After Emperor Grandis thoughtfully left the room, Schwarz gestured at the black cube, who was busy finishing off a plate of food by sucking it into a rift. “Claud, Lily, so…”

  Dia could understand his apprehension, even if he didn’t want to show it to Emperor Grandis, but she couldn’t help but feel very interested in the little floating cube. Not only did it remind of her the, uh, meeplings, Lesser Half was also eating…which was quite amazing in its own right.

  Beth was really, really missing out by sleeping — the kid was insisting on her naptime.

  “What?” Claud asked. “We wanted to check on Lesser Half when the war began, so we snuck into Lostfon and the palace. We waited for some time, and then Greater Half left the palace to head to the frontlines, so we broke it and rescued this little piece of Lesser Half.”

  “Okay, but what does Lesser Half want to do?”

  The rift closed as Schwarz asked those questions, and the black cube turned to look at the bartender. “Find the Thief of Time, who has stepped into the ranks of a divinity.”

  “Okay, and what happens next?” Schwarz asked.

  “I call everyone else along to jump him.”

  “Divinity?” Dia asked, before frowning. She actually vaguely recalled someone talking about this when they were entering the capital city. “What is this divinity thing you guys are talking about? A peer of the Moons and the Dark?”

  “Tot somehow obtained a Shard of Creation” —Dia twitched— “and presumably ingested it to become a divinity, merging into the world.”

  “A Shard of Creation?” Schwarz asked, his voice somewhat stilted.

  “Yeap.” Lesser Half floated over to a plate and inspected it. “That’s why the Moons and my sister retreated from the frontlines. A divinity Tot is nothing to sneeze at. In the first place, he already had the power to contend with us divinities, by virtue of being the Omen. Him becoming a divinity is no different from attaching wings to a proverbial tiger.”

  “What does that phrase even mean?” Schwarz asked.

  “Uh. Making him stronger, in other words. You have never heard of this phrase before?” Lesser Half asked.

  “Nope.”

  As the bartender engaged a certain black cube in random conversation, Dia could feel a bunch of gazes fall on her, and she made a tiny gesture. Like her, they too had realised that the reason why the divinities had retreated was not actually due to Tot…

  But her.

  After a while, Schwarz cleared his throat. “So, uh, what do you intend to do if the Shard of Creation turns out to be someone else’s?”

  “Not possible,” Lesser Half replied.

  “I mean, for the sake of argument. People lose things all the time,” Schwarz continued.

  “Yeah, that’s an interesting topic,” Lily chimed in. “Right?”

  “Yeap, yeap.” Claud’s voice followed. “What if Tot is actually innocent in this?”

  “The Thief of Time, innocent in the theft of what is essentially condensed chronological and existential essence?” Lesser Half snorted. “Please. He is called the Thief of Time for a reason, yes? But fine. Let’s just say he’s innocent. Hmm. That is an intriguing exercise, then. What would we do?”

  Dia hid her trembling fingers and focused her mind, while the others played along. Only Claud and Lily, who didn’t know anything, began to brainstorm with the divinity, but the suggestions that they were throwing out were…a bit violent.

  “Hmm. So torture, I guess?” Lily muttered.

  “Not enough,” Claud replied. “We’ll need to see what recourse there is available to us. Family, for instance.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “I say, you two are getting quite evil,” Schwarz commented. “Come on. Family, really? Drawings of their children? Wow. Dude. What did you guys go through?”

  “Well, we visited the Black God, and then picked up a stray Lesser Half,” Claud replied.

  “Why do you make me sound like a pet?” Lesser Half asked.

  Claud waved his hand impatiently. “Point is, you should blame the gods and divinities for turning us into evil, evil people!”

  “How dramatic…” Farah muttered. “Lily, are you not his restraining bolt? Why are you nodding along?”

  “I’ve come to the realisation that his method of doing things is the safest and leads to the greatest gain in happiness,” Lily replied.

  “Dia, she’s been corrupted by Claud.” Farah shook her head. “Anyway, there’s no need to be so extreme. What, you have a grudge with this hypothetical divinity?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Then?”

  “But the divinities and the Coloured Gods definitely do,” Lily answered. “They’re all nauseous now!”

  Dia watched as everyone bantered back and forth happily, and then frowned as Kemata’s actions caught her eye. For some reason, the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny was staring intently at Lily and Claud, to the point that Dia herself could vaguely sense some fear emanating off Nero’s lover. Clearly, she was afraid of something…and Dia wasn’t the only one that had cottoned on either.

  Nero whispered a few words to her, and the hostility that had been vaguely forming around her faded. Dia watched on in silence, and then chose to keep her mouth shut. She had a hunch that Kemata had somehow sensed drastic improvements in the lackadaisical duo that were discussing things with Lesser Half now.

  What, though? What did she detect?

  Dia swallowed down the curiosity in her throat, and then controlled the burgeoning fear in her heart. At any rate, the Shard of Creation she had obtained…it was doing a lot more than she had expected. A seventh skill was one thing, but to be deemed as a divinity, a divinity that was Tot…

  Wait, did this mean that the Omen wasn’t a divinity?

  Dia rubbed her head, annoyed, as the discussion settled down. The annoyance was dealt with by patting Beth, whose cute countenance as she napped away had a pacifying effect on her consciousness.

  “So?” Schwarz asked, the amusement on his face on full display. Dia could tell that it was staged, something that was for Lesser Half’s sake…and for her own safety, too. “What’s the verdict?”

  “Capture and extraction, at least,” Lesser Half replied. “Of course, we are talking about the Omen here. Such a gentle approach will not succeed. We will strike with full force the moment we find any hints of the Omen.”

  Dia felt a bit bad. What did she have to do with the Omen, anyway?

  Everyone’s gaze met once, and Dia felt the silent inquiry in the air. Would it be a good idea to ask about the Salvation Star, and what she represented? Would it be safe?

  She hesitated, and then decided not to ask about it just yet. Besides, Claud and Lily also knew about the whole Salvation Star spiel; if they hadn’t broached it yet, they probably felt that it wasn’t the right time to yet.

  The others relaxed at the same time, and then moved to the table in earnest. Dia and the others had faith in Claud’s ability to avoid danger; if talking about the Salvation Star to Lesser Half was dangerous, the lovebirds definitely would not do such a thing.

  That said, leaving such heavy things to others sure felt good, and it was with a renewed spirit that she joined the others in eating.

  “So,” Risti asked, “what did you guys talk about with the Black God?”

  “We went to ask a few questions about a book,” Claud replied. “It seemed to be important, so we got Nero to pull some strings for us here and there. Also, a certain bishop is wondering about you, Nero. When are you going back?”

  “Soon, I think. For now, there seems to be a ceasefire,” Nero replied. “I’ll head back soon enough. I want to settle the handover to my replacement.”

  “Replacement, heh.” Claud chuckled.

  “What?” Nero asked.

  “No, nothing,” Claud replied. “Right, Lily?”

  “Don’t worry,” Lily added. “Anyway, the Black God gave you that book, right? Did you look at it yourself?”

  “Uh. I can’t remember much,” Nero replied. “Not that memorable. Anyway, He gave me some instructions, and I just followed them. So, what did you guys learn?”

  Dia observed as the lovebirds glanced at each other, and a mysterious smile appeared on their faces in sync. They were definitely telepathic; they had to be, from the way they were exchanging gazes…

  “Well, some things we can’t reveal yet,” Claud replied, a vague smile on his face. “But we need to be careful. The future seems to be very dangerous. Please stay safe, people. I don’t want anyone dying.”

  Dia nodded fervently. She had seen for herself a future that was not good for humanity at all. The Omen had turned insane, along with the divinities and the gods, and under a freezing world, people killed each other and bled to death slowly in the snow.

  She didn’t want to see that. Now that she had seen a possible future…

  “Ah, right.” Lesser Half chuckled. “Yes. You two did make a surprising proposal to me back then, didn’t you? Interfering to protect you two…I haven’t been able to live up to that promise yet.”

  “It’ll be best if nothing ever prompts you to protect us,” Claud replied.

  “Still, the future you saw in your Second Tutorial…I must wonder if it has changed or not. The Red God has fallen, after all. What about the others?”

  Dia felt her head buzz a moment later.

  …What?

  She glanced at the others, who had also frozen over, and then held her head.

  Did Claud also see the thing she saw?

  Was that even possible?