The spacious underground room was desolate and empty. A faint breeze blew through the entrance, stirring up the dust on the floor, which looked as if it had been dug three feet deep.
At the doorway, Eta stared expressionlessly at the underground space she had carefully prepared. She blinked, took two steps back, then shut the door and let out a breath.
"Heh. Looks like I was just too happy. How could the warehouse where I stored everything I scammed, swindled, stole, and worked so hard to get over the past year, including the funds from emptying the Fallen Angels' treasury, possibly be empty? Hahaha…"
!!!
Her laughter stopped. Eta shoved the door open and stared blankly at the empty underground space before her, then walked inside step by step.
"Where is my research funding for the next few decades?!"
She furiously swept her gaze around, trying hard to find any trace of what had happened. When she looked up at the ceiling, her neck stopped moving.
[Keep trying. Before your final chance to leave disappears… I hope you seize it.
Left by a mysterious person whose identity you may not know, but who knows who you are.]
"It's Master. Then that makes sense."
Seeing the message on the ceiling, Eta withdrew the surprise from her face and returned to her usual expressionless, silent look, nodding in understanding.
She recognized who had left that message. Although Master had not tried to hide it at all, this was unmistakably Master's handwriting.
If Master had discovered her plan and secretly acted to stop her, then there was nothing strange about it.
When opposing Shadow, no matter how flawless a plan seemed, its chance of success was less than one percent.
After all, this was Master, the one who taught her the truths and knowledge of the world, a being like the embodiment of knowledge itself!
The only thing Eta found a little puzzling was that if Master already knew about her plan, why had he not appeared to punish her?
[I owe you a favor, Eta.]
"Is that so?"
Eta rubbed her chin and sighed. Was this a reward for seeing through Master's wisdom, so he spared her this once?
Looks like I'll have to ask Master later exactly when I was exposed. But I haven't lost yet, Master!
Eta narrowed her eyes as she looked at the glass tube in her hand, where the black emotion inside had begun to pulse and strike against the tube's protective barrier.
It was a shame to lose the money she had worked so hard to earn from outside, the treasures and knowledge she had emptied from the Fallen Angels' treasury by following spatial traces, and the top-tier materials provided by the Khaos Brigade. But she did not care. At worst, she could just join another evil faction and scam them dry. What she held in her hand now was her most precious treasure!
Eta did not lose her will just because her wealth had been taken. She gave the empty basement one slightly pained look, then closed the door and ran outside without looking back.
The spatial transfer had been taken by Master. How should she leave the island now?
Take transportation? No, too slow. Since Sherry's plan had failed, Master would probably finish dealing with her in ten minutes at most.
Go straight by water, or find a way to use Gamma's channels…
"Eta, are you in such a hurry because you did something you don't want anyone to know about?"
Eta stopped her quickly moving legs and turned toward the silver-haired Elf, who had been waiting nearby for who knew how long, her face stern.
"Beta, why are you here?"
"I should be asking you that. Eta, shouldn't you be in Alexandria with Alpha-sama right now? Why are you here?!"
Beta sharply questioned the purple-haired Elf in front of her. Black slime liquid gradually covered her clothing, and a black bow and blade appeared in her hands.
"I came to report a newly developed invention to Gamma and see Master while I was at it."
"Is that so? Then what about the materials you transferred and the land usage fees Nu told me about?"
"That was research funding Gamma gave me. She even signed the funding request!"
"Do you think I'd believe your nonsense?! Shadow-sama has already pointed everything out!"
Beta's head hurt just thinking about it. She and Alexia had been drinking milk tea and reflecting on their mistakes when she suddenly received Shadow-sama's message telling her to go find Gamma, only to see Gamma unconscious in bed when she arrived.
"Explain everything now, including whatever huge mess you're trying to cause this time. For the sake of our friendship, I'll only follow Shadow-sama's order and make you drink vegetable juice for a few months. But if I have to investigate it myself, then I'll be the one deciding your punishment!"
"That sounds like surrendering directly would be better. Fine, then. I surrender. But my plan won't be easy to explain in a short time, so how about this? I'll return to Alexandria right now and write a reflection report, and I'll include everything in it."
"…Do you think I'd let you leave?! I'll put all my plans aside for now and watch you the entire time…"
"That's enough!"
Eta cut off Beta's tireless speech.
"I was wondering who Master would send to stop me. I didn't expect it to be you, Beta. Is this one of Master's rare mistakes?"
As she said that, Eta even sighed with slight disappointment. She had long guessed that Master would send someone to stop her. After all, giving her a chance did not mean he would let her go outright. At most, it was a test. Only if she won would she be allowed to leave.
"Eta, you…"
Hearing the contempt in Eta's words, Beta flew into a rage. She could not be bothered trying to persuade her to surrender anymore and moved to take Eta down. But the moment she took a single step, Beta collapsed to one knee, and the slime battle suit on her body showed signs of melting.
"That's why I said it was a rare mistake from Master. If you had gone all out from the start, I might really have been in trouble. But since you insisted on persuading me to surrender, that's unfortunate. In Master's words, villains die because they talk too much. Heh."
Speaking coldly, Eta slowly walked up to Beta. But Beta had no attention to spare for Eta at the moment. She was staring at her own body in disbelief.
"This familiar feeling… Don't tell me!"
"That's right. Demon Possession-kun No. 3.7. It should actually be No. 7, but because the experimental materials and data were severely insufficient, I had to skip 4, 5, and 6 for now and work on the contents of No. 7 instead."
"Damn it. When did you develop this?!"
Barely controlling the Magical Power raging inside her, Beta struggled to raise her head and look at Eta.
"Probably the day you returned to Shadow Garden to visit Alpha."
"That's impossible. Weren't you lying in bed asleep the entire time that day? You didn't go to the laboratory!"
"Guess why I was still lying in bed under a blanket and looking dead tired when I met you. Here's a hint. I had fainted for two days and had just woken up. But since I'm always sleeping anyway, none of you noticed."
"Wait, you mean…"
Seeing Eta's blue eyes widen, Beta thought of an absurd possibility.
"Bingo. You guessed right, Beta. That really was dangerous. Because of you, I had to choose between saving myself and hiding the truth. Fortunately, Master was on my side."
Thinking back to that day, even Eta felt her luck had been excessive.
She could not ask anyone else from Shadow Garden to help with the experiment, but she also had to test whether "Demon Possession-kun No. 3.7" would work on someone who had already been cured of Demon Possession. With no other choice, she used herself as the test subject. As a result, she fainted for two days and two nights. When she finally woke up at the last possible moment, she discovered that, aside from her head and arms, most of her body had turned into chunks of flesh.
It had truly been dangerous back then. If Beta had walked over and lifted the blanket, she would have discovered that Eta's body had already turned into chunks of flesh. If she had stayed even a little longer, Eta, who had chosen to suppress the rampaging Magical Power instead of guiding it away, would have begun showing signs of Demon Possession on her arms and head as well.
Fortunately, Master had protected her. Beta had not lost her mind and gone over to lift the blanket, and she had already left before the Demon Possession spread to Eta's arms.
"Why would you do this?!"
Beta struggled violently, trying to stand, but just keeping the Magical Power inside her under control had already consumed all her energy. This potion had directly forced her into the late stages of the condition. The only reason she had not been sent to the World Battlefield was thanks to her experience suppressing rampaging Magical Power.
"For knowledge, of course! All right, Beta. For Master's sake, I suggest you stop moving. The amount you inhaled is about the same as what I injected into myself back then, but your body is stronger than mine. If nothing unexpected happens…"
Eta deliberately dragged out her words, then took out a phone and a syringe.
"If it's you, Beta, you should wake up and regain control after about a day. But if I give you two doses, the difference between our constitutions isn't big enough to save you…"
Eta placed the phone in front of Beta, stood up, and casually walked toward the door. It was obvious now. Unless Beta wanted to be injected twice and turned straight into chunks of flesh, there was no way she could stop her.
"After everything we've been through together, Eta, how can you abandon us so easily? And after doing this, aren't you afraid of Shadow-sama's punishment?!"
Eta suddenly stopped. Her icy gaze turned toward Beta, who was sprawled on the ground.
"Beta, you seem to have misunderstood something. I'm much more merciful than Master. If we stood in Master's way, Master would cut us all down without hesitation."
"Don't slander Shadow-sama! The bond between us and Shadow-sama, Eta, don't you…"
"Ah, right, right. Then why didn't you and Alpha use that argument when Master left?"
Beta's expression froze.
"Master's feelings for us aren't fake, but is his reason fake? Master is invincible because he never hesitates."
A fierce flame burned in Eta's eyes. It was her anger toward Gamma.
"You need to understand. Master never actually wanted to stop my experiments. Whenever I asked Master for body tissue, I openly told him I was using it for experiments. The ones truly stopping me from walking my own path are you!"
Eta was an absolute genius, and she knew that very well. Forget drawing inferences from a single example. Even creating infinite possibilities would surely be easy for her. She was a genius who could change the world, a revolutionary.
But she also knew just as clearly that not only would modern society never welcome her at full power, even Shadow Garden, with its friendly atmosphere and deep bonds born from shared experiences, would not accept her. So she had gone to ask Cid.
A genius did not do unnecessary things. If Cid had rejected her, then she would not have continued, because Cid was the wisest person in Eta's understanding. If a wise man gave her an answer, there was nothing more to say. Besides, opposing God was foolish from the start. As for the answer Cid gave her in the end…
[I don't care what other people think. If you want to leave Shadow Garden, just say it. I won't force you, Eta, to play along with my childish game.]
Good, good, good. Since God had no objection, there was no problem.
"And since Master doesn't want Shadow Garden or to divide it among us, then as a founder and the chief scientist who developed more than ninety-nine percent of its products, I should at least receive one-seventh. What right do you have to reject that?!"
This was the part Eta understood the least. Among the other Seven Shadows, some wanted money, some wanted personnel, and some wanted both. Gamma gave it all to them. So why was Eta refused just because she wanted to run away? It was not as if she was the only one leaving. She had even done enough for appearances and said she was going on a business trip. Why refuse her? Just because she was dangerous?
Hilarious. Master would not stay there, and they could not even provide research funds or the slightest bit of humane concern. Why should she stay in Shadow Garden and work for Gamma?
"Phew. Sorry, I got a little worked up. I said a bit too much. Goodbye, Beta. Goodbye, Shadow Garden, the place that only knows how to exploit my wisdom."
Eta waved and was about to leave, but then she stopped. A rare smile appeared on her face.
"Mm, let's call it social observation. I'll send Shadow Garden a gift later. When the time comes, you can decide whether or not to use it."
...
"Master, what should I do if no one wants to see the evil experiments I want to perform, and I don't have the moral high ground either, so they'll beat me up for it? How can I make them support what I'm doing? I can't figure it out."
"This is the psychological health segment I'm good at. Do you want the detailed answer or the rough one?"
"The rough one. When it comes to life matters like this, saying too much only makes people overthink."
"Force your worldview onto them. Change their values into the shape you want."
"?"
"Being half a step ahead makes you a genius. Being one step ahead makes you a madman. But if that madman has the power to make everyone shut up, or enough benefits to offer, then it doesn't matter if they're a madman. Just like you. Just like all of you."
"Us?"
"Choice is a scale. Power, emotion, morality, and profit are all weights. For example, if a person fears death, it's only because there's no weight heavier than death in their heart. What you need to do is find or create a weight heavier than death."
"Even if Alpha-sama and the others think it's wrong?"
"My path is neither good nor evil. It is my path. Then why are you willing to walk with me?"
"I understand."
...
Master, my life mentor!