[Death Flag]

[...]

Cillian watched the flag disappear from their opponent’s head as the rampant squid-like tentacles slowly returned to the dead body of the Ruiner. Eventually, those tentacles disappeared as well.

The iron golem climbed down from the opponent’s head as the opponent slowly collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Then, Vin removed the golem from the world before steadying his breathing as exhaustion started to take over after using his Piece.

It was a natural result for someone who was an Improper Ruiner to be exhausted fast and not follow proper sequencing. This was just one of them.

At the side, Aster, who didn’t use any abilities, cleaned his sword by waving it through the air in the most sophisticated way before returning it to his sheath.

Cillian, on the other hand, got closer to the dead Ruiner and plucked out the three arrows and put them back in his quiver.

No matter how grotesque it looked, he needed every usable arrow he could get. Vin did the same, gathering his knives from the dead Ruiner.

"Can I borrow that pouch?"

Cillian asked Aster, who immediately responded by throwing the same pouch he had shown at the club at that time.

Cillian caught it quite easily.

Aster then asked.

"Are you okay?"

Cillian tilted his head.

"About what?"

A flicker of doubt and a dangerous glint flashed in Aster’s eyes.

"Killing."

Cillian tilted his head.

"I don’t know."

[A scent of Death is within you.]

"You don’t know?"

Aster couldn’t help but frown at that weird answer before watching Cillian give thanks for the pouch.

"Thanks for this."

Cillian grabbed both the sickles from their opponent and stored them in the pouch before rummaging through the clothes of the corpse.

Cillian couldn’t help but frown.

"I thought this guy was an elite member of that Captain. He was good at fighting, but it did not make sense for him to only use one Ruiner ability. I mean, shouldn’t they have three or more?"

Aster and Vin looked at each other. Both understand that they are Ruiners, but that doesn’t mean their knowledge of becoming one is weak.

They thought that Cillian was also a Ruiner, but if he is, then he’s pretty much have little to no knowledge regarding them.

"Cillian, what do you mean by that?"

Vin asked carefully.

"I mean what I said. Isn’t it better to go all out when he’s about to die? He only showed those stupid tentacles right until the end. Talk about going out pathetic."

Aster, who had a pretty good understanding of what it meant to be a Ruiner, answered on behalf of Vin.

"First, why did you assume that they have two or more Pieces? Second, you seemed not to know how taxing using Ruiner powers are, the more you have Pieces. If you use it past the threshold of your Piece’s power, it’s bound to take a toll on you. What more if they have three or more?

"Physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you have many Pieces and you’re using them simultaneously, it’s twice the effect. Have you not seen it in the books? It’s pretty basic knowledge if you’re interested in becoming a Ruiner."

Cillian looked at him dubiously.

’First, these dudes don’t look normal. If they are here to take your Swords of Chaos, they shouldn’t be reserving powers like that.’

And second.

’And this guy is making me look dumb. Duh, I’ve already read what you said in the library. There’s no way I wouldn’t know simple knowledge like that. The system even warned me not to use it past its limits. What I wanted to say is if he had more abilities, he should’ve used all of them and...’

And let me mimic those abilities.

Assuming the Ruiner had more abilities, if Cillian were in the Ruiner’s position, where he was being cornered like that, he would likely go all out and use everything to take his opponents with him.

Dying alone? He’d rather bring someone with him if they were going to be the reason for his death.

But if the Ruiner had shown all his cards, Cillian would’ve tried to copy as many of them as possible and store them in his mimicked storage.

It was a bummer that it didn’t happen, which is why he found it weird.

Is the organization behind this attack sloppy?

"Are you waiting for the Fragmented Piece—"

Aster was about to ask a question to confirm it when he was interrupted by the strange eye on Cillian’s shoulder.

"Hey!"

Suddenly, the Mouthful Eye spoke out loud, making Aster and Vin act surprised and back away.

They already had suspicions that it was an artifact on Cillian’s shoulders that seemed not to fall even when they were running. As for its uses, they didn’t know.

What surprised them was that it was talking! Artifacts don’t usually talk!

"What happened?! My real body is in quite a predicament. This made me lose connection on this one for a bit, tee-hee. I was getting worried for a second there. Though it’s back now, haha!"

Mouthful Eye complained and laughed before glancing at Cillian.

"Looks like it’s not your fault that my main consciousness is on a rampage. Hey Cillian. Just to remind. You guys are in big trouble."

Cillian shivered when he realized that Mouthful Eye was talking about something else entirely.

After realizing the Mouthful Eye was suddenly talking and giving him hints, Cillian replied in a nervous tone.

"Aiden’s coming?"

Mouthful Eye made a dramatic pause.

"Nah."

He then continued.

"The isolated power of Humored Insanity just got out of control, and he’s trying his best to put it back, but it’s 40:60 now, with 40 percent being the chance of success. But don’t mind, don’t mind. All you really have to do is not come near that area. After all, the 60 percent failure is spreading around near that place. By the looks of it, I guess you’re not in that much trouble?"

’Pheww...’

Cillian almost got pissed and nearly clenched the Mouthful Eye on his shoulder, but he stopped himself.

"Oh, that’s the dead Ruiner—Hmm?!"

Mouthful Eye tried to open his eye much wider, but the extent to which it could reach was only its normal size. He didn’t enlarge, but he thought he did.

"Hey! What are these people doing here?! That black robe they wore... Shepherds!"

"Shepherds?"

All three of them asked before Mouthful Eye immediately spoke in haste.

"Oh, what on earth did you get in trouble with now! Run! The nearby Shepherds will know that someone died here! Just get out!"

Aster and Vin seemed confused by what Mouthful Eye was saying, but Cillian immediately grabbed the Fragmented Piece from the dead Ruiner and started running away.

Aster and Vin followed suit, giving the corpse a look one last time.

...

Shepherds of Creation

The Ancient Organization that initiated this attack on Aster, the individual who used Fergus like a mere toy to gauge if it was really the Swords of Chaos, and the surprising one of all, the group who were chasing Aiden after stealing Humored Insanity [Ten] from them.

The more the three listened, the more their frowns deepened.

"I can’t confirm it yet, but it looks to me that the history of the entire Shepherds of Creation doesn’t belong on this world. Heck, I was once their prisoner a hundred and fifty years ago. The reason I escaped is that I hid my strength quite well. I slowly accumulated Ruiner Pieces until I became Ruiner [Seven].

"Though I don’t have a [Zero] within me, which is very important for setting up the sequences. However, they soon found out that I’ve stolen the Pieces they collected until I happened to pass by Humored Insanity. Yeah, you know the rest. I’ve skipped two sequences and proceeded to digest a [Ten] which somehow happens to be a freaking Singularity!"

"You know Singularity?"

Aster asked while hearing Mouthful Eye blabbering that information as if it was common knowledge, when proper Ruiners will want to seek that information amongst themselves.

"You’re... a hundred and fifty years old? You’ve come from the previous era where the whole territory is one Empire?"

Vin asked a different question, forming a frown on his face the moment he realized that Mouthful Eye had come from the world before the Runic Gates, and where the Emperor Dahlin’s rule is at its prime.

Cillian, who couldn’t contain his annoyance, grabbed Mouthful Eye from his shoulder and strongly clenched the Artifact like he wanted to break it apart.

"Ow, ow! Why?!"

"What do you mean ’why’?! You didn’t tell me any of these things! Even the existence of these Shepherds! You’re with me when we heard Jack talking to someone on a communication device!"

Mouthful Eye argued back.

"How is that my fault! I’ve told you from the very first day we met that unless you wake me up, I won’t wake up! I can’t hear or see anything unless I’m truly awake! I didn’t hear shit when you were somewhere at that time! Look, you rub me today, right? And I didn’t respond? That’s because I wasn’t awake here and catering to my main consciousness! It’s the same!"

Cillian clicked his tongue and coldly spoke.

"I’m going to leave you here. Those sheep or whatever will get you."

Mouthful Eye turned quiet before surrendering.

"Please. Anything but that. I will really try to become a valuable helper! Anyways, using me as an Artifact is also taxing, you know?!"

"Shouting at me."

Cillian extended his hand and was ready to drop Mouthful Eye as they ran as fast as they could, which made the Artifact plead.

"Okay, my bad! I’m sorry! Don’t drop me! I will reveal anything I know about the Shepherds! I’ll not half-ass anything!"

The Mouthful Eye tried to appear pitiful, which sadly didn’t work on Cillian, who dropped him for a second and caught him the next second.

"Ahhh! Okay! But you must understand this. I’m really trying to be awake! Seriously, I’ve told you for the first time that it’s going to be hard for me to wake up, right? It’s related to me being a very good, valuable helper!"

"You haven’t done anything good, though."

"I’ll do better. Humph!"

The Mouthful Eye looked like he just pumped a fist to express that he’s going to get serious before yawning.

"Uwah, sleepy. Helping my main consciousness is really hard..."

This made Cillian extend his hand again and made Mouthful Eye focus.

"Ah, yes! Shepherds! Right, about them. Uhm—"

As Aster and Vin both watched Cillian and the talking Artifact banter at each other, all of them suddenly felt a presence forward, which made them all turn serious.

[Nearby Flag Presence Activated]

[Black Flags x9]

"Ah..."

Aster let out a relieved sigh.

Very familiar-looking people were running towards them and stopped once they met with the trio.

"Aster?"

The main cast of the novel finally met with the main character... plus an extra.

"Fatty?"

"Cillian!"

Cillian watched Phillip wave his hand and smile, feeling relieved to have met another member of his crew in this terrible situation.

But.

"Kash!"

Aster shouted as the group finally stopped, exhaustion appearing on their face. Kash and Clove, who were being carried around, collapsed, causing the trio to rush to help them.