I Know the Secret to Surpass Level 100

"What's wrong?" Connor asked when he saw Lance panic. The man held both of his swords in his hands, looking around.

"There's something here, lurking," Lance whispered. "But I don't know what."

Out of nowhere, Hope morphed into his dragonoid form and launched himslef outside.

"There!" Lance yelled. "Follow Hope!"

Lance, Connor, and Ed all hurried to follow Hope who was chasing a cloaked figure. They don't know who the person was, but the aura was definitely familiar. They have seen and fought this person before.

"Hope, wait up!" Connor tried to scream, but his voice was ignored. Hope was too focused on the figure, all in his dragonoid form and destroying everything in his path.

"What is he doing?" Ed asked. "Lance, should I cancel his form? At this state, he will obliterate the entire area."

"No," Lance said. "Focus on Hope's eyes. He is trying to do something."

"He's ejecting aura," Connor whispered. "While in his dragonoid form too. Why is that?"

"The only thing we can do is follow them," Lance whispered. He looked back for a second and smirked. "I'm sure when Elliot comes back, he will know how to find us."

–

"Who is the owner of the third book?" Elliot asked Lady Hao. "It's not you, isn't it?"

Lady Hao sighed and chuckled. "It's not. I am here only to look out for the three books. That's also the reason why I lived this long. My life is solely to guard the records."

"But you were consumed with your own greed and decided to interfere with the war in the East," Jameson chuckled. "You wanted to resurrect the One Sun and kill him with your own hands. You disobeyed the Recordkeeper's Creed."

"Yes," Lady Hao opened her cloak and revealed that half of her torso had been slolwy vanishing into nothingness. "I am dying and I don't know for how long."

"Lady Hao..." Elliot trailed off. "You're dying?"

"I am not alive nor dead, so technically I am not dying. I am merely vanishing because my duty will soon be completed," Lady Hao said. "I wish I could tell you who the third person is, but I'm afraid telling you will only accelerate my condition."

"She is stopping the penalty of her sin by forcibly purging the magic out of her body," Jameson said. "I have seen this before, from another Recordkeeper."

Elliot knew who Jameson was talking about. The Seer who told him all the content of the book that he had been carrying, the maid. She was also like Lady Hao.

"She was a fairly young one," Lady Hao chuckled. "There are several of us, and they all would vanish before I could even reach another century. I am the oldest and therefore most powerful. I have maintained this seat and has been following the books' movements ever since."

"Yet your greed has consumed you and caused you your ultimate destruction," Jameson stood. "The Weeping Mother of the One Sun's Bride, the Supreme Recordkeeper. Your tale has been foretold."

Elliot was speechless as he watched the two. "What is going on?"

"The Recordkeepers are not allowed to tell us what the books hold if it contains the events that would happen to you," Jameson said. "My maid died because she told me the person who will kill me."

Elliot slowly trailed his fingertips on the handle of his sword. He watched as Jameson's hand slolwy lift up and point.

"You're going to kill me."

The sound of his sword returning to its scabbard echoed the silent room. Elliot froze after seeing the finger pointing at him.

"W-What?" Elliot asked, looking around to see if Jameson was pointing at someone else. "Jameson, how could I do that?"

"In the midst of a great battle, you shall unsheath your sword and pierce your blade straight through my chest," Jameson said. "My death will shock the Spice Islands and a war will break out. You shall be abducted and you shall be killed twice because once was not enough. Elliot, everything has been recorded by time."

"No," Lady Hao spoke. "Jameson, you know how the books were wrong about certain stuff."

"I know," Jameson took Katarina's dagger. He raised it up to his neck and threatened to kill himself. "But I can't take a risk. I don't know anymore."

Jameson's tears gush out of his eyes as his hand lost its grip on the dagger. "I lived my life, wanting to kill my killer before the time comes. That was why I personally went to Solaguer at the Championship of the Greats, because I wanted to kill you."

Elliot was still speechless. He didn't know what to say and his mind had trouble wrapping it around everything. It was getting hard for him that the room felt like it was dawning on him.

"All that was written in the book had been right," Jameson said. "Every event was accurate right to the single bit. Yet how were you able to defy things, Elliot?"

"What do you mean? I don't understand," Elliot croaked. "Jameson, we are friends. How could I kill you?"

"Because things should have never happened," Jameson screamed. "Azure Scorch shouldn't have won the Championship of the Greats, Christina should've been killed by the storm, and Clan shouldn't have lived again. Elliot, you defied the Books of Records."

"What did you say?" Elliot managed to speak.

"The Circus Carnival should've won. Jester was too strong of a captain," Jameson said. "Christina was killed by the storm that she created. She drowned from the overflowing waters."

Tears streamed down Elliot's face as his lips moved to speak the words. "And Clan... What happened to Clan?"

–

The cloaked figure leaped out of he edge of the city and into the forest. They were still following it without any hesitation.

"Maybe it's leading us to a trap," Connor whispered. "Lance, are you sure that this is okay?"

"Just trust Hope," Lance said.

Hope stopped when the cloaked figure stopped at the center of a clearing. The former reverted back into his human form and slolwy walked forward.

"Are you really..." Hope whispered as the figure lifted his hood off, revealing his face. "Uncle Clan!"