Cid slowly sipped his tea.

From the left side, a tall pink-haired woman pressed her well-developed upper curves into his arm and purred affectionately.

From the right side, a bit shorter woman with honey-like hair rested her head on his shoulder.

In front of him sat a mature woman with dark hair; she stared lovingly at him, resting her chin on her hand.

"Cid, I still can't believe that you were concealing your true strength this whole time, all for the sake of saving the world…" that was from the right side.

"Lord Shadow, I shall make sure all your wishes come true! Please, give a command!" a somewhat fanatical voice could be heard from the left side.

"My Knight, what would you like to do next?" mature woman blushed like a girl with a crush.

He sighed. How did it even come to this?…

"Cid…" Rose Oriana couldn't even continue her speech.

Yeah, a really bad situation. He planned this grand reveal for a way, way later, when all the heroines come together. Then he could make a grand stage just like he planned (ignore Todd's croaking about waste of resources)!

Unfortunately, he was revealed by one of his subordinates… And honestly, he should've anticipated that. Like, yes, Rose got into contact with Shadow Garden, but he forgot to say that unlike all other members she didn't know that Shadow == Cid! So no wonder the moment they were in Shadow Garden's secured place they went all open.

"Hi, Rose," he waved his hand.

She only stared at him in shock. Just so you know, he doesn't feel any better right now!

"Guess you finally managed to fulfill your goal?" that was not the best continuation, but hey, he tries to improvise here!

"Cid…" she gulped, "You were Shadow this whole time?…"

"Yeah?…" he tilted his head.

"So… you were doing all of this… since you were Slayer?"

"Yeah."

"But…" she realized something, "Weren't you but a child when you saved me?"

"Hmm, yes, I was, I think…" so that's from where she remembered his previous nickname, huh?

"That means…" her eyes lit up, "That means you were fighting for the world ever since you were but a child!"

"Huh-?"

"You just realized that?!" oh, yeah, there was also a pink-haired woman in his embrace, "Lord Shadow is the most magnanimous existence in the world! His kindness knows no bound! He laid his whole life to make sure we all receive a chance to live…!"

You know, Cid long knows how much Shadow Garden worships him. He doesn't even mind that, at least not that much… But that woman surely is nuts, even more so than Eta and Zeta… Huh, what are you saying, Hams? "Don't fix her, she produces a lot of Faith energy"? Sure.

"…You are right," Rose sulked, "I should've realized long ago that such a perfect, determined, loving, caring…" every woman present nodded in agreement to every word, "and the most important, humble person like Cid was the most obvious candidate to be Shadow…"

"Hmm…" Victoria squinted, "At least you repented and accepted the grace of our Lord and Saviour. Ah, my Lord…" she turned her head to him, "The last time you granted me the power to purge the heretics!…" she blushed madly and stared at him with so much love in her eyes that Todd kicked Hams and urged him to finally create something to store Love energy properly and not place it together with Faith.

"Oh, it was that one where you killed these guys with those strange things?" case solved, this woman is seemingly his apostle.

"To think that you remember it!" Victoria squealed in delight (Hams swore and recalibrated the channel; the amount of Faith she gave was a bit too much).

"…Cid, but why did you need to play like a weak student?" Rose suddenly inquired.

"Uhh-"

"No, wait, Cult of Diablos would surely target you if you were to reveal yourself as Shadow!" Rose 'realized'.

"Yeah, something like that."

'Yeah, I am not telling her I did all of that only because of thinking it was all a roleplay… Come to think of it, I will not tell that even to Shades.'

"Excuse me, Lord Shadow," a muffled voice came from behind the door (Cid just realized that Shades were suspiciously silent this whole time; turns out they left already), "There's someone who wishes to meet you."

"Hmm?" who would want to meet him in his Shadow persona? "Sure, let them in."

And moments later, a dark-haired woman gracefully entered the room.

Cid's breath hitched.

"Violet…" one of the few people that managed to get through his self-control.

"Hello, my gallant knight," she chuckled.

"You're finally awake," smile crept on his face.

"M-m-m," Violet smiled back, "and I see you're having fun."

"Are you gonna poke me with that?" he sent her a deadpan stare.

"I sure will," she covered her mouth to suppress the laugh.

"Excuse me," Victoria finally lost her patience, "but who are you and what relationship do you have with our Lord and Saviour?"

"My, where are my manners…" Violet feigned realization, "I am the one called Aurora, the Witch of Calamity."

"M-m-m?" Rose blinked, "I have heard about from Goddess' Trial… Wait, didn't Cid fight you back then?"

"Indeed, that was me… Or rather, my fragment."

Victoria was silent.

"I see you have some doubts," Aurora addressed his apostle, "ask me anything; I don't want the followers of my Knight to feel bad, after all."

"Wasn't Aurora also called Diablos?" Victoria went straight to the point.

"Yes, I am, in fact, the Demon Diabolos," Witch saddened.

Victoria turned around to look at Cid. What does he even say there?… Oh, yeah, better just say the truth.

"it was kinda sad seeing her trapped for things she did not do, so I freed her and gave her a new life," and shrug.

"…I see!" her eyes sparkled, "Your compassion extends so far that you are willing to save even the one who endangered the world in hopes that she will redeem herself! Brilliant, Lord Shadow!"

'Uh, yeah, I don't think I was ready for this amount of worship…' he sweated internally as Hams and Todd made yet another channel for Faith energy (Faith he got before was but a scrap of what he should've gotten because of Pylons' inefficiency in being energy storage).

"Ah, I never doubted my Cid…" uh, Rose, the hell you mean by 'my'?

"Your…?" Victoria suddenly turned to Queen Oriana, "Don't think too highly of yourself. Yes, you were saved by him in your childhood, but I was granted salvation by him directly!"

"And what advantage does that give to you-?!" Rose didn't want to lose.

"Silence."

Cid knew well enough where will things develop at this pace and he didn't want to bother himself with, how he called, "harem wars". They wasted energy, and Cid didn't want to waste energy. Hams and Todd wouldn't approve that.

"Considering that you have joined Shadow Garden, you are now a part of the family. And family members don't fight each other. Am I clear on that?" upon receiving nods Cid cancelled the 'mute'.

"Forgive me for doubting your decision, Lord Shadow," Victoria bowed in shame.

"I am sorry, Cid; I know you cherish everyone you save, yet still…"

"Forget about it," he sighed, "moving on; how about you join me on a tea?"

"That would be the highest honor, Lord Shadow!" fanatic mode on, understood.

"Well, allow me to accept your invitation, my Knight," Cid could see the demons dancing in Violet's eyes, and these demons promised to make fun out of him to no end.

"Yes, Cid!" that answer from Rose was almost military-like.

Cid slowly sipped his tea.

"Cid, I still can't believe that you were concealing your true strength this whole time, all for the sake of saving the world…" Rose inhaled his scent from the right side.

"Lord Shadow, I shall make sure all your wishes come true! Please, give a command!" Victoria's fanatical voice almost deafened him from the left side.

"My Knight, what would you like to do next?" Violet blushed like a girl with a crush.

He sighed and placed a cup back on the table. With each passing day, he becomes Harem Protagonist more and more. He just wanted to roleplay in peace and not think about anything, why did they all decide to suddenly become obsessed with him?…

Well, it's not like it's bad. On the contrary, Cid actually appreciated their attention! It's just that… there's that one thing called 'too much'.

"Well, as of right now I am thinking about-" he suddenly stopped.

"My Lord?" Victoria tilted her head in confusion.

"A moment."

Hams was practically screaming for Cid to pay attention, and once he finally listened, Beast started dishing out everything it found out. At some point Cid got fed up with this and demanded the shortened version.

And, well, it was simple: Hams was checking up the Pylon System out of boredom (it already read everything Cid gave; time to give more) when it realized that something in Oriana kingdom was off. There was some kind of spatial anomaly akin to that of Sanctuary but at different level. Moreover, it was somewhat similar to his Pylon System, but still different.

And each time Hams touched the Pylon System this anomaly would shake and reveal itself a bit.

Upon hearing these news he had to act immediately.

"Rose, is there anything of interest in your country? Natural phenomenon or something like that?"

"I…" she blinked, "I have heard legends of something called 'Black Rose', but I am not sure…"

"Get ready, we are going to check it out!" he immediately stood up and commanded slime to take Shadow's attire.

"Understood, my Lord," Victoria immediately changed her expression to a serious one.

Rose simply nodded and morphed her suit into Tyrant Queen.

"Violet, please be lovely and tell Shades that we will return soon," he asked with a charming smile.

"I just met you and we already have to part…" she gave a dramatic sigh, "I wish you a safe return, my Knight."

"M-m-m," and with that Cid activated the Pylon teleportation.

"So that's the power of Lord Shadow…" Victoria produced even more Faith energy upon realizing they suddenly appeared in Oriana's capital.

"I shall go in and prepare everything for a good stay," Rose immediately collected herself.

"M-m-m," he simply nodded and focused on a certain part.

"And… I wish you luck, Cid!" she suddenly blushed.

"Hmm," he acknowledged her blessing while Victoria growled.

As Rose went away to the castle to inform everyone that ruling party has changed, Cid slowly flew closer to the suspicious point with Victoria following him. And once he finally came near it, he felt a scream from the deeps of his Soul Space.

Hams was convulsing (literally) in ecstasy after realizing what, exactly, this anomaly was. Todd tried to inquire what was so shocking about the anomaly. Once Hams calmed down enough to tell about the result of his research, Todd joined in convulsion. And, honestly, if it was not for the fact that Victoria was still there, he would lay in ecstasy, too.

This thing was a spatial anomaly! The one that connected two worlds! Though currently it was sealed, but would that even be a problem for him? Cid himself was good enough to crack down the code (at least he hoped so), but now, with Hams and Todd and Infosphere knowledge? Yeah, he would have more problems with studying the anomaly itself. The seal was a thing for an hour, no more.

"Victoria, guard me."

"Yes, my Lord!" the amount of adoration that was contained in this not-so-small body was enough for Hams to consider creating something good to show appreciation. Honestly, Cid thought the same.

And, true to his thoughts, no more than a couple minutes later Todd made a solution on how to crack the seal down. Of course, Cid immediately did it!

The next moment, the skies darkened.

Dark clouds slowly converged until they formed a gigantic flower.

And then it opened.

An armada of beasts flied through the finally opened portal. They were eager to tear this world's inhabitants apart!

That is, until they met one unassuming man in a black coat.

They stopped as if they hit a wall. Man slowly grinned. And beasts' only shreds of intelligence told them that it would be wise of them to just go back.

And so they did.

"Stop right there, ingredients!" for some reason, they didn't stop even though Cid asked nicely.

Yeah, I swapped around Lawless City and Earth arcs.

Don't worry, Hams and Todd are smart, and Cid is smart, too, so they will work around the time difference between worlds; Earth arc will take not that much if I am being honest…