What is the stance of the Eminence in Shadow?
An invincible third party. A neutral force that beats both the heroes and the villains alike.
From that perspective, after understanding the full truth behind the Keystone Gate incident, Cid chose to quietly withdraw.
A situation where both sides have valid reasons simply does not suit the appearance of an Eminence in Shadow. In a scenario like that, helping either side means taking sides. And once he takes sides, the Eminence in Shadow loses his neutral position.
The role that actually suited the Eminence in Shadow best in this situation was the mastermind behind the scenes.
Unfortunately, that position was already taken. With no opportunity to step in, he could only retreat.
Fortunately, just as he was about to leave, he discovered where the mastermind was. Even better, the mastermind had arranged for the Hero to defeat the Demon King, but the Hero ended up losing. Because of that, the mastermind was preparing to personally intervene.
That instantly gave Cid an idea of how to let the Eminence in Shadow replace the mastermind.
At the exact moment the mastermind was about to kill the Demon King, he would step in and stop them, revealing himself like a spectator who had been watching the entire show unfold.
Treating a battle involving hundreds of thousands of lives as nothing more than a performance perfectly displayed the Eminence in Shadow's chaotic worldview that disregards life.
By comparing the Demon King and the Hero, he implied that he actually knew who was right and who was wrong from an objective perspective. Yet he still chose to simply watch the show, demonstrating his neutral stance.
By stopping the mastermind and placing them as another force on the battlefield, he instantly created a situation within a situation, elevating the Eminence in Shadow to the third layer of the thousand layer cake.
The mastermind arranging for the Hero to defeat the Demon King was the first layer.
Then the mastermind personally stepping onto the stage changed the situation. At that moment, he intervened and stopped them, revealing that he had been watching the mastermind's scheme as entertainment all along.
Since the mastermind stepped onto the stage, the one hidden behind the mastermind also stepped forward.
That created the second layer.
With that single move, the Eminence in Shadow was elevated to a position even higher than the mastermind. His presence and prestige soared straight to the peak.
Brilliant. As brilliant as it could possibly be.
It perfectly demonstrated the lofty position of the Eminence in Shadow as a chaotic and neutral third party.
The only regret was that the mastermind, Koyomi Shizuka, backed down and chose not to fight. Because of that, he could only give this Eminence in Shadow operation a score of seven.
Koyomi Shizuka was actually very weak. If she had fought and he instantly defeated her to show the overwhelming strength of the Eminence in Shadow, this operation could have reached eight points.
But since Koyomi Shizuka refused to act, he could not exactly force her to attack him. He had already accepted the disappointment of scoring this operation a seven.
But sometimes when luck comes, nothing can stop it.
Kojou Akatsuki suddenly losing control gave him the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the power of the Eminence in Shadow.
Not only that, Kojou Akatsuki was two entire levels above Koyomi Shizuka. He had reached SSS minus, and with those Beast Vassals, he belonged to the world's T1.25 tier.
Judging purely by performance impact, Kojou Akatsuki was even stronger than many ordinary SSS ranks.
Absolute overwhelming force.
A relaxed and effortless posture.
An oppressive presence even more villainous than an actual villain.
Three points. Add another three points!
If everything had ended there, this Eminence in Shadow operation would have scored a perfect ten.
Unfortunately, reality rarely follows the ideal script.
After defeating Kojou Akatsuki, Cid felt that something was off, so he returned to the Keystone Gate.
Luckily he did. With Yukina Himeragi's reminder, he realized exactly where the problem was.
He had forgotten about the cross necklace he was holding.
Cid swore that he was definitely not some Child of God, nor had he ever granted power to Rudolf.
But swearing would not solve the problem.
Rudolf truly intended to die together with the island. After handing the Holy Relic to someone else, he simply stayed there waiting for death.
But now that the keystone had been replaced, if he continued staying there his fate was obvious. He would be captured.
If Rudolf or Astarte were captured and subjected to interrogation and memory searches, and it was discovered that he was the Child of God Rudolf had mentioned, then he would be finished either way.
After all, he had already interfered with the mastermind's plan to send Yukina Himeragi to Kojou Akatsuki.
If people then discovered he had contact with Rudolf, would anyone believe it was just a coincidence?
Shadow needed other people's imagination.
Mob Cid did not.
To prevent that future, he rushed over and modified their memories. Because time was short, he simply erased every memory and impression related to him from both Astarte and Rudolf.
The fact that he managed to avoid having his identity exposed this time was purely luck.
If his luck had been even slightly worse, if Rudolf had not stayed there waiting to die, if he had escaped from Itogami Island, or if he had already been captured by the island guards and had his memories searched, Cid would have been finished on the spot.
So he deducted one point.
Standing at the doorway, Cid reviewed yesterday's events once more and again gave the operation a score of nine.
As for why Rudolf called him the Child of God, Cid had no idea.
He could only assume that he accidentally revealed a trace of holy power, which a hypersensitive fanatic interpreted as the sign of a Child of God.
Just to be safe, he added another layer of concealment barrier inside his body.
After glancing at the time, Cid's face suddenly fell.
"So... just how long are those two at the door planning to stay there? I'm about to be late!"
Cid was standing by the door, scoring his actions from yesterday. It was not because he had nothing better to do. It was simply because his Atomic Radar showed two female lifeforms outside his door, and he knew both of them.
"Whatever. If I don't leave now, I really will be late."
Seeing that he was right on the verge of being late, Cid gritted his teeth, pushed open the front door, and immediately dashed to the right while shouting at the top of his lungs.
"I'm gonna be late! I'm gonna be late!"
A tug came from his collar, and the urgency plastered across Cid's face instantly turned into speechless resignation.
So much for that. Sigh.
That was what he thought inwardly, but his face immediately switched to an irritated glare.
"Who is it? Don't you know I'm in a... Nee-san! Nee-san!"
The moment he saw who it was behind him, Cid's voice shot up several pitches, because the one grabbing him was none other than his older sister, Claire.
"Cid, what's with that look? Are you really that surprised to see me?"
"Of course not, Nee-san. It's just that I'm seriously about to be late right now, so I really don't have time to welcome you. Can you let me go to school first?"
"Really?"
"Really, really."
As he tried to pry Claire's hand off his collar, he threw a pleading look at Nagisa Akatsuki, who was standing nearby holding something in her hands.
"Onee-sama, I can vouch for him. Not only is Cid about to be late, I'm about to be late too."
Nagisa Akatsuki shot Cid a look that told him to relax and leave it to her.
"Uh... fine, just this once. Take this. I'll come see you at school later, so get yourself properly sorted out. I'm taking you to meet someone."
After Nagisa Akatsuki backed him up, Claire reluctantly accepted Cid's explanation. She stuffed a bag into his hands, then hurried off.
"This is... clothes? Wait, Nee-san, who are you taking me to meet...?"
When he opened the bag, he found a set of clothes inside that looked extremely expensive and carried an unmistakably aristocratic air. They might not compare to the pieces in his own collection, but they were more than enough for most social occasions in the world.
He wanted to ask Claire who she planned to introduce him to, but by the time he finished checking the contents, she was already almost out of sight.
"Uh... Nagisa, thanks."
Once Claire had gone far enough away, Cid turned and thanked Nagisa Akatsuki, both for not exposing him and for making Claire wait obediently outside instead of kicking the door open.
"No need to thank me, Cid! And I wasn't lying either. We really are about to be late."
She really had not lied. She had just left out the part where being late was not a big deal and the punishment for it was not severe.
Saikai Academy was a school founded for exchange, and its student body was a complete mix. Students could be late, skip class, or leave early for all kinds of reasons, so as long as you had a suitable excuse, the school usually would not press the issue. The only standards that truly had to be followed there were two things: strength and interpersonal relationships.
"Where's Kojou? Why isn't he here? Did he leave earlier than us?"
As they headed toward school, Cid chatted with Nagisa Akatsuki, who was skipping along beside him, trying to gather some information about Kojou Akatsuki.
After all, Kojou Akatsuki had caused quite a bit of damage last night. At the very least, the Keystone Gate had been blown apart. Once he added in all the other destruction Kojou Akatsuki had caused, just thinking about the bill made Cid's heart twitch.
"Kojou, huh? He went out last night and still hasn't come back."
Nagisa Akatsuki's expression darkened, as though she had just thought of something unpleasant.
"He had me worried all night, and then this morning he finally called to say he crashed at Motoki's place after having too much fun last night and accidentally fell asleep. Then he asked if I could help him ask for leave because he fell down by accident and is currently at the hospital getting examined in the proctology department.
"Why didn't he just fall to his death? Does he seriously think I'd believe a lie like that? What kind of fall lands you in proctology? I never thought Kojou would get involved with a man and even end up in the hospital over it. What a disaster for this family."
Watching Nagisa Akatsuki's expression grow darker and darker, Cid had a feeling she had completely gotten the wrong idea.
Still, proctology...
Cid remembered it now. Last night, after he dropped the nuke, the color of Kojou Akatsuki's pants really had gotten a little darker. And before he left, he did seem to catch a whiff of something unpleasant.
Looking at Nagisa Akatsuki, who was still muttering to herself, Cid thought about it for a moment. Since this was something he had caused, he really ought to help Kojou Akatsuki calm Nagisa Akatsuki's anger. So he put on an indignant expression as well.
"This really is Kojou's fault. Making you worry over something like this, Nagisa, that's too much. Don't worry. Once he gets back, I'll have a private talk with him."
Sorry, Kojou. This is as much as I can do for you. If I do any more, I might get burned myself.
Just as Cid was thinking that, Nagisa Akatsuki suddenly looked horrified and hurriedly blurted out,
"No, no, no, you really don't need to go that far, Cid. I don't care about this that much, and I'm not really worried either. If Kojou wants to be like that, then fine, let him. But Cid, you absolutely cannot be alone with Kojou..."
Looking at how flustered Nagisa Akatsuki was, Cid tilted his head and frowned in thought.
Had he... just solved things for Kojou Akatsuki?
Well, let's just say he had.
Kojou, I'm truly sorry for scaring you last night. Even I didn't expect that you'd still get scared even without your reason intact. If I had known, I definitely would not have used a destruction nuke to scare you.
But I already cleaned up the aftermath for you, so I don't owe you anything anymore.
And you were not really hurt, right?