Chapter 131 - Like a Ghost
We had no chance of catching up to Dianca—not at this speed, not with this chaos. Worse, we had no idea where she even went. My WEEB system wouldn’t let me activate the Weapons of Mass Destruction Series either—not unless Myrrh was in a dire pinch. So, the only reasonable option left was to return to the ground and reassess.
Myrrh and I descended and landed near the KAWAII Headquarters, where a growing crowd of agents had already gathered, their eyes fixed on the heavens. But it wasn’t just the agents. Students peeked from their dormitory windows, pedestrians halted mid-stride, and passersby all tilted their heads skyward. Phones were out. Cameras clicked. Videos streamed live. Everyone was recording the surreal, cosmic phenomenon unfolding above.
Two-thirds of Xyraxis’s skies were swallowed by a gargantuan gray planet—its sheer scale so enormous it looked like it had simply blinked into existence. We didn’t know how it got there or why, but Myrrh and I could both feel it in our bones: this had something to do with Dianca… and Neil’s abduction.
As Myrrh deactivated her Frame Unit, her luminous armor dissipated into shards of light. She touched down gracefully, her form reverting to that of her usual, lime-haired self. Without missing a beat, we made our way toward Agent Feena, who was deep in conversation with a visibly shaken Fei.
Fei clutched at her chest, gasping for air, while Agent Feena stood firm despite her furrowed brows and clear confusion. Her long pink hair flowed like silk in the wind, though her expression was all sharp edges and furrowed thought.
“Agent Feena!” Myrrh called out, raising a hand. I mirrored her gesture. “Are you fully updated on the current situation, ma’am?”
“I… I honestly have no clue what’s going on,” Agent Feena admitted, rubbing her temple. “Fei’s been talking a mile a minute, but nothing’s making sense. All I know is—it’s urgent.”
I turned to Fei. She looked like she had run a marathon, her breathing shallow and uneven.
“What exactly did you tell Agent Feena?” I asked gently, trying not to spook her further.
“I just told her that Dianca went pwoosh! And then Neil got nabbed, and fwoom, they zoomed into the sky! I tried to chase them and shouted ‘Neeeeil!’—but then I got stressed out and puked my pizza dinner like blaaaargh! And then whaaaaam! The planet appeared out of nowhere, like whoaaa!” Fei recounted everything with an explosive wave of hand gestures, arms flailing like she was trying to physically reenact each sound effect.
My eyebrow twitched. I was irritated—just a little. So I grabbed both her cheeks and gave them a good pull. “Those are completely unnecessary details! You gave us a clearer version earlier! What happened to that?!”
“Ouch! Ouchie! I’m sowwie! I’m sowwie!” Fei yelped, her words muffled as I tugged at her puffed-out cheeks. “I panicked, okay?! And I was super stuffed, so the pizza came back out to say hi!”
Fei’s complexion shifted from her usual brown tone to a pale, almost bluish hue—the universal sign of someone about to redecorate the pavement. I quickly let go of her face and took a hasty step back, creating a safe buffer zone from whatever digestive revenge was brewing.
“Seriously, you only have yourself to blame for downing too much greasy pizza,” I muttered, planting a hand on my hip in exasperation.
“You sound just like Myrrh—urp!” Fei whimpered, clutching her stomach as she turned away and bent forward. A sickly noise followed, and I wisely averted my gaze before I saw anything too graphic.
Instead, I looked to Myrrh, who stood nearby with the most painfully awkward smile plastered across her face—one that said “I’m trying to stay calm, but what is happening right now?”
Myrrh turned toward Agent Feena, her expression firm as she began recounting everything we knew. From Dianca’s sudden escape with Neil to the bizarre activation of my Weapon of Mass Destruction Series—and even the Machine God’s Gospel that explicitly marked Dianca Fritz for elimination. As soon as we mentioned Dianca’s name, however, Agent Feena’s confused expression somehow deepened into one of total bewilderment.
“Wait—who’s Dianca Fritz?” she asked, blinking slowly.
“She’s a famous singer enrolled at Orbital Tech,” I said, incredulous. “You remember the emcee from the Licensure Examination Tournament? That was her. Are you seriously too old and too drunk to keep up with pop culture?”
“There was only one emcee at that tournament,” Feena shot back with a frown. “And it was that flamboyant guy who kept shouting ‘babyyy!’ after every round. Besides, I’m not that old! I’m still active on social media, thank you very much—and I only had a few drinks!”
She crossed her arms with pride, as if that somehow cleared her of all charges. But still, her gaze remained blank at the mention of Dianca.
“Still... I have no idea who this Dianca Fritz is supposed to be.”
I let out an exaggerated groan. “Geez, old geezers these days…”
Pulling out my phone with a dramatic flourish, I opened my go-to social media app and typed Dianca’s name into the search bar. Her profile, her channel—gone. My thumb hovered mid-scroll, and a knot formed in my stomach.
“Wait… what’s happening?” I muttered under my breath.
“What is it?” Myrrh asked, her tone suddenly alert.
“I can’t find Dianca’s page. Or her videos. It’s like she doesn’t exist anymore.” My eyes narrowed. “Did she block me or something?” ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt
“Absurd,” Myrrh replied flatly, her eyes already glowing with suspicion. “Let me check. I’ll log in to my alternate account and try to look her up.”
Myrrh’s fingers danced across her phone as she scrolled through her feed with growing urgency. Fei and I leaned in to peek over her shoulder, our eyes scanning the screen.
No sign of Dianca Fritz—no channel, no account, no official page. Not on any of the major social media platforms, not on the video-sharing sites, not even a single mention on any search engine. It was as if the internet had never heard of her.
“This is weird…” Myrrh murmured, her brows furrowing. “It’s like Dianca wiped out her entire digital footprint. She’s not even in our group chats anymore. And…” Her voice trailed off, and her eyes widened slightly. “Her number’s gone from my contacts. I don’t remember deleting it.”
“Maybe she hacked the entire cyberspace and erased everything connected to her?” I offered half-seriously, half-joking. But even I couldn’t ignore the chill that crawled down my spine.
“Wait…” Myrrh whispered, a hint of dread in her voice. She quickly switched apps and opened her phone’s gallery. Her thumb began swiping through photo after photo—until she landed on a folder from the Licensure Examination Tournament.
We all leaned closer as she opened a set of pictures from the awarding ceremony. Myrrh and I both froze.
“Hey… wasn’t Dianca supposed to be in this picture?” she asked, eyes narrowing at the photo.
I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I remember it clearly. She was taking a selfie with us while we were holding the trophy.”
But in the image, there was no Dianca. No arm stretched out holding a phone. No glint of her signature earrings. Just Myrrh and me, awkwardly framed in the center—like someone had been cropped out perfectly.
Myrrh flicked through more photos. One by one, they confirmed it: Dianca wasn’t just absent—she had been surgically removed. Any trace of her in those moments had been erased.
“It’s like someone rewrote the past,” I muttered under my breath.
Fei’s eyes widened with a mix of horror and confusion. “You mean… as if Dianca never existed at all?” she cried, voice rising. “Is she… is she a ghost!?”
Our frantic brainstorming came to an abrupt halt when alarms blared through the air—sharp, shrieking wails erupting from both Orbital Tech and the towering structure of Archonlight Tower. The sleek spire of the tower pulsed with crimson light, casting eerie flashes across the cityscape like the heartbeat of an impending disaster.
Then came the announcement.
The Orbital Tech Applied Kinetics University’s P.A. system crackled to life, the loudspeaker echoing across the campus in a stern, mechanical voice:
“All WAIFUs and Support Units, please assemble at the open field. I repeat, all WAIFUs and Support Units, please assemble to the open field. This is not a drill.”
A hush fell over the crowd—only for it to be broken seconds later by a panicked voice among the bystanders.
We all turned our eyes skyward.
The gray planet still loomed above us like a smothering god, its mass covering most of the sky. But now, from the shimmering ring encircling it, hundreds—no, thousands—of fiery streaks began breaking off and diving toward Xyraxis.
What should have been a mesmerizing meteor shower instead twisted into a nightmare. The trails of light weren’t silent—they howled as they fell, like the cries of beasts breaking through dimensions. Every comet-like projectile shimmered with unnatural hues, and their descent carried with it the weight of something alive.
“Wait… are those—?” Myrrh’s voice faltered, her eyes locked on the sky.
Agent Feena squinted, her breath catching as her posture stiffened. Beads of cold sweat trickled down her neck.
“Cosmic Beasts,” she whispered. “It’s raining Cosmic Beasts.”
Her tone darkened as she reached for her communicator.
“I need to get to Exestia—right now.”