Chương 91: Common Enemies

"So let me get this straight. You sensed an incredibly dark and vile presence at the top of the Institute tower, you infiltrated the Restricted Sanctum to investigate, and you found a captive archdemon restrained with some of the most powerful and potent enchantments known to man. Then, instead of making the reasonable, normal assumption that the archdemon was held prisoner for a good reason, you instead decided to break it out and bring it to your own home. Did I get that right?"

Anastasia's stare could've melted through solid mithril. Levi merely shrugged and nodded.

"More or less, yeah. Though, I'm pretty sure you should be referring to Selene as 'her' and not 'it'..."

"Official Church doctrine would disagree." Levi resisted the urge to snort. He could see now why Syto, an elite vampire, had said the Church was a zealous lot. Anastasia, one of the six High Priestesses, was supposedly better than most – a lot better, according to Qorbin – but even then it appeared she was still a priestess at heart.

"I already told you. She means us no harm." Anastasia raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Really now?" She turned to Selene.

"What are your thoughts on me?"

"I think you are rather conventionally attractive," Selene said matter-of-factly. Levi looked triumphant, only to freeze at Selene's next words delivered in the same tone.

"I believe you would look all the prettier if you had your intestines wrapped around your throat like a necklace."

"Selene!" Levi snapped, aghast as he whirled to her.

"Or a noose."

"See?" Anastasia shook her head.

"Irredeemable creatures. Extermination is all they're fit for."

"Funny," Selene replied.

"I could say the same about you. It's both reassuring and revolting to know that no matter the world, the Goddess and her followers will always be the same." Levi sighed. Okay. He probably should've thought through this more. Should he alter his plans? … Nah. He was sure that with enough time, they could grow to work together. Hopefully.

"Guys, I know you loathe each other on principle, but please," Levi said.

"We're up against a common enemy here. What's the saying again? Enemy of my enemy is my friend? Can't you set aside our differences for once and work together?"

"I will never be friends with a demon." Anastasia said the word 'demon' as though it were a particularly filthy invective.

"However…" She sighed.

"I suppose this is important. Very well. It pains me to consort with such creatures, but I'll lower myself for now."

"Thank you. Selene?" No response.

"... Selene?"

"One moment. I'm still weighing my options."

"Oh, okay – wait, what options are those?"

"Slitting her throat or skewering her heart–""Selene!"

"Oh, very well then," Selene said.

"If you insist that this is the best path forward, then I suppose I cannot refuse."

"Thank you."

"Can you let us go now?" Anastasia asked, the heat in her expression disappearing, replaced by a sense of embarrassed exasperation. Levi nodded, and with a wave of his hand, he dispelled the two spherical barriers he'd erected around the two. As the last of the magical iridescent layers dissipated into nothingness, Levi tensed up for a second, half-expecting the two to immediately go against their word and attack each other. Fortunately, they seemed to have accepted the ceasefire.

Anastasia and Selene both stepped forward, regarding each other warily. At least that was a step up from where they'd regarded each other murderously just a few minutes ago.

"So. What's the situation?" Anastasia asked Levi, not taking her gaze off Selene. Levi explained. He told her about his counterpart's status as a regressor, Selene's involvement, and what happened to her old world. At that, Anastasia blinked, shock flickering across her visage.

"What?" she interrupted. She looked at Selene.

"Your entire world died?" Selene nodded.

"I'm the last survivor." Despite herself, Anastasia's eyes softened as she gazed at Selene.

"That's terrible," she said, for once not a trace of animosity in her voice.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Aww. Levi knew Anastasia had it in her. She was too kind not to. Perhaps the two would become on good terms sooner than he'd expected– Selene tilted her head.

"Why? It wasn't your world. You didn't know any of the lives that were lost." Annnd the animosity was back.

"I don't need to know someone to feel empathy for them," Anastasia said frostily.

"But I can see there's no point in talking to you about that. Who was responsible for the attack? If there was one, that is." Here, Levi took over once more.

"Her world was destroyed by the Devourer and the Chorus," he said, taking care to enunciate each word precisely.

"Those two are the same entities that threaten our current world." Would Anastasia also be affected by the unknown anti-perception phenomenon? She was a High Priestess, the Church equivalent of Mythmaker-tier adventurers. Levi didn't know what level she was, but he assumed she was in the high hundreds. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. He held his breath as he examined Anastasia intently.

"Horrible," Anastasia murmured.

"To think that her world was… was…" Her eyebrows scrunched together.

"Wait. What did you just say?" Goddamnit. Levi exchanged another worried look with Selene. Well, okay. She didn't look worried; her face was expressionless as ever. But he liked to think that she was at least a little perturbed on the inside.

"The two entities we're up against have induced some sort of universal anti-perception memetic field," Levi said.

"It appears to be impossible for anyone in this world to perceive or even register their presence. Not even their names." Anastasia's eyes widened.

"What?" Her emerald eyes glowed for a second as she scanned herself, no doubt trying to detect any external influences or impurity.

"I don't see anything. How are they doing this? For it to be able to affect even me, through all the Goddess's protective magic…" She paled.

"There's only one way for them to bypass it all. Is… Is that why your counterpart…" Levi nodded grimly.

"The two entities have hijacked the System and are using its connection to every living being to induce the anti-perception phenomenon. They are also using the same connection to drain everyone's Time, thus irrevocably shortening their lifespans. That's why my counterpart, the former Levi Ironwood, severed his connection to the System." Anastasia looked horrified.

"The System is an extension of the Goddess's will," she murmured.

"So you're saying these two beings somehow corrupted it? How?"

"I don't know," Levi said.

"But that's what we're journeying to the Source to find out. That's why I called you here today: do you know where the System Source is?"

"I… I don't. It's not common, or even secret, knowledge. I didn't even know such a thing existed before you mentioned it," Anastasia said. Her eyes flicked around, as though trying to search for where it could be.

"Although… Do you recall that Hollow cultist I mentioned before?"

"The one who you believe managed to sever his access to the System?" Anastasia nodded.

"I searched up his records again in the Church archives after I met with you. Not much was known about him, but… Though he was born in Valaria, he only completed his daemon transformation after journeying to what is now modern-day Yukihasa. That is where the Church finally found him and cut him down. If System Restrictions can only be initiated from the Source as you say, then…"

"The Source is likely somewhere within Yukihasa," Levi finished. He smiled.

"This is an excellent lead. Thank you, Anastasia…" He paused.

"What's wrong?" Anastasia's expression had turned pensive. Foreboding, even. At Levi's question, she looked at him.

"You don't know?"

"Know what?" Levi asked blankly.

"Yukihasa has been embroiled in a terrible civil war for the past ten years. Its borders are completely sealed, and all unauthorized outsiders are to be executed on sight. We won't ever get permission to enter its borders, much less search for the Source."

"... oh." The supercontinent of Koxus had four great nations: Luminarche to the west, Alass to the south, Valaria to the north, and Yukihasa to the east. Yukihasa was a rather interesting country, geographically speaking. It had an extremely small mainland that bordered the other three nations. Most of its landmass was located in an archipelago of hundreds of tiny, scattered islands that extended far out to the east. Yukihasa was a land constantly in war.

Due to its fragmented nature and limited natural resources, it was extremely common for a warlord or three to rise up and declare sovereignty. In the past eight hundred years, it had gone through three different imperial governments, a dozen civil wars, four renaming conventions, and countless attempted revolutions. It was a country characterized by constant political turmoil and civil infighting. A decade ago, Yukihasa had once again fallen into civil war.

The reason was unknown, though the prevailing theory had it that a certain high-ranking government official was assassinated. Whatever the case, Yukihasa had immediately closed its borders and released an international declaration that any foreign intruders found would be summarily executed without trial. They didn't want any other countries getting funny ideas and deciding to invade Yukihasa. Consequently, there was an incredible dearth of information concerning Yukihasa.

Very little was known about what was happening within. Yukihasa's government had a special assassination force – known as the Huntsmen – that specifically hunted down all escapees, refugees, deserters, and so on. Only a few select merchants were allowed to conduct trade, and even then they were heavily guarded by Huntsmen. It was said that the Huntsmen were there not to protect the merchants but to prevent them from spilling anything.

The border between Luminarche and Yukihasa was a strip of rocky volcanic land about sixty kilometers long. A massive wall on Luminarche's side extended along the entire length. It was built two centuries ago during a war between the two countries, and over time Luminarche had added more and more to the wall until it was ten meters tall and three meters thick. The wall was constantly manned by a full battalion of a thousand soldiers.

Nestled behind the wall was the border city of Durlistle with a population of around a hundred thousand. In the past, it used to be an extremely wealthy trade hub. Now, though, its economy had dried up tremendously over the past ten years, and it was a shell of its former self. That was the city that they headed to. The three of them traveled by horseback. Levi and Anastasia had used horses provided by the Church, while Selene had conjured her own steed from shadows. The journey was tense, to say the least.

Despite the truce Selene and Anastasia had agreed upon, the two of them clearly loathed each other's presence. Levi tried his best to keep the peace, but there was a reason why he'd never been called upon to serve as a diplomat. He managed to keep them from killing each other, and honestly, that was good enough. During the trip, Levi had asked Anastasia about what happened with Qorbin. Apparently, the Church had refused to believe her about Phantasm being responsible for the attack upon Montague Castle.

Since she never actually saw Phantasm with her own eyes, the Church believed that Qorbin had hoodwinked her into believing him. In fact, she herself had come under suspicion at one point for vouching for Qorbin.

"I see," Levi said.

"You did the best you could. Thank you." In turn, Levi told her about what happened during Liliya's Trial. Anastasia was relieved to hear that Liliya was reinstated as an adventurer. She was outraged by what the Council had done, and when Levi mentioned how the Cardinal used [Truth Imposition] on him…

"The Cardinal questioned you?" Anastasia asked sharply.

"Was he ordered to do so by the Council, or did he choose to of his own accord?" Levi frowned, thinking back.

"It was his choice to intervene," he recalled.

"I don't think the Councilors expected him to speak up at all."

"That's strange…" Anastasia frowned.

"The Church normally doesn't involve itself like this, much less a Cardinal."

"Well, you did vouch for Qorbin–""Even so. The Church doesn't actually care that much beyond my involvement. For the Cardinal to single you out specifically…" Anastasia shook her head.

"I don't know. Perhaps I'm overthinking it, but…" Levi shrugged.

"Who knows. In any case, I guess the cat's out of the bag anyhow, after what I did a few days ago."

"What do you mean?"

"I broke through the Adventurer's Guildhall's wards to teleport my teammate to the hospital." Anastasia blinked.

"What?"

"It was an emergency." Levi tilted his head.

"Didn't you hear?"

"No…" Huh. Okay, now that was strange. Levi frowned. He had thought it odd how the Adventurer's Guild hadn't dispatched anyone to his home to interrogate him about the incident. Everyone inside the reception hall, including the clerk, had definitely seen him teleport Andevar and Liliya out of the Guildhall. Hell, the magical radial pulse he'd released to locate the hospital should've been felt by virtually every adventurer in the city. How had the news not spread? Well. It didn't matter now.

Levi wouldn't find out until he returned to Luxanne. He just made a mental note to revisit it, then went on to mediate another argument that'd sprung up between Anastasia and Selene. After two days of travel, they finally arrived at Durlistle.