“I’m sure Toren has already figured the same thing you figured out a while back, but the key to becoming a true ‘god’ lies in Emotive Magic.”
My gaze subconsciously drifted towards my right arm, where a four-leaf clover tattoo appeared. A few things started to make sense.
“…Is this why I was given this tattoo?”
“That’s correct.”
Noel calmly answered with a nod.
“The tattoo was meant to help you grasp emotions more clearly—a way to push you into truly understanding them. Especially for someone like you, who struggles with emotional awareness.”
“Oh…”
I laughed bitterly. I wanted to refute his words, but I couldn’t. Indeed, thinking back with regards to my past, I knew nothing about emotions, nor was I very good at understanding them.
If not for the tattoo’s powers, it would’ve been impossible for me to get to where I was.
My talent in emotions…
Perhaps it wasn’t as high as I thought it was.
But even so, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it than that. The deeper I delved into emotions, the more fluent I became in understanding them. I had now reached a point where the tattoo was no longer necessary for me to improve on my emotive magic, and that was probably the goal from the very start.
“You’ll eventually get your powers back once all of this is over. However, for now, you’ll have to make do with what you have.”
“…I already understand this much.”
Thinking about it, I almost felt pity for Jackal. Not only was he currently under Sithrus’s watch and hunt, but he was also probably going to lose his mind.
The powers were probably going to consume him soon enough.
I had to bide my time. Only when the powers began to completely overtake his mind did the moment come for me to take them back.
Still, there was something that I was curious about.
I turned to Noel.
“If you say that the powers made me lose my mind, wouldn’t it be more appropriate for me to just let go of them?”
Losing Oracleus’s powers did suck, but at the same time, I could do without it. I had reached a point where I could.
…If I just poured all of my attention on my Emotive Magic, I was confident in reaching the fifth levl not far from now.
If keeping them meant losing my mind, then it would be for the best if I let go of them.
“No, you need them.”
Noel was quick to shut down my thoughts as he stood up and shook his head.
“Reaching the ‘source’ alone is extremely hard. The powers will serve as a gateway for you to reach the ‘source’ and, in turn, understand it better. Though the moment you gain your powers back, you’ll start to lose your mind again, if you manage to grasp the ‘source’, the sense of rejection will disappear and you’ll be able to use both powers without any problem.”
“So that’s what you mean…”
I more or less started to understand the situation.
In order to access the ‘source’ easily, I needed to take my old powers back. The moment I gained access to the ‘source’, my goal was to try to understand it and become the eighth god.
The key to all of this was Emotive Magic.
Although I didn’t understand why that was the case, that wasn’t important as of this very moment.
The most important part was getting stronger and furthering my Emotive Magic.
Bringing my fist near my mouth, I bit my finger. My thoughts drifted towards the entire situation as I tried to think about the next steps that I needed to take in order to further my Emotive Magic.
However, these thoughts vanished the moment I looked up and saw Noel staring at me.
‘Oh, right.’
How could I forget?
“You probably have everything planned out, don’t you?”
Noel stared at me for a brief moment before suddenly cracking a smile.
“Of course, I do.”
He flicked his hand, and a map appeared out of thin air. Laying it out on the table next to me, he started to explain.
“This is the Eclipsed Maw. It’s located in one of the larger red zones within the Mirror Dimension.”
My eyes squinted as I looked at the map.
For some reason, the shape of this red zone felt familiar. It also appeared to be surrounded by red coloring. Was that the sea?
As if reading my thoughts, Noel smiled.
“It’s Australia. Well, more or less. It’s a little different, but it’s what remains of Australia.”
“…Ah.”
No wonder it felt so familiar.
“Leaving that aside, it’s important that you go here.”
“Why is that?”
“…Because that’s where you’ll find Oracleus’s eye.”
“Eh?”
I paused and looked at Noel, who kept his gaze firmly locked onto the map.
“I’m sure you are aware that the relics are key in all of this. You might not know why, but that’s not important right now. The most important thing is collecting them. You should, by now, be in possession of the Mirror and Extractor.”
“…Yes.”
“Leon should be holding the Chalice.”
I swallowed quietly. It seemed like Noel was already aware of everything from the start.
Looking at him now, and seeing his serious expression, he felt foreign again. He felt like the Aldric that made me shiver whenever I looked at him. As expected, he really had changed.
But even though he changed.
He was still my brother.
“The last relic is the Oracle’s eye. It’s probably the most important relic of all four. Toren most likely thinks it’s hidden somewhere in the Academy, but it’s not.”
Noel pointed directly at the map.
“…It’s right here and you have to collect it at all costs.”
“Me…?”
I blinked my eyes.
“What about you?”
“Me?”
Noel turned his head and looked at me with a bitter look.
“In my state, I can hardly kill a fly. I’ll be the one to die, and I can’t die. The moment I die will be the moment Toren finds me.”
Noel’s face suddenly tightened, his expression turning grim as he quietly mumbled, “I don’t want to be locked up again. I really don’t. Anything but that…”
“…..”
I pursed my lips, forcing a breath out.
From the way he spoke those final words and the look on his face, I could tell his life hadn’t been easy in my absence. I couldn’t begin to imagine the kind of torment he’d endured while I was away.
The thought alone…
It pissed me beyond any measure.
‘Yes, it’s about time that I fulfilled my job.’
I quietly nodded my head and placed my hand over the map.
“Alright, I’ll do it.”
Noel smiled without looking at me.
He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I’m sure you must be tired since you just woke up from death, but I don’t think we have the luxury of time.”
“Ah, yes.”
Neither one of us knew how much time we had at our disposal. It all depended on Jackal. For how long could he last against Sithrus? He had the backing of the church and the Round Table, but could he really do anything about someone as powerful as Sithrus?
Neither of us could really put an estimate on the time, which was why it was important to act immediately.
“…There are not that many cracks that you can enter to reach the Eclipsed Maw. Your best bet would be to enter that crack, but…”
Noel’s face turned complicated as he looked at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“That…”
Noel scratched the tip of his nose before sighing.
“You understand that your current position, right?”
“I do..?”
What was he talking about? And why did he seem so concerned?
“Toren is no longer the same Toren of the past. He’s different. He has eyes and ears everywhere. There aren’t many places he can’t see or hear. What you think might be your closest friend could very well be him.”
I swallowed quietly.
“…I know that.”
How could I not know that? I had experienced it all already.
“He’s most likely already gotten close to you.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out. I wanted to refute his words, but I didn’t know how.
But where was he going with this?
“That’s why it’s important for you to remain dead. Even though most people think you’re still alive, those who do know should keep thinking that way.”
“Ah…”
I finally understood where Noel was trying to get at, and the place that we needed to go in order to enter the mirror dimension.
It was none other than the Academy.
To… where she was.
“…Nobody must know that you’re still alive.”
I took a deep breath, pursing my lips at the same time. In all honesty, I knew this from the very start. Noel didn’t need to remind me. However, he probably felt the need to after seeing my reaction the moment he mentioned the Academy.
‘He’s right. For now, I must remain dead.’
There was no other way around it. Sithrus was that scary. Neither one of us could take a chance.
But even then…
As a certain figure drifted in my mind, I slowly brought my hand to my chest while trying my best to forget about the pain.
‘….Surely if it’s her, it should be fine, right?’
There was simply no way for Delilah to be linked to the Inverted Sky and Sithrus. I had seen her hatred firsthand.
If it’s…
“No, don’t think about it.”
Noel cut through my thoughts as though he could see through them.
“Brother…”
His expression turned softer as he looked at me. He seemed to want to help me, but he soon shook his head.
“We can’t take any chances. I’m sorry. I…”
“No, I understand.”
I stopped Noel there and then.
He didn’t need to say any more. He had already suffered so much, and yet, here I was lamenting over something like this. What sort of brother was I?
Slap!
I slapped both sides of my cheeks before taking the map with me.
“Let’s not waste any more time.”
“Wait…”
Noel called out to me just as I was about to move. As I slowly turned my head, I saw him staring at me with a smile.
I paused as our eyes met.
And then…
“It’s good to see you again, brother.”
He scratched the back of his head, his cold expression vanishing, replaced by an all too familiar expression as his eyes moved away from me.
“I just wanted to say that.”
My lips trembled, but soon, I drew enough force to nod my head.
“…It’s good to see you, too.”
