《Irium》 -6 Characters Slight Spoilers Here will be the list of characters with their physical features. So, if you ever want to find out about someone and don''t have the time to dig through every chapter to find where what character''s description is, here is the place to go. Also, if there''s some detail that I miss that you want me to add, just comment it in the comments section of this chapter. [1. Irium] - Race: Human - Age: 17 (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Eye Color: Blue - Eye Shape: Oval - Nose Type: Button Nose - Hair Color: Black - Face Shape: Oval - Skin Tone: Ivory - Height: 5 feet 6 inches (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Physique: Fine (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Special Abilities: Monologuing [2. Danny] - Race: Human - Age: 17 (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Eye Color: Gray-Blue - Eye Shape: Wide-Set Eyes - Nose Type: Straight - Hair Color: Blue - Face Shape: Square - Skin Tone: Beige - Height: 5 feet 5 inches (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Physique: Fine (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Special Abilities: Deck Of Familiars [3. Roswaisa] - Race: Angel (Emerald-rank) - Age: Less than 100 (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Eye Color: Green - Eye Shape: Almond Eyes - Nose Type: Straight - Hair Color: Red - Face Shape: Heart-shaped - Skin Tone: Porcelain - Height: 5 feet 5 inches (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Physique: Slim (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Special Abilities: Frost Requiem - Extra Note: She has feathery, white wings that stretch up to 3.5 feet on both sides and can use them to fly really, really fast. [4. Aknin Vielos] - Race: Demon - Age: ? - Eye Color: Violet - Eye Shape: Almond Eyes - Nose Type: Greek Nose - Hair Color: Black - Face Shape: Oval-shaped - Skin Tone: Warm Beige - Height: 5 feet 5 inches (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Physique: Slim (As of Arc 1 "Angels And Demons") - Special Abilities: [Name not revealed] - ability revealed in Ch. 23 of Volume 1. - Extra Note: Her breasts are extraordinarily large (in case anyone is interested in knowing) [5. Dues ex machina] - Race: ? - Age: ? - Eye Color: Hazel - Eye Shape: Close-set - Nose Type: Concave - Hair Color: Brown - Face Shape: Diamond-shaped - Skin Tone: Warm Ivory - Height: 5 feet 9 inches (in human form)/ 10 feet (in original form) - Physique: Athletic (in human form)/ Skeleton (in original form) - Special Abilities: Prophecy [6. Doctor - ?] - Race: Human - Age: ? - Eye Color: Brown (Not Real Appearance) - Eye Shape: Wide-set Eyes (Not Real Appearance) - Nose Type: Concave (Not Real Appearance) - Hair Color: Black (Not Real Appearance) - Face Shape: Round (Not Real Appearance) - Skin Tone: Warm Beige (Not Real Appearance) - Height: 5 feet 4 inches (Not Real Appearance) - Physique: Fat (Not Real Appearance) - Special Abilities: Absolute Frost Requiem -Extra Note: He has a really thick mustache (Not Real Appearance) [7. Grimma] - Race: Human - Age: 15 (As of the flashback in Arc 2 "Past And Present") - Eye Color: Blue - Eye Shape: Oval - Nose Type: Arched Nose - Hair Color: Brown - Face Shape: Oval - Skin Tone: Ivory - Height: 5 feet 3 inches (As of the flashback in Arc 2 "Past And Present") - Physique: Slim (As of the flashback in Arc 2 "Past And Present") - Special Abilities: ? -Extra note: Since Priscina is the demon version of her, all her physical characteristics are same as Grimma''s, aside from the black wings of course. [8. Trevor] - Race: Angel - Age: ? - Eye Color: Gray - Eye Shape: Oval - Nose Type: Nubian Nose - Hair Color: Orange - Face Shape: Square - Skin Tone: Beige - Height: 5 feet 9 inches - Physique: Sleek - Special Abilities: Immitate - After seeing an ability in action well enough, he can use it with the same level of expertise the person he saw using it had. -Extra note: His characteristic are the same as when he was a human. [9. Azazel] - Race: Demon - Age: ? - Eye Color: Blue - Eye Shape: Deep-set - Nose Type: Nubian Nose - Hair Color: Blonde - Face Shape: Round - Skin Tone: Sand - Height: 6 feet 2 inches - Physique: Slightly Muscular - Special Abilities: ? -Extra note: He is one of the most powerful as well as popular Demons. [10. Rain Green] - Race: Demon - Age: ? - Eye Color: Red - Eye Shape: Close-set - Nose Type: Concave Nose - Hair Color: Deep Crimson - Face Shape: Diamond - Skin Tone: Porcelain - Height: 5 feet 8 inches - Physique: Slightly Muscular - Special Abilities: ? -Extra note: She is one of the most powerful Demons, rivaling Azazel in every manner of strength. She is also notorious for her sadistic nature. -2 Mythological Creatures Slight Spoilers [Chapter will always contain spoilers up till the latest updates. Proceed at your own risk.] These are the mythological creatures that have been shown in the story so far. The direct explanation of these creatures does not exist yet. Even the question of them actually existing in the world or not has not been answered yet. However, special type of mages called Tamers can use cards to summon them to do their bidding. [This chapter will be updated whenever some new information about this is found.] 1. Sphinx A sphinx is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. (though this appearance is not fixed and varies depending upon various iterations of various mythologies) It has showed up in Persian, Egyptian as well as Greek mythologies, though its origin is said to be mostly Egyptian. The Great Pyramid of Giza has a statue of this creature called "Great Sphinx of Giza" in front of it. The card to summon this creature has been shown to be possessed by Danny so far. Visit the Wikipedia page for more information -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx 2. Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus, often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. It is mostly known in mythologies for the fact that Hercules'' 12th and final labor was to capture and bring it back from Hades, the king of the underworld. The card to summon this creature has been shown to be possessed by Danny so far. Visit the Wikipedia page for more information -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberus 3. Manticore It has the head of a human, the body of a lion and a tail of venomous spines similar to porcupine quills, while other depictions have it with the tail of a scorpion. (In this story, his tail is like that of a scorpion). It also has wings like that of a bat. It''s lion-like appearance has often made it a topic of comparison with Sphinx. It''s origin is considered to be Iran, and it has appeared in Persian mythology for the most part. It''s notably considered one of the fastest mythological creatures. The card to summon this creature has been shown to be possessed by Grey so far. Visit the Wikipedia page for more information -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manticore 4. Raij¨± It is a legendary creature from Japanese Mythology and is considered to be the companion of the Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. Its body is composed of lightning and with the form of a white and blue wolf, or even a wolf wrapped in lightning, being the most common, although it can be represented with other forms such as tanukis, kitsunee, weasels or cats. It may also fly about as a ball of lightning. Its cry sounds like thunder. (In this story, it has been portrayed as a form of a white and blue wolf) The card to summon this creature has been shown to be possessed by Jessica so far. Visit the Wikipedia page for more information -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raij%C5%AB 1 Prologue I''m going to be frank here. Life sucks. Here I am, a frankly innocent high school student who somehow makes it through the day by earning a few bucks a month and then I have to give it all up for my rent and other monthly costs. I guess I could be proud of the fact that I live by my own earnings, but look at the downside - I don''t have a single saving. What happens if I someday fall ill? How will I pay for medicine? That is why, I am saying it right now, but life sucks. Now from this monologue so far, you may (or may not) be thinking I am one of the those rip-offs of Touma Kamijou from A Certain Magical Index Franchise and ¡­ I don''t know, I have never met this Touma Kamijou in my life so I can''t tell if I am or not. That all said and done though, I do think I live a worse life than whoever this Touma Kamijou is. I mean, just think about it, did that Touma Kamijou had to deal with magical mayhem that he had literally no idea about ever in his life? No, right? Right? Uh ... right? Did that Touma Kamijou, when not dealing with magical mayhem, had to still leave his daily life to fight scientific douchebaggery (that is officially a word from this point on) and that also when he had no idea about anything at all? No, right? Right? Uh ... yeah okay whatever. That is the proof that my life sucks more than whoever that Touma Kamijou is. Why did I just waste three paragraphs comparing myself to Touma Kamijou? I don''t even know the guy. But did that Touma Kamijou ¡­ okay, let''s stop that. Anyway, one thing I can be proud of is the fact that I live in a really big house. I mean, it''s not like it''s as big as that fricken snake in Snake & Ladders near 100. Damn that thing is long. But still, it''s pretty big. To elaborate, it has 3 bedrooms, 1 large living room and a kitchen attached to that with 3 bathrooms, big lawns on both sides of the house and a strong, handsome, frankly quite sexy house border. That is obviously complimented by like a million rooms that I never opened in my life ¡­ and a shed. It admittedly is an old house though. No, this house is not at all like Shirou Emiya''s from Fate Franchise. It just happened to have similar characteristics. Okay? Okay. Now, if you are wondering why I am living in such a large house on rent, well, it''s a long story. There was a once a man who owned this house and he took money from a mafia lord and then couldn''t return it so it had to be taken over by the lord. The mafia lord, however, allowed the son to live in the house since he was small but made it look like he is living on rent. Okay, I lied. It''s not a long story. That''s all. Out of all the awesome dads that animes, mangas and light novels have produced (what am I even saying?) over the years, from the badasses like Minato Namikaze from Naruto and Shiro Fujimoto from Blue Exorcist as well as plain nice guys like Akio Furukawa from Clannad and Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist (or is it Furumetaru Arukemisuto?) ¡­ I got Charles zi Brittania from Code Geass. Well, it''s not all bad. I''m already done with The Ragnorak Connection (i.e., old man''s gone) so I live alone. What? My mother? Pfft! Do you know who you are talking to? I''m the protagonist, damnit! My mom died before I was even a sperm (wait, what!?). Okay no, she died when I was five. So now that I live all alone, I spend my days going to school and coming home, going to part-time job and coming home, going to buy groceries and coming home, going to get my bicycle repaired and coming home, etc. Kids, appreciate your parents more. They go to a lot of places and come home so you don''t have to. Who am I kidding? "Parental Guidance Suggested" is going to be on this book''s page. No kid would be reading this thing. Anyway, the point of all that was to tell you guys I don''t get any time to relax except on weekends. And so, I only relax on weekends. This world will be engulfed by the sun and SAO abridged will stop being funny before I actually step out of my house on a weekend. Okay, so you wanna know about the city/town I live in? Leave something for later. There''s no point in getting a 5/5 for world-building from just first chapter anyway. Now, let''s move on to the worst part of my life. It''s my face. I hate my face. This face has only given me a life of hardships. Everything that has been wrong with my life has been because of this face. (Not really, but who cares?) I have oval-shaped-blue-colored eyes. I also have an oval-shaped face. I have long-black-hair, and by long I mean it shows on my neck''s sides. I''m 5''6 tall and have a fine physique because of the all the running around I do for my job. In short, I''m the type of guy who girls of my age feel attracted towards. This might be one of the reasons I am so popular in high school. And by popular, I mean that''s it''s not anything good. Every Monday some guy tries to bully me because his girlfriend broke-up with him cuz'' she found me to be more attractive. Every Tuesday the girls scold me for turning whoever the hell confessed to me down. Every Wednesday the two genders combine their forces to take me down and by the time they form their alliance, the school is over. So yeah, I like Wednesdays. Every Thursday the moderates of the alliance formed on Wednesdays tries to tell me how I shouldn''t be so harsh on the poor women who confess to me. Every Friday the extremists of the alliance formed on Wednesdays force me into deciding to join a group date with the girls and boys of worst personality, because of which, I get scolded at my job for being late. Every Saturday the group date happens and the alliance makes sure I can''t run away, so I spend my day with people who are the biggest headaches in the whole school. Every Sunday some girl finds an excuse to come to my house and then confess her love to me. Look, I''m NOT INTERESTED. Yare, yare! Just what should I do? I am at a loss. After all, there''s no way I can accept anyone as my girlfriend. There''s just no way for that to happen. Why''s that, you ask? Well, in order to explain that, I need to start with the story of what happened a month ago, in the last week before the summer vacation. That''s when I, Irium Glice, truly became the protagonist of this story. ***** 2 Monday "Okay fucker, last time was the final warning." An idiot says idiotically. Then the idiot, very idiotically, continues, "You are getting it this time." I sigh. What else can I do? This idiot, who goes by the name of Danny Taylor despite me telling him that ''idiot'' sounds better, has had his latest girlfriend break-up with him because she was more attracted to me. Well, today is Monday, so I am not surprised this is happening. Furthermore, his latest ex-girlfriend confessed to me yesterday so I am not at all surprised this is happening. And I put ''latest'' there for a reason. "Seriously Danny, how many times has it been? This is like the 17th girl that left you for the exact same reason." I say quite mockingly, to which of course, "You jackass, you are the reason this is happening in the first place." He says like an annoying anime villain giving his most annoyed anime face. He basically looks like Shinji Matou from Fate at this point, aside from the fact that he has brown hair and looks uglier. His is as tall as I am, well, I am saying that because I never bothered to find out how tall that Shinji was. "You can''t blame your ugliness on me." I answer quite frantically. "Besides, people have different opinions. I am sure there''d be some girl out there who''d be willing to downgrade from me to you for the sake of ¡­" As I were about to name some good characteristic he might have that might make a girl like him ... no, I can''t think of any. "No man, forget what I said just now. You''re gonna stay a loser all your life." A sound of "Tsk!" came (quite predictable of Shinji-types) and then came something else, something ¡­ a little ¡­ harsher. ***** "Mama Mia! What''s wrong with your face?" the hyper-as-always manager of the store I work in says while putting her arms to her mouth which has been turned in the shape of ''o'' for whatever reason. This woman is of Jamaican origin and is actually a really sweet person, like I''ve heard most Jamaicans are. She is, however, quite ¡­ uh, healthy (to put it mildly). She has black hair folded into cornrows with protruding eyes shining quite brightly with their hazel color. To top it all off, she has a Nubian nose and frankly a legendary wide mouth. Oh, you are wondering why I know about her characteristics in so much detail when I have only worked here for about a month (did I mention that before? No? Well, I am mentioning it now), it''s not because I have been staring at her or anything. Believe me, she is not the type of material I would stare at. The reason her characteristics have so much detail to the point that my own nose shape has not been revealed (that is obviously one of the biggest mysteries of this book) but hers is, is because the AUTHOR HAS TOO MUCH TIME TO WASTE! Oh, he doesn''t have time to spend in naming the book something that is not just the name of the main character but he does have time TO WRITE CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS FOR WOMEN! I have a button nose by the way. "Oi, Irium, you gonna keep monologuing or answer my question?" She huffs using her Nubian nose in irritation with hands at her waist. "Oh, that? Nothing happened to my face. It''s completely fine." I answer in an emotionless voice trying to hold back my anger at Mondays. "It''s not fine. It''s used to look like a newly laid egg till yesterday, and today it looks like the chick has hatched." And so my face is explained in quite a ¡­ unique manner. "It''s a Monday. What else would have happened? Someone''s girlfriend left him for me, then got turned down by me and then that guy who lost his girlfriend came to me for revenge and tomorrow I have a lecture by the ''Woman''s Heart Group'' to attend to for breaking the heart of that oh so poor girl that confessed to me out of the blue that I had never seen in my life before yesterday." I sigh forcefully, and continue, "And here I am, still coming to work every day even after everything that happens in the school. You should be grateful, Manager Cadella." Cadella Smith is her name by the way. I don''t know why it wasn''t mentioned till now, had the author forgotten how to write? "I should be grateful, you say?" she asks with arms folded as she starts looking down on me even though she is as tall as I am. "Yes, that is what I just said." I answer in a plain voice. "Fine," She sighs and continues, "I''d be grateful of you if you can deliver this package to the given address within next 15 minutes." Hah! What the hell!? She hands me the package with the address of a place that is exactly 20 minutes from here on my bicycle. Well, I accept your challenge, woman! And I don''t even have the time to say that so I run along and get on my bicycle with the package. If it isn''t clear yet, I am the delivery boy of a department store. **** Less than one minute remaining, with the protagonist-kun about to reach the target in 250 meters. It''s a close match that shows the effort put in by both players, be it protagonist-kun or time-san. The game, however, is still in favor of time-san and protagonist-kun is having trouble maintaining his stamina. Will the protagonist-kun make it? No one can tell as the game has now entered a nail-biting finale stage where anything can happen. The protagonist-kun is giving his all by pedaling his bicycle with the worst battle cries of all time escaping his mouth as he sails through the wind trying to outrun time-san but time-san had seen this coming and had already made sure to run out on traffic lights-san to stop the protagonist-kun. Does the protagonist-kun fall for this ploy? No, the protagonist does not fall for this ploy as he uses his assurance of his ultimate hidden ability, Plot Armor, to anger police-san by defying laws-kun and pedaling through red lights-san. But time-san has already readied his next ploy. A meteor strikes the path of the protagonist-kun. "What the freaking heck!!!" The protagonist-kun, I, say in an over-excited voice. "That''s foul play." ***** 3 Summoned How the heck does a meteor literally fall out in front of me? I mean, COME ON! "What happened there?" "What is that thing?" "I can''t see it. What are you talking about?" "It''s dangerous here, kid." I can hear those kinds of voices coming from behind. Now, wait! Think about this a little. We all would have been dead by now if it was a meteor. Okay, so it can''t be a meteor. But then what else just falls in the middle of the road and cause an impact enough for bicycles to go flying and bicyclers to start crying. No, I am not crying. Who would cry right now? It''s not like I just missed the opportunity to make that fat woman respect me once in my life. No, no, why the hell would I possibly cry? "Hey, are you okay? Why are you crying?" Didn''t you just hear the monologue? Oh wait, monologues are meant to not be heard. Okay, you live another day, unimportant character-san. "What? Did someone die in that crash?" The guy says in a voice that, for whatever reason, sounds a bit sarcastic. Listen, unimportant character-san, stay unimportant. I have an itsy-bitsy feeling any character that''d be important will be getting pummeled by me sometime soon. "Answer me, moron." The voice came again and I, irritated enough by it, turned to look at it. And that is when one of the greatest plot twists of all time happened. This unimportant character ¨C turned out to not be unimportant ¨C he was just worthless. He was Shinji, I mean, Danny. "Awww, poor Irium! Just look at the pathetic state he is in." he says while laughing quite satisfactorily. "At least he''s in a better state than his bicycle. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" My bicycle? Oh yeah, there was that thing. Where is it? I try to look for my bicycle, and then I find it. Furthermore, it was in my hands all along. And yes, a bicycle whose surface area is probably bigger than me ¡­ is in my hands. Well, at least, what''s left of it is. And since it has been in my hand all along, you can guess the part that''s left. It''s the goddamn handle. "Poor Iri-" and so I put the handle to the best use I had left for it ¨C using it as a baseball bat and the person standing beside as the ball. To be more exact, I used his ¡­ a particular part that comes between two long things and below a large thing and is kinda ¡­ personal, yeah, I used that as the ball. Anyway, now that that is taken care of, what the hell was it that hit the road? "Who summoned me?" A voice comes, a voice of a woman. And then from the dust that is all around us ever since whatever it was that hit the road hit the goddamn road, a figure emerges. This figure looks like that of a woman (I don''t think it''s possible for men to have curves like that) and she has ¡­ what the heck, she has wings. "What''s going on here?" I wonder it out loud and as Danny hears it, he smirks. "Bastard! W-what''s going on here is the aftermath of a successful summoning." He laughs (or tries to) while still holding his ¡­ private part (yeah, this book is staying pg-13 whether you like it or not). "Oookkaaaayyy" I stretch the word sarcastically. "Now explain to me what''s actually going on?" "Ha!" he forcefully cackles which probably increased his pain down there as he reacts to it first and then, "Are you an anime protagonist? How the hell are you so dumb? I just explained it to you." "What nonsense are you spouting? Is Goku the only anime protagonist you have ever seen?" I smirk proudly at the foolish half-weeb at my left holding his private part. "Light Yagami was an anime protagonist too." For whatever reason I decided that making that argument was more important than getting the answer to the previous question, that is not important. What is important is the fact that anime protagonists shouldn''t be labeled as ''dumb'' just because of Goku. Doing so is prejudice against anime protagonists. "Cease your gibberish, humans." The voice of that woman comes again who, by this point, has come out of the dust clouds and come into my view. Now, on better inspection, this woman is quite something. Her face is heart-shaped and almond-shaped-green eyes are present on the face like ornaments. That is complimented by a straight nose and a mouth very symmetrical to the rest of the face. She also has stunning red hair quite akin to Rias Gremory from Highschool DxD, and that hair has been made into long, side-swept bangs. Her skin is so pale that one might call it milky and is wearing a shiny light-green-colored and a very complicatedly designed dress. She also has wings (what the hell is going on) on her back which are of pure white-feathery color and stretched enough to cover the width of a car from its front, in both sides. Aside from that, I can guess that she is 5''5, an inch shorter than me. Now tell me, Author, what excuse do you have for going into so much detail for this woman''s description and leaving Danny with just a ''Shinji'' remark? I mean, that''s so mean! Why would you even create a Shinji in the first place? "Now answer me, who is the one who summoned me?" the woman asked in a sweet but serious voice. "I-I am." Says Danny holding his private part. "Don''t lie to me. I know that a human had summoned me?" she chides Danny to which, "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?" Asks Danny by yelling it out loud. "Hm." The woman looks him from up-to-down and then from down-to-up once and says, "I''m confused. This is only the second time I have been summoned to earth so I am still ignorant about this, but are you a monkey or a baboon?" "He''s a monkey. Baboons are bigger." Since Danny wouldn''t have answered honestly, I do it for him. And hearing my answer, the woman nods and says, "I see, I see." "Well, anyway, since he isn''t the one who summoned me as I know a human did, it must be you." Wow! That''s so logical, isn''t it? This woman definitely has, like, 167 IQ. "Now come with me as this place is too dirty to talk in." the woman who made the place dirty says so and grabs my arms after which, "Wait, what!?" I find myself in the air. ***** 4 Angel Why am I in the air? What''s going on? Why''s it going on? It shouldn''t go on. This is wrong. This is an illusion. This sucks. "Now, do tell me, where will be a quiet place for our business to go smoothly?" the woman asks in a plain voice as she turns her head in all directions. Wait! Quiet Place? Business? Go Smoothly? "What do you plan to do to me?" I ask in a hyper voice while covering my chest with my hands as if some anime heroine trying to get away from a creepy pervert. "What did you expect me to do when you summoned me?" She says with an "Hmph!" at the end like some kind of low-key tsundere. "Stop wasting my time and answer me." As her voice is quiet commanding, I am forced to answer. "W-well, my house might be a nice place. I live alone after all." I say while still trying to stay cautious and getting away from the woman that literally is the only reason I haven''t fallen to the ground yet. Yeah, smart me. "Perfect, where is your house?" her commanding voice does not go away and so I meekly direct her towards the direction where my house is. ***** Here I am, sitting on the chair with my shaking hands (not because I am nervous but because the author couldn''t think of anything else for me to do here) on the table. "So, uh ¡­" I try to start a conversation as it''s been a minute since I was brought ¡­ to my own house. "Right, we should get down to business." The woman says in her usual commanding voice. "What? Already? Shouldn''t we, like, get to know each other better first?" I ask a pretty logical question to be honest. No, it''s not logical because it is what every anime protagonist would ask in this situation. It is logical because ¡­ yeah I guess, it''s because that''s what every anime protagonist would ask in this situation. "I don''t have time to get to know you better. Besides, it''s not like we''ll be meeting again and again anyway. I doubt I''ll ever see you again after this." She says in a slightly annoyed voice as if to usher me to hurry up, and ''usher'' is putting it mildly by the way. Ah! I see. So it''s a one-time deal, huh? Good, Shinji rip-off. "Hah!" Trying to summon all my courage, I sigh and with a face as serious as Jotarou Kujo from JoJo''s Bizarre Adventures, I say, "Hai! It''ll be my pleasure." ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ "What are you waiting for? Start already." She says with her right hand on her cheeks and her elbow resting on the table as she is sitting in front of me facing me. "Uh, I thought you were going to start." I say as I stood up. I really did think she would start. But well, I guess everyone has their preferences. It''s fine. It''s fine. I''d start. There''s no reason to not take charge when your partner insists. "Well, shall I start from the top or the bottom?" I ask in a calm and collected voice with a face that has melted down a little from Jotarou''s to now become Kakyoin''s. "Huh? Top? Bottom?" The woman stares at me as she tilts her head, not understanding the meaning of my words. Why? Is there something wrong? I am not misunderstanding anything, am I? But then, dismissing all my worries, the woman says, "Ah, so that''s what you mean. Start from the top. I don''t have much experience so it wouldn''t be wise to start from the bottom." I see. That''s understandable. I''ll take up on that request then. "Now," as I mentally prepare myself for what''s about to come, I bow down and, "Please forgive me, I know nothing of what is going on and would like a clear explanation. Furthermore, I did no summoning. I don''t even know what that means. That monkey-like-man was probably the one who summoned you. Now, what are you?" What? What did you think I was gonna do, you freaking degenerates!? "I-Is that so?" the woman says, taken aback by my response. "I see. Please stop bowing." She puts a hand on her forehead and sighs in exasperation. I, who has stopped bowing, says nothing as I look at her. "Well, since I roped you into this, I should probably explain to you what''s going on as an apology." She says with her voice softening from the commanding tone before to now a very sweet and melodious tone. Well, as far as roping people in goes, you roped pretty much everybody who was there at the time you landed on the road. Not like I am going to actually say something like that to her face. "First of all, I am an Angel." She says quite frantically. "You do look like one." I say while looking at her now folded wings, which obviously are not present at the back of every girl. Well, it''s not like I have seen the back of every single girl but you know ¡­ whatever! "Yes, there are many types of Angels and I am the Emerald-type." She continues her explanation unaffected by my compliment-like sounding statement. "There are lots of complicated systems involved but the gist of it is that some humans who know magic can summon a Demon or an Angel from Hell or Heaven respectively. That''s what happened to me. I mistakenly assumed you to be my Summoner and started to ask you about the purpose you''d have for summoning me." And just like that, everything has been cleared up. And because that has happened, "I can kind of guess what that monkey might have summoned you here for." I say with a cool gesture of having my hands on my chin as if I am thinking, even though I am not. "And what might that be?" she asks curiously. "He would probably ask you to be his girlfriend, as an Angel might be someone who isn''t swayed by someone else''s charm." Yes, that''s what it seems like to me. "Ew, jeez, now I am glad I didn''t stay there." She says with a disgusted face. "Hah! I guess I should follow the process and refuse his request and then go back." And so, she decided what she should do. "By the way, I''m Irium Glice." I tell her so I can ask to return the favor. "What''s your name? Or do Angels don''t have names?" "Angels do have names." She smiles before replying and then says, "My name is Roswaisa." ***** 5 Roswaisa She says her name is Roswaisa. Is that so? Angel Roswaisa, huh? That doesn''t sound too bad. "If I were to ask you something too though," she says with an innocent smile as she looks at me with a curious gaze, "If all that bowing was ''top'', then what was ''bottom?''" Oh that, well, it''s simple. "Bottom would have been to get on my knees and say the exact same things." I say without any delay and then see her laughing a little because of it. What''s there to laugh about? Top was bending the upper portion of my waist, so bottom is bending the lower one. That''s perfectly logical. "What was ''top'' and ''bottom'' for you by the way?" I ask, going with the flow of the conversation. "Top was being addressed to every detail about the job and bottom was being addressed to only the essential ones." She says with the same smile as before. And that does explain why she chose top and say she is doing so because she doesn''t have much experience as a reason for it. In any case though, "So, what will happen now? Will my memories of all this be erased or something?" that''s how it usually goes in fantasy stories. "Nope. There''s no need for that," She says while giggling. "That is, if you decide to do something for me." Now I didn''t see that coming, did I? Of course I didn''t. If the protagonist sees everything coming, he''ll become too OP. "Could you be more clear about what this ''something'' you want me to do is?" I speak in a serious voice. (yes, I can be serious. Stop laughing!) "Well, simply put," Roswaisa closes her eyes displaying the mischief of a little girl, the exact opposite of the commanding tone she had before, and says, "Learn how to summon an Angel and summon me again." "Please erase my memories!" I answer instantaneously. What? Don''t just become a rock. "Would you please reconsider?" she asks humbly while bowing a little. Like hell I would reconsider! "I''m ready to lose my memories now." I''m fine living the life of a slice-of-life anime protagonist. There''s absolutely no reason for me to shift to fantasy genre. "But you know Irium-san, it could really benefit you." The woman I once had started to respect for being an Angel with a commanding tone and also having a sweet side to her is now acting like a salesman would, no, even salesmen don''t bow so much. Oh! Wait! I see something, some type of cloth. Pink, eh? That''s kinda hot. Not to mention the two round things it has been put on. And I am not going to go into detail as to what I am seeing right now but, I get it. All that bowing was a ploy so that if appealing to me didn''t work, she could still appeal to my buddy down there. I see your strategy, Roswaisa. I see it. And I''m not going to fall for it. "No thanks, Angel. I''ll rather have my memories erased please." I answer with a face that would remind one of Suzaku Kururugi from Code Geass, not that I''m remotely like that guy in any way. "Hah!" the Angel sighs and then stops bowing to look at me with a wide smile, that is kinda creepy, and also closes her eyes as if she is some adult giving up after seeing a child''s stubbornness. Hey woman, don''t compare my cool anime protagonist persona of not wanting to get into trouble with some child''s stubbornness. I swear Roswaisa, if you weren''t the Prime Waifu Material (PWM for short) here, I would have completely destroyed any respect anyone may have for you through my frankly epic monologues. "Then I guess there''s no other choice." She says while sighing again. Wait! No! No! No! NO! She said that line. She triggered that flag. Now somehow there''s going to be some other choice. Someone! Anyone! Save me! I feel like I''m about to migrate into fantasy genre really soon. "HAVE MERCY!!!" the angel yells and jumps to my knees grabbing hold of them as hard as she could. "Get away from me!" I become Satou Kazuma. "No! Please! Have mercy!" She becomes Aqua. "I said, get away from me." I try to shout but her cries are louder. "No, please, try to understand!" she says while crying crocodile tears. "This is really important for me!" "My peace is also important to me!" I retort with the best Kazuma expression I could. "No!" "It is!" "Have mercy!" "Go to hell!" "I don''t want to go back to heaven like this!" "Then as I said, go to hell!" And by the time we reach this stage in argument where I am basically cursing an Angel to pay hell a visit, someone comes breaking through the door directly into my living room. This person, as he enters in the room, falls on one leg, but then soon regains his footing and looks at the helpless girl asking for mercy from the tall (slightly) dark-looking man in front of him. And then, as he looks at this scene, this stalwart hero raises his arms to point at the dark-looking man and says, "What are you doing with my girlfriend?" "¡­" "¡­" "Answer me, Irium. Or did you not know that Angel is my new girlfriend?" the Shinji rip-off says so, to which, "No! Have mercy!" she turns back to me and returns to being Aqua. "Just get away from me, you Angel!" I turn back to her and return to being Kazuma. "Don''t you dare ignore me, Irium! And darling, there''s no need for you to beg to this man for any ¡­" SLAP!!! "Darling? Don''t disgust me, commoner." All of sudden, Roswaisa appears right in front him, having slapped him, and talking in her commanding voice. If one second ago she was Aqua from KonoSuba, then now she is Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail. That makes me wonder though. "I don''t get it." I say in a slightly disgruntled tone. "You don''t want to fulfill his request and want me to summon you next time. Why?" I am at a loss for words at this point. Hearing my question, Roswaisa turns to me and with a head bowed in shame says, "It''s because this is my second time being summoned anywhere and second time being unable to fulfill the summoner''s demand." "Okay?" I urge her to go on. "If this happens to me next time again, then I will ¡­ die." ***** 6 Babbling "If this happens to me next time again, then I will ¡­ die." Okay, that''s ¡­ unexpected. So much so that it has caused even a Hachiman Hikigaya fan like me to shut up which, shouldn''t even be humanely possible. But of course, she is an Angel, remember? "Any Angel, who fails to fulfill the first three requests of summoning, whether it is from their own retreating or dissatisfaction of the summoner or both, are deemed unworthy of being and erased from existence." She says while still bowing. "They are directly erased from existence?" I ask in a doubtful tone because, going by the fantasy books we all have probably read at least once, "You don''t get demoted to a lower rank or anything? Just directly erased from existence?" She just nods. Oh boy! This is getting complicated. How in the hell did I get roped into this anyway? Hah! "Shinji, do you know anything about this?" I ask as I shift my gaze to look at the now on floor with holding his cheek and writhing in pain with tears in his eyes, Danny. Hearing my question, Danny musters up the courage to stand up first and then looks at me before he finally answers my question, "How dare you talk to me in such a manner!" Or not. It''s Danny after all. All he can do is point his finger at me and shout all that. "Peasant, shut your mouth! I don''t want to hear a single word from you." Ms. Erza Scarlet says. And then, as she turns to me again, "Irium-sama, please reconsider." Aqua says. Well, I can''t just ignore it now that it has come to her existence being wiped off. Man was my hunch about things going wrong right. But then again, that is one of the powers given to us protagonists ¨C the power of hunches of bad luck being always right, otherwise knows as "Spicing The Plot" power. As the Shinji looks at me with tears in his eyes and the Aqua looks at me with a senile face, I sigh. I guess there''s no choice. "Letting you die while knowing there was a way to not let it happen would weigh on my conscious." I say truthfully and hearing that, the Angel''s face turns from Aqua to that of a happy loli. "That is why," They both await my words with bated breath wondering what I would say at this cruel and inopportune turn of events. I then bow to the Angel named Roswaisa and, "Erase my memories of this ever happening." "Eh!?" "Hah!?" Two surprised voices come for whatever reason. What? You expected me to do something else? Oh please, I am not Kirito from original SAO, alright? Though to be honest, I kinda am Kirito from SAO Abridged. "That way I''ll be able to live with myself knowing nothing. Everybody wins." "Like hell does everybody win!" the Angel shouts in an angry voice, not angry like Erza though, angry like Aqua. "I totally lose in this situation." "Listen Angel-sama, I have no stake in a world of Angels or Demons and I have absolutely no interest in getting involved any further than I have already been, especially if falling out in the middle of the road like a meteor is a regular business for you people." I say last part sarcastically as I know that''s not a common occurrence or we''ll be hearing about meteor strikes every other day at the very least. "That wasn''t my fault. This monkey is responsible for all that stuff." She says in an angry voice with a face as cute as a loli''s. Too bad I never was a lolicon, not am one right now and probably never will be in the future either. "I''ve just about HAD ENOUGH!" shouts Shinji, I mean, Danny. "You two have no right to even speak to me with a high voice, and yet you dare to insult me again and again like ¡­" "How''s you crotch doing?" I ask with a malicious grin. Shinji goes red and before he can answer, "Yeah, monkey, how''s your c-c-c ¡­" the Angel tries to copy my line and give another critical blow to the Shinji rip-off but she gets stuck on ''c''. "We aren''t talking about your boob-size." And so I decide to use the moment to give my judgement of her boob-size. I do believe it''s a C. But seriously, what is with these females? Do they really feel so ashamed calling stuff like that the correct way? I mean, I can speak the names of their PPs just fine. I mean just think about it, even the author didn''t write that word for the first five chapters just to stay safe. What''s wrong with this young generation? "S-Shut up, baka!" the Angel yells with a red face as she puts up both hands to hide her boobs. Well, not like it matters much when you have literally tried to show it to me in order to seduce me into accepting your request before. "Anyway, crux of the situation is that -" I pause voluntarily to make them focus on my next words and in after regaining my Jotarou visage, I say, "Angel Roswaisa, you''ll have to go back empty-handed and hope the next time you are summoned, it doesn''t suck." That is how things stand as of right now. And seeing/hearing me say this, Danny raises his hand as a sign of a humble question, "Are you really going to ignore my request for becoming my girlfriend?" he asks rather humbly. "Yes, monkey, of course." She says in Erza voice but, "ha! ha! ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! HA! HA! HA!" Danny starts laughing. And as the capital letters in his laughter increase (what the hell kind of expression is that anyway for making something seem loud), so does his ugly voice become uglier. "You foolish Angel! You can''t do such a thing." He says laughing like Kirei Kotomine at the end of Fate/Zero was, and then, "Why not, monkey?" a plain Erza voice comes, breaking the momentum. "It''s because I have connections with Supreme Angels, your superiors! If I complain about you, you won''t even need to fail another job to cease your existence." The first-villain-guy-that-is-meant-only-to-get-his-teeth-knocked-out-in-the-most-pathetic-manner-ever laughs like a crazed psycho. Well, that changes things. ***** 7 Belief "It''s because I have connections with Supreme Angels, your superiors. If I complain about you, you won''t even need to fail another job to cease your existence." The first-villain-guy-that-is-meant-only-to-get-his-teeth-knocked-out-in-the-most-pathetic-manner-ever laughs like a crazed psycho. I never realized that Danny was so desperate about getting a girlfriend that doesn''t betray him. But now I know that. And well, that changes things. "Danny, watch!" I point at him so he knows something important is about to happen and keep looking intently. And as I have accomplished getting his attention, I move on to the next stage. I move a step closer to Roswaisa, which puts me close enough to hold her, and so I do. "W-what!?" She gasps in surprise but I don''t give her any chance to do anything as I put my right hand on her back moving her upper body closer to the point her C-sized boobs press on me and then I put my left hand in her hair so I can move her head closer. What follows after that, if you haven''t already understood, I pity you for it. Yes, I kiss her. And soon after, she starts kissing back. "¡­" Danny watches in silence as I, feeling like it''s enough, stops and moves a step back. "That felt good." I give a very honest remark to which, Roswaisa gives a "W-what! No, it didn''t. What were you even trying to do, b-baka!?" Seriously? When did you become a tsundere? "¡­" Danny just keeps watching in silence, staring in disbelief at what happened in front of him. "Why''s he so shocked?" she says with a disgusted voice as if asking, "Does he have some kiss-fetish or something?" Regardless of the argument that that can''t even be called a fetish, the answer is yes and no. "He has this stupid belief that the first kiss seals the deal and no one ever breaks-up after that. So, he now realizes that there''s no chance for you to become his girlfriend since he thinks you''re mine." I explain in a plain voice trying to withhold myself from becoming a pervy Koyomi Araragi from Monogatari Series and start giving details about his ''kiss-fetish.'' "Ah, I see! That''s something, isn''t it?" she smirks trying her best to not become a Tsubasa Hanekawa from Monogatari Series and start ''logically'' (add ''weirdly'' too) destroying him. "Anyway, he now has lost all interest in you and will not complain to your superiors about anything." I say plainly, "So now you owe me one." "Eh?" the Angel jumps up in surprise. "And you can replay me by leaving." I say as bow with my right hand raised towards the gate to signal her exiting. "T-That''s mean!" She puffs up her cheeks and complains. "There''s nothing mean about it. This is completely a fair exchange." I tell her and finally, she sighs. "Hah!" this time it doesn''t look like she''ll go into Aqua mode, or any other mode for that matter. "I guess that''s so." She then turns to me and bows while holding her hands in front, quite fitting for a messenger of gods as far as manners go. "I guess," she says as she looks down in disappointment, "I''ll have to leave after all." "Yes." I reply plainly. ***** Today is Tuesday. This is the day of the week in which I get a lecture for breaking some women''s heart by the ever-annoying Woman''s Heart Group. "IRIUM!" that is the yell that always begins everything, the yell of the student council president (a pretty useless one) who also happens to be the chairman (or chairwoman) of Woman''s Heart Group. At this point, I can even predict what this girl would say next. In an astonished and high-pitched voice, Irium, what am I hearing? "Irium, what am I hearing?" How can this possibly happen? "How can this possibly happen?" This is such important news that I only just got. "This is such important news that I only just got." You once again broke a woman''s heart. Shame on you, kid! "Congratulations!" Wait! What!? "Congratulations on getting a girlfriend." She says with a smile, the first time I have seen her smiling probably. "What are you talking about, president?" I ask confused as to what''s going on when, "Don''t try to hide it from me, you rascal." she pats my shoulder and says, "I heard you got a girlfriend, and she''s very beautiful too. Red hair, white skin, a great figure and everything else that any boy would want, sounds like you hit the jackpot!" "What are you ¡­?" Oh, so that''s it. ***** "Shinji! I mean, Danny!" I yell from the bottom of the stairs for the man at the top of the stairs to listen. "Hey Irium, how''s it going buddy?" he says with an innocent smile. What? What is going on here? Don''t creep me out, you asshole. You can''t possibly turn from being Shinji from Fate to Sonohara from Clannad. That''s just absolutely absurd. "Buddy? What the hell is wrong with you?" "Nothing, we have always been friends." He says innocently while coming down the stairs. "We most certainly have not." I say cautiously while trying to get away. "Of course we have." He insists though that we have been friends. "Just because we used to fight doesn''t mean we weren''t friends. I was just a bit salty towards you because you were stealing all my girlfriends before I can seal the deal with any of them." "Oh yeah? And what makes you think that''s going to stop?" I mean, it''s not like I want to steal your girlfriends. They are automatically attracted to me, and it''s not like I have gotten any uglier in the past day. "Of course it would stop. Now they are going to see that you have a girlfriend of your own and will stop chasing after you." What if I allow polygamy? No actually, forget that! "And that''s the thing Shinji-that-is-no-longer-Shinji, how the hell does Roswaisa become my girlfriend?" I ask in an angry voice, a bit of which was genuine and a bit forced. "Well, you kissed." "That doesn''t make her my girlfriend. Grow out of your stupid beliefs." I extenuate my words but to no avail. "Of course not. I gave up on that stupid belief a long time ago." "Long time ago? As in, when exactly?" "Today morning." "Oh!" "Now, I was saying," He has more to say? "After all that happened yesterday, I got a message from that Supreme Angel I told you I had a connection with and he told me that''s there''s a rule that if an Angel less than 100 years old kisses or gets kissed by a human, they have to become future spouses." ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ "Everything alright? Irium? Irium? Irium! Wait, why are you falling down? Don''t black out! Hey!" ***** 8 Hierarchy When I open my eyes, I find myself staring at a white ceiling with tube lights at every corner. The next thing I realize is that I am lying on a bed. I try to move but it seems like my hands and legs have not regained their strength yet. What the hell is going on anyway? "Oh, you''re up." So comes the voice of a woman from my right to which I react and see a woman in a white outfit-type dress. Who is she? I don''t recognize her. "That''s good." She says and her formal tone of voice sounds kinda nice. She also seems to have a hat or cap on top of her head, which is also of white color. Who is she? I don''t recognize her at all. "How''re you feeling?" she continues. I find that her dress only stretches to her knees and she has a black shoe which seems to be a part of some kind of formal dress as well. Who is she? I don''t recognize her in the slightest. "Is your head hurting?" She continues. And as she does, my eyes fall on a sort of bulge above her stomach, actually, two bulges. That''s huge, at least DD. Okay, she''s the school nurse. ***** Okay, so passing out like that was pretty pathetic when you think about it, definitely decreased by badass points by, like, 1000. Not to worry though as infinite minus 1000 is still infinite. "Hah! I''m so cool." There was once a boy who passed out from the news of having his future spouse decided and still thought he was cool. That boy was me. Ignoring the author''s assholiness (an official word from now on) in writing the last paragraph though, I''m in a bit of a pickle here. Regardless of the fact that Roswaisa''s the hottest woman I''ve ever laid eyes on, regardless of the fact that kissing her felt like I was in heaven, regardless of the fact that having an Angel as a wife would bring me infinite benefits, I can''t have her as my future spouse. I know I sound like a bloody idiot that every freaking male weeb who has never had a single 3-D girlfriend in his life would be out to kill by this point; I still can''t have her as my future spouse. Why does it feel like my IQ is decreasing with every paragraph? That''s not the case, is it? Anyway, I need to go and summon that Angel and divorce her, before things get anymore out of hand. ***** I look at the pentagonal magical symbol I made at the center of my house, using freaking chalk. There is an emerald kept at its middle and broken glass pieces kept at the five ends of the pentagonal shape. "Hey Irium, you alright now?" A familiar Shinji''s voice comes as the door of my living room, which was half a day old by this point, dies. I run to the telephone and dial the emergency number of the police station. "Hey, stop that. I''m not a burglar. I''m Danny." The familiar Shinji spouts. "What''s the difference between the two?" I ask while looking at him. "That''s mean, Irium! By the way, I see you drew the circle for summoning an Emerald Angel." He says in an excited voice as he sees the pentagon on the ground. "Yeah, that''s what I did." I say while putting down the telephone and picking up a small knife, for protection of course. "By the way, why does it need to be a pentagon? It takes so much damn time to draw one of these." I ask while stretching my hands. "Oh, it''s the hierarchy. Sort of." He says with a smile. Seriously, it doesn''t feel right to call him Shinji anymore. He''s really become Sonohara. "Angels have a hierarchy based on how powerful they are, which can change when their powers increase or decrease. It goes like this ¨C Diamond ¨C first and lowest tier ¨C summoning with circle ¨C suppose the power level here is 1 Hessonite ¨C second tier ¨C summoning with triangle ¨C power level is 1.5 Ruby ¨C third tier ¨C summoning with square ¨C power level is 2 Sapphire ¨C also third tier ¨C summoning with square ¨C power level is 2 Ruby and Sapphire Angels vary based on different attributes of their powers. But anyway, Emerald ¨C fourth tier ¨C summoning with pentagon ¨C power level is 3 And so, as you can see from that, it takes a pentagon to summon any Emerald-level angel." That''s pretty nice; little clich¨¦, sure, but still nice. That said though, there''s something that I hope I am misunderstanding because if I am not, it''s pretty damn terrifying. "That Angel was only on her second summoning, and she is already an Emerald?" I ask doubtfully. "Yes, it looks like you got a monster of a future spouse." He says while laughing like an idiot. To hell with future spouse, I''m going to end this drama as soon as I summon her. "Anyway, if I want to summon exactly her, I need to put something associated with her with me. That''s what you said, isn''t it?" "Yup. That''s how it goes." Wow! You really ripped off from Fate, didn''t you author-san? Regardless, I need to summon her and to do that; I need to have something associated with her with me right now. And that something is, "Seriously man, that''s gross." Former Shinji, of all people, calls me gross. I am certain now that this woman will lead me to doom. "Don''t look at me like I have some weird fetish about this thing. I just found it while cleaning the house and decided to use it." I explain as I hold a feather of that Angel''s wings. "You clean the house?" Former Shinji looks in disbelief as he says. Yeah, former Shinji, I clean the house. You know why? Because some people, like me, do have to work for themselves, bloody spoiled brat! "Well, that was unexpected." He turns to look at the pentagon and wipes off the look of disbelief from his face as he says, "Anyway, you should start. I''ll be here to guide you so you should start chanting the spells I told you about before." "No thanks! It''ll be much safer for me to do this alone." I say that with a fa?ade of a smile and kick former Shinji out from the door he came in. "Hey, don''t be so mean! Remember who explained everything to you last night and told you how to summon her when you had no way to know by yourselves and were des-" Former Shinji gets a kick on his mouth as he falls in the lawn. "That''s enough! I had to do all that because she didn''t erase my memories and it was weighing on my consciousness." I say with hands on my back. "That''s a lie and you know it." He says in a blaming tone. "She had left a pill that I told you will erase your memories of the event if you take it but you didn''t and decided to hel-" he gets another kick on his face. Suck it! Former Shinji! None of that ever happened. No! No! Not at all! It''s not like I''m doing this for that Angel-girl or anything, b-baka! Yeah, well! Now that that''s taken care of, time to start the summoning process. "[Insert infinite Latin words that the author is too ignorant to know the meaning of]." ***** 9 Higher One "You are being summoned ¡­" A coarse voice says to which, "I am being summoned! Oh no! This is my last chance! I''m so nervous!" I start panicking and looking in all directions (I don''t know why). "Calm down, Angel Roswaisa!" The coarse voice that can''t be classified as a man''s or a woman''s continues as I had disturbed it before it finished, "You aren''t being summoned to Earth. You are being summoned to the court of the Higher One." "Higher One! Oh god! That might even be worse!" I start panicking yet again looking in all direction (again, why? I don''t what''s wrong with me and every other character that starts looking in all directions when panicking). "Anyway, you must hurry and appear before the Higher One." the coarse voice of Command, the deity responsible for delivering messages, commands and all such things to various Angels and Archangels says as his voice shows me the urgency of the situation. After telling me all that though, Command leaves, as he always does. Hah! Why am I being summoned to the court of the Higher One? The Higher One is a deity who commands all Angels and Archangels. People on earth generally refer to him as the God. So, why am I being summoned to his court? Oh man, I am getting so nervous! ***** I finally, after having mentally prepared myself as much as I can, step in the courtroom of the Higher One. Though to call this place a courtroom might give a wrong impression as this place is basically ''unexplainable awkwardness'' materialized into a room. It is a dark room with stars and galaxies visible making it look like I am floating in space when the exit/entrance closes up. Here, one can hear the voice of the Higher One. All Angels and Archangels, when they are born, are placed here for the Higher One to bestow upon the powers they deserve, but after that, very few are ever needed to enter here. This is my first time entering here too if I don''t count the mandatory birth time. "Tell me your classifications." An unexplainably melodious voice rings in my ear, the voice of the only deity that lives here, the deity above all. "Y-yes, I-I ¡­" I stop and try to collect myself. I swallow my saliva once and take a deep breath. After that, I continue, "I''m the Angel named Roswaisa. My rank is Emerald. I am multi-talented as far as elemental magic goes, by which, I mean that I can do every elemental magic to an excellent extent. My special power is called ''Frost Requiem'', which is a mix of Fire and Ice elements. So far, I have been summoned two times on Earth. I ¡­ failed both the times to fulfill the summoner''s request." I tell him the six things that make what one can call my Profile in Heaven. Name. Rank. Talent in Magic. Special Power. Total no. of times summoned. Total no. of successes and failures. I have no idea what the Higher One is going to say and the more he stays silent, the more nervous I become. Please say something, Higher One, even it''s a pervy joke. On second thought, no, the god making a pervy joke would be too much to handle. "I see. Angel Roswaisa, the reason I called you here is related to your last summon on Earth." Finally, the Higher One speaks, only to make me more nervous by giving minimal details. What''s wrong with these deities and the way they talk? It''s like they talk for the sake of creating suspense. "H-Hai! What is it, Higher One?" I ask meekly, trying to stop my body from shaking. "From what I can gather, you kissed someone." UH! EE! OH! NO! "W-Well, I-I suppose ¡­ Hahaha ¡­ it just ¡­ happened ¡­ somehow." I try to come up with an excuse as to why that happened despite their being no known reason for giving an excuse at this point. Well, what can you say? The author decided I''d be a worrywart when things get like this so I have to panic at literally everything. "Regardless of how it happened, what''s important is that someone kissed you and you kissed them back." Hey, I was just going with the flow, man. No personal feelings attached there. I mean, he was ¡­ pretty hot, and suddenly started kissing me ¡­ so I started kissing back. Oh god! What the hell was my IQ level back then? And then god answers that for me, "If you didn''t have any personal feelings towards him, then you shouldn''t have kissed back. Now because you did, you are duty bound to be his future wife." Ah, I see! Wait! What! I don''t see! I can''t see! What the hell! (An angel probably shouldn''t say that but who cares? It''s not like someone else can read my monologues.) "It''s a rule of the heaven that I don''t know who set up but I didn''t object back when it was set up and even I can''t affect it much because of that. I can''t help you in anyway. Be ready to get married to the man you kissed." What the hell is going on with me! I can''t even answer the Higher One because of the anime reaction of freezing solid in time that I have to be in right now. "Now, it seems your future husband is trying to summon you to Earth!" The Higher One then reveals something that shocks me on the same level as the previous news. "He didn''t really need to do that since he would have been brought to Heaven in a few days anyway, but since he is summoning, you must answer." "Y-yes, Higher One!" I can just meekly spout that. I don''t know what the hell is wrong with me? "Remember that this will be your last chance, don''t fail this time or your existence ends." The Higher One tells me so, which only reminds me of how he said he wouldn''t get involved with me any further, which I guess was not possible because of that whole ''spouse'' thing but still, he is actually summoning me to Earth ¡­ to save me from dying? Or something else? "Before you answer his summons though, Angel Roswaisa," the Higher One again draws my attention with his words and then, "Don''t speak ''hell'' so much in your mind. It''s unbecoming of an Angel." What the hell! ***** 10 Negatives As I finish the chant Danny told me to say, I see the five edges of the pentagonal magical symbol glow bright green. "Didn''t know they had visual affects added to the whole process." I say that plainly as I have nothing else to say. (Yes, it''s important for the protagonist to keep babbling even if it''s pointless.) "Irium! How could you kick my face like that?" Danny comes in boiling with anger as he sees me and blows off steam from his nostrils. KICK! "AH!" he screams after getting hit by the same type of kick yet again. "That''s how I could kick your face like that." I answer in a humble tone while waiting for the summoning process to complete; it sure is taking its sweet time, isn''t it? "YOU BASTARD!" Unlike what you may have expected, this voice came from the summoning symbol, and the voice was that of a woman. That pretty much makes it clear as to whose voice it was. "Irium! You ungrateful-" Danny comes and grabs me by the collar and raises his hand to give a solid punch to my face, but gets a punch much more solid than he could ever muster at his own face, not from me, but from the Angel that has been summoned here. "Hah? Wait! Why did I end up hitting that monkey?" Roswaisa, who had made a rather dashing (and unnecessary) entrance by hitting the comic-relief-character-kun so hard the guy flew over half the room, now looks confused as to what happened. And then, as the idiots always do, Roswaisa turns her head in all directions trying to look for the answer to her own question. That is when, she sees me, standing a distance of about 2 meters. She stares at me. I stare at her. She looks into my eyes. I look into her eyes. She is unable to move her gaze away from me. I am unable to move my gaze away from her. And then, as our hearts and minds intertwine on one single decision, we say at the same time. "I want a divorce." ***** "So, what problem do you have with our Irium?" Sonohara rip-off asks the now seated Angel Roswaisa who is on his right. We are sitting at a dining table with me and Roswaisa on the opposite ends looking at each other in contempt while Danny is on my right and her left, in the middle, trying to find a solution to the problem. "What problem, you ask!?" she says exaggeratedly like a drama-movie-actress, "It''s like this guy is made-up of problems." "Oh ¡­ and how so?" I ask with sarcasm as well as contempt clear in my voice. "Well, first of all, you''re a mere human, one among the billions, and I''m an Angel, one among a very few. We are leagues away from each other." She states and before I can retort, "Can''t deny that." Danny agrees with her. "Then, there''s the fact that you''re a pesky commoner who doesn''t take anything seriously while I am an Angel who needs to help people worldwide with no matter what problem they may have. You''re a bad influence on me." she states her second problem with me and again, before I could retort, "That is quite true as well." Danny agrees with her yet again. And he was calling himself my friend. Bloody asshole! (Wait! That''s kinda disturbing.) "Last but not the least, he has a tongue that Hades will be jealous of." She says that like it''s a matter of fact. Oh come on! But again, "I can''t deny that either." You are useless, Sonohara rip-off. Why the hell are you playing referee anyway? "Well now, those are some real good points. But before coming to any decision, I think we should hear the input of both parties." He says as he turns to me with a smile (the bastard''s certainly enjoying this) and says, "What problems do you have with Angel Roswaisa?" "What problem do I not have with her?" I say with my arms folded and trying to act cool. "Oh? Please do elaborate!" She says in an exaggerated voice to which, I gladly oblige, "Well, first of all, you''re a mere Angel, one among a few, and I''m the protagonist, the only one. We are leagues away from each other." I state and before she can retort, "Okay, okay, that''s not bad. What else?" Danny urges me to go on and so I do. "Then, there''s the fact that you''re an Angel who needs to help unimportant people worldwide with no matter what problem they may have while I''m the protagonist who has to move the plot forward and decide with my actions who becomes an important person. You''re a bad influence on me." I state my second problem with her and again, before she can retort, "Yes, that''s not bad either. Go on." Danny urges me yet again to continue. "Last but not the least, she has a ¡­" before I can finish, "Yes, what? Say it! Comes on! What about my tongue is wrong in any sense of the way?" she taunts me with a smirk on her face as if to say I made a mistake by trying to copy her lines. Hah! Who the hell do you think I am, woman? "As I was saying, last but not the least, she has a tongue that every succubus would be jealous of." "Hah!?" "Hah!?" Two surprised voices come followed by one of the person in front of me growing red and the other trying to hide his buddy down there that might have sprang up (for whatever reason I have no idea about, none at all). "I don''t want someone who tastes this good as my wife or I won''t be able to concentrate on anything else, and that will turn this story into an erotica." I explain my reasoning to the foolish commoners sitting in front of me and as they hear it, one of them (the ugly one) says, "I see. Then you two should be fine with each other as your spouses." It feels like Sonohara somehow became dumber, if that''s even possible. Looking at Roswaisa''s face can tell you that she is thinking the same thing. "Think about it, guys. You are both so negative that you are bound to make a positive when you combine." "Die!" "Die!" The two of us say almost next to each other the same word with the same sentiment in our voices. "Hah!" He sighs and continues, "If you are that opposed to each other, then what''s the problem with a divorce?" As she hears that, Roswaisa stand up and looks at us as she says, "The problem is ¨C divorce is impossible." ***** 11 99th Rejection "So let me get this straight. Both of you want to end your relationship but it''s not allowed by the heavens to do so?" Danny summarizes the situation with that and then, "That''s perfect!" "What!" Roswaisa yells at him as she looks at him with a scornful gaze. Well, I am not so vulgar as to do something like that so I just kick him in the knees while saying nothing, you know, perfect gentlemanly behavior. "Hey, don''t you go shouting and hitting me. This is a perfect situation. I was afraid there for a second that Irium would become free to attract women again but this gave me some assurance." He says as he nods while smiling as if he has realized something very important. "Don''t get ahead of yourself." I, however, can''t let this man, who has considerably helped me by telling me about magic and Angels and whatnot yesterday, get his heart broken because he was deluding himself away from reality. "All your girlfriends are still going to leave you for me whether I have a fixed future wife or not. I''m sorry, but that''s how it is." "Uh!" he seems like he''d try to retort but before he says anything, "I think he''s right. You''d really benefit from facing the facts." Roswaisa supports my argument. I guess she feels a bit guilty to have this Sonohara rip-off as the target of her frustration two times by now and so is trying to help him as well. "You can''t get a girlfriend, not while this guy is around." ***** Those assholes! They think I can''t get a girlfriend. Hah! How foolish! "Hey miss, will you be my girlfriend?" I ask the lady at the counter of the grocery store I''m currently in to prove the two of them wrong. But for whatever reason, she is motioning the security guards to come here. What''s wrong? I thought people liked to say these things with less people around, not more. Oh well, if she wants the security to be witness to the start of our relationship, that''s her choice. It''s not like I have any reason to feel shy about this anyway. This is, after all, the 98th time I have asked a girl out. "Yes ma''am, what is it?" the security guards ask in a bold voice to which, She says something to them through hand signs by showing a finger at me and then at the door. I don''t know what she is planning but whatever it is; I''ll wait for her to complete it. I''m an understanding man after all. "Yes ma''am." As they say that, the guards hold me from both ends and try to alleviate me to a higher level. I find this experience of being carrying like this while my feet sail in the air to be quite comforting actually, that is, until I realize what they were trying to do was throw me out. ***** Okay, if anyone asks, "Danny, why are your clothes dirty?" the answer is, "Kids playing soccer accidentally hit me and all the dirt on them got on me." Yep, that''s the correct answer. Nothing like me getting thrown out of a grocery store by two freaking muscular men happened. That never happened at all, I don''t even know why thoughts like that are in my mind, it''s not like I have any experience with that happening, not like it''s the 98th time this has happened or anything like that. Okay? Okay. As I am busy thinking about stuff like that, I fail to notice someone in front of me and bump into them. We both fall on the ground. As I realize that I am not feeling much pain despite that, I try to take a look at the other person while saying, "I''m sorry" but then, for a moment as I look at the person in front of me, I am left unable to speak. The person I bumped into is a girl who might be as tall or ever taller than me. She has black hair long enough to reach her waist along with a pale skin and an oval-shaped face adorned by violet-almond eyes and a Greek nose. However, the most eye-catching aspect of her (literally) is a pair of GG-sized breasts. To add to that, she seems to be wearing a really tight Chinese outfit because of which, looking at those goliaths makes me feel like I am looking at two footballs kept on plains while both of them are pressed tightly to each other. All in all, I can without a doubt say that this woman is really, really seductive from her appearance. Maybe I should ask her out to flex on Irium? "Would you watch where you are going?" she says in a disgusted voice and as she says that, all the charm she had done on me from her appearance gets washed away. "I could say the same thing to you." I retort as I stand up and brush off the dirt from my clothes and then, start walking again. However, "Wait, you jackass! You think you can talk to me in such a manner and escape unscathed." A maliciously evil presence starts emanating from behind me and I find a chill run down my spine because of its absolute coldness. "Who in the hell do you think you are, huh, human?" Human? The way she said that makes it feel like she is not human. Does that mean she is an Angel ¡­ or perhaps ¡­ oh crap! "NOW DIE!" she yells, which makes the whole crowd turn their gazes to us and as they do that, they see what happens next. "AAAAHHHH!!!" I scream in pain as shock of at least 400 V runs through my body, coming from her finger it seems. Only when all of that happens do I remember that my friend in Heaven warned me that a Demon has come to this city, a Demon that has absolute control over lightning and goes by the name of Aknin Vielos. ***** 12 Death Of Door It''s Wednesday today. This always is the best day of the week for me. This is the day of the week the Jealous Men Group and Woman''s Heart Group spend their time forming alliance. And because the school always is over by the time they have form the alliance and plan their next attack against me, this ends being the only peaceful day of the week in school for me. That is why it''s quite regrettable that I had to miss school today. But what can I do? I mean, for crying out loud, an Angel is staying at my house. I can''t just leave the house to her like it''s completely normal. "So?" the Angel Roswaisa says in a questioning tone with a displeased glare, "What do you want me to do?" "Leave me alone." I answer with an equally displeased glare. "Trust me, I would have done exactly that if I could. But, that''s an impossible task." She says with her arms folded and her eyes closed. The reason this is the topic of conversation in the living room as of now is because of the fact that I had summoned this Angel and so I need to make a request to her now. If she is unable to fulfill the request though, that''d be her third failure in a row and at the very beginning to boot, and that would mean being erased from existence. "If you can''t fulfill that request of mine, doesn''t that mean you failed the third time too?" I know why that is not the case but I still ask just to tease her a bit. "Any task that is forbidden by the Laws of Heaven is invalid and will not be counted as the request the summoner makes. Therefore, an Angel can deny such requests without worrying for any repercussions." She states in a businesswoman kind of tone. "Hah! Those Laws of Heaven truly suck, you know that?" I say while staring out the dead body of my living room''s door. That dead door has been lying there for about a day now. I guess it''s time to revive it. "Revive it!" I say as I point to the door fallen on the ground because of Danny''s uninvited entrance yesterday. "Wait! That isn''t the request you are making to me, is it?" she says doubtfully and with a surprised expression showing from her eyes. "What if it is? Just do it and be done with it." I say while waving at her to hurry, not wanting to drag this conversation any longer. "Hmph!" she turns away like tsundere and says, "Well I guess I can do that, though I wish you''d start giving more credence to the fact that I am an Angel capable of doing things that a mere human like you can never accomplish. Don''t make me do the job of a freaking carpenter." What Angel says ''freaking''? Is Heaven truly where you came from, miss? I mean, seriously, nuns have much better manners than this woman does. That said though, nuns can''t fix a broken door within a second like she just did (before I could even react to it, the door was fixed so, no monologuing on that). "That looks better." I say as I look at the door that has been killed by Danny two times in the last two days. Well, this time it won''t happen, there''s no reason for it too. Wait! Did I just trigger a flag? "IRIUM! ROSWAISA!" And so comes the voice of a former Shinji rip-off accompanied by the voice of the door breaking and a young boy-like creature falling on the ground with the door. That creature currently reminds me of Youhei Sonohara from Clannad. "Something pretty bad happened!" He says while panicking. "Yeah, I can see that." I say a bit disgustingly as Roswaisa turns her gaze away from him. "No, no, you don''t understand! This is really bad!" he says as he tries to run towards Roswaisa. "Yes, that definitely is pretty bad." I say while doing my best to ignore the problem as Roswaisa dodges Danny and doesn''t stop to listen to anything as she constantly gets away from him. "What the hell are you doing? Listen to me!" The panicking Danny says as he starts running out of breath showing clearly that he came here in a hurry, not paying attention to the things he should have paid attention to. "What the hell are you doing, Sonohara rip-off? Stop harassing a woman in my house!" I say as the running Roswaisa officially completes 2 rounds around me in trying to get away from Danny. "I''m not harassing anyone, I''m just ¡­ just ¡­ asking for help!" Danny says as he completes those 2 rounds by chasing her as well but now it seems like he has run so out-of-breath that he can''t even stand straight. He tries to keep his balance but he fails and starts falling down. In order to not have his nose become like a circus joker''s, he extends his hand to hold anything that can support him. Too bad though, the thing the nearest to him that his hand seems to be reaching out towards are the boobs of an Angel that had come a little closer after becoming worried about him. Oh boy! Everybody knows what comes next, don''t you all? SMACK! SLAP! KICK! Danny is thrown at the kitchen with those three critical hits and falls back-first on its floor. "Why ¡­ in the hell ¡­ aren''t ¡­ you guys ¡­ listening ¡­ listening ¡­ TO ME?" He says exhaustedly. "Bloody pervert!" Roswaisa gives that remark and backs away from him leaving me to explain why the Angel tried to escape from him. "Well man, try to get up and then turn your head 90-degree south. You''ll get the answer." After a few second of silence, Danny musters enough strength to get up and as he does, he turns just like I told him to. When that happens, he sees the beautiful scenery that made Roswaisa run away in disgust. "Seriously, I get that you are a Sonohara and Shinji rip-off and are meant to have low intelligence like them, but there''s a limit, alright? You don''t just barge into another guy''s living room half-naked and then run after women. That''s gross. Really gross." I say so. And then, silence. ***** 13 Demoness After a while of having been beaten down by Roswaisa, Danny has been able to regain enough energy to sit up and tell us everything that happened. And on hearing all of that, "How the heck were you able to escape from that bitch?" I ask with an astonished face not wanting to believe in the possibility of Sonohara rip-off having some kind of special ability. I mean, that, if true, would turn him from Sonohara rip-off to a sucky anime protagonist. That''s dangerous for me. "Well, I just used a bit of magic ability I knew called Phantasma Division. It separates the soul of a person from their body." He says something so EPIC in a plain, matter-of-fact tone. What''s wrong with him? That ability is freaking epic. We just jumped from anime to Doctor Strange there. But then he continues, "Sadly, a human like me can''t use it very well. A person only remains in that state of having their soul separated for a second." Oh, that''s balances it out I guess. "Oh course! Phantasma Division is a dark-type ability that even Angels have a lot of trouble in doing." She says while puffing her chests with pride so to tell us that she can do it. Well, what the hell even is dark-type? Are we turning from Doctor Strange to Pok¨¦mon now? "In any case, that bitch is freaking dangerous. She is probably on par with Roswaisa in terms of power." He says with a despaired face, the kind that Shinji Matou has when he gets his ass handed to him. Well, I guess you can''t change too much from your basic human nature (which for him is to be a Shinji rip-off). "Hmph!" However, to the despaired face of the scared Danny, Roswaisa gives an insulted reaction and says, "You have some nerve to just assume some bitch of a demoness would be on the same level as me." Well, she''s confident, if nothing else. To be honest though, an Emerald Angel would probably be quite a powerhouse, since it''s the highest tier for Angels and all. But, "You don''t understand, Roswaisa. She ¡­ that Aknin Vielos is a higher-level demon." He says while looking at Roswaisa with the same despaired expression as before. Hearing that, even Roswaisa becomes lost for words. And so, I have to ask, "Mind explaining the ''higher-level demon'' part?" as I say that, Danny turns to me and says, "Well, Angels have two categories actually. Lesser Angels are what we have made a habit of calling just ''Angels'' while the higher ones are called Archangels. To be precise, Roswaisa here is a member of the highest tier of the lesser Angels, Emerald." Okay, that''s easy to understand at least. "When it comes to demons, they have a similar structure where, lower-level demons are equivalent of Angels and higher-level ones are equivalent of Archangels." I see. So that''s how it is. "So basically, if Roswaisa fights that demon, it''ll be like going up against an Archangel for her?" I ask in a questioning voice just for the sake of clarification. "Yes." Danny answers and as he does that, I turn to Roswaisa who has been thinking what she should do with a hand on her chin. Then, she turns back to look at Danny and asks, "Danny, do you have any idea why Aknin Vielos is here?" she asks in a plain voice, which I''m sure at this point is a fa?ade. "I''m sorry, but I don''t. All I got was a warning that she is dangerous, and I can vouch for the credibility of it." He looks down as he says that, probably because of disappointment. Hah! "What are you going to do, Roswaisa?" I ask as I turn to her. She looks to be deep in thought; quite unexpectedly though, I can see a resolve in her eyes. Then, "Well, I''ve decided." She says as she starts walking out the living room from the door that had been broken a while ago. "I''ll have to put a stop to that demon''s goals, whatsoever they may be." That''s brave, and also kinda foolish. "How exactly are you going to do that?" I ask with doubt and sarcasm mixed in my voice but, "No idea, but I''m going to do it." She answers with an unwavering resolve. And before either I or Danny could say anything anymore, she spreads her angelic wings and takes off. ***** I land at the roof of a building high-enough for me to get a good view of the entire city. I can''t pinpoint that demoness from here but I can sense her aura and find out the area she is in right now. Before I actually start trying to find her aura though, I take a moment to breathe. Truth be told, I''m nervous as hell right now. This demoness is no doubt stronger than me. There''s no way for a Demon or Angel of higher-class to be weaker than one of lower-class. But still, I can''t let that be any excuse for me to let destruction happen to this city or its residents. "Yes, I have to stop her." I say so to steal my resolve and finally start the process of searching for her aura. And I realize how foolish I was to not have taken into account that possibility that she would be searching for my aura the same way and will get an idea of where I am from it. "Found you!" her voice rings in my ears as she looks at me from the bottom of the building and smiles maliciously. "Hey bitch! You are gonna die today!" she says while spreading her black wings and starts to fly. Tsk! I am not ready to fight yet and I have no strategy to escape either. The best thing to do right now is try to get away as much as I can and (hopefully) lose her. And so, I start flying but, "Oh, what''s wrong, little angel?" she says mockingly, "Is that speed all you can manage?" And as she says that, she readies a punch which I don''t even get enough time to try to evade and as her fist clashes with my cheeks, I find myself being thrown half the city away. What the heck! I knew she''d be powerful, but this is just absurd! I have no chance of beating her! ***** 14 Aknin Vielos "So from what you are telling me, Roswaisa is guaranteed to lose, isn''t she?" I ask Danny while running along the road. "Yes, a higher-class Demon wouldn''t lose to a lower-class Angel. She will lose this battle pretty badly actually, if not worse." Danny says with a face that doesn''t look like Shinji''s or Sonohara''s but that of Itachi Uchiha from Naruto. Dead serious, cool looking and focused. What''s wrong with him today? No, what''s right with him today? "Anyway Irium, we are going there to help and all but what exactly are we going to do? We are even weaker than Roswaisa." He asks with a doubtful gaze that somehow doesn''t lose focus. Who the hell are you, man? What did you do with Danny? Well, whoever you are, you are better than him so it doesn''t matter I guess. "Well, tell me, if the power level of an Emerald Angel is considered 3, what would the power level of a higher-class demon be?" I ask as that question has been bugging me for a while. "Even among higher-class demons, there are various tiers, but it''d range from 5-10." Danny answers in a serious voice. Damn! Things are looking really bad. Even if the Demoness that Roswaisa went to fight is of the lowest tier possible, she''d still be much, much stronger than Roswaisa. "And ¡­ what would yours and my power level be?" I ask half-heartedly not really wanting to hear the truth that would come as the answer. "Well, I''d be 0.0005 and you''d be about 10% of that." Danny answers with a little exasperation in his voice, which is justified after seeing our odds here. "Our chances to win really look bleak, don''t they?" "Wait! Win?" He returns to the idiotic Sonohara face as he stares at me. "Yeah," I only smile in response and say, "Win." ***** I lie on the ground of a public park, trying to get up but am unable to. It has barely been a minute since our fight started, and I''m already unable to get up. This is how much of a difference is present between me and her. But how? How is there so much of a difference in power between us? In just what tier is this demoness? "Just who are you?" I ask still trying desperately to get up as the demoness casually walks towards me. "I am Aknin Vielos, the second-in-command to the demon general Rain Green." She states and that is when I realize why there is such a difference between us. Rain Green, ''the sister of the devil'', as people call her is someone who can wipe out all the Angels and many minor Archangels in one swoop. That is how terrifying she is. And this demoness is the second-in-command to her, so obviously she is leagues above me. "Any more questions before I end you?" Aknin looks at me with a cold, emotionless expression as she asks that and, "Well, if you are feeling generous enough to answer my question, then tell me ¡­ why are you doing this? What is your goal?" I ask her the most important question of all while trying my best to not try anything foolish just because she is standing close to me right now. "My goal, you ask? It is quite simple." She says so with the same expression and then continues, "My goal is to kill you and your future husband, so I can remove the possibility of our race''s end coming anytime soon." "What!?" Race''s end? The Demon Race''s end? That''s not even remotely possible. What in the world is she talking about? "I guess you wouldn''t really know it but there has been a premonition. It says that all Demons will die, brought down by the two of you." That''s absurd, plain absurd! "It sounded really absurd and unreal but the person who did that premonition had never been wrong once in all his lifetime. So we can''t just ignore the possibility." Her expression and voice don''t change at all as she continues, "This is a safety measure against that possibility." She raises her leg and aims it so she hits directly at my head. "Don''t worry! I will make this quick for you." Her voice holding no consolation, her words do nothing but mock me. Tsk! don''t underestimate me that much, Demoness! "Frost Rain!" I shout as a rain of icicles start attacking her at a speed of Mach 2, a speed even she can''t escape in time. In order to stay safe, she holds my body up and tries to use me as a meat-shield against the incoming attacks, too bad she doesn''t realize that they would bend and hit her anyway. "Tsk! What the hell is going on here?" she says in an annoyed voice. "It''s called turning the tables, bitch!" I say as I kick her right leg from mine leaving it in frost. This is a technique called ''Frost Class.'' (And no, I don''t actually need to yell the name of my attacks to use them. That time was just me displaying my anger ¡­ and maybe trying to act a little cool too.) "Turn the tables? Don''t mock me, foolish Angel!" She yells in anger and throws me away. I turn to look at her to see what she is trying to do and find that she has joined her hands and is now chanting something. This is happening while the icicles continue to hit her and her minor reactions of ''Tsk!'' and ''Ah!'' tell that they are hurting her too. But what exactly does she have up her sleeve that can turn this around? I''m sure someone as powerful as her has many ways to counter my Frost Rain. So, I should start preparing the next attack now. And I would have done that if I had more than a couple of seconds to do it. "Take that, you Angelic scum!" she yells at me with her eyes ablaze as she starts taking the icicles without any resistance and without any reaction. The icicles are still hitting her but it looks like they don''t even put an itch on her body. "This is one of my abilities called ''Heat Variation'' and it allows me to completely melt those icicles and evaporate the water formed from it within a nanosecond of the time after it so much as touches my body." She explains in an angry voice, "And believe me, Angel, this is far from one of my most powerful abilities." It''s pretty clear what she is trying to say here. "If you have a shred of intelligence in you, give up!" she commands in a thundering tone. But, I am not someone who''d be intimidated by just that. "Suck it, bitch!" I say words that an Angel should probably never say but, does that truly matter? "Fine then." She says as she raises a hand and a fireball the size of her palm forms on it. "You''ll have a painful death." She releases the fireball and it flies toward me with speed so fast that my broken, beaten-up muscles have no way of dodging. I guess that''s it. I should give up ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ or not. I had closed my eyes seeing the coming death but when nothing happened to me, I opened my eyes and looked in front of me, where a boy with oval-shaped-blue-colored-eyes with an oval face and malicious grin on his face stands, unhurt, after taking the coming inferno directly. "What the-" I wonder how but, "You shouldn''t have started the party without me, bitch!" he says while looking at Aknin, "Now you have made me angry, and that''s bad, really bad." ***** 15 Hidden Ability I and Danny barely make it in time only to see Roswaisa getting utterly destroyed by Aknin Vielos. For whatever reason though, when she was already on the ground seeming to be unable to move, Aknin Vielos wasn''t trying to kill her but talk. Is she one of those evil-comic-book villains who will reveal their whole plan at the end so they can be defeated by the time the story ends? No, if that were the case, she should be revealing her plans to the protagonist (#me), not that Angel. "Danny, do as I say." I say in a rushed voice but Danny understands my panic and gets ready to obey. Right now, we are on a road where people are on both sides. From what I know, they can''t see Angels and Demons (goddamn clich¨¦) so they don''t know that two of them are fighting in the middle of the road. But if WE do something right now, they will know and so, "That ability of yours called Phantasma something, use it on me." I tell him but, "What? What are you going to do with that?" Danny asks me with a surprised face. "Since I am weaker than that demon, your ability should be more affective on me, wouldn''t it?" I ask with a smile akin to that of a genius MC, like Ikta Solork from Alderamin on the Sky. Well, most people haven''t seen it so I can just ask natural and it''d look like my new cool look. Which is why author, you shouldn''t have made that reference already! "Yes, I think you''d be thrown out of your body for, like, 5 minutes or so." Danny says with the surprise not going away, but now, even I am surprised. "Oh Yato! (Yato is a God, the only God I believe in. Suck it, every other God!) That''s a lot." Five minutes could be enough to completely destroy me to be honest. But well, I can''t be too safe here. "I''m going to leave the job of taking care of my body for these five minutes to you." Seeing the resolve in my eyes, he agrees. (If it wasn''t resolve he saw, it probably was the urgency to save Roswaisa, but let''s pretend that''s not the case, okay? Okay.) "Fine then, be ready!" He says as he puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "Aschente!" (What the hell! Is this No Game No Life now?) But anyway, I (my soul) gets thrown out of my body and as I turn back, I see a really handsome guy fallen to the ground in the arms of a Sonohara rip-off. EW! That''s creepy. You better not do anything to me, you sleazy comic-relief-character-san. But ignoring that, I turn my attention to the things happening in front of me. "Here goes nothing!" I say a bit excitedly and just when Aknin throws a fireball at Roswaisa, I jump in between. And then the fireball obviously hits me directly and ¡­ it gets absorbed by me. Well, that was my intention and I succeeded. "You shouldn''t have started the party without me, bitch!" I say while looking at Aknin Vielos, "Now you have made me angry, and that''s bad, really bad." After my heroic entrance though, no reaction comes from either side for about 10 seconds. Couple of bitches! "But ¡­ how?" a female voice of an Angel comes from behind me. "What''s wrong, Roswaisa?" I say in a teasing voice, "Falling in love with me all over again?" "Yah!" She says, which brings me near death and then realizes what she just said and grows all flustered, "Wait! What!? I was never in love with you! And I am not falling in love with you now either!" "Y-yeah!" I say a bit relieved. "That''s how it should be." "That''s enough." Says the Demoness and charges another fireball at us, this time even larger. Roswaisa panics and tries to move me away but I step forward and take it head-on, again nullifying it completely. "How can you possibly do something like that?" Aknin Vielos asks with an angry voice. The only answer I can give is, "Roswaisa, RUN!" I shout, turn back and start running away with the Angel following right behind me. As we run, she huffs and asks, "What did you do there anyway!?" "Well, it''s simple." I say puffing my chest with pride just like she always does (Hahahahaha! Flexing on you hard right now, woman!) I am in my soul form right now and since I am energy and any absurd power you guys have is all energy, I figured that fireball will just be absorbed by me and further grow my energy, which I believe happened as I feel kinda stronger." "U-Uh! I see." She says with a finger on her chin. "But who told you about all magic being just energy?" "Oh that? I just tricked the author into telling me about his other story, ''A High Kick''s Harlot Ream'' or something like that, and the whole power system there seemed to be energy so I figured he would have done something similar here." Hahahahaha! Flexing on you too right now, author! "You just based it off of that?" she says as if it was something pretty illogical of me to do. "Roswaisa! You''ll never understand the power of a protagonist. The thing with my character is, if that wasn''t how it worked, the author still couldn''t kill me off, so he''d need to change the laws of the world to make that how it works." That is my hidden ability, known by many (isn''t that hypocritical though) as the greatest power of all time, ''Plot Armor.'' "Where the hell do you think you two are going?" Her voice finally comes and I jump as a chill runs down our spines. There''s no point in asking what she was doing all this time while we are talking and had consequently lowered our pace, that is how stories are written, okay? Get used to it if you aren''t already. "You may be able to absorb energy, kid," she says with her eyes opened wide and not blinking a bit, painting the image of a predator looking at its prey, "But you have a time limit yourself, and it is about to expire." Yes, that''s true. And the problem is that I have no idea what I am going to do after this time-limit is expired, which will happen in ¡­ 60 seconds. ***** 16 Facing Reality We luckily (or because of my hidden ability) find a place to hide, a building with cracked up walls that if we get inside, shut the windows and then run to other rooms, we''ll be able to escape from Aknin Vielos'' sight. And so, why would we do anything else? But, "What''s wrong?" I fall on my knees and Roswaisa looks at me anxiously as she asks that. "Seems like the time-limit is over now." I say and just as I do, I disappear from there and find myself opening my eyes in the same building but just at a different corner (I was obviously brought here by Danny and I would just ignore all the creepy gayness that could lead to). "Are you alright?" Danny asks, to which I nod holding my head with my left hand and it is throbbing a little (probably as a side-effect of having something like this done to me for the first time) while my right hand is on Danny''s shoulders as he is carrying me. "Your ability was a life saver, by the way." I say and get away from him trying to stand on my own two legs. After a bit of struggle, I am able to do so and the throbbing decreases to the point where I can just ignore it. "We need to reunite with her." I say as I turn back to look at Danny. "And for that, we''ll need to find her." "No, no," he says while waving his hands with an expression of denial, "For that, we''ll just have to walk till there." He points at a different corner at about 70-degree on my left where Roswaisa is standing trying to run while still being anxious of (probably) what happened to me. Well, I guess that''s another one of my hidden abilities at work, ''Plot Convenience''. Hah! Feels good to be an OP Protagonist! "Why are you all smug like some OP protagonist!" Danny says with a sympathetic look, "Time to face it, my friend. You are the exact opposite of an OP protagonist." Ah! The cruel reality! The bitchy reality that turns gamers and weebs into unproductive members of the society! Just ignore it, man! It serves no purpose, just ignore it! "Anyway," he says as he sees my smug transform into a sigh, "ROSWAISA! WE''RE HERE!" Roswaisa sees us as she hears Danny calling and runs up to us saying, "Oh, thank god! You''re safe!" she says with a relieved voice and then, "N-not that I was worried or anything, b-baka!" "Yeah, yeah, we know you want to be a tsundere but face the truth," Danny says with a serious face, "The author isn''t capable enough to write a tsundere so your dream will never be fulfilled. You are better off just giving up on it." "Uh!" As she hears so, Roswaisa falls into a shocked silence. I understand, Roswaisa, I understand. "You know Danny; you didn''t need to tell me that I''m a weak-ass protagonist on my face." "You know Danny; you didn''t need to tell me that I can never be a tsundere on my face." We say at the same time to which, Danny replies with a scornful look, "Well, now you know how I felt 5 chapters ago." ***** It has been a while since we entered this building. I didn''t expect that Demoness to take so long in finding us. Is this building more complex than it seemed to me from outside? Whatever''s the case, it''s working in our favor at least. But, "We can''t hide from her forever." Roswaisa says, "Before, she told me about her goal, and it was to kill me and Irium." "Wait! Why me too?" I ask, surprised by the sudden revelation. "She says it''s because of someone''s premonition that says the two of us will become the reason the Demon race gets destroyed." She says in a tone that shows that she herself does not belief that something like that''d be possible. "That''s impossible!" Danny says in an exaggerated voice as he hears that and then realizes his mistake and lowers his voice again, "The whole Demon race can never be wiped out. Even you Angels won''t be able to do that, no offense." "None taken," she says with a serious expression, "It''s the truth after all." "But then how can you two possibly become a reason for their destruction?" Danny wonders. "And how can the demon race be destroyed anyway?" Roswaisa wonders. "See," and so I say, "this is why out of the three of us, I am the protagonist." These idiots are going off topic, and protagonists can''t do that, unless they suck. (''Some-Exceptions-Always-Exist'' rule applied.) "Whether we can destroy the Demon race or not comes later, for now, we need to think about how we can defeat that Demoness with ridiculously large boobs." I say with folded arms to show my clear supremacy, knowing I''m the weakest character in the story so far. "Hmm, you are right about that." She nods and agrees but, "Was that last remark really necessary though?" "No, but it''s just a thing you notice. Those are really huge, your C-Cups are nothing compared to them." I say with a hand on my chin and Danny nods as if to agree. "Yeah, that''s true. No offense, Roswaisa but your boob-size makes you look like a loli in front of her." Danny says. "Wow!" Roswaisa says with a disgusted face and hands on her boobs, "I just got sexually harassed by two men." "I see you people are having fun!" As we hear that cold and unnerving voice, we realize that we did end up wasting too much time on pointless things. "She''s here." Roswaisa shouts and we all start running away as soon as she does. "For how long do you think I''ll let you keep up this nonsense?" she says with annoyance and anger as she stomps her right foot on the floor, causing it to break apart and making us lose our footing. But it doesn''t stop there as the whole floor collapses with just that one stomp and we find ourselves on the lower floors, injured and in pain, looking at the cause of it. And as she stares at us with contempt, she yells, "Now, all of you die!" ***** 17 The Ultimate Combination "Now, all of you die!" With her imposing presence hovering from above, Danny and Roswaisa look at her in fear and shock. And so, I stand up and, "Ha!" I laugh. "You have some nerve to have said that to the protagonist." This Demoness thinks she can take me down that easily. Who the hell do you think I am, huh? "Do you want to die first? Is that the reason you step forward?" she asks while looking at me as if I''m a cockroach. You really think too highly of yourself, don''t you? "Of course not! You foolish woman, I''m stepping forward because I want to live." I say with a smile like the one the shounen anime protagonists have when they, after 700 episodes of stupidness, come up with a smart strategy that definitely takes the villain down, like the smile Yukihira Souma has whenever the battle (with freaking food) reaches the point where his opponents think they have won but don''t realize that they are about to be crushed. "I ¡­" And just like them, just like Souma, with a smug smile on my face, I implement the strategy and, "Give up." Bow down in front of her. "Please don''t kill me, miss I''m just a humble denizen of this stupid realm I can''t possibly ever compete with you or any other demon I can''t possibly become a reason for your destruction I can''t possibly be a threat to anything more than a fly I can''t possibly bring harm to anyone of your race at all please consider sparing me I''ll give you whatever you desire in return Just please spare my life pretty please IamworthlessandharmlessandIposenothreattoyouatalland ¡­" I feel like two people are staring at me with disgust and pity right now. Don''t you two try to act all big now! You are not much better off from me anyway. If you want to survive, you should probably start begging too. "Request denied." But even before they start (if they were planning to anytime soon that is), the request is already denied by the Demoness Aknin Vielos in cold and cruel voice. "Our race has already tried to ignore warnings by that seer twice and have suffered much misfortune because of that. We can''t take any more chances, even if it does look like you are really worthless and harmless." She says as she steps forward about to jump on the same floor we are on and considering the angle she is jumping at ¡­ wait, no! This bitch is trying to land right on my face and end me once in for all. I gotta run away. "Be ready to die, human!" she says in a slightly disgusted yet at the same time sympathetic voice. "Well," and seeing my approaching doom, I say, "Fuck you, bitch!" As the floor beneath her feet cracks open because of the combined effort of the prior impact and her trying to put pressure on it to jump straight on my face, she starts falling down which I know for a fact would not really do anything to her, unless she gets attacked mid-air by a humungous rock that hits her head and throws her brain into confusion for a bit. BAAM! Well, that was what head-bashing by rocks sounds like, I guess. While she is on the ground trying to get up, a rain of icicles starts falling down on her, which on turning back I realize was because of A Certain Magical Angel-san. Well, in order to give her more room to attack, I quickly get back to where the two of them were. "That was nice, but how did you know that floor was going to fall down at that moment?" Danny asks me like the ice-cream eating side character he is. "Well, it happened because of my hidden abilities, ''Plot Convenience'' and ''Plot Armor'' working together to make that happen. The Ultimate Combination." I reply in a proud voice. "We don''t have time for you to start showing off!" Roswaisa yells however, "It''s good that you gave me a chance to deal some damage but it''s not going to be enough, we still have to escape." I know that. Fighting this Demoness is like fighting a mob boss that is meant to be defeated with the help of a 100 top-ranked players. Since we are only three and I would argue that none of us are really top-ranked, this is basically Sword Art Online at this point, the first arc of it I mean. The best thing we can do here, which we are already doing, is running away as fast we can while trying to somehow keep inflicting damage on the Demoness (which is something done by Roswaisa alone but oh well, the other two are a Shinji-guy and a protagonist so you can''t really expect anything else). But then, a realization hits me. "Hey, I just realized something." How did I not realize this before now? "What is it!?" Danny and Roswaisa say with curiosity as they show their enthusiasm in finding out about my new realization. "All this time I have been thinking of Danny as a Sonohara or Shinji rip-off, but actually you are ¡­" I pause, gulp and take a deep breath before saying, "a Klein rip-off." I''m so glad I was reminded of SAO just a while ago or I would have never realized and have always been ignorant about who Danny really is a rip-off of. "Yeah well, that''s the most important thing you can think of right now?" Danny asks in an unimpressed voice. "From now on, just keep your mouth shut until you have any idea about how to defeat that Demoness." Roswaisa says while sighing. Someday, you buffoons, someday, the world will realize how groundbreaking my thoughts on society and Danny were, and will praise me as a great philosopher who was too ahead of his time. "Wait!" I suddenly realize something yet again. "I don''t want to hear anymore nonsense." Danny starts ignoring me. "Me neither." Roswaisa follows suit. Seeing that, in an irritated and rushed voice, I say, "You morons, listen to me damnit! I think I know of a way to defeat her." ***** 18 Plan "Are you serious?" Roswaisa looks at me with a doubtful expression as she asks. Hey, come on! Why are you people treating me like a comic-relief-character? That''s Danny''s role. "Yes, I am very serious." I, however, being the mature one here has to ignore the nonsense and focus on the topic, and so I say, "If this works, which I will tell you right now is not guaranteed to work, but if it does, Aknin Vielos is going to regret ever coming to face off against us." I am confident in this idea and it looks like that confidence got through to them as they nod. Well, I might have failed to mention something important about it though. "Actually, this is something that will take me a little while to explain and ¡­ we probably won''t have that much time while running like this." It is not possible for me to explain everything like this. As they hear that, they understand my point but neither of them can think of any way for us to lose that Demoness. How will we get that time, is the million-dollar question here. "Can it still work if one of us just blindly follows your commands?" Unexpectedly, Danny asks so, which can mean something quite clich¨¦ yet commendable. Nah! It''s Danny. He won''t do something like that. And so, I can just plainly answer him, "It can." Yes, there''s no reason to worry about that possibility. "Fine then." He says as he stops running and turns around. "I''ll stay. You two should go. I''ll buy you the time you need." He says with a face like that of a when Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist actually gets serious. Well, if he decided he''d do the job then that''s fine. I''ll respect his decision. As I look at Roswaisa, I find her nodding showing that she has the same thoughts as me. Well, let''s start running then. "I know, I know. You''d want to argue that I''m more important to the team and should go, but that is not the case. In this team, every member is equal." He continues to say as he looks at the approaching Demoness. Being that he has given such a noble sacrifice just now, I should probably not tell him that we didn''t even think twice about leaving him behind. Yes, I''ll respect his bravery as well. This is one of the few times he has shown any after all. ***** "Okay, so what is it?" Roswaisa says in a voice that shows her panic and anxiety over Danny. When I really think about it, this Angel does have a lot of angelic qualities. If only she wasn''t so beautiful that she would attract attention from every man around us, I wouldn''t really have much problem accepting her as my future wife. "Calm down, Roswaisa!" I say plainly to which, she retorts angrily, "How can I calm down? We just left Danny out there alone to face off against that Demoness. Even I couldn''t stand up against her for more than a few moments, how can ¡­" "Danny won''t be killed. He''s not one of the two people that the Demoness is here to kill, and so she won''t kill him." I state calmly and a bit coldly so to make Roswaisa remember it. "I-I know. But still, what if he isn''t capable of fighting anymore by the time we are done." Now you are just grasping at straws. I know that you have understood enough to know that would not affect the plan. "Wouldn''t that cause a problem for the plan?" Yet, you ask that. "Danny is not part of the plan." I tell her. "He never was." As she hears my words, her eyes grow wide in shock; the shock of realizing that what she was thinking earlier is true. "Does ¡­ does that mean you meant for Danny to stay back and buy us time from the start?" she asks, probably only because she wants to hear a ''no''. "Yes." I say in a cold voice. "I didn''t expect he''d volunteer himself but since he did, that sped things up." For a moment, she doesn''t react. Because we both know that we can''t waste much time on things that aren''t associated with the details of the plan, she takes a long breath, finally calming herself down, and asks, "What is the plan?"In a voice cold enough to give me cancer, heart cancer. ***** "How much do you want to die to have stayed behind and try to fight me like that?" the Demoness says as she looks at me as if I''m some kind of insect. "Believe me Demoness-san, I have no interest in dying. I just want to help a friend and his future wife, get to safety." I say with a smile on my face. "What!?" she does not understand what I meant and only furrows her brows in response. "I know Irium. His plan from the start probably had manipulating me into staying behind." I know him enough to tell that. "He just didn''t act like that because he could see how an Angel wouldn''t approve of the tactic of running away by the sacrifice of a human." "You mean to tell me that his plan is to escape with that Angel while leaving you behind!?" She asks with an astonished expression. "Yes, he''s probably hoping for the possibility that you don''t kill me since I''m not really your target." Even as I spell such words, I do not lose the smile on my face. "I see! Such a selfish human your friend is!" She says in a dismayed look (that I don''t understand the reason for) and raises her hand enough for her palm to face me and, "I''ll give you an easy death. A human like you definitely deserves that much at least." As she says that, dark crystals form everywhere around us, and all of them point their sharp edges at me. "I know it doesn''t look like it, but believe me they will split your head in a millisecond. You won''t feel much pain." For some reason, I feel like she has stopped looking down on me, or at least stopped looking at me like I''m a cockroach anymore. And then, those crystals start their march towards my head. "Sorry." I say as I chuckle a bit. "Buying time means that I keep you here as long as possible." I stand up and raise my hand enough for my palm to face her just like she has done towards me and say, "So there''s no way I''m going out easy." ***** 19 Something To Tell "What is the plan?" She says in a voice cold enough to give me cancer, heart cancer. "I am assuming you have some kind of special move or hidden ability? Something really special?" I ask as it is something almost every fantasy anime character like her has. "I do. It''s called Frost Requiem." She has no emotion in her voice anymore, or rather; she chooses to show none of it. "I see." I ignore those facts and try to focus on the most important part of the plan, "How much of an effect would it have on that Demoness?" "It will kill her if I can strike from behind. If I strike from front though, there''s even a possibility that it does no effect at all." She says as she looks not at me but at the nothingness between us, "Special abilities are like that for everyone." I see. So, that''s it. We need to make sure she hits that Demoness from behind. Well I guess, by ''we'', I just mean ''me''. "Okay then." I say as I stare out the window. "I''ll make sure to give you the chance to hit her from behind. Don''t miss it." My plan was simply to use whatever special ability she has in the best way possible and hope for that to be enough. What? Did you expect me to be some kind of Ethan Kales who would come up with plans that can take down people stronger than him like it''s a piece of cake? Well, I am not. I am an ordinary human being with good looks, the perfect recipe for a weak-ass sucky anime protagonist. That''s who I am. And now that I''m done discussing the plan, there''s something else that I need to do. "Roswaisa!" I call out to her and she, who had also started looking out the windows, looks back at me, with the same cold expression as before. "I just wanted to clear something up before we leave." ***** I stand up and raise my hand enough for my palm to face her just like she has done towards me and say, "So there''s no way I''m going out easy." My raised hand, which is my right hand, holds a card. This card may look like an ordinary one, but it''s actually Exodia from Yu-Gi-Oh! Okay, no, it''s not. But it''s still pretty awesome! "Now! Sphinx!" As I shout that out, a mythical creature with the body of a lion, wings of a large bird and the head of a human comes out. This creature was known in Greek Mythology as Sphinx. Before anyone asks if this can be seen by an ordinary human being? No. Also before anyone asks if this is just a Yu-Gi-Oh card? No. This is what many might call a Eunion Card, or simply know as Monster Summoning Card. And before anyone asks if this is just a card version of Pok¨¦mon? No. Anyway, it does just as the name suggests, it summons monsters to do the summoner''s bidding. And before anyone asks if this is just a combination of Pok¨¦mon games and Yu-Gi-Oh anime? Yes. What about it? There''s nothing wrong with that. "Kill that woman!" I yell my command to the monster I summoned. "Pfft!" she laughs in a pretty demeaning way. "You don''t really expect a mere monster to defeat me, do you?" Who wants to defeat you? I am just here to buy time. Did you already forget that? I guess you did since you are trying to ignore us and go in the direction of Irium and Roswaisa. Too bad, someone like this Sphinx is a master at not letting something like that happen. "What?" She yells in surprise as the Sphinx jumps right at her and even as she tries to get away, it follows her to no end, trying to block her path. "What the heck is with this thing!?" "Foolish woman!" I say with a smirk on my face, "Don''t go ignoring a mythical creature! You have absolutely no idea the extent to which that hurts its pride!" ***** "And what''s that?" With a little bit of surprise breaking up her demeanor, her voice still remains as cold as it can be towards me. "Hah!" I sigh. "We don''t have much time to waste here." She urges me to hurry up, probably having a little more than visible on the surface reasons for doing so. "Fine then, I''ll say it." I sigh again and take a deep breath, "Roswaisa, I love you!" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "What kind of sick joke is that?" she says as she looks at the ground. "If I were joking, I''d be making anime references right now." I say in a surprisingly calm tone. "¡­" "¡­" "How can that possibly be?" she says as she tightens her fists. "I guess I''ll tell you. The reason I kissed you isn''t because I wanted to get back a little on Danny, it was because I wanted to use that excuse to ¡­ just kiss you." I confess with a calm and unwavering voice, which I don''t completely understand the root cause for myself. "And that, obviously, was because I was in love with you ever since then." "¡­" "¡­" "You''re lying." She says in an irritated voice while clicking her tongue. "Nope! I''m telling the truth." I continue with my tone of voice unchanging, "I was just being a tsundere all this time, and well, seeing from how hard this is for you to swallow; I think I did a damn good job." "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "Let''s go. Danny''s life could be in danger right now." she says and puts a leg on the window, then uses it to jump out of it. "Yes, let''s go." I reply and repeat the process. After we are both out of the building we were hiding in, she doesn''t move an inch, as if waiting for something. "Find a high place from where you can attack at her back and be sure to not come into her line of sight if you can." I tell her and start running towards where Danny and Aknin Vielos were when we left. "And one more thing before I leave," I stop and look back and say in a slightly flustered voice, "It was love at first sight." I say that, and without waiting for any reply, I start running again. ***** 20 Sphinx My summoned Sphinx continues to come in Aknin Vielos'' way but as she tries to stop it once and for all by killing it, it moves out of her path easily evading her. If were to explain it a bit more clearly, that Sphinx is like a fly that has decided to disturb one particular person. Now, unless that person exerts themselves enough to go and kill the fly, it will continue to buzz around and cause annoyance. That''s right! This Demoness is so powerful that she has become unable to directly attack nimble and weak creatures like that. If she does attack, she might end up, accidentally, overkilling it and cause massive collateral damage as well as loss of life. The reason I decided this card was the best to use in this battle was because of how she decided she''d give me a quick death after learning about my sacrifice. She might be a demon, but that doesn''t mean she''s plain evil, and that act of compassion was the perfect proof for it. Therefore, she wouldn''t go so far as to kill a lot of citizens and/or destroy their properties just to complete her own mission. If she were a demon like that, I, Roswaisa and Irium would have been killed by now. Well, that''s my hope at the very least. "Tsk!" She clicks her tongue in annoyance and shakes in anger at the mythical creature with the body of lion, using its claws to jump from here to there so quick that she can''t do anything against it. Of course, this Demoness is ridiculously fast, so much so that a human being, no matter how much magic or physical strength they have, can''t even try to compete. However, that is not the case for a mythical creature like that. "Hah!" I sigh as I slowly and steadily get further and further from their battle, in order to create a chance for me to escape with my life. Since that Sphinx is a mythical creature that has the upper part of a human, it can think clearly enough to keep doing what it is doing. I don''t need to stay and keep giving it commands. Therefore, I would at least try to get away from here with my life, if at all possible, not that I''ll go back on the promise of giving them time to escape ¡­ or should I say, execute their ''plan.'' As I say that in my mind, I unknowingly smirk. It''s funny how I am thinking exactly like many beloved characters with tragic ending in anime thought before they met their tragic fate. It''s not the type of character death that is used in most shows, but it is used many a times. But whatever the case, if that means that I am going to die, well, it''s not like I didn''t know of the possibility of that happening before. I am ready for it if it comes down to it. However, as said before, definitely won''t go down easy. Currently, I am on a road that is not exactly devoid of life, in fact, it''s filled with people coming and going everywhere. None of them, unless there is mage in the crowd, can see this fight. I am the only one who cans see it and therefore, I look like a weirdo as I keep stepping backwards while looking up where, to them, it would look there''s nothing. Well, if I didn''t look like a weirdo, I would probably look like a dancer trying to display his back-stepping skills. I''m surprised nobody threw any change here till now. How heartless! "Hah!" after seeing how playing around with that Sphinx is only making her lose more time and nothing new is happening, Aknin Vielos decides to fly higher to the point where the Sphinx may not be able to reach. Sorry though, Demoness-sama, I calculated at least this far ahead before sending it out. This Sphinx is fully capable of flying up to thermosphere. And so, you might have a hard time succeeding with that strategy. I say to her all that, only in my mind, and smirk at my own thoughts. I soon see an annoyed black-winged Demoness flying back downwards, followed by a particular Sphinx. Well, it looks like she gave up on that idea real quick. "Now, just as a safety measure, I should send out another card." I say as I realize that while it may have worked well till now, this Sphinx might not last much longer as the Demoness obviously would have much more stamina than it and her next strategy probably would be to make it lose that stamina. As I wonder that, I take a look at the battle and Aknin Vielos is indeed trying to run around as much as she can, in the most excessive ways she can, to make the Sphinx chase her in the exact same path and consequently, lose its stamina. "Well then," I put my hand in my pocket to take out the deck of cards, close my eyes and then open it, and start wondering, "The best card to send out at this moment is ¡­" "A card that will make your guesses more accurate." A malicious, female voice comes from behind, a voice whose familiarity makes me freeze in my place. "You aren''t an idiot, surprisingly, but maybe you should start considering more than one angle to every problem." "A doppelganger technique?" I ask with a forced smirk on my lips while still having the nervousness on my face. "Yep!" she says with a voice that, yet again, gives me chills. I see. I get it now. While I was seeing her do as per my prediction and got overexcited thinking that she was falling in my trap, I didn''t realize that was only a doppelganger. The real one was trying to creep up behind me and as she is now, hold me at the end of my life. "Now, you have two choices, kid." She says and I try my best to not close me ears in fright, "Choice 1, continue to come in my way and get killed. Choice 2, retreat and let me get on with my business." I gulp and keep listening as it feels like she hasn''t said everything she wants to. "If you chose 2, I might as well leave you alive as an appreciation for the tiny speck of strength you have shown to possess in the form of that deck of cards." She says in an enticing voice so as to sway me towards that choice, "So now, what you are going to choose?" "Choice 3, get out of here alive and have an actual girlfriend for once in his life." All of sudden, a voice comes, the voice of a man I have come to know quite well in the last one year of being in the same class. "Irium!?" ***** 21 Choice Number 3 "Choice 3, get out of here alive and have an actual girlfriend for once in his life." I acclaim boldly as I step on the road on which the Demoness Aknin Vielos has held Danny hostage with her rather dangerous looking fingernails. "Irium!?" Danny exclaims. "Yes! It is I, the protagonist-kun." I say while puffing my chest with pride. "Behold this moment, my dear friend for you may not see it ever in ¡­" "Yeah, stop trying to rip-off Okabe Rintarou." He says with a disappointed expression. Now that he has actually said it though, doesn''t ripping off from a character who rips off from other characters sound pretty damn stupid? Hey, I am not stupid. The guy who was ripping off from Okabe was stupid, whoever he was. Who was he? I don''t know him. "Why the heck did you come back?" Danny, all of sudden, as if only now realizing that I have come back, yells that at me. And as if me trying to act like a not-so-mad-mad-scientist wasn''t already enough, even more people start looking at us, to whom, we just look like two guys yelling on each other in the middle of the road. "Why did I come back?" I repeat his question with a smirk, "Of course, it was to make the third choice that I just told both of you about happen." "Hah!" Aknin sighs as she hears our bickering, "Seems like your friend wasn''t as much of an asshole as you made him out to be." "Wait! I was made out to be an asshole?" I say with an expression akin to that of an anime character when they realize that their underwear is missing and they are already in the middle of the queue for the routinely body check at the school. Actually, that probably only happens to Nobita. And if it happens to someone else too, I have no interest in finding out. "I was made to believe that you''d run away with the Angel leaving him behind to slow me down as much as he can." Aknin says with a frown as she moves away from Danny. I turn to Danny to ask for clarification on that and he says, "Well, that is what I''d expect a smart guy like you to do. That was the best strategy after all." He pretty much yells that at me and I think I have started to hear some people abusing us in the background for shouting in the middle of the road. Well, the author is too lazy to write all of the words they are saying so let''s just leave it at that. "Hah! The thing is Danny," I say as I calmly close my eyes and put a hand on my waist, and then continue in a frank tone, "If the best plan you can think of is the plan I choose to follow, I won''t be smart anymore, I''d be at your level." "Eh?" he finds himself at a loss for words as he hears that and Aknin, who has been pretty uninterested in the conversation, says plainly, "If you want for a remark like that to be the last line of your life, then so be it. Who am I to argue?" "Yare! Yare!" I say in an exasperated voice. "Who told you I am going to die?" I say as I calmly start walking towards Danny. She, for the first time as she sees my confident demeanor, steps back in cautiousness. I, on the other hand, continue to calmly walk over to Danny and hold his arm to give him support to stand and say to the Demoness, "The only one who is going to die here is you." I didn''t expect it to be this easy, but I have made the Demoness face the road, which also means that she is showing her back to the road. In other words, she is willingly making herself vulnerable to any projectile-like attacks from the back, exactly the result I needed to achieve for the tables to turn. ***** If I were to think about what was told to me before the man named Irium left, I wouldn''t be able to concentrate. In simple words, I don''t love him. And I find there to be no reason for him to have fallen for me either, aside from my looks. But then again, Irium of all people doesn''t look to be someone who would give much value to how a person''s looks (aside from comparing them to anime characters for the sake of lolz). He did, however, say that he was playing a tsundere and that he was playing it perfectly. If that was really true and he really is in love with me, how am I supposed to respond? These were the thoughts that had cramped my mind when I tried to think about it all and I know that it will happen again. So, I decided to not think about them and just focus on my job, which is to release the Frost Requiem on the Demoness when I am confident enough in every way to make my shot. Quite unexpectedly, I get that opportunity right off the bat and the Demoness starts facing the direction that makes it easy for me to shoot directly at her back. I can''t help but wonder how that man was able to do something like this. I can''t help but wonder how a human like him even had the guts to face her again. Even if I try to not think about these things, I can''t help but do so. Well, so be it. I will keep that inside my mind as I shoot. And I shoot. ***** "How did that happen!?" Danny asks as he sees the destruction in front of him, where once a Demoness used to stand. "She said it''s a power called Frost Requiem." I reply but, "I get that. It''s probably her special ability. But how was she able to aim it so precisely?" he clarifies his question for me and as he does, I sigh and reply, "It''s because she doesn''t want to accidentally, even for the sake of taking out a Demoness who is a threat to her life, cause harm to the man who said ''I love you'' to her." I tell him so. As I stare at the sky, I reply in a voice that only I can truly understand, "It''s because of a lie I told, a lie about loving her." ***** 22 Charred "A lie ¡­ about loving her?" Danny stares at me with an astonished face. "Yes. And the reason for telling her that lie was making the outcome we are seeing right now come true." I say as I continue to stare out at the sky, "And because of that, we got rid of a Demoness that we couldn''t even put a scratch on before now." "Yeah, but ¡­" he trails off for a reason that I very well understand. However, there is a big difference between understanding and relating. I do understand his thought his process in thinking that what I did was wrong but I do not relate or agree to it at all. "Look in front of you!" I tell him, and he turns his gaze back to the front. The road has been broken so much it doesn''t even look like there ever was a road there. The buildings and sidewalks on both sides are charred black. Many people suffered injuries, however, no one died ¡­ is my estimate, at the very least. All in all, the picture in front of our eyes looks like a big black ball of smoke was dropped here that also caused burn effect. "We would have been a part of this destruction if I hadn''t said that." I say as I raise both my hands to my shoulder-length. "And I didn''t want to be a friend who gets you charred black and injured right after making you do the worst part of the plan." Till two days ago, I didn''t even think of this man as a friend. But he, for whatever reason, was willing to play decoy for me and Roswaisa. That tells me how good of a person Danny truly is. He''s basically the Masaomi Kida to my Mikado Ryugamine. "Hah!" After all that, Danny sighs. "If that''s how you decided to deal with the situation, then that''s that. I can''t really go in the past and change anything even if I don''t approve of that tactic. But, what now?" What now that all that is over and I''ll have to either tell Roswaisa the truth or start playing the part even if I don''t want to? That is what Danny seems to be asking of me right now. "Now, nothing." And so, I reply. Now that all that is over, I would do nothing. I would do absolutely nothing. Everything will return to normal and it will be like this all never happened. Yes, that''s how it''ll be. You know how I''ll make that happen? Plot Armor? No. Plot Convenience? No. Their Ultimate Combination? No. It''s simply by being honest. All I''ll have to do is apologize. And with that, everything will be back to normal. That''s not because I am a master at apologies or anything. It''s because Roswaisa is just that good of a person, or Angel. ***** Emerald Angel Roswaisa now walks the floors of earth, marching towards two particular men. That Angel is me. I have just now killed a higher-class Demon named Aknin Vielos. This is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of my life, for which I''ll definitely earn a rank-up to the higher-class Angels. This had been my dream ever since I was summoned for the first request, no, ever since I became capable of being summoned for requests. And now, unexpectedly, in my third summoning that would have killed me had I failed to finish it, I have earned that rank-up. Well, it''s still not certain if I have earned it or not, but if this doesn''t give me a rank-up then it''ll be near impossible to get it. "I ¡­" and as I think, or tries to think about my almost certain rank-up, I say, "¡­ feel nothing." I find it quite surprising myself that I feel absolutely nothing at this achievement of mine. Is this because of what Irium said earlier? Is this because he said that he loved me? I think that because, well, that is the only thought in my mind right now. "What should I do?" I wonder. I walk. I feel nothing. I walk. I wonder, "What should I say?" What should I tell him? ''No, I don''t love you. I''m sorry but I don''t feel the same about you.'' Or, should I make excuses like, ''I like someone else'' or ''I don''t think we can be a thing.'' Or, should I start lying to keep his heart and tell him, ''I feel the same about you, let''s become a couple.'' No matter what comes to mind, it just doesn''t feel like the right response to give. What should I say? I just keep on wondering. I have no clue at all. At this point in time, what am I supposed to say? I wonder that as I walk through the broken and charred road that has become like that as a result of my Frost Requiem. Normally, people can''t see Angels, Demons or such. However, if they get affected by them, they can see it. Now that so many people have been affected by my Frost Requiem, they all can see me. And as they see me, they look at me in plain surprise as I am a woman who is walking in fancy clothes like what you''d see characters in Anime wear, and to top it all off, she is also walking right in the middle of the road that has been part of a disaster just now. I can see some of them yelling for me to get to the sidelines. However, I don''t comply and keep on walking in the middle. All my thoughts are focused on one and only one thing, "How should I answer?" That question has completely taken over my thought process. And then, I find blood spilling from my mouth. In addition to that, my eyes that were focused on the ground just a second ago now can''t help but look at the sky as if my head has been made to shift in that direction. And I feel like not just my head, but the portion of my body above my stomach has been shifted at an angle towards the y-axis. As for my stomach, it feels like there is a small hole in it and through that hole, the cause of it passes through. That cause of the hole is probably something quite thin, like a long object of finger-width. "How should you answer? Let me help you with that question." The voice of the Demoness I believed I had killed comes and continues on to say, "There. You don''t need to answer now." ***** 23 Emerald Angel Roswaisa It has been a while since the Frost Requiem happened. Since we were getting tired of waiting, I and Danny decided to head towards where Roswaisa is. But then, we hear a commotion. A buzz being made by the crowd attracts our attention. "A lady just got stabbed through the back!" "A woman in fancy clothes was stabbed by something!" "Another woman did the killing!" "What was the thing that she stabbed her with anyway?" And accompanied by that is obviously ''What the hell is going on?''-clich¨¦. However, this isn''t something we can devote our time to. As we look at each other for confirmation on the same subject, we nod to each other and start running towards where the crowd seems to be gathering. Whatever has happened, it''s not pretty, and we can just hope it''s not what we think it is. To find out if it is or not though, we keep running. Or at least, we intended to keep running, but get stopped by something, something that feels awry ¡­ and dark. We can feel all our senses. We can breathe, look, smell, hear, feel and probably even talk. However, we can''t move. It''s like we are both Senku Ishigamis from Dr. Stone, turned a statue but our mind still works. And in this state, we can only gawk as we see the Demoness, Aknin Vielos, flying in the air with her black wings spread wide and flapping occasionally. She, with her right hand, seems to be carrying the body of some woman with red hair. It''s not hard to guess who that woman is. When Aknin had flown far enough for her to not be easily visible, we become able to move once again. "What the heck!?" I say in agitation and confusion. "Something that powerful is probably her Special Ability." Danny says as he too finds himself in the same state as me. Others around us, however, start going about their business like they would be as if nothing happened at all. Even the crowd that had gathered on the road starts to dissipate and look to be in confusion of why they even gathered at that place. They even start considering the charred road and sidewalks as well as buildings, normal, to the point that if they somehow fall down because of some uneven land that wasn''t like that before, they given an expression that says, "Why did I trip on that? I go through here every day and never trip on that." It''s like they have accepted all that happened just now as normal. Or, they forgot about it all? I look at Danny and he looks at me. We both seem to have reached the same conclusion and so the only thing we can do is run in the direction Aknin was headed in. ***** "Agh!" A painful moan escapes my mouth as I get stabbed in my stomach for the seventh time. "I gave you an option to die an easy death, but you refused." Aknin Vielos says in a voice filled with contempt as she raises her hand with her fingernail outstretched and, "AAGHH!!!" I moan again in pain because of the eighth stab. "I even went so far as to explain to you everything so you don''t have to die in ignorance, but you refused." She continues in the same voice. "AGHH!" Another stab, another moan escapes my lips. "I was willing to kill you with respect, something I rarely show to anyone but Rain, but you refused." Same voice, same actions are performed by her again. "AAAAGGGHHH!!!" Another stab, this makes it 10. Now there are 10 holes in my stomach. And believe me when I say that even a masochist would not be enjoying this, and I''m not even one. "And on top of all that, you used an ability like that one on me!? For what reason, did you think it would kill me? Who do you think I am, woman?" her voice grows in contempt and becomes agitated as well. "If that''s the case, then I will kill you like a demon would. I will remind you why our race lives in hell." She raises her arms yet again but instead of stabbing me with her fingernails again, she draws back her fingernails to what its usual length is (which is not more than the normal length for any woman) and then turns her hand into a fist. "NOW SEE HELL!!!" she yells and pounces on me. "AAHH!!!" She does so again, "AAAAAHHHH!!!" And again, "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" And again, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" And again. And it continues on and on and on. ***** After searching for about two hours separately, I and Danny both reach at the same point. We reach at a park that is by the river and is not used by anybody because of being old. Furthermore, it is present in an area that is old and deserted itself. There, we see a familiar looking red-haired Angel lying on the ground covered in blood. We run to her and find that she indeed is Roswaisa. Realizing that though, "Oh god no!" Danny exclaims as he falls to his feet and looks at the Angel''s stomach that has 10 different holes in them. But that''s not enough, her clothes are torn and her whole body has cut marks that blood is coming out from and her face looks beaten-up as hell. As I stare at such a horrible sight, I realize something. "This happened because of my plan." It really did. This happened because the both of them followed my plan. Now, for whatever reason that Demoness has left before killing me, she has left Roswaisa to die a painful death that is undoubtedly a murder on my hands as much as it is on Aknin Vielos''. No, to be honest, I am more of a murderer than she is. "U-U-Ugh!" and suddenly, rekindling our hope, a voice escapes Roswaisa''s lips. "Roswaisa, you''re ¡­" Danny says as she tries to check her pulse but, "I ¡­ love you ¡­ too!" She says with a smile, a smile all three of us know to be a facade. So at the end of the day, she decided to lie to keep my heart, the heart of the man who lied to her to the end. I love you too. That lie, said for the sake of comfort, becomes the last of her words as her face turns right in a way that shows it has now become no more than a lifeless object. The Emerald Angel Roswaisa dies. ***** 24 Prologue 2nd Yeah, so that all happened a month ago. I met an Angel and got to know about Angels and Demons being real. Furthermore, I learned about magic. And then I found that Danny is actually a real nice dude. I also accidentally triggered an otome game flag and ended up ''in a relationship'' with Roswaisa. Then came Aknin Vielos, and everything went downhill. I tried to come up with a strategy and I did. And I brutally failed at calculating things. That caused the death of my to-be-wife. And it all took place in mere three days. What a joke! Now that a month has passed and I''m looking at it from a different mindset than before, I can only say this ¨C "Wow, author! You are, like, Ozyllus. You are our god and you are also an asshole." Anyway, there is a reason for a second prologue to be here. It''s because the story did not end. If you remember, I said that this story is of the week before the summer vacations. We only covered three days. We are yet to cover the rest of the four days. The much crazier four days. If, on the first three days, we were in the world of My Hero Academia, in the next three days, we straight up migrated to Tokyo Ghoul. And I now realize that''s a terrible comparison because of both the shows not being remotely alike but hey, blame the author, not me! He is the one who couldn''t think of anything better. I mean, I could just say that we were in the normal episodes of Gintama and then an arc started but I know most of the public don''t watch Gintama. Only men (and women) of culture, watch Gintama. And I don''t understand why the author wrote that with a grin when he hasn''t watched a single episode of it for three months. Anyway, I am not in the mood to kill the author the right now so I''ll let it go. But yeah, watch Gintama! That all said and done though, if you have read the previous volume (I don''t know why you''d be here if you haven''t), it won''t be that hard for you to guess the state of mind I was in back then. If I were to give an estimate, I made like 79 anime references in those four days. A mere 79. Yes, I was in depression, and that number is the proof of that as usually, I''d go up to like 180 or something in 4 days. Well, it''s not like I''m in much better of a state right now either but we need to ignore that to make the story move forward. Therefore, I''d be applying my ability ''Plot Convenience'' to the fullest. But while I do that, let me tell you an interesting story. There was once a god who was not worshipped. He tried to make people worship him by doing even the smallest of favors anyone ever asked of him but he remained an unpopular god. Fun fact: That god is worshipped by actual people who should look at him as a fictional character but not by fictional people who should look at him as a god. And so, his situation didn''t get much better. Do you know why that was? It was because author of that story got health problems. I hope you are well now and never fall sick again in your entire life, Adachitoka-sensei. Please keep on writing Noragami! Anyway, the reason I brought up Noragami is so I can tell all of you who are dying on half-naked Angels and Demons with big boobs; THAT is how a deity should actually be. They should wear a tracksuit and put their advertisements on walls like Graffiti. They should also not fulfill a high school girl''s wish for the sake of keeping her as the heroine in the story. Thank you for existing, Yato! I will pray to you for the rest of my life! You are a real deity! And that is exactly how a real deity should be. A real deity shouldn''t end up in a forced relationship of a spouse with you. They shouldn''t try to act like a tsundere. They shouldn''t try to take everything on by themselves. They shouldn''t try to fight a monster head-on for the sake of others. They shouldn''t try to die on you and lie to you before dying to keep your heart. I realize now that Yato does most of those things. Well, at least he doesn''t have C-Cups. That''d be just plain weird, the type of weird that I''m sure we''ll see in some anime someday. Or, is there already one with that kind of ''plot''? No, please don''t answer that question. Knock! Knock! Okay, so, do I need to explain those two words? Fine, fine, I guess it''s the job of the protagonists to explain all the most boring things and leave the interesting exposition to other characters. Damn! I haven''t hated being a protagonist ever in my entire life, but I might just start doing so. Anyway, what happened just now is that I heard someone knocking at the door to my house but as I was busy explaining things to you guys, the knocker (bring Oxford''s dictionary and add that new meaning to the word) got anxious and irritated and broke down the damn door. Then, the knocker comes to me and looks at me. As he sees that I''m fine, he sighs in relief. This man who just killed my door, again, is Danny. "I was getting worried there because you weren''t answering." He says in a relieved voice. "What now?" I plainly ask him. I ask him because I know the reason he has come here. "Now, we move out!" He says with a smirk. That makes me wonder how he can possibly resemble Shinji or Sonohara ever in his life. Then his gaze falls on the television that I had left on (why else did you think I was suddenly recommending people to watch Gintama) and sees the figure of a particular ninja lady, to which, "AHM!!" he clears his throat and looks away, trying to hide his thoughts from me. That makes me wonder how he can possibly not resemble Shinji or Sonohara ever in his life. "Well," I say as I stand and turn the TV off, "I am ready to move out when you are." I say in a lethargic voice as I go and face the mirror I had brought to this room recently. In it, I see the reflection of an oval-blue-eyed individual with oval-face and button-nose looking drowsily at his own reflection and also his kinda long black hair and ivory skin look brilliant in his black, noble attire that suits his name, Irium. How did we reach this point? That story is now to be told. ***** 25 Slap This night, the night of the Wednesday that a particular Angel died on, is a rainy night. It has rained today for a total of 5 minutes and 42 seconds. Yes, that perfectly qualifies it as a rainy night. "Hah!" a sigh comes from Danny as he looks at my downturned face, for the seventeenth time, and says, "Nothing is going to change from you sulking." Once again in the same day, this man forces me to face reality. Well, even with all the powers of the protagonists I have, I might just need to face it at this point ¨C I''m pretty damn weak. "The only thing you can do now is prepare for next time." He says exasperatedly. "Next time?" I ask him in a serious voice. (Yes, I am serious. Don''t you people dare laugh at this remark.) "Aknin Vielos had two targets, right? For whatever reason she went without finishing the job, she isn''t going to leave it unfinished." He says as he looks at me from above (well, he''s standing and I''m sitting ''cuz I''m the godforsaken protagonist), with a grim look on his face. "She''s going to come back ¡­ to kill you." While I do know that he is right about that, I just can''t stop feeling depressed. I am the protagonist, after all. "Hah!" and seeing my reaction (which was basically ¨C no reaction), Danny sighs exasperatedly and then, SLAP! Did I ¡­ THE PROTAGONIST ¡­ just got slapped? And that too, by the guy who remained a comic-relief-character for the majority of the first volume? SLAP! Did I ¡­ THE PROTAGONIST ¡­ just got slapped again? And that too, by the same guy who hit me the first time? SLAP! Did I ¡­ to hell with this stupid monologue! Get on with the damn story! "What was the meaning of that!?" I ask in a bit of anger, and a bit of pain. "Which one do you want me to tell the meaning of first?" he says like a generic big-bro-type-character with his arms folded and a sports jacket that doesn''t serve its purpose and keeps hanging on his back like Superman''s cape. "Uh, go in the chronological order." I peacefully answer. "Okay." He says while closing his eyes, opening them again (you know, that basic drill the author keeps writing when he has to show a character trying to compose themselves), "The first slap is to make you come out of your soppy mood and start listening to me." Definitely hitting you back for that someday! "The second one was for you to realize how weak and vulnerable you are by yourself and how you don''t have the time to mope around like this." Definitely hitting you back for that as well someday! "The third one was for you realize that you feel pain that comes from it and realize that you are still alive." He says with a smirk, "And since you are alive, you can still do something about the situation, no matter how desperate it seems." Definitely NOT hitting you back for that someday! Still, mental note: ''Slap Danny twice as soon as a good opportunity presents itself!'' "So?" he says as if to ask what my response is. "Well, first of all," I present to him the devastating realization I just had 10 seconds ago, "I didn''t know you were such a philosophical slapper." "Is that seriously the most important thing on your mind?" he says with disappointment clear in his voice. "No, it isn''t." I, however, having much more to say, deny him and continue, "But now that you have fast-forwarded through such an important part of my character arc by just slapping me three times, I guess I need to head towards the next part of the arc and do that nicely." Or how can I someday be proudly slapping Danny back? "I see. That''s good. But," he says with a worried expression, "Are you really alright?" Seeing the expression of worry that he has over me, I can only say, "Stop looking at me like a kuudere waifu would. I am having gross thoughts in my mind right now because of that." "A reference?" he says with a surprised expression, and then smiles, "Well, if you finally made a reference, then I guess slapping worked." Whatever, Sherlock! "Well now," I get up from the public bench I have been sitting at and look at him as I say, "What am I supposed to do to ''prepare''?" Looking at me right now would remind a person of Saitama. No, I''m haven''t gone bald of course. I meant that meme face, damnit. What''s wrong with you people!? "Well, there is something that I have in mind." Danny says with a malicious grin. "Good to know. I would have killed you if you were to give me ''we''ll find a way'' BS that anime protagonists always spout." I say, quite relieved after hearing his answer. "Okay, ignoring that," Don''t you dare ignore my frankly epic dialogues! "In order for you to prepare for the upcoming disaster," This bastard really is pushing his luck if he thinks he can get away with ignoring my dialogues. "We''ll need for you to meet someone." Last warning bastard, get back to commenting on my dialogue and THEN say whatever you have to say, "And that someone is quite something." Okay, that''s enough! You are going to get it now. "And by that, I mean someone who is not an Angel or a Demon, but somewhat in between." Wait! That''s an interesting development, right? Let''s postpone killing Danny for later. "And who is this guy we are going to meet?" I ask in a curious tone, and I get my answer in a devious tone, "Not a guy, a girl." Of course! The story is written by an otaku. "Let me give you a hint as to who she is." He says with a smirk and continues, "Think of a deity that isn''t actually even a deity in any mythology whatsoever. Still, every anime and light novel as well as web novel author puts her in the story as a deity as soon as they get a chance to do so." He smirks at me as if it''s a riddle that I would never be able to solve. The thing is, I actually can''t think of any answer. The best I can do to not make myself look worse than this guy is throw guesses, "Dues ex machina?" "¡­" "¡­" "Yeah!" He says with a dejected expression. ***** 26 Privileges Ten minutes have passed since that time. Ever since I got Dues ex machina right on the first guess and spoiled his smug mood, Danny has kept silent like some kind of stupid, little, anime kid. Well, not that I don''t understand how it spoils the mood when someone guesses the right answer to a question you thought they won''t be able to answer. Still, he needs to stop making Nobita faces here. I mean, at the start I had activated Reverse UNO ''trap'' card and was feeling bad for him like Shizuka does (I don''t even know what that card actually does, if it even really exists; but I''m a fictional character so you can''t do anything to me). But at this point, I have deactivated it (i.e., I have stopped holding my impulses) and have basically become Suneo ¨C barely holding my laughter in right now. "By the way," I try to strike up a conversation to distract myself from the urge to laugh, "How long will it take to reach the place we are going to?" We are in a car. From the fact that we are both high-school students, you can guess that neither of us is old enough to have a license. So, obviously, we are breaking some pretty damn important laws right now. But regardless, we had to do it for the sake of the benefits it offers, like radio channels where a boob joke comes every minute - no, I mean, the speed. Yes, the speed that a car offers is far greater than anything we may have been able to manage on our own. Of course, that''s the actual reason for stealing a car. "How long are you going to sulk?" I ask in disappointment after realizing that no response came by the time I finished monologuing an entire paragraph. "I mean, it''s not like you were suddenly going to stop being the comic-relief-character who needs to be made fun of for the sake of the story. You were bound to have an experience or two like that sooner or later." "Tsk!" Danny clicks his tongue and says, "Comic-relief-character is a term for those stories that aren''t just comedy themselves." Well, he has a point but we are straying from the topic by talking about stuff like that. And I like to stick to the topic, unless I get an urge to give a reference, which happens every other minute. Anyway, "How long, Danny?" How long till we reach the destination? "10." "Miles?" "Nope." "Kilometers?" "Nope." "Minutes?" "Nope." Yare! Yare! I have a bad feeling about this. While I think that, I find myself casually flying off to bump into the headliner. BUMP! "OW!" I say while holding my head in pain. "Sorry about that." He says in a not-sorry-at-all voice, "I meant 10 seconds." ***** Ten minutes have passed since that time. Ever since I took my revenge against him by making his head bump into the headliner, Irium has kept silent like some kind of stupid, little, anime kid. Well, not that I don''t understand how it spoils the mood when someone does something like that to take out their own frustration and make your good mood turn sour. Still, he needs to stop making Nobita faces here. I mean, at the start I had activated Reverse UNO ''trap'' card and was feeling bad for him like Shizuka does (I also don''t even know what that card actually does, if it even really exists; but I''m a fictional character too so you can''t do anything to me). But at this point, I have deactivated it (i.e., I have stopped holding my impulses) and have basically become Suneo ¨C barely holding my laughter in right now. "You are never getting monologue privileges again, you bastard! You are just copying my lines." He says with a dejected face. I don''t know if his Nobita mood is still there or not. And as I wonder about that while we are in the lift, heading down the 10th underground floor, "People aren''t enjoying your monologues, get out of here!" he says like the tyrant of a protagonist he is. ***** Okay, now I''m back to monologue like I should have been throughout. I don''t even know where the author''s brain went when he decided to give this idiot the right to monologue, but it seems he regained his cerebral capabilities. Good, good! You can''t do this kind of thing in that A High Kick''s Harlot Dream or whatever it is called. Don''t lose your brain or Irium will remain the only story you''ll able to write, author! "Bastard! Have you no heart? Let me, one of the most important characters of the story, have monologuing privileges sometimes." "Being the Leorio for my Gon does not make you an important character, idiot!" I chide him with my arms folded, "You need to be as well as written as Leorio to have importance." And yes, Leorio is a well-written character. Fight me! "Maybe you can become as well-written as Gon and then act all high and mighty." He chides me back, also with folded arms. "Sorry, the author isn''t that capable!" I say in a grim voice as the words of truth escape my mouth. We look at each other as we realize that neither of us can reach the level of those two and, we go to the corner and crouch down in despair as a funny sound effect echoes in our mind. Actually, why are we doing this? Why does any anime character, when they get depressed, first go to the side, then crouch down and then keep sitting in that position. What is with this weirdness, damnit!? And then we suddenly hear from our back, a voice of an adult woman, "EH!" she says in surprise as she looks at us. "What the heck are you two doing in my elevator?" Whoever this woman is, she has some guts to talk to us when we are depressed like this. "What do you mean ''your elevator''?" Danny says with a cold expression without even bothering to look at her. "Huh, is this elevator owner by your grandma or something?" I say coldly and abusively, also without bothering to look at her. "Uh, well," the woman, in response to the two strikes that have been made, with the pressure of the third strike happening rising on her, says, "Yes, my grandma is the one who technically owns this elevator." Wait! What!? We look back to see the face of the woman we just casually tried to verbally abuse and, "Ah, well," to the angry face of the woman, Danny replies in a nervous voice, "How''s it going, Dues-san?" ***** 27 Dues ex machina Yeah well, the author couldn''t think of anything decently funny so we are just skipping over the next scene where Dues-san has been calmed down by Sonohara rip-off. Congratulation, author-san! You just lost the last speck of respect I had for you. "So," now that Dues has been calmed down (a little), she says in an annoyed voice, "What is it that you guys want?" "Tsk!" seeing the expression on her face though, makes me annoyed too. "Listen Dues ex machina, you maybe a little bit hot and all but that doesn''t mean you can talk in any way you want to me." And so, like the genius I am, I decide the best thing to do is to go off the topic again. "Oh?" she acts as if she''s surprised and continues in a demeaning voice, "Who might you be, if I may DARE to ask, human?" I can definitely pick up sarcasm in there but not important as the next lines out of my mouth are about to destroy her. "I am ¡­" proudly standing up and using the gained height to look down on her, I say, "THE PROTAGONIST-KUN!!!" "¡­" Say something, Goddamnit! "Uh," I act like I have lost composure. Yes, I act like it, okay? It''s not actually true. I-It''s not like I actually lost composure or anything, b-baka! "Well, I guess your pesky minds cannot understand the true power that lies behind those words. No matter." I say making weird hand expressions like Rintarou Okabe from Steins;Gate (again ripping off from a guy from rips off from others, but ignore that) and say, "I am, also, the man this world was created for." "¡­" "..." "..." "Wow! You really are arrogant if you think this world was created for you." Dues simply stated with a blank expression. "Call it arrogance or ¡­" "Dude! Shut up! You''re embarrassing me." What!? Did Danny just say that? Did THAT GUY just say that to ME!? Well, I guess this isn''t working, should probably stop. "Hah!" I sigh and with a plain voice, continue, "Look, the whole reason this world was created was because the author wanted to balance the dark thoughts that engulfed his mind because of writing something called Harlot Ream. For doing that balance, he needed to have someone who embodies him in the worst of his days, the guy who is the author in his most cringe moments. That guy is me. You people and this world wouldn''t even exist if I didn''t." And so I say, quite proudly. And then the realization hits me ¨C if the author, who can actually write more than just this mess of a comedy, does not get any respect from someone like me, well, WHAT ABOUT ME? "Ignoring whatever crazy monologue you are having," For the last time, Danny, never ignore my monologues, except if it''s something like this. Ah, I''m glad you ignored me right now. Wait, that sounds weird! "We are here for a reason," Danny continues in a plain voice, "We need a favor from you, Dues." He says as he looks at the 5''9 woman with a warm ivory skin and an athletic physique. She turns to us and as she does, I get a clear view of her face. Her face is diamond-shaped with her eyes being close-set and hazel in color. She also has a concave nose and the rest of the face is perfectly symmetrical to these features. All in all, she creates an image which, depending on one''s perception, can be called "Beautiful like an Angel" or "Bewitching like a Demon". Which Dues ex machina was ripped off to create her anyway? I can''t seem to remember any Dues like that? Did the author perhaps create an original design!? T-that''s impossible. I mean, like, the guy thinks monolid-eyes are better than almond-eyes because they have this dark feel about them and that makes them look more badass. And I don''t know how that makes him unable to create an original character design, but w-whatever! BAM! And so comes the voice of me getting my head hit by a frying pan of all things. Why the heck is there a frying pan here anyway? "What the hell was that for?" I ask angrily as I look at the perpetrator, Danny. "Because of your stupid urge to monologue BS, we have wasted more than half the chapter and the plot hasn''t moved forward at all." I ¡­ see. That''s ¡­ kinda problematic. I should probably stop monologuing now ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ ¡­. Like hell! Why would anyone read this thing if stop monologuing!? "Hah!" Dues sighs, still annoyed at something, "I think you said you needed a favor from me. Let''s hear it first!" She says as she looks at Danny with a bored expression. "Okay, so ¡­ uh, do you know of an Angel named Roswaisa?" he asks nervously. "I do. She''s a bitch!" she says while clicking her tongue and making a sadistic expression as if she''s imagining torturing this Angel we just named. O-okay! That''s quite the reaction. "She ¡­ uh, she has died." Danny says in a nervous voice and, "What!? T-That''s not possible." Seeing the surprised Dues, I can get that she has some kind of relationship with her (possibly the frenemies type of relationship) but, "She wasn''t supposed to die." "She wasn''t?" Danny looks surprised as he asks. "No, no, she definitely wasn''t. Not yet!" Dues replies in a surprised voice. "Okay so, you mind filling the audience in on what you two are talking about?" Not asking for myself, okay? I''m too cool to need any explanations. I can do just fine without them. I''m asking for you guys, alright? Be grateful! After hearing my question though, Danny turns to me and says in a bit of a rushed voice (probably because of excitement), "Dues is a deity tasked with keeping track of fate and destinies." That''s new! Did the author really come up with an original concept for Dues ex machina of all people? "She knows when anyone of any race will die." Danny continues in the same voice, "And what she just said means that death wasn''t supposed to be Roswaisa''s fate back there." I see. That''s ¡­ nice. "If that woman has really been killed," Dues says in a grim tone, "then it would disrupt the balance of the world." And so, we are going to find out the actual plot of this volume! "Therefore, we''ll need to reverse time and change this!" Wow! That sounds fun! It''s not like the butterfly effect can disrupt the balance of a million other things or anything like that, right? "We are ready for it." Danny says as he looks at Roswaisa with one hand tightened into a fist and kept near his heart. I get that you are trying to act cool and all, but that''s just being a generic anime character, man. I guess you are a Danny at the end of the day so I shouldn''t be surprised. "Yes, that''s good to hear." She says and starts heading somewhere. So like, no one asks me if I''m ready for it or not? Do I have no choice? Oh right, I am the protagonist. This is the second time in my life that I have hated this role. By the way, the place that Dues seems to be walking towards is a ¡­ stage-like thing. I mean, this whole place we ended up in where we found Dues (or she found us) looks like a run-down underground lab of some mad scientist. That, or it''s a mini bat-cave. Either way, for whatever reason, there is an uncharacteristically lit stage at the opposite side of the elevator, and Dues ex machina climbs over it and says, "In order for you to go back in time," Dude, I mean dudette, we just discussed about time-travel, like, 5 paragraphs ago. There is something called pacing in the story, you know? Ignoring my frown though, she finishes her own statement. "I need to go back to my original form." Oh? That isn''t a clich¨¦ development at all. She puts up her right hand towards where I think the North Star will be and all of a sudden, Thump! Thump! I can hear her heartbeat. I turn to Danny and it seems like he can hear it too, however, he''s not surprised and is just looking sharply. Well, I turn back to her too and see, "Tsk!" with a click of her tongue, she shows her annoyance, her annoyance at the pain she might be going through as her body starts tearing off and ****************************************** (horror-movie stuff) happens. And after it happens, well, if I was ever doubting your ripping-off skills, author-san, I humbly apologize. If I were to describe this ''beauty'' you have created, I would call it the anime-fied version (which translates into ''turning male to female'') of the freaking Dues Ex Machina from The Future Diary. And since the author can''t think of a good punch-line to finish this off with, that''s the godforsaken end of the chapter. ***** 28 Time-Travel The 10-feet skeleton in front of us looks down at us and says, "Are you ready to have a blast to the past?" Well, even if she''s ripped-off from Future''s Diary''s Dues, she isn''t even half as tall as him. That''s a good thing though. I don''t want a baby Triceratops to suddenly become a freaking T-Rex. I mean, aside from the fact that that would be far more terrifying, it''s just plain weird to see my favorite herbivore becoming my favorite carnivore. By the way, why am I talking about dinosaurs again? "Done monologuing?" she asks with a bored face which she somehow carried on from her human form to ¡­ Bones. "Don''t look at me like I''m the only one who is wasting time here." Aside from the fact that I never wasted a single second, "You are the one who needs to explain things better." "Huh!?" she looks at me in surprise. What!? Did she seriously meant to throw me in past with that explanation. "Explain which time-period, which place we are to go and what the big eff do we need to do there?" I ask angrily. "Hah!" she sighs and comes off the stage, and then uses it as a place to sit. Well, now I know why there is 4 feet tall stage there. But anyway, she then says, "First of all, don''t eff anyone there? That''s just plain weird." Seriously? That''s how your explanation starts? "I mean, just think about it, those people would be, like, your great, great, great grandmas ¡­" can we stop talking about that? "Or grandpas." Now we seriously need to stop talking about that or I''m gonna puke. And no one, not even the author of Re:Zero, let''s their main character puke; because that is absolutely disgusting. "Now, if you haven''t already gotten an idea from that, you''ll need to go back to 1850s. To be more precise, 1856." She says in her a-little-less-bored-than-before voice. 1856? Well, that''s pretty far back and ¡­ doesn''t really make much sense to me. "Why 1856? From what I know, Roswaisa was less than 100 years old. So, why do we need to go back ¡­ (Wait! Wait! Let the author count how much it is) ¡­ uh, 164 years?" "You''ll know when ¡­" "Don''t give me that clich¨¦, bitch!" I shout angrily and find that the moment I do so, something like the hand of a really big skeleton passes from a little distance to me with a speed of mach 1. What''s even more dangerous and frightening than that is ¡­ the place that it passed from and would have hit if the aim was a little higher. That place ¡­ yeah, if you know what I mean, thank you! If you don''t know what I mean, very, very thank you! "Now," bringing her hand back to where it originally was (on her lap), Dues continues in the same tone as before, "The place that you need to go to is ¡­ (Wait! Wait! Let the author think of something good) ¡­ uh, India." India? What was the point of even trying to think, author-san, when there''s only one country you have ever seen with your own eyes? "I see. That''s a good place to be. I always wanted to visit India." Danny says while nodding like an idiot. See? Lines like that is the reason he is generic. And because he''s generic, I need to make fun of him so people don''t start bashing this book for being generic. Anyway, regardless of the fact that India in 1856 wasn''t exactly the most peaceful place in the world, that is the time that we need to go to it seems. Now that she has answered two of my questions, time for her to answer the third, the equally important, if not more important, question ¨C what do we have to do so that Roswaisa doesn''t die in by the hands of Aknin Vielos when she did? She straightens herself up and says, "That''s all." Wait! What!? "Now we have wasted enough time here and you need to go and do the damn job." "What IS the damn job!?" I ask frustratingly and not wanting to be satisfied with any half-assed answers. "I don''t know." she plainly says. "Huh!?" "Huh!?" Not just me but Danny also was surprised by that statement. "Look, all I have is the knowledge that this unprecedented death Roswaisa has met can only be reversed from back in India in 1856." Her skull looks at me with a mix of pity and mockery, "Rest, you''ll have to find out for yourselves." ¡­ What can I say now? It''s not like I can argue to that any longer. I mean, I can make fun of her for being ignorant, no problem. But that won''t solve the problem, would it? "Tsk!" I click my tongue in annoyance, annoyance at the situation we are in right now. And after that, for a moment, no one says anything. "I am ready." Danny says then, with a firm resolve, the type literally everyone in My Hero Academia starts having when anyone else says something interesting to them. Seriously My Hero Academia, there''re other ways of doing character development, you know? "Hah!" I sigh, not at My Hero Academia, but at the guy who has the face akin to its characters. "I am ready too." I answer plainly, no resolve, no motivation, just gotta do the job of the protagonist. "Okay then, time to go." She says as she brings up her hand and opens up a portal (clich¨¦!!!), probably leading to the 1856 version of the Asian country, India. As we see that portal, Danny immediately starts walking towards it. I follow suit. This is it. This is the chapter that makes this novel eligible for the WPC it was entered in. I don''t know if they still even care though. Anyway, it''s finally time for me to bring Roswaisa back and ¡­ to correct my mistake, no, sin. ***** 29 Pain In a wasteland where sunlight hurts the skin the most, I am forced to walk the land barefoot and bring the ox that had run away, back. After bringing it back to the farm, I would need to let it rest a bit and then make it plow the fields. That will be how half the day would go, by which time, it''ll be night. And all we can do at night is eat dinner, and then get back to do more work in the fields. If we somehow manage to do enough someday to earn good enough that we''d be able to pay tax, then maybe (and just maybe), me and my family can go to sleep. That''s the kind of stupid life we live. And so, the last thing I need to see ¨C is a bloody foreigner lying on the wasteland like it''s his grandma''s lawn. "Hey!" I say to the man lying like a dead donkey in the middle of the wasteland, "Get up! And leave! Or I''ll kill you!" My English speaking skills have grown good enough for me to have conveyed this much well enough, and so I can only wonder why this idiot doesn''t do as I say. Does he think I alone can''t do anything to him? Ha! You underestimate the power of an Indian farmer, you piece of shit! Now, take that! I shout that in my mind as I use the rod I was to use to bring back my ox, to give him a ''wake-up call''. BAM! There''s that sound of the impact. Now, this guy, like every one of those foreigners I''ve seen, should get up and get the heck away. "Ah!" but instead of running away and bringing more people later like every one of those foreigners I''ve seen, this guy just moans. Well, maybe he''s a bit resilient. Another strike should do the job. BAM! Thinking that, I hit him again and, "Ah! Ah! You''re so naughty, baby." He says while holding the sand like he''s holding some kind of precious object. What the giant fuck! This guy is tough, at least tougher than every other foreigner I''ve seen. "Admirable!" I remark. He maybe an enemy of mine and my rod but he still deserves some respect for having sustained two strikes. Well, the third strike is where it ends though. I think that and put my weight on my toes, my hand moving back the furthest it could while holding the rod in hand, I prepare to strike the most critical blow yet. And with all that preparation done, BAAAM!!! A much larger sound comes this time. I am sure he would have already crossed Ganges in fear by this point, but just to confirm, I should take a look. "AH! Baby! More, give me more!" ¡­ "Don''t stop, give me more!" ¡­ "Come on, baby! I want more!" ¡­ Well, you are gonna get your wish, jackass! BAM! BAM! "AH! AH! More!" BAM! BAM! "AH! AH! More!" BAM! BAM! BAM! "AH! AHA! AHAHA! MORE!!!" ***** When I wake up, everything that happened before immediately comes to my mind. That''s right, we time-travelled and have come back to 1856, in India. Before I do anything here, I need to find Irium. Who knows if he''ll survive India for more than hour or so without me around to help him!? Well, he might, but you can never be too sure with these people with the Protagonist Complex. Anyway, after these thoughts pass through my mind, I decide to get up and see what kind of place I ended up in. But, just as soon as I move a little, I feel pain immeasurable to what I''ve ever felt. "AAAAHHH!!!" What the heck happened? Why does it feel like I got beaten up by a wooden rod a 100 times or something like that? Wait! Wasn''t that feeling too specific? Anyway, I need this pain to stop. God, this burns because of the heat! Who could possibly do something like this to me, whatever it is that they did? "Ah, you''re awake." Then, comes a voice that I don''t have the mental capacity to ignore the pain and focus enough on it to name its characteristics. I feel like it''s the voice of a 14-15 year old boy though. "Hey, kid! Bring a first-aid kit here! No, bring an ambulance here! No, bring the entire hospital here!" I am hoping this kid knows enough English to understand me and will do as I say. "Please!" he says in a polite voice. "Yes, please! Bring me some help! Bring me a medical field master! If not that, bring me a hot chick!" I say without being able to calm down because of the pain. "Please, accept me ¡­" He continues in his polite voice. "Yes, please accept me in the nearby hospital. I can''t stand enough to fill in the form." I can just hope hospitals in 1856 India were accepting people without any BS like a form. "Kindly listen to me!" the boy gets a tinge of darkness in his eyes as he says that, but not even that can scare me right now. Not even Yuno Gasai can scare me right now. Not even Irium, with all of his protagonist privileges, can scare me right now. I am just in too much pain to be afraid right now. Someone, anyone, do something! Treat me! Make the pain go away! Or, special right for women, you can just kiss me as well, I fully accept that payment option! "Hah!" the boy sighs as he sees that I''m not listening to him. "If I take you to a clinic," "TAKE ME TO A GODDAMN HOSPITAL!" I shout like a pregnant woman dying with the pain of the baby trying to come out of my womb. "THERE ARE NO HOSPITALS HERE!" the boy shouts at me, "God, these foreigners!" "Eh, fine, take me to a clinic." I say, not being able to withhold my pain any longer. "If I do that," he returns to being polite as he says, "can you become my teacher and teach me your ways of resilience." "Ha!?" I look at him with a stupid expression. "Thank you! Now come, let us go to the clinic!" the boy says with a smile. [Note: ''Ha'' can be interpreted as ''haan'' which mean ''yes'' in Hindi] That smile on the kid''s face. T-That ¡­ that''s a flag. Oh lord, that''s a flag! And I just triggered it! I get the feeling I grew more important in this volume than I ever intended to. Why, author, why? Was it not enough to make me the butt of all jokes whenever two people talked to each other in my presence? What kind of hell have you unleashed upon me now? ***** 30 Deser As I open my eyes, I see a sky half filled with pure white clouds. It is a scene everyone expects to see when they look up. But natural beauty does not appear every time when I look up. It only appears in places enriched by nature. So, where exactly am I to be able to see it right now? (Straight up ripping off from A High Kick''s Harlot Ream, are we? Good job, author! Good job!) Now, because I''m not exactly Kais, instead of reacting to the fact that I''m on sand and start looking here and there, I would just get up and start finding the first thing I can meme about. Okay, I can see cactus, and cactus, and cactus. Well, from what I know of India''s topography, I''m probably in The Great Indian Desert right now. Not even going to consider being in some smaller, insignificant desert. I''m the protagonist after all, my experiences are supposed to be grand! ¡­ Oh well, this is comedy and the author is an asshole so might as well keep the possibility in mind. Anyway, aside from cactuses, I can also see sand, and sand, and sand. Wow! This is like the best thing I''ve ever seen. Such impurity! I love it! Moving on, in a distance of about 50 meters, I can see something we call a camel. You know, it''s that giraffe that ate too much and then grew old and short and its back started having legendary curves that, by themselves, should be enough for it to be given the title of Ms. World. Wow! I just said a hag should win Ms. World. I am so epic! To get back on topic though, I can see a total of ¡­ 5 camels. And it seems like a group of people (their numbers I can''t pinpoint from this distance) are pulling them with harnesses that are attached to their mouth. Now, if I remember correctly (not saying I was the smartest kid in history or anything), but India, at this time, was under the rule of Britain, which they coined as ''British Raj''. And 1856, huh? ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Oh my holy mother, father, Yato, crap! The author didn''t just randomly choose any year to throw me back in. He actually thought about it, remembered all things he read in his history books, and chose the worst possible time for me to go back in. 1857 is when the Indian revolt began. More specifically, it was 10 May, 1857 that the mutiny that started the revolution this country got engulfed in for its next 90 years happened. If I were to try to get a good enough guess of what month we would currently be in here (judging from the sun''s burning heat here), it''s probably be somewhere around April to June. Meaning, that I and Danny were transported to, exactly, a year before that whole incident happened. But, for what godforsaken reason? What exactly do we need to do here? That skeletal bitch didn''t really answer me when I asked her. "Well, I guess if she had told us, the story would have ended." Wait! WHHHAAAAATT!!! Is that my trusted ability Plot Convenience I''m detecting in the hands of that bitch!? That traitor ability! It betrayed me, just like it did to Deku when he went up against Todoroki. "Are you lost?" I hear some unknown voice asking me that from behind. I see. A new character, huh? Not bad, not bad. It''s always fun to have a new character in the story. It just means more people to meme on. "Yes, actually I am." I say with a smug expression unlike anyone who would be lost and turn to look at the new guy. Well, turns out this new guy ¡­ is a girl. "I ¡­ see. I can help you with that." She offers help with a bit of an uncomfortable smile. Now, no offense, but I don''t expect to see an Indian woman in 1857 out in a desert like this, alone. Also, her accent makes her look like a natural at English. So, I think she''s a British woman. As far as describing her appearance goes, of course we''ll now have a detailed explanation of her features, you know, because she is a woman. Yeah well, no, actually, I can''t do it. "Is ¡­ something the matter?" she asks, a little confused by me moving my gaze away from her. Something the matter!? Everything is the matter. This kinda stupid story development! Reviewers, I beg of you, don''t give this guy more than a single star on story development! Like, I beg of you! Don''t! "W-why are ¡­" "Nothing!" I stop her mid-sentence. Dirt just went in my eyes is all. Ah, so where were we? Right, description ¡­ her description. Hah! On a heart-shaped face, almond-shaped-green eyes are present like ornaments. Then there is a straight nose and mouth very symmetrical to the rest of the face. She has stunning red hair quite akin to Rias Gremory from Highschool DxD, and that hair has been made into long, side-swept bangs. She is 5''5 tall, an inch shorter than me. And her skin is so pale that one might call it milky. However, she doesn''t have wings on her back. Yeah, I might not the smartest protagonist you''ll find out there, but I''m also not a Goku. I can tell what is going on here. I can tell that this woman ¨C is Roswaisa, before she became an Angel. That, is probably the reason we were sent to this place in this time. "So, uh," I ask while trying my best to hide my expressions, "I''m trying to find a guy. He looks stupid and he is, but he is also a really nice guy ¡­ and a friend." I say to her words that I do actually mean, even if they would never come out in front of the guy in question. "Can you help me find this guy?" I ask with a smile, and ¡­ not a fake one at that. Seeing my smile, she finds herself confused but cheers up a bit as well and returns my smile with, "Sure." ***** 31 Clinic Well, Roswaisa, in her original form, is standing before me. She is wearing frost-colored classic British attire that you''d most likely only see in historical movies and shows in case you are not from or have not visited Britain. "Before we start searching for him though," I have just asked her to help search for Danny with me, and she has agreed. However, before that, "I''m Irium Glice. A badass." I introduce myself, quite truthfully at that. "Ookaaayy! Nice to meet you, sir." She says with an awkward smile and continues, "I''m Adonia Evans, a traveler who is currently visiting this country." Wait! She is a traveler? "I ¡­ see." But as she sees my expression, looks like my thoughts get through to her as she nods in denial and says, "Don''t worry. I have come to know the area at least well-enough to help you look for your friend." She says with a smile. Well, that''s good to hear. To be honest though, the goal isn''t really to get to him but to bring him to us. After all, the person we came here for seems to be in front of me. "Well, shall we get going then?" She asks with a smile and I have no reason to say no, aside from a question that has been bugging me. In a country that after having two of its parts being made into separate countries, still remains the seventh largest in the world, how are we supposed to find Danny? I mean, yes, I know he''s not going to be on another end of the country or anything cause the author isn''t totally an asshole but still, this place is too damn large! How are we supposed to find a Danny in here? ***** Well, seeing how it is quite hard to find Danny like this, I decided I should a pay a visit to a local doctor and start asking about him, and so I told Roswaisa, or Adonia, to take me to the nearest clinic. But as we arrive there, we see that there is a big line. Actually, it''s just 5 people but still, they look like they have been waiting for too long and are irritated out of their minds right now. Seeing their irritation clear on their faces, I and Adonia simply stand a little away (because there are no seats) and wait. And then, "Mane heklo chhodo ra!" or so comes the voice of a man loud enough for me to start remembering of Loudred from Pok¨¦mon. Man, that thing was an annoying creature! As I look in the direction the voice came in, I see a 6 feet tall man with a moustache in the shape of a car''s steering handle, looking quite angry, and showing that anger to a 5''3 man with moustache and beard arranged in the shape of the steering of a car. The little one needed to look at the sky to have the big one in his view and then, "Naa oye!" the small one says in an equally angry voice and then tries to hit the big one on his head, but he had to jump to reach it so ¡­ yeah, that''s what we have the word ''lol'' for. Well, Irium, ignore it. There''s no point in getting involved with a couple of Loudreds. Yes, ignore it, ignore it. "That looks serious." Adonia states quite worriedly. "Is one of the two your lover?" I ask in a disappointed voice and she jumps in surprise and then becomes angry and says, "Does it look like I have time for that!?" Wow! It''s like you are some kind of celebrity with no time to spend on relationships. Too bad, you are just a foolish little woman who had to beg me for being summoned. "If it''s not the case," I continue without retorting to that, "then ignore them." Hearing that, Adonia looks back at the two, then looks at me, then looks back at the two, then at me. What? Are you trying to decide which one of us you should marry or something? Well, I had actually intention to actually ask that but she says before I could, "I think we should help out." She says in a slightly awkward manner, regaining a bit of a smile on her face. Good, good! You look better with a smile. "So, anyway," I ask dejectedly, "if you wanna help out, at least tell me what they just spouted?" I knew this was going to happen so I am not that disappointed, but being dejected is a different. "What just happened?" I ask while looking at Adonia, who answers with a frown, "From what I know, that little guy is the older brother of the big guy." Why? Is this Fullmetal Alchemist? "The little brother said, "Leave me alone!" and the older one retorted with, "No, fool!" Well, that''s what I can understand so far." I see. A siblings squabble, huh? Interesting! I wonder what happened. Are they fighting over the same woman or something like that? I mean, that''s like the plotline of half of Indian romance movies, so maybe it actually used to happen a lot in these days. And by the way, the plotline of the other half is Romeo-Juliet rip-offs, i.e., family being against the ''love''. Seriously, come up with a new plotline for your romance movies, India. Anyway, "How are you going to help them?" I ask her and she replies immediately, "First let''s go and listen to what has been troubling them." As I hear that, I close my eyes, sigh, then open them and put a hand on Adonia''s shoulder as I say, "The fan reception for you isn''t as strong as me anyway, don''t go saying things that generic anime waifus do." I say quite humbly, "Or the best market they''ll have for you is meme-market." Though if you are a character of Irium, you can''t really escape the meme-market but still, there''s a difference being used for memes because you are too badass (like Escanor) and being used for memes because you are a jackass (like Estarossa). "SCREW IT ALL!" and then a stupid voice of a stupid person comes from somewhere and brings me out of the meme-meditation I had secretly gone in. As I hear it, without anger, without contempt, like a saint, I say in a simple voice, "Well, that''s Danny!" ***** 32 Suspicion Well, we just heard Danny''s voice. And so, I say. "That voice was probably from the friend I wanted to find." I say without any reaction at all. And then, "Is that so?" she says in surprised. Yes, this is indeed a surprising development. Not for you guys, you read the chapter I wasn''t in and you knew he was going to be here when you heard that we have come to a clinic as well. But for me, it was a surprise. Anyway, now, what should we do? Should we help the two brothers with whatever it is they want help with? Should we proceed to meet up with Danny? Man, I feel like the protagonist of one of those visual novels, making the choice that will affect the story and all. Hah! It''s a good new experience to add to my protagonist journal and show it later to those characters born for joining my peanut gallery, impress them with this, and finally make them join my peanut gallery. Wait! Did I just come up with that whole plan on the fly? Hah! I''m awesome. "Okay then, you go and meet-up with your friend and I go help those two." She says with a smile. My Visual Novel Protagonist Rights just got revoked. Hah! I''m still awesome. There''s something coming out of my eyes, some sort of liquid. I''m awesome. It flows down my cheek. I''m awesome. It then drops off from my jaw line. Goddamn it all! "I''M AWESOME!!!" I shout at the top my voice. ***** "I see." The doctor, who looks after the clinic we were in, says with a serious face. Do you remember one of those characters whose whole purpose in life is to nod to other characters? Yeah, this guy looks to be of the same breed. "I can forgive you for the commotion you caused but," he pauses and looks at me on his right, "You''ll need to teach this guy some manners." He says while pointing at me. Now I of course can''t let a comment like that go without doing anything. And so I say, "Please forgive me, doctor-san." I press my head against the stool the doctor uses for making his patients sit and continue, "I will never shout something like that again. I''ll behave. So, please let me go!" Listen, I''m not a pussy. This guy has two radishes against an onion like me, standing there with rods in their hand, ready to kick some serious ass. I can''t ¡­ I don''t ¡­. I am not a pussy, alright!? Shut up! Moving on, "Doctor," the woman who was brought here with me because she was there with me says, "While I really doubt he''d change a bit, could you please still forgive him." Bitch! Do you want me to die!? Was that first remark necessary!? Are you a trying to play tsundere again, trying to act rude to the guy you like? Not that there should be any reason for Adonia to actually like, but that logic gets nullified by the fact that I''m the protagonist. "Hah!" the doctor sighs and touches his moustache, something I assume would be his habit, "Fine then, just go and never appear in front of me again." Stop acting like a badass, you ass! "Yes, I''ll make sure he doesn''t appear in front of us ever again." Adonia says with her head bowed and everything. Wait! Us? She said ''us'', right? What does that mean? Is she actually angry at me for some reason? I mean, that happens with tsunderes but we have already established the author is incapable of writing one. "Yes, you should do that." The doctor says. And then suddenly, "Hey, doctor! Are you going to really leave me like this?" comes the voice, the voice that lead me to shouting and the one that is the indirect cause for me being here. "Come back here and fix me up!" Fix him up? What the hell was this doctor doing with Danny!? That''s disgusting. I didn''t know he swung that way. I mean, I am not against it, but I had hoped he isn''t so shameless in front of our readers, regardless of whichever way he swung. "Yes, yes! Forgive me, sir!" the doctor replies in a meek voice. That kind of voice for Danny and, "Now get out of here!" That kinda voice for me? What''s wrong with this doctor? I mean, just look at me, I am the personification of good looks. The author asked Google-san, "What''s the best face shape for men?" "What''s the best eyes shape for men?" and so on in order to create me. He didn''t even bother visualizing a bit before mashing everything together to create the absolute beauty that is I. Eff you, doctor''s taste, for giving Danny more value than me! And also eff you, author-san, for not thinking as hard about my appearance as you did for Kais and Ethan! Anyway, the doctor goes and removes the curtains covering Danny as he lies on the bed, half-naked. Seriously, I was making gay jokes before; I am actually starting to get worried now. There are also marks on Danny''s body that suggests he has been hit by something a multiple times. Knowing how much of a masochist he is, that is just further proof of my thoughts being right. I am not at all against LGBT but if he is gay, why did used to get so frustrated on me when his ''girlfriends'' left him for me? "Ah, Irium, how are you here!?" he asks in a surprised voice. Was that a conspiracy? Was Danny plotting against me? Wait! Why ''was'', he could still be plotting against me. He could still be carefully planning his every move in order to destroy me. "And when did you come here!" he asks further. Who else is in on this? Is Dues also his ally in all this? Does that mean bringing me to this time-period was part of the plan? Was he trying to isolate me and kill me in a way where my body can''t be found? Was that it? "Oh, and there''s a beautiful lady with you too ¡­" as Adonia is about to thank for his compliment, he flips out and says, "Wait a minute! Is that Roswaisa!?" That grabs my attention and look back at them to see Danny''s surprise, at seeing Adonia, and everyone else''s surprise, at seeing his reaction. Seeing that, "Nah! I was being paranoid! He''s Danny after all!" All my suspicions wash away and I turn back to a saint! Oh so holy! Oh so memer! ***** 33 From The Future "Explain to me what''s going on." Danny asks with folded arms as we stand opposite to each other outside of the clinic. "What''s going on, eh? I don''t know much more than you." I say while shrugging. And then, the both of us turn toward the cause of distress. We turn to look at the scene inside the clinic, where the doctor is arguing with the two brothers I and Adonia saw before. "And where is Ms. Adonia, anyway?" he asks then. "Probably doing something stupid again." I say quite frankly what I expect her to be doing, "Something like trying stop all that." "Ah!" his surprise on hearing that dissipates within a second or two as he says, "That IS pretty stupid." "I know, right?" I say with a disgruntled expression but, "And we should and help her in this stupidity." Danny continues on to say, "Otherwise, we might never know what we ever have to do here." "I know, right?" I say with even more of a disgruntled expression. Man, this is turning pretty clich¨¦, the type of clich¨¦ I have no interest in even making fun of. What the hell!!! ***** So now that my suspicions over Danny being gay are lifted, we should probably try to find out more about Adonia. But, because my excuse for staying with her is now over, I will need to think something new. "So, Miss ¡­" Danny trails off voluntarily for Adonia to fill in the gap, "I''m Adonia Evans, a traveler. It''s nice to meet you, sir." She says with a pure smile, and I can guarantee you that if this gets adapted into an anime, then seeing that smile will start the NSFW fan-fiction of her, if it wouldn''t have started already that is. "I see." Anyway, Danny continues with a wider grin than before as he says, "Now you might not believe this miss, but me and my friend here ¡­" He purposefully stops so the doctor, his guards as well as Adonia''s gaze and attention both fall on his next words and Adonia even gives a cute "Hmm?" After that, he continues on to say, "are from the future." Well, he is Danny after all, shouldn''t have expected anything smart. "Hahaha!!!" "Hahahaha!!!!" "Haha!!!" "Hahahaha!!!" Four different sounds of laughter echo across the room. They are coming from the doctor, the two guards and ¡­ Danny. "Uh," I ask while looking at Adonia, "You didn''t find that funny?" She should have. I mean, it''s not like there''s any reason for her to believe him. "Was that ¡­ really a joke?" but then, she asks that with a questioning gaze while tilting her head a little. "I don''t know, for some reason, I don''t feel like I can just laugh it off." Didn''t know women in 1856 were so anime, but ¡­ but ¡­ that''s nice. "Iiirriiiuumm!!!" A clown says my name like a clown would and, "You alright, buddy? Feeling emotional or something there?" "What!?" I say with an angry face, "Do I, the man with a Jotarou face, look emotional too?" I mean, it''s not like Jotarou''s face ever changes no matter what emotion he is feeling so that''s that. And before toxic JoJo''s fans and memers start bashing the book saying, "There was that one time when his face changed ¡­" Yeah, whatever! That one time was rat-time. "You definitely look emotional to me." Adonia says a bit awkwardly, "Don''t know who this Jotarou is but if that is how he looks, he probably is quite a soft and gentle person." Wow! So Pure, So Flirtatious! Actually, the second part isn''t even there, I just like to feel like it is. "No, no, that''s not a Jotarou face he is making at all." Danny however, being the third wheel, says, "If I were to say who he looks like at present, he looks like Luffy from One Piece when he cries." Wait! What!? I mean, I consider being compared to Luffy a compliment but ¨C WHEN HE CRIES? That''s freaking horrible. What the hell do I look at this moment? Like a younger version of Donald Trump having a hat above him and drowning in ¡­ *cough* white fluid *cough*. "So anyway," I immediately change the subject as I realize this conversation isn''t going anywhere (not because I was getting ashamed or anything, a-alright?), "You think Danny isn''t lying when he says we are from the future?" I bring the conversation back to the topic, which is, why do her boobs look smaller than a C-Cup to me? Okay no, the topic is something else, even though that is obviously a bigger question. "No, I don''t think you''re lying, although believing something like this is also quite hard." She says with a smile and, "Then would you believe me if I said you are my wife, or to-be-wife at least?" I ask straight-forwardly. If she remembers something or there''s some other kind of other force working in a way that she is being made to believe us then it is better to just go all out. "Eh?" "Hah!" The doctor looks at me in disgust. "Bloody opportunist! Guards, throw this man out of here!" while I would really like to know why you were listening with interest whenever Adonia said anything and why your attitude changes so much when you are talking to me, I while keep that to myself right now, as I have defend myself against two elephants in human skin. "W-Wait!" before I even do anything though, Adonia puts up her hand and says, "I think ¡­ I think that too is something I''m being compelled to believe." Hearing that, I can''t help but smile. Well, I am smiling because that means that there''s some connecting force here that''s working in our favor and we will probably find what we need to do here soon enough because of that force. T-There''s absolutely no other reason to smile here, b-baka! No, I''m not tsundere, shut up! We have already established that the author can''t write tsunderes. Now, shut up! Stop laughing! Stop meme-ing! Bloody, heartless people! ***** 34 Ridiculous Developments As I am busy cursing the readers for being heartless and thinking I am a tsundere, some 6 feet tall man suddenly barges in the clinic. "Doctor SAAAB!!!!" he yells, to which of course, "What is it!?" the doctor replies furiously, "can''t you see I''m giving a lady some company here." Okay so, Adonia (or Roswaisa) maybe the most beautiful woman I''ve ever laid eyes on, that freaking doesn''t mean you can stop everything else to just look at her, especially if you are a doctor. And I guess Danny shares my thoughts. "Hey doc," he says as he puts his hand on the doctor''s shoulder and look at him like a psycho anime character when their inner psycho is about to burst forth does as he says, "Do your damn job!" The intensity in the air right now! The monumental scene that is happening in front of me! The epic new Danny moment that is going on in front of my eyes! That moment, THIS moment ¡­ "Guards, throw this guy out!" ¡­ ends with the doctor saying that. "AARREE DOCTOR SAAAB, MERI BAAAT SUNOOO!!!" the guy who had barged in earlier yells something in his language that I can''t really interpret but I can kinda guess what he is saying ¨C something like ''listen to me''. "HAH!!!" the doctor sighs exasperatedly as he says, "Bark, commoner!" What follows after that is a bunch of lines in whatever the regional or national language here is and I don''t quite know what any of that meant. Well, there''s also my wi- I mean, Adonia. "What are they saying!?" I ask while looking at her as I see the doctor conversing with that man after having gotten a little away from us. "I can''t hear clearly but," she says with a nervous face, "It looks like that guy, you remember this guy?" This 6-feet-giant that makes me look like a baby carrot in front of an elder carrot, yeah, I remember him. He''s the one who was shouting in the lobby alongside his ''elder'' brother. After getting a nod from me, she continues, "It seems like he had a fight with his brother and his brother, now, is in a critical state." What kind of stupidity is that!? "We should probably go take a look." Adonia says with her arms tightened into fists and, "Of course, Madame!" Danny agrees to her and they start dragging me with them as they run towards the lobby without giving me the time to think anything. Seriously, what is with these two, Naruto and Sakura, to my Sasuke? Why have both of them lost their minds and sanity to leave me with the only one who has it? I mean, you guys do know when your friends are stupid; you''ll end up going through 500 chapters of BS before actually having redemption and will end up becoming a hated character, right? Since I wouldn''t let something like that happen to me, it can only mean that this book is going to bomb against Naruto lovers. Oh boy, the conspiracies and idiosyncrasies of the market, it''s better to start raising a Yandere Demon Lord than be involved with this. ***** Having come out of the place we were in and seeing the elder brother fallen on the ground like someone hit him with an iron axe, we can only contemplate what to do next. Soon after, in anger, the doctor comes and, "Let me take a look at the patient!" he says as he makes the crows around the lying elder brother move away and goes on to check the guy''s pulses. "No, sorry, this guy is dead." SLAP! All of sudden, the younger brother slaps the doctor. "If you are a doctor, then save him." for the first time, I see him talking in English and it had to be this line of all things. "How dare you-" the doctor tries to retort but, SLAP! He gets it on the other side as well. "If you want to live, then save him." for the second time, I see him talking in English and it had to be this line of all things. "You piece of-" SLAP! "If you are a human, then save him." "You-" SLAP! "If you are ¡­" ***** And so, that brings us to the situation where instead of any type of ''saving'' happening for the elder brother, those idiots are just fighting. "Well, let''s go do something or Adonia will do something stupid." I say to Danny as we have decided to help them (read the goddamn last chapter in case you don''t remember). "One thing before that though," he says as he takes out a deck or cards. "While I would prefer to not use these against ordinary people, I can''t just have them do whatever they want to me, can I now?" That reminds me though, "By the way, why were you in the clinic? Who had hit you so much?" I find it absolutely stunning that this man was able to find someone to hit him already. He is quite the talented masochist. "Oh, that. There was a guy who wanted to become my student or something." He says with an uninterested face. "I see. Where''s he now?" I ask with a more than interested face. "Lying upside-down on top of a well!" he says. "SOMEONE HELP ME!!!" an unknown voice comes just then. Hearing it, Danny points and says, "You heard that voice the author just put in for the sake of convenience? That is the voice of that stupid brat!" Danny says, smirking like an evil villain. Or, you can just say he is smirking like Megumin was in that one smug meme face that got so popular it made her the ''best girl'' according to the viewers. "Well, that''s a disturbing sight to imagine, so let''s just not." I say and start heading in. now that I have had some fresh air, I think I can go and destroy a few people with my awesomeness. "Folks!" I yell to grab all their attention. "Cease your mundane squabbles!" They all stand silent in awe (not pity, not at all) of my awesomeness (no one pities me for saying that, okay?). "If you want to fight, I''ll give you something better to fight over." ***** 35 Reason To Figh After I proclaim that I can give all of them something better to fight over, for a moment, there is silence. No one dares to speak a word as they look at my legendary figure. And then, "What better reason to fight can there be aside from my own brother''s life?" the younger brother with the handle mustache says in a slightly annoyed voice. "Yeah, there''s literally no reason better suited to fight than the fact that I was disturbed in giving this beautiful lady company." The doctor with the stupid mustache then says, in a slightly more annoyed voice. "Hah!" I sigh in mockery when, "Give them a reason to fight is not what we have to do." Danny says, in an ever more annoyed voice. "You idiot!" I say to Danny, "The whole scene was perfect for me to say my next line to the doctor and you just ruined it all." Danny looks at me in confusion as I continue, "See, this is why you never are able to get much protagonist privileges. And because, rarely, anyone other than protagonists gets the girls, you remain out there with 99 rejections, unable to put ''in a relationship'' in whatever ''book'' the author decides to call that top social media platform to avoid copyright." "Now, Irium," he starts shaking in anger as he replies, "You''re going overboard!" "Oh yeah!" I only smirk as I say, "Overboard in what!? Telling the truth?" "You take that back, Irium." Danny says as he looks at me as if he''s a yandere whose boyfriend is being ''taken away'' by me. "I won''t." I look back at him like I''m some stubborn shota who wouldn''t listen to anyone but the one he is a shota for, ahm, "I am a man of Gandhian philosophy; I won''t betray him by lying in his own country." "He isn''t even born yet." Danny says to retort but I, "Doesn''t matter!" I say that to retort, "The soul is eternal, not bound by time or space." And all the while we are discussing philosophy and all, the rest of the people there look at us with their mouths agape. No one dares to speak anything, until finally, "Could you guys get back to the topic?" the doctor says with a haughty attitude, which breaks pretty easily after both of us show him our glares and he says, "I mean, only if you want to." That said though, we should definitely get back to the topic sometime soon. It''s not like discussing philosophy with Danny of all people is going to help me anyway. "The topic, huh? What was it?" I ask in an irritated voice. "It was something like giving them a better reason to fight." Danny says with hands at his waist looking away from me. "Oh yeah, hey doctor," He jumps as I call him. "Repeat whatever you said as response!" "I ¡­ well ¡­" having realized that he was talking in a bad tone to the wrong person, the doctor now seems to be at a loss for what he should do. That though, doesn''t really make sense because he should just do whatever I tell him to. "Do I need to repeat myself?" I ask, asking less of what I actually did and more of ''Do you dare to make me repeat myself?'' and I ask in the best Gilgamesh voice I could, only the ''mongrel'' part was missing. "N-No, well, I said something like there''s no better reason to fight than the fact that I was disturbed when I was keeping company to that beautiful lady." "THAT WASN''T ALL, MONGREL!" I realize now how important ''mongrel'' really is. I respect you ''mongrel''. I mean the word, of course. "Yeah, I then point my hand towards the side where the lady is-" He trails off as he looks at the side he was and is pointing to have no ''beautiful lady'' there. Yeah, telling them that fact was the perfect retort I had planned to give, and this idiot spoiled it all once again by looking there by himself. What''s wrong with these people? "Hah!" However, it''s not like I can change things now that this has happened, all I can do is make a mental note to take revenge when I can and for now, proceed with what I was saying, "So, where is Adonia Evans?" I ask in a calm, collected and humble voice. They all then start turning to all direction and looking everywhere for where Adonia is but no one is able to find her. Even Danny, as he notices that, starts getting nervous because of him being a Danny. Then, as the valiant leader of men, I speak up the words that everyone required to hear the most, "WHERE ARE YOU, ADONIA!?" I yell at the top of my lungs in the hope that a response comes back ¡­ and it doesn''t. ***** "DUES!!" I hear an angry sounding female voice calling my name as the owner of that voice enters my hideout, not by the elevator, but by literally breaking through every floor. "Would it kill you to not do that every time you come here, Aknin?" I ask begrudgingly knowing she''s not going to listen. "That''s not important!" she says while shaking in fear and yells at me, "Is it true that you have let that man escape from here?" I don''t reply, which only brings more frustration to her as she continues, "Why would you let him escape? Do you want to be a hindrance to me?" She says while gritting her teeth, however, I reply calmly, "He hasn''t escaped." It''s the truth. And there''s no reason to not tell this truth, "He has just gone back in time, with all intentions of coming back to the present ¡­ with Roswaisa." "Tsk!" she tightens her fists and runs towards me to give a punch on the face, too bad she can''t do that because the whole place we are in is my playground. I can control anything in here, even going so far as to make the ground melt and capture her leg in it as if it''s a bog. "There''s something you need to know, Aknin." She looks with irritation but does look as I say that, and so I continue, "I didn''t give the prophecy I gave for you to be able to change it." I say with a smile, no, a grin, "The demon race IS going to die, and they are going to be the one to kill all of you." ***** 36 HIM "I didn''t give the prophecy I gave for you to be able to change it." I say with a smile, no, a grin, "The demon race IS going to die, and they are going to be the ones to kill all of you." Because her legs are now taken hold of by the floors, she can''t move any closer to me. She does still try though, and fails miserably. "This isn''t going to end well for you." She says angrily to which, "Tell me something," I ask with a straight face, "Why did you leave the job unfinished anyway?" She looks away and clicks her tongue on hearing that. Why though? "If you had killed Irium earlier, you wouldn''t need to be so troubled right now." I say plainly. "You are the one who left the job unfinished and made it possible for this to even happen." And why did she do that? Why did she leave Irium after she had already killed Roswaisa? I am pretty sure she could have easily killed him, especially with Roswaisa gone. "I ¡­" she says, or at least tries to but soon trails off and doesn''t show any intention to continue. She instead presses her lips as a sign of saying she would not say any further. "So be it." And so I decide to stop asking as well and leave her where she is as I casually move away and sit on the stage. "Whether you tell me or not will not change what has already happened after all." "I should have never ¡­" She then says suddenly, "¡­ listened to that man." I just quietly stare at her as I hear her say that. My emotions are not very easily discernable in my original form because of my face being just bones. Right now, I am glad that is the case as I can''t contain my surprise at hearing her say that. "After killing Roswaisa," she continues in an agitated voice, "I saw HIM appearing before me and telling me to let Irium go for that day. He said it would be best for everyone if I do that." If she is talking about the man I think she is talking about, then this is bad. This is really bad. If HE is involved in this whole mess, then I have made an error in judgment, an error that could destroy all my plans, everything. ***** Whether I have my eyes closed or opened, all I can see is ¨C dark. Only blackness comes into my sight. Nothing is visible. I have no idea why though. There isn''t a blindfold over me, and I can feel the sun''s rays falling on my face so there''s light in the place where I am as well. However, I can''t see any of it. And then, "How is it going, Emerald Angel Roswaisa?" I hear a menacing voice of a man, probably in his forties, ask someone that question. Then, "Oh, I am sorry. You don''t even know who this Emerald Angel Roswaisa is, do you?" He laughs as he says that. What''s the deal here? Is he talking to me? It feels like it, especially because I can only feel the presence of the two of us here. But then, who is this Roswaisa? "Allow me to correct myself." he says while he keeps chuckling a little and, "How is it going, Adonia Evans?" He takes my name, which suggests that he definitely is talking to me. But, who is Roswaisa? Who is he? And what exactly is he asking me anyway? ''How is it going?'' I am unable to see and have no idea why, plus I am alone with a man I don''t know in a place that I don''t know, how do you expect me to feel? "There''s no need to get so worked up." He says in a gleeful voice, "I was just asking a basic question." I don''t get it. I am pretty sure my I didn''t let the anxiety and fear appear on my face. Then what is he talking about when he says I am getting worked up? "Oh, that?" his voice remains like before as he answers my query, "I can read minds." He says. And just for him to say that is proof enough that it is true. How else would he have known I was thinking that anyway? "That''s right, miss, it''s the truth." His voice finally changes, now growing plainer as he continues, "Now let''s get down to business, shall we?" From everything that I can feel so far, from his voice''s intensity to the little sound of his footsteps, he would be about 5 meters away from me. And now, after he mentions about getting down to business, he moves even further away. "I would want you to kill someone for me." he says in a plain voice. "W-what?" I hear him clearly but still ask that. And so, he repeats himself, "I want you to kill someone, and that someone is Irium Glice." He says, "While he will be killed sooner or later anyway, it''s much better if you do it." A bit of glee returns to his voice as he says that and I find it utterly disgusting that that is the case. However, "I won''t force you to do so of course, just know that if you don''t do it with your own hands," he says in a voice that clearly shows that he is enjoying himself, "you''ll have to see someone else doing it in front of your eyes." I ¡­ am left unable to reply to that, so he continues on, "Either of two works for me." And on, "It''s just that - YOU killing him is much more fun." And on, "Well, I might disappear now." And finally with that, his voice stops coming. And just as it does, a shine so bright enters my eyes that I am unable to see. After a few seconds, after calming down a little, I try to open my eyes once again. And this time, as my eyelashes part ways, I become able to see everything clearly like I always do. "W-what was that all about!?" And so I wonder that to myself as there''s no one there to answer. ***** 37 Doctor It has been an hour ever since the moment when I shouted out Adonia''s name and no response came back. For this past hour, it is obvious that we have been looking for her while the doctor has been talked into trying to treat that elder brother. Calling it fair and square, that doctor has a really bad personality. Jokes aside, the fact that he would rather not treat a patient for the sake of staying in the company of a woman is downright disgusting. However, for some reason, I wasn''t THAT disgusted with him. I can only wonder why that would have been. "Any clue?" Danny asks me as he runs towards me. I shake my head in denial. For the past hour, we searched everywhere we could, but we haven''t found a single thing that may lead to her disappearance. "Man, where could she have gone?" he mutters that and again starts heading in some other direction to look. But, "Danny, I have a question." I say that and stop him. He just looks back at me and urges me to ask. "When that doctor got angry on one of the two brothers for disturbing him, and then refused to treat his brother because he had gotten in a foul mood, what did you think?" Danny looks up and starts to mull over the question I just asked. "Did you feel as disgusted with him as you think you should have?" I ask further to clarify my question. While, right now, I can get as disgusted with him as I want to, at that moment, it didn''t feel like that. In the commotion that was going on, I didn''t notice this too much and Danny (possibly) didn''t either. "I didn''t feel disgusted at all." He answers after thinking for a moment. "Why could that be? Do you have any clue?" I ask. But, "I do have a clue." He says with a grim expression, "And it''s something I really don''t want to consider, but might have to." At present, when we are already dealing with the problem of Adonia disappearing plus we don''t know how exactly are supposed to save Roswaisa in the futre, caring about that doctor is something we can''t spend much time on. But, "Now that you have said it Irium," Danny, with a face turning from grim to horrified, says, "Adonia''s disappearance and this can be connected." "Wait! How?" I ask, surprised by his words. The sun is red right now, and his face is blue. He then says to me. "Come with me." he says and starts running ahead. I don''t argue and start following him. It seems like he is running towards where the clinic is. We aren''t very far from the clinic to be honest. If getting there is his goal, it won''t take that much time. However, unlike a cliched cut-off where no one knows what''s really going on, Danny actually answers my last question, "I think the doctor may have MADE her disappear." ***** "Where''s the doctor!?" Danny huffs as he asks the younger brother. "He''s ¡­ uh, treating my brother." the younger brother somehow manages to say that, despite not being very good at English. And as he hears that, Danny immediately runs to the doctor''s chamber. He gets stopped by the guards however. "Tsk!" he clicks his tongue in annoyance at that and motions me to go in there. I do so. He holds the guards back as I enter the chamber. I have no idea what to actually do here but I trust him and enter. And, "¡­" I stare silently at the place. "What do you see there, Irium? Tell me!" Danny shouts from out there and I can clearly understand why he was in such a rush to come here. "Hey, answer!" he yells as he is unable to come in. Then, the hands of one of the two guards falls on my shoulder and he drags me back outside. There, as I fall on the ground, Danny and the younger brother come and ask together, "Did you see something in there?" "Yeah!" I say with a breaking smile, a smile that is definitely not out of happiness. "It''s just as Danny suspected." I say. Danny''s eyes grow wide. The younger brother though, not understanding what I meant, asks for clarification. And so I give him clarification. "Your brother is completely fine now." He hears me say so and gets up. His face is filled with surprise and happiness. Of course, it''d be. He may not realize it now though - how less surprised he is. "It really is true, huh?" Danny asks. I nod. Yeah, it is true, alright? A dead person that was that elder brother has now come back to life. And the doctor, "He''s not in there." I say as I look at him. He clicks his tongue and, "I suspected that much." For whatever it is we are supposed to do in the 1856 India, we have no idea so far. However, we have found at least one thing that might lead us to the answer. That doctor is no ordinary person. For what it''s worth, "He definitely has some supernatural abilities too." Danny says with a grim face. I am terrified right now of what the truth may hold for us. I am also worried as to where Adonia is. I am also anxious as to how we are supposed to save Roswaisa. And I am also shocked about the truth that the doctor is not an ordinary person, and we just now realized it. "Hey, you two!" the younger brother comes and says with a smile. "I found the woman you were looking for." He says, causing both of us to be shocked. I immediately get up as I hear that and he continues, "She was inside there all along." We look at each other and immediately start running. This time, the guards don''t try to stop us either and so we both enter into the chamber. There, we find Adonia, who was definitely not here when I came in, sitting casually on the chair the doctor is supposed to be seated at. "¡­" "¡­" We both remain silent at that site and, "Uh," she says as she looks at us and tilts her head, "do I know you two?" ***** 38 80 "Uh," she says as she looks at us and tilts her head, "do I know you two?" Her words leave us stunned, and in disbelief. But somehow, Danny manages to say, "Y-yes, we haven''t talked much but," he gulps once and continues, "we have met before." Adonia tilts her head, not remembering anything it seems. This is a torture, one that I want to see ending soon. After we got a little clue as to what we are supposed to do here, this happens!? "Don''t you remember, Ms. Adonia?" Danny continues, "We told you about how both of us are from the future." "Hmm?" she looks even more confused as she hears that, and then questions, "Who is Adonia?" "Huh!?" "Huh!?" Neither of the two of us is left able to answer that. "I am sorry but it seems like you have got the wrong person." She stands up and humbly bows as she says, "My name is Roswaisa." Tsk! Just what happened? Just what exactly happened? Who really was that doctor? What exactly did he do? How could he make us suppress our emotions towards him like that? And what in the world did he do to Adonia? "I ¡­ see." Danny asks in a shaky voice, "I don''t want to be rude but, could you please tell me ¡­ how old you are, Ms. Roswaisa?" She gets taken aback by that question and starts wondering about it. As she does, Danny looks at me and nods. I do understand what he is trying to say and what the point of asking this question is. And so, I keep my ears wide-open to hear her answer. "Well, I don''t really mind answering." She puts a hand on her chin as she speaks. "I am 80-years-old." A cold sweat runs down Danny''s face. I have no idea what in her age makes that happen but I should keep in mind that this Roswaisa, while also less than 100 years old, could possibly be of a different age than the one we encountered. "I see, miss. It''s kind of you to answer." Danny somehow manages to regain composure (or fake it at least) and says, "We really were mistaking you for someone else. Please forgive us! And we should get going now!" As she hears that, she brightly smiles at us and says, "Sure! May we meet again!" Danny bows. I do too. And we leave. As we leave, we see Roswaisa gently smiling at us, and it only makes both of our hearts pain. ***** Outside of the clinic, where only the two of us are, I say with folded arms, "Now tell me everything I don''t know about this." Danny nods, takes a long breath and then says, "For Angels and Demons, a 5-year-time is as big as 1-year is for us. Now, you can calculate what her age in human terms will be from all that." If that is indeed the case, then in human terms, she will be a 16-year-old. At least, physically and mentally, that is how much she would have matured. Or so I believe is the meaning of what Danny is saying. And he confirms that my guesses are right by nodding to me and continues, "An 80-year-old Angel or Demon becomes capable of being summoned. Therefore, right now, she is at that point in her life when she would start being summoned by humans like me who know mage-craft." Okay, I get what he is saying so far. But, that still leaves me with no answer as to what really is going on. Seeing my confusion, he continues, "We know for a fact that this time-period, the time of 1856, is too early for her to have become an Angel, and so, being in this time-period as an Angel, can only mean one thing." Oh ¡­ god! "This was probably her first summoning." Roswaisa told us that Danny summoning her was the second time. She also told us she failed the first-time. She didn''t tell us where and when she was summoned though. It could be this time-period. And if that is the case, "Yes, having two of her in the same time-period could cause paradoxes. So, by some law or by human interference, probably the latter, Adonia Evans is being kept away from her." Meaning that Roswaisa we saw earlier is not just Adonia who has somehow gained all the memories that 80-year-old Roswaisa would have. It means that there is two of her in this time-period and the one we met is not the one we had met before. "As for the rest of mysteries, I have no answer." He states calmly but grimly, "And there''s only one person I know who might know the answers for that." "That doctor!" he is the only link we seem to have to all the problems that have occurred, "We need to find him." ***** The two men who mistook me for someone else before. Remembering their expression makes me think that they were really worried about whoever that person was that they mistook me for. Their worries were clear in their eyes. I hope, whoever that person is, they are safe. "Ms. Roswaisa!" I suddenly hear someone calling out from behind. This man wears a uniform that you''d find most doctors wearing, a white lab-coat type of uniform on plain shirt and pants, and has a big mustache. He is a bit fat and short and kinda like a doctor you''d see in fiction than the ones you''d mostly find in real life. Anyway, he is the one who summoned me here, the first summoner of mine. However, I am a bit bothered by the fact that those two men were acting like I was the only one in the room, like the doctor wasn''t even here. "I can tell what you are wondering from your face." That''s a lie. "You can''t do that." I say with a chiding expression, "You can just read my mind is all." And as hears that, he chuckles and says while holding his ears in a show of apology, "Please do forgive me! But yes, you are right! I have read your mind and because I have, I know what you are wondering about. So let me answer that for you." I urge him to go on with a nod, and he says, "It''s because I had made my presence disappear at the time. It is a little mage-craft we call Absolute Frost Requiem." ***** 39 Where? "It''s because I had made my presence disappear at the time. It is a little mage-craft we call Absolute Frost Requiem." "Absolute Frost Requiem?" I ask as I tilt my head. "Yes, it is a really special ability." He says proudly, "And it is not really unrelated to why I summoned you either." That''s ¡­ surprising. I can only urge him to speak further as I listen closely. "I don''t have very long to live." There is no grimness or sadness in his voice as he says so, "Therefore, I want someone to learn this technique from me, the technique known as Absolute Frost Requiem." And ¡­ he wants ME to learn it? "Yes, I do want to you to learn this ability." He says calmly after reading my thoughts. I see. It''s not the type of requests I had generally heard being made by people. "Diamond Angel Roswaisa, for you, time-periods are irrelevant, aren''t they?" he asks as he bows his head, taking me by surprise. But, I answer, "Yes, they are. I can be summoned a million years in the past or a billion years in the future. They don''t matter to Angels and Demons." I am a bit nervous as I say that. "Hah!" he sighs and continues, "That is why I ask this of you. If you can learn this ability, then this one creation of mine that I am so proud of will become eternal." While I wouldn''t go so far as to call myself eternal as I can die too, I can kind of understand his wish and the motivations behind it. "Therefore, my request for summoning you here is for you to learn my ability ¨C Absolute Frost Requiem." ***** "What do you think his reasoning for doing any of this could be?" Danny asks me with a serious face but it''s not like I can think of anything to be honest. "¡­" I don''t have any answer to give and, "¡­" so is the case with him. It is obviously really important for us to find out what reasons that doctor has for doing anything that he has done so far. But I don''t know, how are we supposed to find out? We don''t know where that guy is. We don''t even have a hint as to where he might be. What are we to do here? "Considering this time-period is 1856 of India, maybe this whole situation has something to do with the revolt that happens a year later." Danny says. Well, it''s not a bad guess but how? We still don''t get any answers here. "What are you proposing?" I ask dejectedly, "That we go to Meerut or something?" Meerut is the place that revolt happened in. However, it is only a guess so far that the revolt has anything at all to do with the mess we are in. For all we know, it could be a coincidence that we were sent back to 1856. We shouldn''t jump to conclusions. "Nothing comes to mind, does it?" he asks dejectedly. "No." I answer even more dejectedly, "not even any anime references." Seriously, how long has it been since I made any references? I feel like my character is wearing off or something. "Hey!" and then a voice calls to us. "What are you two doing?" It''s the voice of the younger brother. "Just brainstorming." I answer. "I ¡­ see. Don''t know what that means but the doctor is calling for you." Wait! What!? I look at Danny and he seems to have shared my reaction. Justified, obviously! "Where is he?" Danny asks in a rushed voice as he looks at the younger brother. "Where he always is." He answers calmly and drearily and goes back into the clinic. We immediately head-in too. But just as we enter, we see something quite awry and also, clich¨¦. Everybody in the clinic looks like they have had their life drained out of them. They are staring at some void like they are zombies or something. "Could this be his doing too?" I ask Danny. "The younger brother, earlier, accidentally killed his elder brother." Danny says. And only when he says that, I realize how stupid that situation was. How can he ACCIDENTALLY kill his brother with his bare hands? There''s just no way a human can hit so hard. As the logic in my mind resembles Danny''s thinking, he continues, "And that means that the doctor was doing something to cause that effect too, maybe a heightening of emotions or something." He continues in a contemplating voice, "Maybe what we are seeing right now is the after effect of it, an extremely low-point of emotions. Either that, or we are just seeing an ability that is the vice-versa of that ability." Both are possible. And regardless of which one is the case here, we have to go to the doctor''s chamber right now. So, we both do. We run and reach there within seconds and enter. And then, "Welcome!" He says with open arms while getting up from his chair. "What the heck is going on, you bastard!?" Danny asks in an angry voice and to say I don''t have the same level of anger burning inside me would be a joke. "Nothing really, I just wanted to tell you something." He says with a smirk, "I just wanted to tell you where Adonia Evans is at the moment." "Uh!!!" "What!!!" We are both left unable to answer after hearing those words coming out of his mouth. He says he would tell us that, and so easily? But why? "So, shall I?" As if to mock us, he asks us that. While clicking my tongue and holding in my anger, I say, "Yeah, go on!" We can''t simply trust every word he says but hearing what he has to say is still better than knowing nothing like we are now. "Okay then, the woman known as Adonia Evans is right now ¡­" he looks at us mockingly and continues, "Aboard a train to Meerut." We are left unable to respond because of the shock as he continues, "If you want to find her, go there. And do hurry, as this game of cat and mouse is just now getting started." ***** 40 Sanctuary For The Sinners "What do you mean it''s just getting started?" Danny asks while gritting his teeth and then, he moves on to a much more important seeming question. "Who are you really?" "Ha! Haha! Hahahaha!!!" the doctor just laughs as he hears that. For whatever reason he laughs is not important, what''s important is the fact that he laughs. "So, is that it?" I ask in a serious tone, "You aren''t a human either." He doesn''t seem like an Angel or Demon. Both of them, coming off from the examples of Roswaisa and Aknin, have a presence that''s hard to miss once you find out about it. However, this guy doesn''t have any presence like that. So, he is not an Angel or a Demon. And knowing that made the two of us drop our guard and start thinking he was a normal human. Danny may have suspected him to be something other than human at some point but he probably assumed that he wouldn''t be defeated by the doctor and so ignored it. That was a foolish move, but understandable nonetheless. He is not a human. I can tell that much now. The way laughs, no human would. I have seen people laughing on their own lame jokes as well as their own suffering. This laugh is akin to that, akin to the masks people put on, not the real smile that a person would have upon being happy. If he can''t even laugh on our suffering right now, then he''s probably not human, for humans are the ones who laugh on other''s suffering. That''s what I believe at least. "Well," the doctor sighs and says, "I am a definitely not an Angel, a Demon or a human." He says as he gets up from his chair. "Then who are you?" Danny''s voice becomes less agitated upon seeing that inexplicably calm voice of the doctor. He continues to ask though, "Answer me who you are." "Sure, sure." The doctor says as he starts walking towards us with his hands behind his back. "I am a serial killer." He says so with a voice cold enough to send shivers down my spine, "I am a monster that once was a human, but no longer is considered one, by law, by people, or by myself." Hearing that, however, helps Danny realize his real motives. "If you are a serial killer, you are probably going to go hell when you die." he says in a grim tone and the doctor just plainly nods to him while stopping in his footsteps. "But what if the demon race dies? What if there is no hell? Or, even if there is, what if it doesn''t have its residences?" Danny questions. I understand what he is trying to say, and it is a terrifying thought. "Hell would become a sanctuary for the sinners." Danny says, and his own head starts aching as he thinks about it. For whatever reason, there has been a prophecy that I and Roswaisa would end up killing the entire Demon race. If that happens, this guy and people like him benefit. And so, whatever he is doing should be good for us, at least for now. "Are you trying to save Roswaisa then?" Danny asks the question that my thoughts lead to. "Yes, definitely." The doctor calmly answers. "How?" I ask. "Well, there''s only one way for her to become capable of stopping a monster like Aknin Vielos." He answers, "It''s for her to become a higher-level Angel. Her Frost Requiem, if she''s a higher-level Angel, would be capable of taking out Aknin." He seems to be saying that the reason she failed was that she was a lower-level Angel. If that is the case, "How do you know what happens in the future where we came from?" I ask, almost not wanting to believe in the answer that he is trying to make obvious. "Hah!" he sighs in response as he sees me childishly trying to avoid facing the reality and, "I am from the same future you are from." "¡­" "¡­" "I used my own methods of coming back to the past. It''s just that my method doesn''t exactly send me back but just my consciousness. And so, I ended up taking the body of whoever this doctor was." He explains calmly. "After that all happened, I summoned Roswaisa and made sure Adonia Evans is far away from her." That still doesn''t answer every question though. "What was the purpose of summoning Roswaisa?" Danny asks. "Well, the purpose for that is to try to kill Irium." As the doctor says that, I merely move back in shock and Danny clicks his tongue. However, as Danny is getting ready to attack, the doctor puts up both his hands as if trying to surrender. "Don''t get me wrong, you two. I am not trying to end Irium''s life." He says, "Didn''t she tell you two that the first time she was summoned, she ended up failing the request made to her?" I ¡­ do remember that. If this really is the first time she is being summoned, then it makes sense that she would fail. "And because she will fail," the doctor continues, "she will form an unprecedented connection to you." He points at me as he says all that. "And what will that connection be for?" I ask. "Hah! You guys really don''t know much about summoning, do you?" the doctor says with a disappointed look. "Think about it, when time-periods are irrelevant for these deities, shouldn''t all the time-periods they are being summoned in be considered their first summoning?" That ¡­ makes sense. But, that probably doesn''t happen for whatever reason this guy is going to tell us now. "The order of summoning only proceeds with connection." He says with a slight grin, "If she makes a connection with you two, then her second summoning will either be by one of you or someone you know." That does fit with what happened. But, if that''s really true then, "Yes, I am trying to alter the past just enough so that her second summoning remains with you two, which of course will be proceeded by her third summoning being with you two as well. But, at that time when she is summoned, she will be stronger than before, strong enough to kill Aknin Vielos." He turns around after saying so. But before either of us tries to stop him from walking away, "At present she is only a Diamond Angel." He tells us so, "I am sure the ''me'' of the past had summoned her the first time and asked her to learn Absolute Frost Requiem. That is what made her capable of becoming an Emerald Angel by the time of her second summoning." He says with his hands on his chin, "Therefore, I need to something more this time. Just a little more push!" He says and ¡­ disappears. "Where''d he go?" I ask as I look around. But, "Forget him, he is a serial killer. He probably has learned a bunch of abilities that let him get away from his pursuers. There''s no point in trying to find him now." Danny says with a grim look. And with that, we realize that the doctor is on our side. And, by learning that, we also realize that we will be the reason that the sinners of this world will find a haven after their death, instead of the purgatory that currently awaits them. ***** 41 Role Given By Fate "Why did you listen to that serial killer in the first place?" I ask Aknin who is being held captive by her foot drowning in the floor as if it''s quicksand. "I felt compelled to." She clicks her tongue in irritation on remembering it, "I don''t know how he did it but he overpowered my senses and made me follow his suggestion." Wait! What!? I always knew he was a conniving bastard but, he is powerful enough to overpower a Demon''s senses. And no mere demon either, it was Aknin, one of the most powerful demons out there. Even if it was hypnotism, how could it be this powerful? "Don''t ask me about that." she says before I even ask a word, "I don''t know the answer." It is clear that she is frustrated by the fact that she was overpowered by his hypnosis, and even more frustrated by the fact that she had no clue about how his powers got so insane. "Whatever happened, that bastard manipulated me into leaving Irium alive for the moment." She says with clear anger at her own actions. I can understand his motives a bit. Having the demon race annihilated would be good for sinners like him. After all, it is only because demons exist that sinners have to fear death. If they stop existing, then wouldn''t hell become an empty playground for them? "The look on your face," Aknin scowls at me as she says, "It tells me you know how the end of our race will be bad for the world." "Yes, that I do." I say quite plainly. "Then why are you trying to let it happen? Why are you stopping me?" Aknin asks with a yell. I don''t answer. "Tsk! Is it just because of the prophecy?" And so, she continues, "Is it just because you can''t have one of your prophecies turned wrong." "Well, that wouldn''t concern me all that much." I am not really impressed by that deduction of hers, and I think she would be able to pick it up from my voice and expression. "Tsk! Then why?" she says while writhing in anger, "Is Roswaisa so dear to you?" What a joke! "Of course not, Aknin. I would, in fact, love to see that bitch die." I say plainly, "And before this becomes your next guess, it isn''t because I don''t want her to die before she is fated to either." Aknin sighs in exasperation and looks at me with contempt as she says, "Then what the hell is it for?" "It''s because of your race." I answer calmly and truthfully. "Your race, the demon race, has grown dysfunctional." Her surprise on hearing so soon turns into anger. But before she lashes out or anything, I continue, "The demon race is supposed to be the top of the evil. They are supposed to be the most heinous race in existence." Yes, they were meant to be that way. "But, with time, your race has stopped being completely evil. You have learned things like respect, compassion and so on." "That''s not ¡­" "HOW IS IT NOT TRUE!?" I yell in anger. "You yourself respect your superior, Rain Green. Do you not?" Respect is a positive emotion. It is not something that a demon should have. Yet, they are many demons who respect those demons that have superior strength to them. That''s not how it is supposed to be. Demons are meant to feel jealousy and start hating those who are more powerful than them. They are meant to greed over that power and try to take it by the most heinous methods possible. But, that''s not how it goes with them in the present. That''s not how demons act these days. "Even if your race exists, you aren''t much of a punishment for the sinners who end up in hell to be honest." The race that has all the negative emotions, the race meant to take them out on sinners and make them repent for their actions, is now nothing more than a cartoon. They can''t do a single thing. They are incompetent. They are foolish. They are hypocrites. And so, they are unnecessary. "No way!" she looks at me in shock as she says, "You aren''t trying to ¡­" "Yes, I am." I say with a calm voice. "The moment the prophecy of your doom came to mind, I decided that this was it. I would do all in my power to make sure your race dies." After all, it''s not like they are needed anymore, not in the state that they are anyway. "And after you are all dead and hell is free of your existence," After that, "I''ll rebuild you." "You can''t do that!!!" she looks at me in horror as she says so. But, she is wrong. "I CAN do that. I can''t create demons but I can help those races in hell weaker than demons to grow stronger and slowly but steadily replace you all." She becomes unable to respond to me. "I''ll turn hell back to how it was supposed to be." I say as I look directly into her eyes. And then, "But that''s not where I''ll stop." I say with contempt, "The Angels aren''t pure either. And so, they would later need to get the same treatment." And so, when that happens, everything will again become fine. Everything will turn to how it was always supposed to be. "When all of that is done, I will control the new Angels and new Demons." I say calmly, "And then I can make sure that things never get this out-of-hand in the future." "It seems to me like ¡­" She says in a horrified voice, "You are trying to become the one who controls both heaven and hell." Well, is that so? "Tsk!" she clicks her tongue and continues, "It sounds to me like you are trying to become god." "¡­" "You are trying to control both heaven and hell. Do you realize ¡­" "While that isn''t my intention," I cut her off once again as I say, "if what is required in order to save Heaven and Hell is for me to become god, then I will become god. I have no objections to that." After all, only someone like me who truly understands everything can dawn that role when times like now arise. Why would I possibly refuse the opportunity fate has given me? "Yes, I suppose you really are right." I look directly into her eyes as I say, "In order to correct everything, I''ll become god." ***** 42 Train "Hah!" I sigh as I look at the ground that seems like it''s moving backwards. "Everything back there was so stupid and funny. It feels like I was visiting the world of Angel Beats!" "Hmm ¡­" Danny looks at me with a contemplative smile, "It''s been a long time." "For what?" I ask. "For you to make an anime reference." He smiles as he says that. "Oh, that. Yeah, I guess. I haven''t exactly been in the mood to make a lot of them." "Fair enough." He says and turns back to look at the road. These past few days have probably been one of the worst days I have ever lived. How can you expect me to make anime references when that is the case? Still though, saying that the past few days have been one of the worst makes it sound like things have gotten better. In truth, they haven''t. They have grown worse in fact. The proof of that is the fact that the road seems like it''s moving backwards. When does the road look like it''s moving backwards? It happens when you move forward. And by moving forward, I don''t mean that in a good way. I mean that in a really, really bad way. "How long are you going to stare at the road like an idiot?" Danny asks while staring at the road like an idiot. "You are the one who has been staring at it like an idiot." I say while staring at the road like an idiot. "Hah!" he sighs and says with a deadpan expression, "For your kind information, it was your staring that made me start staring." "Hah!" I sigh and say with a deadpan expression, "For your kind information, it was your staring that made not want to stop staring." "Okay buddy, you were giving me flack before for copying your lines." He yells like the Klein rip-off he is, "Who is copying whose lines now?" "I haven''t exactly been copying them." I say while ignoring him like the Kirito I am, "I have been doing some innovations with them." He looks at me disappointedly. Anyway, it''s good to see him acting like Klein again. It is kinda jarring to see him acting like a not-so-stupid character whenever anything serious is going on and return to being Klein whenever seriousness is on temporary hiatus. Still, it''s quite convenient. And, by the way, if all that talk about road moving backwards didn''t make it clear, we are on a train. Since this is 1856, it wouldn''t have even been 5 years since trains started in India. As such, we couldn''t really find any passenger trains here. We had to get on a luggage carrier. If some official finds out about this, it''ll be bad. But, for better or for worse, no one will find out. That''s all thanks to the little hypnotic suggestion that Danny knows. "You know, man," I say as I look at the sky, "Sometimes it feels like you are someone worth respecting." "¡­" "I mean, think about it, you have actually contributed a bit in all that has happened in the past 4 days." "Irium," Danny looks at me as he says, "go die!" "Ha!?" "What do you mean ''Ha!?'' You bastard!" He starts yelling at me like an anime character, "I am the one who has been contributing something or other in every part of every arc." "OBJECTION!" "Ha!?" "Every part of every arc except the first part of first arc." I correct him. As he hears that, he grabs me by the collar and start shaking me like I am some kind of toy and says, "Fine, with that exception, I have been contributing somewhat in every single thing." "HOLD ON!" "Ha?" "You have been contributing in every part except the first one, but not in every single thing. You had no contribution in me kissing Roswaisa." "How? It was done to make me jealous." "True enough, monsieur. But even if there was someone else there who wanted a piece of her that badly, I would have done the same thing. You particularly didn''t really matter there." "Tsk! Fine!" He yells as he starts shaking me by the collar again, "Now with all that said and done, you are only NOW realizing that you should respect me!?" "Uh, yes!" "You bastard!" I can see tears forming in his eyes as he says, "And here I was thinking that I was gaining some respect from you. But no, it was just you doing whatever the bloody heck you wanted to when you weren''t in the mood to joke around and now that you are in it ¡­" "OBJECTION!" "Ha!?" "I am not exactly in the mood to joke, I am only indulging myself in this activity to keep my sanity." "Fine!" he starts yelling again, "Now that you are joking for whatever reason there is to do it, you again stop respecting me. Am I that unimportant?" SLAP! "What was that for?" Danny says with tears in his eyes. "You fool!" I stand up and look down on the peasant on the floor (the floor of the train of course) and say, "Even if you are just a half-weeb, I would still expect you to know that importance and respect do not necessarily go together." "Go where?" "Uh, I don''t know. But NOT IMPORTANT, PEASANT!" I yell as coolly as possible (regardless of whether yelling coolly is even possible) "Respect and importance are two different things entirely. One can gain more respect by people if he attacks giant, naked Teletubbies while spinning like a beyblade than being the main character of the story." The main character is obviously more important to the story but the guy who spins like a beyblade and attacks giant Teletubbies is the one people love more. Why? Because he''s cooler. And THAT is what respect is all about. It''s about being cool. "Irium, you" as he basks in my glory, Danny says, "said half of that only in your monologue. I couldn''t hear it." "Wait! I did what now!?" and only then do I realize my blunder. I started it like it was an epic speech but the most important part was left in the monologue. THAT BASTARD OF AN AUTHOR! "I also realized something else just now." Danny says calmly. "What!? What can possibly be more important than dissing that author!?" There can be nothing more important than making sure he goes in bed while crying like a bitch. "We missed the place we were supposed to jump off the train from." "¡­" "¡­" "Shit!" ***** 43 Meeru It ended up taking more time than we would have wanted to spend but here we are, at Meerut. And as we look at this new city we are in, we realize something. We realize that - "Well, it''s a pretty normal city." "Yeah! There''s nothing to really comment about." Danny says. "Well, let''s move on." Nodding to my suggestion, Danny takes the lead as we start heading into the city. If we would have never travelled back in time, we would currently be on a Thursday class. No, there aren''t any special classes on Thursday or anything like that. It''s just so annoying that those moderates of the alliance formed between Women''s Heart Group and that other group I forgot the name of try to lecture me the whole day about rejecting women without breaking their hearts or whatever. "Irium" "Yeah, what?" "If you are just dissing the alliance for all the lecturing they give you on Thursdays, you should probably know that it was all your bad karma of rejecting women again and again that led you in this mess." "Oh, is that so?" I ask with a condescending look, "And how are these two things connected at all?" "They aren''t connected though logic." He says while trying to flick the long hair that he doesn''t even have, "They are connected through ... WRITING!" "Oh!" So he is basically saying that I am being put through character writing where I have to face hardships and become a better person than I was before. If I had been a better person before, I wouldn''t be put through all these hardships. I see! I see! Author-san, go die in a hellfire! "Ignoring that though, let''s get back to the topic." I say while trying my best to ignore my thoughts about killing the author. "Oh, is the story getting more serious again!" He asks with a smile that he tries to hide as he looks at me. Oh boy! Look at the poor fellow getting so happy because he thinks he''ll become useful again. Well, if I say he wouldn''t be useful, the author will probably find a way to make him useful just to mock me. Therefore, I''ll have to resist the urge to comment on all that and continue with the progression of the story. "How are we going to find Ros-I mean, Adonia?" Because both of them now exist in this time-period, mistakenly calling one by the other''s name would be something I''ll have to look out for. In a crucial moment, a little error like this can become a big deal. "Well, it''s not going to be easy but we do have a few leads." Danny says with a smile. "Would you mind explaining what these leads are?" I ask casually. "First of all, there is the fact that ¡­" he starts trying to think of something. "¡­" "Well you know there''s the thing that ¡­" he again starts trying to think of something. "¡­" "Well, there''s, you know ¡­" Yare yare! We are doomed. ***** "Any progress so far?" I hear the voice of the doctor, the suddenness of which surprises me. However, he seems to be in a good mood, enough of a good mood for him to be smiling at least. "Well," I say casually, "I can''t grasp everything as of yet but I have made some progress with it." "That''s great news!" The doctor says with a big smile. Looking at him right now might make any Angel''s heart melt and would make him/her want to give their best. So, how can I be an exception? "That''s good to hear." I return his smile. "While it may take a little while, I think I can master Absolute Frost Requiem." He nods with a smile and says, "Yes, yes. However, you shouldn''t rush. It''s better to first learn Frost Requiem. It is a pretty powerful ability in and of itself." I nod as I do know that Frost Requiem, even by itself, is a very powerful ability. I had been taught about it in Heaven before. "Is something the matter, Ms. Roswaisa?" The doctor asks with a curious gaze as he sees me smiling. "Oh well, it''s just that ¡­" I trail off, not wanting to tell anyone about this because of embarrassment. "Go on, miss. Don''t be shy." He urges me to go on. And so I, after taking a long breath, do so. "Becoming a higher-class Angel had always been a dream of mine." I look away as I say this, "Even with just Frost Requiem, I can probably rise to a much higher-ranking among the lower-class Angels. After learning Absolute Frost Requiem, my power should be enough to reach the higher-class." It is a bit of an awkward thing to say but getting summoned here as my first summoning request was probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I''m so grateful for this. "I see. That''s delightful to hear, miss." The doctor then turns back and looks at the road. We are currently on the roof of a palace-like-structure you can say. We are only above two floors but these floors are super high. It feels like I''m sitting on top of a 4-floor building. Though to be fair, there are places in Heaven too where the floors are this high but I have never been inside one of them so this is a first for me. "Ms. Roswaisa," he calls out to me and says, "How''s this view?" "Well, it''s a great view." I do honestly think it is. You can see people walking down the streets from here and it makes you feel like you are on some kind of tower and gazing down at people from there. Only that this place has more room to be in than any tower generally offers. "Can I assume you like the city of Meerut?" he asks. "Yes, I do." I say while tilting my head, wondering why he asked something like this but, "I see." His voice grows cold all of sudden as he asks, "What if this city gets covered in red?" ***** 44 Earthquake "I see." His voice grows cold all of sudden as he asks, "What if this city gets covered in red?" "Huh?" I can only gaze at him in confusion as I hear that. Covered in red? What does that mean? "Why are you so confused? I mean exactly what I said, Ms. Roswaisa." His smile grows wider and his hands start trembling, seemingly from excitement, as he says, "It''s time to Colorado." ***** "Hey, you two!" a voice calls out, seemingly to the two of us. This voice is of a tall, old fruit-seller sitting in the shade of his tent while still wearing sunglasses despite not needing to. His appearance reminds me of evil-old-men from American cartoons of more than two decades or so ago. "What are you staring at? Can''t you see that I am talking to you? Come here!" With a grumpy voice and an uncharacteristically energetic hand swing, he calls us towards him. "What''s wrong!? Start walking already." Even though his words are forceful and his voice kinda annoying, it feels like he has something important to say. The two of us take one glance at each other and then go to him. "Good, good! You finally listened!" He says with a smile, "Youngsters these days seem to be so slow for whatever reason." While that definitely annoys me to much extent, I feel like there''s something really important this guy has to say so I should probably keep my impulses inside me. "Now, would you hold on to these for me?" he says as he gives one carrot to both of us. "Good, good!" For what it''s worth, the carrots seem to be pretty normal. And even Danny, who is capable of detecting magic and all, doesn''t give any warnings. But then, "Now you two die!" he says with a grin and suddenly, the ground starts shaking. "What the heck!? An earthquake!?" Danny wonders as he holds on to the fruit-seller''s cart. I too think of the same possibility but, "These things don''t go away!" "Huh!?" Danny wonders what I am talking about and so, "Danny, try to throw the carrot away!" I shout even though he is only a meter or so away from me. He nods and does as I tell him to, and the same thing that happened with me happens with him. The carrot does not leave the hand! It''s stuck to our hands! "Hey, old man. What is going on here?" Danny asks as he turns to the fruit-seller but, "Where''d he go?" He wonders, and I do too. The old fruit-seller who was sitting here just a moment ago is nowhere to be found. "Just what kind of trouble did we get ourselves into now!?" I say with a dejected voice. ***** "Ms. Roswaisa," the doctor straightens himself up as he asks, "Can you give an estimate on the number of Diamond Angels there are? Or do you actually know the accurate number?" While the question is a bit unexpected, I do know the number and I don''t think there''s anything wrong with answering. "The numbers are calculated every month by higher-authorities." I say with a lingering anxiety, "According to the latest counting, there are 3,198 Diamond Angels." Hearing that, the doctor smirks and looks back at me as he says, "And isn''t that quite a big number? Isn''t it really unfathomable how I was able to summon specifically you out of all these 3,198 Angels?" He''s not wrong about this being a question I can''t fathom. I have wondered about it but couldn''t find a single answer to it. I thought of asking him when I get the chance and this seems to be one so, "Why don''t you tell me how you did it then?" I ask with my anxiety rising. He smirks and says, "There''s only way to do something like that, Ms. Roswaisa. There''s only one way to summon one particular Angel or Demon out of all that exist." Yeah, that''s true. And that way is to use something that belongs to that Angel of Demon as catalyst. But, being that this is time first time I have been summoned to Earth, how could he have found something that belongs to me. Unless, "As you have started to realize, Ms. Roswaisa, this is the time-period where you were alive." No way! "The catalyst used in this summoning was the real you, the human you, the one whose memories you have now buried under that visage of an Angel." Wait! That''s ¡­ absurd. If that''s true then, "Yes. If you remember who you were as a human now, there will end up being two people with the same memories in existence, and that will cause a paradox." He smiles as he continues, "However, in order to completely learn Absolute Frost Requiem, you''ll need to have your memories back. If you don''t have them back, you would fail the first request for your summoning." Tsk! "Now I wonder, what would you choose, Ms. Roswaisa?" My hands tighten into fists ready to pummel someone, but they don''t move. My body shakes with anger but doesn''t move either. My teeth grit against each other but don''t move either. This doctor has left me in a deadlock and I can''t see any way to break out of it. Foolishly attacking this doctor won''t really accomplish anything either. What can I do in this situation? Before I am able to come to any answers though, the ground begins to shake. "An earthquake!?" I wonder to myself but, "Not really, Ms. Roswaisa." The doctor says with a smile, "It seems like my accomplice has done his job ¨C to trap the only people in this time-period you can rely on." "Trap!? People I can rely on!?" I don''t know what he means at all and can only stare back in confusion. And to that reaction, he says, "Ah yes, the people you can rely on, they are the ones who came to save your future-self from dying at the hands of a Demoness. But now, it seems that they themselves will be needed to pay hell a visit." ***** 45 Cerberus Instead of slowing down, this quake seems to be rising in intensity. All the people around us seem to be panicking as well. We know for certain this isn''t a coincidence but that fruit-seller is responsible for whatever is going on. That said though, that much is all we know. "Hey Danny, don''t you have any card that can help in this situation?" I ask as I turn around to look at him. "I do." He says as he takes it out in his hand, "And here it goes." What comes out of the card is a monster with three heads, appearance like that of a dog or wolf, and looking like it wants to devour life. Looking at it, I can tell what it is. And knowing that is more terrifying than this earthquake. "You have a Cerberus in your deck of cards!?" I ask a question I know the answer of very well. "As you can plainly see, I do." He says with a bit of an awkward smile. Holy shit! This guy is more powerful than I could have ever given him credit for. That all said though, "What is a Cerberus going to do in this situation though?" I ask him. "He is a hound of Hades, or simply a hound of hell. Now tell me, what are hounds good at?" He looks at me with a grin as he asks. Well, I get it. This Cerberus is going to sniff out that fruit-seller. Danny is betting on the probability of the guy who started this whole mess to know a way to stop it. That isn''t a half-bad plan to be honest. It basically is what any Pok¨¦mon trainer would do in a situation like this. The only thing is ¨C this Cerberus is too damn fierce and bloodthirsty to be called a Pok¨¦mon. I am worried it''d kill the fruit-seller as soon as it finds him, not even waiting for us to get there. "Now go!" Regardless of my worries though, I won''t stupidly go and stop Danny from sending this Cerberus to sniff out that guy. What other plan do we have aside from this after all? ***** "Who are you talking about?" I yell at him, unable to contain myself any longer. "Calm down, Ms. Roswaisa." The doctor merely smiles with calmness visible on his face, calmness that makes my blood boil even further. "You have already met them actually." "What!? I have met them!?" His next statement leaves me surprised. And in my surprise, I move a step back. As I do that, all of sudden I feel a really dark presence nearby. And soon enough, the cause of it becomes apparent as a Cerberus flies off in the air, lands on a roof and then jumps off from it. "Oh my!" the doctor says as he looks at that, "To think that they would send a Cerberus to hunt for him, it seems like the two of them are pulling all stops, aren''t they?" Two? Is he talking about the ones he just said are the only people I can rely on? If he is, then, "Ah!" the scene of the two men walking into the chamber and looking at me as if they knew me and were surprised to see me flashes before my eyes. "Those two?" "Yes, yes, those very two people." As this doctor can read my minds, it is safe to say that he knows exactly who I am thinking of. Then, the people I can rely on, they really were those two. And now that I know that ¡­ what am I supposed to do? "Now that you have heard all this, do you consider me a bad person, Ms. Roswaisa?" he asks all of a sudden. "Huh?" not the suddenness of the question though, it is the uncanny nature of it that leaves me unable to answer right off the bat. "I do only want you to learn that ability and then try to kill one of the two of them, Irium." He says as his visage loses its fake smile and, "Doing that will ensure that the future will be bright for me. I will be fulfilled by that." "Tsk!" What am I supposed to do? What, in heaven''s name, am I supposed to do? ***** Following the hound has been difficult, to say the least. We have to make sure we don''t let the continuously shaking earth cause us to bump into something that can hurt us. So, our speed has been slow. However, in Danny''s words, there''s no reason to worry because he can sense the direction as well as distance between him and Cerberus. Therefore, no matter how far we get from the creature, we can always catch up. I haven''t told him though that I am worried that his Cerberus will attack that fruit-seller. It is probably something he has thought of before summoning that creature because, believe it or not, he thinks when he really needs to. "Irium," he says as he looks back at me, "Why do I feel like I was being looked down on again within your monologues?" "Just your imagination." I tell him. And, it''s not a lie of course. I wasn''t looking down on him at all. I was just speaking (or thinking) a fact. "Anyway, how far is it?" "Well, Cerberus ¡­" he suddenly stops and turns ahead, his expression changing colors and his teeth gritting against each other, "After taking the right on the next cut-point, we''ll have to run 100 meters more." "Okay, and?" "And then we''ll find the guy we are looking for." I ¡­ see. So that means that this change happened because his Cerberus stopped, probably because he found the guy we are looking for. "You ready?" he asks as he looks back at me. I just plainly nod. And so he says, "Let''s go get that guy!" He yells so as he takes a right, followed by me without a second''s delay. But, as soon as we take that right, we find ourselves in a place that is definitely not where we were before. "What the hell!?" Danny says with a shocked expression, and I just stare at the scenery before me in awe and terror. Rocky walls like that of cave with hotbeds of steaming water running everywhere, and lava flowing down from the top of a cliff in a distance as if it''s a waterfall, but lava edition. "Looking at this, we are either in a volcano," I say, "or hell." ***** 46 Hell "Looking at this, we are either in a volcano," I say, "or hell." "Ha!" With a deliberate cackle, Danny says, "It''s probably the latter." "GGRRR!!!" a really dangerous-sounding voice comes from behind, causing us to look back in cold sweat. Fortunately, the voice came from the Cerberus that Danny had summoned earlier. Unfortunately, if it''s here, that means that there is no longer anyone keeping track of that fruit-seller for us. We have completely lost him. On top of that, we are in hell. And in case you don''t know, this is definitely not the most pleasant place to be. "Well, at least you are safe." Danny says while looking at his Cerberus as he tries to find some positivity in the situation. But then, the sound of someone''s footsteps echoes in the distance. Immediately, the two of us turn around to face the direction the sound came from and prepare ourselves; prepare to run of course, neither of us is stupid enough to think we stand a chance against someone from hell. And to much of our dismay, it seems like the sound is growing louder, which means the person making that sound is coming closer. "GGGGGRRRRRRRR!!!" the Cerberus a little distance away from us starts gritting his teeth in pure hostility towards the person that is coming towards us. "That''s a bad sign!" he sweats as he says so with an awkward smile. "If he is acting like that, then that means someone really strong and dangerous is coming here." Well, the life of a protagonist. I''ll get used to it. But for now, "Let''s run!" Danny nods to my suggestion and with all of our might, we start running. But then, "Where are you going, gentlemen?" a voice comes from a distance that we can probably reach with a back jump. In our astonishment, we look back at the owner of the voice, only to see a really tall man standing there with a gentle smile on his face. "Wait!" Danny says as he gets a good look at him, "Aren''t you-" "Yes!" He cuts Danny off as he bows down to us and says, "I''m Lucifer." Someone kill me! No, please, I''m serious here. Someone kill me right now! ***** "What did you just say?" Before I could have even composed myself from the shock of everything the doctor had said before, he says another ridiculously unbelievable and anxiety-inducing thing. "Well, I guess I can repeat myself for you." He grins like before as he repeats his words, "Those two men, no, those two boys, at present, have been transported to hell." "That''s ¡­" I trail off. I can''t call it unbelievable. Someone teleporting people to Heaven or Hell isn''t impossible or unbelievable at all. But, "Don''t worry, Ms. Roswaisa. They''ll be fine." His grin grows wider, "We made sure to teleport them close to where Lucifer is." What!? That''s even worse. "The job''s done." Then a voice comes all of sudden from a man who enters the roof we are on out of the blue. Or maybe it was just me who couldn''t realize when he entered the roof. Regardless of that however, this man has a peculiar appearance. He is tall, old, his forehead is etched outwards and his mouth is really long. While his overall appearance is not anything striking, his face is quite odd. I don''t think faces like these can exist in reality. And for that reason, it is hard for me to be able to really explain it. "You are worrying too much over things that aren''t important, Ms. Roswaisa." The doctor says as he walks past me, "That thing you see in front of your eyes in not a real human being." "Huh!?" "I saw him in a kid''s show once. It was probably a show of about 100 or so years from now. And well, you know how those things were, the art style was so unique and everything. Looking at him made me think that his appearance would be perfect to draw attention to if he existed in real life." He looks at the old man and continues, "Therefore, I used a method I know to make a puppet with this appearance. I guess you could say - he is a Homunculus." A Homunculus? This doctor is even capable of making a Homunculus? Are you kidding me? Just who is he? "Who am I?" He tilts his head with a malicious grin and continues, "I guess I never really told you my name, did I?" "No, you didn''t." I say as I grit my teeth. "You just told me that you are a doctor and that I should call you that." "True enough!" He nods to my words and then says, "I don''t have any one particular name to be honest. All the names I have had are just forgeries that people gave me for their convenience." That only confuses me more. "I am someone who was labelled as a serial killer. To be honest, I am someone who raises serial killers." He says with a grin. "That is the best thing to remember me by." ***** Lucifer, one of the most prominent figures in the Bible and a character that mythology lovers love to put in their stories, is sitting in front of us, on the other side of a table. He is 6''5 tall with great physique and black hair on a beautiful face. Yep, that''s what I''d expect of him. But, "What is even going on here?" I look at Danny in confusion and shock as I ask, "Why, in Yato''s name, is Lucifer ¡­ THE LUCIFER ¨C offering us tea!?" I point at the guy happily pouring tea into three different cups as I ask that. "What''s wrong with Lucifer offering us tea?" Danny asks in confusion. "What is not wrong with it!?" I ask in more confusion, "This guy is supposed to be the king of the demons for crying out loud, why in the world is he friendly to us?" "Look man, I don''t know which interpretation of the mythology you believe in but Lucifer is one of the friendliest deities in existence." He says it like it''s a matter of fact. What the hell is going on here!? ***** 47 Lucifer "Look man, I don''t know which interpretation of the mythology you believe in but Lucifer is one of the friendliest deities in existence." He says it like it''s a matter of fact. What the hell is going on here!? "Besides," he continues, "Instead of arguing to each other about things like these, we should be discussing the situation with him." "What situation!?" "There''s only one situation." He yells at me as he stands up. "Lucifer!" "Yes!" a humble reply comes to Danny''s yelling voice. "Apparently, there has been a prophecy about this dude and an Angel named Roswaisa killing you all." "Ah yes, I know about that." he replies with a calm smile, like it''s the most natural thing to do. "Because of that prophecy, a really powerful Demoness killed Roswaisa." "Oh, that''s sad." Nothing Danny tells him fazes him at all. "Now we are trying to save Roswaisa even though we don''t know how, and I know we sound like a couple of idiots but believe me, we are serious about saving her!" After Danny yells all that, Lucifer calmly smiles and says, "I see. Do you want my help with that?" "Of course we do, man. That''s the point I was getting at." Danny smiles like an idiot as he tells him that. In return, the king of the demons ¨C smiles like an idiot too and gives Danny a thumbs-up. Hearing all that, I can only wonder ¨C Can this novel get any stupider? Is there still some level of stupidity left to be reached? Yes, this truly is the biggest mystery of the story. ***** "You raise serial killers?" "Yes, that is what I have been doing throughout many time-periods." He strokes his mustache as he continues, "Raising these devastatingly horrible human beings was my life''s purpose. At least, I believed it was. And that belief was enough for me." This ¡­ isn''t getting anywhere. "Tell me, once and for all, what is your plan?" "Huh?" "Don''t give me that surprised reaction, I can''t read minds but I can tell you are just making it up." Because he has already shown how good he is with reading minds, I don''t think there''s any way he couldn''t have seen my question coming. "After I learn Absolute Frost Requiem, after I, let''s suppose for a moment, kill that man as you want me to, what then? What is your end goal here?" "Ah well, I suppose there isn''t much to lose in telling you." He says while looking at the sky as if he''s bored. ***** "So who was this Demoness that killed that Angel Roswaisa?" Lucifer asks as he takes a sip from his cup of tea. "It was Aknin Vielos. Know her?" Danny answers as he takes a sip from his cup of tea. "But of course, Aknin has some really big achievements to her name. How can I not know her?" Lucifer repeats the previous process. "Figures!" Danny does so too. "Stop! Please, stop!" I stand up and say, "You two are making my head spin!" "Why? Was the tea not to your liking?" Lucifer asks like he doesn''t understand anything at all. "The tea doesn''t matter, there''s something more important to discuss here." "Is that so? Well, go on." He says with a smile as he sips his tea once again. "Even after knowing that your race will be destroyed by me and Roswaisa, you are still willing to help us out? Why!?" I pretty much start yelling at him all these words, but he doesn''t seem to mind much. "First tell me, Mr. Glice," he then asks, "Ha?" "Was this prophecy done by Dues ex machina?" for a moment, a hint of darkness comes to his face but soon disappears. "Yes!" Danny answers. While I wasn''t sure about this before, I had suspected it would be someone like her who can send a person back to the past, who would have done prophecies like that. It seems like Danny knew about it though and didn''t tell me, probably thinking it is obvious or something. "I see. Then you have your answer." He leans back in his chair as he says that, "I refuse to believe anything that abhorrent creature says. No prophecy of hers will I ever put any salt in." "Wait! Seriously?" That''s great to hear but, "Aknin said that your race has ignored many prophecies by her and that you have suffered a lot because of it." "That is just her being a child." Lucifer says, his expression growing darker and more serious with every word he says. "With Dues'' prophecies, it''s not a matter of accuracy or anything like that. It''s a matter of her foolish pride." "Huh!?" "Huh!?" Not only me but Danny too finds himself surprised at that. "That woman plots and manipulates the situation to create the results her ''prophecies'' foretell. She is nothing more than a fraud trying to equal god." "¡­" "¡­" "While our race has indeed suffered, it has not been repercussions of ignoring her prophecies, it has merely been repercussions of ignoring her." "I ¡­ see." Danny says with a shocked expression, "Are you telling me that-" "Yes, I am." He stands up and looks in our eyes as he says, "I no longer have any intentions of ignoring her. In fact, I was just about to head out on a mission to capture her myself." "HAH!!!?" Danny stands up in a hurry as he hears that, "Are you sure? You''ll need to go to Earth to do that." "Yes, you needn''t worry about me, my friend." he takes a long breath and asks, "In any case though, what help did you need from me on your endeavor?" "Oh, that. Well, I was wondering if you could help us figure out what exactly we need to do to save Roswaisa." Danny says a bit nervously, "Playing with time isn''t a very good idea and we both know it but we need to do it regardless. Therefore, if someone as smart as you were to help us in figuring out what exactly we are supposed to do, we might not mess up too bad." Seeing Danny''s awkward smile, Lucifer sighs and smiles like he was doing before I brought up the subject of Dues'' prophecy, "Sure, I''d help." ***** 48 A Cha "Pretty vague! Everything seems pretty vague!" Lucifer says after going through all the details of our situation. And well, that remark pretty much sums it up anyway, the situation that is. "First of all," he says in a contemplating voice, "The doctor definitely has something more up his sleeve than he lets you guys see." Yeah, that''s obvious. He said his goal is to end the demons because that will turn hell in a safe haven for people like him but that can''t be all of it, can it?. "To prepare a paradise that he can''t visit until his death would be foolish. It basically means that he doesn''t have any connection with life and would want to die as soon as his plan is complete." While he is still smiling, Lucifer does have a serious demeanor as he says all this. "Hmm, I get your point." Danny says, "But I don''t see how he couldn''t actually be planning that. I mean, how can we know that he has any attachment to life at all?" "There is something that you two might have failed to notice." He says as he looks at us intensely so as to make us remember ourselves. However, before we can, he starts speaking again, "For whatever reason, he decided that he would act grumpy and not operate on the elder of the two brothers back in the clinic, didn''t he?" Oh yeah, he did. Why though? The childish reason he gave for having been disturbed while he was in Adonia''s company doesn''t make sense at all. What real reason did he have for doing that? "And, another thing to remember is that the diversion that the whole commotion between him and the younger brother caused is what possibly led to Adonia''s disappearance." When you put it that way, that commotion may have been his goal. And if he''s trying to say that the doctor had an accomplice who kidnapped Adonia when all the commotion was going on (as he couldn''t have done it while arguing with the younger brother), that fruit-seller comes to mind as a suspect. However, Lucifer''s intentions in bringing up this topic seem to be something else entirely. "Do you two believe it would have taken someone like him, someone who can disappear from your sight in an instant, a whole commotion to make a woman with no special powers disappear?" Valid point. The commotion may have been the time he used to make Adonia disappear but that doesn''t mean that was his intention. He wouldn''t need such a thing as a commotion after all. "When a doctor operates, they put themselves at risk too." Lucifer says all of sudden. "Huh?" Danny looks in surprise at his statement. "A virus or bacteria can enter their skin and can lead to all sorts of problem after all. Just because they can put a mask on their face doesn''t mean they are safe. Furthermore, there wasn''t even the system of masks back in 1856 on Earth, was it?" No, there wasn''t. Meaning, if a doctor operates on a patient who has a harmful virus or bacteria or some other kind of microbe, there''s a chance that the doctor himself will catch it. "A real doctor would be ready for it, but can a serial killer pretending to be a doctor be ready for it?" Lucifer raises the question. "Unless he is ready to die, he can''t be ready for it, can he?" I get what he is saying. And it all makes sense too. But, "What if the only reason he was not willing to die was because demons still exist and hell isn''t a paradise like he wants it to be?" I ask, not question, as if I already know Lucifer will be able to figure it all out. "If so, why would he possibly tell you all of his plans?" "¡­" "¡­" Yato damnit! We are here because we fell into one of his traps. What if this outcome of sitting here and talking to Lucifer was something he wanted to create? What if the only reason he told us all of his plans was to make us think what we are thinking right now? Holy shit! He''s almost like Ethan Kales, just a shorter and fatter version of him. "Now all of this leads us to one question ¨C did he tell us his real plans or some carefully planned lies?" Danny says in a pondering voice. "I bet he told us his real plans." "Oh?" Lucifer finds himself surprised, "How can you be so sure?" "It just ¡­ didn''t feel like he was lying." And I get what Danny is trying to say, so I extrapolate for him, "The excitement and smile he had while telling us all that, like he''s some shitty anime villain orgasming on the thoughts of his sick plan succeeding, it truly didn''t felt like he was lying." "I ¡­ see." Lucifer says with a deadpan expression. "But if that is the case and it also is a fact that he send you here, everything that you have figured out is probably within his calculations too." Fair point. "Leaving the doctor aside then, you have any idea about how we should go about saving Roswaisa slash Adonia?" Danny asks. "I have no idea." Lucifer says with a look of disappointment at himself. I say, "Maybe kissing Adonia would work." "Huh!?" "Huh!?" Well, not that I am surprised that the genius of my mind goes above even Lucifer''s head, I do need to explain this in more detail, don''t I? "Me kissing Roswaisa was what forced her to be in a relationship with me, wasn''t it? Maybe kissing Adonia will do something." "Right, so where were we, Lucifer?" Danny says with a smile. "We were discussing about how you guys can save that girl, right?" Lucifer says with a smile. Ignoring me, huh? Well, if my genius truly can''t be understood by those of this generation, how can someone as old as Lucifer understand it then? Of course, it''s impossible. So, might as well give up on the idea. "Adonia doesn''t know about magic, does she?" Then a thought comes to my mind and I immediately ask that question. "No, she doesn''t." Danny replies. "What if she learns about magic, no, not just that; what if she learns magic?" Both of them stand up in surprise. "That would make her a stronger human than before and maybe that would end up making her a stronger Angel than before too." If she is stronger than before after all, she stands a better chance at beating Aknin Vielos. It''s kinda simple, and also kinda stupid, but doesn''t it make sense? ***** 49 A Way? "Ah well, I suppose there isn''t much to lose in telling you." He says while looking at the sky as if he''s bored. While I had expected he wouldn''t tell me his end goal no matter what happens, he replies with that, surprising me. "My end goal is to die." He answers plainly. "¡­" "After Hell becomes a paradise that I can live in freely, I would want to die." He continues with a grin, "Leaving this stupid world is my one and only wish after all!" Is he serious? Is that it? Is that really it? ¡­ Why? "Why you ask?" he again reads my mind and then answers me, "It''s simply because I can never find redemption." "What!?" I don''t understand what he is saying anymore, not a single word. "I did some grave crimes in my life. As I told you, I raised serial killers. Those killers killed many, many people." His grin fades away a little-by-little. "All those hundreds of thousands of deaths, they are all on my hands." He says with a voice growing unexpectedly sadder, "Now, even if I want to change that, I can''t. Even if try to go back in time and change the past, I know I''ll fail." Without any retort to give, I speak whatever comes to mind without thinking about it, "How can you be so sure?" "Because I have tried, damnit!" He yells. "I tried to change it, but it didn''t work out. No matter what, the ''me'' of the past becomes a murderer and someone who raises serial killers. No matter what I tried, I couldn''t stop that from happening." I ¡­ don''t know what to say anymore. "I have gone so far in this irreversible road of madness that I can never even find redemption for my sins." He continues, "If I die, I''ll probably be thrown in the deepest pits of hell. I am afraid of that happening and I want to change that if I can." "What the hell!?" I yell at him, "Because you can''t find redemption, you continue to sin to safeguard yourself at the end?" He says he can''t go back, so he continues to go further into the darkness? That''s utterly ridiculous. He says he can''t find redemption for all the people he has killed so he is going to kill more of them? And not just people this time, but the entire demon race. Just how twisted is this man? "Are you telling me there''s another way?" he asks with eyes filled with despair. "O-Of course there is. It''s never too late. Never." "Oh, is that so? Then show me the way, Ms. Roswaisa." He steps a foot forward with calmness written all over his face, a terrifying calmness that is. "Tell me how?" Tsk! There is a way. There''s always a way. That is the teaching of Heaven. That is what I have learned. But ¡­ but how? "That''s all?" He asks with his eyes filling with despair again, "Is that idealistic bark all you have got, Ms. Roswaisa?" "No! I ¡­" I trail off. "If there is a way, tell me." And he stays firm to his words. "How much should I repent?" His hands facing me as if asking for an answer, he continues, "How can I atone ¡­ for all the evil that I have done?" His gaze is at the ground, a mix of madness and despair, and some sadness in it too, as he looks at the empty ground. "Who is it, the person, the one to forgive me ¡­ when I forgave none?" His hands shake as he asks me that. And I ¡­ am unable to say a thing. "¡­" I sat silent. "¡­" He stays silent. "¡­" I stay silent. And then he breaks the silence, "You see, Ms. Roswaisa, there really isn''t a way. Even an Angel like yourself can''t find a way for a horrendous monster like me to find atonement for my sins. I am someone who your god has abandoned." God would never abandon a person! Never! But, what can I say that will prove this to him? What can I say that wouldn''t be marked as ''idealistic nonsense''? What can I say that will actually get through to him? "I am a horrible person. I am someone who has committed crimes so many that many wouldn''t even consider me a human being anymore." He says with the same calmness as before, "I know that all too well. I also know that I don''t deserve another chance at life, because of how sick of a person I am." Is that really true though? Aren''t we taught that EVERYONE deserves a second chance at life? "And so, like the pathetic human I am, afraid to die even knowing that the world would be better without me, I seek to find a way to rest. I seek to find a way not suffer for all that I have done." That emotion, the emotion of selfishness, didn''t God put that inside us? If so, why can something like that make him a sinner that god has abandoned? "Since you can''t tell me anything, Ms. Roswaisa, let me tell you." He says as he raises his palm to face me, "Let me tell you about all the sins that I have committed. And then, let''s see if all those thoughts of kindness you have in your mind can still remain. Let''s see if I don''t fall out of your giant sphere of compassion and love. Let''s see if you can still look at me as if I am human." His hand shivers, and his other hand grabs it. "After you witness the world I ended up in, let''s see if your ideals can still remain as pure and unwavering as they are now." His hand stops shivering, and his other hand lets go of it. "This is probably the last time I''ll use it, so it is also the best lesson you can get. Look closely, okay?" He says with a twisted smile. "This is what I call Absolute Frost Requiem!" ***** 50 Orphanage "Adopting from an orphanage?" A tall, handsome figure of a man in black, office garments asked to the beautiful woman in front of him. "Yes, an orphanage. Isn''t it a good idea?" the woman with fair skin and delicate, cute features said as she tightened her fists from excitement. I suppose it''s not a bad idea. That man, no, that fool thought. "Well, it''s a hard choice." He acted as if he hadn''t decided yet even though he already had. He acted like that just to tease the woman, and as always, she fell for it as she started to show a little worry on her face. Then, being amused by it, he said, "Okay." Hearing that, a bright smile came on the woman''s face. She almost jumped at him and hugged him in her glee, but then she realized that he had already decided and was just teasing her. As soon as she realized that, and the man understood that she had realized that from her face of anger and pouting, he started to run away with a smile. "Wait! You-" She started chasing him with a smile too. ***** How stupid! How childish! How ridiculous! I can''t believe that man was me. I can''t believe that stupid man who loved to tease his wife was me. I can''t believe that stupid man who can smile as he runs from his wife was me. Hah! Looking at him makes me remember the fact that I was a human too, WAS! ***** "Okay, Madame, we are at the orphanage now." That man bowed to his wife in another attempt to tease her again, "Would you lead the way?" Seeing him do something like that in front of the sisters running the orphanage as well as the orphans made her blush and she tried to stop him. That blush and reaction, of course, was his goal all along. "Excuse me, are you here to-" a sister stepped forward and asked them but was cut off by, "We are here to adopt four children." The woman immediately answered as she tried to distract herself from the embarrassing situation her husband had put her in by bowing as if he''s a servant. "That is correct. Madame wishes to adopt four children and so, we have endeavored to this place." The woman only grew more embarrassed by the fact that he continued with the ''Madame'' charade and tried to shut him up by looking at him angrily. Even in her anger though, that woman only looked beautiful and oh so dear. "S-stop that, you!" the woman can only look at him in anger though, as she knew not much worse than that. Seeing all that, the sister who had stepped forward earlier realized that the whole ''Madame'' thing was a charade and that they were actually a couple. As she realized that, she started chuckling. And hearing her chuckle, the wife covered her face in embarrassment. ***** Just look at that man enjoying all of that. Just look at him enjoying those moments of his life like nothing will ever go wrong. Just look at him ignoring all the pain and sadness of the world to enjoy those moments. Yes, I truly was a human. I truly was a human because I could smile knowing how much pain and sadness there is in the world. I could smile knowing that, in some corner of the world, someone will be sad and grieving over something. The fact that I could smile despite of knowing all that proves how much of a human I truly was. ***** "Well, I rarely see people trying to adopt four children at once. This is truly a surprise." The nurse laughed with a gleeful face and on seeing that, the couple gave their brightest smile as well. "I suppose it might be a hard request to fulfill though." The wife grew an anxious look on her face as the possibility came to mind, "We wouldn''t want to separate orphans who are close to each other and so, finding four children to adopt would be quite challenging, wouldn''t it?" She started getting anxious over a worry that she herself had caused to appear. "Mm? There''s no need to worry about that, miss!" The sister said with a smile and continued, "There are four orphans here who really want to be adopted, are actual siblings and don''t have that much of a connection with other children. Perfect for you, aren''t they?" Hearing so, the wife''s cheeks brightened up and she looked at the husband in glee. "Well, that''s some luck you got there ¡­ Madame!" With that last word, the husband and the sister both start laughing again at the expense of the wife. ***** How lame of a joke is that! How can anyone enjoy such a lame joke! Just what kind of stupidity was my brain engulfed in that I was able to enjoy such things back then. And why is it that tears fall down my face when I look at all these memories? ***** When the four siblings were called forth, the oldest one of them stepped forth, as if to protect the rest of them. She was a girl of about 12 years of age. The eldest sibling ¨C a 12-years-old girl with brown hair and a round face and stature 5 feet tall. The second oldest, a boy of around 10 years of age also stepped forward a little, albeit not as much as his elder sister, and looked at the couple with some hostility and caution. This boy, about 4''6 tall was also brown-haired and round-faced and had cute features just like his elder sister and the rest of the siblings. The third oldest, a girl of around 7 years of age stood nervously behind her two elder siblings and looked at the couple from time-to-time. Her features were similar to her elder sister''s, to the point that one might assume they looked alike, though that might have been because of the features of both siblings being underdeveloped. Finally, there was a boy of about 4 or 5 years of age who was clinging to the eldest sibling and using her as a cover to hide from all the adults around. Seeing all of them, the wife''s eyes sparkled as she said, "Okay, I have decided. We are going to adopt the four of them." ***** 51 Grimma Adopting four children because we couldn''t have one of our own ¨C this was the idea that woman gave me. And I agreed to it. Hence, we adopted four siblings. But, was it worth it? I used to wonder so. Taking care of just one child is more than troublesome. And she decided to take care of 4 of them. Was she out of her mind? No, that''s impossible. After all, that woman didn''t have a mind to be out of. But maybe, that is why I married her. Who knows? I surely don''t. ***** "Grimma!" She called out the name of the eldest sister as she was about to be done with cooking, "Would you arrange the plates, my dear?" "Why would I!?" A grumpy voice of the 12 years old girl came in response. "Why? You don''t want to eat?" the woman tilted her head in confusion as she questioned Grimma. "Of course I do. But that doesn''t mean you can make me arrange the plates like I''m some servant." She looked away from the woman. "But if you don''t arrange the plates, how will you eat?" the woman tilted her head once again as she was genuinely confused by the question she posed. "W-Well, you can arrange the plates, can''t you?" Grimma yelled at her with a blush as she started to feel like she was being made a fool out of. "Ah, I see. That''s what you meant." The woman said while churning the ingredients. "I can''t do that though as I am still cooking." The woman said with a smile. Grimma''s cheek grew even more flustered with that. "Fine! Whatever! I''ll arrange them if that''s what you want from me." She grumpily took the plates and started to place them on the table. Seeing that, the woman nodded and gave remarks like ''good girl'' and ''just like that'' and ''you''re doing great'' and so on. Each remark only made Grimma more flustered, feeling like she was being made fun of. Looking at that scenery from a little distance away, the man started laughing. "Hahahahaha!!!" He laughed to his heart''s content. Hearing his voice frustrated Grimma but she ignored it and continued to arrange the plates. "Well kid, looks like even someone like you can''t handle a behemoth like that, can you?" the man asked sarcastically as he pointed at the woman who was still cooking. Looking at her, Grimma only took a big sigh and returned to arranging plates. ***** Grimma, was it? That was the name of my oldest daughter? Yes, I feel that''s right. She was a real brat at the beginning, not that any of that mattered against her, my wife. For all the stubbornness Grimma showed, my wife would misinterpret it in some way that would make her give up. It truly was quite a spectacle, if I do say so myself. And while I was laughing at that predicament, I knew so well that, in some corner of the world, a girl like Grimma would be suffering, a woman like my wife would be suffering and a man like me would be powerless. I knew all so well about all that. And, I didn''t care? I ignored it? Just how big of an asshole do you need to be to do something like that? ***** Two years had passed by. Grimma tried to sneak in without anyone noticing but, "Sis, you''re back!" Her 8-years-old brother wouldn''t let that happen. She couldn''t be mad at him though, not after looking at that wide smile he had. But, because of him giving a notification to the rest of the house, her 10-years-old sister came and greeted her and her 13-years-old brother came and greeted her as well. Till then, she was fine. But then, "Oh Grimma, you''re back?" her adoptive mother said with delight. Hearing her voice, Grimma tried to run away. Too bad that her two youngest siblings wouldn''t let that happen as they clung to her and made her unable to move. The only choice left for her at that point was, "Yeah mom, I''m back, as you should be able to tell for yourselves." The mother plainly ignored the second part of her sentence and hugged her and then the father came and, "So how did the exam go, did you fail?" He asked in a teasing voice. "Yeah, like hell! I passed with an average score of 94.8%." Grimma said with a chest puffed up with pride. And after hearing about that astonishingly great score, the father said with a contemplating attitude, "Wow! That''s a whole 0.2% less than 95. Sucks to be you, girl!" "Tsk!" Instead of a compliment, he only offered his eldest adoptive daughter a tease causing her to have started pouting and said, "Yeah, whatever! Like you have ever even crossed 90 in your life!?" She tried to get back on him but as she did, she realized it was going to end like it always had, "My lowest avg. score was 94.8%." With an evil grin, the father said so, only teasing her further. What followed after that was a series of wrestling tournaments with the army of children and the mother mobilizing themselves against the father in order to protect the honor of the eldest daughter of the house. After an hour or so, all the members of the household were busy cleaning the house. ***** Wasting precious time like that when I could have worked towards perfecting my mage-craft and save lives ¨C it was the height of hubris. What did I consider myself back then? Even though I was being paid by various underground magic associations to provide all kinds of magical tools to help people in any way, I was wasting time like that, doing nothing. Was teasing my wife and daughter and playing with them better than working for such a noble goal? Could I have not saved at least one more life if I had used all those hours in studying magic that I wasted in playing around? Could I have not have brought a smile to at least one more person''s face by using a little time productively? Yet, I didn''t do more than what was required of me. I used all the free-time I could get to have fun with those 5 who I considered precious to me. I don''t even know, was I a monster or an idiot? Whichever I was, I failed someone somewhere in the world by wasting that time in having fun. That, in itself, is another sin that I have to bear. ***** 52 A Mail "A mail?" Grimma questioned with a deadpan expression as she looked at the letter the mailman had just handed her. "Yes, it''s for someone by the name of ¡­" "I know. Only dad gets mails. It couldn''t be for anyone else. He isn''t at the home right now so ¡­" she deliberately trailed off. Understanding her intention, the mailman nodded and handed her the pen and the paper that she needed to sign, as proof that the mail was delivered. "Now, what the hell is this?" She wondered after closing the door and looked at the mail. "Remedy Corp.?" She saw the name of the company her adoptive father worked for and immediately decided to bring her mischievous side out. She took it to her room after telling her mom a lie about the person who had knocked on the door being someone asking for address instead of a mailman. Then, alone in her room when she was and after she had made sure that none of her siblings were hiding anywhere in the room in order to prank her or whatever, the 15-year-old girl decided to take a look inside his mail. She was able to open it fairly easily, which was kinda suspicious but she was interested in finding out what was inside it than worrying about things like that. A grin was on her face as she opened it. And then, Knock! Knock! A knocking sound came from the house door again. "Tsk!" she clicked her tongue, "Eh, mom, I am a bit busy right now so could you send Jason to get it?" she inquired her mother if Jason, the second oldest of the four siblings could open the door, and her mother only replied with a happy "OOOKKKKKAAAAYYYY!!!" Hearing that, she peaked out from the bottom-space between her room''s door and the floor and found Jason going to open the door. With that reassurance, she breathed a sigh of relief and started to read the contents of the letter. KNOCK! KNOCK! Whoever was on their door seemed to be impatient and hearing the person knocking on their door again and again made her a bit irritated. But, she distracted herself by the mail. "Let''s see ¨C what does it say?" and with that, she started reading the letter. In a matter of mere seconds, the person knocking at their door had started knocking on her door. But, she wasn''t responding. She was too engrossed in the details of what she was reading. And so, that person broke the door by repeatedly kicking it and entered the room. The loud noise caused by that finally grabbed her attention and distracted her from the letter. Her adoptive father, who had been away on a business trip, had come back home in a hurry and snatched the letter off her hands, all the while breathing like he had run a marathon. However, even Grimma, the rowdiest person in the house, wouldn''t dare to joke after seeing how angry he was. "DID YOU READ IT!?" He yelled in anger and, "N-NO!" she reflexively replied with the safer choice, the choice that was a lie. However, her quick reaction made the man think she was telling the truth. And so, that foolish man relaxed. ***** That was the incident that started it all. That was the one incident that brought my downfall. Foolish as I was, I still should have questioned if Grimma was lying back then. I didn''t. I didn''t because I wanted to believe that my family wouldn''t tell lies to me. And because of all that, I paid the price, a price that couldn''t have afforded to pay, not in a million lifetimes. If I were to come face-to-face with that man who foolishly believed what Grimma reflexively told her, I would kill him. I would smash his head with a bottle or something. He doesn''t deserve to live. He, the foolish me of the past, doesn''t deserve to live at all. He was a sinner, obviously. But, even more than that, he was a scum who couldn''t even protect his family, the one thing that really mattered to him. He put hidden cameras in his house to make sure that everyone was safe. But, when one of those hidden cameras showed his daughter taking a mail from the company he worked for and then going to try to read it, he couldn''t even stop her, neither did he show enough wits to understand that she was lying when she said she hadn''t read it. That scum! He deserved to die! But, he didn''t. He was the only one who deserved to die. So why? Why was he the only one who didn''t? ***** Now a 16-year-old, Grimma had gone back to studying in her room after dinner. She knew it wasn''t a very healthy habit to study at night, especially after dinner, but still, she couldn''t help it. Her mid-year-exams were coming up. She had to be prepared. Or, at least, that''s what the rest of the family thought as they saw her going into her room and locking it up from inside so no one could disturb her. But, instead of studying, "Time to practice!" she was dead-set on practicing magic, the thing that she had learned existed from the mail that she had once read mischievously. As she was in the prime of her adolescence, she couldn''t resist the urge to learn something like magic. Also because of the same reason, her father had removed all the cameras from her room ¡­ which she didn''t even knew were once there. Regardless, there was no one around who could find out that she was trying to learn magic and so, there was no one around to stop her. And so, she practiced. She practiced the spells and incantations and whatnot that she had gotten a hold of from peeking at her father''s stuff while acting like she was cleaning the house. She truly was a smart girl, smart enough to consider that there could be cameras in the house and act in a way so as to not let the cameras know that she was peeking at things. Unfortunately, this wasn''t the best use of her intellectual abilities. Knock! Knock! She heard someone knocking on her house door again. Obviously, as she was supposed to be engrossed in her ''studies'', so she had no reason to be the one to open it. Plus, her dad was at home so he''ll obviously open it. But, "What!?" her dad''s surprised voice rang out, easily reaching her room which wasn''t too far away from the house door. She decided to take a look at what was going on and as she did, "As we said, mister, we are police!" Said the two men at their house door. ***** 53 Rogue "Why is police here?" Grimma muttered quietly, not realizing that her sister, who was hanging by her room''s half-open door, could hear her. "Sis!" She called out, making Grimma turn to her, "Is something wrong? Why are police here?" She was nervous at that site. Grimma merely patted her head telling her that everything will be fine, something she herself wasn''t completely sure about. Their family hadn''t done anything illegal. That much was certain. However, having the police show up at your doorsteps, even if to question for something, was not a very good thing in the neighborhood they lived in. It basically meant that the family may have had connections with someone who was involved with something illegal, or maybe they have connections with a victim. And that, in itself, was enough to drop their reputation among the masses. However, even knowing all that, her dad welcomed the police in the house and they went to sit and talk in the living room. ***** I hadn''t realized it back then why those cops showed up at my doorsteps. By the time I figured it all out, it was too late. No, it may have been already too late by the time they showed up. But still, it was my failure to not realize the truth sooner. If I had, then maybe ¡­ maybe ¡­ not everyone would have been taken away from me. Maybe, I would have been able to save at least one of those five people who were so dear to me. Maybe ¡­ ***** "So, what is the matter, officers?" the man asked them as he looked at the two policemen sitting on the sofa diagonally to him. "Hmm ¡­" One of them smirked as he acted like he was thinking something, "You know, sir, this might be something you don''t want anyone else hearing." As he said that, the man started to grow nervous but then, "Ah, I dropped my batch!" One of the police officers said as he deliberately threw his batch to the ground. He tried to pick it up and that is when he flashed a light at the uniform he was wearing inside his police clothes, the uniform that wasn''t a farce like the police-one was. Looking at that uniform, and looking at the symbol of Remedy Corporations on it, the owner of the house sighed, got up and went to his wife. He told her that something important was happening and that she needed to keep the children as well as herself away from the conversation. She nodded, as this wasn''t the first time this had happened, although this was the first-time ever since they adopted the four kids. And so, she went out of the living room and started to make excuses to make all the children get away from there. ***** To think that just telling my wife would be enough foe me to think that the deed will be done, to think that I wouldn''t even check once if ALL the kids went away or not, to think that I was such a fool who didn''t realize that wouldn''t be enough. What was wrong with me? Just looking back at all this makes me sick to my stomach! A sinner! A push-over! A fool! An incompetent family man! Just how many more of these negative adjectives would fit me, huh!? Of course, there''d be many more ¡­ many more ¡­ many, many, more! ***** After telling her adoptive mother that she had no interest in listening to their conversation because she is going to study anyway, Grimma had made sure that her mother was too busy in taking care of the rest of the 3 kids. And so, Grimma had the perfect opportunity to eavesdrop on her father''s conversation. And, she did. "Let me be straightforward here, man." One of the police officer spoke, in a voice that was less like a police officer and more like a street thug. "There''s someone in this neighborhood who has been slowly starting to learn magic." "What!?" her father''s voice grew stern as he heard that. "Yes, it''s true. At first, we thought they may have just accidentally used magic because they had the potential to do so but no, that guy has been slowly and steadily growing his powers." He said with a smirk, "Their powers aren''t growing in the pace it would if they were learning from a proper educator though." "Huh!?" her father asked, "Then how is it growing?" "Quite randomly." The police officer answered, "It''s like that guy has been learning one ability after another, whatever he can get his hands on, without actually trying to follow any sequences." Hearing that, her father put a hand to his chin and looked anxious. "You know the protocol, man." The police officer said, "If someone like that is here, there''s a chance that guy may go rogue and misuse his abilities later on. Therefore, we gotta ''arrest'' the guy." "Yes! Yes, I know." her father said, "It''s just hard to believe that someone so close to me has a chance of going rogue." "I get you, man." The officer continued, "Just came here to warn you, so you know to keep your family safe and all." Her father nodded. And with that, it seemed like their meeting had come to an end. Having eavesdropped on all this, Grimma knew exactly who they were talking about but she wasn''t foolish enough to just go and tell them outright. She also wasn''t foolish enough to keep it a secret from her father any longer. And so, she had decided to tell him everything when the two of them leave. But, for the time-being, she hid in her room as she heard the footsteps of the two men as they left. Her father apparently wasn''t seeing them off. So, she opened her door just a tiny bit to look as they left. And then, she heard their whispers, "Why didn''t you tell him that the suspect is in this house?" The officer who hadn''t spoken up until that point asked the other. He replied, "If he knows that, he''ll stop that guy. But, that''d be too boring, wouldn''t it?" "Tsk! Are you trying to let the rogue get away with what he is doing?" "No, no, my friend. I don''t have any intentions of letting him get away from us. I am just trying to make sure the rogue can rampage just about enough that this guy''s reputation goes down the drain. And then, we''ll stop him!" He whispered with a grin, as he closed the door. ***** 54 The Four "Emergency?" his wife tilted her head as she heard that word. "Yes!" He answered with a serious and downcast expression, "I know I said I''ll be with you all for an entire month but ¡­" He trailed off. He had promised to spend time with them, but he was going to break that promise and go on a ''business trip''. "You are a liar!" The youngest sibling said and ran away, followed by the second youngest. Jason acted more mature and understanding but he too was disappointed after hearing that. Grimma remained silent, for many reasons. "Well, I won''t say that I am not sad hearing this," his wife told him with a bit of a smile, "But still, I get it. I won''t try to stop you." "¡­" with a bit of calmness returning on his face, he said, "I see. Thank you!" ***** At that time, as I told them that I would need to go on a ''business trip'', what I really had in mind was finding out the person who was learning magic, the person because of whom those two Remedy Corp. grunts had paid me a visit. And as I looked at Grimma, the person I was going to search for, I couldn''t understand the truth behind her troubled demeanor. And so, I went my way the next morning. I went to a little place some kids may use as a hideout, if it was usable that is. I went to a shed in the city where ¡­. ***** "What''s up, boss?" A man with orange hair and face like that of a street punk asked the man as he stepped into the shed. "Well, something IS up actually, Trevor." The man said with his nerves tensing up. "I''ll tell when everyone is here." "Everyone is already here though." He said as he pointed in an opposite direction, to a curtain. From the curtain, a couple came out. One of them is a 6 feet tall, golden-haired youth with a square face and other is a 5''8 tall brunette woman with a diamond face. "Yo, boss! What''s up?" the woman asked with a smile while waving at him. "How''s it going!?" the man asked with a smile while also waving at him. Both of them were idiots who never ceased being cheerful unless something really serious was going on. And that, in itself, was good to witness. "Well, it''s good to see you, Grey." He told the man and then turned to the woman. "You too, Jessica." And with that, all four of them were there. "Now, as for what''s going on," the man said with a serious expression, causing the other three to tense up, "There''s someone in the neighborhood I live in who is practicing magic. However, he is not someone we know of, he''s a rogue." "Isn''t that bad?" Jessica asked while turning to Grey. "Yes, yes, that''s very bad." he said while holding his chin and nodding. "Could you two quit with your comedy routine already?" Trevor said with a disappointed gaze. "Anyway, this guy you are talking about ¨C you want us to find him?" "Yes!" the man nodded, "I want us to find him before Remedy Corp. does." "We are competing?" Trevor asked with a disapproving look. "No! We are trying to protect that person." He got his answer with a serious look, "If Remedy gets their hands on him, there''s no telling how they''ll want to exploit that guy." "Ha! Isn''t that bad?" Jessica asked while turning to Grey. "Yes, yes indeed, that''s very bad." he said while holding his chin and nodding. That man nodded and continued, "But, if we find him, we can make him join our group and then Remedy will have no choice but to let him go, at least for the time-being." "Hmm ¡­" As Trevor heard all that, he asked, "So you basically want us to save a newbie in mage-craft from Remedy?" The man nodded and Trevor said with a smirk, "I''m in." Hearing that, the morons on the side raised their hands simultaneously and said, "We too!!!" ***** That group of four morons ¨C it was something else entirely. For years, I had been with them and even though it seemed like some ragtag group of people, there wasn''t a single mission we had ever failed at. Somehow, a plain little toolmaker like me, a hot-head like Trevor and a couple of morons that were Jessica and Grey, somehow we worked so well together that even entire magic corporations like Remedy had acknowledged us as a force to be reckoned with. And we, this team of four people, were out to find the magic-user who could go rogue if left as he was. If only I had paid a little attention to things and noticed that it could be Grimma. If only ¡­ ***** With a map of the area laid out in front of us, Trevor asked as he folded his hands, "So how are we going to find him? Do you know anything other than the guy is in this area?" "I don''t." The man said with a calm expression, "So we''ll have to use her help." "Tsk!" Trevor clicked his tongue, "I really don''t want to get any help from that bitch!" "I understand you, Trevor." The man said, "But she is the only one who can help us with this kind of thing." Trevor sighed. Seeing all that, "Do you know who they are talking about?" Jessica asked while turning to Grey. "Hmm, I think I might have a clue." Grey said while holding his chin and nodding. "Really? That''s so awesome." Jessica said as she clasped her hands together. "Haha! Of course it is!" Grey said with a proud look. Looking at all that, Trevor said with a violent look, "Shut up, morons! You''re giving me a headache!" Both of them jumped up in fright as they saw that look on his face. But, "Eh, doesn''t he always says that and then does nothing." Jessica asked while turning to Grey. "Yes, yes indeed, that''s how it always goes." Grey said while holding his chin and nodding. "You two-" Trevor tried to retort but, "Guys, we don''t have time for this. Let''s get going." The man said and cut-off their conversation, "We are going to see Dues ex machina." ***** 55 Dues Lair Grimma knew that deciding to not tell her father everything was stupid. But, she also knew that telling him would only cause him more stress. For the time-being at least, she could handle herself. Or, so she thought when she let her father go on his ''business trip'' without saying anything. But, "This isn''t going to work." She said as she threw a book on the ground. If she stopped practicing magic, then the traces that had led those two policemen to her house should disappear and she should be safe. That was the one possibility she was hoping on. But, if what she had read just then in a book of her father was true, she was doomed. "What the hell!?" She contemplated with a frustrated expression that no one was around to see, "What should I do now?" She had read in that book that once someone tries to use actual mage-craft for once in their life, even if they never do it again, they can still be found out to have done it once by the devices available. Technology was not on her side, not this time. ***** Dues had lived for so many years but had never changed her lairs. She was in the same lair in 1856, the same when we visited her, and the same when Irium and Danny visited her. What attraction she feels to that place, I don''t know. But regardless, for that reason, we visited that place ¨C that lair of Dues ex machina. ***** The group of four got off the elevator and entered into an area that resembles a classic fictional hideout, somewhat like Batman''s Bat-cave. This place, aside from looking like a perfect hideout for people, also had a stage. All in all, it painted the picture of the person living there as rather ¡­ unique. And, the impression wasn''t wrong. But, "Where is that bitch!?" Trevor yelled at no one as he looked around and couldn''t find Dues. "Tsk! And she had to disappear right now, huh?" He was clearly irritated just by the fact that they had to ask her for help, so seeing that she wasn''t even there made him even more irritated. "She isn''t here. Isn''t that bad?" Jessica asked while turning to Grey. "Yes, yes, that''s very bad." he said while holding his chin and nodding. "Do you two know anything other than that stupid sequence?" Trevor yelled at them. "Yes!" they both answer at the same time with bright smiles and continued, "Would you like to see our-" "Forget I ever said anything!" Trevor said as he turned and started to walk away. The couple tilted their heads, not understanding why he was so frustrated. Seeing that, their leader didn''t really say anything as he was more focused on where Dues ex machina would be than the ramblings of the three of them. The reason why Trevor was so angry and everybody else was also anxious is because Dues was capable of telling if a person were to come to meet her. If, despite being able to tell that, she wasn''t there then, it could mean that she deliberately doesn''t want to meet them. However, "Oh my!" A female voice then came his way and dispelled all his doubts, "It seems like I have guests." As they all turned that way, a woman of warm ivory skin with close-set hazel eyes, brown hair and concave nose on a diamond face came into their view. She looked athletic and was about 5''9 feet tall and had covered herself in a classic western clothing of the time. As they had all seen her before though, there was no confusion as to who she was. "So you finally decided to show up, huh?" Trevor yelled. "Stop yelling like a mongrel, Trevor." Dues casually brushed him off. He clicked his tongue and was about to retort but, "I just had to meet with someone very urgently. It couldn''t wait so you all had to." ***** She had to meet with ''someone'', she said? That bitch! If I had used a bit of my brain back then, I could have figured out who that ''someone'' was that she had to meet with. But, of course, I didn''t. I DIDN''T! ***** Knock! Knock! Someone had come to their house. Grimma, as she opened the door, found out who it was. "Hello Grimma!" The 5''9 tall woman said to the 5''4 teen girl who had opened the door for her, "I am Dues ex machina, your only savior in this entire fiasco." "W-What!?" Dues ex machina, a figure she had read mentions of in her father''s notes, but to think she actually was standing in front of her was still mindboggling for her. "Why are you here?" Grimma asked her with a slightly terrified expression. Her mother and Jason came to check who had come to their house and saw the woman standing at the door. They also saw the expression on Grimma''s face and felt confused as to what was going on. "Um, hello!?" Her mother said as she looked at their visitor with a smile. "Hello, miss. It''s so good to see you." Dues said with a smile as well, "Pardon the intrusion but I am a teacher at the school Grimma attends. I just came to check on her." That was obviously a lie. However, hearing that, her mother who didn''t know it was a lie got all excited and nervous at the same time as she said, "Oh, please come in, ma''am." "Stop!" But as soon as she heard her mother say that, Grimma said, "What do you want, tell me or leave the house?" Hostility emanating from her demeanor, Dues was, for just a moment, taken aback. However, seeing that, she soon smiled under her breath and said, "Forgive me for the intrusion, Grimma! I see that you are doing well and so I will go." "B-But-" Her mother was confused as to what she should say but was cut-off by, "Don''t stop her, mom." Grimma said in a stern voice as she kept looking at Dues with hostile eyes. Dues just smiled and leaned to bring her lips near Grimma''s ears as she said, "I''ll leave the address to my lair in your mind." One of her fingers touched Grimma''s head and, all of a sudden, it felt to her as if a bolt of lightning had struck that point. She fell down because of the pain. "Grimma!" "Sis!" The two immediately came to check on her. "Oh my! It seems like the wound you got in P.E. class is acting up, Grimma." Dues said with a worried demeanor. "Wound?" Her mother questioned. "Oh, you didn''t tell them, that''s not the sign of a good girl, you know?" She said. "Grimma, you-" "Just get of my house, now!" Grimma yelled at Dues, leaving her mother and Jason in surprise. Even so, Dues just calmly said, "Alright, alright! But if there''s anything you''d like my help with, don''t hesitate to ask, okay?" ***** 56 When The Hunt Began "So what is it you want?" Dues asked. Even after listening to everything the four had to say, Dues still asked that question. And that made Trevor irritated on her again. "What do we want? Isn''t it obvious?" He said, "We want you to locate that guy who is trying to practice magic." Hearing that, her lips curbed into a smile as she said, "I can''t really do that." "Tsk! What the-" Trevor gets stopped by a hand put up by Dues as she continued, "I can''t really do that, but there''s something I can do to help you all with this." All four of them had expressions asking "What''s that!?" which amused Dues as she chuckled and said, "I can direct you to people who are already looking for the guy and are sure to find him." "What!?" even though he heard it clearly, the leader of the four could not believe what he had heard. "Are they from Remedy?" "You wish!" Dues said with an evil grin, "They are freelance assassins." "What!? It''s gotten that bad!?" Trevor said as he heard that. However, "Yes, Remedy has indeed sent assassins to track down this person." She was enjoying the entire conversation just because her conversation partners were utterly shocked and terrified. "I ¡­ really doubt Remedy would do something like that." The leader said. "I know. It''s not Remedy itself. It''s some particular person in Remedy who has hired them." She said with a grin, "As for who, I am not going to make it zero fun for me by telling you all." "Tsk!" Trevor clicked his tongue. "You bitch!" "Call me whatever you wish, it doesn''t change anything." She said with her grin unwavering. "Fine!" their leader said to her, "Tell us who these assassins are. We''ll follow them and get what we want ourselves." ***** It was justified for my past self to think following those assassins like Dues was trying to suggest could work. However, things weren''t that simple. They were assassins ¨C expert at hiding. And we were no experts at tailing. Trying to tail assassins to get to the targets they are after, it was foolish. Even if I think it was justified, I can''t deny that it was foolish. There was one silver lining though. We were strong. Despite the fact that assassins obviously would have an upper hand on us when it came to stealth or speed, as far as an all-out battle was concerned, we were stronger than any assassin group out there. We could take them out if we made it in time. And so, we made all efforts to make it in time. Too bad for us, even being able to tail them was not enough. ***** On the top of an abandoned building, with binoculars stuck to his eyes, Trevor said, "I can see them. There are two assassins, just like that bitch said." Sitting on a public park''s bench with newspapers open as a classic deception, Grey said, "Yes. I can see them too. They seem to be enjoying their meal for now." Sitting much nearer to the open restaurant the two assassins are dining at, Jessica said, "Hmm ¡­ there is one man and one woman, both looking like they can flip a bull over. It''ll be a cake defeating them." In front of his house, after listening to everything they said through his Bluetooth, their leader said, "For now, just follow them. Don''t do anything rash. Being that they are assassins, we can assume they already feel someone is following them. So, keep sharp and don''t give them any chances to get away, if that is what they try to do." All three said, "Yes sir!" And with that, the tailing began. ***** Why was all this happening in the first place? It''s simple. When a mage goes rogue, it means that they become unable to control their powers of course. But, it''s not as simple as it sounds. The capability to do mage-craft, mana, gets corrupted and slowly starts affecting the genes of a person. This leads to a transformation of a human into some different race, depending on the type of magic they were practicing. If that happened, it would obviously be trouble. And so, corporations like Remedy try to stop that from happening. However, in reality, they use this as an excuse to get human subjects for their own experiments. Since these people have a chance of going rogue, hard measures are allowed against them. And that is an excuse for using them for live human experiments. We didn''t want anyone to end like that however, and so we were dead-set on finding that guy and saving him from Remedy. ***** "Ah!" she let a small cry of pain slip as her hands which felt like they''d burn, but Grimma didn''t stop there, "I have to do this no matter what. This is the only way to stop these people from giving me and Dad any more headaches." She mumbled to herself in an attempt to give herself courage to keep going. "After all this is over, I''ll tell Dad everything and then it will all be fine." And it seemed to be working as she was regaining her motivation to keep practicing. "Sis!" Jason called out from outside of her room, the door of which was locked. "Yes, what is it, Jason?" she responded from inside the room. "¡­ Kylie has something to talk to you about." He said after a little delay. Hearing that, Grimma sighed and opened the door to look at her two siblings who were neither oldest nor youngest. Then, her 10-11 years old sister, Kylie, said, "Sis, are you doing something bad?" "¡­" Grimma deliberately didn''t respond. "It seems like you are always trying to hide things from us these days." Kylie said with a downcast expression, "You are keeping secrets from us, aren''t you?" Hearing that, Grimma said, "Yes! That I am." Kylie''s gaze grew even more downcast and Jason didn''t know how to respond either. "I''ll tell everything to you all once all this is over, and I suppose you don''t know what I mean by ''all this''. That''s fine too." She said with a bit of a smile, "Just wait a little bit, okay?" She said as she looked at her two siblings and then the youngest one, a 7-8 year old boy looking at them in confusion of what they are talking about. With a smile, Grimma told him, "I''ll tell you everything too, Irium." ***** 57 Looking At The Mirror It had been three and a half years since we adopted those four children. In the descending order of age, they were Grimma, Jason, Kylie and ¡­ Irium. Grimma and Jason never told us their real family names, and so we gave the four my family name. We named them all Glice. And with that, the six of us who formed the Glice family lived happily ¡­ for those three and a half years at least. ***** As she looked at her three siblings, Grimma flashed a bright smile and said, "I promise that everything will be okay." They didn''t respond, just stared at her in confusion and anxiety. And so, with the smile unwavering, she told them to go back to their rooms and closed the door to her room. "I promise ¡­" After being left alone in her room, she mumbled so and looked back at the floor. On that floor, there was a magic circle. And there are only two things a magic circle is used for in this world ¨C one, to summon a Diamond-level Angel; and two, to summon a Demon of ranking equivalent to Diamond-level Angels. "Ye, Yun, Yish, Le, Lin." She mumbled to herself, "These are the five levels of lower-ranking Demons, and in that ascending order of power, with the exception of Yish and Le having equivalent power." It was pretty much the carbon copy of the hierarchy of Angels. Or, were they the copy of Demons'' hierarchy? No, it wasn''t the time to dwell on things like that. And so, she brought her focus back to summoning. Out of the five levels of Demons, what she was aiming to summon, or rather, the only one she could summon and not get hurt ¨C was a Ye-level Demon. "Let''s get started then." She said to herself as she started the summoning process. Because she had no catalysts, she couldn''t tell which demon exactly will be summoned by her. It was probably going to be some random Ye Demon. Or, so she thought. ***** I had never summoned an Angel or a Demon back then. All I had was book knowledge of how it is done. So, it is quite remarkable that Grimma was able to pull off a summoning. That said though, that big brain of hers was going to become a problem soon enough. ***** "Boss! These two are heading out!" Grey said as if he''s muttering to himself in order to not look suspicious. His voice, obviously, travels through the Bluetooth to all the other members. And as they all listen, "Got it! Keep an eye on them!" Their leader said. Grey replied with an "Affirmative" and got on the move while trying to look as casual about it as possible. Jessica soon got up too but instead of going together with Grey, she started following them from a different angle. Needless to say, it was all because they didn''t wanted to look suspicious. Trevor, keeping an eye on them with his binoculars, also started to keep an eye on his two comrades down there doing the tailing just to make sure they remain safe. And as for their leader, he was at stand by and awaiting any developments in the situation. ***** We were great at working together and we had a heck of a lot of confidence in our combined strength. Maybe, that is why we never realized that we were being so easily fooled into following two idiots who were being paid to distract us from our goal. There were never any assassins sent there by anyone in Remedy. Those two were just two morons who didn''t even know about the world of magic, foolishly working for money. Needless to say, the one who paid them to do that work was Dues ex machina. Throughout years, no, throughout centuries, Dues had built up an image of a deity uninterested in human affairs. She was only interested in the affairs of Heaven and Hell, nothing to do with those of Earth. That was the image we had of her. That''s the image everyone had of her. And so, when she plainly lied about there being assassins sent here, none of us thought there was any reason to doubt her. None of us were skeptical, and that cost us. ***** Black and sharp wings spreading from the back, brown-hair and cute features like that of a teenage girl and a height of about 5''3. Additionally, the cloth worn was nothing but a plain, light brown frock. So were the characteristics of the Demon that was summoned by Grimma. In other words, "Why ¡­ do you look ¡­ just like me?" the demon looked exactly like her, as if she was looking at a mirror. "I''m Priscina, a Demon whose past is you." The Demoness replied in a bone-chilling voice. "You died some time from now and were then turned into a Demon. That is who I am." Her face contorting into a grin, "Any more questions, Grimma?" Grimma was left bereft of words as she saw that. Seeing that, Priscina just grinned more and more and asked, "Now, I don''t remember everything of my past. I don''t remember why I had tried to summon a Demon at this point in time. Could you remind me, Grimma?" "¡­" Grimma was still too shocked of what she was seeing to answer any questions Priscina asked. "Hah!" Seeing that, Priscina sighed and, "I can''t believe my past self was so pathetic." "Tsk!" Hearing that, Grimma''s blood boiled a little. And as that brought her back to reality, she remembered what she had to do and why she summoned a Demon. So, "Demoness Pris-sinna, was it?" Narrowing her eyebrows at the wrong pronunciation of her name, Priscina said, "Why are you humans so stupid? It''s Priscina, pronounced pri-sin-a." Grimma sighed and composed herself as she said, "Demoness Priscina then, I have a request for you." "Now that''s obvious as you wouldn''t summon a Demon for any other reason." Priscina said in a mocking voice. Ignoring that though, Grimma continued, "I want you to destroy Remedy Corporation." ***** 58 Tamers "Ha?" The Demoness who shared her face was surprised as she heard her request. "You heard me." Grimma repeated herself just to make it clear that she was not joking around, "Destroy the Remedy Corporation!" "¡­" The Demoness Priscina stood there in surprise for a whole 10 seconds before, "Hahahahaha!!!" she started laughing like a maniac. "Tsk!" Grimma clicked her tongue, not liking that reaction. But, "I didn''t know I was such an interesting person before." Priscina said while holding her stomach, "Alright! Let''s do that. Let''s destroy the Remedy Corporation." Grimma said, "Well, we leave for that tomorrow morning. For now, don''t come in front of my family." Priscina raised her hands and nodded while trying to keep her laughter in check. ***** The fact that becoming a Demoness was her fate was already enough to tell how incompetent of a parent I had been. However, I have to commend Grimma for her resolve. She could also see from her own eyes what her future was and still did not falter in going through with her plans. She wasn''t just smart, she was courageous too ¨C I''ll give her that. ***** The two ''assassins'' had stopped in a backwater alley and were not moving from there for a whole ten minutes. They weren''t really doing anything there, just standing and wasting time. Grey and Jessica kept close-by but were getting more and more bothered by the fact that their targets aren''t moving. Trevor felt this too as he kept watch on all four of them. And so, their leader gave a command that would relieve them of that anxiety they were feeling. "Get them!" He told them. "Are you sure, boss!?" Trevor asked in surprise, "This will fail our entire mission." "Our mission is failing anyway, Trevor." "Huh!?" "The reason those two stopped there is without a doubt because they realized they were being tailed, they are probably trying to think of something that could help them get away from us. The longer we wait, the more our chances of failure increase." So he said. There was also the fact that Grey and Jessica getting more and more nervous could sabotage the mission but he didn''t feel like that was something Trevor needed to know. Anyway, on his command, Grey and Jessica slowly approached the two assassins. But, "Hey, morons!" One of the assassins turned around and said, "Bet you think you are so smart tailing us like that, huh!?" Grey, Jessica and Trevor collectively sighed as they heard that. "This guy talks less like an assassin and more like a punk." Trevor remarked. "Yeah! Isn''t he just like you are when you are mad?" Jessica asked Trevor with a smile. "Yes, yes indeed-" Grey said but, "Cut your comedy routine and get those two already." Trevor said, not wanting to argue on that subject. And so, Grey and Jessica got into battle stances, which basically meant that they both took out their deck of cards. "What the hell!" one of the assassins said, "Are you trying to play poker with us or something!?" Grey and Jessica looked at each other, then looked back at the two and said with cheerful faces, "No." Out of a card in Grey''s hand came out a monster regarded as one of the fastest mythological creatures ¨C Manticore. And seeing that monstrosity with the head of a man, body of a lion, tail of a scorpion and wings like that a giant bat or like that of a demon, the two assassins were left unable to say anything. And then, out of a card in Jessica''s hand also came out a monster regarded as one of the fastest mythological creatures ¨C Raij¨±. With a body like that of a white and blue wolf and lightning coursing through his muscles, this monstrosity from Japanese mythology was almost as terrifying as the Manticore, from just the appearance. ***** Tamers ¨C the type of mages who use monster summoning cards as their main weapon. That is who Danny is, and that is who Grey and Jessica were. It is said that 30% of the world''s mages are Tamers, though back then, it used to be somewhere around 35%. It is even believed that back in some time like 1856, Tamers were the 95% of mages in the world. Number of Tamers has decrease more and more over-time because of various advancements in the world. Regardless of that, they are still considered one of the most formidable-type of mages in the world, and if you were to take Grey and/or Jessica as an example, Tamers definitely deserve that reputation. ***** "How did it go, Trevor?" their leader asked. "It went well, almost too well." He replied. "What do you mean?" "Both Grey and Jessica summoned really fast creatures to make sure the two assassins can''t get away but the two didn''t even put up a fight. They went down like they had given up. Furthermore, seeing the two creatures, they reacted like they could not believe what they were seeing, like they were some random people who didn''t even knew that magic exists." Trevor explained what he understood from seeing their reaction. "¡­ I see." Their leader said as he pondered, "If they didn''t even knew about magic though, it wouldn''t be possible to make them search for a mage. Which could mean ¡­" He trailed off, but it was enough for Trevor to realize what he was trying to say. "I''ll check." Trevor replied. And as he said that, he also put a foot on the railing of the building he was on and pushed himself off of it, which resulted into him jumping off the roof directly on top of that alley and then down from it. Clap! Clap! Grey and Jessica cheerfully clapped as they saw it. "Keep it down, morons!" Trevor yelled at them and went to the two assassins who were lying on the floor unconscious. This was the most important part of the plan in case things went south. If the four couldn''t find the person they are looking for by following these two, they were to take them down and let Trevor search through their memories for any clues, as that was something he specialized at. And he used his specialty as he put two fingers on the foreheads of both ''assassins''. "Shit!" He exclaimed. "What!? Weren''t we supposed to keep it down!?" Jessica asked while pouting. "Yeah! Keep it down!" Grey said while pouting too. "We were played." Trevor said, ignoring those two. "Dues ... that bitch played us!" ***** 59 Knocking On Despair’s Door KNOCK! KNOCK! Loud knocking voices came causing her to run to open the door. And as she did, "You are home already?" she asked her husband standing at the door. "I''ll explain later but where''s Grimma?" He asked her in a panic and it caused her to step back a little as she pointed at Grimma''s room. He ran to the room and knocked on the door. "Grimma! Open the door!" he yelled. However, there came no response. "Grimma! It''s me, open the door!" He yelled again. But still, no response came. "Hah! Hah! Hah!" Trevor who had also reached the house in a hurry was panting while standing outside as he looked at his group''s leader knocking on the door in a panic. He looked at the woman looking nervous because of the tenseness of her husband''s face. The two knew each other, but neither had the mindset to politely exchange greetings. They both looked at the man knocking on the door repeatedly. Soon, Grey and Jessica also reached there. On the other hand, the three children in the house aside from Grimma were also there. All of them were looking at the panicking man with face contorted in anger and terror. "Open the door, damnit!" He just did not stop yelling as he stomped on the door that just won''t open. Having seen enough of it, Trevor said, "Stop it, boss!" "Tsk!" The man clicked his tongue and turned to Trevor, "Stop it? What the hell do you mean by that!? Do you want me to give up on Grimma? Do you want me to let her become a rogue or something? Do you-" "She isn''t there." Trevor replied calmly. "What!?" "I can''t sense her in this house. She isn''t here." Even as she said that, Trevor kept her calm for the sake of the man in front of him who had lost all of it. That man turned to his wife and she just shook her head in denial so as to say that she hadn''t gone anywhere, not in front of her eyes at least. He then turned to the other three children and they said the same thing. They didn''t know what had made their father so frustrated and were, for the first time, scared of the man who stood in front of them. "Boss, her room''s window is open!" Grey said as he ran back towards them from the part of their yard that the window was connected towards. "But then, if she''s not here, then ¡­ then ¡­" his hands started to shake just thinking of what that would mean. "¡­" Trevor was unable to say anything but he looked back at Grey and Jessica. The two nodded to him and came to calm their leader down, while Trevor started heading out. "W-where?" the man questioned him but, "Make sure to tell her everything too." Trevor said before he stepped out of their yard. "Hey Trevor, where are you going?" the man questioned, finding himself frustrated again. "I''m going to Remedy, where your daughter would have gone." He said with a seemingly emotionless voice, "Once you stop being a dimwit and return to being the leader of this group again, come there." He said and left. ***** He was the hot-head of the group. Despite that though, when I had lost my mind and my head had become hot, he was the one with the calmness needed in the situation. And with that calmness, he made the decision that going to save Grimma, even if alone, was the best thing to do. He made that decision for my sake, or so I would like to believe. In any case, he didn''t stop for a moment as he went on a mission that was pretty much a suicide if done alone. ***** "Magic? Mage-craft? Are you really serious about all this?" the woman asked as Jessica told her everything. Jessica nodded. "I hope you can forgive him for keeping this all a secret from you for this whole time but, he had no other choice. This world of magic is a dangerous one and he didn''t want to drag you into it." Jessica tried her best to come up with the best words for the situation, but the woman, being who she was, already understood all that and didn''t needed it to be spelled out for her. "So, you mean to say Grimma is in danger right now?" She asked with nervous clear on her face. "Y-yes! If she has indeed gone to Remedy Corporation in an attempt to destroy them and stop all this, then she would indeed be in danger right now." Jessica said and saw the expression on the woman''s face growing even more nervous, so she immediately said, "But don''t worry! Trevor is a jerk but he''s a total badass too. He''ll bring Grimma back safe and sound without any problems." She tried to put up a cheerful smile to make the woman feel at ease. But, courtesy of being so cheerful all the time was that a fake expression of being cheerful was easy to detect on her face. And so, the woman only grew more anxious. Jessica, seeing that, couldn''t help but feel bad and looked at Grey who was trying to make their leader regain his cool. But, his results weren''t much different from her either. "Come on, boss, you have got to pull yourself together now." Grey said in an attempt to bring some moral back on his face but, "It''s no use, damnit! Even if we four combine our strength, we can cause massive damage to Remedy Corp. but we can''t take them out." He said with his hands on his head and his face contorted in despair. "SO, are you going to let your daughter die?" Grey tried to chide him but, "If I go after them, they will come after the rest of my family." He said, no, yelled. "Of course I don''t want anything to happen to Grimma, but how can I make the sacrifice of everyone else for her? That''s just too cruel." "Tsk!" Grey clicked his tongue but couldn''t say anything in return. Even the two women listening to it couldn''t think of anything. Jason, who had been listening to the whole conversation, couldn''t say anything either. Kylie and Irium, who were also there just stood behind Jason silently. "It''s over. Everything is over." The man said as he scratched at his own hide to give himself some sort of pain, some sort of punishment, anything he could label as his repentance. But, "Dad!" the cutest voice in the house called out to him. The man turned to that voice, and he heard, "Where''s Grimma sis?" Jason tried to stop him but his mother stopped him from doing so. And so, the smallest person in the house continued, "Whenever there''s a problem, sis solves it for me. So, whatever you are worried about, I''m sure sis will solve it too." So he said, paining the broken heart of his dad ever so more. "So, you just have to tell her about the problem and then she''ll solve it and everything will be fine." He wasn''t wrong. Grimma would find a solution to all of the problems this household ever ran into. He wasn''t wrong, not at all. And so, "But, where is she?" Those words pained more than they would have other-wise. "Tsk!" the man clicked his tongue and got up. "Boss-" Grey was cut-off by him as he said, "Make sure these four remain safe!" He said and then turned to his youngest child, Irium, and said as he hugged him, "I''ll bring your sis back, okay?" At that moment, that man had considered the chances of him returning to be near zero. Yet, for some reason, he had gained a will to fight. ***** 60 The Demoness Who Burned Humans "How unsightly!?" Priscina remarked as she looked at the Remedy Corporation Headquarters. "All of these are supposed to be capable mages? If this is all they can do, then they are a joke compared to Angels and Demons." "Why are you so haughty without even doing anything?" Grimma said with folded arms and a scoffing expression. "Do I really need to sully my hands by bothering to destroy such an insignificant place!?" She asked as if she didn''t already know the answer. Grimma didn''t respond, which made Priscina sigh. "I can''t really decide if my past self was boring or interesting. You just keep switching between the two things." "I couldn''t care less how you perceived me." Grimma said. "Fine, fine! I''ll get on it." Priscina said while flailing her arms in random directions, "Such a bothersome thing to do." Turning towards the headquarters located in a 3-storey building which probably has a large number of underground floors as well, Priscina merely brought up a hand and adjusted it to a guard downstairs as if she was aiming with a gun. Within a moment, the guard in questioned starts burning. "Well, that was easy!" She remarked with a bored expression. "Ah-" Grimma tried to say something but could not. She was the one who told Priscina to attack the base after all, people getting badly hurt in the process was something she had prepared herself for. And so, with that one moment of faltering upon seeing a person being burnt alive for the first time, she regained composure and said, "There''s no time for you to slack off ¨C on to the next one!" "Yeah, yeah!" Priscina replied without any motivation at all. ***** The distance between Remedy Corporation Headquarters from the house we used to live in was about 20 kilometers. With the help of a Demoness, it didn''t take all that long for Grimma to reach there. Trevor, having powers that make him capable of jumping over skyscrapers from one place to another, also wasn''t going to take too long to reach it. And that is why; I couldn''t be slacking off either. I borrowed the Raij¨± from Jessica as well as the Manticore from Grey. I was riding on the Manticore and the Raij¨± was following us. And with that, we headed towards that place as fast as possible too. ***** 4-5 minutes had passed since the first attack by the Demoness Priscina. Ever since that happened, it had been a slaughter. Members of Remedy were falling left and right, without even giving them a fight. That almost made it look like they were oppressing the weak. And even though Grimma wanted to believe that was not the case, having a Demoness at her side would prove that belief wrong. "Hey, come on now! Isn''t there anyone who is more fun than these weaklings?" Priscina complained as she set 10 men on fire. "Stop asking for trouble!" Grimma chided her, which she just ignored as she put another 10 men on fire. They were really destroying a leading organization in mage-craft. This was a feat that most could not even dream of. However, that wasn''t what Grimma wanted to be honest. She didn''t want to cause destruction. She just wanted to protect her family. But, when Dues ex machina forced the location of her lair in Grimma''s head, she left another piece of information. She left in Grimma''s head the memory Dues had of overseeing the start of a mission to kill the Glice family. That letter that caused her to learn about magic, that ''coincidental'' timing so perfectly set to make her lie to her father because of a reflex when he asked about her seeing the letter, not to mention the two ''policemen'' coming right when she was becoming stronger and capable in mage-craft. All of those ''coincidences'' can be explained by the one fact Grimma learned from Dues'' memories. It was the fact that Dues had manipulated people around her and made this situation play out like it had. And because she knew all that, she realized that trying to escape them would be pointless because Dues isn''t someone you can escape from. And so, the only choice she had left was to fight. That had caused all this carnage to happen. How can, after all of this, she not go to hell upon dying? Of course she was bound to go to hell when she died. Of course the path that was left for her was to become a Demoness. The path of becoming an Angel was long gone. Even without figuring anything out, seeing Priscina was proof enough of that. However, after figuring it all out, she couldn''t help but feel a terrible ache in her heart as her summoned Demoness annihilated all of her opponents. But then, "That''s a terrible mess you have made, girl." The voice of an adult man came from behind, causing both of them to turn back in surprise. This man had orange hair, a slim physique and style of clothing as well as hair resembling a street punk. Looking at him, Grimma moved back and said, "Priscina!" "On it!" Priscina replied as she did what she had been doing the entire time and put the man on fire. But, "Huh!?" "What the-" Both of them found themselves surprised when the flames died out in an instant without hurting the man. "Who ¡­ are you!?" Grimma asked, still stunned by that development. "I''m Trevor," He said in a calm voice, "a friend of your father." Hearing that, Grimma relaxed a bit as she said, "I see!" Priscina too relaxed as she too had gotten tense on seeing that Trevor was not affected by her fire but, "Let me make something clear for you though." Trevor said while staring at her, "If you want to get out of here, I''ll help you." "A-" Grimma tried to say something but Trevor put up a hand so as to say that he wasn''t finished. And so, she lets him continue. "If, for whatever reason, you wish to continue this destruction, I''ll knock both of you out and stop you before taking you back to your family." "¡­" Grimma became silent as she heard that. "HA!" Priscina chuckled and said, "There''s no point in trying to dawdle, is there? So, let me tell you straight ¨C we aren''t going to stop." ***** 61 The Quicksand Drowns The Struggler Down "Well, I expected that''d be the case." Trevor said, seemingly unaffected by Priscina telling her that they won''t back down. "I guess I''ll have to knock both you out then." "You can try, human!" Priscina said with a grin and pointed at the part of the floor Trevor was standing on. It immediately started to shake and cracks started to open up on it. "But you''ll fail." "Tsk!" Trevor merely clicked his tongue and ¡­ "What the-" Priscina said but couldn''t finish as she fell on the ground and felt like something had hit her neck. "W-what happened?" "I did what I said I''d do." Trevor answered her. And only then did she realize that he was standing there completely safe and sound and had chopped her on the neck to put her to temporary sleep. "Tsk! I ¡­ lost." She said as she looked at him walking towards Grimma. "Yes, you did." He answered her. As soon as he did, Grimma tried to run away but fell down after being chopped the same way and fell unconscious. "That should do it." Trevor said as he looked at the two identical girls knocked out on the ground, "Better take them out of here before anyone troublesome comes." "Yes, that might be bad for you, wouldn''t it?" then a voice came all of sudden making Trevor gaze towards it in shock. "Dues!?" He said the name of the person this voice had come from, "What the hell are you doing here!?" "Just watching things play out, as usual." She said with a smile. "Tsk!" It was safe to say that Trevor wasn''t the biggest fan of her. And so, seeing her there was, in no way, anything to feel glad about. But, it wasn''t just that he knew of usually cunning and mischievous this deity is. By that time, he had come to know something more about her, courtesy of looking into the brains of particular ''assassins''. "Why did you try to distract us by hiring those idiots to act as assassins?" "Well, it''s simple. If I hadn''t done that, there was a good enough chance that Grimma wouldn''t have been able to cause all this destruction." She said as she spread her arms at the mess Remedy Corporation Headquarters were in. "And why did you want to cause this destruction?" He asked. "No, no! Causing this destruction wasn''t my goal." She said with a smile. "Grimma causing this destruction was my goal." Hearing that only made him more frustrated on her. Even so, he tried to keep it in as he asked, "Why?" "To make the Glice family enemies of Remedy Corporations." "AND WHY DID YOU WANT THAT?" seeing how all of her answers were still leaving the question of ''why'' around, Trevor had gotten irritated to the point of raising his voice. However, Dues'' voice was as calm as ever as she answered, "Now that they are enemies of Remedy, that leader of yours had no choice but to teach his family mage-craft. And THAT is something I wanted to happen, and I knew for a fact he wouldn''t have agreed to do it no matter what else happened." To teach them all mage-craft? That is what Dues wanted. But, for what reason? Those questions were written all over Trevor''s face, and so he didn''t even need to ask for Dues to answer. "You won''t be able to understand all the details, but just know this ¨C in the not-so-distant future, someone from Glice family will need to kill the entire Demon race. And THAT won''t be possible unless that someone learns mage-craft." "You ¡­ want the entire Demon race to end?" Trevor asked in shock and anxiety. "Yes, I want that dysfunctional race to end." Dues said and looked away as she said, "Seems like one of those people you would think of as troublesome is about to reach this place. If you want to get those two out of here, better do it now." And after that, Dues disappeared ¨C leaving Trevor with a lot to think about, but his priorities aligned on one thing ¨C getting the two teen girls out of there. ***** Dues'' plan of wiping out the entire Demon race ¨C I still don''t get it completely. I get the thinking of them being dysfunctional, not that I agree with it. But still, even if they are dysfunctional, why would you want to wipe out the entire race? Not to mention her plan doesn''t end there. She wants the race she controls to become more powerful and be called the ''New Demons''. She even plans to do the same to Angels after that. To me, her plan seems less about correcting the system of Heaven and Hell''s supreme races and more about being the one who does the correcting. To me, she looks nothing more than a bitch with a god complex. ***** That man reached the headquarters but, "What the hell!? Why is everything on fire!?" He asked himself. Obviously, the answer was not going to just come to him ¡­ or not. "Finally showed up, eh?" Trevor''s voice came from his back causing the man to turn and look at him. "What ¡­ happened to you?" He asked in a shocked expression as he saw the man in front of his eyes covered in dirt and bruises and barely being able to stand. "Well, just a really powerful asshole tried to attack me." Trevor said with a slight smile, "Grimma, and the Demoness she summoned, are both behind me." He was barely able to stand on his feet. That man had an anxious expression over his face because of that. "If you are worried about the guy who did this to me, he''s lying there unconscious." He said while pointing to a man lying some distance away. So Trevor won the fight? But still, he was in no shape to fight anymore. If another troublesome person were to come and stop them, he wouldn''t be much help. This is why they needed to run away from there as fast as they could. But, "Tsk!" By that point in time, 50 gunmen had already pointed their guns at the two of them, all while a single man in classic black suit and pants looked from behind and said, "Fire!" ***** 62 A Lethal Ability "Fire!" And with just that, the guns started being emptied. The bullets kept flying off at just one target. The firing did not stop even when that target was down. The world kept twisting more and more as the scenery turned crimson. "No!" That man vocalized his inquisition, "Why ¡­ did you ¡­ do that?" Even with a breaking voice like that, he asked. And the answer came in a broken voice as well. "Just ¡­ doing my ¡­ job ¡­ boss." Trevor fell to the ground, covered in crimson, deep crimson. ***** Just like Tamers, Corporis was another class of mages. Their specialty, which had given them that name, was that they used magic to make their physical abilities better. Things like super-speed, super-strength or an indestructible body; they were all Corporis-class mage-craft. However, Trevor wasn''t just a simple Corporis-class mage. He was gifted in every sense of the way. Despite specializing in it, he had never been limited to Corporis-class. He could use some less powerful cards that Tamers used or even use some abilities that fell in no class at all. He could use them if he had clearly seen them once before. And he had clearly seen someone use that ability, so he could use it too. It was an ability that lets a person accumulate something in particular (damage in that case), even something that is not being given to them, and then give back all of it. Against one person, it wasn''t much. But against 50 gunmen, it was too much. He had accumulated all the bullets those 50 men had fired into him and then countered it so as to make all 50 of them suffer the same pain. Obviously, all of them died. By the way, that person he had learned that ability from, the person who showed him the ability that caused his death, it was none other than me. ***** The man in black suit and pants fell to the ground after being hit with a fireball. He didn''t survive very long after that. And so, the only person left alive was that man, his daughter, the Demoness that looked identical to his daughter and a Corporis-class mage who was somehow hanging onto life despite knowing he wouldn''t survive very long. He was using all the mana stored inside himself to prolong his life just enough to tell his group''s leader something. "Boss ¡­ you ¡­ free ¡­ yet?" He asked as he knew that man would have killed the guy in black suit first. "Y-y-yeah! What is it, T-Trevor?" He asked in a voice that was shaking, though not as much as his hands were. "That ¡­ ability ¡­ of yours ¡­ is ¡­ pretty ¡­ cool ¡­ you know." He said while blood gushed out of his wounds. "I-" "What ¡­ was it ¡­ called?" Trevor asked. "¡­" hands were shaking and voice wasn''t coming out of his throat, despite him wanting to. "Well ¡­ whatever ¡­ it was ¡­ doesn''t ¡­ really ¡­ matter." Trevor said, "It''s ¡­ pretty damn ¡­ awesome. So," "But-" "SO" He tried to raise his voice to make the man shut up knowing that it would cause him to feel more pain, "don''t ¡­ blame ¡­ y-yourself ¡­ for ¡­ showing it ¡­ to me." THUMP! A voice of a man falling to his knees came and his sub-audible cries reached Trevor''s ears. "If ¡­ I ¡­ didn''t know ¡­ it ¡­ I ¡­ would''ve ¡­ used ¡­ some other ¡­ ability ¡­ I ¡­ knew ¡­ and the ¡­ result ¡­ probably ¡­ be ¡­ the same."Trevor said, trying his best to convey that to that man even as he was at death''s door. "M-more ¡­ importantly ¡­ it''s ¡­ not finished. They''d ¡­ still ¡­ come ¡­ after ¡­ you." "¡­" "You ¡­ are ¡­ Remedy''s ¡­ enemy ¡­ now. So ¡­ run ¡­ run ¡­ run ¡­ so far ¡­ they ¡­ can''t ¡­ reach you." He kept on talking despite it hurting every fiber in his body, "Pretty sure ¡­ Grey ¡­ and Jessica ¡­ will ¡­ help." "Trevor!" That man said as his hands finally stopped shaking. "Y-yeah ¡­ what?" Trevor asked. "You''ve done enough and ¡­ you''ve said enough." That man told him, "It''s okay now. Everything is okay now." He finally found the courage to say what he needed to, and so the struggle of the struggler ended with a smile as he stopped prolonging it and let go of his life. ***** An ability that lets the user accumulate damage and give it back ¨C it was a very lethal ability for both the user and his opponents. In fighting with mage-craft, one can accumulate their inner mana and release it with full force to make it into a weapon that could even tear of concrete roads and kill Angels or Demons. That was how it was generally used. However, I had made it a little more diverse. I had gone into the roots of the ability, understood them and started bending them in ways so I could use them for different purposes. For example, I could accumulate the image of a place in my head and then show it to other people to let them see something they had never even seen before. I could use it to show illusions pretty easily. For example, I could make it so two people could not see me even as they looked right at me. I could also accumulate a feeling and make others feel it when I want to. For example, I could make it so people, even as they looked at me refusing to treat a patient, would not feel disgusted but goofy. Even more ironically though, I could accumulate memories into my head and then show it to others. For example, I could show this entire story to an Angel who doesn''t understand anything. One characteristic of this ability is that it freezes the blood for a just a minute second and then releases it. This causes the blood to run very rapidly for just a little while, almost as if it is burning. This is why the ability has been classified as a mix of ice and fire elementals. Someone once said the act of releasing the blood as the accumulated ''something'' is released like the frost that the blood had formed into singing a requiem for the time it had lost in being that frost. Whatever poetic meaning that person had, the ability thenceforth was named ''Frost Requiem''. By controlling it through the roots rather than the steps that books would teach one, I had turned that into ''Absolute Frost Requiem''. It is the one and only accomplishment of my life that didn''t turn into a failure. ***** 63 Condemning Her When Grimma woke up, the first thing to come into her sight was a ceiling she had seen before but had never had the misfortunate of waking up to. "This ¡­ is my school''s medical room." She muttered to herself and then, "That it is." A familiar voice came her way, causing her to get to a sitting position. And as soon as she did that, she saw the figure of the Demoness Priscina standing in front of her bed while facing towards her right. Turning to her right, she found her dad standing at the entrance of the room. "What is going on?" Grimma questioned to both of them. And as she did, "What the HELL were you thinking!?" Her dad yelled at her. "Why the hell did you attack Remedy Corporation? Had you lost your mind?" Hearing him yelling that at her, she was unable to answer for a second. This was the first time she had seen that man yell like that, and it was shocking more than it was surprising. "Answer me, damnit!" He yelled, "Do you know what your stupidity has caused?" "It was all planned." She said. "What!?" "Dues ex machina had planned and manipulated everyone around her to make this happen." She told him. "Tsk!" He clicked his tongue and, "Don''t blame your sins on others!" "I''m n-" "Shut up!" He yelled, "Even if Dues had manipulated you into this, the fact remains that you still had a choice of not doing this all and just tell me everything. But, you didn''t." "And if I had told you everything, what would have happened? What could you have done?" Her voice had started to rise as well. "What difference could it have made?" "You think I couldn''t have protected you all!?" He asked with veins popping on his forehead. "Yes, I think you couldn''t have." She yelled, "If not, then tell me ¨C what was the last time that you used mage-craft for any offensive purposes?" "A ¡­" "That''s it, isn''t it? I have read in your records and I know your personality too. You never use mage-craft for offensive purposes. Even if you know and use mage-craft that can be used offensively, you don''t use it for that purpose. Never." She said with her face contorting with sadness and tears flowing from her eyes, "How could you have protected us then?" "Hah!" He sighed. "Using mage-craft for offensive purposes goes against my being. And why would I use it anyway? There''s no need to. There''s always a way to resolve things peacefully." "That''s just idealistic bullshit." Grimma yelled, "People in Remedy always wanted to throw you out and they were trying to find a good excuse to do it. They always knew that I was the mage they were after but they didn''t tell you to later blame it on you for not knowing things. They did all that just to get you. And Dues ex machina was making it all happen. Now, what would you have done against that, huh?" "¡­" "You could have resolved it this time but they would have found another excuse to get you. And when they did, there was no guarantee that I would be able to help." Tears kept streaming down the cheeks of the teenage girl, "And so, I helped. Or, I tried to help." "¡­" "¡­" She kept crying, on and on, for a whole minute that her father didn''t say anything but showed her a look of pity. And then, "I appreciate you caring about me, I do." His anger had subsided for that instant at least, "But, you have sinned. By killing or making this Demoness you summoned kill so many in cold blood, you have become a serial killer." He told her. "Yet, that doesn''t change the fact that you are my daughter, my pride, and that I love you." "¡­" "And so, even though you are a criminal now, I will still protect you." "B-but, that goes against your believes of condemning violence." She said as she tried to move but couldn''t find the strength to do so. "Yes, and for the sake of sticking to those believes and keeping you safe as well, I will condemn you for what you have done today for the rest of your life. But, I will not hand you over to the authorities." He said in blank voice. "¡­" She couldn''t say anything. "¡­" And he chose not to. "Ha! Haha! Hahahaha!!!" And so, the Demoness who had seen the whole exchange started laughing. "¡­" Grimma still didn''t say anything. "¡­" And her father didn''t either. "I was part of such an amusing race, and the daughter of such a man?" She said, "I didn''t know anything about it at all." "What do you mean you were part of it?" He asked, doubting that the Demoness would have just made a grammatical mistake there. "Well, do you want to tell him?" Priscina asked while turning to Grimma. "¡­ She''s the Demoness I become after my death." Grimma said while trying her best to not show emotions. However, hearing that, "What the ¡­!" That man couldn''t believe what he had just heard. Color almost faded from his face and hearing that, "What''s wrong!?" Priscina asked mockingly, "Even though you said you''d condemn her for the rest of your life, you are so shocked on realizing that she would become a citizen of Hell after death. Isn''t that hypocritical?" "¡­ I-It''s not." "How?" Priscina asked. "I said I''d condemn her for the rest of her life, not that I will damn her." He answered. "Ha! Hahahahaha!" She laughed yet again. "So you are fine with you giving her the condemnation she deserves but not with the same judgment being passed on her at the time of her death." "No, that''s not it." Of course he knew that a crime so big will land her in hell. But, "Why does she not just go to hell and atone there like one is supposed to?" He asked, "Why does a she turn into a Demoness?" "Ah, that!?" Priscina puts a hand on her mouth as he hears that question. "It''s simply because she, or I guess I could say ''I'' too, became so powerful as a human that my power would have been wasted if I didn''t become a Demoness and use it for Hell''s sake. So, Lucifer helped me out on that." ***** 64 A Tragedy Cut Too Shor "It is such a pity." The doctor says, "I would have liked for you to know the entire story. Unfortunately, I can''t do that." As I hear that and stop seeing the visions of his past, I try to calm myself down over what I had seen and ask him, "What year was it that that all happened?" "And how does knowing that benefit you?" The doctor asked with a disapproving look. "Please, just answer!" I say, pleading him for an answer. He sighs as he answers me, "2010." "And what year have you come back from?" "2020." "I-I see." I can''t help but feel curious as to what else happened with them. "Where is Grimma in 2020? And, the rest of your family what happened to them?" I ask. "Hah!" He sighs. "Grimma died shortly after that incident. My wife, Jason and Kylie died too, though that happened 5 years later. Irium is still alive in 2020. But, he doesn''t remember me or the rest of them." "What!?" I find myself surprised to hear that. "I had to rewrite his memories. So, he believes that his mother had died when he was five, his father had left him when he was ten, and that he never had any siblings." "¡­" I can''t say anything. How can I? Doing something like that ¨C is just so cruel. But, how can I say that to him, the one who would have felt the cruelty of rewriting those memories the most? "I didn''t leave him completely unprotected though." The doctor says, "I added in his memories a part where his father had taken a loan from a mafia lord and that mafia lord allowed him to live in that house because he was a kid. In 2020, he still believes that he will need to someday earn and return all the money his dad owed that lord. With that excuse added though, I could make Grey or Jessica visit him from time-to-time playing the part of the lord." That''s good. At least, that''s something positive in all of this, even though that is based on a lie too. "Why ¡­ can''t you show me the rest of it?" I ask while looking directly at him. "Oh, are you that interested now, Ms. Roswaisa?" The doctor says with a mocking smile but that smile soon fades away as he gives me the answer, "I''m afraid I can''t stay here for too long now." "Huh!?" "I could have showed some more but I knew you would have questions to ask either way and I didn''t want to leave it all up to your imagination, so I made sure I had time to answer your questions." He told me, "But now, I''ll need to go." "But-" "Just remember two things, Ms. Roswaisa." He says with a grim look, "You have to learn Absolute Frost Requiem, it''s for the benefit of everyone in the world that you do. Second, you have to never trust Dues ex machina." He says and turns around, "Almost forgot, this isn''t something that would be necessary to do, but if you come across those two men again, ask them their names. Particularly, ask the more handsome one his name. And after that, think calmly what you should do." And then, he disappears. ***** Making Adonia Evans a powerful mage will lead to Roswaisa becoming a more powerful Angel than she was, and that will lead to a better result against Aknin Vielos. With that whole plan in our mind, I and Danny are ready to leave Hell and return to Earth. Just before we do that though, "I have one favor to ask, Danny. Don''t summons Cerberus or any other creature from Hell in your endeavors if you can." Lucifer says to him as he bows a little. "Uh ¡­ sure, but why?" Danny asks, a little taken aback. "Hell is in dire need of these beasts these days." Lucifer tells him as he straightens his back. "Oh, that so? Alright!" Danny gives him a thumbs-up as he says that. "Thanks!" Lucifer returns his thumbs-up. "¡­" "Um, Mr. Glice," Lucifer asks as he turns to me, "Is there a particular reason that you are staring at me?" "I am just wondering how you became such a feared deity in our world with that kind of attitude." I bluntly tell him. "Why? Is there something really wrong with my attitude?" Lucifer asks. "Yes, you act like the king of demons and more like an old grandma living in a farming village." I plainly say so. Seeing Lucifer becoming rock as he hears that satisfies me enough and I start walking towards the portal that is supposed to lead us out of Hell. "Danny, let''s go." I yell. "Y-yeah!" He says while looking at Lucifer (who is still a statue) with an awkward smile. Then, as he catches up with me, he whispers in my ears, "That was kinda harsh." "Why?" "I mean, you called Lucifer an old man despite his young appearance. Do you know how much effort he puts into trying to look young?" "However much it is, it is just waste of effort." I plainly say, "If anime has taught me anything, it is the fact that old men are badasses." I mean, Inuyashiki is an entire show about an old man who is badass doing some badass stuff. "And besides," I say, "Trying to look young is stupid, especially when you have got a great face like his." Danny says awkwardly, "It''s kinda weird to hear that out of someone like you." "Why is that?" "Just that it sounds like something an elder sister will tell you when she scolds you for trying to play with her make-up." That ¡­ kinda ¡­ sounded right. "You are an only child though, from what I know at least." I mean, I am an only child from what I know too. I have never had an ''Ara Ara-chan'', I mean, Onee-chan, and neither have I ever socialized with anyone who did, so I don''t know why that sounded accurate to me. Anyway, "Let''s get out of here already." "Y-yeah!" He agrees with me and we step into the portal. As I step into the portal, the one thing I need to make sure of is not coming in contact with Roswaisa. From what the Doctor said, he will tell her to kill me, or try to at least, for the sake of making a connection with me. That could be troublesome. And of course, the first thing I see as I come back to Earth is Roswaisa. "What the-" Danny tries to give a generic surprised reaction while I sigh. "Hello, Angel-san. Please tell me if you want to kill me or not." "Kill ¡­ you?" Roswaisa asks with her hands at her chin as she leans on the railings of the roof we have ended up on, "Why would I do that? More importantly though, there''s something that doctor wanted me to ask." That doesn''t sound anything I want to answer then. Before I say it though, "Let''s see, uh, yeah," she looks at me and says, "You are more handsome." Thank you! I mean, I know that already, but thank you! "So, what''s your name?" Why is this routine starting to remind me of all those times Danny''s girlfriends left him for me? "Well," Doesn''t seem like she''ll let go unless I give her an answer so, here goes, "Irium Glice." ***** 65 A Not-So-Happy Reunion Two men, all of a sudden, come out of a portal right on the roof I and the doctor had our whole conversation with. To add to that, these two are the ones that had met me earlier, the two that the doctor said are the only two people I can depend upon or want to help me or something along those lines. "What the-" One the two men reacts with that while the other sighs as they see me. "Hello, Angel-san. Please tell me if you want to kill me or not." then the one who sighed says that, which I don''t know why he does. "Kill ¡­ you?" I ask with my hands at my chin as I lean on the railings of the roof I had been on all this time, "Why would I do that?" Now that I think about it, there was something about the doctor telling me to kill the two of them. But, that''s not the most important thing here. "More importantly though, there''s something that doctor wanted me to ask." The one who had sighed upon seeing me, looks like he''d rather not hear the question. But, I have to ask it. "Let''s see, uh, yeah," Also, it kinda seems like he is the one the doctor wanted me to ask as, "You are more handsome." For a moment, it seems like his lips gain a smile. "So, what''s your name?" I ask him then. Instead of answering though, he starts looking at me with a deadpan expression. "Well," No way am I letting him get out of this though. I need to know the answer. "Irium Glice." He says. He says that and, all of a sudden, some pieces fall into place, causing every other to fly off in the distance. "No way!" I say as I hear that. He''s Irium Glice? That can''t be right. That has to be a coincidence, right? ***** "No way!" -is her reaction after hearing my name. Well, that''s kinda rude. "You are ¡­ Irium Glice?" "I most certainly am." It''s a bit awkward talking to this woman, kinda sad too. But, what is going in her mind has all of my attention right now. "You ¡­ aren''t from the future, are you?" "Eh?" Danny looks at me in a bit of an awkward surprise and I return the favor. Did the doctor tell her about that? He probably did, how else would she know? And I am guessing he also told her my name. But, that still doesn''t explain her shocked face upon hearing my name. "Yeah, we both are from the future, the year 2020 to be more precise." I say, trying to act as calm as I possibly can. With a troubled expression, she asks, "I-I see. How old are you?" Why? You don''t want to accidentally confess your love to someone who is younger than you or something? Ha, I wish! "I''m 17." I respond, keeping all those thoughts in my mind and only revealing the relevant information. "I ¡­ see. According to maturity, you''ll be equivalent to an 85 year old Angel then." She says while holding her chin and staring at the ground. If we are going by that though, then it''d be more like 88. Well, whatever! "Hey, uh," she hesitates for whatever reason. "Yeah, what?" I urge her to go on. I am genuinely interested in knowing what has thrown her in such a situation that she has had this troubled expression the entire time. Is the confession finally going to come or something? "Your mother died when you were a 5-year-old and your father left you when you were 10." She says all of sudden, not facing me but the ground. "¡­" "You live on rent in a house owned by a mafia lord and you plan to someday pay everything your father had taken from the lord back and be freed of the debt." She continued as I do not interrupt. "¡­" "I ¡­ am wrong, aren''t I?" She asks me after saying all of that. "¡­" "Answer me, please!" Her voice soft and expression troubled, she raises this question to me. "You are wrong about the part that I aim to pay that moron anything, but everything else is true." I say, trying my best to not let the conversation become gloomy. Safe to say ¨C that I brutally failed at doing that because of my own frustrations, "Who told you all this, Ms. Roswaisa?" "Well, uh," "It was that doctor who summoned you here?" I ask with a questioning gaze. "Y-yes!" she replied, looking a bit sad and troubled as she had been for the past few minutes or so. I see. That guy knows a lot about me, doesn''t he? I already knew I can''t trust that guy but I now feel like I need to meet him and talk to him, about things that even I don''t understand about myself. "Ms. Roswaisa, why were you asking all of this? What did the doctor tell you about me?" I ask. "Well, uh ¡­" she hesitates yet again, but she won''t be able to not answer, not when I am staring on her to make sure she knows all of her moves are being recorded and there''s no escape. The only possible escape is ¨C "You two, come on now," "Shut up, Danny!" - this guy interrupting the situation thinking it''s getting out-of-hand. But, as you can see, I can shut him up pretty easily. "Ms. Roswaisa, answer!" I tell her, almost as if I am commanding her to do so. And so, "I ¡­ don''t think telling you would be a good idea." She says. "Let me be the judge of that." I say. "Well, he''s ¡­ your ¡­ father." She tells me. "That''s ridiculous." I tell her. "It sounds ridiculous to you ¡­ because your memories have been tampered with." She says. "¡­" I remain silent for just a while. But, just as she is about to say something like ''don''t do anything rash'' or ''don''t feel bad'', I stop her with, "Tell me everything that he told you." And with a dejected and sad expression, she fulfills my request. ***** 66 King Of Hell And Queen Of Time "Are your guests gone, sire?" A servant of the place asks me. "Yes, they are." I say as I have seen off the two humans who had paid hell a visit, though not of their own volition. I took the liberty of dropping them out just where their Angel friend would be. That should let them have an easier time figuring things out. And now that all is over and done with, I ask the servant, "What''s the status?" "All of the members you requested are ready and awaiting your orders, sire." He answers me. "I see." I turn around and start walking, "Then there is no point in making them wait any longer, is there?" ***** "Have you finally given, Demoness?" I ask the Aknin, who had been trying to break free of the hold of the concrete that had trapped her this entire time, but now seems to have stopped trying to do that. "Tsk!" She is, obviously, irritated about it though. I can understand. Being stripped away of your freedom to move while listening to someone you are not fond of ranting in front of you is not exactly a very good feeling. Still, I can''t let her out as I too am not very fond of this Demoness who only knows how to do things by violence. "Well, you''ll need to stay like that for a while, Aknin. I can''t be bothered to fight you at the moment." So, I tell her that. However, "Do you think you can get away with this, bitch?" Aknin says as she looks at me with eyes burning with hatred. "Oh my! Why such hatred!?" I question her mockingly. "Tsk!" Aknin''s eyebrows furrow as she says, "Lucifer is not going to let you do whatever the heck you want, you bitch!" "Lucifer, huh? That guy, huh? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" I laugh upon hearing that. How can I not laugh on that? She thinks Lucifer will stop me? How foolish! "Lucifer will never be able to do anything to me. Never." "Oh? And why is that?" She asks as if she thinks I am only acting and my words have no value. I do feel bad and also kinda excited to see the expression she''ll have on her face in a few seconds. "Lucifer once made a vow very few know of." I tell her, "He vowed that he will never use violence against someone who is not denizen of Hell." "W-What!?" Her face contorts in disbelief and, "I am not a denizen of Hell, so I am safe from his ''wrath''." I continue without caring about her feeling, or maybe because I care too much about them and want to crush them further, "And every other Demon is weaker than me." I casually caress her cheeks as I say, "So, your hopes are doomed, Demoness." I won''t lie. It feels great to see the shock and despair on Aknin''s face. It''s so refreshing. A Demon, a true demon, a true creature of evil, wouldn''t have this kind of expression on their face. A real Demon would be jealous of the power I hold and would be trying to devise a plan to take all this power from me. But she, she is not like that. She is despaired because she is worried about her comrades in Hell, about Hell and maybe even a bit about Heaven. She is a flawed Demon, and a perfect example of why I am needed to bring them all down. "Well, enough chatter." I say. "I need to go now ¨C to obtain the piece of the puzzle I still lack, all thanks to your interruptions." ***** In the room I step in, there are already three people ¨C all of them Demons. Aside from one of them who is my helper, two of them are here for the mission I am to give them. "Are you serious about this, Lucifer?" One of the two, a handsome round-faced man with blonde-hair and blue-eyes and slightly long hair with a tall stature asks me that. He is one of the most capable Demons in Hell, and is known far and wide as Azazel. "I would like to ask the same thing." The other of the two, a beautiful diamond-faced woman with deep crimson-hair and red eyes and hair reaching half way through her back with a tall stature seconds that question. She is also one of most capable Demons in Hell and the superior of the Demoness who stupidly let herself become a hostage of Dues in trying to attack her alone. She is known as Rain Green. "I am very serious about this." I tell them, fair and square. "I want you two to get Dues ex machina for me." "¡­" "¡­" They both look like they are contemplating, which makes me smile a bit. "You two both know about my vow to never use violence against those that aren''t denizens of Hell, right? Unfortunately, Dues is one of them. So, I''ll have to leave this job to the two of you." "Hmm ¡­ while taking out that bitch will be my pleasure, it''s not going to be easy. She''s ridiculously powerful, especially on Earth." Azazel says. "Yeah, that''s something I can''t brush off either." Rain says so with folded arms, and then adds, "Not to mention, finding her would be a task in itself." "Well, while you two will need to fight her mostly on your own with maybe a little help at best, finding her won''t be your burden." I tell them. "I have already arranged for people to take you to her base." "Is that so?" Azazel asks, not especially impressed but interested nonetheless, "And who are these people?" "Hmm ¡­" I deliberately trail off and point towards a door to the room, the door that they both are sitting diagonally to. And, I urge, "Why don''t you two come in and introduce yourselves?" As soon as I do that, a man and a woman enter the room. Both humans bowed to us and, "I am Grey." The man says. "I am Jessica." The woman says. And then, she continues, "The leader of a group we both were once a part of had given us a mission to protect his only remaining child." She stops, with her hands shaking and her biting her lips. So, Grey continued past that, "We failed that mission because of Dues ex machina." He too stops, but only for a moment, as he then says, "But, even though we failed, we uncovered all of Dues'' plans and hideouts even aside from the lair we already knew about." "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" The three of us listen to them without interrupting. And seeing that, the two of them say in coalition, "Please allow us to help you get there so you can make her repent for all the sins that she has committed." ¡­. A second passed, two passed, ten passed. But just when it starts to seem like no one will say anything, Azazel laughs. "Hahahahaha!" He stands up and walks to stand in front of them as he says, "Making her repent, huh? That sounds fun." ***** 67 Arbitrary Time And Arbitrary Calender It''s surprising how things have escalated to this point in time. The more Irium and his gang try to unravel the mysteries, the more they become entangled in it. At this point in time, Irium, his friend Danny and the Diamond Angel Roswaisa would probably be together. Adonia Evans will obviously not be with them. While the second of the two is because of me, the first is obviously not. That would be because of Lucifer. As for how I can tell that Lucifer would want to do something like that, it''s quite simple. He''s Lucifer, the king of Hell. He''ll do all that is required to protect his kingdom from the schemes of Dues ex machina. Well, whatever! At present, her schemes and Lucifer''s schemes do not bother me. I have more important things to take care of. And it involves Angels and Demons. You see, there''s something called age-limit for Angels, Demons and their likes. Let''s suppose a human lived for 20 years. In their terms, that''d be equivalent to 100 years. So, if this human becomes an Angel or a Demon, they''d live for 100 years and then die. It''s not like they''d become old or something. No. But when the time comes, they''d just die. That''s how the system seems to work for them. Grimma lived for a whole total of 16 years. Not a day more than that. The day she died was her birthday. So, the Demoness Priscina lived for 80 years too and then died. Regardless of how and when she died, it''s important to note that she did. Now, time is irrelevant for them, isn''t it? Even if, in some distant future, they are dead, they should still be alive and capable of being summoned in this time-period, right? Well, no. It''s a little more complicated than that. The human time is what is irrelevant for them. They have their own time, and that flows quite arbitrarily. So, let''s ignore all that mumbo-jumbo of their time and just proceed to the digits. According to their calendar, which is the same for Heaven and Hell, Priscina entered heaven in the year 10353. She died in 10433. Within these 80 years, anybody on Earth, in any time-period OF EARTH, can summon her. After 10433 though, nobody can do that. At the time of her summoning by Grimma, she was already 80-years-old as no Angel or Demon is qualified to be summoned before that point. If, let''s suppose, a human died before reaching 16 and so the Angel or Demon version of them will also, they will never be summoned. Anyway, the point is ¨C time is not irrelevant to Angels or Demons or anybody in Heaven and Hell, they have their own time, and that time is relevant to them. The only connection they have with human time or Earth time or whatever you want to call it ¨C is that they can''t be summoned in a time-period that came before a time-period they had already been summoned. In other words, since I summoned Roswaisa in 1856, nobody can summon her before 1856 now. Her second summoning can only happen in a time that is past the date that she disappears from this summoning, whether she fails or succeeds. There is also the thing about there being some catalyst for summoning. Something that belonged to the human they were, or them, can work as a catalyst. If not, then having a connection with them like Roswaisa trying to ''kill'' Irium and/or Danny will make can be enough too. To be honest though, one doesn''t need to go so far as to try to kill another to make that connection. But the strongest emotions do come out hate and love. Well, anyway, there''s no longer any need for her to try to kill either of them. After seeing a fair amount of what happened to me, being the pure Angel that she is, her feelings of pity and guilt have already risen to a really high point for all of my family, which obviously includes Irium. Add to that the fact that she would be talking with them and she also knows that they have come from the future to help her. Yeah, that should be enough of a catalyst. No need to try to kill either of them anymore. I didn''t tell her this but not like it matters much, that Angel can''t go around killing humans anyway. This is why, "Anybody home?" I can freely walk around the place and visit a friend without caring about all that. And so, I do. I visit the house of a British General, or what it''s supposed to be at least. Inside of the house, only man is present, who is sitting with his arms folded. "Finally showed up, did you?" He asks in a bit of an annoyed voice. "Oh, pardon my lethargy, Azazel." I sit next to him, "I was just busy recounting my humanity and the tale of it being chipped away." "Oh, is that so?" Azazel asks, "Where you showing all that to someone?" I simply answer, "My future daughter-in-law." Azazel spits the beer he had been so proudly drinking right on the floor as he hears that. "By that ¡­ you mean Angel Roswaisa?" "Who else would I mean?" I ask mockingly. "Hah!" He sighs. "Anyway, why did you call me here?" "Just to give you a heads-up on the situation." I tell him. "Because, well, you are one of the few Demons who can come on Earth in any time-period they desire regardless of the rules that are supposed to bind you from doing so." "Well, go on." "Lucifer will be calling for you very soon." I say but, to my surprise, "He already has." "Oh, is that so? Then I should make this quick, shouldn''t I?" I ask with an awkward smile. "Yeah, please do." He says with a straight face while sipping his beer. "Well then, the reason he would call for you will be to annihilate that bitch Dues ex machina." "That sounds fun. I''m in." He says with a smirk. "Sure, but first act like you aren''t." "What the-" "Listen to me," I interrupt him with, "Just act like you are in favor of doing it but can''t ignore the problems you''ll face in doing it." "Okay?" "He will then introduce you to two of my former friends, Grey and Jessica. They will undoubtedly be blaming themselves for not being able to be there for Irium when Aknin had come for him." I say, "They will tell you of all that and how they want Dues to pay for making that whole situation happen. Use that as an opportunity to agree to it." "¡­" He stays silent after hearing all that. "Well?" And so I ask. He first smiles and asks me, "You are planning something big, aren''t you?" I nod and say, "Yeah, I am." Hearing that, he gets up, throws away the jar of beer and says, "Well, I can do that for you. But there''s something I want you to do for me too." "And ¡­ what''s that?" I sincerely ask, to which, "You look ugly in that form. Stop possessing that body and get back to your original one." He says. "Oh my," I ask sarcastically, "Is it really that bad?" "Well, no." He says in a sardonic voice, "But when the human blessed by Jophiel takes an ugly form, it''s kinda nauseating to think about." Hearing that, all I can do is smirk. Jophiel, better known as the Archangel Jophiel, the angel of beauty ¨C she blessed me quite a long time ago. But, "I don''t have that blessing anymore." I say, "I transferred it over to Irium." ***** 68 Irium, Danny And Roswaisa Part 1 "So, that is what happened, huh?" I say in a plain voice. "Y-yeah!" The Angel in front of me says while nodding nervously. "Do you ¡­" "I don''t remember a bit of it." I tell both of them. And it''s the truth. I can''t remember my supposed siblings, or my foster parents. I can''t remember any of it. If all of the things Roswaisa just told me are true then, that man trying to make me forget about it all worked, I guess. If it''s not true, it''s still somehow compelling to think about. A mother, a father, three elder siblings ¨C that''s quite a family. "Are you ¡­ okay?" Danny asks nervously. "What does it look like?" "Well, it doesn''t look like you are." He says and sighs. "Looks like our plan will need to be changed once again, huh?" Well, looks like it. "What plan, are you two talking about?" Roswaisa asks curiously. "Hah!" I sigh and look at Danny. He just nods, and so I continue, "Since you know all this much, I guess you should be told the rest." Who knows? Maybe, the knowledge of something like this happening can even change it from happening. But regardless of that, "In 2020, you are summoned by Danny ¡­ for a stupid reason, and then you are summoned by me ¡­ for a stupider reason." I say, "However, a Demoness named Aknin Vielos comes and tries to kill you and me. We fight her, and almost get her. But, in the end, she prevails and kills you. But for some reason, she leaves me alive. And so, here we are ¨C trying to change the future." Her eyes widen in surprise for just a moment but it soon dissipates and it is replaced by a smile, for whatever reason. "So you came to save me. That''s so sweet. Thank you!" She says with her eyes closed and her face tilting to the side like some sort of anime girl. Shit! This is too much. I was not ready for this. The Roswaisa I knew was a worse person than this. "Roswaisa," I say. "Yes?" she speaks with the same expression. Oh man! One of us is going to have diabetes because of this Angel. "Can you help us find the, uh, doctor?" I say a bit awkwardly. I don''t really feel any sort of familial love towards him but knowing that he might be my old man is still enough to make me feel awkward. "But," she opens her eyes and makes the face like that of an airhead Waifu, "But why do you want to find him?" "Right," I turn to Danny and ask, "Why do we want to find him?" "I don''t know. You are the one who said that." He says with a bit of a smug expression, probably a glitch in his character or something. "Well," I contemplate. I mean, it just felt right to try to find him. Now that she has asked it, I can''t really find any good reasons to want to find him. And that reminds me, wasn''t our original plan to find Adonia? We obviously can''t risk creating a paradox by going about it with Roswaisa. But still, isn''t that still the best plan? We can just separate from Roswaisa and find Adonia and get on with it. Shouldn''t that work? In order to figure out what we should do next, I take a look at both people in front of me. Roswaisa blinks a couple of times as I look at her while she is pressing her lips with her, well, lips. Cute, but not helpful! Danny looks at me as if a baseball team captain would look at his pitcher right when the last pitch of the game is about to be thrown. Cool, but also not helpful! Wait! Did I just call Danny cool? Oh crap! What am I doing? "Hah!" Danny sighs and says, "It seems like another one of his useless monologues are going on." Nothing is useless, Danny, nothing is. That''s basic philosophy. "Does he always do this kind of stuff?" Roswaisa asks with a tilting gaze at Danny. "Yeah! It''s a bit of a habit of his. He thinks he''s the protagonist of some web novel that shares his name and tries to act all cool and stuff, even though he''s quite weak and pathetic." Weak and pathetic only means you have room to grow, i.e., character development. That''s also basic philosophy. "That''s quite a weird habit." Roswaisa says awkwardly. Weirdness, in today''s era, translates to greatness. That''s another basic philosophy. "I know, right?" Danny says with a smile, "In fact, I bet he''s trying to make himself feel better right now by remembering anything remotely philosophic that justifies his weaknesses." ¡­ "Well, he''s ¡­ what can I say, an interesting person?" She says with a smile as she glances at me. "Yes, I guess. I can give him that much." Danny says while nodding and glances at me. "Hah!" I sigh and say, "All the while you were wasting time talking non-sense, I was brainstorming to find a way to get us out of this problem." Of course that''s a pack of lies. I say in a sweet and inaudible voice to my own brain. "Of course that''s a pack of lies." Danny says in a sweet and audible voice to Roswaisa. "Shut up!" I yell. For some reason, it felt like the voice that came out of my throat was feminine or something. But, can''t be. I mean, I am the manliest man I know after all, my voice couldn''t become feminine for any reason whatsoever. Anyway, I continue, "And so, as I was saying, I was brainstorming, and so I have found a possible solution to our problems." "And what''s that?" Danny asks. "Before that," I put up a hand to stop him and turn to Roswaisa, "Did the doctor request you to learn Absolute Frost Requiem?" She nods with her hands tightened into a fist and brought in front of her breasts. What is she? Just what troupe of anime girl is she? "In that case, we''ll help you master it." I answer. From what I know, Frost Requiem will help her become an Emerald Angel, which she was when we summoned her. But, we need her to go at least one step above that ¨C into the realm of higher-class Angels. And so, we need her to learn Absolute Frost Requiem, a much better ability I presume. Besides, the doctor said he will find a way to make her stronger too so there might be something he''d do that helps us. "That''s right." I say, "He isn''t our enemy, not right now anyway." 69 Irium, Danny And Roswaisa Part 2 "That''s right." I say, "He isn''t our enemy, not right now anyway." His goals align with ours. We don''t need to be on a look-out for him, especially when we already have so much on our plates. "¡­" Roswaisa doesn''t say anything. She doesn''t seem to dislike the idea, but she does seem to have concerns about it, which is understandable. He does want the entire Demon race to end to turn Hell into a sanctuary for people like him. That isn''t something to be taken lightly. But the important question is ¨C can we do anything about it? Shouldn''t we just focus on our problems? If we try to do too much, wouldn''t we end up being able to do nothing? "The words ''don''t bite more than you can chew'' are written all over your face." Danny says. "Well, those are my thoughts as of now." I plainly answer. "Hah!" He sighs and nods. "I agree. We can''t deal with everything, so let''s focus on things we can do, things that we came here to do in the first place." I nod. After a moment, Roswaisa nods too. And so, it''s decided. However, "There''s something we should check first." Danny says. "And what is that?" "The place we were originally supposed to end up at, when we didn''t end up at it and went to Hell." He says with a proud expression. I suppose that is something worth checking out, especially for the sake of the question ¨C Why did that fruit-seller guy we were chasing stop running there exactly? I mean, at the end of the day, it could just end up being that he couldn''t care less where he stopped or that place somehow helped him with whatever he did to teleport us, but still, worth checking out. ***** And so, we end up at that place. It''s not really any significant place, just a corner; doesn''t seem anything special to me. "So you two found yourselves in Hell when you turned that corner?" She asks pointing at the place that is the right answer, and so I nod. "Hmm ¡­" she makes a contemplating look, "So, what was Hell like?" "Why? You''ve never been there?" I ask. "Why would I go to Hell? I am an Angel. We aren''t supposed to ever visit Hell unless given an order by Heaven itself." She says with a bit of a blush. To be more specific, a tsundere blush. To be even more specific, she''s lying. But, I guess I''ll play along ... or not. "I see. Hell, huh? Well, it was great. There was greenery everywhere and there were clean waterfalls and plains of wheat and ¡­" "What are you saying? That''s how Hell has become these days?" She asks with a troubled expression. "Why? Was it different when you visited it?" I ask. "Yes, there was lava and rocks everywhere, looked like the inside of a volcano and the whole place was barren and scary creatures were roaming about and ¡­" she stops, realizing her mistake. "Yeah, that''s how it looked to me too." So, I casually say that. "¡­" "¡­" "That ¡­ was mean." She says while looking away, refusing to show the blush I presume she would have on her face. "You two! Done flirting?" And then Danny comes in with that. "No one was flirting." I casually say and look at him, "So, did you find anything?" "I did. And I rather you see it for yourselves than explain it?" He says and points at an unpainted house made of bricks, which looks pretty normal to be honest. Still, as he has said it, I go in the house and look for myself what he has found ¡­ and I find something quite interesting. "Yare yare!" I say as I look at the fruit-seller standing in the middle of the room. However, he is not moving, or doing anything upon seeing us. "Is he even human?" "No, he''s not." Roswaisa immediately says. "As that doctor told me, he''s kind of like a doll created off the design of a cartoon character that he once saw on TV." Well, I do remember seeing a design like this in some cartoon I watched as a kid. Not a coincidence I presume. "Well, at least right now," Danny says, "He''s lifeless. Doctor probably has no use for him anymore or he wouldn''t be here." Roswaisa nods. So, "Well, let''s ignore him then. There''s something more to look at after all." I say. "What more is there to look at?" Danny asks in a confused voice. "Behind him!" I say as I move the man (or doll) out of the way and show them a mirror that was being kept behind him. I don''t blame them for not being able to see it before. I too was only able to see it because of the angle I was looking from, but anyway, now that they have seen it, "Isn''t that?" He asks while turning to Roswaisa. "It is." Roswaisa nods as she says that. "Well, if that clich¨¦ routine is over, mind telling me what the significance of this thing is?" I say. "Wait! I thought you knew that already, why else did you point it out?" Danny says with a bit of a Sonohara-ness coming back after a long, long time. "I knew that it was something significant because it was placed in a way that any onlooker wouldn''t find. However, I don''t know what it actually is and what makes it significant?" I tell him. "I see." "Anyway, Irium, it''s a mirror that works as a portal of sorts between different Asteroid Realms." Roswaisa answers. "I see. And what the heck are Asteroid Realms?" "Well, uh," Danny says, "If realms like Heaven, Hell and Earth are to be given a title of a planet, then there are also smaller realms that would be given the title of Asteroids." "Oh, so they are basically mini-realms or something? Fine! Why is one of them here?" I question, and neither of them has any ideas or guesses. "Shall we step in then?" I propose, expecting the proposal to be rejected, but, "That might be a good idea." Roswaisa says and continues before either of us could say anything, "Asteroid Realms and their denizens are bound by a contract of not harming anyone who is associated with Heaven or Hell. So, I will be safe. Since you two will be with me, they won''t harm you either." So, it''s safe. Well then, there''s no point in not checking it out, is there? I convey that question to Danny and Roswaisa and they both nod. And so begins our descent into the Asteroid Realm, the event that changed everything. ***** 70 Asteroid Realms A blanket of darkness with white, shining spots on it ¨C that''s how space looks. And that''s how the place around us looks. It''s a view I have only seen in fiction before, the view that tells of a lack of atmosphere causing the space above to not get reflected and be visible easily. However, the lack of atmosphere isn''t all that unexpected. After all, we aren''t on a planet, at least not completely. What we are on ¨C is a mini-planet, I guess. Danny and Roswaisa called it an Asteroid Realm. In any case, so far, this place has been quite unique but also very empty. I mean, all that we have found here is a path to walk on, and that''s it. This path I mentioned by the way ¨C it''s quite something. Imagine if a translucent gold material that somehow sparkles by the reflection of whatever light comes its way was to be the road you stand on ¨C that would put you in our shoes. That''s exactly what we are doing. And we have been doing it for the past five minutes. We have been going at a pretty good pace too. If I were to give an estimate, we would have already travelled a kilometer by now in this realm. And yet, all we have found is more ''golden road'' to walk on. "What is with this ridiculously long path?" I ask, "Is this common for Asteroid Realms?" "Yes and no." Danny says, "It''s common for a particular type of Asteroid Realms but not for Asteroid Realms in general." "Alright, which ''type'' of Realm is it common for?" "Well, you know how Saturn has a ring around it?" He continues, "That type of realms." "The realms that have a ring around them?" I question, not really thinking that would be the case. But, Danny nods. "Just so we are clear, these aren''t actually Asteroids or Planets, right? They are just named like that for easier understanding, aren''t they?" I question again. Danny makes a pretty sardonically anime face on hearing that and says, "It''s complicated." Seeing that, Roswaisa continues the explanation, "Well, there are two realities I guess you could say. In one reality, planets and asteroid are, as you know them, masses in the space mostly without life on them. In the other reality, they exist as Planet Realms and Asteroid Realms." Okay, that''s certainly complicated. But, from what I understand, although this might not be the best way to put it, I guess I can say that one is Science Reality and the other is Magic Reality. "So," I ask, "Am I to assume Earth is kinda like an intersection point between these two realities where it is the only planet that has both realities combined into one?" Me making that guess, not gonna lie, is totally courtesy of my anime knowledge. "That''s a good way to put it." Roswaisa says with a smile, "However, one thing you are wrong to assume is that''s it''s the only intersection point. There are more like it." Oh, right, that''s a signal for aliens existing in this novel. Anyway, right now, we are in Magic Reality. And in this reality, some Asteroid (that wouldn''t have anything to be proud of in Science Reality) has a ring like that of Saturn. Obviously, this ring is not made from moons because an Asteroid having moons will be another level of weird. But anyway, we are in Magic Reality right now and on an Asteroid in this reality, on which we have been walking for a long time and haven''t found a single thing. "All that exposition still leaves this question unanswered though ¨C is this trip worth it?" I ask, looking back at the two of them. "Well, you are the one who suggested it, remember?" Danny says with a dejected expression. Roswaisa just sighs. That doctor leaving the mirror to this realm there obviously meant he needed for us to take a look inside. Plus, we had Roswaisa''s assurance that nothing would happen to any of us. And so I had thought that it''d be a waste to not check this place out. However, from the emptiness of this place so far, I think checking it out might have been an utter waste of time. And now that I have said all that, you have a cue to prove me wrong, don''t you author-san? "Welcome!" A voice comes to our ears, a voice so cold that the speaker''s characteristics are almost indiscernible. We turn towards the voice, which had come from our back. There, we a see a man and a woman who looked like human-sized dolls giving us a welcome by bowing to us. "We hope your journey to our realm has been pleasant." The man says. "If you would, please follow us." The woman says. "Now what''s up with those two?" I ask. "Usually, how these realms work is that there is a path that leads to the realm like the one we are on now." Roswaisa explains, "On that path, there is a particular point that is not visible to the visitors but the residents know it well. Until that point is crossed, a person is not considered to be visiting the realm. After it''s crossed though, they are officially considered a visitor and guards are sent to bring them to the actual realm." Well ¡­ that''s all lovely and all but you could have told me that before and I wouldn''t have been thinking that this was waste a time a while ago. "Anyway, it seems like we have crossed that point." Danny says with much color back to his face, "On to the realm now, I guess!" Someone''s excited. In any case though, it''s good to know that all this walking around wasn''t a waste of time. Now, let''s see what this realm is actually like. Though, for that, I turn to the man and the woman, who came to greet us and ask, "How long will it take for us to get to the actual realm?" They answer in coalition, "A second." Wait! What!? And then a portal opens right behind me. "The people of our realm have been granted powers to use teleportation portals. Therefore, while it should take 20 minutes on foot, it will take no more than a second if you step into that portal." "Hah!" I sigh as I hear that. "Let''s get to it then." ***** 71 The Golden Realm Coming out of the teleportation portal, the five of us immediately end up at the entrance to the actual realm. And it''s quite the entrance actually. A 25-feet-tall golden door stands in front of us, slowly being opened by the two who came to greet us. It''s also weird how the door looks like it''s just a monument on the side of the path and doesn''t lead to anywhere if you look at it from the side but if you look at it from the front, a somewhat dark and large lobby like place appears. "Hey Roswaisa, how many Asteroid Realms have you been to?" I ask while turning to her. "0" She replies casually with a smile. "¡­ Was that a joke?" I never took her to be the type to make jokes and all but well, I guess appearances can be deceiving ¡­ "No, I am serious. I have never been to an Asteroid Realm before." ¡­ or not. "Sir," After opening the door wide, the two of them come and say in coalition, "Please proceed! "Sure!" Danny says and happily starts walking. So does Roswaisa. Why would I not then? But, there''s just a little thing that I noticed just now. For whatever reason, I feel like these two aren''t bowing to Danny or Roswaisa, but just me. We are all visitors to this realm, so they should show respect to all of us. And I guess me being in the center might be the reason why I am mistaking something like this but I don''t think they are. "Uh, Danny," I whisper to him, "Ask them something?" "Like what?" He makes a confused face. "Anything." I say. "Alright, fine!" He raises his voice enough for them to be able to listen and asks, "Pardon me for this, but what is the name of this realm?" Without turning back, the woman replies with, "We aren''t supposed to answer questions. We are just supposed to lead visitors in." That ¡­ is probably a lie. I mean, when I asked how much time would it take to get here, they answered. So, let me try it again. "Alright, you two, what is the name of this realm?" I ask. Danny shows me a frown but, before he can say anything, "This realm is known as Glice, sir." The same woman answers. "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" Glice, huh? Yeah, that kinda answers more of my queries than I was hoping it would. Now I just have to make sure of this theory. I turn to Danny and then to Roswaisa as I ask, "Is it what I am thinking it is?" Danny nods with a frowning expression and says, "Yeah, it definitely is. Planetary Realms are realms created by God, also known as the Higher One. Asteroid Realms are realms created by those lower to him in power, which basically means every single living being in the universe." Well, that''s what it seems I guess. "That''s true. But," Roswaisa says with a troubled expression, "Usually, only higher-class Angels or higher-class Demons have the power to create Asteroid Realms of their own. But, if we are to base the creator of this realm based on the realm''s name, then ¡­" She trails off for whatever reason but she is right on the money. If we follow logic here, the creator of this realm should be someone from my family, Glice family. While that definitely fits well with the ''doctor'', a member of this family, having the mirror to this realm with him and leaving it where we found it, it creates more mysteries than it solves. Does this all mean someone in my family, a forefather or something, was a higher-class Angel or Demon? And whoever it was who created this realm, who is the current ruler? Only one person comes to mind for that question. "Well, why don''t you just ask all that?" Danny suggests. It''s a good suggestion, actually. Since these two are willing to answer my questions, why not ask them all I want to ask. "You two! Answer something for me, will you?" I start with that just to make sure they are listening, "Who is the person who currently rules this realm?" The man, casually says, "That would be your father." "Tsk!" Well, there''s that. I continue though, "And who is the one who created this realm?" He answers me in the same voice again, "The demon known as Lucifer." "Wait! What!" Danny says in astonishment. Roswaisa too is left astonished, so much so in fact that she is unable to say anything. "How ¡­ did my father become the ruler then? Did Lucifer give it to him?" I ask. "Yes, he did." He says. I see. But, why would he do that? "Did ¡­" Roswaisa hesitates at first, but then asks in a clear voice, "Did he give this realm to Irium''s father willingly?" "I am sorry but we can''t-" "Answer that!" I yell. "¡­" With a little pause, the man does answer, "No. He did not give it willingly. The throne of the realm was bet on a duel between the two, and your father got the realm by winning that duel." That''s ¡­ downright insane! My father won a duel against Lucifer!? Are you kidding me!? "Why do you all look so surprised?" A new voice comes at us. As soon as it does, the two leading us in move aside. Only then do we notice that the somewhat dark lobby-like area we had entered in has been crossed and the actual realm is now before our eyes. And looking at it ¨C reminds me of the descriptions I have read of the city of Uruk. But ever more striking than the beauty of the city ¨C is the charisma overflowing from the person who has just appeared in front of us. This person is a man with sleek build and dashing orange hair on a fair skin. And he smiles at us as he says, "Welcome to Glice! Do you like it?" "More importantly," his smile seems to fade away as soon as I say that but it''s hardly time to worry about that, "What did you mean when you asked why it''s so hard for us to believe?" "Hmm ¡­" "It should be obvious, shouldn''t it? Lucifer is the king of Hell! And ¡­ my father, well, doesn''t matter how strong he is, he is just a human." "That''s the point. He is a human. That''s exactly why he won." He says. "None of you would know this but Lucifer has a little oath he needs to keep to, the oath being that he would never use offense against someone not from Hell. Your father''s a human, certainly not from Hell. So, there was no other outcome for that duel than for your father to win it." But ¡­ if that''s the case then, why would Lucifer have agreed to the duel anyway? "By the way," the orange-haired man says, "I am a higher-class Angel and the second-in-command to your father in this realm." He extends a hand and says, "You can call me Trevor." ***** 72 The Demon Commander "You sure about this, this is really the place we are looking for?" I ask with my hands folded. "Yes, Sir Azazel. This is the place you''ll find Dues ex machina at." Jessica says as she looks at the empty garage in front of the car we are in. "I know it sounds unbelievable but you will find her lair beneath this garage." Grey adds. "Okay, fine. How do we get ''beneath'' this garage?" I ask with my hands still folded. "Well, that we do not know." Jessica says. And Grey nods to it. "Well, Azazel, what do you think?" The Demoness sitting beside me in the back seat of the car, Rain Green, asks. "I think they are right." I answer casually, "She really is down there." Rain seems surprised as she hears that and Jessica and Grey smile slightly upon it. Well, it''s not like it''s my personal intuition at work that''s making me say that, I was just told by ''him'' to trust these two even if they say something stupid. I am just deciding to follow his advice. "If that is so," Rain says as he leans back a little, "Let''s check the place out. What''s the worst that could happen?" I agree with a nod and so, the two of us step out of the car. "Will it really be okay with just the two of you?" Jessica asks with a concerned expression. "Yeah, I mean, we could help if you want us to. We are pretty capable Tamers, you know." Grey offers, also with a concerned expression. "No, we''ll be fine." I tell them. "In fact, the two of us combined ¡­ we are probably too much for Dues to handle." As I say that, I point to the Demoness who has already stepped inside the garage and has already given up of finding a way down. "Hah! To hell with it!" She says as she smashes her foot on the floor ¨C breaking it into pieces and opening the way down. "You see?" I say as we all look at that, "We know thing or two about being powerful." ***** "Hahahaha!!!" Not going to lie, hearing that laugh is kinda vexing me. "Aknin," and so I ask, "Why in the world are you laughing right now?" "Oh please, like you don''t you are about to fail in all of your plans." She says with a smirk, "That voice of something rocky breaking just now, it''s going to come again, and again, and again until they are here. And once they are here, you are done." "Hmm ¡­" I can only wonder where she gets so much confidence in those half-asses, but well, "If you really think a couple of Demons can defeat me, think again." And then the voice of something breaking comes again, just like Aknin said it would. And well, I had no doubt it would. I know the commander of this little ''rat'' in my cage well enough to tell that she will just break through the floors to reach here. "Rain Green, huh? And she''s not alone. Azazel is with him. Everything said and done though, while I can defeat both of them, it will still be a hassle to deal with them right now." I say and turn around. "Getting scared?" Aknin tries to taunt me. "Nope," I just calmly reply, "I just have more important things to do in my life than fight." As I say that, I pick up a green crystal, a piece in the puzzle that is too crucial to be left behind. "You can run right now, bitch, but not forever." Aknin says, "We''ll get you. And when we do, you are going down." Taunting is all Aknin Vielos can do as I start leaving and she is unable to stop me because of being held captive by concrete, like she has been for a while. A voice of floor breaking comes once again, which means there''s only one more floor left for her to break before she reaches here. Well, better scram! ***** With the fourth and final floor out of the way, we reach what is supposed to be Dues'' Lair. As soon as we do that, we find Aknin Vielos being held captive by ¡­ uh, floors? "What the hell is going on, Aknin?" Rain asks in a commanding voice. "She trapped my foot in the concrete by turning the concrete into quicksand or something like that. I can''t break out no matter how much I try." She answers. "And where is she?" I ask. "She just ran away, jumped into a teleportation portal." Shit! "Aknin, break out of there." Rain says in irritation after hearing that. "I can''t. I have tried but ¡­" "Break out of there on your own or I''ll make you do it." Rain says in a really cold voice. Well, this is going to get ugly. "AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Aknin screams as she falls out of the cage she was trapped in, by having a little more than the part of her feet trapped in concrete shredded from the rest of the body. "Was that really necessary, Rain?" I ask. "No worries. She''ll regenerate." She just plainly dismisses my concerns with that. "Well, I am going to go up to Jessica and Grey to discuss where Dues might be headed." I say with a smile, "When you are done, come join us." Rain smiles back in agreement to the plan, and so I hurry out of there. Don''t want to accidentally get hurt or anything trying to stop her. The few sounds I hear before reaching the surface ¨C let''s just say they weren''t very pleasant. In any case, let''s leave the sadist boss and her poor little subordinate alone, shall we? ***** 73 Pure "Trevor?" Roswaisa makes a troubled expression on hearing that name. "You know him?" Danny asks. "I ¡­ well, uh," She seems to be confused as she says, "Remember I told you two about the three people doctor worked with?" "Two jokers and a hot-head, yeah, I remember that." I casually say. "Well, uh," with an even more troubled expression than before, she continues, "That ''hot-head'' was called Trevor." Yare yare! I look at the man who just introduced himself as Trevor and ask, "Are you two connected then?" He puts a hand to the back of his head and says as if contemplating something, "Can''t say. I don''t really have any memories of when I was a human. I may have been that person when I was alive." "How did you end up here?" I question. "Well, to be honest, I was scouted by your father to come here and take the position of his second-in-command." That ¨C certainly fits well with the assumption that he was the hot-head in the story. "It''s a little hard to believe thought that your name when you were a human and that when you became an Angel is the same?" Danny says, "Especially because the only rule for naming new Angels and Demons is specifically to not name them what their name as a human was." Trevor looks at Danny sharply and with a smile on his face as he says that. "You are certainly well informed, aren''t you?" He asks almost as if mocking Danny. "Well, I guess you could say I have connections to Heaven and Hell." Danny says with arms folded and trying to act all cool and stuff. The thing is ¨C he actually does look kinda cool right now. "Hmm ¡­" Trevor smiles and continues, "Yes, you are right about that rule existing. Trevor isn''t what my name as an Angel is. But, after I came here, the ruler of this planet told me to adopt that name. And so I did." ¡­ "I see. Then you probably are who we think you are." I say. "Yes, I probably am." He says with a smile. "But, in any case, we can''t have our visitors standing at the entrance to our realm the whole time, can we? Please do come in." "Hah!" I sigh and start following him as he starts to walk. Roswaisa and Danny start walking too. The two who had given us company earlier stayed at that place, probably because they have to get back to their duty. Still, while we are in a very beautiful place, we aren''t out on a mission to sightsee. We have to do something and I really doubt any of them are going to approach that topic, despite knowing about it. So, as soon as there''s a good enough chance, I''ll have to bring the conversation to that myself. "Lord Irium," "That''s cringe!" I say as soon as I hear Trevor addressing me like that. "Alright. Lord Glice," "The problem is with the ''lord'' part, damnit!" I interrupt yet again, for a very important reason of course. You can''t have the protagonist''s title become cringe. That''s stupid. "Well, how should I address you then?" Trevor asks with a light smile. I think for a second and then say, "How about Demon Lord Irium?" "That''s more cringe than the last two." Danny says, and before I can react, "I kinda agree." Roswaisa butts in with that as well. Well, whatever! "Just call me Irium then." "Alright, Irium, I have a question for you. Think a little before you answer, alright?" He looks back at me to see my answer and so I just nod to tell him. Then, he asks, "What do you think of this realm?" Well, I haven''t been here for so long but, I can see children playing around. I can see housewives talking to each other and laughing while buying things. I can see the shopkeepers making jokes to each other and laughing. I can see young men hard at work. I can see soldiers casually conversing and laughing alongside others. In all the while I have walked, I cannot see a single soul who is not happy. I can''t see a single person showing any ill intent towards another. No beggars, no children crying, no couples fighting, no negativity at all. This realm is ¡­ "It''s pure." I tell Trevor my answer. That''s what I think of this realm. Trevor smiles and says, "I see." And he keeps walking after that, without speaking a word. Roswaisa and Danny don''t say anything either, but start smiling as soon as I answer Trevor''s question. Well, this is the realm that my father rules over, is it? This city whose golden aura reminds me of Uruk from the Legend of Gilgamesh and whose people seem to be living life to the fullest. If that is the case, then why ¨C why do I feel almost disgusted with this place? Oh, I know why. It''s because people are so happy. It''s because they are so overjoyed with their lives. It disgusts me to my core. So much happiness ¨C it can''t be true. It can''t be real. If people of this realm truly think that their lives are so fulfilling, then they need a wake-up call. Because, well, life is the last thing that I would ever call fulfilling. "Don''t deceive yourself!" Trevor then says to me. "If you think people here are delusional and think that their lives are filled with happiness only, then you are wrong." "What does that mean?" "It means that they know what you want them to know." "¡­" "They know all too well what sadness and pain is. They know all too well what loss is. Yet, they try their best to live a happy life. The people of this realm, they are not delusional, they are just mature is all." "Ha! Hahaha!" I laugh. How can I not? "What''s funny?" Trevor questions me. "They are mature, are they? What a joke! To try to make the sadness disappear by living a life of happiness, that''s called stupidity." Trevor furrows his eyebrows at that statement. Danny too tries to stop me and Roswaisa looks confused. But, I continue, "They are stupid to think that they can live like this. They are stupid to think that what they''ll have with this philosophy can be called a ''life''." Sadness, pain and loss make life what it is. Anyone who tries to overcome it through happiness is either an idiot who watches far too many animes ¡­ or just a borderline sociopath. "This life they are living ¨C this is the type of life he was living, isn''t it?" I question, causing Trevor to stop; and simultaneously, the three of us stop as well. "Before, when he had a wife and had adopted me and my siblings, this was exactly the type of life he was living." I deliberately give them a moment of silence before continuing, "How did that work out for him?" All I see when I see this realm ¨C is my father trying to convince himself that all those years he spent with us smiling all the time were not a mistake. But, in the end, he too would know all too well already that he is wrong. And to try to convince himself otherwise, it truly is the futility of a human. ***** 74 A Green Crystal "How many other lairs does she have?" I question while leaning on the car. And from the car, Jessica answers me, "Probably 9 or 10 more." "That''s a lot." I say, "It won''t be easy to go to every single one of them to search for her." "Probably not." Grey says and sighs. "So ¡­ how did you two know that out of all her lairs, she was here?" I ask. "Well, we had left some monsters of ours to search for her ¨C this is where they led us." Grey replies. "And if you think the same strategy would work again, I really doubt it." "Tsk!" I get his point. Dues probably already knew she was being sniffed out like that. In fact, I bet she let us come here just to show that we can''t beat her at this game. If we implement the same strategy the next time, Dues isn''t going to let those creatures find her, and it''ll be a complete waste of time. "Well," As she flies out of the lair we had broken in, Rain asks, "Any progress, Azazel?" "Nothing except negative progress." She furrows her brows as if she doesn''t understand what I mean, so I clarify, "The strategy these two used the last time wouldn''t work this time." "Well, it IS Dues we are dealing with, that''s kinda obvious." She says. "By the way, where''s, uh, your subordinate?" I ask, fearing the answer might not be very pleasant. "She''ll be here in a few seconds." However, she answers with that calmly. Well, at least that means she let Aknin remain in a state where she can fly on her own. So, she might not be completely useless in the upcoming ''endeavors''. "So anyway, what''s the plan?" Rain asks with an expectant gaze. That''s the question, isn''t it? That''s the question. ***** Rain Green has never been the brainy-type. But Azazel ¨C that guy is trouble. Not to mention those two idiots Jessica and Grey are great at getting things done, so he also has trustable lackeys with him. Trying to escape from him might be harder than I had thought, which means that I can''t let the situation come to that. I can''t escape from him if it comes down to it, so I have to make sure he never finds me in the first place, which is, admittedly, not going to be easy. I have to also proceed with my plan. Can''t let that delay or the whole purpose of running away would be nothing. And for that, this green crystal I have in my hand is going to be very useful. However, there is just one thing I am concerned about. Aknin probably saw me taking this crystal. She saw me leaving in a hurry but still making sure to take this crystal. I didn''t tell her anything about this but she might be suspicious enough from just that to tell them. And once that happen, Azazel will have a clue to finding me. Damnit! ***** "A green crystal, you say?" I contemplate after hearing Aknin''s concerns about that crystal. Dues was in a hurry but she took the crystal with her, that probably means that the crystal is important for what she is about to do. And what she is about to do, well, that''s the thing, isn''t it? We know her end goal but not how she plans to reach it. Just what is it she is planning to do? On a general basis, she believes that Irium Glice and Angel Roswaisa will end up destroying our race. Now, she will try to make sure everything that they require for doing so is given to them. And what is required by them? By gaining what exactly would they become powerful enough to destroy the entire Demon race? A green crystal, could it be that thing they need for it? If so, what is the green crystal? "Hey, you two," I turn to Jessica and Grey and they turn to me as they hear me say that. So, I continue, "Is there any underground facilities in this city you know of who deals with crystals? Maybe ¡­ some jewelry maker or something?" "Well, yes, there is one." Grey looks surprised and kinda stupid as he answers. "Who?" I ask and, by the answer given to the question, I understand why Grey made that kind of expression. "Us." ¨C is the answer Grey gives to me. Well, that''s certainly something. "Do you sell it to a shop or directly to people?" I inquire further. "We have our own shop ¡­ or shops, I guess." Jessica says. "How long has it been since you visited all of them?" "Four days." Grey says, "Ever since Angel Roswaisa was first summoned, we have been too busy trying to make sure nothing bad happens ¡­ which you know all too well we failed pretty badly at." Their eyes turn downcast, and I can certainly understand why. But, "You can beat yourselves up later. Right now, we need to pay a visit to all your shops." I say and motion Rain and Aknin to sit in the car. "By the way, Grey, Jessica, where exactly where you when the whole scuffle between Aknin and those three happened?" "Busy with calls from our shops we just told you about." Grey says, "Back then we didn''t know but now we do, Dues had paid people to come and buy stuff from all our shops so they run out of stock and we become too busy trying to refill the stock." Is that so? So she tried to make sure these two can''t come in the way of Aknin killing them. But, why would she, wouldn''t she rather want them to survive and kill us? Unless ¡­ "Maybe the purpose of all that wasn''t to stall you two, at least, not the primary purpose anyway." I say. "Then what would it be?" Rain asks. I reply with the only answer I can reply with, "Well, we are going to find out, aren''t we?" ***** 75 A Philosophy Better Left Unheard "Please wait here. I''ll be back." Trevor says while bowing to us and leaves. Ever since I threw my argument about this place''s life philosophy disgusting me, all of us have stayed quiet, not even willing to look into each other''s eyes. Well, I don''t have any problems with looking into people''s eyes. I would gladly look into a person''s eyes and say to them the same things I said back then. The problem has been with the other three. "Hah!" I sigh and lean on the wall. This place we have been told to wait in is the entrance chamber of the castle right in the middle of the city. Being that I have only ever seen entrance chambers in hotels, I automatically start comparing it to them. Let''s just say it''s about thrice the size of an average entrance chamber in a good hotel. Anyway, walls and floors seem to be made of hard bricks and mud and give the feel of an ancient civilization. Beautiful, obviously! "Well, your father sure has classy taste, doesn''t he?" Danny says as he leans on a pillar. "Though, I guess that is obvious from your house''s design anyway." My house ¡­ is pretty classy actually. He''s definitely right about that. "So, tell me," he asks, "was it really necessary to say all that to his face?" "I didn''t say it to his face. He was showing his back to me at the time." I try to joke my way out with that but, "Not the point." "Hah!" And so I sigh, and answer, "Well, it wasn''t necessary per se. But it just disgusted me enough to not care about anything like that." "I get you." Danny says with a slight smile, "I do get you. But, you could have been a little more discreet about it, you know." "Wait!" Roswaisa says, "Please stop!" With her expression downcast and her gaze wavering, she asks, "I don''t get what you mean by all that." "I never expected you to." "So explain." She yells at me with a slightly angry face. Well, I guess, for an Angel, it would be kind of annoying to hear something like that, despite it being the truth. "¡­" I find it a hassle to try to explain it all so I don''t really think I''ll comply to her request though. "Explain!" She yells again, her face becoming angrier and kinda scarier even. "You might wanna listen to her, you know? Wives have all the power in the house these days." Danny says with a teasing smile. "W-wife!?" Roswaisa looks stunned on hearing that. And I, being the cool badass that I am, casually hide my blush and put up a stoic fa?ade (no, what the hell ¡­ I wasn''t blushing and it wasn''t a fa?ade ¡­ damn you, author) as I say, "Oh, don''t mind him. He has ¡­ mental issues." "Oh, do I now?" Danny says, clearly mocking me. "Anyway, you want to know what I meant by all that. Fine!" I pull the best distraction I can on Roswaisa ¨C the answer to the question she asked. "Why don''t we take an example then?" "Alright!" She says while nodding. "Let''s say, a lot of things happen, and you end up being bound to someone for marriage. That person is your future spouse and you can''t change that." "Okay?" "Now, someone attacks you and your future spouse, trying to kill both of them. What would you do?" "I ¡­ will defend myself and my future husband." "Of course you will. Let''s say then, you come up with a strategy that everyone is convinced will take out the person attacking you and you implement it. But, it doesn''t work. You end up failing." "That ¡­ would be quite sad." "Yes, what would be ever sadder is if the attacker, who has survived your strategy, kills your future spouse and leaves you for the time-being." "¡­" "You had a person who was bound to you for life and then you lost him. What would you do? How would you cope up with the situation? What is the best thing to do?" "I ¡­ probably ¡­ would be very depressed and sad and wouldn''t want to do anything." "But if you do nothing, that attacker will come back and kill you two. Are you saying that would be for the best?" "N-no. But, I may gain a lot of motivation to go after that attacker and take revenge. As negative of a notion revenge is, it is definitely something I may feel at that point." "And someone who was powerful enough that you had to resort to making strategies instead of fighting them head-on, you think a mind shrouded by revenge can help you defeat that attacker." "It ¡­ probably can''t." "Then, what would you do?" "Maybe, escaping that attacker would be the best way." "Probably. So, let''s say you escaped him or her. Then what? Wouldn''t your mind still be enshrouded by the feeling of loss and desperate to get back at the attacker?" "It would, yes. But, if I think nice things, distract myself somehow and ¡­" "It might go away?" "¡­ Yes." "Does the loss disappear? Does the sadness disappear? Does anything change?" "¡­ It doesn''t." "Yes, you are right. It doesn''t. The only thing that happens is you deceiving yourself and not facing the reality." "¡­" "Losing to despair and letting yourself stay vulnerable to be attacked, or trying to take revenge telling yourself that your opponent deserves ¨C they are both wrong obviously? Are they not?" "Yes." "But, you know, the worst of all is trying to escape reality by distracting yourself ¨C this is the thing that people here would do. They would try to forget the loss, forget the death of the person they are supposed to close with to make themselves feel better." "¡­" "That, as I contemplated earlier, is the thinking of either a coward who watches too much anime, or the thinking of a sociopath who never really cared for that person in the first place." "¡­" "¡­" The silence comes, and stays for a few seconds ¨C silence that I find gratifying, but I am sure she would be suffocated with. "If that is indeed true," she asks, "then what should a person do at that point?" "Well, (unless there''s a way to turn back time,) a person should accept the loss and move on." "Huh!?" "And don''t mistake my words. While it may sound somewhat similar to deceiving yourself with distractions, it''s not. What I mean to say ¨C is that they should accept that the person died, and so this world will have to move without them. They need to realize that there''s no longer a need for that person in this world." It sounds cruel, doesn''t it? Well, it''s the goddamn truth. ***** 76 Door "I had thought leaving you people alone for a while will liven up the atmosphere." Trevor looks at the three of us one-by-one and says, "Seems to have done the opposite." "Well, things happened." Danny says calmly. The other two, I and Roswaisa, don''t say anything. "So it seems." Trevor sighs. "Anyway, I have been asked, or more like, ordered ¨C to show you a particular place in the castle." "And what is this place?" asks Danny. "It''s better to just take you to the place rather than show it to you." Trevor answers and turns around towards the interior of the castle. "So, please follow me if you would." Danny straightens up and looks at the two of us to do the same, and we do. I mean, there''s no point in not seeing the place Trevor has to see and author can''t think of any memes to pass time either, so why not do as Trevor says. ***** "What the hell is this place? Asgard?" I say sarcastically as I look at the somewhat dimly lit golden halls that look like they stretch to infinity. "I''m impressed." Trevor says, "I thought your referencing skills would be limited to anime, but I guess you know a thing or two more." What the- "I know how you feel man." Danny says, "I was pretty damn surprised myself when I heard a reference to Marvel from his mouth the first time." ¡­ "You don''t wanna say anything?" Danny asks mockingly after seeing me silent. "What can I say?" I smile like some anthropomorphic villain would, "My skills far surpass the grasp of your puny brains." "Yeah, yeah! Whatever you say, Demon Lord Irium!" Holy hell! That really is pretty cringe. "Anyway, we are here." Trevor says at the same time he stops walking, and points to a door as tall as 5 Dannys on top of each other would be and as wide as 12 Dannys standing next to each other would be. "Something gives me the feeling you are being rude to me in your monologues." Danny says with a slightly annoyed expression. "Well, your feelings sure know what they are talking about, don''t they?" I add and move in front of the door. Before Danny can find a good retort, I bring the conversation back to the topic, "What is behind this door?" "You''ll know if you enter it." ¨Cis the answer Trevor gives me and steps back a little. I look back at Danny and Roswaisa, and both seem to be in agreement on the choice of opening the door. Well, I don''t see any reason not to either. "Here goes!" I say and try to push it open. ¡­ ¡­ The damn thing doesn''t open. It''s too big and heavy. I can''t push it with enough force just by myself. "What the hell!" I look back at Trevor as I say so. "I''m sorry but I can''t help you with that." Trevor says, "You''ll have to open that door by yourselves." "Why?" "It''s the test to see if you have what it takes to see what''s inside." "¡­" the heck! "Anybody who steps inside that room should be capable of opening that door." Trevor says with a calm and slightly mocking expression, probably something akin to payback for dismissing this realm''s life philosophy. "That sounds fair." Roswaisa tightens her arms and says with a cheerful and motivated expression, "Let''s do it!" Danny nods and says, "Yes! That sounds like a good idea!" "¡­" "Well, Irium?" Danny says as he looks at me with an inquisitive look. "Do I look the type of guy who''ll agree to this?" I ask with a smile. "Well, you don''t." Danny says, "But you are a pretty weak-ass guy for a protagonist." This ¡­ guy! "It might be good for you." He says it like it''s a matter of fact. Well, it is, but that''s not point. You don''t insult the goddamn protagonist, damnit! "Listen, Trevor," I say while turning to him, "I''m not participating in this BS, so open the door for me." "I can''t. It is supposed to be a-" "No, it is not. We are not straight-up ripping from Hunter x Hunter here." You are crossing the line of rip-offs now, author. "Now OPEN the goddamned DOOR!" "¡­" He stays silent for a moment and then says, "Look, I was asked by your father to-" "Show me the proof that you were asked by him to do ''test'' me like this." I yell. "Well, there is no proof." Trevor says, "I was just verbally asked-" "For all I know, you could be lying to me and trying to make a fool out of me." I say, 100% sure that is not the case, "My father didn''t give you the order in front of me, so I cannot believe you." He looks like he''ll try to retort so I immediately put up a finger to him and continue, "I am the prince of this realm, alright? And as the prince of this realm, I order you to open up that door." "¡­" "What!?" "Fine!" Trevor says and goes to the door and kicks it lightly, opening it up far and wide. "Thank you!" I say as I take a long breath. Danny comes and whispers to me, "You sure that was a good idea? That really could have benefitted you, you know?" "I know." "Wait! You know?" "Yes, I know. I just wanted to make sure there really is something valuable behind those doors and we are not going to get hit with some BS like ''the goal of that test was to make you stronger and there was nothing important behind the door''." I say in my best old man voice. "Wait! Has that actually happened somewhere before?" Danny asks with a surprised expression. "Nowhere I know of but you know, can never be too careful." "Hah!" He sighs and continues, "So what now?" He asks as he points at the room behind the door, a room full of mirrors and mirrors and mirrors. Well, it looks cool, probably is significant. "Now that you know there really is something significant behind that door, going to ask Trevor to close the door and then take the test for yourself?" "Oh hell no! Do I look like that kind of a man to you?" I ask. "Well, you don''t." "Hey, you two, done murmuring." Trevor asks in a slightly loud voice, "Might as well go inside now that you have made me open it." Yeah, let''s do that. ***** 77 The Endeavor Begins The room is just like how it seemed from outside. It''s full of mirrors and mirrors and mirrors. "What are we to do here?" I ask. "Well actually, only you have to do anything. The other two don''t really have anything to do here." He says. Yeah, sounds legit. I''m the protagonist after all. "And let me tell you in advance this is going to take time and effort and no matter what you say, I''m not going to help you." He says with an annoyed look. "Well, I don''t have any-" "SO," Danny ask with an amused face, "are you telling us that, in the time Irium will be giving him ''time and effort'', we will have nothing to do and can relax?" ¡­ "Yes, actually, I was wondering if I could show you around the palace." Trevor asks with a friendly smile. "I''m all in, let''s go." Yeah, sounds legit. I''m the protagonist after all. "Irium, you better not be thinking this is because you are the protagonist or anything." Danny says with a smile. "Oh! Then why is this happening to me?" I ask with a better (or worse) smile. "It''s because you have personality flaws that can only be corrected by suffering like this. It''s a treatment every, or most, decently written character gets." Danny says with an even better (or even worse) smile. "¡­" Well, uh, that''s a ¡­ good point. "Alright then, shall we go?" Trevor asks them, smiling very cheerfully. "Wait! You are just gonna leave me without telling me why I am here?" I ask, spreading my arms, asking for justice. "Well, yes." "This is unjust." I yell. "Doesn''t matter!" He casually says and humbly motions the other two to leave the place. He sure is pretty nice to those two, isn''t he ¨C the complete opposite of how it was with the two guards earlier. "Alright, Irium, have fun!" Danny says and motions Roswaisa to leave with him. "Danny!" "What?" "You better not try anything with Roswaisa while I am not there. Remember she is the PWM and I am the protag-" Shit! I have to prove that first or he''ll just make fun of me again. "Well, see ya, buddy." He waves at me with a grin as he starts walking out of the room. Before going out though, he stops and turns to me as he asks, "What''s PWM by the way?" Do I have to spell everything out for you? "Prime Waifu Material" I answer despite my annoyance. "Oh god!" He sighs exasperatedly, "This guy is beyond help." And he leaves. Roswaisa too follows suit. I just realized that she hasn''t said anything in a long while now. I wonder how deep my words cut her from the last time. "Irium," well, of course, as soon as I monologue that, she says something, "I have something to talk to you about. So do your best out there and come back safe, alright?" "¡­" "Something wrong?" She just tilts her head to the side as she asks. I say with a slight smile, "No, everything is fine." It''s just that you are too nice and too cute and you say things that far too sweet to hear. You really are an Angel, aren''t you? It''s strange though. The Roswaisa I meant in 2020 was not such a sweet lady. She was still a good person, obviously, but she didn''t outright express it this much. "Alright Roswaisa, I''ll do that. Now, if you would leave, I can get started with whatever it is that I have to do already." I say, as politely as I possibly can. "Sure." She says with a smile, turns around and starts walking. "And be careful, Roswaisa, don''t let lustful men lay a hand on you." I warn her. "Their intentions aren''t like that." She just plainly says and smiles while turning back. Well, you being an Angel being able to feel these kinds of things to an extent kinda takes out the fun out of the whole deal, but whatever! I was just making a joke anyway, I already know Danny is not like that and Trevor is probably not either. But anyway, with that, the three of them leave me in this room alone. To top it all off, Trevor closes the door. Come on! Did he have to do that? I mean, what if I want to give up and run away, how will I do that now? Do I really have to go through this ¡­ character development phase, I guess? "You look troubled." A voice comes from behind, causing me to immediately turn back and find the owner of it. And I do find the owner of it. That owner is - a girl. "Well, I AM troubled. But first, who are you, miss?" She looks younger than me, about 15 years old. She has blue eyes, brown hair, oval face, and is 5''3 tall and has a slim physique. The most striking thing about her, however, are the wings on her back. She looks pretty cute but I don''t think I feel any lust towards her, not even the bit a person is bound to feel towards a stranger of opposite sex ... unless she is not a stranger. "Hmm ¡­ in the language that you like to use often, you can call me ''Onee-san''." She says, "But for better understanding, my name is Priscina, and I was a demon once." ¡­ There are SO MANY things I want to say right now but, "What do you mean ''was a demon''?" ¨Cthat is the thing I choose to ask. "Well, I died a while ago." She answers. "How are you still here then?" "That''s the point. I''m only here." She says and lowers her hip as if to sit down on the ground. However, by the time she sits, the ground deforms and forms into a chair for her. "I am the persona that was the Demoness Priscina, built with the help of both ¨C magic and science." Oh, is that so? "I guess I am somewhat like an Artificial Intelligence." Hah! Well, that''s kinda twisted ... and kinda cool too. ***** 78 Perceptiveness "Hmm ¡­ now," Danny says with a frown while looking at Trevor, "tell us what is going on?" "What exactly are you asking about?" Trevor questions. "You know exactly what I am asking about." Danny leans on a pillar and continues, "What is Irium supposed to do in there?" "Well, you sure care about your friend, don''t you?" Trevor asks. "That I do." "Hmm ¡­ nice, but I''m afraid I don''t have the permission to answer that question." "Tsk!" Clicking his tongue, Danny takes a glance back at the large door to the room we just left Irium in, "The door was pretty sturdy. I doubt something like that ¨C made of gold and that thick ¨C could let even radiations escape." "I suppose that can be said. Though radiations are-" "-capable of penetrating through? I know. But I also know that the radiations you are talking about do not contain life. The ones I am talking about do." Trevor smiles and relaxes himself as he says, "Is that so?" "Yes, that is so. And I mean, think about it," he glances at me and continues, "The room had nothing but mirrors. And where there are mirrors, there is surface for radiation to bounce on." "Wait a minute, Danny!" I say, unable to follow the whole conversation, "Just how did radiation become part of this conversation?" "You mean you didn''t notice how this entire place is made of gold?" He asks. "I did." I answer. "Then you probably also noticed how that gold is shining even in this dim lighting, the thing that is said to happen only in the legends regarding Asgard." "Yes, I noticed that too." "And how do you think that is possible, I mean, regardless of whether Asgard exists or not, this place isn''t Asgard, is it?" It certainly isn''t. And yet, somehow, it resembles Asgard. "So you mean to say that someone is making it look like this?" I enquire. He just nods in return and turns to look at Trevor, who smiles as if to say we are right. So, if someone else is making it look like this, there must be that someone here, right? And that someone might be in the room we left Irium in. "You aren''t bad with brains, Danny. I''m kinda surprised by that to be honest." Trevor says, "However, if you are going to ask me who the person inside is, I am afraid I don''t have the permission to tell you that." "Wait now! I never said I am going to ask you anything, did I?" Danny says with a smile and continues, "Now, we know that there is a person inside there but, we don''t know what they are doing inside there. So, what would it be? Any guesses, Roswaisa?" "Well, a person hiding inside that room full of mirrors ¨C no idea what they would be doing." I say. And just as I do that, I realize his point. "That person would be really bored and uncomfortable in that room, wouldn''t they? Why would they possibly choose that room to meet Irium then? It doesn''t make any sense; unless there is something in that room that they need to do ¡­ or that they can''t leave the room." I didn''t feel any presence in the room, so there shouldn''t be anyone there. But we know there is. And by that, Danny means to say that the person in question in not actually living, but some sort artificially created existence that can only exist within that room. Hence, the talk about radiation makes sense now. Clap! Clap! "There were times in your argument where you jumped the gun a little but it all worked out, I guess. You got the right answer." Trevor says after the clapping. "So, what next?" "Well, shouldn''t you be the one to tell us that? I mean, you have already mentioned that you aren''t going to tell us who the person we are talking about is, so might as well tell us what next yourself." Danny frowns as he says that. "Hah!" Trevor sighs and turns to look towards the way we came from. "Let me take you to meet someone." "Who?" Danny asks. Trevor smiles and answers, "The king of this realm." Hah! Just how did things get so complicated all of a sudden? Or were they always complicated and I didn''t realize it. In any case, we are going to meet the doctor again it seems. While I wonder about all that, Trevor knocks lightly on the wall. ***** A knock comes to my ears. Well, that''s the signal. Trevor is bringing those two to me. There''s not a lot of time left but there''s a hell of a lot of things left to do. So, I can''t waste any more time. I have already left the body of the doctor I had possessed earlier back in the clinic it was supposed to be. I am, now, back in my original body. Though, to be honest, this body isn''t in the best of states. It''s quite painful to be in this body and so I would rather not stay in it for too long if I can. I am guessing Irium would be talking to Priscina''s A.I. persona now. He should be coming here as soon as their ''chat'' finishes. On the other hand, Azazel, Rain, Jessica and Grey would be out hunting for Dues, maybe they would have even been joined by Aknin by this point. I''m sure Lucifer will be keeping an eye on them. So, I don''t have to worry about them. The only ones I need to worry about are the ones here. I take a look at the mirror and I see a man 5''8 tall with a fit physique, gentlemanly dress going well with his well-cut black hair. His boyishly orange eyes gleam and his straight nose is very symmetrical to the rest of the face. All in all, the man feels like a charming young noble from 17th century England. "Yo!" Trevor''s voice comes, making me stop admiring my face in the mirror and look at him. "They are here." And as soon as he says that, Trevor, Danny and Roswaisa enter the room I am in ¨C the room many would like to call ¨C the throne room. "Well, hello there. This isn''t the first time any of us has met but it is the first time you are seeing this appearance, isn''t it?" I bow casually and say, for the first time in a long time, my real name - "I''m Kaylith Glice." ***** 79 Deception As soon as Grey and Jessica enter their shop, the shopkeeper bows to them and they stop him from doing so and ask, "Did a woman with ¡­" -and so continued the expected conversation. They gave the shopkeeper the description of her and the shopkeeper said that no one like that had come in. This happened in the first shop we stopped at. And then it happened in the second one. And then it happened in the third one. "This isn''t going anywhere. These two have 10 shops throughout the city. If we aren''t lucky, we aren''t going to catch her." Rain complains with an annoyed face. "You have a better idea to do this, Rain?" I ask. "Well, no." She says, "But I can, like, use my powers to cover all the shops faster than we are doing now. I mean, no offence, but this thing you call a car is pretty damn slow." "Sure, you can use your powers to cover all the shops faster and basically let Dues know through your ridiculously large aura that you are coming directly towards her." I say sarcastically, "I''m sure she''ll wait for you to arrive after she senses you." THWACK! Rain kicks the car pretty hard, making a dent in it. "Take it easy, miss. This car isn''t cheap." Grey says. "I am taking it easy, human, or your car would already been a pile of a junk by now." Well, she isn''t wrong, not wrong about the car being a pile of junk if she weren''t going easy on it, and not wrong about the fact that we need the figure out exactly which shop Dues is headed to. "So you do two have any idea about this? I mean, a shop of yours that specializes in green crystals or a shop that has everything but green crystals. Anything like that?" I ask. "Nope, we have equal amounts of variety in all 10 shops." Jessica answers. Damnit! "Alright, did Irium or Roswaisa have any connections to any of the 10 shops?" I ask. "No, they didn''t. Roswaisa didn''t stay here long enough to get acquainted with gem shops and he has no interest in them." Hmm ¡­ okay, think of something else. Anything else! Wait! Roswaisa was an Emerald Angel, and emeralds are green. That could be a clue, couldn''t it? ¡­ Emeralds are a variety of diamonds though, they aren''t crystals. And that reminds me ¨C "Hey, you two," I say as I lean towards the two front seats those two are sitting on and continue, "Your gem shops should generally specialize in diamonds, right? What about crystals? Aren''t there any shops that have more amounts of crystals than the others?" "No, as I said before, we have a lot of variety everywhere." Jessica says, "There are crystals in all our shops. There is quite the demand for crystals in this city actually." Wait! That''s odd, isn''t it? "You are telling me people here like buying crystals a lot. Why?" I question, half-expecting a valuable reason but, "There are all kinds of uses of crystals, you know?" Jessica replies like it''s only natural, "It''s used in therapies for example." "Therapies? I see." Crystals are multi-use products. They can be used for a lot of things. But, people rarely have a high demand for them? "How much is this demand anyway?" Rain asks. "About 35% of our products sold are crystals." SHIT! I kick the car pretty hard in my frustration and something inside ends up breaking apart, causing the vehicle to stop. "Well, look who just broke your car, Grey." Rain says with a frown. "Rain, not the time. I think I know where that bitch is going." I say. "And where is it?" As Aknin enquires it from the back-seat, all four of them turn to me for the answer. "Well, actually, there are two places in mind and she could be going to any one of them." I say, "We got distracted by the crystal part especially because you two own gem shops, but that never had anything to do with her plan. In order for her to make sure Irium and Roswaisa kill us all, she needs ¨C first of all ¨C for Roswaisa to survive the encounter against Aknin. And for that, I doubt she''ll let Irium and Danny handle everything. I bet she''s going to try to tweak the past herself if necessary." "Okay, that makes sense. What about it?" Rain asks to make me hurry to the point. "Well, the things is, Rain, in order for her to do that without going back in time (which we know isn''t in her plan or she would have already done it), she''ll need to form a connection with Roswaisa to make sure she can do the ''adjustments'' she need." "That also makes sense, but what about it?" Rain seems to be losing her patience so I better get the point. "Well, the only way for her to form a connection with a dead Angel is through the summoning symbols used for summoning her." "Oh, damn!" Grey says, "There are two of those symbols, one in Danny''s house and another is Irium''s house." Yeah, those are two places she was summoned in. "So, we need to check both of them out?" Rain asks, probably just to confirm. "Yes!" I answer. "Hah!" Rain sighs and says, "It''s quite understandable why Lucifer sent two Demons and two humans on the scouting." Wait! That''s true. That bastard! Did he know about all this? Probably not, but he did it just to make sure. Anyway, time to move out. "Jessica, you come with me." Rain says and leaves Grey with me. "And what about me?" Aknin inquires, seemingly ready to fight. "You stay at the top of a building and keep watch to make sure nothing fishy happens on either side." Rain says. "But that''s the most boring and energy consuming job of all." Aknin complains, and get silences by a glare from Rain. "Alright then, let''s get on with it!" I say and we all move out in the three different groups we have formed. It''s time to bring this charade to its rightful end. ***** 80 A Game Of Words Part 1 "So, Nee-san," "Adding a ''O'' before ''nee'' and ''-chan'' instead of ''-san'' would make it cuter." She remarks. "Cuter, yes. Childish, also yes. And I wouldn''t want that to be added to my image." I say and continue before she can retort, "Why am I here?" "That''s a good question. Unfortunately, I can''t answer." Priscina says. Well, to be frank, Priscina''s A.I. says but I''ll rather just refer to her as Priscina. "You can''t answer?" I ask with a questioning gaze, "Is that because you don''t know the answer or choose to not tell me?" "The former ¨C I don''t know why you are here." A swift answer, probably the truth. "Fine, then what do you know, sis?" "Stick with ''Nee-san'', will you? It sounds better." Priscina says, instead of answering my question. "Look, sis ¡­ Nee-san ¡­ whatever, could you please answer my questions more seriously?" I say with a slightly annoyed expression. "I would definitely take it more seriously if you were asking the questions you really should be asking ¨C instead of wasting time of gibberish like that." She says with a dark expression and stretches her wing, "Ask the right questions and I''ll answer." Oh boy! What are the ''right'' questions, now? How am I supposed to ask them if I don''t even know what they are? "Seriously, cut your little brother some slack, sis." I say with a pleading expression (fake) and arms spread wide to show that I am at my wit''s end (fake) and that I am desperately seeking her aid (sadly, not fake). "Hah! No." And even after all that, she just blatantly refuses to help. Come on! "Please, sis!" "Try again." She says with folded arms and a smirk on her face. Fine, I guess I can be a little cringe once in a while. "Please, Nee-san!" "I''ll think about it." She says casually brushing her fingers where there is nothing to brush. This ¡­ this ¡­ damnit! I can''t even feel right with calling her names. I guess there is no other way out now. "Please, Onee-chan!" I finally admit defeat and say so and just as I do that, "Sure." She says with a grin and, "How about we play a game?" "I don''t w-" "Okay, it''s a pretty simple game really." "I''m not inter-" "I will tell you a word and you''ll have to say the first thing that comes to find when you hear it." "¡­" "Something wrong?" You are forcing me to play a game in a crisis of a situation and are asking me if there''s something wrong. Well, whatever! "Fine!" I have heard of this game I guess. It''s more psychological than I was expecting when she mentioned playing a game. Who knows? She might actually answer my questions after this game. "Alright then, let''s start." She says and points at me as she says, "You?" "That''s the first word?" I enquire. "Yeah, what comes to mind?" She answers. "Awesome!" I mean, to be fair, I am pretty awesome, right? Right!? Um ¡­ right? Well, whatever! I won the favorite character poll. That makes me awesome! "Okay then," she points to herself and says, "Me?" That''s probably the second word. "Cute." So, I answer. "Aw ¡­ that''s so sweet of you." She says and continues before I can say anything, "Jason?" "Todd." I say. "What!?" She makes a face like she doesn''t understand. "Todd. Jason Todd. He''s a fictional character." Hearing that, Priscina sighs and looks disappointed, "I was kinda expecting a little more reaction. But well, let''s give another try ¨C Kylie?" "Graceful." That, as far as I know, is what Kylie means, so that''s the answer. She again looks disappointed though. What answers was she expecting anyway? "Okay, fine." She says and continues our little game with, "Kaylith?" "Uh ¡­ well, no idea." I feel like there''s something I want to say but nothing comes to mind. She would probably be disappointed again after hearing that answer. However, when I look at her, to my surprise, she is smiling and is slowly heading towards me. At about 2 meters away from me, she stops and asks the next, "Mage-craft?" "¡­ Angels." She looks at me with curious eyes, as if asking why I would say that, and so I tell her the answer, "An Angel was the reason I came to know about mage-craft." She smiles and says, "No, that''s not true." She asks the next before giving me time to say anything, "Glice?" "This realm" "That''s the thing that comes to your mind? Not the fact that it''s your surname?" She asks with a smile. "I don''t really have any connection with this name other than that I have to write it on my legal documents." "Hmm ¡­ okay. Next ¨C Lucifer?" "Nice guy." I say casually but she smirks at that and says, "Yeah right. Aknin Vielos?" "Well, uh ¡­ bitch!" I do have a fair amount of a reason to call her that I think. Priscina looks at me and smiles like I''m a naughty child. "Memory?" "Id." "Really? Why id?" She asks with a curious gaze. "Don''t know. That''s the first thing that came to mind so I just said it." It''s true. I myself don''t know why that came to mind. I mean, memory and id are definitely two things that are not unconnected but I really doubt that was a normal response. "Okay, that works." She moves on with the game and pulls out quite a card, "Roswaisa?" "¡­ Angel." "You''re lying." She says while narrowing her eyes on me. "I''m what?" I try to act innocent but- "That wasn''t the first word that came to your mind." ¨Cit doesn''t work. "¡­" I try to stay silent but she keeps staring at me and seems to be intent on doing so until I say the word that first came to my mind, so I do, "Responsibility." "Responsibility? Of what?" She asks. "Of saving her. My plan got her killed. I have a responsibility to change that outcome if I can." "You do? Alright!" Priscina walks two steps, closing a meter between us, and continues, "God?" 81 A Game Of Words Part 2 "You do? Alright!" Priscina walks two steps, closing a meter between us, and continues, "God?" "¡­ Yato-" "Don''t you dare lie to me again!" Even though she says so with a smile, I can feel the coldness in her voice. So, having no choice, I say, "Secret!" "Secret was the first word that came to your mind?" I nod. "Why? God and secret; any connection between the two?" "I ¡­ I don''t know." I really don''t know. It just came to mind. "Okay, let''s move on." She says. To be honest, this game is starting to become a little uncomfortable for me now. "Secret?" "Memory" I answer, again not knowing why this was the first thing that popped to my mind. "Memory?" "¡­ ¡­ ¡­" "What''s wrong? Id didn''t come to mind this time?" She says with a mocking smile. "It did. And the word that came to mind after it was ''erased''. Then, ''invasion''." There is probably a lot of confusion on my face right now. "Memory erased? Id Invasion? Hmm ¡­ interesting!" She remarks and continues the game, "You?" "Me." Nothing else came to mind this time. And seeing that, Priscina smiles. "Me?" "Disappearance" Once again, I don''t know what my mind is thinking. "Jason?" "Brother." "Kylie?" "Sister." Her smile grows wider and brighter, which kinda makes me happy. But, I have no idea what is going on and why I am giving answers I clearly don''t think make any sense. "Kaylith?" ¨Cis her next word. It seems like she is just repeating all the words from the start at this point. "Father." And, guess what? That is the word that comes to my mind. "Mage-craft?" She continues, with a smile growing wider. "Zero capability." I say. Well, I may have zero capability for it but I don''t know ¨C I would still put it in the list of answers I don''t know why I am giving. The list, by the way, is quite long by now. "Glice?" She continues, knowing how uncomfortable I am getting with this game of hers "Family." I say. "Lucifer?" "Challenge." Challenge of what? I am asking my own mind questions like that at this point in time. "Aknin Vielos?" Want to say ''bitch'' again but what comes to mind is, "Defeat." "Roswaisa?" "Wife." That ¡­ is quite embarrassing to be honest. Priscina tries to hold in her laughter and goes on to the next ¨C the last one she has to repeat, "God?" "¡­" It ¡­ just doesn''t make any sense. "Come on! Does nothing come to mind?" She asks, looking a bit worried. "It does." I say, "Lie." "Alright then," With a single jump, Priscina is back in the place she first appeared to me on, which was a good 20 feet away. "You have successfully finished the game." "And I have been left more confused about everything than I was before." I say with irritation. "I know, I know. I wish I could clear your confusion Irium, but I can''t." She looks actually troubled and sorry that she can''t help me, "I''ll just have to leave figuring things out to you. But don''t worry, just remember to follow your conscience even if it seems to be making confusing decisions and you''ll be fine." As soon as she says that, she disappears. "Wait! What the hell!" I say, "Where ¡­ where did you go?" I turn around and look at the back and then turn around again and again and again. I can''t see her anywhere though. "Priscina!" I yell her name. No response. "Grimma!" I yell her human name. Still, no response. "Sis!" I yell a title I have the right to call her by. And still, no response. "No ¡­ way!" I fall to my knees. "This isn''t fair. You can''t just leave like that. You have to ¡­ have to ¡­ have ¡­ to ¡­" I can''t think straight. I can''t speak straight. There is a tank full of sadness in my heart that is seeping out, making me want to cry over the disappearing of a person I had met a few minutes ago. I see. So that''s how it is. All those thoughts; all these emotions; they were inside me the whole time, locked away. But now, even though my memories aren''t back, I feel those emotions and thoughts related to those memories come to mind. There must have been a trigger somewhere that she pulled during our game that is making this change. That ¡­ was probably her intention all along. But, now what? I am in a bind. I know nothing of what I have to do now. I am left in ¡­ darkness. "AH!!!" I exclaim involuntarily. Left in darkness? The mirrors? The room is full of the mirrors. The light in the room is barely anything but because of the mirrors, it becomes something. And the room is brighter than it actually should be. If that is the case then, could there be a clue in these mirrors that are kept in this room. I feel like that''s true. And she said to follow my conscience so ¡­ so, let''s give it a shot. I stand up and look back at the mirrors in the room. As I do so, I see a 4-year-old boy instead of me ... and he looks sad. I turn to look at another mirror. It shows the same boy ... but he is smiling. And, for whatever reason, my vision gets blurry and a cold liquid drop starts flowing down from my eyes and from my cheeks. "They adopted us." Roswaisa mentioned this before but ¡­ but I actually remember now. They adopted us. In that orphanage, I remember that all those times Grimma and Jason made sure that neither I nor Kylie had shortage of anything. And I remember all those times they were scolded, teased and beaten down for it by others, for the envy on the fact that others didn''t have anyone to do the same for them. Kylie or Jason would always cover my eyes and my ears but I remember that Grimma was always called by girls who looked angrily and enviously at her. I also remember every time she would come back a bit bruised. I remember every time someone would hit on Grimma, she would not respond. She would just take it. And Jason and Kylie, no matter how angry they would become, would not do anything either. She had probably told them not to, because the ones hitting on her were always in groups and could have hurt us all easily if they wanted to. I remember the one time we tried complaining about all that to the sisters and when they asked if something like that had happened, every orphan who had seen it happen stayed silent or denied it, turning us into the villains and making Grimma and Jason apologize to everyone, humiliating them even though they had done nothing. I remember those things and much, much more now. Kaylith ¡­ Glice ¡­ that man we were referring to as the doctor, he and his wife adopted us and they saved our lives by doing just that much. But that wasn''t all that they did. They didn''t just adopt us. They gave us all the luxuries in the world, all the love in the world, everything we could have ever wanted. I can feel all of those memories being a part of me again when I looked into the mirror just now. And I ¡­ feel gratitude. ***** 82 The Line Of Anarchy Remains Uncrossed The door opens. I don''t know how long I have been here, but I would gladly walk out of here as soon as I get the chance. "Irium!" In Trevor''s voice, my name is called. "¡­" I chose to not answer. And so, the person out to visit me walk towards me as he asks, "Are you okay?" "No." I answer. I do not say any extra words. Just the ones I need to give for the answer. "I see. Come with me!" Trevor tells me so even as he faces my back. And so, I turn around and face his back and follow him as he tells me to. And we walk. We walk. We continue to walk. We do not stop until we reach our destination, which is, the throne room. At least, looking at it from a traditional sense, that is what I would call this room. "I have noticed something, Trevor." I say as I see that the room is empty. "What is that?" He asks quite courteously. I turn to him and answer, "You already know that." I turn to look everywhere and find no one in the room. No guards, no officials, no nothing. It''s like the king and his second-in-command are the only ones in this castle. "I want to know where the other officials are." I state quite clearly, and in a voice just as clear, the answer comes immediately. "There aren''t other officials here." "Are you for real?" I ask, furrowing my brows, "There is no one but the king and his second-in-command in this castle. How can you run an entire realm all by yourselves?" Trevor smiles and says, "That''s the thing, Irium. There is no need for government in this realm." "I find that quite hard to believe." I say but, "That''s because you are bound by your traditional values." He says, "Try to keep an open mind and take a look at the citizens of this realm once again. Tell me, where is there a need for authority?" The citizens of this realm, huh? The people who live in so much happiness that there is no crime; the people who laugh so much that it hurts my heart; you want me to look at them, Trevor? "There is no crime in this realm. People live with order and morality. No one cheats anyone. Everyone gets a good amount of food every day and sleeps under a roof." Trevor goes on and on proving his point. And it''s not that I don''t see his point but that it''s an absolutely ludicrous point. "Tell me Irium," he asks as he looks at me, "What would authorities do in this kind of place other than earn a salary for sitting on their asses and doing nothing." "They disappointed him, didn''t they?" I ask. "¡­ who?" Trevor does not get who I am talking about so I clear it for him. "The authorities. Back when everything happened, back when Remedy Corporation tried to come after her?" "¡­" "He saw how his family was torn apart, starting from Grimma, but the authorities did nothing. Neither the authorities that knew about magic nor the authorities that didn''t knew about them, they couldn''t do anything." "¡­" "And so he was so disappointed in them that he decided he would create a realm where there won''t be any authorities." I say, even seeing how Trevor does not respond, "He thought he could pull it off, and seeing how everyone seems to be smiling, I''m pretty sure he is trying to convince himself that he was right." All this realm is ¨C is an embodiment of all of his regrets and memories. It''s not a place of happiness or sadness, but it''s a place of disillusion and stupidity. "And what if that is the case? What is wrong with this realm?" Trevor asks me. "What''s wrong with your father''s ideals?" "Calling him my father doesn''t change my perception of it, Trevor." I say quite firmly. "And as for your question, there is definitely something wrong with this realm. And when that wrong comes into play, things will escalate so fast no one would have time to do anything about it." "¡­" He stays silent, not denying me, and not agreeing with me either. "So anyway, where are my two co-visitors and the ruler of the realm?" I ask, "I believe that has something to do with you bringing me here, doesn''t it?" "¡­" Trevor stares out the windows and stays silent for a moment, and then he asks, "You remember everything now?" "Not everything. I remember as much of the story Roswaisa had earlier told me. I remember from the part of getting adopted by them to Grimma disappearing and him going out to help you bring her back. I don''t remember what happened past that." "I see. That''s enough for now." Trevor says and turns to look at the throne ¡­ which then mechanically moves away from where it was and reveals a narrow hallway. "Let'' go in." Trevor says, "The three people you asked about earlier will be waiting where we this path will lead to." "I see." I say; so many emotions inside me but none coming out. ***** "So what is your plan?" Danny asks me as he looks at me with suspicion. "Hah!" I sigh. "Do I look like I have a plan?" I smile with innocence as I look back at him. And he says, "Yes, you do." "I can second that." Roswaisa adds. "Impressive!" I remark and so tell, "I do have a plan. And it''s to prove a point." That''s all there is to my plan. "Is that why we are here?" Danny asks. "Yes, that IS why we are here." I answer. This place that we are in ¨C it is right behind the castle ¨C and is called the coliseum. And that pretty much explains what it is. It is a coliseum. It is a coliseum with about 100,000 seats, far more than the number of people living in this city. The ground in the middle of the coliseum is a perfect circle by the way. I guess one could even call it a stadium instead of a coliseum. That wouldn''t exactly be wrong. This place one of my most esteemed creations, probably the biggest attraction for anyone visiting the capital city we are in. And as I look at the beauty of it, I say, "This is the place that I will die." ***** 83 Outsmarted "This is the house the kid lives in?" I ask just to make sure. "Yes, it is, Mr. Azazel." Grey answers and we enter the house. As I take a good look at the house, the classiness of the entire structure, I can definitely picture him living here. "Yeah, it probably is." I say, "This does sound like the type of house that Kaylith would want." "Mr. Azazel," Grey asks, "This might not be the best time to ask this but what is your relationship with Kaylith Glice?" Well, that is a good question. "I guess you can say we do favors for each other." I say with a straight face, "We are not exactly friends, but we aren''t enemies either. We are just two people who help each other, with the guarantee that the favor we are doing the other will be returned someday." "I ¡­ see." Grey stands surprised, "I didn''t know he has such a relationship with a high-class Demon like you." "Well, he does ... or did." I say, "To be honest, I doubt we will see each other ever again." "W-why is that?" A concern rises in his eyes. "Our score''s settled. Neither of us owes any favor to the other anymore. And the last time I talked to him, it didn''t seem like he intend to keep it temporary." "You don''t mean that ¡­" he trails off, understandably. "Yes, I do." But I have to say the truth, no matter how harsh it may be for him, "It seemed like he was ready to die." "B-but his plan ¨C that whole thing about ending your race, that-" "That plan of his, of getting a hell where he wouldn''t suffer from torment, he thinks it will succeed. And maybe it will. Who knows?" I say as I open the door to the living room. "If-if that is the case, why would he help you find Dues by sending us? That would be bad for his whole plan." Grey asks with a confused expression. "Well, to be honest, you haven''t exactly been helping us find Dues ex machina." I say. "¡­ what the hell are you talking about?" With a scowling expression, he says so to me. "Wait now! I didn''t mean to offend you. It''s just the truth. If we hadn''t been with you two, we would have already caught Dues ex machina." "Explain yourself, Azazel." He looks at me angrily. "No mister anymore?" I say with a mocking smile, "Fine! If we hadn''t gone to the hideout you took us to, what would we have done?" He thinks for a second and says, "You would have come here because getting to Roswaisa''s only remains in this world would be closest to catching Dues in her tracks." "Right!" I exclaim with a smile. "If we had done that, we would have been here before that bitch came." As soon as I say that, Grey''s eyes turn to the carpet that has the pentagonal symbol used to summon Roswaisa drawn on it. And, from the lack of any mana in it, one can tell it has recently been drained of mana, i.e., Dues got what she wanted from here. "¡­" Grey just stares at this whole mess in surprise. But seeing the smile on my face, he asks with a scowl. "When did you figure this all out?" "Exactly when I surmised, back in the car, that Dues would be coming either here or to Danny''s place." I answer. "That''s the reason you were so annoyed you ended up breaking the car''s mechanism with your kick." Yes, that''s true. "So, what now? Now that you know you were played, what will you do?" Grey asks, "Are you going to try and figure out Dues'' next move?" "Well, I doubt there is any next move." I say with a sighing expression. "What do you mean by that?" Grey asks with quite a desperate and confused look on his face. "Right now, Irium, Danny and Roswaisa would be on an Asteroid Realm called Glice. I don''t think I need to tell you who rules over that realm." "Kaylith." "Yes. And I can bet that he intends to make sure Roswaisa learns his signature move, Absolute Frost Requiem." I say with confidence, which is mostly based on a hunch. "Okay well, after she becomes capable of using that move, then what?" "Learning that move and forming a connection with Danny and Roswaisa is the only reason she summoned her for. Albeit not how he had originally thought it would go, Roswaisa still formed a connection with them and so, when she learns that move, her purpose for being summoned will be dealt with and she would return to Heaven." "¡­" "In our timeline, she only knew Frost Requiem, so now when she returns with Absolute Frost Requiem, she will be stronger and probably even capable of killing Aknin." "¡­ oh god!" It seems he has figured it out. "If that happens, she would be alive right now and Dues would be able to reach her ¨C through the fragmented energy she has gathered of her from this summoning circle." He points at the summoning circle as he understands that. "Yes, the rest is all up to Dues ex machina." I say. "So, we are already too late. The past will be changed and Roswaisa will be saved." Yes, we have been completely outsmarted by the unintentionally combined efforts of Dues ex machina and Kaylith Glice. "In that case, we need to figure out what Dues will do next. What will she do after she has Roswaisa on her side?" Grey says with a panicking face. "That''s exactly what I have been trying to figure out ever since all these pieces fell into place in my head. But, there''s nothing I can think of." "Damn! You could have told us all about this thing before." Grey yells at me. "I could have, but what would that accomplish? In this timeline, nothing can be done. In the timeline that follows, who knows if we''ll even be here." After all, who is to say we aren''t already too late to save Hell. Grey looks worried and anxious as he tries to think of anything he can do. "Tell me something, Grey. Your former boss and friend would be saved if you let Hell die. So, why are you trying to protect it?" I ask a question that has piqued my curiosity. "I want Kaylith to be happy but I can''t let Dues'' plan succeed. End of Hell is far too much to bear." Hmm ¡­ fair point. "But, what about you?" He asks me. "Me?" "Why are you so calm even though your race would be destroyed because of all this?" he asks, confused as to what may happen. "Well, to be frank, I don''t care about the Demon race, Hell or even my own life." It''s true, very true. "At this point, while I''m not actively trying to die, I wouldn''t mind dying all that much either." Kaylith played me for a fool and made sure I don''t get to Dues in time. He is now going to make sure Dues has all she needs for her plan to succeed. And Dues is going to use that make her plan succeed. Knowing that soon after his death, the entire Demon race will be wiped out by whatever plan Dues has, Kaylith can die in peace now. And all of this ¨C I bet I could have figured it out if I really tried. But, I didn''t. And now, Hell''s most supreme race will pay the price for it as the plans of two loonies succeed. ***** 84 Inability To Fake I stand here in a coliseum. In front of me, my adopted father stands and looks at me with a sad smile. And then, he says, "Let me test how much of a man you have become in all these years." "¡­" "So, what do you say? How about a duel between father and son?" He asks as if it really is a question. "It''s your realm. I can''t deny your wish, can I?" I ask. "Well, unfortunately for you, Irium, you can''t." He says and takes a long breath. And so it is decided that the two of us, father and son, will fight a duel against each other? "What would be the rules of this little duel of ours?" I ask. "How about we both go all out?" He suggests. "Are you kidding? You are an experienced mage and I don''t even know anything about magic. Going all out will be completely unfair towards me." I say, with a bit of a scowl. "That''s true." He only smiles in return as he says so, "But you were willing to go against people far more powerful than me to save that woman, were you not?" He points in the stands, at the woman (or Angel) sitting in the stands. I don''t think there''s any point in telling who that Angel is. Beside her is a human mage I know very well. And beside the two of them, at a little distance, is the second-in-command of this realm. "Saving her ¨C that is my responsibility." "Oh come on! You saying that even after taking to Priscina''s AI makes it sound lame." He tells me so. "¡­" Well, it''s true. When Priscina''s AI broke a dam inside my head and let my real feeling show, my answers to her questions changed. And my answer to her ''Roswaisa?'' had changed from ''responsibility'' to ''wife''. But what does that mean? Have I accepted her as my wife? Is that why I am so desperate to save her? Is it not my guilty conscience of having my plan getting her killed that is driving me but love? I don''t think so. I feel nothing inside of me that I have never felt before, and love definitely is something I have never felt before. "Well, looks like you took it more seriously than I thought you would." My father says in a mocking voice and then asks, "So then, do you agree to the rule for the duel ¨C go all out?" Surprisingly, my conscience tells me I''ll be fine and that I should agree to his condition. And well, one of the few people in the world that I respect told me to follow my conscience, so that''s what I will do. "Yes, I am fine with it." I say as I look directly at my opponent for the duel, and he looks directly at me. "Alright then, the duel only ends when one of us dies or gives up." He says. And despite what you would expect me to say, my answer is, "That''s fine with me." ***** "Did he just say he is fine with it?" I ask, confused as to why. "He most certainly did, Roswaisa." Trevor says with a smile. "But ¡­ why? Why is he agreeing to something like this?" I can''t bring myself to understand anything that is going on anymore. First of all, Irium will be fighting his father. Second, he will be fighting him to death. Third, he is at a great disadvantage. From an emotional standpoint as well as from a logical standpoint, this doesn''t make any sense at all. "Danny, why is Irium agreeing to this?" I ask as I turn to him, hoping he could answer. But, "I don''t know." His gaze downcast, he answers me in a sad voice. "I can''t get what''s going through their heads right now. But, I do understand that ¡­ that ¡­" "That what?" I press him for an answer because of my inability to calm myself. "I do understand that the doctor, or rather, Kaylith ¡­ he would tell you the secret to mastering Absolute Frost Requiem if Irium agrees to his whimsies. If that happens and you are able to master Absolute Frost Requiem, then you will be stronger and be capable of beating Aknin Vielos. That would fulfill our purpose for coming here." That''s something, but still, how can that purpose of his be more valuable to him than his life? "You really don''t get it, do you?" Trevor asks. I look at him, hoping for an answer and he sighs as he gives it to me, "That kid has accepted the bond that fate had forced on him. So, he finds it to be a duty to save you, even if it means to give us his own life in the process." Trevor claims so. "Yeah, that might be right." And Danny supports his claim. But I don''t get it. What did I ever do for him to go so far? What did I ever do to make his accept whatever bond Trevor is talking about? What did I ever do to deserve this? "Roswaisa," Danny calls out my name and says, "From your face, I can tell what you are thinking. So let me clear something up for you." He does really seem to understand what I am thinking, and so he continues, "It''s less about you, and more about him." "Huh?" I ¡­ kinda understand what he is saying. But, I would hope for my understanding to be wrong. "Irium, innately, is incapable of accepting the norms." Danny says, "He can put up facades if he needs to but, on a deeper level, he has always hated norms." "¡­" "He is someone who can see the bad in the noblest person and the good in the most heinous one. He is someone who can have an open-mind to everything, despite the circumstances. And because that is so, he sees people, regardless of the race, for who they are. And so, he understands that every life in the world is precious." "¡­" "That realization has cost him a lot so he tries to distract himself from the society again and again to make sure thoughts related to that don''t come into his head but, when it comes down to it, he can''t let people''s lives be wasted. He may be able to live with someone dying outside his knowledge, but someone he knows dying, he can''t accept it." "¡­" "You are someone he has a connection to, and your unfortunate demise in the future may have forced him to accept that connection, as a tribute to your future self. And so, as a person who can''t let people die in front of his eyes anyway, how can he let someone he has connection to him stay dead if he has a chance to save them?" "¡­" "¡­" He doesn''t say anything past that, leaving me to repeat everything he just said again and again, only to come to the conclusion that, "He is less of a human and more of an Angel." "Yes, you might be right." Danny says with a grim look. "Hah!" Trevor sighs and yells, "Alright then, if the two duelists have prepared enough, it''s time for the duel to start." ***** 85 Azazels Wish "Hmm ¡­ that might be it." I say with a deadpan expression. "What? Did you figure something out?" Grey asks with an anxious look. "I may have a theory for why Dues ex machina didn''t let you help Irium and Roswaisa, which ended with Aknin killing Roswaisa ¨C something we have assumed so far was bad for her plan." "O-okay?" Grey asks hesitantly, "Why did she do that?" "Roswaisa most powerful attack was Frost Requiem. Maybe, with that being the case, Roswaisa could not kill the entire Demon race by whatever method Dues had thought of." I contemplate alongside saying so, "In that case, if she wanted to, Dues would have wanted to change the past a little and make sure Roswaisa learns Absolute Frost Requiem. She made it so that can happen by Irium and Danny going to change the past." "¡­" "In fact, Aknin mentioned that Kaylith hypnotized her and made her leave Irium alive, didn''t she? So, maybe Dues had tipped him about that and that is why he could arrive at exactly the right time to do that. Maybe, that is why, he could be in the past when he needed to be as well." "Mr. Azazel," Grey says with despair in his eyes, "Are you suggesting that Kaylith and Dues are working together?" "I doubt it. But, they maybe stealing each other''s information and trying to get to their own goals, which happen to coincide in this case." I say. "So they are involuntarily helping each other? That would make sense why everyone kept getting outsmarted by them. Whenever anyone tried to catch one, it was the other''s plans that ended up coming in the way." Grey says, "And because they weren''t actually working together, investigating both of them at the same time wasn''t possible because that will lead to two completely different and large knots to untie." "Hmm ¡­ that''s what my thoughts are on the matter." I say. As soon as I do, I hear sounds of gliding and open the door to the garden, only to see Rain descending from the sky while holding Jessica. "Dead end?" I question. "Yes, what about you?" She asks in somewhat of a panic. "Kinda same. Dues reached here before we did and so now the whole thing is hopeless." I say "There still must be something we can do, right?" Rain asks with a troubled expression as she lands on the ground and lets Jessica off. "I''m sorry but I don''t think there is. It''s just waiting for our doomsday now." I reply calmly. "What the hell is wrong with you, Azazel? How can you be calm at a time like this?" Rain asks, "It''s like you have accepted dying or something?" "From your expression, it seems like you think that wouldn''t be plausible." I say with a smile, "But what if you are wrong and that is exactly what has happened?" "What!?" She finds herself surprised. She looks at Grey and he nods so as to say that I am telling the truth. "You can''t be serious!" "Hah!" I sigh, and stretch my back all the while the rest of the people there look at me with different expressions of astonishment. In this time, Aknin also comes to the place we are all in. "What''s going on?" She asks as soon as she arrives there. "Nothing much. We just failed, completely." I say in a sardonic voice. "Azazel! Are you actually okay with dying?" Rain asks with a deeply serious expression, one I don''t often see on her face. "Yes, I kinda am." I say without any dramatic nonsense, "I don''t hold any attachments to life anymore. I mean, why would I?" "¡­" All of them stay silent. "I have lived for thousands of years now." I say, "To be honest, I am tired of living at this point." There is nothing more to live for after all. Living feels more like a task than anything else. Dying might be the only possible way to rest. "And ¡­ what about the rest of the demon race, will you let them die too?" Rain asks, in a surprisingly normal-pitched voice. "Oh come on! I am a demon, you know. Caring for others isn''t in me." I say with a smile, "Back in the time I was born, Demons were pure evil and Angels were pure good. While the changing times have definitely affected me a little, I am still someone who wasn''t meant to have any good traits." Changing times ¨C it sounds almost ironic to say it. Over these thousands of years I have lived, I saw Angels start doing bad things and Demons start doing good deeds. And slowly and slowly, this spread so much that, at this point, it doesn''t even surprise me if an Angel kills an innocent person or a Demon gives his/her life protecting one. In that respect, and in that respect alone, I can understand how Dues feels and why she would want to change things to how they originally were. "Azazel!" Rain yells my name, causing me to realize I was spacing out. "Yes, sorry about that. Did you say something?" I ask. "¡­" Biting her lips, Rain asks, "You don''t mean to say Dues is right about wanting to destroy Demons, are you?" "No, I don''t mean to say that. Honestly, it''s not Angels or Demon''s fault that all these changes have happened. They don''t deserve annihilation. And the one who is at fault, he is not someone Dues can even put a scratch on, no matter what she does. So, her plan is bogus." "¡­" "Something wrong?" I look at Rain, asking that question. And she looks down as she asks, "What do you mean by ''the one who is at fault''?" "Well, isn''t it obvious? I''m talking about God. He is the one who made us, isn''t he? So all of us changing like this is a shortcoming of him, not ours. He couldn''t make Angels who could never be corrupted and vice-versa with Demons." He is the one to blame for all of this. They all stay silent as they listen to that, silent and astonished. "You know, I talked to him at length once." I mention I have only mentioned to Lucifer before. "You did?" Rain asks with a surprise. "Yes, I did. And he told me that he doesn''t feel like there''s anything wrong with these changes." "¡­" "So, maybe," Just maybe, "it''s not a shortcoming, but he actually intentionally made us so we could be changed." "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "¡­" "Still though, I doubt he will stop Dues from doing what she is trying to do. He would probably only look at it as just a change too." He is, after all, completely impartial. ***** 86 A Futile Figh "The duel begins when my count reaches three." Trevor yells from the stands, causing both the duelists ¨C me and my father ¨C to buckle up. "One." I calm my breath as he does so and close my eyes. "Two." I take a deep breath and open my eyes. "Three." And with that, the ground shakes. My opponent kicks it once and launches himself into the air through the recoiling force. He makes sure to land on a pole that is one of the dividers between the stands and the field. And this happens while all I can do is try to balance myself on this shaking ground, something a man not standing on the ground doesn''t have to worry about all that much. "Having trouble there, Irium?" He mocks me while standing on the pole as if he is some kind of ninja. Well, newsflash, dad! You are not a ninja. BUMP! ¨Cis the sound of me hitting the dividers on my side, about 60-degrees right from the pole he is standing on. Now that I am close to this divider, I can hold onto it and move freely even as the ground shakes. "Not bad!" He remarks and stops the ground for shaking, which is obviously what I was expecting he would do. There''s no point in letting the place shake if it serves no purpose, right? Anyway, he jumps off the pole and lands right in the middle of the field, still trying to act like a ninja. "There''s no reason anymore for you to keep hugging the damn divider, you know?" He says mockingly. To which, I reply, "That''s where you''re wrong, dad," and take out the nails that have kept the pole closest to me fixed. "You''re kidding me! You are planning to pick up that pole and use that as a weapon or something?" He says with a smile that tells me he is looking down on me, "That''s hardly going to work." It''s understandable why he would think that. The pole is twice my size and at least weighs 250 pounds. Trying to swing it at him like it''s a weapon will only backfire on me by making me lose my balance and tripping. However, that''s how he thinks it is. I never said I am planning to swing the damn thing, did I? THUNK! A voice of someone banging steel against the pole comes. Obviously, the perpetrator is me and the ''steel'' in question is my watch. The reason I made that sound? Well, it''ll be clear very soon. "What was the purpose of that sound? You were even smirking when you made it, but nothing seems to have happened." He says as look a bit confused, as he should. THUNK! THUNK! "What the hell are you even-" THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! "Alright fine, whatever you have planned it stops now." He says and within a couple of seconds, appears in front of me, and holds my hand, stopping me from banging the pole. "I don''t know what you thought that would have accomplished but it was annoy-" He is cut-off by something, probably a knife in his stomach. Somehow, the safer end of this knife seems to be in my hand. Oh, that''s right. The purpose of the noise was to draw him in closer because of the irritation. "That ¡­ wasn''t half bad." He says as blood comes out of his mouth. "I know." I say as I pull the knife out, causing him to yell in pain as I get many steps away. "Hah! Hah!" While sighing from the pain, he gets up and looks at me as he asks, "If I may ask, where did you get that knife?" I took it for protection back in Meerut. "¡­" Not that I plan to tell him that, for purely psychological reasons. "Hah!" He says with a smile, "Not answering is a good call actually, son." I keep stepping back even as I talk to him, until ¡­ I reach the pole he had jumped on earlier. And as soon as I do that, I give a good, strong kick to the pole. It rings. It rings quite well. The only thing is ¨C it shouldn''t ring. "I thought so." I say, "You don''t seem like one for theatrics. If you were, the whole place would be filled with people instead of just the three of them." "Okay ¡­? What about it?" He asks with a smirk saying he already knows the answer to that question. "Hah!" I sigh and continue, "You don''t care about theatrics yet you tried to act like an elegant ninja when landing and jumping off this pole. That made me think this pole was a bit different than the rest. And it is." Unlike every other pole here that is a completely solid substance, the pole he jumped on earlier is hollow inside. So, if he hadn''t jumped on it very lightly like a ninja would, the pole may have shaken a bit and given me the indication that it is hollow. And him trying to hide that it is hollow is now all the more reason to try to find out what''s inside, isn''t it? "That was clever." He says with a smirk, "But, do you really think a stab with a knife will be enough to give you enough time to pull out all the nails and see what''s inside the pole?" No, I did not think that. But, at least that confirms that there is something valuable inside the pole. "Tsk!" He clicks his tongue as he starts walking towards me, slowly and steadily, while holding his wound in place with his left hand. He isn''t too slow to be honest, at least for someone who has been stabbed. But, in any case, he is not going to reach me. "Why do you look so confident, kid?" He asks, not understanding why I am not alarmed by him coming towards me. Well, there''s the fact that he has been stabbed and is weaker and I match up far better against him now than I did before. And, "There''s that." I say as the pole I was banging earlier falls, with one end of it hitting his head. "Did you forget that I had taken out the nails? After you, the only presence keeping it from falling down starts walking towards me, why wouldn''t the pole fall?" I ask, mocking him. And, by the way, the fact that the pole would fall right on him was certain because of something I like to call headache, but most like to call physics. And with that, I turn my attention back to the pole whose nuts I have already started taking out. ***** 87 The Futility Continues Kaylith tries to get up as fast as he can but the hit on his head seems to slow him down because of the blurriness it would have caused. I use that opportunity to take out the last bolt and bring down the pole. And just as I do that, "Ha!" A laugh escapes Kaylith''s lips. I soon find out why. There was nothing inside the pole. It was nothing more than a ruse to make me waste time on something that didn''t matter. And I fell for it ¡­ so he would like to believe. "What the heck!" He utters in confusion. "I am a jack of all trades, master of none." I say, "What it means is that I have built my muscle strength quite a bit. Though I haven''t done it so much that I can do things only professions can do, I''m still capable to lift this thing up and use it as a weapon against you." And just as I say, I pick it up and from its length and look at him with hostility. "Did you know it was empty from the start?" He asks, with a smile coming on his once again. "I only suspected it would be." I answer, with the smile on my face disappearing. "I see." He claps deliberately as if to mock me. "I guess I should use a few more tricks then, shouldn''t I?" Then, I realize ¨C clapping his hands wasn''t to mock me, it was a way to activate another ability, the ability of his to attack the optical senses of a person. And while not directly offensive or painful in any way, I understand that this ability is bad news. Right now, because of this ability that I don''t even know the name of, my sense of distance and dimensions has gotten bad. The former means that things that are far from me like Roswaisa and Danny in the stands appear near while the pole I have ended up dropping to my feet (obviously is very near) but look far away. The later means that I can''t see a straight line as a straight line. It looks like a curved line to me. It feels like I am looking through broken pieces of concave and convex lens attached together. "Your troubled expression tells me you realize how potent this ability can be." He says, and I can''t even see his expression clearly to tell if he''s just saying it as a matter of fact or mocking me in some way. In any case, I can''t use the pole as a weapon if this goes on. Hell! I can''t use anything as a weapon if this goes. I am defenseless and helpless in this situation ¡­ or not. "What the-" He finds himself surprised as I start reaching for the pole I had dropped earlier. Of course he is surprised. Why wouldn''t he be? "Despite my eyes constantly deceiving me because of your ability, the reality hasn''t been altered." I know that because the three in stands were doing nothing except looking in confusion at me, wondering why I am acting like I am right now. "And since that is the case, everything is still where it was before and I can still reach it." "Hmm ¡­ can you really? You do realize a problem with a person''s vision basically handicaps anyone no matter what?" "The ''no matter what'' needs some correction." I say as I close my eyes. And as I do so, everything becomes dark. I still feel some disturbances but the problem is more or less over for now. All I have to do now is to pick up the pole I dropped earlier. I may not be able to see him but I can still swing a pole and hit him, can''t I? "That''s futile." He says as his hand stops mine from picking up the pole. I see. He is this close, is he? He probably has a lot of defensive magic that can help him if I try to jump on him so he sees no danger in getting close to me. That, however, is his mistake. "Ha! Did you really think I was planning on picking up the pole and hitting you with that?" Well, I actually was. "I wasn''t. I was just trying to bring you here so I could do what needs to be done ¨C kill you." "You are telling me you have some surefire way of killing me?" He asks. "Of course I do." Of course I don''t. "Wanna see it?" Unfortunately though, I come to know a blasphemous thing when I try to psych him out with that, "I am surprised Roswaisa didn''t tell you. It probably slipped her mind. But, I can read minds." "¡­" That means he knows everything I have been trying to not let him know. "Yes, I most certainly do know those things you have been trying to hide from me, like the answer to me asking where you got the knife." He is clearly mocking me as he says all that. But, in any case, I''ll humor him. "I guess that means I lost, doesn''t it?" I say as I grab his stab wounds and press it hard enough for him to shout in pain and back off fast. "Shit!" He remarks in pain. Well, even if one he read minds, he would still need time to react to the things he reads in other people''s minds. Instantaneous actions like grabbing that wounds and pressing it are things that would still work, even if well-thought out plans don''t. I guess I know why Priscina, or her AI at least, told me specifically to follow my conscience, not just to follow the brain but a specific part of the brain, the one that always knows what to do. "Hah!" I sigh and open my eyes. Because of the pain he would have felt, he would have automatically cancelled out the abilities he was using ¨C making my vision return to normal. So, I use this opportunity to pick up the pole and swing it around to hit my opponent right at the spots it would hurt the most. "Ah! Ah! AH! AH! AHH!!" He yells in pain again and again as I beat him, my own father, senseless by a hollow iron pole. "Well," I say, "time to put an end to this charade." ***** 88 An Unexpected Conclusion With every single second, this duel is getting harder to watch. Yet, I can''t bring myself to try to stop it. And so, I keep on watching the death match between the father and the son. "Is this really all of Kaylith''s strength?" Danny suddenly questions, looking at Trevor. "That is a hard to answer question." Trevor says, "Strength can''t be quantified and so assigning figures like ''half'' or ''all'' to someone''s strength is kinda stupid, you know?" "Perhaps," Danny says with a grim look, "but you know as well as I do ¨C that isn''t what I meant." Trevor looks at the fight with a look of wanting to stop it as he answers, "No. It''s not all of his strength, far from it in fact." Yes, I think so too. I really doubt the man fighting Irium down there is going all out, despite that being the rule he set for the duel. "Why is he holding back though? It''s not just because Irium is his son, is it?" Danny questions. "No, it''s not." Trevor answers, "He is holding back because that will be better for his desired outcome." ¡­ I see. So, it really is as it seems. One look at Danny tells me he realizes it too, or maybe he had realized it even before he asked the questions and just wanted to confirm it. And now he has. That man down there who is fighting Irium ¨C he is deliberately taking his time showing Irium his cards to give Irium the chance to think of a way to beat them. "That man ¡­ he wants to lose," I say, "he wants to die, and he wants Irium to be the one who takes his life." "Yes, that he does." Trevor says, in a sad voice. ***** "Irium," he says as he finds his footing after stumbling for a second, "why are you hesitating?" "Tsk!" "Why not just go through with killing me already?" He asks. "What''s stopping you? Do you still hold on to some familial bond after all this time?" Of course I do. You and your wife saved me and my siblings from that hellhole of an orphanage. I feel grateful for that, very grateful. However, that is not what is stopping me from killing you. What''s stopping me is the fact that you are trying to die. And despite everything positive emotions I feel towards you, I don''t want to fulfill that wish of yours. "Ha!" he chuckles. Because he can read minds, he obviously heard all that despite me not saying it out loud. And so he says, "This would be biggest wish. And you say that you would not want to fulfill it despite feeling grateful towards me." "I am grateful to you." I say, "But I don''t believe that kindness is done in the hopes that it will be returned. If so, then it wouldn''t be kindness in the first place." I know what having no attachments to life feels like, albeit for completely different reasons. But, I can''t fulfill someone''s wish if that wish is to die. I just can''t do it. "Why is that, Irium?" He asks. "Oh, I don''t know. Maybe it''s because the woman I called mother for a few years of my life would never condone such an act." "Tsk!" "Or, maybe it''s because my eldest sister always taught me to not hurt people." "¡­" "Or, maybe it''s because the man I called father for a few years tried his damned hardest to keep me and the rest of our family away from such things." "¡­" Or, maybe there is a completely different reason. I don''t really care. Now is not the time to do self-introspection. Now is the time to deny your wish. "Deny my wish? Seriously!?" he ask with a smirk, "You know, even if everything goes south, I can still just kill myself and get it over with. Dues plan to end the Demon race will work out just fine. So, I don''t have any need to stay alive." "¡­" "The only reason I have chosen to not kill myself and die at your hands in this duel is to make you a stronger person, and to get some closure at death. That''s it. Even if that doesn''t happen, it doesn''t affect me all that much." "Ha! Ha! Hahaha!!!" I can''t help but laugh. "Do you really believe that?" "What do you mean?" "Do you really think you will find closure by dying by my hands? You won''t." I say, and before he can retort, I continue, "The only way you will ever find closure is if you died by Grimma''s hands." "Ah!" He is left unable to respond, giving me ample time to continue, "You blame yourself for everything that happened with Grimma and everything that happened because of it. I don''t remember everything but I can tell it was something awful. Regardless though, it''s her that you blame yourself for. So only by dying by her hands can bring you any closure." I am not a replacement for my sister. No one is. "Hah!" He sighs and says, "You know, maybe you are right. But, since this duel is something I have already started, I might as well finish it." He tries to make some symbol with his hand for some mage-craft. But, whatever it is, he stops ¨C because I stop him with my hand outstretched as I say, "I have noticed you do not use your mage-craft for offensive purposes." "¡­" "Whatever reason you have for that, it is enough for me to know that I am going to win this duel. There is no point in it anymore." I say and turn around. "You can''t be serious about this, Irium. You are walking away from this?" He says with an annoyed expression. "Yes, I am." I simply so and start walking. "¡­" "¡­" Neither of us says anything past that as I reach the entrance/exit to the field, which Trevor opens up for me, and I leave. And that ¨C is the end of the duel. ***** 89 God And His Three Friends I don''t know how many years has it been since I became god. Likewise, I don''t know how many years has it been since I created Angels and Demons. Back then, I threw away all the mechanisms that governed the world and created my own. But now, as I watch Dues ex machina, one of my creations, trying to throw away both the races, I wonder if the old system was better. "Won''t you stop it?" a voice of someone who does not exist anymore asks me so. It is the voice of someone who was a friend to me. "Why would I stop it?" I ask that voice, despite knowing that it nothing more than a figment of my imagination. "Well, Dues is trying to destroy all Angels and Demons. Aren''t those two races your most proud creations?" He asks. "Well, they definitely are. But, I have to be impartial and accept changes." And so, I would stay impartial and accept this change too. "I see. But still, wouldn''t it hurt you to see your greatest achievements being destroyed like that?" He asks. "Yes, that may happen. But, merely feeling sad is not enough reason for me to interfere with their affairs, is it now?" "No, it''s not." Another voice that is just a figment of my imagination comes and says, "You made a vow to let things play out as they do unless a threat that wipes out humanity comes. And this is not a threat that wipes out humanity." "Yes, I know that very well." I say. As soon as this voice came, the previous one disappeared and I doubt it will come again unless this one leaves. That''s how it always is. I guess even projections of my own mind have limits. Or these two personas just don''t like each other. Knowing the past, it''s probably the latter. "Hey, tell me." He says, "You decided to transcend from a human to a god and become someone who sees over humans, protecting them whenever they really need to be." "Yes, that is why I am god these days." I say in a slightly joking voice. But, he continues in a very serious one, "Do you regret choosing to do this?" "I don''t, not at all." Though, if I were to be honest, it is a pretty boring task. "Hah! You really don''t feel regret over it?" He says, "That''s quite admirable. I guess you really were the savior of the world. Despite the differences we had when we were alive, looking at how you have seen over humans for these many years without trying to back out even once, I can''t deny that you are a hero." Oh! How I wish the real you, not just a projection of my brain but the real you who died long ago could tell me that! But, that is impossible. Even for God, that is impossible. "Wanting to see us all again?" Another voice comes, this time of a woman. And just like before, the second one disappears. "Yeah, I do miss you all a lot." I say with a smile. "Of course you do." She says, "It would get really boring here all by yourself, wouldn''t it?" "Oh, you don''t know the half of it." "Neither do I want to know." She says while chuckling. "Anyway, since you won''t try to stop any of it, Dues ex machina will kill all the Demons and then she will come after the Angels. That would mean that the order you built up will be completely destroyed. Even if Dues'' plan to take control of both Heaven and Hell succeeds, it will take some time to bring back order to them. In this time, humans may suffer too." "Perhaps, but not so much that my intervention would be needed." I say, "I can''t stop humans suffering completely anyway. That isn''t my purpose. I am here to protect them when things go so out of control that they can''t save themselves anymore." "Hmm ¡­" she asks, "do you think something like that would ever happen?" "I doubt it. But, who can say?" "Hah!" She sighs and says, "Alright, I will leave you to it then. Don''t miss us too much, okay? Get a hobby or something!" And with that, she disappears. Get a hobby? Seriously!? I have been living for thousands of years now. There isn''t a hobby I have not tried, aside from destroying galaxies or like ¨C which, obviously, is not a hobby that God should have. In any case, it seems Dues'' plans are proceeding rather well. Kaylith Glice is now standing in the coliseum''s field alone. Irium, his son, has left. I suspect Kaylith would now tell Roswaisa how to master Absolute Frost Requiem and then die. As soon as Roswaisa learns that ability, she will be called back to Heaven as her purpose would be fulfilled. If some delay happens, after Kaylith, the person who summoned her, dies, she will definitely be called back. When that happens, the time-period Irium and Danny back from will have a little change happen. Aknin Vielos would have died and Roswaisa would have survived. That would leave Dues to reach out to Roswaisa, use all the power she has to mind-control Roswaisa and make use Absolute Frost Requiem to its fullest potential. By absorbing half the energy Dues has gathered over thousands of years, she will make Roswaisa destroy Hell. And by using the other half, Heaven will be destroyed. Then, Dues ex machina will be left as the strongest person in the world (not counting me of course) and so, it will be over. I remember the time I saw this idea come to Dues'' mind the first time, I remember how it grew in her head and how it finally manifested into this plan of hers that took about a couple thousand years to bring to fruition. I saw it all. And now I am going to see the end of it. It feels like I have watched a really, long drama. It was quite a spicy story. But now, it has to come to its conclusion. It''s just that ¨C I don''t why, but I feel like Dues'' success would not be the end of this story. ***** 91 End Of The Beginning Part 1 "That''s it?" I ask, surprised that it was something so simple. "Yes, that''s it, Roswaisa." Kaylith says, "That is all there is to the secret of mastering Absolute Frost Requiem. That''s how you can get to the roots of it. And that''s how you can master it." "¡­ I see." If that is really all there is to it, then ¡­ then there''s nothing left to say, is there? "Hah!" Kaylith sighs and says, "Yes, you are right. There''s nothing left to say." And with that, he turns around and starts walking. And even though I want to, I have nothing that I can say to him that will stop him from doing what he is about to do. So, I am left alone in the lobby, left alone to think about everything that has happened in just a single day. ***** "No one can stop Dues ex machina''s plans from coming true now." Trevor says as he looks distantly at the coliseum in front of us. "She played us all for fools for I don''t know how long. But at the end of the day, she will get what she wants to get." "Yes, that''s true." I say, "That''s sadly very true." "Sadly?" Trevor asks, "Do you have some Angel or Demon friends that you would miss when she destroys our races?" "Yes, there are a lot of them actually." I say. "At one time, I even used to consider her one of my friends." "Hah! You did?" He says with a smile, "That could never have gone well." Yeah, and it didn''t. I have now become one of the biggest reasons both the races are getting destroyed. "I can tell from the expression on your face that you are blaming yourself for what''s about to happen." Trevor says, "Well, don''t. It''s not your fault." Isn''t it? "She manipulated you, just like she manipulates everyone else." "You are not wrong about that. But," I say, "Lucifer understood her true nature. But even though I had talked to him before and knew what he thought of Dues, I did not even try to understand why. If I had, her manipulation of me would have ended right then and there I could have avoided this." "Nice thought, but I doubt it." He says, "It is Dues ex machina we are talking about here. She would have had some back-up plans ready." Well, if that is indeed true, then what am I supposed to do? Angels and Demons are going to history after a while and I am sitting her, powerless. Aside from blaming myself, there''s nothing I can do, can I? "There''s no way to stop her, is it?" I ask, hoping somehow that the answer wouldn''t be what I know it would be. "No, there''s no way to stop her anymore." And my hope is crushed. ***** I am standing in front of the throne, the throne whose future is very uncertain. This is the throne from which my father is supposed to rule over an entire realm. I can only wonder what future awaits this realm and its people when he dies. At the very least, I don''t want the throne. Since Dues'' plans will succeed, Trevor will also die. So, that leaves pretty much no one obvious who can claim the throne. Trevor says the people can self-govern but there at least the need for be a ruler of the realm. Without one, it will just be anarchy. "You seem troubled again?" A familiar female voice of a 15-year-old girl comes from behind me. "That''s because I am troubled, very troubled in fact." I say without turning back. "But first of all, what are you doing out of that room? I thought the room protects your existence." "Yes, that it does." She says cheerfully, "And since now there''s no need to protect my existence, I have decided to step out of it and have some fun. You know, sight-seeing and all that?" "What do you mean there''s no need to protect your existence?" "I already met you and made you remember what you didn''t remember. I think my job is done." She says something like that with a smile, giving me a heart-ache like never before. "Hold on, sis!" She scoffs at me. And I, unwillingly, ''correct'' myself to say, "Nee-san, I still haven''t remembered everything. I just remember that-" "Whatever you remember, it''s enough. The rest you will remember with time, by yourself. Just remember what I told you about following your conscience." She says and seats herself on the throne, "So, by the way, how do I look up here? Like a courageous and independent queen?" "You look like a cosplaying idiot." I say with a deadpan expression. "You know you''d be dead right now if you weren''t my little brother." She asks so with a smile and eyes closed. "Yes, but the matter of fact is that I am your little brother." I say with the same expressions on my face, "And so you can''t do anything to me." "Tsk!" She clicks her tongue, "Taking advantage of our familial bonds, huh? I can tell from just that you''ll NOT grow up to be a fine man." "Yes, I think so too." I say with a smile. ***** Glice ¨C the Asteroid Realm created by Lucifer and remodeled and ruled by Kaylith Glice. This golden realm has a population of about 8 million, with about 35,000 living in the capital city ¨C where Irium just walked out from the duel between him and his father. It is quite an achievement ¨C this realm. I would aspire to create achieve just as great results when I am the god. But, in order for that to happen, I need to take Roswaisa (after she has mastered Absolute Frost Requiem) and use her powers to wipe out Demons and Angels. I am not a heartless fiend though, I would give all of them some time to say their goodbyes and I would wait for Kaylith to have a peaceful death. Only then would I proceed with my plans. ***** 92 End Of The Beginning Part 2 There are a total of six people in the throne room as of now. There is me, Irium, who has been here for a while now. Then there is Priscina, or her AI persona at least, who has also been here with me for quite a while. We were then joined by Roswaisa, who was surprised at first that Kaylith, my father, hadn''t come here. But, after her surprised passed away, she hasn''t said anything. Then, Danny and Trevor came to join. Danny has been looking down, kinda defeated even. Trevor, on the other hand, has had a smile on his face ever since I saw him coming into the room. Finally, we were joined by Kaylith, who took his seat on the throne. And so, all six of us are here now. "Roswaisa, please display me your expertise at Absolute Frost Requiem, will you?" He asks. "Sure," she says and ¡­ disappears. "Wh-where is she?" Danny questions. "I am right here," her voice comes from the place she was standing on before she disappeared. Seeing that, Kaylith clapped his hands and said, "Well done! You''ve perfected your control over Absolute Frost Requiem already." He says with a smile which indicated he was predicting this success. Roswaisa makes herself visible and Kaylith continues, "Now then, Irium and Danny''s purpose for coming back in time to 1856 has been fulfilled. Is there anything either of you wants to say?" "Nope." I immediately answer. But then, "Well, actually, I do want to say something." Danny says so. "I had misjudged you in the beginning. I am sorry for that." "Don''t be." Kaylith says, "I doubt anything you thought about me could be worse than the truth." Tsk! "In any case, now that the two of them have nothing to say, what about you, Roswaisa?" He asks while turning to her. "¡­" Roswaisa presses her lips, as if she is hesitating in saying whatever it is she wants to say. "Nothing to say?" Kaylith asks. "Kaylith," she says then, "I saw the past you showed me, and I see now why you blame yourself so much and consider yourself a heinous person, but you can still be saved. I believe so." "Hah!" Kaylith sighs and says with a smile, "You only think so because I couldn''t show you the entire story, Roswaisa. But anyway, there''s no point in dawdling on that matter." Roswaisa shows a look of disappointment but she knows very well that Kaylith would not change his mind, especially not from some talk-no-jutsu she can pull right now. "Well then, what about you?" He looks at Priscina as he asks, "I kept you cooped up in that room for years just for the sake of you talking to Irium when you did. Surely you have something to say to me, some curses to throw at me?" "Nah! It''s fine." She says, dismissing him with a carefree expression. "Had the roles been reversed, I would have done much worse to you." For a moment, Kaylith straightens his back as he hears that. Well, that certainly was a delightful sight to see. Well done, Nee-san, well done! "¡­ okay, finally, Trevor," he turns to Trevor as he asks, "you have been a great friend and many time in my life, the only person I can count on. So what about you? Anything you want to say?" "May you rest in peace, Kaylith!" Trevor says with a smile. "¡­ well, that''s certainly not what I was expecting to hear ¡­ but, it works." He says with a baffled expression and then stands. As he does so, Danny, Roswaisa and Trevor straighten their backs, while I and Priscina act cool leaning back on the wall. "Hah!" He sighs and says, "I see my children haven''t grown out of their rebellious phase." Tsk! This ¡­ this ¡­ what the heck, I don''t even want to abuse him, same as it was with Priscina. "In any case, Irium, I am appointing you as the new ruler of this-" "Go to hell!" I interrupt with that. "Well, I am going there. And that is why, I want you to-" "Forget it, old man, not happening." I say. "¡­" He looks at me with hopeful eyes. "¡­" I look at him with a denial. "Okay fine, Danny, you-" "Nope, I have a life back on earth." He says. "If you become the king of this realm, you can probably get a harem." Kaylith tempts him with the oldest trick in the book. And- "Yeah, sure, I''m in." It works. Of course it works. That said though, while this may seem like a joke on the outside, it isn''t. I do think Danny is a good choice for someone who would be ruling over this realm. Perhaps, he is even a better choice than any other option available, especially me. "Hmm ¡­ alright then, that''s settled. Now all my affairs are in order." He says with a smile as he raises his voice a little, "So there''s no reason for you to hide anymore." And then, the bitch responsible for the hopelessness we are thrown in appears. "I wasn''t hiding. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to show myself." says Dues ex machina as she steps into the throne room from the front entrance. Trevor, Danny and Priscina scoff at her and I try to keep my deadpan fa?ade from breaking. Kaylith, on the other hand, smiles diplomatically and says, "I suppose you''ll now be taking Roswaisa with you." "Yes, indeed I would." "Forget it!" Roswaisa yells, "I would never kill the entire demon race for you." "Pfft!" Dues laughs, "Your willingness to do it does not matter, my poor Angel." "What ¡­ do you mean?" She asks. "Why do you think you are the one who is supposed to fulfill the ''prophecy'' of killing all the Angels and Demons?" She asks with a mocking smile, "Aside from you being more beautiful than average woman, you are special in any way at all." Oh no! Does this mean- "When you were a human, when you were Adonia Evans, I found you and conditioned you to become slave to my will." This bitch! "I made sure you become an Angel after you die so I have someone who can become powerful enough to utilize that ability of Kaylith''s for my purpose, and will do it on my command." She barely stops herself from breaking into laughter as she says, "You, Roswaisa, are my pawn. All that is needed is a little reminded of the fact." Wait! Doesn''t that mean that ¡­ oh crap! "Oops!" She says. "Looks like I already gave that reminder, didn''t I?" As I look at Roswaisa, even at this distance, I can see the light in her eyes disappear. ***** 90 End Of The Beginning Part 1 "That''s it?" I ask, surprised that it was something so simple. "Yes, that''s it, Roswaisa." Kaylith says, "That is all there is to the secret of mastering Absolute Frost Requiem. That''s how you can get to the roots of it. And that''s how you can master it." "¡­ I see." If that is really all there is to it, then ¡­ then there''s nothing left to say, is there? "Hah!" Kaylith sighs and says, "Yes, you are right. There''s nothing left to say." And with that, he turns around and starts walking. And even though I want to, I have nothing that I can say to him that will stop him from doing what he is about to do. So, I am left alone in the lobby, left alone to think about everything that has happened in just a single day. ***** "No one can stop Dues ex machina''s plans from coming true now." Trevor says as he looks distantly at the coliseum in front of us. "She played us all for fools for I don''t know how long. But at the end of the day, she will get what she wants to get." "Yes, that''s true." I say, "That''s sadly very true." "Sadly?" Trevor asks, "Do you have some Angel or Demon friends that you would miss when she destroys our races?" "Yes, there are a lot of them actually." I say. "At one time, I even used to consider her one of my friends." "Hah! You did?" He says with a smile, "That could never have gone well." Yeah, and it didn''t. I have now become one of the biggest reasons both the races are getting destroyed. "I can tell from the expression on your face that you are blaming yourself for what''s about to happen." Trevor says, "Well, don''t. It''s not your fault." Isn''t it? "She manipulated you, just like she manipulates everyone else." "You are not wrong about that. But," I say, "Lucifer understood her true nature. But even though I had talked to him before and knew what he thought of Dues, I did not even try to understand why. If I had, her manipulation of me would have ended right then and there I could have avoided this." "Nice thought, but I doubt it." He says, "It is Dues ex machina we are talking about here. She would have had some back-up plans ready." Well, if that is indeed true, then what am I supposed to do? Angels and Demons are going to history after a while and I am sitting her, powerless. Aside from blaming myself, there''s nothing I can do, can I? "There''s no way to stop her, is it?" I ask, hoping somehow that the answer wouldn''t be what I know it would be. "No, there''s no way to stop her anymore." And my hope is crushed. ***** I am standing in front of the throne, the throne whose future is very uncertain. This is the throne from which my father is supposed to rule over an entire realm. I can only wonder what future awaits this realm and its people when he dies. At the very least, I don''t want the throne. Since Dues'' plans will succeed, Trevor will also die. So, that leaves pretty much no one obvious who can claim the throne. Trevor says the people can self-govern but there at least the need for be a ruler of the realm. Without one, it will just be anarchy. "You seem troubled again?" A familiar female voice of a 15-year-old girl comes from behind me. "That''s because I am troubled, very troubled in fact." I say without turning back. "But first of all, what are you doing out of that room? I thought the room protects your existence." "Yes, that it does." She says cheerfully, "And since now there''s no need to protect my existence, I have decided to step out of it and have some fun. You know, sight-seeing and all that?" "What do you mean there''s no need to protect your existence?" "I already met you and made you remember what you didn''t remember. I think my job is done." She says something like that with a smile, giving me a heart-ache like never before. "Hold on, sis!" She scoffs at me. And I, unwillingly, ''correct'' myself to say, "Nee-san, I still haven''t remembered everything. I just remember that-" "Whatever you remember, it''s enough. The rest you will remember with time, by yourself. Just remember what I told you about following your conscience." She says and seats herself on the throne, "So, by the way, how do I look up here? Like a courageous and independent queen?" "You look like a cosplaying idiot." I say with a deadpan expression. "You know you''d be dead right now if you weren''t my little brother." She asks so with a smile and eyes closed. "Yes, but the matter of fact is that I am your little brother." I say with the same expressions on my face, "And so you can''t do anything to me." "Tsk!" She clicks her tongue, "Taking advantage of our familial bonds, huh? I can tell from just that you''ll NOT grow up to be a fine man." "Yes, I think so too." I say with a smile. ***** Glice ¨C the Asteroid Realm created by Lucifer and remodeled and ruled by Kaylith Glice. This golden realm has a population of about 8 million, with about 35,000 living in the capital city ¨C where Irium just walked out from the duel between him and his father. It is quite an achievement ¨C this realm. I would aspire to create achieve just as great results when I am the god. But, in order for that to happen, I need to take Roswaisa (after she has mastered Absolute Frost Requiem) and use her powers to wipe out Demons and Angels. I am not a heartless fiend though, I would give all of them some time to say their goodbyes and I would wait for Kaylith to have a peaceful death. Only then would I proceed with my plans. ***** 91 End Of The Beginning Part 2 There are a total of six people in the throne room as of now. There is me, Irium, who has been here for a while now. Then there is Priscina, or her AI persona at least, who has also been here with me for quite a while. We were then joined by Roswaisa, who was surprised at first that Kaylith, my father, hadn''t come here. But, after her surprised passed away, she hasn''t said anything. Then, Danny and Trevor came to join. Danny has been looking down, kinda defeated even. Trevor, on the other hand, has had a smile on his face ever since I saw him coming into the room. Finally, we were joined by Kaylith, who took his seat on the throne. And so, all six of us are here now. "Roswaisa, please display me your expertise at Absolute Frost Requiem, will you?" He asks. "Sure," she says and ¡­ disappears. "Wh-where is she?" Danny questions. "I am right here," her voice comes from the place she was standing on before she disappeared. Seeing that, Kaylith clapped his hands and said, "Well done! You''ve perfected your control over Absolute Frost Requiem already." He says with a smile which indicated he was predicting this success. Roswaisa makes herself visible and Kaylith continues, "Now then, Irium and Danny''s purpose for coming back in time to 1856 has been fulfilled. Is there anything either of you wants to say?" "Nope." I immediately answer. But then, "Well, actually, I do want to say something." Danny says so. "I had misjudged you in the beginning. I am sorry for that." "Don''t be." Kaylith says, "I doubt anything you thought about me could be worse than the truth." Tsk! "In any case, now that the two of them have nothing to say, what about you, Roswaisa?" He asks while turning to her. "¡­" Roswaisa presses her lips, as if she is hesitating in saying whatever it is she wants to say. "Nothing to say?" Kaylith asks. "Kaylith," she says then, "I saw the past you showed me, and I see now why you blame yourself so much and consider yourself a heinous person, but you can still be saved. I believe so." "Hah!" Kaylith sighs and says with a smile, "You only think so because I couldn''t show you the entire story, Roswaisa. But anyway, there''s no point in dawdling on that matter." Roswaisa shows a look of disappointment but she knows very well that Kaylith would not change his mind, especially not from some talk-no-jutsu she can pull right now. "Well then, what about you?" He looks at Priscina as he asks, "I kept you cooped up in that room for years just for the sake of you talking to Irium when you did. Surely you have something to say to me, some curses to throw at me?" "Nah! It''s fine." She says, dismissing him with a carefree expression. "Had the roles been reversed, I would have done much worse to you." For a moment, Kaylith straightens his back as he hears that. Well, that certainly was a delightful sight to see. Well done, Nee-san, well done! "¡­ okay, finally, Trevor," he turns to Trevor as he asks, "you have been a great friend and many time in my life, the only person I can count on. So what about you? Anything you want to say?" "May you rest in peace, Kaylith!" Trevor says with a smile. "¡­ well, that''s certainly not what I was expecting to hear ¡­ but, it works." He says with a baffled expression and then stands. As he does so, Danny, Roswaisa and Trevor straighten their backs, while I and Priscina act cool leaning back on the wall. "Hah!" He sighs and says, "I see my children haven''t grown out of their rebellious phase." Tsk! This ¡­ this ¡­ what the heck, I don''t even want to abuse him, same as it was with Priscina. "In any case, Irium, I am appointing you as the new ruler of this-" "Go to hell!" I interrupt with that. "Well, I am going there. And that is why, I want you to-" "Forget it, old man, not happening." I say. "¡­" He looks at me with hopeful eyes. "¡­" I look at him with a denial. "Okay fine, Danny, you-" "Nope, I have a life back on earth." He says. "If you become the king of this realm, you can probably get a harem." Kaylith tempts him with the oldest trick in the book. And- "Yeah, sure, I''m in." It works. Of course it works. That said though, while this may seem like a joke on the outside, it isn''t. I do think Danny is a good choice for someone who would be ruling over this realm. Perhaps, he is even a better choice than any other option available, especially me. "Hmm ¡­ alright then, that''s settled. Now all my affairs are in order." He says with a smile as he raises his voice a little, "So there''s no reason for you to hide anymore." And then, the bitch responsible for the hopelessness we are thrown in appears. "I wasn''t hiding. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to show myself." says Dues ex machina as she steps into the throne room from the front entrance. Trevor, Danny and Priscina scoff at her and I try to keep my deadpan fa?ade from breaking. Kaylith, on the other hand, smiles diplomatically and says, "I suppose you''ll now be taking Roswaisa with you." "Yes, indeed I would." "Forget it!" Roswaisa yells, "I would never kill the entire demon race for you." "Pfft!" Dues laughs, "Your willingness to do it does not matter, my poor Angel." "What ¡­ do you mean?" She asks. "Why do you think you are the one who is supposed to fulfill the ''prophecy'' of killing all the Angels and Demons?" She asks with a mocking smile, "Aside from you being more beautiful than average woman, you are special in any way at all." Oh no! Does this mean- "When you were a human, when you were Adonia Evans, I found you and conditioned you to become slave to my will." This bitch! "I made sure you become an Angel after you die so I have someone who can become powerful enough to utilize that ability of Kaylith''s for my purpose, and will do it on my command." She barely stops herself from breaking into laughter as she says, "You, Roswaisa, are my pawn. All that is needed is a little reminded of the fact." Wait! Doesn''t that mean that ¡­ oh crap! "Oops!" She says. "Looks like I already gave that reminder, didn''t I?" As I look at Roswaisa, even at this distance, I can see the light in her eyes disappear. ***** 92 End Of The Beginning Part 3 "So that''s how it is? Roswaisa has been a puppet to you from the start?" Danny scowls at her as he asks that. "Well, she could have been. But I let her have free will. So, everything up until now, that has been the real Roswaisa. Now though, she is my puppet." Dues answers while calmly smiling. "Tsk!" Danny clicks his tongue and tries to stop Roswaisa, but Trevor holds his arm and stops him. "There''s no point to it, Danny. You can''t stop her." He tells Danny. Well, as hard as it may be, it is the truth. There is no stopping it anymore. "I had originally thought that I would wait for Roswaisa to be called back to heaven and then appear back in 2020 alive." Dues says, "But I have changed my mind. I''ll fulfill the deed right now. So now then, I would be taking her with me." And with that, Dues turns around and starts walking out of the throne room. Roswaisa, emotionlessly, follows her. ***** "You failed?" I ask, somehow not surprised. "Yes, I am sorry. I ¡­" Rain, who stands in front of me, is bowing in apology as she says so, "It was too late by the time we figured everything out." "Hmm ¡­ well, I guess that''s that." I say and pat her on the head once as a signal to stop bowing. She, surprised, looks at me and asks, "You are not angry. I mean, we let the whole Demon race down and-" "It''s not your fault." I say. "Seeing through Dues'' plans was my responsibility. I was too slow. In anyone is to blame for what''s about to happen, it''s me." "That''s not true, Lucifer." Rain says with teary eyes, "You can''t take the whole blame on yourself. That is far too cruel." "I''m not trying to act like a martyr here." I say, "It just happens to be the truth. Anyway," Before she can retort, I change the subject as I look in all directions and, upon not finding who I was trying to find, ask, "Where is Azazel?" "He said he''d on the Summit of Hell." Rain answers. "It seemed like he plans to stay there for what little time we all have left." "Does sound like him." I say. "And, what about those two humans, Grey and Jessica?" "They are on Earth, away from harm''s way." "Hmm ¡­ good." I remark and sit on a chair as I say with a sad smile, "I guess the end in really nigh." ***** "Are you ready, my dear!?" I ask my puppet Angel. She just nods. "Alright then, let''s get this started." I raise my hand towards her, "Touch my hand and start absorbing mana from it." She nods again and does as I tell her to. Oceans of mana flows from my hand into her body. This much mana could easily destroy an entire galaxy if used in an efficient way. And I am giving all this power into her hands, just to make her use Absolute Frost Requiem and counter it all back to the Demon race. As for how I will specifically kill the Demons and no other race in Hell, I won''t go killing every Demon one-by-one. All I''ll have to make Roswaisa do is invade the core structure of the world and remove the components that are needed by Demons to live. That is what it means to wipe out their existence once and for all. "Looks like you have enough now." I say as I pull my hand back, stopping more mana from transferring to her body. If she uses too much mana at once, we might have problems in the next task of wiping all the Angels out, which obviously is just as grand a task as wiping the Demons. "Okay then, Roswaisa, now you need to do just as I tell you to. Okay?" She nods. And with that, my plan fast reaches its conclusive moments. ***** There are four people left in the throne room now. Kaylith has died and Roswaisa has gone away following Dues. And soon, Priscina''s AI will vanish from existence as well. Then, with Dues'' plan succeeding, death will come to Trevor. So, in a while from now, only I and Danny will be left here. Nothing that anyone can say or do will stop this result from happening. It''s inevitable. "Tsk!" Danny clicks his tongue. What else can he do? What else can any of us do? We are standing here waiting for this whole apocalypse of a situation to happen, knowing we play a big part in making it happen. So, this is what loss truly feels like, huh? This is what it means to lose something. And this is also what it means to lose everything. "About time I guess." Priscina says as her body finally starts visibly disappearing. "Well, Irium and his friend," She says with a smile as she looks at her disappearing limbs, "I hope to NOT see you again soon." Ha! Is that so? "Yeah, of course, it will take at least a million or so years before I die, so you won''t be seeing me again soon." I say in a joking voice. "Whatever you say!" She says just as her face starts disappearing. And without another word said, she disappears completely. And immediately after that, Trevor falls to his knees and coughs up blood. "Hey, are you okay?" Danny asks. "No, I''m certainly not." Trevor says with a smile, "So Dues'' grand plan to wipe the Angel race was to kill the micronutrients that only Angels need for survival. I''m guessing she would have already done so with Demons." "You ¡­ mean to say that ¡­ Demons are already dead?" Danny asks, unwilling to believe it. "Yes, I suppose. Did you expect some kind of notification about that to come your way?" Trevor says sarcastically, but is unable to keep his smile because the coughing gets worse. "That bitch!" Danny says, "Not only are all the Angels and Demon dying, they are dying like this!?" Yeah, and that bitch who is making this all happen will now become ''god'' of this world. ***** 93 End Of The Beginning Part 4 And so it''s over. Angels are dead. Demons are dead. My entire family that was left alive is dead. If there is one exception to all this, it would probably be Roswaisa. Maybe Dues found a way for her to survive. I hope so. But, in any case, this world no longer has the races that symbolize good and evil. The system is broken. And Dues ex machina will use it to her advantage and become god. She wouldn''t literally become god, but in name and in fame, she will be considered the most powerful person in the world, and perhaps the god. "Damnit!" Danny yells, "What the hell are we supposed to do now!?" "I have no idea." I yell, "So stop shouting in my ears!" We are at a loss we may never recover from. From a material standpoint, we are both still fine. We can return to our lives and pretend none of this ever happened. But, that is just not realistically possible. Neither of us can ever forget these past few days and the cataclysmic event of Angels and Demons dying. "¡­" "¡­" Blank. That''s pretty much it. There''s nothing but a blank in front of us, and we have nothing to fill in this blank. "Well, what can we do-" Danny is cut-off by the sudden emergence of a presence whose pressure alone threatens to tear our limbs apart. We turn back to look at the presence ¨C and we find no one. The presence and the pressure emanating from it are still there. But, whose presence is it? The answer to that question is nowhere to be found. "W-Who''s there?" Danny finally summons enough courage to ask. "¡­" But no answer comes back, much to our annoyance. "Show yourself!" I yell. "¡­" Yet, no answer comes back. We are left to wonder what is going on. And we try to think of things. A minute passes, two minutes pass, 5 minutes pass, 10 minutes pass and there is neither an answer nor any theory that comes to our mind that can give us any idea of what''s going on. But, just as we are about to start walking away from the presence, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!" A cold, shrieking, bone-chilling laugh of a woman comes. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" "Wh-who is that?" Danny questions. "No idea." I answer. We immediately start walking away from the presence. But, it doesn''t seem to be going away, as if it is following us. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!" The shrieking laugh continues, sending shivers down our spines many a times. "Does that voice ¡­ sound familiar to you?" I ask, as I feel like I have heard it somewhere before. "Well ¡­ now that you say it, it actually does." Danny says with a surprised expression. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!" "Tsk!" Danny clicks his tongue as he says with an angry face, "It''s her voice. It''s Dues'' voice." Yes, I think so too. It does sound like her. "Well, well, took you long enough to figure out." She says and then again starts laughing uncontrollably, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" "Wh-where the heck are you!?" Danny yells in anger. "Calm down, Danny. There''s no reason to wear such an angry fa?ade." She says, "If you are trying to see a god, then shouldn''t you look above?" As soon as we hear that, we turn our eyes upwards, and there ¨C still in the air as if standing on an invisible plain ¨C Dues ex machina remains and looks down at us with a mocking smile. "You bitch!" Danny clicks his tongue as he sees her. "Calling your goddess a bitch!? How rude!" She mocks us, knowing there is nothing we can do about it. Tightening our fists, clicks our tongues, scowling at her ¨C at the end of the day, none of this does any good. The reality of the situation remains that she won and we lost, completely. "By the way, you two," She says with a grin, "Wouldn''t you like to meet your friend?" "Huh!?" Both of us react with that and so, "HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!!!" She laughs like a maniac again and says, "Now that is just a priceless expression." "Stop spouting BS and tell us what you meant when you asked about meeting our friend." I yell at her. "HAH!" She loudly sighs (probably deliberately) and says, "I meant Roswaisa. She is still alive, you know?" "What!?" Danny expresses the surprise we both feel as he asks, "How?" "Oh! I just changed her core structure a little to make it so that she can survive even though no other Angel or Demon can. You know, it''s like a reward for her hard work in being my puppet." Needless to say, she starts laughing like a maniac once again. "¡­" I am left speechless, and so is Danny. Neither of us can think of anything to say. I am happy to hear that at least she is still alive but, is that really good news? She will have to live with the knowledge that Angels and Demons were wiped out by her hands. So, is her being alive really something to be glad about? Isn''t a life of guilt and self-hatred awaiting her? "I can tell what you two are worried about from your faces." Dues says with a mocking smile, "Such futile thoughts!" "You shut up!" Danny yells, "You can never understand anything about humans. So just shut your mouth!" "Perhaps I can''t understand anything about humans. And there is no need for me to." She says, "After all, I am a god. Things like understanding the stupidity of your race is beneath me." "You-" stopping Danny''s retort with one hand outstretched, she says, "But, since you are so determined to prove that what I did was wrong, I will give you a chance to prove it." "¡­ What does that mean?" I ask. "It''s simple." Dues says, "I have seen every single race, every single city, every single tradition, literally everything that both realities have to offer." "¡­" "¡­" "What I did was because I saw all of it and judged this to be the best path to take?" She says with a calm expression, "If you deny me without seeing everything I have seen, then you are just arrogant and delusional hypocrites." That, begrudgingly, is a sound argument. "If you really want to prove me wrong, then see all that there is in this world to see." She says, "Go to every corner where life exists in both realities and see for yourself what I have seen. And then, if you can still say that I was wrong in what I did, then I swear it on my name that I will go back in time stop myself from doing it." Is she for real? "So," she looks at me as she asks, "What do you say? Want to have a dance with darkness?" ***** 94 Prelude To The Journey A month ago, it started. And within a mere six days, it was over. That''s it. Six days are all it took for my life to change forever. I got to know that Angels and Demons exist, or, existed. I got to know that magic exists. I got to know that Danny, who became a friend over time, is a mage. I got to know the memories I had of my father leaving me with debt and my mother dying when I was five were fake. I got to remember my real memories, at least, up to a certain point. I got to even meet my father and an AI version of my eldest sister. Obviously, one can''t forget that I got forced into a relationship with Roswaisa (though, now that they are all gone, probably nobody cares about that stupid rule and our stupid relationship anymore). But, without a doubt, the most impactful thing that happened in those six days was Dues'' plan coming to success. By the time anyone figured out her plans, it was already too late. And so, she ended up killing all the Angels and Demons in the universe. Well, save for one that is. She said that she made sure Roswaisa survived by changing her core structure a little. I have no idea what that would mean but at least I know that she survived. Dues allowed us to see Roswaisa to convince us that she really is alive. However, she does not allow us to actually meet her. Ever since she let us see her to know she is alive, we have had no contact with her. We have literally no idea how she is. Though, Dues did say that she has no intentions of harming her in any way, so that''s a relief. Back when Dues appeared in front of us after destroying the entire Angel and Demon race, I said she was twisted and misguided and whatnot. But, upon hearing so, Dues said something pretty interesting. She said that I only think like that because I have seen a very limited part of the world. She said it''s because I am ignorant. She said that if I see what she had seen, I would agree that she did the right thing. I''m not going to lie, she does have a point. I haven''t seen a lot of things, especially when compared to a deity living for thousands of years. What she says is definitely a possibility. I would like to hope the possibility does not come true. But, as hard as it may be to accept, denying the possibility won''t get me anywhere either. So, there was no choice but to accept her offer. "If you really want to prove me wrong, then see all that there is in this world to see. Go to every corner where life exists in both realities and see for yourself what I have seen. And then, if you can still say that I was wrong in what I did, then I swear it on my name that I will go back in time and stop myself from doing it." That is what she told me. While she said ''everything there is in the world to see'', I sincerely believe she had much more than just a world in mind. Anyway, when she said all of that, every method of reading a person I know of told me that she was serious about that deal. It told me that she would really change the past if I say, after seeing everything she has seen, that she was wrong. And so, "What do you say? Want to have a dance with darkness?" When she offered me that chance, I knew I had to take it. And I did. So here we are. 25 days later. Getting ready to head out on the first of the many places Dues has told me to go to. The reasons we waited three weeks were numerous. First of all, because I had regained my memories, I wanted to reconnect with Grey and Jessica, whom I used to think of as some mafia lords, but we actually only acting the part of it while trying to look over me like guardians. Second, I wanted to mentally prepare myself, which involved two things, letting the reality of what had happened sink in and, become ready to accept any level of crazy as I have no idea what kind of places we are going to have to visit. Third, I wanted to talk things over with Danny and see if I can learn any kind of mage-craft. Things had gone too fast to do so before but I can''t deny that if I am going to live among people like these, I''ll need to learn their tricks. Unfortunately, that didn''t turn out very well. I seem to have no capability for mage-craft. It''s something that came up before in sis'' ¡­ Nee-san''s Game of Words. But anyway, that being as it may, I questioned if there was any other way to make myself stronger, to have better defense against mages. Grey, Jessica and Danny ¨C all gave the same answer ¨C become a body-builder. I, of course, also gave the same reply to all of them ¨C NO! Brute strength is not my thing. I have tried getting ripped before, it didn''t work out. That said and done though, we decided that if no other idea came to mind by today (the day we are to set off), I would have to become a brute force fighter. Fortunately though, an idea did come to me. If I want to live equally with these wackos with wacky powers, I ¡­ need to become BATMAN! Yeah, that didn''t work out. Anyway, the next approach I tried was becoming Lelouch. I brainstormed for many days trying to come up with solutions to every imaginary problem Grey, Jessica or Danny could think of. Yeah, that didn''t work out either. What am I supposed to do? I am not some ultra-dark badass who knows 127 martial arts and I am not so ridiculously smart that I can take over the world with my intelligence either. I am left with no choice, or rather; I WAS left with no choice. And then HE showed up. HE who should have come much earlier. HE who should have stopped this from happening. HE who had the power to do that. But he didn''t. Only after the destruction had happened, he ¨C God ¨C came to me offering a hand. ***** 95 Tipping The Scales Yesterday, it was yesterday, just one day away from the day I had planned to start the journey that I heard a voice in my head. "You seem to be in a bit of a pinch?" I convinced myself that I was hearing voices inside my head and decided to take a nap to refresh myself. "Oi! Are you seriously going to ignore me?" Then I convinced myself that I am starting to have split personality problem and decided the best thing to do would be to ¨C go to sleep ¨C yeah, that didn''t change. "Hah!" My supposed second personality sighed and as soon as I got on the bed, I fell to the ground as the bed disappeared. "What the hell!" I said to myself, pretty sure there wasn''t anyone around who could actually hear me. "Yeah, that''s what I am saying. What the hell! You are just going to ignore me? And do what instead listening to me, sleep?" Even though he sounded like a real person, I convinced myself that it is nothing more than my badassery at work (that doesn''t even make sense now that I think about it). "Well, if you are gonna be that grumpy about it, fine!" I said, thinking I might as well engage in a little chatter with that second personality of mine, "Who are you?" "I''m God." "Yeah, that sounds like something a second personality of me would say." "¡­" no answer came back. And I didn''t really bother to ask why as I got up from the floor and started dusting myself off. "I can''t believe it!" Then that personality said, "After thousands of years of being God, a human like you is treating me like a joke. Just what has the world come to!?" "What do you mean ''a human like me''?" I ask, feeling disrespected by that second me. Though, looking back on it, if it really were a second me, I would have been disrespected a lot more. "Anyway," "Don''t ignore my question-" "ANYWAY," it felt like my head would burst apart when that voice yelled, "I know the situation you are into. And I think I can help." "That''s a pretty generic way to say it, almost makes you look trustable." The reason for that being that most characters who say that generic line, in way or another, actually try to help. "But I heard your voice for the first time, like, what, a minute ago? Why should I trust you?" "Because I''m God." "Or you are just trying to rip off Light Yagami." I continued without bothering with the fact that I was wasting time, "Or maybe you are trying to rip off Dues ex machina." "¡­" He, however, was not very willing to let me waste his time for the sake memes and references. "Cat got your tongue?" So, he said in a single breath, "Meet me at midnight, alone, at the place Roswaisa had died on in the previous timelines. If you don''t show up or show up with someone else, you lose my offer of help." And with that, he cut the connection (whatever the connection was) and no matter how much I tried to talk to him, no response came back. ***** By midnight, I reached that place, the place that I once saw Roswaisa lying in a pool of blood at, and saw an old man standing by the river, gazing at the sky. I went to the old man and asked, "Are you the one who called me here?" He looked at me confused, "No! I don''t know what you are talking about." I just gave an "I see" and started heading towards a bench but he said, "Aren''t you that high-school brat who girls keep chasing all the time?" Well, yes. I don''t know anyone else with my level of ''running-from-girls-power''. I simply nodded to give him as an answer. "I see." The old man said and casually rubbed his hands on his wooden stick once, and then, THUK! "Hey! What the hell, old man!?" THUK! THUK! THUK! "What''s wrong with you, geezer! Did you lose a bolt or something!?" THUK! THUK! THUK! THUK! THUK! ***** After ten minutes passed, and I was on the ground, having been beaten-down, I mean, unjustly violated ¡­ no, wait, that sounds worse. Whatever! After that geezer beat me for a whole ten minutes, he went away, leaving me with temporary burns all over my body. "So, how was it?" A familiar voice came and asked that. No one was around. Just like before, the voice was speaking me directly to my brain. "How was what!?" "Getting beaten down by that old man?" "Oh, it was fun! You should totally try it, whoever you are!" When someone asks me a question like that, obviously I was gonna be sarcastic. "Well, I respectfully decline the offer." He seemed to be enjoying himself. "Do you know why he beat you?" "No!" "It''s because of the reason you often get beaten." Well, there''s just one reason that I often get beaten for. "You can''t be serious!" But thinking back to what he asked just before he started beating me, it would make sense. "He beat you because of a girl you stole." He chuckled as he continued "And no, the old man wasn''t in love with that girl that fell for you, it was his grandson who had the misfortune of breaking up with his girlfriend." "Well, at least that makes sense." Not that''s it''s my fault, but at least it makes sense. "So anyway, do you know why so many girls fall for you?" He asked me. "Because I am a badass?" I tried to mess around, but he wasn''t willing to go off-topic. "Because your father, Kaylith, passed on to you a blessing he used to have ¨C a blessing of charm." "¡­" "He did that thinking it would help you become a better member of society as you''ll be able to charm those around you. You turned out to be an anti-social idiot though, so that only brings you beatings by jealous guys and confessions from literally all types of girls." "¡­" I was at a loss of words at that groundbreaking revelation. "Something wrong?" He just asked me plainly. "Are you trying to say that I am not handsome enough to have all the girls chasing after me?" With no hesitation and no time spent thinking, the answer came. "Well, you aren''t." WWWWHHHHHYYYYYY!!!!? "In any case," he continued, "the reason I let you get beat up by that old man was because I wanted to show how abilities are only useful to those who want to use it the right way. Those who don''t want the ability will have it wasted on them anyway." "Yeah, that''s a good point." I said with a deadpan expression, "So where is this going anyway?" "It''s going into the fact that, while I can give you an ability to help you, I can''t give you just any ability." He said, "In order for you to survive, you need to have an ability that suits you." Fair point! "Keep in mind though that I can give you only one ability." "Why is that?" "Messing with the affairs of you mortals is not something I am supposed to do. The reason I am doing it now is because Dues ex machina is being a little too unfair, enough unfair for me to tip the scales a little towards equilibrium." Hearing how he could give me an ability, about tipping the scales towards equilibrium and calling us ''mortals'', it began to dawn on me. "¡­ Hey, you really are God, aren''t you?" "Did you actually not believe me till now?" "I did not." I said it as it was. "Hah!" And he sighed. I immediately got up to my feet and said, "Show yourself to me!" ***** 96 The Ability I Wan "And why would I do that?" He asked as soon as I told him to show himself. "Why wouldn''t you do that?" I ask in return. And I believe it''s a pretty fair question. Why in the world would he not show his face to me? Is there a reason for it? "Well," He paused, as if confused as to how to answer the question. "It might be hard for you understand since, you know, you are a mortal and all." "Try me," I pester him as his response only made me more curious. "Hmm ¡­ see, it''s like this, if I step on to a place on Earth or any other planet, the aura around me will make everything around me so powerful and fast that things could go out of order." "Like?" I asked, not really seeing what he meant, probably because of the beating from earlier. No, I''m not making excuses. Shut up! "Like a flower that is a bud right now would be in full bloom in two hours." "That''s not bad." "And it will dry up in the next two hours." "Okay, that might be bad." Not that I care about some random flower drying up. "The current of the river will get so powerful that a guy drowning in it will be on the shore within a second." "That''s helpful." "And the current would be so powerful that the said guy would be on the shore, in pieces." "That''s certainly not helpful." Not that I care about some random guy dying because of water current. "Earth''s planetary rotation-" "I get the idea." I interrupt our comedy routine with that. "So fine, don''t show yourself to me. But anyway, you said you can give me an ability, huh?" "Yes!" He answered plainly; making him looked a bit bored. "Any limitations to what I can ask?" I wondered that, and so I asked. "Well, you can''t ask something that would tip the scales too much in your favor. I am only giving this ability to make the upcoming challenge a challenge and not an inevitable doom for you." That makes sense. Though, I wouldn''t know what kind of ability would qualify as ''tipping the scales enough'' for him. "Let me think!" I say and started to make a cool expression of pondering. "Could you hurry, I have to go back to watching over the entire universe?" He said, almost as if he was showing off. "I can''t rush such an important decision, alright?" I said grumpily, mainly because I''d expect God to be more understanding of such things. "Fine, I''ll give you 6 hours." He said, "Decide within these six hours or I''ll give you whatever ability I see fit." As soon as he finished saying that, he cut the connection. What is with this God anyway? He acts so ¡­ so ¡­ so humane? ***** And so, in the six hours that were given to me, I kept thinking as to what the best the ability I could ask for would be. A lot of cool things came to mind. Mind-control. Psychokinesis. Pyrokinesis. Super Strength. Super Speed. But these were all quite overpowered and I figured he would probably not agree to giving me any of these abilities. And because of that, I was at a loss for what to do. I discussed it over with Danny, who spent ten minutes getting over the shock of the fact that God wanted to help me, but then he did think quite hard to come up with some good abilities. Aside from the ones I had already thought of, he mentioned the ability to build incredible amounts of mana (which will enable me to become a mage), some Wuxia abilities, some game abilities, etc. But, with every single ability that came to mind, there was some problem. Either it was only effective in certain scenarios, or it was too powerful, or it just sounded cool but was absolutely useless. Four hours passed like that and the sun rose. For the two remaining hours, we decided that taking help from Grey and Jessica might be a good idea. And so we called them over to my house (where the two of us already were) and asked their suggestions. And that is when some interesting ideas started coming to mind. Control over electrons. Every atom has electrons so it can be useful in about any situation. At the same time, controlling electrons doesn''t directly enable me to control matter itself. All that I may be able to do is move matter by moving electrons ¡­ and produce electricity of course. So, it is not THAT overpowered. However, even though it seemed like a good fit and he would probably be willing to give me this ability, I just didn''t feel like it would work. My conscience told me it wouldn''t work. And well, Nee-san said to listen to conscience. Not that I am the greatest brother in the world, but I would like to believe in her wisdom on this one. And like that, two more hours passed. Finally, after that time-limit was up, I heard his voice again. "So, human, have you decided what ability you want me to give you?" He asked as soon as he made sure that I could hear his voice. "Let''s suppose for a moment that I didn''t. What ability would you give me?" I figured, since he''s God, he might think of something cool. And well, I wasn''t wrong in assuming so. "Oh, I don''t know. Conjuration, maybe?" He suggested. Still, while the ability to conjure anything I want sounds pretty badass and definitely would have limitations that stop it from being useless, I didn''t feel it was my type of ability either. "So, anyway, have you thought of something by yourself?" He asked. I hadn''t thought of anything. That was the truth ... until that point. When I heard him mention Conjuration, an idea came to mind ¨C an idea that felt right at home with me. "I have." And so I told him, "The ability I want is ¨C the ability to steal other abilities." "¡­" No immediate response came, as I expected. "What''s wrong? Can''t comply?" I wasn''t actually scared that it might be considered too overpowered, I just wanted to say that to mock him, as something of a revenge for earlier. "No," He said with a bit of a chuckle, "Of course I can comply." ***** 97 Gods Duty He wants to give me an ability to tip the scales a bit. But, the thing is, merely helping me in this way can be considered tipping the scales. He is, after all, God. And so, even if I ask for an ability that''s completely useless to me, like, the ability to do instant makeup on my face, it would still be considered ''tipping the scales''. And so, an ability that gives me no immediate benefits; an ability like stealing other''s ability ¨C it would still be considered tipping the scales. And that would be enough, wouldn''t it? He would have done his job. Now, if, after stealing a lot of other abilities, I become quite powerful; that''s none of HIS concern. At the time he gave me the ability, I hadn''t become that powerful. If I used that ability later ''wisely'' and grew stronger because of that, that''s not his fault. He stays in the safe zone, and so do I. "Smart." He remarked. "Wait a minute!" When I heard his remark though, the smirk on my face disappeared because of the thought that came to mind, "Were you planning to make me think of this ability all along?" "¡­" No answer, which I think happened deliberately. I mean, thinking back on it, the fact that helping me is enough to consider tipping the scales, he can''t give any ability that adds to my power, or it will be considered more than just tipping the scales a little. So, when he mentioned the limitations of the ability he can give, he wanted me to figure out an ability that doesn''t exactly make me any stronger on immediate effect. Furthermore, an ability like Conjuration, which was the example he mentioned earlier ¨C it is an ability that allows one to possess anything they want, by the act of conjuring it up. Stealing other''s ability allows one to possess anything they want too, but this time by stealing it from others. That similarity might have been what made me think of that ability when he mentioned his example. I probably had a stupid expression when I figured it all out back then. I can say so with certainty because Danny was enjoying himself while my back was turned to him. I thought I''d steal his ability as a Tamer-class Mage first to get back on him first, but of course, didn''t go through with it because that''d be pretty stupid of me, depriving me closest ally of his ability. In any case, that''s how I decided the ability I would have. And when granting me that ability, he said, "Since you are one of those weebs who won''t be satisfied until you think of a name for this ability, I''d give on to you." I was curious as to what name he had thought of. Turned out he wasn''t the one who thought of it though. "Someone I once knew had this ability and this is what he called it ¨C Moral Dystopia." When I first heard that somewhat cool name that would be totally cringe if I say it before using the ability, I wondered what kind of person would the guy God mentioned had this ability would have been. The second thing I wondered was why was that the name of the ability? "Is there some significance behind that name?" I asked. "Nothing that you need to worry much about." He answered rather plainly, "But if I am to answer your question, then yes, there is some significance behind that name. It''s hard to explain though so don''t ask me to do that." Is this guy really God? Well, I mean, he probably is, but he doesn''t act like an omniscient, omnipotent being, does he? "I have already given you that ability you asked for, so I would be leaving now." He seemed tired from his voice as he said that, "I doubt I''ll need to speak with you again so say whatever you want to right now, if there is anything." "Actually, I did want to ask you." A question that was burning in my head for a while, "Why didn''t you stop Dues ex machina?" "It''s just none of my business." He answered plainly, "I''m not supposed to meddle with things like these unless humans are at stake. In this situation, a human like you was at stake because you were going to go to hazardous places without any ability, so while not much because it''s just one human, I have ground to do something. Back then, no human''s life was at danger by her plans, so my duty was to just observe, not interfere." "¡­" "¡­ what!?" He questioned when I didn''t say anything. "So you knew that this all would happen, that her plans would succeed and you just observed?" I asked, with a bit of anger in my voice. "Yes, that''s precisely what I did." Yet, his voice as he answered was plain and bored, as if he didn''t even mind if I start hating him or cursing him or whatever. I guess, since he''s God, it really wouldn''t bother him if a human hates him or loves him. He is, after all, supposed to look at every human equally, without caring about anything, even without caring about how they feel about him. "So, is there anything else?" He inquired. "No." I answered. And so, his voice disappeared. "How''d it go?" Danny, Grey and Jessica ¨C all three who were silently watching me this whole time asked. To them, it would have probably looked like I was mumbling to myself since they couldn''t hear God''s voice coming directly to head. They knew however what was going on so it didn''t matter much. "It went fine. I got the ability I mentioned." "The ability you mentioned God tricked you into thinking of?" Danny asked sarcastically. "Y-yeah!" I said with a bit of a blush, because of the embarrassment caused by being played like a fool so easily. I mean I know he''s God but still, I''m the protagonist. We are both in one digits, at least as far as this damned book goes. "Alright then," Grey said as he stood up, "I guess it''s time for you to head out now, isn''t it?" "Oh yeah, today''s the day." Jessica said with a mix of excitement and worry. "Hah!" I sighed. "Yeah, before that, could you give me a few moments of alone-time?" I made that request and they agreed. "Danny, could you go to that bitch and find out where she wants to send us?" "So you want me to run your errands while you relax in here?" "Yes!" I said with a smile and he sighed and he accepted. The next few hours I spent reflecting on everything that has happened until now. It all came to an end when later, after finding things out, Danny broke my door to enter and told me to head out. And I looked at the mirror one final time before doing so. In the mirror, I saw myself in the black noble attire that was given to me by Jessica as some sort of good-luck charm. And I said to Danny, "I''m ready to head-out when you are." ***** 98 Bargain Well, let''s go over everyone who is still alive once. I, Irium Glice, have been given a mission by Dues ex machina, a self-proclaimed God, to visit all the corners of Science and Magic Realities. I am not needed to do anything special but just visit those places and see the things that Dues claims to have seen. My friend, Danny, has now succeeded my father, Kaylith Glice, as the new ruler of the Asteroid Realm known as Glice. Currently, he is accompanying me as we are going to where Dues is. However, he is NOT to come with me. There isn''t a rule or a condition stopping him but his duties as the emperor are what make him far too busy to go on an adventure with me. My guardians and my father''s only remaining friends, Grey and Jessica, who also own about 10 gem shops in the city I live in, have promised to take care of my house but they can''t accompany me either because of all the work they have. As for the Angel, Roswaisa, the woman who had accidentally become my future wife, she is somewhere in Dues'' custody. We aren''t allowed to meet her, for whatever reason, but we have a guarantee from Dues that she is safe. As far as my relationship with her goes, to be completely frank, I don''t think it matters anymore. That rule of Heaven that made us into future spouses, who is gonna care if we don''t follow it and marry later on? No one would care. Because the ones supposed to care are all dead. And we are about to meet the ones who conspired and succeeded in killing them all. "Do you have any idea where that bitch is going to send me?" I ask as I am getting bored of seeing the desert we are walking on. Yeah, for whatever reason, Dues-san decided to build her palace (which took just one week to build) in the middle of a desert. To top it all off, this desert doesn''t even exist on Earth. It exists on an Asteroid Realm previously called ''Tuna'' which has been renamed by Dues to ''Machina''. To get here, we had to follow a set of instructions Dues had given Danny. But anyway, back to my question, "She hasn''t told me anything." Danny answers, "Though, I think it will be a really cold place." "Why is that?" "She opened a teleportation portal in front of me saying that she was testing to make sure it''s safe since she hadn''t gone there for a while. I felt a cold breeze coming from that place." "Hmm ¡­ I see. A cold place, huh?" I actually really love winter, for whatever reason. So, this might be a good first choice in regards to me. ***** "This is the worst first choice in regards to me!" I yell to the bitch sitting on her throne. "Of course it is." She says with a smug attitude, "If you wanna back down, I won''t stop you." "Tsk!" The place that she wants me to go is not some ''cold place'', it''s a freaking freezer. "I-I''m sure it wouldn''t be that bad." Danny asks while turning to Dues, "I''m mean, what''s the lowest temperature this place can reach?" "Minus 100-degree Celsius." "¡­" What the heck! "Oh, uh, alright!" Danny asks with some nervousness clear on his face, "What''s the highest temperature?" "10-degree Celsius." Dues answers, just like before, leaving both of us stunned. "So anyway, you gonna get in?" "Get in?" I say in a sardonic tone, "I can survive in that place for no more than a day at max." "Oh, well, it wouldn''t be that bad." Dues says, "After all, you did get a helping hand from someone pretty damn amazing, didn''t you?" "Uh ¡­ you knew?" "Of course I knew. I wouldn''t be god if I didn''t even know about something like that happening." She says with an indifferent attitude. "I don''t know what he gave you to help you but ¡­ being who he is, I doubt his gift wouldn''t be capable enough to save you from this adverse climate." Fair point! After all, he is real God. He may even have already known that this was gonna happen and the ability that he played me for a fool into choosing might save my hide. But still, can I take the risk? "Here''s a bit of a bargain to increase your motivation." Dues then says, "If you are able to travel to Telmakim, a city in that world half the world across where you''ll enter, then you''ll be brought back as your mission would have been fulfilled." "That''s a bargain?" Doesn''t sound like one to me. "No, that''s just your mission. The bargain is that if you complete this mission, I''ll leave Glice alone." "Huh!?" "Huh!?" Both of us give the same reaction. "What?" She asks as if it is obvious what she meant. "I''m God, you know. I am supposed to control all there is to control in the universe. If I don''t do that, the history will repeat itself." This bitch! "Therefore, I will have to take control of that realm that Danny has been named the ruler of. However, if you complete this mission, I''ll leave that realm, its people and its ruler alone." That''s more of a threat than it is a bargain. Glice, right now, is the only realm where all the people know about what really happened. Literally everywhere else, the masses are ignorant about the truth and are panicking about the destruction of Angels and Demons. In other words, Glice is the only place where people know about the reality of the situation and perhaps the only place that would never consider Dues a god because of that fact. If Dues takes control of Glice, who knows what she''ll do to the people. "So, do you accept?" Dues asks, with a smug smile. "What choice do I have?" I say and start heading towards the portal. "You sure?" Danny asks, but he knows as well as I do, "There''s no other way." "Oh, and I am just gonna mention this little thing." Dues says, "I can pull you back from that realm if you call out to me. So you can give up if you ever think things are getting too tough for you. But once you have given up, you won''t be given a second chance." "¡­" I don''t want to answer to that. There''s no way I am giving up. You just wait and watch, Dues, I am gonna survive all this on my own and someday spit in your face for all that you have done. But, for now, all I can do is step in the portal ¨C and so I do. ***** 99 Aurora This planet, Frost (as Dues called it), does really remind me of Antarctica. Not that I have actually been to Antarctica but the way it looks in the many wildlife shows really resembles this place. The snow covers what ice doesn''t. In other words, wherever there is land, there is snow. Wherever there is water, there is ice. It doesn''t look much different from a desert to be completely honest. I guess it is called cold desert for a reason. Anyway, for now at least, I can walk. I don''t know how long I''ll be able to walk in a place like this, but for now, I can manage. What I need to do in order to survive in a place like this is to find a hot place to rest. I do know how to make an igloo but I doubt I can make it by myself in time. I''ll probably quite literally freeze to death by the time I finish making it. So, before anything, I need to find an igloo that has already been made and hope the person living in it will let me stay. Wait! The person living in it? How do I even know that the denizens of this place are human? They could be some different species. They could even natural predators of a human like me. Oh boy, what have I really walked into here? I wish Dues was willing to give me more information about this place but she wasn''t. And now it is resulting in me being anxious as hell. "Well, whatever!" I can''t really rely on that bitch for help. I''ll have to find everything out by myself. And so, I walk. I walk. I walk. And I walk. I keep walking until I find anything that is not just plain snow and ice. ***** "What exactly do you want from him?" Danny questions me with a pitiful look of worry for his friend. "I think I have made it pretty clear. I want him to experience everything that I have experienced and then tell me what he thinks about what I did." I answer. "Yeah, but why? Why him? And why at all?" He questions. It''s understandable that he''d be confused. "Remember my prophecy? What EXACTLY it was?" I mentioned clearly in my prophecy that Irium and Roswaisa are the reason the Angels and Demons die. While Irium and Danny did a play a role in helping Roswaisa become powerful enough to take out the entire Angel and Demon race, that isn''t what I meant by my prophecy. "You ¡­ you mean to say that his role in your prophecy is still left." As I had expected, Danny catches on quick. "Precisely." I can''t help but smile upon thinking on everything that is about to happen. "But they are all already dead." "Yes, they are ... from a material standpoint." "What does that mean?" He is as confused as I was when I had realized these things for the first time. "I can''t build a new Angel and new Demon race if people keep clinging on to the memories of the old one." I say, "People need to forget about the Angels and Demons that existed and start believing in the new ones that I am going to create." That is the reason why I need him. "The biggest problem comes from your Glice. People there know everything and so they are the ones who are clinging to those memories the most, as an exercise to deny me. Only Irium can change the minds of people like that. And that too he can only do if really believes in what I have done to be right." "¡­" "¡­" We both stay silent for a half minute or so before Danny chuckles and asks, "You really think Irium is going to end up thinking what you want him to think?" "Yes, that is bound to happen." "So all that about not giving him a second chance to go to those places if he gives up once, it was all a ruse, huh?" He makes a mocking expression, "You are going to give him as many chances as it takes for him to complete all his ''missions''. And that all because after he completes them, he''ll be thinking like you?" "Precisely." "As if." He laughs as he says, "You underestimate human far too much." "¡­" I have nothing to say to his mockery. Replying to such cheap talk is beneath me. When the results come, it will be clear as day which one of us was right about Irium. "Ha! Your plan will fail, Dues, it will." His words sound like provocation, and I obviously am not going to fall for them. "In any case, I believe I have something for you to do before you go back to your ''domain''." I say. He probably assumes that I am trying to change the subject out of shame for not being able to respond as he continues to try to mock me. I, ignoring all that, continue, "You need to meet Roswaisa before you go." "¡­ ¡­ ¡­ huh!?" It''s quite remarkable how his face can change from ''stupidly mocking'' to ''stupidly astonished''. "She knows everything that is going on and she wants to meet you." I say, "So, do her a favor and meet her before you go." "¡­" he is still too astonished to respond it seems. "Dismissed." I say, asking me guard to take him to Roswaisa''s chamber. ***** It has been roughly around 2 hours. My feet are getting cold. I am afraid of frostbites happening. And yet, nothing helpful has come in sight. I am starting to have doubts if I am walking the right way. And since I am in a cold desert where every way looks pretty much the same, this is the worst kind of thought that can come to mind. "I ¡­ need to ¡­ find ¡­ a place ¡­ to rest." I say to myself. Even my throat is starting to dry up and saying things is getting harder. This is a real big mess that I have gotten into. And yet, I can''t help but feel some hope returning to me every time I look up at the beautiful aurora of many colors. And so, I keep on walking just like I have been. ***** 100 The Dread I have lost track of time by this point. If I were to guess, it may have been around 5-6 hours since I came to Frost. For all this time, I have been able to do nothing but walk on the snow hoping I''ll find a place to rest soon. Till now, it was nothing more than my hope. However, I guess it does pay off to stay a bit positive sometimes. After this much time has passed, I am finally able to see what look like a residential place. There are at least 3 wooden houses in sight. However, the closer I get to them, the harder it becomes to walk more. Ever since I saw those houses, a rush has taken over me ¨C a rush to reach them as soon as I can. Unfortunately, my body is starting to feel more and more exhausted with every second. I have heard about getting impatient near the finish line, but never thought I''d experience this myself, and especially at a time and situation like this. thud! Oh, damn! No more than a muffling sound comes when I fall on the snow. Why now of all times? I am so close to those houses? Why can''t I struggle a little more and get to them? Why do my feet have to give up now of all times? Why does my vision get blurry now of all times? Why does my breath start aching now of all times? Why ¡­ now ¡­ of ¡­ all times? ***** I am impressed. He walked for a whole 6.5 hours before falling down. That''s almost as much as I was able to walk when I was first abandoned on Frost as a child. I didn''t think he would have it in him but I guess I shouldn''t expect any less from a child of that troublesome mage. Who knows how many charms and blessings Kaylith has attached to his body? That said and done, even Kaylith''s charms and blessings can''t change the basic nature of a human. And one of the things in a person''s nature is impatience, especially when one is close to completing something. All the diligence they would have shown by that point starts looking like a mountain when the finish line comes in sight. Well, I guess since this all has happened now and he is unconscious, I should tell my minions to remove the illusion of there being any houses in front of him. And, I should also probably tell them to remove the illusion of snow and ice all around him. In truth, he came out of the snowy desert quite a while ago. He has been walking continuously regardless because he didn''t know that the unchanging scenery he was seeing was an illusion. He has actually passed by many villages by now. Anyway, right now, the closest village to where he fell is half a kilometer away. I should probably give residents of that village a message to come here, take him to the village, and give him shelter. "Your crystal sure is very helpful, isn''t it Dues?" A voice rings in my head, a voice so pleasant that it shouldn''t even exist in reality, yet it does. And so, it can only belong to someone who defies reality and all the laws of it, the only one in this universe who is still stronger than me. "What do you want, God?" Hearing me stretch the last word I said sarcastically, he chuckles. "You really are pretty salty about an actual God existing and being above you, huh?" He mocks me. With anyone else, I can ignore or even deflate the mockery as I see fit. But there is no point arguing with this one ¨C because he''ll never lose. "Answer my question." And so, I stick to the point. "Well, then you answer mine." He says. "Wasn''t that a rhetorical question?" I thought it was. "Well, it was partly rhetorical." "Hah!" I sigh, not really getting what he means by ''partly''. But anyway, I play along with him, "Yes, my crystal is pretty useful. It allows me to see things that aren''t in front of me. I can understand why seers use this so much." As I say that, I look at the purple globe-like figure in front of me that has shown me Irium''s entire journey up to this point. "So what would you do if I give you a blessing ¡­ or a curse, whatever you''d call it, that''d make you unable to ever see through any crystals like that?" "HA! Wha-what!?" "I get that you like playing God and all." His tone grows dark and scary as he says, "However, you aren''t actually God. Keep that in mind the next time you try to change the core structure of one of my creations." "Uh ¡­ uh ¡­ wh-what''s wrong about that anyway?" I yell, "Humans do things like that all the time for scientific studies and all." "What humans do is none of my concern. They aren''t my creations." He dismisses my point like that. "But Angels, Demons and all the other races in Heaven and Hell as well as the many races outside of Heaven and Hell that have a connection to magic ¨C they are all my creations. And that includes you. So, everything that you people do is my business. You can kill and annihilate each other all you want, I don''t care. But don''t go changing their core designs. You have no idea how complicated these things are and you can''t even begin to comprehend the damage a critical change in the designs can cause." "¡­ y-y ¡­ a ¡­" I want to retort but I can''t. I am too scared. Ever since his voice got serious, a terrible fear has taken over my heart, making my pulses go wild. And every single time I try to retort to him, my pulses and heartbeat increase even more, and it makes me feel like the veins and my heart and my nerves would all come out of my body by the sheer rapidness of their movement. The fear and dread is far too overwhelming. I can''t possibly bring myself to say a word back to him. "Well, I''ll let you off the hook this time." He says. "But the next time you try doing something like what you did to Roswaisa, you would know that the only one more capable of evil than the devil ¨C is the one who had made him." ***** 101 Angelic And Demonic "Roswaisa!? Is-is that you?" A surprised and familiar voice comes from behind. I turn to look and can''t help but smile as I face the man who the voice belongs to. "Why are you so surprised to see me, Danny?" I ask, "I think Dues did tell you that I am safe, didn''t she?" "Y-yes, she did. But still, I was worried what''s going on that she isn''t allowing either of us to see you." He says, looking rather delighted. "Actually, it was me who had asked her to not let either of you meet me." I say. "Huh? Why?" "I was afraid it would cause an adverse effect on my condition, because of everything that was going on with me." Seeing his worried expression, I realize I might have made that sound worse than it was. And looking at my appearance might be increasing his worry too. "What was-" I cut him off because I knew what he was going to ask, "You don''t need to worry about that. It was nothing bad." "I ¡­ see. Still, I want to know. What was going on with you?" He presses the matter, and I don''t see any reason to not tell him, so, "Tell me Danny, do I sound like a sweet, little, moral Jesus to you?" I inquire. "Ah!" His surprised expression tells me he has realized what I meant. "Do I sound like the Adonia Evans version of me or the one you met in 1856? Or ¡­ do I sound like ¡­" I deliberately trail off knowing that he knows the answer. "You sound like the Roswaisa we met in 2020." He says. I nod with a smile and don''t say anything, giving him some time to put all the pieces together. He doesn''t take too long though. "Does that mean that you remembered everything from the previous timeline?" "Yes." I say. "In this past month, I have had one bolt of memory after another flow into my mind. And by now, I have remembered all of it." During that time, if I had met either of them, it could have had some adverse affect as they were the ones who were most important in those memories I was regaining (alongside Aknin Vielos but she is already dead). "I-I see." He seems at a loss for what to say, probably because he has too much to say and is having a hard time deciding what to say first. So, I might as well help him a bit. "You probably want to tell me about the developments that have happened with you guys in these past few weeks." I assume that would be one of the most important things in his mind so, "I already know." "You ¡­ do?" "Yeah, I know Irium is going on those adventures Dues has planned for him. I know you are busy taking care of Glice and that Dues wants to take over the realm. I also know two friends of Kaylith''s are busy taking care of their shops as well as Irium''s house now. Anything else?" "No, not really. That''s pretty much all there is to our status report." He says jokingly, causing me to smile. "So, you''d probably want to know what exactly Dues did to me?" I say in a questioning tone. He nods, and so I answer, "She, as you may have been told, did some changes to my core structure. I am no longer an Angel, nor am I a Demon. But, I am a bit of both." "A bit of both?" "Yes." I take a breath and make my wings spread wide to show him what I mean. Seeing my wings, he is left stunned. "As you can see, my once white wings have now become completely black." They still look like an Angel''s wings (plain and soft). They haven''t become rough and crooked like a Demon''s wings. However, their color has become black like that of a Demon. And then there''s this thing I didn''t have before. "I had heard some Demons had this but I never thought I''d see it on my back someday." I say as I look at the deep black anthropomorphic feature that some humans seem to admire. "You have a tail now?" He asks a stupid question like that when he sees it. "Yes, tail IS what people call this thing." I say, a bit embarrassed about the whole ordeal. After staying silent for a moment staring at my tail, he moves his gaze away when I move my tail behind me. "I-I see. So you right now have gained capabilities of both Angels and Demons." Then he continues, "So now you have become an existence that can survive even when Angels and Demons can''t?" "Yes, precisely." I say. "You know the Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen relation that exists for humans like you as well as plants? It was something like that. A particular mana compound was required to be inhaled by Angels for them to live and it was exhaled by Demons and vice-versa. Dues eliminated those two compounds from the universe so they both died. But, she modified me in a way that my needs for both of those compounds are nullified by each other." "I see." He is troubled after hearing all this, which is quite understandable to be honest. I don''t like my body being tampered with like that either. But well, at least it saved my life. "Anyway, as you can see," I say with an awkward smile, "that all has caused some rather significant changes in my appearance." My wings are black and I have a tail of the same color. But, that''s not all. My beauty was earlier enhanced by the virtue of an Angel. That still exists but, now it has also been enhanced by the vice of a Demon. In other words, upon seeing me, it wouldn''t just be admiration that a person would feel now. It would also be jealousy and lust. My hair color has changed from red to white, with some red strands still there. My eyes, previously simple green, have now become alluring like an emerald. And I meant that literally. If one stares directly into them, they''d look just like an emerald to them. My porcelain skin is still porcelain, but just a little less pale. All in all, my appearance now has become a mix of Angelic charm and Demonic allure. "Dues said that what I have become now ¨C a mix of Angel and Demon ¨C can be referred to as a Demigod." ***** 102 June Wh-where am I? I see a dusty brick ceiling as soon as I open my eyes. I say brick ceiling specifically because the bricks are visible. There is no plaster or paint over them. "So you are awake?" A voice comes from my right, making me turn to that direction. My ears aren''t clear enough for me to figure out the characteristics of the speaker from just their voice. But, even when I look at them, I can''t really figure out much. About 5''3 tall, back curved like that of a monkey, and their naked body being completely blue, along with a head like that of an ant but the mouth like that of an animated character ¨C this person ¡­ the best way to describe them would be ¡­ alien? And well, I remember suddenly that I am on Frost, so this person really is an alien. "I''ll call the doctor. You just stay here and rest. Don''t try to move." They tell me and leave through what I supposed is the entrance to the room I''m in. Typically, it would have a gate there but there is nothing more than a curtain hanging from this rectangular place here. Despite the advice given to me, I try to move myself. But, unfortunately, I can''t. Feeling slowly but steadily keeps coming back to me so I know by now that my limbs are still intact. But, I can''t move them, not at all. Every time I try to move them, I feel like I am trying to push a 100kg iron object with just my pinky finger. In other words, my limbs don''t even budge at all. The last thing I remember is running in the snow. Now, maybe I was walking. Wait! I think I saw a few houses and try to hurry and reach them ¡­ but I fell and couldn''t reach them. So, is this place one of those houses? I guess I have good luck then that someone from those houses found me. Still, I can''t relax. As soon as someone comes in this room to check up on me, I''ll ask them all about where I am and then ask about Telmakim, the place Dues gave me the mission to reach. She said it''s half the world across. So, uh ¡­ nope, can''t say how far that would be. Who knows how big this planet is? I can just hope it''s not so big that reaching Telmakim would take me too much time. "Well, hello there, young lad." A person with a similar appearance as the one I saw earlier enters. I say similar and not same because there is a difference ¨C this one looks a bit wrinkled. He is probably older. Something I noticed just now is that I am able to understand what they are saying. It''s as if they speak the same language as me. But, would things really be that convenient? "I get that you might be confused about a lot of things right now. But, you can just rest and leave all the worrying for later." The wrinkled stranger says. "By the way, I''m June, the local doctor of this village." Village? This is a village? I mean, all I saw were a triplet of houses. But, they were kinda big. So, maybe they were hiding some other houses. "What''s wrong, lad? Are you having trouble with speaking?" June looks at me with concerned expression as he asks that. He is probably asking that because I haven''t spoken anything till now. But, that has been because I don''t feel safe conversing with these people. The thought that had crossed my mind earlier about their race possibly being a natural predator of humans still lingers in my mind. I mean, I know I said I''d ask them everything but now that someone is actually in front of me, I am feeling rather anxious about conversing. "Well, it would get better soon. So, you don''t need to worry." From that, I guess June thought that his guess was right and continued by himself. But, I can''t bring myself to trust him completely. After all, at this point, he is nothing more than a stranger to me. "June, Dao is coughing up blood again!" The voice of the person I saw earlier comes and then they come in the room too, looking horrified and worried. "Alright, give him the meds in the yellow bottle. It''d be named-" "There is only one yellow bottle so I don''t need to know." Hurriedly, that person runs out of the room, probably to do as June instructed. When they had left, June turns to me and says, "That was Filo, a resident of this village. His brother, Dao, is in bed with a sever disease so he spends most of his time here at my clinic looking after Dao. I had told him earlier to keep an eye on you as well because I had to go somewhere. That is why he was the first person you say when you woke up." Thanks for the explanation. It''s believable, June, I''ll give you that. Maybe it''s true. But, I can''t be convinced just yet. "Hmm ¡­" June looks at me curiously. "Since I haven''t seen much of your race, I am having trouble understanding your expressions. It''ll be really relieving if you could speak so you could vocalize things." Yeah, I too am having trouble the changes in your expressions. I can guess them from your words though. I guess might as well do him a favor and give him what he wants. I myself would want to test my speakers. "A-a-aai-I" That''s a rough start. But, let''s continue, "W-w-wh-wher-where m aai? (Where am I?)" June seems to have understood my words despite them not coming out very clear, so he answers, "You are in a village called Zera. The province you are in is the Eastern. And the nation you are in is Kidar." Would one generally go in that much detail when answering that question? "You are about half the planet away from Telmakim, where you want to go." What!? How would he know that? "Lady Dues, oh, I''m sorry, the Goddess contacted us and told us all about you. She is also the one who told us where you were so we could come and save you." ¡­ "You look suspicious." "Aaai ¡­ e-em. (I am.)" "That''s fair. But, for now, you should rest. We can deal with your suspicions later." June says and gets up. "I have other patients to take care off. Let me take care of them first so I have enough time to remove your suspicions." ***** 103 Questions "Alright!" June says after stretching once, "How do you feel?" It''s been about an hour or so from the time when he left saying that he had to take care of other patients. In this time, I have become capable of better speech and my limbs feel a little lighter now, a little. I still can''t move them. "I feel okay. More importantly," I say, "I want you to answer my questions." "Obviously, ask away." He says as he sits on a chair beside me. "How much do you know about me?" I ask. "The only things I know are the things the Goddess told all of the villagers." He says without a change in his expressions, "She told us you are a resident of Earth, and so your race is to be called ''humans''. She told us you are here on a mission given by her. She told us what the mission is and that you have a special ability given to you by someone and even she doesn''t know what that ability is." That''s not much, if he''s telling the truth that is. "How do I know you are not hostile towards me?" I ask. "I mean, I know nothing about your race, not even the name." "Well, we just call ourselves Frosts. We take pride in being leagues above every sentient other race on this planet so that''s why we put the planet''s name in our name." He seems somewhat excited as he continues, "And well, since you are on a mission given by the Goddess, we would be fools to harm you and get punished for that. So, you don''t have to worry about hostility from us, or anyone of our race ¡­ except maybe the few atheists who don''t believe in the Goddess'' supremacy." I happen to be one of those ''atheists'' to be honest. "My limbs are unmovable. Why is that?" I proceed to the next question. "You were out in the cold for a long time and your race just simply isn''t meant for this type of cold. That is why your blood and muscles have frozen and become harder and heavier. If I didn''t have equipments to make your blood flow artificially, you may have needed to do removal surgeries on all your limbs." Well, I do think he is telling the truth about that. So, despite my suspicions, I am grateful for that at the very least. "How long would it take for me to be able to walk again?" I ask. "If the climate stays like this, then you would probably never walk again." Tsk! "But if it gets hotter, you might start recovering." "And when will it get hotter?" "It will take about 3 months for the type of heat that would be good for you to arrive." June says. That''s far too much. I can''t spend 3 months on this bed doing nothing. I have to get to Telmakim as fast as I can. "I can guess what you might be thinking right now ¡­ though I might be completely wrong since you are a different race and your mind may be-." "I am thinking that I need to get to Telmakim as fast as I can." I say, "Can you help me with that?" June sighs and folds his petite arms, looking like a cartoon character. "Well?" I press him for an answer. "I don''t think there''s any technology that can help you, not here anyway." He says. "Not here, you say? So there could be something that can help me someplace else?" I inquire, hoping it''s some place that I can be taken to, if needs be. "Hah!" June sighs and says, "You see, this world is majorly divided into two superpowers fighting for the control of the entire planet. Kidar and Temur ¨C both are at war. While here, in Kidar, there isn''t anything that can help you. Out in Temur, there is a possibility. It''ll be hard to get there though." "You seem to be treating me really nicely because I am on a mission from Dues, so why would they not do the same?" And after all, he did say earlier that I shouldn''t be concerned with anyone of his race except the atheists. And I really doubt the entire nation of Temur would be filled with atheists. "That''s not the problem, sire." June says, "While they would be willing to help you, no one would be willing to take you to them. Everyone knows that as soon as they safely take you from our custody, they will kill whoever had come to deliver you. And the same would happen with them if they came to get you, so that won''t happen either." "Things are that bad between the two?" "Yes, it''s complete hell. The war between the two has been going on for over a decade now. By this point in time, the armies especially hate each other so much that no one would be willing to be a sacrificial pawn, not to them anyway." Hah! That is pretty bad. What can I do now? "So hey, how do you people survive in a climate like this?" I ask, "Is your body just made for this kind of whether?" "Yes, I think that''d be obvious. This is the only type of climate there is on Frost so we people thrive on it." Hmm ¡­ now that could lead to an opening for me. Still, what I am thinking might be hard to pull off in this state. "Another thing I want to ask is, how can we understand each other''s language? I find it hard to believe that English is exists on this planet." "I can just assume English is the name of the language you are using right now. See, the thing is, the Goddess gave the ability to converse with us and for us to converse with you. So when you talk to us, we hear your words in our own language and the vice-versa." I see. That makes sense. That makes far too much sense. I can almost find myself grinning at that. ***** 104 Saras Testimony Part 1 It was yesterday, "How much of this does the council know?" The short-heighted man with a birdlike face and hairstyle asked as he looked at the file I just handed him. "Well, none of it ... probably" I answered, confused as to why he would even ask that. "I mean, I bought this file to you before anyone else. Isn''t that how it was supposed to be for these kinds of files?" He smiled as he looked at the files again, as if he hadn''t even heard me. Then, he looked back and nodded once and turned to start leaving. I was unable to understand what''s going on in his head but well, I had done my duty, so it''s none of my concern. But suddenly, "Hey Sara, did you give the file to Cartel?" ¨Ccame the voice of a rather fat but well-dressed man. This man, called by everyone Don, was the one who gave this file to me and told me to give it to Cartel, the man with a birdlike face. "I just did." I said. "D-did he say anything?" Don asked. "No, h-he just gave a creepy smile on seeing the file and walked away with it." I told him. "I don''t know ¡­ it was kinda weird." Don looked in the direction Cartel just walked in earlier. He gave an angry expression and said, "Oh, I see." ***** Later that day, after I was heading home from work, I passed by an alley and heard some weird noises coming from it. It wasn''t dark but there were still many people around so I thought I''d have the courage to check and see what''s going on, because I could scream if anything bad happened. So, I walked into the alley. It was dark and I was unable to make anything out so I pushed the torchlight of my smart-phone on. But, as soon as I did, I saw a horrible sight. It was a large amount of blood spilled in no specific manner in the alley. However, that wasn''t the end of it. It also flowed out deeper into the alley, like a trail. No, there is no other way to put it but a trail. At that point, I had realized that I should not pursue the matter on my own and call the police. But, by that time, it was already too late. Within a second of laying my eyes on the trail, half of my face was covered with a chloroform-soaked cloth and my neck was being grabbed by a rough hand. It didn''t take too long for me to fall unconscious. ***** When I woke up, I was in the most generic place there is to wake up in after being chloroformed. It was an old, abandoned building. I tried to speak but couldn''t, which led me to realize that my mouth was tied by a cloth, and so were my hands and feet. And obviously, I was also tied up to a chair ¨C the most generic and pathetic way of keeping a kidnapped person. However, I heard someone making weird noise on my right and turned to look at who it was. I then realized that it wasn''t a kidnapping. But, something far worse. On my right, at some distance, Cartel Hopkins was tied up the same way as me, only difference being that he was constantly struggling, trying to break out. Because of his rather unimpressive build though, it wasn''t even a surprise that he couldn''t budge a single cloth or rope that was tying him. Well, another difference between us was that he was beat up so much that I could just tell the blood I saw earlier was his. Soon, a group of men fit to be called grunts came in and just stood by, waiting for their leader to come in. And then, their leader did come in. It was Don, the fat man whose actual name I don''t even know. Anyway, he first looked at me and had a look of pity in his eyes. Then, his gaze turned to Cartel and his gaze turned angry, soon leading him to kick Cartel in the worst place possible ¨C his groin. Cartel would have probably given a bloodcurdling scream because of the pain but his mouth was tied up. Don then stood at a place that was equally distant from me as it was from him. Then, he said, "I''m sorry, Sara. And fuck you, Cartel." Cartel muffled something, probably a retort. But whatever, Don smirked and continued, "You snitch our organization''s secrets to our enemies and this is what you get. You knew that and yet you did anyway. All this is on you." Cartel muffled something again but Don continued, ignoring him, "The file I told Sara to give you yesterday ¨C that whole news about the raid at our hideouts being successful and us suffering great losses, it was all a lie. In truth," He paused, took out a file from his suit and showed it to Cartel as he continued. "Their goons failed, miserably. And then they told us that you snitched on us and that''s why they knew where our bases where." Wait! So that''s what it was? Then, "I didn''t want to believe it at first. That is why I told Sara to show you that fake file ¨C just to observe your reaction and see for myself if you could be trusted. But, you really were the snitch." Cartel muffled something again, and very pathetically too. Don took out the cloth from his mouth and as soon as he did, "Believe me, Don, I didn''t sni-" he put the cloth back on. Then, he turned to me and said, ??I''m sorry, Sara. You just ended up seeing something you shouldn''t have seen. There''s no other way." I tried making up excuses but my mouth was sealed too, so nothing came out. Don sighed once again and started leaving. As he left, he told his lackeys, "Shoot them and throw their bodies in the river." "NO!!!" I cried out. Even if it was a muffling sound, it should have been still pretty clear. But, he just sighed again and said, "Make her death painless. Make his one painful." ***** His lackeys took us to the river''s pier and started beating the shit out of Cartel. That continued for a while. After they had had their fun and Cartel was looking like a mess of bruises and torn clothes, they finally took out their guns ¨C ready to shoot us. As Don had instructed, they were going to make my death painless by shooting me in the head. And they were planning to make his death painful by first targeting his legs. However, we were saved. ***** 105 Saras Testimony Part 2 A beautiful, average-heighted pale woman with black wings, a black tail and white hair appeared out of nowhere and stopped the two bullets heading towards us. The suddenness of it left the two of us in shock. And in that shock, we saw as that woman single-handedly knocked out all the lackeys Don had left behind. Then, she turned to us. Her emerald-almond eyes and beautiful straight nose ¨C I swear, she was totally the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. I mean, I felt charmed by her when I had only seen her from the back but after seeing her face, it felt so, like, so enchanted and so ¡­ *coughs* Anyway, with a single touch, she healed us back to health. I mean, I am no fool. I know magic exists. I may not be able to do it myself but I work for Remedy Corp., an organization known for having some of the best mages in the world. So, well, where were we ¡­ right, uh, when that woman healed us completely and asked us why we were being attacked, I told her my side of the story, which was obviously only as far as my knowledge of all that went. She was left in the same confusion as I was through all that. Then, Cartel told his side. "I knew some kind of drug shipment was arriving and I thought if I tell the cops about it, I could get some people at higher positions arrested and replace them." "What!?" I was surprised. Of course I was. He was being so meek up till that point that I had thought he was actually innocent. "So you really did snitch." Snitching is a common term for ''selling information to an enemy''. And well, I wouldn''t call the cops our enemies but Remedy Corp. does have secrets they don''t want the police to know ¡­ and they also do some illegal things like, you know, the one he just mentioned ¨C shipping drugs and all. "O-of course I snitched. Why else would I be there with you?" He said in a sardonic voice, infuriating me further. "And I thought you were being played by someone." SLAP! Obviously, I slapped him. "And what do you mean ''with me''? I was there because of you." SLAP! Obviously, I slapped him again. "You two can fight some other time." Then the mysterious woman who had saved us broke our ''conversation'' and said, "I need to get you two to safety first." ***** She introduced herself as a Demigod named Roswaisa. At first, we had thought that she was lying about being a Demigod but ignored it. But soon, we realized that she was a real Demigod. Anyway, as she said she would, she took us to a safe place, which, after consulting both of us and hearing our ideas, she decided the safest place for us to hide will be by her side. "Are you serious? The cops work for Remedy?" She looked disappointed as she asked that while we walked down a street. "Yeah, most do. The ones I went to didn''t though. But I don''t think they can really keep us safe from Remedy either." Cartel said so. "Well, I guess I had to meet the Remedy Corporation head anyway. I might as well protect you by keeping you two near me." "Yeah, b-but, are you sure about this?" I asked, a bit nervous because of everything that had happened. "You are going to take on the entire Remedy Corp. by yourself?" "I don''t need to take the entire Corporation by myself. I just need the leader." She said and stopped as we had reached the Remedy Corp. state office. That was the place where both me and Cartel worked. And then, Roswaisa, casually stretched her arms and legs and then her back. She flapped her wings once and the speed she started flying with after that was something that I had never seen anyone before reach. Within a couple of seconds, she was floating next to the highest floor of the office building, which was 40. Then, she broke in through the glass and soon came down with a man hanging from her hands. That was our boss, the man with the highest authority in this state office. "Now, I believe you are called the Chief of Staff or something." She said with a terrifying and yet charming smile, "You are to take me to where the shipment of those drugs that is about to come is headed towards." "Fuck you!" KICK! One kick from her sent the man flying at a tree and probably ended up breaking his back because of it. Then, Roswaisa sighed and said, "Have it your way!" She made a gun-sign out of her right hand and pointed it at the building. Then she shot the gun and the whole building just started to evaporate. Soon, the whole building was gone. Seeing all that, "Wh-what happened to all the people inside?" I asked so. She pointed behind me, causing me to turn and look behind me. There ¨C I saw literally everyone who was inside safe and sound ¡­ and confused. Roswaisa then picked the Chief of Staff up and flew off saying, "Those people won''t hurt you anymore. I made arrangements for it. So, you can just return to your lives or do whatever! Goodbye!" Seeing her off left a bitter feeling in my mouth. In fact, I was sadder by her leaving than I was by surprised at the events that had taken place in such a short amount of time. And then, Cartel laughed. "Well, I guess she got the message to come here." "Huh!?" I looked at him suspiciously as I didn''t understand what he meant. He then said, "Oh, it not much. I just prayed to Dues ex machina yesterday and wished that she sends help to save me." "But why would you pray to Dues ex machina? She is not a goddess." "Well," Cartel said with a creepy smile, "now she is." "¡­" I was unable to respond, thinking he was nuts or something. Then, he looked at me and said, "You were always nice to me, Miss Sara. Thanks for that! And goodbye!" He walked off and soon disappeared from my sight. I was more worried about my other colleagues so I didn''t follow him. And that''s the end of that. ***** "Then you came and started questioning me about all this and I-" "Yeah, whatever! I got what I wanted." The blue-haired, beige-skinned man said started talking to himself, ???So Dues sent Roswaisa to help because that Cartel guy prayed to her. Well, that''d make sense but, how did he know what had really happened? From the descriptions I have gotten of him from literally everyone, he doesn''t seem like someone who would know things that are this level of otherworldly." He keeps contemplating as he leaves the room. "So, like, can I leave?" I ask seeing him leave the room. "Sure, you have told me everything you knew. So I have no reason to keep you here any longer." He says, seemingly uninterested. But, there''s just thing one thing that I want to know before I leave. "Well, uh, Mister Danny, was it?" He nods so I continue, "Do you, like, know Miss Roswaisa?" "I do." He replies plainly. "Could you find a way for me to meet her again?" "Why?" "Well, it''s, uhm, like this, actually, ¡­ even though she is a girl and I am a girl and she even looks younger than me, I felt so sad when she left. And I was also really charmed by her just a glance of her. It''s possible that ¡­ that I ¡­ I, uh, ¡­ may have-" THUD! ¨Ccame the voice of the door knocking on its handle ¡­ and there was no longer anyone in the room but me. "Well, that''s just mean." ***** 106 A Solution To The Problem? I''m cold. No, not in the terms that my body is cold. In that sense, I''d rather call myself hot. Okay, well, that''s a different sense. Whatever! I meant in the sense that I am a cold-hearted person. To be able to think of such a thing, I am definitely a cold-hearted person. However, I can''t think of any other way. To survive on Frost, I have to do this. "Hah!" And so I sigh as I am taken to the bed of a sickly old man as per my request. He is coughing at regular intervals. It only makes me feel more terrible about doing this. But, I have to. So, I request June and his assistants to leave me alone with this old man in the room. They are hesitant to leave but they do so when I glare like I''m some big-shot even though I am not. And so, I am now alone with a sick and old man in the room. "Hey, uh, what can I say?" This guy just looks at me with no emotions in his eyes. I was told his name is Jock. I was also told Jock is about 60 years old and most Frosts don''t live past 55. So, it''s a miracle that this guy has lived for so long. However, miracle though it may be, it hasn''t been a very pleasant experience for him. "How do you feel?" I ask, knowing that my question would be infuriating to him and a depressing reply would come back. "I feel just fine." He coughs and continues, "As you can see, I am in the" he coughs again, "most healthy state possible." Obviously, he is being sarcastic and he is definitely angry. I had expected that. "It seems to me like living for almost record time ¨C is not really a blessing for you." The record time referring to the oldest Frost alive in the world. June told me it''s someone in Telmakim, the city I am to get to. He has some weird name that I can''t remember but that guy is 63 years old. This geezer is not very far off. "It''s a curse." He yells. "Living is a pain, Goddamnit!" "¡­" "If Dues is really the Goddess now, why doesn''t she take pity on this old man and take my soul already." If Dues is supposed to be Goddess, shouldn''t you say something like ''why doesn''t she call me to heaven already?'' or something. The line he just said suits better when referring to the devil in my opinion. That said though, the legends here could be different. Also, Lucifer was a much better person than Dues. Frankly, I''d rather call Dues the devil any day of the week. "Why are you talking like you WANT to die or something? You are gonna live, aren''t you?" I say, despite not being dense enough to not realize that he really does want to die. "What!?" He coughs, but continues, "Why the fuck would I live? Do you know how painful this is? Do you know how much I suffer each day by just staying on this bed?" I don''t. But I bet he thinks every moment of his life that dying would be better. I have never fallen so gravely ill physically but mental depression has led me to that point once. I, therefore, might be able to understand him better than anyone. And from my understanding, at a time like this, what a person WANTS is to give up and die and if people around him keep pushing him to try to live, it might have a bad effect. At least, in my case, the bad effect could be cancelled out if one just shows me the picture of Homura Akemi-san from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. I''m not saying that''s how my depression ended. Seriously, that wasn''t it. Okay, maybe it ended a little bit because of that ... Whatever! Anyway, this guy is seriously at death''s door and wants to knock on the death''s door. I am not surprised as ¨C to see a patient like this ¨C was my request all along. "How would you feel about dying?" I ask him then. "W-what!?" He is confused, as anyone would be. "What if I tell you that I can relieve you of this pain and let you die? Will you accept to die?" I ask. "¡­" he seems baffled by my question and unable to answer. Yet, I have to press for an answer. "Come on! What is it? Yes or no!?" "Of course I''ll happily accept and chose to die!" He says with a somewhat hopeful expression, hopeful because he thinks I am not spouting something hypothetical here, hopeful because he thinks I''ll let him die. And well, his hope ¡­ is not misplaced. That''s exactly what I am here to do. "Then, I will allow you to rest." I say. "By giving me something I want, no, something I desperately NEED, you''ll be able to die." "A-and what is that?" He says, seemingly starting to tremble with excitement like a child. Well, old age is the second childhood, isn''t it, Shakespeare-sensei? "I am a denizen of a different planet. I don''t have the ability to bear this cold. I, however, have the ability to take other abilities. So," I look directly into his eyes, "I can take the ability to live in this cold from you and you will die as your body would no longer be able to survive this place." It will be a cold, cruel and undeserving death. But, it will be death. And I will get what I want. I can only hope his desire to die is strong enough to accept this. "Very well then!" As soon as I hear those words, before glee or relief, shock runs through me. "You accept?" I question knowing that the guy was completely serious when he said it. "Of course I accept." "But-" "Enough! I don''t care who you are or what your purpose is. I just want to be set free now. If you want to do it, I would be willing to beg you to do it." And just as he says, he almost tries to move his feeble, skinny hands to my feet. I stop him though. Of course I can''t let him do something like that. "Fine then!" And so I decide to go through with it. "Moral Dystopia it is!" ***** 107 Setting Ou Well, I now have the ability to endure this cold. Because I took this ability from an old man, I am not as good as a young Frost like June is but I can now endure this cold much better than I used to. The old man Jock died as soon as I took the ability to endure this climate from him. I then called out to everyone to make them think that I was as shocked by his death as anyone else was. I did so to not let them know that I quite frankly killed him. And I decided to leave the village before anyone could even get suspicious. "You sure about this?" From my constant interactions with him, I have come to understand some his expressions. So I know that June is making a concerned face right now as he asks that. "Yes, thanks for all you did." And so I say. "I am sorry that I was a bit of a jerk when we first met." "A bit? You were a TOTAL jerk!" He says jokingly. I just smile awkwardly at that as I realize that it''s true. Maybe being subjected to such harsh treatment by Dues had caused that, or maybe it was the suspicions I had in mind that have all been nullified by this point. Yes, I now know that these people do not eat humans and they are not in any other way hostile to me either, not by nature anyway. I can trust them as much as I can trust humans, which isn''t much but oh well, it''s more than nothing. "Well, I''ll be off." I say and turn and start walking. June only waves to me (which I see from the corner of my eyes). I wave back and leave as fast but casually as I can. And so, I distance themselves from me before anyone finds out that I killed one of them. I am expecting that there would be an uproar when someone finds out. My name might even get famous, or infamous, if you''d like to call it like that. Before that happens, I need to familiarize myself with this place. I''m not some protagonist of an isekai anime after all that I already know everything because it is all basically like a game. This is another world. And I don''t know much about it. But, I need to. ***** "Did you find anything?" Grey asks me as soon as he enters my palace. Yes, we are in Glice right now. "I did. And I need your help to find more." I reply. Now I know fourth-wall breaking and all is Irium''s thing but I might need to do it at this point to make everything clear to you guys. So, here goes. I am Danny, the most badass man in the entire novel. I''m also the most handsome man ¡­ Okay, I realize that''s more cringe than it is cool or funny. Jeez! How does that idiot even say lines like these. Anyway, on to the real explaining ¨C 2 days ago, a building owned by Remedy Corporations, which is a large organization of mages, just disappeared. All the people in the building were safe though. I was ''asked'' by Dues ex machina to investigate what had happened. And so I talked to everyone who worked in the building. That is how I got to taking the testimony so Sara, one of the employees at the place. She told me that she and a fellow colleague of hers named Cartel Hopkins had somehow gotten on the bad side of Remedy and were to be killed. However, just when they were about to be killed, Roswaisa came to save them. They proceeded to tell her their stories and Roswaisa ''helped them out''. However, from the fact that she took the Chief of Staff, the highest ranking man in that building, with her, I think she had some ulterior motives for doing what she did. Also, this Cartel Hopkins apparently ''prayed'' to Dues because he knew she had become God and that she would sent Roswaisa to save him if he prayed. Well, he seems to be more involved than anyone else in this whole incident (except maybe Roswaisa ''cause she literally is the one who evaporated the building). And so, I am trying to find this guy. Since an incident like this happening to Remedy Corporations is a big deal, even Grey and Jessica, who formerly worked for this organization, are concerned. That is why when I called Grey and told him to come meet me here, the first thing he did upon seeing me was ask about the investigation. "Alright then, how can I help?" Grey offers his help very easily and so I show him a sketch (man, I feel like a big-shot detective right now) of Cartel Hopkins. "Ever seen this guy?" "Ah well, he does seem to ring a bell." Grey says. "His birdlike face looks familiar. But, I don''t think he was anyone important." Yes, that''s what everyone whom I asked about him told me. "Is he important for this case?" Grey inquires. "He seems to be the only lead I have right now." I say. "Well, so you want me to find him for you or something?" "Not something ¨C that''s exactly what I want you to do." I say with a weird smile. "You can summon creatures that can hunt a person down, can''t you?" He says dejectedly. Well, we are both Tamers so it really doesn''t make sense that I go to him to do something as I could use the same method he''d use to do it. However, "I have something else I have to pursue." ??Didn''t you say this is the only lead?" "Yeah, what I am trying to pursue isn''t a lead, it''s a Demigod who can turn a straight women into lesbian by merely talking for a while with them." "W-what!?" I feel that was a cool way to finish it off but I guess I''ll clarify, just in case (I''m not Irium after all), "I need to pursue Roswaisa." ***** 108 Trouble Two days have passed since I left Zera, the village where I met June and took the ability to endure this cold from Jock. Since then, I have been able to survive okay enough by getting to shelters before too long and by learning (or trying to at least) more and more about the planet and its people. It is hard to adjust to all the information though, especially because I am not some naturally gifted genius protagonist. Oh boy, I so wish I were, but I am not. So, my progress is slow. Before leaving Zera, June gave me a map of this world and because I am not so well-acquainted with the symbols here, it took me a little time to start using it to its full potential. But anyway, from the map, I now know where the territories of Kidar and Temur are. First of all, 80% of the planet''s surface is water, a percentage even larger than Earth''s. While a lot of these water bodies are free like you''d expect them to be, a lot also fall under the territory of these two nations. I''d say 60% of the water bodies are free while 25% belong to Temur and 15% to Kidar. As for land, 55% of the land belongs to Kidar and 45% to Temur. Obviously, these numbers are estimates. I have not done some extra-thorough research on this thing. But, I have done enough to give me a basic idea of things. I am currently holding the map in my hand while sitting in a guesthouse''s lobby. All around me, Frost people are present. And as one would expect, they are staring at me. If I let it leak that I have come from another planet on a mission from Dues, I might start getting some unwarranted publicity so I let them stare and be wary of me. Still, when so many stare, it gets uncomfortable ¨C making me get up and leave the place like I just did. "Hah!" I sigh and say to myself, "Getting to Telmakim when planes don''t exist in this world, it''s not going to be easy ¨C at all." I can only wonder how Danny, Grey, Jessica and Roswaisa are doing right now. I hope they are fine. And I hope Dues is having a lot of trouble with her ''godhood''. ***** "Having trouble with your ''godhood''?" I ask sarcastically after giving my report to her and seeing her facepalming to the news. "When I sent Roswaisa there to help him because he had prayed to me, I did not think he was trying to use it. But, I guess something as foolish as playing with a god is something to be expected of your race, isn''t it Danny?" Well, the fact that Cartel Hopkins is a human makes ''yes'' the only correct answer so I can''t rely deny her. That said though, it''s rather reinvigorating to see Dues in such a troubled state. "Find that human and bring him to me." She says. "I''ll deal with him." "Sure!" I say with a smile as her simplistic solution to the problem only shows how much her pride has hurt and that makes me really glad to be here in this room right now. Before I go however, "So, like, how do you know that he was praying to you? Like, do you have some mechanism for that or something?" There are so many people and even so many places of worship on just Earth, can''t even begin to imagine the rest of the universe. So, how can one know that a person is praying to them, especially when one isn''t a real god? "I''m god. It''s obvious I''d know-" "Don''t give me that bullshit!" I want an answer to my question, not her trying to recover her pride. "Hah!" She sighs and leans back on her throne as she answers, "I don''t get to know when something like that happens, not by myself. The reason I knew his request was because he sent a letter to this place in which he requested my help and was praying to me, accepting me as god." "Well, if that was all it took to make you help him, you are a rather easy woman." I mock her, or try to. She takes it a bit too seriously though it seems as her eyes grow a bloodlust in them. "Be thankful that I have a need for you right now and that we have some past connections, or I would have ripped your heart out and put it on display by now." "¡­" Despite having many retorts in my mind, I decide not to say anything as angering isn''t really the smartest move. While I would love to see her suffer, I have no intention of getting myself killed over something like this. "Now get lost!" Dues yells. Well, that''s that. Now I need to get to finding Roswaisa as Grey, as per my request, would be out looking for Cartel. ***** Nighttime ¨C from what I know ¨C is considered the perfect time for crime among the people of Earth. The many crimes that take place during night disgust me to even think about them, but the one I am concerned about at present is the shipping of drugs. As of right now, I am hiding at a safe distance from the docks with the Chief of Staff I kidnapped somewhere in the distance and tied up nicely. I am keeping an eye on the docks and the people gathered on it. We are both waiting for one thing ¨C for the drug shipment to arrive. However, our intentions are completely different. Back when Dues sent me here, I was about to head out myself. She wanted me to save Cartel and so I did. I wanted to find out about this drug and so I did that too. It happened to be luck that the two things were connected. But anyway, now that I am here and free from Dues'' job, I can focus on what''s going on here. The reason I have gotten interested in stopping this drug shipment is because I have heard that it is a new kind of drug and it can give a person the power of an Angel or a Demon. Obviously, I can''t ignore such a thing. And so, as I see the shipment arrive, I get ready to move closer. ***** 109 The Man Who Knows Too Much The ship arrives and the men at the docks begin taking out the shipment as soon as it does. I fly to a roof that was closer to them to have better view but still keep hidden. I can''t see anything other than the transport of cargo filled with the drugs. So, at least, I don''t need to worry much about any other unethical thing happening here. Still, a drug that can make a person as strong as an Angel or a Demon, huh? It''s quite curious and is probably nothing more than a rumor. But, the fact that all the Angels and Demons have been killed just recently, I can''t help but want to check out to see if there''s a connection. But, while I keep my eyes on them, their eyes turn to someone else ¨C someone I am unable to see through the large container kept at the docks. I realize I would need to change my angle to see them. I wonder though who it may be that they have all started to look so serious and scared. "But, but, this can''t be true." One man carrying a crate of drugs says. "Oh, this is as true as truth can be, you know?" Says the guy I can''t see right now. But, his voice sounds familiar, familiar enough that it doesn''t take me a second guess to figure out who it belongs to. "Cartel!?" I question myself. And then, as I fly to a different roof as stealthily as I can look at the face of this person, it turns out to really be Cartel. But, why is he here? And why are all these guys so afraid of him? "Hey," a big, muscular man comes to the front and says, "could you repeat what you just said, twerp?" Cartel smiles as if he doesn''t see the rhetorical value of that question and says, "Okay, I just said that you are all fired and are to leave this dock and never come back again. If you don''t do that, you''ll all be killed." "You can''t even budge a hair on my-" "When did I say that I will kill you?" Cartel laughs as if he has heard some hilarious joke, "I am not the one who will do the deed. You will be killed by Dues ex machina." "What! ?" Everyone''s reaction to that, including mine, is that. "Dues ex machina is the new god of this universe. Or, well, at least she wants to be." Cartel says, "And she achieved all that by killing all the Angels and Demons in the universe." No one is able to speak a word as Cartel enthusiastically continues, "So, if you try to ship a drug that can turn people into Angels or Demons, you are an enemy to her ''cause''. And that''d lead to Dues sending her demigod servant to kill all of you and your bosses and whatnot." First of all, I''m not her servant. Second, how in the freaking world does he know all that? "And well," Cartel says, "I can understand if this all might be too hard for you idiots to understand. That is why I brought proof." Proof? What proof does he have of all this? This same question is asked by the silence and gazes of all the people down there as well. "If you turn back and look at the top of the container, you''ll see a figure of a charming Demigod, the one that serves Dues." ¡­ They all turn to ¨C me. He knew where I was. He knew exactly where I was. My hiding was for no reason at all. And so, "Cartel!" I yell and fly up to him. By the time he blinks, I am in front of him and by the time he opens his mouth in surprise to that, I have already taken him by his hand and flown off away from the docks. ***** I stop on the roof of a residential building. "Well, well, if it isn''t miss Demigod?" Cartel says sarcastically when I let go of his hand and he grips it because of the pain my grip had caused him. "How do you know so many things, Cartel Hopkins?" I ask straight-to-the-point. "Oh, you expect me to actually answer that, Roswaisa?" He says with a smirk. "If that''s the case, then I would be sorry to say but you would be disappointed." "I don''t have time for this BS." "I know. You have to go and stop that drug shipment, right?" I did come here with that intention. And while Dues didn''t send me, she probably will as soon as she hears about all this. So he''s not wrong about any of this to be honest, except that I am still not Dues'' servant. "If you won''t tell me yourself, I have other ways to get the information out of you." I do. I am not lying. "Oh, like, torture?" He only mocks me further though, "That won''t work, not on me. I have endured far more torture than you can ever imagine." I sharpen my gaze to let him know I am observing his moves and say, "I can just take you to Dues ex machina, you know? She will deal with the whole affair." "Yes, you certainly can, but you won''t." "And why are you so sure?" "Because you hate her? Because you think she is a monster? Because you can''t let her handle a human and let my life be at such high risk? You can''t do something like that. You are, after all, former Angel." "Tsk!" He is right. I know he is. I won''t be able to do it. Even if I do it, I''ll probably end up rescuing him from Dues later. "So, Roswaisa, I think you have a job to do. So, go do it. Leave me alone!" He says with a smile and starts heading to the stairs. As I watch him go, I can''t help but give a retort, "I will find out the truth, you know?" "I know. But when you do, it''ll be too late." He says so and starts descending the stairs, as if he has no care in the world. ***** 110 The Path To Be Taken Three days past me leaving Zera and one day past me giving that little monologuing session two chapters ago, I have a reached a city ¨C the first city I have set foot on in this world. And as I gaze at this site that I have so longed to see ¨C uh, it''s nothing special. It''s what I''d expect from a cold planet like that. If one goes to a small town in Alaska, you''ll see the same kind of place I am seeing right now. The one difference of course is the appearance of the residents. They are Frosts, and look like baby version of Na''vi people from Avatar. In Alaska, you''ll only see normal humans. Well, that aside, coming to this city is going to be a major step forward in my journey (I hope). This planet seems to be as big as Earth and so Telmakim, which was half the world away from the place I originally entered this planet at would be a little more than 20,000 kilometer away from there. I would say I have covered about 60-70 kilometers by now. So, as once can see, it''s not much. Damn you, author-san! I mean, I never expected this would be easy but I just felt like wanting to curse the author. Anyway, "You need something?" Seeing as how I have been monologuing at the entrance of the village this entire time, an old man comes and asks me so. I just shake my head in denial and start walking towards the place with the inn sign. Thankfully, within these three days, I have been able to memorize a lot of signs and symbols used in this world so I can navigate my way across much better now. I am still trying to let the information that I have come on a mission from Dues stay a secret. By this point however, I am starting to hear chatter among people about rumors related to me and people have been looking at me suspiciously as they come to the right guess. ***** "It will be 10 silver for one night." Or so the woman at the reception says. 10 silver, huh? Yeah, I have stolen that much by now. Wait! Did I say ''stolen''? No, no, I merely took it from some rich villagers I met across the way. I didn''t steal. I would never do such a thing. "Are you gonna pay or not?" Despite being slightly cautious because of my appearance, the receptionist of this inn asks me with a frightening tone. "Here!" I say as I hand her 10 silver coins and take the key to my room. I head upstairs then. Oh boy, that felt like being the protagonist of a VRMMORPG novel. I never realized till now that living in a medieval-class inn was such an integral part of those novels. "Huh!?" ¨Cis my reflexive reaction to seeing a guy looking at the door that is supposed to be leading to my room with a glint of anger in his voice. "Something wrong?" I ask the blue man who casually looks back at me with the same slightly angry expression and asks me, "Are you the princess of Temur?" "No." "Then are you the prince of Kidar?" "No." "Then why do you look like that?" "Huh!?" Does he mean to say that those two individuals he just mentioned look like me, like humans? Now that''s pretty interesting. "Never mind." He says and leaves. I don''t ask further because even though I want to know, the guy doesn''t look to be in the mood to talk. ***** Now that I''m in my room, let''s go over my journey and its possible routes. I''m in a village called Ur in the Eastern Province of Kidar Nation. I need to get to Telmakim, which seems to be a somewhat popular city in this world and also happens to be roughly half the planet across. It lies in the North-Western Province of Kidar Nation. In total, there are 6 Provinces in this Nation ¨C North, South, Central, Eastern, North-Western and South-Western. However, the entire Nation isn''t collected all together. Between the Provinces of Kidar are the provinces of Temur. Therefore, in this journey, I might even need to cross over the border to Temur and then cross over again to Kidar ¡­ and maybe even more than once. And well, there''s no avoiding crossing the border if I go through the land routes only. I might be able to avoid that trouble if I go through the sea routes in between. A journey completely based on seas routes wouldn''t be logical either because the way the whole planet is divided will make it more time-consuming. So then, how do I proceed? How do I make this journey? Well, the simplest solution to the problem would be to use both land and seas routes and take the straight path to Telmakim. It will be the least time-consuming of all the routes available. Even if I have to cross the border, I can use the fact that I am on mission from Dues to my advantage and make the people of both Temur and Kidar welcoming to me. The problem with that however is my ultra-anti-social nature not being able to live up to that kind of things. I should try to cope up with it to finish this thing in the quickest way possible but I think there''s another way that would be better in this kind of situation. Moral Dystopia. If I can only use this ability and the abilities I get from this ability to my advantage, it''ll be beneficial not only here but in every journey that I ever take. If I can only find a good use for it, I may be able to reach Telmakim without having to duel with my social problems. If only there was a ¡­ BOOM! This sound rings from the outside and disturbs my peaceful thinking session. I gaze out the window and see a large fire on one of the houses and the residents panicking over it. Damn! That sure is a sight to behold! ***** 111 Heretic Staring out the window, I can see the mass panic that has taken over the citizens of this place. However, the thing I see more than the panic is the fire. Seriously, that fire is huge and it''s spreading. I don''t think this kind of cold climate would let the flames stay for long but, for whatever reason, I have an uneasy feeling about this. Backing away from the window, from the corner of my eyes, I spot the guy who was staring at my door earlier. I quickly get back to the window and try to find him but am not able to. Well, what should I do now? Should I just get of here with all my stuff ¨C ready to leave? Or should I jump out of the window, land on the pavement and try to help everyone down there like a hero? Well, it''s obviously the second choice. Heroes don''t exist within me, only cunning cowards do. So, I will do what any cunning coward would do in a situation like this. Knock! Knock! To those sounds of someone suddenly knocking at my doors, I ask in a loud enough voice, "Who is it?" A childish voice comes in return, saying something not so childish, "Your death!" The door breaks apart and a Frost of about half my size comes in. I''m surprised that a guy as small as him was able to break my door but well, there''s something more important to do here. "What do you want?" "Your life, you numbskull!" The boy charges at me and I just plainly dodge, making him hit the wall. However, it seems like that impact that just happened hurts the walls more than it did the boy. "Don''t run away! It''s no use." "We''ll see about that." I say and dash out of the room as I ask, "Why do you want my life anyway?" "Because you are a sinner." The boy''s voice is as plain and emotionless as a homunculus from Fate franchise would be. In other words, he feels like a robot with a human''s voice. "And what sin have I committed?" I ask running to the stairs as the boy comes out of the room and chases me. "You have set foot on this holy land. That is the gravest sin of all." I was half-expecting he would say that I have made a sick, old man freeze to death and I would end up feeling so guilty I would surrender. But well, it''s some nonsense that I don''t care about. "You do realize who you are talking to, don''t you?" I say, "Do you know that I have been-" "Sent by Dues ex machina, that bitch who claims to have ascended to godhood?" He looks at me angrily and continues, with a little emotion showing in his voice for the first time, "That is the reason you coming here is a sin." Oh boy! "There is only one true god in this universe and anyone who runs errands for some other self-proclaimed god would just be a heretic." I see. So this guy is a disciple of the real god? Well, then he certainly has no real reason to hurt me, only he does not know that. "Listen, could we just-" "Die!" Yeah, this isn''t going to work. I am already running out of the inn and he continues to chase me. Once outside, the flames look scarier and seem to have gotten bigger. They might become an issue soon enough. I''ll have to duel with my own issue first though. "Stop running, heretic!" "How about this, you stop chasing me and I will stop running and we can ta-" "Die!" I barely dodge as he dashes at me. This kid is fast, really fast. I need to think of something that would help me pin him down so I can explain my situation to him. Maybe he''d be willing to help me out as a fellow who resents Dues and especially her ''godhood''. "You-" "Watch out!" I yell at him, warning him of the imminent danger. He reflexively looks back to see what he has to watch out for and ¡­ hey, I never said the danger was coming from behind. "You b-bastard!" He curses me as he rubs his nose that just got kicked hard by yours truly. It did less damage than I was hoping for though. "So, anyway kid, who are you?" "I am the-" "If it''s some cringy title, spare me. I just want to know your name." I interrupt as I feel like something like ''Executioner of the Seventh Heaven'' was going to come out of his mouth. "Jock!" Uh, damn! "Remember it well, for it is the name of the ¨C AAAAAA!" Sorry kid, didn''t mean to kick your knee like that. There just isn''t any other way to get the situation in control. Still, him having the same name as that old man is making me guilt well up a bit. I don''t want to start holding back because of it and end up being defeated by him for that reason. "It seems you have run into some trouble, Jock." That''s a generic intro, done in a female-horse-post-mating-voice. As I glance back, I see that the guy who said this is none other than the one who was staring at my door earlier. "Who are you?" I ask. "Your death!" Yeah, yeah, sure! The guy attacks me right as he says that, just like Jock did, and I easily dodge, just like before too. I don''t run away this time though. I instead pick up a rock and charge at him yelling like a stupid anime character. He smirks and tries to block and retaliate, only to realize that the hand he tried to block (the one I have a stone in) is a fake-out and the other hand chops him real hard at his neck. It''s still my left hand and I am right-handed person so I can''t bring out a lot of force, but I brought about enough to make him back away a few steps, allowing me to kick him in the stomach to throw him down. "Well, this has been fun but I really think we should stop." I say. "We might actually be on the same team here." And finally, as I am able to find a time where they both listen, I say that. And as I do, their eyebrows twitch and surprise takes over, halting their attacks. ***** 112 Temple Of Temur "Explain yourself!" Demands the guy I just fought, the guy that is not Jock. "Sure, but first," they look at me with caution-filled eyes wondering what I''d say, "What''s your name, the-guy-that-is-not-Jock-san?" "Rome." He answers with caution-filled-eyes that are also a bit condescending now. "I see. So, Rome, I am what you call a hater of Dues ex machina. And I can bet that I hate her more than any of you." "Tsk! Bullshit!" Rome says with an annoyed expression, "You are her errand boy!" "I am not." Seriously, I am not, and nothing vexes me more than being called that. "I am, however, running her errands for a specific purpose." "Oh yeah, like what?" "Thousands of people will suffer if I don''t do as she says or fail at doing so." While the reason this all started with was different, the whole denying her action thing, it is a fact that everyone on Glice is now a hostage and a big reason why I am doing this. "¡­ How can I believe you?" Rome asks. A little less caution than before is present in his eyes, thankfully. "I can''t show you proof. But, it''s the truth." I say so with a smile, predicting accurately what he will say next. "Then I can''t trust-" "SO, show me your proof that you are actually against Dues and are not testing me somehow." I say, cutting him off and trying to make him realize how I feel on being called her ''errand boy''. "¡­" He just looks at me with anger and frustration for a moment. In this moment, I take a glance at Jock, who is ready to attack me. Fighting both of them might bring trouble to me so I really hope Rome decides to stop being hostile to me. "Die, you heretic!" Jock yells and starts charging towards me but, "Stop, Jock!" Rome says what I wanted him to say. "For the moment, we should stop being hostile to him." Jock looks back in doubt but Rome seems to have made his decision. Jock then backs away too and they both look at me from a distance of, like, 2 meters. "We''ll keep an eye on you." "We''ll watch your every move." They say that in such sync as if they have practiced saying it, and then they disappear like some ninjas. People acting like ninjas, huh? That brings some rather unwanted memories. Anyway, now that I am done with them, I take a look at the fire. Despite the townsfolk trying to their damned hardest to stop it, it doesn''t seem to be stopping. In fact, it''s spreading. It has spread so much that, while the house it originated from has been burned to crisps, three other houses have caught fire. It''s also rapidly approach the inn I am staying at. I should probably run up, get my stuff, jump off the window and leave. That''s the least risky option at this point. But, "Don''t panic! This fire will be dealt with." A yell by Rome catches my attention. When I try to find out where his voice came from, I spot Jock on the top of a house that has caught the fire. Rome then comes in my sight; he is standing on the chimney on another house that has caught fire. He turns to Jock and Jock nods as he jumps off the house and into the fire. I think about stopping him, but before I can do much, Jock appears again, standing in the middle of the fire, completely unharmed. Like everyone else gathered in the place, I just stand there and watch the rest of the show as Jock somehow starts pulling all the flames towards him like some kind of psychic. When all the flames are surrounding him, he just casually stands there as Rome jumps off the chimney and lands in front of him. Rome proceeds to touch the flames, making them die out. "What just happened?" I ask, trying to look unsurprised. "I think those two belong to the Temple of Temur." I man says from the crowd. "What the hell is the Temple of Temur?" I ask him. He looks surprised. I don''t know if he is surprised because of my appearance or because I didn''t know what this Temple is but he doesn''t answer backs away. Suddenly, the rest of the crowd around me starts backing away as well. At first, I think it''s because of something I did but upon turning back, I realize it''s because Rome has walked up to me. "Temple of Temur is a sacred sect dedicated to the worship of the one and only true god. We stand against Dues ex machina." Rome says. He looks like he''ll say something detrimental to me so I whisper as naturally as I can, "Don''t say something that''d make people wary of me." He looks at me with a disappointed gaze but then says, "Don''t come in our path or we will kill you." I am pretty sure that is a real warning but at least the people would interpret it as ''they threatened him so he probably isn''t associated with them either'' or something like that, which would be beneficial to me. Rome then turns back and starts walking, and so does Jock. Well, don''t these two love acting like a couple of badasses? Still, I have to say that the abilities to control flames and to put them out are some pretty handy abilities. If we were enemies, I''d definitely steal them. But since I am not an enemy of them (at least I don''t think I am), I''d rather have them running around and acting all cool as it can help me in the future. "Young man," An old woman comes and says, "You really didn''t know what the Temple of Temur is?" "I did not." "I-I see. Then you couldn''t be one of them." She says, looking relieved. "I am sorry. I, and the rest of the townsfolk, were scared that you''d be one of them because a man that looked to be from your race had come to this town some years ago, and he was associated with them." Well, that shouldn''t be accounts for suspecting me but that is how mass psychology works so I can''t blame them. I am interested though. "A man from my race, you say?" "Yes. I don''t remember much about him as he never really familiarized himself with any of us." She continues, "But, he did say that he has a grudge against something called Remedy Corporation and that he wanted to get back on those who make fun of him for his birdlike appearance." ***** 113 Stuck-Up Situations On the docks that I am told a drug shipment was about to come today, I find all the people handling the shipping to be out cold on the docks. "Who could have done this?" I question to myself but a familiar voice answers the question. "I did it." I turn to see Roswaisa standing at the top of a container. "Why are you here, Roswaisa?" I ask. "Hah!" She sighs and flies down on the ground to level with me as she answers, "I had heard about this new kind of drug that can give a human enough power to equal an Angel or a Demon. I was curious about it and wanted to stop it if it was real, so I checked it out." "Hmm ¡­ and, did you find anything important?" "Other than the fact that all the supply available for this drug is present in those carts," she points at the good number of cargo boxed that seemingly contain this drug, "I found out why this drug is considered so potent." I am surprised, honestly. I never took her to be good at detective work, and definitely not the forensic-type either. "Relax Danny! I am not some great detective or forensic. I can tell that''s what you are thinking right now." She says with an expression as serious as serious could be, "All I did was take the drugs to see what it did." "What!?" Now that''s not something I would want a friend, especially a friend who is the future wife of another friend, do. "It won''t affect me. That is one benefit of being a Demigod." She continues, "Anyway, I found out by inhaling them that they are made from Angels and Demons'' carcass." Wait! If that''s true, then there would be a ridiculously large supply of the raw materials for these drugs right now. It''s going to be hard to stop them, if we do try to do it. "¡­" I am unable to say anything on seeing the seriousness of Roswaisa''s face. For her, someone is using the dead bodies of her past race and the race closest to that race to create this incredibly dangerous drug. There is no way she wouldn''t want to stop it. "Also, there is this one guy that has been really been on mind this whole time." She says. "He''s a weird, bird-faced man who seems to be quite cunning and ¡­ uh, I don''t know, he''s weird." "Cartel Hopkins?" I question, seeing as how the description fits him. "Yes. You know him?" She looks at me with expectant eyes. Well, I''ll have to disappoint you here, Roswaisa. "Nope. I am, in fact, searching for him." "Well, I met him a while ago. He wouldn''t be there where I last saw him though." She says. "I see." I say. This whole conversation is getting slower and harder to move forward, mainly because of the lack of any ''forward'' being visible. And I don''t know what to do. I mean, both of us are searching for something and both of us are in a tight spot. "Hah!" Roswaisa sighs and leans back on a container as she asks, "Do you know if Irium, at least, is doing fine?" "I have no clue actually. Dues has given the guarantee that she will not let him die but that''s it." I tell her. His condition really is a big anxiety-factor for me. Seriously, the situation is hopeless for all of us it seems. ***** A week has passed here and on Earth while three days have passed on Frost since the time Irium went to Frost. Because I have so much work to do, I can''t always keep an eye on his progress. I do try to check on him from time-to-time though. I would probably be showered in abuses and insults by Danny if he dies when I am not watching over him and that ends this whole thing. "Well, well," I say as I look at the two individuals whom have a symbol on their clothes that vexes me, "aren''t the Temple of Temur cute to have sent two guys after him already?" The Temple of Temur is an anti-me organization that originated in Temur Nation of that planet and spread though underground assemblies and small-scale schemes. By this point in time, their members are present, in varying quantities, throughout the planet. They started a decade or so ago and have been trying to protest against everything I ever do. Obviously, when I attained godhood, they become much more active as well as secretive in their endeavors. In Frost, where people have already accepted me as the God, they are looked in the same light that Satanists are looked at on Earth. However, they are feared a bit more because a lot of them have found ways to use mage-craft, something that isn''t exactly a tradition on Frost. They are pretty half-assed at it mage-craft though, a guy like Danny can probably take half of the members down by himself. In any case, it seems like they started a fire to lure Irium out, but when they noticed him not trying to be a hero, they attacked him straight-on. Somewhere in all this time, Irium found a way to tell them how I have taken Glice as hostage for him to do my bidding and so they decided to back away for now. They then stopped the fire and disappeared. Well, if Irium thinks getting on the good side of those half-asses will help him, I will laugh myself to death. But, I get a feeling that that idiot has something else cooking up in his mind. Whatever the case may be, it''ll be interesting to see how his journey unfolds from here. ***** 114 Boil Everybody wants what they don''t have. Why is that? Because there is something they lack. That is true even for a legend like Saitama. Even he wants fun, something he doesn''t have. So how can I not want what I don''t have? That''s right. It makes complete sense for me to want something I don''t have. It''s a part of my humanity. It is what gives me character, makes me a relatable and great protagonist. No, I am not monologuing over an adult scene in a classic novel and I am not trying to imagine lewd thing ¨C at all. I''m not, alright? I-I was just trying get acquainted with the literature of the world and found this book to fulfill that purpose so I started reading it and I liked it so I continued it and halfway through the book the romance got ''intense'' and well ... Calm down, Irium, calm down! You have been labeled a sarcastic asshole so many times that no one is gonna listen to you even if you aren''t lying. Knock! Knock! "Get outta that damn room!" A depressingly hyper voice of a drunken man comes from outside the door. What should I do? Should I do, like, have a weapon with me for insurance? I probably should. Thinking that, I pick up a knife and put it in my belt like some badass old-school cowboy. By this time though, CRACK! With that voice, the door to my room breaks apart and a guy about my size and not-very-special appearance (I mean he looks like most Frosts do, nothing striking about his appearance) enters and looks at me angrily. "Hi!" I wave to him as politely as I can but his anger only escalates from it. "You are the one who caused that fire, ain''t ya?" He asks in his shaky, drunken voice. "No, I am not." I was here in my room, enjoying some peace, just like before you broke in. "Don''t talk bullshit!" He charges at me. "I know it was you." Well, you know WRONG! Though I consider jumping to the side to avoid his charge more important than saying it, I am getting pretty annoyed by him. "You caused Furi''s home to burn down." He looks at me with angry, bloodshot eyes as he says that. "Who the heck in Furi?" "Furi is the most beautiful girl in the world! How dare you do that to her house!?" The idiot charges at me again. However, this time, I don''t try to evade. I stand my ground and get ready to fight back, which I don''t get the chance to do since the guy is drunk enough to slip on the damn floor. "Well, that was ¡­ anticlimactic." I say, slightly disappointed. "Who the hell said it was over!?" He gets up and tries to attack me again ¡­ and slips again. Well, now I am even more disappointed. What the heck is with this guy anyway? I mean, are people starting rumors like me starting that fire? I guess it is common to mistrust a guy who looks different from oneself but still, there should be many people down in the inn willing to tell that I was here and was not responsible. Or wait, maybe that is the problem. Maybe because they are of a different race to me, they think I might have some mage-craft that allows me to deceive them like that. If that is the case, then everything I do will be looked upon as suspicious behavior. "I need to get to the bottom of this." ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ "On second thought, I need to get out of this village and continue my journey." I was planning to spend today here and then head out tomorrow but since this all is starting to happen, I should probably just leave today. Since I have the map now, well, nothing ¨C a world map doesn''t really help with short distances. But since I have also looked at the state map in the inn''s reception below, I know that a village is not very far away and I can reach it by nightfall if I head-out now. So, that''s what I''ll do. ***** As I called him, this little annoying voice came to my ear saying, "This is Grey. Leave a message." "Hey Grey, I just wanted to tell you that I found Roswaisa and we have teamed-up since we kinda sorta have the same goal. I also found a clue as to where Cartel Hopkins might be so I am going to investigate it with Roswaisa. When you get this message, contact me so we can team-up." And so I leave the message, as the voice asked me to do. "What! No way!" And then I heard the familiar voice of the man I have called to saying through the phone, "If you already have a clue, do your job. I have to take care of other stuff." "So you were listening all along?" "Ah, well," ¡­ "I am sending you a location. Get there within 10 minutes." "H-Hey, I have stuff to do, you know?"Grey complains, much to my annoyance. "I know." ¨Cand I cut the call. I have stuff to do too, Grey ¨C stuff like punch Dues, take care of Glice, kick Dues, take care of Glice, slap Dues, take care of Glice, etc. But I am not able to do any of this because of the mess we are in. I really despise situations like these. They make me frustrated enough to want to break someone''s neck but I have to hold back and wait for the right opportunity to strike at Dues. I need to wait and do her bidding till then. "You seem angry?" The flying woman carrying me by holding my arm says. "That''s because I am angry, Roswaisa. How can I not be angry at a time like this?" Why can''t things ever be easy? Why does it always have to be complicated and convoluted? Cartel Hopkins, Dues ex machina, Kaylith Glice and I don''t know how many others ¨C why do they all have to be so damn cunning and hard to catch? ***** 115 Monologue Running See, whenever the readers know what your plan is before you execute it, it never works out flawlessly. Any plan only ever works out if the readers don''t know about it until the last moment. That is why I keep telling the author to stop making me monologue my plans out every single time. But well, he never listens. And so, this kind of thing happens. "He''s the one responsible for the fire!" "Find him!" "Don''t let him get away!" Running away from people that like Na''vi babies is definitely not what I needed for character growth, so why? What''s the point of something like this happening? I mean, I was going to leave this town, I was. If you read the previous chapter, you know already. If you didn''t read the previous chapters, why the hell are you here? Anyway, just when I decided to leave the town, I packed all my stuff up in a bag and started to leave. But, as soon as I got out of the inn, I saw the whole town looking at me angrily. I don''t even know why they think I caused the fire but apparently they think I am some kind of fiend send by ''God'' to test them and they are to ''destroy'' this fiend to prove themselves. How the hell did a rumor like this spread anyway? Well, I''ll think about that after I successfully escape from these idiots. I am currently hiding in behind the inn and keeping sharp for anyone who might be coming this way in search for me. Trying to hide from these people in their own town is not going to be possible for long so I need to find a way to escape as soon as I can. "Where is he?" "Didn''t anyone see him?" "I think I saw him heading to those forests." What forests! I never headed to any forest! What the hell is that background character talking about? Wait, forest!? I''m behind the inn, standing next to a side of the forest. If they head to the damn bunch of trees, they might notice me from the corner of their eyes. Need to get away from this place. Where should I go? I kinda locked away my escape routes when I waited for them to start heading to the forest. Maybe I should try to get in the forest. Yeah, maybe I should. I''m the protagonist after all. Nothing too bad can happen to the protagonist. ***** Alright folks, I take that back. "GRRR!!!" I am standing in front of a freaking bear who is angrily growling at me because I disturbed its eating session and its growls are attracting the townsfolk to me. Basically, I''m surrounded by the townsfolk on all sides except the side that I am surrounded by this bear on. "It''s a pity really." I say. "I actually really like bears." I mean, after reading the epic bear essay by Hachiman in first volume of Oregairu, how could I not like bears? Wait! Did I just reveal how much of a geek I am about Oregairu? "GRRR!!!" Oh right, there are more important things to do right now ¨C like running up to the bear and punching it in its gut. I can achieve up to a force of 20,000 N if I give it my all. It''s not even enough to break a brick but, on living organisms, it can do quite a bit of damage, even if we are talking about a bear. "G-gg-grr!!!" The bear backs away, still gritting its teeth and ready to attack. A single slap by this thing can absolutely destroy me so I get away and start running, using the small window of time my punch had bought me to my fullest. The bear starts chasing me. And of course the townsfolk aren''t very far away either. For times like these, I have reserved my skill ¨C Plot Convenience. What, did you forget about it already? I just have to somehow stay alive and the author will do something that''ll help me fight these idiots are escape. "Kill him as soon as you see him!" "Make sure your arrows are dipped in poison!" "Shoot as soon as you see that fiend!" Right? "GRRRR!!!!" Alright, just keep running, Irium. Things will be fine. This novel still has ways to go and it can''t go on without you. I mean, it''s not like Danny can lead the novel or Roswaisa. Even Dues can''t ??? actually, people really like evil MC novels on this platform and she has the added bonus of being a Waifu too, so that might work. Wait! Why am I even thinking about this!? I come into a clearing and can see an old Frost standing carefree with his gun. The bear growls from behind me. "You seem to be in some trouble, lad!" Great! Old guys always help. And they are really badass too most of the times. I am saved. "Need some help?" He asks. "Yea-" "Kill that fiend!" "Ready your arrows, we are closing in on him!" ¡­ the geezer points him gun at me. "What the hell!" "Are you a friend?" "No, I am not." "Then why are those people-" "They are idiots." "And just because of that, you think you can fool them and get away with it." "What!? No!" Isn''t there anyone who will pay some mind to my side of the story? I mean, come on! "Die, you fiend!" A guy chasing me enters the clearing and attacks me. At the same time, the bear enters from a different side too. The old guy has his guns pointed at me as well. There is no escape anymore. Death is closing in on me from all sides. Damn! What the hell! I didn''t know this was one of those novels where the MC dies or something ¡­ gunshot fires and, just like that, I''m ¡­ wait, nothing happened to me? Nothing happened at all. I had involuntarily shut my eyes but now I open them to see why all the attacks on me stopped. And the reason seems to be that the geezer shot the bear and everyone was too shocked to attack then. But why did he not shoot me? He seemed like he would. "I''m sorry, my friends." A voice comes from behind and as I see who it belongs to, it is a short man with a birdlike face. With a smile, he says, "I can''t let you hurt him. So," He looks at the geezer and the geezer points his gun at the townsfolk chasing me. "Unless you wanna burn, buzz off!" ***** 116 Deal With A Bird Part 1 "That man is responsible for-" a guy I don''t know anything about starts saying so but is cut off by "Nothing." ¨Cthe guy with a birdlike face. "He is responsible for nothing. And you all should get it through your skulls." He says all of that with a smile, a sarcastic one obviously. "But he-" "Get lost!" The bird-face guy says and the old man with a gun points it at the guy who is constantly arguing. He shuts up and so does the rest of the crowd. The bear is already down. So, I guess ¡­ I am safe? "Now," the bird-face man says, "I''m Cartel Hopkins. Nice to meet you, Irium." He extends a hand and I shake it and get back on my feet. At the same time, what someone said to me earlier about a man with birdlike face who has a grudge against Remedy Corporations comes back to me. He could be the guy. Hell, I know the author, he probably is the guy. "Now," He says, "I am sure you would quite surprised and confused as to why all these idiots suddenly started attacking you." "No, I know that part. It was because they were suspicious of me" I say a bit sarcastically, "But I am wondering why they were THIS suspicious of me." Cartel smiles and says, "Of course my friend, that''s what I meant." He motions to the old guy with a rifle and he bends over to open what seems like a manhole. "This leads to a certain base I had set some years ago." He puts a hand on my shoulder and tells me to go in, "We can talk better downstairs. You see, there won''t be anyone to disturb." I can read between lines. I also have a lot of cinema experience. So, I know the implications those lines can have. Yet, I decide to go in. I know I am taking a risk but, at this point, there probably isn''t any way to reach Telmakim without any risks now that an entire town thinks I am an arsonist. ***** Staring down a dark underground path leading to a subway station, there are three people standing here. One is me obviously ¨C your friendly neighborhood Danny. One is the demigod obviously ¨C your unfriendly neighborhood Roswaisa. One is Grey ¨C just Grey. "So, like, what are we waiting for?" I ask. "Not what; who?" Grey corrects me. "Since you have forced me to go on this little hunting session with you, I thought I''d call backup." "So we are waiting for Jessica to arrive?" Roswaisa questions. "Why do you think that Jessica is the only backup I can all?" He asks with a smirk. "Because you are Grey." Roswaisa answers, "You are far less annoying without her around." "¡­" Yeah, that''d shut up anyone. I am so glad Irium isn''t here to watch this fun exchange. There''s no particular reason, I am just glad I am having fun while he probably is not ¡­ and now I am worried about him again. "So, how long are we waiting for her?" Roswaisa asks me. "I mean, if she takes a lot of time, we might lose the whole opportunity of catching Cartel." Yes, that''s true. But fortunately, when they were arguing, I spotted Jessica in some distance and saw her coming our way. By this point, she is already close enough that we can hear each other if he yell. So, I just casually ask Roswaisa to look in her direction. "Well, I guess the waiting is over." "You know," Grey, seemingly a bit annoyed by Roswaisa''s attitude, says, "we only had to wait 6 minutes and 40 seconds for her to arrive. Is that too much?" "I can destroy this planet from its core in 6 minutes and 40 seconds so yes, it''s too much." Her retort shuts him up again. "What!?" Roswaisa questions as he notices that I have been staring at her while pondering something. "Nothing really, I was just thinking how you are the perfect pride for that asshole." And so I answer her. ***** The place that manhole led up to seems like a setting that''d be cool only if you see it in a video game. It is dark and cold, as you''d expect but has been lit up a little by two lamps. There is also a table two chairs on the opposite ends of the table. One of the two lambs is on this table and other is on a box that seems to contain something important (as it is locked quite well). "Please, relax!" Cartel says. I, him and the guy with the gun are here in the room and probably no one else knows this because the manhole has been covered up. If these try to kill me now and hide my body here, probably no one will find it for many years. Though, if that is what they were trying to do, Cartel wouldn''t have acted humble and gentlemanly and ''offered'' me to come here. Instead, he would have just forced me to come here by pointing the gun the old man has to my face. "Come on, sit down, I insist!" Cartel says with a smile and takes a seat. I take the opposite one. The old guy keeps standing like a trained bodyguard. "So, what do you want from me, Cartel Hopkins?" Cartel looks at me as if he doesn''t understand why I''d ask something like this. "I don''t think you saved me without wanting something in return from me. I just don''t think you are that kind of person." "I see." His smile softens as he says, "That''s very perceptive of you." "So?" I question once again what he wants and this time, "Irium, let me ask you something." I don''t stop him so he goes on to ask, "What do you do in a time of crisis, especially a crisis you are uninvolved in but will be affected from? What is the best thing to do?" ¡­ Well, the answer probably is- "Use it to your advantage." I say. "Precisely. I knew you''d understand." He says with a smile. "In front of us now, there is a crisis. And it''s name is Dues ex machina." "¡­" "Her killing the Angels and Demons will cause great changes in the universe." And, following the line of the previous question, I assume, "And you, Mr. Hopkins, want to make use of this crisis to climb in the ranks, whatever your ranks are." He smiles, as if to say yes. ***** 117 Deal With A Bird Part 2 "You are very perceptive." Cartel says. "Yes, I want to use this opportunity to climb to top of the ladder, the top of the mage world." "So you are a mage?" I ask. "Well, I am not very good at it but yes." Cartel says. "So anyway, in order to make use of this opportunity that had presented itself before me, I need your help." It makes sense. I am supposed to be Dues'' pawn. I am not that but that''s how many might look at me when they see that I am going on missions given by her. So, help from someone like me is definitely going to be beneficial in times like these. But, "You want to climb to the top of the mage world, right? Why not try to take help from someone like me on Earth?" I''d expect someone like that''d be far more useful to him. "Hahahaha!" He just laughs it off as a joke at first, but upon seeing that I am seriously asking the questions, he answers with a smile, "That''s a thing, Irium Glice. There is no one like you on Earth." I find that hard to believe. Like, really hard to believe. "There are two things I need to have in my ally for this mission." He says, "One is the relation to Dues, which as you are referring to, a lot of people do and in fact, there are others like your friend Danny who were as closely involved in the whole incident as you are." Yeah, that''s why it doesn''t make sense for him to come to me. "But, the second thing" he deliberately takes a pause before saying, "is that I need that guy to be willing to do some evil." ¡­ He just looks at me with a smile as if it''s my turn or talk or something. So, I ask, "And you believe that I would be ''willing'' to do some evil?" "Yes!" He doesn''t try to convince me into it. He just says it like it is a fact. So, "You are very perceptive as well, Mr. Hopkins." I say with a smile. He laughs and shakes my hand as he says, "Cartel please!" ***** We were expecting a big secret hideout and/or some dead bodies or something but, after going into the subway station, it just turned out to be a simple subway station. Furthermore, "The trail stops here." Jessica says. "You serious!?" Roswaisa asks, not really looking surprised to be honest. "Yes, I am serious." She says. "Raij¨± can''t smell past this wall." "Yeah, the same goes for my Manticore." Considering how experienced these two as well as their monsters are, I really doubt they are being deceived. The confusing thing however is that, according to them, the trail of smell stops at a wall. It''ll be one thing if it stopped at the platform''s end so we would know that Cartel boarded a subway and went somewhere but it stops at a wall, as if he just walked over to that wall and then disappeared. "I never liked the detective games to be honest." I say. "What do you guys think might have happened here?" Jessica, as she hears my questions, starts staring at the wall in question intensely as she says, "I think ¡­ he might have ¡­ come to this wall" she keeps contemplating as she continues, "and then he might have ¡­ stopped at the wall and ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ yeah, I have no idea." What the heck was all that then? "Let me give it a shot!" Grey looks at the wall even more intensely than Jessica did and says, "He might have stopped near the wall ¡­ and then might have turned around and ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ yeah man, sorry, no idea." ¡­ "Why did you even call these two idiots?" Roswaisa asks with a slightly annoyed expression. "I thought we could use their experience." I answer. "And you don''t need to tell me that I was wrong. I know." Roswaisa nods as if appreciating the growth in the mental capacity of a teenager. Well, after these two being completely useless, I think I kinda deserve this condescending attitude of her towards me. "Still," she says, "Even I can''t think of a lot of ways for a person''s scent to just stop at a place like that. "One possibility can be teleportation." Well, that certainly would explain things and also make things a lot harder for us. "Another possibility could be some scent-removing spell that I never cared enough to learn." Roswaisa says and starts walking away before I can return the condescending attitude from earlier. What the hell! Why is everything that''s happening so damn confusing? ***** "However," I tell the birdy, "It depends on what the evil is that I would do it or not." "I know, I know." Cartel says. "I know you won''t go around killing people for me. I have other people to do that kind of dirty work." "Well, I might actually be willing to kill" I say, surprising him quite a bit, "if it''s Dues ex machina who''s the target." Cartel laughs and moves his head in denial of my hopes. Well, if it''s not her, then I am not willing to kill. "What I want from you, Irium, is to get to the damned Telmakim, fulfill your objective and all ¨C but do it the way she doesn''t want you to." Well, that is a very tempting proposal. I already want to comply even though I don''t know what he even means. "Dues wants you to be the neutral guy that you are and just mind your own business." Cartel says. "I want you to do the exact opposite." I can''t help but smile. Till now, I have been minding my own business. And I see now that is what Dues wants me to do. Why? Because I am going to all the places she did, right? I am having all the experiences she had, right? So, if getting to Telmakim from that snowy place I entered from was an experience Dues had, she too would have been minding her business. She wants me to do exactly as she wants. But, there''s no force stopping me from not doing what she wants. At the end of the day, the deal is that if I fulfill my objectives, she will reverse everything. There is no one agreement saying that I have to do things her way. "So, what do you say?" I look at him in the eye and ¡­ smile. ***** 118 And The Charade Continues Having agreed to his deal of creating some chaos in the planet, I ask him, "While I''d be fun causing problems for Dues, do I get something out of all this?" Cartel smiles and answers, "Of course you do, my friend. I know how business works. I wouldn''t have come to you if I didn''t have anything to offer in return." He hands me what seems like a piece of paper but actually is ¡­ a certificate? "That certificate is proof that you are a member of the little fan following that Temple of Temur guys have developed throughout the planet." "Well, am I a member though?" I ask, not being sure I want to associate myself with those guys much. "Well, my friend, whether you are a real member or not is up to you ¨C but this piece of paper will allow you to fake it, and get all the benefits." He smirks as he says that, and so do I as I hear it. And so, my journey past this point is supposedly going to turn up a notch ¨C in the crazy department. ***** "So?" Dues looks at me, not completely able to hide to anxiety in her eyes, "How''s your investigation going?" "Pretty crappy." I answer. She gives an irritated look, telling me to continue and so I do, "Cartel Hopkins is nowhere to be found. There are no trails at all that we could be able to follow. And everyone who knew him says they never suspected something like this out of him, i. e., no idea what his motivations were. He was good enough to be able to completely hide them." "¡­" She looks at me a bit angrily and dejectedly, "You are right. Those are some pretty crappy results. I am sure you''d be glad to know though that your friend has disappeared from my detection system." "What!?" "I should be able to track Irium wherever on Frost he might be but somehow I am not able to. Someone out there is capable enough to block MY mage-craft." And that doesn''t really make sense. I thought her detection mage-craft was her strong suit and since she is the strongest person in the universe now, it shouldn''t be possible for anyone to be able to block her divination or scrying or whatever method she uses for these things. "I know how unbelievable it looks but-" "It doesn''t really look unbelievable to me." The demigod leaning on the pillar says with a smirk, "I could block your eyes on me." "I know." Dues says with an annoyed smile, "That''s what you have been doing all this time. If it wasn''t for that, I would have known that you all were failing in your jobs and started working on a solution to this problem." "Aw, sucks to be you!" Roswaisa doesn''t seem to care about the fact that, this time, Dues'' and ours'' goals have aligned. Instead, she is completely focused on mocking Dues. Yes, she really is the best woman for Irium. "Hah! Listen, you two," Dues says while facepalming, much to both of our glee, "Since you two are working together now, I don''t want to hear any excuses. You have power and a decent amount of smarts so find where the bloody hell is that birdy?" "Sure, and you better tell me that Irium is back in your sight and safe as soon as possible or I am going to start helping Cartel after I find him." I say, turn and start walking. Roswaisa joins me a gives a pat on my back for my last line. We both can hear Dues sighing and, as it fulfills the purpose of that line, we both find ourselves chuckling. We wouldn''t actually go and join Cartel (probably) but threatening Dues is a euphoria that I wanted to experience even if by lying ¨C and I did. Well done, me. ***** Now out of the manhole and having parted with Cartel and the old guy I never got the name of, I am kind of in a dilemma. I can sneak back to the town and then sneak out of it to get back on the actual road. Or, I can keep going through the jungle and take all the possible shortcuts to get to the nearest village or town. Either way, I am gonna need to hurry. One town has a rumor about me being an arsonist and one village is probably filled with people who detest me for having killed a dying, old man and left the village after that. It won''t take too long for the two rumors to combine and become a fire that ignites my reputation down to the negative numbers. Now that I think about it, even if I get back on the actual road, I would steel need to keep my face hidden to not let the rumors start making people suspicious of me. Well, anyone who hides their face would be suspicious anyway though. Not to mention that I really could use a power up. Like, come on! A protagonist of a different webnovel would be an OP Harem-lord by the time these many chapters were out. I deserve better than just being able to stand the cold, damnit! And so, I would be taking the jungle route. Let''s just hope I don''t meet any more bears or other dangerous creatures that I might have trouble dealing with on my own. That, and let''s also hope that I can steal some good abilities from some animals or person soon enough to get stronger because, all jokes aside, I really do need get stronger than how I am now. ***** 119 Ingredients "You sure are playing some big gambles here, Cartel." Niviks, the old Frost and my biggest ally through all my struggles lately, says so with a worried expression. "It does seem so, doesn''t it, Niviks?" I say with a smile, unable to hold in the expression. "What do you mean it seems so?" He asks, confused. "You have a demigod and 3 powerful Tamers running after you and causing that bitch so much annoyance. Now, you also have a guy trying to create chaos in Frost, the planet that bitch Dues was raised in and cares about probably the most." "Well, the situation does seem kinda dangerous!" "Kinda dangerous? You are messing with the strongest person in the universe and you are saying its ''kinda dangerous''?" "Well, you see, my friend," I say, "No matter how powerful a person might be, they always have a weakness. Even though Dues ex machina wants to believe it, she is no god. She is just a person like the rest of us. And so, even she has a weakness. All you have to do is exploit it." "Oh yeah? And what is her weakness?" He asks sarcastically, probably thinking I won''t be able to answer that. And it makes sense why he would think that. After all, there actually was a time where Dues had almost no weaknesses aside from her plan and its details that could have harmed her if they got out. But now, it''s different. "It''s the fact that she is the strongest that is her weakness." I say. "She was almost invincible a while ago but now, now that she has proclaimed herself a god, anything that challenges her status as a so-called god would be harmful to her." Literally anything that harms her image of fear and respect and power will cause her annoyance. And that''s because this image of ''god'' she has created for herself is her weakness. "Do you know why I didn''t lie to Irium? Why I just told him my end goal of rising to the top of the mage-world?" He shakes his head in denial, and so, with a smile, I tell him, "It''s because he too understands very well that, by becoming ''god'', Dues has made herself vulnerable. He too knows that if anyone tries to bring her down, they would need to strike at her image. He too knows that Dues ex machina is ¨C the strongest and most vulnerable person in the universe." "¡­" He is speechless. Of course he is. Most people don''t realize the most obvious things until it''s too late to do anything. I guess that''s where I differ from ''most people''. "Niviks," I say, "I''m telling you ¨C I am gonna be the king of magic one day. And THAT will happen despite the fact that I am one of the weakest mages on Earth." I will make it happen, no matter the cost. ***** Ten minutes of going through the forest and I have already encountered a wild boar, two wolves, a pack of hyenas and another bear. I have been somehow able to avoid all of them so far but I really am regretting deciding to go through the jungle. I am sure I would make the same choice if I could go back in time but man does this give me some whining rights. "You sure about this?" I hear a voice that sounds like one of a teenage boy. Since the words I hear are translated for my understanding, I am expecting that, however the voices of these people actually sound, I hear them like a human with their level of maturity would sound. That is the reason I haven''t found anything particularly monologue-worthy about their voice till now. Anyway, back to the topic, the boy seems to be around 14-16 from his voice. Okay, I don''t know, he could be less than 14. I just know he is younger than me so I assumed that. "Yeah, damn right I am." A girl''s voice comes next. She seems to be a teenage too. I slowly move through the bushes trying to not let them hear me so they continue their conversation. I am interested to see what they are talking about after all. "Fine! Let''s take it then!" The boy says. I have adjusted myself beneath a bush enough to finally be able to get a look at both of them. They don''t look particularly different from any other Frost children I have seen so far. The thing that they are talking about though ¨C that is something that interests me. "Alright, you get its head and I''ll get its tail." The girl offers. "No way! I am not getting stuck with the head. You do that. Taking him is your idea in the first place!" The boy says, quite freaked out by the thought of ''getting the head'', whatever that means. "So what? Starting this whole thing was your idea. And now that we need this thing as an ingredient and I am telling to take it, this becomes my idea?" The girl retorts, also freaked out by the same thing it seems. Well, ingredient, eh? That''s quite a witch-y word when used in such a situation. "Fine, let''s go with rock-paper-" I cover my ears and close my eyes. I don''t want this stupid game that somehow decides all the important stuff in animes to take place before my eyes as well. Seriously, this gimmick of rock-paper-scissors solving things is not even that generic and yet it is so stupidly annoying. I mean, yes, being the great weeb that I am, I have made major decisions of my life through a rock-paper-scissor game as well; like, that one time I played rock-paper-scissors against Danny to decide who takes the blame for playing a prank on the P.E. teacher when the principle called us to his office. It was something we both had done together but exams were coming and one of us needed to get the notes from the class so we decided one of us will take all the blame in the office. Of course I lost the game and then betrayed Danny by not taking the entire blame and that plan completely bombed but hey, it was back in middle-school. I was a kid back then. And that reminds me, there were a couple of kids I was eavesdropping on. I turn my gaze back to them and see that the boy, who probably lost the game, is trying to catch a fox by grabbing its head and the girl is trying to grab its tail. Well, at least I now know what the hell they were talking about. ***** 120 Couples Of Idiots A fox being an ingredient of some witchcraft, eh? Now that isn''t something that I have seen happening often. Then again, my ''happening often'' is all about knowledge from fiction and not any witchcraft I have seen with my own eyes so well, I don''t know if this actually is rare or not. Hell, I don''t even know if they are talking about some witchcraft or not. For all I know, these guys could want cook and eat fox. I wouldn''t do something like that but I don''t judge, especially not people from other planets. Okay, I take that back. I do judge. I think that Fox is far too cute to be made into an ''ingredient'' for anything. "What are you going to do if mom finds out?" The boy asks. What a wimp! I wanna save that fox so I am not gonna criticize him much but man, what a wimp! "I never really thought about it but I''ll think of something." Wow! You didn''t even think the question on your own and you are going to be able to think some answer for it when it happens? I see now that saving that fox might be easier than I thought. I mean, I up against a couple of idiots here. And they are not even Isaac-Miria-type idiots; they are Jessie-James-type idiots. ***** "Alright, so where should we start? What do we have to go on?" I ask, reinvigorated to find Cartel and help Danny and Roswaisa. "Nothing." Jessica says, also reinvigorated about the same thing. "Ah! That''s a good place to start." I mean, everyone and everything starts from there. Funnily enough, they also end there. Okay, this is not the time for philosophy but I think that concept is pretty cool. "So what do we do, Jessica?" I ask. "I have no idea, Grey." Jessica answers. Ah, it''s okay. Because we are so full of determination now, we''ll find a way ¡­ probably. "By the way, Grey, why are we so full of energy now?" Jessica questions with a hand on her chin. "Well, it''s probably because our profits rose up by 60%, Jessica." That is a huge rise in the profits, especially for a gem shop chain contained in one city. How can we not be happy and full of energy now? "Yes, yes, that is so great." Jessica says, dancing around. I join her and we start dancing, not minding the fact that we are still at zero progress in the search for Cartel Hopkins and also in the middle of a street. People around probably think we are drunk or something but well, who cares about them? We should just enjoy life and- "Am I to assume you two are the ones this letter is addressed to?" And then we suddenly hear an old guy saying that to us. We freeze. We back up. And then we realize there is no reason to be cautious of an old guy like him so we take the box he is carrying and see the one line of instruction written over it. ''Take this to the two people who are doing the most idiotic thing on New Town Street on 5 p.m. today.'' Well, did we win a voucher or something? That''d be nice. "Well, I''ll be going now." The old man says and goes away as we wave him. "Such a great old guy, giving us these vouchers even though we weren''t doing the ''most stupid thing'' on the street. How sweet of him!" I nod to Jessica and we open the box and see what vouchers we got then. "Such a stupid old guy, giving us these vouchers even though we weren''t doing the ''most idiotic thing'' on the street. How idiotic of him!" I nod to Jessica and we throw the damn thing away. This voucher is for our shops. What are we going to do with it? Buy from our own shops? "Well, that spoiled the mood." I say. "Yeah, let''s just go. Danny and Roswaisa are smart. They''ll find Cartel on their own." Jessica says and starts walking away. After a moment, I start doing so too. But then, "Hey Grey, when did we start giving any vouchers for our shops?" Jessica asks with a confused expression. "You know when, dear?" I say with an equally confused expression. "Never." We look at each other. And we look back at the box and the vouchers in it. And then we look at each other again. And then we start running. Ten minutes later, After having picked up and brought the vouchers to a park to study it, we see that the vouchers only have the name of our shops on them ¨C they aren''t anything like what we do. The font style and size and coloring we use in any advertisement or cards or anything is never like the one in this voucher. While that may not look like anything important on a normal basis, we have made these things are trademark. "What''s going on here?" Jessica asks. "I don''t know but this voucher is exclusively for our shop on Old Street, right? So, let''s go to that shop and check it out." I propose, and she accepts. Another ten minutes later, We are standing on the old street, staring at what should be our shop but is, in place of it, a pile of rubble. It takes us several moments of just standing in shock to be able to finally break out of it and run and see if everyone and everything is okay. But, we find out that they are not. Blood is all over the rubble that our shop has become and shine of the gems we had in there is also coming from beneath the rubble. Someone destroyed our shop. They killed our employees. They buried our gems. They did it on purpose. But why? "Hey Grey, I found something." Jessica hands me a piece of paper as she says that. Something is written on it with ink. And that something is ¨C ''Tomorrow at 6 p.m., your shop at the New Street will suffer the same fate. But you have the chance of stopping it if you want to. Just find and kill the little birdie''. The sender didn''t give his name but I think I know who the ''birdie'' is. ***** 121 Bind For now, nothing very interesting has happened. The two teens have taken the fox to a clearing in the forest where it seems they have set a camp or hideout or something as there is already quite a lot of wood as well as charcoal and a big as well as many small pots present. Yeah, this sure smells like witchcraft. That said though, I have been following them this whole time and I am starting to feel that I am wasting my time. Maybe I should have just saved the fox and be on my way. Because I decided to see what they were cooking up, it''s nighttime now and I am stuck in this jungle. The only way to spend this night safely is to follow these two to the town or village that they belong to. Obviously, for that, they need to actually go to that town or village this night. I am hoping they will. I am hoping they are not stupid enough to want to camp out here. "So, can we start now?" The boy asks. "I just need to boil some water first." The girl answers. "But we don''t have any water." "How hard is it to get some water? The river is hardly 50 meters away from here." Seriously? There is a river that close to here. Since I have only seen rivers covered with ice on this planet, I would like to check out how a river actually looks when it is flowing. It probably looks the same as it does on Earth but there is always a chance for that to not be the case. "We just need to do two rounds and we will have enough water." The girls says and, as she has finished tying the fox up, she starts heading towards what I assume would be the direction the river would be in. Man, these two really are idiots, aren''t they? Still, I would keep following them for now. ***** I don''t get what interest this guy has found in a couple of teens that he has been following them around for more than an hour. I don''t even think those two are doing anything all that significant. It''s just some basic witchcraft to obtain a strength increasing potion. "Just what goes on in the heads of these humans?" I had thought Irium would be different, that when push comes to shove, he would not let some idiotic curiosity get in his way. But well, he too is a human I guess. I misplaced my hopes in thinking he would be different. But since he is not in any kind of imminent danger that I need to bother myself with, I should probably think about that bother of a man. Cartel Hopkins, was it? Who is he? A piece of work, definitely. But, in a broader sense, who exactly is he? He has been able to slip away from one of the most talented Tamers on earth as well as a Demigod who is probably the second most powerful person in the universe; the most powerful after me. Now, he sure has guts for going up against people like this. However, he is somewhat a fool as well if he thinks he can keep outsmarting those two. He has no idea at all who is coming after him. ***** And yes, I finally see a flowing river of this planet. And it''s ¨C nothing special. It does look pretty clean though; far, far cleaner compared to the rivers on Earth. But anyway, aside from that, it''s not anything special. The two teens just take enough water to fill the five small pots they brought with them. I am guessing that much water will be enough to fill the half of that big pot. Makes sense why the girl said they needed two rounds of doing this. Since I am feeling a bit tired right now, I think I am going to just stay here for now and follow them on their second round of collecting the water from this river. So, thinking that, I let them go without following them. But, just as they leave me sight, "What the hell!" Something else comes in my sight. "You are kidding me, right!?" I ask myself, not really sure what to do. What I see in some distance and heading towards the place the two kids have set up their witch workshop at ¨C is what we call in folklore and games a Cyclops. "T-that thing ¡­ it looks hungry." I think I have heard enough accounts of Cyclops eating humans to not just keep sitting on my ass right now. "But ¡­ will I actually be able to do anything against that giant one-eyed creepy Troll-like thing?" I, much to my dismay, doubt that. ***** "What!?" Danny yells on the phone, surprising me and making me want to find out what he just heard from the other side. "You ¡­ please tell me you are joking!" He says and from the angry and tense expression that follows, I guess the guy on the other line, Grey, told him that whatever he said wasn''t a joke. Soon, the call finishes and I ask him what they were talking about. "Apparently, someone destroyed one of Grey and Jessica''s gem shops and gave a not saying that he will destroy another one if they don''t find and kill the ''little birdie''. You can guess who that is?" Yes, I can certainly do. "So someone wants Cartel dead so bad?" I contemplate on who it could be but it''s no use. It''s not like I knew him for very long and everyone Danny ever talked to about him was neither very fond nor hateful of him. I can''t really tell who would want Cartel dead so bad. "Is it possible that the news of Cartel''s involvement in the drug shipment messing up reached some higher-ups in Remedy Corp. and so they are trying to get rid of the guy?" Well, as far as possibility goes, that definitely is one ¡­ but, "I just don''t feel like Remedy Corp. would take a measure like destroying Grey and Jessica''s shops." I don''t think a corporation like that would adopt such a method. "Fair point!" Grey says. "But then who did it?" And so, another bind comes in our way. Cartel Hopkins, you sure have a lot of mysteries to you. ***** 122 Cyclops Okay, let''s get the basic statistics out in the open. What does that Cyclops have? Great build which gives it a lot of strength, vision that can detect things that normally people can''t and also great craftsmanship. What do I have? Plot armor, plot convenience, monologuing abilities and of course, seductiveness (Hahahaha!!!) ¨C None of which will be helpful against a Cyclops. If I have to defeat that thing, I need to use my surroundings to my advantage. Hmm, I''ll do that. Yeah, genius! Use the surroundings, the forest that is the home of your enemy, to your advantage! That''s the greatest plan you have ever thought of. But then, what the hell am I supposed to do? I am in a pinch here and well, knowing the author, he won''t put any cool ideas in my mind. ***** Since Grey and Jessica''s shop at the New Street is the next target, the first thing the two of us decided to do, after talking about the various possibilities and failing to figure out anything useful, was to get to this shop. For now, it is completely fine. The attacker said he/she will have this shop destroyed by 6 pm tomorrow. That means we still have about 20 hours before anything happens to this place. The problem is ¨C "What if that note''s purpose is to misguide us?" ¨Cthat doubt that was bound to come up in our minds. "What if the person responsible for this is targeting some other shop out of 8 others they own and that note was to make us not get to the right place in time?" Roswaisa''s question is completely sensible. However, even if that is the case, "I still think a thorough search of this shop might be a good idea." I insist so, mostly because of an instinctual feeling. "Well, I guess we do have time." She says and pushes open the door to the shop. The receptionist looks at us and smiles and starts with the formal greeting, to which, Roswaisa puts up a hand and stops her. "We are here on business and would need to search this shop thoroughly. You can call Grey and Jessica and ask them about us. They''ll tell you that we are trustworthy." Saying so, the Demigoddess heads deeper into the shop. So, I start with the outer sections. I might be wrong but I just feel that we will find a clue in this shop. ***** Adjusting myself at a distance I assume will be safe and still allow me to look at the clearing where the two have a base at, I try to look at what that giant one-eyed thing is doing. And, to my surprise, it seems what brought him here was the smell of a fox all tied-up and ready to be eaten. I am not surprised that a monstrosity like that would eat a fox but I wouldn''t wanna see that happening. I am not stupid enough to get my cover blown for the sake of saving a fox either so I''ll wait here. Forgive me, animal lover everywhere, but I am a human with barely any real power to speak of. "Don''t drop the pots!" The voice of the girl comes, heading towards the clearing. "I won''t. I am not so clumsy." The boy replies as he too is obviously heading in the same direction. They are about to enter the clearing and come face-to-face with the Cyclops. The Cyclops too seems to have started losing interest in the fox and is starting to react to the coming smell (or whatever it is that he uses to track his prey) of the two teens. It''s only a matter of time before some blood spills. "Wait!" The girl suddenly stops and drops the pot. "Who''s the one who-" "There''s something there, something really dangerous." Good senses, girl. Now, if you know what''s good for you, then start running. That way, I can also just sneak away and not bother with that monster. "But who would it be?" The boy, seemingly worse in the brain department, then starts heading into the clearing to check out who the girl just sensed. And so, "You idiot! We need to run!" The girl pulls on his clothes and starts pulling him backwards. "So what now?" The boy says with fierce determination. "Just because someone found our base means we abandon everything run away like cowards?" Yes. "Yes." And with that, the boy''s determination crumbles and he stops resisting being pulled back. However, the voice that idiot raised was enough for the Cyclops to start heading their way. I really can''t do nothing now. And so, I pull on a branch of a nearby tree as hard as I can with the intention to break it. And it doesn''t take more than five seconds for me to finally break it. The edge from I where I broke the branch, as I''d hoped, has some sharp edges. Now, that thing only has one eye. If I can get this into its eye, it''ll be blind and I''ll have a chance of overwhelming it. That seems to be the only way as there is no future for me in the option of taking on it in a fair-fight. "Hey!" The boy yells. "The Cyclops is looking right at us." Indeed, the Cyclops completely forgot about the fox and is looking right in the path and the two teens were coming from and now are running back on. And it certainly looks like it''s filled with gluttonous desires. Maybe eating humans is more pleasurable to it than eating foxes. In any case, I am going to go through with the plan and blind it. But, I need to be quick and quiet. That thing can smell as well as hear pretty well. If it seems me coming, the whole idea might just backfire. "Run faster!" The boy takes the hand of the girl and, using the biological advantage of his gender, turns the pace they were running at a bit faster. The Cyclops doesn''t fool around though. It starts chasing them right after. While its speed is nothing amazing, it still is faster than the two of them. However, I AM impressed by the strength this monster has shown. With every single step, he is leaving a mark in the ground big enough for one to assume King Kong passed by. Interesting. Maybe, after I blind him, I''ll use the one and only ability that I really have that isn''t borderline useless. I''ll take away this strength he is showing by my Moral Dystopia. And since that thought has crossed my mind now, I have to confess that I am much more motivated to go through with this. ***** 123 Swordsman From one tree to another, I constantly sneak around to get close to the Cyclops but avoid getting sensed at the same time. It''s faster than me so if I miss my opportunity, it''ll be hard stopping him from having those two Frost teens for lunch. "Just don''t fail me, okay?" I say so to the inanimate object that is the branch in my hand. And, as that happens, I finally stop sneaking around and start heading directly towards the path that the three people of interest are in. I come out on it right in front of the Cyclops. It finds itself surprised to see me and use that as the opportunity to penetrate its eye with the branch. The eye is higher than I can reach normally so I jump very close to him and try to put it in. If I fail, the Cyclops would easily capture me and crush me with its hard muscles. Fortunately, I don''t fail. I am able to open its eye up like a breaking an egg and it scream in agony as a result. I use that opportunity to touch it and start the process of Moral Dystopia. That''s it. With that, I will have strength equivalent to a Cyclops. This will obviously be a big improvement on my part and would definitely help me in ''causing some chaos'' in Frost, as per my deal with Cartel Hopkins. If only something this easy and helpful could actually happen without a problem. "Die, you fiend!" ¨Ccomes the very annoying voice of a guy with a sword as he appears out of nowhere and cuts off the Cyclops'' head. "¡­" "Ha! You thought you could hurt those two innocent children? I guess you didn''t know I was in the area, did you?" and that is followed by very annoying hahaha''s by this guy who looks like he''s a swordsman straight out of some MMORPG''s pre-made avatar set. "I guess I should also thank you, my dear friend. It was your courage and wit that provided me the chance to strike down this thing." He says, looking at me. "¡­" Since I am barely holding myself back from punching this guy in his oh-so-generic face for robbing me of the chance to gain a whole lot of strength, I decide not to speak anything. ¡­ Wait! I just realized. This guy looks human. He doesn''t look like a Frost. I guess I am still not adjusted to not seeing humans to have not picked up on this as soon as I saw him but well, this guy is an alien to this planet just like me. "Who ¡­ are you?" I ask, interrupting him from running to the two teens with a bright, heroic smile. "Me? I am no one special, my friend." Stop calling me ''friend''. It makes me sick. "I am just a swordsman out in Frost with some business he has to take care of. It is fortunate that I stumbled across this scene." No, that definitely is not ''fortunate'', you half-assed NPC-personality character! "Anyway, my friend, I should go and check up on those two!" He flashes a smile as he says, "They must be scared because of this whole thing." They SHOULD be scared, damnit! I''d, inversely, not go to those two and ask about their little witchcraft session as I am too outraged because of the opportunity I just lost because of that idiot. Wait! Did I lose it? I definitely did. But, does that mean it is over? Does that mean I have no opportunities right in front of my eyes? This guy was good enough with the sword to be able to dispatch the Cyclops'' head very cleanly. I will get the opportunity to steal strength many a times but, how many times would I be getting the chance to become good at swordplay? But no, think about this. This guy isn''t particularly evil. He isn''t a monster and he isn''t trying to harm anyone. He is, if I were to believe his words, here for some business. By stealing his abilities, I would put him in danger and who knows what kind of force might consequently become my enemy. Should I, then, go through with this? I honestly don''t know. "Hey kids, you okay?" "Y-yeah!" "There''s no need to worry now. I am here to take you back to your home." He''s pretty annoying but ¡­ can I really be okay with stealing this guy''s abilities? "B-but, we have something to do before we go home." "Oh? And what is that?" "It''s, well, we ¡­ were trying ¡­ a dark magic spell." As the girl says so, I temporarily push the dilemma I''m facing in the back on my mind and turn to them as I say, "And what exactly does the spell you were trying to perform do?" While scared at first, the two realize that they have an obligation to answer and so, they do. "It creates a strength increasing potion." "¡­" "Anyone who drinks it will become a bit stronger, about 2% stronger." That really is only ''a bit stronger''. "I see. I see." That annoying idiot starts again. "Don''t you two know that dark magic is bad?" "W-we know b-but it''s not like we have books on anything else." So, they have books on dark magic, do they? Now that''s interesting. I am afraid though that this idiot would come in the way if I ask them to show those books to me. "You should destroy all those books, children." He says with a grave look. "They are bad, really bad." Yeah, he would definitely come in the way. Or maybe, I can play this to my advantage. "Indeed." I say. "Dark magic books are nothing that you should be reading. You should give them to me." The idiot swordsman looks at me with a confused and wary expression. I continue, pretending I haven''t noticed. "I am wanderer of the universe collecting any and everything in the worlds I visit that might be dangerous or evil. I do so to protect the people possessing them from their influence. Hence, you should hand over those books to me." As I say that, the swordsman regains his bright smile as he falls into my trap and tells those two, "In that case, you should do as this man says." Well, this way, even if it''s not a Cyclops'' strength or a swordsman''s skills, I''ll at least be able to get some knowledge about dark magic. And as many smart people believe, no knowledge can ever be worthless. ***** 124 Call "Hey! Did you find anything?" I ask, having found nothing useful on my end. "Yes, I found a lot of things, Danny." Roswaisa answers with a bit of a sarcasm, "I found everything that won''t be useful to us." "Yeah, okay. Chill with the sarcasm!" I say as I stare out of the shop''s transparent glass gate, "We still have a lot of time to stop that guy." "Provided he actually waits till the time he gave us and doesn''t just blow this place up before then." I can certainly see how much she is starting to suspect the possibility of the note being a hoax to set us up. It''s not like I am not starting to suspect the same thing but I''m just not sure that this is all a setup. "Um, sir?" The guy at the counter comes to me and hands me a phone saying, "It''s for you." I take it and bring it to my ear and the first thing I hear from the other side is, "I see that you consider stopping me more important than finding Cartel." It''s a voice I have never heard before but I can guess who it belongs to. The person I am speaking to right now is the one who destroyed one of Grey and Jessica''s shops and said that the shop we are in now would be the next. "Well, it''s not that we consider it more important, it''s that it is part of the process." I say, sounding more nonchalant than I myself realized. "And what does that mean?" "You certainly have a history with that man seeing as how you are so intent on getting him killed. That means that taking you in custody and questioning you can give us some clues as to where he is right now. See? It''s two birds with one stone this way." With a light muffle, the voice from the other end becomes a bit sardonic, "You won''t be catching me, Mr. Tamer. Even with your Demigoddess friend, you can''t get to me. However, if you want information on him from me, I can give it to you. Just ask your questions." "Oh? You sure?" I ask in a mocking voice. With a click on tongue, the reply comes. "Yes, Mr. Tamer. I am sure." "Fine, then let me call you back." I say and move my fingers to end-call-button. "Wait! What the hell! I am sure you would be capable enough to tell that I am not calling from a mobile of my own. I am calling from a-" "Telephone booth?" I interrupt and say, "I know. And you better stay there so when I call that telephone booth back, you can pick it up and help me find Cartel Hopkins." I say and cut the call, not giving the person on the other end to do anything about it. I am not 100% sure they would really stay there but I am sure enough to take this chance. "You mind explaining what just happened?" Roswaisa asks with a curious expression. "Well, other than the fact that the person we are searching for just called me and found out from her voice that she is a woman, I made a deal with them to call them back telephone booth they are on." And that''s about all that happened. "So," Roswaisa asks with a smile, "I am assuming you expect me to have some ability to get to the telephone booth through some ultra-sensory ability I would have." "Pretty much." I reply with a smile. "Well," she says, "you are in luck." ***** Outside, merely five minutes later, I call her back from my car. To be fair, I am calling a telephone booth but oh well, after the call connects, it doesn''t take too long for the person on the other end to pick it up and say, "The next time you try to boss me around, I guarantee that I will be your doom." I look at Roswaisa as an indication to start with searching the location of the phone booth as I reply in an easy-going voice, "The next time you bring any harm to me or anyone I care about, I guarantee that I will make you regret ever being born. As a side note, I know a good many people who wouldn''t care for your gender ¨C at all." Of course, those people would call it ''being truly gender-equivalent'' or ''following Kazuma-san'' or whatever. Yeah, I am taking about Irium here. "Tsk!" ¨Ccomes the annoyed clicking of tongue from the other side. At the same time, Roswaisa flies off in a direction I assume she would have spotted the telephone booth to be in. That''s good. I just need to keep this woman on the phone long enough for Roswaisa to get to her. "But anyway, let''s get back to the topic." I say. "Are you really willing to answer my questions about Cartel Hopkins?" "Yes, I am." Her tone is as annoyed as it could be. "Then, how do you know him? Who is he to you?" "¡­" As expected, this question isn''t very easy to get an answer to. I guess I''ll need to try to- "He is nothing to me," She suddenly says, "nothing except the man who murdered my fianc¨¦." ¡­ well, I don''t know which part of this should I be more surprised on. "So, this is revenge." Well, the whole thing obviously smelled of revenge so I am not surprised that the reason she wants Cartel caught and killed is for something like this. Still, I kinda was not expecting ''killing the fianc¨¦'' type story. "Yes, it my revenge against him. Is that a problem?" "Not particularly." I say and continue, "So, why did Cartel kill your fianc¨¦?" "¡­" And I hope she starts suddenly answering like the last time- "I don''t want to answer that." Oh well, and here I was expecting this question will be easy to get an answer to. "Okay, when did he kill your fianc¨¦?" "I ¡­ don''t remember." She answers. What the hell is up with this story? I am starting to think she lied about ''killing the fianc¨¦'' thing. Like, how can you not remember something like this? "Wait! You tricked me!" Then, suddenly, she starts screaming that at me from the other end. I assume that Roswaisa is there. "I would have tricked you if I ever said anything like ''I wouldn''t try to catch you'' or something but I never did." By the time I finish saying that, I realize that she has already dropped the telephone and ran out of there. Fortunately for me, just a couple second later, the Demigoddess answers from the other end saying, "I got her." ***** 125 Not Suspicious Enough Turns out that the village the two teens lived in is not more than a mere five minutes away from the place they were having their little witchcraft session at. Since they told us that all the books related to magic are in their storeroom, I and the idiot swordsman have followed them all the way to this village. I am kinda not believing their story and doubting that they are planning on escaping from us. That is why I have kept a good eye on them for the whole time. The idiot swordsman, who told me that his name is ''Sung Li'', has been cheerfully talking about something I haven''t paid attention to but also not bothered to stop him in to not let the two teens realize that I am not falling for their little charade. "That is our storeroom." The girl says while pointing to a run-down wooden one-room house next to a comfortably large brick-house. I guess it does look like a storeroom, if nothing else. "Then let''s go there." The idiot Sung Li cheerfully says. The two nod and start heading towards it. The idiot follows right after and I stay just a little behind him. I am kinda also wary that the rumors about the whole incident at that town being caused by me would have spread and I might be in some trouble if people see me. Though, to be fair, to them, I and Sung Li might look similar to the point of mistaking us for each other. With that whole thing in my mind, as I pass by people, I can''t help but feel suspicious of what they think. Soon, we reach the storeroom and the boy opens its door, which doesn''t seem to have locks. As he opens it, a lot many books can be seen kept inside there. So, like, where they not trying to trick us in any way? No, it''s still too early to drop my guard. "All the books here are based on witchcraft." The girl says. "Oh, we don''t need to take every single book, only the ones related to dark magic. They are the ones that could be bad for you." Sung Li says to them like he is talking to a grade-schooler. Having been on this planet for a little while, I can kinda discern the expressions of the girl being that of irritation at that fact. "Well then, come in." The girl says. Now this is where we might just fall in their trap if we keep doing what they tell us to. And so, even though Sung Li enters, I don''t. When they look back at me with questioning gazes, I quickly cook something up like, "It has something to do with my beliefs but I can''t step foot in a place where knowledge of mage-craft is stored. Please just bring the books to me! I''ll stay here." Since Sung Li is an idiot, that little made-up story is enough to convince him as he flashes me a smile and a thumbs up. The other two don''t look very convinced but they don''t say anything either. Within a mere five minutes, I am given 10 books that are thick enough to remind of my Mathematical textbooks and all have some eerie vibe to them. One of them has the cover of it made from the fur of some animal and a little blood is still on it while one has a creepy illustration on the cover of a Siren luring sailors towards her in order to devour them. "Is this all?" I ask. "Yes!" The girl answers. The boy nods. And the idiot says with a smile, "Well then, that should be good enough." "Yes but, Sung Li," I say, "Could you tell how much something weighs by picking it up?" "I can give an estimate." "Good, good! I am not very good at those things so could you tell me the estimated weight of each of these books?" He gives me a thumbs up and start going through each book one-by-one. Even though he picks them all up with his bare hands once, nothing seems to happen to him. So I guess picking them up would be fine. But, what about opening them? However, just as I was about to fully conclude that touching them does not do any harm, Sung Li screams in an agony-filled voice. "W-what happened!?" I ask as he drops the final book that the two had brought us. "I was a fool." He says in a serious and somewhat furious voice, "These two are no Frosts." I look at the two teens and see them looking back with smiles. I look down at the book that caused Sung Li to cry in pain and see that it has an illustration of a band of really mean and inhuman looking people wearing human-like masks and luring two humans to where they live. As soon as I look at that, I take a glance back and see everyone in the village looking at us with eyes filled with ¡­ hunger. Seeing me look at them, their appearances start to change. "These people are" I realize just as Sung Li says it, "the worst of the wizards." All of their appearance becomes that of old crooks and hags with pure black clothes and hats like the traditional appearances of witches and wizards. Even the two teens from before have had their appearance changed. Furthermore, many Cyclops and other large creatures have appeared on the edges of the village as if to block our escape. I see now. So they knew I was watching them and the whole thing with the Cyclops was a charade to fool me. And I got fooled, damnit! Here I was thinking that I was being a little too suspicious of people and now I realize that I actually wasn''t enough suspicious of them. Well, that said, I am not exactly scared or worried as to what might happen. While yes, they may have me surrounded and think they have the advantage, I can''t help but smile at the opportunity right before me. I mean, think about it. Over 50 people with dark magic abilities all present all around me. How is this not an opportunity for a little Moral Dystopia? "Well, you seem unexpectedly happy." Sung Li says as he lets go of his hand, which I assume is because his pain has subsided. "Well," I cook something up again, "how can I not be happy when I have the chance to stop so many dark magicians right in front of me?" And hearing that, Sung Li takes out his sword with a smile and says, "Well, if that''s the case, let''s show these bastards who is the boss!" And so, a bloodbath begins. ***** 126 Lie And Steal Part 1 An idiot though he may be, I can''t deny that Sung Li is a man of exceptional skill. I could tell from the way he cleanly dispatched the head of the Cyclops as well as from how quickly he healed from the pain caused by the dark magic on that book. This is a big reason why I am not scared at all right now. As long as he thinks I am on his side, I have a great pawn to use against the likes of these wizards. Still, their numbers are pretty big and a swordsman as simple-minded as him is not really the best match against them. Dark magic thrives on many deceitful spells. If they get into this idiot''s head, they might be able to turn him against me somehow. That is why I need to get in his head before they have any chance. "Do you think we can win?" I ask, trying to give my best nervous expression. "I know we will." He says with a smile. As expected, he is the simple-minded optimistic idiot that won''t back down even against these numbers. "I see." I say, acting as if I am relieved to hear his confident answer. "Then I guess I''ll put my faith in your abilities and leave the grunts to you." "The grunts?" He questions, seemingly on-guard but also curious as to what I mean. "Despite what they look like, all the guys here are not equally capable dark magicians." I say something that I cooked up a minute ago. "In fact, most of them are grunts who are only following the orders given by their bosses." "I see." He says, impressed by my ''knowledge'' about these thing. "So you are telling me that you are going to take out the boss while I keep the grunts occupied." "Indeed." I say with a smile. "I do have enough knowledge and skill to find and overpower dark magicians on this level." Because of the flow of the conversation, I can bet he believes me when I say that and is thinking that the numbers in front of us are the only problem for me. Therefore, he would gladly accept the job of keeping the grunts occupied. Of course, in reality, I have no clue what kind of system these dark magicians follow. I really doubt it''d be the boss-grunt thing I ripped off from video games. But, to them, it would like a foolish and misguided human telling another foolish human something foolish that would end up benefitting them. So, they won''t say anything. And that will give me the chance that I seek. So far, the two sides have been in a stare-down. We know that their numbers are absolutely astounding and can overpower us. They know that we (or at least Sung Li) can take down a lot of them before going down. Therefore, neither of the side has risked making the first move, as it is very likely that the one who makes the first move will take more damage in the battle. But since I am done relaying my plans, I bend down to the ground and start moving my eyes through the crowd of wizards. Sung Li, who immediately notices this, assumes that it is me trying to figure out who the boss is and so covers me from every end to make sure I don''t get harmed while I am not fighting. What I am really trying to do obviously has nothing to do with the bosses. I am just trying to figure out a good pattern to use to steal their abilities. And I think I found one. So, "I''m heading out!" I say and start running is a tangent direction from where I was. Sung Li uses some pretty game-like skills to remove the dark magicians in front of me and clear a path. I flash him a thumbs-up as if to say that was helpful even though it doesn''t really make much of a difference. I run and run and then stop right next to a wizard who looks physically weaker than his peers. I immediately put my hand on his wrist and call forth in my mind my ability ¨C Moral Dystopia. I can hear the voices of Sung Li''s blades massacring the wizards from behind but I try to focus as much as I can on the ability I am using. Because I am right in the midst of the enemies, I don''t have the luxury of draining this guy of everything he has. All I can do is getting what I can and then scram to some other wizard. Luckily for me, wizards aren''t very powerful physically so in order to attack or defend against me, they would need to use spells. That buys me just a little bit more time to do what I am doing. "Hey, how''s it going?" Sung Li shouts out from behind. Instead of answering to him though, I use the distraction that his voice creates as an opening to run away from where I was and get to a different wizard and then start using Moral Dystopia on him. Before I started with all this, I realized that it might be really hard to steal their spells and whatnot especially seeing that I have no potential for mage-craft of any kind. That is why I decided that I would steal their potential first, so I can later make use abilities I steal. In gaming terms, instead of stealing their moves, I would be stealing their stat points. And well, so far, it''s working. While I didn''t feel any immediate effect, the stolen stats are slowly taking effect and my body is starting to become ??? somewhat hotter. Back when Danny, Grey and Jessica tried to find out my potential for magic, they told me that my body would heat up in proportion to the potential I have. Nothing happened back then since I didn''t have any potential but the thing they talked about back then is definitely happening now. Well, I guess that means I am starting to become a wizard myself. And on that occasion, Nietzsche''s famous quote comes to mind. "Battle not with the monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." ***** 127 Lie And Steal Part 2 "You find the boss yet?" After I run away from my third target and coincidentally reunite with Sung Li, he asks me that. "It''s not that simple. There is more than one boss." I say. "In total, there are six bosses here. As long as even one of them survives, the horde won''t back down." With that lie, I get to have the chance to steal from three more targets. "I see. I''ll cover you. Just keep doing you part." He assures me. "Well, I''ll be counting on you then." I say and start heading out. His face lits up as he asks, "Really?" Like hell would I actually be counting on you! "Of course!" I soon come across the wizard I decide to make my fourth target. Being that these guys are mages and decently skilled ones at that, they seem to be catching on what I am trying to do. That is why, this time, they seem prepared to make me back off by using instant spells. Before they are able to accomplish anything though, "I need some help here! These guys are trying to protect the boss!" I yell and soon the wizards around me either back away or get hit by sword slashes and attacks. That buys me just enough time to steal a good amount from this target and move away. I have two more chances before I''d need to make something up again to deceive Sung Li. As I have drained the potential of four wizards by now, I think I would have stolen enough to be able to pull of some mage-craft now. So, I am thinking of stealing some moves from my next targets instead of just potential. The time-problem still exists though. I guess I''ll just have to tell Sung Li to cover me so I get enough time to steal some decent moves in my brain. Unlike the potential to do anything, which probably needs to be assimilated within the body, the various moves are just a combination of knowledge and skills that one can learn. So, I don''t think they will take as long as it takes the potential to start showing itself within me. Therefore, "I know what I need to target first." While there is no rule telling me this, it kinda falls in the scope of common sense that something I have already seen will be easier for me to steal/learn. Therefore, I quickly get to my fifth target and start stealing the ability to change one''s appearance. It isn''t something that would directly help in a fight but I am not really here to fight, am I? I am here to cause chaos. My rather pleasant mood at things going according to plan gets disrupted by the awkward and quite repulsing feeling that suddenly wells up from within me. My expression probably changes too, and that causes Sung Li to start rushing over to help. Not good. I know this feeling is because of the ability being injected in me forcefully. If he takes me away thinking it will help, while it may stop this unpleasant feeling, I will probably be unable to fully extract this ability. Therefore, I put up the other hand (the one that is not touching the wizard) and just point at the other wizards around to make him focus on them. Despite being an idiot, he is at least a little experienced in battle. Therefore, he doesn''t waste time just standing and does as I ask him to. With a few more seconds passing by with his help, the feeling within me stops welling up and becomes constant, and then it starts disappearing. I know that would mean that ability is adjusting with my body. Just to make sure, I don''t let go of the wizard till the feeling has subsided completely. As soon as it does though, I let go of him and get away. I should now be able to change my appearance. One more steal before I would need to use this ability though. "Alright, only one more boss should be left?" Sung Li asks as he rushes back to me. "Yes." I say, knowing what kind of doubts he would start having by now. "Are there really only 6 of them though?" He asks. "Even though you have taken care of five, the forces don''t seem to be having much of an effect." "That''s because I haven''t taken them out ¨C yet." I know that the fact that the five I have targeted are still standing and trying to attack will become a hole in my lies pretty soon so, I mention it before that happens. "Huh?" Of course the idiot does not get what I mean, so I tell him, "In simple words, you can say I have attached a bomb to the five of them. I will do the same to the sixth one and then ¨C I will pull the trigger for every single bomb. That will turn the whole situation around in one fell swoop." Without waiting for his response, I rush into the crowd of wizards yet again. He stops thinking about what I said, accepting it as is, and starts backing me up like before. Soon, I choose and start stealing from my sixth target. This time, I am hoping to steal an offensive move of some kind. I don''t have the luxury to carefully analyze things so I am just going to do my best to try to force Moral Dystopia to target an offensive ability. And soon, the unpleasant feeling akin to before comes and starts to make me nauseated. I don''t think I would be able to steal any move after this even if I had made the number seven instead of six in my made-up BS. I am just hoping that the ability I get my hands on now is a decent one. Things happen just like before. The wizards try to attack me but Sung Li stops them. And so, I get enough time to steal a move and get away. I can see that Sung Li has gotten tired and has a few scratches on his hands and legs. He has definitely fought hard to get us out of this predicament. I am sure that deep-down, he knows as well as I do that I am just spouting nonsense this entire time and that we are about to get overwhelmed and defeated here. And sure enough, annoyed by my constant stealing from them, the wizards finally start opening up the way for their Cyclops slaves to come and attack us. While Sung Li has been able to reduce the number of wizards to two-thirds of what it was before, against these 10-12 Cyclops, even he would fall. And so, I am going to take charge now. ***** 128 Bloodbath Part 1 Aside from my ability to withstand the harsh climate of this planet, I have two abilities. One of them is the ability to change my appearance. The other one is the one that this entire fight depends upon. As soon as I realized what ability I had ended up stealing from my sixth and final wizard target, I thought that luck had finally chosen to show its good graces to me. "Beating those Cyclops will be hard." Sung Li says with a serious expression, "Unless you have got a plan, running will be our best choice." "Well then," I say with a smirk, "good thing I have got a plan then." Now I don''t mean to flex my geometrical muscles here but I would say that about a 50-degree arc is left on two sides around us for the 10-12 Cyclops to attack from both sides. The rest of the 260-degrees around is covered my mages. "When I give the signal, charge into the band of Cyclops in front of you." I tell him. Probably thinking that I have a trick up my sleeve, he nods. And then, we both show back to each other''s backs and look at the two opening left by wizards for the one-eyed giants to charge at us. A wizard then raises his hand. I take a glance and see that another is doing the same thing on the other side. Then, both direct their hands towards us, as if to signal that the monsters should start running at us. As soon as that happens, the wizards start casting and the Cyclops from both ends start charging at us. So, "NOW!" I yell, even though I didn''t really need to. Sung Li follows through and charges at the Cyclops heading from his direction. I turn, showing back to the ones heading from my direction and look at Sung Li. I won''t get a better chance than now to pull this off so ¨C here goes. "Come and die, you bastards!" I curse under my breath as I touch the ground and use the other move I just stole from these wizards. As soon as the process is complete, which happens right when the Cyclops coming from my behind were about to reach me as well as it looks like the wizards are ready to cast their spell, I run. I run as fast as I can, even going so far as to purposefully damage my leg muscles so the limits on my legs are temporarily broken by the adrenaline rush from within. And it works. As soon as I stop, I am going to get a bad case of cramp but for now, I fulfilled my purpose. I set a trap ¨C and they gloriously sprang it. "DIE!" I curse as I finish the one last thing I needed to do for my spell to work. And so, they ¨C all the Cyclops chasing me from behind ¨C cry out in pain because of their feet being crushed by sharp and hard projectiles formed out of the ground. Yes, that is the move I stole from them. It is the ability to control the ground. At this point, I can''t do a lot but someday, this ability could become a weapon to bring down monsters thrice my power level. These wizards quite proudly call this ability ''Earth Authority''. I haven''t really thought about it much so for now, I will stick to this name. Now, onto the other side, "Agh!" Sung Li muffles a pained cry as he gets bashed away by two Cyclops. Since the Cyclops coming from behind me have been dealt with, I have the luxury to use the same move as before on the place I am standing right now. And so, I touch the ground and make sure the ground underneath, especially the rocky parts, turn into spiky and really hard objects. As soon as that is done, I run away and yell to Sung Li, "Come back!" He clicks his tongue but does he is told and soon passes through the area I have used my spell on. The Cyclops obviously follow him and run to that part as well. As soon as they set on that area, I will use the ability again to bring those ''weapons'' I have turned the rocks beneath into out and pierce their feet. Just like the ones from behind, these Cyclops will fall and keep writhing in pain giving me and Sung Li ample time to kill them one-by-one. Unfortunately, it does not work out like the last time. A wizard puts his hands up and the Cyclops stop chasing us. They do so right before stepping on the area that I need them to. The wizard who had stopped them then points at me. Does that mean he is telling them to target me instead of Sung Li? Well, it wouldn''t make much of a difference. In fact, it would make them easier to manipulate since I wouldn''t need to indirectly manipulate them through that idiot. "Watch out!" Sung Li yells at me with terrified eyes and I quickly duck as I heard that. It''s as if an animal instinct inside me told me something bad was going to happen if I didn''t duck. And the instinct was right on the mark. A big, thick tree-trunk flows over my head. I turn around and see a Cyclops swinging it like it''s a rod. "Crap!" Without even realizing it, I get back on my feet and start running away. The Cyclops attack again ¨C right at me with a vertical swing this time. I dodge to my right and keep running. I know for a fact that just one hit from something like that can give me enough wounds that I won''t be able to recover, that is, if I don''t die from that hit itself. "GRR!!!" The Cyclops chasing me from behind with tree trunks as well as the ones waiting for me ahead ¨C they all growl as if they are some wild animal looking at their prey trying his pathetic attempt at escape. Shit! Shit! Shit! I underestimated them too much. But still, I haven''t lost yet. And I will never do. ***** 129 Bloodbath Part 2 "Any new ideas?" Sung Li asks. "My last plan may not have worked out perfectly, but it still had some effect." I say. While I couldn''t take care of all Cyclops with that strategy, I did make rocks penetrate the feet of half of them. Fortunately, those are the ones that are using tree trunks as weapons. This is why I have been able to get away and not become their target. Their feet probably hurt like hell and chasing me is really hard for them for that reason. If we were in the normal conditions though, they probably wouldn''t even be standing now because of the pain. The reason they are still able to chase me is because they are mindless slaves of these wizards around us. "Hah!" The problem with my last plan was that I was missing the forest for trees. I had realized that the Cyclops were the immediate threat and made a plan to take them out but didn''t account in it what these wizards maybe capable of doing. So, this time, I am going to incorporate them. "What are you gonna do?" Sung Li asks as he stands back up on his feet and runs his eyes on the enemies at every side. I casually answer, "Sacrifice you!" As soon as he heard that, he looks back in shock and gets even more shocked as he does not see the ally he had had for this entire time. I am nowhere in his sight, or at least that''s what he thinks. Who he sees in front of him is a wizard standing a little closer than every other wizard. This wizard is wearing a dark robe and a hat like every other wizard around and has a pretty ugly face. Therefore, there is no way for him to tell that this wizard is me. Yes, as mentioned before, this is the first move I stole from them ¨C the ability to change my appearance. Because of this though, not only is Sung Li confused but, "W-which one!?" Even the Cyclops are asking questions like that to the wizards as they just can''t figure where I am. Think about it, if a cat suddenly turned into a dog and mixed in with other dogs, would you be able to tell it apart. That''s how it is for the Cyclops right now. That said though, the wizards obviously can tell me apart. They are probably masters at using this move by now and so there is no way I can fool them. And ¨C I don''t need to. "My brethren," I say in a chaotic voice as I point to Sung Li, "kill this man in front of you!" Confused and irritated at these developments, Sung Li attacks me. This was a chance I had to take and so I did, and thankfully, it paid off. I avoid his attack in time but that attack is able to take out a few wizards not very far from me. I use the little time-frame I get to run into the crowd of wizards and let them become my meat shields against that enraged idiot. I can hear him yelling as he slices through every single wizard he comes across. After gaining enough distance from him, I touch the ground and stay there for a mere 2 seconds before I start running off again. The wizards try to stop me but are unable to because of their rather weak physical attributes. Sung Li keeps slicing off wizards left and right and will probably become a target of some of their attacks and die. Or at least, that''s how the wizards would think it will go. In that 2 second touching of the ground, I had turned the gravels in the ground into my puppets. As soon as my I spot a wizard ready to take out Sung Li with an attack, I make them rush over to those wizards and hitting them with speed fast enough to do as much as damage as arrows would. Sung Li, in his anger, does not even notice and continues to slash through the wizards. The Cyclops then stops gawking and start attacking Sung Li as I am nowhere to be found. That is when 5-6 Cyclops that had stopped a little away from the ground I had turned into my weapon step on that area and I use my ability to take care of their feet. They start crying in agony, drawing all attention and giving me enough time to get into the forest. The wizards start following me but once I change my appearance back to normal, I become able to run through the forest much better than they can with their robes on. This way, I find myself in a position where I just have to lose the trail of these wizards and I would be safe. At the same time, Sung Li would be dying a very worthless death back then. What else can I expect when I abandoned him? I am sure those are the thoughts that are running through the heads of those wizards chasing me. In my rush to get away from them, I trip over an overgrown root of a tree and fall. I try my best to get back up but because of the rush, I end up falling again and they catch up to me. "Well, look what do we have here?" One of the wizards says. I roll over and get my back on a tree as I look at them. "Abandoning your friend wasn''t such a bad idea. Too bad you still couldn''t escape." As if mocking me, the wizard says so. "¡­" When I don''t reply though, he sighs and asks, "Any last words before we kill you?" He and others who were following me have their spell ready and I can''t escape even if I want to. So, they are confidently asking that. "If you are going to give the chance, then tell me something." I ask. "I was never able to steal an important piece of information from you guys. I couldn''t find out what you call this ability that allows one to change their appearance." Listening to that, the wizard sighs and answers, "It''s called Image." "I see." I say ¨C and smile, "Thanks! Now die!" Sharp rocks in the shape of needles come out of the ground and attack all of them. They all fall back and their spells fail. The needles don''t stop there though. By penetrating their hearts, they make sure to finish them; I make sure to finish them. Did those idiots actually think I was going to abandon Sung Li and run off? Did they actually think I just ''happened'' to trip and fall just now? Did they actually think they would win? Don''t make me laugh! ***** 130 Bloodbath Part 3 "W-w-what are you doing!?" A wizard with a confused and terrified expression asks, "How are you even alive right now?" He is terrified because all of his comrades who came running after me are dead and I am stealing their potential from them. "Where do I start?" I keep draining them of their potential. It''s clear that I need more than what I had before so I need to continue this. "I started by running past you people so you couldn''t possibly ignore me and follow me." The wizard stares in fright. "Then I made them all follow me far enough and acted as if I tripped over tree roots." He keeps staring in fright. "My hands hit the ground, giving me the opportunity to use Earth Authority and make the ground my puppet." He tries to back down a little, possibly trying to run away. "I then used this puppet of mine to kill all these useless bastards." He turns and starts running but is unable to as ¨C "AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" -his legs separate from his body, staying attached to the ground. "Well, well, that is new." I say, quite pleased. "I couldn''t do that before. Guess stealing more magic potential makes my magic moves stronger." It''s probably the same difference that is present between people with talent and those not with it. Only thing is ¨C I can actually steal talent from others. "AAAAAHHH!!!" Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that little flea that I tore the legs off of. "Hey now!" I say. "You didn''t actually think I was answering your question and telling my story because I was planning to let you go and warn everyone else about me, did you?" To be fair, they already know that I can steal abilities but, to what extent can I steal them? That''s what they don''t know. "AAAAAAHH-" He''s annoying, so I kill him by shooting a pebble through his body as if it''s a bullet. And now that that''s taken care of, time to go kill every other goddamned wizard that was back there. Or wait, I can also steal the potential of this guy first. That should help. Yeah, I''ll do that. ***** The plan has failed. We surrounded those two idiots pretty well but one of them is very strong and the other is cunning. They have already caused many casualties to our side. When things were getting desperate, the elder called for the Cyclops to fight them. The cunning one still had a few tricks up his sleeve though and that caused many problems and allowed him to escape. The other one though, was all brawn and no brain. The cunning one betrayed him and ran away and this one became the target of all of the Cyclops'' attacks. He is getting thrown around like a doll now. I guess, even if we failed to capture both of them and suffered casualties, the mission of getting a sacrifice for Goddess Dues still succeeded. I and my sister are currently hiding behind the adults. We put on a play and made them follow us to the village. That was our job and we did it. So, even if Goddess Dues is not satisfied with the results, there should still be no skin off our backs. And that''s all that matters to me. So, whatever happens, I am happy with the results. "Y-y-you w-will-" The stupid man that was left behind tries to say something but is unable to finish as he gets thrown around by a Cyclops. He is covered in blood and doesn''t seem like he''ll stand a chance at beating even a single wizard now. Seeing at him in this state, it''s almost hard to believe that we took out half of us before the Cyclops were called. "W-what''s that!?" A wizard standing next to me backs away in fright as he points at the forest. "Hey!" I yell at him. "Your job is to protect me and my sister. How dare you try to back away!?" "N-no, boy, there''s some-" "I don''t care about your pathetic excuses. If something dangerous is there, make sure it can''t harm us and alert the others." I feel a tug at my clothes and turn to my sister ¨C the person responsible for tugging it. "It''s not just him." She says and points behind me. I turn to look and see that everyone around me seems terrified just like this idiot and is back away, as if they want to run away. "What the hell is in that forest!?" I ask, not really expecting an answer. But, the man tasked to protect us gives one. "It''s a monster of our kind." I turn to look at his face, expecting he''d making some stupid face, but what I see is an expressionless visage that I have only ever seen on the faces of our enemies before. It''s the face of a man who has accepted death as if it''s an inevitable outcome. But, obviously, that is not the case. "Hey!" I yell, "Snap out of it and-" Blood splatters all over my clothes, some of it even reaches my mouth. I look down and see that a spike made out of stones and mud has pierced through the abdomen of this guy. I can feel my sister getting behind me in fright. Even though I usually play the wimp in the fa?ade we put up to lure in strangers, in reality, I am the older brother and have to be the courageous one and protect my sister. Therefore, I should call other wizards to- "N-no way!" As I look around, all the wizards in the village have suffered the same fate. The only ones alive are the two elders capable of controlling the Cyclops and the two of us. We all, inadvertently, look at the part of the forest everyone was pointing at. And then, we see a man walking out of it, glaring at us with a mocking expression as he says, "I didn''t know I could get this strong from stealing from a mere 5 or 6 more wizards." He looks at his hands casually. At the same time, I see the two elders getting killed by the same method he has used until now. "Or maybe, you guys are just weak." ***** 131 After The Bloodbath He looks at his hands casually. At the same time, I see the two elders getting killed by the same method he has used until now. This, without a doubt, is Earth Authority. But, how could he be this powerful all of sudden? If he was this powerful, why would he have run in the first place? No, none of that matter now. We two are the only ones left alive. It is doubtful that he will let us go since we are the ones responsible for him being here. Therefore, "Listen," I tell my sister, "I will distract him and you can-" "Don''t bother!" He says with the same mocking expression as before, "I''ll let you two go. That would probably lead to a much worse fate than I dying by my hands." Huh? What does he mean by that? "Go, go, scram! Run back to that bitch and tell her everything that happened here!" He waves at us as if he shooing a dog and heads towards the guy he had left behind before. Well, since he has been generous enough to give us the chance to, I am not going to be prideful and take it with both my arms. "Let''s run!" I tell my sister and take her hand as we start running. ***** Well, after thinking about it a little on the way here, it became obvious who was behind all this. I mean, let''s be fair. If these guys were the ones who specifically showed that whole fiasco of ''couple of teens trying dangerous witchcraft and a Cyclops finding them out all of a sudden'' to me, they would be smart enough to stop me before. Clearly, someone else had told them to target me specifically (and maybe also anyone else who comes across). And well, I bet it''s her doing. I bet this experience was something Dues once went through on this planet. That is why she wanted me to go through it too. Not like it matters much though even if I am wrongly suspecting her. "You okay?" I ask Sung Li who is lying on the ground in a pool of blood. "Y-yeah, sure." He is not even sarcastic as he tells me that with a bright smile, making me feel guiltier than I already did for leaving him behind earlier. "I am sorry for-" He stops me by putting up a hand. "Y-you ¡­ didn''t r-really abandon me. Y-y-you j-just chose the s-smarter option." Well, seeing the pool of blood around him, it''s doubtful that he can survive. "W-watch out!" He tries to yell as best as he can as he sees a Cyclops swinging a branch straight at me. Even if those wizards are no longer around, I guess they still wanna kill us. No need to worry though! "A-a!" Sung Li is left stunned as he sees the spikes and drills forming out of the ground which, unlike before, pierced all the way to the abdomen of the Cyclops behind me. "I got quite a bit stronger! Maybe one of the wizards I killed and stole from was more talented than others." "I-I see." Sung Li says. "Guess y-you were i-in l-luck." Guess I was. "T-these wizards w-were second-rate at best." He says. "Y-you''ll n-need to g-get e-even-" "Yeah, I get it." I mean, I had seen Roswaisa in action. I am not even a tenth of the strength she had. There''s no way just being this strong is going to be enough. "Anyway man," I say as I bend over, "It doesn''t look like you are going to survive." I have no idea about medicine nor do I know any spells that would help me heal him. These Cyclops obviously don''t either. There''s a possibility that I can steal a spell like that from the dead wizards all around me who are still to completely lose all semblance of their lives but seeing as how they are dark magicians, their spells would probably do him more harm than good ¨C both psychologically and physically. "Eh!" He makes an uninterested expression. "D-doesn''t m-matter!" Man, that''s the thing with idiots. They say things that are far too stupid for me to fathom. If a cunning and deceitful guy like me was dying here, I wouldn''t be feeling as guilty as I do now. I would probably be more focused on the Cyclops around us. "Well," I say, "Since I am kinda responsible for you dying here by leaving you behind earlier, I can help you complete the thing you needed to do." He looks at me with a confused expression. "You said you had to take care of some business, right? Tell me and I''ll do it for you." I say. "Ah!" He gave a smile as he remembered. "I-I had to f-find D-Dues'' p-p-pawn and h-help him." ¡­ "I w-wasn''t a-allowed t-to t-take the s-swords I am f-familiar with o-on the m-mission." He says, his expression clearly telling he does not know why and regrets listening to whoever told him to not take those swords that would have been more effective right now. Speaking of which, "Who gave you this mission?" "W-who else? D-dues ex m-machina!" He says. "I-I originally w-wasn''t a-allowed t-to tell y-you t-this but-" This time, I put up a hand to stop him. I get it now. She wanted me to fall in a situation where I would be forced to sacrifice someone for my survival. And she succeeded. That bitch succeeded. ***** "So that''s what happened?" I ask, acting as I wasn''t seeing this whole fiasco through my scrying sphere. "Y-yes!" He answers with nervousness clear on his face. "I see." Things played out more or less like I wanted them to. Also, by seeing it used in that battle, I now have confirmed my suspicions about what ability God have Irium to ''balance things out''. That cheeky old bastard probably made Irium chose this ability somehow. After all, it''s an ability that didn''t immediately make him very powerful. That meant that the oath to not interfere with the affairs of mortals stays in its place. However, as time goes and he keeps using that ability, he''ll become stronger and stronger. Still, that doesn''t really negatively affect any of my plans at all. Things are still happening just the way I want them to. "G-goddess?" Hearing the kid''s voice, I am reminded that I am still talking to him through the sphere. "Ah yes, what is it?" "W-what will happen to the two of us now?" As he asks that question, I can see his feet ready to start dashing away in case I decide to hurt him or his sister in any way. Well boy, that''s cute. But, "I have no need for you anymore. You''ll die!" That won''t help you escape ¨C not at all. In the next moment, the image showing on my sphere become red and screams start coming from the other side. As that is a boring thing to see, I change the target of my scrying back to Irium. And things return to ''normal''. ***** 132 Ground Breaking "What''s your name?" Roswaisa asks with a bone-chilling cold voice. "M-Monica." Monica replies meekly, shaking in her boot from the coldness emanating from the Demigoddess. "I see." Roswaisa''s voice grows even colder and scarier as she asks, "Monica, you think you can cause problems in our case and think we will let you get away with it?" "I-I wasn''t causing any problems in it." She, still shaking, somehow manages to squeak, "I w-was trying to give you more motivation to catch Cartel. So ¡­ so you can catch him quicker." "And your definition of doing that is to blow up a gem shop owned by someone we know?" Seeing her squeaking, Roswaisa becomes even more terrifying. If I were to give a metaphor here, I''d say a tigress is looking at a tied-up rabbit. Kinda feel bad for the rabbit but you know, it''s a tigress on the other side. There''s no way I am going to do anything that would shift the tigress'' wrath towards me. "Well, I ¡­ I may have gone a bit too far there!" THWAK! What happened? Well, not much actually. Roswaisa just tapped her ankle on the ground and the ground broke. That''s what caused the sound, and also took it away from Monica''s terrified self. "¡­ ¡­ ¡­" With her mouth hanging wide-open and her eyes filled with terror, Monica looked up as she finally realized who she had messed with. "Answer the question I am going to ask you!" Roswaisa commands. Monica nods like her neck has a spring on it. And so, "What was the name of your fianc¨¦?" "J-Jerome Hawks." "When did Cartel Hopkins killed him?" "A month ago." Oh, isn''t that ¡­ nah, probably a coincidence. "Why did he kill him?" "I don''t know." THWAK! The poor ground! It''s like spraying salt, no, acid on the wound. "I-I really don''t know!" THWAK! And it just doesn''t stop. The ground keeps getting bashed again and again. "I-I telling you I don''t know!" Monica is visibly cowering in fright and tears are welling up in her eyes. I am pretty sure she is telling the truth about not knowing that. So, "Hey Roswaisa, I don''t think she is lying." I say so. "I know." She says angrily, "But it''s still an annoying thing to hear." She clicks her tongue and proceeds to her next question. "What relation did Cartel have with you or your fianc¨¦?" "H-he was a policeman." She says, doing her best to stop the tears as she continues. "He mentioned coming across Cartel and having arguments with him when he was investigating cases related to Remedy Corporation." I see. Police and Remedy are always at odds. And it never ends well for the former side. I don''t know how many cops have died because they got to close to finding out importation stuff about Remedy. Still, if that were all there was to it then, "Why weren''t you making us target the entire Remedy Corp. then?" I mean, they are weakened now. It''ll be much easier to get revenge against the entire corporation instead of just the man responsible for killing her fianc¨¦. "I-I-I ¡­" She starts looking down, unable to stop cowering and tears start falling down. Then, THWAK! "Answer!" Roswaisa beats the ground once more with a tap and brings Monica back to the conversation. "I-It was because ¡­ I didn''t know you guys were so strong." We are strong, alright. Roswaisa could take down the entire Corporation on her own probably. But I guess it is fair to say not everyone will know how strong she is and so it makes sense that Monica thought getting revenge on the entire Corp. would be unrealistic and foolish. "So, well," Roswaisa says, "Are you telling me that you if you knew I was this strong, you would have threatened me to destroy the entire Remedy Corporation and kill all the people in it?" "N-no I, I mean, I ¡­ wouldn''t, well," The fright on her face reaches record high and she starts losing it a little. Seeing that, Roswaisa tries to continue but I stop her. Now she is just trying to scare her for the kick of it. And while I don''t particularly mind if she wants to fulfill her sadistic desires but we have other stuff to do right now. "Monica," I ask, trying my best to speak in a soothing voice. She turns to me with a frightened expression and teeth chattering against each other, "Do you have any other intel on Cartel Hopkins that may help us find him? Anything at all?" "¡­" She starts contemplating as she calms down a little. I look at Roswaisa with an expression saying ''don''t do anything'' to make sure Monica doesn''t fall unconscious from fear or something. She just grumps in irritation and back away to lean on the walls. "I ¡­ I think there might be something like that." Monica then says, "I have the address he used to live in till a few months ago. My fianc¨¦, Jerome, mentioned that someday ¨C that he had first gone to his old address and found out he wasn''t living there anymore so he had find out his new address since it wasn''t legally changed and something like that." She looks at me; probably hoping that I tell her that piece of information would be useful so Roswaisa doesn''t kill her. Well, I don''t know if it actually will be much useful but I guess I can save her hide from the Demigoddess'' wrath. She is a wimp anyway, there''s no way she would be able to stand one more ground-breaking from Roswaisa. "Yeah, we could use that." I say and motion Roswaisa to come with me outside of the room. She does so and as we exit, Grey and Jessica look at us with awkward expressions. "What!?" Roswaisa asks. "Well, we were thinking of scolding that girl for what she did and all but after seeing what you did, I think we should rather go and comfort her." Grey says. "Whatever do you mean! All I did was break the floor!" Roswaisa says and keeps walking without caring to look at our awkward reactions. ***** 133 The Mystery Finally Starts Unraveling "So what are we going to do with this place?" She asks as she looks at an apartment complex of 1-bedroom flats. "This is where she told us Cartel used to live in a few months ago. It''s the only lead we have got on him." I say, motioning to come inside with me. "I am not sure if this even counts as a ''lead''." She says and starts walking. Well, I am not sure if this counts as a lead either but it''s not like we have any other way to track him down. ***** "That was boring!" Roswaisa says as she stretches her back. "Yeah, that definitely was." I say as I do the same. We just spent four hours taking to the people living in the apartment Cartel used to live in as well as the neighbors but we didn''t get any new leads. All of them said the same thing everyone at that Remedy Corp. state office said when I interrogated them. Is there really no way we can find this guy? "You said already check him current residence and there was nothing helpful? Now we have checked his old residence and it hasn''t been helpful either." She looks as irritated as one can be as she says, "This guy is REALLY getting on my nerves now." I know how she feels. He is getting on my nerves too. My patience is running out and I am starting to think I should go and tell Dues to find him herself. Of course, I won''t do that. No way am I letting her get an excuse to take any authority over Glice from me. Wait! "Cartel Hopkins killed Jerome Hawks a month ago, right?" "Yes!" I dismissed this as a coincidence earlier but what if it''s not a coincidence. "A month ago from today would be the day Dues became ''God''. It would also be the day Kaylith Glice and the Angel Trevor died. It would also be the day Priscina''s AI disappeared forever and the day I inherited the throne of Glice." Roswaisa''s eyes widen as she realizes what I have realized. "It can''t be." She tries to deny but her expression clearly states that she is unable to. "He wouldn''t actually be-" "I think he is." I say. "I think we should hurry to Glice." ***** "Looks like Irium got into some trouble right after he left us." Niviks says as he comes to me after talking with one of his informants. "Did he now?" I say with a carefree attitude, "It''ll probably be find though." If he actually got into trouble that I didn''t set up, then Dues would have set it up. And since that''d be the case, I am sure it''ll be fine as she has no intention of killing Irium. "Okay, some important information from earth has come too." He says then. "Oh? I am listening." "It seems that a particular Monica Hawks was caught by Danny and Roswaisa." I can''t help but smile after hearing that. "Monica Hawks, huh? The fianc¨¦ of that ¡­ what was his name again? Jerome Hawks?" Niviks nods. Well, so they found his fianc¨¦. However they did it doesn''t matter to me but this probably means that they will find out the information Jerome had on me, like, my old residence or even the fact that I killed Jerome on the day that their lives completely changed, for better or for worse. "You know, Cartel, if they even think of the possibility of being a citizen of Glice, hiding time will be over." Niviks says mockingly. "I know, I know." I say, with a smile, getting excited over how things will play out, "But by the time they uncover all my plans and get to me, it''ll already be too late." Finding out that I am a citizen of Glice will allow them to know how I knew about Dues becoming God and all. What they wouldn''t know if how I am living on Earth when I belong to Glice. And to find that out, they will check if I had any family on Glice. They''ll then realize that I was sent to Remedy Corporation as a spy by Sir Trevor. After that, it won''t be very hard for them to find out about the many ways Sir Trevor used to keep an eye on me and the other spies he had sent. When they find out about them, they''ll have a way to tracking me down. And that will lead them to come to Frost. This will, at the very least, take a week. And so, by the time they are here, there will be nothing they can do to stop me. That''s right. Within one week, everything will change and I will be the king of mage-craft. The only thing that could possibly have been a problem for my plans was if Irium decided that my offer wasn''t good enough and didn''t team up with me to cause chaos for Dues. But, he did. So, I just need to keep following the plan. And, as part of that plan, "Hey Niviks," I say, "give Temple of Temur guys a call and tell them to go wild throughout the world." "Seriously?" "Yes! Tell them they more properties they destroy, the better. Tell them it is part of the big ritual to take down Dues or something like that to motivate them." "Hah!" He sighs and says, "If you say so, boss!" Well, time to cause chaos where Irium won''t be able to. ***** 134 Request For Chaos As soon as I and Roswaisa reach Glice, "We are greeted by hopeful looks by the denizens of the planet." "Is something the matter here?" I ask the guards who are accompanying us on the way in. While they were ignoring us before, now that I am the king of this planet, they have to answer when I ask. "Yes, your majesty." One of the guards says and directs us to a man with in a purple robe standing right in the middle of the street. Because his face is also covered by the robe, I can''t tell how he looks like but he definitely has a short stature. Seeing me look at him, he starts walking towards us. "Hey!" I ask Roswaisa in the hopes she can make a good guess, "Who do you think he is?" "I think, no ¡­ I know that he is a denizen of Frost, the planet that Dues has sent Irium to." She says with confidence. Since she deliberately corrected herself and said that she knows this, it''s probably true. "Your majesty?" The guards look at me with worried expressions. As I have come to know in the past month, Glice rarely gets any visitors. And when they do, 9 out of 10 times the visitor would be introduced by Kaylith or Trevor. Neither of them is around anymore so the responsibility now falls to me. "For how long has this been guy here?" I ask the guards. "It has been around 20 minutes since he came here." The guards answer. "He was able to break through all the defense mechanisms without killing a single one of us. When asked why he was here, he only said that he wanted to meet you." "Did he give his name?" I question to the guard but, "MY NAME IS RAKA." The man in question himself answered in a loud voice as he walked towards us. "Roswaisa?" I question the obvious question and she nods to answer ''yes''. What that means is that all the questions I just asked were answered truthfully. So, I face Raka and ask, "Is there anymore to your identity than your name?" He answers while simultaneously taking the purple robe off his face, "As your friend there has already told you, I am a Frost. And I have come here with a request from Temple of Temur." He is a bald blue man with a head that looks to be out of proportion with his body and gives him a cartoonish vibe. Like his head, his eyes are larger than one would expect as well. "What the hell is Temple of Temur?" I ask, curious as to what even Temur is. He answers with an expression that I can hardly read though, "We, the Temple of Temur, are a sect on Frost that opposes Dues ex machina and her supposed ''godhood''." I see. "You are living the dream then." I say sarcastically before asking with a serious expression, "What request have you come here with?" "We would like to request for you to lend us some support as we are about to go on a major attack against the followers and supporters of her." He says as he bends one of his knees to show his sincerity and respect. However, before I can respond, "Forget it!" Roswaisa denies his request outright. "Uh! May I ask why?" Raka shows a troubled face as he questions. Roswaisa makes an even more troubled face as she answers, "If people on Frost were powerful enough to do something about Dues, she would have been taken care of already." "So you think we are weak?" "I don''t. I know you are." Roswaisa is merciless with her words but her expression tells that she is right. "Frost is a planet where mage-craft is not even common knowledge to as many people as it is on Earth. And that is because they just don''t have the knack for it. Those who do have the knack for it are still nothing more than second-rate mages. You guys, even with our help, don''t stand a chance against her." I believe what Roswaisa is saying is correct. If it''s not, I doubt she would have any reason to say these things. She doesn''t usually try to go out of her way to mock people over a serious matter like this after all. "Hmm, fair!" Raka says with an unchanging and still unreadable for me expression. "We are pretty weak when it comes to mage-craft. If Dues ex machina sends some powerful forces, there''s a good chance that we will all we wiped out." He looks directly in Roswaisa''s eyes. "That will only happen if we stay long enough to fight those monsters she sends to defeat us." "What does that mean!?" "We aren''t trying to stage a coup d''¨¦tat or anything of the sort." He says with his lips curving in a way that I would generally call it a smile, "We are just trying to cause some chaos and then run away!" "¡­" "¡­" I see. So they are planning to cause so much chaos that Dues is forced to sent someone to deal with it and then, they would be able to use something like ''the Goddess sent aliens to kill our people'' kinda thing to persuade others to stop believing in her. Despite not being a real Goddess, Dues considers herself one. So, if her believers stop believing in her, it could be a big annoyance to her. Still, "What do you think?" I turn to Roswaisa as I ask, "Is it worth it?" While contemplating about it, she answers, "I don''t think so. Besides, we have our hands full with Cartel already." That''s true. But as soon as Raka heard Cartel''s name, he looks at us with a sharp gaze and says, "We predicted that you might not be willing to help us. So, we had thought of turning this ''request'' into a ''deal''." He says slyly. "And what is the deal?" "If you agree to help us, we will present to you the man you are looking for ¨C Cartel Hopkins." ***** 135 Stone Left Unturned "W-what did you just say?" "I mean no disrespect, your majesty, but I do think you heard me very clearly." He, or the Temple of Temur I guess, will ''present'' to us Cartel Hopkins. This would be a pretty sweet deal if it had us doing something less dangerous than going against the strongest mortal in the universe. "Hah!" I sigh and take a glance back at Roswaisa, who seems to be considering taking the deal, and so I ask Raka, "What exactly will the ''support'' you gain from us do in all this?" If the support we give to him, or Temple of Temur, is not revealed to Dues, then this might be a plausible way to go about things. "Buffs!" He answers as he looks at me. "You want buffs from us?" Obviously, we are speaking in a language that normal people generally use in video games but ''buffs'' basically mean ''temporary strengthening spells''. For example, by giving a person capable of putting a dent in iron a strength buff, he could become capable enough to rip apart iron. This effect will wear off with time though. "Hmm, it''s still kinda dangerous." Buffs are proper magic spells. Their effect can obviously be picked up on, especially as they wear off after a time. Since Frosts has no proper mages, someone who does must help them if they want to go in battle all buffed up. Even if we wouldn''t be immediately found out, it''s not like Dues will not be able to put two and two together with some time. "That it is." Roswaisa suddenly says with a deep voice, "But this might be a chance worth taking." "Are you serious?" I ask, surprised by her saying that. "Someone needs to get that bitch off her high horse! And that is not something we will be able to do if we just sit around waiting for the right moment to present itself." She says. "Think about how many years, no, centuries she has spent planning every little detail of this. Do you think she will just make a mistake someday and give us the chance to retaliate?" Well, by that very logic, ??You are the one who should think of how many centuries she has spent planning this? Do you think she wouldn''t have ever played a scenario like this in her head?" She probably already suspects that these guys would come to us for help and we would start considering it. She probably has taken some precautions for it that will get us into major trouble. "Yeah, we will probably be walking into a trap here but it''ll be fine if we play our cards right." "Huh!?" What does she mean by that? What ''card'' do we have to play to not get into trouble for going against her? She drags me away from the rest of them by my hands and then says. "We can just tell Dues that this was the only way to find Cartel." Ah! "It''s not like these Frosts guys are going to win. So, at the end of the day, Dues would have successfully suppressed a rebellion and found the man who has caused her much headache. If she weighs that against some Frosts losing faith in her, she would still not have much reason to be upset at us." That ¨C sounds plausible. Yeah, that''s actually doable. "Come on! We have to take this chance!" Roswaisa urges me to agree. "Let''s make sure of something first!" I say. "What!?" "We are going to tell her that this way the only way to find Cartel, right? Let''s make sure of that being the truth!" Hearing that, Roswaisa smirks. If Dues later finds out that we just ignored some lead we had and agreed to this deal, our excuse will fall apart, wouldn''t it? So, let''s make sure that there is no lead like that. ***** After going through all the records we have of the denizens of this realm, no ''Cartel Hopkins'' wound found anywhere. We checked the list of people who have ever gone out of the realm for whatever reason and tried to match Cartel''s face to them. Since I am the king, I was able to mobilize many people on this whole thing and so the process didn''t take as long as it otherwise would have. Still, we came up with nothing. No one living here could tell us anything about him either. From what Raka told us, Temple of Temur guys are planning their chaos for tomorrow. Before that, we need to make sure no stone is left unturned, or at least enough of them are turned that the ones left unturned are pretty damn hard to notice. And so, we make sure to go through the secret files that Trevor and Kaylith had that weren''t revealed to others as well. Still, we found nothing much. The only possible connection to Cartel we found was a top secret mission by Trevor to send a few Glice denizens to Earth as spies in Remedy Corporation. Apparently, this happened right after Kaylith took this realm from Lucifer (which happened 6 years ago apparently). If, let''s say, Cartel was one of the people who was sent as a spy in Remedy, does that lead us to him? It doesn''t. Trevor shut down this program a year ago and all the spies were called back. In fact, it has been mentioned that all of them came back and are living here now. And none of these people match the description we have of Cartel. So, that''s it, isn''t it? We should have enough of a reason to accept the Temple of Temur''s deal. I wonder though, what is Irium doing right now? And if he were to find out about all this, will he accept this as a smart decision or will he protest against? One of the easiest things for me to do is to predict him when he is trying to be funny. And one of the hardest things for me to do is to predict him when he is not being funny. I hope this decision doesn''t put us at odds against each other. ***** 136 Abandoned A night after having slaughtered all those wizards and seen Sung Li die, I arrive at a village. Since rumors about me would obviously be spreading around, I try my best to disguise myself. However, it all ends up being meaningless when I realize that the whole village is abandoned. There is not a single soul living here anymore. As to what caused this, I have no clue. Whatever it was though, it would be something I would have trouble dealing with. If I hadn''t met Cartel, I would have used this place as a hideout for a few time and then moved on. But since I am trying to stir up trouble, I can look at this as an opportunity. I need to investigate what happened here first. "Okay so, where do I start?" Talking to myself doesn''t help (surprisingly) and I end up deciding to go from one side to the other like a baby investigating a crime scene. That being said though, it turns out to be a good decision. Going around the village this way makes it easier to investigate as the village (or the side I entered from at least) starts off with less damaged parts of the village and then, as I proceed, the place looks more and more damaged. On the other end of the village, the place is a complete mess. If I would have to give an estimate based on this, some scuffle started in the middle and it led to the people scuffling coming to the other side of the village and ending up fighting. Of course, that''s just a rough estimate and could, in fact, be completely wrong. I mean, if this was one and a half months ago, I would have said that this is exactly what happened because I, the protagonist, have drawn this estimate. But, having realized over the course of these past 40-50 days that the author cares more about making fun of me than he cares about the quality of the book, I wouldn''t be so sure of myself anymore. "Of course, even if my estimation is correct, I don''t know much about anything. From the looks of things, I doubt this would have been anything more than a normal village. So, who did this? Did monsters attack the village? Did other Frosts do this? Or is there a third part involved? A thought flashes across my mind, a thought that I immediately start to deny. "Cartel wouldn''t do something like-" But even as I try to, my tongue stops. What evidence do I have that tells me he is not responsible for this? Just how can I put him off the hook like this? Just because we are working together doesn''t mean we have the same limits and methods. His may consider something like this totally okay. So, I can''t deny the possibility of this being his doing. Still, I also can''t just consider this IS his doing. Need to keep my mind open and working. ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ My words get stuck in my throat and my investigation comes to a sudden halt. All the possibilities in my mind fade to the rear and the survival instinct comes to the forefront. My limbs then start moving and my eyes start wandering all over the place. Something just happened. But, what? As if to answer my question, my back started burning. I turn without stopping the running, or without even being able to stop it, and see an arrow stuck to my back. It has pierced right through my skin and has placed itself comfortably within my flesh. Blood is flowing out like its water and just looking at it makes me feel weak and at a loss for blood. I couldn''t actually be at a loss for blood, can I? No, I can''t; not this soon, and not with this type of wound. It should take more time. It''s probably some psychological condition that''s making me feel so weak. But, knowing that doesn''t help me much as the strides of my legs still slow down and every time I try to move something consciously, it starts to feel like even the smallest of touch will tear me apart. Goddamnit! Why now of all times? I can just feel my legs wobbling and I can tell that I am going to fall down in the next moment. Yet, I am not able to do anything. When on the ground, I feel the actual pain from the wound starting to burn even more. It could be because of the coldness of the ground that is getting to the wound a little. It could also be because of some late-acting chemical mixed with the arrow. Either case, I have to get up. I need to get up. Nothing will be solved by lying like this. And so, I try my best. I put all my strength in my arms, which makes them feel like they are on the verge of being blasted, try to get up. In this state though, my arms have little to no strength left in them. Even in addition to the psychological condition, I think their strength is actually fading more and more as the time passes. I never knew blood would affect my psyche like this but well, it does. I never knew I would be attacked out of nowhere like this but well, it has happened. There''s lot of other things I can add to that list but I think that''s enough to describe the predicament I''m in. As for the ones who have put me in this predicament, they finally show themselves when they are sure that I can''t harm them in any way. There are two of them in fact. And ¨C the ones responsible for this ¨C these two aren''t Frosts, not by a long shot. Taking away from my geek knowledge, the two people who have appeared before me with big, condescending smirks on their faces are what we refer to as ''Dark Elves''. ***** 137 Whos The Mouse? Opening my eyes, the first thing I see is a sword ¨C a falchion, to be more precise ¨C standing on the ground, covered in blood. I move away just from seeing that, or at least try to move away. Unfortunately, I am unable to move at all. I am unable to speak either. My lips move but no sound comes out. I can hear and smell things though. And neither has given me any comfort and the smell that enters my nostrils is that of death and rotting flesh and what I hear are the cries of people from all sides but the front. Soon, someone comes towards me, reaches out for the falchion and takes it out of the ground in front of me. That enables me to look what''s in front and what I see is a big, fat elf sitting on a throne made of bones and looking like some kind of edge-lord demon boss of a video game. I turn my eyes around him and Elven soldiers seem to be on all sides. "Mortal," The guy on the throne starts spouting, "so you have finally awakened." That makes it sound like I have awakened some mysterious power inside of me. All I have done is woken up after having fallen unconscious. "Good, good!" He contemplates with his hand on his chin and a different guy comes in front of me. This guy is wearing black robes and a hat like the wizards I and Sung Li previously slew. The first thing he does is cast some kind of spell on me, which gives me back my voice. "What the hell do you guys wants?" I ask. "We want your life." The wizard casually answers. He bends over and looks me in the eye, showing me a face that looks like a machine instead of a human. Don''t get me wrong! His face is human, but the structure is that the same you will see in the million Iron Man suits. "I am sorry to say but you can''t have my life." I say as if he was offering me a deal. And so, he laughs. Obviously, he would laugh at that. When a mouse says to a cat, "I''m sorry but can''t me for lunch," obviously the cat''s gonna laugh. But, "You know, wizard-guy," I am not the mouse here, "sometimes when a hunter get caged, the prey starts feeling too full of themselves. And that never ends well for the prey." The wizard finds himself being dragged into the ground as if he was standing on quicksand. He cries for help and some other wizards even come and try to help him, but when they too start getting pulled in, they immediately let go and fall back. And so, the wizard who so casually told me that he wants my life is mixed in with the ground and is probably regretting ever being born right now, provided he is still alive. "You-you fiend! What did you do to our brother?" Another wizard says so as he shots me a glare. "See for yourself!" I just casually answer with that as the ground beneath him starts giving him the same treatment as his so-called ''brother'' whom he abandoned as soon as his life started being on stake. "Now then," I say, "I don''t know what is binding me and making me unable to move but I would really like for you people to remove it." I say as I turn my gazes from one wizard to another. They all collectively cast a spell and I prepare Earth Authority to suck them all in the ground in case their spell is to harm me in any way. As it turns out though, they do as I told them to and broke my shackles. Only after that did I become able to look back and see that I was being held here by iron chains tightly wrapped around me. Now, that''s just mean! "So," I get up, surprisingly finding not much problem in doing so, as I ask, "Who are you guys?" As the big elf sitting on the throne looks at me, his face seems to give an amused smile. He says, "Before you ask us about our identities, shouldn''t you introduce yourself, mortal?" Hearing the far too boring and conventional line, I start drowning all the wizards around me into the ground. They all start begging for me to stop and so I do and repeat my question, "Who the fuck are you guys?" "W-we are just a band of mercenaries. We were hired to kidnap you and all the villagers in that village and then kill some of them before you woke and then-" "Enough of that!" I get the gist of it. The next most important thing is- "Who hired you?" Knowing what may happen if they choose not to answer, the wizards don''t dare waste any time as I question them, "It was a man named Niviks. He is a Frost." Niviks? Seriously? The right-hand man of Cartel Hopkins? Does that Cartel is behind this? Or is Niviks acting alone? "How much did he offer you to take this job?" "H-he didn''t offer money." A wizard says and cries in pain. I glare at him to continue and he does so, "He offered us the entirety of the Nation of Temur." Did he now? "He told us that he had a plan to take over the entire planet and that when he does so, he will take Kidar and give us Temur to rule." "Surely you guys didn''t just believe him. You can''t be THAT big fools, right?" I ask with a deadpan expression, expecting somewhat that they may just be that big fools. But, "That is a question only I can answer, mortal." The fat elf sitting of the throne, who had listened to the whole conversation with amusement up till now, says so. I glare at the wizards but they just either nod or say, "The leader said he could be trusted. We don''t know why?" And so, it seems I do have to change my target to this overgrown dark-skinned smirking bastard. I release the wizards and they fall to the ground holding their legs in pain. Taking a glance to make sure they aren''t trying anything funny, I look at the elf and say, "You wanted me to introduce me? Well, I''m Irium Glice. I am a human from the planet Earth and I will freaking destroy you if you ever try to play bondage with me again." Seeing my tone and hearing my words, the elf laughs, not to mock but to say that he likes my style, and introduces himself, "I am Jom-e-wah, a dark elf and the leader of this band of mercenaries. You can just call me Jom though. I apologize for the way you were treated. None of us realized you were such a force to be reckoned with before. But, now we do. And so, I have a deal for you." ***** 138 Too Full Of Yourself Why does everybody these days have deals or offers for me? Dues, then Cartel, and now this sad excuse for a dark elf too. "What is it?" Since I have found the previous two deals very beneficial in one way or another, I decide to hear out this deal of his as well. "Join us." ¡­ Well, that''s not a very enticing offer in any possible way but, "In exchange," Maybe I can get a great benefit out of it- "We will offer you everything that you could ever desire." ¡­ "Money, wealth, property, women," Your first and second are basically the same damn thing and the third kinda comes automatically with the first one. As for the third, even without the blessing that had made my life hell, I am still the most handsome man I know (aside from, maybe, God; but let''s pretend he doesn''t exist), so that''s the last thing I would ever ''desire''. Henceforth, "No." ¨Cis my answer to his frankly stupid deal. "And why is that?" The fat elf asks with genuine confusion. ??That''s because there is only one thing that I truly desire, and you don''t have the power to give me that." "Well," he asks with curiosity welling up his eyes, "at least tell me what it is." "I want the past to be changed so that Angels and Demons would still be alive in present." I state plainly. "You think you can do that?" "¡­" Speechless as obviously the answer is a ''no'', the Jom-kun starts looking at me with somewhat wary looks now. "W-why do you want that?" "Why the hell should I tell you when it wouldn''t really make a difference by doing so?" I ask, irritated at the tone this fat idiot has had since the start. Even though he is the leader of a band of mercenaries, he is acting like he''s the king of the universe or something, even saying stuff like he''ll give me anything I''d ever desire. "Well, if that''s all," I say, "I would like to get going now." I have a lot of things to do, which I am hoping would be far better than talking to this Jom-e-wah. "Now that''s going to be a problem." Jom interrupts as I start turning around. "See, if you had joined us, we could have told Cartel that there was no reason to kill you anymore that you are on our side and henceforth, you would have become able to roam about freely, for the most part at least. But now that-" "Shut it!" Now that I have said no to his deal, he''ll have to do what he was paid to do and that doesn''t involve letting me go ¨C or some other blabber like that. I really don''t have the patience to deal with this idiot right now. "I think it should have become obvious already but I am stronger than your entire band of mercenaries. You''ll all get slaughtered if you try to stop me." Jom takes a few glances at the terrified wizards all keeping their distance from me and nods. "True, they won''t stand a chance. But, what about me?" "You are too full of yourself if you think you can defeat me." I state plainly. "I could the same to you." He throws back at me. And that is why he''ll lose. He thinks I am acting arrogant. Well, I guess he thinks I am like him then. Fortunately, I am not. I am the type of guy who would arrogant to distract the enemy from the fact that I am trapping them up. And when the trap is done, "Mind repeating that after this?" I ask as chains form out of rocks and cover the hand, and the muddy ground covers the legs, of Jom-e-wah. "Still think you have got the upper hand?" I taunt him to see if he pulls something stupid. And he does. "Yes, I do." He mockingly yells as he throws a dagger at me. Obviously, the dagger doesn''t reach me. How would it when the ground is in my control and would even change shape to that of a soldier to protect me from projectile like this. Okay, I might have overstated that a bit. I turned the ground into that soldier-shaped figure myself so it wasn''t that cool. Still, I totally overpower this guy. I hope it''s clear to him now. "It''s not over yet!" He yells and tries to flex his muscles as much as he can to break free of the shackles I have pinned on him. This might get dragged out like this so, "H-how the hell did you break them!?" I ask that with a fake horrified expression as I let him out of all those shackles, making sure to make it look like he broke them. "Ha!" He mockingly laughs as he says, "They were not even a challenge." Of course they weren''t. I need to put in some effort to make it a challenge, which I didn''t think there was any need to do back there. "Now, let me show you what real power means!" After spouting that hilariously clich¨¦ line, Jom-e-wah charges at me with all of his strength. With that much force into it, a punch could potentially kill me. But, it still can''t do much to a hard rock. "What the-" He is left astonished as a rock as big as him and harder than his fists can break comes between me and him and protects me. To add salt to his injury, it comes right out of the ground and so, he does not see it coming at all and is unable to stop himself from crashing into it. "Shit!" He curses as he rubs his knuckles (which he hit the rock with) with his other hand. I do not let it end there though as, "Time for you to show your running skills!" I start making the rock fly right at him. Seeing it approaching, he starts stepping back at first before it transforms into turning and running away as fast as he can. He knows as well as I do that a dark elf''s body, even if it is a large dark elf, is not capable of withstanding a rapidly approaching rock of that size. So, all I have to do is make sure the rock suddenly gets faster and does hit him. ***** 139 Planning And Patience After a few minutes of running about, Jom finally slows down and I use that moment to accelerate the speed of the rock to bash him on the back. I succeed and he falls at the ground, writhing in pain. "Well, that was fun." I remark and I dust off my clothes. "I need to go now though." As I turn around, I see the villagers who had all been kidnapped by these mercenaries earlier looking at me like I''m some kind of hero. I had sensed their gazes on me before but I was too focused on that fat elf to give more than a short glance at them. Now that I am looking more carefully, I can see some of them being real happy as they look at me while some are wary of me. As for the remaining mercenaries, they have all given up on fighting me and are either trying to find a chance to run away or hide from my sight. I couldn''t really care less about these idiots though. The only thing I care about before leaving is ¨C "How were you going to tell Niviks after killing me that the job he gave has been done?" I ask. "W-we were going to meet him in Rania City." From what I know from the map I have, Rania is the capital city of the province I am in right now and is merely 4 hours away from here on foot. If what this guy says is true, then ¡­ wait a second, The guy who answered gets being sucked in the quicksand as I glare at him. He cries out, "Please don''t, I''m telling the truth." I turn my gazes to other mercenaries and they all nod with seeming sincerity. And so, he is telling the truth. In that case, Niviks will be meeting me in Rania instead of these losers. ***** As soon as Niviks enters my room, I stand up, unable to contain my nervousness at what he''d say next. "¡­" He stays silent as if at a loss for how to word it. "What is it? What happened?" I almost start jumping like a teenager with excitement at what it''ll be. "It''s a total a wipeout. Everything played out perfectly, just as you predicted." "Ha! Ha! Ha! Hahaha! You ¡­ you are serious, right? You aren''t kidding, are you?" I ask, unable to calm myself. "Yes, boss. All your bets worked out. Danny and Roswaisa are coming to help and Irium destroyed that band of mercenaries quite easily." That IS just as I expected. I can''t help but excited because of how smoothly my plan is working out. "I don''t get it though." Niviks says with a troubled face, "Why are you asking Danny and Roswaisa for help? Wasn''t the plan originally to have them come to you over the time of a week?" "Yes, it was. But when I gave some more consideration to the fact that Dues was causing troubles for Irium like you told me about recently, I realized how much influence she really has on this planet." I mean, she is very deeply connected to the planet after all. "There''s a possibility that she might already have an army or something hidden somewhere on this planet that will sabotage all my plans if we go in without backup." Therefore, we need those two and the soldiers of Glice to back us up. "If that is the case, what is with you asking them for buffs?" Niviks asks in confusion. But, that is hardly even a question. "Oh, come on! You know how kind the populous of Glice is. If they see their allies getting slaughtered, they will go on the offensive themselves." And so, why not act like we are not asking for aggressive support and make them see the offer in a better light? And as one can see, the results have worked out. All the parties are about to be on Frost soon enough and there will be mayhem. And in this mayhem, I will reach my goal. It''s finally happening. Years of planning and patience will finally pay off. "So boss, what next?" "Well, we should probably wait for things to start but," I say as soon as I realize, "since Irium defeated all of them, they probably told him about you hiring them and now he will be coming to meet you at the place you decided to meet up with those mercenaries after their mission''s hypothetical success." "Oh, that''d be Rania City." ??Why Rania?" "No particular reason. I mean, I had confidence that they would lose since you did, and so I just casually picked up the place closest to where things were about to go down for them." "I see." I guess it''s partly my fault for not having realized that Irium would end up trying to meet Niviks in the place those mercenaries were supposed to. "I suppose we will have to go to Rania then." He would probably be quite angry. This is a matter I''d need to deal with some care, as it could still lead to a problem if Irium backs out of the deal because of something like this. ***** "Everything and everyone seems to be ready." Roswaisa casually voices her observation as she looks at the soldiers gathered up in proper formation in front of the gates. "Yeah, it seems they know how to fall in formation, even if they have rarely gotten the chance to actually engage in combat." I agree with her observation. "¡­" "¡­" As neither of us follows up with anything, it becomes clear what we are thinking. "Having second thoughts about this?" I ask. "Yeah, kinda. You too?" She asks and I nod. Well, that''s how the situation is though. It''s too late to back out now. Since we have come this far, might as well go through with it. If nothing else, this mission would give me the chance to see what the planet Dues sent Irium to looks like. ***** 140 Think! "Have you seen an old, mean looking guy anywhere around here?" I ask the inn keeper, who, looks at me as if to say, "Look at yourself!" Now, that''s just rude. I am only 17 ¡­ and a half. "Your race or my race?" She questions and points at her to give her answer. She then says with a disgusted expression, "Old, mean looking guys are the half of Rania." Well, that backfired. "Alright, then, of my race, have you seen a guy with the stature a little shorter than me and a birdlike face?" I ask, hoping Cartel would be here as well if Niviks is. "Yeah, he just bought a room upstairs an hour ago." She says with eyes that tell me she is recalling some incident related to him and her expression soon turns more disgusted than before. She quickly adds, "He was with an old, mean looking guy as well. He could be your man." Nope, I am heterosexual. But anyway, "I see. Which room is he in?" "The first room you''ll see on the first floor if you go up these stairs." She points at one of the two stairs that seem to be accessible from the lobby. Well, I better get going then. ***** "He''s here." "Irium?" "No, the goddamned Lucifer." I sarcastically answer and tell him to hurry up. As I do so, Niviks arranges the chairs in a way that, combined with the rest of the room, gives off an appearance of a room being used by two people to rest, instead of being used to wait for him ¨C as it actually was. The two of us sits comfortably and wait for Irium to knock on our doors. "Cartel Hopkins?" A feminine voice asks from outside. I look at Niviks to make sense of who it could be but he gives a ''no idea'' expression. And so, "Y-yes!" I decide to answer truthfully. Then, CREAK! BOOM! After the wooden door moves a little, it blasts away and the fragments fall on the two of us. We try to evade to the best of our abilities but still get showered by a lot of the fragments. Luckily, we don''t get much hurt by them. And as we look back at where our door was supposed to be, a young man with a devil''s charm stands there and asks, "So, how was my voice acting? Do you think I could become a Seiyuu?" It''s Irium, alright. It''s Irium. "Ah, well," I look at Niviks and we both nod back at him saying, "it was great!" "You could make a star in the Seiyuu world." "Oh, really?" Irium asks with a smile and without waiting for the response, he says, "Then here''s another bit." With ¡­ a bit of ¡­ an aggressive look in his eyes, he says in a psychotic voice, "I am gonna freaking kill you!" "¡­" "¡­" "What''s wrong?" He asks in a normal voice. I stand up and say, "Look, Irium, whatever you have heard, it''s-" "Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I learned, or took, or stole, whatever you''d like to call it; the point is ¨C I gained an ability recently that allows me to detect lies. Did you guys know that?" "¡­" Holy shit! "¡­" Niviks probably thought the same just now. With the best of my smiles, I try to control his anger, "Irium, the thing is-" "Did you send mercenaries after me?" He interrupts me before I finish yet again. Well, since he can detect lies anyway, "Yes. B-but-" "I lied." He interrupts me yet again, but this time it isn''t a question not meant to be question like the previous two times. "W-what!?" I ask with (probably) a stupid look on my face. Niviks (definitely) has a stupid look on his face too. "I have no ability that can detect lies." He says as he looks at me with a complex barrage of emotions, form pitying to contempt. "Well ¡­ well ¡­ well played." I say with a smile. He smiles back and then trips my foot; making me fall back into the chair I had gotten out of. "Listen, Cartel and Niviks," He looks at the both of us as he continues, "I am going to count to 10 for you to give me a good reason why I should make you an ICU-ready material. And no BS!" Alright Cartel, think; you need to think, "1" Think, damnit, think! "2?? Think, Cartel, think of something that will- "You know what, this is boring. 10." He says and my altitude suddenly starts seeming like it is lowering. As I look down, I see that the chair is being sucked into the ground. "W-what the hell!?" I don''t even know what I am cursing about; the fact that he directly left out 3 to 9 or the fact that he totally destroyed all my manipulation strategies I had run a million times in my head. "Listen, Irium, there''s a reason we did that, okay?" Niviks gets on the bed to save himself from directly being sucked into the ground and then says, "We ¡­ we were ¡­ we were trying to test you." You old fart! That''s the best thing you could come up with!? I mean, I WAS actually trying to test him but couldn''t you, like, twist the words a little to make it sound better. "Well, did I pass the test?" He looks mockingly at Niviks and soon, his bed starts being sucked into the ground as well. "Irium, you don''t understand, we were just-" ???What!?" Seeing his glare, I can''t help but stiffen up a bit. That said though, if I wanna live, I have to continue, "We were just trying to make you stronger. I mean, wasn''t fighting those idiots beneficial for you ¡­ uh, power-wise?" "Oh!" He scoffs and says, "It was beneficial for me power-wise. None of those idiots knew a single decent move so I just stole their potential ¨C and look at the results, I don''t even need to bat an eyelash anymore to use this ability called Earth Authority." Earth Authority! It makes sense now how he is making stuff being sucked into the ground now but damn, this guy stole Earth Authority! That''s too powerful! But, maybe I can use that. "W-wow! Isn''t that great?" "Yes, but not great enough." Oh god!!! Think of something, Cartel Hopkins, think; or you are going to end up in a lot of horror movies shortly. ***** 141 Guarantee Sometimes, when you are really smart, you get too full of yourselves. Sometimes, when you are really smart, you think everything will go your way. Sometimes, when you are really smart, you become stupid. At those times, you need a reminder; a reminder like this. "Stop, Irium, stop! Or you will regret this for the rest of your life!" As my ankle has started to touch the ground, I am doing best to stop him for lobotomizing me totally. "Well, I have many regrets already, what''s one more?" He says calmly as my and Niviks'' descent into the floor continues. "If-if you don''t stop, I ¡­ I-" "What! What will you do? What can you possibly do after becoming the freaking floor of this room?" He mocks me and, consequently, gives me an idea. "If you don''t stop, my men will lose their leader." "So what!?" "So, they will go wild and attack whatever place they want to. And you want to know the first place they would want to attack?" "What?" "Glice." And all of a sudden, the descent stops. I and Niviks breathe a sigh of relief. But then, Irium''s murderous glare makes us look back at him as cautiously as possible. "I don''t wanna regret this too much later on so I''ll give you a chance to explain yourself." His glare is like a mighty god of war looking at a petty non-violence enthusiast. "Well, since there was a big chance that Dues that bitch would annihilate us if we tried to spread chaos throughout this planet, we decided to bring in some back-up." "And?" "And that back-up happened to be Glice." "¡­" "We sent them an offer and they accepted. So they are backing us now." I say, constantly swinging my gaze from him to Niviks to floor to back to him. "What did you offer?" "Me." "You?" He looks at me as if I''m worthless. "I''ll have you know Irium ¨C I am Robin Hood level criminal back on Earth these days." That may not be true but well, not important. "¡­" He stays silent as if he doesn''t believe me. "Oh, I just wish that you actually had an ability to tell lie from truth. You''d be gazing at me in wonder right now." "I wouldn''t gaze at you in wonder even if you become a Joker level criminal." Before giving me the time to answer, he grabs my shirt and pulls me up as he asks, "The dots still don''t connect though." "Oh, they do. The thing is ¨C ever since the beginning of this whole plan, my men have wanted to absolutely destroy Glice. Why wouldn''t they? I mean, they are a bunch of greedy crooks and Glice is luxury unlimited." It''s true. They really do want to destroy it. "Anyway, since your two friends have been tasked by Dues to find and capture me, they accepted the offer so they could get to me. That is why they are going to send their forces outside of Glice and into this planet. If you kill me now, my men would use this opportunity to enter Glice and start plundering." To be honest, it''s pretty unlikely to work that way. Roswaisa could probably destroy them all singlehandedly. But since she has gotten that strong recently, I am hoping that Irium is yet to know about her power-up and realize how little of a threat my men are to Glice. And thankfully, it works out. Irium lets go of me and I fall back on the chair. Immediately getting off of it, I see that what was once a chair now looks not much more than a cushion covering the ground. Irium, casually, leans back on the floor. He asks, "So what reason was really there to send those idiots after me?" "Well," I say, taking a glance at Niviks only to realize that we have no chance of beating Irium even if we combine forces, "They were originally hired by Dues to do the exact same thing that they were trying to do. We couldn''t stop them without suffering massive loses so we just told them to try to recruit you instead after making you show them your ability. We gave them more money and so, it kinda became a job from us." "Huh? Those bastards didn''t tell me anything about that." "I would suspect that when Dues found out that Niviks had bought them with this kind of deal, she made them forget about the deal with her or something like that." I say, beginning to regain my composure, "She has done this kind of thing in the past." "Alright, let''s say that I believe you. I still can''t completely let the ''after making me show them my ability'' part go. "Well, I just thought that I could find out what abilities you have come to possess over the time." I say. "I always thought it was more likely though that you would beat them all up and be completely fine doing so too." I look back to Niviks and he starts nodding as notices that. "H-he''s right. He did predict that ¡­ that what would happen." He says; looking cautious in every action he takes. "See?" I turn back to him and see the expression on his face fallen back to neutral from angry. "Well, I suppose I could try to believe you." He says. "But what guarantee is there that you would never try stabbing in the back?" That ¨C is the problematic situation. The guarantee that I am about to give him will be a big hint to my plans. Therefore, before giving him that guarantee, I need his first. "What guarantee is there that you would never stab me in the back?" I ask in return. He looks at me with narrowed eyes and then scoffs as he says, "I hate Dues ex machina. I hate her enough to pair up with the devil to take her down, as long as I can trust him of course. I won''t do anything like that. That''s all the guarantee that anyone should need." He''s not wrong. His visible hate towards Dues is a better guarantee than anything. So, "Well, then I guess I can tell you a secret as my guarantee of not stabbing in the back." I prepare myself by taking in a few long breaths and finally say, "The real end goal of my plan is not just to climb up to the mage world but ¡­ but it''s too ¡­" ***** 142 Arrival Of A God What!? Did I hear that right? I probably didn''t. "You heard me, Irium." I did not. I misheard him. I definitely misheard him. He couldn''t actually be- "I am gonna do it. That''s my end goal." And so, Cartel Hopkins does not let me deceive myself as he predicts my thoughts correctly and argues against them. But, if he''s really serious about this, how will he pull it off? "You are heading down a path where a single mistake could potentially lead to your doom." I say, as if it isn''t obvious he himself would know that already. "Yes, that I am." He says with a smirk, "And I am not going to stop walking this path." "¡­" "I am going to continue walking on this tightrope, trying to the best of my abilities to not fall down." He seems determined, which I just hate to see as this is something that makes my resolve towards changing the past look like nothing. "Well?" Niviks asks in a questioning voice, "Are we cool now? Or are you still mad about that whole thing?" I ¨C have no idea. I don''t want to let the fact that I was almost killed and had to see the villagers die as well go. But, these two said that they weren''t the ones who first hired those mercenaries, it was Dues. If that''s true, I shouldn''t be venting my anger at them. Also, what Cartel says about his end goal, man, this could change everything ¨C for better or for worse. "We are at a truce, for now." I say so, as that is the best consolation I can give myself for trying to hold back. ***** For whatever godforsaken reason, I am again unable to scry on Irium. This happened once in the past after the point when he was rescued from a particular group of villagers and a bear by an old man. I had become unable to see anything past that. This is the second time this is happening. I don''t really think it is Irium''s doing though. There''s someone else who is doing this. And considering that, I decide to ask a few questions. "Hello there!" I say to the young Frost woman at the reception of an inn. This is the inn of Rania City. This is where, upon his entering, Irium stopped appearing on my Scrying crystal. Therefore, there must be a clue here. "How can I help you?" The receptionist seems uninterested in holding any sort of conversation and just keeps proceeding with her work as she asks that in a dry tone. "Well, I am looking for an old, mean looking guy. I-" I stop speaking, seeing how the receptionist starts looking at me in a weird way. "What is it?" I am pretty sure I disguised myself to look like a normal Frost woman. I don''t think she should recognize me. I mean, I used the highest-grade shape-shifting mage-craft there is so there''s no way someone like her could tell the difference. But if not that, what is she showing me that weird expression for? "Are you also looking for a birdlike alien?" She asks me as if it would be obvious. I shake my head in denial as I don''t even understand who she is talking about. The receptionist then says, "There are a lot of guys like the one you described. I need more details." Well, if that is the case, "What the-" The receptionist gawks at me as I give her a sketch of the person I am looking for. I believe he is named Niviks but I''d rather act like I don''t know that. "Well, he is here, alright." She again starts showing a weird expression. "Go up from those stairs and the first room you see will be his." As she says so, I start heading towards the stairs. I hear her cursing with something like, "Bloody whore thinks this is a missing person department or something?" I guess she might have had a bad day. Might as well ignore her and move on. ***** A little alarm-clock-like device suddenly starts beeping. "What the hell is that for?" I ask. "It''s to tell me when someone not from Frost enters this inn." Meaning, there''s someone in this inn besides me who is not from this planet. "Do you people have any idea who it could be?" I ask as I see Cartel and Niviks getting up from their chairs. "Nope, no idea." Cartel answers and Niviks just shrugs to say the same. Turning around, I notice the place the door should be but isn''t because of me and I look out of it. Niviks makes the alarm-clock-thingy go silent and joins me. "See anybody like that?" He asks. "Nope, everyone looks like Frosts to me." "SHIT!" From behind us, Cartel yells a curse. "W-what happened!?" Niviks asks as he looks back. "What happened?" He says as he grits his teeth. "That bitch is here." What bit- no, wait! By bitch, he doesn''t mean the BITCH, right? "I am gonna go disappear. We can''t let her see me." He says and without hearing anything, jumps off the window. Since this is the first floor, I guess he wouldn''t die by that. But still, that would''ve hurt. "That was something!" Niviks remarks in a casual tone but then turns stiff as he glances at the stairs, "But he is right, we can''t let her see him." I nod, as I now perfectly understand what he means. And soon, the bitch of our nightmares finally shows herself. Even though she shows up as a Frost, the vile aura around her gives it away. I bet she had suppressed this aura before to not let us recognize her in time to completely escape. "Well, well, have you a found a friend in an old man, Irium?" Hearing her disgusting voice, I almost throw up in my mouth. She smiles with satisfaction and changes her appearance back to her human form. "Dues ex machina, right?" Niviks questions. "Yes, but you insignificant geezer needs to refer to me as the God!" ***** 143 Arrogance In Blood Barely holding in my anger, I ask, "Why are you here?" "I am the God. I can do anything I want. What''s it to you?" She asks with an attitude that normally would make me joke about her but in this case, it makes my blood boil. "Just answer the damn question!" "Okay, okay, calm down!" She says with a mocking smile and then enters the room as she eyes it down. "Not a bad place!" "Tsk!" I can barely keep it in when this bitch is standing right here. "Hah!" Seeing my reaction, she sighs and says, "I am here to investigate something, and it''s not completely unrelated to you." She seats herself on the bed as Niviks steps aside and continues, "Somehow, twice by now, you have disappeared from my eyesight. Since I''m the God, doing something like that shouldn''t be allowed even once. Therefore, I had to find out what the reason is." ¡­ "What''s wrong?" She asks as she sees my expression darken. "What were those two times?" I ask, without answering her question. "First was when you were saved by that old guy back in a forest and then just now when you entered this inn." I see. So it''s either Niviks or Cartel who is responsible for this. Makes sense. However, "You''ve been spying on me?" "Just to make sure you are doing fine. I mean, I gave you an option to quit at any time but how would I know it when you quit if I don''t keep an eye on what''s happening to you." "Oh," I can''t help but scoff, "is that all?" "No, no Irium, of course not; there''re other reasons for it." She doesn''t feel a tiny bit threatened by boiling rage as she says so. In fact, she is mocking me for it. It''s regretful that I might have to hold it in and do nothing for now. My current power level is nothing; absolutely nothing at all when compared to her. "So, does this whole thing ring any bells? Any idea what might be happening?" She asks me; deliberately to mock me because she knows that I didn''t even know till now that she was keeping an eye on me, much less know about that eye being blocked. "I don''t know." Taking my anger out on myself by tightening my fists as hard as I can, I answer her. She then turns to Niviks and asks, "So what the hell did you do to block me?" Tsk! "Well, it was-" He starts spilling the beans in his fright of her but, fortunately, realizes at the right time that he can''t mention Cartel, and so, "¡­ it was a mage-craft I learned from ancient books." "You think I can''t tell when someone of your lowly race lies?" She smirks and closes up on him, "I can read Frosts like a book. And you are no different. You are making the exact expressions that Frosts make when trying to hide something from me." Shit! "Hey!" I need to step in now or this geezer might not be able to take the pressure. "You think you can do whatever you want, huh? Well, you are wrong." She turns to me with an amused smile as she hears so. "You sent a band of mercenaries after me?" "And then this guy hired them to, instead of following my orders, follow his. It even worked. I suppose those greedy crooks deserved what you did to them." "It''s not about them!" I yell, unable to control myself. "You think you can keep testing me however you see fit?" "Yes, I do." With no hesitation, she answers. Arrogance is the red blood cell of this woman it seems. "Well, it''s time to change your thinking." I say and I snap my fingers and the whole floor rises up in a second to throw her up to the second floor through the ceiling (that gets broken in the process). "Get away!" I tell Niviks. He looks hesitant at first but after I glare at him, he clicks his tongue and jumps off the window. I need to make sure Dues can''t follow him. If she is able to reach him, I am afraid that guy wouldn''t be able to keep everything a secret from her. Stopping Dues though ¨C it''s going to be harder than anything I have ever done in my life. "My, my!" She says as she flies back to the first floor and looks at me, "Looks like someone is being a bad boy and needs to be punished." "Tsk!" Every single thing this woman says is so damn condescending!!! Who the hell does she think she is!!!? Sure, she is powerful but does she think that little of me!!!? "You are asking for it, bitch!" I grit my teeth as I try to flick my fingers again but, "What the-" I find myself in the air. It takes half a second for me to realize that Dues threw me out and is smirking while looking at me from the window. "You bitch!" I am somehow able to break the fall my controlling the ground and turning it into a slide for me to get to the ground more-or-less unharmed. As I get up though, I sense Dues right behind me and it doesn''t even take another second for me to be rolling on the ground ¨C having been kicked by her. I get up again but my right leg suddenly stops moving. I look back at it and see that Dues'' foot is on it. "You-" "Keep your cursing to yourself, you mongrel!" She says as she presses with her foot on my leg and I hear the sound of bones cracking. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Goddamnit! She really is too powerful! Letting go of my leg, she lets me get away a little before she charges at me with a heavy punch. However, she is stopped. "Wha-" I am left stunned, unable to even bat an eye as I look at the person who suddenly swooped in to save me. "What the hell do you think you are doing!?" Dues questions with as much surprise on her face as she can muster. Jom-e-wah, the dark elf mercenary band leader whom I have given enough reason to hate me ¨C has just now taken a punch right in his gut to protect me from taking it. Furthermore, even after taking the punch, he hasn''t been thrown away to oblivion as one would expect. He has been able to stand his ground. "I was reminded just a few moments ago," He says in an ascent that''s more like a particular birdlike human I know than his, "when you are too god at something, you sometimes forget that you aren''t perfect at it." ***** 144 Conniving Tricks And Smirking Goddesses "Why are YOU of all people protecting him!?" Dues grits her teeth as she asks. "Wouldn''t you like to know?" As if to give her a taste of her own medicine, Jom-e-wah replies with a cocky attitude and punches her right in the face ¨C or at least, he tries to. She dodges him pretty easily and punches right at his right cheek, knocking him a few steps back. While I am stunned by this whole thing, I am not so stunned that I didn''t use this opportunity to get away from her. I have run as away from her as I can ¨C which is still not much but, I might have a second or two before she can get to me. Using this time that Jom-e-wah bought me, I have also used Image to change my appearance. I look like a Frost now. Although I am pretty sure that Dues would be able to see through this ability, others around her won''t. So come, Dues ex machina, attack me ¨C the me who looks like an ordinary Frost ¨C and show the entire populous around that you, the oh-so-great ''God'', would actually attack a person like that. "What a conniving little trick you have got there!" She remarks as she closes up the distance between in a matter of a second. I stay still as a normal Frost would, making sure this looks like I am just an ordinary guy who this ''God'' is going to beat up. The only other way I could have taken was trying to run away but I know it wouldn''t have worked unless I got really lucky, which, seeing from my experiences so far, is not very likely. Something like taking a Frost or two as hostages to stop her would never work because I know this bitch doesn''t actually care about these people. This is why this strategy is the best as it at least plays into the purpose of destroying her reputation among these people. "Well, I guess we''ll see then." She says with a disgustingly wide smile and punches me right in the eye. I fall to the ground and barely my stop my reflexive attack on her. She smirks and stands where she was, looking down at me. "Not so fast!" A particular dark elf shouts from behind and comes to tackle her. She easily stops him with one hand, without even looking back, and says, "As you wish, we''ll take it slow!" I act like I am terrified of her and am trying to get away. She causally trips Jom-e-wah and almost disappears from my sight, appearing right behind me. I try to get up but she foots her foot on my shoulders and almost ends up breaking my collarbone. "AAAAHHH!!!" If only I was a masochist, I would be enjoying myself right now. But, I am not one. "W-why are you doing this, God?" I ask, using all the acting skills I have acquired over the years to look afraid and wronged. "Oh, you know why." I glance at the people around. I made sure to not let them notice that the human they were seeing before ¨C me ¨C changes his appearance into a Frost. And so, to them, it would look like their God is beating up a simple Frost. And so, "What''s wrong with her!?" "How can she do this to one of us!?" "Is she really a God, or is she a devil!?" These kinds of gossip should be spreading. If only this was true though. "That asshole must have it coming!" "He probably is a heretic like those Temple of Temur guys." "At least, whatever he did has given us a chance to look at the majestic God Dues herself." "Yeah, she is SO pretty!" What''s wrong with these people!? "Well, well," Dues says mockingly, "looks like someone''s plan backfired!" Tsk! I suppose it did backfire. That doesn''t mean I failed completely though. "Ha!" I laugh, deliberately. "Hahaha! Hahahahaha!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" As I laugh, all the gossip around us quiets down. Dues stops smiling and only look at me curiously, as if wanting to find out what I am cooking up in my brain. "What kind of ''God'' takes so much time to punish a person? You are pathetic!" I say, mockingly, "Don''t you have anything else to do! Aren''t you delaying all of it just to have some sadistic fun here!? Millions of lives could be lost in some corner of the universe because you are too busy- The ground change shape as Dues'' leg (the one that wasn''t on my shoulders) trips and makes her fall. "Falling for me!" With that, the Frosts all around us starts to look at us with confused and anxious expressions. It looks like these idiots really don''t realize how ungodly this bitch is. Clap! Clap! Clap! Deliberately clapping thrice, Dues gets up and shrugs the dirt of her clothes ¨C her black clothes that are basically that of an aristocratic woman who would definitely like the ''darker is better'' phrase. "Falling for you, eh? That''s a good one." She says, and raises her palm to show it directly to me. In the next second, I get thrown to the side by Jom-e-wah. As I turn back to see why he did, I find the dark elf turned to bones. "¡­" I am unable to come up with anything. All this time I was thinking Dues'' limitation is that she won''t go so far as to kill me. But, if she intended to do that to me ¡­ no, wait! "You bitch! You saw him coming and knew he was going to save me!" "Well, of course my darling little idiot, why else would I use a lethal mage-craft?" She says without batting an eye, "He was nuisance and so I dealt with him." "¡­" "Now, where were we?" She asks as she bends down to look me in the eye. "Ah yes, the ''falling for you'' part." She snaps her fingers and ¡­ and ¡­ nothing happens. "Ow, are you so afraid of me that you think even snapping my fingers would be something dangerous? That''s cute." She remarks as she gets up and look at the right ¨C at some bushes. "I can''t sense what''s beyond those bushes." She says. "And so, there''s a very high possibility that the man responsible for me not being able to Scry on you at times should be there.??? What!? That bird-brained idiot didn''t run away. What the hell! Come to think of it, "You finally realized?" She asks with a condescending look, "That big, fat mercenary who has no reason to help you was helping you because someone was controlling him." And ¨C that someone was Cartel Hopkins. "Quite similar to your Earth Authority, your ''friend'' there might possess an ability called Life Authority." ***** 145 A Manipulative Little Bird Life Authority? Does that mean he can control anything that has life? Does that mean that- "If he perfects that ability," Dues answers to the question ringing loudly like an alarm clock in my head, "he might even be able to control powerful beings, like Roswaisa, and turn them into his slaves. Quite the fascinating ability, isn''t it?" She starts walking over the bushes. "Unfortunately, since he''s against me, he won''t get the chance to perfect it." Shit! "Don''t you dare try to stop me! It''ll only end up in you getting hurt." She says with a glance at me as I try to get up. Although I hate to admit it, she might be right. Cartel blew up his chance to get away. I don''t think there''s a way out for him now. But, "Wait!" surprising me and her both, the birdlike human in question comes out of trees and stands in front of Dues. He looks nervous. He looks calculating. But, in no aspect does he look afraid. "I think ¡­ there''s been a misunderstanding, Goddess." "Oh!?" She laughs and asks as if she is letting a child give his excuse before punishing him, "And how is that?" "The thing is, Goddess, I never intended for there to be any harm to you." Cartel says with his best smile, "All I wanted ¨C was to show you ¡­ that I could be an asset to you." In a not-so-convincing way, Cartel says so. Dues seems like she is about to roll her eyes but Cartel continues, "See I, I think you are amazing ¡­ and I want to ¡­ help you in your quest of ¡­ Pfft! Ha! Hahaha!" All of sudden, he starts to laugh and he laughs so much he needs to bring a hand to his stomach to stop the laughing. "I can''t do this." He says while still laughing, "I can''t play this ''I''m-so-innocent-I-only-wanted-to-impress-you'' part." As if laughing has made it harder to walk, he almost trips over nothing as he continues. Even Dues is left baffled at this. "Hey Niviks, come out! We are busted anyway!" He says and the old Frost steps out from a distance. Dues ignores him and keeps her eyes on Cartel. "What''s so funny, you birdlike midget?" She asks in a somewhat irritated tone. Cartel, as hears that question, somehow stops himself from laughing and looks back at her as he says, "Are you irritated now, Dues? Wow! I am so glad to see that!" "You won''t be so glad when you break every single bone in your body. Who the hell are you anyway?" Cartel takes the support of a tree as he answers, "Why, I am Cartel Hopkins, the man your two very-beloved subordinates have been searching for all this time." Dues'' face stiffens up as she hears that. "Seeing as how you have turned me into such a big celebrity on Earth, I''d think you would have at least seen a picture of me or something." She puts a hand on her forehead, as if not even listening to him. While it''s very appeasing to my heart to see her smirk wiped off her face, I am kinda lost as to what this birdie is planning to do to get out of this situation. Dues seems like she is at a loss for what to say to Cartel so he continues, "Well, in any case, it''s very nice meeting you, Goddess." "What the fuck are you doing, Cartel?" Niviks asks with ''confused'' written all over his face. "What? Now that my cover is blown anyway, what''s the point of trying to put up masks and what''s the point of stupid lies? We should just be honest about things here." "You-" Dues finally opens her mouth to say something but Cartel cuts her off with a finger and a click of tongue. "There''s something you should know." He says with a deep voice, "I was just told Irium about this right before you came and I think you should know it as well. My goal towards which I have been working for years ¨C is to become the king of the planet known as Earth." Although she doesn''t seem like she''s completely over her bafflement, Dues'' attention is grabbed nonetheless. "And I AM going to become the king, no matter what." He says as he looks her right in the eye. "And you won''t be able to do a single thing to stop me." Seeing that provocative attitude, Dues'' eyebrows twitch and she says in an irritated voice, "I could incinerate you right here, right now. Tell me how that wouldn''t stop you!" "Hahahahaha!!!" Cartel laughs as if he is looking at an angsty teen who makes bigger threats than she would ever be capable of living up to. "¡­" Dues stays silent and only grits her teeth as she sees that. "You ¡­ Hahaha! You ¡­ HAHAHHAHAHAHA!!!" Trying his best to stop the laughter, Cartel almost falls down. He balances himself however and finally speaks, "You wouldn''t do that, Dues. You know why?" Staring at her like he has already won the game, "It''s because you haven''t done it already. It''s because you are a reasonable person. It''s because you realize that by killing me, there''s that tiny, little, microscopic chance something of a backup plan of mine will be triggered and that would backfire on you ¡­ big time." He pauses just to look at her face which shows that her irritation at Cartel being right and so he continues, "It''s because you are so insecure. It''s because deep inside, you know you are no god but just a flimsy little bitch who has bit on more than she can chew." As he says this, I am left stunned at how he has seemingly turned the tables. As he says this, Niviks is left smiling at how he has apparently turned the tables. As he says this, Dues is left shaking at how he has definitely turned the tables. "You are a hundred lives too early to stop me, you delusional ''Goddess''." ***** 146 The Moment Before The Chaos Starts "E-even if I can''t kill you, I can put you in a prison, or better yet, take you hostage and tell all your ''followers'' to back off in exchange for your safety." "They wouldn''t care." As if he was waiting just for her to finish, Cartel says so without batting an eye. "They wouldn''t care that I have been taken hostage or anything. In fact, they would look at it as an opportunity to replace me as the leader and so they will go even wilder, just to showcase how capable every single one of them is." One of the most terrifying things about a man like Cartel Hopkins is that he knows how weak he is and how worthless his life is in the grander scale of things. While some people can go into depression after realizing things like these, this man knows how to use it to his advantage. "So, the only thing you can do now to stop me ¨C is to put all your faith in Danny and Roswaisa''s ability to apprehend me while you focus all your resources on stopping the incoming incursions by my men throughout this planet." Originally, we were about to take it slowly and stealthily. While I was to cause chaos everywhere I pass by, Cartel''s men would handle other places that I wouldn''t come across myself. That would have yielded much better results. However, since it seems like our cover is blown, we are going on the full offensive. There''s just thing one thing I have been curious about ¨C "If Cartel was deliberately blocking Dues'' Scrying on me, then it was only a matter of time before she comes to check out what''s going on. He basically made her come here." So, did things really not go as Cartel had planned? Or, is he manipulating not just Dues but me too? "Hah!" He turns to me and says, "I can practically feel the doubts in your mind." While what I said was nothing more than a whisper that no one could have heard (except me of course) but it seems like Cartel still was able to feel the doubts forming in my mind. "What can I say, Irium?" Cartel replies in a muffled smile, "Whatever answer I give, you''ll be suspicious and end up leaning to other answer, wouldn''t you?" That ¨C is highly likely to happen. "You ¨C don''t actually think I''ll let you walk out of here, do you?" "It''s not your bloody choice." As soon as Dues musters up a threatening voice, Cartel refutes ¨C completely unaffected by her demeanor. "You-" "Will safely walk out of here." Cartel interrupts her and adds mockingly, "And the reason for that is that you can''t possibly let the whole planet of Frost see you as Goddess who doesn''t care about the lives of the people." To the real God, life and death of humans would probably be irrelevant. But, to a fake God who cares about what people think of her, the bomb-switch-like-thingy that Cartel brings out is the biggest threatening device. If he blows this place up, as he seems to be implying that he would do if Dues tries anything, it won''t take very long for people to come to know about this. Sure, she can try to control the spread of rumors but she is not that capable to completely erase it from the minds of every single person who knows about this, especially as this is something Cartel''s men would make sure to spread themselves. In other words, Dues can''t do anything to Cartel right now. In the face of this ''God'', the birdie has made himself invincible. "You know, I am actually a bit thankful to you." He says. "If we had gone about my original plan, sure, the results would have been better but it just wouldn''t feel very satisfactory to me to win like that. Now that I am forced to switch to my plan B, I think things are going to be much more fun." Well, considering the bombastic nature of his ''plan B'', I also think things are going to be much more fun. ***** A tall wizard bows to me as I step in front of him and then opens a portal near the entrance. "You just need your army to step through here and they''ll be in Frost." As I hear that, I glance at Roswaisa and she nods, before stepping into the portal to check if it''s safe or not. She comes back immediately and nods ¨C as an indication that it''s safe to go through. And so, I turn to the general of my army and tell him to lead the troops through. It doesn''t take long after that for all of us to arrive on the cold planet named Frost. The place we arrive at seems to be a camp in the middle of an icy road. "We have set up camp here." The wizard tells me and leads the way as we follow behind. Even though we have come this far, I can''t help but feel nervous. Being the king of an entire planet, making a decision like this ¨C it''s all just so much above my level. Kaylith probably only chose me as the king because there was no one else around who was willing to do it. Not that I was particularly willing to do it either but I just didn''t deny in time. In any case, I am the king now and I need to make these decisions as well as own up to them if anything goes wrong. "Don''t worry so damn much!" Roswaisa says with a deadpan expression. "Your army is far superior to anything this planet can throw at you. Each soldier in your army can take down at least 50 Cyclops. Even if the tables turn around for Cartel''s men and they start being annihilated, we and Glice''s army will be completely fine." That''s true. This army is pretty powerful. And if the tables turn around, all we need to do is retreat. That''s right. It should be completely fine ¡­ right? ***** 147 A Bored God There have been quite a few twists in this story, have there not? This Cartel Hopkins is a very, very interesting human I must say. Even though there have been countless instances of things not going according to his plan, he has always been able to come up with a solution to the problems he faced. He is definitely going to be in this game of wits for a very long time. That said though, while she has been beaten down for now, I of all people know that Dues ex machina is going to bounce back. She is going to find a way to turn things around. And when she does, it''ll be pretty amusing to see how Cartel reacts. As for our protagonist-complex idiot, he seems to have taken Cartel''s side. Not surprising seeing as how much he detests Dues and her actions. Still, I wonder if he would completely stay on Cartel''s side or not. He is a pretty complex person after all. The second strangest mortal in the universe, the Demigoddess Roswaisa, seems to be doing rather well for herself. She has teamed up with Danny, another very important person in this whole charade, and they seem to be quite a capable team. Not the best team though. Without Irium in it, they kinda feel incomplete. But anyway, these five seem to be at the center of the madness that is going on right now on Frost. There are many others who have been affected by things that have happened and many who are involved in it to a much greater extent than normal people. One obvious example for this is Niviks. He is deeply involved with this whole thing. And yet, he is not a core player of this game. The five of them stand at the center and are and will constantly clash with each other. In various corners of the universe, many forces stand in wait for when their turn to be involved in this charade will come. But for now, it''s just these five. As for me, well, I am bored so I decided I''d comment on the whole situation and whatnot. Seriously, Gods these days have literally nothing fun to do. Or shall I say nothing fun left to do? I tried to get into all sorts of things over these years. As a result, I have become an unbeatable champion at every single game, sport, video game, etc. I have also read every single book, graphic or text, in the universe. I have seen every single movie and television show on not just Earth but the entire universe. And I have grown tired of all of those things. The only thing I haven''t grown tired of is seeing these amusing mortals who keep trying to do things that, normally, shouldn''t be done. One of them keeps trying to play god, other keeps trying to replace her as one, one tries to change the past, one is lost for a purpose and is just going with the flow and one is learning to deal with the huge responsibility on his shoulder. While I can find these things in fiction, it gets superfluous after a while when reading it in a fiction. But, as I am seeing these mortals in real life, it remains decently entertaining at the very least. And it''s probably the only pastime I have left. "I almost feel sorry for you, almost." And suddenly, one of the three friends who live inside my memories says so. "Why almost? What would it take for you to really feel sorry for me?" I ask. "There''s probably nothing that will really make me feel sorry for you." He answers. "After all, the idea of feeling sorry for the God himself just doesn''t feel right to me." Hey, that''s Godism! "In any case, why are you here?" I ask. "Who knows? I am a figment of YOUR imagination. If anyone should know the answer to that question, you should." He''s right. For whatever reason, my mind is showing him to me. It''s my mind that''s responsible for it. And so, it''s something I should know the reason for myself. "By the way, God," He says, "a lot of people are going to die on Frost if you let things continue as they are." "Yes, that does seem to be the case." I say. "But is that enough of a reason for me to intervene?" "I never told you to intervene. All I am saying is that a lot of people are going to die. The thought of intervention is yours ¨C completely." ¡­ He''s not wrong. I feel an urge to intervene in this matter. I know I shouldn''t, and I wouldn''t. But, this ¡­ this urge to do it ¨C it''s the one part of my humanity that is still left inside me. And while my sadness died a long time ago, this fact makes me want to feel sad. "Well, to be completely honest," He says, "If you do break your vow and intervene, it''s not like any repercussions will happen against you. I mean, let''s face it: We are all dead, and no one alive can even put a scratch on you. You can do whatever the hell you want." "Don''t tempt me!" I inadvertently yell. He shuts up as hears that and I can only barely hear a smirking laugh. I won''t do it. No matter how much I am tempted to do it, I won''t do it. I made a vow and I will keep to it. Even if there wouldn''t be any repercussions on the outside, I would die from the inside if I let all my past go to waste by interfering when not necessary. Therefore, no matter bored I get or no matter how much I want to change things, I won''t interfere with the affairs of the mortals. That is the vow I made when I was a mortal, and keeping that vow is the only reason for me to keep on existing. ***** 148 Interlude I - Principals Office Despite being very beloved of all my teachers for my academic skills and general smarts, I was not a modal student. So, if I ever got called to the principal''s office, I would still get nervous over what it would be about. And so, that one time, when the principal told me to come to his office after the classes were over, I was rather nervous and curious as to what the reason for it might be. It was winter back then. As such, days were shorter. By the time school ended, a little crimson was already visible in the sky. It was a rather beautiful sight, if I do say so myself. Though, back then, I had become numb to its beauty, because I was seeing it every day. "Principal Sir?" I asked as I open the door and looked inside. I saw the aristocratic middle-aged man sitting in his chair and smiling at me as he saw me. "Come in, Grimma Glice." He said. And so I entered the room. But, in that room that day, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar person. Opposite to the principal''s chair, a slightly short-heighted boy of my age with a birdlike face was sitting. He turned back to me but didn''t really show any reaction. His face had a stern, cold demeanor that seemed pitiable to me, for whatever reason. "Grimma, meet Mr. Hopkins." The Principal said. "He is going to transfer over to this school from the next academic year. You both are in the same grade by the way." It was January. The next academic year was about to begin in 3 months. Therefore, it wasn''t anything strange to see the students who will be transferring over to our school in that upcoming year. What was strange was ¨C "Nice to meet you, I am Cartel Hopkins." Him. He had an aura about him that clearly indicated his disassociation with things, as if he didn''t care about anything at all. "Yeah, I am Grimma Glice. Likewise." Even as we shook hands and I introduced myself, I didn''t feel that I was talking to someone of my age, at least not someone normal of my age. "So, um," The principal deliberately cleared his throat to draw our attention and upon succeeding, said, "Mr. Hopkins is transferring over from a different city. He is completely new here and well," "You would like me to show him around?" I could guess that because the principal had asked me for this kind of thing many a times in the past. I usually accepted doing it too but that day, I couldn''t say yes. "I am sorry, sir. I really need to be at home today as soon as possible. It''s a special day." I said in an apologetic voice. "Oh? What is it?" Cartel seemed disinterested in the whole conversation and only stared out the window as we continued. "It''s my little brother''s birthday." "Is it?" He asked in a confused voice, "Isn''t Jason''s birthday around March?" "Well," I said with somewhat of a mischievous voice, "It''s Irium''s birthday today." Hearing that, the principal''s face seemed to have lit up. "Ah, it''s the little twerp''s birthday today, huh?" "Don''t call him that!" I chided him in a weirdly playfully tone. He made an apologetic expression as I did that. The principal had good relations to me and my family. He wasn''t particularly close to us as my family and he only interacted at parents-teachers-meet kind of events but, when they did, they got along pretty well. Therefore, he knew everyone in my family of six and was rather friendly towards me. But, as the two of us got along so well, I started feeling guilty for the boy who was showing no enthusiasm or interest in our conversation, or anything else for that matter. "Well, I won''t keep you if that''s the case. I know how much you love spoiling that little twe- I mean," deliberately coughing, he said, "you can go." I did my best to ignore the fact that he called my precious little twerp a little twerp and put up a smile. No one was allowed to call him a little twerp. No one except me, that is. Before going though, I took a last glance at Cartel Hopkins. His expressions had not changed a bit. I didn''t know if he even cared about anything that happened back there. ***** As soon as I stepped out of the principal''s office, my mathematics teacher, Georgia Falcon, grabbed me. She was a glasses-wearing mathematical wizard who everyone in the school started off disliking but had grown to like her antics within just half of year. It surprised me that someone as easy-going as her had a troubled expression on her face. "Did you see him, did you?" She asked. "W-who?" "T-that boy w-with a birdlike face." "Y-yeah, I saw him. What about him?" "He ¡­ he just ¡­" She showed me a paper with some kind of mathematical problem on it. The thing was ¨C the problem had been solved. "Now don''t tell this to the principal but I gave him this problem to solve since and it is a really high-level problem." I looked her as if I was looking at a convict, "You tried to do THAT again, huh?" That woman was infamous for always trying to flex on students and teachers alike and show them how much of a genius she is in mathematics. She had apparently done that with Cartel too. "Yeah, I know, I know. Don''t start giving me lectures." It''s quite sad that it was a norm for students like me to lecture a teacher like her. But, more importantly, "You won''t learn how to solve these kinds of problems until you are in college. And that boy solved it without batting an eye." "¡­" "What''s more is that even before solving it, he just took one glance and told me what the answer was going to be." We were in 8th grade at the time. And even if you consider that we were about to enter the 9th grade, it still was damn amazing that Cartel could solve something like that. Seeing his demeanor and this fact right before my eyes, I had become genuinely interested in that boy''s capabilities. However, what I was interested in having was an academic rival. I never expected that things would go the way they did. This is the story of one of the biggest parts of my life ¨C a story full of secrets, secrets that I took to my grave. ***** 149 Interlude I - Summer Camp Summer camp. It was something that everyone in the school felt excited about. Well, almost everyone did. "Hey Cartel, show a little more spirit, will you!?" The P.E. instructor yelled at the boy with a birdlike face, who proceeded to causally ignore him. "Isn''t that the guy from 9-F?" "Yeah, why is he so down?" "Don''t know, isn''t he always like that?" "He''s such a downer." With those types of gossips from all around us, I could do nothing but sigh as I saw Cartel ignoring all of it and being lost in his own world. We were in different classes. For each class, our school had 6 sections, from A to F. I was in 9-A while he was in 9-F. In other words, for two people in the same grade, the distance between us couldn''t have been larger. After that time in the principal''s office, I hadn''t talked to him at all. I had seen him quite a few times but never gotten the opportunity to say anything. Up until that summer camp, that is. There, things changed, for better or for worse. ***** We all were visiting a temple. It was more of a shrine than a temple though, but it was named the Red Temple or whatever. When we visited that place, we saw quite a bit of other people visiting it as well. In order for none of us separate from the group, the teachers didn''t take the entire class through the temple at the same time. They took groups of 10-12 at most while many teachers stayed behind with the remaining students. As it turned out, I and Cartel got pushed back to the last group, for being the least enthusiastic people about it. While Cartel was usually like that, I wasn''t very interested either because I had something much more interesting on my mind. In any case, our group ended up going the last. Inside the temple, as the teacher was trying to show the place to us, "Isn''t this pretty damn boring?" One of the students in our group said. The teacher, instead of rebuking him, stretched his back and nodded, seemingly tired because of repeatedly going through this process. "Hey, don''t you agree, Grimma?" One of the females in our group turned to me as she asked, "Isn''t that why you are so down?" No, it''s because I found out just before coming here that magic exists. I replied with that in my head and imagined what kind of expression they would make to it. Of course, I didn''t actually say that and just nodded to her. "Right?" She, being one of the most talkative girls in the class, continued, "And you know, none of us have any interest in any fields associated with this anyway." "I know, right? How can looking at these rocks help me become a programmer?" A boy popular by his nickname ''the nerd of 2-F'' said so and everybody else started nodding to that. Soon, it became a conversation about everybody''s interests instead of what it originally was about. And so naturally, the conversation came to me as well. "So, Grimma, what do you want to become?" The talkative girl asked. "I ¡­ I don''t really know." I said, as I really didn''t have any answer to that question. I mean, 2 years before that, I was living in an orphanage with my siblings and that even barely qualified as living. I was just so glad because of all the changes that happened in my life after being adopted. I never really gave much thought to what I''d become in the future. "Ha! With your grades, you could become whatever you want to, couldn''t you?" The nerd of 2-F said. "Yeah, you sure have it easy, don''t you?" The girl said. And so, everybody continued on the same train. They weren''t trying to be mean or anything, at least, not on the surface; but since the time of their lives had come when these things became a daily thought for almost everyone, they were getting jealous of me and my grades. "Pfft!" Hearing that though, Cartel muffled a laugh. He didn''t say anything, he didn''t even look at us but just him giving a reaction was something that surprised all of us. "S-so, Cartel Hopkins, right? What do YOU want to become?" The nerd of 2-F asked. These two were in the same class so there might have been something between them I didn''t know about but when he asked that question, his eyes were filled with disgust. "I?" Cartel looked at him as he continues, "I guess, I want to be the king of the world." "¡­" Silence permeated through us as we heard that. None of us had any idea what to make of that. And so, the nerd of 2-F started laughing. "A king who doesn''t do shit. Yeah, that does sound like something you''d be able to do." He sarcastically said to mock Cartel. "I can''t say the same about you wanting to become a programmer though." ¨Cbut got mocked instead. "Why you?" "Hey!" The teacher stopped them from making a scene and seeing that, Cartel scoffed at all of us. "You people act so high and mighty when you don''t even know a single thing about mage-craft. It''s almost laughable." Hearing that, all of us made weird expressions. It''s just that, my reason for making a weird expression was completely different than theirs. While their eyes showed disgust, my eyes showed surprise. And I think Cartel noticed that, as he become surprised too. ***** When night had fallen and everyone had returned to their tents, I noticed a commotion among the girls, making me turn to them. And then I noticed that a particular person was standing there and saying something. It was Cartel Hopkins, of course. As I saw that, I quickly got up and went there. As I closed the distance, I came to realize from their words that Cartel has been asking to meet with someone and the girls aren''t complying with him and calling him a ''creep''. It was obvious who he wanted to meet with. I made a deliberate "Mm?" to draw their attention. When Cartel looked at me, he asked, "Could we talk, alone?" I nodded, surprising everyone around me. That incident later led to rumors about me and him dating spread around, which were the biggest the pain in the ass I ever had to deal with. But, if I could go back in time, I would still go talk to him that night. ***** 148 Interlude I - 1. Principals Office Despite being very beloved of all my teachers for my academic skills and general smarts, I was not a modal student. So, if I ever got called to the principal''s office, I would still get nervous over what it would be about. And so, that one time, when the principal told me to come to his office after the classes were over, I was rather nervous and curious as to what the reason for it might be. It was winter back then. As such, days were shorter. By the time school ended, a little crimson was already visible in the sky. It was a rather beautiful sight, if I do say so myself. Though, back then, I had become numb to its beauty, because I was seeing it every day. "Principal Sir?" I asked as I open the door and looked inside. I saw the aristocratic middle-aged man sitting in his chair and smiling at me as he saw me. "Come in, Grimma Glice." He said. And so I entered the room. But, in that room that day, I was surprised to see an unfamiliar person. Opposite to the principal''s chair, a slightly short-heighted boy of my age with a birdlike face was sitting. He turned back to me but didn''t really show any reaction. His face had a stern, cold demeanor that seemed pitiable to me, for whatever reason. "Grimma, meet Mr. Hopkins." The Principal said. "He is going to transfer over to this school from the next academic year. You both are in the same grade by the way." It was January. The next academic year was about to begin in 3 months. Therefore, it wasn''t anything strange to see the students who will be transferring over to our school in that upcoming year. What was strange was ¨C "Nice to meet you, I am Cartel Hopkins." Him. He had an aura about him that clearly indicated his disassociation with things, as if he didn''t care about anything at all. "Yeah, I am Grimma Glice. Likewise." Even as we shook hands and I introduced myself, I didn''t feel that I was talking to someone of my age, at least not someone normal of my age. "So, um," The principal deliberately cleared his throat to draw our attention and upon succeeding, said, "Mr. Hopkins is transferring over from a different city. He is completely new here and well," "You would like me to show him around?" I could guess that because the principal had asked me for this kind of thing many a times in the past. I usually accepted doing it too but that day, I couldn''t say yes. "I am sorry, sir. I really need to be at home today as soon as possible. It''s a special day." I said in an apologetic voice. "Oh? What is it?" Cartel seemed disinterested in the whole conversation and only stared out the window as we continued. "It''s my little brother''s birthday." "Is it?" He asked in a confused voice, "Isn''t Jason''s birthday around March?" "Well," I said with somewhat of a mischievous voice, "It''s Irium''s birthday today." Hearing that, the principal''s face seemed to have lit up. "Ah, it''s the little twerp''s birthday today, huh?" "Don''t call him that!" I chided him in a weirdly playfully tone. He made an apologetic expression as I did that. The principal had good relations to me and my family. He wasn''t particularly close to us as my family and he only interacted at parents-teachers-meet kind of events but, when they did interact, they got along pretty well. Therefore, he knew everyone in my family of six and was rather friendly towards me. But, as the two of us got along so well, I started feeling guilty for the boy who was showing no enthusiasm or interest in our conversation, or anything else for that matter. "Well, I won''t keep you if that''s the case. I know how much you love spoiling that little twe- I mean," deliberately coughing, he said, "you can go." I did my best to ignore the fact that he called my precious little twerp a little twerp and put up a smile. No one was allowed to call him a little twerp. No one except me, that is. Before going though, I took a last glance at Cartel Hopkins. His expressions had not changed a bit. I didn''t know if he even cared about anything that happened back there. ***** As soon as I stepped out of the principal''s office, my mathematics teacher, Georgia Falcon, grabbed me. She was a glasses-wearing mathematical wizard who everyone in the school started off disliking but had grown to like her antics within just half a year. It surprised me that someone as easy-going as her had a troubled expression on her face. "Did you see him, did you?" She asked. "W-who?" "T-that boy w-with a birdlike face!" "Y-yeah, I saw him. What about him?" "He ¡­ he just ¡­" She showed me a paper with some kind of mathematical problem on it. The thing was ¨C the problem had been solved. "Now don''t tell this to the principal but I gave him this problem to solve and it is a really high-level problem." I looked at her as if I was looking at a convict, "You tried to do THAT again, huh?" That woman was infamous for always trying to flex on students and teachers alike by showing them how much of a genius she was in mathematics. She had apparently done that with Cartel too. "Yeah, I know, I know. Don''t start giving me lectures." It''s quite sad that it was a norm for students like me to lecture a teacher like her. But, more importantly, "You won''t learn how to solve these kinds of problems until you are in college. And that boy solved it without batting an eye." "¡­" "What''s more is that even before solving it, he just took one glance and told me what the answer was going to be." We were in 8th grade at the time. And even if you consider that we were about to enter the 9th grade, it still was damn amazing that Cartel could solve something like that. Seeing his demeanor and this fact right before my eyes, I had become genuinely interested in that boy''s capabilities. However, what I was interested in having was an academic rival. I never expected that things would go the way they did. This is the story of one of the biggest parts of my life ¨C a story full of secrets, secrets that I took to my grave. ***** 149 Interlude I - 2. Summer Camp Summer camp. It was something that everyone in the school felt excited about. Well, almost everyone did. "Hey Cartel, show a little more spirit, will you!?" The P.E. instructor yelled at the boy with a birdlike face, who proceeded to causally ignore him. "Isn''t that the guy from 9-F?" "Yeah, why is he so down?" "Don''t know, isn''t he always like that?" "He''s such a downer." With those types of gossips from all around us, I could do nothing but sigh as I saw Cartel ignoring all of it and being lost in his own world. We were in different classes. For each class, our school had 6 sections, from A to F. I was in 9-A while he was in 9-F. In other words, for two people in the same grade, the distance between us couldn''t have been larger. After that time in the principal''s office, I hadn''t talked to him at all. I had seen him quite a few times but never gotten the opportunity to say anything. Up until that summer camp, that is. There, things changed, for better or for worse. ***** We all were visiting a temple. It was more of a shrine than a temple though, but it was named the Red Temple or whatever. When we visited that place, we saw quite a bit of other people visiting it as well. In order for none of us to get separated from the group, the teachers didn''t take the entire class through the temple at the same time. They took groups of 10-12 at most while many teachers stayed behind with the remaining students. As it turned out, I and Cartel got pushed back to the last group, for being the least enthusiastic people about it. While Cartel was usually like that, I wasn''t very interested either because I had something much more interesting on my mind. In any case, our group ended up going the last. Inside the temple, as the teacher was trying to show the place to us, "Isn''t this pretty damn boring?" One of the students in our group said. The teacher, instead of rebuking him, stretched his back and nodded, seemingly tired because of repeatedly going through this process. "Hey, don''t you agree, Grimma?" One of the females in our group turned to me as she asked, "Isn''t that why you are so down?" No, it''s because I found out just before coming here that magic exists. I replied with that in my head and imagined what kind of expression they would make to it. Of course, I didn''t actually say that but just nodded to her. "Right?" She, being one of the most talkative girls in the class, continued, "And you know, none of us have any interest in any fields associated with this anyway." "I know, right? How can looking at these rocks help me become a programmer?" A boy popular by his nickname ''the nerd of 9-F'' said so and everybody else started nodding to that. Soon, it became a conversation about everybody''s interests instead of what it originally was about. And so naturally, the conversation came to me as well. "So, Grimma, what do you want to become?" The talkative girl asked. "I ?? I don''t really know." I said, as I really didn''t have any answer to that question. I mean, 2 years before that, I was living in an orphanage with my siblings and that even barely qualified as living. I was just so glad because of all the changes that happened in my life after being adopted. I never really gave much thought to what I''d become in the future. "Ha! With your grades, you could become whatever you want to, couldn''t you?" The nerd of 2-F said. "Yeah, you sure have it easy, don''t you?" The girl said. And so, everybody continued on the same train. They weren''t trying to be mean or anything, at least, not on the surface; but since the time of their lives had come when these things became a daily thought for almost everyone, they were getting jealous of me and my grades. "Pfft!" Hearing that though, Cartel muffled a laugh. He didn''t say anything, he didn''t even look at us but just him giving a reaction was something that surprised all of us. "S-so, Cartel Hopkins, right? What do YOU want to become?" The nerd of 2-F asked. These two were in the same class so there might have been something between them I didn''t know about but when he asked that question, his eyes were filled with disgust. "I?" Cartel looked at him as he continues, "I guess, I want to be the king of the world." "¡­" Silence permeated through us as we heard that. None of us had any idea what to make of that. And so, the nerd of 2-F started laughing. "A king who doesn''t do shit. Yeah, that does sound like something you''d be able to do." He sarcastically said to mock Cartel. "I can''t say the same about you wanting to become a programmer though." But got mocked instead. "Why you!?" "Hey!" The teacher stopped them from making a scene and seeing that, Cartel scoffed at all of us. "You people act so high and mighty when you don''t even know a single thing about mage-craft. It''s almost laughable." Hearing that, all of us made weird expressions. It''s just that, my reason for making a weird expression was completely different than theirs. While their eyes showed disgust, my eyes showed surprise. And I think Cartel noticed that, as he become surprised too. ***** When night had fallen and everyone had returned to their tents, I noticed a commotion among some girls, making me turn to them. And then I noticed that a particular person was standing there and saying something. It was Cartel Hopkins, of course. As I saw that, I quickly got up and went there. As I closed the distance, I came to realize from their words that Cartel had been asking to meet with someone and the girls weren''t complying with him and calling him a ''creep''. It was obvious who he wanted to meet with. I made a deliberate "Mm?" to draw their attention. When Cartel looked at me, he asked, "Could we talk, alone?" I nodded, surprising everyone around me. That incident later led to rumors about me and him dating spread around, which were the biggest the pain in the ass I ever had to deal with. But, if I could go back in time, I would still go talk to him that night. ***** 150 Interlude I - 3. Mage-Craf "You ¡­ do you know about mage-craft?" When we had made enough of a distance between us and everybody else, he got straight down to business with that question. "Perhaps I do." I answered, looking directly in his eyes. Since he usually didn''t react much, I had figured that I needed to keep a close eye on his features to pick up small hints of things. Maybe I didn''t need to do that though. "In that case, do you know how to use mage-craft?" He asked then. "I don''t, for now." I answered. "Why is that?" "Just before coming here, I had found out about the existence of mage-craft through a letter addressed to my dad that I got a look at." "¡­" He stayed silent for a bit to that. And as that gave me a moment to think, I realized something. "W-why!" I questioned myself ¨C why was I so casually answering his questions. Yes, I was very intrigued by the fact that he was also someone who knew about the existence of mage-craft. But that doesn''t mean I could just answer his questions without any holding back. In fact, that should have put me more on guard. "Oh that? I was using mage-craft to make you talk so I didn''t have to deal with any hassle." He said and returned to thinking about things. "¡­" I was speechless. At that moment, I didn''t know how I should look at that boy. And he continued without caring about that confusion of mine. "I suppose that means your father is a mage but he keeps it a secret from you. There can be quite a number of reasons he would do that but since it''s you, it''s probably a pretty generic reason." "¡­" And while I thought I would be able to respond to whatever he said next, that didn''t happen either. "You have any idea why he keeps it a secret from you?" He gave me a look as he asked me so. "I think it''s because he mage-craft might be dangerous in some ways and he doesn''t want me to mess with it." I gave him the reason that seemed to make the most sense to me. "It''s mage-craft, not LPG.??? He said sarcastically. "Though I guess the world of mages IS a pretty dangerous one. He might be trying to keep you away from it." He surmised, putting a hand on his chin, "As I suspected, that''s a pretty predictable and boring reason." By that point, I had forgotten why I even wanted to talk to him in the first place. It had started to feel like only he had things to ask and I was there merely to answer. "By the way, your surname is Glice, isn''t it?" He asked. "What''s your father''s name?" "Kaylith Glice." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. "Hmm, I think I have heard that name before." "S-so," I finally tried to ask something from my side, "you are a mage too?" "Well, duh!" It didn''t take him much effort though to destroy my line of conversation and get back to his. "How much do you know about mage-craft?" He asked. "Well, I know that it exists, and that it''s really cool. Aaannndd~ that''s pretty much it!" "¡­" He looked at me with deadpan eyes. Feeling uncomfortable because of that gaze, I said, "So I don''t know much about it, that doesn''t matter. I will soon learn the things I don''t know." "How?" "I-I could use the books my father has on mage-craft." "I don''t think he would give you permission to read them, would he?" He was right. Of course my father, who had did his best to not let me find out about mage-craft in the first place, would not have given me permission to pursue more knowledge about it. "You plan on reading them sneakily?" "Perhaps I do." I said. He looked at me and sighed, then said, "You won''t be able to make heads from tails and will only end up doing something stupid." I was about to retort but he took out a book and handed it to me. "Read it. It''s the basics." He said. "W-why are you helping me?" I asked. "I am not really helping you." He said. "I am just trying to have contact with as many powerful people as possible. Since you can potentially become someone powerful as well, I am just doing what I need to." That made sense. That made complete sense. And I was completely fine with it too. If helping he become a powerful mage would be beneficial to him, then so be it. Or so I had thought. ***** After I gave her that book, we parted ways. We deliberately tried to avoid each other for the rest of the camp. We did so to make sure the rumors that had a chance of spreading about the two of us dating or whatnot don''t spread. Sadly, that didn''t work out and they still spread anyway. Because we didn''t keep in contact though, they died down pretty quick. Though, I have to say, for the brief period of time that they were around, they were the most annoying thing in the world to deal with. But in any case, after the half-yearly exams were over, I finally decided to meet with her again. Since I was trying to bring about her potential as a mage, I couldn''t just let the knowledge of basics be all that she knows. I needed to give her more to study. Trying to meet with her in a way that didn''t stir up a lot of trouble though was hard. She was someone who was near the top of the social hierarchy after all. She was always surrounded by friends and admirers. Since I was at the bottom of hierarchy, it was hard for me to meet her secretly. Therefore, I decided to use the one aspect of her life I had a little knowledge about. "Um, hello!" I greeted the woman who opened the door when I knocked. It was the door to the house of Glice family. "Hello, and who might you be?" With so much politeness that I thought I was looking at a fictional character, the lady who I assumed to be Grimma''s mother, and in fact was Grimma''s mother, asked. "I, well, am the big brother of a friend of Irium''s." From our meeting in the principal''s office, I remembered the thing about her loving spoiling this brother of her. "I had to return a book he borrowed from Irium." As I said that, the woman called Irium, and soon enough, a 6-7 year old little twerp came to the door. He was confused as there obviously was no brother of mine who had taken any books from him. But I used the opportunity I got to hand him the book and whisper in his ears, "Don''t tell your mother that I am lying about this book borrowing story, okay? Grimma, your big sister, wanted you to give this book to you but didn''t have the money to so I am doing her a favor." He titled his head to the side and asked, "Are you a friend of sis?" "Yes, indeed I am. And if you would, please tell her to meet me sometime soon, okay?" To that, he happily nodded. If only he would be half as cute now as he was back then, I might even consider letting him in all my plans. Hah! Well, with how the things stand now, that''s not going to happen. ***** 151 Interlude I - 4. In A Different World When Irium showed me a book and said that a boy my age gave it to him and said that I wanted to give it to him, I was scared that someone was trying to take advantage of him by taking my name. These kinds of things often happened in kidnapping and all. But then I found a question on the index of that book. It was an animal encyclopedia so the index was quite different from the type of literature books I was used to seeing. But in any case, the question, "Do you believe in magic?" It was written right before a chapter named ''extinct animals'', which started from page 110 and right after a chapter named ''myths about animals'', which started from 124. It didn''t take me too long to notice that 100 + 124 = 224 was the page number in the book Cartel had given me on which the whole page had just one line written on it ¨C ''a secret message''. Past that point, I went through the entire book and found many clues that showed that it was a message from Cartel. ***** "How dare you!?" A familiar animal encyclopedia was thrown at me and the person who threw it yelled, "How dare you use my brother like that!?" "Hah!" I sighed, and let her say whatever she wanted to for a while so she could calm down and we could talk business. However, I being silent to her venting ended up frustrating her more. "Are you even listening to me!?" She asked me with one of my collar in her hand. "Do I have to?" I asked. "I mean, you are just spouting BS anyway." "Tsk!" She clicked her tongue and swung a fist right at my face. It didn''t connect though as her body froze because of a mage-craft of mine and then I got to a safe distance from her before unfreezing her. "Are you going to listen?" I asked. "Tsk!" Her click of tongue seemed to state that she wouldn''t but then, "What is it?" I was surprised to see that she was able to get her anger in control so fast, but I continued without showing it on my face, "Did you finish reading the basics?" "I finished that ages ago." She said in frustration. "Then I have some other books for you that you should read." I said. "Forget it!" She yelled. "I don''t need your help. I can learn it all on my own." "Hah!" I couldn''t help but sigh as I heard that. "I know you are frustrated but at least try to think, will you? Can you really become a capable mage by randomly studying your father''s books without any guidance?" "Tsk!" Left with no way to say ''yes'', she clicked her tongue. "Becoming a capable mage is not more important than Irium. If you ever go near him again, I will-" Both of our eyes turned wide as we noticed from the corner of our eyes a little twerp staring at us from behind a pillar. We were in a park that was considered quite and no one used it anymore. So it was very unlikely that Irium just happened to be there. He had probably followed Grimma without her noticing. "Oh god!" As we both looked at him, Irium came out of the pillar, scared. "I-Irium, what are you doing here?" Grimma asked him while walking towards him. He didn''t answer but only looked down, scared. I surmised that he had followed his sister for whatever reason (maybe because she had taken off with the animal encyclopedia I had given him) and then ended up overhearing our conversation. Hearing all that was bound to scare a small child like him so I couldn''t really do anything but wait for Grimma to deal with the situation. "S-sis?" He had asked, "Is y-your friend a b-bad man?" "¡­" She had made an awkward smile as she heard that question and said. "N-no, he''s not bad. He''s just ¡­ just stupid, is all." Back then, hearing someone call me stupid was the most irking thing in the world to me. But because of that situation, I had kept it to myself and let the brother-sister continue. "He''s just really stupid, like really, really stupid; like infinitely stupid." "Tsk!" Even so, I couldn''t completely keep it to myself after hearing those repeated insults as I at least clicked my tongue. On the other hand, she hugged that little twerp and cuddled with him to make him stop shaking. It would have felt heart-warming to watch, if I had a heart back then. But, to the me of the past, to the me who didn''t know how to smile, that familial love felt like something to existed in a different world from mine. It felt like a sight that was as far from my reality as the superheroes in the many comic books. ***** Later, at the evening, I left Irium in the house, in the care of Jason and Kylie, and went to meet Cartel again. Because of Irium, my mind had calmed down and I had been able to process things through. "So, what will it be?" He asked as soon as he saw me, though with his usual deadpan face. "Hah!" I sighed and replied, "I do need your help with learning mage-craft, but I will not tolerate it you ever do anything that could be potentially harmful to any of my family." He nodded. "Fine! I promised to not do anything like that. The next time I have to meet with you, I will think of something else." "No, as soon as I finish the books you are about to give now, I will reach out to you myself." It was less was a suggestion than it may seem like but Cartel nodded without much thinking and said, "Alright then, just don''t jeopardize my life but talking to me in front of other people." With that, our deal went forward. For the next one or so year, I was able to study about magic through my father''s books and the ones Cartel gave me as well. And then, one day, two men from Remedy came to our house. ***** 152 Interlude I - 5. A Year Later ... After that, we ended up in this weird sort of a relationship where I was constantly giving her books about magic and occasionally guiding her to bring out the full potential of her powers. It hadn''t taken me that long to realize that she had a gift for mage-craft and it hadn''t taken her that long either to find out that I had been making plans to use her and some others like her to overtake Remedy Corp., and get to the top of the mage world. Even though she had found out about that though, she didn''t really give any opinion on the matter. And so, our relationship continued. That is, until a particular incident that happened when we were both 15. "Are you serious?" I had come to know about it only by overhearing some gossip. "Yes, her house was destroyed. The entire family fled somewhere." Using my magic to get answers out of people, I had confirmed the gossips. And it was something terrifying. Some people (which I easily found out were hired by Remedy Corp.) had destroyed Grimma??s home. Her family had fled. What the gossips from my classmates didn''t involve was an incident that happened to Remedy ¨C a state HQ of the Corp. was destroyed and many were killed. From what I had heard, a Demoness with a body of a 15-year-old girl had done it. The dots were connecting, but the line was too unbelievable. However, it was unbelievable because the situation wasn''t really how I understood it. I was thinking that the reason Remedy did all that was because they found out about my plans and that I had been trying to groom Grimma into a force to be reckoned with. The reality was different; but not knowing that, I thought it was my responsibility to get in touch with her again and make sure the whole family''s safe. From the day I found out about it, I started working on it. I even stopped going to school, though that never really meant much to me. The way they had escaped and covered their tracks spelled ''experienced'' all over it. However, it didn''t spell ''smart''. Booking flight tickets to different places, not boarding any of them; going in loops in trains and even checking-in in many hotels only to escape without anyone knowing; these were all things people learn with experience. They weren''t particularly smart and so, even though it took me 2-3 months, I was able to find out where they were. They had taken shelter in an old shrine in an underdeveloped village. I never found out any relations between any of the family members and that shrine, or even that village. That ¨C the fact that they hid in a village completely unfamiliar to them ¨C was the smartest move they had played. In the end though, I had found out and gone to the shrine, bumping into Irium rather soon. "Hey, you little twerp, how''s it going?" I remember asking that to him, to which he made a pouting expression, not happy by being called ''little twerp'' by me, even though he didn''t mind it in the slightest when Grimma called him that. Was that one of those situations where people would say, ''like sister, like brother''? Regardless, he took me to Grimma upon my request. When I saw her, she was sitting on some gravel and staring up at the night sky. I think it was around 9 in the night. "Yo!" I said. Her shoulders jumped with surprised as she immediately got up and adopted a fighting stance. "Calm down, will you? It''s just me." I said, seeing her rather extreme reaction. She looked at me with contempt for scaring her but did lower her judo stance, or whatever the hell the stance was that she had adopted. "Why are you here?" She asked me. "Well," because I was still thinking that it was my fault that all that happened to her, I interpreted her questions as scorn and said, "This may not make up for everything but I have an idea to improve your situation." "¡­" She didn''t respond but just looked at me curiously. I continued. "Can I meet with your father?" I asked then. "Why?" She asked. "I assume he has found out by now about you being a mage." ???Yes, of course." She said with sad eyes. "And he''s not happy about it." I mustered up my courage and asked, "I think I have a proposal that he should at least hear once." "You think?" She looked at me suspiciously as she questioned. "Well, I don''t know if I should really call it a proposal or not or if your father will even like it or not. So, I only ''think'' that it is a proposal he should hear." "Hah!" She sighed and started walking towards the interior of the shrine. "Follow me." ***** "Dad?" Grimma said with a voice that couldn''t hide her guilt. "There''s someone who wants to meet you." Her father, Kaylith Glice, turned to me and asked, "And who is he?" "An acquaintance." She said. "Hah!" I sighed and stepped forward as I introduced myself. "Sir, I am Cartel Hopkins. I''m-" "You''re Cartel Hopkins?" He asked with wide-eyes. "You are the one who kept giving her books so she could learn about magic?" I glanced at Grimma, who had her head down with a mix of shame and guilt, and then glanced back at her father. "Then, aren''t you the one who is really responsible for all that has happened to us?" He suggested. I could tell it from a mile away that he was going to say that. Yet, I couldn''t come up with any response but, "Yes, sir. This is mostly my fault." At that time, I was thinking that Remedy had destroyed their lives because of Grimma''s association with me. So, I naturally accepted the whole blame. Since it was actually not, Grimma looked at me in surprise as she heard that. "I see." Kaylith, on the other hand, had veins popping from his head. "Then, I think you should repent a little." ***** 153 Interlude I - 6. A Proposal I hadn''t expected it but even so, when Kaylith said so and immediately threw a punch at me, I was able to dodge. If I hadn''t been able to dodge that, they would have needed to call for an ambulance for me. His punch, packed with magic, was just that powerful. "Dad, what are you-" "Don''t'' worry!" I cut her off. "He wasn''t trying to hurt me to be honest. He knew I''d dodge." It was only after I dodged it that I realized that he knew I''d dodge from the get go as his feet were ready to kick my kneecaps in from the position I had ended up in after dodging. "¡­" He looked at me in silence for a whole 15 seconds and then said, "What do you want?" "I just want to help." I said. "I have a proposal for you." He wasn''t particularly excited or surprised but his expression softened up just a little bit as he heard my words. "Well, if that''s the case, spill it out!" "I ¡­ I think we should get to a more private location before I tell you." I suggested. He sighed and asked me to follow him. ***** From the lawn we had our first meeting in; I followed him all the way over to outside of the shrine. It was just me and Kaylith; not even Grimma was allowed by her father to follow us. "So?" and once we were far away from the shrine and nobody was around to hear us, he urged me to go on. "Just don''t tell me after coming all this way that this was a prank." "No, no, not at all." I said immediately, and then, gulped, composed myself, and said, "Do you know what Asteroid Realms are?" "Yes, I do. What about them?" He didn''t show much enthusiasm even on that topic, however, I did take him by surprise with what I told him next. "I am from an Asteroid Realm known as Pegasus C34." He looked at me wide-eyes, and asked, "Young man, why do I not feel the joking atmosphere around you?" "That''s because I am not joking. I really am from Pegasus C34. It''s an Asteroid Realm in-" "I know where it is. I just can''t wrap my head around the fact that I am talking to an alien." He said and looked back at the shrine. "¡­" I stayed silent thinking he might have something to say. But he didn''t. And so, for a while, there was silence between us. It was a cold and awkward silence but it was silence nonetheless. And then, when it broke, "So what''s your proposal?" I started answering him without any more nervousness on my face, "Remedy won''t stop hunting you down to the ends of the earth, not at your current state of power." "Please don''t tell me you are going to give me a way to become more powerful!" He wasn''t very enthusiastic about the idea. Luckily for him, that wasn''t my proposal. "No; well, at least not in the sense that you become a more powerful mage. What I am talking about here ¨C is political power." I then suggested something I had originally kept for much later in my plans. "My proposal is that you become the king of Pegasus C34, the realm I come from." "What!?" Naturally, he was surprised. "Currently, Lucifer rules the realm. In his rule, the realm has flourished in many ways. People are generally smart, strong and open-minded. Law and order is present throughout the realm. It''s a beautiful place by itself but with technological advancements balances out with natural beauty, it has become one of the most beautiful Asteroid Realms in the world." Don''t get me wrong. I was no salesman. The reason why I was telling him all this was to say what I said next. "All those factors have contributed to Pegasus C34 becoming one of the most key realms in the universe from a political standpoint. If you can take the leadership of that realm, in which I will help you of course if you accept the proposal, you will have reached a level where Remedy will have to back away from your family." "¡­" What followed was a moment of contemplation on Kaylith''s part after which he asked, "How can I know that you are not trying to take advantage of my situation?" "¡­" That was a question I had no answer for. For someone who thought they were responsible for the predicament that family had fallen into, how could I answer such a question with a straight-face? "Well?" Yet, he pressed me for an answer. And so, I played the only card I could play. "If I help you meet up with your dead friend, Trevor, will you trust me?" "Huh!?" Before he could burst out in anger thinking it was a joke, I continued, "Your friend has become an Angel. I can help you meet him. Will that help you trust me a little?" Thinking from a logical standpoint, it wouldn''t make sense for him to start trusting me over something like that. But, emotions don''t work on logic, not always anyway. And in the matters of dead friends or relatives, they definitely did not follow logic at all. "Y-you can do that!?" "I ¡­" I trailed off, thinking I''d get out it somehow by keeping quiet but, "Tell me! Can you really do that!?" He asked me with eyes filled with hope. And so, I had to answer. "Mr. Glice, I can do just about anything that is humanely possible. I know all there is to know about mage-craft." I said. "And so, yes, I can help you meet your dead friend, in his Angel form." ***** 154 Interlude I - 7. Breaking Of The Complex Part 1 Born and raised in the Asteroid Realm named Pegasus C34, I was someone who was considered unique throughout my life. My potential for mage-craft was better than anyone else''s. Even Lucifer said that I was a prodigy. As such, there were many in my life whom I remember for their jealousy towards me. There were many in my life whom I remembered for trying to sabotage my efforts. But they weren''t the worst part. The worst part was the show of fear that my family and friends end up accidentally exposing sometimes. They tried their best to not show it, but there were always things that happened that made those emotions accidentally leak out. And so, I had become disillusioned with the idea of friendship and such. Seeing so, Lucifer had told me, "Why don''t you go to a place called Earth and see the people living there? You might end up changing your opinion." I wasn''t convinced that something like that could possibly happen, but it''s not like I held any particular attachments to Pegasus C34 and I wasn''t opposed to travelling and living in a different world either. So, I had taken up the offer. At the time, I had probably thought that if nothing else, it could give me a way to get away from those on whose faces I hated to see the expressions of fear. And so, I had come to Earth. Lucifer had only given me one thing when he sent me ¨C the address of the school I should transfer to. I didn''t even need to go to school to be honest but I had taken him up on his offer to see just what exactly he was trying to show me. And, that day, or that evening, when visiting the school for the first time, I had come across the person who changed my life. It was a girl of my age. She had blue oval-shaped eyes, an arched nose, and an oval face and was a brunette. Her skin was of a quite beautiful ivory complexion and her height was as much as me, if not an inch or two more. In a single word, she was pretty. But not just from her appearance. She was pretty from her character as well. She was smart, energetic, had a great personality and was the type of person who would be at the top of the social hierarchy. Looking at her; someone who, just like me, surpassed her pears in many ways but yet was not hated but was liked by most of her peers, I had felt an ache in my heart. For the first one of two months I had stayed in that school, that ache had not subsided at all. I wanted to know what she had that I didn''t. I wanted to know what made her so likable. Is it just that her personality was better than mine? Was that all? No, it couldn''t have been all. And so, I tried digging into her past. It didn''t take me much effort to find out that she had three siblings, all of whom had lived in an orphanage until a while before that. They had been adopted by a couple, Kaylith Glice and Esmeralda Glice. Upon more research, I had found out that Kaylith was associated with Remedy Corporations, a big powerhouse of mages on Earth. However, it didn''t seem like Grimma knew anything about magic. It wasn''t unusual for parents to keep things like these to themselves to protect their children so I wasn''t particularly surprised, just disappointed. I was disappointed because if she had been associated with magic, I would have found a reason to talk to her. Back then, I had no reason to try to get to know her. And so, I had thought that I would forever remain in the dark about reasons as to why mine and Grimma''s situations were so different. I just couldn''t get it. And so, in order to distract myself, I drowned in studying the only other thing I had found some interest in throughout that time ¨C Remedy. Since I was on Earth, I couldn''t possible not use my abilities to get to the top of it. After all, on my world, I had always been on the top. So, being on the top was all I knew, and I couldn''t live in a way I didn''t know. However, on the summer camp, things changed. A particular incident where I belittled my schoolmates by talking about how they didn''t know about magic, I ended up realizing from Grimma''s reaction that she was someone who had at least heard of the fact that magic was real. I confronted her with that later that day, using mage-craft to get all the answers out of her, and found out hence that she had accidentally found out about it by reading a letter addressed to Kaylith that she shouldn''t have read. I decided I''d use that opportunity. And I did use it. When Remedy attacked her house and her family had to flee, I started to think that it was my fault. And so I ended up tracking her and proposing to Kaylith a way out of his predicament. That way was to overtake Pegasus C34. Yes, without even realizing it, I had grown so fond that girl that I was ready to auction off my birthplace for her safety. I was yet to realize all that though. Back then, I only thought it was guilt. In any case, to convince Kaylith that I was not deceiving him, I opened a portal to Heaven and showed him a glimpse of the Angel that his friend Trevor had become after his death. I then also got in contact with Lucifer and asked him to bring that Angel on to Pegasus C34 and give him an important position. Since Lucifer was the king of Demons and that friend of his was an Angel, it obviously took a bit of an effort but I succeeded. And with just that, within four or so months, I had been able to set up the perfect stage for Kaylith to take control of the place. One thing still remained though. ***** 155 Interlude I - 8. Breaking Of The Complex Part 2 One thing still remained though. In those four months, I had obviously grown closer to the Glice family. Kaylith had started to treat me like his own nephew. Esmeralda was the same, or maybe even more caring. Jason and Kylie had grown fond of me and Irium, who had already known me for a while, had ended up becoming like a little brother to me. Me being how I was though, I hadn''t realized those things. I hadn''t realized how much I cared about them all. I hadn''t realized anything at all. Grimma had though. She had realized ¨C everything. She had realized even the parts I didn''t want anyone to. And so, on the night I had told Kaylith and her that everything was set, she told me that she had something important to talk about, and she wanted to talk about it alone. "Why are you helping us so much?" She had asked as soon as we were alone. "Well, it had started-" "I know how it started, Cartel. I know you came here thinking that all this was your fault." She said, with a slightly agitated voice, "But know that you know that wasn''t the case, know that you know it was entirely my fault, why are you still helping us?" "¡­" The parts of me I didn''t want to confront, I had no idea that she had a made a vow to herself to make me confront them that night. "Well, can''t I do something good? I mean, we kinda know each other for a while and ¡­ it is a fact that if I hadn''t given you those books, this wouldn''t have happened so soon but at a time when you were better prepared to handle it. So, it wasn''t completely your fault." That was the best I could do in the name of an excuse. Looking back on it now, the sheer number of hypocrisies in it would make me laugh. "Really?" And she, hearing the entire BS I spewed, just asked that with an unconvinced face. And ¨C that was enough. That was enough to make me bite my lips, make me realize that there was something amiss in all my excuses. "What do you want me to say?!" I asked, hoping she would somehow back down. But, she wasn''t about to. "You seek someone who cares about you. Why is that so hard to accept?" Maybe it was because while living in that orphanage, she too had sought someone who cared just like me, she was able to pick up on something that even adults like Kaylith and Esmeralda couldn''t. And maybe also because she had gone through a similar phase too, she could realize why I was not ready to accept it. "You are just a simple human being. It doesn''t matter what planet you come from, that still holds true." She had said to me, "So, it''s obvious that basic desires like love and warmth will be things you desire." "No, that''s not the case with me." As you''d expect, I denied it. For someone who was always at the top, I just couldn''t accept a statement like, ''you are just a simple human being''. And then, "My, my!" An unwanted visitor appeared before us. "Isn''t that a touching scene?" Dues ex machina, someone who specialized in destroying people''s lives, appeared out of nowhere, leaving the two of us surprised. We had run away from that shrine, and then we had run away from the place we had hid in after the shrine. It was all so no one could find us. But, none of that worked on her. She could still find us pretty easily. The question was though ¨C why did she show up? "What do you want!?" Gritting her teeth, Grimma asked. "What I want is someone who can change the past and make Roswaisa the weapon I need her to be. And I have a feeling this boy could be the one I need." She had stated while pointing at me. Neither of us knew back then who Roswaisa was. Neither of us cared either. "I don''t care about your plans. Get out!" Grimma yelled at her. "What she said!" I did so too. But, it had no affect at all. "Well, that isn''t how you talk to your elders, is it?" She said as chains made out of shadows came out from the ground and bound us both. It was an ability called Shadow Authority. I could do it too. Hence, I thought that I''d be able to break those shadows. But, her power far surpassed mine. Even if we both could do it, she could do it much, much better than me. "I did come expecting some resistance so how about this," She asked with a twisted smile, "I take this girl hostage so you do whatever I tell you to." "Like hell!" I said as I made the ground beneath her feet tremble, making her lose her focus on Shadow Authority for just a second, and using that second, I got as far away from her as I could using the best speed-increasing abilities altogether. "Good, good! That was good." She laughed as she said, "These kinds of tricks are exactly why I want you to be the one, Cartel Hopkins." "Fuck you!" I cursed and ran away. Obviously, I had taken Grimma with me, who was in a daze because of being carried through the air with super-speed. "Now that''s not something you should say to an elder either!" Dues said and disappeared from where she was, appearing right in front of me and stopping me with a single punch. I ended up falling and rolling on the ground alongside Grimma. "You think you can deny my words, Cartel Hopkins?" Saying that, she stopped suppressing her aura. And then, not just the two of us, but everyone in a large radius around us fell to their knees with terror and shock. I realized right away ¨C there was no chance of me defeating her. Not a single chance. And so, my superiority complex, the complex formed by always being on the top, crumbled like dust. And as it did, I came to realize, that bitch had a similar complex too. And perhaps ¨C I could use it. "Dues!" I yelled as I got up, fighting through her oppressing aura. "You made a mistake by crossing me." At that moment, I didn''t care about all the superficial feelings in my heart. I only cared about the fact that people I had come to care about were in danger. "You might be powerful, but I am a prodigy acknowledged by Lucifer himself." While she had been listening silently and mockingly for the most part; as soon as she heard Lucifer''s name, her eyebrows twitched. Why wouldn''t they? A person who knew Lucifer would know that if he acknowledged someone, he would make sure to teach that someone in a way that the guy only ever loses to him or someone else he had acknowledged. Basically, Dues knew as soon as I mentioned Lucifer that I had a card up my sleeve. But of course, if I thought there was a way for her to stop me, I wouldn''t have said so anyway. "Now!" I yelled even though I didn''t need to, "Forget me!" It was an ability Lucifer had taught me called ''Blank''. It would make someone impossible to pry on. If that someone had been in your memory at any point in time, that memory would be destroyed and your brain will construct something else in its position to maintain the balance. Also, if you ever try to pry on that person, you wouldn''t be able to. The only way to interact with that person ¨C was by meeting them in person, using no supernatural means at all. I had been saving that ability so I could one day use it as a trump card in my plans. But, at that moment, none of my plans mattered more than saving Grimma and her family. I knew though that just by making her forget me, she would not go away from their family. So, as soon as Blank started working, I came to Grimma and said, "It''s quite embarrassing to admit, but you were right ¨C about everything." Saying so, I teleported her, along with the rest of the five of them, far away. I figured that since she didn''t remember me, and won''t see them when the pain from Blank subsided, it would at least buy me a little time to do something more. And to do something more, I decided to disappear for a while. Little did I know that by the time I was ready to do anything, all the siblings except Irium would have met some tragic fate, and Kaylith would have had to tamper with Irium''s memories. And so, when I returned and saw all that, I knew what I had to do. I reconnected with Kaylith and told him to send me as a spy in Remedy. It was no longer my superiority complex driving me, but I knew I had to get to the top of the mage-world anyway. The purpose? To dethrone the bitch who considers herself a god. ***** 156 Right Choice I Blood was spilled. There once was life. But, now, there was blood. They had marched in like bandits, started fires, killed soldiers, and scavenged goods. They had destroyed it all. "For Temur!" They had shouted. "For Frost!" They had shouted. And then, with those shouts and faces filled with pride and purpose, they had killed, killed and killed. They were begged to stop. They were begged with heads touching grounds and tears running rampant. And then, they had said, "Have mercy, you say?" They had asked, mocking everything. "There is no mercy for the foolish. And the foolish are the ones who believe in Dues ex machina, like you." And saying so, they had brought down their swords, their spears, their death sentences. Fire had spread, engulfing everything in sight. To save their own hides, then, they had gotten back on their mounts and left, leaving those whose lives they had destroyed to be killed by the spreading fire. They had called themselves, "Temple of Temur!" This ¨C was the story of seven villages that, overnight, were destroyed and whose residents were all slaughtered. ***** Shit! When I had agreed to spread chaos, I didn''t mean to agree to this. I never meant to agree to this. I never could have agreed to this. "Don''t give me that face! You know as well as I do this is what we agreed upon!" No, it isn''t it. No, it''s isn''t, Cartel. It is NOT what we agreed upon. Chaos ¨C we agreed on chaos. This isn''t merely chaos. This is slaughter. No, this is worse than slaughter. This is a massacre. "Tsk!" Cartel Hopkins clicks his tongue. He looks at the Frost who had just brought to us the news of the destruction of those seven villages in one night and orders him to go. "What''s with that ''disbelief'' written all over your face?" "What''s with that ''calmness'' written all over your face?" I retort. "How can you possibly accept something like this? How can I not be even a slight bit shaken by this?" "It''s because I didn''t avert my eyes from reality. It''s because I always understood that this is what will happen." "Will happen?" I scoff. "You basically told them to cause hell. You basically told them to do this, Cartel." "Hah!" He sighs, and looks at me with eyes filled with resolve, "And so what if I did?" "Cartel, this is murder, no, even worse than murder." "Perhaps. It''s not like the first time I have been called a murderer." He says with an enigmatic calmness. "Don''t forget, Irium. We are up against Dues ex machina. We can''t hold back." Tsk! "Not holding back is a pretty convenient excuse to kill people, isn''t it?" "Oh?" He scoffs. "Then what would you have done if you were in my place?" "¡­" Tsk! "See?" He says. "Even though you try to deny it, you know that this was the only way to do things where we end up winning." "¡­" I am not so sure, about that second part. "Will we win, Cartel Hopkins?" My voice, as it leaks out, is colder than I realized myself. "We better do, for the sake of all the people your people massacred today. If after all this killing and tragedy, we still lose, you are going to be the worst person who ever existed." Closing his eyes, Cartel sighs. "Yes, if we lose, that would be the case. But, if we win, their deaths would mean something, unlike their pathetic lives." My eyebrows twitch but before I can respond, Cartel leaves the inn room we are in. ¡­ We are far away from Rania City now. By threatening to bomb the place, Cartel had been able to make an opportunity for us to escape from Dues. And we took it. We ran away. Dues could follow us. But, she didn''t. She knew that if Cartel bombed villages and the news spread that she let it happen in front of her, her status as a beloved god would start to dawdle. Hence, she won''t attack us directly, not for the time being at least. But, that doesn''t mean anything has been solved. The conflict remains. Cartel and Dues are two opposing sides of a battle right now. And in this battle, bloodshed like those seven villages getting destroyed would happen, again and again. So, will I really be doing the right thing by helping Cartel? I mean, by helping Dues, I could minimize the bloodshed. But, that may diminish the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stop Dues'' reign. On the other hand, helping Cartel means bloodshed, a lot of it. But, that may turn things around for the better in the end. So, what should I do? Which should I choose? Which is the right choice? Well, is there a right choice? ***** 157 Right Choice II "Seven villages?!" I couldn''t contain my horror as I heard it. "Yes, your majesty." The general of Glice''s army said. "People from Temple of Temur were responsible for it all." They destroyed seven villages in one night. Killed all of the residents. And the people who did this ¨C they are the ones we are helping. "Tsk!" Turning to the wizards, I can''t help but yell, "Explain this!" "Explain what?" One of them, a witch, says. "Isn''t it only natural for there to be casualties in war?" "Casualties refer to the death of your enemies, not the death of innocent people who were on your enemies'' side." "Ha!" She scoffs. "They mean the same to us." I can feel a desire to hit them searing through me, a desire so strong that I might lose myself. But, "Stop!" Roswaisa says so as she puts a hand on my shoulder. "It won''t accomplish anything even if you beat them all down." I back away and glance at her, asking, "Any news on your part?" She had deliberately taken the job of trying to track down Irium. And so, "Yes. It''s not concrete yet but I know which direction he is in and can take a wild guess as to how far he is from us." "I see." I nod, and get out of the tent that we had all assembled in. Roswaisa follows right after. "Roswaisa, maybe this was a mistake! Maybe coming here was a mistake!?" I can''t help but think so after hearing about those villages and how they think about killing. "Maybe it was!" Roswaisa says, not in a much better mood than me either, "But it''s too late to back down now." "Y-yeah!" After we came to this planet, Dues had reached out to us. She told us how she knew about our deal with Cartel, about how she had met Cartel, and about how she had seen right through our intentions. And so, we have become her enemies. Now, we can decide to fight her separately or we can decide to fight her alongside these deplorable killers. "Smart!" I''ll give him that. "That bastard Cartel is smart!" He has gotten into this position after all, forcing us to fight alongside his minions, lending them not only the support we can give like we had agreed to earlier, but going full force and fighting right by their disgusting sides. Cartel has played us all. He had been playing us all from the start. Nothing that has happened so far has put a dent on his plans, I bet. "I-it''s unjust!" I grit my teeth without even realizing. "It''s unfair for a man such as himself to be this smart." What does he have that would justify having that good of a mind? If this world, this universe, was just, shouldn''t that kind of intelligence belong to someone who would stop these kinds of bloodsheds, rather than making them happen? "Yeah, it is unjust. A man like Cartel having a mind like that ¨C it is unjust." Roswaisa says. "After all, he can do anything with a mind like that." And so, the questions remains ¨C what does he plan to do with a mind like that? Is stealing what Dues has right now all? Because if that is the case, then such a shallow man is undeserving of that intelligence! I can just hope that there''s something more, something that could hopefully redeem him in my eyes. ***** "I hope you can redeem yourself." Irium says as we head out from the inn. Redemption? Oh, please! Do I honestly look like I am hoping for redemption? Do I look like someone who can''t accept their sins? Do I look that weak to you, Irium? Well, get your eyes checked, you little twerp. I am not hoping for redemption, or anything even slightly close to it. I am hoping to bring Dues down, and that''s all. I don''t care if, at the end of the day, I am not the one who deals the final blow to her. But, I do care about bringing her down, and taking what''s hers. Give her a taste of her own medicine! Show her what it feels like when there''s someone out there predicting your every move and interfering and controlling your life whenever you try to do something they don''t want you to. I want to let her know what it feels like to be completely outsmarted. The feeling that I and Grimma felt when we were played, the feeling that many others including you, Irium, would have felt. That feeling is what drives me. It''s my motivation ¨C for everything. If you don''t like that, I don''t care. After all, you can never understand me, just like I can never truly understand you. ***** 158 Real God Seven villages were destroyed in one night. If I don''t do something, the masses'' faith in me might start wavering. So the question is ¨C what should I do? Should I bring armies from other planets to stop them? That will definitely have some adverse effects, wouldn''t it? So would it be worth it? But what other choice do I have? I could send the national armies of the two kingdoms, Kidar and Temur, to stop them. But that''s something that Cartel could have easily predicted me to do. There''s a big possibility that he would have taken measures to make sure that would not pose a problem. If I do send those two armies, worst case scenario, Cartel''s guys completely annihilate the armies and people lose faith in my power and judgment. Damn it! "Damn it!" I yell. "Hahaha!" A distant laugh echoes in my ear. "What do you want?" I ask the person who is laughing on my predicament. "It''s just that seeing a ''god'' driven into a corner by a human is such a wonderful sight. Almost makes me think you are not a god." He, the one who is known as the Higher One, the God, scoffs at me. "Because, you know, if an actual God were dealing with this situation, there is no way Cartel Hopkins could even think of threatening them." Tsk! He''s clearly talking about himself. "Oh yes, I am talking about myself." He says in a mocking voice. "After all, if Cartel had threatened me, I could have disarmed the bombs he''d threaten me with before he could even blink, much less trigger them. I could, in fact, kill every single person in his army before he even finishes giving his threat. That is what a real God should be capable of doing." Tsk! "But you are not a God, Dues. Not a real one anyway. So, you can''t do anything." "Ha!" I scoff upon hearing so. "Bold of you to think that I have been driven in a car by him!" "Are you saying you still have a card up your sleeve?" "Yes, I am saying so." "Well, let me guess what it would be." He muffles his laugh as he continues. "You are going to remind Danny and Roswaisa of the threat to Glice and tell them to switch sides?" "That ¨C is one of the things I could do." "Well, that wouldn''t work. They have the opportunity to go rampant and make an entire planet lose faith in you. Hence, they have a threat to throw against your threat." That''s true. That IS true. "So, what else could you be planning to do?" He asks in a wondering voice. "Why don''t you try guessing that for yourself too?" I suggest with an annoyed tone, and he gladly accepts and start pondering. "Well, you may be planning to send in assassins after the leaders of Cartel''s armies thinking that if you take out their heads, the rest with fall apart." "And you are going to tell me that wouldn''t work either?" "Well, Cartel told you before that if he dies, others will replace him. The same applies to all the heads. None of them value their leaders so much that they would stop by his death." "Maybe so, but they''d become weaker." "On the contrary, they would become more chaotic if they don''t have anyone to pull their leashes." Tsk! That also makes sense. So, at the end of the day, bringing in armies from other planets seem like the only possible solution, doesn''t it? "Nope!" Reading my mind, he completely denies. "By the time your ''armies from other worlds'', it''ll already be too late." "Frost is isn''t that far from-" "Doesn''t matter how near those planets are that you can use to your advantage. After all, you can teleport armies so distance would never be the problem in the first place." That''s true. Distance from Frost shouldn''t be a problem. But, if not distance, then time shouldn''t be a problem either, right? "It will be too late by the time your armies arrive there, even if they come through teleportation portals. And that''s because the reports that you have gotten are wrong." "Huh?" "You think seven villages were destroyed in one night? Don''t make me laugh!" He says. "Seven is the number Cartel let you and many of his allies see. That doesn''t mean the number is seven." What!? He has destroyed more villages in a single night. "More villages, she wonders! Hahahahaha!!!" He laughs loudly. "What''s so funny?" "Well," muffling his laugh, God answers, "Cartel Hopkins destroyed every single village in Frost." "¡­" What the hell is he saying?! "Bloodshed was caused in seven of them, and that is why your immediate attention went to the seven of them. But, he destroyed every other village in the whole world as well." "How can he-" "He didn''t destroy the lives of the people living there. No." He says, with enigmatic calmness, "He destroyed their faith in you." "¡­" "The reason that it''ll be too late by the time any army arrives ¨C is because it''s already too late." ***** 159 Flawed A story that''s shared by every village on the planet Frost, including the seven that were destroyed, is that someone moved to their village in the past month. This isn''t something that is uncommon, not at all. So, why would anyone suspect something like this to be alarming? Why would Dues ex machina suspect something like this to be alarming? She wouldn''t. And she didn''t. So, each of these people who moved into a new village lived there for a while pretty peacefully. They didn''t let anyone know that they were with Temple of Temur or that they had been told by Cartel Hopkins to move there. And on the night that seven villages were destroyed, the seven in those villages were killed obviously. And all the remaining ones went and surrendered themselves. They proceeded to reveal how Cartel Hopkins had been planning all of it for a while and how Dues ex machina had not been able to stop him. They told everything. They gave them the chance to unite the people against the incoming invasions. They gave them a chance to fight back. However, they also showed them how incompetent Dues ex machina was. All these was relayed from one part of the planet to the other pretty quick and those in power came to know pretty soon that their stories were true. Hence, the faith in their Goddess Dues ex machina was starting to waver. ***** "As the real God, I can see everything. But, you aren''t real, no matter what you tell yourself." He says. "And so, you weren''t able to keep an eye on everything, process all of that information, and figure out their plans." "Tsk!" "And so, it seems like you are on the losing end." He says. "Hah!" Containing all my anger, I sigh. "Just go away and let me think, will you?" "Hmm ¡­ well, it''s not like you''ll be able to come up with anything but sure, why not?" He says. "Let see what desperate trick you can pull off." And then, his voice disappears. To me, he is probably the most annoying person in the world. Just hearing his voice is a constant reminder that there''s someone standing above me, someone who is better than me in every way. "Tsk!" And it pisses me off. But he is right about the fact that Cartel is on the winning side of this. In order to turn these tables, what is the best ploy I can use? "Irium." That''s the one answer that comes to mind. He is the one person who may still be able to change the outcome of this war. But, how will I get to him? How? ***** My plans are not perfect. They are flawed. I made them flawed. Perfect plans will cause destruction and annihilation. I don''t want that. What would be the point of that? I want to cause chaos. And to cause chaos, I need to lose some bets. I need to give my enemies a few wins. So, when they get those wins, they will get captives from my armies and through them, they will get more information about my plans. When they get more information, they''ll realize that, just like me, while they have won in some places, they have also lost in some places. And when that happens, well ¨C chaos. A perfect win or a perfect loss has no chaos in it. Only imperfections can cause chaos. Therefore, my plans are imperfect. And there''s one thing that I have come to realize, when a person doesn''t thrive for perfection, the job becomes 10 times easier. "Hah!" Still, I can''t help but sigh. I had thought Irium would have been able to take it better - the destruction of those seven villages, that is. But, it seems like he''s quite shaken up. Well, I suppose I was overestimating his maturity. But in any case, I have to still keep him on my side. If he falls onto Dues'' side, I might lose this game completely. In fact, he is the only thing that can possibly lead Dues to winning. In other words, as long as I keep him on my side, my win is guaranteed. "Though," I think, "doing that might be harder than I ever imagined." If only I had learned something from her, I may have been having a better time dealing with him and other teenagers like him. ***** 160 Hiatus To all who have read this book so far, whether you liked it or not, I can''t express my gratitude enough. However, I am starting to realize that my motivation towards writing Irium is starting to dawdle. And I realize that has also dulled the quality of the book a bit. For the past few days, instead of a drive to write, it was the self-inflicted pressure of not breaking the schedule that was driving me to write. But I don''t want that to be the case. Even though this novel started as a side project, I have come to like it enough to want to give it all I can. At present, I don''t think I am doing that. That is why, I am putting this book on a hiatus to get myself together. I hope to return to writing Irium someday and, hopefully, be able to deliver some real quality. However, for now, I think I should stop and focus more on my other book. I apologize to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey. I am probably letting you all down. But what can I say? I don''t want to sacrifice quality for quantity and that''s kinda what I have been doing lately. To summarize, this book is going on a hiatus.