In the bedroom, Freya lay across Mind Freya’s white silk-clad thighs with her eyes closed, while Mind Freya used the ability of the Heartscape on her.
Previously, Mind Freya had used this ability to witness a segment of memories she had never experienced herself—almost like an alternate parallel world. However, the time in those memories had seemed synchronized with the real world, leaving her with nothing more to see as the events caught up.
Now that some time had passed in reality, did that mean she could view a bit more of that memory?
Acting the moment the thought crossed her mind, she dove back in. In this memory, Jerome had successfully completed his advancement ritual, while Euphemia, Captain Nolan, and Miles had all perished in that catastrophe. Only ‘Freya’ and her elder sister Reina were the sole survivors.
Time flew by rapidly. Nothing particularly major occurred during this period. Day after day, ‘Freya’ and Reina went to work and clocked out as usual, doing what Special Service members were supposed to do—resolving supernatural incidents, apprehending extraordinary criminals, and the like.
The relationship between the two grew closer and closer. Before long, they even moved in together, spending the vast majority of every day together and rarely parting.
Although the ‘Freya’ in the memory lacked the simulation ability, she still possessed constant good luck. Because of this, she advanced rapidly. Yet Reina progressed even faster than her, successfully advancing to Rank Four not long after and becoming a 【Dragon Warrior】 of the Mind Pathway.
Reina became a new Special Service captain and recruited two new members. Everything seemed to be heading in a positive direction.
Until one day, when Reina and ‘Freya’ went out on patrol as usual and unexpectedly bumped into two sneaky-looking figures: David and Victor. Mind Freya suddenly realized that this had to be ‘today’—the time when David wanted to tail Cyril.
However, in this memory, ‘Freya’ had dropped out of school early to join the Special Service, so she had never joined the 【Supernatural Research Society】 and naturally didn’t know either of them.
‘Freya’ and Reina intercepted the two in their official capacity and questioned them routinely. Of course, there was nothing suspicious about either of them, but because of the time lost to the interrogation, their plan to tail Cyril inevitably ended in failure.
An ordinary person in that situation would have undoubtedly lamented their terrible luck at running into the authorities at such a moment. Victor, however, immediately realized that this was actually his luck at work.
Though the tailing operation had failed, Victor took the opportunity to get acquainted with ‘Freya’. Thanks to the strange, constant luck surrounding ‘Freya’, Victor quickly took a keen interest in her.
Because the timeline had now synchronized with the real world, Mind Freya originally assumed her viewing of the memory would end there. But in the very next second, an intuitive feeling struck her: she could keep watching.
“Click.”
Accompanied by the faint sound of turning gears, Mind Freya abruptly opened her eyes and looked toward the chest of her real-world main body. She could sense that her “system”—that peculiar brass pocket watch—was actively exerting its power.
Was this also one of the effects from the upgrade?
Mind Freya didn’t know why, but she quickly submerged herself back into the memories to continue watching. From that day on, whenever Victor had free time, he would drop by to see ‘Freya’. This behavior once made Reina suspect whether he harbored designs on ‘Freya’, souring her expression whenever she ran into the guy.
After a thorough conversation, however, ‘Freya’ understood his reasons for approaching her. Since she was equally curious about her own luck, she tacitly allowed Victor to stay in contact, treating him as a friend.
Time trickled by—one month, two months. Right around then, strange occurrences began cropping up throughout the city. Homeless vagrants started disappearing in large numbers, prompting the Special Service to launch an investigation.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed. Calculating the timeframe, Mind Freya suddenly realized: this had to be when the 【Fourth Death Crisis】 occurred.
And indeed it was. In the memory, a sinister, malevolent power began spreading wantonly across the docks. The Special Service mobilized immediately. Upon learning about it, Victor tagged along as well, eager to join the action.
In truth, he had simply come to help. After three months of spending time together, even Reina got along quite well with him. Seeing how dangerous the situation appeared, he had volunteered to come along.
Upon arriving at the scene, the members of the Special Service were greeted by a group of Holy Blessing Society cultists standing in battle formation. With nothing to discuss, combat erupted instantly.
The Holy Blessing Society fielded their Four Great Protectors—four Rank Four extraordinaries of mixed pathways. On the Special Service's side were eight squads, boasting eight Rank Four captains. However, the Holy Blessing Society possessed a vast number of underlings and had prepared well in advance, dragging the battle into a grinding stalemate where neither side held a clear advantage.
As time wore on, the Special Service gradually gained the upper hand. But right at that moment, the leader of the Holy Blessing Society unleashed the ‘Curse of Myriad Recompense’, instantly slaughtering every last cultist in the Holy Blessing Society. Because... his grand plan was on the verge of completion!
Standing atop the altar, the Holy Blessing Society's leader raised both arms high and bellowed, “Awaken, my god, and feast upon the sacrifice I offer you!”
Even more curse energy surged violently into the altar beneath him. At this moment, everyone present understood with crystal clarity that they could never allow this man to succeed. Otherwise, not only would they perish, but the entire city of Auxerre would be completely wiped out!
The members of the Special Service charged forward in a desperate, last-ditch effort. Victor gritted his teeth and declared, “No child cries every day, and no gambler loses every time!”
Victor had only encountered this mortal peril because he followed ‘Freya’ and the others, yet he didn't harbor the slightest resentment. Instead, at this critical juncture, he exhausted all of his accumulated luck in one breath, praying for a miracle to occur. In reality, back in the empire when facing the powerful Luna of the Society of Truth, Victor had performed this exact same gamble.
The difference was that in reality, a miracle truly had arrived: Luna's use of an ability caused a temporal dislocation, dragging everyone into 'ten years after the past'. In this memory, however, no miracle descended.
Victor died—just like an ordinary gambler losing everything down to his shirt after staking his entire life's savings.
After unleashing the ‘Curse of Myriad Recompense’, the leader of the Holy Blessing Society was simply too overwhelmingly powerful. Without even moving a single step, he effortlessly deflected everyone’s attacks with curse magic alone, ruthlessly cutting down members of the Special Service in return.
Seeing this, Reina ordered ‘Freya’ and the squad's two newcomers to fall back while she charged forward into battle alone—looking exactly like Nolan once had.
In this memory, ‘Freya’ was still only Rank Three of the Destiny Pathway, with virtually no direct combat strength. Helpless to change the outcome, she could only lead the newcomers away in retreat, powerlessly bearing witness to the tragedy unfolding before her eyes.
...
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