Varian glanced at the injured and exhausted Isadora before shifting his focus to the black tornado.
With the devil's clone dead, the seal was being reinforced and would stay that way for another hundred years, until the next generation would come up.
At least that's how it's supposed to go.
But in the story of 'Eternal Empress', the devil would break out near the end and destroy everything.
It didn't make sense.
Hearing the information he relayed, Isadora checked the black tornado using the knowledge she gained from the princess' memories.
"I can't detect any anomaly." She gently landed on the ground but quickly lost her balance and collapsed.
Varian landed and sat beside her.
"…you could've caught me atleast." She grunted as she exhaled heavily.
"What if everything we believed is false?" Varian said with a contemplative expression. "Everything is a lie. A fabrication by someone to pursue their agenda. Our lives are all meaningless. We're going to die one day anyway. All the struggle, triumphs and failures…aren't these pointless?"
Isadora pushed herself up to sit despite her body screaming at exhaustion and fatigue. Biting her lip, she asked. "Are you seriously having an existential crisis now?"
"…" Varian didn't know how to answer.
Some entity allegedly broke into Paradise, sneaked into this particular world and bypassed the internal system to talk to him and show him some crazy vision.
Even if everything that's shown was false, what about the one who pulled it off?
'It could be the creator of Paradise.'
But his intuition said it wasn't that guy.
'A rank 2 divine ranker at least.'
And that's the best bet.
If he really had to guess the upper limit?
Who would it be?
Who…
"-ian! Varian! Varian!"
"Ah!"
As he came to his senses, he noticed Isadora's face dangerously close to his and almost jumped back.
Isadora tilted her head, her red eyes shining in confusion. "Are you okay? I sensed something…weird in our link. What happened?"
"N-Nothing. Nothing." Varian shook his head, showing a 'carefree' smile on his face.
"I'm not buying it." She said with a raised eyebrow.
"Err, Enlightement. Yes, I got an enlightment." Varian said with a proud smile.
"In seven paths?" Isadora's jaw dropped.
Varian stood up and nodded with a not-so-humble expression. "I don't want to brag but I'm really not bragging."
Isadora sensed his aura and noticing that he crossed more than half of rank 8 already, his expressions underwent drastic changes.
Surprise, confusion, disbelief and finally acceptance.
"Whatever, I just don't want to get out of this place." She stood up, dusting off her clothes.
"The ending of this world will be reached only after we solve the devil's problem." Varian said.
Indeed, however things changed at this point, the story ending—victory of the devil—seemed to be fixed.
To get out of Paradise, they'd have to achieve a different ending.
"I don't understand how he can get out." Isadora circled around the energy beam in which the devil's body was sealed and tried to figure out something.
Not a single clue was found.
"It might take a few years until the devil shows up." Varian commented.
"Years?" Isadora's eyes lit up.
"Yes?"
"I mean…we will have a lot of time to plan. And it's not certain if the devil is going to return. And even if he did, he didn't come out with his full powers at first. His powers were very restricted when he broke out, right?"
Varian shrugged. It's not like they had a choice.
'In the worst case, I'll regress and try a way out.'
In the quest so far, regression had been the best solution to all the problems. Even if the devil really returns in his full body, Varian figured he'd be able to find a solution.
But there's always one worry.
'What if…regression fails? They call him the devil but he's essentially the bad half of this world's creator, a literal half-god.'
The two returned to the kingdom and as expected, were met with a lot more fanfare than imagined.
Isadora was announced to take up the reigns soon as the Queen for her immense contributions.
The other two kingdoms noise suspicion over her survival while their heirs died but thanks to the excellent diplomacy by Varian which included some reasonable coercion, no war was sparked.
In the favorable environment, Isadora wanted to help Varian grow stronger. Varian showed no progress despite the numerous battles he went through.
They first thought it was due to the sudden progress he had in the forbidden land. But after one month, it became more than evident that something had gone very, very wrong.
Isadora panicked even more than him.
She could tolerate herself without progress for a month but Varian without jumping forward for an entire week?
That's like apocalypse!
The Paradise System confirmed their suspicions.
[<Paradise System>
Devil's Curse:
You are currently unable to gain any strength, rank up due to the curse the devil has placed on you with his great powers.
Be warned. The devil is now even more vengeful than the original and would return soon.]
This curse seemed to step from Non-Order and Non-Chaos sources. So, Varian couldn't even break the limitations using the slivers.
In the end, the strategy of the duo had to change.
"I will do my best to grow stronger."
Isadora dropped from her new position as the crown princess and dedicated every bit of time to training.
But after a full week of training, she barely progressed.
When she entered Paradise, she was already a mid rank 9 thanks to Miss Calamity's help and was able to roughly exert strength of a high rank 9 thanks to her immense experience.
The precious treasuries open to crown princess helped and she's now close to breaching into high rank 9.
But even she realized that it's going to take months at this rate and they had no idea how long they had left.
Going by the records, the devil had the strength of at least a divine ranker.
"Varian, this is the only way!"
Isadora said as she hugged him from behind once again.
"Haaa~" Varian sighed with a helpless expression and grabbed her hands.
As they interlocked their fingers, a beautiful white and black emerged, forming the symbol of yin and yang.
It worked.
Synergy was performed once every week and in just six months, Isadora reached the peak of rank 9, reclaiming her former strength.
"Did we really stay here for six months?"
One fine evening, as they basked in the rays of the setting sun, sitting in the on the lush green garden grass, Isadora muttered.
The hue of the sun shaded her beautiful silver hair orange and the cool breeze of the evening blew it gently.
Having spent six months together, there was an unmistakable shift in their bond, one even they couldn't ignore.
It was unfortunate that only 'Isadora' was allowed into this world, locking out both Sia and Enigma.
But it was Varian who minded that. Isadora didn't seem to mind this time, going as far to term it as 'well deserved vacation'.
"Yeah?" Isadora turned to the man who laid on the grass and nudged him with her elbow. "What do you have to say about that?"
"Uh?" Varian blinked, his focus returning to the present. "About what?"
Isadora grabbed his cheeks, much to his annoyance and brought his face closer. "About the fact that we spent six months here, Mister Absentmind!"
"Oh." Varian looked at the setting sun and said with a depressed expression. "I miss my wives. 6 months, 270 days, 6480 hours, 388800 minutes, 2332—"
"Stop!" Isadora looked at him with gritted teeth.
There's no mistaking it.
Varian today was very dispirited compared to his self in the forbidden grounds. It's ironic since he was fighting against the literal devil back there and now, he's fighting no one.
If someone looked at him now, they'd mistake him for living in an inhuman prison where he's forced to do tough labor everyday.
And what's up with those hollow cheeks? How the heck would a rank 8 Paragon warrior get that malnourished look?
'Is staying with me that much of torture?'
Isadora was trembling as she clenched her fists.
"Ah, I want to return home." Varian spread his arms on the grass and looked atthe sky with a despairing gaze. "Sia, Enigma, Sarah, I miss y—mff!"
Isadora punched him in the face.
