Kaiser of the New World

Kai sat silently in thought, his fingers rubbing against his chin as he went over everything in his mind.

But there was one thing that was abundantly clear in all of his thoughts.

There was no one he could trust in this Subdimension.

Anastasia, Castillian and Ezekial were presumably the main perpetrators, they were the top forces of this city after all. Then there was someone like Yelena, who was working under them. Kai wasn't sure if the green haired maid he had gotten close to was actually spying on him, but he also had no way is she was also under a mind hex and was doing it against her own free will.

There was no one he could trust in the city either, Kai had seen the truth of this place.

This city was a horrible place to live.

He had always been curious about the food situation, but that curiosity had always been extinguished by the mind hex. But now that he was free he realised how abysmal the situation truly was.

They had no way to grow vegetables because of the constant snow, the water was presumably disgusting as there probably wasn't a filter and Kai's sense of taste had been messed with by the hex, the only bit of food that could be said to be good was the meat of the bears he had hunted.

But obviously the meat he had hunted was not enough to feed a whole city, and that was clear.

The people of this city were dying.

They were starving, malnourished, they were barely getting by. They were basically walking corpses, no hope in their eyes as they had long given up.

Annie was only one example of this, but Kai got the feeling he would never forget her expression when she said what she really thought of her life, that was going to stick with him for... a long time.

There were also some unknown variables, like the Third Queen and the mysterious Second Queen that he had never actually met. Kai wasn't sure what to think of them.

Looking back, it seemed like Anastasia and the Third Queen didn't really get along, Anastasia was always looking down on her.

And the Second Queen... Kai had no idea what to think.

But all of this pointed back to one thing.

Kai was on his own.

He had to find Petunia, figure out how long had passed, plan out a way to escape, and successfully execute that plan, all while having to pretend that he was still under the hex.

He couldn't afford to have them grow suspicious, this was his only chance. If he was put under the hex again who knows how long it would take for him to break free?

One reason he had managed to break free this time was because of Strong Mind working in the background.

He remembered the walk back from dinner when Anastasia fed him her 'Essence'. The cold feeling in the back of his mind had been there, warning him, but the hex must have already been influencing him as he chalked it down to his hormones.

He also compared himself to that experiment about the fleas, which made him feel embarrassed when looking back on it, like seriously? Why compare himself to a flee and not something like a ladybug? Those are nice bugs, very elegant.

Pushing himself off the ground, Kai said a quick prayer and mentally got ready to march into enemy territory, even though that territory was where he had been living.

As he walked through the city, Kai saw it for what it actually was.

The houses were decrepit and on the brink of collapsing, the snow constantly weighing down on the roofs and threatening to crush anyone who lived in them.

The snow on the streets were dirty, with patches of red and brown spread throughout the pure white.

In the alleys there was a large amount of rats, accompanied by the odd still body. Kai wasn't sure if they were sleeping or actually dead. At least, that was he saw a body that had been completetly turned blue by the cold, they were definitely dead.

But as he walked, Kai felt a familiar wave of calm wash over him, a sensation he had missed for the last month, well, months.

Nonchalance had returned.

The mind hex must have been numbing the effects of the skill, which was why Kai had been so weak to Anastasia's teasing. Honestly, Kai felt ashamed when thinking back. Sofia had also teased him yet he never reacted like that, so he should have realised that something was going on sooner when he reacted like that.

Approaching the massive gates of the castle, Kai took a deep breath before walking through them. As he approached the stairs, he wondered if what he was doing was actually the right idea or if there was a better way to go about this, a safer one.

Luckily, Kai never really was one to think too much about things, that was obvious from when he chose to continue fighting even though he could have left the tutorial after Failure ripped out a chunk of the moon.

Actually, now that Kai thought about it, if he had left when he had been given the option to then he probably wouldn't be in this mess right now. Killing the two full moon abominations, and Failure, had accounted for roughly half of his points gained, and probably gained him a lot of interest from bidding Main and Subdimensions.

So, in a sick perverted way, him doing some good ended up with him getting bent over by Karma.

Kai smiled softly at the thought, it reminded him of what Noelle went through.

His smile faded soon after though as he realised how fucked his situation actually was. A whole five and a half months had passed, that was only a month less than the six and a half months he had spent in the tutorial.

What would they be up to after all they went through? Were they actually enjoying themselves, training and leveling up, or were they stuck in the same situation as him?

Well, probably not, Noelle got eight place and was probably living a good life, doing... Huh, Kai didn't really know what Noelle would do?

Sofia and John were probably doing well-

Actually, John's daughter was currently missing...

Okay, maybe Sofia was doing well, but at least that was something, one out of the four of them got some good luck, that was 25% of them.

Opening the main door, Kai took a tentative look around before entering. There was the chance that Anastasia was aware that Kai had broken free from her hex and he was currently walking into a trap.

All of this was a massive gamble, but it was Kai's only option. He wasn't exactly a massive gambler, but he knew that he had to bet big to make a return.

Kai walked slightly slower than he normally would through the halls of the castle, his eyes tracing over everything, on the lookout for anything strange.

But no, the carpet was still red, there was still all those strange paintings on the wall, there was still a blue haired man walking towards him.

...

What was that last part?

Ezekial was slowly making his way closer to Kai, his posture straight and his expression as blank as ever.

Feeling his heart rate pick up, only to be cooled down slightly a moment later by Nonchalance, Kai tried to act normal and said:

"Hey Ezekial."

Ezekial simply nodded in response to Kai before walking past him and turning around the corner.

Once Ezekial had vanished from his sight, Kai let out a sigh of relief.

That whole encounter left Kai with three possibilities.

Either Ezekial was aware that Kai was under a mind hex but unaware he had broken free, he was aware of the mind hex but believed Kai was still under it, or...

He never knew about the hex in the first place and could potentially be an ally for Kai.

Of course, Kai wasn't going to make any rash moves just yet, just entering the castle could already be considered rash enough.

But no, he had to bide his time, think things through carefully. If he got caught he had no idea what could happen, and he was sure that he didn't want to find out either.

Kai continued to act normal as he traversed the castle. He made his way through the painting that led to the floor his bedroom was on and continued his journey.

He didn't end up meeting anyone else on the way back to his room, switch was a good thing as the more exposure he had to others the higher chance that he would slip up.

Once back inside his room, Kai sighed and slumped back against the door. If even just acting normal to get to his room took all that out of him, then what would going about a full day look like?

Still, Kai had more pressing matters to worry about.

Taking a seat in one of the armchairs in his room, Kai went through some possibilities.

One obvious, extremely horrible but obvious idea was that Petunia had already perished. Castillian had done something to her and she was no longer with them here. Kai didn't want to believe it, but he had to at least account for all possibilities.

There was also the chance that she was alive and well, but being held somewhere else in the castle, the only question would be where would that somewhere else be-

Kai's eyes lit up as realisation struck, the answer to that question being extremely obvious.

The paintings.

If it was painting that led between floors then it was definitely a painting that would bring him to wherever Petunia was being held.

So that sorted the Petunia matter, if she was alive.

Next on the agenda was the escape. There had to be some sort of teleporter or portal or something here in the castle, otherwise how would they be able to leave the Subdimension or have guests come in?

There had to be a way out, and Kai had to find that way out.

There were also other things that Kai went over one by one in his mind, carefully going through any possibility he could think of.

Before he knew it, it had already gotten late. Normally he would be asleep by now, but not tonight, tonight-

... Was going to be very different to his normal nights as something Kai hadn't expected happened.

Someone had just knocked on his bedroom door.