Chapter 730: Good Enough [2]

Leon stood frozen, eyes wide and mouth agape, as if his mind had completely shut down.

I could understand his reaction.

It’s not every day someone suddenly tells you they’re a ‘god.’

‘In fact, I’m not really a god. Leon knows this too since he’s told me before.’

“The situation is rather complicated.”

I scratched the side of my head.

“I’ve only recently been gaining back my memories. However, I am without a doubt Oracleus.”

“…..”

Leon remained silent despite my words.

His eyes remained distant, and though I could see his mind slowly beginning to process my words, confusion still lingered. He was probably still struggling to accept the reality of my words.

But at the same time, I knew that he’d snap out of it quickly.

The clues were there.

They had always been there.

Leon had already listed out all of the clues.

And as such…

“That’s…”

It didn’t take very long for him to recover his words.

With a pale face, Leon looked around the room before moving towards the nearby sofa and sitting down. With both elbows on his thighs, his head lowered as he started mumbling to himself, ‘He must be messing with me, right? No, but it also makes sense… He also doesn’t look to be joking. It would also explain so much.’

I could see that he was having a really hard time accepting the situation.

For that reason, I decided to give him a couple of minutes to process the situation. In the meantime, I started thinking about another thing that had been nagging at the back of my mind.

‘…I can tell that the amount of blood that I’ve received from the relics is more than the blood that I had before. It probably is the same amount as the one I had before, combined with the amount that Jackal had. What will happen if I absorb that one?’

Would I be able to fully get my powers back?

In this regard, I knew that I had yet to tap into all of my old abilities.

I’d be able to do that if I were to get the old blood.

But how was I going to do that?

‘I’m pretty sure the blood is at the hand of Sithrus now. Noel told me that he will most likely fail to absorb the blood, because I had told him. But what if the prediction is wrong…?’

I trusted myself.

I trusted my own visions.

However, it wasn’t like I was perfect. I understood this.

There were times when some of my visions proved wrong. They were omniscient, not omnipotent.

Not only that, but… Sithrus.

Something about him still sent chills down my spine. Thinking about all my interactions with him, I understood that things weren’t going to be that easy.

‘…I’ll need to assume that there’s a chance that the vision failed and he truly managed to assimilate with the blood. In that regard, I’ll have to be extremely careful.’

I recalled what had happened the last time when I experienced a vision and Jackal interrupted. If Sithrus… No, Toren truly managed to assimilate with the blood, then whatever future I saw, he saw.

‘But I guess I’ll also be able to tell if he has assimilated with the blood or not.’

I hoped he didn’t, but there was no certainty. The only way for me to find out was by experiencing a vision. As my thoughts began to spiral, a sharp voice snapped me back to reality.

“Let’s say… I believe you, and you’re really Oracleus, then does that mean that you will…”

“Actually, let me correct you there for a second.”

I raised my hand to stop Leon, then took a seat on the sofa across from him and leaned back.

I could tell what he was trying to ask, and what his worries were.

‘He’s worried I might become someone completely different.’

“While it is true that I am Oracleus, I’m just a part of him. You can say that I’ve yet to recover all my memories about my past. There will be a time when I will gain all my memories back, but my personality won’t change.”

I had also been worried about this aspect for quite some time.

Whether the influence of my old memories would change my personality entirely. Or I’d encounter a situation like the one with Lazarus.

But that was impossible.

Emmet was me, and I was Emmet.

Even if the memories were to come back, I’d just be the same person. I couldn’t become a different person even if I wanted to.

I was the one who truly wielded the power of emotions.

Overriding me would cause everything I’d worked for to be in vain.

“And you’re sure of this…?”

“Yes, I am.”

More or less.

The past me had already succumbed to the madness of the visions.

Leon’s gray eyes continued to remain fixed on me before he took a deep breath and leaned his body further forward.

“I understand.”

His head bobbed up and down slowly.

“This isn’t really surprising… While I did have my suspicions, I didn’t actually think you were ‘him’. But now that I do, it all makes sense.” His expression turned a little complicated, “Tell me honestly. In the past, was it—”

“Mhm.”

I nodded.

“…It was me.”

“I-I see.”

Leon looked torn between anger and laughter. His expression shifted a few times before he finally burst out laughing.

“…I can’t believe it. And yet, the more I think about it, the more this appears to make sense. No, in fact, this makes things even better.”

“Oh? In what way…?”

Leon’s face softened as he looked at me.

“Have you ever wondered why I always kept up with the abuse from Julien?”

“That’s…”

I paused, unable to answer. Not because I didn’t know the answer, but because I was finally understanding it.

“You. You’re the reason.”

Leon covered his mouth as he laughed again.

At first, it seemed genuine, but on closer look, there was a hint of strain beneath it.

“There were countless times I wanted to quit, to run away from you and all your tyranny. Yet sometimes, you showed a side so different… so calm, so… genuine. Even the way you looked at me changed. It was those moments that gave me hope. Hope that you’d change. Hope that the Julien that I was following would become someone worthy of following.”

Leon paused there.

I didn’t need him to continue to know what he was going to say.

And yet, I allowed him to continue.

I wanted to hear it.

“I had almost lost all hope until you showed up. You reminded me a lot of the Julien that I’d occasionally see. The one that Evelyn used to always mention. In the end, I had never been loyal to Julien. The one I’ve been loyal to…”

Leon paused, his expression straining again.

“…is you. From the very start, you were the one I’ve been loyal to. In that regard, some things never change.”

Leon laughed again as he spoke, his face flickering between a cringe and amusement, caught somewhere between self-disgust and finding the situation hilarious.

I, too, started laughing.

…And, I, too, started cringing.

But beneath the laugh and cringe, I saw understanding. Despite who I was, I wasn’t going to change, and neither was he.

And this…

It was good enough.

Following my talk with Leon, I filled him in more on a lot of the things that I planned on sharing. In order for him to help me in the future, it was important that he understood a lot of the things that I was dealing with.

I told him about Sithrus. The other Gods and their goal of breaking out from the Mirror Dimension.

I wanted to share more, but certain parts were simply not possible for me to share.

I was either held back by some unseen force or simply couldn’t bring myself to speak, especially when it came to the family Head’s true identity.

Leon wasn’t stupid.

I wasn’t either.

I understood the moment that Noel revealed himself that he was the one who had caused the incident in the past and had kidnapped Leon. I didn’t know his reasons, but if I had to guess, it was because Leon was the most compatible with his blood and powers.

Noel…

He had changed considerably.

He wasn’t the same brother that I knew. He had grown completely different in the time I hadn’t seen him, and he had become incomparably cold and ruthless unless it involved me.

The things that he did…

They weren’t exactly things that I agreed with.

The original Julien… He was probably just an innocent kid who had turned twisted because of Noel.

‘No, it isn’t just because of Noel. I’m a big part of the problem, too.’

Noel had turned into the person he was today because of me. I held a lot of faults in the current situation, and the thought ate away at my conscience.

However, what was done was done.

I couldn’t change the past. The only thing I could do was look ahead.

In the end…

This was all for survival.

This was all… so that the two of us could survive this world.

“Are you ready?”

Leon’s voice reached my ears as I turned my head toward him.

He stood by the estate’s door, dressed in a slick black suit with silver embroidery. He looked impeccably dignified as he held the door open for me.

I paused for a moment before turning to the right and staring at the glass mirror that one of the attendants held. I stared at my clothes, which consisted of an elegant black ensemble adorned with silver clasps, a high-collared shirt beneath a long coat trimmed with thick fur at the shoulders.

Black gloves fitted snug around my hands, and a flowing cape swirled behind me.

The clothes were rather extravagant, but this was exactly what I needed. I needed to look extravagant. Especially for what I was just about to do.

Turning towards Leon, I started to walk in his direction.

“Are you really going to do it?”

“…Yes.”

I nodded while walking past him and staring at the massive carriage waiting for me up front.

Tomorrow was the day of the Rite, and…

I planned on competing alone.