CHAPTER 169 – LOANED POWER
LYSANDER FARADEISS
I had been bedridden for three agonizing days since using Hiraya’s memory crystal. Typically, the crystal’s stinging effects on brain cells would incapacitate the user for about an hour, as it did with Johnny. However, my experience was markedly different.
I never imagined Hiraya’s past could be so shrouded in darkness. To complicate matters, some of my memories from the previous timeline resurfaced, possibly due to the Heart of Exceria’s connection to Hiraya from that era. It felt as though I had become Hiraya from the previous timeline, her intelligence and memories seamlessly merging with mine.
Everything seemed to fit perfectly, like pieces of a well-crafted puzzle, except for one elusive element—the Foreign God. Arthur claimed that I was the Foreign God, but there was no concrete evidence to support this. Perhaps Arthur was merely toying with Hiraya’s mind, yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was telling the truth. I needed more information.
And I knew exactly who could provide the answers I sought.
Night had fallen. I had arranged to meet my most valuable informant at the edge of the Guardian’s Haven, where a mana tree bathed in prana stood sentinel. Hiraya and I had visited this place once before, back when I pledged my loyalty to her in this timeline.
The mana tree swayed gently in the breeze. There, I spotted a tall, middle-aged man with black hair that danced with the wind, his dark blue jacket flapping rhythmically. A cigarette dangled from his lips, and as his emerald eyes locked onto mine, he flicked the cigarette off the cliff.
“Sir Xenon Wingate,” I muttered his name, my voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m no Dragon Knight. It’s been more than twenty years since I last held that title,” the middle-aged man replied, rubbing his beard thoughtfully.
“You’re still a Dragon Knight. You fought alongside my uncle during the final days of the War of the Four Empires. That is an honor you cannot renounce,” I insisted.
He looked at me intently. “What can I do for you, Lysander Faradeiss?”
I sat on the cliff’s edge, trying to get comfortable despite the throbbing pain in my head. I couldn’t risk falling over in my current state. My silver hair swayed gently in the wind as it blew once more.
“You know of a Foreign God,” I muttered, my voice tinged with urgency.
“It’s you,” Xenon answered immediately, his face unwavering. “I knew it the first time I saw you, back when you fought Gazelle Lockwood. You are his antithesis. The Outer God who became man and defied destiny. You are the Outsider.”
“I knew it,” I smirked, feeling a sense of vindication. “I knew I asked the right person. Because I know you have made a contract with that entity.”
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“You mean your past incarnation,” Xenon said, his voice tinged with regret. “You see, contracting with a foreign entity is one of the things I should never have done. I’ve committed acts I’m not proud of, and I’m sure you feel the same. But you can turn back time and alter destiny, and I can’t. That makes us different.”
Xenon reached into his jacket and pulled out a tobacco pouch, methodically lighting a cigarette with a flick of his lighter. The flame briefly illuminated his weathered face before he took a deep drag.
I gathered my thoughts, contemplating my next move. “Is the Purge of Humanity the right thing?” I asked, my voice heavy with uncertainty.
“Hell if I know. Why are you asking me?” Xenon replied, irritation creeping into his tone. “The person I loved renounced her right to rule. We chose peace, stepping away from her royal duties in the throne of dragons. I’m the last person you should ask about that.”
The only ones I could truly ask this question were those I loved, but I already knew their answers. Hiraya had fought tirelessly for humanity, resisting corruption at every turn. However, I knew deep down that Kate, Gaeun, Charlotte, and Meike would have differing or conflicted views. The King of Humanity had murdered their loved ones, and it was clear they would seek some form of justice.
In this dire situation, Hiraya might succumb to the darkness and reignite the Purge of Humanity. If she falls into corruption as she did in the previous timeline, my efforts to save her will have been in vain. Yet, Arthur's death is crucial, for without it, the other races on this planet face certain doom.
“Just focus on your goal,” Xenon muttered softly as he settled beside me on the cliff’s edge, the vast landscape stretching out beneath us.
“Pardon?” I asked, turning to face him.
“You can always depend on your friends and loved ones. You don’t need to burden yourself with every choice. Just focus on your goal,” Xenon reiterated, his eyes reflecting the fading light of the setting sun.
I recalled Hiraya’s solemn promise to me, that she would save the world because she could not save herself. Conversely, I vowed to save Hiraya because I could not save the world. It was a mutual promise we made in this timeline, a bond that held our destinies together.
“I just need to save Hiraya, and I won’t have to worry about anything else,” I muttered, more to myself than to him. “I’m sure Hiraya will take care of the rest to save the world.”
Xenon gazed at me for a moment, then shifted his eyes to the heavens. “That’s right. She is the reincarnation of the goddess, after all.”
I stood up, casting a shadow over Xenon as I looked down at him. “Now, this brings us to the second reason I called you here,” I said, my tone firm.
“It’s about an overdue debt, isn’t it?” Xenon smiled, his eyes twinkling with a hint of mischief. "After all, I have loaned power from your past incarnation."
The middle-aged man stood up and dusted off his black jacket, a knowing smile spreading across his face. His eyes, now a stark contrast of power, met mine—his left eye transformed into the Eye of Deus, while his right eye gleamed with the unsettling, rainbow-hued brilliance of the Eye of Necross.
“This right eye is the Eye of Necross—the eye I borrowed from the God of the Undead. I shall return it to you now,” Xenon declared, his voice steady and resolute.
“Well then,” I responded, drawing a pistol from my waist with deliberate precision. I aimed it directly at the Eye of Necross, my finger poised to pull the trigger. “Any last words?”
“Just a request,” Xenon replied with a serene smile. “Please bring back Serena.”
“I will,” I vowed, my brow furrowing with determination.
“Then go on and make my day,” Xenon grinned, a peaceful acceptance in his expression.
Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed in the air, and blood sprayed from his skull as his lifeless body tumbled off the cliff's edge, plummeting into the ocean below, never to be seen again.