Irium

This, without a doubt, is Earth Authority. But, how could he be this powerful all of sudden? If he was this powerful, why would he have run in the first place? No, none of that matter now. We two are the only ones left alive. It is doubtful that he will let us go since we are the ones responsible for him being here. Therefore,

"Listen," I tell my sister, "I will distract him and you can-"

"Don"t bother!" He says with the same mocking expression as before, "I"ll let you two go. That would probably lead to a much worse fate than I dying by my hands."

Huh? What does he mean by that?

"Go, go, scram! Run back to that b.i.t.c.h and tell her everything that happened here!" He waves at us as if he shooing a dog and heads towards the guy he had left behind before.

Well, since he has been generous enough to give us the chance to, I am not going to be prideful and take it with both my arms.

"Let"s run!" I tell my sister and take her hand as we start running.

*****

Well, after thinking about it a little on the way here, it became obvious who was behind all this. I mean, let"s be fair. If these guys were the ones who specifically showed that whole fiasco of "couple of teens trying dangerous witchcraft and a Cyclops finding them out all of a sudden" to me, they would be smart enough to stop me before.

Clearly, someone else had told them to target me specifically (and maybe also anyone else who comes across). And well, I bet it"s her doing. I bet this experience was something Dues once went through on this planet. That is why she wanted me to go through it too. Not like it matters much though even if I am wrongly suspecting her.

"You okay?" I ask Sung Li who is lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

"Y-yeah, sure." He is not even sarcastic as he tells me that with a bright smile, making me feel guiltier than I already did for leaving him behind earlier.

"I am sorry for-"

He stops me by putting up a hand. "Y-you … didn"t r-really abandon me. Y-y-you j-just chose the s-smarter option."

Well, seeing the pool of blood around him, it"s doubtful that he can survive.

"W-watch out!" He tries to yell as best as he can as he sees a Cyclops swinging a branch straight at me. Even if those wizards are no longer around, I guess they still wanna kill us.

No need to worry though!

"a!" Sung Li is left stunned as he sees the spikes and drills forming out of the ground which, unlike before, pierced all the way to the abdomen of the Cyclops behind me.

"I got quite a bit stronger! Maybe one of the wizards I killed and stole from was more talented than others."

"I-I see." Sung Li says. "Guess y-you were i-in l-luck."

Guess I was.

"T-these wizards w-were second-rate at best." He says. "Y-you"ll n-need to g-get e-even-"

"Yeah, I get it."

I mean, I had seen Roswaisa in action. I am not even a tenth of the strength she had. There"s no way just being this strong is going to be enough.

"Anyway man," I say as I bend over, "It doesn"t look like you are going to survive."

I have no idea about medicine nor do I know any spells that would help me heal him. These Cyclops obviously don"t either. There"s a possibility that I can steal a spell like that from the dead wizards all around me who are still to completely lose all semblance of their lives but seeing as how they are dark magicians, their spells would probably do him more harm than good – both psychologically and physically.

"Eh!" He makes an uninterested expression. "D-doesn"t m-matter!"

Man, that"s the thing with idiots. They say things that are far too stupid for me to fathom.

If a cunning and deceitful guy like me was dying here, I wouldn"t be feeling as guilty as I do now. I would probably be more focused on the Cyclops around us.

"Well," I say, "Since I am kinda responsible for you dying here by leaving you behind earlier, I can help you complete the thing you needed to do."

He looks at me with a confused expression.

"You said you had to take care of some business, right? Tell me and I"ll do it for you." I say.

"Ah!" He gave a smile as he remembered. "I-I had to f-find D-Dues" p-p-p.a.w.n and h-help him."

…

"I w-wasn"t allowed t-to t-take the s-swords I am f-familiar with o-on the m-mission." He says, his expression clearly telling he does not know why and regrets listening to whoever told him to not take those swords that would have been more effective right now. Speaking of which,

"Who gave you this mission?"

"W-who else? D-dues ex m-machina!" He says. "I-I originally w-wasn"t allowed t-to tell y-you t-this but-"

This time, I put up a hand to stop him.

I get it now. She wanted me to fall in a situation where I would be forced to sacrifice someone for my survival. And she succeeded. That b.i.t.c.h succeeded.

*****

"So that"s what happened?" I ask, acting as I wasn"t seeing this whole fiasco through my scrying sphere.

"Y-yes!" He answers with nervousness clear on his face.

"I see."

Things played out more or less like I wanted them to. Also, by seeing it used in that battle, I now have confirmed my suspicions about what ability G.o.d have Irium to "balance things out".

That cheeky old b.a.s.t.a.r.d probably made Irium chose this ability somehow. After all, it"s an ability that didn"t immediately make him very powerful. That meant that the oath to not interfere with the affairs of mortals stays in its place. However, as time goes and he keeps using that ability, he"ll become stronger and stronger.

Still, that doesn"t really negatively affect any of my plans at all.

Things are still happening just the way I want them to.

"G-G.o.ddess?" Hearing the kid"s voice, I am reminded that I am still talking to him through the sphere.

"Ah yes, what is it?"

"W-what will happen to the two of us now?"

As he asks that question, I can see his feet ready to start dashing away in case I decide to hurt him or his sister in any way. Well boy, that"s cute. But,

"I have no need for you anymore. You"ll die!"

That won"t help you escape – not at all.

In the next moment, the image showing on my sphere become red and screams start coming from the other side. As that is a boring thing to see, I change the target of my scrying back to Irium.

And things return to "normal".

*****