Claud was beginning to regret his decision to overlook the others' choice back then, when they agreed to work with Count Nightfall. Sure, they didn't really have much of a choice to begin with, and the unforeseen accident with Arms Master had forced the others into showing their hand, but he still couldn't help but feel peeved about the whole thing.
Now they were embroiled in this hot potato called Licencia's defence, and to make matters worse, there really wasn't much they could do about it.
"Still, wouldn't the enemy be on guard at all times?" Schwarz asked, disrupting his train of thought.
Caroline nodded. "Considering that there's two white lines stuck on the killer's body, that's pretty much a given. However, the culprit must come to us eventually, since they would suffer unspeakable agony whenever the Knife of Karma is used."
She glanced at the Holy Daughter, who had seemingly fallen asleep, before saying, "The only issue is that we're wary of the true enemy pulling the strings. I agree with Holy Daughter Clarissa — the Third must have had a role in Zulan Patra's death, one way or another. There are ways to handle him that would just require a well-placed thrall or two; the Spear of Fate did not arrive at Licencia alone."
Claud took a deep breath. He hadn't noticed it, given that the man was skilled at being the centre of attention, but Zulan Patra had indeed arrived with a bunch of aides. What happened to them?
"That doesn't make sense," said Schwarz. "So far, every thrall that has been identified is a non-folder, right?"
"Which makes them disposable pawns," Caroline replied. "And just because we've never seen any enthralled folders doesn't mean such beings don't exist, right? In fact, if not for the fact that nothing had happened ever since the unfortunate poisoning event during one of the Moon Lords' charity drives, I would have suspected that one of you were a thrall or something."
"What do you mean?" Dia asked, confused.
"Remember that event of someone ruining Farah's charity event?" Schwarz replied. "Rodrio ran away, prompting us to chase, but now that I think about it, it could have been a ploy to turn one of us into a thrall."
He paused. "Is that what you were getting at?"
Caroline nodded. "There's probably a limit to Absolute Domination. After all, they had Zulan Patra dead to rights, but they didn't turn him into a thrall and killed him instead. Why would anyone do that?"
The Holy Daughter opened her right eye. "I would say that the culprit did not want to alert the Lord to the presence of a subverted pawn and by extension, the existence of Absolute Domination. However, that is rather unlikely, given that we already know about it. Therefore, Caroline's explanation is the more likely one."
She closed her eyes once more.
For some reason, her mannerisms reminded Claud of Farah, although Holy Daughter Clarissa had this shininess that the countess lacked. The former was a lot colder too, and Claud really hated that light in her eyes. He could vaguely tell that she was pitying them as a lower lifeform, like a slug on the streets or something.
The way she treated her guards was no better too; it felt perfunctory, and they clearly weren't treated as equals either. It was as if they were inferior beings whose only purpose was to exalt their mistress, and Claud didn't like it.
If he had to give a reason why he disliked Clarissa, it was because this particular Holy Daughter — Claud wasn't sure how many Holy Daughters, Sons and Grandchildren of the White Church existed — treated all life with a mercy from up high, rather than empathy for the masses. Claud had a feeling that she could kill off the whole city if a justified cause was present, and she wouldn't even bat an eyelid.
What would such a person do, when threatened with the lives of an entire city? Claud didn't need to think too hard for an answer.
"…come to us, then. What do you think, Claud?" The voice paused. "Claud?"
A hand fell on his shoulder, and Claud looked up with a jerk. "Sorry. What did you say?"
"You seem distracted," Schwarz replied. "Something wrong?"
"I was deep in thought about something," Claud replied. "Anyway, what were you asking again?"
"We were talking about the possibility of an ambush," Schwarz replied. "The culprit must make his way into the city, if he or she wants to get rid of the Cords of Cause. However, a stealthy approach is impossible, since we'll be able to see the Cords approaching the city from afar too."
"Right," said Claud. "That's very possible too. Therefore, it must stand to reason that the killer has full confidence in winning…or is already a thrall and intends to end our trail."
"That can be done anytime, though," Schwarz noted. "Death would do, no? Since the killer is a thrall, killing themselves shouldn't be hard. Even if there's heavy resistance to that notion, a thrall cannot put up much resistance against their master."
"I'm getting a headache," Claud muttered.
He glanced at Dia, whose expression was contemplative, before turning to Lily, who was just staring at the ceiling in silence. "What do you guys think?"
Lily turned to look at him, before scrunching up her face. "I think the reason why everything seems to be problematic is due to the fact that we don't know what Absolute Domination exactly does. What limits does it have? How does it work? If there's a record of the Absolute skill family, shouldn't we peruse it for some hints?"
The Holy Daughter twitched on her seat, before opening her eyes.
"Theoretically possible, yes. But based on what I know, skills in the Absolute family never repeat. From the past, present and future, only one person will have a certain skill with an Absolute prefix," Clarissa replied slowly.
"Oh."
"But given that the White Church seems to have compiled a list of Absolute skills, some commonalities can be identified, right?" Dia asked.
Clarissa's eyes flickered with some negative emotion, before returning to its usual, overpowering mercy. "Yes. Very well. I suppose I can share some of the Lord's wisdom to the profane. First. Absolute skills cannot be embedded into skillsticks or skillstrips. Second. They occupy two skillslots. Third, these skills cannot level up conventionally. Fourth, these skills can evolve once their conditions are met."
"Two skillslots?" Schwarz muttered. "That sounds like a huge disadvantage. I prefer my six skills, thank you very much."
Claud played along. "Imagine being unable to create skillsticks of not one, but two skills. While the average person has six skillsticks, these Bearers of Destiny can have what, four?"
"Put that way, they don't seem all that intimidating," Lily chimed in.
Chattering with the others, Claud thought about that last condition — the bit about evolving. Now that he thought about it, back then, when he first infused the mana he got from Absolute One into another skill, the skill had changed slightly. However, he hadn't had the chance to test it out anywhere; since there were so many mana-users in Moon Mansion, using a skill that granted him infinite mana would be an elaborate way of revealing one's secrets.
Maybe being roped into this 'Protectors of Licencia' gig wasn't so bad after all. Without it, Claud had a feeling that it would be a lot harder to learn about the secrets behind his Absolute One. It was horrifying to see just how much people of privileged knew about the Absolute skill tree, though — this was enough to convince Claud that keeping his head low was definitely the best approach for now.
After all, the churches of the Coloured Gods didn't seem to like any Bearers of Destiny, number be damned.
"Any other limitations or weaknesses we can make use of?" Claud asked slowly.
He shuddered as that cold gaze fell on him.
"Nothing else. But a warning. Absolute skills can evolve. Records claim that there are four levels to these skills, as represented by the last letter before the three question marks. E for Emergent, A for Awakened, and O for Order. Every level brings about a new functionality." The Holy Daughter paused. "We can be certain that the enemy's Absolute Domination is of the Awakened form. Therefore, do not simply assume that the Third's Absolute Domination could only create a thrall. There are likely to be other functions too."
"What's the last one?" Schwarz asked.
"We don't know. It's the secret of the…" The Holy Daughter's words trailed off, but there really wasn't a need to finish the sentence.
As Claud nodded along with the others, he couldn't help but think about his Absolute One. What was the new function that came with its evolution? Absolute One represented the concept of invincibility, from what his instincts told him, but what functions could such thing give rise to, other than well, being invincible?
After exchanging a few more words, Caroline promised to make some detailed plans with them tomorrow, and then sent them off.
Claud, however, was now singularly focused on what this evolution of his Absolute One entailed. What exactly did he gain, when the skill evolved? And why did the skill evolve to begin with?
Directing his legs to trail behind the others, his mind continued to process all these new details in silence.