This time, Iris spoke the kind of language that put Murai on guard.

With full attention, his body tensed yet he couldn't move between her palms. It was a language that fundamentally changed the world of magic. A source and old theme of the Laws that put magic into words. It was similar to the one before, but this one was much older and not custom, but lawful.

I call my goddess.

A lady shrouded in the wail of numbness.

I welcome thy pleasure of the Blessing in the lands of the living.

I hope to see the end of the sight, for the sake of thy Gift.

Iris recited her hope and by sheer pressure of telling her words, which seemed to hide a greater meaning to anyone familiar with it, her necklace moved. Before the collar of her shirt, a necklace with a pendant of crystal floated towards Murai, stopping closer to his face.

Then it glowed in the light, traveling by itself in front of Iris's face, and then facing Murai as if it was seeking something from him.

This was a magical item of unknown value to him, but he could only guess what it was. Murai's basic guess was that it was bestowed upon Iris when she underwent the blessing of Lady Vermillion, but he had no idea about it. It could also be a Gift from the church.

Either way, the fact that she spoke the Laws themselves, alerted Murai, making his mind to be doubtful and suspicious of what she was doing.

I call, for the lady of mine, an Appraisal of the being in front of me under thy vision. She continued, and Murai shook upon hearing her latest words.

“Wait. Wait. I don't want to do this like this again! Stop!” He quacked around, wriggling between her palms and causing quite a lot of discomfort to himself. Yet, it was too late for his quacking, as the force of another appraisal was already upon him.

It came from the necklace, which was magical equipment, and it was part of the blessing to carry certain connections to Lady Vermillion.

A flood of light shot from the necklace, enveloping Murai, who wasn't all that happy to meet this sort of thing again. Although, it was a bit different from the Razmund's.

This one wasn't as overpowering, but it was never pleasant to be seen through by others. Appraisal of living things was always like that. It was bothersome, but only for the opposite side of the spell.

Murai had no choice, but to feel it again. Apart from the fact of his powerful soul, he held no defenses. Hence, he was unafraid in the grand scheme of things, but he was still angry that it was happening again.

He was pissed since this appraisal was trying to envelop his soul with a distinct feeling of a watchful gaze, causing him to recall some unpleasant memories. It was trying to pry towards his soul, watching everything closely with the understanding that shouldn't be something that this girl can do alone.

Murai struggled between her unmoving palms, while Iris seemed to be completely enveloped in the light as well. She also appeared to be in some sort of trance after uttering the last words of her chant.

Murai's struggled, but that only led to his suffering. Feeling the broken bones, he scowled loudly when he couldn't break from the appraisal or Iris's grip. He was a bit away from forcing his barely manageable neck onto her arms, bitting the hands with his beak, but at that moment, something spoke to him. No... It was someone, to be exact.

Gentle... Citizen Hisagi

He heard a shimmering voice from somewhere, reaching his soul and talking with a gentle tone.

“Fuck off!” Murai quacked forwards, unaware of where it was coming from. So, while doing so, he figured he had no time to waste. It was time to be forceful in a different way since he didn't want to hurt her.

“Robust Spirit! Robust defense!” Murai willed his choice forward, making the only choice within his repertoire apart from the mana that he rather didn't use. He didn't want to make any of his mana come out of his body, alerting the man who was the cause of his fate. That was the uncle of these kids who helped him.

Murai heard the majority of things that went on in the conversation with everyone. Be it Razmund, Velga, Lazar and now, Timmy and Iris. He knew Lazar was the cause of it all, and he was the uncle to these kids who helped him so much.

It put a certain knot in his heart, which was quenching his morality that was more than questionable. He was inclined to slaughter that man, but now, he hesitated because of these children. Though, he overlooked it for the time being, since the situation called for it.

Razmund was the better choice for his revenge and he wouldn't feel a speck of shame upon killing him.

Even if that unblinking lunatic had someone that need him, Murai didn't care. Becoming a hypocrite for the sake of his revenge and getting his stuff back was more than what he wanted.

What about Timmy and Iris?

Who else gave something to him with such openness and care? A choice? Life?

Timmy was a strange case and someone Murai didn't expect to see again. It was the same face that looked at him when he was in the cage. Back then, he was further away from the End, glancing toward the corny face of an innocent child.

Murai used an ability of his Robust Spirit. It was the good old defensive technique, but it was the first time he was using it.

Willing his Robust Defense forward, his soul space underwent a massive shaking. The effects of the Soul Force started to shake his Robust Spirit, and his Will came up to him like a raging volcano, turning his powerful soul to form an unshakable defense. It will go against whatever Iris was doing.

It wasn't mana, but a power of the soul. It had nothing to do with mana or physicality, yet this sort of strength can force itself against anything like that. Although it wasn't necessarily stronger than mana, one couldn't understand it that well.

The undeniable rules set up around the mana were easily understandable because they had a certain set of rules around them.

On the other hand, the soul was a peculiar thing and was hard to calculate or guess.

Outside of Murai's body, twisting invisible waves enveloped his body. It was coming from his head, darting the flowing light away. There was something that Murai didn't expect. Some light still went to look at Murai's core, even though the use of the Robust Defense should cease it away.

Iris watched everything with a distinct light within her eyes. She appeared uninterested as if she wasn't focused at all, even though her bright eyes looked forward.

The necklace around her neck was unstoppable. It kept releasing the force of light, but only a fraction of it entered Murai's body. That went on for a couple of seconds as if it wasn't enough, or the light itself already saw enough.

Either way, Iris stopped whatever she was doing after couple dozen seconds since the start of her chant.

Noticing the unshakable defense that she couldn't see through, something stopped this whole ordeal against her care.

She closed her eyes and recited a couple of thankful words before the light in the necklace stopped, dispersing around the room, while some returned to the necklace.

At this point, Murai stopped wriggling his body. He watched in shock what happened, and that was about what he could manage. It was... terrific because he felt the tinge of something familiar at the end of this situation.

A partial Divinity penetrated his soul, seeking something from within him, and moving even against his own Robust Defense.

Did it look for something?

Did it find it, reached something he wanted to keep hidden, or something it wanted to see?

Murai was too busy with the defense, which indeed stopped Iris and her direct appraisal, so he didn't have the time to seek the answers. However, what was it with that Divinity that moved outside of Iris?

He glared at her face, which seemed to hold certain secrets. Was she a proxy for some divinity according to this situation? A tool of a god? Her Lady? That treasure that was within her necklace was a possible answer for that, yet Murai wasn't fine with this kind of answer.

The truth remained the same, and certain gods looked through him, thanks to Iris.

That thing... Fucking hell! What luck. I swear I hope this has no unpleasant repercussions. Murai cursed inside, ceasing the Robust Defense away. He kept it running for 24 seconds, which was 24 points off of his 120 Soul Force.

It went well for the first time, yet it didn't ease his mind at all.

Murai could already feel his power lacking, albeit what he went against was something entirely different than something one would meet on a whim. A god's divinity and interest were a nasty thing, and also too powerful.

Numbers were enough, but everything else wasn't. It made him question his choices and how utterly disappointed he was in himself.

Since it all started ~ this living ~ he was dependent on the Will of the Battleworld and its abilities. He didn't like to be dependent on someone other than himself, so that made him quite frustrated, albeit stubbornly so.

He asked himself what can be done for one's safety because of this lack of one's power. If one was weak because of one's weakness, what then? He didn't want to be sorry for his own mistakes because he was weak. It would be the start of the nightmare and he didn't want to repeat the past mistakes.

Iris's eyes returned to normal a couple of seconds after Murai's deactivating his Robust Defense. He became a normal duck once again, but it was too late to be sorry about his actions.

Iris saw through him for enough time, while the fact that she couldn't do so at some point, made his status more apparent.

“Y-you... Are you Blessed?” she asked in shock, while Murai was still between her palms. “Oh, you can't answer anything? Because you are a duck with your physicality... I heard about this. Those examples. What is this... A Blessed Monster? Demonic beast? I heard they are rare, but seeing it with my own eyes? What is the Will of the Battleworld like, I wonder?” She asked a series of questions, that gradually turned somber, but only she could answer them back.

Only after a few minutes of silence, glaring at Murai who didn't move, nor did a thing, she felt a little calmer.

Her little try of the Appraisal was successful, but only a little. In the end, Lady Vermillion was of much-needed help, helping Iris to reach certain things for the sake of Murai's Appraisal. Why? It was a gift from her Lady, and one of the benefits that one can get out of some treasures, or lucky encounters.

Maybe it was also for her curiosity, but as a god, Vermillion should be aware of things much better than a mortal girl like Iris.

However, Iris didn't question it much, as her reasoning to view this duck was nothing bad. She was curious for the sake of her brother, as well as to see if she was doing a mistake or not. Her Lady helped with that since it was the usual stuff, and it worked again.

So, with that said, did she make a mistake? A Blessed may be that, or not, yet she wasn't sure what to make of the situation. It was a duck in her hands that made her hesitate in her actions.

She also considered the previous things, and how she helped or spoke to him. The involvement of the Falconers also piqued her interest, as if she was trying to connect a few dots of interesting things that were nothing but an insensible mess that hid Centralis Kingdom's brutality.

Her actions already happened, and she forced herself upon a Blessed.

It may be a mistake.

Most would think that.

Involvement of the blessed beings was usually quite terrible things. Murai was seen through by the Will of God. A speck of Divinity was within that necklace around Iris's neck and it wasn't weak at all.

Murai glared unhappily at Iris. What this girl wanted from him was none of his concern, yet being seen was making him upset. There seemed to be a deep prejudice against Demonic Beasts in this kingdom.

In such cases, it was best to remain far from dangers or involvements of humans.

However, the troubles came to him one way or another, so what then?

Murai was thinking of a way how to ease the situation and not fuck up things further.

He would love to answer some of her questions since he had already been seen through. How though?

Forming a connection to the soul as he did with Rain? That seemed excessive for a priestess who shouldn't be that powerful, but what if that necklace was involved? It would protect her in the worst-case scenario so he was reconsidering his choices.

His soul could do some steep harm to her one way or another, and Murai didn't want to bite the hand of someone who fed him.

Though, in this case, she healed his external injuries rather well, albeit slowly because of his extensive injuries.

Iris no longer felt nervous. Instead, there was a tinge of excitement, with an addition of one big worry. Nothing changed. He was still a demonic beast in the Centralis Kingdom. That was about the worst place where a demonic beast would end up.

“Well, duck? Err... I will call you, Sir Duck instead, is that right? Right... You can't answer... I know... Ugh.” Iris said, embarrassingly putting Murai on the table after contemplating what to do.

“I am sorry if I was a bit... harsh? I don't think any Blessed likes to be seen through, but I never thought you would be one, and I have no idea who you are even through this situation. The Appraisal was a simple one, so don't worry about some hidden things. I just wanted to be sure what was up with you, a duck that my brother Timmy was so curious about. It was the best choice for how to solve it, and now, I see that situation isn't the least bit normal.” Iris said, sounding quite humble, but not overly so.

Murai huffed his beak and visibly sighed as if he was fed up with life itself. He stopped pretending to be a normal duck since his Robust Defense more or less spoke for itself.

Though, what was the point in acting like an irregular duck? Was this something that Iris found important?

She already guessed he was a demonic beast through some of her senses, while the Apprasail was just a direct confirmation.

Sitting on the chair, Iris was looking forward at the table. Laying duck was there in all shapes and forms. Yet, she knew it was a special one. It was much more powerful, and it didn't even seem that way.

From the appearance and feeling of touching his body, Murai appeared quite normal.

Even his flesh was nothing special, and his blood was crimson and warm as it should be. One wouldn't think of much upon seeking Murai unless they weren't special either.

Now, Iris also thought about Falconers, and Razmund who she heard came here. He was also Blessed, so maybe the situation was more complicated than she was willing to admit.

“What are you looking at me for, sir duck?” Iris asked, noticing the apparent frown that Murai had on his face. His eyes and face turned to a sight of intelligence. It was in a sense, the mannerism that changed the way Murai held himself.

His beak and neck resumed some sort of elegance, and the face did the rest. Yet, appearing like that was one thing. Another was why to appear like that at all.

What's the point of talking to a duck? Is she stupid? Murai thought to himself, almost smacking his head towards the table in embarrassment.

Suddenly Iris got an idea, which she showed by pointing to her head. “Right! How about having a normal yes and no format of communication, albeit one-sided? You can move your neck more than well by now, so part of your muscles are stabilized. Nod will be a yes, shaking your beak is going to be a no. How about it? Wanna have some questions and answers?” she asked, excited about the prospect of meeting a Blessed.

It was one of the most prevailed pieces of information she was able to find out from this Appraisal since a lot of things were hiding behind the Divinity of her Lady. She only let some of the things to Iris, and Iris didn't seem to know it was the case.

Murai kept glancing at her, not knowing if what she wanted was a good idea or not. It sounded more like a bother to him, but it didn't seem like something that will hurt him. He could see that from her. She meant no danger, but danger may be in some other forms.

So, he nodded, indicating his approval and confirming one issue that Iris didn't seem to be sure of.

A sight of intelligence. After all, some Blessed may be too young to perceive some words. Beast Blessed was exactly that.

“Yes! At least you can understand me, so our source of language is the same, and your intelligence is obviously high. Every Blessed is a special case of this world so I wasn't sure. I didn't know that so I am glad. If not, that would mean I would be talking to a duck, which would be strange in itself, but... I am still talking to a duck. Don't I?” Iris sighted in understanding, glancing at Murai while scratching her head.

Murai paused his gaze open her face but still gave her his bothered nod.

“Right, I should be making my questions in the form that you may answer in the form of a nod or a shake. My bad. My bad.” Iris quickly apologized, hoping to clear things up. She began to think a lot about what she could ask in the form of easy yes and no answers.

“Alright... first one. Are you a bad duck?” was her first strange question.

Murai glared at her, upset by such an open, and pragmatic question. “What do you think?!” He quacked and did not nod, nor shake his head. Instead, he smacked the table with his beak, cracking it a little. He did so in open frustration, and his action spoke for himself.

His intent spoke for itself as well, screaming at Iris. “What kind of duck do you think I am?!” It was a frustrating sight, with a tingle of fury and utmost curses. Even Iris could understand what Murai meant, but her face was upon the cracked table.

“Sir Duck... This table is precious... Don't destroy it please.” She pleaded, her eyes turned to a serious glance that went against a Blessed being, while she wasn't one herself.