Thankfully I made it in time. To lose Lune once more, I do not believe I could ever live through such a travesty again. That crazy light, was it something to do with Olyahim? Or could it yet be another hidden power manifested within Lune? Either way, it helped guide me to their location, so I should be thankful regardless.

"Deram, be a dear and wait a few more minutes." Olyahim gestured for me to leave the premises, "Luneyboy and I still aren't done."

"Are you not?" I glanced back down at the fallen Lune with a puzzled gaze.

"We are! Don't just leave now!" He shouted for me to come back.

Ah, almost got tricked there. It is as Nelly said, Olyahim's lies are quite scary indeed. I should be mindful in the future not to let this happen again.

"Dad, Meil!" Nelly, Cecily and a few others arrived just in time to take Lune away to safety.

Cecily of all people was extremely eager to take Lune's place in the fight, however. Though weaker than weak, Lune vehemently refused to let her help me. I do not exactly understand the logic here, seeing as she would most definitely prove to be an asset against Olyahim, but if it is his wish, then I have no say in the matter.

"Cecily!" He shouted, "Leave it to Meil!"

"What? Come on dear, don't tell me you're still worried about-!"

"Look out!" The voices roared as they pushed her away from the senior citizen's surprise dash attack.

Blown away towards the others, Cecily was practically forced to sit this fight out. Bewildered and confused, she wondered who that voice belonged to, and more importantly, what had pushed her.

"I am not alone, Cecily." I reassured her, "I will be fine."

"Hrm... Dammit, be safe!" She finally obliged, and with a nod got up to lift Lune along with her, "Try to keep him occupied while we finish setting everything up!"

"Oh? Concocting a plan against me, are we?" Olyahim waved them off cheerfully, "I expected nothing less from the genius Deram."

"I had no input in this plan. Just a cog in the mechanism." I replied.

"In other words, if I throw this cog out, the entire machine blows up into a puff of smoke." He figured, "Good to know..."

"My Lord." The voices whispered into my ear, "Be wary of this one, the bastard is as cunning as can be."

"I do not wish to hear his strengths. Rather, what are his weaknesses?" I uttered back.

"...We don't know." They briefly left with the others, "For now, try and extract as much info as you can. Give him hell, My Lord!"

"Talking to your schizo imaginary friends, eh?" He got tired of waiting, "Y'know, I always did feel that you geniuses had to have a screw or two loose. There ain't no such thing as a normal genius."

"Shall we begin?" I ignored him.

He stood there, not moving a cinch. Checking my Sinus Wave, I was currently in the very middle of its amplitude, however it was going up steadily. If I attack in the current moment, I will sure get lucky, but from a logical standpoint, it makes no sense to attack now. As this was going on, he merely kept standing there still. I already prepared myself for the rare case that he would Go Solipsistic and readied myself to dodge just as well. Finally, he raised his cane high up, showing the boney body beneath his cloak.

"Heads or Tails?" He wobbled the raised cane above his head.

"Eh?"

"Call it—Will it land Heads or Tails?" He asked, "Guess correctly and I fight you head on right here right now."

"And if I do not?" I asked.

"I hightail it out of here." He took the moment to smack his chicken legs around a bit, "Gonna be honest though, I'm not a good runner."

"In that case, I pick Heads." I nodded, agreeing to his terms as I felt my chances were good enough for it.

The old man's creepy grin suggested he was satisfied with my answer. Of course, if my Sinus Wave is not lying to me, then my victory over this coin-err, cane toss should be assured. That is, if I had even waited for it to hit the ground.

"What-!?" He stepped back in fear once he saw me jump up to grab it from the air, "You didn't even see what it was gonna be just yet!"

"I do not intend on playing games here." I said as I plunged the sharp stick straight through his chest, "You will find that ship has sailed the moment you took Nelly away from me."

They say a coin toss is not exactly 50/50, rather recent research conducted suggests that you have around a 51% chance of landing on the side facing up during the moment you start the flip. In the case of the cane, he held it by the Tail, so it would have probably landed on Heads, leading to us fighting. But taking into account the heaviness of the Head, that unknown variable could have altered these rates, significantly fixing the game and tilting the odds artificially in his favor. I will not allow him to run.

"Ghak!" He spat out an immense amount of blood, "Damn, straight through the heart, too? You're cold-blooded, bud!"

"Your first mistake was making your intentions all too easy to see through." I explained, driving the cane ever deeper in, "Your second was showing me where to aim with that cape flip."

"Hah! So that's what it was!" He laughed and laughed, "In that case, I better start taking this seriously too."

Having accumulated a large amount of blood in his mouth by now, he spat it out directly into my Eyes. Briefly blinded, I had to stop pushing the cane through him to wipe the dark blood off my face. Regardless, it was too late, for when I opened my Eyes back again...

"Where...!" I shouted, "Where did you go, Olyahim!?!"

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The blood-splattered cane remained where I had left it, stuck deep into the ground to a point where it simply could not be taken out without the aid of a strenuous amount of tools. Nevertheless, the skewered old man was gone without so much as a trace.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"...."

"........"

"...There!" I pointed at what I believed to be him, however when I peeked behind the tree...

"Eek!" A girl a tad older than Nelly whimpered in fear, "S-Stop, don't hurt me!"

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" I lowered my fists, "It is dangerous."

"Sorry, sorry! I heard a commotion and went to make sure everything was okay, but then I heard you fighting someone and hid over here."

"Do you live here?"

"Yes, my house isn't far." She nodded, "Rather, who were you fighting just now?"

This girl, she is an enemy. It is one thing to get caught up in a strife, but another thing entirely when you choose to hide and observe instead of running away. To add to this, she remains in an unassuming squatted position behind her tree. If she was scared of me, a stranger, she would have gotten up in case she needed to run.

"Sorry, ehe~! My legs fell asleep." She put her hand out, "Could you help me get up?"

"Of course, be sure to run as far from here as possible though. It is dangerous, after all." I took her hand, almost immediately having to stop time just as she pulled out her two hidden blades against me.

"Tsk tsk, a futile attempt at an assassination." I shook my head, slapping away her hand and stepping away.

"Ahaha! Get stabbed...! Eh?" She began laughing maniacally as she repeatedly stabbed the tree I was standing in front of, "Where did you...?"

Olyahim was hiding from me, so I hid from his pawn. Instead of me chasing after him, now one of his allies is chasing me. If Olyahim is monitoring my every move, then he should know that like this, I will not be leaving a single opening for him to strike. He will not run, for he knows we as his enemies must not be left unattended. As long as we remain, he will not be freed from his sins.

"Hey, guuuuy~!" The girl waved her knives around, "Where are ya'? I'm getting lonely, you know~?"

"Wait for it, wait for it..." I silently watched her from atop the tree she was standing under.

"Elder~! This guy suddenly disappeared! He's just like that Rainbow Eyed idiot!" She stomped furiously on the ground, "Sheila was right, they ARE unfair!"

Bingo, so she fought Lune previously. She is also calling for the old man, meaning he has no other choice but to reveal himself. If he does not come out, then he is not in the immediate vicinity. This means he already left and is far enough away for me to not feel any danger. The direction she's looking at is also giving away his position. Her head is pointed directly in front, yet her Eyes are just barely looking up. The old man is in the tree in front of me, most probably cooped up in the crown just like I am.

"Alright, alright!" He peeked his head out, "Dammit Shillianna, can you do a single thing right? Geez, he knows where I'm at now..."

"Anyone could've deduced that much just from your stench alone!" She shot back.

Ah, that as well.

"So, what did you call me over for?" She asked.

"Gimme the Book. I need it right now." He reached his hand out.

Just like that, the girl took a Purple Book out of her leaf loincloth. It was incredibly elegant, and the golden detailing on its cover all but proved its legitimacy. There was no doubt about it, this is the Book of Fortune! If I jump down, I might be able to grab it, and-!

"Deram, if you attack now, I will be forced to delete Nelly from existence." He warned, "This Book allowed even Schnell to escape Hell, the landscape you yourself governed in your past life. Likewise, deleting someone from the face of the world is as simple as writing a few words in."

He...! He knew what I was going to do! From this spot, I figured it could not hurt to try and steal it away, but if I do not make it in time, Nelly will be erased from this world...

"Hup!" I jumped down anyways, pushing myself off the tree's trunk to make myself that much faster, "Sinus Wave!"

In moments where logic can only get you so far, I have learned to give myself in to pure luck! Indeed, just like before, my Luck was at zero currently. However unlike last time, it was only lowering over time. To elaborate, my Luck was neither good nor bad, yet the more time it took for me to reach the girl, the lesser my chances were of successfully snatching the Book away from her. But I cannot just sit up there like a coward, for even if the odds are stacked against me, I must press on. Nelly, forgive me for gambling your life away like this...!

"Caught!" I slowed myself down to a screeching halt, Book in hand, "Eh?"

I got the Book. We now possess both of them, Fortune and Misfortune, so as long as I can bring this to Nelly and the others, our plan can be set in motion. The old man was powerless without them, I can make a dash for it, so why...?

"Fowgoth abowt meh, did yew?" A sharp toothed girl bit into my neck and refused to let go, "Now gimme the Bookh!"

A lapse of judgment. Foolish of me to let my guard down so soon, I should have assumed these two were not the only ones we were fighting. Her teeth sunk deeply into my nape, if I had made any sharp movements in this moment, she would completely rip off my carotid artery.

"Cecily, now!" I shouted, tossing the Book to my left.

"Got it! Nice throw, Meil!" She jumped out of hiding just like we planned, grabbing the Book and running away with it.

The Book was safely passed on. I succeeded, but it was getting progressively harder to breathe. As I guessed, the sharp turn to throw the Book to her led to my neck getting chomped off. Lying on the ground, basking in my own blood, I looked up to greet the sweltering Sun. My Sun...