Chapter 92: Merely a human
Her smile dazzling under the twin moons of this world, the demigod could only stare with wide eyes as the Goddess of Time... no... it was time to end this charade.
Charlotte turned back, staring at the army retreating.
"I am not a god. I do not belong to divinity..."
Glittering blue sparks gathered at her hands, creating the construct of a handgun, draped in a blue glow.
"Merely a human."
She pulled the trigger.
A giant beam of light carved through the ranks of the army, incinerating them all with the power of sunlight condensed into a single devastating shot. They didn't even have a chance to recognize what had happened. In a blink, with a light swing, an entire army of thousands strong was wiped out.
It was a war crime no matter how one look at it.
"Let me properly introduce myself.", her azure eyes turned to Lea, who dropped to her knees in awe and disbelief, "I am Charlotte Silvi, a ruler who came from another world."
She chuckled, "But you might also know me as The Heretic."
Charlotte...
The Heretic...
The Mother of Mysticism...
That was Lady Keter's true identity.
Lea's survival instincts screamed at her. This woman— this thing— had just annihilated an army with a single shot. Had fought the entire world and survived. Had killed millions experimenting with mysticism.
And Lea had been working with her for months.
She activated Shadow Sneak immediately, becoming darkness itself, flowing away from Charlotte as fast as her exhausted Fourth Step powers could manage.
Charlotte tapped the compass at her waist once.
Azure chains erupted from nowhere, piercing through the shadow-form like hooks through water. They wrapped around Lea's essence and dragged her back, pulling her out of shadow-state with irresistible force.
Lea materialized on the ground, the chains binding her arms and legs. She struggled, but they didn't budge. Might as well have been trying to move a mountain.
"Now, now... don't run away, my dear Avenger.", Charlotte said with that same amused yet detached tone she always used, "I couldn't let you get away. It would be troublesome after all."
Lea stared up at her in horror. The pleasant smile, the casual demeanor, the entity who'd been sitting in workshops, eating cake while helping organize. All of it had been Charlotte the Heretic.
"Are you going to kill me?", Lea asked, her voice shaking despite her best efforts to stay calm.
"Kill you?", Charlotte tilted her head, "Why would I do that? You're far too interesting to kill, plus, that is counterproductive to my end goal for this world."
She conjured that chair again and sat down, crossing her legs, "No, I simply wanted to explain. Since the secret's out anyway, might as well clarify things. I'm bored, and explaining seems entertaining right now."
"Explain what?", Lea demanded with a frown, still straining against the chains, "That you lied to us? That you've been manipulating everything?!"
"Well, yes, but the details were wrong.", Charlotte smiled, "The story I told about Charlotte the Heretic was embellished. Dramatically so, my mind acted up when I was planning that narrative."
Lea blinked, not understanding her words, "Your... what?"
"Oh, right. You don't have those words here.", Charlotte waved her hand dismissively, "Basically, my brain works differently and sometimes I make decisions that seem logical to me but are completely bizarre to everyone else. Like painting myself as a spite-driven villain when the reality was more... mundane."
"More mundane than killing millions?", Lea said flatly.
"Much more.", Charlotte leaned forward enthusiastically, "See, Australia was actually the first place I spread knowledge from my world. I arrived there, got excited about the puzzle of adapting mysticism to this world's framework, and just... started teaching without testing the compatibility properly."
Her expression remained completely neutral, as if discussing a minor miscalculation.
"The people there turned themselves into Horrors, trying to use powers they didn't understand. Millions died, yes. But not because I wanted them to die. It just happened. Incompatibility between their biology and the mystical framework I was implementing.", she shrugged, "Unfortunate, but that's what experimentation is for. You test, things fail, you adjust parameters and try again."
Lea's enhanced cognition processed this with growing horror. Charlotte spoke about mass death the way someone might discuss a failed experiment, with mild disappointment at the wasted resources, nothing more.
It was like her view of this world is nothing more than how someone views animals at a zoo.
"So the experimentation..."
"Was me refining a mystical system to work with this world's inhabitants, not my forte, but I made it work.", Charlotte finished.
"Testing Honorific Titles, adjusting rituals, discovering what combinations wouldn't kill users immediately. The deaths were necessary data. You can't develop a working system without testing.", she said it matter-of-factly, without guilt or regret, "By the time I finished, mysticism was safe enough for widespread use. Problem solved."
She smiled as if expecting praise for solving such a complex puzzle.
"And the part about fighting the gods?", Lea asked weakly.
"Oh, that was completely true.", Charlotte brightened, "They got upset about me 'corrupting their world' and tried to kill me, half of them anyway, the scariest ones are quite chill. So I fought back. It was actually quite fun, back on my homeworld, Earth, killing gods is a widespread tale across multiple cultures. We have entire categories dedicated to it."
"Earth...", Lea repeated incredulously, "You named your world 'Earth'? That's such a dumb name for a planet."
Charlotte laughed, "I didn't name it, it's just what it's called, though I should use Terra instead... And yes, on Earth, we have what's called 'God Slayers', individuals and weapons specifically designed to kill divine beings."
She stood, stretching casually.
"So yes, I fought the entire world. Not because I was driven by spite, but because they were interfering with something I found interesting, and I don't tolerate interference when I'm having fun."
Lea listened, her mind racing. The Heretic's true story was somehow worse than the legend. Not because Charlotte was more evil, but because she operated on pure whim and desire.
She'd killed millions because she'd been excited about a project and hadn't bothered with proper safety protocols. She'd fought the gods because they'd annoyed her. Everything, the deaths, the chaos, the reshaping of an entire world, had been done on impulse.
Because Charlotte felt like it.
"Why tell me this?", Lea asked quietly, "Why reveal yourself now?"
"Because it was convenient, really.", Charlotte said simply, "The battle was interesting enough to warrant intervention. You were about to die, which would have been disappointing after all the effort I've put into guiding your development. And honestly?"
She smiled and leaned toward Lea, "I was getting tired of pretending. The whole 'mysterious ruler in a black and white world' act was fun for a good thousand years, but doing something for so long makes it boring. I felt like dropping the mask."
She looked down at Lea with those azure eyes that held no warmth, no malice, just... curiosity. The gaze of someone examining an interesting specimen.
Charlotte continued, "I mean no harm to this world. But I also don't particularly care about protecting it. It's not my world, these aren't my people."
"I'm a monarch, yes, but you're not my subjects.", she said it without cruelty, just stating a fact, "I intervene occasionally because I find it entertaining since my job is practically on auto mode now. But your lives, your struggles, your civilizations... They're not my concern beyond how interesting they are to observe."
Lea caught the full meaning now. No hidden depths, no secret compassion.
Charlotte genuinely didn't care. About Ryteline, about the war, about the people dying. She cared about what interested her in the moment or whatever caught her attention. Just merely chasing the thrill.
The people? Just background elements in whatever currently held her focus.
She was, paradoxically, more human than any human, acting purely on whims, emotions, and desires, without the restraints of morality or social obligation that made people people.
And that made her utterly inhuman.
"So what now?", Lea asked, "You've revealed yourself. What happens to me? To Dawn? To the other Argonauts?"
"Nothing changes~", Charlotte said pleasantly, "You continue on your paths. We maintain our arrangement, you get mystical assistance and organizational expertise, I get entertainment."
The azure chains vanished. Lea remained on the ground, not trusting herself to stand yet.
"Unless, of course, you want to refuse my aid now that you know the truth?", Charlotte's tone was genuinely curious, like asking someone's opinion on tea flavors, "I wouldn't force you to continue."
Lea sat there, weighing her options. Charlotte the Heretic, who viewed this entire world as a fun game. Someone who could annihilate armies because she felt like intervening.
The woman who'd also helped Dawn organize a church because organizing things was entertaining. Who'd created Lea's perfect weapon because the puzzle was engaging. Who'd just saved her life because it would have been disappointing otherwise.
For her revenge against Sinclair. For the power to protect the people she cared about. For the chance to reach Fifth Step and beyond.
Could she afford to refuse?
Lea took a breath, her eyes resolute, "I still want your help."
Charlotte smiled, "Wonderful, I'm glad we could maintain our professional relationship. You're one of my more interesting observation subjects."
Observation subjects.
Just things that held her attention for now.
"But I have conditions.", Lea continued, forcing strength into her voice, "You don't harm Dawn or the other Argonauts."
"I have no reason to harm them.", Charlotte said, sounding almost puzzled by the request, "They're useful and interesting."
It wasn't exactly reassuring, but it was something.
"Fine...", Lea said.
Charlotte conjured another slice of cake from nowhere and took a bite, "You know, the truth is always more shallow than the legends suggest. But also more twisted in its own right, don't you think? People expect grand evil motivations, world-ending schemes. When really it's just whims and impulses. Things that seemed interesting at the time."
She finished the cake and looked at Lea with mild curiosity.
"Any other questions? Since we're being honest now."
Lea had about a thousand questions. But one rose above the rest, the piece that still didn't fit.
"The Jester.", she said, "You mentioned them when you told us about Charlotte's story. The alien god who helped you. Who is he? What is he?"
Charlotte's expression shifted, not quite serious, but more annoyed.
"The Jester is more of a force of good than bad, actually, in a reality where most things are gray, they are the whitest of white." she said as if complaining, "We don't really mesh well... as you can see from what I told you about myself."
She could only be called batshit insane.
"Are they... dangerous?" Lea asked.
"Nope, totally harmless despite being one of the most powerful beings in the universe.", was her reply.
She waved her hand, and a portal of argent light opened. The Monochrome Library is visible beyond it.
"Get some rest, Dantes. You've had quite the day. And don't worry, I'll handle the cleanup here. Well, Mashhith would."
Then she was gone, leaving Lea alone on the empty battlefield, surrounded by the ashes of an army and the weight of terrible knowledge.
Charlotte Silvi, the Heretic. The woman from another world who acted purely on whim, who had killed millions because she'd been excited about a puzzle. Who viewed this entire world as something interesting to observe and occasionally poke at.
More human than any human. And because of that, utterly inhuman.
And Lea had just agreed to continue working with her.
I'm either the bravest person alive, or the stupidest... Lea thought.
Probably both.
She stood shakily, looking toward where Jim had taken Auger. She needed to check on her Companion. Needed to process everything that had just happened.
Needed to figure out how to explain to Dawn that their helpful divine entity was actually the most infamous figure in history.
And that she didn't care about them at all. Not really. They were just things that held her attention for now.
This is going to be a fun conversation... she thought sarcastically.
But at least Charlotte was being honest now. Brutally, terrifyingly honest.
A monarch without subjects. A human acting on pure whim. Someone from a world where killing gods was normal.
And Lea had nowhere else to turn for the power she needed.
The world is changing... Charlotte had said.
Looking at the devastation around her, Lea couldn't help but agree.
And she had a terrible feeling it was only going to get stranger from here.