Chapter 393: The Interception
When Sophia exited the library's rear entrance, the sky had transitioned into
total darkness.
The streetlights of Orlando Town were active, casting an amber glow over the
cobblestones as residents hurried toward their quarters. She tightened her
work-coat, her processors still looping through the data regarding the black
vellum book in the Archives.
The residual signature of Molag. The map hidden within the fibers. The marked
node at the northern foothills.
The information swirled within her mind, causing her to navigate the streets
with a "Distraction" debuff. She rounded the corner by the bakery; two hundred
meters remained until she reached the staff dormitory.
Sophia looked ahead.
Then, she terminated her gait.
Standing beneath a streetlight was a Skeleton.
He wore plain black robes, appearing no different from the standard Undead
residents roaming the city. But the micro-second Sophia's ocular sensors locked
onto him, her "Survival Instinct" spiked to terminal levels.
Logic Error.
The aura radiating from this skeleton was fundamentally distinct from any
ordinary Undead. It was a subtle, high-order pressure—like entering a room where
everything looks standard, yet the atmospheric density, the light refraction,
and the vibration of the floorboards all signal that the Master of the house is
an Out-of-Context entity.
Sophia's primary impulse was a tactical retreat. But she remained motionless.
The Skeleton was already auditing her. The soul-fire within his sockets burned
with a quiet, patient stability.
Escape probability: Statistical Zero.
Sophia performed a rapid calculation. Since the Skeleton was waiting here, it
implied he had already localized her signature. Fleeing would only confirm his
suspicions and trigger an "Aggressive Pursuit" protocol.
She took a deep breath, smoothed the wrinkles in her blue work-coat, and walked
toward the figure. She stopped exactly five meters away.
"Initial meeting," she stated, her voice steady, her tone bordering on polite.
"Sovereign of Evernight."
As she uttered the title, Sophia simulated every possible variable. How did he
localize me? Was it the awakening wave? Did they trace the thermal anomaly in
the Archives? Or was I flagged the moment I entered Orlando?
Regardless of the "How," only one objective remained: Audit his intent. Identify
his power-rating. Survive.
Kaito didn't respond immediately.
He stood there, staring at the human female in the library uniform, feeling a
profound sense of annoyance.
Here was the log: thirty minutes ago, Avarice had briefed him with those five
pages of Elven filler. The "Five Pillars"—Time, Space, Life, Death, and
Order—were missing but potentially alive. Kaito's response at the time had been
a simple "Mhm."
Avarice then reported the 0.3-second awakening wave from three days ago. Kaito's
response: "Mhm."
Then Lust added: "I suspect the entity is initializing an active stealth
protocol."
Kaito's response: "Oh?"
The Tiers had shifted. He'd spent ten minutes auditing the monitoring data
personally. Then, he spent five minutes utilizing his Planar Authority to
perform a deep-stratum sweep of the Lostarn Realm.
The result was… amusing.
Localized in a library dormitory in Orlando was an energy anomaly so faint it
was practically background noise. If Lust's global sweep was a fishing net, this
anomaly was a single grain of sand—falling through the mesh every time.
But Kaito possessed the Planar Heart. The entire realm was an extension of his
own frame. On this level, he didn't need a net; he could feel the displacement
of a single atom. He traced the anomaly and found a Library Assistant named
"Sophy."
Monthly wage: 8 Silver Coins.
Kaito had sat on his throne in Evernight Castle, staring at the report for a
long time. An Old God was infiltrating his Empire, working for 8 silver coins a
cycle. He didn't know which facial-macro to execute for this data.
Lately, he'd been having a productive time playing matchmaker for Skele-Pride
and Alice. Now, an "Old Landlord" was manifesting to potentially reclaim the
property.
Technically, I am the latecomer, Kaito mused. But the deed is in my name now. I
built the infrastructure. I set the protocols. I even approved the budget for
the free apples in the relief stations.
You think you can just wake up after a nap and rollback my updates?
Driven by this subtle irritation, he had manifested in Orlando solo. He didn't
want the news of an Old God's return to compromise Imperial stability.
So he waited for "Sophy" to clock out.
She had manifested. She had approached. And she had addressed him correctly.
Kaito audited her. The woman was calm—unnaturally so. A low-wage assistant
encountering the Absolute Ruler of the Empire should have triggered a "Panic" or
"Shock" protocol. She simply adjusted her coat.
Interesting. High-tier composure.
Kaito opened his mandible to query "Who are you?", but he aborted the prompt. He
already knew the answer. He shifted to a more direct logic-path: "State your
intent."
Before he could speak, Sophia tilted her head slightly. She was auditing him.
Sophia had been conducting a sensory sweep for fifteen seconds. She utilized
every remaining shred of her perception to peer through the Skeleton's
masquerade.
First Layer Audit: Planar Authority detected. The power of the Planar Core. Only
a Sovereign can possess this. Second Layer Audit: Energy Gradient.
Sophia focused, peeling back the layers of the Skeleton's aura. Tier 1...
Tier 3... Tier 5... Tier 6... Tier 7.
The audit stopped at Tier 7.
Sophia recalibrated her stance. Tier 7.
In her prime, she was an Eleventh-Tier Pillar. Even in her current "Wet-Noodle"
state, she understood the mechanics of the Planar Core perfectly. She could
sense that the current Core's output-cap for a single unit was approximately
Tier 7.
So, the Sovereign has hit the local ceiling.
In this archaic era, Tier 7 was likely the apex. But to an Old God of her
classification, Tier 7 was… manageable.
The tension in Sophia's spirit relaxed by 50%. Why had she been so anxious? She
had assumed a Being that unified a continent would be at least Tier 9. But he
was only Tier 7.
Just that?
Sophia's "Confidence Protocol" initialized. She remained wary, but the fear of
an unknown, invincible enemy was being overwritten by the arrogance of an
ancient deity.
You may be the current Hegemon, but you are capped at Tier 7. I possess the
Authority of Time. Once I recover my Od, I will surpass your terminal threshold.
Kaito detected the shift. He couldn't pinpoint the exact variable, but the
woman's "Aura" had transitioned from "Cautious Probe" to "Arrogant Certainty" in
a matter of seconds.
It made him even more uncomfortable.
"I have one query," Kaito finally stated.
Sophia lifted her chin. "Proceed."
"State your future roadmap. What do you intend to do in my Empire?"
The question was blunt. Brutal. Kaito saw no reason for linguistic gymnastics.
He was the Auditor; she was the Variable.
Sophia was silent for two seconds. "That depends on you."
"Define the dependency."
"It depends on how you intend to process my existence."
Kaito's soul-fire pulsed. A clever response—returning the query to his court. He
didn't accept the deflection.
"You are a God of the Old Era," Kaito said flatly. "Cease the masquerade. My
scan isn't a wide-net sweep like Lust's. No matter how deep you bury your
signature, if you exist on this plane, I will find you."
Hearing this, Sophia dropped the human facade entirely. Since the disguise was
compromised, maintaining it was an inefficient use of resources. She stood
straight, shoulders back, her presence transforming within a single breath.
A moment ago, she was a library assistant. Now, she was a Deity.
"Sophia, the Goddess of Time."
She broadcast her full designation. "The last Pillar to fall during Ragnarok."
Kaito stared. Goddess of Time. One of the Five Pillars. Avarice's report had
flagged that name.
"State your current power-rating."
Sophia hesitated, then provided a transparent data-dump. "Tier 2."
"..."
Kaito went silent.
Tier 2. A Primary God of the Old Era was currently a Tier-2 variable. No wonder
she was processing data for 8 silver coins.
The information made his mood even more complex. He had prepared for a "Final
Boss" encounter and found a "Level 10 Newbie" God. But he didn't lower his
guard. Tier 2 was her current state, not her terminal potential. If her power
was linked to the Planar Core, her restoration speed could be exponential.
"Your power is recovering," Kaito stated.
"Slowly, but the trend is upward," Sophia nodded.
"State your projected ceiling."
Sophia glanced at him. "Without interference? I will return to Tier 7."
Tier 7 again. The local cap.
Kaito realized this situation wasn't going to be a simple "Mhm" event. He was
about to query further when Sophia initialized an action.
The local temperature plummeted. No—it wasn't thermal energy. It was Temporal
Instability.
Kaito felt it. In the coordinates between them, the flow of time was becoming
non-linear. The streetscape began to warp. The streetlight's glow stretched into
long ribbons; the silhouettes of distant pedestrians blurred into static.
Time-Space Turbulence.
Kaito's reaction was instantaneous—he flared his Planar Authority to stabilize
the coordinates. But he was a micro-second late. The world fractured before his
ocular processors and reassembled.
When his vision stabilized, the streets of Orlando were gone.
He stood in a void of absolute nothingness. Beneath his boots was a flat,
grey-white expanse. Above was a featureless sky, illuminated by an unknown
source. The horizon extended into infinity.
A Closed-Loop Domain.
Sophia stood thirty meters away. Her expression had shifted. The polite "Sophy"
mask was liquidated. In her eyes was a familiar look: the certainty of a
Controller.
"I do not know how an 'Outside God' like you secured Planar Authority with only
Tier-7 power," Sophia's voice echoed through the void.
"But your sequence terminates here."
Kaito's soul-fire pulsed violently. He looked at the grey floor, then at the
grey sky.
A Time-Space Domain. She pulled me into her private instance. Here, she set the
protocols. He was the intruder.
Kaito was silent for three seconds. Then he looked up, his soul-fire burning
with a terrifyingly steady blue flame.
"Are you certain of that logic?"