As the sun rose through the horizon, Haruki's eyes finally opened up. Having slept through the past weeks, he had no clue where he was or what his companions were doing all this time without him. Looking around with his tired eyes he noticed Asuka sleeping beside him with her hand laying on top of his chest. On the other side of his body was Fay sleeping soundly with Stella clenched tightly onto her bosom.
Pulling himself up, he felt lost. The only other familiar face he saw was Riley, but she too was sleeping inside a futon. The sliding door, the dusty room, and the dirty unkempt windows made him wonder if he was dreaming or if the castle was under some strange illusion.
"Truth seeker..." Channeling mana through his vision, he looked around in hopes of seeing through the illusion.
'This is…all real?' Baffled by the realization, he picked himself up on his feet and decided to find out where he was exactly.
And although waking up the others would've been a faster way of doing so, he didn't want to ruin their sleep, especially since they all seemed a bit withered since the last time he'd seen them.
"Pass through…" Using yet another acquired ability, Haruki walked over to the doors and walked right through them.
To his surprise, however, an old hunched-over lady was standing in front of the door peering up at him. At first, he thought of hypnotizing her to make her forget what she saw, but as she began simply walking away without a word, he had no clue what he should do.
"Follow me," looking back at him with her cloudy silver gaze, she beckoned Haruki to follow her. "I have something to show you."
Still a bit lost, he decided to follow the witch. Taking Haruki out through the entrance, she began wandering towards the mud path. After walking for a while, they reached a point of elevation with a short cliff overlooking the vast expanse of tall grass that's been cut in half by the mud road.
"Here, sit," at the edge of that small cliff, the witch sat down looking at the rising sun.
"Who are you?" He asked, approaching her slowly.
Once he was standing by her side, she looked up at him with a gentle smile. Cackling a bit in a clownish manner, she patted her hand on the grass for him to sit down on. Desperate for answers, Haruki did as he was told, and sat beside the old lady.
"You know…" Turning her gaze back to the son, the witch finally revealed. "Your master, Asmodia, you're not her only child, and neither is that arrogant child Moriyana."
"How do you know abou-"
"There are no coincidences in this world, child. You didn't end up here because of a broken wheel on your wagon," raising a single finger, the lady gently touched Haruki's temples. "Here, see for yourself."
Her touch pushed Haruki into a hallucinating state. His mind began wandering through memories of his companions and everything they'd done after he lost consciousness during the battle with Almuld. Everything from being trapped in time, and what Asmodia said to him about not having much time, to the witch's encounter with Riley last night, it all came to him in a matter of seconds.
"Who are you?" Still stuck scanning through memories, his eyes were upturned and blinded as the witch replied.
"Your master's conscience, Ophila, the witch of bleeding hearts," with that, Haruki felt something pull him out of his memories.
As he looked around the place, he found no sight of the witch, and it was only basking under the rising sun's presence.
'Another illusion or…Dammit, why doesn't she just show herself like she used to?' Wondering why Asmodia had to send a messenger instead of simply meeting up with him in a dream, Haruki pulled himself back up and headed back toward the inn.
However, this time as he got there, instead of a hut, he only saw his companions sleeping out in the open yet in the same place where the inn used to be.
'What the hell even is real anymore?' Being fooled despite using his truth seeker ability, Haruki had no clue what to believe.
Hearing a groan coming from his group of servants, he noticed Asuka slowly opening up her eyes. And as if sensing the disturbance around them the other two stretched their arms and woke up as well. Moving closer, Haruki wanted to help them up their feet, but the moment their eyes laid on him, they all propped themselves up in a frenzy.
"Master!" Rushing right over to him, Asuka wrapped her hands around Haruki's body.
Fay wasn't far behind with Stella in hugging him, even Riley couldn't help but join in. Surrounded by them all, he felt slightly better about the situation. Wrapping his hands around them, he let his heart soothe up from everything he'd just been shown through memories.
"Wait…" Finally realizing that the inn was gone, Riley was the first to pull away from the hug. "Where's the hut?"
The revelation pinned the other two and forced them to turn around to look where they were sleeping. It was all gone, replaced by an imprint of their bodies in the dirt, and even the devil girl was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's the witch?! And that devil too?!" Freaking out of her mind, Riley paced around looking at any sight of them being around.
"They weren't real, and that memory she showed you, was a warning to stay away from that girl in case we run into her," having seen everything they'd been through, it was a lot easier for Haruki to dissect the meaning behind most of the witch's actions.
"No wait," pulling away from the hug as well, Fay voiced another concern. "Darwin…I don't remember ever meeting him before…"
That was all she needed to say to know the culprit behind the entire thing.
"Asmodia!" All three of his servants called out her name in unison.
"Exactly," and Haruki confirmed their suspicion.
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