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.

***

me, but the instant that I regained consciousness, I found myself standing

was all too

walked in that direction without

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 pain began to spread across all

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

the pain that my mind and body went

orb about the size of a star way off in the distance. The orb grew steadily more expansive as I proceeded forward with my

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 of

me was standing not too far away from the orb

direction and stopped when I was in

to look at the orb as well, I noticed that it was reflecting images. In particular, I could see Kevin's face which was staring into

whiteness of Kevin's face was accentuated by the fact that his body was shivering and

eyes, I

it was you,

in a calm

so calm and why Kevin had been held up for so long. This was

of my composure, I was aware of a

and looked at me with the same expressionless

be thankful

that very moment, every fiber of my being wanted to let out

had long since concluded that shouting would only give the impression that I

could do was keep my composure and reason through everything that was

clouding

I will be

staying alive if I'm going

was the point of surviving if, in the end, I

yourself lucky that you will live a few years longer

"Very kind of you."

responded sarcastically while anxiously staring at the orb in front

orb, and it appeared for a moment that he

thought occurred to me, but when I looked beside me and saw the

'What's going on?'

***

knelt on the ground

"E..Emma?"

as he did so, tears began to form in the

extremely pale, looked at Emma's with a look of despondency plastered all over it as he gazed

her eyes were absently gazing upward, he tenderly stroked her

did

alive. However, it was abundantly clear that she did not have a lot of time left to

struck her right in the heart and because the poison had left a clear imprint in her body, there was no

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

the creases of his eyes moved more quickly down his cheeks, and it appeared as though

"H..How is this possible?"

brought Emma's body closer to his in an embrace, he