Chapter 134: 123 – Desperatio, Zelotypia, Expone [6]

As soon as the other me raised the splinter up, the Void lord made a gasping motion, conjuring up several pitch-black chains and tying him up. The other me tried to break the chains apart with strength alone but to no avail.

"Are you actually stupid?" The Void lord snickered, "I created this space. I can do whatever I want."

In response though, the other me merely glared at him with cold eyes and muttered, {Die}.

As soon as the word left his mouth, the Void lord... dropped to the ground. He looked healthy, no wounds on or inside his body, and yet, he was as dead as he could be. 

"Ah, what a shame. I wanted to torture him," the other me sighed with a tinge of disappointment.

Then, as if to prove that the Void lord was really dead, the chains wrapping the other me up became undone. Now free, he made his way toward the Void lord and promptly kicked him off the wooden platform. Then, he turned toward me and said, "I know that you have many questions. Ask away, and I'll answer to the best of my ability."

I nodded, and proceeded to ask the question that had been in the back of my mind since the beginning. 

"The dream I had inside the carriage, was it—"

"Yes," the other me interrupted, "it was the memory of the happiest day in my life."

Staring at the other me who was reminiscing with a faint smile, I couldn't help but to feel just a tiny bit bad about pulling him out of his mood by asking my next question.

"Who are you, really?"

Like I had expected, the other me stared at me quizzically for a few seconds before opening his mouth again. "What do you mean?"

"You're not the same Theodore that Prostor was talking about, are you?"

Then, silence ensued for several more seconds. Before the other me could formulate a response, I continued, "This scene is about...2 years from the present, right? I don't know how I know it, but I do. You were much stronger than the other me I saw when Prostor first showed me the memories despite only 2 years having passed, which is impossible since our talents were taken away. Besides, some of the things you just told clashed with the glimpses of the previous Iteration that I saw. So tell me, who exactly are you?"

Seeing the other me staying silent like that, I knew that I was right on the mark. Although I didn't know why, I was confident that he was also a version of me—just, not the same one that Prostor talked about, nor the one whom I learned the Fourth movement from.

Seeing that he couldn't get away with fooling me, the other me sighed, "haaaah... I underestimated you. Why the fuck did I underestimate myself?"

"..."

"Well then, you deserves to hear an explanation. I'm the 4th Iteration you—the you that asked Prostor to take away some of my talents and change my fate—and I got rid of the 5th Iteration's ego from your mind." 

"Why would you do that?"

"He's insufferable," he chuckled, "if he was here instead of me, I bet that you would've gone insane."

This time, the other me's words had more credibility to it. Aside from my earlier suspicion, this guy's manners weren't as horrible as Prostor made him out to me.

"So... did you get rid of his memories too?"

"Yes. Now you're stuck with my memories instead."

"Won't it make your memories basically useless then?"

Thinking for a while, he responded, "not entirely. The Great tournament that is coming up... I think that my memories of it are still relevant since I was with Adel at that time."

I nodded. Then, there was only one question left.

"What's your goal here?"

"I'm bored, so I decided to help you," the other me replied immediately, as if he had been reciting that line for too long.

However, knowing me, something about his answer didn't add up. "Really?"

"Yes."

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed. "You're still underestimating me. I thought you knew me better than that. Sure, I can see myself doing insane things just because I'm bored, but to go out of my way to leap past Iterations without Prostor's help, kill the 5th Iteration's ego, and reveal yourself to me just like that? Sounds like a lot of efforts."

 Seeing the other me's face becoming increasingly expressionless, I knew that I was on the right track.

"So, the only plausible explanation is that... you're aiming to take over my consciousness." I gauged the other me for his expression, only to see his stone-cold face getting even colder than before. "How are you going to do it, I wonder? Could it be that... the more I use your memories, the closer you'll get to taking over me?"

"T-that!"

I smirked. I was glad that I knew that I was weak to surprises. Judging by the other me's trembling voice, I was sure that me finding out about his goal wasn't in his plans.

Seeing the opportunity to push further while he was still shaken, I continued. 

"So, that begs the question, why would you take over me? To live again sounds plausible, but I have an even better theory." Grinning, I made my way toward Adel's corpse. "Judging by your anger at the Void lord, I came to the conclusion that you want to be with your dear Adel again."

Pausing for dramatic effect, I lightly stepped on Adel's hand. I could hear her bones crunching a bit, and I was very disgusted with myself, but I tried to ignored it, all for the sake of riling the other me up even more.

"Isn't that right, m—"

"GET OUT!" The other me screamed, his ice-cold mask of an expression melted instantly, giving way to his bloodshot eyes and flared nostrils.

Seeing him getting angry like this, I knew that my plans had succeeded. I didn't know how to get out of this place, but I was pretty sure that the other me knew how, considering the fact that he was able to kill the Void lord with just a single word. And I didn't need to worry about him killing me either, since if I died, he would be gone too.

As such, I decided to push it further and moved my foot to try and stomp on Adel's face, which was strangely immaculate. However, before I could even lift my foot up, the other me dashed toward me and planted a firm punch on my face, literally knocking me out of this space.

As I recovered from the attack and opened my eyes again, I found myself inside the basement again. Touching my cheeks, I heaved a sighed of relief upon seeing that I wasn't harmed in any way.

'Is it weird that I feel relieved when he stopped me before I could step on Adel's face?'

It was a strange thought, but I decided to ignore it for now and observed my surrounding. Right before me was the Void lord lying on the ground, motionless, still breathing, but apparently brain-dead. Right behind me was Evelyn, who was slowly getting up with a groan. It seemed that whatever the spell the Void lord first used, it dragged Evelyn into her own world of despair.

Watching Evelyn shaking in fright and looking around frantically like that, I was even more sure of my guess.

"Hey, cat," I said lazily, "welcome back to the real world. Whatever you saw in there, it's just an illusion that this guy made," I lightly kicked the Void lord.

Then, without waiting for Evelyn to respond, I dug my hand into [Despair]'s left chest to try and find his heart. However, all that only resulted in my piercing his lungs, and nothing me. Seeing this, I frowned.

'It seems like he has become strong enough to move his heart elsewhere.'

I broke down slightly in cold sweat. He was already at this level, and I didn't want to imagine how much stronger he would've gotten if I left him on his own for a few more days. 

But, he was dead now, and that was all that mattered. Luckily for me, the Void lord hid his heart inside another part of his body—near the liver—and not in some secret location inside this mansion. Thus, I was able to quickly kill him for good and put his heart in [Alternate storage].

"Theodore," Evelyn suddenly spoke up, "why are you collecting the hearts?"

Plopping down to the ground with a sigh, I answered, "personal reasons."

Well, that was partly true. What Evelyn, and most people of the Empire, didn't know was that Void lords' hearts were valuable. You could use them to revive Void lords, as those Void lords were absolutely loyal to you. If you commanded them to jump off a bridge and die, they would probably do so without second thoughts. The second use of the hearts was to make artifacts. The effects depended on which Void lords the hearts belonged to.

Now that everything was done, all I needed to do was erase the ritual circle and get the fuck out of this cit—

|Be not afraid, believers and sinners.|

I widened my eyes and jolted back in surprise, my hand reflexively reached for the sword on my waist. However, I had no sword at the moment, so all I managed to grab was thin air. Realizing this, I instead got into a fighting stance and looked at the source of the voice... the lightbulb. 

Unlike the other times I saw her, however, she looked more transparent, yet infinitely more divine somehow.

"Why are you here?" I asked, but she didn't answer. Instead, she looked straight at me with a warm smile.

Confusedly, I threw a punch at her just to test if she had gone senile, but my fist merely passed through her. Even more confused now, I looked at Evelyn, who was staring into thin air with a surprised expression.

Then, I realized something. "Cat, are you seeing this too?"

She nodded and pointed toward where she was staring at. "Yes. Goddess Lumaria is here!"

Now that I knew what was going on, the only thing left to figure out was what the lightbulb was trying to do. Fortunately for me, I would find it out soon after.

|Your devotion to me shows goodness in you. If you're seeing this, then you're absolved of all sins.|

'Okay, now I'm certain that everyone's seeing the same thing that I'm seeing.'

You are reading story Theodore ‘not the protagonist’ Gray at novel35.com

With the lightbulb not being here herself, I could only sit back and observe whatever the fuck she was trying to do.

|I'm not only here to absolve your sins, but to also deliver good news!| She smiled brightly. However, I couldn't help but feel an ominous premonition.

|Today, not one, but two out of the one-hundred-and-one Void lords have been slain!|

"Huh?" I inadvertently let out a sound of confusion. It seemed that this message was set to be automatically released when a Void lord died. However, why did she say "two"? Arthur killed a single Void lord the first time he did so; and... there wasn't an announcement like this when he did.

Just as I was thinking about it, she continued.

|I, a Goddess, am pleasantly surprised to find out the someone other than the Hero is responsible for the death of those vile, yet pitifully pathetic, Void lords.|

'Wh— NO!'

|Although it pleases me that the Empire can repel the Void even without a Hero, I am not without suspicion. However, this is a joyous day, and thus, I shall tell you the name of the Void lord slayer. The backup Hero, if you will.| She chuckled. |And his name is—|

Unable to take it anymore, I stood straight up and threw a punch at her while screaming, "DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!"

As if she was able to see what I was doing, the lightbulb's image smirked slightly and continued with that same pretentious tone.

|—Theodore Gray, Saint of Storms, and rival of the Hero of Light.|

As soon as my punch connected, her image disappeared. But I couldn't celebrate. I knew, knew that I had lost this one.

"GO FUCK YOURSELF LIGHTBULB!!"

...

A day had passed since the... I don't even want to fucking talk about it. Currently, I was back at the abandoned church, face buried in hands, thinking over what to do in the future, and sometimes cursing out the fucking lightbulb to subside my anger a little bit. By the way, I found calling that guy "the other me" very tedious, so I started calling him Theodore-alter. Then, I realized that it sounded weird referring to myself in 3rd person, so I started calling him me-alter, and, eventually, Mealter. Incredible name, I know.

On an unrelated note, Evelyn, who had high senses, knew better than to annoy me while I was like this. As such, the only time she interacted with me was when she delivered meals to me.

However, my "routine" was broken by someone really fucking loudly and rudely slamming the door of the old church open.

"Saint Theodore! Thank goodness! I heard what the Goddess said!"

Of course, it was Primel. As I was about to tell her off, she was pulled back out of the church by someone in a dark hooded cloak.

"Stay out here for a bit," the figure told Primel, "I have something I need to discuss with him in private."

"A-as you wish, your highness."

Hearing the familiar voice, and what Primel said, I knew what the figure was. As such, I groaned even harder and wanted to kill myself right now. However, I resisted the urge.

The figure got closer and closer to me, eventually kneeling down on the dusty ground on her two legs to meet my eyes.

"So, care to explain, my dear 'backup hero'?"

"Should I start calling you 'your highness' now?"

"Don't." An instant answer. It seemed that she didn't like me calling her that one bit. "I'll start calling you Arthur's rival if you do."

"Got it, Adel." I raised my hands up in defeat. 

"What did you just call me?" Adel blinked in surprise.

It seemed that I had made a mistake. However, I couldn't pull back now and admit my weakness. Furthermore, I didn't think that I could go back to calling her Eleanor, now that I was sure that I would always subconsciously think of her as Adel.

"Is it wrong that I call you that? You used to like it very much when I call you that, you know?" 

Hearing this, Adel frowned. "I'm not the Adel you know."

"There, you just admitted that you're Adel." I chuckled, but quickly continued as I noticed her face slowly contorting into a scowl. "Just kidding. But seriously, I don't think I can go back to calling you Eleanor, so let me refer to you as Adel in private for convenience."

Adel stayed silent and mused over my words for a bit. Eventually, she nodded with a sigh. "Fine. But if I hear you calling me that with anyone else around, you're dead."

"Don't need to tell me twice."

"..."

"So... can you remove that hood? You looks really fucking shady with that on."

Adel merely nodded lightly and placed her delicate fingers on the edge of the hood, removing it. Now, her immaculate face, blood-red eyes, and pink lips were clearly visible to me.

"Do you want to see my face that much?" She attempted a joke.

I stared at her face blankly, feeling something growing in my chest, nearly blurting out a "yes" reflexively. Then, her figure seemingly overlapped with the dead Adel I saw earlier for some reason.

'I have to get myself together! It's Mealter affecting me!'

I probably looked ridiculous to her right now, but I didn't care. Eventually, I calmed down and responded right back at her.

"Yeah, just want to see a friendly face after, you know, having my entire life ruined by that bitch of a Goddess."

"It's not all bad," she said in a low voice, "maybe you can learn a thing or two from Arthur. He has to deal with this daily, I'm sure you know."

"I'd rather disguise myself as a girl and charm Arthur to have Marie kill me in my sleep with a knife, so no thanks."

After a few more seconds of silence, I spoke up, "aren't you going to ask?"

Knowing what I was talking about, she responded, "do you want to brag that much?"

"Lumaria the lightbulb having it out for me is nothing worth bragging about."

"So that's why..."

Kneeling like that for a few minutes had made Adel tired and thus, she switched her position to sitting on the ground and leaned against the same wall that I was leaning on. Heaving a sigh, she turned to me and asked shamelessly, "heart?"

"Would it hurt to ask me how I'm doing first? You can see this, right?" I pointed toward the bandages that were wrapped around my body. 

"The Void lord's heart is worth more than your life."

"Hey! I'm a regressor too!"

"That's exactly why. You can always come back after you die anyway."

I couldn't retort to that, especially not after finding out that I was also a regressor of some sort—a regressor that didn't have the ability to retain his past memories. If I were to be so stupid as to mention that now to Adel, I didn't even want to know what would happen to me.

"So, do you have the heart or not?"

I reached into [Alternate storage] and took out the Void lord of Despair's heart. Then, I threw it at Adel, who caught it rather easily.

She then inspected the heart closely, eventually nodding in satisfaction and putting it in her Space pouch.

"Not even a thank-you?" I faked a pained expression.

But Adel didn't respond. Instead, she merely leaned back more against the wall with her eyes closed, feigning sleep.

"You're welcome," I grumbled. "So," I soon spoke up again, not wanting the conversation to end for some reason, "why are you here, other than responding to my call for help and taking the heart away?" 

"Relief efforts," she answered, eyes still closed, "it improves my public image."

"Figured. I'm guessing that you've done something about..." It took much effort for me to mutter out the name. "...Gabriel?"

"I blocked all information from going to him. That pathetic brother of mine wouldn't even hear about this until a week later."

I nodded. Not being able to come up with more topics to talk about, I simply let the atmosphere sink into silence again and continued to think about what to do now that everyone's attention was on me.