Part 1: Fate
The scene shifted back toward Haruto in the central district of the kingdom.
Haruto and Rebecca do the same thing for some weeks, spending their afternoons together around the city.
They enjoyed their time together as Haruto continued to show her endless kindness and attention.
And through those gentle interactions, Rebecca become more comfortable with Haruto, lowering her guard entirely.
And after the 3rd week had passed, something changed in her usual routine.
Rebecca didn't come out from the church at all during her usual free hours.
Haruto went directly to the church to find her.
And inside the quiet sanctuary, he saw Rebecca was sitting on a wooden bench all by herself.
He goes towards her with slow, quiet steps.
And ask her what was wrong.
She was very sad, her head hanging low and her eyes red from holding back tears.
She told Haruto in a trembling voice.
"In some weeks ago, Valker goes fainted during a mountain patrol..."
"And he hasn't wake up for some weeks now."
"The higher authority of the cathedral don't tell me anything till now."
"I only known it from Valker's friend by accident."
"And I ask him directly because I was so worried about Valker and where he was taken."
"Now I am sad, wondering what could worst happen with him."
"I don't know if he will ever wake up or not..."
Haruto looked at her with a gentle, reassuring expression and says.
"I have a idea for that."
Rebecca quickly reacted, looking up with desperation in her eyes.
"What is it?"
Haruto replied softly, though his tone carried a firm warning.
"But before I tell you, I have to make sure you trust me fully."
"And don't doubt me for a single second."
"And if you doubt me, I can't help you save him."
"And also, you will go into severe danger if you don't follow me exactly as I will say."
Rebecca replied without a single moment of hesitation.
"I trust you!"
"I will do anything for Valker!" she said with absolute confidence.
"Okay, but come with me now. I have to show you something first, and later I will tell you my plan," Haruto says.
"Okay," Rebecca says, standing up immediately.
Haruto and Rebecca left the cathedral grounds.
And went deep into a nearby forest outside the city walls, where the trees grew thick and damp.
Underneath the damp rotting leaves, Haruto find a strange, crawling bug.
"It's a hormonal yuttle," Rebecca says, recognizing the small forest insect.
"Just see what I am doing," Haruto says calmly.
Haruto then crushed that bug with his hand against a rough stone.
Then he finds a hard shell beneath its soft outer body.
And he told Rebecca to get the same shell like that from the surrounding foliage.
Rebecca do the same and got a hard shell from another bug nearby.
Then Haruto went near a cold running river flowing through the woods.
"It's named Xonominial Shell," Haruto explained, holding up the tiny white casing.
"And it's very strong and resilient."
"And when we will put river water in it..."
"It will change its color from plain white to a deep green."
"And then it becomes Eterminomical Xonominial Shell," Haruto says clearly.
Haruto do the same thing, dipping both shells into the clear river current.
And got E.X.S (Eterminomical Xonominial Shell), watching the hard casing turn vibrant green.
"What we will do with this?" Rebecca asked, looking at the strange green shells in his palm.
"Put them in your ears," Haruto says.
Rebecca do the same thing, inserting the small shell snugly into her ear canal.
Then Haruto also put the E.X.S in his ears.
Then Haruto goes away from Rebecca, walking far down the riverbank into the thick fog until he was out of sight.
And he says through his breath.
"Hello, hello..."
But the surprise is that Rebecca could hear those words clearly from that shell right in her ears.
Rebecca become shocked, her eyes widening in disbelief.
Basically, Haruto used E.X.S as wireless earphones over a distance.
Haruto had learned about these unique shells from his father's Tenzu stories in the past.
Then Haruto's voice echoed through the shell in her ear.
"Now, our mission is to steal the Peter Saint book from the church."
Rebecca replied in a panicked whisper.
"But it is..."
"I don't want to hear your doubts," Haruto cut her off coldly through the shell.
"If you truly want to save Valker..."
"Then follow me without asking any questions."
Rebecca become afraid from his sharp shift in tone.
Rebecca thought anxiously to herself.
"The Peter Saint book is a highly secured, ancient book of the Fate church..."
"Even normal people don't even know about its existence!"
"How does he know about it?"
"However... stealing this book would be impossibly hard..."
"But I trust Haruto."
"He would do something smart to get us through."
"As stealing the Peter Saint book is definitely not an easy decision..."
Steeling her resolve for Valker's sake, Rebecca agreed to steal the book.
Then in the middle of the night, when the cathedral was shrouded in darkness.
Rebecca entered the church of Fate through a side entrance.
Then she started to find the hidden gate to the secret underground base deep within the church.
In that quiet hallway, she faced many scholars walking around on night duty.
But she kept her head down and ignored everyone, blending into the shadows.
She entered the underground base without telling anyone or raising an alarm.
She covered her face with dark clothes, leaving only her anxious eyes visible.
And she is carefully hiding herself in the damp stone corridors of the underground base.
The base was huge, a massive labyrinth of ancient brick and flickering torchlight.
She have to go through many guarded rooms just to reach the chamber of the Peter Saint book.
Although she already knows where the book is located.
So whenever someone comes in front of her path, she quickly hides behind pillars and stone archways.
And some senior scholars usually guard the underground base while patrolling around and carrying warm iron lanterns.
Before she had entered, Haruto gave Rebecca 2 specific items for her safety.
A Sun badge.
And the Crimson revolver.
Rebecca was terrified, her hands shaking violently beneath her sleeves.
Because she had never done anything illegal like this in her entire life.
And if she gets caught somehow, the punishment from the cathedral would be brutal and absolute.
Even as a semi-scholar of the church, it is completely illegal for her to enter the secret underground base without permission.
She kept walking through the cold corridors.
After an hour of tense navigation, while hiding from everyone in her path.
She realizes she only has 3 rooms left to reach the Peter Saint book.
Actually, she took some clever shortcuts here to reach the Peter Saint book fast.
As she had many times come into the underground base in the past with Valker.
Because of Valker, she knows the layout of the underground base very well.
If Valker wasn't with her during those past visits, she couldn't even have entered the underground base tonight.
Then Rebecca stood before the final corridor, facing the last 3 rooms to reach the Peter Saint book.
Then Haruto told Rebecca from his hiding spot outside the church walls, speaking directly through the E.X.S in her ear.
He told her he have a plan to clear the guards ahead.
She asked what it was.
Haruto had calculated how the guards and room layouts would be arranged based on her descriptions.
So he cold-bloodedly told Rebecca to do a massive noise or simply kill someone right there.
Rebecca become shocked, trembling in horror at the suggestion.
She is okay to make a noise to distract them, but absolutely not killing her own fellow scholars.
As she is not even that strong or malicious in nature.
Haruto sighed through the ear shell and says.
"Okay, just do the noise for now."
Then Rebecca activated the Sun badge, unleashing its divine charge.
That created a high noise with the Sun badge that triggered a massive destructive explosion at the opposite side of the underground rooms.
She basically creates a small, blinding sun that glows violently bright and creates a sound like a massive structural collapse.
For that reason, every patrolling scholar guarding the final rooms 1, 2, and 3 ran out immediately to look for the source of that sound.
Then Rebecca looked out from her hiding spot and found out the path was completely clear.
She run fast down the hallway, her boots echoing faintly on the wet stone.
And she goes safely through all 3 cleared rooms.
Then she saw the ancient Peter Saint book resting on a high wooden shelf inside an inner vault.
She felt immensely relieved, tears of hope welling in her eyes.
Then, when she reached out and tried to touch the book.
After just a single touch upon the surface.
Her vision got completely blind as dark veins spread across her eyes.
Her body felt like it was melting, her skin softening like ice melting into scalding water.
She started to scream in agonizing agony, falling to her knees.
She was suffering from unbearable internal pain as her flesh dissolved.
Haruto quickly realized her problem through the shell's audio.
And he says firmly into her ear.
"Pray to the Fate lord! Right now!"
Rebecca, choking on her own breath, quickly chant the Fate lord's sacred chant with all her remaining strength.
Then suddenly, a brilliant beam of holy light descended from above and landed directly on her body.
And after some painful minutes of purification.
The melting stopped, and she was fine, her body restored to its natural state.
She panted heavily, thanking the Fate lord and the true god for this divine help.
And through that near-death experience, she realized why the church don't put much physical security around the Peter Saint book.
Actually, the book is simply laid open on an ordinary shelf.
And that shelf has a deadly, inherent curse placed upon it.
And whoever touches that book without the proper ritual indirectly touches the curse of the shelf.
And eventually, that person die a brutal, melting death on the spot.
That's why this sacred book doesn't need any physical guards or locked doors.
But the surprise was that the sacred light effect was so effective and violent that...
The force knocked the Peter Saint book off the shelf, causing it to drop safely onto the floor.
Then eventually, she grasps the Peter Saint book in her trembling hands.
And she is glad everything is fine, clutching the heavy tome to her chest.
She started to leave the vault at high speed, her heart pounding against her ribs.
She again started to take shortcuts through the dark side tunnels.
And she quickly reached almost the end of the underground base exit.
But suddenly, a lone scholar turned the corner and saw Rebecca standing there with the stolen book in her arms.
The scholar froze, recognizing her, and sternly told Rebecca to stop right there.
Rebecca become completely speechless and shocked, her blood running ice-cold.
She was utterly terrified.
She thought that now she was caught red-handed.
Now she will get a big, horrific punishment for committing treason against the church.
It could even be her immediate execution—she lost all hope in that single second.
But Haruto's cold, steady voice rang out in her ear.
"Shoot him with the Crimson revolver."
Rebecca stood frozen in place, her hand hovering over the iron grip in her pocket.
She was surprised and terrified to hear Haruto's calm reply.
She was hesitating, her whole body shaking violently.
The scholar stepped closer, deciding to tell the High Priest immediately what type of grave crime she had committed.
The scholar says firmly that she could do nothing to escape, demanding that she come with him and accept her punishment.
Through the earpiece, Haruto was calculatingly saying.
"There could be some terrible possibilities that will happen if you surrender now."
"One, they would kill you without hesitation."
"Two, they would send you to the deep subterranean prison for the rest of your life."
"Three, even more worse could happen to your family."
"Even your name could be included as the most dangerous thief in the entire Fate kingdom."
"If you somehow escape from the prison later, you can't live normally ever again from then on."
"Maybe you would rather die than living like a hunted animal."
"And if you die or got locked into prison..."
"Then you will lose your dream, as well as lose Valker for your entire life."
"Why did you do all of this tonight?"
"It was for Valker, right?"
"Then shoot him."
"I said... shoot him!"
Rebecca become even more afraid hearing Haruto's manipulative, commanding tone.
In her desperation, she choked out a question to the scholar, asking what would truly happen to her if she yielded.
The scholar looked at her with cold eyes and says.
"You will be executed before the sunrise."
Hearing that final word...
Her face almost turn into that of a dead person.
Her expression became hollow, lifeless, and more like a mindless zombie.
In her head, over and over, she hears only one voice whispering.
"Shoot him..."
With dead, unseeing eyes, Rebecca drew the weapon and shoots the scholar directly in the chest with the Crimson revolver.
Unknown to her, Haruto had pre-planted a lethal, dark poison within the Crimson revolver's mechanism.
So the scholar started to die very quickly and painfully.
His face was melting right before her eyes.
And his body was rapidly starting to turn rotten and black.
He started to bleed fast from his eyes, nose, and mouth, collapsing onto the stone floor.
Haruto listened to the scholar's agonized gurgling and says through the shell.
"To increase the speed and make sure he doesn't scream..."
"Hold a stone and crushed his head."
Rebecca, completely broken and operating like a brainless person, followed his instruction without thought.
And she picked up a heavy, jagged stone and broke his head with the stone using her own bare hands.
When she lifted the heavy rock, she saw that person's torn skin and brain matter was sticking to the surface of the stone.
And repulsive forest bugs were already crawling out from the shadows toward the rotting, poisoned body.
The horror of what she had done suddenly broke through her trance, and Rebecca screamed in absolute fear.
And she started to run like a zombie in full speed through the dark hallways, completely losing her mind.
In her panicked flight toward the exit.
She face some more patrolling scholars who tried to block her path.
She doesn't think a second time.
She raised the revolver with a dead gaze and shoot them all one by one.
She can't think anything normally anymore, her mind completely shattered by guilt and panic.
Eventually, she burst out of the secret underground base and fled the cathedral grounds entirely.
She had killed a total of 20 persons in her blood-soaked path to freedom.
She stumbled into the dark forest clearing and comes directly towards Haruto, who was waiting calmly beneath the trees.
She was still panting, completely afraid and deeply traumatized by the blood on her hands.
Haruto stepped forward and gently held her shoulders to calm her down.
With trembling, blood-stained fingers, Rebecca returned his Sun badge and the Crimson revolver.
And looking into his eyes, she asked through her tears.
"Why... why did you tell me to kill them?"
"I had never killed a single person in my entire life..."
"But for you... I just killed 20 innocent people!"
Haruto took the items, tucked them away, and says with a blank face.
"That's fine."
"Now, at least I got the Peter Saint book."
Rebecca wiped her tear-streaked face and says, trying to justify her sin.
"Now... now we can finally cure Valker, right?"
Then, Haruto looked down at her with a cold, hollow gaze and replied.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Valker is just fainted... he will eventually wake up on his own in time."
Rebecca froze, her breath catching in her throat.
"Then... then why did you steal the Peter Saint book if we don't need it to save him?" Rebecca asked, her voice cracking.
"Simply because I needed this book for my own personal benefit," Haruto says smoothly.
"And thank you for your help."
Rebecca stared at him as her entire world shattered into pieces.
"Is that mean... you just used me as a tool to get this book?" Rebecca asked, tears streaming down her hollow cheeks.
"Yeah, of course," Haruto says without a single hint of hesitation or guilt.
In that moment, Rebecca fully understood what she had done and what she had become.
Haruto had calculated and done everything he wanted from her from the very beginning.
Her jaw trembled as anger and horror consumed her.
"I will tell everything that happened to the High Priest!" Rebecca screamed weakly.
Haruto simply smiled, a chilling, devilish expression that made her blood run cold.
"And what exactly would you say to him?"
"That you stole the most sacred book in the kingdom for a boy you barely know?" Haruto says mocking her.
Rebecca stood completely frozen.
"As only you and I know that we have stolen the book..."
"So if you go and tell it to the High Priest, then he will definitely punish you first."
"As entering the secret underground base is a privilege only known and granted to scholars."
"And you are the only scholar present tonight who knows about who stole that book."
"So eventually, the cathedral will see you as the sole culprit and traitor."
"The church does not care if you got manipulated by someone else or not."
"I do everything from the shadows."
"You have absolutely no evidence against me."
"So on the other hand, you are the only criminal here." Haruto says, laying out the absolute checkmate.
Hearing those cold, undeniable facts, Rebecca broke down into pieces.
Her legs gave out, and she sits heavily on the cold, muddy ground.
And she started to cry hysterically, clutching her knees to her chest.
As she realized she was now a mass-murdering criminal, and there was nothing she could ever do to fix it.
She had lost her purity, her place in the church, her future, and her chance to ever stand beside Valker again.
She had truly believed Haruto was a kind, pure-hearted young man.
But tonight, she saw his true Devil side.
A cold, calculating monster who shows no mercy to anyone.
And a person who can do absolutely anything to complete his goal.