Alaric blinked, then asked, "Blonde, wearing an ornate dress, looks like a doll?"
"You know Miss Sharon?" Klein looked at Alaric, surprised, then realized, "Right, you know more people in Backlund than I do."
"Technically, it's not me... it's the old man who knows her." Alaric corrected, pondering for a few seconds. He wasn't too shocked that Klein had met Sharon.
So, this level of contact didn't count as interfering with someone's fate… Well, that made sense. If mere acquaintance counted as interference, Forsi shouldn't have joined the Tarot Club.
What was the standard for interference, then? Directly meddling with events from the original story, like Dunn's death? Or specific interventions, like Azik's memories?
Alaric mulled it over, forming some ideas. Smiling at Klein, he said, "More accurately, the old man knows Sharon's teacher, Reinette Tinekerr, who's also a member of the Joker Club."
Klein marveled at how small the world was but then caught himself, looking at Alaric. "You know about the Joker Club?"
"Of course I do. My teacher founded it." Alaric said, sipping his cocoa and frowning slightly... it was too sweet.
Klein fell silent, then remembered something. "Are you joining the club's event in a few days?"
"Obviously. I wouldn't miss something this fun." Alaric said, nodding and diluting his cocoa with some water.
Klein wasn't surprised but paused, a thought striking him. "Wait, does Mr. Lucifer know your true nature?"
Alaric glanced at him, not answering immediately. He tasted the diluted cocoa, satisfied, and took a big gulp before saying, "The old man knows, of course. But you know how it is... parents have a filter. I might lie, act innocent, or play others for fools, but to him, I'm still a good kid."
He shot Klein a look, grinning. "So, the old man genuinely has a bone to pick with you."
Klein understood the parental filter all too well. Thinking of Lucifer's demeanor…
He silently brewed himself a cup of cocoa, deciding he'd said enough.
After all, filter or not, given Lucifer's penchant for treating others' lives like a play, often bordering on cruel, Jack's mild scheming made him seem like an angel by comparison.
The topic ended there. Alaric sipped his cocoa, contemplating whether, after advancing to Sequence 6 Avatara and gaining an avatar ability, he should have Lucifer and Jack appear simultaneously.
It'd make his personas more secure, wouldn't it?
After dinner, Alaric found an excuse to avoid interruptions and retreated to the study to prepare the Sequence 6 Avatara potion.
Following his usual ritual, he cleaned the equipment, added the standard spiritual materials to the beaker per the formula, then opened the vial containing Ouroboros' blood, pouring in the required amount.
An image appeared in the potion... not a person or object, but a miniature world, blurred and ever-shifting, not static but flowing, constantly changing.
Alaric observed it, concluding, "Reincarnation? But how does this work? Just ordinary spiritual materials plus Ouroboros' blood create this effect? Even Ouroboros himself couldn't do this…"
He pondered but couldn't figure it out, chalking it up to some unique Outer Deity technique. With a flick of his hand, the Sequence 6 Avatara characteristic appeared in his palm and dropped into the beaker.
A human figure replaced the world's shadow, only to split the next moment, forming all things... living beings, a flowing microcosm that seemed unchanged yet was fundamentally different.
Alaric blinked, eyeing the potion that looked almost like a sentient television, gritted his teeth, and downed it in one gulp.
Familiar darkness and chaos enveloped him, but this time his consciousness didn't blur. Instead, he was clearer than ever, stripped of all human emotions.
He felt himself floating, or perhaps standing in a vast starry sea. At its center was an immense will, both near and far. Each star around it was a familiar yet alien will... countless avatars of great beings.
And he seemed to be one of them.
Alaric blinked, unafraid and unpanicked, not just because human emotions had faded, but because he knew the central will didn't mind an avatar's rebellion. It was almost expected.
But… expected what?
Confusion struck. Then he saw a microcosmic world, its time reversing. If this were the true "starry sea." it wouldn't be swayed, but this was mere memory, a conjured shadow.
His emotions returned, and he became human again, breaking free from the starry sea as he had years ago.
Alaric opened his eyes, stumbling and barely catching himself on the desk to avoid falling.
Crack...
The beaker fell, shattering into countless pieces.
He ignored it, clutching his forehead, his voice laced with confusion. "Am I… Nyarlathotep?"
Even he hadn't considered this possibility. He'd suspected he wasn't fully human, but… Nyarlathotep? Was that reasonable?
"I thought I was some minor bubble, not a fragment of Nyarlathotep… No wonder I had no resistance to digesting Nyarlathotep's avatar powers. I thought it was Yog-Sothoth's technique, but maybe it's because we're from the same source."
Alaric struggled to describe his feelings... akin to discovering he was the villain destined to destroy the world. Part of him wanted to rant, part wanted to curse.
***
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