Chapter 68: A Game of Secrets

Chris smiled and retracted his hand, along with it a small strand of white energy.

Lilith’s eyes widened. "You actually sent that energy into me!"

"Sorry, princess, but I had to test it." He shook his head. "And just as I expected, you are different. My Gwenor didn’t hurt you, even though you’re technically a demon."

She stared at him angrily but chose not to say anything.

"Sigh..." A moment later, she sighed. "Yes, as you’ve already guessed, I have the spirit of a demon inside me. I’m not sure if I’m a demon myself, but she says I am."

"Oh? Finally decided to admit it openly?" He teased.

"Hmph... You already figured it out, so what’s the point in hiding it?" Then she smiled teasingly. "Besides, nobody would believe you even if you told them."

He chuckled. "What you should be afraid of isn’t me telling your secret to others, but what I might do to you myself. I could kill you at any moment, princess. Keep that in mind."

"But you didn’t. And you don’t seem to want to."

"I didn’t because there’s something strange that I need to figure out. This familiarity I feel from you... I need to understand it first. And even though you’re technically a demon, you’re not the same as them, so I’m willing to give you a chance." His eyes then turned serious for a moment. "But don’t test my limits, princess. You won’t like the outcome."

She remained silent, looking at him.

"So, tell me about this spirit inside you. You said it’s a ’she’?"

"It’s supposedly the spirit of an ancient demon. She claims that we’re one entity, that I am her and she is me. But I don’t believe her."

He raised an eyebrow. "And why don’t you believe it?"

"I just can’t believe something like that. How can I be an ancient and twisted demon? If we’re the same person, why are we separated into two entities?"

He nodded. "Makes sense. I hope you’ll find your answers."

Suddenly, something started glowing on Lilith’s forehead.

"Hmm?" Chris took a step closer and examined it.

"What?" She looked confused.

"There’s something glowing on your forehead. It looks like a falling comet." He raised an eyebrow as he examined the purple comet-shaped mark.

She touched her forehead. "I don’t feel anything."

"Hmm..." He started thinking.

"You seem familiar with this?" she noticed.

"No, I just saw something similar in the past. But that person had a moon, not a comet."

’You need to be careful around her.’ Suddenly, Aura’s voice appeared in his head. It sounded emotional and guarded.

"Why do you think so?" he asked silently.

’I... I can’t tell you yet... But I know that falling comet. You should keep your distance from her.’

He shook his head. "No, I’ll decide whether to avoid someone or not. If you can’t tell me, I’ll figure it out myself."

Lilith noticed that he was talking to someone again and remained silent, listening.

’You stubborn man! Hmph... Suit yourself! I won’t care if you die!’ Aura grumbled.

Chris paid her no mind as he examined the glowing mark of a falling comet on Lilith’s forehead.

"So... How long are you going to look?" After a few minutes, Lilith started feeling awkward under his stare.

"Hmm..." He diverted his gaze and looked her in the eyes. "There must be something that triggered it to appear. Try attacking the barrier now."

She nodded and turned around, forming a claw with her hand before striking the barrier.

*DING!*

Nothing again.

She shook her head before turning around.

Chris suddenly had an idea. "Tell me one of your secrets."

"Huh? Where did that come from?"

"Just do it." He shook his head.

"No! Why would I tell you any more secrets? You’re keeping secrets from me yourself!"

"Okay, princess, how about this? You tell me another secret, and I’ll tell you one of mine. For example, tell me about your plans for the throne."

She thought for a moment before nodding.

"I’m currently controlling 80% of the noble families in Narta. My siblings think they have a chance to fight for the throne, but it’s useless. I’ve already won."

After she said that, the comet on her forehead glowed even brighter.

His eyes widened. It had worked.

"There, happy now? Why do you even need to know these things?" She seemed dissatisfied.

"It seems that the more secrets you tell me, the brighter the comet on your forehead glows. I think this might be the way to disable the barrier." He speculated.

She raised an eyebrow. "Then tell me one of yours. Let’s see if something happens to you."

He nodded. "The one I was talking to earlier, the one you asked about, is actually a beastkin woman. She’s very grumpy and stubborn, and she’s residing in my beast pouch."

’HEY! WHO GRUMPY!? HEY! HEY! ANSWER ME!’

Chris simply ignored her.

Lilith’s eyes widened slightly. Not because of the revelation, as she had no idea what he was even talking about, but because an image of a sun had appeared on his forehead and was glowing faintly.

"It works! I see a sun on your forehead!"

He nodded. "Then let’s continue, I guess. Unless you want to keep your secrets and stay here forever."

"Then it’s your turn again. I told you two of my secrets, and you’ve only told me one." She narrowed her eyes.

"Fine, fine. Let’s see..." He scratched his head, thinking about what he should say. "I know the location of the elven tribe."

Her eyes widened at the revelation, and she opened her mouth in shock.

"Did it work?" he asked.

She snapped out of her stupor and looked at his forehead. "No, nothing has changed."

"Strange... That was a secret." He couldn’t understand it.

She suddenly had a thought. "Maybe it’s not about secrets. Maybe it’s about answering each other’s questions truthfully?"

"That... That actually makes a lot of sense." He nodded. "What’s your favorite color?" he asked.

"Purple." She replied without even thinking about it.

"Hmm... It didn’t work. Maybe it’s about deeper questions, the ones we wouldn’t normally answer?" He suddenly had an idea and looked her in the eyes. "Do you like me?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "No! Of course not!" She practically yelled.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? Either it didn’t work, or you weren’t entirely truthful, princess."

She flinched before falling silent and thinking for a few minutes.

"So, what is it, princess? Were you telling the truth?" he pressed.

"I don’t know if I like you or not," she admitted after some thought.

The comet on her forehead shone.

"Oh? It worked." He nodded, then a teasing smile appeared on his face.

"Don’t even try!" She yelled at him.

He raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I won’t."

"Do you like me?" She suddenly asked in return.

Looking at her, he thought for a moment. Even though he had only met her recently, he felt a strange familiarity with her. He felt a strange sense of comfort when he was around her. He also felt as though he should like her.

However, he wouldn’t let those strange emotions dictate his life. He wanted to make up his own mind before following them.

"I don’t know either." He shook his head after thinking.

The sun on his forehead started shining brighter.

"Oh? Oh? And you wanted to tease me about it. What a stinky man." She smiled teasingly.

"Let’s continue." He didn’t want to talk about this right now. "I’ve heard that you’re controlling and possibly brainwashing the people around you. Is that true?"

She looked at him for a moment. "So you want to know about that, huh?" She shook her head. "No, I’m not brainwashing people. But as for controlling them, I can indeed do that."

Her mark shone even brighter.

"What about your party members? You seem to control them quite a lot. You weren’t even worried when they were hit earlier, their life or death unknown." He pressed.

"Isn’t that more than one question?" she asked angrily.

"Just answer it."

"...Fine. I’m not controlling them at all. They all follow me of their own free will. They had tragic lives before, and I helped them. Now, they follow me unconditionally. The only people I threaten or control are the corrupted nobles and officials in the government." She shook her head. "And I knew they were alive. I examined them earlier; they were just unconscious."

Her mark shone even brighter, and this time, the glow began to intensify. Soon after, the circle beneath their feet started glowing until half of it was illuminated with purple light.

She looked down at it. "It seems I’ve done my part. Now it’s your turn." She looked at him teasingly.

"Fine, fine. Just ask whatever you want." He smiled. He was glad that it had worked.

"Where is the elven tribe?" She asked while staring deeply into his eyes.

"Hahahaha. Nice try, but I won’t answer that. Ask something else." He shook his head.

"Hmph..." She puffed out her cheeks, which looked adorable.

"It’s not my place to tell you about that. I can tell you my secrets, but not other people’s." He shook his head again.

"Then tell me this. What’s your class, class rank, and level?"

"I’m a Beast Tamer, obviously. You’ve already seen my beast. As for my class rank, it’s Mythic, one rank above yours. And I’m Level 53."

Lilith’s eyes widened for a moment as the mark on his forehead glowed, confirming that he was telling the truth.

She never would have expected him to be Mythic rank, a rank that only a few people in the world possessed. It was considered a great honor to even meet someone of that rank in your lifetime.

Then she realized something. "W-Wait, wait, wait! How do you know I’m SSS-rank!?"

"Hahahaha. That’s another secret, but sure, I’ll tell you. For some reason, I can scan anyone’s class rank and level with my system. Don’t ask me how, because I don’t know myself." He shrugged.

His mark shone even brighter, but Lilith didn’t pay any attention to it.

"Anyone? You mean you can check absolutely anyone with that?" She had to know.

"Not really anyone, no. It needs to be someone weaker than me or close to my level. If it’s someone much stronger, I can’t do it." He decided to be honest.

A slight disappointment appeared in her eyes, which she tried to hide. He noticed it but decided not to ask.

"Another question... About that acolyte... I was curious how you managed to find and capture him so quickly after he escaped by killing himself."

"Ah, that..." Chris started recalling what had happened before he arrived at the gate of the ruins.

...

Shortly after Chris and Azreon had flown away from the destroyed colony.

"Hmm... There’s something on that tree. Let’s check it out," he said to Azreon while pointing in a certain direction.

While flying above the forest, he spotted something that looked like a human lying on a branch of a large tree.

If it had been anyone else, they wouldn’t have noticed anything, but Chris had his dragon vision activated, so he easily spotted the figure from above.

He wasn’t sure if the person was dead, unconscious, or simply asleep. Still, he felt like he should check it out.

*ROAR!*

Azreon dived down instantly.

Landing next to the tree, Chris jumped onto the branch, only to find that it was indeed a young man lying there.

He crouched down to examine him and noticed something alarming.

Dark energy was swirling around the young man’s chest.

He instantly recognized it as demonic energy.

’That’s the work of the acolyte,’ Aura suddenly said from the beast pouch.

"What do you mean? Are you saying the acolyte attacked this young man?"

’It’s more than that. That young man should already be dead by now. Demon acolytes have... a special technique. They can infest a body with their energy, turning it into a spare body for themselves. If their main body dies, they can awaken again inside the spare body.’

"Interesting. And... terrifying. Such a technique is beyond what I expected." He showed a serious expression. "Does that mean they can create as many of these as they want to avoid death?"

’No, they can only have one spare body at a time, and the technique also has severe limitations. The spare body can’t be too far away from the main body for the technique to work.’

"So that means the acolyte is close by." He nodded. He could work with that.

’Yes,’ Aura confirmed.

"So, since the young man is already dead, should I just destroy this spare body?"

’No. If you do that, the acolyte will immediately sense it.’

He nodded. "Seems like I’ll need to find him first."

*BOOM!*

He suddenly heard an explosion in the distance. The sound was so faint that he had barely managed to notice it.