Point-of-View: Persia Gerit

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  Huh? Did something just happen? I couldn't really explain it, it was a strange feeling……I think I just probably spaced out for a moment or something. Maybe I just got a bit drunk from that Queen Juice vial.

  "Hey, is someone there, Shiro?" Asked Key, as Shiro opened the door and peered out.

  "Nah, I think it was just my imagination. Forget about it," He replied with a shrug, closing the door and walking back towards the couch.

  Huh, did he always wear so much white? Wait, what am I talking about, he wears nothing but white, just like I wear nothing but black.

  "Rai, are you sure these things are safe to drink? I feel a bit……off. No, that's not quite right, I feel fine physically, but……ahh, I don't know how to explain it, but it just feels like something is off and I can't figure out what, like an out of reach itch," I remarked with a frown.

  "Really? I don't think I feel anything like that……and I was assured that these are safe to drink, at least as safe as any alcoholic drink is, anyway. What about you three, feel anything? Well, I guess you wouldn't, Shiro, your Healing Factor would make sure of that, huh?"

  "True, I stopped suppressing it after my turn was over," He replied with a shrug.

  "I feel pretty normal," Responded Az, letting out a yawn.

  "Yeah, me too," Added Key with a nod.

  "Oh……then maybe it's just my imagination. Maybe I just forgot something or whatever, and that's what's bugging me……well, if it's something important, I'm sure I'll remember it eventually," I sighed, giving up on wondering about it.

  A short while later, the others left as it was getting pretty late, and we were all tired since we'd been out all day.

  "What a great day today is," Shiro remarked with a slight smirk……huh, I wonder what that's about?

  "Hm? Yeah, I guess so, today was fun. Ready to go to bed?" I replied, walking over and holding his arm, when to my surprise, he stiffened and moved away, "Hey, is something wrong, Shiro?"

  He was muttering something to himself quietly with a frown, I only caught pieces of it……

  "……too risky……not worth the trouble……yeah, I should……," He mumbled, before turning to me with a determined glint in his eyes, "Hey, Persia, there's something going on right now that I can't really talk about, something pretty serious. Until I resolve it, just on a temporary basis……let's break up."

  Huh? What did he just say? Did I hear him right just now……?

  "Y-you're kidding, right?"

  "No, I'm not. It's not you, it's me……I have to do this, for reasons I can't explain. Trust me, you'll understand soon enough, this is for both our sakes."

  "Hold on, what are you saying? Wait, should I leave? I-I……don't understand what's going on……"

  "Move out?" He remarked, before quietly muttering to himself again, "……might count as harm……small possibility, but……better not risk it," He then turned to me and said, "Nah, you can stay if you want, it's upto you……but it's important that this is done, just until I resolve a……certain problem I have."

  What's he saying all of a sudden……this doesn't make any sense, but……there was something that made even less sense……why……why is my heart beating normally? In my mind, my thoughts were racing with a sense of shock and disbelief, but……my heart wasn't racing. It's like my body wasn't reacting at all, it wasn't matching my state of mind. My mind was telling me that I should be devastated right now……but my heart was perfectly calm, it's like my mind and body were disconnected or mismatched somehow. What's……what's going on here……?

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Fuo Wesroh

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  Hm, what was that? That was a strange feeling……it was like that feeling when you think you're about to sneeze but it turns out to be a false alarm, but in my head instead of my nose……I didn't like it.

  Anyway, forget that, I should get some rest……today was, admittedly, quite fun, but I didn't get any training done at all. I should work hard tomorrow, I still have room for improvement, I can get a lot stronger. Well, I should face the facts though, I'll never be as strong as Shiro.

  "Huh? Who are you talking about, Fuo? Who is Shiro?" Atticus suddenly inquired in a confused tone.

  Wha-!? H-hey, I told you not to talk to me so suddenly like that, you startled me, Atticus! Also, what are you talking about?

  "I have never encountered anyone named 'Shiro', is he someone that you knew from before we started sharing your body?"

  Huh? Uh, you're not making any sense, Atticus. Whatever, I'm going to sleep now.

  "Suit yourself. Hm……I am really curious now, who is this Shiro? He must be quite powerful for you to admit that you will never be as strong as he is. How does he compare to Kuro?"

  Who?

  "What?"

  Who is Kuro? That name doesn't sound familiar to me.

  "……I am so confused."

  I am too……maybe I'm just tired……let's make sense of this tomorrow, I want to sleep now……

  The next day, I was just as confused as I had been the previous night, along with Atticus. It took us a while to figure out that our memories weren't matching……the person he was referring to as 'Kuro' was Shiro……but he was remembering him as someone clad in black, not white……

  "Maybe your memories are getting messed up since this isn't your body? I don't know what to make of this," I groaned, rubbing my temples irritably……this is giving me a headache.

  "I suppose that is possible……hm, what a truly unsettling thought. We should go and meet Kuro so that we can settle this matter."

  You mean Shiro. Yeah, I really want to train, but this is really bugging me. Let's go find out what's going on.

  I got dressed and headed out, making my way to Shiro's place. What's going on here, anyway? If Atticus's memories were getting scrambled, that was going to be a huge inconvenience.

  "And what if you are the one whose memories are 'scrambled'?"

  No way! At least……I hope not. How would that even happen, anyway?

  As I got within sight of the apartment building he lived in, I saw him exit the building. Okay, now to talk to h.

  "Fuo, we need to get away quickly! There's no time to explain, just trust me, get as far away from him as possible!" Atticus exclaimed, sounding alarmed.

  What are you talking ab-?

  "Shut up and go before he sees us, NOW!"

  His urgent tone told me to listen, and I quickly slipped away before Shiro noticed me. Now I'm even more confused that before……just what in the world is going on!?……

  Okay, do you mind telling me what that was about, Atticus?

  "I am not certain myself, but……I sensed a rather strange and unfamiliar aura around that white-haired boy……he looked just like Kuro, except that his hair was white, his eyes were yellow instead of blue and his clothes were white as well. When I looked at him, something felt……fake. And now that I think of it……I did not sense the Vampire King's presence in him……"

  Wait, what does that mean? What exactly are you telling me?

  "I……I am not quite sure myself. All I know for certain is……that person we saw today is dangerous……"

  ———————————————————————————


  Point-of-View: Azyl Roake

  ———————————————————————————


  I like to think that I'm not easily surprised……but this was so shocking that my mouth was hanging open. Rai and Key looked completely taken by surprise as well, and that was only natural.

  "H-hold on, you guys broke up!? Why!?" Exclaimed Rai incredulously.

  "Calm down, you guys, it's no big deal. It's just a temporary thing till I resolve a certain problem. Right, Persia?" Remarked Shiro, with a nonchalant expression.

  "Yeah, totally," Replied Persia, who didn't look particularly upset or anything either.

  Were they just joking to see our reactions? It didn't seem like that was the case……

  "But, hold on……this……this doesn't make any sense," Said Key with a baffled look on her face.

  "Seriously, chill out, you guys are making way too big a deal of this," Shiro sighed, "Besides, we'll run into monsters soon, so we should focus."

  We were on our way to take on a Quest at the Goblin Cave area upon Shiro's suggestion, since we hadn't been here for a while. We were going to train there after completing the Quest, which was just collecting green crystals, the same as the very first Quest we ever did.

  It was hard to think about that though, since I was finding it pretty difficult to move past the fact that Shiro and Persia had broken up, temporarily or otherwise. But it looks like neither of them were keen on talking about it……it was strange though, that didn't seem to be because either of them were upset by it……they both seemed relatively unbothered by it.

  "So, hey, what kind of training should we do?" Inquired Rai, awkwardly attempting to change the subject……he was easily the most extroverted person in our group, but even he was finding this situation hard to deal with.

  "A few rounds of sparring or something like that? We could also work on combo moves," Suggested Shiro in reply.

  "You know, it's been a long time since we fought Goblins, and even during the first time we came here, they weren't much of a challenge……I'm curious to see how easy they'll be to kill this time," Remarked Key.

  "Any one of us could probably survive alone in that cave pretty easily now," Added Persia, "Especially since the underground maze has now been fully mapped and marked with directions."

  "Ohh, about that, I actually heard that some Adventurers stumbled across a hidden entrance in the maze that goes a level further down, though they weren't able to find it again……apparently, there were thousands of Goblins in the level below the maze," Said Rai, before suggesting, "Hey, maybe we could go find that hidden entrance after we're done with the Quest!"

  "No way, sounds exhausting," I protested immediately.

  "It would probably take a really long time," Agreed Key, with an expression that suggested that she didn't like the idea either.

  "I guess……ooh, what if Shiro just drills straight down with a lightning blast in his final form?"

  "Hey, that sounds like fun, letting loose with a full powered blast," Remarked Shiro with a gleam in his eyes.

  "That's a bad idea, what if the entire place collapses?" Pointed out Persia objectively.

  "Yeah, that's true, I guess it could……cave in! Heh, get it?" Grinned Rai, looking way prouder of that pun than he should be.

  I let out a sigh of relief as he seemed to lose interest in the idea of getting to the level below the maze, right as the entrance to the cave came into view. The five of us headed inside the cave with Shiro leading the way. It had been a long time since I was last here, there was that time a few months ago when we came here to Store attacks for the ambush against the Vampires, but we didn't go inside the cave that time……

  Hm, I wonder if some other Adventurers had gone in before us……because we were yet to run into a single Goblin, and it had been over an hour already. We definitely should have run into at least two or three groups so far, based on past experience. The only explanation that I could think of was that someone had come in before us and killed them, but……there weren't any visible signs that any fights had taken place here recently.

  "Hey, Shiro, isn't it kinda weird that we haven't run into any Goblins so far?" Inquired Rai warily.

  "Yeah, you've got a point……it doesn't look like anyone's been in here recently, we'd have seen some sign of it, like traces of Elemental Magic or weapons or……something. I'm not sensing anything with my Lightning Sensory Field either," He responded with a frown.

  We were now in the area where we ran into Misen Ragiu's brother and he'd collapsed the ground to make us fall down to the maze. The ground had long been fixed using Earth Magic……or at least, it should have been. Instead, there was a wide opening there……

  "Woah, what happened here? It doesn't look like the ground was collapsed using Earth Magic," Frowned Key with a quizzical look on her face, "Look at the edges of the opening, they're perfectly smooth, almost as if they were melted."

  "Maybe we should turn back, I have a bad feeling about this," I spoke up cautiously.

  If something or someone had caused this, then they had to be pretty powerful……in which case, if we encountered them and they were hostile, it would be dangerous to fight here, the entire place could collapse down on us.

  "Shiro, sense anything?" Inquired Persia, looking around cautiously.

  "Oh, right, I turned off my Lightning Sensory Field when I saw the hole, I'll reactivate it……hey, I sense some Goblins up ahead, about two hundred meters in front of us," He replied, before frowning as Rai suddenly sneezed loudly, "They're heading this way, I think they heard that."

  "Sorry, my b……wait, they're just Goblins, it's no biggie!" Grinned Rai, as he took his scythe into his hands.

  They soon came into sight, four of them……they were acting a bit strangely though. They were staring at us intently, one by one, before eventually settling their gazes on Shiro……with burning hatred in their eyes. Apparently, monsters retain their memories when they respawn, and since Shiro had killed so many Goblins in the past, a lot of them likely had multiple memories of being killed by him……but before, that always resulted in them fearing him and running away, not this time though……this time, they were displaying hatred, not fear.

  Suddenly, they all sprang over the hole and towards Shiro, holding rusty daggers and knives. One of them then opened its mouth and let out a strange roar……it almost sounded like it was saying something.

  "IIIIMPAAASSSTAAARRR!"

  Shiro fired out a blast of lightning from his hand, as did Rai, while Key sent a fiery slash and Persia blasted out a burst of wind from her mouth, killing all four Goblins simultaneously.

  "Hey, that Goblin kinda sounded like he said 'pasta'……weird, huh?" Remarked Rai with a laugh.

  "Yeah……," Muttered Shiro, with a look of concern, before his eyes suddenly widened with alertness, "Woah, that's a lot of bloodlust shooting straight up towards the hole!"

  He swiftly stepped back as his Vampire wings and tail grew out, his fingernails turning into black claws as a red pattern formed around his arms, face and torso……right as something shot out through the hole with an enraged roar. A Vampire? No, that looks like……Shiro? But different……

  "I'LL KILL YOU, IMPOSTER!"

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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