1028 Chapter 1028: Another Mega Mistake


    "What… do you mean by that?"


    "Lucifer!"


    The shock on Aerith''s face was already evident fromthe way her breath juststopped there and then.But perhaps even more perturbed than her was Renna, as showing themselvestrulywas not part of the n — they were only supposed to eavesdrop. But s, the only thing she could do wapletelytake off their camouge as Lucifer removed parts of it, revealing themselves to Aerith and Arthas,


    "Lucifer, we should let them—"


    "No," Lucy did not let Renna pull him away as he approached Aerith and Arthas, "What do you mean we''re not real, Arthas''s mother? What do you mean by that?"


    "That…"Aerith lookedat Lucy and Renna back and forth, her lips seemingly trying to find words to utter, "...I meant you''re not Arthas''s real siblings, only… half."


    "Now I know where Aunt Silvie got her sense of lying from," Lucy''s eyebrows lowered as he looked Aerith in the eyes, "You''re bothextremely badat it. What do you mean we''re not real?"


    "Lucifer," Renna grabbed Lucy''s arm, "Do not talk to our aunt like that.Thisis our first time meetingher, youshould set a better first impression."


    "We didn''t meet her, dear sister," Lucy shook his head, "She was hiding from usandwe found her. Arthas, what does she mean we''re not real?"


    "I… have no idea," Arthas, who was as confused as everyone there, very slowly backed away from his mother while looking at her from head to toe, "They''re real, Mom. What are you saying?"


    Arthas then poked Lucy''s face, and Lucy just pointed at his cheek where Arthas poked him while nodding his head at Aerith.


    "Are you saying we are androids?" Lucy squinted his eyes as he looked at his hand, "I''ve already seen what my insides look like, Second Mother — it is unlike an android."


    "I… think it''s best not to talk about this anymore," Aerith just let out a small breath before her feet started to leave the ground, "You can stay here if you want, Arthas. I''lljust…please return."


    "Where do you think you are—"


    Lucy tried rushing toward Aerith to grab her, but she already disappeared into the expanse of space in less than a millisecond.


    "What… was that all about?" Lucy grabbed the dust and empty air before nkly looking at Arthas, who only just shrugged his shoulders as hetrulydid not know what was happening,


    "Why would she tell you we''re not real…? Does your mom hate us since our father impregnated another woman?"


    "...No," Arthasshook his head, "She''s never been like that with Karina. And she''s not the type to hate people."


    "Then what was that all about?" Lucy repeated his words before turning to look at Renna, "What do you think, dear sister? Why would she—" N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "This has been fun, Arthas — let us do it again sometime." And before Lucy couldevenfinish his words, Renna opened a portal beneath her feet and left the two just like that.


    "Did… she just leave us?" Arthas blinked a couple of times as he stared at the space where Renna was previously at.


    "That she did," Lucy let out a small sigh before cing his arm over Arthas''s shoulder, tiptoeing to reach him, "Anyway, shall we partake in the pleasures of the city some more, my dear brother?"


    "We''re… still hanging out?" Arthas looked at Lucy with wide eyes, "Aren''t you… curious about what Mom said?"


    "Why would I be curious about thingsthat areout of my control?" Lucy raised an eyebrow as he gently pushed Arthas away, "I would rather taste those that are within reach of my tongue, my dear brother.Come,let me introduce you to the more…dubious parts of the city."


    "Dubious… parts?"


    "Indeed, my brother. Indeed. A ce where I get to live out my fantasies of violence and romance."


    "Violence…? I don''t like that."


    "It''s just pretend —otherwiseI might gravitate to the real one andactuallystart killing people for real," Lucy let out a small chuckle as if he did not just say something morbid.


    "You have thoughts of killing people!?"Arthas''s eyesonce again widenedas he walked beside Lucy andhestarted stepping out from the alley and into the light.


    "Just thoughts — I roley to get it out of my system," Lucy shrugged, "My dear sister was the one who taught me how to repress it and turn my ugly feelings into art…


    …She introduced me to theater. That is why I talk to myself in mirrors, which I canliterallydoandmy reflection answers back, it''sso dramatic."


    "Huh…" Arthas blinked a couple of times, "...Rennareallyknows a lot of things, huh?"


    "You do not know the half of it, my ogrish brother," Lucy let out a long and harmonious hum as he patted Arthas''s back, "She was part of the theater oncetoo, you know?"


    "Oh, what happened?"


    "No idea, she lost passion for it…


    …Isuppose?"


    And while Arthas was being dragged away byLucydevil knows where, Renna emerged from the shadows of her room — well, most of her room wasshadow.


    Her room was incredibly dim, with only lines of light seeping out from thecurtains;dancing across the walls and floors as the wind from the portal escaped into her room. But as she closed it, the room became calm, incredibly so.


    And since Renna breathes in a way that no one could hear her at all, it was almost as if the room was…dead.


    "Not… real?" Renna then let out a small whisperwhichechoed through her isted and seemingly boxed room. And very soon, as shetook a step,asmallcrumpling noise could be heardrustling beneath her feet.


    She looked at the dark floor for a few seconds before light started to veil the entire room spherically, revealing it bit by bit — what was first revealed by the fading darkness, however, were pieces of paper on the floor, scattered everywhere. And soon, they crawled along the walls,and evenonto the ceilings…and even on her bed.


    Mostof themwere news of the past, cutlets, printed, and some even from books. There were red threads everywhere, almost like a web that filled half the room as it connected everything; one could barely even walk through this mess. Renna, however, couldliterallyjustphase through it as her eyes widened and widened while she approached her wallwhichwas filledwith cutlets and photos of…Riley.


    "Father, Dear Father…" Renna then sped her handstogetheras her breaths started to cause the stuffy air to visualize, "...Why did she say that? Why would she say we are not real? Are we not real to you, Father?"


    Renna then gently ced her palm on the wall, brushing her fingers along the photo of Riley''s face,


    "But we are real, wecame from you. You gave birth to us, weare real. We are."


    Renna''s facethen veryslowly started to crease as anawkward,andincredibly widesmile crawled on her face; her breathswhichwere ever silent, now almost a moan as tears began trailing from her cheeks.


    Soon, however, her eyesthenturned toward a corner of the room. Which had different photos of different people, perhaps thousands of them, and the only thing they had inmon was that Renna marked all of them with an ''X''.


    "Real…" Renna then whispered out as she nced back to her bed before just running toward it and pushing all the cutlets and papers aside until she found what she was lookingfor,a book—no, a collection of news articles bound. She then started violently turning thepages;hereyes,moving erratically along with her heavy breaths — the cutlets also had something inmon with each other…


    …they were news articles of people just disappearing out of nowhere. Not just fadingaway,but disappearing in in sight.


    "People… people disappearing," Renna whispered to herself as she continued to scan the binder, "Even in the earliest conception of New World, people were already disappearing. And it is possible it was already happening before that. The girl, AuntAerithmentioned a girl…"


    Renna then threw the binder away before running toward her desk, which was just a mountain of cutlets on top of each other.Andsoon, she found a photo thatwas neatly keptinside a frame — a photo of her mother''s variant, Lucifer''s mother.


    Katrina was with Hannah, along with some other people. Renna''s eyes, however, only reflected a single face.


    "...Paige Pearson," Rennathenstarted biting her lip before biting her nail, "Illusions… Illusions are real to her. Is she? Am I not real? Are we not real…?"


    Renna then let go of the frameas shestarted sping her head, "Am I… am I not real? Am I just…Father…please…please, please, please…please…please, don''t tell me I''m just nothing."