"What happened next?" Mat asked.

"I still don't quite understand, but... Apparently, he was my older brother."

"W-what?" Mathias exclaimed in surprise.

"There were no records of my family. Apparently, Martin and I were orphans..."

"That's strange," Mat replied.

"I know, he even had my brother's name."

"Really?" Mat thought.

"But... In the end, I got used to it. He wasn't a bad person. But... Heh..."

"?"

"I replaced my family without hesitation... I'm... a bad person, aren't I?"

Mat didn’t know what to say.

"Well... Eventually, I met Mr. Morrison and his family. He was like a father to me, and..." she said, starting to cry a little. "W-why?"

"I... I’m really sorry... But... In the end, it was in self-defense..." Mat replied.

"I think... I understand... But even so..." Jackeline said. "Why would Martin make us do something like that...? Just by looking at you and talking with you for a bit, I know you're not a bad person, so... why did he send us to kill you? I don’t even have any combat experience..."

"You... don’t?"

"No... This was the first time I’ve ever fought anyone..."

"And she's still this strong? Wow..." Mat thought.

"I mean... Mr. Morrison, and the way he acted, felt like a façade, like he was playing a role or something."

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"It does seem that way, but... Christopher was there too, so I think he might’ve done something."

"I suppose... But... You know Christopher, don’t you?" she asked.

"Not much. I know he was close to Martin, but I almost never talked to him. I’d just greet him. And from what I understand, the girl with you is his sister, am I right?" she said.

"Ah, yes, she's his younger sister," he answered. "But they're not close. They didn’t see each other for a couple of years either..."

"I see... Anyway..."

"You think Christopher had something to do with it, don’t you?"

"A little, but... From what you told me, it doesn’t seem like his power would do that," Jackeline said.

"No, it didn’t. He summoned creatures."

"Specters... I think. But the way they attacked, they couldn’t have had some kind of hypnosis ability or anything. It's strange... And I don’t think the others have a power like that either."

"I see... In the end, we don’t know why he did what he did... But still, I’m really sorry..."

"And I’m sorry too, about what happened to your mom..."

"... " Mat.

"... " Jackeline.

Neither of them knew what to say.

"Mathias... Now I realize something..."

"What is it?"

"Martin... He sent us to kill you, but... what if he expected you to do that? Now I understand that he sent us to die..."

"..."

"Maybe he was the one who forced Mr. Morrison to do such a thing... Martin... he’s evil..." Jackeline said, looking like she was about to cry. "He expected you to do the same to me. By not having the resolve, by not wanting to kill you, he was counting on you taking advantage of that... But you didn’t. In fact, you and your friends saved me in the end... You said I started to mutate, right? I don’t know much about that, but I know Martin was involved in many things..."

She calmed down a bit at that moment.

"But... Now that I remember, there was a moment when all the apostles got sick with something. It was as if our immune systems had disappeared, and we got really sick. I was even hospitalized... And that's why they gave us some kind of serum. After that, we didn’t have any symptoms again. We were healthy."

"You think that serum has something to do with it, don’t you?"

"Yes, exactly. But... In the end, he was using me... even his own children..."

"..."

"Children? I’ll ask her about that later," Mat thought.

But at that moment, Jackeline also recalled that almost everything she saw of Martin was him helping whoever needed it, as long as it wasn’t for something evil.

And she remembered the moment he suggested she become an apostle:

"Me? An apostle? But... I don’t know how to preach..." she had responded. "I don’t even know much about these things..."

"Don’t worry about that," Martin replied. "Just always try to do what’s right, that’s enough. It’s not like others will know you’re one, but with your attitude, you could influence others."

"So... I just do that?"

"Yes, nothing more," and he placed his hand on her shoulder. "I’m counting on you."

After that, he got up and left the place, but... He seemed quite sad.

Jackeline didn’t know what to think about it back then, but now she remembered. Even now, she didn’t know what to think about it. She didn’t want to mention it at this moment.

"Ah... Well... So... Thank you, really," Jackeline said. She was smiling.

"You’re welcome?"

"...I said all that, and that’s your reaction?" she teased Mat.

"Sorry..."

"...Haha, it’s not like I care. Oh, and... Sorry for making your lung explode."

"Nah, don’t worry... Wait, what?"

"Your reactions are a bit silly, you know? Hehe..."

"I guess... So... Shall we head back?" Mat asked.

"Sure."

They both headed back to Aelin’s house. Oh, and yes, Mathias became friends with Jackeline. While they were walking, Jackeline asked:

"Um... Can I know where the orb is?"

Mathias, still a bit distrustful, told her anyway:

"It’s in the Infinity-Bag."

"...The what?"

And yes, it could fit inside, and it still provided the enhancements. But... The other orbs couldn’t be taken out, only this one.

Oh, by the way, while they were walking back, Jackeline mentioned that those mutants had willingly allowed themselves to be transformed, but in the end, they became soulless. She didn’t know much more about it, just that there was some kind of organization behind it, but she didn’t know if it was related to the church or not. And yes, they encountered a couple of monsters along the way.