Chapter 134: Cold Realization
[0:24:10]
"Come to me, self!"
Cillian, who was celebrating what he wanted to call a win in his face-to-face battle with the Hidden One on the inside, froze on the spot when he saw the ’God’ transforming into something far beyond what it had appeared to be as its true self.
’Fucking fucked.’
The broken halo above his head began to intensify before releasing a white glow. Then, an enormous white shadow emerged above Arthur’s armless body, revealing a pair of hollow eyes and foggy, hazy horns. It hovered in the air upwards while Arthur’s body hung beneath the white shadow, his eyes still hollow.
’That’s...’
It was the true form of the Hidden One manifesting in the mortal world. It was on the verge of fully manifesting and revealing itself.
"Shit!"
Suddenly, Cillian heard a shout coming from the side and saw a White Shepherd looking in his direction. Somehow, their eyes met. It was the same person who had cursed and talked with the Hidden One earlier, who went by the name Carlos.
"What are you doing, Troy?!"
Cillian was confused for a second about why Carlos was calling him by that familiar name before a sudden realization hit him. The face he was wearing was the same as the Black Shepherd from Hensel Hospital. His robe had already uncovered his face when he fell down from the hole.
But even after all this time, the White Shepherd still believed Cillian was Troy, when he should have been focusing on Aster, who was openly displaying his Five Swords of Chaos.
’Uhm, you should know that it’s freaking Aster you’re trying to fend off! Why are you asking for Troy?! He’s fucking dead. I killed him!’
For some reason, Cillian couldn’t help but fall silent in his mind as a confusing question formed. The more he thought about it and witnessed how Aster was fighting well against the Shepherds, the more he wondered how Aster was able to fight as if the Shepherds had no prior notice about how his Swords worked at all.
That’s a freaking Singularity, for goodness sake.
’How come they wouldn’t know? Did someone purposely hide this information from them? That doesn’t make any sense. The Captain from the Academy is painfully aware of Aster’s singularity, yet these guys aren’t?’
Whoever had orchestrated this attack in Viola itself seemed to have been planning how everything would unfold, but for what purpose? Is it really just killing this ’God’?
Recalling the things that happened in the Academy, and now seeing how every piece was being moved by someone on a higher level, Cillian couldn’t help but think about that lady with purple eyes, the one he had seen in the bone maze at the Academy.
"Ignore the kid! We’ll start trapping that ’God’ and kill it!"
Carlos announced that they would leave the few people assigned to Aster behind and gather the rest of the Shepherds to begin killing the Hidden One with their prepared plan, and they did exactly that. Their plan would continue as intended.
Force the Hidden One to reveal his true form and kill it.
However, the way it progressed was something unexpected because of two people. The first one was the intervention of what seemed to be two Black Shepherds, one of whom was his brother, Troy.
’Why was he fighting the Hidden One alone? Isn’t he supposed to be looking for Cillian’s family in Hensel to use them later? Besides that, who was the person he brought here with him? Why is he attacking us, for goodness’ sake?! Help the Hidden One? He said he wanted to help the Hidden One earlier!’
Carlos got even more confused.
Was that really his brother nearby?
’Where is Byron, anyway?’
Where was the youngest member of his family, who should have been guarded by Troy? The chances of that mission failing were low if the information given to him by Sylvia was exactly as it was supposed to be.
There was also the second issue which is how the Hidden One had somehow gotten weaker.
After fighting against ’Troy’ while the other Shepherd he had brought with him was fending his men off, Carlos could feel the ’God’ they were about to capture and kill somehow lose a bit of its strength as it screamed while being held in place, its hand gripping Troy’s head.
Carlos was on the verge of helping because it was his brother ’Troy’ who was being affected, especially after he had arranged the preparations surrounding the entire dome, only to stop when he realized his brother was okay.
That’s why Carlos was near him, merely locking gazes with each other.
Rumble—!
The whole ground quaked on the side as Carlos couldn’t help but look at the side where the fellow individual, Aster, was still causing them harm while protecting the individuals that he managed to pull as they were falling from the air earlier.
Aster was truly a skilled swordsman, and Carlos knew that he was at least on the same level as the Captains of the Black Shepherds, if not slightly below them.
"White Shepherd! We’re all ready!"
One of the Black Shepherds was stationed at the perimeter, and seeing them finish setting up their equipment gave Carlos the signal he needed, making him prepare himself.
Everything was ready to be unleashed. All Carlos needed was to use the Artifact that had been given to them by order of the Brown Shepherds once the fully manifested ’God’.
It wasn’t a Legendary Artifact, but it was an Artifact that suited their current situation. The equipment scattered around the dome served as support in case something went wrong and to fully capture the Soul of the God.
Just as he was about to break the Artifact, Carlos got distracted when he noticed that Aster had suddenly come to a halt within his line of sight.
Then, Aster redirected all his attention toward Carlos as he entered a slashing motion while still being chased by the Black Shepherds behind him.
At the same time, Carlos looked out of the corner of his eye and watched Troy raise his arm and direct his hand toward him while wearing a smile.
He was casting a...
’Fireball?’
Carlos’s eyes, looking toward Troy, couldn’t help but shiver when he realized too late that the person behind that face was not his brother.
-"His abilities are nothing. However, be careful of one thing. Sylvia said Cillian Sparrow has the ability to change his face."
This cold realization made Carlos’s heart sink. He didn’t want to believe it, refusing to accept the truth. He almost forgot that he was supposed to continue breaking the Artifact to make it work, but the situation with his siblings seemed to take priority.
However, there were two people who wouldn’t allow him to do whatever he wanted. Whether he was too late to realize the truth or whether they understood the reason behind his actions didn’t matter to them.
Whoosh—!
To his right came a slashing aura wave from Aster’s Sword of Wrath, tearing toward him.
To his left was Cillian’s Fireball, flying directly toward his face.
Carlos, who had become fully aware of the situation, gritted his teeth and shouted toward the side where the supposed Troy, or Cillian using that disguise, was standing.
"Cillian Sparrow!"