Dia looked at her status again, her eyes roving around the number that marked her lifespan. She, along with everyone else, had been staring at the number very closely. There was a reason for all this, naturally; she just couldn’t believe that her lifespan was now in the four-hundred-year mark. Prior to this, her lifespan had been just a bit more than a hundred years, so this was really, really awesome.

“All of that is going to vanish into your mana circuits soon, though,” a quiet voice spoke. “So why are you still staring at your status?”

“The same goes for you, Risti.” Dia folded her arms. “And I feel like staring at it, just because.”

Risti rubbed her nose. “Sorry. I think that came across as rude. I think I might have been asking myself this question when I posed it to you just now, though. I’ve been staring at it and wondering if it’s a waste of my lifespan to increase my strength.”

Dia paused. “Yeah.”

She had been thinking about that too. Four hundred years was a very long time. In this turbulent era, having such a long lifespan and living it through could mean that she would live through the end of an era and the beginning of a new one. She would be one of the few who could see and document history as it was being made.

“It’s quite the obvious question, I suppose.” Risti shook her head. “It’s a choice, isn’t it? Those announcements all but said it for us, I guess.”

“A choice, indeed.” Dia shook her head. “All under the heavens, let us rejoice. Leaders of armies, make your choice. Guides and bearers, await the drums. Seekers of change, raise your arms…it’s clear, isn’t it? That the five grand skies unsealed the ancient battlefields and freed the vast amounts of lifeforce for the people of this generation.”

Farah strode over with Schwarz as Dia let out a long sigh, and the two of them nodded at the countess and the bartender.

“Be that as it may, there is still an element of choice, is there not?” Schwarz shook his head. “Still, if the five grand skies are behind all this…to what extent were they behind all this, then?”

“Huh?”

Everyone turned to the bartender, who was nodding with a pleased expression. He flashed an irritating grin at everyone for a few seconds, and then sobered up. “What I mean by that is how far the five grand skies planned for this. I mean, it’s kinda clear that they had a hand in the whole thing, right? A few Bearers of Destiny had to die before both the Moons and the Dark could descend. The only question is how far their hands reached.”

He turned to Nero. “For instance, was this guy turning into the Third’s thrall part of the whole thing? I mean, by all accounts, the only reason why the Third died to Tot was becomes the Third Bearer of Destiny wanted to see his thrall-ified Holy Son of the Black God in action, right?”

“What, are you claiming that Tot is part of the five grand skies’ arrangements?” Dia asked.

“Yeah. Possible.” Schwarz paused. “The only thing that doesn’t quite fit in is Ruler Umbra’s death. But that aside, isn’t it fairly obvious? Rumours about Tot being involved in the Third and the Fourteenth’s death are flying around. It might not have made much sense to us back then, but now that I look back at it, it’s clear that the Third and the Fourteenth Bearers of Destiny were the Moons’ Bearer of Destiny. Their deaths were linked to the descent of the great Dark, after all.”

Dia nodded quietly, along with everyone else. From the very start, it was clear that the Bearers of Destiny all had their own allegiances. The Coloured Gods had their own Bearers of Destiny; so did the other two powers.

“Isn’t it possible that Tot is just one of the Dark’s Bearers of Destiny? I mean, he has struck at the Moons exclusively,” Risti pointed out. “That’s far more plausible than him being the agent of chaos for the five grand skies.”

Schwarz opened his mouth, paused, and then nodded. “That’s another possibility. But we are simply assuming that these two things are mutually exclusive, aren’t we? Who’s to say that one can’t be the errand boy of the Dark and the five grand skies at the same time?”

“So it might be both, huh.” Farah bobbed her head. “Still, Ruler Umbra’s death probably had nothing to do with it. Probably just some unfortunate circumstance.”

“I can’t quite see the folk hero who robs nobles and donates to the floor as an agent of the great Dark, though,” Risti replied.

“What about as the chosen of the five grand skies?” Schwarz replied. “That does fit, in my opinion.”

The four of them sat around and mulled over that for a moment. Dia, on her part, couldn’t really reconcile the legendary Tot as part of the faction that created blackened monsters and everything; it could just be a coincidence that Tot had targeted the Moons, right?

Naturally, everyone else had their own opinions about the issue too, so the outcome of their very…focused discussion was that no one would know for certain unless they asked Tot.

“Isn’t Nero awake yet?” Risti complained. “We’ve stayed all night to list out the many different identities of Tot, and he’s still not awake?”

“Well, he’s busy inheriting power, I suppose.” Schwarz shrugged. “Either that, or the Black God is suspending him in the air dramatically to show off or something. Go figure.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dia rolled her eyes and reached for the piece of paper that had all the different possibilities of Tot written down on it. It was a fairly long list, since their final discussion had yielded identities like Emperor Grandis’ lost child, since no effort on the Emperor’s part had been made to seek out Tot, amongst other amusing ones like a leader of some territory’s underworld and professional evil-hunter.

Dia really wanted to write something like ‘Anti-Limbo Specialist’ on that piece of paper, but it was no different from telling Schwarz and Farah about Limbo itself. In the end, Dia couldn’t help but notice that everyone’s suggested add-ons — which was mostly for fun at this point — were centred around Lily and Claud.

It was probably a subconscious sign of how everyone was missing their two friends.

Risti got up. “I’m going to get some drinks. Can we just start drinking in front of Nero already? He doesn’t have the willpower to withstand Schwarz’s drinks, and he’s definitely going to be extra frantic if we start drinking them in front of him.”

“Sure.” Schwarz pulled out a few bottles. “Here, one each for everyone. Don’t worry, those won’t make you drunk, but they’ll seem like the real deal.”

“I am never going to fall into a coma with you guys around me,” Dia muttered. “You guys are horrible.”

Shaking her head, she took the bottle and joined up with the others in disturbing the suspended Nero. There were many things that they could use to taunt him in the hopes of waking the unconscious Holy Son up, and Dia was on the verge of recounting the events of Daybreak County when a familiar, chilling voice spoke. “I hope I’m not disturbing anything.”

“No, you ar—” Schwarz paused and turned.

At the same time, a tremble ran down Dia’s spine as she remembered the source of the voice, and the merriment ended. Everyone slowly turned to the voice, which was a figure of red light.

“Y-you are…” Dia gulped.

The burning light faded away, revealing a young man with blazing red hair. “I am Lord Shuddh’s familiar spirit. I apologise for this…explosive entry.”

His face flickered a moment later. “I was teleporting towards the ancient battlefield when the fabric of space came across an unexpected ripple, shunting me here. I hope I’m not disturbing this ritual, mortals.”

“N-no…”

Dia didn’t know if the familiar spirit was lying, or was it really the ‘just nice’ coincidences that were at work here. Whatever the case, the glint in the familiar spirit’s eye told her that he knew who they were, up to and including their relationship to the First Bearer of Destiny’s death.

“Don’t let us keep you here, then,” Schwarz said, his face very still. “Do go on while we try to figure out what’s wrong with our friend.”

“This is amusing enough that I’m more than willing to stay and…help,” the familiar spirit replied, putting a lot of emphasis on that last word.

As the familiar spirit smiled at Dia and the others, a small little doubt wormed into her mind. Their previous meeting had been very violent, despite them being in the Moon Emissary’s territory. Yet, this time, the familiar spirit was clearly putting in some effort to be amicable.

Her eyes narrowed. If she didn’t get it wrong, this was due to the Moons’ descent. It was possible that the familiar spirit would be killed on the spot if he dared to make a move right here — all other considerations aside, any attempt to turn violent here would be perceived as a blatant insult to the Moons, right?

“You are an exalted familiar spirit,” Schwarz replied, his words slow and methodical. “Surely you have a lot of important things to do.”

“Oh, there are…I am, for instance, in the middle of trying to solve the murder of the First Bearer of Destiny.” The familiar spirit showed his back to them, before his head did a one-eighty to look at everyone.

Under the rising white moon, as the sound of bones cracking filled the air, his grotesque, stretched neck shimmered faintly. “Do you four know anything about it?”