April 10^th, year 788 of the Imperial calendar

|You didn't keep your promise|, Lyra pouted. 

I scratched the back of my head in awkwardness. I did promise her to gain at least a new follower by the time she got back, but I didn't keep my words. However—

"Would you believe me if I said that I tried my best?"

—I really forgot about my promise with Lyra, mostly because I was busy getting beaten by professor Misha almost everyday.

|Fine... hic... it has been months but... hic... there are still no new believers|

Lyra was in her human form so I could clearly hear and see her sobbing.

'Why do I feel guilty?'

|Wahhhh... Vihar... father... when will you get healed...|

Wow, I felt like I was the bad one here.

Sighing, I decided to stop Lyra from crying. We were literally going to stay together for the rest of my life anyways, so I didn't want to antagonize her too much.

"Alright. I'll get Vihar a new believer today"

|Really? Yes! Let's go!|, Lyra screamed in joy, turned into her bird form and sat on top of my head.

'Did I just get played?'

Either her moods changed really fast or she was just guilt tripping me into doing it.

|What are you waiting for? Let's go!|

Seeing how smug she was acting, I was sure that it was the latter.

"Haaaah...", I sighed in frustration.

I've already told Lyra that I'd do it today, but I really didn't want to give her the satisfaction of successfully tricking me.

'AH!', I suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.

"Lyra, you know how my reputation in this school is shit, right?"

|Huh? I do. Why are you asking that?|

"Do you really think that it's okay if someone like me preached about Vihar"

|...I guess you're right|, Lyra said in a dejected tone.

"But, I've already promised you to get a new believer today. So I'm going to try regardless"

|Really? Thank you!|, Lyra was overjoyed; But I grinned at her happy face, knowing that it wouldn't last long.

<[Alternate storage]>

I took out the grimoire and infused my mana into it.

"Then you can't blame me for what's going to happen next"

|What do you mea—|

<[Refraction mirage]>

Crack—!

Cracking sounds could be heard as rays of Light distorted and bended, before enveloping my entire body.

|W- WHAT? DON'T YOU DARE!|

Ignoring her, a feminine voice that sounded an awful lot like Lyra's rang out. "Too late to regret it now!"
...

"Excuse me senior, do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour, Vihar?"

The senior eyed me carefully before pausing his gaze on my figure.

When describing my current appearance, 'beautiful' was an understatement. Orangish-red eyes, ash-gray hair, a young and doll-like appearance, I looked just like a younger version of Lyra.

Appreciating my, or rather, Lyra's beauty, the senior smiled. "Sure! I always have time for a pretty lady like you~"

Similarly, I scrutinized the senior who was standing before me while still having a polite smile on my face.

Brown hair, blue eyes, and a forgettable face, he was in every sense of the word, an Extra.

And judging by the way he was talking to me and looking at me, he was most likely trying to pick up girls.

'I never knew Marcos' memories could be this useful'

I grinned inwardly and handed him a flyer.

Looking at the flyer, the senior's face slowly contorted into a frown as he looked back up at me with suspicion.

"Do you take me for an idiot?"

'Shit! He's smarter than I thought'

<[F - Emotionless]>

"Hic... Why are everyone keep telling me that I'm scamming... I just wanted to spread the name of the God that saved me from despair... Wahhhhh", I sobbed.

The senior was very flustered, clearly not expecting me to cry out of nowhere; People walking by were looking at him like they were looking at a piece of trash.

"Stop crying. I never told you that you were scamming!"

Instantly, tears streamed down my cheeks, wetting the floor.

"WAHHHHH!"

"Alright! You're not scamming. Just stop. People are looking at us weirdly"

"Hic... you're lying..."

"..."

"Oh, God Vihar, this devout believer is so useless that she can't even guide a heretic back to the right path. May my soul be condemned to the deepest layer of Hell for failing to fulfill my duty"

Immediately, I pulled out a knife and pointed it towards my throat.

"Goodbye world"

"WAIT!"

The senior knocked the knife out of my hand and grabbed my shoulders.

"ALRIGHT! I'LL LISTEN TO YOU!", he screamed, ignoring the gaze people were giving us.

Still sobbing, I slowly adjusted my posture and spoke. "Y-  You're looking for a relationship, aren't you?"

The senior hung his mouth open in shock. "H- How do y- you know?"

'Who wouldn't fucking know?'

Despite thinking that, I still gave him a smile and answered. "God Vihar is all-knowing. He's a benevolent God that answers to all of his believer's prayers"

Kneeling down and looking up to literally thin air, I prayed. "Dear God of the Storms Vihar. Bestow upon this foolish heretic before me your wisdom"

Immediately, an orangish-red light shone upon the senior, followed by a majestic voice that he thought only he could hear.

"My child, it's not too late to repent for your sins. Pray to me everyday, and your deepest desire will be fulfilled"

"M- My deepest desire?"

"Yes, my child. A 'girlfriend' will be bestowed upon you once I deem you to be a sincere believer"

The senior immediately kneeled down and prayed.

"Oh, benevolent God Vihar, forgive me for ever doubting you. This believer of yours will not disappoint!"

Slowing getting up, he bowed to me with gratitude.

"Thank you, for showing me the right path"

Nodding my head, I gave him an amicable smile. "No need to be all formal. We are all children of God Vihar now"

Not giving him time to say anything else, I slowly infused mana into the grimoire. "Pray to the God daily, and your wish shall be fulfilled"

I then turned invisible; But from the senior's point of view, I must have disappeared.

"OH! IT'S A MIRACLE FROM GOD VIHAR!"

Ignoring his fanatical shout, I quickly ran away to a nearby empty bathroom.
...

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

|...|

"HAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!"

|Stop laughing...|

"Oka— Pffft MUAHAHAHAHA!"

|It's not funny, you used my appearance to deceive people. That guy was the 5th one today!|, Lyra's voice rang out in my head.

(I- It's too funny! That guy's reaction was hilarious!)¹( ) is conversations with Lyra through telepathy now since Celestial powers and stuff

Rolling on the ground in laughter for a few more seconds, I finally calmed down.

'What a religious shit show, I'm surprised that 5 whole people fell for it'

I cancelled [Refraction mirage], returning to my usual appearance, and grinned at Lyra.

(But it worked, no? Now Vihar has 5 new believers)

Sighing, Lyra spoke. |Yes... But what are you going to do when they find out that 'Vihar' won't answer to their prayers?|

Placing Lyra on my head again, I answered. (Don't worry, they're just disposables to give us more time. To gain actual long-term believers and establish Vihar's own church, I first have to improve my reputation)

(And...), I continued. (...Find Lightning mages who want to be more than just walking batteries)

|Huh? But Vihar has his own church though|

(What? Then why are yo—)

|However, I don't know if the church is still active or not. I can still sense Divine energy flowing towards Vihar but... he doesn't seem to be healing²Because he's fucking dead. But I'll cut her some slacks since she's still trying to cope with his death. Poor Lyra|

(So... the problem is that there's not enough Divine power?)

|Exactly!|

(Do you at least know where the church is though?)

|Yes. It's in what you call 'Duchess Bytros' territory'|

"Good...", I muttered.

I was saved from the complications that came with establishing a new church thanks to the new information.

Reminding myself to visit Vihar's church in the future, I exhaled. "Haaah... Let's scam at least one more person, shall we?"

|...I'm going back to your room. I can't bear seeing someone with my appearance doing something so pathetic|, Lyra said as she dematerialized.

Shaking my head, I infused mana into the grimoire and turned into Lyra again. I then used Wind magic to alter my voice.

However, during the split moment where Light around me fractured, I could see some rays of Light bouncing off a corner very unnaturally.

It was almost like something was blocking the light.

"Haaaah, what should I do? I'm almost out of flyers"

Rustle—!

I exaggeratedly rustled through my flyers while discreetly focusing Spatial attribute mana on my hand.

"..."

Rustle—!

I threw the flyers into the air and—

<The second movement of [V - World splitter]: Rupturing thrust>

Rip—!

My hand pierced through the flyers that was fluttering in the room, striking the corner. 

A hole appeared where my fist struck. However—

"Was I seeing things?"

—There was nothing to be seen.

I closed my eyes and spread my mana throughout the entire room, only to find absolutely nothing.

"...Guess I was just too paranoid"

Sighing, I collected the flyers and hurriedly left the bathroom. I didn't want to be seen destroying public property after all.

CLANK—!

Unbeknownst to me, a small voice came out from the bathroom as soon as I left.

"That was close... I can understand why the princess told me to not observe him in his room anymore"
...

"Remember to do your prayers daily~"

Seeing the figure of the student I successfully scammed slowly fading, I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Haaaah..."

Acting like this was taking more of a strain on my mental health than I thought.

Luckily though, I had Marcos' memories from when he was a girl, so I wasn't exposed.

As I was about to find another gullible target, however, I felt a tap on my shoulders.

"What do you nee—"

I froze on the spot upon seeing who it was.

"Excuse me, but your Mana feel familiar"

'SHIT! WHY IS SYLVIA HERE?'

I've been avoiding her for the past month, as she always asked me for a spar whenever I met her. 

She was really sensitive to Mana, so I would definitely get found out if I stayed here any longer.

"Is that so?", I said in a calm tone as I slowly moved away from her.

Sylvia's blue eyes were staring at me, as if piercing through my very soul.

"Hm? Why are you nervous?"

"I'm not nervous though"

'Is my acting that bad?'

Suddenly, Sylvia's eyes widened in surprise. "You're Th—"

"BYE!"

I shouted as I dashed away from her.

Running into a room right around the corner, I quickly focused Space mana on my hand.

<[Alternate dimension]>

Vuam—!

I immediately jumped into the rift and closed it.

"Haaaah... That was close", I sighed in relief as I felt the soft texture of... grass?

'Huh?'

I immediately stood up and scanned my surroundings.

What appeared before me was not the classroom I had just gone in, but—

'A plain?'

—A grassy plain.

However, the grass wasn't green, or even yellow. Instead, it was black, pitch black.

'It couldn't be, right?'

GULP—!

Gulping my saliva in anxiety, I slowly turned my gaze westwards.

A black tower that seemed to connect the sky and the earth, surrounded by ominous gigantic flying beasts. That was what I saw.

Cold sweat poured down my back as I realized what seeing the tower meant.

'...I'm in the Evil god's domain'

Instantly, I removed my clothes to check for any signs of corruption.

'Good, my bond with Lyra is protecting me'

Any life forms that comes into contact with a dense concentration of Void mana will inevitably be corrupted, turning them into either Void fiends or Void beasts.

Of course, there are exception to this. You must either have a ridiculous amount of dormant Holy mana inside you like Arthur, or have a bond with a Celestial or a God.

However, the latter method can only protect you from the corruption for so long. And from my estimate, I could last about 20 minutes here before the protection broke down.

"But... Why am I here?", I muttered to myself.

Thinking for a bit, I focused Spatial attribute mana and used my Space magic again.

<[Alternate dimension]>

Vuam—!

A rift appeared out of thin air. On the other side of it was the same classroom I was in before.

'Does that mean I can go to the Evil god's domain any time I want?'

However, before I could even celebrate having access to many rare resources of the Void realm, I almost broke down in despair as realization struck me.

'Hahahaha... This is fucked up'

More specifically, the plotline was fucked, very fucked.

How my Space magic works is that it opens a rift to nearby dimension, which was [Alternate storage] and [Alternate dimension].

I could still access [Alternate storage], but now, every time I tried to use [Alternate dimension], it opened a rift to the [Void realm] instead.

"That means... [Void realm] is now closer to my dimension than [Alternate dimension]"

I sighed in frustration as I had just lost one of my most useful skill. 

However, I was more frustrated that [Void realm] was this close to my dimension, since it meant that—

'Void rifts will be appearing in the Empire soon...'

No, maybe some had already manifested.

Sighing, I closed the rift I had just opened. "Haaah..."

"Alright then", I stretched my arms as I turned towards a nearby forest filled with black trees. "There's about 15 minutes left, let's make the most of it!"
***

<<Dorm room F1 - 2>>

Clack—!

"Mmmm... is it here?"

Clack—!

Rustle—!

Papers rustling could be heard as Eleanor opened a rulebook.

Clack—!

"So... the Queen goes here..."

Clack—!

"Bishops go here... and here"

Clack—!

"And... done!"

Looking at the newly-bought chessboard, Eleanor's eyes couldn't help but to sparkle.

"According to one of the novels Marcos Dervit wrote... playing chess will make me look cooler and more mysterious", Eleanor muttered to herself.

Truly, the 5th regression had been a strange one, even for Eleanor's standard.

A novelist, one who Eleanor hadn't heard of in all of her 4 previous major regressions, suddenly rose to fame.

His name was Marcos Dervit, and all of his novels were considered classics and masterpieces by the critics.

Even though Eleanor was suspicious of him at first, she quickly brushed it off to slight deviations in the timeline.

And... she would be lying if she said that she wasn't grateful to Marcos.

After all, thanks to him and his novels, her stale days at the Imperial palace became much more interesting and... fun.

Well, another strange thing was the emergence of another regressor, Theodore Gray.

Although she was surprised to find out that he was Marcos Dervit's grandson, she chalked it up to nothing but mere coincidence since Theodore and Marcos barely met each other.

The only thing weird about their family was that Theodore's mother, Karin Gray, gave birth to him when she was only 15. And the fact that Karin Gray suddenly disappeared one day, leaving no traces behind.

Even the elite investigation team from the <Nightcrawlers> couldn't find any leads on her.

Granted, they did a half-hearted job at finding her whereabouts since their main job was to find out more about Theodore Gray, not Karin. However, they were still the best trackers and assassins of the Empire. 

'Well, it's not important anyways'

"Hmmm... Should I buy chess strategy books?", Eleanor muttered as she leisurely sat on her chair.

The reason why she was so relaxed was that she had nothing to do.

Her newly formed secret corps were monitoring Arthur, and Kasumi was observing Theodore from a distance.

'At least I hope she is anyways', Eleanor sighed inwardly.

In every of her previous regressions, Kasumi had always died from acting on her own impulses and not sticking closely to her orders.

Although Eleanor thought of Kasumi's actions as utterly stupid, she still cared deeply about her, since Kasumi had always been with Eleanor since when she was little. 

In a way, Kasumi was like an older sister to Eleanor. Well, a really obedient older sister.

One could say that Kasumi was the cold Eleanor's only weakness. As every time Kasumi was killed, Eleanor always killed herself.

After all, Eleanor dying was the trigger of her regressions.

Eleanor checked her clock. It was almost midday, so Kasumi would soon turn up to give the daily report.

WOOOSH—!

"Reporting, your highness"

'Right on time'

"Go on"

"Yes, your highness. Theodore Gray possesses some kind of spells or skills that can alter his appearance. Even <C> ranked students were fooled by it"

"Can you still sense his mana while he's disguised?"

"Yes, your highness"

"Mhm"

Eleanor was not particularly worried, since she had already engraved the Mana signature of Theodore inside her mind.

"And... he's apparently preaching about a God named Vihar"

"Hm... is that so?"

'Useless information...'

"Is that all for today?", Eleanor asked.

"Y- Yes, your highness"

Seeing Kasumi stuttering, Eleanor was sure that she was hiding something. However—

'She probably did something wrong... it doesn't matter anyways'

—She didn't expose Kasumi's pathetic attempt at lying, as she believed that whatever Kasumi was hiding, it was for her own good.

Eleanor trusted her that much.

Of course, her trust wasn't without basis, as apart from the emotional factors, the vow that was carved on Kasumi's body guaranteed that she could bring no harm to Eleanor.

"Alright. You're dismis—"

SLAM—!

"YOUR HIGHNESS"

The door to her room slammed open, and a royal guard ran to her, kneeling.

'Why the fuck did you come into my room now? Kasumi was almost exposed!', Eleanor wanted to curse the guard out loud, but she couldn't. She had to keep up her 'amicable princess' persona after all.

"What's the matter? No, more importantly, you look tired. Would you like to rest a little?"

Not waiting for the guard to answer, Eleanor quickly gave him a cup of water.

The guard, looking at Eleanor with gratitude, hurriedly gulped down the water.

Spending a few seconds to catch his breath, the guard urgently spoke.

"Your highness! There have been reports of Void rifts spontaneously appearing throughout the Empire!"

Eleanor's face distorted with pure anxiety and rage for a split second, before she quickly regained her composure.

The guard, who was kneeling, couldn't see Eleanor's expression.

Conjuring up a soft voice, Eleanor spoke. "Is that so? You did a great job reporting this to me"

"You praise me too much, your highness. More importantly, the Emperor has already sent various teams to explore the rifts"

Eleanor gave the guard a dazzling smile that could melt the heart of even the coldest of men. "You're dismissed. I'll have a talk with father later"

Blushing, the young guard bowed to Eleanor one last time before leaving the room.

CLANK—!

Seemingly devoid of energy, Eleanor plopped down onto her bed, face-first.

Crack—!

'This shouldn't be happening...'

Crack—!

'Not right now!'

Crack—!

'It's supposed to happen 1 year later!'

Crack—!

'Why why why why why wh—'

CRACK—!

Spurt—!

Eleanor's nails were torn open, and blood dripped onto her bed.

She had been holding back her habit of biting her nail whenever she was nervous ever since the incident at Keras forest, but this time, the thing she was caring the least about was hiding her habits.

"Haaaaah..."

Calming herself down, exhaling, Eleanor decided to think about how to deal with this matter later when her mind regained its clarity.

"Kasumi, I'll leave instructing the disposables from <Central Assassin guild> to you"

Eleanor wasn't in the right state of mind to deal with murderous trashes.

Although Kasumi was worried about Eleanor's well-being, she still professionally replied. "Yes, your highness"

"Also, tell the assassins to say that they were sent by 'Arlenoe' if they're caught"

Despite being confused at Eleanor's orders, Kasumi still complied.

"Yes, your highness", she said as she bowed and melted into the shadows.

Seeing that Kasumi had left the room, Eleanor lets out a tired sigh; Her mind was a mess right now. And thus, she needed a rest.

'Maybe I should hang out with Sylvia'

After all, asides from Kasumi, Eleanor felt most at ease when she was with Sylvia Ecertold, her cousin.