As Lucia fell to her knees in shock, I struggled to formute a pn I could use against him. 'Tactics are meaningless before ultimate power,' I'd heard time and time again but now, I felt like I could finally understand where they were coming from. Perhaps I could defeat him with the Assassin's [Killing Strike], but... I'd be long dead before I could even get close. That's the kind of vibe I was getting, but just when I thought things couldn't get worse, he suddenly appeared before me and said, "Lordship: Dimension Shift."

  At once, it was like my surroundings melted away to reveal a grey, lifeless world quite reminiscent of limbo. "Now, he won't be able to hear us," He began with a straight face before his gaze became piercing. I suddenly felt like I was being examined under a microscope, quite uncomfortable to say the least. Did he fall in love with me or something? I wondered as the inspection dragged on, but my silly ideas would soon be dispelled by his next words, "Since I feel slightly responsible for you, I'm going to ask you this one question: Why did you become his Apostle?"

  "H-how did you know I was—"

  "To those who can see, the blessing is a dead giveaway," He answered, cutting me off mid-sentence. I was a bit annoyed by that but chose to let it slide as I narrated the events that led to my decision. "Hmm, so you were left with no choice?" He asked with a calm intensity in his eyes that forced me into submission. I can't lie to this man.

  "Y-yes," I answered with a defeated sigh.

  "That bastard has led countless others to their deaths, and the fraud who resides in the Empire is no better. Honestly, those two are more conniving than anyone I know in this world." In this world? "You're better off just acquiring true power. That way, you won't have to bend to their whims."

  He sat down cross-legged and motioned for me to sit right next to him. When I obliged, he continued, saying, "The Empire sent me here to retrieve this Tome, but I could very well just give it to you, and they wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. Desire that kind of power and question everything. You won't survive for long otherwise." As he concluded his speech, he stood up, handed the Tome to me, and disappeared as the dimension of grey melted away to reveal the Colboro Den.

  "Daphne! Where were you?! Did he do anything to you?!" Lucia ran to meet me and started inspecting me from all angles as she assaulted me with a barrage of questions.

  "L-look, Lucia, I'm fine," I tried to get a word in, but she wouldn't let up.

  "He might have pced a curse on you. We can't rule out that possibility! And..." She suddenly paused as her eyes nded on the Tome in my right hand. "How did you—"

  "He gave it to me," I answered quickly and firmly. "I could never beat him, not as I am now, so he must have had mercy on me," I fibbed with the primary intention of deceiving whoever was watching from afar, not forgetting what he said at the beginning, "Now, he won't be able to hear us..."

  There were many other things he said that piqued my interest, things that led me to believe he was a pyer like me, but I couldn't forget his st words, "Desire that kind of power and question everything." Of course, I'd continue working as the Behemoth's Apostle, but from that point onwards, my days of being an ignorant pawn were over.