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.

***

to me, but the instant that I regained consciousness, I found myself standing in front of a pitch-black

was all too familiar

a right turn, I walked in 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

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

pain that my mind and

it wasn't long before I spotted a tiny white orb about the size of a star way

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

person who looked an awful lot like me was standing not too far away from the orb and staring at it

started walking in his direction and stopped when I was in

the orb as well, I noticed that it was reflecting images. In particular, I could see Kevin's

by the fact that his body

my eyes,

was

spoke in a calm

and why Kevin had been held up for so long. This was all a scheme my other self had planned in

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

head and looked at me with the same expressionless gaze he had always

should be thankful

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

concluded that shouting would only give the impression that I was losing control of the situation and would

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

mind of the pointless emotions clouding my judgment to effectively find a solution

I will be able to have my wish of dying fulfilled.

the point of staying alive

end, I was still going

live a

"Very kind of you."

while anxiously staring at the orb

Kevin's face was directly facing the orb, and it appeared for a moment that he was staring

thought occurred to me, but when I looked beside me and saw the other me still calmly looking at the orb, I

'What's going on?'

***

he knelt on the ground while holding a

"E..Emma?"

yelled her name once, and as he did so, tears began to form in the inner corners of

look of despondency plastered all over it as he

were absently gazing upward,

shit...after all that I did

was abundantly clear that she did

because the poison had left a clear imprint in her body, there

thought caused Kevin's mind to become disorganized, as evidenced by his paler-than-usual face and

moved more quickly down his cheeks, and it appeared as though the world was losing its color

"H..How is this possible?"

to his in an