The possibility immediately sent countless thoughts spiraling through his mind.

He didn’t pay much mind to it till now, but now that he thought about it, Diablo had always been abnormal from the very beginning.

Noah’s gaze slowly narrowed.

There had always been things about Diablo that never fully made sense.

His swordsmanship was one of them.

Diablo had never been taught how to wield a blade.

Yet from the very beginning, the skeletal guardian handled his spine sword with unnatural proficiency. It wasn’t crude, instinctive swinging like most monsters relied on.

At times, it genuinely felt as though an experienced swordsman was controlling the weapon rather than a newly born undead creature.

Even Noah had subconsciously accepted it because Diablo’s role as Eve’s guardian felt so natural that nobody questioned it deeply enough.

But looking back now, Noah realized how strange that truly was.

A skeleton that was just created shouldn’t have possessed that level of familiarity with a weapon.

Especially not one that resembled experience accumulated over years of combat.

There was the possibility that Diablo knew how to wield a sword while he was human, but Noah considered that unlikely. If he truly possessed this level of mastery while alive, he wouldn’t have died so easily in the first place.

Then there was Ava.

Ever since her existence came into being, Diablo had remained even closer to Eve than before.

At first, Noah assumed Diablo viewed Ava as another extension of Eve herself. But now that explanation no longer felt sufficient.

It was almost as though Diablo had instinctively recognized something within Ava from the very beginning.

Or perhaps... feared it.

Noah’s expression gradually darkened as another memory surfaced within his mind.

The battle against the Archon.

Back then, Eve and Ava’s transformation had gone completely beyond Eve’s control. Even now, he still didn’t fully understand what truly happened during that fusion.

But one thing was undeniable.

Diablo decided to intervene without any guidance from Eve whatsoever.

The skeletal guardian had inserted himself into the transformation entirely on his own simply to protect Eve from Ava.

Noah’s eyes hardened slightly.

That wasn’t something a dormant consciousness acting on shallow instinct should have been capable of doing. No matter how strong those instincts were.

Especially not when that fusion involved Ava.

Because if Ava truly housed an ancient existence within her soul, then forcibly merging into that transformation should have been impossible for a mindless subconscious acting on instinct alone.

Yet Diablo forced his way in anyway.

The more Noah thought about it, the more his earlier theory began falling apart.

Perhaps Diablo’s "awakening" today wasn’t the birth of a personality at all.

Maybe something inside him had truly been dormant, and the real consciousness had finally taken control of the subconscious layer that acted in its place all this time.

There was even a chance that, if Noah was right, then the soul that once belonged to Eve’s father had gradually been overtaken by this other existence from the very beginning.

Even Diablo’s unwavering role as Eve’s "father" suddenly felt less simple now.

—

But before he could pursue the thought further, Eve’s laughter reached his ears nearby as Diablo awkwardly lifted her slightly off the ground.

The sight immediately disrupted the tension building within Noah’s mind.

He let out a quiet breath before temporarily setting those thoughts aside, his suspicion toward Diablo weakening almost instantly.

Right now, there simply wasn’t enough information to reach a proper conclusion.

And even if it was, would that change anything?

If Diablo turned out to be a soul that took over Eve’s actual father’s soul, would that change the fact that Diablo has been protecting her all this time?

Would it change the way he protected her?

Would it change Eve’s feelings toward him?

Noah’s gaze lingered on the laughing vampire girl for a moment longer. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

And more importantly... Who was to say Eve herself was still truly the same person she once was?

The human girl she used to be had long since died.

After that came the undead. Then the vampire she had become. The soul inside of her now could be a different soul, just like the others.

Yet despite all of that, Noah still saw her as Eve.

Because, regardless of who she was before, it was the version that he was here with today that he grew to care for. And the same should be for Diablo.

Noah was about to say something when a loud bang sounded behind the others. The metal clanging caused all of them to turn to the source just to find Dummy’s snout poking through the cage.

"Done? I was quiet!" The gluttonous creature salivated heavily even while speaking. With each syllable, the wet sound of saliva shifting around inside his mouth sounded.

Dummy’s sudden interruption shattered the heavy atmosphere surrounding the group.

Even Kratos found himself distracted from testing his newly gained strength.

Noah stared blankly at Dummy for a moment. He didn’t feel like they had taken that long. But then realization slowly dawned on him.

After Diablo and Kratos finished their transformations, nobody had moved afterward.

And because Noah himself became lost in thought this entire time, he never actually said anything either.

Which meant...

Dummy wasn’t wrong for asking.

Noah suddenly felt a little bad for the creature, especially because Dummy had genuinely behaved himself this time.

The beast was still practically vibrating from hunger, yet he really had stayed inside the cage quietly without trying to force his way out.

Noah rubbed the side of his head with a faint sigh before looking back toward him.

"Sorry. You just need to wait a little longer."

Dummy’s entire body immediately drooped. Before the creature could spiral into despair, Noah continued speaking.

"But since you did a good job..."

Dummy’s eyes instantly lit up.

"You can have two humans instead."

The depression vanished so quickly that it almost looked painful.

Dummy slammed himself against the cage in excitement, hard enough to make the cage tremble.

"QUIET! STILL QUIET!"

The creature immediately tried to correct himself despite screaming loudly enough for everyone present to hear.

Several of the others looked away while Fenrir physically lowered his head in secondhand embarrassment.

—

Further away, near the outer edges of the territory, the atmosphere among the gathered cats and dogs was noticeably quieter.

They had watched everything from a distance.

And after hearing everything Dog told them earlier, many of them could no longer stop certain thoughts from surfacing.

Some began to wonder whether Noah didn’t trust them.

Even though they had already started viewing themselves as part of Noah’s group, perhaps Noah himself never truly saw them that way at all.

Others reached a different conclusion.

Maybe they weren’t strong enough yet.

Or perhaps Noah feared they would lose control the same way the spider supposedly had before being forced to die by Arachne’s hand.

Alexandra was one of the few who believed that they were weak. She watched with an unsettling trepidation.

Her gaze went towards Kratos and Diablo, the creatures who were just given the opportunity to become stronger.

And then she shifted her glance to her side; Dog sat there proudly, his tail wagging without a hint of anxiousness.

Then her eyes shifted slightly toward Dog, who was sitting nearby.

The canine sat proudly, his chest puffed out and his tail wagging lazily behind him, completely lacking the anxiety spreading among many of the others.

Behind him, the other canines stood proudly, affected by their leader’s presence. They looked to him with passionate envy, eagerly anticipating the time when they would become just as strong.

Seeing that only made Alexandra’s irritation grow stronger.

Jealousy.

A bitter feeling she didn’t particularly enjoy acknowledging. She wanted that opportunity too.

Not only for herself, but for the others following behind her.

Before those thoughts could spiral further, something lightly brushed against her paw.

Alexandra blinked before lowering her gaze.

Dobby sat quietly beside her. His half-closed, seemingly blind eyes stared directly toward her despite their cloudy appearance.

He didn’t say anything. And this time, he didn’t need to. Alexandra had already heard his thoughts once before.

Slowly, the agitation within her began settling back down. Her ears twitched faintly before she finally let out a quiet breath.

"...I know, Dobby."

Her voice softened slightly.

"Our time will come."

The feline followers gathered nearby immediately turned their attention toward her.

Some of them had been among those harboring the most negative thoughts moments ago.

But as they watched Alexandra regain her composure, those emotions began to stabilize as well.

Their leader wasn’t panicking. So neither would they.

Whatever Noah’s reasons were, they would become strong enough that he could no longer overlook them.

Suddenly, it felt as if Noah could sense their thoughts when his gaze turned towards them.

He stared, but for a moment, but even that was enough to make them nervous enough to stop breathing.

They watched as he then turned to Arachne, and following that, she turned towards them too.

Before they could understand what was going on, Arachne disappeared, emerging in front of them as if she had teleported.

They all knew Arachne’s status, and after hearing what she did to her own, none of the weaker ones dared to meet her gaze.

Arachne didn’t bother to look at the others besides Alexandria and Dog. The open disregard only made the others grow more anxious.

Alexandria straightened immediately while Dog’s wagging tail slowed slightly beneath Arachne’s stare.

"Noah wants to speak to both of you."