***

"But enough talking about the past", [Distance] smirked as he removed the other me's helmet and raised his fist up. "Show me your despair, o Inquisitor"

BAM—!

With a punch to his face, the other me ceased all movements. However, he was still very much conscious.

'Huammm...', I yawned inside of my mind. '...When is this going to end?'

I've only been stuck here for about 5 days and I was already bored to death.

'I swear if all of this was just Prostor's plan to make me want to kill myself out of boredom then he had indeed succeeded'

Pausing my thoughts there, I focused on the other me again.

He had now regained control of his body. However, all he was doing at the moment was spasming on the floor, crying, and muttering 'mom, Syl, Krista! No!' over and over again.

'Guess Prostor didn't save him from the despair attack like he did with me... sucks for him'

|I agree. It must have really sucked for him|

Hearing Prostor's suddenly voice, I didn't even bother to turn around to face him. He had been popping up every so often during the past few days so I wasn't that surprised anymore.

'It really does. Now when can I go back to reality?'

|Already? Don't you want to see what the other you is seeing in the [Despair]'s illusion?|

'Nah... what's the point of you nullifying the attack from before if I experienced it now?'

|Good point indeed... then I'll send you back to reality in a few seconds, but...|

Prostor dragged his sentence out, reluctant about telling me something. Eventually, he relented with a sigh. |...I won't be able to see you for a while. I've used much of my power after all|

'Good. I wouldn't want to see you again any time soon'

|...I'm starting to regret ever saving you and your mother.|

In response, I merely closed my eyes and ignored him.

After a while, the murky and weird sensation of reliving other me's memories disappeared. Instead, I felt that I was now lying on something... fluffy.

I slowly opened my eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the light. When they did, I was met with the sight of an unfamiliar ceiling along with a familiar gasp of surprise coming from my right.

"A- Aryl? You woke up?"

"Yes, I am", I instantly gave the owner of the voice - Celi an answer.

Still closing my eyes, I focused my sense inside my body. And when I did, I couldn't help but to frown.

'I have only 4% of my Mana left... dangerous...!'

As such, I accessed [Alternate storage], took out a Mana potion and gulped it down.

'If I had woken up just a day later, my illusion would have undone itself...'

Still having my eyes closed, I asked Celi. "The Void lord, is he dead?"

"No... he escaped using some sort of weird scroll... but I doubt I could have defeated him when he copied your Magic and was able to bypass my Skill somehow."

"I see..."

'So it's true that a Void lord's Skill can't affect other Void lords.'

Honestly, if I had confirmed this information just a few days sooner, I'd have made another plan involving Celi and [Despair] fighting each other to the death.

'Well... Celi would definitely come out on top though.'

However, that chance had passed now. I shouldn't get reckless and re-enter Kerudark so soon after this whole shitshow, and I couldn't go to [Jealousy] and hunt her down either since I was now fairly certain that she was the squirrel that [Despair] always kept by his side.

'It also means that he knew of our plans from the beginning... bastard! He lured me out, and I actually fell for his trap!'

Not just that, my pride had taken a big hit from being defeated by a mere <F> rank! I didn't care whether or not he was a Void lord. What was important was that I was beaten despite having been fully capable of crushing him easily with my finger!

But why did [Jealousy] make contact with [Despair] this early? Evelyn certainly didn't fight [Jealousy] in the novel, and Eleanor's book also mentioned that [Jealousy] was supposed to meet [Despair] a year from now.

Whatever the case was, it didn't matter as much now. I had to adapt to the new situation whether I wanted to or not.

Pausing my thoughts there, I opened my eyes and tried to get out of bed.

As soon as I did, however—

'Huh? What's this?'

—Something strange happened. I saw... the other me getting out of the same bed as I did. However, his movements were more refined and efficient than I could ever hope to recreate with my current abilities.

Seeing that I was staring blankly into thin air with my mouth hung open, Celi asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Aryl, you okay?"

I ignored her question fell deep into thoughts. 

'It's almost as if there's a parallel line of memory running beside mine at some moments... so this is what Prostor meant by 'encountering certain triggers'?'

To prove my theory, I took a step forward. Almost instantly, I could see the memory of another me doing the same thing but in a much more imposing manner.

'So everything I do... he can do better than me'

With that logic, I walked toward the familiar backpack that was somehow in the corner of the room I was in.

"Aryl? Why are you rummaging through Reiner's backpack?"

I ignored Celi once again and picked up a pot and some ingredients from the backpack, hoping that the other me had actually learnt something at the Nightshade mansion when he was little.

However, no foreign memories appeared in my mind.

'Fuck... even across timelines, I can't cook...'

But there was still one thing I wanted to test out. 

"Celi, where's my scabbard?" I asked as I couldn't find where [Distorias] was no matter how hard I looked around the room.

In response though, Celi merely crossed her arms and pouted.

"Is this revenge for me ignoring you earlier?" I asked.

She lightly nodded her head and continued to glare at me.

Normally, I'd have humored her and play along with this childish game of hers but this wasn't the time!

"Celi, I'm serious. It's for something important"

Hearing this, Celi sighed and took out [Distorias] from her backpack.

"Here. I kept it safe in my backpack since it looked valuable... and I figured that you wouldn't want to lose anything valuable"

'Isn't that just common sense? Who the fuck would want to lose something valuable?'

I wanted to voice my thoughts out loud. However, I refrained from doing so since I didn't want to waste time arguing with her.

As such, I merely nodded at her words and took the scabbard from her hands. I then took out a random sword from [Alternate storage].

With the weapons now in my hands, I muttered.

"The fourth movement of [V - World splitter]"

Instantly, information flooded my brain. There was so much information that I had to clutch my head in pain. After a while, the pain subsided, and I looked at my scabbard with a grin.

"So it works!"

Overjoyed, I hurriedly spoke up again. "The fifth movement of [V - World splitter]!"

However, nothing happened.

I frowned and scratched the back of my head with a sigh. "Haaah... looks like I actually have to get close to attaining the next movement before I can do this..."

But me doing this was far from being a waste of time, as I now knew what to do to attain the fourth movement.

I placed my sword inside [Distorias], moved the Spatial attribute mana stored inside it to the sword, and recalled the memories I had just seen.

"First, create a ball of compressed Space mana using the [Third movement]", I muttered. "Then prepare the Mana needed for the [Second movement]"

Celi stared at me muttering as if I was a madman.

I ignored her stare and continued.

"Finally, execute the [First movement] and release the condensed Mana in a flat line using the [Second movement]"

With all the basics down, I drew all the Mana from [Distorias] along with half of my newly-recovered Mana and muttered.

<The fourth movement of [V - World splitter]: Absolute split>

Riiiiip—!

...

 "1.73, 1.74, and... 1.75. Here you go, 1.75 Platinum in total", I parted way with my money with a sour expression.

The inn keeper received my money and shot me a glare before going back inside his inn... or whatever remained of it anyways.

"Why do you look like that?" Celi asked upon seeing my face.

"I just lost all my money..."

Celi sighed in relief upon seeing that it was nothing important. However, her face soon contorted into a frown.

"And whose fault is it that you have to compensate for splitting their inn in half?" Celi shouted as she pointed toward the inn, which was diagonally cut in half. 

Judging by the jagged cutline and parts where the inn was still intact, it was safe to say that I hadn't mastered the [Fourth movement] yet. Well... I should have taken the hint that I wasn't ready for it yet immediately when I noticed that it took all 3 of [Distorias]'s charges and half of my recovered Mana just to use the movement.

'But how did no one die in that?'

After all, this was the only inn in this settlement. And apart from being more luxurious than your normal inns, there were also dozens of necromancers staying there. 

"Answer me, Aryl!" Celi suddenly spoke up, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Who cut the inn in half?"

"I did..."

But I wasn't going to just get scolded by Celi and do nothing about it!

"Whose fault is it that our funds are stuck in Kerudark?"

Hearing my question, Celi coughed in embarrassment and hung her head down low. "My fault..."

"That's right. You didn't even bother to retrieve our money when you picked Reiner up. Now the orphans are going to spend them all!"

"Isn't it a good thing though? They needed it more than we do"

"Well..."

'To be honest, that is partly right'

"...Nevermind about that. Now can you tell me why we're in necromancer valley out of all places?" 

"Finally, you're asking the important question. Zakadon carried you to necromancer valley since it's the nearest settlement nearby... and also because his lover is apparently here too"

"What's a Zakadon...?" I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"The orc that attacked the estate with you! How can you forget about him?"

'Oh right, the Orc'

Pausing my thoughts there, I looked at the backpack Celi was holding with a frown. "Why are you holding Reiner's backpack? Where is he?"

"He's trying to negotiate with a powerful necromancer alongside with Zakadon for Eileen's release"

'What's an Eileen?' I wanted to ask. 

However, I refrained from doing so and just assumed that it was just another person I scammed helped that I didn't remember the name of.

"I see... lead me there"

"Huh?" Celi looked at me as if I was possessed. "A- Are you really Aryl? Wh- Why are you interested in stuff that you can't profit from?"

"Tch, what kind of person do you think I am?" I frowned. "I can do good things too... sometimes."

"Okay then, I believe you", Celi nodded. 

However, I could tell that she wasn't really convinced.

Unware of my thoughts, Celi continued. "So, why do you want to go there?"

"I've been unconscious for 5 days so I'm starving. I need Reiner to cook me something."

"I knew it! There's no way you'd do something nic—"

Before Celi could finish her sentence, she was shut up by my glare.

"N- Nevermind about that! Reiner is this way!"

I tried to follow Celi, who was leading the way to the supposed strong necromancer's house. As I took a step forward, however—

"Tch, not again!"

—The image of the other me taking a step forward appeared in my vision again.

'Maybe it can be useful inside combat... but it's fucking annoying seeing that villainous fucker every time I try to do anything!'

Thus, I had to find a way to block the memories from surfacing in my mind.

I closed my eyes and took a step forward.

'Nothing...', I thought as no memories popped up this time.

I opened my eyes again and took another step.

"Again...?"

I tried many other things, but nothing seemed to work except for blocking my vision entirely.

Celi, who had been watching me for the past few minutes, shouted. "Aryl! What are you doing? Are you coming or not?"

"Just a minute!" I shouted as I still had something to try out.

<[Alternate storage]>

Now staring at the pair of sunglasses in my hands, I gulped in nervousness.

'I had just been freed from these things a month ago... I don't want to wear them again...'

As the pair of sunglasses moved closer and closer to my eyes, I silently prayed.

'Please don't work Please don't work Please don't work Please don't wor—'

"FUCK! IT WORKED!"

***

While Theodore was agonizing over having to wear the accursed pair of sunglasses again, Sylvia was sitting on her bed, watching Glacia play with her wings while occasionally shifting them so that Glacia would chase after them.

"Wah! Fluffy!" Glacia squealed in happiness as she chased after Sylvia's pair of feathery white wings like a cat trying to catch a laser. 

Chuckling, Sylvia continued to move her wings and fell into thoughts.

Ever since the summer vacation to duke Pyrian's territory started, she had been staying inside her hotel room all day. Only occasionally going outside to get some food or to invite Krista and Alicia.

"Ah!" Sylvia suddenly let out a short squeal of surprise upon feeling something latching onto her wings.

However, she soon calmed down when she realized that it was just Glacia finally succeeding in catching her wings.

Watching her daughter burying her head even deeper inside her feathery wings while squealing 'fluffy' and 'soft' into it, Sylvia chuckled and brought her wings closer to herself. She then patted Glacia's head.

"You had fun?"

"Mhm!" Glacia let out a muffled voice as her head was still buried in the wings.

"It's time for sleep, you know? You should let go of my wings"

"No...!"

An instant answer! It looked like that Glacia wasn't willing to leave this soft and fluffy white heaven anytime soon.

Perplexed by her daughter's answer, Sylvia was about to remove Glacia from her wings herself. But she stopped upon seeing that Glacia had already fallen asleep with drools falling from her cute face onto Sylvia's wings.

'D- Dammit... why do you have to be so cute!?'

No matter how hard she tried, Sylvia just couldn't summon the heartlessness and cruelty needed to wake Glacia up and remove her from her wings.

Sighing, Sylvia wrapped her wings around her own body like she always did when she went outside. This time, however, she didn't do it to conceal the fact that she was a Halfling. Instead, she was doing this to embrace Glacia while not removing her from her wings.

With Glacia now in her embrace, Sylvia kissed her forehead and muttered. "Sleep well..."

Glacia would need all the energy she could save up, as her Magic training would start tomorrow.

'I hope you can become strong enough to defend yourself soon—'

After all...

'—I don't know how much longer I can hide you.'