot of those in their world, after all."

"I see..."

Mark remembered the quest he got the other day and how it spoke about him having a strong soul. Malarak seemed to have been looking forward to devouring him as well.

"So that's why they invaded us?" He asked. "To feed on our souls?"

"Good, you catch on quick." Taking another chug, the large woman followed. "As I said, those monsters only want fresh human souls. There is one problem, though; human souls go bad easily."

"You don't say..." Mark deadpanned.

"You can blame it on those Cthulu guys. They keep whispering into people's heads and drive them mad over time. Their influence even spreads to other worlds the moment they open a gate to theirs."

Natalie looked up from her cup only to see the young man frozen.

"... What did you just say?"

Seeing his chock, a smirk returned to her face.

"You heard them, didn't you." She placed her cup down. "The voices."

Mark opened his mouth to answer, but the words didn't come out.

"Since when?" She asked.

He hesitated, unsure whether he should be honest with his answer.

"Nine years ago..."

Mark lowered his gaze, several thoughts going through his mind at the same time. The voices were real, he already knew that much. What he never expected was that they came from outside his head.

There was a time when he thought they were the thoughts of the people around him, believing he had unlocked some telepathic ability, but he gave up on the idea pretty early on.

Because of that it never occurred to him that the voices came from an external source.

Natalie whistled, her eyes widening quite a bit. That was nothing compared to Ramsay whose jaw just dropped.

"Nine years!? Are you kidding me!?" He exclaimed. "No way! No F*cking way!!!"

"Language, Sergeant." Natalie smiled despite her subordinate's reaction.

"Head General! This is just absurd!" Ramsay lost his nerves for some reason. "I spent two whole years watching him! He never showed any signs of infection!"

At the same time, Mark and Lara's eyes snapped in his direction, causing him to recoil.

"Don't bother with him, he was just doing his job."

Mark glared at the motorcycle guy for some time before turning to his boss.

"You were spying on me for two years?"

Natalie looked back at him with her usual smirk and replied.

"Nineteen." She said. "We have been keeping our eyes on you since the day you came to this world."