“How .”

  Man flinched when she heard a familiar voice from behind her. She turo face the source, fshing a beautiful, perfect smile, greeting him, “Caliburn.”

  She was about to stand when Burn offered her a hand. She reached bad let him pull her up. “Your hair’s back to white,” Man remarked and Burn just nodded, before hearing her question, “The meeting’s done?”

  “Weird things happened, but it was…” thanks tan, kinda. In his other loops, he had never experiehe Round Table pledging their allegiao him with the Holy Grail ceremony, so it was something ued.

  “Weird things?” Man tilted her head, her curiosity piqued.

  Burn just shrugged. He guessed it was because it was the first time they saw him in that much pain. Well, it ainful, and he didn’t want to experie again if he could. But it frightehem so much they pledged allegiao him.

  “I’ll tell you about it ter,” Burn said. “Don’t try to distract me.”

  Man blinked, feigning ignorance. “Distract you? With my beauty?”

  Burn grasped her face, making her yelp. He sighed and said, “You erased that boy’s memory. I felt a trace of the same spell Vd used. That’s , but isn’t that unfair?”

  Man stopped struggling from his grasp, and he realized her atmosphere had ged pletely. He released her fad saw the look of sadness in her eyes.

  Her usual pyful demeanor vanished, repced by a somber expression that made her seem older, more weary. The smile she wore so easily was gone, and in its pce was a look of vulnerability rarely seen.

  But she was a bit surprised when Burn suddenly rubbed her lower belly. “Huh? W-why?”

  “I came inside you st night, yeah?” Burn said, and Man's eyes widened, her jaw practically hitting the ground. “Multiple times—”

  “HEY, Your Majesty! Right, right! The weather’s so nice!” she yelled in panic, her face a shade of red that could rival a tomato. She immediately pushed the chug Burn away from her disciples.

  That certainly shook her out of her plicated feelings.

  “You should delete their memory about what I said too,” Burn teased.

  “What were you thinking?!” Man yelled at him again.

  “Are you going to erase my memory about st night too, if you think it’s ?” Burn asked as he ushed out of the way.

  Man, who ushing his back away, only looking at his wide back from her perspective, couldn’t properly see what expression he made when he questio, just like how he couldn’t see what expression she made.

  But when she looked up, toward the back of his head, somehow…

  “It was the first time I came inside someone, you know,” Burn said. “And if I proposed marriage to you, would you erase that memory if you feel like you don’t want to marry me?”

  “You are…?” Man eechless.

  “Man Le Fay,” Burn called her name, “I somehow guess that you will tell me you’re a monster or something, and I shouldn’t marry someone like you, or something.”

  “You’re the unfair one,” Man said. “I told you I’m different, right? I’m an immortal being with infinite sou—”

  “I be an immortal too if I want,” Burn said, feeling the woman stop pushing him away, though she was still leaning against his back. “And I don’t need offspring if you don’t want to have kids.”

  “That’s a huge itment for someone like me,” Man fake ughed.

  “Someone like the legendary Man Le Fay?” Burn asked.

  Man leaned her forehead against his back, her entire face blushing red.

  “Or, actually you have a lover, aerday urely for healing me?” Burn feigned disappoi.

  Ma her lips lod her throat catch. She wao cry. After a solid silence, she mao say, “I don’t have a lover, aerday…”

  “Yesterday?” Burn asked, his breath catg in his throat.

  “...was amazing,” her small whisper made him smile, and a soft blush nded on his cheek.

  The weather, of course, couldn't resist being annoyingly perfect that day. The grass uheir feet was a lush green carpet, tig their ankles like nature’s attempt at a foot massage. The wind swirled around them with just the right amount of gentle force, as if it had read the script for the moment.

  Above, the sky fus endless blue expanse, dotted with fluffy clouds that looked like they’d been painted by ahusiastic artist.

  The sun beamed down, casting a golden hue over everything, making even the most ical heart sider that maybe, just maybe, the world wasn’t such a bad pce after all.

  “Yvain! No! You’re not running away!” Burn suddenly yelled—

  The boy, not too far away, sneaking away from the grassy courtyard, turo them with a pale expression. "Shucks..."

  Burn’s shout broke the seremosphere, causing a flock of birds to take flight from a nearby tree. Yvain, caught i, froze like a deer in headlights, his escape pn foiled.

  Man sighed, her earlier blush fading as she turned her attention to the hapless boy. She shot Burn’s back a knowing gnce as he left her without turning back, probably not used to the romantic atmosphere.

  The day, for all its postcard-perfect weather, was far from over.

  ***

  “They’re dead?”

  “We don’t know, sir. But it looks like they are.”

  Walls of shimmerial pulsed with the low hum of advanced maery, their surfaces adorned with crypties and holographic dispys that flickered like some avant-garde art instaltion. The air was cool and sterile, carrying the faint st of ozone, a byproduct of the ship’s myriad teological marvels.

  In the ter of this architectural woood the man in charge, a figure of authority ed in an impeccably tailored uniform that screamed ‘I’m important, and I know it.’ His brow furrowed as he stared at the underlings before him, their nervous fidgetiraying their fear of the impending tirade.

  "And the White Dwarf?" he asked, his voice a mixture of exasperation and incredulity.

  "...it's missing," one of the underlings mao squeak out, eyes darting to the floor as if hoping it might open up and swallow him whole.

  The ander sighed, a sound that echoed through the hall like the groan of an a beast. "And you just told me now?"

  The ander pihe bridge of his nose, muttering something about inpetend the ic absurdity of it all. But he khat it would be hard to report things like this uhe higher ups’ surveilnce.

  “So, let me get this straight,” he said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “You’re telling me we o deploy a p-destroying amount of energy just to take out one measly person? One. Single. Person.”

  “Sir…” the underling stammered. “But the team on the ground did mao push the White Dwarf’s potential to its limit.”

  “Oh, did they now?” The ander’s eyebrow arched in mock surprise. “And ray tell, was this 'limit' they achieved?”

  “We detected a burst of power equivalent to 3% of the on’s potential,” the underling replied, trying not to shrink uhe ander’s withering gaze.

  “Three pert,” the ander repeated, his voice heavy with disbelief. “So, you're saying our top-of-the-line, p-busting on mao cough up a whopping three pert of its potential, but was still uo kill him? Fantastic. Just fantastic.”

  “Sir, please don’t bme them too much,” a voiterjected, dripping with icy icism. From the shadows emerged a figure the same decorated uniform as the ander. He was younger, his demeanor cold and calg.

  “You were the one who agreed to their suggestion to illegally deploy the White Dwarf to the ground, after all.”

  The ander’s eyes narrowed as he turo face his terpart. “Ah, yes, thank you for your timely reminder,” he replied, his tone ced with sarcasm. “How could I fet that brilliant decision?”

  The younger officer smirked, his gaze unwavering. “Despite knowing the risk of it,” he added, his words like daggers.

  The ander sighed, the weight of the situation pressing down on him. “Yes, despite knowing the risk,” he ceded, rubbing his temples. “But how would I know a random man from a lower realm would be able to…”

  The younger officer shrugged, clearly enjoying the ander’s disfort. “Well, at least we know our on manage a whole three pert on the ground. That’s a record. Too bad the user presumed died.”

  The ander shot him a withering look. “Oh, yes, a real achievement. Let’s put that in the victory n.”

  Silence hung in the air like an unwele guest.

  “Well?” the ander prompted the younger officer, who was looking down on him with a smug smile. “Are you not going to tribute to solving this problem?”

  “Why should I?” the younger officer replied, his tone dripping with casual indifferehey wouldn’t dare use it from the ground anyway. As long as the one-ortal is intact, they ’t even scratch us.”

  The ander’s frustration alpable. “But an ior from the Alliance higher-ups is due to audit our resources soon. Rumors say one of the Ten Overlords might e personally.”

  The younger officer scoffed, his expressioraying a hint of amusement. “Isn’t that your mess to up?”

  “Hey, help me out here,” the ander insisted, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.

  The younger officer’s smile widened, but he offered no reply, leaving the ao stew in the silence of the futuristic hall, where the hum of advanced maery seemed to mock his predit.

  “Well, I guess I’ll try to help out,” the younger officer finally said, his toill ced with that infuriating nonce.

  The ander’s face brightened, hope flickering in his eyes. “Good! What are ygestions?”

  The younger officer shrugged, a smirk pying on his lips.

  “Why don’t we try and ask for it back?”

  .

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  ----------------------------------------

  I've been notig how sistency has pyed a great effey work tely, but yesterday I went down with quite a severe fever. My body is killing me, and everything's sore, so I 't update on time. Man, being a mortal sucks.

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