"Do you not know who your birth parents are?"
Navia nodded blankly with vacant eyes.
Lark furrowed his brow and rubbed his eyes.
"Listen carefully to what I'm about to say."
He began explaining to Navia that this ability was the power of an external deity.
He also mentioned that to have such an ability, one must become an avatar, and that there cannot be two avatars at the same time.
Suddenly, Navia rolled up her sleeve.
"I don't undergo infinite regressions."
"…What?"
Navia pointed to the spot where the black crescent moon was.
"I had a regression number written here. When my second life began after my first death, there was a number 7 written on the inside of my wrist."
At first, she didn't understand what the number meant. She thought it was a scribble and tried to scrub it off.
But she never found out what it was, and Navia, thankfully, lived her second life.
And then she died again.
"When I opened my eyes, I was eight years old again, and the number had decreased to 6."
"Wait, you started from eight years old?"
"Yes."
Lark's head spun with confusion.
"Regression starts from the moment of birth, not at eight years old."
Moreover, the idea of a limit on the number of regressions was unheard of.
"…But I've always started at eight years old up to now. This regression was the same."
"What was the date?"
"October 30th, early morning. That's when it was."
Lark fell silent for a moment.
October 30th, early morning. And starting at eight years old...
"That's the same as me."
October 30th. That was the day Lark set to regress.
'Why is this child regressing on the same day as me and starting at eight years old?'
Even though it was clear they were both regressors, there were still many secrets shrouded in mystery.
Navia exposed her white wrist, showing it clearly.
"There's a black crescent moon here now, can you see it?"
Lark moved closer to Navia and knelt down on one knee.
He then closely examined the wrist she pointed to.
"There's nothing there."
Navia felt a bit disappointed that he couldn't see the black crescent moon.
"So far, it seems that only I can see the regression number and the black crescent moon."
Navia explained the power of the black crescent moon, and Lark nodded, as his previous doubts were cleared up.
"So that's the power, I felt Margaret's magic that time. And with that Wood or whatever his name was too."
Navia tilted her head slightly.
"Wood?"
Lark mumbled awkwardly.
"It's nothing."
But Navia was not one to let things slide.
'I remember something similar happened before. …The travel bag.'
She had felt like someone was nearby and heard a bumping sound.
She thought it was just her being sensitive due to her poor condition, but could it have been related to Lark?
'Ah, that's right. Mr. Spencer too.'
Navia's eyes widened.
"Were you by my side all along that day?"
"No, I wasn't!" Lark quickly refuted.
Navia slightly dropped her eyebrows.
Her large eyes were brimming with sadness.
"I came prepared to face death to reveal that I'm a regressor. Though you found out first..."
Lark held his forehead.
Realizing he could never win against this child as long as he allowed her to think, and no longer feeling annoyed, he acknowledged her insight.
"…Yeah. Your guess is right, so stop pretending to be pitiful."
Hearing that, Navia replied with a normal expression.
"It wasn't entirely an act."
Her readiness to face death was somewhat genuine.
'What a cunning child.'
As he grumbled internally, Navia smiled brightly.
"So you were protecting me."
Lark couldn't deny it, but feeling too embarrassed to affirm, he chose to remain silent.
'No, better to change the subject.'
"We need to find your birth parents. There might be a clue there."
Navia spoke in a soft voice, as if sighing.
"No matter how hard I tried to find it, it was nowhere to be found. The only clue was a name card that read 'Navia', but even that must have been thrown away by the orphanage by now."
"But we still have to look for it."
Lark ruffled Navia's hair, then returned to his bed and sat down heavily.
"So, what is the future you've experienced?"
Navia explained to him what had happened until she was twenty-two years old.
Originally, Navia was supposed to die at around nine years old. After all, Lark only had one year left to live.
But understanding dawned on him when she mentioned this was her ninth encounter with Creed.
'Every time that guy comes, he extends my life by 15 years.'
The reason he made that choice each time was obvious. It allowed him to wait for Camilla longer.
Navia asked, "I'm not sure if I'm an incarnation of an external deity. If what you say is true, Duke, then there can't be two incarnations. So, what should we do now?"
Navia even wondered if her existence was causing Lark pain.
Lark, as if piercing through her thoughts, replied nonchalantly, "Worry about yourself, not me. If we really are incarnations of the same deity, you are in danger. My condition has always been like this."
Lark gazed at Navia's wrist.
A black crescent moon there?
'A black crescent moon... I wonder what power it holds.'
It seemed he would have to dig through the research lab again.
"I'll have to find out what this black moon ability is."
"I'll help with anything I can."
"Help by eating well and sleeping well, kid."
Lark reached out to ruffle her hair again.
Crack!
Lark's eyes widened in shock at the fissure that ran along his arm and hand.
'Not now... again!'
Crackle!
This fissure, as if waiting for Creed's influence to vanish, tore through his body more massively.
From the back of his hand, to his arm, upper body, and even his left leg, the fissure spread.
"Duke!"
Navia's face was filled with horror.
Lark swayed, scanning his surroundings.
'I need to take my medicine quickly!'
Soon, the fissure spread over his body, reaching his left cheek, revealing it completely.
He was exposed.
Despite trying to hide it, this dreadful appearance was now revealed.
Lark covered his cheek first, even before taking his medicine. But it was futile.
His hand was already riddled with dozens of fissures.
"Gasp... Argh...!"
Even on the verge of losing consciousness due to the terrible pain, Lark backed away.
He tried to hide his hand. He turned his face away.
Navia quickly grabbed his retreating hand.
Her expression was filled with pain, sorrow, and worry. There was no disgust in her eyes for the fissures.
"Take this quickly!"
She urgently offered him the medicine bottle, looking like she didn't find him disgusting at all.
This incredibly perceptive child seemed to have realized at once that the anesthetic would counteract this phenomenon.
Lark, with trembling hands, took the medicine bottle.
Navia held his hand tightly, tears brimming in her eyes.
Thump!
Suddenly, her right wrist became unbearably hot.
And the world slowed down.
Navia's gaze involuntarily fell on her right wrist.
From the black moon, an explosive energy was being released like never before.
'Why is this happening?'
As she thought this, Lark's energy poured into her like a storm through the black moon.
A breath-stifling, chilling sensation wildly scratched at her entire body.
Simultaneously, the fissures that mercilessly split Lark's body began to heal rapidly.
Lark looked confused.
"Why suddenly...?"
And then.
"Gasp!"
From the black moon, red fissures extended, chillingly splitting Navia's body.
Crackle!
The black moon itself seemed shattered, split apart by the red fissures.
"Navia!"
Lark's twisted expression and his voice calling her name echoed slowly.
Like the time she caused a water column, no, a little less slowly than that.
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