Emil grunted in pain as his body slammed down onto a hard surface. He groaned, pushing himself upwards as he looked towards the sky, seeing a familiar wood plank ceiling. How had he fallen from there?

This is… Teacher’s house? It’s his office.

He recognized the shelves filled with odd items in different containers. He’d only been in the room once before, but its appearance lingered in his memory.

As he stood up, he saw a man seated behind the desk. His dark hair was a mess and his glasses were slightly askew on his face. The slovenly Night Sage was smoking from a pipe as usual while gazing at Emil.

“Teacher,” Emil said. “What’s going on? Why--how am I here?”

The Night Sage loudly tapped the contents of his pipe out and set it down carefully. “You met the Primrose Musician?” The Night Sage said instead of answering Emil’s question. “I see. I did not believe you would meet someone like that… No, I thought it would be impossible.”

Surprise colored the boy’s face and he took a step back upon hearing that title leave his Teacher’s mouth. “What? How do you know that?” Logically speaking, besides the three that had left that place alive, no one else would have known what happened there! Let alone his teacher who was far removed from the area.

The Night Sage clapped and the token that Emil had been holding forced itself out of his grasp and floated in the air. It then slowly disintegrated, and the cry of a lone violin echoed.

The sound made Emil flinch as a dark memory resurfaced.

“He placed a curse on you. Luckily, my good-luck-charm for you absorbed it instead. I was expecting you to get yourself cleansed--as you have been taught--but you didn’t, so before you got yourself killed, I pulled you back here to take care of it.”

Emil’s eyes widened considerably. “I was cursed?” He didn’t even notice that the token had shown signs of corruption. He had checked over his body multiple times and found nothing out of the ordinary.

“Yes, fool.” The Night Sage rubbed his temples. “You thought the Primrose Musician would let you walk away scotch-free? Don’t worry. I’ve already fixed it.”

The youth went silent. Of course not, he lampooned. “Teacher… you know him?” Emil inquired.

“Know him?” The man shook his head. “I know of him.” The Night Sage drummed his fingers against the table as he thought. “The number of known existences on our world that have reached the peak of the Terra stage had not changed until maybe one or two centuries ago. What used to be seven became eight.”

Hearing the words Terra stage, Emil swallowed thickly. They were Demigods. He had briefly learned about them, but their existences were so far off that Emil basically thought of them as legends. “So, you’re saying…”

The Night Sage nodded. “The Primrose Musician is one of those eight. They are referred to as The Eight Stars: Octagram.”

“Why… why would someone like that be interested in a low-ranked mercenary mission?”

“The Primrose Musician is an eccentric already. It’s said that he enjoys acting from time to time… No, more importantly, he is someone who follows an ancient god.” The Night Sage pointed to the chair across from him. “You might want to take a seat. This will take a while to explain.”

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Emil nodded and sat down.

“Since you’ve entered their sights, it’s better for me to tell you this now.” The Night Sage seemed to become incredibly tired, he rubbed his temples again and spoke, “Stella. Deus. Omnis. Remember these.”

“They are…” Emil felt something within him stir like a lock had been released in his mind.

“The legendary ranks above the immortal realm: Godhood. A Stella rank--a newborn God, already has the power to overwhelm every single one of the Eight Stars even if they gathered together.”

Emil let out a gasp of shock. He couldn’t imagine the Primrose Musician being beaten by anyone with his casual display of power. The phantom playing of an orchestra entered his mind.

“Surprised? I know. Their power is not comprehensible to us. That is because they can create Laws, while Demigods can only form partial Laws. Once they reach Deus, these Laws become Domains.”

Emil didn’t know what these terms meant fully, but he likened them to the laws of the world. These rules affected every living being within them and they were forced to adjust--whether this was incorrect or not, he didn’t have an answer. “Then, at Omnis…?”

“I do not know,” the man’s voice grew soft as he spoke. “No one knows what they are capable of. It is said that the one who created this universe was the only Omnis stage to ever exist. With that power, It sealed the primordial major and minor Gods then disappeared. According to lore, it is because these Gods--Its first creations--began to war amongst themselves and almost destroyed everything It created. It did not have the heart to kill Its creations, so It locked them away.”

Emil’s entire body trembled at these words. There was a deep pain in his mind that caused his hearing to ring. He faintly heard the mutterings of the voices. There seemed to be wisdom contained in their words, but like always, he couldn’t comprehend their language. It was hard for him to focus on the Night Sage’s words, but at the same time, he was hyperaware.

The Night Sage sighed, unaware of Emil’s plight. “There are hidden religions that praise those sealed Deus beings as their deity. From ancient texts, there are allegedly seven of them. One is still unknown. Currently, there are six known major Gods, but only five churches.”

Driven by curiosity, Emil blurted out, “What are they?”

“The Goddess without a corresponding religion is the Bloody Valkyrie. She rules over the domain of slaughter. The Bloody Valkyrie clan we know of today are the remnants of her children, borne from her blood.”

Emil’s eyes widened. Ira is a Goddess’ descendant? She must be aware of this already…

“First is the Silver Mother, her domain relates to justice and order. The Moon Child’s controls the dream domain. Third, the Hanged Sun’s domain is mind. Next is… The Blinded Snake, the domain of duality. Lastly, He is who the Primrose Musician follows: The Starved God. He rules the domain of chaos.” The man rubbed his temples again. “It’s possible that the Primrose Musician being there is less of a coincidence than you might think.”

Emil worked to digest the mass of information before saying, “Why do you say that?”

“Another member of Octagram follows this God, she is the Witch of Silence. She’s highly skilled at divination. They are in constant search of special sacrifices to feed to their God so that he may awaken in the future. These sacrifices are scouted out by her while the Primrose Musician vets them. Once the prospects grow to a suitable level, the two capture and feed them to the Devourer--another title for the Starved God.”

“Which means…” Emil had a sinking realization and his hands trembled.

The Night Sage nodded, not needing to say anything.

If the Witch of Silence was involved, then what he had thought was mere misfortune had become far more complicated. The possibility that the Primrose Musician had entered that space to seek out Emil--and probably Ira as well--was highly likely. What he had said to them at the time didn’t add up with that theory because he claimed that he had been surprised by their presence and had only been there to tag-a-long. But the Night Sage mentioning that Ilya enjoyed acting gave birth to the chance that the Primrose Musician was just lying.

Emil couldn’t quite understand their motivations of letting the young duo go, but he assumed that it was akin to letting one’s prey become fat and ripe.

“What do I do?” Emil muttered.

Grow stronger? That was exactly what they wanted. Not to mention, his body naturally strengthens itself with every passing moment. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t stop his growth. With that in mind, it also wasn’t like he could get powerful enough to fight back. They’d have to be absolute fools to let their sacrifices get strong enough to fight back. There was probably a prime threshold that one had to enter before the Starved God’s followers would come to collect them.

He could assume that he still wasn’t there yet because many months had passed without any sightings of them. What would have happened if the Night Sage hadn’t dragged him back here?

Emil felt despair once more.