Death... and me

2748  The Truth Again

"What do you mean?" Rean sked Romario.

Romario pointed at the Integration Pillar in the distance. "Isn't that obvious? My approach was pretty much the same as this system of yours. However, how could I be certain about it? I had no way to test it, you know? Seeing that your System got the same answer makes me truly happy."

"By the way," Romario looked at the pillar's cracks. There were a lot less than he expected. "It seems to be a little different than I thought."

"It's because we already added nine real Fragments to this thing," Rean explained. Can you see those spheres of Dark and White Light? There were fourteen of them before. Now, there are only five remaining. The other nine disappeared after the nine fragments we had were absorbed by this Pillar."

"N-Nine?!" Romario was taken aback. "You did mention you got Fragments, but I didn't expect to be this many. Also... I don't think anyone knows how many fragments truly exist. Does that mean there are fourteen in total?"

"Yes," Rean didn't hide it. "And we know where to find four of them. Only the last one is eluding us."

Romario took a deep breath. "Nine... Truly impressive. I happen to know about two of them. One can be found in this Dimensional Realm. The Leviathans call it their Treasure."

"As expected," Roan commented. They had reached that conclusion when Olvris mentioned it outside.

Romario continued. "The other one is in Gabriel's hands. I knew I should have taken it straight away. Yet, I was so confident in my Soul Worms that I just let him keep it for safekeeping. At least it would always stay in the Heavens, where others can't reach. Now, it makes it difficult for us to get instead. Gabriel's one I had commented on before, anyway. So, what are the other two."

"Both are in the Underworld," Turen stepped forward, speaking. "One was in my hands, but I had to give it away to the Devils recently. My real body just so happens to be there as well. The second one is what makes the existence of the Underworld Relic Possible."

Romario took a good look at Turen, narrowing his eyes. "I feel like I saw you before somwhere..."

Turen nodded. "You definitely heard about my real body in the Temporal Path."

"Oh!" Romario immediately understood. "You were the guy that kept a Fragment in a gap in the Temporal Path. I've seen your descriptions from the time I was controlling the angels. Sophia mentioned you were also a Semi-Celestial."

"That's correct," Turen confirmed.

"Still, Underworld has two; they might be even more complicated to acquire," Romario returned his attention to the issue. However, he decided to put it aside for now. "Forget it. At the moment, we should join forces and acquire the Fragment in this Dimensional Realm."

"Talking about the Leviathans, they seem to consider you a guest of honor or some bullshit like that. Care to explain?" Roan asked.

Romario nodded and began.

It happened a few years after Romario fled from the Floating Islands of Time. At that time, Romario didn't have many choices, so he decided to try his luck and talk to Hyeoumu. To his surprise, Hyeoumu really entertained him for a moment and told him about this one Fragment in Hustis. "I believe the reason he even told me that was because I explained what I was attempting to achieve," Romario commented.

The difference between him and the twins was that Hyeoumu only mentioned the Fragment in Hustis and nowhere else. It wasn't hard to imagine why, though. The other Fragment Hyeoumu mentioned to the twins was in Huban's hands. Huban was a Semi-Celestial, so telling Romario about it didn't seem very wise for the moment.

Romario obviously made his way to Hustis Continent. Just like the twins, he also visited one of the powers there to acquire information about the continent. Not long after, his eyes settled in the Mirror Sea. "You see, I quickly found out that there was a Dimensional Realm hidden in the Mirror Sea. Guess how I found my way inside."

Luan, who seemed to be playing with his Spatial Power ever since he saw Romario's demonstration, immediately spoke. "Similar to when you crossed from one side of the Universe to another. You used this same loophole in the Spatial Laws."

Romario nodded. "That's correct. That's why I didn't need to open a passage like Rean did."

After Romario entered the Dimensional Realm of the Leviathans, he quickly found out their home. But above all, he understood they hadn't come out of this place for a very long time either. That said, he decided to show himself instead. That's because he confirmed that acquiring the Leviathan's Treasure through any other invasive method was impossible.

"Since then, I've been improving my relationship with the Leviathans," Romario recounted. "You will see later. They are steadily introducing the Circuitry Formations into their lives, and I'm the one teaching them."

"Why would they believe you that easily? Didn't they ask you how you came into their Dimensional Realm?" Roan asked.

Obviously, things were that simple. "You were right. They didn't exactly trust me straight away. When they asked me how I managed to enter this Dimensional Realm, I spoke the truth and showed them how to use Spatial Power and Laws to open a gap to the outside world."

"You told them?" Everyone was surprised.

"Of course!" Romario nodded. "I told you, I wanted to gain their trust. Yet, to my surprise, as soon as they confirmed I wasn't lying about my method... they just forgot it existed."

Rean and the others understood why. The Leviathans didn't care about the outside world, only their Dimensional Realm and their treasure. The only reason Olvris came out at all when Rean opened a passage was that Olvris felt the Leviathan Bloodline in Sonzei's body.

"What about when they asked the reason for you to be here?" Rean asked.

"Oh, that was a funny one," Romario smiled. "I told them the truth again."

And as always, any Golden Tickets and Stones are welcome. ;)