Victor and I stood side by side, while Emily and Laura stayed close, just a few steps behind us. Their eyes shifted between Victor and me, brief flickers of curiosity crossing their faces.
We, on the other hand, kept our gaze fixed on Chronas. With his face partially lit by the soft glow of the room, he examined the scattered objects lying on the floor and the ones spread across the table. His expression showed genuine curiosity.
"So... what do you want to talk about?" Victor asked beside me, glancing my way. There was a faint tension in his voice—barely noticeable: "Given the situation, I'm guessing it's about Sara" he added, trying to sound indifferent—but the unease in his tone gave him away.
I nodded at Victor's words, and that alone made him glance toward Sara—his sister. For a moment, silence hung between us. I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts, carefully choosing my next words before speaking: (You've probably heard part of the conversation already... so you know that if we don't find a substitute for Sara, she'll have to leave, right?)
Victor stayed quiet for a few seconds after I spoke, his gaze lost somewhere in the distance. Then he exhaled slowly and nodded: "Yeah... I don't fully understand everything, but I know that's what determines whether Sara can stay here, right?"
I nodded again, feeling the weight of each syllable echo in my mind. My eyes shifted back to Chronas, who was studying a painting hanging on the wall—a portrait of a woman dressed like a warrior, sword raised, as if defying fate itself.
Well... setting aside the painting—and the fact that I'd gotten it in a somewhat questionable way, along with the curious (and maybe uncomfortable) looks Laura and Emily gave me that day—there was something far more important to discuss: (We need her power to deceive the "Flow of Time" even if just for a moment. But the current "Sara" can't use her gifts; if she tries, her shell will completely fall apart)
Victor blinked, confused. His neck turned slowly toward me, as if he needed to make sure he'd heard me right. His brow furrowed, one eyebrow arching in disbelief. "What exactly do you mean by that?" he asked, his voice filled with uncertainty.
I stayed silent for a moment, trying to gather my thoughts. How was I supposed to tell Victor that "Sara"—or at least the form he knew—would disappear forever? And more than that... how would he react to it? Would he just stop loving Chronas? No, that's impossible. No matter how hard I try to imagine it, that possibility just doesn't exist.
(What I'm trying to say...) I began, hesitating for a second to make sure Victor was really paying attention: (I need to free Sara from the body she's trapped in. In short, the Sara you knew—or at least the form she's had until now—will cease to exist)
Victor listened in silence. For a brief moment, I tried to imagine what might be going through his mind—doubt, anger, maybe even regret—but I dismissed the thought right away. Honestly, I expected at least a hint of hesitation in his response. But what came out of his mouth next was the exact opposite of what I thought I'd hear.
"I don't care about that. In the end, it's just a change in appearance. Sara will still be Sara" Victor said firmly, conviction clear in his voice: "I've been preparing myself for this moment ever since I found out her current body was just a vessel—something created to contain her true form"
(You...) I started, letting the words trail off for a second as I looked at him. He seemed almost unfazed, as if the news didn't affect him at all: (You're taking this way better than I expected... honestly, I'm kind of surprised)
Victor watched me for a few seconds before simply shrugging: "What else could I do?" he asked, a tired half-smile crossing his face: "Sure, saying it doesn't bother me at all would be a lie" He took a deep breath and continued, his tone open and sincere: "But at the end of the day, Sara will still be Sara. Well... maybe I'll just need a little time to get used to having a sister with otherworldly beauty"
As he spoke, his eyes wandered over Nekra, Nyara, Althea, and Eryanis, pausing briefly on each of them before finally resting on me. A faint glimmer of amusement crossed his gaze: "After all, considering you and your sisters are probably the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in my life... even if it's in a slightly strange way, I doubt the real Sara will be any different" he said, half teasing, half genuine.
My mouth opened slightly—not because of what Victor said in general, but because of one specific word. Honestly, I already knew they all saw me as a girl. I can't really blame them, can I? At least on the outside, that's what I look like.
Still, it was the first time someone had said it to my face so bluntly. It was so sudden that, for a moment, I felt something stir inside me—a strange mix of surprise and confusion.
Before I could even gather my thoughts or plan what to say next, my voice instinctively echoed in the minds of Victor, Emily, and Laura—almost like an uncontrollable reflex: (I am a man...)
The moment my voice resonated, the three of them turned to look at me—perplexed. Actually, it wasn't just them; my sisters were staring at me the same way. On every face, I saw the same expression—an uneasy mix of confusion and doubt, as if they were all trying to make sense of what they'd just heard. The silence that followed lasted only a few seconds before Victor finally broke it.
"But... as far as I know... you don't exactly have a thing down there... do you?" Victor asked casually, as if he were talking about something completely ordinary.
I blinked a few times, unsure how to respond. He was right—of course he was—and I knew that better than anyone. But accepting it was another story: (That... that's true but...)
While I was still stumbling over my own words, unsure how to respond to Victor's remark, another voice cut through the silence—Laura's: "I remember seeing the [Angel of Death] naked once. And, well... she really didn't have anything down there. I mean, it was completely flat. A living being, sure. But a completely sexless one"
Victor, Emily, and Laura all stared at me intently after Laura's words—the same curious gaze, as if they were studying some peculiar little creature that had just done something unexpected. I felt the weight of their eyes on me and, somewhat uneasy, turned my face toward my sisters.
But they too were watching me, just as confused. And honestly, I couldn't blame them. It made perfect sense: for beings who had never possessed a defined sex to begin with, worrying about something like that was... strange, at the very least.
In the end, I simply lowered my head. There was no way to refute them. The reason I still cling to the idea of being male is simple: I feel weird about not feeling weird when someone calls me a girl. It confuses me—this unexpected indifference. Maybe that's why I still hold on to the notion that, once upon a time, I was a man.
A minute later, I explained everything to Chronas—disheartened and without leaving out a single detail of what Victor had said. Throughout my explanation, her face remained blank, cold as marble, not a single muscle moving.
When I finished, Chronas turned her gaze toward Victor; for a brief moment, their eyes met, and they exchanged a simple nod—silent, yet filled with mutual understanding.
After that, all that was left for me to do was to break the shell I'd built to contain her... and finally set her free. The only problem? I had no idea how to do it.
I tried asking my sisters for advice, but none of them seemed to know how. Apparently, each Virtue had a unique way of controlling its own Authority. After all, even though there are many Authorities, only one Virtue can command its own—and each one is infinitely distinct from the others.
But then... what exactly was mine? I'd never really stopped to think about it. I'd always assumed that, as a Virtue, I should naturally have an Authority too, right? Yet, no matter how hard I tried to remember or sense something—anything—that could hint at what my Authority was supposed to be... nothing came to mind.
Or rather, plenty of memories did. The thing is, I simply possess an absurd amount of power. Even without considering what I have now, my past self was capable of performing feats so wildly different from one another that it's hard to find any real connection between them—as if each came from a completely different origin. In other words, I have no idea what kind of Authority could possibly grant me dominion over so many powers at once.
In the end, all of them tried to give me small hints—subtle clues about how their own worked—each in her own way. Yet, their answers all seemed to converge on the same point: "Authority is nothing more than an extension of a Virtue—an arm, a leg, or whatever you want to call it. It'll follow you, obey you without being forced. All you have to do is feel it... and guide it. Authority, in the end, is like a curious child, eager to play with its own mother—or something like that"
That's what Althea told me just moments before. Now, I stood before Chronas. She sat on my bed, her posture straight, her cold eyes fixed on me, as if silently waiting for me to make the next move.
Behind me, Victor, Emily, and Laura watched quietly, observing every small motion. My sisters were nearby too, though far less interested than the humans—as if the whole situation was nothing more than another mundane event for them.
"Are you... sure you know what you're doing?" Victor asked from behind me, his trembling voice revealing more fear than doubt.
I turned my gaze toward him and, after a brief hesitation, muttered: (I... think so?)
That was all I could manage. Victor's expression tensed with visible concern at my words, and he let out a heavy sigh—the kind that mixes resignation with helplessness.
"Why do I feel like we're playing some kind of Russian roulette?" Victor murmured under his breath — yet his words cut through the air and reached my ears with perfect clarity.
Deep down, I understood him... I wouldn't believe me either after a response like that. Still, all things considered, at least Chronas wasn't necessarily going to die.
The next moment, I turned my eyes back to Chronas, still unsure of what to do. Inwardly, I let out a restrained sigh as a silent thought echoed through my mind: (So... I just need to feel it, right?)
With that thought, I closed my eyes. I didn't really know what I was trying to feel—maybe a trace, an echo, anything that could guide me. I was just... searching for something. Something that, hopefully, was emanating from Chronas in front of me.
I'm not sure if my prayers were answered, but the next instant, I felt something—a subtle, almost imperceptible presence—radiating from her. I had no idea if that was what I was looking for, but there was definitely a force there, alive and pulsing beneath the surface.
I hesitated for a moment. Should I try it? Yeah... not like I had any other leads. I took a deep breath, letting the air slip slowly from my lungs, and with that thought steady in my mind, I decided to start working on it.