In the end, all of them decided to surrender and destroy their own mana circuits. Obviously, their motivation literally came from Risti and Nero threatening to kill them all, but Dia couldn’t help but feel that there was something else to it too.

  “…Is it me, or do they all look a bit too relieved?” Dia asked, watching as their targets shattered their own mana circuits.

  “We did promise to let them run free with no other strings attached,” Nero replied quietly. “Obviously they’ll be relieved, right?”

  “True, but…” Dia watched as these people made their way up. “I can’t help but think that part of this relief came from another source too. Like, you know, they might have felt something was wrong, and had been looking for a solution. And we forced one onto them.”

  “The only solution onto them,” Nero corrected. “But that might be a part of it too. There’s a spring in their step…”

  Dia watched as Risti handed out Cleanse skillstrips for them to use on the spot, which was probably doing a lot to reassure these people that they weren’t going to be backstabbed afterwards. Indeed, their gaits reminded her of the time when she saw one of her father’s subordinates handing in his resignation, before grabbing his retirement funds from the treasury…

  “Still, it has got to suck, losing their mana circuits like that,” Dia muttered.

  “Eh? I mean, they’re not that good. Bi-folders and a tri-folder.” Nero shook his head. “They have a good head on their shoulders. They must have instinctively realised that dying here is the actual problem.”

  “Yeah.” Risti walked over to them. “And they won’t turn into monsters anymore. It’s a win-win…I did hand out some graphic leaflets to them.”

  “Leaflets?” Dia turned to look at the vanishing bunch of people, and fixated her gaze on the closest person. That person was indeed staring at the leaflet in his hands, but what was most striking was his facial expression.

  “What’s exactly on these leaflets?”

  “I took the liberty to reproduce some of the sights in my memory,” Risti replied, her voice bland. “It’s nice that they appreciate what I’m doing. You can see it, by how none of them actually carry much resentment against us. In fact, some of the brighter fellows have realised that we were actually saving them from turning into that.”

  Her voice, while distorted, was by no means not muted, and the people who were leaving glanced at the leaflet again.

  “Huh.” Dia frowned. “Still, we’re not going to wipe their memory?”

  Nero raised a finger to his lips, smiled evilly at her, and then said, “No, we aren’t.”

  Given the weird disjoint between his gestures and his words, Dia could only assume that these words were for these people to hear. In fact, the way Nero had said it had all but confirmed their next move; they would make a move to erase their memories of Limbo quite soon.

  It was sneaky, but at least they weren’t dead. And as for their mana circuits, which had been destroyed…well, with enough time and resources, they could probably rebuild it, and to be honest, if Dia was given a choice between dying or walking free with no more mana circuits, she would choose the latter.

  Still, how would they deal with the fact that their mana circuits had been destroyed after Nero was done with their memories? And what was stopping them from not accessing the power of Limbo again?

  She glanced at the Holy Son of the Black God and made a mental note to press him about this little issue afterwards. This was not the right time to ask them about it, for sure, and maybe she had completely misinterpreted the whole thing, and Nero had no intention of wiping their memories…

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  Dia considered the issue for a moment, and then decided to leave it to the professionals.

  The four of them, plus a whirling scythe, hung around for a while, until Nero snapped a skillstick. Power welled out from him, and something cool fell around her.

  “Come on. Let’s leave.”

  “They won’t notice us?” Dia asked, before feeling a bit annoyed at how she was asking all the questions. Risti, clearly, had worked together with Nero a few times already, which was why she wasn’t asking. As for Kemata, the two of them were lovebirds that probably harboured no secrets from each other. All this meant that she was the only one who didn’t know much about how Nero operated, beyond the few skills he had exhibited.

  “They won’t. Don’t worry.”

  Dia made a face, but she didn’t say anything. In silence, the four of them retraced their steps and headed back out.

  “…No one’s waiting for us outside. Interesting.” Nero frowned. “I thought they would at least call the guards or make a disturbance here, but it seems that they were either intimidated or thankful to us. Hmm. Maybe we shouldn’t wipe their memories after all.”

  “Eh?” Dia tilted her head.

  “If they hold no resentment, it means that they understand our words and the danger that they had exposed themselves to,” Risti clarified. “For that reason alone, they are very unlikely to tap on the powers of Limbo again. After all, this is war. There’s a considerable chance that, if we wiped their memories, they’ll end up doing the same thing all over again. It would be better if they remembered not to do it.”

  “But if they’re in trouble…”

  “They should know that this last resort is a poisonous one. Given that, why would they ever put themselves into such a position again?” Risti asked. “Of course, if they are truly desperate, they’ll probably tap on the powers of Limbo again. However, they also know how to deal with it.”

  Dia frowned as Risti continued to explain. From the way she put it, Dia couldn’t help but think that the best way to combat the influence of Limbo was to educate people about it, rather than trying to hide its existence. After all, knowing how to deal with the aftermath after tapping on Limbo was also a valid outcome…

  She contemplated on the issue for a moment, and then decided not to ruminate too hard about it right now. Under the white moonlight, the four of them snuck back to their own tents without anyone noticing them, and without any further delay, Dia returned to her own tent.

  “I’m back,” Dia murmured. Beth, who was hugging her pillow, got up without actually waking up, and then waddled over to her leg.

  “Hmm?”

  The little bundle of warmth hugged her leg for a few seconds, before turning around and waddling back to the bed. Dia felt her eyes turn into saucers as the kid, who hadn’t woken up throughout the entire process, lay back down into the bed and hugged her bolster once more.

  Dia pushed her open jaw shut, and then blinked rapidly as her mind tried to process the incredible sight of little Beth sleepwalking, sleep-hugging and sleep-tucking herself back into bed.

  What kind of weird talent did this little fellow have?

  Rubbing her eyes a few times, Dia approached the sleeping little child, who had a happy smile on her face as she hugged the bolster. After checking that she wasn’t in the midst of a nightmare, Dia used the Refresher on herself, and then sat down on her bed.

  She was a bit tired, but the events of the past few hours were still going strong in her mind, preventing her from sleeping. For one, the entire thing had ended rather peacefully…or what she saw of it, anyway. Without a doubt, the others had spent a lot of effort to track down their targets, and then engaging in a protracted chase afterwards. Despite all that, however, the ensuing ordeal had culminated in a manner that she hadn’t thought possible...

  Was it possible for people to actually give up their own power? Dia couldn’t help but recall a conversation with Nero and Risti some time ago, when she first witnessed the first execution of an Aberration. Of course, that Aberration was too far gone, but…

  She pondered on the issue for a while. People who could turn back from this dead end required a set of particular traits, if nothing else. The first one, obviously, was a healthy dose of caution, and the second one being that of control. The people she had seen today were cautious enough to not overuse this seemingly free source of power, and they had enough control to not instinctively take it in either.

  Was it that easy?

  Or was there something else she had overlooked?

  Dia rolled around on the bed for a while, before shivering. She had, in all seriousness, contemplated ways to draw on the power of Limbo beyond what the others had taught her.

  “Why did I do that?” Dia muttered. “Why do I suddenly feel the need for more trump cards? Is it just my insecurity, or something else?”

  A distant burst of divine power, one so thick that she could feel it, drew her attention away, but from how nothing else happened, it was clear that the Moons and the Dark were simply escalating the actual battle there.

  As for them…

  Well, the lesser said about it, the better.