Another five minutes passed before Adryan showed any signs of life again.
Sitting down on the yellowed floor with a grunt, he summoned the two containers beside him and broke the seal on each one.
Resting his cheek on his palm, he watched, squinting, as the photograph floated about 45 centimeters from his face.
"This is going to be a pain…" Adryan grumbled, tapping his cheek.
Although both were 'Evil Gods,' the True Creator and Cheek were not allies. At best, they had a bitter business relationship that could be severed with a single breath.
The redhead pressed a few fingers against his forehead and made circular motions, trying to massage his brain through the skin, flesh, and bone.
'I'll be the fall guy.
'He's not openly showing His animosity toward Cheek, but He's letting me do it. Naturally, that neutered dog and I have quite a few issues with each other, so she won't think twice if I get in her way.
'This way, if Cheek is the one to claim victory in the competition for the throne of Origin of Disasters, True won't have to worry about bad blood with her.'
Adryan saw the logic in this.
Realistically speaking, Cheek was the one most likely to become a Great Old One.
He was now a mere Sequence 5, while Medici was just an ingredient in a bodiless soup. Neither of them was an investment guaranteed to yield a return in the future.
From the way the True Creator had addressed him, He had a slight bias toward him. But that could change at any moment.
Having lost everything by betting on Solomon, while also being sealed away for over one Epoch, it was only natural that True would want as many cards as possible in His deck.
And if that was the case, Adryan could see the god's vision.
'Do you plan to capture Trissy to take advantage of her special relationship with Cheek? Since she's a vessel prospect, perhaps you want to take advantage of that mystical connection to launch an attack that would harm her at a moment you deem appropriate…'
Slowly, the corners of the man's lips lifted into a sly smile. His eyes gleamed with the edge of a dagger.
'For example, when the future Red Priest goes to claim the missing piece of the Calamity of Destruction~'
"Pfft—" Suppressing his laughter, his eyes narrowed sweetly, "I admit, that's clever of you. But don't you think it's a little unfair?
"I'll have to take the blame for meddling in the Demoness Sect's plans in exchange for just a few drops of blood? You know, the price of sacrificing my comfort is higher than that. I'm not cheap.
"Anyway…
"Do you seriously think I'll let you have something as valuable as that?"
Since he was being forced onto the dance floor without any prior practice, he would enter with style and steal the show in his own way.
And what better way than to take for himself what the True Creator desired?
Obviously, the Rapper didn't exactly want Trissy Cheek.
While she was a vessel prospect, that was all she was. A prospect with no special connection to Cheek other than her name. To fulfill that purpose, she needed something else to complete the picture.
No, what the True Creator truly desired was the ring she wore. That ring was the true mystical connection to Cheek.
And that would be exactly what Adryan would take for himself, along with a little of Trissy's blood.
Pausing his thoughts for a moment, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"It doesn't seem like He knows I read the original story…"
Although the True Creator knew he possessed a certain amount of high-level information—since He had concealed Trissy Cheek's true name—the true extent of it remained unknown. Which was like a nice terere in the summer for Adryan: extremely refreshing and hydrating.
'So far, I know two things for certain: that He knows I'm a "modern person" and that I carry the City of Calamities.
'It's unlikely He knows everything I have in my head… If that weren't the case, He wouldn't have risked asking me to deal with Madam Sharon, knowing what that entails.'
Reading between the lines, it was clear that his "payment" for doing that was the body and characteristics of a Sequence 6 Demoness of Pleasure. Meanwhile, the fallen god would take Trissy and the Ring for the future.
Unfortunately for the Rapper, He should have specified that He also wanted the ring instead of hiding the information.
Now it was a free game.
Adryan would leave Trissy to Him while taking the ring for himself.
The question was, where to keep something so dangerous?
Not even on his worst day would he dare to keep something like that in his Calamity Wardrobe.
Klein had stored several of Amon's time worms in the Sefira Castle, but that only happened after killing them and severing their special connection to the God of Deception, turning them into mere high-level materials.
Ideally, Adryan preferred the ring to remain "alive" so he could use it in the future.
The special connection that ring had with Cheek might be severed while it was in the sefira, but that was just a probability he wasn't willing to bet on.
So the solution was clear: the first step was to find a way to seal it and have someone else keep it.
'If the Tamara Family had access to their Grade 0 artifacts, I wouldn't even think twice. Given their history with the Demoness Sect, there's no doubt they'd gladly do it if it meant getting revenge for over 1,000 years of being hunted. But, unfortunately, that won't be possible. In their current state, they can't handle the ring.
'The Hermits of Fate… Pfft. Yeah, right. There's no way I'd hand over something that valuable to them. Besides, these guys are too busy with the little raven to worry about anything else.
'Maybe Will? He should have his own methods for dealing with something like the ring, given that he was able to keep something as dangerous as the Die of Probability at bay when he was just a baby snake. It's in his best interest that I have every possible advantage when I face Cheek. Of all of them, he's my best bet. Even if he refuses, I lose nothing; I'll finally know the extent of his investment in me…'
Chicho was there too. As an Angel of both the Death and Door Pathways, she could undoubtedly seal the ring and keep it safe. But Adryan didn't even consider her.
He didn't trust her.
Her reasons for becoming his messenger were still unknown. The fact that she called him "Lord" meant nothing if he had no idea what she was looking for.
At least with the Hermits of Fate, Adryan knew what they wanted and could get a sense of their way of thinking.
From a Phoenix, he had absolutely nothing.
'Until I have more information about her, it's best to avoid involving her in this kind of problem' Nodding slightly, the redhead summoned the origami bird to his side with a thought, preparing to take it out shortly.
Having done that, he focused his attention on the mutated finger floating a meter away from him. Bringing it closer with a slight movement of his hand, Adryan enveloped his hand in a thin layer of yellowish smoke and carefully picked up the finger.
As soon as he made contact with it, one eyebrow rose.
'It's like touching a rotten fruit—it's full of juice…'
One of the several vials he kept here flew into his free hand, and carefully, the redhead held the mutated finger over it and applied a little pressure.
Fush!
A short but surprisingly strong jet of blood shot out from the 'tail' of the finger, easily filling half the metal vial.
Shaking the vial slightly, the redhead observed the blood with interest.
It was a darker red than normal blood. Black specks swirled in it like seeds, and bubbles appeared from time to time; each time they burst, they gave off a strong odor that, contrary to what he expected, smelled like wine.
'My body is the bread and my blood the wine?' Somewhat curious about this, Adryan shook his head with a sigh as he capped the vial and set it aside.
Right now, Serena wasn't in a state where it was safe for her to consume the potion, so he would wait until at least Sunday to give her the ingredients.
Having done that, he brought in the soldier who had been in charge of Serena's training and handed him the origami bird. With everything ready, he closed his eyes, visualizing the sphere in his mind, and let himself fall.
…
When he opened them again, the apartment ceiling was the first thing he noticed. Followed by a voice tinged with curiosity.
"Are you done?"
"More or less," Adryan sighed and stretched, brushing his hair away from his face. Ignoring the several braids it now had, he got up from the sofa where he'd been lying. "I will go to the bathroom for a moment."
Glancing over his shoulder, he smiled at the white-haired woman. "I won't be long."
"Mm," taking a gentle sip of her strawberry juice, Flora Jacob watched silently as the man's back disappeared down the hallway toward the room they shared.
Sitting across from the older woman, with her own glass of juice, Hazel Match tilted her head, interested. "Teacher Adryan takes very short naps, doesn't he?"
"Hunters don't need as much rest because of the physical enhancements they undergo." Flora calmly answered the young lady's question, picking up one of the sandwiches from the side table and taking a bite.
The princess had told her a few days ago that he planned to go to the Aurora Order gathering, and that he would use one of the Monarch's soldiers to buy ingredients for a promotion for one of the team members.
The way he would use it would leave his body exposed, so he had asked the brat and her to look after him.
'…' Biting into the ham and cheese sandwich, her gaze grew deep.
'Something happened at the gathering'
Her partner's face and the lack of teasing upon waking were not normal.
'Why did he come back so withdrawn?' Her pupils trembled slightly as a memory suddenly flashed into her mind.
She clearly remembered the expression the Princess had worn when he received the Hanged Man's Card of Blasphemy; he wore a similar one when he woke up just now.
'Could it have something to do with the True Creator?'
She wasn't naive.
Her condition after the battle against the Rose School of Thought wasn't something she could recover from with just a few hours of sleep. With the presence of the Card of Blasphemy, Flora knew who it was that had healed her that day.
'The Scarlet Monarch and the True Creator have some kind of relationship. Does the Princess have to do something related to that?'
If that was the case, what kind of mission had he been entrusted with to elicit that reaction?
Closing her eyes, the Jacob took a bite of her sandwich.
When she opened them again a minute later, the princess had already left the hallway and was taking his place back on the sofa.
Flora watched him silently as her gray gaze fell to the man's hands. Her glass froze against her lips.
'Urghhh.' Suppressing her disgust, she took a rather large sip of juice.
Hazel looked at the object in his hands curiously, "A paper bird? Do you do crafts, Teacher?"
"Something like that," Adryan laughed softly, lying down with the origami on his chest.
Before falling asleep, he looked at the Jacob, but she shook her head.
Without asking why, he simply nodded almost imperceptibly and, lost in thought, fell asleep—this time, for real.
Lowering her glass to her lap, Flora silently watched the juice inside.
'Ask an Archangel for help, or at least ask something…'
She had 'forgotten' something. Although it would be more accurate to say she had a 'barrier' preventing her from thinking about anything related to it, thanks to Archbishop Thaddeus.
She might not remember it. But the fact that trying to think of a reason why the Princess had to speak with a Sequence 1 Angel would cause that gap in her memory to surface was all Flora needed.
Somehow, it was related to the Demoness Sect.
'There goes my peace. Again' Sighing, Flora raised the glass to her lips and drank what little was left.
…
Inside the blue-walled children's room, on top of the bed with sheets of the same color, two occupants sat face-to-face.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Adryan looked at the boy calmly.
"Is it possible for you to hide a Cheek Ring for a while?"
"Ahhh…" Groaning, Will Auceptin buried his face in his hands; in a muffled voice, he complained, "Is this why you're bothering me at this hour?"
"It's 1:30 in the afternoon. What does a 12-year-old have to do at this hour besides eating glue?"
"I don't eat glue!" Looking up suddenly, the black-eyed boy shot him a hard look, "And I'm 14, just so you know!"
Pat Pat
"Okay, okay, don't cry," Adryan rolled his eyes, patting the boy's blond hair.
Will's face went blank at this gesture, but the man in front of him didn't stop. When the hand was about to go for the 15th time, he grabbed it and slowly pushed it away.
Taking a deep breath, the angelic boy scratched his neck, "It won't be complicated. Demoness has never been welcomed by fate, so hiding something like that will be easy."
'Cheek is not welcome by fate? I know she cursed fate for her luck, but to this extent? How bad is her luck that a Snake of Mercury would say that?' For a moment, Adryan felt that perhaps his title of "Unlucky Bastard" belonged to someone else.
Then, the boy let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Adults are all annoying. They can't even get off their couches to go get something, so they call the little ones to hand it to them. Children aren't servants!"
Unable to help himself, the redhead burst out laughing at the pout.
Oh, how many times had he pestered Cruyff when he was younger to pass him the remote or a glass of soda?
Seeing him laugh out of nowhere, Will snorted, "Besides being annoying, they're also weird."
"Did you say something?" Without hiding his amusement, Adryan held up two fingers and made a pinching motion.
Immediately, Will bit his lip and looked away. "Nothing!"
"That's what I thought." Rolling his eyes, the redhead lowered his fingers and rested his cheek against his palm. All playfulness left his face.
"Any future disaster I should know about? Like, regarding Azshara?"
The snake boy struck a deep-thinking pose, a finger under his chin with his head tilted back.
"Mmm." After 10 seconds, the boy shook his head vigorously.
"Nope! A lot of big players are involved, so it's hard to see anything without risking detection. But I have a recommendation if you want to hear it"
'Oh' The redhead's interest spiked noticeably; lowering his hand, he nodded, "What is it?
"Don't let Cheek catch you"
Pap
The man's palm smacked the boy's neck.
"Be serious, brat"
"Hehe." Scratching his head, Will nodded.
His smile faded considerably, and he spoke in a deep voice.
"Be careful of the Hidden Sage"
'A warning from Will…' Nodding, Adryan placed a hand over his heart. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks.
"I'll let you know when I get the ring. I hope it doesn't interfere with your sleep."
"Give me three kilos of vanilla ice cream, and I'll be fine." Will waved his hand dismissively, but his eyes sparkled with anticipation.
The redhead knew why, and he had only one thing to say.
"Just make sure you brush your teeth well, or you might get cavities."