Anger.

Pain.

Helplessness.

And the all-consuming darkness.

These four words together make up my last memory. From then on there was only silence and nothingness.

But then there was white ... white like ...

Snow. It trickled down slowly and in thick flakes on Nea. When it sat on Nea's cheek, it melted almost immediately and rolled down his face like drops of water. Like a tear.

What the…?

Nea wanted to wipe away the thin strip of water left by the snow. But as he went to raise his arm, he realized that it didn't move. His whole body felt incredibly heavy. Slight panic started to spread its roots.

With great effort, Nea managed to turn his head slightly to the right to look around. He lay in the open air surrounded by colorful tents.

This world was no longer black. The silence was swept away by the white. His senses gradually returned to Nea. There was laughter in the distance. And the numbness that had taken over his whole body turned into a piercing pain.

Here he was again laying helplessly on the ground, caught in pain.

Fresh snow crunched to his left. Someone took a deep breath. A thumping noise and white snow mingled with black soot that fell on Nea's forehead.

"Took you long enough." A deep voice. Tobacco in the air and an arrogance that could only be surpassed by God himself. Nea knew only one person to whom all this was true.

Slowly he turned his head to the left. Above him stood a man in black clothes with red hair. His right eye was covered by a white mask.

A grin spread across Nea's features. "You look just as idiotic as before. You haven't changed one bit."

Cross pulled deeply from his cigarette. Then he dropped it into the snow and stepped on it. "And whose fault is that?"

Before Nea could reply, a golden glow peeked out from behind Cross. The golem flew first one, then two circles over Nea, before he sat down carefully in Neas hair, so that he could see it just out of the corner of his eye. If he didn't know better, he would say it was crying.

"Tim", Nea said with a nostalgic undertone and couldn't help smiling.

Speaking of hair. "It's white." Nea turned his eyes to Cross. He was getting ready for the next cigarette.

"What you don't say", he commented sarcastically. "Only a few hours ago, they were more of a red-brown."

A few hours ago? So, before his awakening. In other words, the transformation of this body into one of a Noah. It sometimes happened that the hair didn't take on the dark, almost black tone of the Noah, but a white that offered a strong contrast to their ash skin color.

The pain in his arms had become a tingling sensation. Nea moved his fingers experimentally. When he was able to move them without problems, he raised his right arm to let Tim land on his hand. But when his hand entered his field of view, he stopped the movement and stared at it in shock.

His hand - it was so small. Smaller than it should have been.

"Cross," Nea whispered in a much more trembling voice than he would later admit. "Allen was the one who took my memories, right?" Cross must have noticed his panic, because his attention was no longer on the tobacco.

"I was wondering how long it will take until you finally noticed."

The memory replayed itself again and again. It was not very clear and he was already quite sleepy at the time, but he remembered the words of his old friend.

"I'll protect your memories no matter how long it takes you to wake up!"

He had promised. But that hand was too small, too young.

"This is not a just anyone's child. It is Allen. You should know how complex the magic of the soul is and how hard it is to transfer memories to another person."

Allen ...

Nea clenched his teeth and closed his eyes. "But how ...", he squeezed out. I exchanged one nightmare for another. Can it get worse?

"... did Allen make the impossible happen and become a pipsqueak?" Cross shrugged. "After we parted ways 35 years ago, I found him a few weeks ago. I don't know much about Allen's childhood, but this one had a really big mouth. Has even messed around with Mana. Oh, yes", added Cross, as if he had forgotten it and not deliberately kept it to himself until the end. "He's still looking for you, by the way."

Apparently, it could get worse.

Allen's meeting with Mana was the worst possible outcome. But since Mana was not looking over his shoulder, he assumed that his brother had no idea about Nea's whereabouts.

"Mana is no longer just an earl as the Noah patriarch. Now he hears to Lord Campbell. All prim and proper. Real biggie in noble circles."

Mana had seized the name and fortune of the Campbells. That didn't surprise Nea very much. He'd always liked to see himself as the older of the two brothers. The behavior had intensified after their awakening.

"I cannot tell if you want to make me feel better or depressed." Nea put his arm over his eyes.

Cross huffed. "As if I would ever want to cheer you up." The next pull of the cigarette and it landed in the snow just like the first one. "But we aren't really without means." He pushed his coat aside and pulled a pistol out of a holster. He turned the barrel on Nea and grinned darkly.

This aura!

"You, an exorcist?" Nea stared at him in disbelief.

"You might want to take a look at your shiny brand-new left arm."

The pain was just a dull throb. Nea slowly sat up in a sitting position and looked at the glove that covered his left hand. Unlike the rest of the body, Nea had difficulty lifting this arm, and managed to do so only with much needed willpower. As he grabbed the glove and pulled, his heart pounded.

"The reason why Mana could not feel your Dark Matter and probably also one of the ingredients for Allen's age trick."

Innocence!

Nea looked at the arm as if spellbound. "Allen had no Innocence." He turned to Cross. "And even if. After all what happened then, he would've fallen. At the latest when he promised to preserve my memories."

Cross sat next to Nea in the snow and put his chin on his hand. "Only knows that that's how it is. I suspect it has something to do with this independent Innocence."

"Apocryphos has something to do with this?"

"He was after you and Mana in those last days."

Frustrated, Nea fell backwards into the snow. "That doesn't make sense."

Cross pulled out his lighter again and started the next cigarette. Nea wrinkled his nose and looked at him in disgust. "How many do you want to smoke? If you're not careful, you'll find yourself under the earth faster than you like. And the pleasure offing you is mine."

Cross breathed extra loud and blew the smoke in Nea's face. "Cannot kill what's already dead", he replied cockily as Nea coughed and then scowled at him.

"Please, you're about as dead as I am."

"Brats should shut up. Right now, you should use your energy to concentrate so you can run straight out without tipping over. I certainly won't help you."

They sat there for a while longer.

Act 3: The Prelude! Every Beginning is Hard! Action in Martel!

Traveling by train was definitely better than traveling by boat. No swell that rocks you back and forth as if you were a plaything of fate. And Nea had enough of that for two life.

The helpful finder of this mission called himself Toma and sat in one of the small cabins of the train with Nea. Kanda said goodbye early on with the words "If you come too close ..." and pulled Mugen partly from the scabbard. Not really with those words, but the threat was clear enough.

Nea couldn't recognize Toma's age. Not even when Nea had stared at him penetratingly and Toma nervously pressed against the wall. He wore the Finder's typical long coat. Otherwise half his face was covered with bandages.

Nea looked bored out of the window. Outside he couldn't really see anything because of the darkness. Still, he stared further into the darkness and lost himself in thoughts and events of his arrival at the Order.

His arrival began with a tour of the science department. The division included much of the headquarters staff and rooms, as well as a neglected hallway, which Nea was shudderingly warned of by Lenalee even before they took one step into the laboratories.

This warning set the tone for the tour of the science department. Lenalee opened the doors and the chaos that had previously been contained in the room broke lose. People in white coats and different definitions of cleanliness ran across the huge space or barricaded themselves behind overturned tables. There were leftovers everywhere. It looked worse than after a Noah family dinner.

A robot barely taller than Lenalee threw brown-and-white things around him, pulling them out of a flap in his chest. One of his ammunitions clattered to the wall next to Nea, where it broke, sending crumbs and a kind of cream over the floor.

Are these ... cream puffs?

Now Nea could understand what the robot screamed. "Dessert! Eat dessert!" His chest was a mini oven. He turned to Lenalee and looked at her questioningly and shocked. "What the ...?" But she just stared at the floor. She also trembled all over.

What Nea initially thought was fear quickly turned out to be a boiling rage. "That's enough!", she whispered and then went to the robot with her head held high. Just before it was able to toss pastries, she activated her Innocence and sent the out-of-control scrap metal out through a window and out to sea with stormy winds. One heard a reverberating "dessert!" before it became quiet and the scientists crawled out of their hiding places.

Strong winds? Didn't I hear that somewhere before?

"Puuuhhh. Finally, that's over. I swear he plays crazy every time he works the night through." A man with sandy blond hair came towards them, rubbing his neck visibly relieved and stressed at the same time. "Thanks for the rescue, Lenalee."

"He just needs his sleep." She dropped her head in her hand, frustrated. "He has developed a real robotics trick. It's getting worse by the day."

The man nodded sympathetically. "You are the new one then, aren't you? Allen Walker, right?", he addressed Nea. Nea was still too shocked by the events, which made it one of the few speechless moments in his life. He only nodded.

And I must work for these people?

The man seemed to understand his wordlessness. "I am the department manager here. My name is Reever. Excuse the mess. My boss Komui, he is the supervisor here, thought it would be a good idea to let one of his inventions run free again. The robot was Komurin VI."

"And just like Komurin I - V, the same fate has befallen him", Lenalee finished the speech with a sadistic smile.

"Uh, yes. We will need to tidy up here for a while now. If you want, you can come back later. Then I'll introduce you to the othes."

With these words, the science department went to do cleaning work. Nea and Lenalee started out again in the corridor.

"That was pretty ...", Nea said.

"…skewed? Yes. I'd like to say that you get used to it, but brother dear always keeps coming up with something new."

They reached an open corridor from which one could look down into the entrance hall.

"All exorcists start their missions from here. For some, the Order is a home and a family. But there are some who don't come back on purpose."

The headquarter is on an island in the middle of nowhere. And the company leaves something to be desired. I begin to understand why Cross never shows up here.

"I hope the Order will become something of a home for you as well. If you need something, I'm there for you."

Whom I consider as family or as home, is my decision alone. And right now, I have enough of family talk. If I wanted to be constantly pulled back to one place, I would contact Mana.

But not to make a (further) enemy on the first day, Nea smiled brightly at Lenalee. "Then I will count on you from now on."

Lenalee looked a bit puzzled, as if she hadn't expected it, but then smiled and nodded enthusiastically. After walking through the cafeteria, various exercise rooms and a lounge plus a few other rooms, the exorcist stopped in front of a door on which stood administration.

"Wait here for a moment. I quickly ask which corridor your room is in." Then she was gone.

If Nea remembered correctly, the rooms of the science department were just around the corner. And where did the sounds come from? The whirr of a drill traversed the air along with a crazy laugh.

Nea looked at the door opposite the administration. Rhythmically green light under the door slit in the hallway. Eventually his curiosity won.

Nea quickly realized that it had been a mistake to open the door. On the other side stood an asian-looking man with dark hair and glasses. Unlike the black uniforms of the exorcists, he wore a white-colored one. He didn't seem to notice the open door.

Now Nea knew, where the noise came from. What was supposed to be a normal image of a small Innocence repair shop - as normal as a small Innocence repair shop could be - was destroyed by the crazy-laughing man who swung a drill wildly around.

Each time the drill came into contact with the Innocence sword lying on the table in front of him, the green light illuminated the workshop. What was reason for the man to laugh even louder while performing a small dance. He clearly belonged to the science department.

The boy who tried to assassinate him at the entrance leaned against one of the walls in the room, but now he approached the man furiously and grabbed him by the collar. "What's this dance?", he shouted angrily.

The other, however, seemed to be immune to Kanda's death glare and had nerves of steel, for the latter merely said, "You really should work on your aggression, Kanda."

What looked like Kanda's second attempted murder of the day was thwarted when Nea was noticed.

"Well, who do we have here?" He raised his glasses with one hand. Kanda followed his gaze. "You!", he growled with a certain hostile undertone.

Nea slammed the door shut and made an exit as fast as he could. So that was the infamous Komui. He was glad that he didn't have to endure the whims of the mad commander and his repair.

The next moment, Lenalee came around the corner again. "OK. Everything is in order. Your room is ..." She stopped in front of him and looked worriedly. "Are you alright?", she asked.

"Of course. Why?"

"Well. Your eye twitches and you look a bit distraught." She leaned forward and looked Nea deeply in the eyes. "Sure you're okay?"

Nea shook his head and waved his hands over his face. As if to get rid of the bad memory with moderate success. And to get rid of a certain privacy ignoring girl. "I'm absolutely sure." Lenalee nodded hesitantly, but didn't question Nea further.

She should keep her worries to herself.

The exorcist stopped in front of a door further down the hall, which could've been the right one three doors ago. Everything looked the same here.

"And this is your room."

Lenalee turned and looked at the other doors in the hallway. Thoughtfully, she put a finger to her lips. "I could introduce you to the other exorcists. Many are currently on missions, but I'm sure we can find a few. How about it?"

She turned back to him with a smile, just to almost get a door slam shut in the face and to a resounding "No, thanks."

Nea leaned against the door. At the same time Tim came in through the window. Nea sighed first, then smiled at Tim. "Well, Tim." He reached his hand out and Tim landed on it. "What have we just agreed to?"

Less than three hours later, he and Kanda were given their mission. And because Komui had his hands full with Kanda, no meeting with Hevlaska for Nea.

And now he was sitting here bored. The finder, Toma, had told Nea in a nutshell, the most important thing about the mission. After that, Nea quickly made it clear that he didn't want to talk.

Kanda opened the door to the cabin with a loud bang, glaring at the two of them. "Get ready. We are there."

Long story short, they jumped off the train. Was probably normal. Martel was just a ruin and didn't remind anyone of the magnificent city it once was. The peace between Kanda, who was still angry about Mugen, and Nea didn't last very long. It was embarrassing to admit, but they were surprised.

Nea felt the Akuma hit him with full force to his chest, and next he saw Martel several meters below him.

Coming down was not a problem.

"This damned Aku ...!"

Pull wood chips out of hair.

"And then this stubb ...!"

Knock dust off clothing and notice that the new uniform is in a desolate state.

"I'll never forgive those two! Both of them!"

Nea stamped angrily on the foot.

"I cannot kill the exorcist. At least not yet. But the Akuma will pay for it dearly."

Again not looking like a pile of straw and forging plans of revenge, Nea looked around the area for the first time since breaking through the roof of the old stable. According to the quiet battle noise, he had flown relatively far. More precisely, to the city wall.

The question was, what should he do now? He didn't feel like returning to Kanda. He wasn't here to waste the days with maltreating Akuma. This Akuma, however, had made the fight just a couple of minutes ago a personal act of revenge for Nea.

Thinking further about who - Kanda or the Akuma – he could stand less - it was a close race, but Nea did generally like no one that much – was ended when a shadow appeared on the wall at the corner of his eye. The figure, wrapped in a cloak, hurried along the city wall. Nea hadn't noticed it. Now and then the head turned to all sides searching.

It was looking for something. But in this old ruin? Nea hesitated for a moment, then hurried after. Whatever it was, it was a thousand times more interesting than standing around here. And then there was this familiar sense of hatred and annihilation. As he had last felt with Kanda at the exorcist headquarters.

"Oi! Wait!"

Apparently, the figure had not expected someone to run after it and certainly not call out. It stopped so abruptly and turned to see Nea come in and both fell to the ground. The hood fell down.

This porcelain skin and the golden, thick hair. And this aura, so without life. There was no living heart beating in her. The girl in front of him was a doll.

The dolls of Martel ... Mana had once given Road one of these dolls. He had previously repaired it in painstaking little work, as an exercise for the Akuma skeletons. Her joy was big. The twins knew Road for only three weeks back then. But family has always been a big part of the Noah. The doll didn't last very long, but that day marks Roads obsession with puppets.

And more important, that doll couldn't even move, let alone run. The solution was obvious.

"Innocence", Nea whispered. The doll jumped noticeably. Then she put her hands on his chest and pushed him away so hard that Nea thought he was going to take a sightseeing flight a second time today.

Both scrambled up quickly. The doll and Nea eyed each other carefully, waiting for who said something first. The tension in the air was clearly felt.

Nea tried not to seem threatening and raised his hands placatingly in front of his body. If he found the Innocence first, Nea could tell it to ponytail that he had failed.

"The dolls of Martel ...", Nea began, but he didn't get any further. Footsteps echoed from the walls of the houses and a noticeable heaviness subsided. Out of the shadows came the blue-haired exorcist Kanda.

"I see you have found the little doll."

Only that was not Kanda. Although it was sloping like Kanda, and as symmetrical as his hairstyle was, the cross of the Order was so wrongly placed. The clothes were clearly mirrored. And even if it had not been Nea was a living Akuma radar due to his Noah heritage. His brother's Dark Matter he would recognize everywhere.

Nea stood protectively in front of the doll. He certainly won't miss the chance to humiliate Kanda. With the sword of exorcism, it would be a breeze to wipe out the Akuma and get the Innocence. But he wouldn't give death to the Akum asp easily. Besides, you never know who's watching, even though Nea was pretty sure Mana had better things to do. But the main reason remained the departure Nea had made because of the Akuma.

Turned out that it didn't matter how Nea attacked, because the moment the Akuma started fighting, the real Kanda suddenly plunged like a bird of prey from above.

The tunnel was dark and cold.

Nea ran after the doll. Judging by the sounds, Kanda and the Akuma fought above Nea's head somewhere. The passage was underground and full of sand. Torches hanging here have long burned down. Only at the end of the tunnel was light burning.

An enveloped figure lay in the middle of a large circular room held by supporting pillars. The doll girl was kneeling over it. Held its hand.

"... not much longer, Lala. You have to flee." The figure, a well-aged man, coughed heavily.

"I cannot do that, Guzor."

The old man was clearly seriously ill. The doll had been taking care of him for quite some time. Even if Nea wanted to help, he was not a healer. But it was surprising that he could survive in this hostile environment for so long. Was that also the Innocence?

"It's not possible, either." Nea then realized that he was the one saying something.

Lala looked at him. "You?" She clutched Guzor protectively.

Nea went up to them. And sat down beside them, slipping his hand through the fine sand on the floor, picking it up, then letting it slowly trickle down through his fingers.

"Not just here in Martel. It happens all over the world and is steadily increasing. War, I mean. Encouraged by the Noah clan."

The old man reached out to Nea but a coughing fit came over him. Lala supported him. Her hand, which she had on his cloak, trembled. She clenched her teeth. She looked desperate for a doll.

"Were they the ones that Martel ...", Guzor didn't move on. Another cough came over him. It was obvious that his time was running fast and was already numbered.

"I am not sure about Martel, but according to what can be called my memories, the noah activities at the time were relatively high. It is quite possible that the demise of Martel is also because of them."

"Is that…so?"

"I don't understand." Lala shook her head. "What is this Noah clan? And why would they want to destroy Martel? We didn't do anything!"

"Don't be so naive!" Why did he always have to meet people who upset him? Nea pointed up to the ceiling and shouted at Lala. "You know exactly who the thing out there is hunting! You've been living with Innocence for over 500 years. I bet you heard the word Noah before. Maybe even seen it in the memories of the piece of glass that beats in your chest."

Nea was breathing hard. Otherwise it was quiet. Lala looked shocked. Nea reached out for her. His eyes reflected an icy cold. "Just give me the Innocence. The Akuma will disappear. Only then will Martel finally find peace."

The doll leaned away from him. A hand clung to her dress on her chest. She shook her head. Nea was now absolutely sure that she knew what it was all about. What it has always been about.

"I can't", she called out, looking at Guzor.

"So you want to continue as before? Run through these ruins in hope that someone happens to come by." Nea snorted derogatory. "That is, if an Akuma doesn't find you first. They will never stop chasing you."

You will never escape them.

Lala lowered her head to the ground. She gently stroked Guzor's cheek with her hand. "Lala", he said hoarsely.

"You don't understand", she whispered.

"Put an end to this!"

"I ... I have to ...", Lala turned her head to Nea. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she screamed with all her strength, "I just have to stay with him until the end and sing! I promised it!"

Now Nea was the one looking shocked, his open hand still in front of him. I will stay by your side no matter what. Had he not made a similar promise a long time ago? He put his hand on his forehead and over his eyes. No one said anything, but Lala and Guzor jumped aside as Nea suddenly started to laugh.

These feelings that crush my chest. Is that ... doubt? Do I doubt my decisions again? I'd made a decision. But if this isn't doubt, then maybe ...

Nea moved his hand away from his face. It was wet. Tears? When he turned to Lala and Guzor and opened his mouth, the cieling collapsed over them. Through the gaping hole, Kanda and the Akuma fell down. Both looked briefly at the three. The Akuma did not come to say anything negative. Kanda attacked him without ceasing and with hard blows. He felt almost sorry for the Akuma. But only almost.

While Lala tried to bring Guzor to safety, Nea watched with increasing horror as the two opponents destroyed the pillars one by one in their fight.

When the last pillar fell and the ceiling collapsed completely, everything went very fast. Kanda and the Akuma plunged into the corridor towards the exit. Lala tried desperately to pull Guzor into another side corridor, but didn't make it far. She looked up and could only watch as they would be crushed in a few seconds by a heavy fragment. All she could do was lie down over Guzor and sing.

It was almost a reflex.

Nea held out his hand to the falling debris. He felt his heart beat faster, his pulse rise. He clung tightly to the abyss of his thoughts. Then he let go and the world around him stood still. The rubble, the swirling sand ... everything just stood still. Frozen in time.

Lala raised her head. Incredulous, she looked around until her eyes stopped on him. Nea knew that his eyes now glowed like molten gold and his skin color turned to ash. He felt the Dark Matter freeze everything he wanted in the environment. For the first time in a long while Nea could breathe easier again. That was him. Surrounded by his power. And yet he wasn't.

It was a decision that could cost Nea everything.

"You are ...", he heard her say.

"Go", Nea said, pointing to the side corridor. "Disappear and enjoy the time you have left. I will tell the Order that the ghost of Martel has come to an end here. Nobody will follow you."

Lala stared at Nea for a few more seconds until she realized what he had said. Then she smiled with relief. "Thank you. Thank you." She propped Guzor on the shoulder and together they crept to their freedom. Before they finally disappeared in the darkness of the corridor, Lala's voice called back, "I will not forget that! Promised!"

Nea looked after them for a moment with a blank look. Then he dropped the debris to the ground with loud crashes around him.

As Nea learned, the Akuma had been eliminated in the corridor from Kanda shortly after the collapse of the cieling. It's quite possible that Nea's use of Dark Matter didn't even got noticed. But a good chance was not good enough. He had to be even more careful from now on.

Kanda was sitting on one of the rubbles at the exit, Mugen back in the scabbard. Toma - Nea didn't think the finder was still alive - tried to talk to Kanda very carefully about the buried Innocence. Kanda reacted as always extremely dismissive.

Nea reached them when Kanda explained how his job was to destroy the Akuma and not dig up the green piece of glass.

"Ah, Sir Exorcist. Your fine. That's wonderful. I was afraid something happened to you down there." Kanda just turned his head away from him.

Nea put on his best fake smile. "I got off lightly." Nea didn't feel like smiling at all. Actually, he didn't know what he felt like feeling. He hadn't felt so indifferent for a long time. Speaking of that ...

Before anyone could react, he grabbed Kanda by the collar. "What were you trying with the ceiling? You wanted to kill me again, didn't you?" Kanda looked at him angrily. Then he leaned his head against Nea's forehead and "tzt."

A confession of the second attempted murder!

Before Nea would really murder Kanda, Toma intervened. A fairly big risk for a finder to stand between two fighting exorcists. His luck that neither he nor Kanda had the desire for a real fight. Nea with his Dark Matter because of which he was still a bit out of breath. And Kanda looked pretty bad too.

"Sir Exorcist", Toma Nea asked. "Do you know what happened to Innocence?"

Of course, Nea knew that. After all, he had let them escape. What had gotten over him? His plan to humiliate Kanda was officially of the table. "Buried under a few tons of stone because someone had the urge to let the ceiling rain down", Nea replied sarcastically.

"At least, I don't look like a beansprout."

What!

Before Nea could begin his second try at attempted murder, Toma raised his hands reassuringly.

"We do not seem to be able to do anything here anymore. So, how about we go back, sirs?"

First the mission with the thick skull Kanda and now he should seriously go with "the order is a family" -Lenalee on a perhaps week-long mission. Nea would love to burst out the window if that didn't destroy all his plans. After all, it's not like he dies of it as his flight through the night sky over Martel had shown.

Komui was asleep when Reever took him and Lenalee to the supervisor's office. The office was circular and the wall was pretty much a huge bookshelf. The two Allens had also decided to show again. Big Allen looked at the books. He could not interact with them, but that didn't stop him from worrying about how simple these books were and where the right ones were. The small version sat on one of the chairs around Komui's desk and cut him bored grimaces, which unfortunately no one else could see.

Shortly after he and Kanda were back in HQ, Komui dragged Nea into the ... well, he would call it a basement. There he found the monster from the story of the captain. Her name was Hevlaska and she was an Innocence compatible and really old. Nea, however, was distracted a bit by her big luminous body. Did he already mention that she could use her hair (?) as hands and probes? She was also a kind of Innocence safe.

Nea was perhaps a little bit stunned when she picked him up to measure his synchro rate. Which would have been really bad, since his synchro rate exceeded that of a normal exorcist. Unwelcome attention on both sides would be the result.

It turned out he was not the only person who could see Allen. When Nea was picked up, Allen stood beside Komui and waved to Hevlaska. And she seemed to know him, too, because she answered his request to say the wrong number without asking. Nea apparently knew less about Allen than he thought.

But it did not stop her from coming around the corner with a prophecy. According to this, he was the destroyer of time, which is just absolute nonsense. Prophecies are usually self-fulfilling. If Nea wanted to know his future, he might as well go to a fortune teller at the fair. Same result. Namely, that he would not let some fate and a few words dictate anything.

After that, he was eating - Toma had joined him for some incomprehensible reason and invited other finders - before he saw Komui again. You could have emptied a bucket of water over him and he would just go back to sleep.

"Lenalee wants to marry", solved the problem. He hung onto Lenalee for two minutes and howled.

And they wonder why they have not yet defeated the count.

At last they were told what's going on. A tavern ordered the same goods over and over again for two weeks. The supplier did not come into the city. If he tried and passed the city gate, he found himself in front of the city. The assumption is close that the trigger was Innocence. He and Lenalee were supposed to look around there.

An entire city caught in an endless loop. Nea had a very queasy feeling about it. Could also be due to the upcoming cruise.

Happy New Year to you all!