“Yesterday didn’t really have anything huge, but it’s something I can’t stop myself from recalling.” Claud checked his backpack one last time, before hoisting it on his back.

“Well, it’s the little things that matter most of the time,” Lily replied. “I mean, everyone forgot about Ruler Umbra and Princess Dia after a while too, right? But we definitely remember the closer, smaller things to us. Especially embarrassing ones, like when you pretend to be a princess and strut around in school with such an attitude for a year or so.”

Claud, who couldn’t quite relate to that, looked at Lily. “So, is it embarrassing when you recall that?”

“I want to dig a ho—wait, when did I say it was me?” Lily pouted, and then turned away in an exaggerated fashion.

Claud laughed. “Well, if it’s anything to you, I also had a phase like that too. Like I was one of those Named mana-folders that could defeat evil and everything. I got over it after a while, though, and to be honest? Being a tetra-folder is really, really useful for fulfilling that particular delusion.”

“Well, you did get to fulfil that delusion.” Lily lowered her voice. “O Thief of Time. It’s a cool moniker! And you’re a Named too!”

“Mhm. I did get a sense of that back then, when Tot was all the rage,” Claud replied. “It was quite dangerous, since I sometimes found myself carried away by all that reputation and everything.”

He thought about it for a while, and then frowned. The memory of the heist itself still largely eluded him — Claud knew that he had picked up Crown, but rather than remembering the events as-is, it was more of recalling history. This wasn’t the first time he had encountered such an obstacle when recalling that particular event, but…

“Claud?”

“Just thinking about the heist back then,” Claud replied.

Lily pondered for a moment, before her eyes lit up. “You’ve remembered the events of that day? Oh, okay, never mind. You haven’t. If you did, you’d try to tell me about it.”

“Got that right, at least.” Claud picked up the Second Shadow. “Should we bring this too?”

“Wasn’t its original use for us to explore Celestia without actually moving a step away from our main spot?” Lily asked. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t bring it.”

“I don’t think we should use it, though,” Claud replied, his mind churning once more. “The feeling I get when I entertain that thought isn’t all that different from the feeling I get when I think about bringing Crown to Celestia…or not. That feeling’s gone?”

Claud frowned. He thought about bringing Crown to Celestia and letting the little guy roam around openly, but this time, his instincts didn’t seem to react. Or rather, whatever governing mechanism that had been dissuading him from pulling the little fellow out back then had ceased to inform him about the dangers of doing so.

“It’s gone?” Lily asked.

“Yeah.” Claud nodded. “I’m once again bamboozled.”

He looked at Crown and Throne, who were sulking away in their little fluffy box. They had been in a bad mood ever since Claud told them that they had to stay here while they returned to Celestia, but now…

“Let’s just bring them along,” Lily uttered, her words slow and methodical. Immediately, the two little fellows snuggling up to each other perked up and turned to Lily, before hopping off the table and snuggling up to the nooks of her neck.

“Wait, stop! It’s ticklish!”

Claud laughed as the little guys romped around her shoulders for a while, and then shivered in discomfort as they turned their fluffy exteriors to him. In the end, they wasted around fifteen minutes just playing with the two fellows, and the bed was messed up once more.

“Uwah, my hard work.” Claud straightened the bed once more, and then paused. “Odd. We are returning here after we’re done, right?”

“Yeap, why?”

Claud looked at the bed, and then at the room. He moved to the window a moment later, and then took in the sight of the desolate town. As the sights changed and changed, Claud had a feeling that they might never return here again, but…

“No, nothing. Just curious.” Claud shook his head. If he didn’t get it wrong, these thoughts were just his lingering desire to just stay here and not throw himself into a dangerous place, but this was simply a balance between enduring lesser dangers now or greater dangers later. For obvious reasons, Claud wasn’t going to kick the proverbial can down the road, so the only recourse he had left was to seek out every opportunity to become stronger.

“Okay, then.” Lily patted the little silvery globe. “Then let’s head out.”

The two of them left the inn, making sure to get some extra food on their way out. Their room, however, still belonged to them; Claud had paid the innkeeper enough to cover a year’s stay. As expected, the old man was quite happy about it, but what touched him the most was the concern the old man had when he sent them off.

Hands interlinked, the two of them left the city.

“Alright, we have everything, right?” Claud patted himself, checking that the usual eighty-three barrier artefacts, twelve spatial artefacts and other lifesaving equipment were all present. Lily mimicked his actions too, and then went to check on her cooking apparatus, which was all there.

“All set!” Lily bounced once, and Throne made a little meep.

“Let’s go, then.” Claud held Lily in his arms, and then tore a skillstrip. It made more sense for him to empower Flight alone, since he had so much more mana than Lily. Before long, the two of them were zipping through the skies, ascending through the increasingly colder climate.

This time around, however, the two of them had come prepared.

A bubble of orange light wrapped around them, dispelling the bone-numbing chill that came with flying so high.

“I wonder what it’s like to fly so far that the world looks like a blue marble,” Claud said out loud.

“Probably very dangerous, right? There’s like a sea of darkness or something out there,” Lily replied. “Maybe it’s the home of the great Dark, much like the Moons!”

Claud tried to picture the whole thing. “Like three balls floating in a bath? But that makes it seem like the Moons are at a huge disadvantage, doesn’t it? I mean, the darkness is everywhere, but there’s only three Moons…”

“Well, the Moons have been on the losing side, you know,” Lily replied. “As I recall, they only have one Bearer of Destiny left.”

Claud twitched. “It’s not my fault that one of them was a murderous psychopath who wanted to turn everyone into slaves. And the other one happened to be too close to the danger I was afraid of.”

Lily chuckled. “Sure, sure. Whatever you say, darling!”

Making sure to hold her extra-close, Claud continued on towards Celestia. The fragment of another universe was constantly in motion, moving randomly in a manner that no one had managed to work out so far. However, it didn’t move particularly fast, and besides, it was quite huge.

After looking around for a while, anyone would spot it — especially if they were flying around.

“Is that it?” Lily asked. “Looks like the great Dark is trying to enter or something, though.”

Claud rubbed his eyes, and then nodded. In a vast bank of black mist, he could see a shimmering perfect sphere within, one that rejected any attempt by the black mist to even intrude inside. It didn’t quite make sense, though; the Celestia Ruins were ruins of another universe, so how did it resist the power of the great Dark, whose power was at its peak?

“How are we supposed to enter?” Claud mumbled.

“We dash inside at full speed?” Lily suggested. “While keeping up a barrier at the same time.”

“Dangerous, but that’s probably safer than trying to just fly inside normally,” Claud replied. “And I don’t want to use too many skillstrips either…there’s only so much on me right now.”

“I wish we could get more Elysia wood, but they’re running quite low recently,” Lily mumbled. “We’re running out of base material to make skillsticks!”

“Right?” Claud sighed. “We’ll need to find those trees soon. Cut down some branches…whew. Anyway, we’ll need to break through this fog, but there’s no telling what it might do to us.”

“…Your skill,” Lily replied.

“Yeah, I figured.” Claud cupped his chin, and then took out a Presence Nullification skillstrip. He had used one earlier when they took to the skies, but for some reason, he felt that using another one would be safer. “It’s a bit risky, though. I’m banking on the great Dark not paying attention to us leaving the city, and not being able to notice us through Presence Nullification.”

“Those are two rather big bets, depending on who you’re talking to.”

“Well, not much of a choice, to be honest.” Claud tightened his hug and took a deep breath. “Bear with it for a moment, won’t you?”

Lily nodded.

“Okay. Here goes.” Claud reached out for a particular skill, and his mind echoed with two words.

Absolute One.