Chapter 35 Beginning of the End

30 minutes later.

"No way... you gotta be kidding me..." That was the only thing that Alex could say after hearing what Lord Gallius told him for 30 minutes. "There’s no way that can be true..."

"It is the truth." Lord Gallius firmly said as he let out a sigh. "And now that you know it, it is now up to you on what you should do next."

"Suck your truth!" Alex shouted as he resisted the urge to grab and strangle Lord Gallius. "If that was really the truth, then why are you telling that to me? Shouldn’t you, a Star Esper, be more responsible about keeping the truth as a secret? Why bother telling it to me? Besides, you hate me as a romantic rival, right? That just makes your current actions more incomprehensible!"

"....."

"......"

Alex and Lord Gallius stared at each other for 5 seconds, as Alex waited for Lord Gallius’ reply.

Lord Gallius on the other hand, looked quite stoic as he gave his reply.

"Its because I do not like the current state of this world." Lord Gallius replied, averting his gaze away from Alex.

"You can say that I am one of the few Star Espers... that also hates the truth. But unlike the majority of the Star Espers that were contented with their life as it is right now, what I want is to be free! I also want this whole world to be free from its shackles!"

"Dude, your dream is almost impossible to accomplish." Alex drily commented as he remembered everything that Lord Gallius just told him. "There is no way that everyone can leave."

"We have plans." Lord Gallius said as he levelled his gaze at Alex. "And now that I told you the truth, you are now part of our plans."

"Oh great..." By this point, Alex was not sure if he should feel happy or sad from hearing the truth. After all, the truth that he just heard was a really bitter pill to swallow.

"See you later then, I guess?" Alex stretched his body as he attempted to leave the comfort room, but before he could do so, he suddenly paused, as if he realized something profound now.

"If what you told me really is the truth..." Alex started mumbling to himself, ignoring the despondent Lord Gallius beside him. "Then that just means...."

"That just means that the afro guy and that Lord Ergo will not really grant Alina’s wish!" Alex’s face turned pale from panic as he realized his current situation.

"That afro guy and Lord Ergo are not serious on combining the pieces of the World Diagram... the reason Lord Ergo will be coming here is because he and that afro guy plans to kill me, and possibly even Alina!"

Lord Gallius chose to interject at that point as he saw Alex’s face of realization.

"Alex, in case that you forgot it, Lord Ergo and the WEO President are the people that is running everything in this world. They are the reason for this world’s current situation. "

Lord Gallius then continued talking, with his following words much more venomous than the last.

"Even if the World Diagram deemed you and Alina as non-threats, those two will still not take their chances... Lord Ergo and the WEO President will still kill you later. As for Alina, she will surely experience the same fate as her sister..."

"S**t!" By this point, Alex no longer bothered listening to Lord Gallius.

He opened the door of the comfort room with a bang, and he rushed towards Alina’s location in order to warn her of the danger.

"Hmph, knowing Asteria, she’s surely near Alina too." Alex thought as his footsteps echoed loudly in the hallway. "I just hope those two are not up to anything bad right now..."

Even though he wished that the two were behaving, the shaky sound from his footsteps somehow showed that Alex was not that optimistic with his assumption.

*******************

"......." Alina was quiet as she digested everything that the afro guy told him. As for Asteria, she was also quiet too, but it looks like this silence came from reasons different from Alina’s.

"I know that the truth is hard to accept, but what I told you is the truth." The afro guy said as he tried to appease Alina. "That was also the truth that affected your sister."

"I believe you." Alina said as she let out a sigh.

With Alina’s All-Seeing Eyes, she can determine that what the afro guy said was the truth.

However, that still was not enough to prepare Alina from being shocked.

"Honestly, I do not know which one is more shocking... the fact that other universes exists where Asteria and Alex came from, or the things that the WEO President just told me right now..." Alina thought to herself as she tried to calm herself down.

"After hearing what you just said, I am now starting to feel unsure about everything..." Alina said to the afro guy as she sat on a nearby chair.

"Well, at least you know about everything now." The afro guy said as she gave Alina a wide smile. "The gains are better compared to the losses, right?"

But before Alina could give her reply, she heard the sounds of a person running towards their location.

It only took Alina a few seconds to recognize who this person was.

"Hey!" The door of Alina’s current room opened, and in came Alex, who stared at Alina with relief and worry.

Alina’s chest tightened, as she felt uneasy after seeing Alex’s facial expression.

"Hey Alina, we need to talk about something..." Alex said as he composed his expression. "It’s very important that we talk right now."

"Hmm, is it really that important?" The afro guy asked, much to Alex’s annoyance. "Maybe you will just announce your hot, steamy feelings for Miss Alina?"

"Um, It’s not close to that." Alex replied, as he felt himself liking the afro guy less.

historical

"Well in that case, I think your presence is not required here." The afro guy said dismissively. "I still have more important things to discuss with Miss Alina."

"...Not good. This afro guy does not want me to talk to Alina!" Alex thought as he saw the afro guy’s slight smile.

"But wait, why should I be worried? There’s still 5 hours left before Lord Ergo could arrive..." When Alex reached this conclusion, he instinctively relaxed.

Since there is still a lot of time left, Alex knew that he still had more time to create countermeasures for later.

Hastily pulling Alina out now might just make the afro guy suspicious.

It’s better to just acquiesce to him rather than alert him.

Alina however, seems to be thinking differently.

"I think we are done talking now, Mr. President." Alina said with an edge in her tone. "You clearly told me a lot of ’educational things’ already, and I think I need some time to ruminate about them. So if you will excuse me..."

With a jolt, Alex realized that what Lord Gallius told Alex earlier was the same thing that the afro guy said to Alina.

"So that’s why Alina looks a little pale right now..." Alex thought as he looked at Asteria, who was perched at Alina’s shoulder.

Asteria looked extremely calm, as if what the afro guy said earlier did not affect her.

After seeing the calm look on Asteria’s face, Alex gritted his teeth as he thought,

"This dumb fairy Asteria... she clearly knew about the truth all along! She just did not bother to tell it to me! What a s***y Guide!"

At this point, Alex now knew that what he did against Asteria earlier was not enough. She needs more punishment later...

"Well, have it your way then." The afro guy seems to be not offended by what Alina said. He even moved out of his way to let her pass by him.

"???" Both Alex and Alina were mystified with what they saw. With the enormity of the current situation, both of them thought that the afro guy will give more effort to separate Alex and Alina. The afro guy’s current attitude however was contradicting this.

"What’s the matter?" The afro guy saw the expressions on Alex and Alina’s face, which left him looking confused. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing at all." Alina hastily replied, as she dragged Alex away from the room.

She continued dragging Alex away until they reached the comfort room where Alex came from earlier.

Lord Gallius coincidentally came out of the comfort room at the same moment that Alex and Alina tried to open the door.

"...."

"...."

The opposite parties stared at each other with awkwardness that was enough to even make someone as shameless as Asteria to cringe instantly.

"Go on with what you two intend to do. I accept my full loss..." Lord Gallius barely hid the displeasure in his face as he walked away from the two.

Well, ’walked away’ was not the right term, as it was quite obvious that Lord Gallius was about to run at any moment.

"...Let him be." Alina muttered as she entered the comfort room with Alex.

The door closed with a resounding bang, eliciting a slight flinch from Alex.

"What? This is the best place where we can talk." Alina said as she crossed her arms. "Or are your perhaps embarrassed by the fact that I am sharing your place inside the men’s bathroom?"

"That is indeed what I am feeling now." Alex replied honestly as he tried to remove the slight blush on his face. "Are you not embarrassed too?"

"I am also embarrassed, but I know that discussing about our current situation is more important than our moral dilemmas." Alina said as her current body language and voice did not show any signs of embarrassment from her.

"So you should clear up your mind Alex. We have a lot to talk about, starting from the truth about this world." Alina said as she removed her mask. Her beautiful face was revealed once more to Alex, and Alex tried to do his best to not gawk at her face. He barely succeeded on doing so.

"Aww... Too bad you two are so uptight." Asteria whimpered in the background, with her sounding extremely disappointed. "I thought I will see some steamy bathroom action here... Turns out its another one of those boring exposition meetings again..."

"....."