The Author's POV

'Why is it taking Kevin so long?'

During my conversation with Malik Alshayatin, in which I was trying to buy as much time as possible, I sneaked a look at the time on my watch.

Ten minutes had already passed since Hemlock had appeared, and nothing had happened.

'Did something go wrong with the operation?'

Kevin was supposed to be on his way to killing Malik Alshayatin, who was hiding not so far from where we were at the time, according to what I knew about the situation.

He was the only one who knew the precise location; I wasn't even sure of it myself.

Given that Hemlock was still seated at the oval table alongside everyone else, it was clear that Kevin had not yet made his move.

'Is it possible that he ran into some problems, and it's taking him more time than it is supposed to?'

This was the most likely possibility.

Kevin, in my opinion, was in no real danger at any point.

Malik Alshayatin would have already vanished by now had he found out that Kevin had attacked him, and taking into consideration the fact that Kevin was solely performing this action based on his memories, there was no way that Hemlock could know what was coming for him.

It was simply impossible.

'I guess I'll just stall for a bit more time. '

It wasn't that I really minded, but I was rapidly running out of topics to discuss in order to kill time. Octavious, to my great relief, came to my aid in the nick of time.

For some inexplicable reason, it felt to me as though he was in on the whole situation.

'I'm imagining things, right?'

"Is there anything you hope to accomplish by remaining here? I'm certain that you didn't just show up to listen to our conversation. If you truly desired to hear what we had to say, you would not have divulged your identity so early."

"As expected of the strongest human, you're very perceptive."

Hemlock clapped twice, his back lying on the leather chair.

"Initially, I intended to come here to confuse the minds of everyone present. I wanted you guys to question yourselves and perhaps convert a few of you to our side, but I changed my mind.

Hemlock gave me a friendly smile as he slowly turned his head in my direction and looked at me. As the ominous foreboding, I was experiencing became clearer, I felt shivers run down my entire body.

"...But I changed my mind. Not too long ago, a small bird told me something, and let's just say I discovered something even more entertaining."

The instant he said those words, my pupils constricted violently. Specifically, when he uttered the phrase "little bird," the puzzle pieces in my mind began to fall into place, and my breathing became rougher.

I muttered two words without hesitation in my mind.

"Monarch's Indifference."

My vision turned black.

***

The exact length of time that I was unconscious was a mystery to me, but the instant that I regained consciousness, I found myself standing in front of a pitch-black void.

One that I was all too familiar with.

After making a right turn, I walked in that direction without giving it much thought.

With every step that I took, I had the sensation of something warm enveloping my entire body. In a short amount of time, the pleasant warmth morphed into something intolerable as a searing pain began to spread across all of my skin.

But it didn't matter to me; I kept moving forward regardless, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the pain.

This little pain was incomparable to the pain that my mind and body went through every day.

My dogged determination paid off, and it wasn't long before I spotted a tiny white orb about the size of a star way off in the distance. The orb grew steadily more expansive as I proceeded forward with my journey.

I had no idea how far I had to travel before I would reach the orb, but as soon as I got within a few feet of it, I could see that it was covered in thin black threads that had seeped into the white surface of the orb and was riddled with a variety of cracks.

A person who looked an awful lot like me was standing not too far away from the orb and staring at it with a blank and dull expression.

I started walking in his direction and stopped when I was in the same space as him.

When I turned my head to look at the orb as well, I noticed that it was reflecting images. In particular, I could see Kevin's face which was staring into the orb.

The whiteness of Kevin's face was accentuated by the fact that his body was shivering and his lips quivered.

Closing my eyes, I spoke up.

"As expected, it was you, wasn't it?"

I spoke in a calm manner.

The reason why Hemlock was so calm and why Kevin had been held up for so long. This was all a scheme my other self had planned in order to kill Kevin.

In spite of my composure, I was aware of a searing rage permeating each and every part of my body.

The other version of myself slowly turned his head and looked at me with the same expressionless gaze he had always worn.

"You should be thankful to me."

At that very moment, every fiber of my being wanted to let out a shout, but I restrained myself.

I had long since concluded that shouting would only give the impression that I was losing control of the situation and would contribute absolutely nothing to anything.

The only thing I could do was keep my composure and reason through everything that was happening.

I had to rid my mind of the pointless emotions clouding my judgment to effectively find a solution to the problem.

"If Kevin dies, you will be able to live, and I will be able to have my wish of dying fulfilled. Two birds with one stone."

"What's the point of staying alive if I'm going to die regardless?"

What was the point of surviving if, in the end, I was still going to die at Jezebeth's hands?

"Consider yourself lucky that you will live a few years longer than expected."

"Very kind of you."

I responded sarcastically while anxiously staring at the orb in front of me.

In my view, Kevin's face was directly facing the orb, and it appeared for a moment that he was staring at me.

My mind stirred when that thought occurred to me, but when I looked beside me and saw the other me still calmly looking at the orb, I became unsure of what I saw.

'What's going on?'

***

Kevin's voice shook as he knelt on the ground while holding a thin body in his arm.

"E..Emma?"

Kevin yelled her name once, and as he did so, tears began to form in the inner corners of his eyes, and he began to lose his ability to focus.

His face, which was extremely pale, looked at Emma's with a look of despondency plastered all over it as he gazed at her.

While her eyes were absently gazing upward, he tenderly stroked her cheek.

"Shit, shit...after all that I did to distance myself from you...shit."

Her breathing was very shallow, which indicated that she was still alive. However, it was abundantly clear that she did not have a lot of time left to live.

Because Kevin had struck her right in the heart and because the poison had left a clear imprint in her body, there was no chance that she could survive.

The thought caused Kevin's mind to become disorganized, as evidenced by his paler-than-usual face and the churning of his stomach.

The tears that began to form in the creases of his eyes moved more quickly down his cheeks, and it appeared as though the world was losing its color to him as they did so.

"H..How is this possible?"

As Kevin brought Emma's body closer to his in an embrace, he mumbled something out loud.

"Where is Malik Alshayatin? Why are you here? ...what's going on?"

In addition to being extremely pale, he also appeared to be extremely lost.

"It's impossible for him to know that I'm doing this...Impossible."

There was no one else besides Ren who was aware of what he had in store for the future. It was supposed to be a sneak attack, and it was something that he had done before in his memories, so he felt confident about it.

"Just where did I go w--"

"Ku...k..."

The expression on Kevin's face suddenly changed, and he turned his attention to Emma, who appeared to be trying to communicate with him.

"What? Are you trying to say something?"

Emma's body began to tremble in Kevin's arms, and just as he was wondering what was wrong with her, he felt a sudden, severe pain in his lower abdomen.

"Pftt.."

He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and looked at Emma with a bewildered expression.

"W..what? Why?"

"Ku,ku, ku..."

His shock was met with a menacing laugh, and Kevin watched as Emma's body began to transform into that of a humanoid creature with a black appearance that he was all too familiar with.

On top of that, the environment started crumbling apart, and large metal pillars materialized in each of the room's four corners. His surroundings changed and he found himself trapped in what seemed to be a large cage.

A rosy vaporous substance was seen emanating straight from the pillars and filling the entire room with its presence. As soon as Kevin saw the gas, his pupils began to constrict, and he took a few unsteady steps backward.

"Cough, cough...hallucinogen."

It took some time, but he eventually realized that he had walked right into a trap.

As he stumbled around on the ground and looked for something to support himself with, he covered his mouth with his hand but blood began to leak out through the spaces between his fingers.

The blood dropped all over the ground as he tried to find some stability.

His vision was blurry, and he could barely feel anything in his body.

The dagger may not have struck him directly in the heart, but the poison he had used to coat it was currently seeping through his blood, rendering the mana in his body extremely difficult to control.

"...I bet you didn't see that one coming."

In the midst of his struggle, a sinister voice reached his ears. Kevin barely had time to look up before he noticed the demon known as Everblood slowly approaching him.

Everblood pulled his head back slightly and moved his face closer to Kevin as he came to a stop a few steps away from him.

His mouth was twisted into a twisted smile that reached all the way to the corners of his eyes.

"As expected of him, this is fun...so very fun..."

He swung his hand downward while extending it into the air, revealing his pointed nails that shone brightly under the lights.

"...Now be a good boy and die."