For the umpteenth time, Claud wondered if treading down the road to the Grandia Palace for a meeting with Emperor Grandis and the divinities was a good idea, but the meeting between them was going to happen anyway. Claud was now confident that unless he activated Absolute One, no divinity would be capable of sensing his true identity and the incredible, reality-warping capabilities that he wielded like a knife.

  Of course, the others were also a bit nervous, especially Dia, who was the Salvation Star. Claud didn’t know anything about the powers surrounding this mysterious title and existence — the Salvation Star, in the futures that he had witnessed, perished without ever coming face to face with the Omen.

  Claud also didn’t want to fight Dia either. While he believed that he had the upper hand, thanks to a broken skill, Dia had recently obtained a seventh skill. Furthermore, eyewitness accounts from the others also stated that her Sword Fall and Domain of Sword skills were devastating; she had even resisted the Red God with them before. To fight her openly would be asking for it…

  If the two of them ever fell out, the only reliable method would be to conjure up a spear of mana and launch it at her while she was asleep with Absolute One.

  It also didn’t help that her seventh skill was Will of Progress. What did it do anyway? Dia hadn’t shared it with the others, which meant that she actually did possess some caution.

  He sighed to himself, and then shook his head.

  “Claud?” A finger poked his cheek. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Possible battles in the future,” Claud replied, looking at Lily’s worried face. “Sorry. I keep worrying you all the time.”

  “Well, you’re just thinking really hard for us all,” Lily replied. “So? What about those battles?”

  Claud made a subtle gesture at Dia. “She’s a tough cookie. I don’t want to fight her at all. That’s the strategy. I’m just planning for emergencies, though. What happens if we have to come to blows anyway? She’s uniquely geared for killing people.”

  “Well…”

  The two of them exchanged glances for a moment, before Lily nodded. “Not fighting is really the best idea. Or you could use that thing. It’ll go whoosh, and then boom.”

  “That’s really the only other option,” Claud replied. “But I’m stuck at this juncture.”

  “Poison, then? Or traps,” Lily muttered. “Well, I see why you don’t want to consider this option, though.”

  “Yeah…” Claud looked at the silhouette of the Grandia Palace, and then at Lesser Half, who was now perched on Nero’s shoulder for some reason. “Anyway, let’s change the topic and get closer to Nero. I’m very eager to find out what these two fellows are talking about.”

  “A divinity and a holy son?” Lily grinned. “Me too, actually.”

  Closing the distance easily, the two of them hovered around Nero and Kemata, who were talking to Lesser Half eagerly. Schwarz, Farah and Risti were discussing about dinner and breakfast meals for some reason, a topic that Claud found weirdly heartwarming, but he didn’t linger on it.

  His main goal was still Lesser Half.

  “..sleeping.”

  Nero frowned. “Really? The Lord sounds a lot busier than you in that regard, then. Why is there such a fundamental difference?”

  “Origo and his peers are actively concerned with the maintenance of the domains that they preside over,” Lesser Half replied. “Us divinities, however, have no such authorities. We are simply manifestations of grand concepts given an exalted form. We spend our time pondering on the concepts that arise from our existence; you can call us philosophers in regard.”

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  “Philosophers?” Kemata asked.

  “For the Moons, it will be knowledge and wisdom about wisdom, wealth and war,” Lesser Half replied. “For us, it will be expectations and epiphanies about the human condition.”

  Claud had no idea what ‘human condition’ was, but since Lily and the others were nodding, he wasn’t going to sound like a country bumpkin and ask about it. Nonetheless, he had always wondered about the small difference between the divinities and the gods, but now that Lesser Half had made it this obvious, he could put down this wonder from now on.

  “I see.” Nero bobbed his head. “Is this perhaps why the Dark and the Moon do not have their dedicated churches?”

  Lesser Half paused. “Let it be known that the faith gathered by us and the gods are still immensely useful in that regard. However, the concepts that we emanate are not suitable for preaching. It is pointless to do so.”

  Claud frowned. Last he checked, in his Second Tutorial, the Moons and the Dark had also fostered their own brand of insane fanatics to provide a never-ending stream of faith. Was this really true? If Lesser Half wasn’t lying, then what was the impetus that transformed their representative concepts into something suitable for herding the masses?

  Or was it just plain power? After all, at that point in time, the Moons had their full power. If the masses they controlled were foolish, uneducated ones, then any manifestation of mana probably wouldn’t be all that different from a divine miracle…

  Keeping this thought in his mind, Claud glanced at a thoughtful Lily once, and then silently agreed to continue eavesdropping on their conversation. Unfortunately, this silent agreement was soon scattered by the very unavoidable fact that they had arrived at the Grandia Palace entrance.

  Lesser Half rose up from Nero’s shoulder and spun around to face Claud and the others. “Thank you all for coming. While the risk is negligible, as mid-ranked folders, you people still will be gravely affected by the presences of the others. Please be careful.”

  “How bad is it?” Claud asked, thinking about the time he and Lily climbed up an ascension platform.

  “They should be coming with degraded incarnations, since this is a mortal building. It will not kill or hinder you people significantly, but know that there will be some discomfort.”

  “Okay.” Claud bobbed his head. “Fair enough.”

  Some discomfort was nothing compared to the allure of learning what the divinities and gods had in mind for the world.

  “Let us proceed, then.” Lesser Half floated onwards.

  The guards that flanked the palace entrance approached them, only to stop a few moments later as a familiar old man appeared. Claud glanced at Minister Cicero, who bowed at Lesser Half, and then made a gesture for them to follow him.

  The entire procedure occurred in silence, and Claud drifted after the others as they trod down the path to the central throne room, the royal road. Unlike the small, side path to Emperor Grandis’ personal quarters, the sights on the way were lavish and luxurious; they were there to impress and overawe anyone who had nefarious intentions.

  Pictures and sculptures of great battles were the main attractions here, and the central character was the youthful version of Emperor Grandis…well, a more youthful version, anyway. From what Claud knew of history, though, Emperor Grandis almost certainly wasn’t a central character in any of the truly hellish battles in the Third Godsfall, though. The Third Godsfall was the season in which high-ranked folders appeared; Emperor Grandis could not be counted as one of them

  Still…

  He glanced at Lily. Did her ascension to the ranks of a high-ranked folder change things around? Would it be easier for people like him to complete their seventh mana circuit and wield the pinnacle of power?

  Making a mental note to look into history, Claud continued to look at the various pictures and sculptures. The others didn’t slack off either; while Claud was confident that none of them believed the message embedded in these art pieces, the battles portrayed could not be underestimated as well.

  Other than the pesky Emperor, there were many commonalities across the paintings. The skies had brilliant pinpricks of colour that sparkled under the light, for instance, a common trait that appeared in virtually every painting. The painter didn’t stop there either; these sparkles seemed to be glowing on their own too, as if to convey that they were shining on their own power.

  If Claud didn’t get it wrong, these little specks of light represented the Coloured Gods and the Gods of Virtue, who warred with each other at the close of the Third Godsfall.

  Another common point in these paintings was the insinuation of a battle, rather than the portrayal of a battle itself. Emperor Grandis’ face appeared in the aftermath of battles, like him kneeling amongst corpses, carrying the wounded, and in one egregious scenario, killing the last enemy.

  It was a bit ridiculous, to be honest, but Claud took note of these techniques anyway. Who was to say that he wouldn’t need them one day? Besides, the essence of being a thief lay in the capability of being flexible enough to learn from anyone and anything in all circumstances.

  “We’re here,” Minister Cicero announced. “Lord Lesser Half, please enter.”

  “Thank you, Minister of State.” The black cube bobbed for a while, and then ceased. “Let’s go.”

  Power pulsed out from the cube, and the double doors opened.