Noir couldn't do anything in that position. He spread his arm, only to be hesitant to conform her in his embrace.
This situation reminded him of a day when the apocalypse struck his old world, where he embraced the panicked girl only for her to vanish a moment later.
He wanted to embrace the crying girl on top of him, too. But he was too afraid she would vanish even though it wouldn't happen. Moreover, compared to the missing girl, Fotia was still a stranger to him.
Noir had no sentimental feelings for her. But it seemed like Fotia had it.
What is this? What's the relationship between Noir and Fotia? Did they know each other before the otherworld Noir entered this world Noir's body? If that happened, why is there no memory of her?
As he fell into his thoughts, he lost his sense of time.
10 minutes had passed since they were in that position.
They should be thankful this area was less crowded, or someone might have misunderstood.
'Fvck... my leg is numb.'
Noir couldn't move his right leg properly. If he forced it to move, it felt like he was electrocuted by a low-voltage electricity. Although rather than painful, it was like a tingling sensation.
Finally, Fotia came to her senses. Blinking at the masked person, she immediately got up and patted her clothes as if nothing happened.
"How much time is left before your transformation elixir runs out?"
Heaving a sigh, Noir answered irritably.
"What transformation?"
Fotia stared at him. Her eyes were pleading as if asking him to stop his charade.
"It's a serious matter, Noir. Stop your acting and tell me. It's no use to lie because I already know everything."
Noir realized he couldn't fool the girl. But it didn't mean he would reveal it blatantly.
The girl could be anything since someone who possessed one-of-a-kind Resonance like divination or time manipulation wasn't confirmed yet. Not that Noir should blindly trust her words, though.
However, if he were to guess, it would be a time-related Resonance rather than divination since she mentioned the part where he died for her.
"Are you a time traveler?"
Rather than getting the answer Noir expected, he heard her laughing instead.
"I wish I was a time traveler! So I can turn back time and tell you not to jump in front of me."
Noir didn't understand.
If she's not a time traveler, then what? Also, listening to what she says, does that mean Noir and Fotia have some history between them? More importantly, she mentioned his death, but here he is, alive. What is happening?
But what could it be? How come Noir couldn't remember anything about her?
As if reading his mind, Fotia said:
"You died 10 years ago."
Noir frowned but didn't say anything. If the bullshit came out to be true, he had no reason to argue because it's not him who died if it happened ten years ago.
"Feeling guilty, I contracted with an evil entity to resurrect you..."
Noir was baffled. How far would she go with her bullshit? But that didn't mean it was nonsense either. He couldn't dismiss anything potentially useful.
"But the price for resurrecting you is they wanted me to be their vessel."
After finished speaking, Fotia emitted a heatwave. Flame surged out from her body.
Distancing himself from her, Noir saw the flame form a skull and bone hands. Fotia was embraced by the demon-looking flame.
"Just like you, I have two Resonances. And this flame is my very first Resonance the demon bestowed me. Then, I received my second after clearing the awakening trial."
So that's how it is.
If there was a Sovereign, a being similar to a God--judging by their job, like monitoring the world, there was also a demon.
Maybe this demon was the 'evil' that the Sovereign mentioned.
Then, didn't that mean Fotia was a potential enemy of the world?
Theoretically speaking, she is. Unless she could tame the demon inside her and swear to not change sides IF when the war between the light and the dark broke out.
'But wait... that doesn't answer my question!'
Noir only wanted to know how Fotia could see through his disguise when even the sentinel couldn't. Moreover, referring to her recent sentence, it seemed she knew about Noir's Dual Resonance just like Astor did.
The reason must be lying within her second Resonance.
Confirming his suspicion with her, it turned out as he expected.
"That's right. My second Resonance is what allows me to see through your disguise. So, no matter what you say, it will not change my mind."
Finally, the answer he wanted!
However, could he trust her? Was everything she said a truth or a made-up story? Noir wouldn't know until he did a proper investigation after returning to the city.
Fotia's unpredictable behavior made her hard to read. At one time, she laughed like a joker. In the next second, she'd cry like someone who had just broken up. In another moment, she showed the attitude as if nothing happened.
'I don't trust her... but I'm curious about something...'
"You said I was supposed to be dead 10 years ago, but you contracted with a demon to revive me. Is that right?"
Fotia nodded nonchalantly. "Yes."
Seeing that nonchalant face on her right now made Noir confused about everything she had said until now.
Putting the thoughts aside, he asked again.
"Did you or the demon do something to me? Because I can't seem to recall a single thing about the incident or you in particular."
Fotia fiddled with her fingers.
"That's right. I don't want to put you in danger anymore, so I asked the demon to remove everything about me from your memory. But it seems fate has brought us together again."
She said, referring to the bumping incident in the academy a few weeks ago.
"I don't understand. If you don't want to put me in danger anymore, shouldn't you ignore me entirely, acting like you don't know me just as you did when we bumped into each other?"
"I did! But then I thought something after meeting with you again; what if I help you to get stronger rather than ignoring you?"
Noir couldn't understand how her brain worked. But, since his answer was already answered, it was time to stop the interrogation.
Nothing useful would come out if they just argued over the past, even though Noir was completely clueless about his own history.
"Huft, fine... Anyway, to answer your question earlier. I think it's about 3 or 4 hours left before the transformation runs out. Why do you ask?"
Fotia grinned.
"Good! We still have time. Come, follow me, hurry! We have to do something!"
"Where? What are we going to do?"
Making a creepy smile and mischievous eyes, Fotia murmured:
"We're going to hunt the boss monster."