Several nights counted without any sign of Niel's return.

Dozens of heavy tasks I completed in those days that had passed.

As… If I were to say that I just have to always believe, then I would only torture not even one but myself. That I even felt regret much more than I had ever anticipated before…

I mean, there were just too many things that were still unclear as to how long I have to keep working on them, while it's still not one hundred percent certain to be able to solve the problem I was currently thinking about for that guy, Niel.

That uncertainty was the thing that woke me up the most…

Where many elders actually gave me too many personal orders such as to take them to the place they wanted to visit as if they still thought that I didn't sacrifice anything just for the sake of teleporting, the only thing they could always do was just smile proudly while doing something expensive with their current highest authority within the sins taker organization.

They didn't even care if it was a win for the world, they were just happy to have their name credited in something so important.

Those elders even dared to change so many rules that Edward had previously enacted. And not only myself, but all of their people… The Sins Taker members were all also ordered to work two to three times as much as usual each day.

Unfortunately all of that only reduced at most five percent of all the chaos that existed in the world at that time…

That’s why the elders then recruited a lot of thinkers, devised some quite many wise plans, and also inaugurated a whole new enactment about the carriers which Edward seemed to always put off when he still had a fair amount of authority in the sins taker.

Yet Edward remained as their main leader, since the other elders even until now still had insufficient reasons to overthrow him, and the investigation into the whereabouts of the great carrier of dimension was still a long process.

Coupled with a device that measures the number of souls of carriers that had just been created… Edward proved to have never killed anyone before so that his humanity is now no longer in question, all of that was just enough to do nothing but delay Edward from regaining his position if only the issue with that girl named Aisha managed to bring Edward out of his chair somehow.

For that matter, because Edward no longer had authority over the great carriers, at that time the elders decided to immediately inaugurate that one special team of great carriers that they had long hoped for to come true…

But they first apologized to me because it only took a few days for those elders to come back disbelieving my warning about getting the great carrier involved too much in mundane affairs, then they asked me to invite Niel to join in right away, coming back with the bullshit that is, "He needs to make sacrifices to save this whole world… So do we all…"

~~~~~

Maybe the only thing they hoped for was just an outcome beyond what Edward had been resisting, to make him appear inferior to their own… To seize the man's position…

All that matters is that I can't think even of a single noble reason behind it all, other than just personally, to irritate myself with them…

“Then… If you guys really want to do a test run, then use me… I don't care about your selfishness towards money and position, do whatever you want to make it happen but leave Niel alone and use me instead… Use me as a weapon as much as you want.”

At the time I didn't really know why I could say those words out loud in front of all those disgusting faces, but there are just so many different reasons that I could be bothered to think about… Luckily, I know that I don't need them as long as my goals are very clear since the very beginning…

Yet because of that decision, I met six people in robes and masks with different models for each person including myself. They and I were the great carriers that the elders asked to team up while hiding our own identities from the others, ever since the thinkers they had, advised them to say the same command.

“There is no name to spread, no power to tell… Our job is just to comply with every order they give…” A sentence one of us said to the rest, where the only order those elders gave back then was just to harvest souls in order to strengthen us, their own living weapons.

~~~~~

To begin the implementation, we were ordered to execute prisoners with the number of souls above five in all sins taker bases around the world.

There were seven of us, while in each base there were only about four to five criminals who met the criteria set by the elders for us to execute… Not much, but we all got our share.

Every time I looked at the hands that those six great carriers had before beheading the prisoners, the trembling of their bodies resounded as if their own humanity spoke to everyone…

At first they were afraid to kill…

But once the blood of at least four different people evaporated on each of their swords, anyone could notice that they were enjoying it even more… That's where I witnessed the full process of a carrier losing his humanity.

Unfortunately when I saw the two hands I had myself, I actually forgot since when I didn't tremble after killing someone before… I forgot to pay attention to myself…

Then by the end of this opening mission, the number of souls we had collected each was already over fifty… And the elders still want much more than that.

~~~~~

For the plan… Just only a few days after all of their members were given three times the previous working hours, all the same sins takers were then ordered to descend on cities around the world, incognito or not, identifying all the criminals who had enough crimes for the elders to judge by themselves.

Meetings between each respective state leaders were held all over the world without any exception with the schedules of one and the other all pressed together. Every elder and his thinkers somehow managed to draw all the hands of the nations' leaders to comply with their invitation to eliminate the existence of all criminals from the whole world even if it has to be by illegal means… With this world being completely influenced by magic and all senseless things, with the position of the sin takers taking care of all matters regarding carriers…

It probably wouldn't be difficult for them to use lies since it could never be proven wrong by anyone, since no one knows the evolution of this fantasy world better than the leaders of The Sins Taker themselves.

I once heard how they seduce… The elders said words as if they were willing to bear all the responsibility and sins of the one evil plot.

Yet unfortunately… Their mass death judgment ceremony with us, the great carriers as the executioners, failed because something suddenly disappeared from their plan… Something that literally became the object of the mission…

Edward had taken all the criminals out of this world along with himself.

~~~~~

Taking a part as someone who has the authority of all the demons and the devils, Edward ruined his own image as if he wanted to show what he could do if he really wanted to do so… Truly like a threatening sentence to those hypocritical and greedy old humans, suddenly the elders and their well-paid thinkers shuddered at what Edward knew while they didn't…

They have nothing but to keep their mouths shut… Precisely, they don't have any plan as the reason why they covered the matter temporarily from all the media.

~~~~~

They were just angry and they wanted to tell the world that a demon lord had been bothering them… But the ears of the elders were too red with those praises and with their thinkers too afraid to be blamed for the disappearance of so many people from society itself.

They were at a loss as to whether to accept the praise or blame the demon lord…

I mean, it was true that they had enough reasons to make Edward the enemy of all humanity, as well as topple him from that top position within the Sins Taker organization… But they themselves had no room in their each own heads to think about it, other than to ask themselves, "What kind of man could overnight make all those murderer criminal carriers disappear from all over the world?"

That now they could only fear what they had actually dared to fight…

I know, because I was there… In the midst of many well-paid people arguing and blaming each other, standing up and admitting that I myself felt a little acknowledging the impossible thing that Edward had just managed to do…

Or… Did it all come from someone who had been controlling Edward all this time?

I don’t really care, yet it sure sounded a lot more plausible to happen… But the important thing that I understood at that time was that my concern turned out to be true, not to directly confront a fellow great carrier, especially someone like Edward.

Maybe that was the reason why Edward wasn't too willing to take care of me being a threat to himself, because he also knew there would be something as bad as what these elders received from him… That is death itself that comes to them.

~~~~~

Originally there were ten elders who were sent by their respective countries to join the Sins Takers. Some countries refuse, the rest are countries that can no longer be helped. Several months passed, and the number of elders only increased by four…

But then they were killed one by one.

Where in all the news it was said that they were killed by a nameless terrorist organization, but it was even Edward's own illusion that had come to show itself to us, claiming that he was the one who had done all of this and intending to keep doing the same thing until all the elders died, or agreed to the deal…

That is to be silent and obedient to Edward only as puppets in his authority.

Of course it was rejected by some for reasons of nothing but hypocrisy, they believed too much that I could hide them somewhere safe with my teleportation abilities, which I actually could have done easily, but they just had too much faith in me that I would…

Well…

Yes, it's true that I ended up doing it anyway, but I just wanted to say that they were overconfident about it…

So at last, I had no comment other than obeying their orders, a villa in a secluded place was bought only to be filled by cowards who still hope to earn even more money in the future.

But at that time, back there again… Before the illusion dissipated, he glanced at my eyes as if he had been struggling not to look at me even though he knew I was there…

That's why after the meeting, I tried my luck to go inside that empty white room again…

~~~~~

“Though I was so sure you wouldn't have come by instinct, or even just by chance. But here you are… Evelin. Well. yeah… I'm actually quite surprised you knew I'd be here.”

“Is it really that hard to say directly that you want to talk to me? You know, I don’t understand you. And I'm still confused about what exactly the mindsets of each party, between you and those elders in this stupid organization are… All of you are truly paranoid and obnoxious freaks. Especially you Edward. I don't know what exactly you're planning… Yet I don't-”

“Well of course. You're just a teenage girl with no adult speculation and no planning experience after all… There's no way you'll ever understand.”

I remember Edward's words that cut off my voice were just overly confident.

So I finish my sentences, “Yet… I don’t care about all of those things… That’s what I was trying to say.”

There Edward’s illusion was silent but not too surprised…

Which was the reason why I felt even more annoyed.

And as if not heeding my words, it walked around looking at Edward’s old office which had previously been vacated by the authorities.

It said, “By the way… I heard about you sacrificing yourself so those greedy old army veterans wouldn't touch Daniel for his own power. I mean, is that actually the only plan you have there, kid? If that’s really the thing, you know that’s just sound stupid…”

“That’s not all… And what you all are looking for is not power, it is nothing but a curse.”

“I know… Doesn't that sound even better?”

Two magical ice spikes suddenly pierced through the fleshless body…

Shattering the window pane behind him, his gaze seemed to be disappointed with my emotions that were too easy to trigger. “It's very kind of you, allowing those two of Daniel's friends to spend their days with him while you are fighting here without a single plan being thought of, under the hands of those corrupt humans.”

“Are you trying to persuade me to join you?”

“Not really. Well at least, right now I’m not asking… Since I already have someone. But yet you know there is no hope for yourself as long as you remain their slave, Evelina.”

“I’m no slave to anyone. I did all of this because I was… Planning… Something…”

“So you do have a real plan? What kind?”

There was no way I could just say anything to Edward, so I chose to remain silent.

But I was once thinking, that… If only I had given him even just a little bit of the hint for that thing… What would actually happen? What am I really going to lose?

“If… Just considering how you really are, Edward… If the power of the great carrier of knowledge is indeed as strong as you often talk about… Or if you really don't trust anyone in this whole world… You should also be aware that all of that information was deliberately falsified by this mysterious great carrier who knows everything, right? Didn't you ever suspect that he told you anything but the truth about Niel's power that actually can no longer be passed on to anyone?”

Did I make my point there?

“Yes, but it's precisely because I don't trust anyone that I don't care whether it's true or not… I only want to protect someone who is important to myself so you can see that I am now willing to go to the trouble of doing all these stupid things by myself… What exactly can you tell about it, after all? You all know nothing about me.”

So he also has someone who is being used as a hostage?

Who?

“Your daughter?”

“... It’s… Complicated… You'll never understand.”

That was the first time I'd ever heard Edward sound tense and really wanted to be honest with anyone before.

I mean, he was just like me.

Who was giving a little hint to each of the problems that we had… He was also trying to ask for help with something he really didn't expect would be able to have a different ending. But I just had no desire to budge and help anyone before my wish was granted first.

So, “I just want to say that Niel is no ordinary great carrier. He had the consciousness of a goddess still alive in his soul. That’s why though not everything, he knew quite a bit about the cause and effect of all of this stuff that had passed in this world and the other before it. One of those things was that his death would bring suffering itself to an end with him. And when that happens, then you alone are left to imagine how a world that hurts and tortures each other without anyone feeling tormented will look like…”

“And how do you know that this goddess is not inciting Daniel? How do you know that all of those things that sound too suspicious when it’s coming out of the mouth of a goddess who literally rules over the suffering doesn't want to make the world suffer?”

“Because that goddess who died was me… And this god inside my soul knows that goddess very well. Edward… It makes sense that you would never believe everything I just said or even use it against myself, but you are right about it… That this whole thing is really very complicated. It's even more complicated than what you've been expecting… I just want you to take the side you won't regret.”

When I saw Edward’s illusion, who seemed to be thinking so much about everything I said earlier, I asked myself, "Did I make it?" Because Edward once had an instinct that came from someone deep inside his soul to entrust me and Niel… The two of us, to save his own daughter.

So was it really that hard to trigger it a second time?

“For the sake of saving the world, huh?” Edward showed his wry laugh when expressing an opinion as if he thought it was impossible.

So I made it clear to myself, “Everyone is trying to save the world or at least that's just their excuse.”

“Yeah, yeah… I know… That’s my point, can’t you see?”

“But I am here to save Niel for my own sake.”

“Sure. Of course you are… That's why we will never be on the same side.”

Awh… So it’s all no use then?

“But do you really think Daniel will be happy with what you've been doing with those idiot elders, Evelin? Whatever you're doing here is something that boy has been preventing from happening to himself… And burdening it all on yourself instead, will just only make him feel guilty for the rest of his own life.”

“Yeah, but it's all worth it…”

It’s all worth it?

Did I just really say that!?

Well, you stupid girl… Of course it’s not!

With the twilight slowly penetrating the soulless body, dazzling my eyes…

Edward chuckled more and even more as if he was starting to insult himself deep down for something he couldn't even put into words.

The rest of the sentences that were created were just obligatory, as he said, “I see… Then there is nothing more for the two of us to talk about here. Since from the very beginning I calmly spoke to you, completely only because I was being professional with the task that had been assigned to me. If it weren't for that, our conversation should be centered around hostility. Sorry for being honest, Evelin.”

There again his hint…

So why don’t you… “Edward. If you're really looking for someone to help…”

“I’m not.”

Yeah… Unfortunately, “I'm one hundred percent sure you'd think I'd say Daniel would help you, but no… If you really need help, it's me. Edward, let me help you.”

Hearing the once-in-a-lifetime offer, that man instead chose to laugh even louder.

“You don't even have any plans to save Daniel... Let alone yourself. What will you do? You know you have nothing to offer, right?”

“I will help you to get Daniel to help you.”

Bullseye…

There he finally fell silent, looking too caught up in a gasp as if those words were exactly what he had been wanting to hear from my mouth.

But, “No. I don’t need anything from you or anyone at all.”

Edward again refused, as if he didn't like the feeling of being defeated.

Maybe this man underestimated me too much and expected all of it, exactly the same thing only from Niel…

Whether it was the pride of the god soul he had, or because he thought I was really just a stupid young girl… To be honest, I also didn't understand why he was annoyed, and instead refused what he really wanted from Niel and I… But I also didn't want it to end in vain.

Mutual benefit and mutual assistance are the best I should try to get from this man, but if it's really that hard...

“Then… If you really don't want to believe everything I just said before… At least you should know, Edward. That all the things that the curse needs in its vessel as its successor, will never be found anywhere no matter how you look for them, other than in the two of Niel’s best friends, Fanya and Deo. As long as they exist, then all those bad people will never stop trying to take the curse out of Niel's body… And when that happens, your daughter will have no better place than the world she is in today to grow up.”

“You have no right to attribute anything about all this nonsense to my daughter. So watch your mouth. The end of the world, will… Wait… Don’t you say… That’s… Your actual plan? That's it… That’s your only way to save the boy… Right?! Are you…? Evelin… You want them to die, don't you? Daniel’s own friends?”

I didn't mean to say it out loud, but there was no way I could fool Edward and keep my eyes straight when I couldn't tell the truth about myself. So I didn't really care if Edward realized that in the first place…

Yet…

“I don't want Niel to hate me, it's the only thing I can never accept even if the whole world has to hate myself… But the two of them were also not worthy of Niel's protection until he was tormented like he is now!”

“And you think I'd kill them for you?”

“I don't know what else to do to make you believe… I beg you Edward… Please help me.”

I cried…

All the sense of courage and determination that I had suddenly collapsed, the despair was eating away at me from within just to beg for mercy.

All of that…

“Because I love him so much…”

~~~~~