Trying to Save my Favorite Character from His Tragic Fate

Kyrie lets his vision drop to the ground as the projected figure blends into space. 

"As everyone has heard, our mission is to see what was left behind by Phanes. Plus, I need to recuperate my soul before entering the seventh gate. So, I am planning to get the soul pill."

<dok, dok, dok>

Everyone's head turns from the sound of the door with the tension clenching their hearts.

"Who is it?" Kyrie asks after modifying his voice to sound stern and cold.

A half-laughing voice seeps into the cracks, "I was wondering if my dear guests would like some appetizers since lunchtime has passed."

Laurel moves her lips with exaggeration to announce who that voice belongs to.

'The toad demon.'

Kyrie relaxes his shoulders and turns the doorknob. He swings the door open rather abruptly, so the toad demon jumps away from the door, startled.

"Prepare for us," Kyrie says nonchalantly.

"Yes! Yes…." The toad demon rubs her hands together before running away, flapping her legs on the ground like two fishes off the water.

Kyrie and Ian stay behind as the others walk down to the restaurant to reserve a table. 

Kyrie keeps his eyes lingering on the door after Laurel shuts it.

"Are you worried?" Ian asks as he slides his arm around Kyrie from behind.

"Laurel is catching up that we might be hiding something from her."

[Her gaze stayed with me longer than usual, like she was waiting for me to tell her the truth.]

Ian frowns at the memory of Imogen flying away with Yue flashes in his mind. He has never seen Imogen return to the god realm in the previous loops, so what has changed her decision?

"Do you think it is best to tell her?" 

[If she knows the past and the subsequent events, maybe she can stop feeling so lost while following me. Plus, she can loosen that knot of misunderstanding with Imogen.]

Ian stays silent because, for many rounds, Laurel couldn't take the truth easily. 

Some loops, Laurel has gone near insane from guilt when she has gotten to know the truth. While in other loops, Laurel has betrayed them for several reasons.

He still remembers the first time Laurel betrayed them but decided to die by Imogen's hands. 

The entire world blares with the heavy rain hitting the bodies littered on a ruined city. His ears would get blocked with rainwater moment to moment. However, the cry coming out of Laurel has imprinted in him so deep that it causes heartache every time he remembers.

"Don't do anything for me! Don't sacrifice for me! Don't hurt yourself for my sake! I don't want any of that! I don't want to be worth more than other people's lives!"

Laurel holds Imogen's clothes with so much rage that her arms shake as she pulls Imogen closer. Although the rain covers her tears, nothing could hide her eyes turning blood red. 

"I don't need you saving me! I don't care if I need to die! Don't spare me!"

Imogen presses harder against Laurel's wound, which makes her flinch from pain. The stab is too deep, and Laurel can no longer accept essence since she has fallen from grace. 

Her face turns pale, and her breath shakes as she exhales by force.

"Don't exchange yourself with me…. Don't look for me anymore, Imogen. It's over, Imogen. Let me go…. I… I am destined to die, so just kill me every time!"

Ian could never understand at that time why Laurel would look at Imogen with so much pain - why she would choose to betray them despite knowing what Imogen did for her. Yet, at that time, he did not know what love was. 

Love brings value to things and people, but in the end, everyone still needs to choose which to keep and which to let go of.

And Imogen has chosen Laurel over the world.

Ian wakes up from his daydream when a warm hand cups his right cheek. He sees Kyrie looking up at him while resting his head on his shoulder.

"Did I make you remember something unpleasant?"

Ian smiles slightly, holding Kyrie's waist tighter. 

"Can you promise me something?"

"Tell me."

"Please never die in front of me."

---

<God realm>

The bottom of Imogen's shoes clicks on the uneven tiles of a spacious but relatively empty room. The red ocean has covered the room, where everything seems to be tainted by blood from the red light. 

The only time she has entered this place is by accident. Still, she remembers the serene blue of the ocean before its corruption. 

Imogen feels like she has entered a place of despair. The red reminds her of the stench of rotten blood.

Imogen hears the hums of a whale echo in the distance.

"I thought I told you never to come back," Phanes turns around to face Imogen.

The little child that she once remembers has grown into an adult. Now, she is the one tilting her head up to look at the other.

"Why did you never tell me who you are?" Imogen walks closer to Phanes.

Phanes smiles slightly, "I suppose you were too young to know, my dear niece."

"Everyone thought that you died, but you were still here, haunting the mortal world. Why are you against the idea of Vita taking the throne? You ran away from it! So why did you choose to get confined rather than give the throne to her?"

"You seem to have come with a lot of questions, dear."

Phanes turn her pupils to the side of the room, where a shadow is projected to the ground.

"It seems that you did not enter alone," Phanes lets out a sigh.

"She has come to figure out the reason as well."

Phanes huffs with relief, "Maybe you realized that you have been told a lie all along, so why do you want the truth now?"

Imogen clenches her first, "Because I have let go of my longing…."

---

Kyrie and Ian walk down to the restaurant and sit at the table where the other three are. Once on the table, their right eyes twitch while their stomachs have entirely shut down.

Laurel shakily chuckles, "They said they are the restaurant's delicacy…."

On the table sits a bunch of censor-worthy dishes where some of them, Laurel swears to have seen them move. 

"Braised orc fingers, onion steamed eyeballs, deep-fried Kraken, and sweet and sour piranha."

Those dishes seem to be the outcome of a psychopath pursuing to be a Chinese cook!

[Damn these demons… They have ruined Chinese food for me….]

Federline flinches as he murmurs, "Did you see that? The tentacle just twitched!"

Ian picks up the chopsticks and picks up an orc finger. Kyrie immediately grabs his hand.

"What are you doing?"

Ian looks at Kyrie while twisting his eyebrows, "Testing for poison."

"We are not e-"

The toad demon walks closer while rubbing her hands. 

"How are our dear guests enjoying the food?"

Kyrie pushes Ian's hand down while looking back at the demon. What the hell is this timing?

Kyrie smiles while he feels his palms starting to sweat. Is his cover blown?

"Oh yes! I love the tang from the sweet and sour piranha!"

The toad demon looks at all the dishes untouched and then toward the noble demon who's covering his face with a large hood.

Laurel presses her lips while closing her eyes. This is a scene that is too awkward to bear. She is so tempted to facepalm herself 180 degrees.

Kyrie clicks his tongue. Then, he straightens his back as he takes up a napkin and tabs on his lips. 

"It was rather exquisite…. Who is the chef?"

"Our chef was an apprentice at the famous Half Moon Palace! He is very well versed in his craft."

The horse demon has been waiting for this chance for years, so he puffs his chest before walking out. He, unfortunately, hits his head on the door frame but recuperates instantly to walk to Kyrie's table from his desire to be praised. 

People have to be thick-skinned to get what they want! 

After a few exchanges, the horse demon joyfully skips back to his kitchen. 

Kyrie exhales silently. It seems like he has done his homework with all those spy movies he used to watch. See! People should watch more movies! Who knows when one needs to go undercover!

The toad demon hesitantly turns like a machine with a stuck engine. She questions herself if she is the only one feeling weird from the whole exchange. 

'Am I such a brute that I don't understand the situation?'

She walks back to the kitchen and looks at the horse swaying his butt as he prepares for dinner. The toad demon closes her eyes to avoid her cornea getting fried and clears her throat.

"Don't you think it is weird that they have not touched their dishes?"

The horse rolls his eyes, "You will not understand nobles if you have never interacted with them. They eat with their eyes and get full by the smell."

"What kind of bull are you talking about? Are you sure it's not because you suck?"

The horse demon scrunches his nose offended, "I have worked in the Half Moon Palace! Not everyone can get in!"

"Yeah, but you were in charge of throwing firewood in the kitchen!"

"But I can see what they make! I am a visual learner!!! You need to meet the qualifications before you can enter as an employee!" 

The toad demon becomes speechless. Meet what qualifications is that horse face talking about? Being able to throw firewood at a specific rate?