Without hesitation, Agami stands in front of Stella and aims the Sharpshooter at the man, ready to fire. “D-Don’t move or I’ll fire!” Agami warns as he feels Stella’s hands tighten on his shoulders.

  The man doesn’t flinch as he replies, “I don’t mean any harm.” He gestures at a chair opposite him. “Please. Have a seat.”

  Agami remains frozen in place, his stance unchanging.

  The man takes a sip and continues, “Suit yourself.”

  After a few minutes of silence, Agami asks, “Are you getting in my way to stop the Ascension?”

  “The Ascension has already concluded,” the man answers. Agami feels his chest tighten.

  “What do you mean?!” He blurts.

  Before the man can answer, the building shakes again. Agami and Stella fall to their knees, unable to handle the impact. Stella grabs Agami’s shoulders, and he holds onto her and the Sharpshooter tightly. The man, on the other hand, remains seated, unbothered by the shaking.

  “Was that Sora and Imino?” Stella asks in surprise.

  “SOME ASCENSION THIS IS, LOSER!” Agami hears Sora shout.

  A loud boom is heard, and a large object flies over them. From what Agami could catch, it looked like a large spider made of flesh. Sora jumps in the direction of the monster, intent on finishing it.

  “The hell is that?!” Agami shouts.

  “That is Baltro,” the man calmly answers.

  “That’s Baltro?! We need to hurry,” Agami says aloud.

  Stella helps Agami up and says, “Come on, come on, I don’t want to miss this!”

  “She won’t be needed for this conversation,” the man says.

  “Whu-” Before Agami can ask what he means, a dark, shadowy mass appears behind Stella. The man raises his arm. Before Stella can say anything, she is pulled through it, closing immediately. “STELLA!”

  “I assure you, I did not kill her.”

  Agami aims the Sharpshooter at him and fires it without forethought. The bullet stops and floats in front of him. It begins orbiting him as he refills his cup, saying, “Phenton was quite particular about his tea. He said it emulated a sense of grace and importance.” Agami fires multiple bullets at the man. All of the bullets begin floating and orbiting him.

  “But if you spoke to him or his men, you could see he preferred the idea over enacting it. His taste in tea is quite interesting.”

  Agami changes the Sharpshooter into its sword mode and charges at the man. Before Agami can take a step forward, the sword flies out of his hands and plunges into the wall behind him.

  Ceramic shards rise from the ground and merge, forming a teacup. It floats to the opposite end of the table. “I appreciate the spirit, but I wish to speak with you. Please.” The man gestures again at the end.

  Agami nods and slowly walks to the other end and hesitantly takes a seat. A teapot pours some tea into Agami’s teacup.

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  The man smiles and says, “As I said, she is unharmed, so you can rest your worries.” He pauses to let his words sink in.

  Even though his fears won’t subside, he will have to put them aside for now. Until he sees her alive at least. Agami weakly nods and says, “Fine…”

  “Let’s start afresh, Agami.”

  He is at the man’s whim. That same powerless feeling passes through him, similar to when he was escaping the Milton Recreational Center.

  “I am sure you are wary of me, but I assure you, I am no threat to you.” The man pauses and looks at the sky for a few seconds before returning to Agami. “Why don’t I introduce myself? My name is Arcadius Millenthium, or as I am commonly known, Baltro.”

  Agami feels his pulse tighten and something rush in his left arm. Baltro. The person the Slayers have been targeting. One of Tenmei’s targets. His mortal enemy.

  “Baltro?” He looks in the direction Sora and the monster went. “But wasn’t that Baltro?”

  “It was,” Arcadius answers. “To clear up any confusion, my followers created it. They held it as a shrine to me, and over time, it became me.”

  “Wait, what do you mean? That monstrosity is the Baltro that everyone has been worshipping?” Agami asks.

  “Yes.” Arcadius looks at Agami’s arm as it begins to glow brighter. “I see Tenmei is preparing to face me.”

  Agami looks at his arm and back at Arcadius in surprise. “How do you know that?”

  “I have been watching you since your revival, Agami. Your role in this intrigued me. Tenmei travels through his generation to fight me. Giving up his soul. His will was imposed on one lone man.”

  “Wai– this entire time? Why are you speaking to me now, then?” Agami asks, his arm glowing brighter. A raindrop falls on Agami. It is beginning to rain.

  “Firstly.” Arcadius snaps his finger, and everything begins to slow around them. Agami looks in surprise as he watches a raindrop fall in slow motion.

  “You– did you freeze time?”

  “No, nothing as complex as that. We are just moving faster than everything around us.” Arcadius takes another sip of his tea. “To answer your previous question, I wanted to watch how you would acclimate. How you react to rejoining your family, to your purpose. I find them fascinating.”

  Agami feels an uneasiness hearing Arcadius speak. From how everyone spoke about Baltro, he isn’t close to how they described him. “Why would you want to see that?”

  “Attaining this power has led me to feel isolated. My ideas, my wishes, my hopes, my regrets…they continuously gnaw at me. I tried to share my words, my peers would fail to understand, and my followers would just appease me.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Agami asks, Arcadius’ ramblings not making sense to him.

  “Your conversations with Stella aroused a curiosity within me. Initially, I planned to face Tenmei, but now I wonder if maybe I can help you.”

  Agami looks at his arm, its glowing remains steady. “Apologies.” Arcadius suddenly responds. He stretches out his arm, and a glowing chain shoots from it, attaching momentarily around the armament. After a few seconds, the chain disintegrates and dissipates.

  “What did you just do?”

  “I just burnt some of your Soul Power to stall Tenmei. I am not done speaking with you,” Arcadius gives a gentle smile as he takes another sip of his tea.

  Stall Tenmei? Can he do that?

  The smile on Arcadius’ face disappears. “I have achieved the godhood I wished for. But I have made others pay my price. My followers have begun worshipping a falsehood.”

  Agami remembers how the Ascenders spoke of it. Calling him the Navigator. He can feel himself letting his guard down slowly. “Why do they call you the Navigator?”

  “They believe I will take them to a paradise or something similar. I only promised a better world, but they wanted to hear more, believing I would lead them to this paradise.”

  “But then why wouldn’t– why didn’t you stop them?”

  “Similar to you, I am unsure what I am without my followers.” Arcadius places his teacup down and looks at Agami. “I cannot accept what my followers– I have wrought upon this world. With the promised Ascension, they employed cruel and horrible tactics. All for my sake. I wanted to be a god to help people. But not like this.”

  “I cannot allow my mistakes to be repeated, especially by my peers.” Arcadius looks at Agami before he continues, “By the ritual, I cannot harm them. But you can. You can stop them. Will you do me the courtesy of accepting my power?”

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