Kyle just looked at the Duchess of Twilight for a while, who just kept looking back.
She was definitely mentally there since there were some movements of life in her. She was also blinking occasionally.
But she just remained quiet.
"Okay, then," Kyle said after some seconds as he slowly moved back to the gate. "I will just take that as a yes. If you have any objections, feel free to tell me."
Kyle took hold of the gate and pulled.
"Take as much time as you need," the Duchess of Twilight suddenly said.
"Oh?" Kyle answered, looking back. "Thank you! If you want me to repay you for the favor, just ask."
"I want you to promise me something," she spoke from her throne.
Kyle blinked a couple of times.
'That was quick.'
"Yeah, sure, what do you need?" Kyle asked, letting go of the handle of the gate.
"I want you to take my spot," she said with an ethereal voice.
"Your spot?" Kyle asked. "You mean as… the leader of the Twilight Duchy?"
Just now, Kyle wanted to say that he would take her spot as Overseer, but his instincts said that this was not a good idea, which was why he switched.
It just felt like a bad thing to say.
"No," the Duchess of Twilight said as she slowly stood up and walked away from her throne. "As Overseer."
"Overseer?" Kyle asked, his suspicions confirmed. "I'm not quite sure what you mean."
The Duchess of Twilight walked to one of the windows in her hall and looked out.
"The official ruler of this world," she said.
"I know what official means," Kyle said, "but it feels like there's more to this word in this context. It's not just about being the strongest. Am I correct?"
"You are correct," the Duchess of Twilight said.
Then, she glanced at Kyle with a cold gaze. "You don't seem concerned when I said THIS world," she added.
"I already suspected that there would be more worlds," Kyle said. "I mean, the Cult of Final Fate believes in some kind of God, and this God's power seems to be much more powerful than anything in this world if I were to believe their words. No offense."
Kyle had essentially told the strongest being in the world that they were not the strongest being in the world. He just hoped that she wouldn't take this as an insult.
The Duchess of Twilight looked back at the window. "The Cult of Final Fate and their God," she said before trailing off.
A couple of seconds of silence passed.
"They are a far bigger problem than you can imagine," she added. "And yes, their God exists."
Then, she looked at the ground. "And he is an unimaginable threat to our very existence."
"That sounds troublesome," Kyle said.
The Duchess of Twilight nodded without looking at Kyle. "His influence is weak in this world, but even with his weak influence, he is still a danger."
"But this is not our fight," she said. "People much more powerful than I are fighting this war. People of our level are nothing but new recruits."
'Yep, also confirms that suspicion,' Kyle thought. 'I knew Magic Lady had to be super strong.'
"So," Kyle said, "you wanted to tell me more about the promise I'm about to make, right?"
The Duchess of Twilight looked at Kyle with indiscernible emotions. "The world needs a ruler, which is what we call an Overseer. The position of Overseer exists for only a single reason."
"To keep the Cult of Final Fate from destroying the world."
Kyle remembered something.
Theodor had told Kyle never to speak of this matter again, but this felt like the appropriate moment. "I heard of a Champion of Final Fate," he commented.
The Duchess of Twilight looked back.
"So, you already know," she said.
"I've heard of it," Kyle said. "I heard you've dealt with them."
"I've dealt with many," the Duchess of Twilight said. "The Champions of Final Fate have an otherworldly power that is difficult to resist, even for me."
"When a chosen of the Cult of Final Fate becomes a Transcendent, they will turn into a Champion of Final Fate. Their God bestows them with but a tiny part of his power, but this tiny part already represents a world-ending calamity."
The Duchess of Twilight looked down. "My chances of losing against them are not zero."
"I have only emerged victorious so far because my Momentum is powerful enough to fool them into believing that they can't win. If that stops working, I might die."
Kyle took a deep breath.
That sounded… quite powerful!
"I hope this is not too personal of a question, but exactly how powerful are you?" Kyle asked carefully.
The Duchess of Twilight looked at Kyle for a bit, who just held up his hands to show that he didn't mean any offense.
After some seconds, she looked back out of the window.
"I am a Fulfilled Transcendent," she said.
Kyle blinked a couple of times. "That doesn't tell me much."
The Duchess of Twilight furrowed her brows as she looked out of the window.
She seemed to be evaluating something.
After a while, she looked at Kyle again.
"In the higher worlds, Transcendents are divided into five levels," she said.
"Oh, like Initial, Early, Mid-"
"No, not like that," the Twilight Duchess interrupted. "Things work differently in the Transcendent Realm. You do not gather Ether and become stronger. As a Transcendent, your achievements in Laws dictate your power."
"The more Laws you know, the more Ether the world allows you to control. With the additional Ether, you can strengthen part of your being, but the difference in Ether you control at different levels is minor. It only increases by 1.2 times."
'1.2 times?' Kyle thought in surprise. 'A normal breakthrough inside a Realm more than doubles my Ether! Hell, a new Transcendent has more than four times my Ether, and that's already including my specks!'
"Yet," the Twilight Duchess said, "the difference in power is more pronounced than ever."
"Transcendents jumping even a single level are rarer than a mortal who can jump three levels."
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