Silence pervaded the room as my muscles ached.
My heart raced faster than I could endure and I felt sweat forming all over my body. Considering my current situation, this was a well-deserved response.
At the mont, I was surrounded by inconceivably powerful enemies.
The Nether Cult!
They looked a little different from how I rembered them. For one, Ciel looked like a child, The Martial Blade God seed younger and less dignified and Karlia seed absolutely furious with .
Other than that, though, there was another main difference.
Neron was a mber of the Cult!
And he was looking at with complete caution and utter suspicion—sothing that chilled to my bones.
If I was in top form, perhaps I could at least devise a thod of escape. Perhaps I would have even the slightest chance—though I highly doubted it.
However, things were different here.
I couldn't properly use Magic, and Spellcraft was invalid. I couldn't even sense the energy around and I lost control over any energy that leaked out of my body
In essence, this was the worst possible condition.
'Is there even any doubt about it?' I thought to myself as I stared at the people who were after my life.
'I'm totally screwed.'
"All of you should stand down. This man is not our enemy."
In a surprising turn of events, Ciel—the one I had least expected to say such a thing—spoke up and addressed the bloodthirsty crowd.
"W-what are you talking about, Ciel? This is Jared Leonard!" Karlia instantly protested this.
She really wanted to kill , huh?
The Karlia I knew was averse to violence, except when necessary. What caused her to change so much? Or rather… was this really her?
"Yeah! We shouldn't even be wasting ti deliberating this! An opportunity has presented itself to us." Stefan, who also wanted to kill more than anyone else, spoke up.
"Relax. Do you think it would be that easy to kill Jared Leonard?" Neron's calm voice soothed the crowd and he remained composed, despite the commotion.
To be honest, even though he was my enemy, I still couldn't help but admire him. It seed like he noticed that too.
"Let's hear what Lady Ciel has to say, first." He added.
With his voice of reason perating the group, the mbers accepted it grudgingly. It seed they respected both Neron and Ciel too much to allow their personal desires take over.
"Thank you, Neron. Now then… back to the topic at hand." Ciel shifted her gaze from each of the Nether Cult mbers and then stared at .
"Young man… who do you think I am?" She asked.
Was she talking to ? Did she just call a 'young man'? That was a little odd, coming from a little midget like her.
Well, considering how old Ciel was, then I suppose it wasn't really weird.
'Should I play ball? Should I be honest with a conversation, or—"
"Hey! Answer Lady Ciel already!" Karlia yelled at —her eyes nearly exploding in a threatening fashion.
'Yikes! I better just be honest here. Since she stopped everyone, then it ans she at least wants a conversation… right? But this doesn't make any sense, right? All of this is so strange and weird!'
"Fret not, Jared. Or should I call you Lewis? I am not your enemy. I simply want to confirm sothing. So tell … who do you think I am?"
Ciel was flashing a very innocent, harmless smile. The one I knew could easily smile the sa way and it wouldn't count for squat. However, I strangely felt the need to at least trust this one.
Whether or not that would yield a positive result still remained uncertain. Then again, it wasn't like I had much of a choice.
"You're Ciel. The true leader of the Nether Cult and the depraved woman who sacrificed her child just so she could bring back the Nether to destroy all that exists."
I was leaving out a lot, but that was the gist of it.
There was no way I could be fooled by her seemingly innocent deanour. Underneath that facade was a monster.
'More importantly, didn't she appear with Legris and crash our party? Wasn't that the reason I got sent here? What of the others?'
Right before everything went blank, I thought I heard Neron's voice in my head. It told sothing about how Maria and the others were safe.
If I was to take him at his word, then I just needed to worry about how to get myself out of this ss—not that it would be possible in the slightest.
Now that I had spilt the beans, there was no longer any doubt that I knew all about Ciel's evil act and her grand goal.
The Nether Cult was evil through and through—and I knew all of that.
"What the hell is he talking about?"
"Look, he's out of his mind! This is the perfect ti to end his life!"
"Looks like practising all that Dark Magic has finally affected his brain. He's vulnerable now!"
It seed these hungry wolves were ready to devour . However, Ciel raised her hand and stopped them.
'Why?' I couldn't understand the reason.
However, she still maintained her creepy smile and approached without any form of ill will or caution.
"I knew it…" She whispered and drew closer.
It honestly creeped out, but I held my ground.
"All of those things you said… they aren't of ."
Did she really think I would buy that? But, co to think of it, it was weird that everyone around thought I was insane for saying the truth as it was.
Why did it feel like I was the one who was crazy?
"You must be referring to a different Ciel." Once she said this, my eyes widened and I suddenly realized sothing I had been too confused to think about.
"I am not the Ciel you know." I nodded slowly as she spoke.
She was right, after all. It was entirely possible that I was the one mistaken this whole ti.
This place… these people… this world…
… They were different from the ones I knew.
"You're not the Jared we know, are you?"
"No, I'm not." I responded, now convinced that sothing was indeed off with everything so far.
I hadn't completely figured it out, but this seed like the most reasonable conclusion—especially after all the signs.
"I'm in another world."
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[A/N]
Welco to the most interesting Arc thus far. If I'm able to pull it off quite well, it's going to be grand and epic.
I can't wait for you all to dive in.
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