The two parties set off to their respective destinations in an imperfect haste.

"Gazef-sama, who was that man? And who were those Angels?" The soldier who had delivered the King's message to Gazef asked. They rode in formation, but this man had broken it to ask the questions that only he had. Everyone else knew just who the man with the mask was, as well as the two Angels.

"That man..." Gazef drifted off into thought.

How should I answer this? Should I tell him about Neph-dono's strength? Well, he'd already seen the Angels accompanying Neph-dono outside, so it'd be useless to lie.

It was in that moment that Gazef knew how to describe Neph.

"That man... is a traveler. He is one who posseses strength greater than my own."

The soldier who asked the question had widenned eyes.

"You may have felt that the air was colder, or perhaps seen ice shards and cracked earth as you traveled to Carne Village in search of me..."

"Don't tell me-" The soldier blurted out he stopped himself as he felt Gazef wanted to continue.

"That man did that to our oponnents. In fact, if it were not for him, I, as well as most of the warriors you now see riding alongside you, would have perished. The two Angels accompanying him healed the wounds of everyone present."

Gazef felt like he could continue on, but he also felt that the newcomer had gotten the point.

"… Well"

"Our oponnent was the Sunlight Scripture from the Slane Theocracy. They attempted to decieve the villagers that the Baharuth Empire was attacking instead, but I'd have gotten there just in time to force them dispell their illusions. This arm..."

Gazef said, holding up his former severed forearm in a fist. The newcomer paid attention, as did the ones who already knew the story.

"This arm was lost to me when I attempted to defeat the Sunlight Scripture's leader. The Angels you saw restored it to me."

"Then, is it really wise to have such powerful beings roaming around? Should we not attempt to detain them and question them?" The newcomer asked the impossible. Gazef's band of troops all snickered simultaneously.

"Lad, you're asking the impossible. That man is stronger than I, and I've been called the epitome of strength in the Kingdom. I've never once believed I was, but today proved that I was right to not believe. In addition, the two Angels he had accompanying him held stronger power than I as well, I can feel the energy and wrath in their spells. They are essentially three of me. Can you defeat three of me?" Gazef asked the newcomer.

The newcomer had his head drooped low. Gazef could understand the newcomer's concerns.

"But worry not lad, I trust him. I trust that he would not harm the Kingdom." Gazef spoke, breaking the newcomer's sudden sadness.

"How can you say that?" He retorted.

"Because... He saved us. He could have easily whiped out my band of troops as well as the Scripture and taken the village hostage. But he chose not to. Granted, I admit, there could be more to him, but something tells me he's not evil, or as evil as we paint him to be." Gazef responded. In turn, the newcomer merely asked:

"And that something?"

"Well, lad. It's hard to describe. When he took off his mask for us to see his face, I saw a glint in his black onyx eyes. This glint... How should I put it."

Gazef paused for a moment.

"I've traveled around a lot. I was born in a frontier village. Those villages don't usually last long, they are weak and receive almost no support from the Kingdom regarding their safety. Thus, they are vulnerable. It would not be suprising to find one ransacked or burned down, and just as easily it would not be suprising to find pain in the ones that survive their village's destruction."

Gazef paused again. He stopped his horse, and everyone else followed suit.

"Some of those survivors join warrior bands like mine. And when I take them to patrol the frontier villages, and we come across the ruins of one, I can see the same glint in their eyes as I saw it in Neph-dono's eyes. It's the sort of emotion that signifies, 'this is home', and also 'this is lost to us'."

"So... you're saying that man, Neph-sama, is grieving. As if he lost someone here?" The newcomer spoke.

"Yes. I feel as though he's searching for a part of himself. And that he's too preocupied with this quest for salvation to do anything bad to the Kingdom, or any rulership for that matter." Gazef continued.

The soldier around the two conversed about Neph and the Angels as they traveled. They rode in this way for quite a bit before Gazef asked the newcomer.

"So how did you find me? And why did the king request such a hasty summons?"

"I merely followed your tracks, but granted, I set out almost two days after you left, as that's when we received the reports."

"The reports?" Gazef questioned.

"Yes. It seems the guards around the city found traces of a criminal organization's movements."

Gazef wondered what organization the man was talking about, and his eyes widened as he realized.

"We must hurry back!" Gazef shouted. He tugged on the reins of his horse tightly and sped up, and the band of warriors rode off to the Kingdom of Re-Estize.

"Disperse"

Neph spoke. The [Fallen Heathen Wings] on his back disappears to the command as Verdandi and Diyandi landed behind their master. They were now at the pond that they woke up in this morning.

Still seems to be the same as we left yesterday. Well, we have a lot of time before sunrise. I mean, the sun just set and all.

Neph didn't realize that the twins were kneeling. Recognizing this minor mistake, he hastily asked them to undo their worship. Verdandi, the silver sister with blue and purple eyes, and Diyandi, the golden sister with green and amber eyes, rose in unison.

Hmm. Should I test my abilities? I already know that I can use [Fallen Heathen Wings] as a spell, which means I'm still a Pure Thought Entity. Still... If this is all real now, how do I leave the body?

Neph's class was the epitome of Wraith based classes. A Pure Thought Entity exists solely as thought, and does not have attributes regarding health or spirit health. Thus, they are in a constant state of immortality. The drawback, of course, is they cannot interact with the world without a medium, in other words, a body. Destruction of the body would do no harm to the Entity, but the Entity can only bring out seventy to eighty percent of their host body's potential. As such, this class was rarely used by most players. The reasoning being that it's pointless to pour resources into one body which was at most thirty percent weaker than normal. There are numerous other benefits, and drawbacks as well.

Well, for the time being, let's try to leave this body.

"Diyandi, I'm going to test if my abilities differ in this new world. I will leave this body, and share your body for a moment. Is this fine?"

Neph asked. He said "I will leave this body" but even he himself does not know if he can. This is terrifying to Neph, to Brian. This was equivalent to forcing a out of body experience on oneself, in other words, a death.

"O-Of course Lord N-Neph! You may share our bodies any time you would wish! You needn't ask my Lord!" Diyandi spoke. She was shaking for some reason, Neph could tell, and the reason became clearer as he notice her turning slightly red. She didn't blush like a normal person, rather, her ears get red. He looked at Verdandi to see her look at Diyandi with eyes of avarice.

…

Wait. Don't tell me they both have a crush on me just because Viqtoria and I made them?...?

What. Come on guys, you're both like daughters to me. Not that I know what having daughters will be like but this is as close as I'll get I think.

Shunting these thoughts aside for the moment, Neph returned to the task at hand. He sighed, and then focused. Slowly, he could feel a weird sensation spread through him, starting from his spine to his entire body. This feeling was the same tickly sensation one would feel when one falls from a tall height. At the same time as this feeling, his vision moved forward, as if his eyes were cameras being pushed on a trolley.

Before he knew it, he was slumped on the ground, his Arch Devil body leaning against the log that he slept against earlier this morning.

Okay. So I left. This is weird. Everything feels so light.

"Is that what it feels like to be out of a body Lord Neph?" Verdandi questioned. Neph noticed she was looking at him. Well, at where he is, not necessarily at him. Neph also realized he's doing the equivalent of shouting in a normal body, that is, projecting his thoughts on to others. This was why Verdandi could hear him.

"Y-yes. The world becomes merely a painting..." Neph replied in projection. The next thoughts that came to his mind were muted to the twins, and it was equivalent to a normal body's "whisper".

Err... I hope she accepts that random excuse. That startled the crap out of me. Come to think of it, they can sense my presence, even if they cannot directly see me as pure thought.

"L-Lord Neph... I I am ready for you." Diyandi spoke, she sounded a bit nervous. Realizing he made her wait quite a bit, he stood up. Standing up alone was weird. It felt too fast, the ascent. In fact, everything felt too fast, like this whole thing was a fast forwarded video. He made his way behind Diyandi, and with his hand. Well, the sensations of a hand, but there was nothing there visibly as he was now wholly thought and had no visual or physical form, touched the back of Diyandi's neck.

Diyandi gasped. A white flash of light overcame Neph, and he was now in Diyandi's mindscape.

It was a lush, sunny world. No, lush would be an understatement. If one could imagine large mountains packed together and covered in flora, then that would be a close approximation. But perhaps, describing it as a vast picturescape vista would be more apt. Then again, ornate land would be a better description. Whatever the case was, it was a stunning sort of grand view Neph was looking at.

"Welcome, Lord Neph" Diyandi said with a smile. She was kneeling, which was strange to Neph, as in here, in her mindscape, she was the one and all, and as such, would not need to kneel.

"You may rise." Neph spoke. Then he turned to look around. The same sort of overflowing awe flowed within him again when he looked at the scenery present. He was now sort of jealous of her, having this majestic crown of a floral garden whenever she closed her eyes. Then, he noticed he had physicality in this world. He appeared in his Arch Devil body.

Oh! It's probably that I appear as how the owners of the mindscapes see me!

"My Lord, it seems you possess the same abilities as before the transfer. And you don't seem any different in strength." Diyandi spoke to Neph.

Neph was still in thought. He took a few steps forward, careful not to tread upon the flowers. They were not real of course, but they were precious nonetheless, because they are the fruits of a daughter's mind. He kneeled over to look at a type of flower more scarce than the rest. Rather than scarce, uncommon was a more appropriate word. This type of flower was strewn in small amounts throughout the greenscape. Looking at the horizons, Neph confirmed this. The way these flowers were placed, and the way they glowed reminded him of stars and constellations.

It's beautiful.

"May I?"

"Of course, Lord Neph"

With these words as confirmation, Neph carefully plucked one of the particular flowers he was so curious about. It was a fragile little thing. It almost fell apart as soon as it was plucked, but Diyandi must have done something to it. This was her mind, after all.

It looked, like a mix of several flowers. It had the structure of a rose, but the petals of a lotus. At every intersection, between each petal, was a stem that led to a smaller flower, something akin to a single branch of baby's breath. Each single end glowing a glimmering turquoise.

The oddest part of the flower, aside from its unnatural structure, was that it was a semi-transparent blue. There appeared to be vein like shapes in the petals, but upon Neph's closer inspections, he noticed they were actually lightning, frozen in its shape. This, combined with its smaller baby's breath stems, made it look like a blue candle with fireflies around it.

"This is-"

"Yes, Lord Neph, these are Verdandi's [Solid Lightning] in flora form" Diyandi cut her master off.

I see. Well, they are sisters after all, it's not out of the ordinary to have tributes to one another.

Neph contemplated this while holding the flower. He stood up and let the flower fall from his hand, at which point it reconnected to the stem it was plucked from.

"My, this has been wonderful. You have a beautiful mindscape, Diyandi". Hearing this, she blushed. Neph took one more look at the landscape around. The yellow orange sun shining over the vast distance.

Neph raised his hand, and a door appeared next to him. Normally, the owner of a mind has some degree of influence on whether someone can leave their mind. Thus, because the door opened instantly, it was a testament to her loyalty to her Lord.

"Farewell, milord." Neph saw her bow as he stepped through the door.

Another flash of white light, and he was outside of her body. The same hypersensitive kinetic vision he felt before returned to him. As this was the second time, it wasn't as jarring as before. In fact, one could say that Neph was becoming accustomed to this feeling, albeit faster than one would acclimate to something else.

He made his way back to his body, and place his hand on the Arch Devil body's forehead.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes again, was that the twins were bowing. Again, he let them relinquish this prostration. But... Neph noticed something.

Verdandi was pouting.

"What is it, Verda?" Neph asked.

She fidgeted, before answering in a high tone.

"Lord Neph, you can enter my mindscape as well!" She still wasn't looking him in the eye.

Oh man. I swore we set their ages to over ten thousand, but they act like five year olds. Well, if I counted the time from their creation to now, it would be only about 4 years of total game time.

Neph sighed.

"Oh alright." With a weak reply, Neph repeated the process he used to exit and enter Diyandi's body on Verandi's instead.

And yet another flash of white light, and he was in Verdandi's world.

As opposed to Diyandi's mindscape, Verandi's was a nightly one, one with more monotone colors. He was standing upon a glacier, who entire surface was covered in snow. Verdandi greeted him the same way Diyandi did, but this time, he let her decide on her own when to stop bowing.

"Welcome, Lord Neph".

He ignored this and walked forward, leaving his footprints in the snow. The glacier they were on was quite big, but not big enough that they could not reach the edges of it within a few minutes of walking. At this edge, Neph could see countless other glaciers floating above... Shimmering waters. The water was a dark blue, but it glowed. The water itself did not, but rather, something beneath it.

Neph heard a splashing sound, and looked at their source.

He saw spires. Towers, made of ice, strewn about throughout the mirror black sea as if they were ship buoys. And indeed, like these buoys, the tips of the spires glowed. Looking at the horizons again, the entire mindscape exhibited a surreal, silent kind of beauty. Something akin to looking at the skylines of cities from across a shore. Each tower a monument of serenity and sanctity. Each glacier, almost a place to call home.

Another splashing sound. This time, Neph did not miss what had caused it. Atop the spires, were lights. Specifically. Fire.

"Diyandi's [Density Fire]" Neph whispered to himself.

"It is as you say, milord."

The endless spires in the mindscape all had a [Density Fire] sitting atop it. And every now and then, a small chunk of this fire would fall from the greater mass, like a small droplet of water separating from the bigger goblet. Or, the melting wax falling from the flickering candlelight.

The fall was what made these splashing noises Neph heard every other moment. And it was these Fires which could not be put out by normal means that illuminated the sea. An ocean of dancing lights underneath a veil of ebony water, topped by buoys to glacial ships.

"You know. You and your sister both have quite the beautiful mindscapes."

"Thank you, Lord Neph. It is only because of you and Lady Alekszara that it is possible."

Ah. She mentioned Viqtoria's name... I...

A bit pained, Neph signaled for an exit door. Like her sister, one opened immediately for her Lord.

He was now in his body again. He sat there. Contemplating.

They are full of unending love for me and her. Yet... Should I tell them what had happened? Why Viqtoria was not here?

…

He saw the twins, sitting in a kneeled position, waiting attentively for his next order. They both seemed relaxed and pleased, having shown their Great Lord their own private worlds.

But. They are alive. They are genuine. This is not a game anymore. The fact that their mindscape were landscapes and not digital codes proves that.

But that would mean the truth would hurt them more, would it?

I...

"Is something wrong, Lord Neph?" Verdandi asked.

"Ahh, sorry, just lost in thought."

Hearing this, they remained silent as to not disrupt their Lord. Instead, they turned to look around them, and peered at the darkening skies. It was probably somewhere around eight-o-clock now.

Viqtoria, what would you do, if you were in my place?

He thought this, as he looked at the two of them, leaning against the log that they had slept against the previous night.

He looked at Diyandi. She was a woman in her early twenties with peridot colored hair. Her complexion was a soft one. Something that you would see in a nun or a mother, tending to the children. Her lips were thin, yet they had an impact. One could describe such as "less is more". She had a small raised nose, and eyes that exhumed youthful radiance. The easiest way to describe this was that she was Caucasian, like Viqtoria.

He moved his eyes lower, and saw that she was a fit woman. Her muscles hidden just enough. She did not look too thin, but she did not look too brawny either. Neph allowed himself a quick glimpse of her chest, and saw quite a bit there. They were large.

Ahhhhh. They're my daughters. Stop.

He hurriedly looked over at Verdandi. She also bore a Caucasian face, albeit with a mix of Asian heritage. That is, her nose was a bit more unraised than her sister's, and a bit smaller. One could say that she looked like a K-Pop star. Or whatever that was, since in Neph's time, the concept of K-Pop was faded out of existence. All languages were universally understood due to a world translator, thus, all K-Pop, C-Pop, or whatever was just "Pop" now. Nevertheless, Verdandi looked more Asian than her sister, but they were both Caucasian. Unlike her sister's peridot green hair, Verdandi had long, flowing white hair. The kind of white one would see in falling snow. Like her sister, she was also physically fit.

Hmm, I don't remember why we made their hairs so outlandish. Viqtoria's hair was just Amber colored, while mine was a jet black. You'd think since they are our supposed daughters that we would've have them inherit some parts of us.

Neph peeked at Verdandi's chest. Again, he saw quite a lot. They were big too, but not as big as her older sister's. If Diyandi's was a D cup, then you could say that Verdandi was a C.

Well, they certainly inherited from their mother.

Neph looked at them in the eye, and they looked a bit nervous. He could understand. What he just did was almost like a predator looking at his meal.

"I-I apologize." Neph said and did a quick bow.

"It's alright Lord Neph. Let us know if we can help with anything!" Diyandi said, she sounded a bit too excited. Verdandi nodded to this.

If only you can see them, Viqtoria. They really, are alive...

But what should I do? Love? About this. This... Secret. Should I keep it from them to save them their happiness? This truth. It hurts me. And I don't want it to hurt them. But I fear if I were to keep it hidden, then someday the charade would fail, and it would all spiral out of control.

I'm not a great actor, love...

But. I think I should tell them. Viqtoria, you and I never kept secrets from one another. So in this footstep I shall not keep it from them as well.

I'm scared. Scared that they will hate me. Scared that they would lose the youthful glint in their eyes.

And I'm scared of living this future with our children without you.

His conviction made, he gathered his inner strength. He was trembling, but a truth that hurt was better than a lie that healed.

But what if.

What if they abandon me?

I would be fine, physically I am strong in this world. But what would I do?

I already lost you. I can't lose them too.

It is then that Neph came up with a solution. He would tell them a half-truth.

Forgive me Viqtoria. I can't risk losing them too.

His heart grasped with his conviction. He spoke.

"You two. I have something to tell you. It is regarding Lady Alekszara".

The twins listened attentively.

"But before that, put up a defensive barrier around us."

Diyandi started moving to use the same spell she did for the villagers in their earlier battle. After she was done, Neph signaled them to turn around, and they started shifting.

"Are you ready?" He asked. One last breath before possibly the end.

""Yes Lord Neph!""

At this signal, he touched the back of their necks.

With this, they were now all within Neph's mindscape, that of a lone lighthouse standing atop vast obsidian seas.