Vincent froze for a moment, then felt a delayed pulse of spirituality confirm it: the "Sage" ascension ritual really had completed.
"Well, that's double the good news, then — I get to advance to Sequence 4, you get to advance to Sequence 2."
Something occurred to him as he spoke. "Wait, no — there's a third piece of good news. We destroyed one of George III's tombs, which is bound to delay his own ascension, buying us more time to grow."
"Who knows, by the time he's ready, we might already be Sequence 1 ourselves."
As for the fourth piece of good news — they really had managed to stop a disaster, saving who knew how many lives in the process.
Bernadette made a small "mm" sound. "Are you going to start saving up gray crystal again?"
"Yeah."
Vincent's mood stayed upbeat. "Just from the amount it would've taken to advance to Sequence 4, Black Box handed me a genuine doomsday weapon. Can't complain about that trade."
"Honestly, part of me doesn't even want to advance right now — maybe if I keep saving, next time I'll pull something even bigger."
Bernadette pushed back on that. "But if all we have is that kind of 'doomsday weapon,' we can't realistically use it more than a couple more times. That last strike alone burned through more than half my remaining lifespan. Even after I advance to Sequence 2 and my lifespan extends again, we still won't get many more uses out of it."
Fair point.
In Bleach, a zanpakutō's attacks drew on spiritual pressure — but in his hands, it drew on his actual lifespan instead. And in the Lord of Mysteries world, unless you ascended to true godhood, most pathways still came with a finite lifespan in the end.
Even the Witch Pathway, famous for its longevity, only really bought its members more time than most — an "undying witch" might not age, but that didn't mean she couldn't die.
Well, there were a few exceptions: the Thief Pathway could steal others' remaining lifespan, and the Fate Pathway could reboot time, effectively granting something close to immortality either way.
"Too bad we didn't manage to broker any deals or trades between other people during this whole mess — otherwise we'd definitely have banked enough gray crystal for another advancement by now."
Vincent tapped his chin, thinking. "Hey — you know, if that woman just now had actually spoken Lord of Chaos's honorific, could we have used that as an opening with her, somehow?"
Bernadette said, "Don't forget who she is. Playing mystic tricks won't get us far with someone like her — if anything, she might already know perfectly well that Lord of Chaos isn't a real god at all."
Right. She was the Goddess of the Evernight's own daughter.
Damn it, the Goddess of the Evernight actually had a kid!
Even now, Vincent still found it hard to fully believe.
And even more unbelievable — Amon was apparently the Goddess of the Evernight's own brother-in-law?
"You seem genuinely shocked about the Goddess of the Evernight having a daughter," Bernadette said. "This isn't something that happened in the 'story' you know, is it?"
"No."
Having finally told Bernadette the "truth," Vincent felt a wave of relief wash over him. He'd originally planned to bring it up once he'd advanced to Sequence 4, but this sudden "deathbed confession" had, in a strange way, felt like the right moment after all.
"And it's not just that — quite a few other things have changed too. Take Amon, for instance."
Vincent frowned. "In the 'story' I know, the Angel of Time was Amon, full stop. He never once acted as a steward for Silver City, and he's absolutely nothing like how Silver City's history books describe him. He was born a Mythical Creature from the start — which means he lacks humanity, doesn't value human life much at all."
Bernadette nodded. "That matches roughly what I know of Amon too."
"At first, I figured maybe what Mr. Sun described as the 'Angel of Time' was just Amon in disguise, playing some kind of game — I have no doubt he's fully capable of that."
"But the information Mr. Sun shared at this afternoon's Tarot Club gathering gave me a new theory."
Vincent cleared his throat. "Let me be upfront — this theory of mine is a big leap, and I don't have any real proof to back it up..."
"I suspect that I'm the one responsible for everything that's 'different' here!"
Vincent laid out his reasoning, slow and deliberate. "My guess is... at some point in the future, I use the Time-Turner from the Harry Potter world — or straight-up time magic — to go back into the past..."
"..."
Bernadette was quiet for a few seconds, then said, distant, "That really is a big leap."
"Because up until now, the only variable this world has ever had is me. So it's only logical to assume that all the changes, all the differences, are probably connected to me somehow. Combine that with the fact that the other 'you' is currently researching time magic — see, doesn't that all line up?"
"Of course, what really pushed me toward this theory was that person Mr. Sun encountered at the bottom of the Round Tower. From what I know, that should have been an avatar of Amon's — that's exactly when Amon, as a character, started surfacing in the story."
Vincent exhaled. "But this time, the person Mr. Sun ran into called himself 'Source' — sure, that's just one syllable, but isn't that enough on its own?"
Bernadette thought it over. "So you think the person Mr. Sun encountered could be... you, having traveled to the past?"
"It's possible. At the very least, it proves I was active in the past at some point."
Vincent rubbed his hands together. "Building on that, I've got another theory now."
"Maybe the reason there are two differently-featured murals of the 'Angel of Time' in the half-ruined temple is because there really were two Angels of Time."
"One was Amon. The other... was me, having gone back into the past."
"..."
Bernadette went silent again.
"Except there's one thing I still haven't worked out."
Vincent added, "The reason Amon always wears that monocle is because it's the physical manifestation of his Thief Pathway's Uniqueness."
"So why would I be wearing one too? It can't just be me copying his look. And besides — Amon's called the 'Angel of Time' because of his Thief Pathway specifically. But I'm on the 'Broker Pathway.' That doesn't line up with 'Angel of Time' at all, does it?"
"Fine, let's say I strong-jumped into the Thief Pathway after going back in time — but there's only supposed to be one Uniqueness, right? It can't belong to both me and Amon at the same time. Or what, does Amon get it Monday-Wednesday-Friday and I get Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, and it takes Sundays off?"
Bernadette's tone turned odd. "So you've already accepted that you're 'the Angel of Time,' then?"
"Er, isn't that just easier to say?"
"Is there more?"
"There's more!"
Vincent suddenly swallowed hard. Even though their whole exchange was happening silently, in their shared mind, he still couldn't help feeling tense — even a little scared — as he prepared to voice his next theory.
"Let's go back to... the Goddess of the Evernight having a daughter."
Bernadette immediately understood what he meant, and this time she was genuinely floored. "You... you're not about to say that daughter is you — from the past — and... and her, together?!"
"You... you really are..."
Vincent swallowed again and said:
"If what I've guessed so far is true — I'm the one variable in this world, and that variable ends up going into the past. According to what Mr. Sun described, this figure once turned the Demon Wolf against her own kind, and was known as a 'brother' to Amon, sharing the Angel of Time title with him. Doesn't that conclusion follow pretty naturally?"
He added quickly, "Oh — and the Goddess of the Evernight's true form... is the Demon Wolf."
The eight-legged one, no less.
Tch. Look at my own damn taste.
To be continued…
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