"What are you doing?" Eliot asked the moment he regained consciousness, finding a young girl leaning so close he could practically feel her breath on his face.

"Oh, you're awake," the person said, pulling back to reveal a face that immediately set Eliot on high alert.

"It's you," he said with a frown, recognition dawning as he recalled the girl from the auxiliary world—the abnormally beautiful girl he had encountered there, who had only spoken to him once.

"You remember me?" she asked, frowning in the exact same way she had done in that world.

"Shouldn't I?" Eliot replied. She stared at him for a long moment before touching her face. Something peeled right off to reveal... her face again. Still the same face—nothing had changed at all.

"Was that supposed to alter your appearance?" Eliot asked, guessing at its purpose.

"It DOES alter my appearance, but for some reason it just doesn't work on you," she answered before storing the item away.

'Any reason for that, Nelia?' Eliot thought internally.

[Sorry, but I have nothing to tell you,]

Eliot didn't bother pressing further, already suspecting it had something to do with his privilege.

"You saved me?" he asked. He didn't need to be a genius to figure that one out. The last thing he remembered was that orc-like creature about to mutilate him, then a broken voice calling out, and finally waking up here. He just had to put two and two together.

"I did. You were in a really bad state when I found you. If I had been even a moment later than that, you would have died," she explained, her tone grim.

Eliot said nothing, closing his eyes in deep thought.

'Nelia, how can I stop Anna from siphoning my mana whenever I want to use the link?' he wondered. Such a situation could be catastrophic no matter the scenario, which now made linking with Anna deeply troubling.

[You can't. That's one of the downsides of the slave seal,]

'The downside?'

[You didn't think there wouldn't be repercussions, did you? She's SUPPOSED to be able to take your mana—that's how it works. If she's desperately in need of mana, she can 'borrow' from her master, the same way you can 'borrow' abilities from her,]

'I don't understand,' he frowned mentally.

[I can't say any more than that. Just try to level up and I'll gladly explain it then,]

With that, he opened his eyes, staring directly at the girl before him. He decided to let the issue go for now.

"You killed it?" he asked, referring to the monster that would have ended him.

"I did. It was so focused on you that it never sensed my presence until it was too late. A quick attack to its exposed neck and it was dead," she explained simply.

"I see," Eliot sighed. "Taking care of that beast, regardless of whether its attention was diverted or not, means you're very skilled. So how did someone like you get captured by those people in the monochrome world?" he asked, his eyes calm and cold.

"...Let's just say… I wanted to see where it would lead. It took a long while for me to figure out how to get out of there. It was after I found your dead body, actually, that I realized staying was suicide," she replied casually, as if discussing the weather.

"So you're saying the mana seals did nothing to you?" he inquired, referring to the runes that had formed the magic circles they'd been bound in.

"I'm saying I could have left whenever I wanted to. Please, the mechanics of that seal—if it can even be considered one—were far too simple to hold me back," she waved off dismissively. He then heard the sound of chewing and sat up to find her munching on something dry and preserved.

Right now, if there was one thing Eliot had established, it was that this girl was far too dangerous to have around him.

"How did you find me?" he asked carefully.

"You ask an awful lot of questions, you know that? And the wrong ones, too," she replied calmly, still chewing.

"....," Eliot didn't say anything, simply kept his gaze fixed on her.

"Fine," she sighed, and her expression changed instantly, becoming serious. "I know you're cursed as well."

That was all it took to throw Eliot off completely.

"What?" he blurted out.

Noticing his apparent confusion, she tilted her head curiously. "You're cursed, right?"

Eliot was about to respond when Nelia intruded on his thoughts.

[Say yes.]

'What?'

[SAY. YES.]

Nelia emphasized each word.

'Not until you tell me what she's talking about and what I'm agreeing to,' he refused stubbornly.

[Look, I'm saying this for your own good. If you don't confirm being one of 'them,' she will kill you right here and now, and there's nothing you can do to avoid it,]

'Can't you give me a simple explanation?'

[.…,]

Nothing. Silence.

At this point, Eliot was getting genuinely irritated with the privilege nonsense. He was sick of being kept in the dark about situations that could potentially be detrimental to him—it was just leaving his fate to blind luck. How could he know how to proceed with this girl, whoever she was, if he didn't know WHAT she was or why she was after him?

"You mean this?" After a long moment of deliberation, he finally came up with an idea. With that question, he rolled up his sleeve and opened a connection to the other girl—not Anna—prompting a mark to appear on his wrist. It was something that had manifested the day he enslaved Anna.

Seeing this, the girl's expression shifted, her frown deepening. "You're not cursed."

She stood abruptly, clearly preparing to leave—or worse. Eliot's mind raced through his options, rapidly calculating his next move.

"That doesn't sound like a fair deal. The way I see it, I would lose something great by helping you," Eliot reasoned carefully, trying to buy time and information.

"...You could say that, but… if you look at the bigger picture, it's actually worth it," she countered, though her tone suggested she wasn't entirely convinced herself.

"You don't say," Eliot said flatly, moving to stand up. Her hand shot out and held him back.

"Wait. Fine—tell me what you want."

"...," Eliot stared at her silently for what felt like minutes, calculating, considering. Finally, he spoke.

"How strong are you?" he asked bluntly.

"...Very?" she replied, tilting her head as if the question amused her.

"Can you kill a god?"

"Depends on what level of god, and whether I have a god killer weapon," she replied without hesitation, not sounding at all bothered by the fact that he'd just casually mentioned deicide.

"There are levels of gods?" Eliot asked, frowning.

"Yes. It starts from demi-gods, moving up to deities, world gods, celestial gods, primordial gods, and then the LAWS themselves."

"...What level can you take on?"

"With a god killer? World gods. Without one? Deities at best," she answered matter-of-factly.

"Fine. Where can we find a god killer?"

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