Thief of Time

Claud looked at the black cube thoughtfully. "Did your sister not tell you about those Distortions and what they potentially signified?"

"No, not really. I am given to understand that people who suffer from extreme mental and emotional distress usually Distort, but that's about it," Lesser Half replied. "What are you implying?"

"Hmm. Why wouldn't she tell you about the possibility of Limbo invading and whatever?"

"Limbo?"

Claud and Lily exchanged glances again, but there was no need to think too hard. All this meant that the divinity was actually unaware that there was such a thing, but why would that be the ca—

"Mutability," Lily muttered, vocalizing the word that had popped up in Claud's head. "That's why, right?"

"Yeah."

The two of them looked at the little black cube, and Claud cleared his throat. "Forget that we said that, then. We can't tell you that much, because there's a significant possibility that your sister would brutally murder us both, but it will suffice to tell you that there are monsters from outside our world that would love nothing more than to, uh…"

"Murder us and turn us into playthings?"

"Yeah, something like that." Claud bobbed his head. "We aren't too sure. And those things turn people into monsters, see? Your sister might be attempting to slow their infiltration of our world by doing what she's doing now. The only question, thus, is why you don't seem to know anything related to that at all."

"There's such a thing…" The black cube bobbed up and down, troubled, and the little meeplings piled on top of Lesser Half again, in what seemed like a bid to comfort the sad divinity.

"Yeah. But don't dwell on it too much." Lily shook her head.

"The desire to do so continues to bloom in me, but the sapling of desire is constantly muffled and squashed under three little adorable shapes that are somehow sapping my desire to feel sad." The black cube tilted to the side, and the little fellows slid off. "They are very, very adorable."

"Meep!"

"Yeah." Claud smiled. "They are."

The little guys continued to pile onto Lesser Half with a tenacity that Claud only expected from stalwart fanatics in Schwarz's bar who refused to fall until their bottle was emptied. It was amazing, the way the little fellows cheered up the black cube, and after a while, the faint air of gloom that had shrouded Lesser Half vanished entirely.

The meeplings cheered in the way only they could, whirling around the black cube happily, and then returned to Lily's hair to nestle. Lesser Half, who was giving off the various signs of someone struck speechless, shook himself and then returned back to the living room.

"So, what's next?" Claud asked.

"I can't get you guys to speak about the things my sister has withheld from me," Lesser Half began, "so we'll leave it at that. You're right. You guys would probably die a sad death if I learned the things that she has been hiding from me. That is not a fate I would wish on you two at all, so be at ease. I will not press you for answers to questions I shouldn't be allowed to learn."

"You're surprisingly obedient in this regard," Lily noted.

"My sister has my well-being in her considerations, and from what I've heard just now, regarding that little conversation, I have already drawn a few dots here and there. She probably does not want me to turn into something horrifying. I will not infringe upon insanity, given that."

Lesser Half let out a sigh. "I only wish she'd told me. Anyhow, this changes nothing, although Tot is unlikely to show up for now. He may strike while my sister is channeling power, but the chance of such a shrewd being doing so, given the present circumstances, is…low."

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"A break?"

"Until she is done with this, I suppose." Lesser Half shook himself. "Right, I might as well carry out my promise."

Shadows writhed for a moment, before a pillar of green light appeared around Claud and Lily.

"You two don't need me to teach you how to overcome a failed Third Tutorial," said Lesser Half, "but you two will definitely need those resources, yes? This is a small part of my treasury. Feel free to use them. It would be good if you two became a nona-folder as soon as possible, for it will definitely help in capturing Tot."

Claud picked up the nearest pure-ranked lifestone with some mixed feelings. It was nice that they had a hoard of green gems now, even if he didn't need them. However, the main cause of his turmoil was that Lesser Half was directly strengthening the person that he wanted to capture, but said person had no intention of slaying more gods to begin with…

The entire thing was quite messy, really.

"Thanks." Claud paused. "Lily?"

"Yes, I know. You're going to be feeding me again."

"You're not using them?" Lesser Half asked.

"I collected enough lifestones to deal with my current problem," Claud replied. "Ten times the actual amount, yes? That would have been impossible for most people, but I think I'm beyond that label sometimes."

"Indeed. The two of you are the strongest amongst the current generation of folders," Lesser Half replied. "It is natural…but a reward is still a reward. I am interested in the source of your answer, though. How did you know that you'll need ten times the lifeforce to refill your strained body?"

Claud smiled. "I asked a god, naturally."

"I see."

Claud wasn't going to mention the fact that he had asked the Hollow God, one of his various iterations in the wake of a disaster. That said, he had done phenomenally well in navigating fate and destiny thus far; he had secured the cooperation of the Black God, and his identity was still well under wraps.

Lesser Half didn't press the topic either, and instead chose to say, "You do know that your next failure will require 70000 years of lifespan, yes?"

Claud blinked. "That's…"

"A lot, to say the least." Lesser Half whirled around once. "I don't think you have that much lifespan, so do not fail the second time."

"Got it." Claud paused. "Thanks."

It was still an amount he could pay off, but Claud was worried about the Last Tutorial. The Hollow God had talked about it a few times, with the casual way in which he mentioned it implying that Claud would have no issue getting past the Last Tutorial, but he had a feeling that things weren't going to be this easy.

In the various iterations of the past, Lily's passing seemed quite linked to the various tutorials. In line with this observable pattern, Claud was certain that his latest iteration definitely did something during the Last Tutorial to prevent another repeat of this seemingly endless tragedy.

The price to be paid, if Claud didn't guess it wrongly, was lifespan.

"Well, I'm not that worried about you two. You two are very cautious," Lesser Half replied. "Anyway, I…should return to my spiritual structure. My apologies for this ruckus."

The black cube floated away, and the meeplings nestling in Lily's hair meeped away in farewell. Lesser Half quivered once and nearly fell from the sky, forcing Claud to keep his face straight in order not to embarrass the divinity.

Lily swallowed multiple times, her face hiding hints of a smile, and then squatted down in the pile of lifestones for a while.

"He's adorable in his own way," Claud muttered. "Little wonder why the meeplings love him too."

"Right? He's like a kid in some respects," Lily replied. "Anyway, we have a lot of lifestones here. What should we do with them?"

"You use it, naturally."

Lily made a sad face.

"Oh, come on. You've already gotten used to eating them, so it's no big deal," Claud replied. "Shouldn't you be happy?"

"Last I checked, the last time you actually ate a lifestone was like years ago. In fact, I don't think you ate one ever since you got little old Crown here," Lily replied.

"Meep?"

"You're awesome, yes." Lily patted the box and the other shapes nestling on her head. "Anyway, you don't know my pain, so stop rubbing it in."

She took a deep breath. "Damn it!"

"There, there…I'll feed you, if it helps." Claud looked at the mound of lifestones. "Mhm. I wish I had this a lot earlier, though. Preferably when I was a child or something."

Lily held his hand. "I wish that too. I could have met your mother."

"Yeah. She would definitely love you too, you know." Claud forced himself to grin. "So many lifestones. And to think that we were, up until recently, struggling to get a good amount of them."

Claud let out a sigh. "Anyway, go and gobble all this down. After that, you should go ahead and enter the Third Tutorial. I'll be protecting you, so don't worry about it."

"What about Lesser Half?" Lily asked.

"I feel that the chances of Tot showing up is…very low," Claud replied, making a knowing smile at Lily. "Don't worry about that front, alright?"

"O-okay…"