The Author's POV

"Huuu.."

I took a deep breath. As I moved away from Octavious, who was lying down on the ground in front of me, I experienced a range of conflicting feelings.

'This is as far as I can extract…'

I was only able to retrieve a limited number of memories from his mind before my abilities started to fall apart and I was ejected from his consciousness. It was the first time that something like that had occurred, and I must admit that it caught me off, guard.

That being said, I had seen enough.

'The orb must be a defensive mechanism to stop anyone from prying any deeper. A pity it stops right when things were getting spicy...'

It was the only explanation that I could think of at the moment.

Thinking back about his memories, I wasn't sure how to react…

'I somewhat expected this after seeing Melissa's memories… but this runs deeper than I originally thought.'

I finally found the answer to a lot of the questions that had been plaguing me for quite a while.

'…So this is why Kevin sent me over here.'

It was to make me realize that there was another power within the world that was controlling everything from the shadows.

While I wasn't completely sure of its purpose, from what I'd witnessed, it appeared as though its goal was to eliminate and stop all those that had certain levels of talent, leaving only Octavious to reign at the top… someone whom they had full control of.

'The real question is… who is the one controlling everything?'

It had something to do with the records… that I knew, but I wasn't sure if it was the records themselves.

'Protector of the Seat of Diligence? Was that what he said?'

"Hmm."

My brows furrowed as I pondered over the memories I'd witnessed. It was then that I heard a slight groan coming from beneath me.

"Ukh."

Octavious slowly opened his eyes, and our gaze met. Staring at him, I extended my hand and thin white threads forced themselves out from his body before moving toward my direction and entering the palm of my hand.

With each passing second, Octavious's eyes became clearer and clearer, and once I reached the point where I could no longer take in any more of the white thread, his eyes turned completely clear.

"Ah... I..." 

He started mumbling incomprehensible things while looking around him in a confused state.

His face was pale and he seemed to be displaying all sorts of different emotions at the moment. He was a far cry from the Octavious that I knew.

Compared to the stoic and powerful man that I knew, the man that was before me was a frail shell of what he once was.

He seemed broken…

I bent down to meet his line of sight.

"How about it? Have you come to your old self?"

***

It felt like a long dream.

A long and hazy dream he could only witness but not be a part of. The memories were faint, and he felt comfortable in them. 

He felt powerful.

Almost invincible, and best of all, he felt numb.

So numb that he managed to forget all the pain that had haunted him for a very long time. He felt great.

That… however did not last for long.

It all came crashing down at one point. He wasn't sure when, but that comfortable dream started to crumble right before his very eyes, revealing to him the truth that lay behind that sweet and beautiful dream.

A nightmare.

"Huh…ah, what's going on?"

His memory was fragmented, but he could more or less come to an understanding of what had happened not long after.

"This… Ah…"

He lowered his head to stare at his hands. His lips were dry, and his body was weak. He felt pain all over… and most importantly, he felt his chest ache once more.

Waves of different emotions came crashing down on him all at once as different images appeared within his vision displaying all the things he'd done during that one long dream.

There were many of them, and all of them were of him doing inexplicable things. 

Killing, blackmailing, kidnapping... 

"Ha…ahh…"

The more he witnessed, the more he felt that he was suffocating. It was as if he were in the deepest part of the ocean, surrounded by water, pressuring him from all sides. 

It made breathing impossible. 

"How about it? Have you come to your old self?"

It was a soft voice that brought him back out of those depts and he raised his head. It was there that he caught a glimpse of two deep blue eyes staring directly at him.

Though fragmented, Octavious had an idea of who he was.

…He was the man that had pulled him out of his dream.

"Y,you…"

Octavious struggled to find his words. He tried, but every part of him hurt. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't.

As if noticing that, Octavious felt the two eyes drift away from him.

"It seems like the after-effects of our fight were a bit stronger than I thought. Have a rest for now."

Darkness overtook Octavious's vision.

***

'I wanted to ask him a few questions, but it looks like I'll have to do that later.'

I sighed and moved my eyes away from Octavious. He was in no state to talk at the moment.

Massaging my chin, I waved my hand and four people appeared before me. The moment they appeared, they stared at me with incredulous eyes.

I smiled.

"How was it? Did you enjoy the sight?"

The four continued to stare at me without saying a word. The way they looked at me felt rather uncomfortable, but I somewhat expected this.

What I showed them was a power that far surpassed this world. To them, I looked no different than a monster. 

'Would they believe me if I told them that they had a similar level of strength in my world?' 

I shook my head and shifted my attention toward the distance where I could see Amanda and Edward in the distance. He seemed rather haggard at the moment with a pile of people behind him.

He was most probably protecting them from the aftershocks of our fight. 

"Oh, right."

Thinking about how much strength I used, I felt apologetic and waved my hand once more. The barrier that was surrounding us disappeared, revealing several cars behind. They were in pristine shape.

I looked toward the four beside me.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but let's go for now. There are a few things I still need to figure out."

I looked toward Octavious.

"…and I still need to talk to him."

*

"W,where would you like to go?"

The driver stuttered as he gazed at me through the front mirror. I turned to look at the haggard Edward beside me.

"Is it okay if we go to your guild?"

He looked at me and blinked several times. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn't want to go, but after he swallowed his saliva, he gave the driver the signal to go ahead and leave.

"Yes. Let's go to my guild..." 

It was only after his confirmation that the card picked up the pace and sped through the streets. Several cars trailed us from behind.

The car was rather quiet during our journey, but I paid no mind to it.

At the moment, I was preoccupied with a different, and more problematic matter. 

Tok.

"Tsk."

Octavius's head smacked against my shoulder and I pushed him away. This was the third time it happened and I was starting to get annoyed. 

'He's annoying even when passed out.'

I pushed his head toward the other side.

"Ehm."

It was at this moment that I heard Edward's voice and I turned to look at him. He seemed to have composed himself a bit.

"Yes?"

"Do you mind if I ask the reason why you want to go out guild?"

"There's no deep meaning about it."

​ I reassured and looked at Octavious.

"I just need a quiet place to interrogate him."

I was only able to extract the memories he had before gaining his power. Anything after that was completely sealed, and even with my power, I couldn't pry it open… nor was I keen on prying it open.

Just thinking about the small explosion that had occurred a while back, I knew better than to touch whatever was sealed within his body. I may have been caught off guard, but it was definitely not something I could touch lightly.

The only thing I could do was hope that Octavious had recovered enough to answer my questions.

'Since I have removed some of the laws that were surrounding his body, I should be able to get some answers, right?'

I wasn't sure, but I could only hope.

Tok.

My mouth twitched and my head snapped toward my right.

"Huh, why do you keep… huh!? No, fuck he's drooling!"