Claud gripped his fists as the blue glow around Lily intensified. An aura of completion was spreading out from her cross-legged form, contending against the darkness beyond. She was trying for her third mana circuit once again, and this time, little Throne was helping out in ways Claud couldn’t begin to comprehend.

Maybe it was the way the little orb was orbiting around her, but her attempt had gone unusually smoothly this time around.

“Meep?” Crown whispered.

“Meep,” Claud whispered back. “She’s just a touch away — yes, yes, yes!”

Before his eyes, the disparate blue light that was threading through her skin focused, forming clear lines that ran through her body. He could see the three complete mana circuits as they harmonised and built upon each other, and Claud took in the lovely sight.

A shiver ran down his spine as he took in the sight of her successful formation of her third mana circuit. It was rare to witness someone completing their mana circuit due to a myriad of factors, up to and including the fact that two people had to be on very intimate terms to witness something like that.

Claud wiped a bead of sweat away as he approached the bed. Lily was dazed, presumably looking at the notifications that had popped up in her face when she had completed her third mana circuit, and he patted her head.

“Nicely done.” Claud resisted the urge to just give her a nice long kiss — there were two little sentient artefacts watching them, and she really needed the rest — and he made do by rubbing her cheeks.

Lily smiled, and a sense of relaxation spread out from her. “I’ve succeeded. Finally! Haha! I must be the second fastest after you, right?”

“Of course!” Claud puffed himself up. “Anyway, you should rest now. I’ll give you a massage. Your legs must be cramped up or something; you’ve been sitting in that position for twelve hours.”

“Meep!”

“Meep!”

The two little baubles bounced over in agreement, before hopping onto her head. Lily laughed at their attempts to make a nice nest from her hair, before Claud cleared his throat.

“Cut it out, you guys. Lily’s tired, okay?”

“Meep? Meep.” Crown, his faithful little box, ignored his words and continued to frolic around in her hair. Claud could understand why his Divine Life Companion was a bit peeved; for the past few weeks, he had been making his Crown and Lily’s Throne just sit in the room while they handled other stuff outside. There was no choice, since he didn’t want to bet on the divinities discovering their uniqueness.

He hadn’t forgotten about the Lesser Half, who was still whiling away in the throne room of the Lostfon Palace. In fact, him appearing in the Lesser Half’s presence was already a massive risk, given that he too was a Bearer of Destiny, but it would seem that his Omen skill was doing a damn good job at protecting him.

Unfortunately for Throne and Crown, he didn’t know if they too had a similar concealment skill.

“Oh, come on…if you guys stay there, I can’t play with her hair!” Claud grumbled, before smiling at Lily. “Anyway…it’s great that you’ve advanced. I have a few bags of lifestones for you!”

“All pure-ranked ones, I suppose.” Lily grimaced.

“Don’t feel bad about it.” Claud grinned. “Thanks to Crown” —the little box wobbled— “lifestones are all equal in my eyes. In a sense, you should thank him instead. I can collect the low-ranked ones and you can use the pure-ranked ones; it’s a perfect division of labour.”

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Crown coughed out another Pure-Life Gem, which was a special lifestone that would accumulate lifeforce every so often, at that very moment, thereby proving his point.

“I’ll pass you one of the older ones—”

“You should use the Pure-Life Gems,” Lily interrupted. “Using your pure-ranked lifestones is bad enough. I’m not going to take something that you’ll probably need a lot too.”

Claud looked at her, and then nodded. There was a firmness that pervaded those particular words that told him that she wasn’t going to budge on this particular point. There was a limit to how much he could give her before Lily herself felt bad, and to be honest, Claud would have probably done the same if their positions had been reversed.

“At any rate, why not try for a fourth mana-fold over the next few days?” Claud asked.

“It’ll take ages,” Lily replied, a sad smile on her face. “My Mana Control Proficiency is too low. I’d rather train it or something while we’re at Celestia. Who knows, there might be a method we could use?”

“That’s way too specific,” Claud replied, before yawning once.

“Are you going to work on your fifth mana circuit?” Lily asked. “I haven’t checked on your progress recently…”

“You’ve been busying yourself with your advancement for the past few days. Don’t feel bad about not checking in on me,” Claud replied, before pushing her down on the bed. The two little artefacts made angry little meeps as they were dislodged from their impromptu nest, and then battered at his hand with an aggrieved hand.

“Let her rest, alright?” Claud scooped up the little guys, who were protesting, and then let out a sigh. Instead of returning them to their little fluffy box that doubled as their bed, he gave in to their meeps and popped them on his head instead.

The little guys went to work immediately.

“…Somehow, I get a feeling that Crown and Throne saved me from your evil, evil intentions,” Lily commented. “Perverted ones too, by the looks of it.”

“Don’t be silly.” Claud flicked her nose. “You’re tired out. Only a beast would do anything else than let you have a rest…right, want a lap pillow? I can’t lie down with those fellows on my head, and I can sleep in any posture anyway.”

“What page is sleeping in any posture recorded in?” Lily asked.

“Page ninety-six,” Claud replied, before patting his thighs. “Help yourself.”

Lily settled her head onto his lap happily, before pointing at her temples. “I have a headache.”

“Who wouldn’t?” Claud replied. “Anyway, here we go…”

He pampered her for a while, watching merrily as Lily relaxed from his ministrations. Claud knew that the absurd ease in which he had completed his mana circuits had probably given Lily the wrong ideas back then, even if she knew that Crown was playing a part in his smooth advancement. She had suffered a few failures from that…and also due to her low Mana Control Proficiency.

He sighed. “Isn’t there any way to increase your Mana Control Proficiency?”

“Hmm. Well, Dia did say that the best way to train that was to keep sparring every morning. Or at least do some very concentrated practice, right?” Lily replied. “I could do that. We should actually do that.”

“We’ll get a bit sweaty, but that’s the price to pay, I suppose.” Claud’s mind wandered off to the bath after practice, before he mentally shook himself. “I don’t mind training with you. I need to figure out how to use my current strengths anyway.”

“Master-rank Mana Control Proficiency.” Lily looked at him. “Thanks for all that pressure, really. Totally needed it from my husband. Really useful.”

“Oh, come on…”

Lily laughed. “I’m just pulling your leg. But still…don’t you feel that you’re a bit too…what’s the word…lucky?”

Claud grimaced. “I thought I was the only one who thought that way. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but there are indeed too many coincidences that have just happened to me so nicely. I’m like a confluence of weirdness or something.”

He pointed at his head, where two little adorable shapes were nestling in his hair for some inane reason. “And that special skill, and then another special skill…I don’t think a tetra-folder like me is supposed to have so many odd skills.”

Claud toyed with a stray strand of Lily’s hair, and then whispered, “I don’t know if something’s moving me around like a piece in Moon Phase. But the feeling is…terrifying. That something could actually control me and dictate my movements.”

He took a deep breath. “Of course, I might just be paranoid. It is very possible that everything that has happened to me thus far is just pure coincidence, born from my own personality, my choices and the circumstance around me.”

Lily looked at him, and then winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to suddenly make you think up of all this.”

“The fact that I spilled all this out is proof that I’m worrying a lot about all this. Maybe I’ve always wanted to tell you about it, just that I didn’t have the time.” Claud shook his head. “Let’s just sleep. Maybe, when we wake up tomorrow, I’ll be feeling better…and we really shouldn’t mar this happy occasion with my paranoia.”

“Okay.” Lily held his hand. “Let’s just forget all this and sleep for now, then.”

“Mhm.” Claud restrained the urge to brush the little happy fellows off his head, and then closed his eyes. “Goodnight, then.”