Temple of the Goddess of Light.
Within the private chambers of the temple, several figures sat, all staring towards the white garbed figure.
His presence eclipsed that of all those present as the Luminarch looked around.
“Has anything been found yet?”
The meeting was being held to address the ongoing Red Tide and the possibility of it being a man-made disaster.
“No, nothing yet.”
A short man with neatly combed black hair and a long nose answered as he held onto several papers. He was the Temple’s Member Secretary.
He was essentially in charge of handling all of the reports and news received by the emissaries.
“While there have been some unusual movements from the Land of the Great God of Creation, Veltrus, we’ve observed nothing out of the ordinary from the other Lands. In truth, I don’t believe any of them intend to interfere, they’re simply too far.
“I see.”
The land within the Mirror Dimension was divided between the five gods. Of those five gods, the land of creation was the closest one to theirs. They controlled a major part of the upper world, or what was once known as Russia.
If it had to be anyone who could interfere with them, then it had to be them.
There was also Cloara’s land, but it was unlikely that they’d be able to reach it. They were simply too far.
“Do you have any idea why strange movements are coming from those of the Land of Creation?”
The Luminarch asked while staring at the Member Secretary.
This piece of news was nothing to make short of.
“…No, unfortunately, our spies weren’t able to pick up anything.”
The Member Secretary shook his head.
“They’re being very careful, so it’s hard to determine anything. However, from what we’ve managed to gather, it doesn’t seem like it has anything to do with us. I believe it’s an ongoing conflict between them and the Land of Foundations.”
“Goddess Clora’s faction against Great God Veltrus?”
The Luminarch raised his brow.
This was quite an interesting development. For what reason could the two lands be fighting?
Those two usually never got into conflicts.
In fact, those two were usually the ones who avoided conflicts the most.
For them to suddenly do something like this…
‘It must be something really important.’
The Luminarch pressed his hand against the table before making a decision.
“Send more people to investigate the matter. Get in contact with the other temples and spread the news to them. We need to keep watch of the situation. The situation might not be as simple as it looks on the surface.”
“Understood.”
The Member Secretary answered promptly, jotting down several things on a small notepad he retrieved from his pocket.
Pursing his lips, the Luminarch leaned back on his chair.
His fingers drummed over the table.
‘If there’s no outside interference, what could’ve caused the great primordial one to interfere like this?’
The Luminarch’s brows pressed together tightly. He had already informed the other Luminarchs present within the nearby cities about the situation, with them sending backups for the inevitable situation.
However, if the great primordial one showed up, he’d be completely helpless.
Although he was near the ninth tier, he was still far from being able to put up a fight with such a monster.
The only thing he could do at this very moment was hope that things wouldn’t escalate to that point.
But would they really not?
It was hard to tell.
The Luminarch’s hand came to a sudden pause as his gaze fell on the door of the room. His eyes narrowed shortly after as he stood up.
And then—
Bang!
The door burst open.
“What the!?”
“What’s going on…?”
All members stood up as they turned to look in the direction of the door, where a haggard figure appeared, holding onto the side of his arm as his chest rose and fell repeatedly.
“Haa… Haa…”
The moment his features became apparent, the Luminarch’s expression changed.
He recognized the one in question immediately.
“Sylas?”
How could he not?
He was one of the few people who could threaten him within the city. It was only natural for him to recognize him.
But how did he become like this?
What happened?
“…H-help.”
Sylas mumbled, his face pale as he looked pleadingly towards the Luminarch.
“I’ve.. I’ve… found out the ones responsible for all of this.”
His voice was haggard, and he looked to be struggling to even get a few words out.
“H-hollowed… Primordial one… Anne… Merchant…”
He was hardly making any sense, but he said enough words to give an idea to the Luminarch.
He also paused at his last word.
Merchant…?
The Luminarch thought about the recent news about a wandering merchant from afar, and how he had been selling very rare goods into the city.
Matching the timing of his appearance with the situation, and…
‘Surely, it can’t be a coincidence, right?’
But as if that wasn’t enough to plant a seed of doubt in the Luminarch’s mind, Sylas’s words echoed again. This time, his words were a lot easier to understand.
“…Underwater. I noticed something strange and I investigated with Anne. It was a trap. She, alongside the merchant, tried to ambush me underwater. Thankfully, I managed to escape, but I saw them break some sort of altar. The great primordial one… He’s coming. He’s already locked his position on them/”
“What?!”
Everyone’s eyes widened at the news, and as the Luminarch took in the information, he took a long and dragged-out breath.
Eventually, his eyes sharpened.
“Someone, go and find their location and relay it to me. If it’s true that they’ve been marked by the great primordial one, kill them on the spot.”
Finding out whether they had been marked wasn’t hard. The church had the necessary tools to be able to tell after getting close enough.
“I’ll get moving.”
A terrifying aura seeped out from the Luminarch’s body as he moved out of the room.
He had to get rid of the problem as quickly as possible.
What he didn’t notice as he left the room was the quiet curling of Sylas’s lips as he gradually sat up.
***
Shaaa—
The water ran down the sink as I stared at my own reflection.
My face gradually contorted as I stared at myself.
‘I don’t know if the situation is good or not.’
My chest felt heavy as I looked at myself. The more I looked, the more my appearance felt less foreign.
I was starting to get used to this appearance of mine.
That of Lazarus…
So much so that for just brief moments, I felt like this was what my true appearance was.
The moments were small, but it was starting to become clear to me.
The boundaries between my personality and Lazarus were starting to shrink.
…I was threading dangerous territory.
‘I’m immersing myself too much.’
I started to worry about the consequences of my actions. What would happen if I immersed myself in the character for too much?
Would I slowly just end up becoming Lazarus?
Then what about the current me…?
The thought felt heavy in my heart. Although this persona was necessary in order for me to reach the fifth tier, I was starting to worry.
‘If Sithrus has already reached the fifth level, does that mean that he went through something like this?’
I swallowed silently.
What were the results for him?
Was he able to return to how he once was, or…?
“Hoo.”
I took a deep breath, brushing my hair back.
Lazarus stared at his reflection as the water trickled down the side of his face. He stared at his well-defined features before reaching for his glasses next to him.
He was just about to put them on when his hand paused.
“H-ha.”
I let out another breath. This time, my chest trembled as I stared at the glasses in my hand.
‘…This is worse than I expected.’
I wasn’t even trying to become Lazarus again, and yet, the persona just automatically tried to settle itself into my mind, constantly taking over for brief moments of time.
“I can’t allow that.”
Things were getting a little bit too dangerous for my own comfort.
I needed to take some time to properly address this issue.
“But for now…”
I retrieved a certain piece of coral and placed it in the water inside the sink.
“It’s been a while. You still struggling to recover?”
I tapped the coral several times in hopes of seeing some movement. However, it still didn’t move at all. I could tell that it was still alive, but something about it felt off.
What exactly was the reason?
“Pebble, do you have any idea?”
The only thing I could do was call Pebble and ask for its opinion. Surely Pebble might know something, considering that it is also a monster.
But…
“No, nothing.”
Pebble shook its head as it sat by the sink, staring at the coral with its deep eyes.
Pebble extended its paw and touched the coral.
“I’ve never seen something like this before. No, wait…”
Pebble leaned forward and started to sniff the coral. I was a little taken aback by the sight. Why did Pebble feel the need to sniff the coral?
But soon enough, I saw a reaction from Pebble.
“This…”
“What? What is it? Did you notice something?”
“…No, but I think I know who might have an idea.”
Pebble’s tone was grave as it looked at the coral.
I cocked my head.
“Who?”
“Who else but that stupid Owl? From the looks of things, this monster was affected by some sort of [Mind] spell. Considering how it’s still alive but unresponsive, it’s the only thing I can think of.”
Pebble soon turned its head to look at me.
“You’re not much different. Your mind also appears to be affected.”
“…Oh.”
But mine was because of something else entirely.
Or was it…?
I thought about my current predicament and the timing of it.
Now that I thought about it, everything started to go wrong with me the moment that I came back out of the water.
Could there be a correlation to the situation?
“You’re right. Something about this entire situation feels off. I guess I’ll—”
Knock! Knock!
An abrupt, yet loud knocking sound echoed throughout the room. Hastily turning my head, I saw the door of the bathroom smash open as a figure entered.
“Get out. We’ve got a situation.”
“Eh?”
“The emissaries of the Temple of Light are coming to us.”
