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TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Lino sat on the far edge of the Holy Holm, overlooking the small divide between it and the mainland . Mountains rose immediately on the shore-side on the other end, ships humming across the waters repeatedly without a stop, carrying on and off hundreds of people as it was forbidden to fly over . Sitting next to him was a young, bald girl with peculiar eyes eating a raw fish, a custom Lino found more disturbing that most other things in his life .

She ate it with strange delight and gusto, chewing right through the bones, swallowing it all freely . It was her third, Lino mused inwardly, yet she seemed incapable of stopping any time soon .

" . . . no wonder my Mark didn’t work on you," she commented after swallowing a mouthful, glancing at Lino; the latter sighed and whipped out a handkerchief, wiping the girl’s cheeks . "The Empyrean, huh? You sure don’t look the part . "

"There goes the kettle calling the pot black . . . "

" . . . but, then again, my image of the Empyrean is probably slightly distorted . "

"What’s it like?" Lino quizzed .

"A big, hairy monster with six legs, four heads, eighteen arms and a perpetually exposed penis . " the little girl replied .

" . . . yeah, slightly distorted . Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I ran away . "

"Why?"

"Because they wouldn’t let me leave . "

"Why did you want to leave?" Lino persisted, much to the little girl’s annoyance .

" . . . ugh, what’s with all these questions? What if I started asking you, huh?! What are you doing here? Why? Why again? Just damn why?! See, isn’t it super annoying?"

" . . . I’ve come to bargain . " Lino replied with a grin .

"Bargain what?"

"My skills in exchange for lots and lots of wealth . "

" . . . why do you need money?" the girl asked quizzically . "Can’t you just make what you need?"

" . . . oh, yeah, sure . In my head I just imagine the world going boom, and boom the world goes . That’s how shit works in real life . "

"What other life is there?"

"The imaginary one you’re apparently living in . "

" . . . touche . " the girl nodded, finishing the last bite of the fish . "So, will you let me go now?"

"No . "

" . . . aww man . I apologized and everything . "

"I got a hold of a Great Seer . Why in the god’s name would I let you go?"

" . . . because I’m adorable?" the little girl puffed her cheeks and smiled sweetly, crossing her arms over her chest in a feeble attempt to pronounce her non-existent breasts . She kind of looks like a potato . . . Lino kept the thought to himself, though .

"How about instead of letting you go, you come and work for me?" Lino asked, dangling fish -- literally -- in front of the girl’s beaming eyes .

" . . . y-you . . . you can’t bribe me . . . "

"You clearly don’t exactly think I’m a big, bad wolf setting himself up to swallow the world, and even if you did, you don’t seem to have a problem with it . So, why not just hop sides?"

" . . . what for?" she scoffed, finally managing to tear her gaze away from the fish and onto the water divide . "You’ll just be like them . Tell me what to do all the time, where to go, how to do it, what to say, what to think . . . I may as well just stay a beggar . "

"I’ll give you a job," Lino said, putting the fish down . "A mark -- pardon the pun . How you go about it . . . I don’t care . What you do to complete the job . . . I don’t care . What you think about the job, the world, me, or even the Mark itself . . . I don’t care . "

" . . . humph, what, you tryin’ to say there isn’t an Empyrean School of Thought all your followers have to abide by?"

"Of course there is," Lino said . "Technically, every group has its own School of Thought . But, I’d wager mine is pretty relaxed . You know, do as you will so long as you don’t betray us . And we’re good . "

" . . . I highly doubt that the world’s number one enemy is so lax about his members . Aren’t you afraid you’re gonna be betrayed all the time?"

.

"Why would anyone betray me?" Lino suddenly picked the girl and placed her on his lap as she cried out lowly . "You know, no amount of fear and terror and rules and regulation will ever create a society no one will betray . Hearts are fickle, and instead of trying to regulate them, I chose to believe them instead . I give my heart out in return for yours . "

" . . . a-a-a-are you conf-confessing your l-l-love to me?!" the girl suddenly curled up inside Lino’s lap, hiding her head away in her knees .

"I want to reign the world, Y’sha," Lino mumbled lowly . "I want to batter through everything and everyone standing in my way . And, one day, when I hoist the Crown, I want to live inside the world where young kids like you don’t have to beg on the streets for food . I want to live inside the world where young men and women aren’t forced to die bearing arms for the dreams of another . I want to live inside the world where everyone can make something of themselves, so long as they’re willing . "

" . . . "

"But, in order to get there," he said, looking up . "I have to do things that make me the same as them . I don’t mind, honestly . I’m not above it, nor am I better than it . Rather, in many ways, I prefer their ways than some condescending, holier-than-thou non-sense that never gets any results and just mockery . And, even more importantly, to get there . . . I can’t do it alone . So, I’m not asking you to be my slave . . . instead I’m asking you to be the wind in my back . "

" . . . tsk, I can’t believe you’re actually using that sly tongue of yours to charm and woo young girls," Hannah suddenly chimed in, causing Lino to sigh . "Have you no shame?"

"You were getting too emotional and decided to lash out?" Lino grinned .

" . . . humph, you already have a girlfriend and you’re flirting with me . Shameless!" the little girl tore herself away from his arms, a tinge of pain flashing through her eyes .

"Does that mean you won’t help me?" Lino asked, putting on an expression that made Hannah gag for a moment .

" . . . I-I . . . I didn’t say that . . . "

"Why don’t you go with big sister?" Lino said, smiling sheepishly . "I bet you’ll look real pretty after a good bath . "

" . . . y-yeah . . . thanks . . . "

Lino smiled apologetically at the glaring Hannah as she took Y’sha away . He remained seated, taking out a gourd of ale, slowly sipping it . While meeting a Great Seer was a happy accident, it hardly changed his plans . He already knew who he wanted her to Mark, but it would have to wait for the time being . Realizing he’d learned as much as he could about the Holy Continent here, Lino knew it was time to depart . Cross the divide and enter the land of over eleven billion souls, most of which were hellbent on finding him and killing him .

Rather than terror or even excitement, most of all he felt a strange sort of melancholy; he couldn’t quite explain it, or even understand it all that well himself, yet it was there, pressing against his heart .

Though he indeed did so in an attempt to manipulate her, he didn’t lie to Y’sha -- he wished to reign the world and re-make it, at least in small parts and pieces . However, the nagging feeling that had started festering years ago wasn’t leaving; if anything, it was growing stronger -- one that told him this was the world’s predestination, the idea that it has to be this way for it to exist . To be at perpetual war, ensconced in wanton chaos, intertwined in eternal web of conflicts .

It was almost like a whisper inside of his head, humming ’it is meant to be’ repeatedly . He still refused to believe it, though; he didn’t believe everything was determined already, and that no one could do anything to change the outcome no matter what .

" . . . if you wish to change the world," a now long-silent voice spoke out once again inside Lino’s mind, surprising him . "You need to understand all its shortcomings first . "

" . . . are you telling me to chat to that bundle of insanity again?" Lino suddenly shuddered as hollow light of terror flashed through his eyes . "’Cause, quite frankly, I’d rather just leave the world as is . "

"Lyee is a quintessential element toward increasing your strength rapidly," Ataxia said . "If you can properly embody her, you’ll easily be able to master up to eight forms of the <Sword of Chaos> rather than having barely minimal mastery in the first two . In addition, she can teach you to finally engrave the Titan Heart into your armor . "

" . . . yeah, of course, all of that sounds great . " Lino nodded . "But, on the other hand, she quite literally unloaded more words onto me in a day than I have spoken in my lifetime . Me, Ataxia . Not some random, shy lad . But a dude who makes it his business to lecture people just to watch their pained expressions at least once a day . "

" . . . you, khm . . . you just need to learn to filter her out . . . "

"Yeah, that sounded really convincing," Lino sighed . "Not yet, though . I promise I’ll talk to her once I open the smithy . "

"Have you finally decided on the city?"

"I’ll open it in the heart of the sole Empire of the continent, in Do’r city" Lino said, smiling lightly . "And bedazzle the nation like it was never bedazzled before, nor will it ever bedazzled again . . . "