"Hmph," Amelia muttered. "Go on—push as hard as you can and open this damn door. Be quick, or all my hard work on dinner will go to waste."
Why are you in such a hurry? It's not like the tastes would fade away in a few minutes, not when the food is hot like lava!"
Marcus wanted to refute his domineering wife with those few words, but he didn't. He was more sensible. After all, anyone with a mind wouldn't push their hand into the mouth of a lioness, right?
Being a sensible person, he instead said in a subdued manner, "Just give me a few seconds, and this door will be open. Then I'll complain to the boss of the renovation company and tell him just how bad the work his company did here is."
With that, he was done taking his wife's side in the matter while naturally putting the blame on the company, not on his head. How much effect that had on his wife, he would most probably know tomorrow. Not thinking much about these issues, he walked ahead of her and raised his arms toward the door.
"A little help here, can you do it?" he asked.
Hearing this, Amelia ignored what he had said before about the company; she decided she would deal with that in their bedroom later. For now, she wanted to focus on getting the door open and eating the dinner she had cooked with extra effort.
"What is it?" she asked in a straightforward manner.
"Can you hold onto the door lock and ensure that it is open? I'll push with both of my hands. That way we could open it more easily," Marcus said, looking at her.
"Is that all?" Amelia asked in return, looking at him.
He nodded.
"Okay, I can do that," she said as she put her hand on the door locker and twisted it into the open state. "Go on, push the door."
Marcus put both hands on the door, wisely choosing not to slam into it with his body. Slamming it risked damage, which he didn't want, and it was also a question whether Amelia would even allow him.
Even though she was criticizing the renovation company's work, she mostly liked what they had done. Above all, the kitchen was sacred to her—perhaps the most important place she cared for with all her heart—so damaging it was something she would rather not happen.
Pushing those technical thoughts out of his mind, he focused on the work ahead.
Meanwhile, within the room, the Sphere of Light (or the System, for short) was already in the process of shutting itself down to 'sleep mode'—a process that affected Anthony's mind space, soul space, and physical body.
As the white chains began tightening themselves, restricting the power the Sphere of Light had provided, the anomaly surrounding Anthony's body also began to be affected.
The first element to be affected was the manifestation of the True Void surrounding Anthony's body: it began to destabilise at first, then began fading.
The spatial barriers restored themselves in an instant, changing the state of the room—if it could even be called a room at this point.
Because it had been thoroughly destroyed by the intense power of the Void, only the floor, ceiling, and walls remained. Other decorations, including chairs, tables, books, closets, and even the bed for the most part, had been destroyed by the Void.
Suddenly, as if everything was rewinding itself, whatever was destroyed by the Void began to reappear particle by particle. First came the closet, the chair, the table, the photo frames, the bed, and the bed sheets.
Slowly, everything appeared particle by particle, returning to its previous location in mint condition. In but a second, the room had returned to normal. Even the books Anthony had left open were in the same state, making it appear as if nothing at all had happened here.
What had happened was but a simple illusion, which none were able to witness. This was the last act the System-performed, ensuring that what had taken place here would remain here and not affect Anthony in the long run.
While performing that final task, the barrier that had surrounded the room also dissolved just as the System dove deep into sleep. Outside, Amelia, who had her hand on the door handle, suddenly felt that she could push the door open like normal—it wasn't stuck at all.
She felt that because whatever had made the door stuck had suddenly released, and she felt no force on the door now.
So, without thinking much—not even seeing Marcus prepare to apply all the force he could muster, nor warning him that the door might now be open—Amelia proceeded, believing her earlier observation had been a mere illusion.
Wanting to check whether it was truly an illusion, she pushed the door with slight force. To her surprise, it really did move, and quite normally at that.
Meanwhile, Marcus, who had shifted all his momentum, his body completely leaning on the door, felt the door move suddenly. The door flew open. Turning as he fell, he barely saw his wife before his momentum carried him downward. Unprepared, he was sent hurtling toward the floor.
"Ahhh!" he shouted.
Hearing this, Amelia was stunned and gasped, realizing she really should have warned him. With a "BAM!" Marcus fell hard on the floor. Thankfully, the mats in his study room were quite comfortable, so he wasn't seriously hurt. Nevertheless, his nose was hurting like hell, and his head was buzzing and ringing like a bee and a bell.
He groaned in pain. Meanwhile, Amelia, on the sidelines, was a bit speechless, as this was entirely her doing after all.
Marcus, his eyes turning red from the sheer pain, looked in Amelia's direction and found her staring back at him—speechless, without even a hint of guilt in her eyes. "Why did you do that?" Marcus asked, as though he had just realized something.