<Starlight sho—]>

"STOP!", Sylvia screamed as she threw herself right in front of Serolris.

|Hm?|, Serolris dispersed the agglomerating Star mana and furrowed her brows. |You know that... insect?|

Sylvia nodded her head fervently.

|Who is he then?|

"He's Theodore Gray, my—"

Sylvia suddenly stopped talking and stared at Theodore in thoughts.

'What is Theo to me...?'

Although she had more or less figured out that the mysterious emotion she had been feeling for almost 2 months now was 'Love', she wasn't sure if it was her genuine feeling or it was just Iferus tampering with her mind.

'I- I need more time to think'

However, Serolris didn't give her time to think.

|He's your what?|

'I- I think about it later then...'

Thus, Sylvia decided to go with the safest answer.

"H- He's my friend!"

|I see|, Serolris nodded her head in understanding. |Sorry for trying to kill your friend|

'I don't think merely apologizing is enough... And I'm not even the one you're supposed to apologize to!'

Of course, Sylvia knew better than to actually voice her thoughts out loud.

Eventually, Theodore managed to stagger to their spot.

"SYLVIA!"
***

"SYLVIA!"

After screaming Sylvia's name on the top of my lungs, I stopped in my track to catch my breath.

Calming down, I scanned the area around her, paying particular attention to the extremely beautiful lady that was floating and grinning at me.

'No, NO! Did the plotline go awry here too?'

Although it didn't really matter what God or Goddesses Sylvia chose, it would have been for the best if she chose a God of Ice to supplement her <Perfect> rated Ice affinity.

'No matter how I look at her, she's a Goddess, not a God!'

And judging by the fact that the temperature was normal, it was safe to assume that she wasn't even related to the Ice element.

'What element is she affiliated with then?'

It was then that I realized what section I was right outside of right now.

"A- Are you a Goddess of the Stars?"

|Oh? You're aware? That's great, unlike a certain someone...|, the Goddess briefly glanced at Sylvia.

In response, Sylvia averted her eyes and feigned ignorance.

Although I could see their little interaction, I didn't have time to care about it.

'This is bad!'

Not the fact that she made a covenant with a Goddess of course, but because of the Star element, which was infamous for being highly dependent on luck, or rather, dependent on the whims of other Celestials.

'W- Wait! Maybe I came here just in time and she hasn't formed a covenant yet!'

Thus, I turned towards Sylvia again and stared into her eyes. "S- Sylvia, you didn't happen to have made a covenant with this Goddess while I was gone, right...?"

"Hm? I've already made a covenant with her. Her name is Serolris by the way"

I could see Serolris - the Goddess of the Stars waving at me from behind Sylvia as soon as her name was mentioned.

"But why did you ask?", Sylvia titled her head in confusion. "I thought you told me to make a covenant?"

'The world's doomed'

However, I soon calmed down. 'This is no time to panic! M- Maybe the grade of the covenant is high enough to offset the shitty Star element!'

"Sylvia, what grade is your covenant with Serolris?"

"A <IV> graded one, I guess? Is that supposed to be good or bad?"

'Good...', I sighed in relief.

At least Sylvia was able to form a <IV> graded covenant instead of the <II> one she was stuck with in the novel.

It was then that Serolris, who was placing her chin on top of Sylvia's head, asked me with intrigue.

|You seems very well-informed, mortal. Tell me, what is your identity? Are you a guardian of the Hall? Or a spy sent by the Evil god?|

Gulping a mouthful of saliva, I answered. "I'm Theodore Gray, champion of Celestial Lyra Myrsky"

|L- Lyra?|, Serolris stared at me in shock for a good second before bursting out in laughter. |Pfffffft! Hahahah! That arrogant Great general making a covenant with someone? What a nice joke!|

'Arrogant...?', I was confused.

After all, Lyra didn't strike me as particularly arrogant. Sure, she was a bit egotistic, but it came off as more desperate and pathetic like Raun rather than haughty and disrespectful like Max.

'And she practically begged me to make a covenant with her when I first met her too... how is that arrogant?'

Seeing that I was confused, Serolris halted her laughter. |Wait, y- you're not joking?|

"Yes"

Hearing this, Serolris closed her eyes in concentration. Eventually, she opened her eyes and stared at me with awe. |N- No way! You really have Lyra's divinity in you!|

|H- He's actually right? He did really see the future!|, she then exclaimed out loud.

Before I could even question her strange words, Serolris lightly tapped Sylvia's cheeks with her fingers, which made her fall to the floor with no resistance.

THUD—!

"What did you do!?", I shouted as I ran towards Sylvia.

|Don't make a fuss. She's merely unconscious|

Despite such reassuring words having came from the Goddess that Sylvia made a covenant with, I still wanted to be cautious.

Eventually, I heaved a sigh of relief as I found out that Sylvia was really just unconscious.

I then turned towards Serolris with a frown. "Why did you do that?"

|I don't want that child to see what will happen next|

"What do you mea—"

Before I could continue my sentence, a piece of molten-red rock manifested on top of Serolris' hand.

She then threw the rock towards me, which I instinctively caught.

“What’s this?”, I frowned as I inspected the surface of the rock.

|It’s a fragment of the fallen Storms God|

“A WHAT? No, more importantly, why did you even give me this thing that is basically a dead God's flesh? Wait, scratch that, why do you even have this in the first place?”

|Well…|, Serolris looked unsure whether she should say what she was about to say next. However, she soon decided to say it regardless. |Let’s just say that I’m fulfilling my promise with an old friend|

|Oh, and brace yourself!|

“Wha—”

Before I could even say anything, the scenery around me changed. 

Instead of the Hall, I was now in a pure white room.

'Is that Serolris? No... it's a God however I look at him...'

Serolris couldn't be seen anymore, and standing in her place was a familiar-looking God with rough beard.

'Odin...? No, it's not him'

I quickly realized that the God that was smiling at me wasn't Odin. After all, he didn't have Odin's signature eyepatch.

'And Odin might not even exist in this world like he presumably did on Earth...'

Eventually, I figured out who the God was. However, his identity was more shocking to me than the fact that he looked like Odin.

"Vihar?"

Normally, I'd have bawled my eyes out at the sight of the God I worshipped. However, since I could feel that my connection with Lyra was cut as soon as I was transported to this weird white space, I was able to keep my calm.

'But I should at least show some reactions to meeting Lyra's father... or shouldn't I?'

|The one and only|, Vihar replied, unconcerned with my conflicting thoughts.

|Anyways|, he continued. |The fact that you're here means that you also met Serolris this time around|

Pausing for a bit, Vihar muttered. |...Or SunySphyx... or Makos... or Se-e-o-of-braed... or Kpton... or Absborn... anyhow, my point is that I lost track of how many Gods and Goddesses I gave my fragments to|

"..."

|...Though I'm leaning more towards Serolris being the one who gave you it|

Not giving me time to think, Vihar spoke again as he looked at me with surprise.

|Judging by your demeanor right now, you're not insane like last time, huh? Prostor's plan must have worked splendidly. It's fascinating, even to me, that such a small change could alter someone's fate to such an extent|

Eventually, I found an opportunity to interject in his monologue. "Excuse me, God Vihar!"

|Hm?|

"What do you mean by 'last time'? I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've met you"

In response, Vihar merely chuckled. |You'll know soon enough|

'Fuck Gods and their cryptic ways of saying things!'

Seemingly aware of my thoughts, Vihar laughed. |HAHAHAH! I guess that disrespectful thinking yours remains constant after all, oh Theodore Gray, grandson of the champion of Dimension|

"Champion of Dimension?", I widened my eyes in surprise. "Y- You mean Marcos?"

|Yes... but that's just what we Gods on Prostor's side call him for the sake of formality. As you can probably see in his memories, he's not exactly strong, at least not strong enough to warrant having that grandiose title|

"O- Okay, b— WAIT! HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT HIS MEMORY?"

I was starting to get cautious... and a little bit scared. After all, not even Lyra, who spent months living with me knew about Marcos' memories, and she was a Celestial that was merely 1 step away from becoming a Goddess.

|Pffffft! No need to react like that. I won't tell anyone|

|Well...|, he then casted his gaze downwards in disappointment. |...Even if I wanted to, I can't. I'm already dead after all|

"Wait, you're dead!?", I was surprised.

|Yes. Even a mere residual soul like me can tell that much|

As I alternated my gaze between the fragment I was holding and Vihar's soul, I asked with slight hope. "If I collect all the fragments and put them back, can't you be reviv—"

|No|, he quickly shot my idea down, extinguishing any semblances of hope that I, or rather the part of me that was affected by Lyra, had. |That bastard Zeus made sure that I can't be revived no matter what, which was a smart more from him if I'm being entirely honest|

'If Vihar's dead then why did Lyra tell me that she wanted to...'

However, I decided to stop thinking about it since I didn't really need to waste time on effort on it. After all, I could just ask Vihar, who was Lyra's father.

"But Lyra told me that you're merely wounded, and that we can heal you by getting more believers?"

|She's still like that this time, huh?|, Vihar muttered with traces of sadness on his face.

He then turned towards me and spoke with a soft voice. |Don't blame that child too much. She's merely in denial, that's all|

"I see..."

|You're taking this better than I thought|, Vihar looked at me with intrigue. |I had expected you to instantly throw profanities at Lyra who isn't even here for lying to you or something|

This time, however, it was my turn to stare at him in shock. "W- What? Even if she lied to me, I'm not that much of a scumbag to insult her for merely that, especially when she helped me so much"

|Your personality is truly definitely different than last time, alright|, Vihar chuckled as he ignored my questioning gaze.

'Wait... this could be my chance!', I widened my eyes in realization as I figured that Vihar really didn't mind me asking him questions.

Although Gods aren't omnipotent, just absurdly strong entities, they sure do know a lot of things. Thus, asking a residual soul that contained knowledges of a God might prove to be effective.

'I hope his knowledge is more useful than Lyra's...'

"God Vihar, do you know how Marcos transmigrated?"

Hearing this, Vihar looked at me in disbelief. |W- What? You don't know about it even at this time? Tell me, have you made that scabbard of yours yet?|

"Uhhh... yes. It had just been made a few days ago", I decided to answer truthfully and not ask how he knew about the scabbard, at least for now.

Eventually, he calmed down and spoke. |Well... if you still aren't aware, I'd prefer to keep it that way until Prostor decides to tell you himself|

'Who's this Prostor anyways...? No, that's not important!'

After all, I still had a question I was dying to know the answer to.

Although I wasn't sure if Vihar, who had obviously died for much more than 6 years would even know about this, considering that he knew about my scabbard, I'd wager that he probably did.

"Do you know where my mother is?", I stared at him with hope-filled eyes.

|Like I said before|, Vihar sighed. |You'd have to wait until Prostor tells you himself or use that Silver pocket watch or whatever Prostor called it to track her down|

'That Prostor guy's involved in mother disappearance?'

Realizing something, Vihar smacked his own forehead hard and heaved out a long sigh. |SHIT!... since I've accidently spilled something out, I might as well finish it|

He then spoke with a serious tone. |Remember this. Once you reach <B> rank and let the watch absorb a massive amount of Time mana, it should give you another clue on how to proceed|

"Wha—"

|I can't answer any more of your questions and risk interfering with Prostor's plans more than I already have, so I'll make this quick|

He then disappeared from his spot and re-manifested right in front of me and lightly tapped my forehead.

|You, champion of my daughter - Lyra Myrsky shouldn't be a mere Swordsman|

Instantly after, a translucent blue screen appeared before my eyes.

"What?", I was staring at the blue screen with a mixture of shock and confusion.

'Is this supposed to be better than Swordsman?'

Before I could think about it any further, however, Vihar's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. |I'd have liked to make you a <Hero> but alas, I only have enough power to make you an <Inquisitor>|

"..."

|Don't worry too much though|, he chuckled. |An <Inquisitor> is only a level lower than a <Paladin>, which is 2 steps away from a <Hero>|

"..."

|And you aren't limited to only being able to proficiently use the sword like before|

"I- I see..."

|Anyways, time for you to go back now. I've expended much more power than I'd have wanted|

With a wave of his hand, the pure white world I was in started to crumble at immense speed.

|Oh, give Serolris or whatever Gods that gave you the fragment my thanks. Don't worry about what will happen next though, you'll merely be taking a detour through Prostor's domain|

"Okay...?", of course, I was still confused.

|And...|, Vihar's voice then suddenly turned sad. |...Please make sure to save Lyra properly|

"What do you mea—"

Before I could ask my question, the space under me crumbled, and I fell into what was best described as a bottomless black abyss.

'This sensation... it's the same as that time when I first went through the Hall's transfer gate...'

To be exact, it was the lack of sensation that reminded me of that time. After all, all of my senses were, for the lack of a better description, blocked.

All I could 'see' was emptiness. I couldn't hear anything, nor feel anything. I tried to move my limbs but to no avail. It was almost like the only thing I had now was merely my consciousness.

Despite experiencing the horror of being robbed of all my senses, I was strangely calm.

'Somehow I feel like I'll get back to my reality soon enough...'

I had trust in Vihar after all.

'Well... maybe it's because I had nothing else but Vihar's words to trust in for now... or maybe it was part of Lyra in me that automatically find anything Vihar says to be reassuring...'

Left falling in the abyss with nothing else to do, I fell into thoughts again.

'My meeting with Vihar creates more questions than it answers...'

Who was Prostor? What was his plan? What did he have to do with my mother? What misfortune could possibly befall a Celestial like Lyra that I, a mortal, had to 'save' her?

Eventually, I decided to not think about it anymore and leave such questions for later.

'It seems that whoever this Prostor guy is, he will answer my questions in due time'

|That's right, I will answer them sooner than you might have thought...|

Startled, I turned to the source of the sudden heavily distorted voice, only to be met with a pair of azure flames was positioned like a pair of eyes.

'Wh- What is that?'

In the infinitely dark abyss, only the flames seemed to have color. 

Mustering up all of my courage, I asked. "Who are you?"

|Prostor, obviously|, the flames said with great annoyance.

The flames then flickered before disappearing completely. However, they re-manifested themselves to the right of me immediately after.

'This amount of divine energy... is he a God?'

|You're half-correct. I'm not a mere God, but Supreme God|

"H- How can you read my mind!?", I widened my eyes in surprise, not even fazed by the fact that I was in the presence of one of the Supreme Gods, beings whose power are only second to The Creator - The only truly omnipotent existence in this entire dimension, at least according to the novel.

'No matter how much I think about it, it's still strange that Prostor can know what I'm thinking about. Not even Lumaria, the future Supreme Goddess of Light can read minds!'

|You dare compare me to that sorry excuse of a lightbulb?|, Prostor 'spoke' with irritation. |Although this is not the first time you've disrespected me, I'll excuse your insolence for now solely because your current insults are much tamer than the previous ones|

'C- Calm down, clear your mind, think of nothing, don't let him read your thoughts!'

|That won't work|, Prostor chuckled. |And to answer your previous question, of course I can read your mind. You're in my domain|

'Why are the Gods so prideful? Would it kill them to just endure a bit of unintentional insult?'

|It seems that your blasphemous way of thinking still carries over from last time, mortal|

Instantly, a huge pressure was bore down on my entire body.

However, I wasn't concerned with the immense pressure as much as I was surprised that I could actually feel something in this dark abyss.

'W- What? My senses are back?'

|Yes, I gave them back, except for your sight and mana sense of course. I wouldn't want the only thing that can help me beat that fucker Chronzeit go insane by not being able to withstand my mere presence after all|

Before I could say or think anything stupid, however, Prostor continued.

|Anyways, I'm just here to tell you that Lumaria is a novelist|

Not giving me time to process Prostor's strange words, the black abyss slowly faded away.

|Good luck on your future plans, because your knowledge of the novel won't be enough to keep you alive...|

Immediately after, the scenery around me changed yet again.

Gone was the bottomless abyss of Prostor's domain. Instead, what my eyes was gazing upon was the pure white ceiling of the Hall of Divinity.

Although I feel like I could move my body again right now, I decided against it and took a short rest instead.

'This is supposed to be a simple mission of rescuing Sylvia... how did it turn out this way?'

As I was contemplating on what do to with the massive amount of plot exposition information that Vihar and Prostor had just dropped onto me, however, I heard Sylvia's voice from my side.

Of course, as mentally tired as I was right now, I didn't even bother to turn my head to face her and opted to eavesdrop instead.

"...So Stella's like that, huh?", Sylvia asked.

|Mhm!|, an excited voice which belonged to Serolris could be heard.

"What happened then?"

|To me, she was a sweet and understanding girl. But to the other members of the Prostor faction, she was useful. As such, she used to be the spy that we placed to monitor Lumet but...|

"..."

Serolris voice then trembled in anger. |...T- That fucker Arthur just had to seduce her and made her switch from our side to Chronzeit's!|

"..."

|Wh- When the higher-ups of Prostor's faction that always seemed to keep some sort of big secret away from everyone blamed me for losing a competent spy to the enemy, I didn't even fell angry or shameful. I was just extremely sad that the mortal I considered as a close friend dared to betray me to go after the fucking pushover that had openly stated his love to Lumet, another man!|

"..."

|The worst part is that she was right next to Lumet when Arthur professed his 'undying love', and she deliberately acted as if nothing happened!|

"..."

|A- And do you know what she said as an excuse? Of course you don't! You weren't there in the first place! That and the fact that what she said was so idiotic and cheesy that sometimes I wondered if this world was a fucking novel!|

"..."

|'Arthur is my one and only true love. If you can't support my decision, Serolris, I'm afraid that I can't call you my friend any longer! I'll have to sever our covenant now!'. That's what she said! Fucking hell! She forgot the 50 years we had been with each other just for a man that wasn't even straight!|

'This is getting interesting!', I thought as I listened in to Serolris' story.

I'd have liked to have some popcorns with me right now. 

'But what a shame, popcorns aren't in this world... or maybe they are. I might just need to go buy some at Marcos-owned restaurant'

|A- Anyhow, things eventually worked out for her and I think they had a bunch of kids or something, but that isn't the point!|

"..."

|What I'm getting at here is... Y- You won't betray me like Stella did, right?|

I could imagine Serolris grabbing Sylvia's hands and making puppy eyes at this very moment.

Clack— Clack—!

After a few seconds of silence followed by some very loud clacks on what I presumed to be a wooden table from the sound alone, I could hear Sylvia's stern and determined voice.

"I won't ever betray you!"

|Thank you, Sylv— WHAT!?|, Serolris suddenly screamed in surprise.

"Fuhaha! That's right! A 20!"

I could almost picture Sylvia grinning evilly at the Star Goddess.

|B- But you said that you wouldn't betray me!|

"NEVER TRUST A WARLOCK! [Eldritch blast]!"

|H- Hmph! This is not fair!|

"What do you mean? You lost. Accept it!"

|Fine then|, Serolris scowled, |A big bolt of pure black energy shot out from Sylvia's hand. Before anyone could react, Serolris and every knights behind her were instantly erased from existence. Sylvia's patron - Leil is more than satisfied with her performance...|

'Are they playing Rifts and Rats?'

I could immediately guess what game they were playing based on the name of an absurdly overused spell in the game.

"By the way...", Sylvia spoke up again, snapping me out of my thoughts. "...What you told me about Stella earlier, was it true or... were you merely making it up for the game?"

|I wish I did make it up...|, Serolris sighed.

Her sigh then got longer as she spoke her next words. |Seems like your friend other there had been awake for quite some time now and he had been eavesdropping on us|

"Wh- What!?"

I could hear traces of embarrassment in Sylvia's voice.

"..."

"..."

|How long are you going to pretend to be asleep? I literally just called you out|

I had no choice but to reluctantly get up and waved at the Goddess. "Hey"

Serolris lazily returned a wave of her own. |Sup. I'm guessing your meeting with Vihar is over?|

"Yep. He told me to give you his thanks. But one question though, did you really have to knock Sylvia out?"

After all, knocking Sylvia unconscious was a bit redundant considering the fact that my consciousness was sucked to wherever Vihar was, not the other way around.

Hearing this, Serolris stiffened for a bit before coughing in embarrassment. |Keum! It's for uhh... divine reasons that mortals like you can never hope to understand!|

Before I could retort to her obvious lie, however, my vision was blinded by a brilliant pillar of golden light that suddenly manifested right in front of us.

Eventually, the pillar shrunk, revealing a golden-haired woman with similarly golden eyes donning a white gown floating right in front of us.

"Goddess Lumaria...?", Sylvia muttered in disbelief.

Just like Sylvia, I could immediately tell that the golden-haired woman was Lumaria. After all, she is the most famous Goddess in the Empir— no, in this entire continent.

Before Sylvia could recover from her shock, Serolris took the initiative and knocked her out.

THUD–!

With a thud, she fell to the ground, going unconscious yet again.

'Sylvia's getting knocked out a lot of times these days...'

Lumaria briefly glanced at Sylvia, who was already drooling onto the floor, before letting out a scoff.

|How ungraceful!|

As she was staring at Sylvia with disdain, Serolris and I both raised out vigilance to the extreme.

It wasn't as if I could do anything to a Goddess... nor could she do anything to me considering the restriction The Creator placed on every divine beings, but I still wanted to be prepared regardless.

Unaware, or rather, unconcerned with my thoughts, Lumaria calmly spoke as she forcefully tried to ignore Sylvia's existence.

|How interesting...|

'What's interesting?'

As if she had just heard my internal question, Lumaria continued.

|...the villain and the parasite, all in the same place|