The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 509: The Spirit Empire

“System? Is that you?” Tom sat in bed and asked in shock as a familiar screen appeared in front of him as soon as he woke up.

WHO ELSE!

THE WHIMSICAL SYSTEM IS BACK!

UPGRADE COMPLETE!

“Right, you were doing an upgrade… What can you do now?” Tom sat up, tied his long flowing hair into a ponytail, and asked immediately.

5 NEW FEATURES

A NEW MISSIONS SYSTEM THAT WILL GUIDE YOU TO GREATNESS! (DUE TO THE SYSTEMʼS WHIMSICAL NATURE, THEY CAN BE VERY RANDOM)THE SYSTEM STORE HAD BEEN GREATLY EXPANDED WITH ALL KINDS OF SKILL BOOKS, WEAPONS, AND EXTRA GOODIES! (DUE TO THE SYSTEMʼS WHIMSICAL NATURE, IT MIGHT CHOOSE NOT TO SELL!)EMERGENCY ESCAPE, CAN NOW LET YOU TELEPORT AWAY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY! (DUE TO THE SYSTEMʼS NATURE, YOU CAN’T SET THE WHIMSICAL DESTINATION) (1 YEAR COOLDOWN )CAN USE ORDER POINTS FOR PAYMENTS INSTEAD OF SYSTEM COINS. (CONVERSION RATE IS UP TO THE WHIMSICAL SYSTEM’S MOOD!)CAN BUY STATUS POINTS AND AUTHORITY POINTS IN FLASH SALES THAT HAPPEN AFTER A MISSION IS OVER!

“Oh… COOL! So, can you take me away from this place?” Tom asked in a hurry.

AFFERMATIVE

PREPARING FOR TELEPORTATION

9… 8… 7… 6…

“Stop! I don’t want to leave yet!” Tom quickly screamed.

“Young Lady… Is there a problem?” the maid, sleeping with ‘Nova’ to warm ‘her’ bed, poked her head from under the sheets and asked with a frown.

“No, you can go back to sleep… I just had a nightmare…” Tom quickly placated her as he eyed the system screen.

TELEPORTATION CANCELED

FOR INVOKING THE SYSTEM FUNCTION AND CANCELING, A 3-MONTH COOL-DOWN WOULD BE ANALYZED!

THE SYSTEM IS NOT A GAME!

“SHIT!”

“You wanna go to the restroom?” the maid asked.

“Ah… No… Just want to get some fresh air! You go back to sleep! Damn it…” Tom said as he hurried out of bed and walked out to the balcony before eyeing the system message again.

PLEASE DON’T CURSE!

THIS SYSTEM DOES NOT CONDONE PROFANITY!

“Ok, ok… Da…. AH… What happened with Nova? Didn’t you say she was coming here?” he quickly asked. “Didn’t you promise to help her get here?”

10 COINS NEEDED (YOU ARE BEING BILLED EXTRA BECAUSE OF YOUR FOUL LANGUAGE)

Tom looked at his Coins indicator. He had 39 left, so he could use those! “I accept!” he said. He forgot how mean the system could be sometimes.

NOVA VON ASTROM

ANALYZING…

CHECKING THE AKASHIC RECORDS…

AFTER ESCAPING HER HOME, SHE WAS KIDNAPPED BY AN EVIL ORGANIZATION THAT IMPRISONED HER TO EXTRACT HER BLOODLINE.

ONE WEEK AGO SHE ESCAPED AND IS HEADING TO THE HEAVENLY SECT WITH 3 OF HER FRIENDS!

WARNING… ANOTHER SYSTEM OWNER WAS DETECTED AMONG HER FRIENDS. THIS IS THE REASON THE SYSTEM FAILED TO ANALYZE HER SITUATION BEFORE.

“Oh… WHAT? Another system owner? Am I not the only one?”

OF COURSE NOT! THIS WORLD HAS MANY CHOSEN, SOME WILL BE FRIENDLY TO YOU, OTHERS WILL COME AFTER YOUR LIFE!

DIFFERENT SYSTEMS HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES!

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HOST IS A SYMBYONIC ONE. IF YOU PERISH, WE WILL TOO, SO OUR GOALS ARE TO MAKE YOU THE GREATEST!

“Oh!” Tom nodded. After taking his time to think about this system, he figured as much. “WHERE DO SYSTEMS COME FROM?”

THIS QUESTION IS LIKE ASKING YOUR PARENTS WHERE BABIES COME FROM...

DO YOU WANT THE TRUTH OR A LIE!

“The truth...” Tom quickly said.

WHEN YOU GROW UP, YOU WILL NATURALLY FIGURE IT OUT!

Damn it.... The system was playing him! It clearly didnʼt want to answer. “What can you tell me about the system user with Nova?” Tom asked.

ERROR

SYSTEM CAN ONLY ANALYZE OTHER SYSTEM OWNERS WHEN THEY ARE NEAR YOU!

THE ONLY REASON I DISCOVERED THIS ONE WAS THAT NOVA’S FATE IS VERY WRONG, A PROOF OF SYSTEM TEMPERING!

“Oh!” Tom frowned. “Will I have to face that guy later?”

UNKNOWN, BUT HE IS ON HIS WAY HERE... HERE IS A TIP... HE IS NOT THAT STRONG.... JUST A WEAKLING!

“When will they be here?” Tom asked. The system was subtly telling him to take that guy out!

DATA EXTRACTION ERROR… TOO MUCH INTERFERENCE.

“...” Tom sighed. “Then let me look at the store…”

AFFIRMATIVE!

Almost immediately, a huge screen with all kinds of things appeared in front of Tom.

Weapons, artifacts, skill books, pills, rare minerals, sex toys… It had everything! Damn it, it also had an awakening artifact!

He really wanted to get that stuff, but sadly, the price was too high for Tom. 3,200,000,000 SYSTEM POINTS was not the kind of number he could even dream about!

“Wait… You sell elven girls, too?” Tom asked, finally noticing the last entry.

FRESHLY BROUGHT FROM ANOTHER WORLD!

PRICE IS 1,000,000 SYSTEM POINTS AND 1,000,000 ORDER POINTS

ERROR… YOU CAN’T AFFORD IT!

“No need to rub it in my face… Is there a way to get many points fast?” Tom, feeling a little deflated, asked.

AFFIRMATIVE!

HERE ARE A FEW WHIMISCALLY GENERATED MISSIONS!

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: SHOW THE WORLD!

FIND A WAY TO JOIN THE GRAND TOURNAMENT

REWARD : 1,000 SYSTEM COIN + 3 AUTHORITY POINTS + UNLOCKS THE TOURNAMENT MISSION TREE

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: THE TRUTH!

FIND CLUES ABOUT THE ‘FORGOTTEN PAST’ OF THE WORLD

REWARD : 100 SYSTEM COIN + 10 AUTHORITY POINTS + UNLOCKS THE HIDDEN MISSION TREE

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: I AM THE ONLY REAL MAN ON THIS MOUNTAIN!

COCKOLD THE HEAVENLY SECT MASTER!

REWARD : 10 SYSTEM COIN + 1 AUTHORITY POINTS + EXCLUSIVE SEX TOY

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

OPTIONAL SYSTEM MISSION!

TITLE: I HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE MY GENDER!

CASTRATE YOURSELF USING A DULL BLADE ( YOU CAN LET OTHERS DO IT IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE GUTS! )

REWARD: 10,000 SYSTEM COIN + 10 AUTHORITY POINTS + AN LGBTQ FLAG TO CARRY WITH PRIDE!

FAILURE PUNISHMENT: NONE

“Not that I will ever accept that kind of a mission, but why does it have to be a dull blade?” Tom couldn’t help but ask as he squeezed his legs together. Just imagining that was very disturbing.

The system naturally had no answer.

”Letʼs look at the Toys then...” Tom said after some thinking. It was about time he began training that maid.

!!!

***

After Victor satisfied all his wives who really, really missed him, taking a hot shower and finishing his overtime work of bullying Tom at the same time, he finally had time to think about all the things that were happening lately.

“You are still here?” he asked as he walked out of the bathroom, eyeing Alpha, who was forced to stand in the corner and watch all the action tonight.

“... you ordered me to just stand here…” she spat angrily, her face still blushing from what she saw.

“I told you that you can join if you wanted!” he said.

“...” She just looked away. She knew that he could have taken her at any moment, but the bastard wanted her to come to him on her own, and she was not going to do that! NEVER!

Victor sighed. “Follow me… Or do you need to use the bathroom?”

“...” She just glared at him.

“Go, make it quick, and after you finish, come find me on the roof!” he said before turning and leaving.

“Bastard…” he heard her cursing behind him, but didn’t care.

Climbing up, he found himself a seat on the mansion’s tiled roof where he simply sat there observing the lights of Vein city on the horizon.

He closed his eyes and let his soul synchronize with his other part with Lily. Unlike when in the other world, here it happened almost immediately without many problems.

It took the new memories a few moments to finally sink in and let him open his eyes again.

“That guy again?” he said to himself with a very dangerous glint in his eyes.

***

“Victor!” Lily threw herself into Victor’s arms as soon as she entered the SoulPearl on her pendant. She had just gotten it back from Yulian and found a good place to ‘meditate’ under the pretense that she was feeling very tired.

Thankfully, she could enter this place while asleep outside, so it would count as paying back the skill activation penalty!

“It took a while… How did it go?” Victor asked as he brushed her head.

“There were a few problems, but it should be fine… More importantly, there are a few things that I should tell you!” she quickly said as she looked at him with complex eyes. “There will be a change in our plans… “

“Oh… Explain one by one…” he said, noticing a strange expression.

“Ok…” she sighed as she sat in his lap. “Let’s start with the light stuff then… I didn’t tell my family that we are married!”

“What? Why?” he asked. This was not according to their plan. The announcement of their marriage must have been used to first make her uncle less wary of her, as she would technically no longer be eligible to be the family head, and also to secure a communication line for Victor to secure their help for when the Reckoning happened!

“Several reasons, the first would be that some people from my family might try to assassinate you… You being my husband would stop me from becoming the patriarch, so they would just get rid of you… I have not just an X-ranked fate, but also a class and a bloodline…”

“Oh…” Victor nodded. When they first made up this plan, Lily’s bloodline had not been awakened yet, so she got a point. “Is this the only reason?”

“There is something else, but I will explain it when I get to that point!”

“Oh…”

“Something else,” she quickly said. “During the hearing, my stupid uncle entrapped me and I had to reveal a card… They know about that stupid rooster! He might come to you asking for the Davitothak feather!”

“Oh…” Victor frowned. “...It doesn’t matter, I was planning to leak the info about it anyway, so it should be fine!” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“It was one of my backup plans… We might be able to defang your uncle using the summoning ritual, so it should be fine!”

“Defang?”

“I can’t tell you now… I need to set up a few things first…” Victor quickly said. “All you need to know is that it will be ok!”

“Oh…”

“...” Victor swallowed. Lily better not know what his plan was. “Now… What else…”

“Listen up…” Lily took a deep breath .”It’s about the other timeline… Not the one you were in, but a life before that… ”

“The one Mona remembered?” Victor asked. He felt strange. He just learnt about this from Alpha and was about to tell Lily about it.

“EXACTLY!” Lily nodded. “According to my calculations, it should be a timeline that diverged from ours 1000 years ago!”

“Eh… How did you learn that?”

“ I… In the cleansing ritual, I have regained memories from it, too!” Lily confessed. “Memories the same as Mona…”

“What? Really? Victor asked in surprise. “Is it because of your class…”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Kinda, but not entirely… ” Lily said. “Let me explain things from the start!” she said, taking a deep breath.

“Ok…” Victor quickly nodded. He didn’t expect this, but Lily might hold the final piece of the puzzle he needed to figure out the real situation in this world!

“The other timeline, the Zero timeline, as we should call it, was nothing like this one. In that world, the Reckoning happened about 1000 years ago! I am not entirely sure about the exact events, as very little remained of that era, but as to what would happen in this timeline, the world was overrun by all kinds of demons and invaders who came to exploit it,” she said. “The technology at that time was far below what we have now, but thankfully, without the over-reliance on firearms that would stop working, the world had enough warriors skilled in traditional weapons… So after the initial shock and taking some time to realize how the system worked, quite a few clans managed to awaken their bloodlines, then started to fight the invaders, who were too busy fighting each other to care about the primitive humans… By the time the invaders noticed them, the clans managed to become high-level enough to fend for themselves and carve a place for humanity to exist!”

“Oh…. Those clans…”

“Yes, Many of them belong to the current oligarchs!” Lily nodded.

“Where were they originally in this world? Did they come from somewhere else or were they created by someone?” he asked with a frown. According to Alpha, the Spirit Empress gave them their bloodlines, but this might as well be a scam! That woman might have used the system to awaken the bloodlines and made it appear that she gave them those bloodlines as a kind of scam!

“Unknown, but they should have some very old ancestors who had the specific bloodline, it was just dormant, only giving them minute enhancement in power and health before the reckoning… Most of them were really powerful and big clans, so that must have been the reason!” Lily was not sure. “You seem to know something…”

“Alpha became a lord and learnt a few things… She seemed to have inherited her familyʼs memories from the last 1000 years of something…”

“Eh… What… Oh.. That eternal spark!” Lily exclaimed, realizing something. “Did she…”

“Yeah, she tried to rebel, I naturally kicked her ass…. Will talk about it after you finish!” he sighed.

“Oh… Ok!” Lily nodded. “Anyways, although the clans managed to fend off some of the invaders, those guys kept coming, and the situation of this world was very bleak. It was then that a hero emerged from one of the minor Clans. In a span of a few years, she managed to become a Lord and then unite the clans to form the first Human empire.... The Spirit Empire!”

“The Spirit Empress!” he interrupted.

“YES!” Lily said with a worshiping tone. “By the time I was born, she was the undisputed hegemon in the entire world, ruling 30% of the world!” Lily said in reverence.

“Only 30%?”

“Um…. At that time, the world was divided between too many forces, all led by a Lord level leader. Some of them were not that bad, like the Heavenly sect, the Inquisitorʼs Domain, or the Tranquil Kingdom. Others were kinda bad if you didn’t have the right constitution, like the Fire Domain and the Void Mountain, while others were very dangerous or partially uninhabitable, like the Cursed Elven Empire, the Corrupted lands, and the Demonic domain… Places like Vein City that you live in have long been lost! In fact, the current geography is nothing like what it had back then, as fights between those insanely strong powers tend to change many things…” she sighed. “Still, despite all of this, things became pretty balanced after each one knew his place. For about 300 years, most of the big wars stopped. Humans even began considering taking back some of the lands they lost. Sadly, before they could do anything, it happened…” Lily frowned. “I was merely 12 years old back then, just returning home after 5 months in the imperial academy. I could still remember how as soon as I arrived I saw my mother yelling at my father as the news of the gate falling reached Nest Castle! 5 supreme demos, who arrived from the outside, seemed to have secretly managed to unite the local demons and launch a surprise attack to take control of one of the world gates that were protected for the last 1000 years…” she said. “It took everyone by surprise, and despite creating a coalition to try to regain the Gate, we only managed to kill one of the supreme demons before our forces were completely exhausted!” she sighed. “For us, this was a complete loss as it was only a matter of time that the world would fall as that world gate they opened connected to the Abyss, and the demonic corruption was unstoppable!” Lily sighed.

Victor frowned, remembering what he saw in Ismeralia. The main problem with demonic invasion was not the demon but the corruption coming from the world gates!

“After that, fighting was no longer possible as what little forces we had left were only enough to protect the ever-shrinking habitable lands…” She explained with a heavy expression, “ With no other option, my master, the Sprite Empress devised a plan to first forge an X-ranked artifact, the book of Time, and then use it to return to the past and stop the reckoning itself from happening! With the world beginning to fall, the other forces that had the required material had no choice but to cooperate!”

“Your master?” Victor asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Ah… Yes!” Lily nodded. “My master, every generation took one disciple from each of the 16 high clans! It was her way of solidifying her empire! ” she said. “Each of those disciples was specifically groomed and was meant to rule over their clans in the future!” she explained.

“Oh… ”

“In fact, you knew quite a few of them, like Mona, Zoe, that girl Harper, and even Gary’s big sister Valerie!” Lily explained. “The oligarchs all belonged to the supreme clans from back then!”

“... EH?” Victor frowned. “What? Even Mona? Did she belong to some big family or something?”

“Her clan was one of the weakest as they didn’t have a bloodline, but they seemed to have some affinity with the sword… My master called it a Sword Concept…. They always managed to secure themselves a good place in the clans’ ranking tournament!” Lily explained. “I suspect that they might not have survived as a unified clan like the others… Many didn’t, but the disciples should be out there somewhere!”

“... What makes you so sure?” Victor asked. “ The other time loop, according to you, should have begun a 1000 years ago. How can all of those people be born again… Just a tiny accident would have caused a butterfly effect, and those people would not be here!” he analyzed. If any of those ancestors were to have an accident, failing to reproduce or even delaying their weddings, they wouldn’t have been born! Even one of them getting born again and having the same name was an absurd coincidence!

“Ah… That’s easy! Back then, each of us, her disciples, and even a few chosen representatives from the many forces who had S-ranked fate, cut a part of our own souls to create the Timebook! It made the Timebook stronger, and this way, our fates would integrate into the timeline itself after we return! Whenever that Time book was used, we are guaranteed to be born again, so all the incidents that might diverge from that fate would be stopped by the world’s will!” she said. “That’s how my master explained it anyway… It was the compromise she made with the Lords and different clans whom she needed to help. They didn’t trust her enough to help her go back in time without some kind of guarantee that they would not be eliminated!” she said. “They made her swear a soul Oath!”

“Oh… “ Victor nodded. “This…”

“Although we were guaranteed to be reborn, our fates became weak, so if my guess is correct, Master had to use a Fate Affirming ritual to strengthen them again and help us not only become Scions but also give us missions like guarding the world gates or defeating certain named Damons who would arrive later… It was the thing you heard the fate lord talking about…”

“Yeah…” Victor did remember that. The marks that were left behind were used to curse Lily afterwards.

“Me being the World Empress Fate you mentioned before is part of that. In the last tournament, I was the one who won, so my family was meant to be the rulers back then!” she explained. “Thinking about it, that’s what really happened in your timeline, I just wasn’t there… because of that bastard Fate Lord’s betrayal!” she hissed angrily.

“... Maybe something went wrong!” Victor said as he thought about many things.

“We knew the risks….” she sighed. Her master explained things to her thoughtfully before. The ritual only gave them a 90% chance of survival. There was always the risk of not being born or dying young!

“According to Alpha, the Spirit Empress disappeared after about 100 years of her return!”

“My master is still around, I know it… I just don’t know her plan!” Lily told the truth. “After stopping the system from fully integrating the world, she had a lot of time on her hands, so I am sure she was back to doing experiments on Sparks… I feel strange that even after the reckoning, she didn’t appear… She must have some big plans, though! “ Lily said. “I bet those guys might even be acting on her plan without knowing it… She might even be hiding and waiting for the demons to make their move!”

“Oh...”

“I bet she left something for us in the Jade dungeon! There might even be a trap there for the demons!” she said. “We should make sure to go there... I already secured my familyʼs approval to be there; I am not sure what we will find there, but there would definitely be a clue about Masterʼs plan.”

“Noted,” he nodded.

”I bet Master would definitely like you if you get to meet her!” Lily said with excitement.

“Oh…. Should I be flattered?“ Victor asked.

“Kinda… Very few guys did, even the royal guards, like your good friend Tom, that idiot Oliver, and Sebastian, only got a Meh expression from her!”

“Eh… Those guys were in that timeline, too?” Victor felt a little annoyed.

“Yeah!” Lily nodded. “Tom even had a crush on Mona and her sisters back then, being also from a family that lacked a bloodline, he thought he could marry them… Mona was so against him and his perverted fantasies that she even threatened to castrate him if he tried to approach her sisters, but after he risked his life and entered the demonic domains to save the twins after they got captured, she agreed to let them marry!” she sighed. “Fate is mysterious like that… Always connecting people in the strangest ways!”

“Eh…” Victor paused with a strange expression. The twins also ended up marrying that bastard in his past life. DAMN IT! “Then… I have a few questions…” he quickly said, changing the uncomfortable subject while deciding to bully Tom more in the future! He should amp up the rewards for that castration optional mission!

“You want to ask if you, meeting many of my master’s disciples and even Tom, had something with you in the other timeline?” Lily asked.

“Yeah… You made me wonder what kind of a guy I was there...”

“In the other timeline, you didn’t exist!” she quickly interrupted with a sigh.

“WHAT!?”

“Back then, the entire Von Weise family was destroyed by a demonic attack about 60 years before I was born! Only Zoe’s grandmother managed to escape because she ran away from home with some guy a year prior!” Lily explained.

“Then…” he was taken aback.

“If I have to guess, the reason all of those guys are flocking around you is because of the crow mark I placed on you… We share our fates, remember?” she said, brushing Victor’s shoulder. As they were now in soul form, her crow footmark was visible on his collarbone.

“Oh…” he frowned. “So… In the other timeline, you had a different husband…” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Due to an accident in my youth, I hated all men… Like Alpha does now!” Lily said, hesitating. “In fact, my hobby of ‘cutting up’ men must be the effect of my other life on this one.”

“Oh…” Victor realized something. Lily went rabid… Ehm… She became more independent and no longer very subservient to him right after her bloodline awakened. At first, he thought this was the effect of her life as a crow in the other timeline, but thinking about it. Her memories might have started to awaken back then, maybe just in her subconscious at first!

“I wonder if things would have been different if you had been there, though…” she continued to ponder, unaware of his thoughts, turning to look at his handsome face. “But I digress… This relates to the reason I couldn’t tell anyone that we are married…” she hesitated again.

“What?”

“I… I had a fiance…”

“WHAT!” Victor almost jumped. “And you… You… Didn’t you just say that you were not married…”

“It’s not that I want him or anything… In fact, I never even liked him, as he was just a political marriage candidate, and I never intended to let him touch me. But that guy is very dangerous, and if he were to regain his memories, he would definitely kill you!”

“...” Victor frowned. “You mean he should also be here?” he asked.

“Of course… He was my master’s favorite disciple! Some guys even suspect that he might be her illegitimate son if not for her directly denying it!” She told the truth. “She was the one who arranged the engagement, and I couldnʼt refuse… Not with my mother rooting for him…”

“...” Victor squinted his eyes. SPIRIT LORDʼs name was just moved to the naughty list! “Do I know him?”

“Yes… Kinda…. You never met him, but I did…” Lily said nervously.

“You mean in this timeline…” Victor asked very coldly.

“Aha…”

“Who?” Victor asked, deciding to use his Akashic scholar skill to fish him out as soon as the cooldown period was over, then that guy was so dead!

“His name is Malcolm…”

“Malcolm…. Where did I hear that name before…. HSssssssssssssssssssssssss….” he gasped as he remembered. It was that guy whom he read about his fate falling for Lily before… the same guy who tried to kill Axel! Fate was really a crazy thing! Wasn’t he now with the Oblivion lord? Could that lord have anything to do with the Sprite lord? He did call her a birch but….

“Yeah… I know…” Lily said nervously. “His class was called Myriad Magician, not sure what it does… His bloodline is also unknown, my master kept his file a top secret!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“He will need to die… And I also need to investigate anything about him again!” he told her flatly.

“I agree… Just make sure it has nothing to do with you!” she warned.

“...” Victor looked at her and nodded, hugging her again, making her at ease. “Who else was there… People from your timeline…” he asked, changing the subject.

“Most of the scions you know were there… Even that Liam guy, he used to be a knight working under me!” she sighed, remembering what she did to him… Well, it was his fault for not respecting his superiors!

“What about Alpha…”

“Alpha… Louise von Richter… I never met her, but I did hear her name in some reports. She was not a part of the ritual, so my guess is that she is the same as how the twins got born due to Mona’s fate, and must have been born again due to her connection with Kuul.. That girl was Von Richterʼs chosen; since Louise is here, she must also be out there somewhere!”

“Kuul?” Victor couldn’t help but think of a certain girl called Kuu…

”Yeah, that’s her nickname. Kuura von Richter. Despite not being pureblooded von Richter, she managed to outshine all the other heirs and impress my Master, becoming one of her disciples! I had to face her in the tournament, and if not, my class being the total nemesis of her blood martial arts, I would have had a hard time!” she reminisced.

“Oh…” Victor nodded. “I think I met her…”

“What!?”

“In my family’s mines… She had a really bad destiny, very similar to yours… Probably it had something to do with the Fate lord…” Victor sighed. “She should be with Zoe now!” he said, confirming what Lily said. Fate was really a strange thing, with Kuu ending up with Zoe out of all the people. What made him give her to Zoe instead of Mike or Alice back then? Ah right… He wanted to see if he could make her a Scion.

“Oh!” Lily nodded, then pinched him.

“Ouch… What…”

“... Nothing… Pervert….” she spat, looking away. If this were the other timeline where women had much higher standing than men, thanks to her Master’s influence, she wouldn’t have even let him look at some other girl, let alone have a Harem. It was just too late for that now! Well, at least she had part of his soul all for herself!

“...” he sighed. “What about Hana?”

“Never heard of her… None of your Harem other than the twins rings any bells!” She told the truth. “Is there a reason for asking this?” she asked, noticing his strange expression.

“You, Alpha, and the twins have strange golden fate threads connecting you to me. None of the other girls has it…” he told the truth.

“This might have something to do with the other timeline… Maybe your connection to me or something to do with you using the book of time to travel!” She dismissed him. “Fate things are not my area of expertise...”

“Oh…” he nodded. Maybe she was correct...

“In fact, you using that Time book is kinda amazing, after my master returned it, it should have been totally exhausted even after a thousand years…” Lily said, thinking about how he managed to travel. Now that she knew how it worked, his method of using other worldsʼ rules to make the jump was kinda ingenious! “That’s why it only worked for one second, no one would have thought that you could use it like that to return like you did!” she added.

“...” Victor nodded. “This would explain why it was left in the Royal library…”

“Yeah… Is there anything else you wanna ask me about?”

“A few… What about the lords?”

“As I said, they each controlled their own region… There should have been quite a few throughout the 1000 years, but in my time, there were only a handful left. Let’s see…. First, the Blood and the Fate lord who worked for the master… The Fire lord, A woman… the Void lord, also a woman… The poison Lord, a very hateful guy who helped demons… The WhiteTree Lord, a perverted old man… “ she paused as if to remember. “There was also that stupid Eternal Lord who liked my master a lot but kept getting rejected… And finally, there is The Ice Lord, who usually remains secluded in the north... There might be other hidden ones, but that possibility is very small!”

“What about Oblivion lord?”

“Nope… Never heard of him.”

“Light lord?” he asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“The same…He didn’t exist then!” She shook her head again.

“I see…” he sighed. “What about the demons then?”

“There were many, but none of the ones you met after the Reckoning… The rules my master set must have kept most of the strong ones away, or they might not have shown themselves yet by the time you returned to the past!” she said. “I suspect Caspian might be one of them, though… But without his real body and being only a soul, it is hard to tell!”

“Oh….” he nodded. “Right… What about the demonesses who worked for him?” he asked after thinking about something.

“Nova is the only one I met…. She was the same as the other timeline…” Lily hissed. “ She betrayed humanity and joined the Twilight demon… That bitch… It was she who entrapped me in the end and caused me to get captured!” Lily finally said.

“What… Captured?” Victor frowned, noticing Lily’s soul body suddenly went freezing cold.

“...” Lily paused. “I…. I didn’t want to tell you this…” she hesitated. “Whatever… You must know this… I didn’t live long enough to see my master go back in time. A month before the ritual’s date, I was invited by Nova, who told me Solara, her cousin and my fellow disciple, wanted to meet me in secret…. It was a trap by that Twilight demon… He knew my master was up to something and advised the plan to capture me, sacrificing many of his hidden pawns in the process…” she hissed angrily.

“What did…” he paused as he felt her begin to shake.

“You don’t need to know… “ Lily buried his head in his shoulder, making him realize that some things he shouldn’t ask about. “Until the end, though… I told him nothing…”

“Oh…” Victor could feel her shaking.

“Let’s just say that when I meet him again… He would dream of dying only one time!”

“.... Noted…. Just make me a list of everything I should know about for later… I will keep an eye out for you…” He said, also writing the name TWILIGHT DEMON on his naughty list. Right on top. Wait… Could TWILIGHT have something to do with the Light Lord? Just a random thought… It would mean that there was fate between them after all…

“I will be counting on you…” she nodded as she relaxed in his arms. Being near him was really the best cure for her. “Now… Let’s hear the stuff you know…” she said, changing the subject.

“Oh… Should I tell you the stuff I heard from Alpha or from Emira… There is also something about Aria and Mira’s bloodline that I need to ask you about….”

“I… WAIT…. WHO IS EMIRA?!”

Oops… He forgot Lily didn’t know about that one….

***

“Another timeline? Really?” Zoe asked in an unbelieving tone as she followed Mona with Kuu through the Ruin.

After being here for more than a week, they slowly left the cave-like environment they were in before and entered a very strange and surreal place.

It was an infinite ground, forests and mountains just like outside… One might forget that they were in a cave if it were not for the strangely foggy-lit ceiling above them. It felt like some kind of Nebula, the kind you see in deep space photos.

It had many strange things like Shiny crystals, some weird-looking mushrooms, and the casual giant monolith that littered the lands!

If it were not for Mana acting like she knew the way around, warning them not to touch things, and explaining all about the monsters they encountered, they wouldn’t have dared to enter such a place.

In fact, she was warned by Uncle Falcon to be extra careful of sudden environmental changes, as they might get lost. But Mona seemed to know her way quite well. Thanks to that, the experience point they have gained was not something anyone could scoff at!

“Um… The two of you, with me and a few others, were disciples under the one who led our world, Her lordship, the Spirit Empress; we were called the Saintesses…” she chuckled as she said it. It was as if she found the name a little funny.

“....”

“You still don’t believe me, don’t you…” Mona sighed. “Well, it doesn’t matter… What you need to know is that the world in the other timeline was under a fierce invasion by forces from other worlds. We were losing the war, and losing was an understatement; we were being crushed… In the end, our master used a separate measure and used the Time Book to return to her youth in an attempt to fix her old mistakes and maybe manage to defeat the supreme demons and the three horrors, or at least prepare the world for their coming!”

“Supreme demons? Three horrors?” Zoe asked. Mona had been telling them all about her adventures in the other timeline and how they were both best friends and each otherʼs rivals. It sounded like some kind of a fantasy!

“Remember those names, The Dawn Demon, The Twilight Demon, The Dusk Demon, the Midnight Demon, and the Zenith Demon… Those were the enemies that caused human defeat in the end,” she said. “Adding to them, The DOOM Bringer, Artilian the RULE, and The ASTRAL Horror… Those are the three horrors,” she said with some fear in her eyes. “Those guys I mentioned were so overpowered that even our Master couldn’t help but fear… All we can do is to stop them from entering our world!” Mona explained as she got to the ground as if she had found some trace. “The guy we are pursuing, Mister X, I suspect that he is the Zenith Demon! If he were in his demon form, I would have run away long ago, but now that he is in a human form, we can beat him up; we just have to get him before he manages to return to the Abyss… We can’t waste this chance!”

“...” Zoe looked at Kuu.

“...” The latter just shrugged. She had no opinion as long as she became stronger and returned to her young master’s side. This was all that mattered. Though... It would be really cool if she were some kind of a noble Saintess or something! She might even be able to marry her Young master for real... No... She couldnʼt even dream of that!

“Is there a way to retrieve our memories from that other timeline?” Zoe suddenly asked as Mona set their destination again. It was not that she didn’t believe her, but her story was just too absurd.

“Yes, Master left a way!” Mona said. “It is called the Jade Tower… A trial place hidden in it, ways to return our memories!”

“The one we have to win the tournament to enter?” Zoe, who had heard Ann speak about the tournament before, asked. She was one of the Von Weise candidates after all!

“Is that kind of thing?” Mona paused.

“Yeah… The tournament will start in a week, so I think we should start heading back…” Zoe said as if remembering something.

“No need to worry!” Mona said. “For us, going in will be very easy… In fact, our invitation cards will find us on their own!” she said nonchalantly. “More importantly… I think I found our target…” she said, pointing toward a small, perfectly normal hill a few miles away.

“There?” Zoe asked with a frown.

“Yeah… It’s a stronghold! A well-hidden one, but it can’t fool my eyes!” she hissed, hiding the fact that she had raided this same stronghold in her past life and knew everything about it!

“So should we prepare…”

“No need to ... .We can’t give that sneaky bastard a chance to escape as we are very close to the Abyssal fracture! Let’s go kill some demons!” Mona replied with a fanatic smile as she drew out her sword and walked toward her target.

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