Chapter 116: True identity?

"Ever since you have entered into this world, all the events that should have happened are either early or all over the place. Even the gates are getting opened earlier, which gives me no time to prepare. Whether your coming is a blessing or a curse, there is no telling. One thing is for sure. The more you are getting involved, the more changes you will cause. From your memories, you seem to be just a regular human that got into this world. However, no regular human can cause so much change."

"How can you be so ungrateful? All started because you entered into the goddamn spring of tranquility! Then, the thing with Saskia is because you have killed her followers and demon puppets. Then you destroyed her enchantment! I am now going out of my way to get the resources that you might need for the gate, and all you have to say is that I have changed the events?"

"Seems like you don't even know your true identity, cockroach."

Kyrie sighs and gives up making sense with Imogen. True identity? What other identity does he not know? He is just an obsessive fanboy that had the chance to transmigrate. A lot of the changes might be from changing the events that should have happened. 

Kyrie has taken out the evil spirit that should have manifested during the lantern festival. He has also prevented Ian from going to the front lines and the demon puppets from invading the Kingdom of Ethern. Plus, Imogen has arrived earlier than usual, and she has met with Laurel by chance. Everything until now is as if something has gathered Ian, Imogen, Laurel, and Kyrie together. Besides, Kyrie has learned that there is a connection between Phanes, Vita, Erebus, Karta, and Yue. 

If Kyrie had not injured his soul, Kyrie would have entered into the gates alongside those three. 

"By the way, Kyrie…"

Imogen leans on the pillar with her arms crossed. 

"What?"

Kyrie lifts his head to the side and looks at Imogen, who has a slight smile spread on her face. 

"What you have taught Laurel… That line…" Imogen turns her eyes to Kyrie, "Not bad…"

She pushes the pillar with the arm that she is leaning against and stands back straight. Kyrie turns to stone while surveying Imogen's face, smooth and glowing. 

"W-where… where is Laurel?"

Imogen lifts an eyebrow and looks at Kyrie like he is an idiot, "Look for her tomorrow… She is tired."

Kyrie chokes on air, and his face starts to turn red. That is enough information for him to know where Laurel is.

"By the way, did you tell Laurel about the gate? Are you bringing her along?" Kyrie tries to change the topic.

"Did you think I had time for that?" Imogen turns around to walk away.

[This crazy bitch… Is she boasting? Huh!]

---

"Useless!" Vicar Fagan sweeps his arms across his desk, throwing everything to the floor.

"Those are a bunch of worthless selfish ingrates! I told them to do it at a later time! Now everything is gone!"

The Vicar heaves as he takes a vase and throws it to the ground. The vase shatters into hundreds of pieces, flying all over the floor. He bites the nail from his thumb as he paces nervously. 

Now that those priests are being taken for interrogation, the temple could never fully take themselves off suspicion, especially from the king. The king would soon hear about the temple preventing the saintess from accessing the altar, and people would know that the Garden of Oracles has disappeared from the temple. 

"I can't stay here anymore! I need to go into hiding!" Vicar Fagan runs over to a painting and takes it down. 

The painting hides the safe.

When he opens the safe, he quickly steps away from the safe, covering his nose. He falls backward as he stares at the safe. The blocks of gold have turned back to flesh. Vicar Fagan cannot hold it any longer and throws up on the same spot. 

He crawls back to the safe while repeating 'no' like he does not believe his own eyes. He has sacrificed everything, and in the end, most of his fortune evaporates into nothing.

"Aren't you a hopeless case…"

Vicar Fagan quickly turns to see who came into his office. His high alert calms down once he sees the woman sitting on the desk.

"Lady Blackwood!" Vicar Fagan throws himself in front of Cynthia.

On his knees, he cries, "Lady Blackwood! You have promised me wealth, but look at that! Why did they turn back? It's not fair! In our agreement, you would give me gold if I feed that gem with souls!"

"If you are blaming, then blame yourself, Fagan! Not only have you wrecked my plan, but you also lost my relic! Tell me, Fagan! Don't you think that leaving you alive until now is already at the peak of my mercy?!?!"

Vicar Fagan walks on his knees and holds onto Cynthia's dress, pleading for mercy. Cynthia kicks the man off, and she stabs her heel into Fagan's body multiple times. Each time viscously stumping at him to vent her frustrations off. 

She is frustrated because she also lost her opportunity to kill off that woman who was snooping around. Plus, the person who rescued that woman, Cynthia has a hunch that it was Sil even though he denies it.

"Mercy!!! Lady Blackwood! Mercy!!!" Vicar Fagan wails as he kowtows, hitting his forehead on the floor while receiving the stumps.

Cynthia stops, but her heel remains on the Vicar's ribs, "I have an idea… If it goes well, you might be safe even if people discover the Garden of Oracles… But this is your last chance, Fagan… Don't disappoint me."

After visiting Fagan, Cynthia returns to her room at the inn, finding Sil waiting inside. 

"What are you planning, Cynthia?"

Cynthia sighs and walks past him towards a table, ignoring him. 

"Why are you involved with the temple? I thought you just went to the gathering to collect souls. Didn't you say that we have to stay put before the gates open?"

She takes off the cap of a jar and pours the fruit wine into a glass. She finishes the glass in one go and turns back to face Sil, who is silently waiting for her response. She leaves the empty glass on the table.

Her expression is cold, with sharp and willful eyes. The street lights outline her dark figure from behind, and her eyes shine once she activates her mana. Her black hair floats from the mana rising from below her feet, circulating around her body. She walks slowly towards Sil. 

The veins in Sil's temple start to bulge, and Sil falls to the floor. His body spasming with pain, and he groans. With bloodshot eyes, Sil looks at Cynthia, who is staring down at him.

"There is so much I can take from you, Sil... You are forgetting who your master is!"

Cynthia presses her heels onto Sil's chest and pushes him down to the floor. Sil, lying down on the ground, grabs her ankle but has no energy to take Cynthia's heel off his chest. 

"C-Cynthia!" Sil coughs up blood as he forces his words out of his mouth, "You promised not to touch Kyrie!"

Cynthia lifts off her heel and heads closer to Sil. Then, she sits on top of Sil, observing his struggle from the spells that have been placed on his body. 

"I did promise that. I am not touching him."

She runs her index finger on Sil's jawline and holds his chin. 

"But Sil… Who are you to demand these things from me? You are just a servant that Erebus gave to me. I can do anything I want with you. So, who are you to tell me what to do?"

Then, she traces her finger down Sil's neck and stops at the first button. She yanks Sil's collar, and the buttons fly off, exposing Sil's chest with a glowing magic circle. She lightly traces the lines of the magic circle while looking at the unwilling expression on Sil's face. She grabs Sil's shirt, pulling him closer to her. She watches Sil's angry eyes and lightly smiles.

"You can't blame me for doing this to you… You did all this yourself, Sil. After asking for a second life from Erebus, you should know that it comes at a price. This life is no longer yours. Your only purpose is to obey what you are told! You should be grateful that I even let that brat stay alive! Because of you, everything that I have planned is gone to waste!"

Cynthia's anger increases the strength of the magic circle. The magic circle starts to sizzle on Sil's skin, making him scream. 

"We couldn't prevent Ian's awakening or get the black mana stone. Now, Kyrie is walking off with the memories of the novel. Do you know how much advantage they have over us? You know that neither of us has ever finished that novel, so our information is limited. And his disappearance… His disappearance in that tunnel is not normal. That black mana stone… and Erebus's consciousness…"

Cynthia lets go of Sil's shirt, and Sil lands on his elbows.

"He is no ordinary human! You think you know him?" Cynthia chuckles, "You know nothing of him. How in the world is everything in that brat's favor? You have seen it, and you plead with me to let him off? We are lucky that his soul has fragmented, or else, do you know how much of a hassle it would be to face him?"

"Erebus told you not to touch him until the time is right," Blood flows down from both corners of Sil's mouth, "He told us to observe how much Kyrie could change the flow of fate to our advantage!"

The magic circle disappears from Sil's chest, and Sil's body turns limp to the ground. He pants and coughs the blood that blocks his throat. 

Cynthia grabs onto Sil's neck, and the mana on the palm of her hands turns into a metal collar that wraps on Sil's neck to the floor. She continues to trace her fingers down, unbuttoning one by one the rest of his buttons.

"You are becoming so rebellious, Sil…"