Elara’s expression grew serious. She pointed at Cipher.
"Brother. Gone."
"Gone?" Cipher asked.
She nodded. Then she made an X with her arms.
"Dead?" Elaine asked.
Elara nodded vigorously.
"You thought I was dead?" Cipher asked.
She nodded again.
"So you wanted to save him?" Elaine asked.
Elara nodded, then clasped her hands together in a prayer pose.
"You prayed for the skill to save me?" Cipher asked.
She nodded proudly.
Cipher leaned back. So she really could sense when he died.
Elaine turned to him, her expression worried. "Did you really die?"
Cipher shrugged. "Of course not. It’s just some weird changes going on with the gates. Maybe her senses got messed up by that."
"Is that so..." Elaine murmured, not entirely convinced.
He nodded. "Speaking of, do you know anything about what’s happening with the gates?" he asked Elara.
She shook her head.
He turned to Elaine. "And you? Can’t you pray and ask?"
Elaine’s expression soured. "The Goddess ignored me after I spammed her with prayers for two days straight."
Cipher just sighed.
He turned back to Elara. "How did you get the skill back anyway? Can you also pray like Elaine?"
Elara clasped her hands together tightly and closed her eyes.
"Want want want want want," she muttered.
Then she opened her eyes and looked at Cipher.
"So you basically wanted it so hard you got it?" he asked.
She nodded proudly.
Cipher facepalmed.
What were all these people?
It started with Maya and now this too. So basically they just had to want something really bad and it would happen?
He looked at Elaine. "What about you? Do you also get things if you wish really hard?"
She stared at him flatly. "Do you know how hard I wanted for the curse on my sister to break?"
Cipher nodded slowly.
It seemed this phenomenon was selective.
He wondered if gods too had favorites.
Following Elara’s earlier theory that the Light/Love and Dark/Death gods were the same person, then it made sense for the Goddess to maybe have a favorite. Only Elara got things if she wished really hard.
Maybe Maya was also the lone Saintess of the Time God and thus had this ability to get things through intense desire.
But this seemed far-fetched.
Elara had also wished to revive him really hard, yet she was stuck in the curse afterward.
"Can I talk to you in private?" he asked Elara.
He needed to ask about something related to his cheat class.
Elaine immediately covered Elara protectively, pulling her close. "You..."
She looked at him with a weird expression.
Cipher raised his hands. "It’s not like that."
She continued staring.
He sighed. "Fine, forget it."
Besides, it wasn’t worth it. Elara was definitely related to a god. Whether this Death God was the Light Goddess or a different person didn’t matter. He still felt he shouldn’t reveal the existence of the cheat system to any god.
That being said...
He looked at Elara. "Since we last talked, have you remembered anything?"
Elara’s expression shifted. She seemed to concentrate hard.
Then she pointed at Cipher.
"Flame," she said.
"Flame?" Cipher asked.
She nodded. Then shook her head, seeming hesitant. Then nodded again.
"The eternal flame?" Elaine asked. "Are you saying Cipher is the eternal flame?"
Elara shook her head firmly.
"Is that why you wanted to save him? Because he’s the eternal flame?" Elaine continued.
Elara shook her head again, looking frustrated.
Elaine seemed disappointed.
Elara tried again. "Want, " she made a grabbing motion with her hands, then pointed at Cipher.
"Want me?" he asked.
She nodded.
"The eternal flame wants Cipher?" Elaine asked.
Elara nodded, then shook her head slowly.
"The eternal flame is after me?" Cipher clarified.
She nodded, then held up two fingers.
"Two? Two people?" Elaine asked.
Elara nodded.
She pointed at Cipher. One finger.
Then she paused, seemingly struggling with the next part.
"Time," she said.
"Time God?" Cipher asked.
She nodded. Then shook her head.
"Time God, but not Time God?" Elaine asked, confused.
Elara pointed at Elaine.
"Me?" Elaine asked.
Elara nodded, then shook her head.
She clasped her hands in prayer and pointed at Elaine again.
"Prayer? Goddess?" Elaine guessed.
Elara shook her head.
She pointed at Elaine again, more insistently this time.
"Someone like me?" Elaine asked.
Elara nodded excitedly.
"Someone like me..." Elaine muttered. Her eyes widened. "A Saintess?"
Elara nodded.
"Time God Saintess?" Cipher asked.
Elara nodded proudly.
Cipher’s expression grew serious.
Time God Saintess.
That meant Maya.
"The eternal flame is after me and Maya?" he asked.
Elara nodded firmly.
...
Cipher walked out of Iris’s lab.
He scratched his head.
Every time he visited Elara, he seemed to leave with even more questions and even fewer answers.
Why would the eternal flame be after him? And Maya of all people?
He understood himself a little. Maybe the cheat system was against the will of the eternal flame.
But what about Maya?
Because they were close?
He shook his head. No, that didn’t make any sense.
He held his chin in thought.
Maybe because they were both related to the Time God?
Did the eternal flame dislike the Time God?
But hadn’t it made all the gods? Why would it dislike them?
Maybe... the eternal flame came to dislike its creation and made the apocalypse to destroy it. But the Time God wanted to protect the creation.
That could be why they were in conflict.
It would also explain why the Time God was injured. Who else could injure the Time God but the one who created it?
At that moment, he heard footsteps behind him.
He turned around.
"Maya?" he called out.
She pouted. "I wanted to surprise you," she muttered.
He smiled.
She had escaped his ESP again. She could do that, yet she let him hear her footsteps?
Now looking at her more closely, he noticed something different.
There was a high magic concentration around her eye.
"Is something wrong with your eye?" he asked.
She shook her head quickly. "Nothing. I’m just learning a new eye technique," she said, covering her eye with her hand.
She wondered if her magic had failed. She injected even more mana into her eye, hiding the clock face.
Cipher looked at her for a moment.
"Do you want to go out?" he asked.
She smiled brightly. "Sure. Where to?"
"Let’s go hunt the Immortal King," he said.