What the hell did the previous Lucien do to the church?! I covered my face, hardly suppressing a scream.

Alya was in a similar state of shock and disbelief. With everything Alya said about why captains can't be here, she was believing Zhenny's words. I knew why, and that made my urge to find a high roof increase further.

"What is your source?" Alya leaped suddenly, grabbing Zhenny's still recovering throat in both her hands.

Zhenny's eyes widened; she hadn't recovered enough to resist Alya.

"Relax, Alya, we are not enemies anymore." I rushed to grab Alya by her waist and chest, pulling her away from the panting Zhenny.

I turned to her with a sigh, tightening my grip around Alya. "Can you be more detailed?"

There was no point pretending; she already knew I was Lucien Bloodborne. Her source was either really legit, or she figured it out by us not dying to her attack and our red eyes.

She nodded slowly, standing up with the gray haired old man's help.

"He is one of the four Primordial Gods. He is my friend… we talk through my dreams." My jaw dropped as she spoke with a casual tone.

I knew nothing about what this was, but when you're adding Primordial and God in the same title, it's not wrong to assume that He was a very big deal.

"Who the hell are you?!" Alya's calm face finally broke as she released herself from my hold, getting dangerously close to Zhenny, but she didn't attack this time.

"Cough! Cough!" Zhenny could only cough tiredly in response.

The gray-haired man suddenly spoke, getting in between Alya and Zhenny. "You might have heard the legend; the four Primordial Gods are ancient protectors of the four central continents. They have been alive for billions of years, protecting all lives and this planet from all sorts of extinction-level dangers."

His voice softened. "Our tribe had myths about Pazuzu having a friendship with our beast kin tribe…"

He shook his head self-deprecatingly. "No one believed that they existed, or the countless myths. There were no signs of them for five thousand years, so it made sense that people began moving on."

His voice rose as his face brightened. "Until… a few people like Zhenny awakened the ability to talk with him, Pazuzu… We read every myth about him seriously then, and have been focused on his missions ever since."

He explained everything clearly, besides what this mission was, my RPG addicted bone shook with his every word. These gods seem like good guys?

They were said to be protectors, no? But what made me more curious was the mission. The old man, having no intention to explain, only worsened the curiosity.

"Why did he tell you about Luci… What does he want?" Alya's tense expression immediately brought me back to reality.

"He wants to protect you two," Zhenny said softly. The way she looked at us had completely changed. There was deep respect beneath her emerald-like eyes.

Her voice cracked. "Please… don't leave. You will die if you do. He saw it happen."

How is that possible? I glanced in my pocket; the samurai card was still sitting peacefully there. His stats were insane. He should be strong enough to protect us… I can just use this if worst comes to shove… Right?

"If that's what he said, it's smart to remove all ideas about leaving." The gray-haired man added while dressing his bleeding hand.

"Then what… It's not like not leaving will help anyone." My voice came out louder than I intended. I couldn't help it.

"Don't leave" in this case just didn't make any sense. When they eventually lock this place down and locate us... I stared at the stone ceiling with a giant silver chandelier hanging low. We would be just delaying the inevitable by a negligible amount then.

"Luci…" Alya grabbed my hand, noticing my emotions. I tightened my grip around her soft palm, flashing a reassuring smile. Somehow, I gotta figure something out.

"…It will," Zhenny mumbled mysteriously.

My eyes twitched. "Um… Can you actually tell me everything in detail?"

"The hidden trump card you have won't work outside…" She shook her head.

Huhhh?! My pupils fully dilated. She knows?!

"No, I have no idea." She scratched her chin with a sheepish look. "It's what He said!" She added hastily, noticing my slowly turning eyes, cold.

"Outside, a mythical grade artifact is in effect. It drains all Arcana and life force of anything it hits. They have it prepared as a trap for you…"

Ahhh! That made a whole lot more sense.

Wait… System! I need Arcana to summon the echo? Why can't I survive if I were caught in that thing? Do you know anything?

I haven't talked with the system in a while due to just how busy I was, but after repeated questions, the familiar robotic prompt finally rang.

[Host doesn't need Arcana to summon the echo, but her explanation makes sense! If the fallen hero was also an Arcana user, he would just be rendered useless if you summoned him while caught in such an artifact.]

"…" I mentally noted that down. There was a ton of information hidden beneath the surface. Will the heroes be actual people who existed in this world some time ago? If they also were Arcana users, this has to be it, no?

That was something I needed to seriously ponder later.

My eyes brightened. Then, the simple solution was to just summon him now?! No, I should hear her out first. She said that Pazuzu wants me to live, so he should've provided a solution, most likely.

I blinked as I caught Alya staring at me with pure confusion and a puzzled face, giving me a look that asked, "What the fuck is she talking about?"

It was definitely about the trump card. I had no idea how I was going to explain the echo thing to her without revealing the system, but I trusted my bullshitting abilities for it to not get to my head.

"Then how? You have a solutio—"

"We need to destroy them completely." She cut me off mid-sentence. Her lips curled upwards in an evil grin, making me unconsciously swallow my saliva. "All of them outside, inside, around us, all of them. We need to destroy them all!"

…

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