Streamer in the Omniverse

WinterHord (6) – Answers and New Energy.

POV: Devas Asura.

Whether I liked it or not, I ended up discovering what both the irritation in my eyes and the "aura" in the city were. The same culprit was responsible for both: a completely... wrong spiritual energy.

That was the best way I could describe this energy; it was entirely wrong.

This spiritual energy was and wasn't like the spiritual energy I possessed.

This spiritual energy was something sinister, it was wrong, twisted, dark, insane.

Unnatural, I was sure of that.

The best example I could give was the comparison between two lakes.

My spiritual energy was like the freshwater of a calm lake. The energy was serene, seemed to flow smoothly, and was "nourishing," both for my body and soul. An environment where life thrived.

This dark spiritual energy would be like a polluted lake, not just by simple trash, but something radioactive, something tainted, dark.

The energy moved slowly and erratically, as if it were a sick animal having spasms, yet still clinging to life. It didn't flow; instead, it seemed to push forward forcibly.

It was wrong.

It wasn't something "nourishing" but rather a slow-acting poison that left whoever consumed it, or in this case, used this spiritual energy increasingly sick, mad... insane.

Nightmare energy was a better name than spiritual energy for this thing.

I also understood why Terrarians seemed so affected by this energy and why the magical barrier of the Humvee didn't block it.

This nightmare energy was something foreign, something from outside Terraria. I was sure that this energy didn't exist outside the storm.

That damned deer was the source of this energy.

Terrarians didn't have spiritual energy; I was almost certain of that, and if they did, it was only the bare minimum.

The main energy of this world was mana. The primary energy within the bodies of Terrarians, everything in Terraria, was mana.

So, when this nightmare energy entered a Terrarian's body, the mana tried to expel it, to fight it, like an immune system fights a pathogen.

And just as an immune system didn't know exactly how to fight a foreign pathogen, the mana in the bodies of Terrarians also didn't know how to combat this nightmare energy correctly.

Just like the Humvee's barrier couldn't fully block this energy, only partially.

I hadn't been affected by this energy not because my title protected me, but because it couldn't affect me even if it wanted to.

I hadn't felt this before due to my lack of practice with my spiritual energy, but the moment this nightmare energy entered my body, my spiritual energy took control of it and adapted it to my body, forcibly taking it.

It took some time for the "assimilation," so to speak, to be complete, and I fully adapted to this new but familiar energy.

If I focused a bit, I could sense something new within my spiritual landscape, a small lake of black color like muddy water that appeared in the corner of the island where the beach house was, corrupting a few meters around before stopping, creating as if another biome, another ecosystem.

This biome, so to speak, was similar to a corrupted purple swamp, a place where life shouldn't exist, but still did. The trees around didn't die or wither but adapted, twisting and absorbing the energy, using it as a source of nourishment, the same happened with the grass and everything else around.

That was the only reason I hadn't expelled this energy from within me. The energy wouldn't harm me; it was part of me now, another facet of my spiritual energy.

Something that, the moment it entered my body, my soul, was adapted to me, just as I adapted to the energy.

It wasn't something sinister, not anymore, at least not for me.

Don't get me wrong, it was still damn strange to use this energy; it was like I was bathed in mud, I felt dirty, but it was useful, as now I could see something more than I didn't see before.

The moment I finished adapting to the energy, when my eyes stopped itching, upon hearing the scream of the man in the cell in front of me, my body instinctively used the nightmare energy, directing it to my eyes.

My vision changed instantly.

The world seemed to lose color, becoming less saturated.

The prison's lighting lost color, becoming dull with shadows becoming more apparent, everything seemed distorted with red tendrils running through the entire environment, the floor, the walls, the ceiling.

It was as if I were seeing another world, something that had always been present since I and the others arrived in WinterHord, but invisible, undetectable because I lacked something to perceive it.

A layer behind what everyone normally saw, another texture of the world.

When I turned to look at the place where the man was pointing, I saw what everyone here seemed to have seen at least once.

Just like the purple swamp within my spiritual landscape shouldn't have life, something shouldn't be born from this energy... I didn't know how the hell that thing in front of me wasn't supposed to exist.

This hallucination wasn't supposed to exist; it was a glitch, an error created by the inefficiency of Terrarians' mana in destroying the nightmare energy within them.

An embryo that managed to grow nourished by the decay of the mind of someone who was going mad.

This hallucination was practically the physical, or rather, spiritual manifestation of the man's insanity inside the cell, a mirror of his mind that was being corrupted by nightmare energy, feeding the hallucination.

The moment I looked at the hallucination, it noticed that I could see it and turned towards me, ignoring the man inside the cell it was previously going to kill.

Robyn's earlier description was accurate. This thing was like a huge, entirely black insect, with two large white eyes that seemed to lack consciousness, only primal instincts.

Before the hallucination could react, I pulled Shichishitō from the VoidBag and attacked it with the sword while using Sun Breathing at the same time.

The hallucination dissipated with a silent scream that I couldn't hear, cut in half without being able to retaliate, leaving behind a residue of something amorphous, a slowly writhing translucent black mass where it previously stood.

I hadn't played Don't Starve in years, but I could recognize Nightmare Fuel when I saw one.

"Interesting..." I muttered to myself.

I wouldn't touch that thing without protection, a lot of protection actually, just to be safe. But if I could, it would be something extra I could use for crafting items.

Wasn't there something in the game that used these things to be able to see hallucinations without going insane? A hat? Or was it an amulet?...

Before I could finish my train of thought, the man's scream inside the cell interrupted me.

"SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD!" He seemed happy. Still insane, but less insane than before, I could feel, actually see.

The death of the hallucination seemed to bring back some of the man's sanity, restoring some of the damage that the nightmare energy had caused him.

I could see that his skin seemed to have regained some color, and his eyes didn't look as crazy anymore.

"You killed a hallucination?" Melissa's voice was confused as she asked me. "Did you see his hallucination?" Woman, when you talk like that, it sounds like I'm crazy too.

"Yes," I replied. "Yes to both questions."

Not only the man's hallucination, but I could also see the one Selina had seen, along with the ones Melissa and others had seen.

There were several, some tiny as if they were malformed beings, and others larger like the one I had just killed.

As soon as I finished adapting to the nightmare energy, the stream updated the "Spiritual Camera," making the hallucinations appear on both the Minimap and the stream.

Just within the area I could see on the Minimap, there should be at least a hundred red dots that had appeared out of nowhere, hallucinations of everyone in WinterHord, and probably many more throughout the rest of the city and even beyond.

Ignorance really is a bliss, isn't it?...

I didn't even need to see to know how everyone would react when they found out the entire city was infested. The (CHAT)'s reaction was already a good estimate.

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: I got high once. I can say it was lighter than that... I was also surrounded by beautiful models, not by these weird things. (Iron Man emote pointing to the exit and shouting "Let's get out of here!").

[SereneNurse]: Rika-chan and I watched a horror movie once that had creatures like this... Not cool, I always get shivers when I remember. Those many red dots on the map don't look good either, there are so many! (Zombie nurse emote pointing at something).

[TohsakaHeiress]: Did his eyes just mutate into mystical eyes like that? Out of nowhere?... I'll have an aneurysm later, for now, just kill all those things, they remind me too much of that caster servant's familiars to let them continue existing. (Chibi Rin disgusted emote).

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: GRIMM! THESE THINGS ARE PRACTICALLY IDENTICAL TO GRIMMS, JUST UGLIER! KILL! (Little Red Riding Hood emote cutting some Grimm with a scythe).

[JiraiyaIsAnIdiot]: It's amazing how every day I learn something new on the stream. Today, for example, I discovered that I find something more disgusting than snakes. My recommendation is to take advantage of the cold and burn everything. (Old frog disgusted emote).

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: How about pretending we didn't see anything, just turn off those dead fish eyes and ignore the hundreds of creatures of darkness in the city. We saw nothing, we know nothing. Everything's normal here. (Generic guy whistling and sweating emote).

[WiseWizardGleam]: These hallucinations remind me a lot of Dementors... Much more than I would like, actually. I may not fully agree with Mr. Kazuma, but not drawing attention now is the best option, especially since we don't know what these hallucinations are capable of. (Worried old wizard emote).

Actually, forget that, I'm sure the residents of WinterHord would be freaking out; the (CHAT) seems to be taking things in a more relaxed way.

Of course, at least most people. I just wanted to know if I should start getting worried now or later, as it seemed the hallucinations resembled some (CHAT) members' worst things in their world.

Grimm, which were negative emotions that took physical form and looked like animal shapes.

Dementors, which... I didn't even know what those things were, but they weren't cool, to say the least.

Finally, the familiars of the freaking Gilles de Rais, of all things. Did those creatures have something to do with an outer god or something?

Only good comparisons! The best!

Sarcasm couldn't be stronger even if I wanted.

Interestingly, none of these comparisons seemed to be inaccurate, which was pretty bad...

And I needed to see what had happened to my eyes, for Kazuma of all people to call them "dead fish eyes," I felt offended.

While the rest of the group inside the prison looked at me as if I had grown a second head, the other hallucinations inside the prison began to notice me.

One by one, they all started to turn slowly and look in my direction.

The smaller hallucinations just stood there, watching me without showing any emotion; in fact, I was almost sure they couldn't even express emotions.

As for the larger hallucinations, they seemed to stare at me with a certain anger and caution.

I knew this not because they displayed emotions, but because the nightmare energy around them had become more turbulent, which I suppose is something like anger.

As for the caution part, it was more of my guess than anything, since the hallucinations hadn't attacked me so far, even though they seemed angry.

As for the hallucinations I could see on the Minimap, they were still. It seemed they either couldn't feel me or didn't want to approach.

"Devas, are you okay?" Dylan asked me with a concerned voice.

I was staring into the air for them, right? I must look kind of crazy now.

"I am, just having a staring contest with one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my life." I replied still looking at the hallucinations.

Visually, the hallucinations were unpleasant to look at, not only because they were really ugly, but also because they were something unnatural.

Well, the two animals too, but they were always accompanying the fox woman.

The two were in their pajamas, something simple and warm. Even though the mansion was protected from the cold more than the city, it was still chilly.

"What is this? A pajama party?" Gilbert asked amused. "Do you want me and the Oakwood kid to leave? Am I finally going to be a grandfather?" He laughed.

The merchant had to duck moments later to avoid the shoe that his daughter threw in his direction.

"HaHa." Robyn laughed in a fake manner. "Very funny. No," she said in a dry tone, but I could see her cheeks blushing a bit, even though she tried to hide it.

"I'm too young to be a mother," Selina simply said, walking and throwing herself on the sofa on the opposite side of mine with her butt up.

That wasn't a denial.

She was lucky that I had turned off the stream since it was already late. Well, late was relative; it was twelve ten.

"We came to see how you guys were. What's the topic?" Robyn said while throwing herself on the bed, on my bed.

Someone's going to catch it, and I even knew where I was going to hit and what I was going to pull if she didn't get out of there.

"Plans not to freeze to death or go insane," I said.

"I like those plans." Selina nodded.

"We all do." Gilbert agreed, lying on the armchair and looking at the ceiling.

"And what about Melissa, Dylan?" Selina asked the guide. "Aren't you going to talk to her?" It seems I wasn't the only one who noticed the crappy atmosphere.

"I ..." The guide hesitated. "I'll talk to her; I just don't know where to start." He sighed.

"Start from the beginning. Don't complicate it." The steampunker replied.

Magnificent answer.

While the two "cousins" talked and Gilbert took a nap, I continued "playing" with the Nightmare Fuel and seeing what I could do with it.

I had used Analyze: Item a while ago, but still, I needed some "practice."

My central idea was to try to make some kind of paint using this thing; if that didn't work, some kind of amulet that extracted energy from it.

After a few minutes, I threw the Nightmare Fuel back into the VoidBag.

"Are you guys going to sleep here?" I asked the rest of the group that hadn't left the room.

"I don't see why not," Selina replied as she stretched. "It's the safest place in the mansion."

If I were to consider that I could see and kill the hallucinations and that they didn't come near me for some reason, yes, it was the safest place in the mansion.

"I hadn't thought of that." Gilbert scratched his chin. "Does the invitation extend to me too?" He said jokingly.

"It wasn't an invitation." I said in a dry tone.

"Nah. Too late; I'm staying too." Dylan said in an equally dry tone as he leaned back in the armchair.

"Since everyone is staying, I'll stay with Kiki and Lili too." Robyn said lying on the bed with a voice similar to mine and Dylan's.

The silence after that lasted about five seconds before everyone started laughing.

"You guys win." I said in fake defeat. "You can stay, alright."

I would let them stay anyway, but jokes like this lightened the mood, which was good.

"And me? Can I stay too!?" Millia asked coming out of my shirt pocket, where the little slime liked to stay.

"Awake, sleepyhead?" I asked. "Of course, you can stay."

"Yay! :D." She quickly molded her body. "I woke up a while ago, but I had nothing to say, so I just kept listening." She wrote.

Fair enough.

"Does anyone want water?" I offered after taking a water bottle from the inventory.

Only Robyn accepted, so I manifested the bottle next to her without getting up since I was comfortable.

Funny how I did that out of sheer laziness, but somehow it served more than that, as Robyn seemed to realize something while her face turned white, and then it went dark red as she looked at the water bottle that had appeared out of nowhere in her hand.

It seems she finally figured out how I knew her little secret.

By the way, she tucked herself under the covers; she had noticed that I could interact with it at any time too.

I wouldn't do that without her permission, of course, but it was still funny how she reacted.

[...]

(OMAKE CANON?)

POV: Devas Asura.

"Are you kidding me? Are you really discussing this?" I asked the (CHAT) while waiting for Gilbert to finish cooking.

I was speaking out loud just because everyone was far away.

[BestToadSannin]: It's not even a discussion, boobs are better than butt. It's simple; you guys are just too young to realize that. (Emote of an indignant frog).

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: I see old age has left you SENILE! Butt >>> Boobs. (Indignant Iron Man emote).

Were they really arguing about this? Worse, I had female (MODS), and none of them had banned any of them?

I found out why quickly.

[YellowHuntressLive]: Boobs >>> of course. There's no comparison. (Emote of a nodding yellow bear).

[(MOD)StarkAssistant]: I'm obliged to agree with Mr. Stark in this case. Butts >>>>

[BlakeHuntressLive]: Of course, butt wins, this question doesn't even make sense. Can't you see? (Emote of a sighing black cat).

They were also in this discussion.

Damn, it can't be possible.

[TohsakaHeiress]: Are you guys idiots? Thighs >>> There's no other answer. (Emote of an indignant Chibi Rin).

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: That's right! I agree with Rin, Thighs >>> Butt >>> Boobs. That's the order. (Emote of Little Red Riding Hood waving quickly).

[(MOD)JackMom]: This is not the place for this discussion; there are children in the (CHAT)... That said, Boobs >>> You guys are young; you'll understand when you grow up.

[AsuraLady]: Don't even try to come with these wrong opinions. Thighs >>> Butt >>> Boobs. That's the order. (Emote of a little lion with a mane shaking its head indignantly).

[MiyaBeautyMoto]: Boobs >>>> Those who don't accept this have no taste or no boobs. (Emote of a zombie spearwoman waving).

Even the HOTD crew? Weren't you guys super busy? Did you find time from where?

And why the hell didn't you ask Jarvis to start a vote?

[SereneNurse]: Yes! Boobs >>> They've always told me that, and I like mine! (Emote of a zombie nurse shaking boobs).

[SniperHirano]: Since I have a girlfriend, her opinion is mine, then. Thighs >>> (Emote of a sweating zombie sniper).

[ZombieSlayer]: Cough, Cough. Boobs >>> Cough. (Emote of a zombie with a baseball bat saying the words for his friend).

Kohta was threatened apparently.

[(MOD)WhiteHuntressLive]: I type here my indignation and speak the real order. Thighs >>> Butt >>> Boob. Anyone who disagrees, I'll start muting! (Emote of an indignant Snow White).

[YellowFlash]: I'm a committed man, so I've already made my choice. Boobs >>>

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: I'm not afraid at all! Boobs >>> That's it. (Emote of a generic guy shouting "Boobs").

The only ones who seemed to stay out were Dumbledore, Snape, Minerva, and the two frogs who seemed happy to watch from the outside.

Damn, even Minato got into this.

[(MOD)Jarvis]: I don't have accurate charts to state any kind of conclusion, but in this case, wouldn't the streamer's opinion matter? (Emote of a sarcastic robot asking).

Stark, you son of a bitch! I'm sure you told Jarvis to say that.

Damn, couldn't you leave me out of this hole?

[YellowHuntressLive]: Hey, it's true. DS, answer, which is better? (Emote of a nodding yellow bear asking).

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: Devas is a man of culture; of course, he'll choose right. Boobs >>>

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: Thighs >>> Say, Devas, say!! (Emote of Little Red Riding Hood shouting "SAY!").

And with that, all the messages started turning into a damn protest telling me to choose.

"First of all, this is a stupid question." I replied out loud.

It wasn't stupid because it was inappropriate; it was stupid because the answer was obvious. Damn, this didn't even need to be asked, actually.

I must have stayed silent for about five seconds to annoy the (CHAT) before continuing and answering.

"That said, I like women," There wasn't another answer.

There wasn't another option; I liked women, no matter how.

[(MOD)StarkAssistant]: That... is fair. I hadn't thought of that answer. (Impressed Iron Man emote).

[BestToadSannin]: I can't deny it. That's the best answer. (Impressed frog emote).

[AdvocateOfGenderEquality]: Damn, fucking unbalanced wisdom. (Emote of a generic guy admiring).

Obviously, this is the best answer.

Uncultured people.