Niki told Lex that he will have to think about it for now, and the Gunmaster gave him the time he needed to do so. It was indeed a difficult decision to make since Niki trusted only Sergio from the three.


    Until now, he didn’t trust Yuxi at all. He knew better than letting appearances deceive him, so he was prepared for the day her act slips and he finds out her true intentions.


    She might not harm them now, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t hurt them in the future. Niki was sure that Sergio would never do such a thing, but was that the case for the archer?


    As long as Niki didn’t know the answer to that, he still wouldn’t trust her. Of course, Sergio might see him as too cynical, and the archer might hate him, but some things had to be done.


    He waited until Lex left before he went into his room in the pavilion, telling the others he was tired. Niki took off his headband after being alone at longst and making sure that he wasn’t monitored.


    His ck horns and long ears ached from being wrapped in the silk for so long. Niki even found that the fabric was a bit wet because of his sweat.


    This was a temporary solution, but not an ideal one. His headband mighte off in a fight, or he might go unconscious like earlier. At that time, others might see him, and things will never be the same.


    ‘Maybe I can find a cursed item that neveres off.’


    Niki ominously thought as he stretched. He reached out to his ears and pinched their long ends, and it felt good to move them finally.


    ‘Hm?’


    He could move them at will, unlike his previous human ears. Niki rotated his long ears, and he could see them in the mirror. It wasical but also a reminder of things never being the same.


    He raised his hand and the coin manifested: a heart and a dagger, benefit or harm.


    [Do you wish to use Wish Choice talent for 10 Fate Points?]


    ‘Yes,’ Niki answered, and instructions appeared.


    [Ask a question before flipping the coin. The result of the coin will be the answer to your question, either benefit or harm. The dagger refers to harm, while the heart refers to benefit. The cooldown of the coin is one day.]


    Niki paused as he had two questions at the moment. One of them was whether to use Lex’s art and whether to keep traveling with Sergio.


    There was a third question, though. Would Niki leave Sergio if he knew that he would harm him? He wasn’t in denial; he knew that he relied on Sergio for more than just potions.


    Sergio was the exception. Someone who passed the test Lilith ced him in, proving everything that Lilith said people were not: loyal, good, beloving, and selfless.


    The alchemist was the only time that Lilith was wrong, and Niki needed to know that she can be mistaken.


    “You are wrong. Sergio is using you too.”


    Niki’s body tensed up as Lilith’s voice whispered into his ear, and he let go of the coin. Her hand caressed his chin as she floated beside him. He knew this was only a fragment of imagination that he sealed away, but it frightened him just the same.


    “You’re a mistake. That’s why you were abandoned. That’s why no one tried to help you. No one wants to be with you. So, why are you still alive?”


    The words that she used to tell him before killing him repeated themselves in his mind, threatening to break him. Niki covered his eyes with both hands.


    ‘You are not real.’


    ‘You are not real.’


    ‘You are not real.’


    He repeated the words like a mantra, almost praying them. Lilith’s words began to fade as he repeated the mantra until they disappeared. When he opened his eyes, she was gone.


    Letting go of the breath he held, Niki’s hands fell listlessly beside him. The memories resurfaced like a demon from hell, but he bottled them down. He knew that reliving them will break him more than he already was.


    “Should I ept Lex’s offer?” Niki manifested the coin again as he asked. He flipped it, and blinding light shone from it before it stopping moving in front of him.


    ‘A heart.’


    ***


    It was the darkest hour of the night. The dwarf’s corpse was scheduled to be burned in the morning at the first sign of dawn. That was the ritual.


    However, a figure snuck into the room where the corpse was kept without anyone noticing. With trembling hands, the figure began searching the corpse.


    “Where is it? It was with him before he fell into the stream!” The figure began growing restless as it felt the darkness surround it.


    “Are you looking for this?”


    A cog appeared in front of the figure as a voice asked it. Like a crazed beast, the figure bounced toward the cog, which disappeared again.


    Spears of darkness struck the figure as someone walked out of thin air. Niki looked at the dwarf in front of him, which was dying by his attack.


    ‘This is foolish.’ Niki knew that killing the dwarf now would implicate them. The Master Dwarf knew that Niki had a ‘storage’ item.


    However, Niki could feel it: the hunger to devour. His skin was getting itchy as if it was about to peel off if he didn’t sate the curse. A void was slowly forming inside of him that couldn’t be filled with anything but a soul.


    The dwarf looked at him in fear as Niki’s teeth grew sharper and longer. He grabbed the dwarf’s head in one swift motion and snapped it to the side, breaking his neck.


    Niki opened his mouth as the corpse fell lifelessly to the ground, and he began devouring the ethereal energying out of the dwarf. Then, as the soul began to fill the void inside of him, sating the curse, Niki’s mind had a single thought.


    ‘Am I devouring souls because I sold mine?’