“Are you the [Hero] chosen by the Goddess of Life?”

  The question resounded in the empty room as the elderly lady’s voice boomed. I processed what she said for a long moment, letting the implication of it all settle in. However, the Reverend Mother pressed me, making her impatience evident.

  “Answer the question, boy. And answer it truthfully, or you will not leave this room alive.”

  The spell on her fingertips shone brighter as I sensed the overwhelming power that was ready to be unleashed onto me. At my current state, it was beyond my abilities to even counter, if the worst came to the worst. Especially considering that I was still very likely within the perimeters of Lux. I couldn’t do anything to fight back even if I tried.

  I had to talk my way out of this— I had to take advantage of the flaws that came with truth spells. So I steeled myself, taking in a deep breath.

  “I am a bit confused, Reverend Mother,” I said as I shook my head. “What do you mean by that?”

  The elderly lady was unamused by my question. However, she didn’t blow my head off, instead answering me. “I am asking if you are the One Anointed By Fate— if you are the one who is destined to kill the Death God.”

  “That would be Aria the Lady of Light, would it not?” I stated simply.

  And it wasn’t even a statement that I did not believe in. Based on what I had been told transpired since my death at her hands, I was led to believe that she was still the [Hero]. That I had managed to interrupt the cycle, saving both her life and mine.

  But ostensibly, that wasn’t the case.

  “Unless… she somehow passed away?” I continued, musing curiously.

  “Aria the Lady of Light has lost both her Title and her Class,” the Reverend Mother explained bluntly. “No longer is she a child of fate, nor is she even a [Hero]. But even if the Church is keeping this a secret, she is still very much alive.”

  “I see.”

  That piqued my interest. After all, that meant the cycle of fate was continuing unimpeded, even though the final confrontation between Aria and I had a vastly different outcome compared to our predecessors.

  It meant that I hadn’t even come close to escaping my eternal fate of damnation.

  My eyes flickered as I recalled the face of an elderly man. Purple skin. Red hair. Eyes that were like the stars in the night sky. I remembered what he had told me about this manufactured cycle, and I knew there were many more questions I wanted to ask the Reverend Mother about the circumstances surrounding the Lady of Light.

  Unfortunately, I knew that none of my questions pertaining to this interrogation would be answered right now. So I had to save them for a future occasion, especially considering the elderly lady’s thinning patience.

  “Now tell me, boy,” the Reverend Mother continued. “Are you or are you not the [Hero] Anointed by Fate?”

  As she spoke, the spell she had aimed at my face flickered once more. Her gaze was fixed onto me, however I knew she was likely eyeing the Orb of Truth the entire time, very much awaiting my response.

  So I just sighed as I confidently met the Reverend Mother’s gaze.

  “Yes, I am,” I started as the crystal surface of the orb began to dance wildly with iridescent colors.

  The elderly lady might have lacked pupils, but I could see the way her whites moved, darting towards the Orb of Truth, waiting to see the results. But I continued quickly as the artifact continued to shine with various different colors.

  “I am the one who will save the Goddess of Life,” I continued, now listing vaguely-worded truths about myself. “And I am the one who will put a stop to the next incarnation of the Death God.”

  There was a way to trick a truth spell— especially one which was constantly active, detecting everything that was being said. And that was simply to tell a lie, before overwhelming it with true statements.

  Those who were unfamiliar with an Orb of Truth would often be tricked by such a simple tactic. However, those who were more familiar with how they worked would often be able to see through this ploy.

  For example, a thief would say, ‘I didn’t rob that house— I’m a good family man, I pay my taxes, and I pray at the local temple every weekend!’

  If their initial statement was false, but every other statement was truth, the Orb of Truth would flash blue. But those who understood this tactic would simply ask the thief to repeat the initial statement— that they didn’t rob the house— because they knew everything else that was said was completely unrelated to that fact, even if they were truths.

  Fortunately for me, everything else I said was very much tangentially-related to the question being posed to me. So I knew I could get away with it.

  Or at least, so I hoped.

  “Child of fate, bound to the cycle of destiny, I have come to the Church to prevent another War of Fate from happening ever again. But, of course, I had to keep my identity a secret, because I knew I would get into trouble if I revealed the truth.”

  I finished as I held the Reverend Mother’s gaze. The Orb of Truth flashed blue, but I didn’t even look down to see it. I just saw its glow reflected upon the elderly woman’s white eyes. She stared at me as my heart raced.

  As I hoped that this ploy worked. That she would not question me further— that she would not force me to repeat myself.

  I watched from the corner of my eye as her fingers twitched. The spell she held up against me flickered, shining brighter for a moment. My mind couldn’t help but flash with the worst possible outcome— that she had seen through my lie and chose to blow my head off.

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  However, that thought faded away as the light of her spell dimmed. And I internally let out a sigh of relief.

  “It appears you are telling the truth.”

  The Reverend Mother spoke softly, her voice no longer booming. She lowered her hand as I just smiled back at her.

  She believed me— of course she did. Why would she not? Everything else I had said would not have been corroborated by the Orb of Truth if not for my specific circumstances.

  The idea that I, a [Healer], could be the Death God would have been so asinine, it wouldn’t even cross the Reverend Mother’s mind. And that was before considering the idea of the Death God wanting to save the Goddess of Life instead of killing her…

  I just drew my hands back from the Orb of Truth as I eyed the elderly lady sitting before me.

  “So…” I started, looking at her expectantly.

  And she immediately bowed her head deeply.

  “I apologize for threatening your life, [Hero] Eli.”

  Her demeanor instantly changed. The tone in her voice was no longer that of doubt, nor did she have the commanding presence she carried beforehand. Instead, she spoke with reverence, keeping her head down as she apologized profusely.

  “I did not wish to threaten your life, [Hero] Eli, nor did I intend to speak to you with such condescension. However, for the safety of the Luna Gez Sect, I had to take the necessary precautions to protect the secrecy of our organization. Once again, I am truly sorry for my actions and words.”

  I just raised a hand placatingly as I nodded at the Reverend Mother. “It’s no worries, at all. I completely understand. Especially considering what you said about… Archbishop Walden? Tell me more about that.”

  The elderly lady straightened, regaining her previous composure. While she didn’t speak with the same commanding voice as before— there was no longer magic in her words compelling me to obey her— she still retained some authority in her demeanor.

  “Unfortunately, there is too much for me to explain, and even if you are the [Hero], you are still a child. In the future, we will discuss this matter. But for now, all you have to know is that Archbishop Walden cannot be trusted.”

  I pursed my lips. That was fair, considering that we had just met and I was in her view a potentially gullible child. But it was also… mildly annoying.

  Because I had initially thought that getting close to Archbishop Walden and succeeding him to become the head of the Church of Life would have helped me achieve my goal. However, by the sounds of it, that plan would be harder than I thought it would be to implement, since he apparently was capable of ruling for centuries, despite being only human.

  The Reverend Mother continued as she “As promised, we will offer you any and all of our resources now that you are an ally of the Luna Gez Sect. However, we will ask that you continue to keep your identity a secret, for revealing it to others will result in… complications.”

  I raised a brow when I heard that. I understood where she was coming from. But I also knew that she was trying to hide me from everyone else to keep me as only an asset of the Luna Gez Sect. After all, having the next [Hero] exclusively for herself would prove to be quite beneficial.

  So I just agreed, even if I had no intention of solely aligning myself with her.

  “Of course,” I said, before an idea crossed my mind. “But if it’s possible, can you at least get me an audience with the Lady of Light?”

  There was a moment of hesitation. A pause. Before, finally, the Reverend Mother responded.

  “...my apologies, but that would be difficult, [Hero] Eli. For you see, Archbishop Walden has full control over the Lady of Light. We will not be able to arrange a direct meeting between the two of you, however, in the future, perhaps we will be able to get you within her vicinity.”

  “That’s understandable.” I nodded as I thought about how I would even approach Aria.

  There were very many things I needed to talk to the Lady of Light about. Many questions I needed to ask her. And there were things I probably would have wanted to reveal to her in the future. After all, this cycle of fate— it related to her too.

  Even if she probably still hated me, I knew that she eventually would have to get involved in my plot. However, I would deal with it in the future. For now, I just tapped a finger on my chin.

  “How did you even figure this out anyway?” I asked as I gestured at myself.

  My question came from curiosity more than anything, but the information she relayed to me could be useful. And it was.

  “A [Divination] had told me that the next [Hero] would appear in the northeast,” the Reverend Mother explained. “That was where Sister Frida found you, and seeing what you accomplished as a mere child led her to believe you were the one we were looking for.”

  “I see…” I furrowed my brows when I heard that.

  I wondered if there were others who thought that I could be the [Hero] too. At the very least, I was certain Reverend Donovan probably thought this was the case— that was why he had been extremely generous to me, beyond me being just some prodigious [Healer].

  “Well, I believe that’s probably everything… unless you had more questions for me?” I asked, tilting my head.

  But the elderly lady shook her head. “There are other matters I would like to discuss with you, however they could be saved for the future. At the moment, there are other matters I have to attend to.”

  “Then we shall speak again, Reverend Mother,” I said as I drew back from the elderly lady. “Other than the part where you threatened my life, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

  “I apologize once again, [Hero] Eli. And worry not about your enrollment to the Holy Academy, we will ensure that you are admitted without a problem.”

  The Reverend Mother bowed her head once more, and I simply chuckled.

  “Thanks. I’ve had an extremely long day, and that reassurance is going to help me get some much-needed shut-eye.”

  And I really did have to thank her. Because there were a lot of things I had learned from this very brief discussion— a lot of things I had to consider too. And there were a lot of questions I was going to have to ask in the future as well.

  But right now, as I stood in the teleportation circle, the ground glowing beneath my feet, I focused on the most important thing that I had learned. It wasn’t anything about either Archbishop Walden or the Luna Gez Sect.

  Rather, it was that Aria the Lady of Light was no longer a [Hero]. And that, somewhere, out there, was the real [Hero].

  Perhaps I should have been concerned about the real [Hero] popping up and revealing themselves one day, getting me in trouble. However, considering what the Reverend Mother had said earlier, I actually found myself being reassured.

  Because there was only one person I could think of who could have been the true [Hero].

  The true child of fate.

  Hannah.

  It was only a guess on my end. But as I thought back to all those moments I shared with her— the strange secrets she had kept, and the odd things she used to say about her future— I knew I was right. I knew that she was the [Hero].

  A part of me couldn’t help but smile, knowing this. After all, despite being destined to kill me, she didn’t even bat an eye when she had discovered my true identity as the Death God.

  And as I recalled the blonde girl’s smiling face— as I thought of my sister who was always there for me— Ms Mary’s words before I left Velmond resounded in my head.

  “One day, in the distant future, you’ll meet Hannah again. It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when— fate wills it so.”

  Knowing what I did now, it made a lot more sense. And it only resolved me even further to ensure that the cycle of fate was broken. Because I knew Hannah would never raise a blade against me, no matter what.

  And I did not want her to suffer the consequences of defying her destiny. Not like when I tried to do the same.

  The teleportation circle flashed, transporting me out of the room as the final thought crossed my mind.