Chapter 400: Not Again...(3)

Leilah POV

I got off work early by helping everyone quicken their pace in setting the traps, I was so eager to cuddle next to my now fiancé, but once I got to the bedroom, I found a very unlikely duo snuggling right next to him. Still, before I could even be jealous, I felt Perseus' soul left him.

Maple seemed to have felt it as well because she woke right up, I checked him and traced where his astral body went, it was to the machine, his body wasn't dead, but it was in this somewhat comatose state.

"Um...sis, what happened?" Maple asked, "You didn't do a weird death spell because you were jealous, right?"

"Hey, you're a death goddess too, you should know that I have no such power...I mean, I can, but it doesn't work that easily."

Perseus POV

"Wait, so my counterpart didn't have a lightning sword?"

What is the level of arrogance of my counterpart?! You had an opportunity, and you fucked it...Why don't you get a cheat weapon?! Every protagonist has it, oh look, demon-slaying sword, Gram!

He would have stood no chance.

"By the way, do you know anything or heard anything that can get us to reach the 11th star?"

"Dad did say he figured it out, but the goddess found us before he could do anything."

At least he wasn't a total idiot...Rosa then remembered something, it was that Leilah apparently gave up her semi-immortal state to become mortal because my counterpart needed it to help him become an 11-star...

That's a clue...that means that Perseus was able to figure it out faster than I did because I would have done it during or after the war...he also had Rosa with Leilah right before the war...

This Perseus counterpart is more talented and smarter than me, but at the same time, more rash and careless...I'm a bit prideful and rash as well, but hearing about this guy's fate... it would be a grave mistake to let this pride blind me.

"What happened to the other roses?"

"All gone, erased from existence." Rosa answered, "Maple isn't called the goddess of death for nothing."

"Did I ever reach the 11th star?"

"...Yes."

"You also didn't tell me how they know that you're a part demon. You can always hide your strength, you also have human features since you're more like Leilah than me."

"The majority of the survivors are from the weakest hero faction." she answered, "A faction that supported some ideals similar to that of the cult, they were the ones that helped the goddess execute our people. They always have this initiation test before you can join them where they'll have this cruel blood test that will reveal your bloodline."

"I see..."

Since time moves at the same constant rate, I should hurry back, I don't want to leave my physical body for too long, or else I'll actually die.

*****

This world really feels like some sort of dystopia the more I stay here. But I convinced Rosa to leave, so we went back home and I let her prepare her things to take with her before doing a proper burial of Grandpa Laker next to everyone else.

Rosa was the name I had in mind if I had a daughter, so it's weird seeing my 'daughter' like this. This world was just empty, and it was not like she could get any pets either, most of the domestic ones were either dead or brought over to the human settlement, so she was just alone.

We then rushed to that human settlement. We discussed the place where the gauntlet is held on the way, the gauntlet is stored in the leader's house where it is located at the very heart of the survivors' stronghold.

We snuck in at night, and we stayed in the darker area to be unnoticed. The survivors' defenses are formidable, with patrols sweeping the area at irregular intervals. It was hard to notice us as we wore dark clothing, I also turned my hair black for the so-called purpose.

I round a corner and spot the entrance to my destination, the entrance is heavily guarded, with armed knights posted around it. All of these survivors were unbelievably weak, we could kill them easily, but there were so less lives that we were going to spare them.

Rosa is more accepting of her isolation than I would be if I were in her situation, she's the only demon in the world, and she understands their skepticism and the reason why she's unwanted.

I observe the guards' patterns, their synchronized steps, and the moments when they briefly turn away. Finally, as the knights' attention momentarily shifted, we seized the opportunity and slipped past them.

I picked every lock inside the house and we then split up to find the gauntlet, we found it and then snuck back out to somewhere where we could use the machine without disturbance, I did light a fire in that house though, just as revenge, that house will burn down, just as revenge for Rosa who couldn't do it herself.

I then opened this part of the gauntlet where it turned on this holographic keyboard and screen with a search bar of sorts. I went to the timeline section and typed in the code of my timeline.

I then spent several hours to charge it

"Wait like 4 minutes before you go in, you have enough mana to power it and have it on in the next 4 minutes, I need to explain to the others about the sudden intruder, and to prepare how to pinpoint where you'll arrive since I'll arrive inside my body and yours might be random since it's not that accurate apart from the time aspect."

"Ok," she nodded, "How do you remember the code?"

"I used my Loki ability on myself and had to memorize it for 2 hours straight, it was one of the advice from future me."

"Wait, you can use it on yourself?"

"Yeah, it's very exhausting and it's very hard to have yourself effected, I'll teach you later."