After Arthur and Jamie made their way back to the Noble Barron Hotel in Tolgue City, they found Evan sitting on the kitchen counter, sipping a milkshake.
Across from him were Artemisia and Beatrix, who were also holding milkshakes.
It seed Evan had made milkshakes for them, and the mont he figured that, Arthur demanded one as well.
But to his request, Evan sighed and responded.
"Guys, don’t forget, my strawberries are limited edition."
Arthur gave him an incredulous look, clearly thinking, ’How can strawberries be limited edition? You could walk outside and find a bunch being sold at any roadside stall.’
Sensing Arthur’s disbelief, Evan explained.
"My strawberries co from the future. This is the past, so, technically, my future strawberries are limited edition."
Hearing Evan’s explanation, Arthur just rolled his eyes, palming his forehead.
"Just make the milkshake, will ya?."
Laughing, Evan slid off the counter to grab the blender, tossing in more of his ’futuristic’ strawberries. While he worked, Arthur collapsed onto the couch with a heavy sigh and seeing his exaggerated exhaustion, Jamie chuckled.
"Maybe you’ll finally get your shot after we finish this next trip."
He was referring to Arthur’s desire to defeat Duskhand, but hearing the talk about a ’trip’, Artemisia and Beatrix were intrigued.
"Next trip? Where are you guys going?"
"We’re looking for sowhere Arthur can get the final push he needs to create a new form of the Extre Nothingness technique, and in that place, I also plan to have you guys power level.
I an, since Arthur’s going there to boost his power, why not do the sa for the rest of you? You, Beatrix, and Evan are coming along."
Jamie spoke like it was already decided, and Artemisia silently sipped her milkshake as she nodded.
She wasn’t entirely against the idea, especially since Jamie had suggested it. She knew he was an oddball, but he wouldn’t take them—his friend’s daughters—into dangerous places where they could face life-threatening risks without being there to protect them if it ca down to that.
But then again, if he was going to jump in and save them every ti, it would defeat the entire point of the trip.
The whole purpose was for them to get stronger, to reach a level where they could hold their own without relying on soone else.
Jamie wouldn’t coddle them, but he also wouldn’t throw them into the fire without so assurance that they could handle the heat—or at least survive long enough to learn how.
While she was thinking this, Evan handed over two fresh milkshakes to Arthur and Jamie. He then took a sip of his own before asking.
"Arthur, do you rember what you said when I first arrived? About how there was no way you of all people wouldn’t know what race I was?"
Arthur nodded, recalling their conversation from Evan’s first day on Aramis.
"Yeah?"
Evan set down his glass, leaning back against the counter and spoke, smiling wryly under his mask.
"I finally get what you ant."
His response made realization flash in Arthur’s eyes. He finished his milkshake, set the glass down, and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, you finally figured it out?"
A question to which Evan gave an affirmative nod.
"If I had just paid a little more attention that day, I would’ve caught on sooner. You practically told the answer back then, but my mind was occupied with other things, so I didn’t think much about it.
Didn’t notice it was staring in the face..."
Evan looked directly at Arthur as he concluded.
"...Literally."
"That’s life, man. You search everywhere, and the answer’s been right in front of you the whole ti."
Arthur responded with a laugh and Evan couldn’t help but agree. His mind had been too occupied with his circumstances then so he hadn’t pondered too much on Arthur’s words then.
But now, he realised why and a lot more things began to make sense to him now that he knew the answer.
After Evan had co to terms with what race he really was, it didn’t take long for curiosity to shift.
Now, Jamie, Artemisia, Beatrix, and Arthur were all focused on a different question.
What exactly had Evan just ’unsealed’?
They all knew about the Vision Seal that had been placed on him, and for days now, they’d been dying to know what the seal had been suppressing.
It didn’t seem to be raw power as Evan didn’t look any different, and neither were his energy levels spiking.
Jamie, however, couldn’t shake the suspicion that sothing crucial was being held back since as far as he knew, Vision Seals were mainly used to seal power.
It could also an that in this case, Evan’s body might just not be strong enough to handle the full brunt of the power, so it was still held back.
Anyway, their unspoken curiosity was written all over their faces, and Evan picked up on it imdiately.
He answered their unspoken questions, with a spoken question of his own.
"Do you guys want the long version or the short version?"
Everyone stared at him with blank expressions.
"Obviously, the short version!"—ca the collective thought, though no one voiced it aloud.
They definitely didn’t want to hear what the long version might entail. The fact that Evan even had a long version was worrying enough.
Once again, Evan didn’t need to hear their voices to know what they were thinking. He just laughed and spoke.
"Okay, the short version. I can do that."
He took a sip of his milkshake before continuing.
"For starters, I’m a lot older than I thought I was. Apparently."
At first, this didn’t surprise anyone. Both Arthur and Artemisia had already noted the age discrepancy between Evan’s body and his soul, so his comnt seed redundant.
But then they realized that Evan was aware of this discrepancy too. And for him to still bring it up ant that the difference in age was sothing even they hadn’t fully grasped.
Jamie’s eyes narrowed as the pieces of the puzzle began to fall into place, though he kept his thoughts to himself.
Just as he was about to ask sothing, he sensed a ripple in the space around them and turned his head just in ti to see a spatial gate rip open.
From the gate stepped Alvey, a bundle of files clutched in his hands. His expression was serious, and the mont his eyes landed on Arthur, he spoke urgently.
"Arthur, I’ve got news—"
He paused mid-sentence when his eyes fell on Jamie. Without hesitation, Alvey dropped to one knee, offering the formal greeting any high-ranking demon would give to a Demon King.
Jamie waved him off, clearly uninterested in the pleasantries and urged him to carry on.
"Go on."
Alvey rose, turning his attention back to Arthur before speaking.
"We’ve discovered him."
Arthur’s brow furrowed.
"Him? Who’s him?"
The boy was confused, but his confusion vanished like smoke the mont Alvey’s next words entered his ears.
"The last brain behind the Fake Divine experints. The disciple of the man called Ger."
Ger’s master had been one of the most brilliant minds behind the Fake Divine experints. That is, until he was killed by Sigesi. Ger himself was now imprisoned in Arthur’s subspace.
But there was still one person left— Ger’s disciple. His na, Kalon.
Kalon was the last person alive with the core knowledge of how to create the Fake Divines, and more importantly, how to replicate the groundbreaking success Ger and his master had once achieved.
Ger had no idea where his disciple was hidden and that had been intentional.
If he were ever captured, as he was now, he wouldn’t be able to give them away.
But even without specifics, Ger’s deep familiarity with the Fake Divine factories offered hints, ideas, and places where his disciple might be hiding.
Alvey, taking advantage of the Aramisians who were distracted by the Demons’ recent conquest of Plomux, to deploy his Shadow Demons.
Using Ger’s mories, mories that Arthur had allowed the Demon Kings to scan and extract during the Gozonian Summit, they now had a map of all the Fake Divine factory locations.
Ger’s soul was heavily sealed, but the opponents were Demon Kings. They easily cracked open every fragnt of information in his mind, body and soul.
Alvey sent this information back to Aramis and Jabberwocky, ever the loyal Mimic Demon, led his shadow and mimic subordinates, scouring as many military bases and factories as they could find.
Finally, after sifting through countless false leads, they’d uncovered a cluster of bases where Kalon was likely hiding.
"Jabberwocky went in person to confirm it. Just like when he infiltrated the Triton’s Ark, taking over the position of Fleet Admiral, he did the sa with a high-ranking General. He snuck in and confird it."
Arthur raised an eyebrow, impressed.
"Damn, Jabberwocky’s good."
Evan nodded in agreent, but before they could say more, a voice cut through the room.
"Thank you."
Both Arthur and Evan spun around, eyes wide in shock. Standing behind them was Jabberwocky himself, the Mimic Demon, quietly closing the door.
He wore the uniform of an Aramisian General, though it only stayed on him for a mont. With a single step forward, the uniform shifted seamlessly into the Demon Army colours, his face morphing into that of Fleet Admiral Gnurl from the Triton’s Ark.
Neither Arthur nor Evan had sensed his presence until he spoke. Even Alvey, bound to Jabberwocky by contract, hadn’t noticed his arrival.
Jamie, though, didn’t seem surprised in the least. With Space as his main attribute, his spatial perception made it impossible for Jabberwocky to remain hidden from him.
Jabberwocky’s existence occupied ’space’ in the third dinsion. He couldn’t hide from soone who controlled it.
Arthur also noticed this as well and quickly figured out sothing else about Jabberwocky.
The man had higher spatial comprehension than Arthur did, hence, why Arthur’s spatial perception didn’t detect him.
Jabberwocky stepped forward, offering a formal greeting to Jamie before beginning to recount his findings.
He had infiltrated several of the Fake Divine Factories, each more guarded than the last. His mimic abilities allowed him to slip past security and assu the identities of key personnel, all while collecting data.
After days of thodical work, Jabberwocky had narrowed the search down to a location called the Waregough Archipelago.
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