{What is this? A new Title...? How did you get this...?}
The smile on Ash’s face instantly disappeared.
His expression became completely neutral, as though someone had erased every trace of emotion from it.
...Ah.
Shit.
For a brief moment, he had completely forgotten.
Although Eva was currently completely occupied with overseeing his cultivation and hadn’t manually displayed the notification herself, she was still the System Spirit connected to his existence.
Whenever the System automatically generated a notification related to him...
She naturally saw it as well.
...It completely slipped my mind...
Ash inwardly sighed, though he quickly understood why he had overlooked something so obvious.
After all, what currently controlled the clone wasn’t Ash’s complete consciousness, but merely a tiny sliver of it, making small oversights like this almost inevitable.
The Title itself wasn’t the problem.
The problem was that Eva was intelligent enough to connect the dots.
A Title like Chaos Harbinger wasn’t something that would bestowed without reason.
Just from its name alone...
She would immediately realize that he was planning something.
...This is going to be troublesome.
{Ash...?}
Eva’s voice echoed within the minds of all four clones, carrying an unmistakable trace of confusion.
{How did you suddenly obtain a Title like ’Chaos Harbinger’? Titles are not granted without a reason. What exactly happened?}
Ash remained silent for a brief moment before calmly replying.
"I was simply thinking about the future, when this thing suddenly popped in front of me..."
There wasn’t the slightest fluctuation in his voice.
"..."
"I’ve been planning a few things for the future while traveling. Considering what that Title does, it’s possible the reality judged the potential of those plans and decided to grant it."
His voice remained calm from beginning to end.
"After all, I’m an Anomaly. The things has never behaved normally when I’m in talk, so receiving a Title before actually accomplishing something isn’t exactly impossible. It was surprising though."
Eva didn’t reply immediately.
She quietly thought about his explanation while simultaneously reviewing the Title’s description once again.
The more she thought about it.....the more reasonable it sounded.
After all, Ash had already broken countless rules that should have been impossible and these kinds of things have happened more than just once.
Compared to everything else he had done until now, receiving a Title because of the future possibilities surrounding his actions didn’t seem completely unbelievable.
After all, if his thoughts could change the future, why can’t his thoughts grant him a title ahead of him doing action.
Even so...
She still felt that something wasn’t quite right, it was a little bit suspicious.
{...I still feel like you’re hiding something from me.}
Ash’s expression didn’t change in the slightest as he continued traveling towards his destination.
"I am not hiding anything. Right now, my entire focus is on killing as many God Rank being as possible, I won’t be harming childrens and powerless people, so you don’t have to worry and just do your task. That’s more important."
Another brief silence followed before Eva finally gave in.
{...Fine. I’ll believe you this time.}
The connection gradually fell silent once more as Eva returned her full attention to overseeing Ash’s cultivation.
Only after confirming that she had truly stopped observing him did Ash quietly let out a slow inward sigh of relief.
...That was closer than I expected.
It wasn’t that Ash was afraid of Eva discovering what he was thinking.
Even if she found out, he would still listen to whatever advice she had to offer before ultimately making his own decision.
The real problem was that, before entering seclusion, his main body had temporarily entrusted Eva with administrative authority over his existence.
As long as that authority remained active, she could command every one of his clones as well.
And his clone had no intention of finding out how she would react if she discovered what he was actually planning.
Gambling on that possibility simply wasn’t worth it.
...It’s better to keep her in the dark for now.
Once my main body returns and takes back control... she can complain all she wants....
Ash silently returned to Luminara City beneath multiple layers of Concealment, his figure gliding through the clouds high above the city.
He was currently in his Devil form, deliberately allowing only tiny, nearly imperceptible specks of Corruption Energy to leak into the surroundings. The amount was so minuscule that unless someone examined it with exceptional care, no one would even notice its existence.
Below him, the city remained just as lively as before.
Angels continued going about their daily lives, merchants welcomed customers into their shops, children happily ran through the streets beneath the watchful eyes of their parents, while squads of City Guards continuously patrolled both the skies and the ground, maintaining order throughout the entire city.
While completing the Angel Bloodline over the previous day, Ash had quietly memorized the city’s layout, observed the daily routines of its important figures, and gathered enough information to gain a rough understanding of the overall distribution of strength within Luminara City.
Compared to the Headquarters of the Angel Race, the city’s defenses were naturally much weaker, but they were still far from ordinary.
Because he had no intention of attracting unnecessary attention, he had no choice but to proceed with absolute patience.
During that investigation, one particular individual had gradually caught his attention.
The Vice Commander of the City Guard.
An Early God Rank Angel.
She wasn’t the strongest expert within Luminara City, nor did she possess overwhelming authority, but compared to everyone else, she was undoubtedly the easiest person to keep under observation.
Her strength hadn’t yet reached the point where Ash had to worry about too many unexpected variables, while her daily routine remained remarkably consistent, making her movements far easier to predict than those of the City Warden or the other senior commanders.
She’ll be the first one...
Ash silently thought as his pitch black eyes calmly followed the familiar figure from high above the city.
The Vice Commander appeared exactly as she had the previous day, dressed in immaculate silver armor adorned with intricate golden patterns, while four pairs of brilliant golden wings rested naturally behind her back.
Her expression remained calm and composed as she completed one task after another within the City Guard Headquarters before eventually stepping outside just as the golden sun slowly began descending toward the horizon.
Just as Ash’s earlier observations had suggested, she immediately returned to her residence after finishing her duties.
Now... she’ll enter her private training chamber, where no one will disturb her...
Ash’s figure silently followed from a considerable distance, carefully matching her pace while remaining hidden beneath multiple layers of Concealment, his presence leaving behind nothing more than nearly undetectable traces of Corruption Energy drifting through the air.
Soon, she arrived at the innermost section of her residence, a place completely isolated from the outside world and reserved exclusively for her cultivation.
As the surroundings fell completely silent...
[Domain Expansion - Cradle of Endless Worlds]
**
[Angel POV]
The Vice Commander quietly returned to her residence before making her way toward the private cultivation chamber located deep within the building.
As the heavy stone door slowly closed behind her, the surrounding formations silently activated one after another, completely isolating the chamber from the outside world.
Only then did she let out a small sigh.
"...Finally."
She gently stretched her shoulders before walking toward the center of the chamber.
Another peaceful day had come to an end.
Although handling the city’s security was exhausting, she had long since grown accustomed to such a routine. Patrols, reports, meetings, and training had become part of her daily life, leaving very little room for anything else.
Just a few hours of cultivation... then tomorrow begins all over again.
She slowly closed her eyes and began circulating Divine Energy throughout her body, preparing to begin another quiet cultivation session.
Just then....
The world around her suddenly distorted.
The peaceful training ground disappeared without warning, replaced by an unfamiliar stretch of infinite darkness where nothing existed as far as her eyes could see.
The Vice Commander’s eyes instantly opened widely.
"...What?"
Her instincts immediately screamed that something was terribly wrong, but those instincts had reacted far too late.
She was already standing at death’s door.
Almost on pure instinct, she spun around, eight golden wings unfurling behind her as Divine Energy surged throughout her body, her sharp gaze sweeping across the endless darkness in a desperate attempt to understand what had just happened.
No...
This is impossible...
She thought inwardly as her eyes finally landed upon the being standing before her.
Her mind went completely blank.
A... Devil...?
Her pupils contracted violently.
No...
This... shouldn’t be possible...
Those were the last thoughts that echoed through her mind before her consciousness was swallowed by absolute darkness, the light fading from her eyes as life silently left her body.
**
A/N: I know the last two Chapters have been a little disappointing, but please bear with me.
The reason is that a few things happened in real life, and one of them was me almost getting scammed out of my money. 😭
Thankfully, after spending the past year trying to think like manipulative psychopaths for my novel, my brain immediately went, "Nah... this is definitely a con artist." 😭
I started questioning everything he said until his entire story fell apart, and I backed out before it was too late. For a second, he almost had me... but he picked the wrong person.
On a serious note, please be careful with calls, especially if they involve money or come from strangers. Don’t hesitate to question everything, record the call if needed, and verify things yourself. It’s better to look paranoid for a few minutes than regret it later.
Stay safe, everyone. ❤️