Halfway there, drowsiness had suddenly overtaken her. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself somewhere completely unfamiliar — transformed into a wolf with eight legs. A Ruin Demon Wolf.
Her first instinct, naturally, had been that she'd been transmigrated into another world. Drawing on years of experience as an executive, and a solid head under pressure, she'd managed to keep her composure, careful not to arouse the "Wolf King's" suspicion, quietly exploring this unfamiliar world around her.
If it had just been a straightforward transmigration, that would've been something she could handle. But transmigrating into a wolf, surrounded by "companions" who were nothing but mindless, human-eating beasts — sure, it came with powerful extraordinary abilities, but it still wasn't exactly an optimistic start.
That was when the man had shown up.
He'd told her, with no hesitation at all, that he too was a "transmigrator," and proposed they team up — as fellow "humans," in this dangerous, terrifying world, supporting and relying on each other.
Amenisis, of course, hadn't been about to trust some "fellow countryman" who'd shown up out of nowhere so easily. But she had to admit — deep down, she really had craved having a companion like that.
So, guarded, suspicious, wary, she'd chosen to ally with him anyway.
And very quickly, she realized she'd been overthinking it.
At the time, this man had been a complete pushover — the whole reason he'd sought her out was to latch onto her strength. And with Amenisis's expert "communication skills," it hadn't taken long to pry a few of his secrets out of him.
Like the fact that he had the ability to foresee the future.
The reason he'd come looking for her in the first place was that he knew, in the future, through some series of maneuvers, she'd end up killing the Ruin Demon Wolf, Fregra, claiming the Dark Pathway's Uniqueness, and successfully ascending to Sequence 0.
If it had ended there, though, their relationship would probably have just stayed a simple alliance forever — maybe, once she'd ascended to Sequence 0 herself, she'd have found a way to pull him up alongside her, made him one of her right hands.
But not long after, Amenisis discovered that this dog of a man hadn't been telling her the complete truth. Sure, he came off as a total pushover, someone who only knew how to latch onto power — but in reality...
He was a total cheater!
...
Queens District, inside Earl Hall's lavish villa.
Ever since evening had fallen, disturbances had been rippling through Backlund without a break. No matter how many times the villa's steward insisted everything was fine, no one could shake the sense of unease settling over the household.
Audrey stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing anxiously into the distance.
Having learned at the Tarot Club gathering that this week the Aurora Order, the Witch cult, and even the Loen royal family were all planning to hold evil-god descent rituals, she could easily guess what was going on out there.
The dark, heavy fog gathering along the horizon in the distance only deepened her unease.
"Something's off."
The golden retriever, Susie, sat beside her, gazing out at that distant fog just as intently.
Right — according to Mr. Lovers, that fog was likely connected to the Primordial Witch's own descent. Thankfully, its range hadn't spread too far, at least.
Suddenly, she noticed the branches outside the window beginning to sway, the glass trembling faintly.
"The wind's picking up..."
Along with the wind came thunder and lightning, quickly followed by a torrential downpour sweeping across the entire city of Backlund. The fog — never especially thick, and limited in range to begin with — was rapidly washed clean by the storm.
Once the wind and rain died down, the sky cleared entirely, the stars visible in full, brilliant clarity.
Audrey felt a wave of relief wash over her. She pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and murmured, "Praise be to Mr. Fool."
(The Church of Storms: ???)
...
North District, an apartment near St. Samuel's Church.
Fors, slumped over her desk asleep, a puddle of drool soaking through the pages beneath her, was jolted awake by a deep rumble of thunder. She lifted her head and saw the dark clouds, lightning, and driving rain filling the distant sky.
After a brief moment of confusion, something clicked, and she turned around, calling out urgently, "Xio! Let's get to the church, now!"
But there was no one behind her. Xio, who should have been resting on the sofa, was nowhere to be found.
Fors shot to her feet in alarm, shouting, "Xio! Xio, where'd you go?"
She hadn't forgotten — Xio was currently an unofficial contact for MI9. What if that idiot had noticed something wrong and gone running off to help instead?!
"I'm right here."
Thankfully, Xio's voice sounded just then.
Fors hurried toward the sound and found Xio leaning against the wall just outside the door, her expression serious, gazing off into the distance.
"You scared me!"
Xio rolled her eyes. "You really think I'm that reckless? Don't forget — I'm the one who told you about the Aurora Order, the Witch cult, and the Loen royal family in the first place."
Fors patted her chest. "Well, you never know with you. What were you thinking about?"
Xio's gaze was slightly unfocused. She said, quiet, "I was thinking..."
"I really hope the Loen royal family screws this up. If the evil god actually descends and wipes out every last person with the name Augustus — wouldn't that be great?"
"???"
Fors stared at her best friend, chilled, as if seeing her for the first time. "You — what did you just say?"
Xio quickly laughed it off, waving a hand. "Ha, just kidding."
She pointed off into the distance. "Look, seems like it's already over."
...
Luna left the starry realm and returned to Backlund, and just as quietly as she'd left, her return drew no one's attention at all.
She stepped into a dim, dark room, sat down on the floor, and, as if pulling them from thin air, retrieved several sealed items — one of them the very Box of Old Days that had once belonged to the Abraham family.
The reason she'd pulled these out ahead of time was to prepare herself for speaking Lord of Chaos's honorific — just in case he turned out hostile toward her, she wouldn't be left completely helpless.
Luna, of course, knew she stood no real chance against a god. But she believed that if she could buy even a second or two, that would be more than enough time for her mother to step in.
She knew her mother's gaze was surely fixed on her, right now.
She drew a deep breath, and slowly began reciting, in Ancient Hermetic:
"Sovereign of the Realm of Chaos...
"Restorer of the Unbalanced Scale to Order,
"Shadow of Order and Rules.
"I sincerely beg that you would meet with me, that you would answer the questions I carry."
Luna made no attempt to put on airs, despite her own status as a "Godchild." Whether or not the other party was a true god, she was the one asking for a favor here, and it was only right to act accordingly.
Especially since —
Lord of Chaos might well be her own father.
She waited quietly for a good while, but received no response at all. Undeterred, she spoke Lord of Chaos's honorific once more.
Her low, quiet voice echoed through the surrounding darkness.
...
At the very same moment, Vincent and Bernadette's own conversation had just drawn to a pause.
In truth, after Vincent's "confession," Bernadette should have had plenty of questions left for him to answer — but she could tell he wasn't in the mood for that right now.
That whole chain of reasoning had ultimately led to a conclusion that "future Vincent" might already be dead, somewhere in "the past" — which meant Vincent's own fate might already have been sealed, one way or another.
That was more than a little hard to accept.
"A couple of hours ago, you were able to face death head-on with total calm. So why does this — a mere theory, full of unknowns and uncertainty — hit you this much harder?"
"Fair point."
Vincent forced out a faint smile. "Except what happened earlier wasn't really 'calm.' It was just plain resignation."
He paused, then continued, "You know, when I'm reading novels or watching anime, the one trope, the one plot device I hate more than anything else, is 'predestination' — 'fate is already written.' The second something like that shows up, it instantly makes everything that came before feel pointless."
"Right now, I feel like I've fallen straight into exactly that kind of 'fate.'"
To be continued…
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