"That maniac is here?" asked Oriole with a shiver while hugging his chest. "I will leave before she starts another fight with me," said the runemaster before patting Arthur on the shoulder. "We leave to Runera tomorrow."

"Who are you calling a maniac?" asked a voice from the darkness before a white scarf unpeeled to reveal Rae. Ori did not answer and slipped inside the workshop under Rae's furious gaze, which then shifted to Arthur. "Ask him to start respecting me."

"And what is there to respect, maniac?" grinned Arthur at the enraged Rae, but he was surprised to see her take it with a smile. "Are you here to accept my offer?"

"I am here to make a counteroffer," smiled Rae as she raised her hand. A cross of light shone from her hand. "I was given Sigil of Belief."

"I see," nodded Arthur. "I hope you have fun with it."

"...it represents the highest authority in Shon, and I received to bestow upon you a certain position in my Theocracy."

"I refuse."

"Shon wants to be the sponsor of Ascent," revealed Rae, a smug smile on her face. "Your guild will be the representative of Shon in the guilds arena."

"I believed the Supreme Church was the sole representative," Arthur raised his brows in surprise. "Shon has never divided its forces, and divisions like the White Fangs are the sole parties that exist in the Supreme Church."

"I pledged for your success as the Saint of Shon, and this will be my offer."

"I refuse again."

"...are you an idiot?" she was taken aback and stepped forward while lowering her hand. "Are you unaware of the resources, money, and power that my nation has?"

"You are the only nation that is not related to the seven families, but I know that this power of yours is not as innocent. This abnormal strength and spiritual companions are nothing but signs that the ruler of your nation is stealing the powers of others."

Arthur said that with a smile, and the saint rushed toward him with her hand clawed to strangle him. Her movements were quick, but Arthur stepped to the side and let her miss.

"You are not as powerful as before," he said while tapping her body, and mana left it. "And this is no way to make an offer."

"You bastard, what have you done?" she turned around and looked at her scarf, which began to dissolve. "Give it back!"

"If you turn this into a fight, then we will be enemies."

"...then apologize for what you said. His Eminence would never do such a thing."

"Is that not the secret of your Shon Empire, descendants of the White Dragons? Is it not the reason for this white hair of yours and abnormal strength?"

Arthur knew that the Shone Theocracy was not a part of the seven families, but what he knew about them made the nation just as evil in his eyes. Rae glared at him with her red eyes shining rage before she punched him.

Arthur raised his finger, and she soared toward the sky. Rae punched the empty air above him before glaring down at him. Then, he brought down his hand toward the ground, slamming the saint into the floor like a hammer.

A deep crater shook the ground, but his powers silenced the voices. Arthur walked toward Rae, who was huffing on the floor, and he saw that she wasn't with a single injury.

"Abnormal stats," sighed Arthur before crouching beside her and sitting on his lower back. "I am a threat to Shon, Rae."

"Then I will have to kill you," she gritted her teeth with fury but did not attack again. "I will make you regret telling me this sentence."

"I thought that if everyone else failed to see the flaws in your Shon Theocracy, then it would be you that accepts them," he turned toward her with a smile. "This can be the beginning of your path."

"My path is the Rise of Shon," she glared at him. "I will die for this nation, and I will never join your guild."

"I wonder what the real Rae wants to say about this," he smiled at her. "The owner of this scarf must be someone that you have met before, right? I wonder what their answer would be if I offered them freedom."

"I am not..." Arthur watched her red eyes shake with fear before she closed them. "I never wanted to..." tears pooled into her eyes, which rolled down her face and to the ground. His expression softened when he saw how easily she began to cry for the first time in front of him.

"I am sorry," he said before pulling a handkerchief from his subspace and offering it to her. Rae covered her eyes before sitting up and taking it. "Please believe that I consider you as my friend, and I want the best for you."

"...I am no one's friend," she said. "I am the puppet that is moving this power and the will of Shon, created for that sole purpose. I took someone's else dreams, hopes, and strength to become who I am today."

"Yet, strength is everything for you," said Arthur with sadness. "That is how Shon raised all of its children, and it breaks my heart."

"The world is not as pretty as you think it is, Alexie Linan," she sniffed before blowing into the handkerchief. "I just wanted to make Ascent a part of Shon. This way, you can be a friend of mine instead of an enemy."

"And here is the catch," he smiled. "I never cared about Shon or you being its saint. Instead, you are the person I became friend with and the person I want to save."

"What are you saving me from, Alexie?" she asked with a helpless laugh. "I am the most precious daughter of my sisters, and I can have anything I desire."

"I want to save you from this anger," he said before offering her his hand. "I know that it is burning even now as we speak. There is anger within you towards everything, and it will burn you down too in the end."

Rae stared at him with a red nose before looking at his hand. Then, she reached out to grab it. Arthur smiled and closed his eyes before reality changed at his command.

The scene changed around them, and they were standing on top of Jerano's campus. Rae stared with wide eyes at the surrounding, then looked at Arthur.

"Is there anything that you cannot do?" she asked with fear.

"I have yet to know of such a thing," he replied before rising to his feet. "This includes altering memories," he offered to lift her, and she accepted, "and awakening them."

"What memories are you talking about?" she asked with a frown. "I do not need memories that I have no relation to, nor do I want my memory to be altered."

"I am giving you a choice, Rae. I can erase my comments about being a threat to Shon, and we can still be friends afterward. The other choice is letting me awaken the memories that have been sealed within you."

"There are no memories sealed within me," she insisted, but Arthur shook his head. "I remember everything."

"We remember what makes our reality sensible," answered Arthur before walking toward the edge of the roof, looking toward the light beyond the horizon. "I can awaken the memories that you chose to seal."

"And why would I want to unseal what I sealed?" Rae turned toward him with a frown.

"Because this is the truth."

Before Arthur looked away toward the far horizon, splitting the ocean and the sky, the two stared at each other. Rae followed his gaze, and a comfortable silence took place between them.

"Would you choose the truth?"

"I already chose to know it, and it cost me everything," answered Arthur as he shifted his gaze down toward his left arm. "I am nothing but the truth now."

"There is nothing that I cannot handle," she said before taking his hand and pulling it toward her head. "Show me the truth, Alexie."

Arthur stared at her red eyes that resembled a monster. However, within them, he saw sincerity to break free. Rae wanted to break free from her father's will and the expectations of her nation just like he did.

"Do not hate me," Arthur said with sadness before using his powers. It was a simple matter to unseal memories with his powers, but the complexity came from her reaction to what she was about to see.

Rae closed her eyes and fell into a deep trance as his hand glowed bright golden. Then, her muscles betrayed her as she fainted, but Arthur was there to help. This was not something he expected.

"Her mind has shut down because of the influx of unwanted memories," he analyzed while staring at her sleeping face.. "When the Saint of Shon wakes up again, she will accept my offer or try to kill me."

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