"I will but first, you should relax." Rimaru advised, sensing the increase in Alistair's anxiety the more their conversation dragged on.
When he noticed there was no change in Alistair's emotions, Rimaru further comforted. "Don't worry you aren't in danger anymore so you'll live. Besides, time flows faster here than in the real world so there is nothing to worry about."
"Just tell me what I want to know." Alistair said after being quiet for some time.
"Like I said earlier there is no need to rush, we can take as much time as we want." Rimaru replied, smiling as he thought. 'Fuck! Why isn't my other self awake?'
With his smile getting wider, he said to himself. 'Now I'll have to give this bastard every answer he wants.'
Staring into Alistair's eyes, he sighed as he muttered. "I just hope the Grand Sorceress doesn't punish us."
He had subconsciously spoken what bothered him the most about his current conversation with Alistair.
Rimaru deeply hoped that she shouldn't be observing right now lest, his demise would be the lightest punishment he could receive. And this time, he would be dying for good.
"Grand Sorceress?" Alistair mumbled, staring at the dispirited Rimaru with curiosity in his heart.
In the thousands of years he had spent living, Alistair had never heard anytime about a Grand Sorceress nor the existence of multiple worlds.
"Who is she?" Alistair asked, immediately losing interest in all other topics they were discussing.
"Who is what?" Feigning ignorance, Rimaru added. "Anyway let's talk about the Center, you wanted to hear about it right?"
Noticing that Rimaru was desperately trying to change the subject, Alistair narrowed his eyes and asked. "Who is the Grand Sorceress?"
Hesitant, Rimaru had a weird looking smile on his face as he thought. 'Fucking bastard! Just let me change the fucking subject! I'm aware you wanna die but don't kill me with you!'
"There are things lowly beings shouldn't know." Rimaru muttered, fiddling with his hair as he avoided eye contact.
Unbothered by the old man's sus behavior, Alistair said with seriousness radiating off his voice. "You really don't fear death."
"At your hands no but at the hands of those monstrosities..." Rimaru replied, feeling a chill run down his spine after memories of those in the Center flashed through his mind.
Closing his eyes, Alistair sighed. "It can't be helped. I thought you'd be of some use but since I can't get the information I want, I'll have to kick you out."
"In that case it can't be helped." Rimaru replied, having pride and coldness ooze off his voice as he gazed at Alistair.
The previous cowardice, fear, and unstraightness that radiated off his voice had been replaced by pride, cruelty, and confidence.
'I guess the one I'm used to has surfaced.' Alistair thought, looking at Rimaru with dissatisfaction in his eyes.
It was just when he was a step closer to getting answers that Rimaru I had showed up, foiling his plans and leaving him ignorant about a lot of things.
"It can't be helped." Alistair sighed, calmly looking at Rimaru for a few minutes before breaking into a cloud of black mist that returned to lake beneath them.
After Alistair had vanished, Rimaru ran his hand through his hair as he said. "That was a close call."
"Yep, really close. It was actually too close for comfort." His other self chimed in, supporting Rimaru's claims.
Having veins pop all-over his head, Rimaru gritted his teeth as he asked. "And who the fuck is Rimaru? Couldn't you use a better name?"
"Sorry, it's just that I didn't want to give him our real name." Rimaru II apologized, showing that he meant nothing but goodwill for giving them such a stupid name.
Soon forgetting about the awful name they had, the being said. "Either way, we were able to keep a lid on the Multiverse's secrets. We don't need anyone finding about it unless you want us to lose everything we've strived for."
Unresponsive, the being's other half thought deeply about the words that were just spoken to him.
"Hopefully, the Grand Sorceress wouldn't find out–" Stopping his sentence midway, the being's face gradually darkened as he cursed. "Fuck me."
His body was slowly but gradually breaking in specks of white light, causing him subtle but bearable pain.
"Screw you Themis!" The being roared one last time, cursing his other half for revealing a tad bit too much.
****
Outside of Alistair's subconscious, Alyeen could be seen staring at the rocky Alistair with concern on her face.
She had been observing him like this for the past ten minutes yet there hadn't been a change to his current condition.
~ ~
Author's note- Remember I said time flow is different in the Sea of Consciousness and in the real world so just play along. Hehe...
~ ~
Crack! Crack!
The sound of rock getting broken rang through the garden as Alyeen looked at the petrified slime in her hands.
Surprised, Alyeen looked at the Slime for some time before having her features darken when she saw more cracks spiral across the rock's surface.
Worried about the Slime's well being, Alyeen thought about the things that could make the petrified slime crack. Buy out of all what she thought of, nothing could make the slime crack out the blue.
Soon, Alistair was released from his rocky cage –revealing a thumb sized Slime to the worried Alyeen.
Unsure whether she should say he was alright after seeing his shrunken body, Alyeen had a smile as she finally said. "Welcome back."
Her tone was calm and it had a tint of relief hidden deep within it.
"Thanks." Alistair responded telepathically before using Mana Sense to get a clear view of his body.
'How did I shrink to this size?' Alistair wondered, dumbfounded by his current size which wasn't up to a quarter of what it once was.
As Alistair was thinking about why he had suddenly shrunk, a transparent blue screen slowly materialized before him.
— –
[Divine presence within the host has subsided to regular levels.]
[Evolution would begin immediately.]
— –