Arthur was a boy loved by ti, even more so than Beatrix. In its own way, Ti expressed that affection, by informing him of this incoming Nexus Event.
By revealing how his infinite branching futures were collapsing, converging toward a single, unavoidable path.
This incoming Nexus Event seed to affect Alvey, Artemisia, Beatrix, Evan, and McEnda, along with one other individual Arthur had been trying to identify.
Arthur had been wondering who the last person connected to the Nexus Event might be and why his limited understanding of Fate Laws kept pointing him toward the Rhigor Continent of Aramis.
Now, he wasn't curious anymore—he had figured out the answer.
The final key to the Nexus was Jamie. Fate had directed Arthur to Rhigor as the shortest path to Gozon, where Jamie resided.
Arthur wouldn't deny it; discovering Jamie's involvent unsettled him. A Nexus Event wasn't sothing one could face lightly, and the fact that soone like Jamie—who wielded High-Tier Deity realm power—was involved only deepened his concerns.
He worried about what kind of event could involve soone of Jamie's calibre and still be dangerous enough to challenge him.
However, Arthur kept these worries to himself.
Ultimately, Arthur's reasons for wanting Evan to stay close were tied to the Nexus Event, and this connection sparked Jamie's curiosity.
"Finally eting you, I have a lot of things to ask.
What world in the future did you co from? Why were you sent through ti? Why did you end up on Aramis? I also want to know about the specifics of the Spell that sent you through ti."
"Well, it was a Tier 8 spell. The guy who cast it literally scread it out.
As for why I ended up on Aramis; Alvey and I have a theory where the Planet was looking for a 'Hero' to fill up its empty slots and pulled out of my spatial tunnel but I ended up falling on the wrong side of the planet.
I don't know why they tried to send through ti though."
Evan answered a few of Jamie's questions while pouring himself a glass of strawberry wine. Jamie took a sip of his grape wine before responding.
"Alvey told of his theory. But I don't think he is correct."
Jamie's High-Rank Spatial Authority gave him a unique perspective on the situation, and Evan assud it was this understanding that made him dismiss Alvey's theory.
"First off, what World are you from in the future?"
"My World, It—"
"Quick question, Evan."
Arthur suddenly interjected, cutting Evan off before he could finish.
"When you first got to Aramis, did you feel lighter or heavier?"
The unexpected question pulled Evan's attention, leaving him montarily perplexed.
"??"
Evan blinked, thrown off by the shift in conversation. He looked at Arthur, his expression a mix of confusion and curiosity, wondering what this had to do with the current situation.
"Just answer. Off the top of your head."
Though slightly baffled, Evan chalked it up to Arthur's usual randomness. He thought back to his first monts on Aramis and replied without thinking too much about it.
"I felt lighter, I guess?"
Arthur nodded, seemingly satisfied, and gestured for him to continue answering Jamie's question.
Evan found the whole exchange odd, but unable to discern Arthur's motive, he refocused his attention on Jamie.
"You were asking about my world, right? I'm from Earth V.
According to Arthur, my planet was apparently a replica of the 'Original Earth'."
Evan responded while adding the discovery he made during his first few days on Aramis.
Technically, Evan told no lies. He had indeed been born on Earth V. The only ones he wanted to know that he ca from Aidos were Beatrix and Artemisia, simply because they would have discovered it anyway when they saw his Mystic Eyes.
'I hope the Mystic Eyes have a Stage where I can hide this symbol…'
While he thought this, Jamie affird that Earth V was indeed a replica of the 'Original Earth'.
Right after, Arthur posed another question, though this ti he didn't press Evan for a quick response.
"What World Level is Earth V anyway?"
The mont the question left Arthur's lips, Ti Difference activated.
Thanks to his Mystic Eyes, no one could detect that Evan had used a Skill, as Ti Difference was a Mimicked Skill.
'Jamie clearly knows about Earth V. He might also know what level it is now.
I don't know what level Earth V is now, so I have to be a bit careful about my answer.
If this were anyone else, I could just admit I'm not sure—but not with Arthur.'
…
I'll go with a safe answer. If it's wrong, I'd pull the 'I wasn't given accurate information' card.'
Ti Difference deactivated and Evan responded.
"High-Level World."
"Oh, so it succeeded in promoting to High-Level. That's good."
Jamie's response was casual, but it piqued Evan's curiosity. When he asked what Jamie ant, the Demon King explained that the current Earth V was in the process of advancing from a Mid-Level World to a High-Level World.
'Oh wow, I didn't expect that this was the ti that Earth V was still advancing…'
His safe answer turned out to have been the correct one.
anwhile, Arthur rose from his seat, rinsing his glass out the window before returning. Settling back into his chair, he turned to Evan with another question.
"Evan, you said you felt lighter when you first got on Aramis, right?"
Evan nodded, confirming his earlier statent. Arthur sighed, then spoke with a conviction that left no room for doubt.
"You didn't really co from Earth V, did you?"
"…Um, I literally just said I ca from there a few monts ago, right?"
"And I'm saying that's a lie."
"…"
For a mont, the Rogue Hero and the godslayer locked eyes in silence, while the Demon King watched from the corner, his curiosity evident.
'What's he playing at now?'
Evan didn't back down under Arthur's gaze. He just calmly broke the silence with a question.
"Mind explaining why you think I'm lying?"
"Don't forget I just gained a Pseudo-Authority in the Law of Gravity."
"I know you just did, but what does Gravity have to do wi-?!"
Evan's words trailed off as realization dawned on him. His eyes widened, and Arthur, catching the flash of understanding, leaned back in his chair with a smirk.
Arms crossed, he waited for Evan to put the pieces together.
'Gravity?! Fuck!'
Arthur didn't need to wait. Evan had already figured everything out in an instant.
Arthur's question about whether Evan felt lighter or heavier had seed random, catching Evan off guard and interrupting the flow of their conversation.
Arthur's casual deanour about it had made Evan dismiss its significance. Without giving it much thought, he answered off the top of his head, as Arthur had said.
But if Evan had taken just a second longer to consider the question, he might have realized it was a carefully laid trap.
'Earth V a High-Level World. In contrast, Aramis is a Pri World. I felt lighter because I moved from a place with stronger gravity to one with weaker gravity.
It had been months so that little detail skipped my mind. No…it skipped my mind from the instant I had to deal with Alvey's sudden appearance that day!'
The gravity of a High-Level World could never exceed that of a Pri World.
That simply wasn't how the laws of World Levels worked. Only other Pri Worlds or Apex Worlds had stronger gravitational forces than Pri Worlds.
'By admitting I had felt lighter earlier, I basically admitted that I ca from another Pri World or an Apex World—not from a High-Level World like Earth V.'
Evan briefly considered arguing that Earth V might have beco a Pri World in the future but dismissed the idea imdiately.
Unseen by anyone else, his trusty System Archive was open before his eyes.
Among the detailed entries on World Levels—linked from Aidos' status as a Pri World—he confird a critical piece of information: advancing from High-Level to Pri Level required at least a million years, far longer than the re 10,000 years that had passed.
Arthur's seemingly simple question about how Evan felt had exposed the inconsistency in his story, unravelling his lie.
'Well, it's not exactly a lie. But explaining that I ca from Earth V and sohow ended up in Aidos is a headache I'd rather avoid. Where would I even start?
More importantly, do I even need to explain?'
Since Ti Difference wasn't active, Evan's thoughts weren't accelerated, and ti moved as normal.
Arthur, sensing he'd given Evan enough ti to stew, resud speaking.
"Hey, Evan. I couldn't help but notice that whenever you use your Unique Skill, sothing appears in your eyes.
You see, I comprehend the law of Languages. It's the reason why I can speak the sa language with you despite not being from this Universe.
With my current level of comprehension, translating the 'text symbol' that appears in your eyes was easy—too easy.
When I questioned why it was easy, I realized it was because I'd encountered that language before."
Thanks to his prior experience with the language and having obtained samples of it in the past, Arthur had no trouble deciphering the symbols that appeared in Evan's eyes.
"It's the sa language that Artemisia uses when she jots down the things about that she sends to her father."
Artemisia's father had tasked her with gathering information about Arthur—the Progenitor of a race prid to kill her own.
From afar, he wanted to evaluate Arthur's character, assess his potential danger, and determine the necessary course of action. Since Artemisia was already on Aramis, she was perfectly positioned to fulfil this mission.
However, Artemisia had never hidden this from Arthur—she couldn't. Arthur had even seen the journal where she recorded her thoughts and observations, written entirely in her mother tongue.
Evan, too, had seen Artemisia jotting things down in her journal when they went to the Labyrinth of Forsaken Divines, and he the language she used in it.
The sa Aidosian Shorthand Language the symbol of his Mystic Eyes was written in.
That was what Arthur was hinting at and Evan went silent as this unspoken conjecture had hit the mark.
"…"
At this point, it was unnecessary to state the obvious that Evan had co from Aidos.
'Tsk…'
Evan had no intention of letting people know about his origins. While the reasons for keeping it hidden had diminished over ti, one key reason remained from the beginning:
He didn't want the Gozonians to find out—specifically those in positions of power.
Evan had only disclosed the truth to Artemisia and Beatrix because their discovery was inevitable, given how much ti he spent around them.
He had chosen not to tell Arthur, though, because there was a chance Arthur might let it slip to Alvey or one of the High-Rank Demons he was close to.
As he'd reasoned before, it wasn't about avoiding changes to the future; that ship had sailed the mont he revealed to Artemisia that he was an Aidosian Hero.
He didn't want to get kidnapped by any Race Kings who wanted to try using his 'future knowledge' to alter the course of history, essentially creating a new tiline where things didn't play out the sa.
Even worse, it could also make him a target since they would try to control him or so other faction might try to eliminate him to protect their agendas.
A pri example of such factions was Gozon.
'I guess failing to account for which languages Arthur recognized—and assuming he wouldn't recognize an Aidosian shorthand because he's from another universe—was a bad move on my part.'
Evan had been ticulous about avoiding the use of his Mystic Eyes in front of Alvey, McEnda, or any Gozonian, both on their planet and in their presence elsewhere.
Jamie was no exception. Even though Jamie wasn't Gozonian, his position as a "Demon King" was close enough for Evan to lump him in with them.
'And here this guy just went ahead to reveal it in front of the strongest of Gozon's affiliates…'
If Arthur wasn't stronger than him, Evan's urge to sock him in the face would have won out at this mont.
Closing his eyes, Evan took a deep breath to calm that urge, only opening them again when the sound of Jamie's clapping reached his ears.
Jamie leaned back in his chair, wearing a disarming smile as he steered the conversation in a new direction.
"Well, that was quite the revelation, wasn't it?"
"No shit!"
Evan exclaid reflexively, earning a hearty laugh from Jamie.
'Ah! Calm Evan. Calm.'
While Evan was doing ntal exercises, Jamie called out Arthur whose expression showed he clearly had more to say.
"Arthur, you shouldn't poke into people's secrets so much. Not everyone appreciates their stuff being laid bare like that."
Jamie's tone carried a blend of amusent and mild reprimand, but Arthur only leaned back in his seat, an unapologetic smirk tugging at his lips.
"I couldn't help it, you know? The whole thing was just begging for a reveal."
"You're impossible, you know that?"
Evan replied flatly, his deadpan expression earning a light chuckle from Arthur, who looked entirely unbothered, as if exposing secrets was just another casual pasti.
Watching this, Jamie flicked his finger, sending a precise bolt of spatial energy through Arthur's multi-layered barrier to strike him squarely on the forehead.
"OUCH! Dude, that hurt!"
"It was ant to."
Jamie's response was calm and pointed before he turned his attention back to Evan, his expression softening.
"Since we're on the topic, and Arthur's already unceremoniously pried open the door, we might as well walk through it."
User Comments
0 comments from readers