Chapter 66

I slowly opened Raymond's door and peeked inside, only to see him in his bed, fast asleep and snoring softly. Upon looking around his room, I noticed lots of ritualistic items and artifacts.

I slowly crept into his room and looked around slowly, attempting to find the book that Aaron was referencing, but I didn't find anything worth of value, except for some cool looking artifacts and stuff.

"Looking for the book, I see?"

I heard Raymond's voice behind me, and I quickly turned around only to see him a few meters away from me, leaning against the doorframe.

"What did you do?"

Raymond's emerald eyes narrowed as he chuckled.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. If I were to rewrite the world, it would easily be for my benefit. Just because you got swallowed by a black hole doesn't mean I change all of existence, I'd call that a stupid reason. I've seen my fair share of people getting swallowed by black holes, and did I use the book? No."

Suddenly Raymond looked past the door and down the flight of stairs, before frowning.

"It's a shame that Madame Fitzgerald's dead now, she was my adopted mother so she doesn't mean much to me."

With the odd way that Raymond would make such a heartless statement only made my heart sink into my feet.

"Y-you don't care about her?"

Raymond looked back at me and said with a smile.

"Caring about people, I don't really find that appealing. It's not because I'm heartless or anything, it's because people are indifferent."

I widened my eyes and took a few steps back, landing into a chair in the corner of the room. Raymond smiled softly and approached me, his expression laced with an unknown motive.

"Now, I would like you to leave, I didn't rewrite anything in the book, I'll prove it."

He suddenly turned away and approached his nightstand, before opening a drawer underneath it and taking out the book, which had a large metal lock on its side.

He unlocked the lock and it fell against the hardwood floor with a loud clunk, before he approached me and opened the book and showed me an empty page.

"See, I can only enact 2 rules at a time."

His voice was gruff and authoritative as he spoke down at me, his face only inches from mine, and my breaths were foggi up his rounded glasses.

Suddenly the voice of spirit calling began to ring into my soul, before saying.

"Rewrote, 3 rules, rewrote, 3 rules."

After hearing that I replied with a smile.

"Actually it's 3 rules."

I suddenly took the book from Raymond's arms, kicking him onto the floor. Before he could stand up I grabbed the knife from his table and pointed it at his throat.

"Let me check…"

I started to flip through the book until I landed on a page that wasn't blank, and had words written on it.

"Anyone holding a dead body will be propelled back 5 feet."

"2 rules in the book can be extracted at the same time."

"Only dead people can be pulled into the black hole."

My expression didn't turn fearful or anything like Raymond expected, I simply turned to him and smiled with pride. 

"I see, you really are a snake."

I then continued to flip through the book, and in the corner of my eyes I could see Raymond's expression turning a grin.

"But where's the rule saying I changed the world?" 

I paused for a moment, before remembering what was written on the page.

"Anyone holding a dead body will be propelled back 5 feet."

"2 rules in the book can be extracted at the same time."

"Only dead people can be pulled into the black hole."

None of the rules stated had to do with memory erasure or changing the world. My eyes widened as I closed the book and threw it to the other side of the room.

"Did you erase anything?"

I asked with a snarl as I started to dig the knife into his throat, but he continued to smile, smile like an idiot.

"No, as I told you; A black hole is no viable reason." 

Before I could do anything else, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, before Aaron entered the room holding the silencer he used to murder Madame Fitzgerold and her bodyguard.

"You little prick, what did you do?"

He pointed the gun straight at his head, but his smile remained intact and he lowered his eyes in a relaxed manner as if nothing was happening.

"Nothing, I already told your friend over here everything, now please put the gun down, I don't want anything happening to this room."

Aaron's eyes didn't soften, his grip on the weapon remained unyielding as he only pressed it further against Raymond's skull.

Raymond looked back at me and chuckled, and I felt a strange urge to bury the knife into his throat, but the rational, humane side of me made me drop the knife onto the floor.

"Kid, what are you doing, we have to kill him!"

I looked at Aaron, my expression overall didn't falter, it remained angry and fearful like before.

"What the hell are you saying, he did nothing wrong!"

Suddenly Aaron's voice changed, and another one emerged, one of a young man.

"He did everything wrong, don't you see?!"

Suddenly Aaron looked like he just snapped back to reality, just like he did in the medical facility. He turned to look at me in shock, before instantly dropping the gun in his hands, and backing up.

"M-Maxwell…damn it."

His voice was low and hushed, he was talking to himself, he was telling himself to calm down, to try to gain his rational thoughts back, his mind from caving in like an avalanche.

"What are you talking about?"

I approached Aaron before cautiously laying a hand on his shoulder and looking him in his terrified eyes.

"Why did your voice change like that, are you ok?"

Aaron's breathing dropped back down to normal levels as he gained the strength to look me in my eyes, before speaking in a more serious manner.

"Maxwell, it's not a god, it's him."

I tilted my head a little in confusion, before narrowing my eyes.

"The man who did the ritual and died, what's he doing inside of you? I thought his "physical and mental existence" died along with him."

Aaron shook his head before standing out into the hallway, holding his chest loosely underneath his vest.

"No, no, no. Maxwell, along with being a member of the Nightshades, he also was a rather profound user of mysticism and the arts."

"He was the one who discovered clinging, an ability used to attach one's existence into an object. I took the artifacts that were involved in the ritual and stored them away. I guess the reason he's inside me now was because he needed a host body."

I leaned back against the wall across from him, playing with my thumbs as he spoke.

"But why of all people, why you?"

Aaron looked up at me and sighed, shaking his head.

"He was my adopted brother, so we were close, very close."

He suddenly turned and looked away, a reminiscent look crossed his face as he started to explain the situation.

"My family wasn't that rich growing up, but we had enough to keep an apartment over our heads. One day while I was playing with my friends in the streets, I came across the poor kid sitting under a tree, exhausted, dirty and almost unconscious."

"I felt extremely worried for him so I took him back to my house, much to my parents' disapproval."

"They told me that he's a street rat, a lower person, one that didn't deserve to live among me and them. But due to my persistence and will to help the kid, I secretly let him live in our attic, and I gave him food and water and played with him."

"Eventually he was able to get a job and make

money on his own, and that's when he revealed himself back to my family almost 5 years later."

"But then, they let him live among us, which I suppose was due to his ability to make money now."

I felt a strange pain in my chest as he spoke, like my heart was constricting with agony and empathy as he spoke. 

"That's cruel, they only let him in due to his ability to make money. But what does this have to do with the ritual and his so-called death?"

Aaron looked back at me with a more vulnerable expression, as this was information that he wasn't all that comfortable with sharing.

"Maxwell eventually got involved with Routeways, and drank the potion of the Justice path. He always had that damn drive to help others, and I guess it worked."

"He went on and also got involved in his alchemy and stuff, and eventually he reached Order 3, where he began to topple into madness due to his lack of strength and knowledge with mental fortitude."

"I tried to help him, but before I knew it he lost control and Madame Fitzgerold had to banish him. But I guess one of the artifacts he glued his existence to helped him reach Order 0, and he was able to ascend to a True God."

Before Aaron could continue I paused him abruptly, before staring into his eyes with a look of remorse and some curiosity.

"What happened downstairs, did you shoot Madame Fitzgerald?"

Spirit calling told me this foreign information, and I needed to learn more about the situation besides the subtle hints I was given.

Aaron shook his head, which only confused me, and a tiny hint of puzzlement crossed my stern expression.

"No, Maxwell did."