Nuriel silently stared at the menu before him, deciding on what to choose based on the prices. Because of that dream he insisted that the both of them should go out and eat, and now the two of them are face to face with each other.
However, he couldn't decide on a dish as his mind couldn't help but focus on the dream before. Staring at Vivienne, he didn't see anything strange about her. He remembered the first time he entered her dream to which the both of them woke up.
Back then, Vivienne was clearly haggard due to the nightmare. But today, she looked completely fine, even a bit livelier than usual as she was enjoying browsing through the various meals available.
Nuriel placed his eyes back on the menu, his gaze immediately landing on an onion-dominant meal.
"This onion frittata looks delicious, would you like that?" he asked, waiting to see what kind of reaction she made since the dream featured cutting onions.
Vivienne dropped her menu and stared back at him. The sudden eye contact caught him off guard.
There was not a single piece of evidence on her face that showed Nuriel she had a significant dream.
In fact, she completely and wholeheartedly agreed to what he said, quickly nodding her head up and down at the prospect of an onion dish.
. . .
"I'll order the same then..."
Nuriel ordered the meal, along with some drinks they selected.
While waiting, he continued analyzing what happened to him. Vivienne seemed to have no recollection of ever having the nightmare of the cooking princess. Unlike usual, he didn't see Vivienne in the dream. He also lost connection with the Scepter System and only regained control near the end of the dream.
Though he didn't ask for it, the scepter automatically disconnecting him was something to be suspicious of.
After their meals were served, Nuriel stole quick glances at the unusually happy Vivienne.
'It's like she had the best sleep of her life... could it be?'
Nuriel remembered the old days when he was developing the scepter. Back then there was a live test for the scepter to operate when a user was sleeping, and there were dangerous instances where the test subject had difficulties waking up normally, only being awakened after being forcibly shaken or splashing cold water at their faces.
This was because the connection between the person's mind and scepter was too interconnected, resulting in a spiral of losing control.
But after a year, Nuriel quickly solved the issue.
He sighed, then ate a mouthful of the dish. The splash of flavor covered his mouth as he lampooned against the Steel Witch in a mix of disappointment and the joy of the meal.
'Tsk tsk, a hundred thousand years of development, and the bug I fixed back then is now back thanks to you.'
But he couldn't dismiss the fact that his hypothesis might be right.
Nuriel, somehow or someway, became too interconnected with Vivienne's dream or nightmare and was put in place of that dream instead of Vivienne. It was evident because of the fact he couldn't access his scepter and was constantly being tossed around in different scenes, and the fact that Edward appeared, despite Vivienne having not met him before.
'Could the fact that I shot Edward have led to the tranquility of the dream being shattered?' Nuriel thought, he drilled the idea into his mind in case another such occurrence happened to him.
***
Back at the library, in the shadows under his desk, Nuriel was discreetly reading a book about deities and another book in his hand about rulers.
He kept his back straight like a wooden board, looking down occasionally to read a line before moving them back up to see if Orwell or a student was approaching him.
Nuriel continued reading.
//That certain date at midnight, the scriptures describe that the first saint met face to face with the Steel Witch. It's noted that the scriptures describe the Steel Witch comes in the form of a beautiful lady which is heavily documented by the church, and this certain date was her first appearance ever recorded!
...
//The greatest power is the ability to turn away from people, let them hang by the thread under your control, let them rely on you.
'... Do these even work in reality?' He questioned the validity and effectiveness, although he clawed himself to the top back then, he never found himself using such tactics.
It's been around almost an hour of him reading different books. He wanted to take inspiration on how to act as a deity when the time came.
A beautiful and stunning lady like the Steel Witch? That would only work on normal men and some women. Yushin didn't seem to be the type to be swayed by such emotions and Yevdokiya was either too young or too busy to even develop a care based on looks.
A monstrous being like Ouroboros? He didn't want to look unapproachable.
A god should not try to be scary, nor should they try to be beautiful.
Only their angels need to be scary to drive the evil away. Nuriel shouldn't lower himself to either of them.
'Should I look for a divine figure within the scriptures and steal their identity?' Nuriel questioned himself, but committing identity fraud against a deity didn't seem to be the right move for him.
Nuriel sighed as he bumped his head on the edge of his desk, then retreated to the back of his seat. He observed the vacant hallways of the library.
Since it was early morning, it wasn't the busy hours just yet. Prime time to slack off.
Turning around, he observed Vivienne, who also in fact, was slacking off...
'She's not even trying to hide it!' he criticized as he saw her reading a book right on top of her desk for the whole world to see.
Nuriel stared silently, as he also let the books he had hidden rest on top of his desk.
"So this is what you've been doing?"
"!!!"
Nuriel turned his gaze upwards and saw a face he recognized—Jonas Yuncandel, the one who beat up Yushin.