The morning in Manila. Ana slowly opened her eyes.
"Where did I fall asleep?" She looked around and realized she was in Shun's room. For a moment, her feelings were complicated.
"He still hasn't come back…" Perhaps the bond between them had truly been severed. Ana couldn't mobilize a large-scale search for him after all, she had decided to send Shun away precisely to protect his safety.
So all Ana could do was silently pray in her heart that he was safe and well, hoping Shun was still living peacefully somewhere she didn't know about.
Time rewinds to more than ten hours earlier in Manila.
After resting in the room for a while, Shun gathered his energy and waited for Gray Serpent's arrival. He wasn't sure whether Gray Serpent had seen the post, but he had no choice but to gamble.
He was betting on when Gray Serpent would see it. If not, he'd just keep posting keep posting until Gray Serpent noticed. And he even planned to write more.
Things like Kevin and Su boys' love fanfiction, or just fabricating all sorts of stories about the Thirteen Flame-Chasers or the Previous Era. Shun figured these things probably wouldn't be seen by that dog Otto anyway he hadn't mentioned Kallen, so it wouldn't trigger Otto's keywords.
Whatever. Idle time is idle time. Might as well write something. Shun returned to the computer desk, opened a document, and silently began typing.
Suddenly the computer and all the lights in the room went black. The short story he had just written over two thousand words vanished without being saved.
"Damn it, power outage at a time like this." Shun assumed the inn's circuit breaker had tripped and planned to go check.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw the hallway lights were also out. Looking out the corridor window, he realized it wasn't just this inn the entire nearby block was dark.
No helping it. Probably no national grid in the Philippines. Shun helplessly turned back toward his room. The unsaved document was gone for good.
At that exact moment, a hard, ice-cold object suddenly pressed against the back of Shun's head without warning! The chill seemed to pierce straight through his skull and into the depths of his soul, making his hair stand on end and sending a shiver down his spine. Shun's heart rate skyrocketed; his mind went completely blank.
Soon, Shun recovered from his initial panic. After all, growing up in a peaceful country, he had truly never experienced having a gun held to his head before. Even in neighboring America, that wasn't exactly a universal experience.
Who is it? I haven't offended anyone… Schicksal Valkyries? Impossible. First, he had no connection to Schicksal. And with Ana in the Snow Lotus Squad, those people wouldn't come looking for him this quickly…
Before Shun could think any further, Gray Serpent's cold, mechanical voice entered his ears.
"Speak. How do you know about Lord Mobius? Otherwise I'll pull the trigger." At the same time, the unmistakable click of a firearm's safety being disengaged rang out. Yet strangely, Shun felt his mood calm down. His previously racing heart gradually steadied.
Huh? He mentioned Mobius… so this must be Gray Serpent. Realizing this, Shun suddenly felt much more confident.
"I bet there's no bullet in your gun." Shun very much wanted to drop a Yan Shuangying reference, but at a moment like this, it was better to play it safe. After all, he only had one life.
"Gray Serpent, right? You rushed here the moment you saw the message about Mobius online. You really do love your creator deeply, huh."
He knows about my relationship with Lord Mobius? Damn it is there a mole? How could such intelligence leak out?
"Hmph. Tell me everything you know." Gray Serpent emphasized his words by jabbing the gun barrel against Shun's head once more.
"Even imitating Elysia's tone when Mobius invites her little test subjects for experiments, pinching your voice like that Gray Serpent, is this really how you talk to people? Don't you want to hear real information about Mobius?"
At that moment, the gun pressed against the back of Shun's head withdrew. Gray Serpent holstered the weapon and bowed.
"My apologies, sir. I will correct my attitude."
Simply because the words Shun had spoken carried far too high a priority for Gray Serpent. News about Mobius? This was something countless Gray Serpent instances had dreamed of hearing for all these years if they could dream.
"Go fry me two dishes. I'm hungry." Seeing Gray Serpent like this, Shun couldn't help getting a little carried away. After all, people tend to get cocky. Right now he held information about Mobius the absolute lifeline for Gray Serpent. As long as Gray Serpent still revered Mobius as his creator, until he received concrete confirmation, he would remain completely under Shun's thumb.
"…Yes…" Gray Serpent No. 10086 paused in speechlessness for a moment but still complied. He never imagined that just a few days ago he had been memeing about this online, and today the meme had become reality for him.
"Do you have any dietary restrictions, sir?" Gray Serpent asked respectfully.
"Make Shenzhou-style dishes the kind your revered master in Huaxia eats. I don't have any particular restrictions. Just don't make me Nine Turns Large Intestine." Shun waved his hand carelessly.
As expected he knows a lot. Hearing Shun "unintentionally" reveal even more information, Gray Serpent set aside some of his own calculations. Better to play along for now, secure the news about his creator, and plan from there.
Gray Serpent headed toward the building's kitchen. Before locking onto Shun's location, he had already used hypnotic gas to knock out everyone in the inn except Shun and cut power to the surrounding area.
As for why he didn't kill anyone? Are you kidding? This city had an A-rank Valkyrie squad stationed in it. And right now his revered master was still eating instant noodles in the Sea of Quanta. He couldn't risk exposing World Serpent.
"Mobius met Eden one last time. That radiant songstress ultimately chose to walk toward Finality together with the glorious Previous Era and the flawless her…" Shun spoke aloud to himself without changing expression he was deliberately saying it for Gray Serpent to hear.
Sure enough, Gray Serpent silently quickened his pace. Damn it he actually knows things even I don't know. Gray Serpent didn't immediately question the truth of the statement.
Because as far as he knew, Mobius and Eden really had not entered the cryosleep pods before Finality arrived. And Eden choosing to be buried together with the Previous Era and "her" perfectly matched what he understood of Eden.
Watching Gray Serpent's retreating back, Shun couldn't deny the excitement in his heart. After all, he had just gotten a firm grip on the true power behind World Serpent. He returned to his room, waiting for Gray Serpent to finish cooking while thinking about what to say next.
In any case, he absolutely couldn't afford to antagonize Gray Serpent his goal was to join World Serpent. Might as well just tell Gray Serpent some of what he knew once the food was ready.
To the outside world, that mark on him was just a Stigmata. Gray Serpent wouldn't refuse to accept someone with an innate Stigmata. And Shun could simply attribute his source of information to the Stigmata itself.
Whether Gray Serpent believed it or not didn't matter he wouldn't dare do anything to Shun. The potential of an innate Stigmata was immense, and right now World Serpent was short on manpower. Gray Serpent was also relatively open-minded otherwise he wouldn't have let little Island Exploder Crow retire.
About half an hour later, Gray Serpent returned to Shun's room carrying three plates of food. He set them on the table, rigged up a makeshift light source, and once again brought illumination to the room.
Hey, this Gray Serpent is actually pretty considerate. Shun thought to himself. Then he looked up at Gray Serpent.
"I'll be honest I don't know that much. As for why I know these things… it's because of this." He turned around and pointed to the "Stigmata" on the back of his neck.
But right now, in Gray Serpent's eyes, how Shun knew about Mobius was no longer important. A fragment of information from fifty thousand years ago had come straight to him.
That's right… this is…
Under Shun's stunned gaze, Gray Serpent dropped to one knee with a thud. (Mephisto's prelude starts playing.jpg)
"Gray Serpent has wandered half a lifetime, only regretting that he never met a wise lord. If you do not abandon me, Serpent is willing to bow and call you foster father."
"Huh? What the hell? Did I walk onto the wrong set?"
Dun dun dun dun… (The episode most suited for Mephisto.jpg)