After a moment, once the sobbing stopped, Wayne asked, “Tell me what happened to you. How did Dick and everyone else die?”

“After the curse from the graduation test, Veronica blamed me and said that she only wanted to team up with Kristen. I got angry and left...”

“The church was in turmoil. Everyone was ordered to leave Londan. I followed them to the headquarters and somehow won over Dawn Doctrine, becoming the Sun Knight.”

“The Pope and the Oracle High Reverends accused me of stealing the Sun Knight’s power. Some spoke up for me, and they ended up fighting...”

“When the matter finally settled, the Nature Knight came...”

“I disappointed everyone and couldn’t do anything to the Nature Knight. The old hag was too powerful...”

Vera talked about what had happened over the past two years. She went around achieving nothing and protecting no one. She returned to Londan to heal, only to learn that Veronica and Kristen were dead, too. In despair, she holed up in a dark room and wasted her days away doing nothing.

Hers was a tragic life. There could never be one greatest tragedy in the inner world since every story was more tragic than the last.

Vera had lost her parents at a young age and ended up being raised by the members of the church. Then, her found family was gone, too, and her best friends, Veronica and Kristen...

Wayne stroked her blonde hair. He knew it wasn’t right, but he still said, “I’m still here. I’ll protect you from now on.”

Vera shuddered. She said in a low voice, “The inner world will meet its doom. You can’t stay here. The other Vera needs you more.”

She kept her head low. Her eyes were completely red, and her face was twisted. Wayne lifted her chin and saw her put on a smile in a second, feeling the cruelty of the world deeply.

The inner world shouldn’t exist. This was actual hell on earth, with happiness and wonder being repeatedly destroyed!

Wayne felt a strong urge to bring those he was close to out of this hell before destroying it so that it could never come back to existence.

“Hey, you said that you were Wayne Lando, didn’t you?”

“I did. What’s wrong with that?”

Everything! Vera asked, “What’s your relationship with Auston in the surface world? What about Aunt Silvia?”

“They’re my father and mother.”

...Come again? I don’t think I’ve heard you right.

Vera’s mouth opened into an O. She stammered, “But if you and Aunt Silvia are mother and son, then you...”

“Yeah, Veronica and I are siblings, but high society has always been depraved. Siblings engaging in such a relationship is normal and nothing to be surprised about.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. I mean, you’re the Death Knight in the inner world, and you personally—” Vera trailed off, her eyes widening further. “What? You and Veronica are siblings? How did I lose to Veronica, then?”

“Her being my sister makes our relationship taboo, which is a plus.”

“What-what about Kristen?”

“She and Veronica are together, which is another plus.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

“You didn’t ask.”

“...”

Vera broke out of his embrace shakily. That was too much new information, and she needed time to digest. But where did she even begin? The mess was beyond messy.

Wayne chuckled when he saw Vera thinking hard with her head tilted, like she fully bought his nonsense. It was worth it to talk himself down like that. He finally saw the Vera he knew in this Vera.

The silly girl wasn’t very bright.

“Oh, there’s another secret I haven’t told you.” Wayne picked up Dawn Doctrine from the ground. “Let go of your restriction on the divine artifact. Don’t worry about hurting me. I’ll show you where I got the divine power of the Sun in my body.”

“It’s too dangerous. The Pope wanted to steal the Dawn Doctrine, but the moment I let go, he was burned to death. The same happened to the Holy Maiden.”

“I’m not like the others.”

“...”

When Wayne insisted, Vera reluctantly agreed and slowly relaxed her restriction. She would call it off immediately if Wayne even showed the slightest discomfort.

After a moment, Vera’s excited exclamations filled the dark room, accompanied by Wayne’s boasting.

“See, am I not amazing? Isn’t my spear big?”

“You’re amazing. It’s so big!”

“Is it hot?”

“...”

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

***

Lando Estate.

In the meeting room of the underground base, Auston sat in the main seat with his chin resting on his clasped hands. He radiated chilling energy in silence, projecting the image of the brooding, heartbroken, and cold Darkness Knight. Accompanied by the expressionless Megan, the two air conditioners ran at maximum capacity and lowered the temperature of the entire meeting room.

Anastasia silently sat in her seat, still reeling from the earlier revelation. Across from her was Sophelia, frowning from a similar blow to her pride. It bothered her every time she thought about how pathetic her other self was.

Filomina sat in a corner on her own, feeling out of place. She glanced at the door of the meeting room every now and then and prayed that Wayne would return sooner rather than later.

The storyline of the inner world had spiraled out of control two years ago. Filomina wasn’t the High Reverend, and she felt insecure away from Wayne as a weak, helpless, and black-hearted priestess.

Under Filomina’s prayers, Wayne finally showed up, accompanied by a bearded, burly man who was strong like an ox. The two walked with their arms around each other’s shoulders like they were the best of friends.

Filomina dismissed the bigger man after a glance, quickly striding up to Wayne. She was fine as long as Wayne didn’t return with another woman. She was worried that he would find another lover of his from the surface world.

“Wayne, who is this woman?” William asked. The bedroom eyes clearly suggested an intimate relationship.

Just how many women do you have? Are there more?

William had gained the ability to transform back into Vera after acquiring the Dawn Doctrine, but he kept the curse rather than cleansing it since the hunky William was clearly the more intimidating form when she was surrounded by enemies.

Vera wouldn’t do. She was too cute and skipped around with a silly smile on her face, like a bimbo who would break down in tears from a punch.

She was used to keeping the strong appearance of the Sun Knight in public, so she had transformed into William once more.

Wayne didn’t stop Vera. It was quite nostalgic to have his gay bro back.

“This is Filomina, one of my girlfriends in the surface world,” Wayne introduced them. “This is William, also my girlfriend. He may appear big and burly, but he’s actually a cute girl.”

“...” x3

Filomina, ignorant of the truth, backed away, Anastasia shuddered at the conference table, and Sophelia rolled her eyes. She had misjudged Wayne. He was clearly a pure-blooded Londan noble.

“Wayne, how could you... you go after even a man...”

Filomina’s eyes widened in shock. Seeing this made it difficult for her to feel any envy for her other self. She suspected that the other Filomina had been having a hard time and only subjected herself to Wayne for her faith. She clearly didn’t like him at all.

“It’s Londan,” Wayne said with glee. “It’s normal to go the unorthodox way.”

“Ladies, are you discriminating against us?” William widened his eyes; his dancing pectorals were even bigger than Filomina’s bust.

The two of them scared Filomina into losing her composure, and when Wayne sat down right next to Anastasia, she got scared into changing seats.

“Wayne, what about her?” William asked.

“Another girlfriend of mine. It’s natural for her to have trouble reconciling with my unique preference right after learning about it,” Wayne said carelessly.

“I have trouble reconciling with your unique preference when it includes a magical puppet,” William shot back.

“You’ll get used to it...”

You may not believe it, but Pope Senna, who wiped out the Church of Sun, is even my exclusive mount!

Wayne considered and decided against voicing that thought. He turned to Auston. The Darkness Knight was scowling so hard that he could cosplay as Bu Jingyun if he just put on a cape and wore noodles as hair[1]. Or Nameless would work, too. There was an overlap of their character[2].

Auston stared at the two men getting handsy with each other with distaste in his eyes. “Sun Knight, it seems that you have picked yourself up.”

What? He’s the Sun Knight? x3

Sophelia was stunned. How did she not know that the Sun Knight was living in the basement? Had Auston ever considered her an ally?

Anastasia’s and Filomina’s feelings were much simpler: disgust. They didn’t care who topped whom. Their other selves in the surface world must be insane.

“I’ve found my true love. With my two friends’ will on my shoulders, I must pick myself up,” William said in a phony tone. When he saw Auston’s grimace, he rested his head on Wayne’s shoulder.

“Cut it out,” Wayne reprimanded. “We’re not alone.”

“But I wanna.”

“I can never say no to you, cupcake.”

Bleh.

Filomina retched on the far side of the conference table, while Anastasia shuddered like a flower in a storm. Only Sophelia seemed completely unfazed. After all, she had once been the ruler of Windsor, so she knew what had been going on in this nation.

Megan’s eyes twitched, and Auston grimaced harder. They knew that William was Vera, but the picture painted was so impactful that they couldn’t help their reaction.

“Since you’re up and moving again, what do you think about my proposal to you?” Auston asked, swallowing the taste of bile in his mouth.

“I’ll do whatever Wayne says,” said William.

“There’s no need for a discussion. I’m going to kill the Wayne of this world!” Wayne slammed the table with killing intent surging in his eyes. “There is no redemption for someone who killed my mother. Only one of us will live in the end. I’m decapitating him and using his head as a toilet!!”

“Well said. I’m sitting on the skull, too!” Auston declared while staring at Wayne.

You must be having offensive thoughts. Wayne rolled his eyes at Auston, standing up. “I’ve formulated the plan. We’ll just rush in and kill him, right now. I’m not waiting until tomorrow.”

“Agreed!” Auston shot to his feet, his eyes glowing crimson. Twilight Despair was at the edge of its patience. It yearned for the blood of revenge.

They exchanged a glance and spoke at the same time.

“Kill him!”

1. Bu Jingyun is one of the protagonists of Wind and Cloud (Feng Yun). He has curly hair and wears a cape. ☜

2. Nameless is another character of Wind and Cloud. He’s destined to be alone and has lost his wife just like this Auston. ☜