Groups of eight people moving together were quite rare, since the usual party was around five to six people. However, Claud was not concerned about efficiency in earning resources; the more people there were, the safer he was…

And for some reason, everyone thought that the Thief of Time acted alone. However, he could tell them with full confidence that the Thief of Time usually operated with one more person, and under the right circumstances, had an entire organisation backing him up. However, he was not foolish enough to tell anyone that, and the guards sent their little group annoyed glances as they approached.

“Permits.”

Claud produced the small stack of temporary permits, and the guard counted them. Nodding once, he waved them through and said, “Try not to come back again. There’s enough rabble in this place without more rats.”

Lily giggled, while Claud looked at the others, who had varying expressions of displeasure on their faces. Putting aside Schwarz and Dia, virtually everyone else was of a certain status — an erstwhile Holy Son of the Black God, the incognito-but-not-so-incognito ruler of a county, a Blessed of the Blue God and the last Dark-aligned Bearer of Destiny. It was impressive how someone could insult so many personages at once, and he felt a bit worried about that guard’s future.

The troops of minor barons seemed to be everywhere as they left the city, and Schwarz clicked his teeth. “Wow. It seems like everyone is out in full force to look for Tot.”

“Yeah, well, if they succeed, that person will gain the qualifications for divinity on the spot,” Nero shrugged. “Thirty Aeon Folds is needed for that skill, right?”

Kemata nodded, and the scythe did a backflip. “Correct.”

Claud tilted his head, and Lily glanced at him once. They exchanged a brief, non-verbal conversation in that moment of contact, and Lily’s eyes lit up with a faint understanding.

His Aeon Fold skill was a bit special; it had been modified…and the five grand skies weren’t even hiding it from him.

“Right, now that the Aeon Bridge thingy has been built, what’s going to happen next?” Claud asked. “What are the divinities going to do now? Are they going to fight for ownership over it?”

“Ah, right. Okay, so here’s what’s going to happen.” Nero looked up at the sky. “First, the five grand skies will start to issue missions to all tetra-folders and beyond. Missions that are issued to completers of the Third Tutorial will include the Aeon Fold skill, allowing them a chance to fight for divinity. They will clear tasks integral to fuelling the creation of the new world.”

“Ownership,” Kemata added.

“Ah, right. They’ll also probably look for Tot. He is currently the owner of the Cosmic Egg. If, by the end of the creation process, he is still the owner of the Cosmic Egg, he will become the absolute ruler of the new world. So they’ll want to kill him first,” Nero added.

Claud suddenly felt like there was a target painted on his back, the kind that people practiced archery with. Not only was he the ticket to divinity, he also happened to be the current owner of the new world. It sounded nice, but Claud really didn’t need that sort of treasure…would the divinities believe him if he said that?

It would have been nice if he at least had Divinity Aspirant, but he was just a hexa-folder scrub right now. The Chromatic Lords could kill him…well, there were a lot of things that could kill him, but these things stood the highest chance now.

Mentally sighing, he looked up at the sky. “So…missions. What missions are we talking about?”

“Things like settling the world, preparing the transfer…I’m not too sure either. My Lord wasn’t too explicit with the instructions either,” Nero replied. “In the first place, this is the first time for everyone, see?”

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“Okay…but why are we abandoning this world, then?” Claud asked.

“…I’m not sure, but I think it’s something to do with the declining lifeforce in the world,” Nero replied. “The amount of lifestones in the world is steadily decreasing. Even with the unsealing of the ancient battlefield, this era has the least number of high-ranked folders.”

He shook his head. “Terminal decline, I suppose. At this rate…”

“Purpose. Omen. Salvation Star.” Kemata blinked twice. “Maybe you should consider their purpose. Considering that they form a cycle.”

It was an important enough question that the Reaper Princess even verbalised an entire sentence for it, so Claud and the others promptly fell into deep thought.

“A cycle?” Dia asked. “What cycle are you talking about? And are there other Omens and Salvation Stars in the previous Godsfall?”

“Well…I suppose there’s no harm in saying it now, but the White God and the Black God are precisely these two personages in the previous cycle,” Nero muttered. “That’s why they’re not part of the Fourth Godsfall. They exist outside the cycle, beings close to the five grand skies. However, something apparently went wrong, and the Moons and the Dark weren’t granted these roles.”

He looked at Dia. “Which was why I was a bit shocked when I found out about you. I apologise for not telling you back then, but the censor was still standing.”

Everyone turned to look at Dia. After a while, Sara, who had been listening to the conversation, said, “So…you might be the next White God?”

“The bodyguard’s surpassed the master now,” Schwarz quipped. “Well, well. Not sure what to say about this, though. But why does everyone seem to go after the Omen?”

“No one likes change,” Nero replied. “I suppose.”

“Yeah. We don’t know that much either.” Sara made a face. “But at least no one is going to come after you, other than the Omen.”

“But if the Omen and the Salvation Star are enemies, then why does both the White God and the Black God exist? One should have died, right?” Farah asked. “It doesn’t make sense to me. They’re inherently enemies. One should have killed the other or something.”

Claud pricked up his ears. While he had absolutely no reason to kill Dia, he also wanted to find ways to prevent himself from moving in accordance with some stupid fate.

“Well…that’s probably the reason why the world is dying, right?” Nero guessed. “There wasn’t an actual cycle of destruction or renewal. The world remained as it was.”

He shook his head. “We’re just guessing at this point, really. And I’m not sure what my reason for existence is now too. Who am I and where I’ll go…it’s nice to be the Omen, the Salvation Star or the other Bearers of Destiny, really. At least they have some direction.”

“True…”

As they began to mana-walk away from the Lacuna Dukedom capital, Claud found himself harbouring a lot of questions. For instance, why wasn’t Dia a Bearer of Destiny? After all, according to Nero, the previous Salvation Star was the White God. And the most basic requirement was…

Unless it wasn’t a basic requirement? Or did the White God somehow obtain the position of Salvation Star through some other method?

Making a mental note to ask Dia how she became the Salvation Star, Claud glanced at Lily once. She had a worried expression on her face, so he simply rubbed her head and smiled at her.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. The world has many dangers. One Omen and one twinkling little star isn’t going to make our lives any harder anyway,” Claud replied.

Dia glared at him. “Oi. Why are you insulting me and not the Omen?”

Insult myself? You kidding? Claud raised an eyebrow. “The Omen, by your own account, is supremely confident in confronting every single Bearer of Destiny in the world. Why the heck would I insult that fellow, when you’re harmless in comparison? Besides, I’m a hexa-folder. You’re a tetra-folder. I can make verbal jabs at your expense…”

“Just you wait!”

“Oh, stop teasing her.” Lily poked his sides. “She’s already sore that we’re hexa-folders. Do you really need to rub it in? Leave some consideration for her, alright?”

“You too? I’m not talking to you guys anymore. One brandishes a sword, the other a needle!” Dia huffed, and then moved over to Farah, who promptly engaged her in conversation over her current status. Everyone was interested in what their Dia was going to do next; would she return to her mistress’ side?

It would be an amazing scene if she revealed her current number of mana circuits.

The momentary pleasure vanished a moment later as Claud thought about the words that Nero had said. Most of them were just conjectures and guesses; while they definitely carried a measure of truth, he didn’t find them completely adequate. For instance, if there really was something like a cycle of destruction and renewal, why would the five grand skies entrust it to two humans, rather than doing it themselves?

Why were there limitations on the divinities? As for the Dark and the Moons, why did they only take the stage in this Godsfall? What were they doing in the previous ones?

There were still a lot of questions that needed answering…but getting home was their first priority.

For now, anyway.