“Master Vd, do you remember what I said to you before I left with Caliburn after I woke up?” Man asked.

  Vd frowned. Usually, his demeanor eculiar mix of etricity and ulileness. Most assumed he was senile; iy, he was an expert at perf the role of the benign old man, all while plying guests with sickly sweet beverages.

  “You told me your father died,” Vd answered.

  Gasps rippled through the hall. Clearly, this news had not made its rounds, and shock paiheir faces in shades of pale.

  Burn had caught the sente the time but had tucked it away in the back of his mind for a long time. At first, it was due to a ck of curiosity; now, it felt like an unapproachable elephant in the room—one he wished Man would reveal without him asking.

  But his thoughts were yanked back to the present by Isaiah’s abrupt inquiry, “Lord Merlin has passed away?”

  Burn immediately turan. Merlin…?

  They had resumed their seats, but Burn found himself wedged between Vd and Man—much too close to her.

  “He might not die yet, but to me… to us, he’s as good as gone,” Man replied, her chill slig through the air.

  Burn couldn’t help but notice her hand ched tightly, her long nails digging into her palm, while her plexion seemed to rival that of a ghost. Ign the frowns from the table across, he focused on Man’s expression—void of emotio heavy with meaning.

  “He betrayed us. A traitor not just to us, but to this entire wretched world.”

  For millennia, Man had tirelessly endeavored to purify the other four tis, one painstaking inch at a time, borrowing God’s divine power. But let’s face it: the amount of divine energy one jure all at once has its limits, much like a poorly funded charity drive.

  It took Man and the other saints a solid tury to se the st tihis ti, the st fortress for souls not yet tainted by the Demon Lord’s influence.

  This nd was only mildly corrupt—think of it as the least-stained shirt in your closet. Imagihe moal effort required to up the rest of those tis that were absolutely drenched in corruption.

  Spoiler alert: it was like trying to scrub a grease stain from a white couch.

  Uanding the uphill battle ahead, Man decided to hoard her Infinite Soul energy like a squirrel preparing for winter and began her resear that how to purify the nd with her mana or if there was a magic she could create to help the world.

  After tless sleepless nights and a few too maage-fueled revetions, she ultimately cluded that holy energy could be kicked into high gear with a bit of magic. Who knew?

  So, armed with optimism and an overabundance of soul energy—two things even more powerful than her borrowed divine energy—she set her sights on crafting a ten-circled magic spell.

  This masterpiece would utilize all that accumuted energy she’d been stockpiling over the ages. The goal? Purify the entire world in one fell swoop. Because, obviously, what could possibly g with that kind of ambitious pn?

  She was on the brink of perfeg her magic circle design when suddenly, Merlirayed her.

  “Notig my accumuted energy over hundreds of years, he attacked me, drained my power to open a dimensional gateway, and vanished into thin air. That was three years ago,” Man cluded her story.

  The reason for her disappearance… and—“The reason for the cra the sky?” Burn suddenly asked.

  Man cast her gaze downward.

  “This world… was actually hidden from other worlds. axy’s location was so hard to detect, surrounded by thousands stars and shrouded in curtains of nebus, dark matter, and a whole host of radio-disturbing nuisances, we were practically invisible from all sides,” Man expined.

  She pressed on, “And as if that wasn’t enough, Romeuf once asked me to create a formation in the sky, something like an illusion barrier, to keep our world safe. Apparently, God told him to do it.”

  It was the first time she had created a ten-circled magic circle.

  “When Merlin opehe dimensional gateway, you likely guess what followed. The surge of magical energy he drained from me not only flung opees but also mao attract those… outsiders,” Man whispered.

  Burn’s eyes faltered.

  Man Le Fay recisely the treasure those outsiders sought. And it was she who iently ihem in.

  “Everything… be lio me and my weaknesses,” Man said as she turo Burn. “You might’ve noticed by now, but I am what they call the inal Saint.”

  Burn frowned, but there was nothing else to hide here.

  “The Elysian Kingdom has been searg for me for hundreds of years. While those boys suffer, I couldn’t reveal my identity partly because of human greed and partly because my father—no, Merlin—threateo disown me if I exhausted any more energy on ‘useless things,’” Man expined.

  She eborated that over the years, Merlin had criticized her methods of ‘fixing’ the world. Whether through her magic or her unventional approaches, her judgment regarding humans and other creatures was just, but it often required her to demonstrate excessive strength.

  Moreover, she still had to purify this world while hiding her identity. Just look at the other saints. Ohey were born and ed as the new saints, they were bound by their kingdoms and couldn’t freely go on expeditions to purify the world.

  That was how she became the Infich rather than the inal Saint.

  “I thought he was just askio remain calm-minded when solving things, but apparently, he was trying to cultivate my power over the years so he could use it himself,” Man reted.

  As she spoke, everyone wore expressions of disbelief. Merlin… that Merlin…?

  “There must be… a reason for him to suddenly…” Wekkoun softly asked, looking at everyo the table, hoping for a thought or insight.

  “I did hear from Romeuf ohat Merlin was not of this realm’s birth,” Isaiah suddenly said.

  Now, all eyes turo him.

  Isaiah shook his head and offered his specution, “Perce he didst open a gateway of dimensions to return unto his own world?”

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  Lore drop!