The Gamer's POV

Over the next few minutes, Cedric watched the memory of when his other self took Thalia to his realm. He witnessed their initial confrontation, which was followed by their conversation about Bonds and the plan to give Aika his evil by utilizing these same Bonds, which he deemed bad.

As he watched the memory, which ended in Thalia accepting her new name as Aika Soryu, Cedric was filled with a tidal wave of conflicting emotions.

Even though Aika had never mentioned it to him, he’d been with her long enough to know that she hated the fact that she was born a Bond. So now, the fact that he was the one responsible for her becoming one suddenly made him feel guilty.

After a few seconds, the fog rolled in again, and this time, Cedric was pulled out of her head. He stared into her blue eyes, and the silence between them stretched.

Eventually, he sighed deeply and broke the quiet. "You must be incredibly upset about this situation."

Aika lowered her eyes, but didn’t say anything for a moment. After a long pause, she finally said honestly, "Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. Before now, I’ll admit I hated it, and... after gaining this memory, for a while, I disliked the other version of you for doing this to me. But... every day I wake up, I tell myself that this was something that I had willingly accepted. I tell myself that I had reached the end of my road and when I was desperate, he threw me a lifeline. I tell myself that the other version of you had at least explained to me the implications of being a Bond, and since he gave me a convincing reason to accept it, this circumstance wasn’t forced onto me."

She sighed and looked away.

After a few seconds, she rested her head on his shoulder and muttered softly, "Don’t feel guilty, Cedric. That’ll only make this situation messier."

Cedric was silent for a moment, before exhaling loudly.

He too turned to look ahead at the vast horizon stretching out before the battlements they were seated on.

Now, he couldn’t help but be curious:

His other self had promised to give her the thing she wanted the most in the world in exchange for taking his darkness.

What is it that Aika wanted the most in the worlds?

He spent some time thinking about it.

...While he was still lost in his thoughts, Aika spoke up again. "You know something interesting?"

"What?" Cedric turned slightly to her.

She thought for a moment, then continued. "I don’t know how it’s possible, but according to Gamer Privileges, the chiliarch is still alive even at this very moment."

Cedric arched a brow.

’Wasn’t he human?’

"I think that maybe, he had found success in his experiments and had managed to change himself into something inhuman." She paused, and a dark look crossed her face. "Honestly, I was happy when I found that out. It made me want to go there even more."

Her voice suddenly grew cold as she clenched her fists. "So promise me, that you would let me confront him alone when we get to Xinthrea. You will let me burn down that city and you will not get in my way no matter what happens."

Cedric stared at her silently. He felt a grim weight settling in his chest, but after a short moment, he looked away, then nodded slowly.

"I give you my word."

It was quiet after that for a few moments. Then, other thoughts began to drift into his mind.

Speaking of Gamer Privileges, Cedric had begun to slowly lose trust in this ability of his. Actually, it would be more accurate to say he had grown wary of Gamer Privileges.

’Is it just me, or is Gamer Privileges getting more sapient the stronger I become? Or has it always been this way?’

Recently, Cedric had noticed that even the way his attribute responded to him had started to alter. It was now interacting a bit more sapiently, though it was so subtle that if he did not pay close attention, he would miss it entirely.

However, what was really bothering him was the fact that Gamer Privileges was doing things in the background without his permission and without his notice.

At the very least, it should have told him that it would resume the process of freeing Aika from the God’s authority.

But instead, it just went ahead and began the process as it saw fit. And all this while, it didn’t even bother to tell Aika that it was responsible for what was happening to her.

Cedric exhaled.

Since he couldn’t use Gamer Privileges in his inner sanctuary, he had a raven in his bedroom, which was seated on the luxury couch. The raven, Arlo, was currently acting as his eyes to let him view a screen in the outside world.

’What else is Gamer Privileges doing in the background?’ he questioned.

After a moment, his tone grew even more serious.

’Answer me!’

Still, the floating screen didn’t give a reply and just remained completely blank.

[...]

Cedric smiled slyly.

’That confirms it. If you were not doing anything, you should have at least said "nothing." But you are quiet. Isn’t that suspicious?’

He arched a brow.

’Come to think of it, no one is able to see anything about me, not even Leon. Yet recently, someone was able to have a vision of me, right after touching me. His exact words were that this revelation seemed to come from me. When I asked you about it, you remained silent, just like you are now.

’You are really suspicious, Gamer Privileges.’

A few minutes passed, and then, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Since he was not getting anywhere with his current line of questioning, he decided to change his approach.

’Can I still trust you, Gamer Privileges?’

There was no reply for a long second. And then...

...text slowly began to form on the blank surface.

[Yes, my lord.]