Additional Chapter! Thank xenes41 for solving the cryptic message that I left.
Enjoy!!
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How could that be?!
Klein the cat froze, his mind going blank.
Mother Zhou, clearly briefed beforehand, showed surprise and confusion but quickly locked onto the cat on the coffee table. After half a second's hesitation, she hurried over, tentatively asking, "Mingrui, is that you? A gentleman said you'd turned into a cat…"
"…It's me," Klein said, snapping out of it as his brain kicked back into gear. He realized this was his mother's Shadow of Time, one of Lucifer's abilities.
Tears spilled uncontrollably from Klein's eyes, all his grief and frustration surging up, shattering his usual calm.
By the time he came to, he'd leapt into his mother's arms, the whole cat cradled by her.
"Oh, why are you crying? You're a grown man, you should not cry…" Mother Zhou fumbled to hold Klein the cat, her movements gentle and careful.
…
Evah watched the warm mother-son reunion quietly, a genuine softness in his expression.
After a moment, he turned his head and asked, "What do you think he'll choose?"
"I don't know," Adam said, emerging from the shadows. He, too, silently observed the reunion before looking at Evah. "I didn't expect you to do this. I thought you'd push Klein toward becoming the Lord of Mysteries."
"I do lean toward him, but I want it to be his choice," Evah said with a smile, meeting Adam's golden eyes. "If you and I were friends, I'd want you to choose your ending willingly one day, not be forced onto a savior's path."
His words seemed loaded. Adam glanced at him and said, "He was willing."
"And you? Are you willing?" Evah pressed.
"Of course I am," Adam replied without hesitation.
"What about Medici? Was he willing to sacrifice himself? And the countless ordinary people who'll die in the wars to come…" Evah held Adam's golden gaze. "Are they willing?"
"It's a necessary sacrifice," Adam said, the answer as routine as ever. But after speaking, he felt a rare flicker of doubt.
He paused, quickly tracing the source of that doubt.
It came from… love.
A faint love for this world, for its people, told Adam this wasn't right.
"…But to save this world, we have no choice," Adam said, closing his eyes, unsure if he was answering Evah or himself.
"No, you do have a choice," Evah said with a smile, his voice brimming with allure. "You can choose to trust me."
"You know what my abilities mean. So, wanna give it a shot and trust me?"
Adam's eyes snapped open, locking onto Evah's. Evah smiled back, and for a fleeting moment, Adam wavered.
Should he trust Evah? He bore no malice toward the world, and his abilities, used right, could absolutely save it.
"…You're dangerous," Adam said after a few seconds, looking away.
"Nonsense, I'm just a happy Mischief-maker," Evah said with a grin, dropping the topic. He'd known Adam wouldn't agree—that's why he'd said it.
Evah didn't really expect Adam to trust him. He knew, emotionless robot or not, Adam wouldn't hand over the world's salvation to him, even if he grew to love it. At best, he'd expect Evah to pitch in—which was fine!
Evah quietly gauged the digestion progress of his Mask-maker potion.
When Ince Zangwill's puppet was handed to the Evernight Church, Evah's potion had digested about a tenth. Just turning someone into a puppet and ending their fate wasn't stellar acting—barely scraping the edge. Otherwise, altering a Sequence 5's fate would've yielded more.
His experiment with Adam proved it. When Adam agreed to wear the mask, Evah felt no digestion progress. But when Adam wavered just now, the potion digested a bit.
So, the key to digesting the Mask-maker potion was getting someone to wear the mask, changing them, and steering things the way he wanted… Evah summed it up inwardly, a smirk tugging at his lips.
He wasn't in a rush to digest the potion. Honestly, tweaking Adam was a far more intriguing project right now.
Because it was just so fun, wasn't it?
…
Klein spent seven days as a cat.
Most of that time, he slept like a real cat. The rest went to sunbathing, zoning out, rolling around, and, in rare moments, reuniting with his mother.
She'd brush his fur while Klein the cat lay on her lap, sharing a trimmed-down version of everything he'd been through.
In those seven days, he didn't see Lucifer. Evah just left food and water within reach daily, thoughtfully conjuring Klein's family into this world while avoiding any face-to-face meetings.
Klein knew he was waiting for his decision.
And he'd made one.
"Wish I could stay a cat forever," Klein muttered, flicking his tail. He looked up at the windowsill, tensed his legs, and leapt up like a real cat, landing lightly.
Tap, tap, tap—
Klein knocked on the window with his tail. "Come out, I know you're there."
Evah's figure appeared outside, eyeing Klein the cat. After seven days of rest, Klein's spirit and energy had visibly improved. The brief reunions with his family had pulled him out of his earlier despair. Now, he was one sleek, glossy cat.
"Have you… gotten fatter?" Evah said after a moment, catching Klein off guard. He gestured with his hands. "I swear you were this fat before. Now… tsk!" He shook his head, looking pained.
(End of Chapter)