Gulp

Felix gulped a mouthful in dread while removing that lewd grin from his face.

He wished for Lady Sphinx to appear but he didn't think that she would show herself while he was thinking of ways to abuse her ability for his pervy thoughts!

Yet, the Jörmungandr was actually the one shocked the most as he had yet to feel the presence of Lady Sphinx even though she was clearly awake!

He knew what could cause this and was displeased by the thought of it!

"Show yourself." He said while standing in disgruntlement.

"I am right here." 

A soft breath caressed the Jörmungandr's ear as Lady Sphinx emerged from behind him while placing her head on his shoulder.

Sigh...

"Even you?" The Jörmungandr sighed in disappointment while pushing her head away from his shoulder, making her displeased by his rough treatment.

"You will be surprised by how many decided to remain." Lady Sphinx said while taking a seat next to the dumbfounded Asna who had no f*cking clue what was going on.

Thud!! Splosh!

Just as the Jörmungandr wanted to reply, Felix's body smashed right into the lake beside them, drenching them all at once...Even Lady Sphinx received some welcoming drops on her face and hair.

"Welcome Lady Sphinx to my humble conscious....Yalp!" Felix's innocent smile as he spoke was frozen immediately after noticing the mess he created and the displeased glare he was receiving from Lady Sphinx.

Before Felix could worry about his life after his shitty first impression got even worse, Lady Sphinx pointed at an empty chair and ordered Felix, "Sit."

Not wanting to aggravate her any further, Felix swiftly sat with his head lowered, preferring to avoid looking at her face for now.

"I will deal with you later." Lady Sphinx said indifferently to Felix and turned back to the Jörmungandr with a faint charming smile.

"Why bother come to the pact meeting in the first place and take it with us if you are going to just go against it?" The Jörmungandr asked calmly.

"Jörmi, don't be stupid." Lady Sphinx placed a leg above another and confessed, "I had no intentions to off myself like all of you. I came to the pact meeting simply because I have reached a roadblock in my research and I needed some fresh inspiration and breather."

The more Felix heard, the faster his heartbeat got as he started to understand the gest of their conversation and what it represents.

"I could imagine you doing so." The Jörmungandr smiled wryly and said, "I am happy that you had something to live for till this day, unlike me."

"That's only natural." Lady Sphinx said with a tingle of obsession, "Why would I kill myself when I have yet to discover even 20% of the Universe secrets?"

"20%?" The Jörmungandr raised his eyebrow in surprise, "You have truly gone a long way. I am genuinely impressed."

"I am still not knowledgeable enough." Lady Sphinx said humbly, appearing like she truly meant it.

That made Jörmungandr respect her even more as he understood that 20% of the universe's secrets was already an achievement that he never thought was possible.

If his knowledge could be compared to the Sphinx, he knew that he wouldn't have even 1% of what she owned. 

"Can you tell me what happened after the pact?" The Jörmungandr frowned his eyebrows, "You said that many others decided to reign it. I doubt that all of them had the same reason as you. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to take it with us."

Alas, the only response he received was Lady Sphinx's expression turning playful as she said, "Some try to hide, some try to cheat; but time will show, we always will meet. Try as you might to guess my name."

"After all this time, you still haven't changed this annoying habit of yours."

The Jörmungandr facepalmed in vexation after remembering that she had said more than ten sentences since the moment she showed herself.

That meant, a riddle must be answered. Otherwise, she would not entertain his questions for at least a day.

"Am I, Destiny, Time, or Death?" Lady Sphinx asked with a playful smile.

Before Felix or Asna could even think about the content of the Riddle, the Jörmungandr replied nonchalantly, "It's death. I am way too familiar with him."

"I gave you an easy one since we haven't met for at least a billion years now." Lady Sphinx clapped her hands elegantly for a second before saying, "I will tell you later about the aftermath of the pact. Do know that you won't like it one bit."

"Alright." The Jörmungandr said with a frown.

Upon hearing so, Lady Sphinx turned her head to Asna and joked, "Your race has been giving me alot of trouble recently."

"Oh? How so?" Asna tilted her head in confusion.

"How can I find out about the universe's secrets when they are watching over the laws like hound dogs?" Lady Sphinx sighed in irritation, "Especially Space and Time Unigin Guardian."

"Well, it's their duty." Asna shrugged her shoulders lazily.

"How about you?" Lady Sphinx asked Asna, "Why are you here instead of doing your duty? Is this your way of avoiding the universe's deduction to laze around?" 

"Oh? You didn't read this idiot's memories?" Asna said while pointing her finger at Felix who was sweating buckets from his forehead.

Meanwhile, his thoughts had been in disarray the instant he concluded from their conversation that Lady Sphinx was still ALIVE!!

He always assumed that she was dead since the Jörmungandr told him that he saw her in the pact meeting, but it seemed like he got bamboozled just like the Jörmungandr!

What's worse, he had no f*cking clue what she was going to do to him now!

Forget about the Sand Manipulation, Felix was fearing for his life!

If it wasn't for the elder's promise that he would be fine, Felix would have been left without tears to cry.

Right now, he decided to keep his head low and listen to their conversation until she addresses him personally.

"I was in the process of doing so before Jörmi decided to act like a pervert." Lady Sphinx said.

The Jörmungandr coughed while fixing his chess pieces, acting like he didn't hear her.

Asna chuckled and said, "I will tell you about the story later on. It's a long one."

Lady Sphinx nodded her head and smiled playfully to Asna, "This thing all things devour; birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays kings, ruins towns; and beats high mountains down."

"What am I? Armies, Time, Nature?" Lady Sphinx rested her cheeks on her palms while staring at Asna in anticipation.

"You better answer it or she will ignore you for 24 hours straight." The Jörmungandr advised while pondering on the riddle.

"It's easy." Asna answered smugly, "It's Time! Because it's the only thing that is universal when it came to devouring all things."

"Correct." Lady Sphinx smiled beautifully and turned her attention to Felix, making him flinch in his place.

Upon reading his thoughts, her tone turned cold all of a sudden, "Idiot, you think I will kill you just because you collected a tiny piece of my consciousness?"

"You won't?" Felix raised his head with a relieved expression.

"No, but I will kill you for disturbing my focus when I was concocting an important potion." She narrowed her eyes frigidly and said, "You have no idea how I struggled to collect the materials for that potion and now it's all gone because of you."

Felix felt like he was thrown into the depth of despair after hearing so. His body started trembling while his heart started pumping adrenaline, wanting to help him escape from those two cold eyes.

He knew that she meant business and his life was attached by a piece of string!

"Elder, elder, It was truly no intentional." Scared shitless, Felix bowed his head deeply until it almost touched the table, but he still was apologizing, "If I knew that Elder was alive, I would have never ever considered bothering you like this! Truly!"

"I don't care if you apologized once or a billion times." Lady Sphinx crossed her arms above her and proclaimed, "It will not bring back my materials."

"Killing me will also not bring them back." Felix said tearfully while pointing at Asna and the Jörmungandr, "If you killed me, you will end up killing them both."

Lady Sphinx glanced at them and said speechlessly, "Do they look like they care about dying?"

Felix was left horrified when he saw that none of them seemed like they were bothered by it!

He could understand that the Jörmungandr didn't care much if he died now or a couple of months but seeing Asna's nonchalance, made him realize that she was probably starting to get depressed in his consciousness space.

Alas, he had no time to think about Asna's matters when his life was on the line.

'Elder, save me!' Felix beseeched in his mind, 'You said that I will be fine when I awaken her since you are here!'

'Cough, that's before I knew that she wasn't dead.' The Jörmungandr said with a wryly smile, 'With her being alive in real life, her consciousness could easily overpower mine since I am just a tiny piece while she could channel all of her mental energy from her real body...Stopping her is just impossible.'

Felix almost flipped the table after hearing so. He still remembered the Jörmungandr's face when he promised him confidently that he would be alright!

But seeing him scratching his beard in silence, made Felix realize that he was as unreliable as him!