Chapter 1093: A Demand for an Explanation
Waypoint Hall
Tír Síorghlas
Iohodis Continent
Apex World Taemia
November 4th
Year 1054
The teleportation circuit lit up, and with a flash of light, a black-haired teenager with grey eyes appeared, dressed as casually as ever, as if he hadn’t just returned from a top-secret military operation where he’d helped wipe out an entire infernal devil base, slaying thousands of them alongside several devil dragons and their ilk.
As soon as his body had fully materialised, the spirit stationed at the forefront of the welcoming group stepped forward, bowed, and said, "Welcome back, Sir Evan."
Evan glanced at her, Holone, and acknowledged her with a nod before reaching out into thin air. A dark patch of space opened in response, and from within it, he pulled out the petrified, severed head of a humanoid dragon.
"Here. The Vice Commander."
Holone silently received the stone head and turned to pass it to one of the soldiers behind her. They had been briefed ahead of time, so the moment the soldier accepted the head, they promptly exited the room through a different passage, while Holone turned back and followed Evan as he walked out the main exit.
"How did the rest of the operation go?"
Pulling a tablet from her jacket and powering it on, Holone answered, "It was a success. Thanks to your diversion, we were able to eliminate all the high-priority targets. The chaos you created prevented the infernal archdevils from properly focusing on the battlefronts, and as a result, we managed to take down three of their Transcendents during today’s engagement."
Evan nodded calmly, yawning lightly before asking, "Anything else of note?"
Holone slid her fingers across the screen, quickly skimming through the reports before speaking again.
"There’s a scheduled meeting between the Elders and the military commanders later today. You and your companions have also been invited. It seems there are messages from Nature’s Abode on the other half of the continent, concerning the current state of the war there."
"What time is the meeting?"
"In five hours from now," she replied, "after the other battlefields have been cleaned up and our forces have initiated full retreats beyond the devils’ retaliation range."
They continued walking as they talked, with Holone answering Evan’s questions and briefing him on everything of importance, carrying out her duties as a secretary just as she had for the past two-plus months.
By the time their conversation ended, they had already exited the waypoint building.
"Send someone to get me when it’s time for the meeting," Evan said. "I’m going to sleep until then."
At that, Holone bowed. "Very well. Rest well, Sir Evan."
He gave her an offhanded wave before glancing toward his temporary housing. With Farsight activated alongside Blink, he vanished in the blink of an eye.
As soon as Evan vanished, a few nearby spirits walked up to Holone and spoke.
"And there she is, Holone the Lucky, the one who had the opportunity to serve under Sir Evan."
Holone turned toward the soldier who had called out to her, raising an eyebrow before muttering to herself, "Lucky, huh? I suppose you could say I am."
"What’s he like? You’ve also been deployed to battle together with him, right?"
At the question, Holone thought back over the past two months before finally replying,
"He’s quite amiable, more so than I originally thought. He’s the type you can’t easily tell when he’s being serious and when he isn’t, because his attitude seems the same either way."
She paused for a moment, then continued.
"When it comes to battle..."
Her voice trailed off, her mind playing a reel of the battlefields she’d seen Evan on over the last two months.
Devils burning. Frozen devils. Petrified devils. Cultivators set aflame by fire that wouldn’t go out even when doused in water law energy. Frostbitten devils. Skewered devils. Devils perforated by blades raining from the sky. Devils roasted by lightning. More frozen devils. Petrified cultivators who’d sided with devils. Nuked dragons.
And after everything passed through her thoughts, she finally said,
"He’s very... ’efficient’ in battle."
"Efficient, you say? Well, he’s killed five Infernal Devil Commanders in just two months. He’s definitely as efficient as they come. And I heard he’s still not even level 800 yet, but he was still strong enough to defeat two Infernal Devil Commanders at once."
Someone else added,
"Yeah, and someone who was assigned to the same battlefield said he did it with so much ease, it was almost anticlimactic."
Holone, who had also been on that battlefield, thought about that line and nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, everyone had expected some grand battle, but things had ended far quicker than we could’ve possibly imagined."
Then one of the other spirits asked,
"Have you seen him without his mask? He always wears it everywhere."
Holone shook her head.
"I haven’t been granted that privilege."
Another spirit chimed in right after, "I wonder how he looks under the mask. Is he hiding some kind of scar or something?"
"Hah! A scar is a warrior’s trophy in battle. There’s no reason to cover such a thing up!" someone else declared.
Holone only shrugged and said, "Only he knows why he wears the mask."
Just then, her tablet beeped, and she glanced at it before speaking.
"Seems I have another assignment to handle. I’ll talk to you all later."
With that, she stepped away from the area, heading toward her next duty. As she walked, her thoughts drifted back to the subject of Evan’s mask, and she found herself wondering,
’I wonder... just why does he wear the mask? And what does he look like without it?’
Exactly five hours later, Holone was staring directly at what lay beneath that mask.
’...a handsome face...’
That was the thought that passed through her mind as she looked at the sleeping teenager resting on his friend’s lap.
The location was the artificial field Evan and Beatrix had constructed in the middle of the forest surrounding their arranged accommodation in Tír Síorghlas, and before Holone were the two teenagers themselves.
Beatrix was scrolling through her tab, and lying on her lap was a sleeping Evan, his mask resting on the grass beside him.
’Why does he cover his face? Is he shy?’
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, she quickly shook her head, dismissing it.
’Shy is the last word I’d use to describe Sir Evan. So then, why?’
Naturally, Holone had no idea that Evan was anticipating contact with certain Celestials who could not be allowed to see his face in this dimension.
"Holone? What’s up?"
Beatrix’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and she cleared her throat before quickly explaining her reason for being there.
"Sir Evan instructed me to inform him when it was time for the scheduled meeting."
"Oh, it’s time already?" Beatrix asked, raising a brow before continuing, "Alright, let them know we’re on our way."
"No problem."
Holone bowed and turned to leave, but before she could take a single step, Beatrix called out again.
"Holone."
"Yes?" She turned back and saw Beatrix, still focused on her tablet, speak without lifting her gaze.
"You didn’t see anything, right?"
Beatrix didn’t need to elaborate for Holone to understand exactly what she meant.
"Yes. I saw nothing."
With that, she turned again and departed, leaving the two behind.
A minute passed before Beatrix gently tapped Evan on the shoulder, stirring him from sleep.
"Wake up, Evan. We’ve got a meeting."
"..."
Evan’s eyes blinked open, and his brows furrowed slightly.
"...already."
Clearly, he had hoped to sleep a little longer, but the meeting could not be ignored.
He sat up, picked up his mask, and as he began to put it back on, Beatrix suddenly asked an odd question.
"Hey Evan. How do you, actually... feel? About me?"
"...what?"
"What I mean is... do you..." Beatrix paused for a moment before adding with a sigh, "...hate me?"
"..."
Evan blinked, then turned toward her with an incredulous look.
"Do you think I’d let myself sleep defenceless in your presence if I did?"
"Well... no..." Beatrix replied after a brief pause, but just as she was about to suggest he might be faking it, Evan cut her off.
"And there’s your answer. I’ve got too much on my mind to waste energy on silly stunts like whatever you’re probably imagining."
He then rose to his feet, stretching as he spoke.
"But I will require an explanation. A very detailed one that justifies everything. Maybe then, I’ll reconsider how I respond."
In response to the contextless remark, Beatrix pressed her lips into a thin line before finally replying after a moment.
"I’ll try to remember."
"You better."
With that, Evan patted her shoulder and walked off, leaving behind the girl who sighed and buried her face in her hands.