After the meeting with Edward, Max and Eric returned to their apartments. Eric had put 'Truth' in his pocket, waiting to get an opportunity at home to test it.
Max and Eric walked side by side until they reached their apartment building. Eric took Max's keys to his apartment from his pocket and handed them to him as they both nodded at each other and entered their respective apartments.
Inside, Eric found Ruby sitting silently on the sofa in front of the switched-off TV. She was staring at the black screen with a dazed gaze, as if lost in deep thought.
"I'm back," Eric said loudly to get her attention, but she didn't respond. Eric removed his shoes and walked over to Ruby. He raised his right hand and placed it on her left shoulder. The touch jolted her back to reality as she screamed in fright, "Ahh!" She looked up to her left and saw Eric staring at her with a worried look.
She forced an awkward smile and frantically stood up. Her eyes darted around the room, not daring to meet his. "Ah! Darling, you came back. Sorry for not noticing you. I was thinking about some things. Sorry! Let me get the food ready. I was starving!"
Saying that, she turned her back to him and hurried to the kitchen. Eric went to the almirah in his bedroom, picked out a simple black T-shirt, and put it on. He then walked back to the dining table, where the food was already ready. Ruby was sitting awkwardly, waiting for Eric to come and sit. She had an awkward smile on her face—the corners of her lips stretched as far as they could, her cheeks twitching from the strain. She looked quite silly and cute, though.
Eric sat down at the dining table and looked at what they were having today. The dish was… weird-looking? It had a sweet aroma around it. It was a golden omelette that looked appetising, but it gave off a warm, sweet, and delicate scent of vanilla and honey. Eric's first thought was that it was an omelette made of cake, like in those reels and shorts on social media.
Eric picked up the fork and knife placed beside the plate, cut a small piece of the omelette, and ate it. After chewing a few times, its savoury, creamy, and layered taste filled Eric's mouth. It tasted like both a dessert and a main course.
Inside the omelette were small roasted mushrooms. Eric felt like he was eating something made up of different dishes with varying tastes.
Eric raised his head to look at Ruby and smiled at her, asking with an amused tone, "Care to elaborate, honey?"
Ruby looked up from her plate and started to explain, "So you know, when I was sitting around the house doing nothing, I decided to watch some cooking recipes on TV. While scrolling, I came across this video titled 'Top 10 Dishes That Taste Different Than They Look'. I started by sautéing mushrooms in butter with just enough brown sugar to make them glossy and sweet-smelling. Then I added a splash of balsamic vinegar 'for Parisian drama', then whisked soft eggs with a little cream and salt. The real trick, however, was the vanilla cream—I heated real vanilla bean in cream until the aroma became warm and sweet, the kind that makes the whole kitchen smell like a patisserie. After cooking the omelette gently, I folded the candied mushrooms inside and drizzled the vanilla cream over the top, finishing it with a pinch of smoked sea salt."
"It must have taken a lot of time and effort to make it. Thank you," Eric commented as he thanked his wife with a small smile and returned to enjoying his meal. Ruby also lowered her head and started to eat.
After eating, Ruby took their plates to the kitchen to wash. Eric was waiting for a chance to test 'Truth'. He had thought that after getting home, he would wait for Ruby to sleep and then try it, but from how things looked, he wouldn't be able to try it for quite some time. For now, he had to figure out why Ruby was acting so strange.
Following his intuition, Eric got up and sat on the couch in front of the TV and waited silently for Ruby to come. After a few minutes, the sound of running water stopped, followed by the sound of footsteps. Ruby stepped out of the kitchen and entered the living room. She turned her head to look at Eric, who was staring at the black screen of the TV with a worried expression.
She walked closer to him. Her right hand clenched her dress as she said in a low voice,
"Umm, Eric… I want to talk."
Eric's brows furrowed as his face revealed a confused expression. He nodded and patted the space next to him. Ruby slowly walked over and sat beside him. She was playing with her hair and avoiding looking at his eyes. Eric sighed and put his left arm around her left shoulder and pulled her in, making her whimper and her face become red.
"Just speak your mind. It hurts me to see you acting so weird, you know."
Ruby finally took a deep breath as she straightened her back and leaned more into Eric's chest. She raised her head and looked at Eric's face with a worried expression as her brows were a little furrowed. She puffed her cheeks and said,
"Promise me you will only speak the truth!"
Eric chuckled at her cuteness and nodded. She then pulled back her body and looked at the floor as she asked, "Ever since we have been married, I have never asked you many questions or tried to invade your privacy, but ever since we have come to Paris, I can't help but think that something is very, very wrong!"
Her hands clenched as she continued, "And the most weird thing is with you. I can't help but think that you have been hiding a lot of things from me. I can feel your worry, the way you have been acting so weird, your fake smiles! Your eyes that seem so lifeless now! Like you are carrying so much and not willing to let anyone in or share anything. What is it?"
She then looked up and basically started to scream as her beautiful eyes started to tear up. "Is something happening in your job? Money problems? What is it!? I don't want to be a forceful bitch who wants her husband to have no secrets! But I can't stop this worry growing in my heart. Do you know how much anxious I get whenever you go out of the house?! It feels so lonely, so cold, yet I am enduring this and you keep your pain with you. Share it with me! I love you! Don't you love me anymore? Am I not a part of your family in your heart anymore? Or was I never a part of your family!? Tell me!!"
The more she screamed, the more her knuckles closed, to the point they became pale white, as bean-sized tears dropped down her red cheeks. Eric was dazed for a few seconds. He felt guilty that he had made his wife so worried and never noticed it.
He couldn't tell her the truth about what was actually happening in Paris. She was already in danger as it was. If she were to find out the truth, she would be even more worried and anxious. She might even be killed. Even though it wasn't his fault, he felt guilt and pain in his heart as pity grew the more he looked at Ruby screaming and crying.
He suddenly raised his hands and pulled Ruby into his arms, tightly hugging her. His clothes were getting wet from her tears as she punched his back and continued screaming. He lightly caressed her hair and back and listened on and on to her rambling and let her take out all her emotions. The more she cried, the lighter she felt. All her anxiety, fear, uncertainty, anger, and pain were lessening as her tears started to slow down and her grip on his back tightened. She rubbed her face on his huge chest. She felt safe, warm, and so at peace.
This went on for a few minutes until she was just sniffing. Eric's eyes had already become teary. She noticed it and caressed his hair. He whispered in her hair, "Thank you… thank you for worrying about me so much. Thank you…"
A few tears also fell down his cheeks. She then pulled back her head and looked at his face. She put her hands around his face and breathed heavily. They both could feel the warm breath of each other on their faces. Their worry, anxiety, fatigue, pain, and fear all boiled up in a cauldron and were overflowing.
Ruby then lightly asked, "So, say the truth now," her green eyes staring at his heterochromatic pink eyes.
Eric's eyes darted around a little here and there, showing hesitation. His mind was quickly thinking. He decided to take a risk. "Umm… you know, ever since we have been married, I always thought about how our kid would look. Ever since coming to Paris, I have been seeing families with their kids being happy."
Ruby's face became tomato red as she asked, "So that's why you were staring at that couple outside the airport?"
"Oh, you noticed? Yes, that was the reason. Max also saved a kid a few days ago whose mother was busy on her phone, making him almost hit the car. Luckily, we were there and Max reacted fast, saving the kid. At that time, I blushed thinking how good of a mother you would be. Today, we saved some kidnapped kids and had them reunite with their parents again. Seeing them evoked the want to have a kid in me more, but I remember you not wanting a child yet. I want to discuss it with you, but I just couldn't bring myself to ask, and that's why I was acting so weird."
Ruby's eyes widened as she started to "realise" and connect all the dots. She whispered with a sharp tone, "So that's why you asked if I think you were a bad person?"
Eric nodded. Ruby's gaze turned sideways as her breathing became faster and her face burned at this point. She spoke in a hazy voice, "I-It's not… It's not like that I don't want a child… We can…"
She finally looked at him and put her forehead onto his, breathing heavily. She took his hand and put it on top of her pelvic area. She then said in a low whisper, almost in a seducing voice, "We have never done it since we got married, yes? I remember we are both virgins… so, wanna change it?"
Before Eric could answer, Ruby pushed her lips upon his. A tingling feeling spread on his lips.
This was his first kiss, lip to lip, in his life.
She didn't stop and kept pushing in. Her hands were around his face, not letting him go. Eric could remove her, but he didn't and let her kiss him to her heart's content. She then pulled back to breathe and whispered,
"Take me to bed," and then pushed in again, but this time with her tongue. She was just being brute; there was no technique.
Eric immediately put his hands behind her back as he lifted her up while she continued to kiss him. Finally in the bedroom, he threw her onto the bed and laid on top of her. He supported his body using his hands and looked down at her beautiful body. He leaned in and kissed her some more, giving her all the love she deserved—not just her lips, but her forehead, cheeks, eyes, nose, mostly lips. They were about to start removing their clothes and continue the real deal just when the voice inside Eric's head spoke as his body froze.
"Stop!"
Eric's eyes widened as his body froze. Ruby underneath him was still breathing and lowly moaning. When she noticed him freeze, she looked up with a heated gaze and was about to ask what happened when Eric smiled at her and gave her one last kiss on her lips before smiling and telling her that he couldn't continue and apologised. Before Ruby could even think, he pressed a vein on her neck, making her unconscious.
He then quickly got out of bed, put a blanket on her body, and ran to the bathroom. He could feel that his left arm was constantly opposing him and he was losing control of it. In the bathroom he leaned down as his left arm choked his neck and the voice in his head rebuked him, screaming:
"You idiot! Don't be a cheater! You need to be a virgin! Idiot! Stupid! Have you forgotten your vows!?"
He couldn't understand what the words of the voice meant, but this was the first time the voice was showing so much emotion and was even causing harm to him. Luckily, before he could start losing control of his liquids and become a monster, the voice stopped and nothing happened. Even his control of his left arm was given back to him. Eric kneeled on the floor as he took in large amounts of cold air, breathing heavily, sweat drowning his body. This was the first time something like this was happening.
After a few minutes, he finally got a hold of himself and was able to think straight.
"It seems like the voice inside my head doesn't like me having sex at all. Great, just when I thought that I could finally forget all my worries for one night, but what does it mean by vows and cheating? Can't I do it with my wife at all? Didn't I take my vows with her!?"
Eric was obviously angry after getting cockblocked by this voice inside his head. He was very confused, but he decided to let it go for the moment as he had no clue or idea what this voice even was even till now. How could he understand any nonsense it says?
It was good that the voice stopped before Eric started losing control, making Max unable to sense anything wrong.
Taking a deep sigh again, Eric scratched his head a few times before he touched his lower lip with his left hand. His first kiss was gone, but he didn't feel sad. Instead, he was a little happy. And before anyone asks, no, he didn't kiss her in their marriage.
Now that everything was silent again, he decided to do what he planned to do: check out the new relic he had gotten—Truth.
Eric got out of the bathroom and walked towards the kitchen. The light of the night moon illuminated their apartment and created a serene atmosphere. Eric had always liked gazing at the moon at night, but tonight he had other things to do.
After walking into the kitchen, he found a stool and pulled it towards him before sitting on it. He put his hand in his right pocket before taking out a silver mask. Once the light of the night moon shone on it, it reflected it back, becoming even more shiny and beautiful. Eric gazed at this mask for a few seconds before taking out his golden liquid and putting it in the silver mask. Soon, his mind was filled with knowledge about this mask.
Name: Truth Pathway: Deceiver Pathway Rank: Lysi Nova Powers: Allows the user to change their body's appearance, including facial and body structure, skin colour, eye and hair colour, height, liquid's colour, etc. Passive ability: Makes others feel more trustful of the user the more they talk to him. Makes the user more charming. Negative ability: The more the mask is used, the more the user's skin is removed and replaced with silver.
After comprehending all the information about the relic, Eric put in more of his golden liquid inside the mask and soon found himself in a memory. He looked around and saw that he was lying on the ground. His body was losing warmth and couldn't move an inch. He used all the strength in his body and raised his neck, looking at his chest. There was a wooden katana stuck in his left chest side. Soon, out of the dark, a teenage boy with shiny blue eyes came out and took out the katana. Since it was dark and he had no strength, Sasaki couldn't see the boy's face or any more of his characteristics.
The boy then raised his katana and cut off Eric's head. Before he died, he saw his head flying off. His entire body could be seen by him. His head fell down on the ground with a thud as his vision darkened. He died.
Eric got out of the memory and thought, "It seems that the person whose liquid was used to make this mask was killed by someone. Whether that person was a lone force or someone from the four great bodies, it ended up in the Blackknight Family's hands soon."
After that, Eric raised his hands and put the mask on his face as he inserted more golden liquid into the mask. After the injection, the mask entered Eric's face until it couldn't be seen anymore. Eric felt the mask melt into his body as a cold feeling emerged in his face before everything became normal again. Eric picked up a small mirror from the side and willed as the golden liquid was absorbed by the mask directly from inside his body.
Squelch! Squelch!
With a squelching sound, his nose, eyes, lips started to move and change until his face became completely that of Max's. He continued to will until the muscles on his body bulged more and his height grew a little more. He had become exactly like Max.
If any normal person or even people with powers without using their special visions looked at him, they wouldn't be able to tell that he was the real deal.
He then picked up a magazine that Ruby had left in the kitchen and willed his body to become that of a woman. He was successful and soon became a beautiful model, but his pelvic area remained the same. It was within his expectations.
"It seems that this appearance is only superficial. It is no wonder—this relic is too low-ranked. It has its limits. If I want to completely become a woman, then higher-rank relics are needed. Beauty Pathway's people can change their gender at will even at Nova rank."
He then changed back to his normal form and sat down on the stool again before he started thinking again. "This relic's effects are outstanding, but its cost on the golden liquid is quite high. I can activate it for an entire day before I run out and have to recover my golden liquid again.
Since this is a low-level relic, it can't fool those higher-ranked than me. Almost every enemy or ally here knows who I am, but regardless, it can bring a lot of help to me. The perfect thing is that it is the same rank as me, so that is perfect. My main reason to take this relic was to maximise the use of the strongest relic I have right now, the Imperator's Cross. Due to my low rank, I am unable to show its full worth.
I am given an opportunity. I should use it to the fullest. The main problem is that I have to help others and do good deeds in order to collect them and thus turn them into blessings when I am in danger. The blessing I will get is random, but it is something from a Rank 0 relic. It will definitely not disappoint. I have tested it and doing bad deeds or causing harm to others doesn't affect the good deeds that are stored in the relic. That is perfect, but with my busy life, how can I find time to help others? Today, a huge good deed was done by me by saving three kids. It is, however, still not enough to get even 10 percent of a blessing. If in case of danger, I don't have enough good deeds stored in the relic, I will get a low-rank blessing. I have to maximise my good deeds and store as many good deeds in the relic as I can before a huge fight breaks out.
To do that, he had an idea, that is to form a persona, a new identity that will not only allow him to gain more good deeds, he can even use the relic more by posing as a Goodness Pathway person. Not only that, it will help me to improve my acting skills and see the world with a new lens and allow my loss of control of my liquids to lessen and give me time to complete the steps of the method of control of my liquids."
Eric gazed at the beautiful night moon as he started to think on what his new persona should be like. "Hmm… I am posing as someone who belongs to the Goodness Pathway. Thus, my personality should be kind, peaceful, charming to make full use of the passive ability of 'Truth'. Someone who is empathetic and thinks about the well-being of others first. Someone who is handsome and caring. I have a basic idea of what my new persona would look like and act like. So, what should I name this new persona of mine?"
Eric pondered this question as he continued staring at the night moon sky. Suddenly, a name popped up in his mind as the corners of his lips curled up in a gentle smile.
"Mike Jackson."