Who Are You Now?

"Time, Fate, and Luck…?" France asked in a perturbed manner.

Noelle nodded, "They are a concept that even most everyone finds hard to know deeper since they are very complex.

"For example, time interlocks and questions timelines, able to stop time, control time, and even use time. Fate adheres to destiny, knowing people's death, determining one's movement, and causing someone to control the other's lives without the victim even knowing. And Luck simplifies coincidences, afterthoughts, dying in the dumbest way and unexplainable manner, or finding a treasure in front of you.

"These three are the ones that you need to watch out for when you venture out of the world and even these mysterious and weird names took a form of a Piece. In every world I knew, there are very small people who wielded these kinds of powers.

"Of course, not just everyone could have it. Besides, whatever world you lived in, doesn't have any information regarding these things. And it's not as omnipotent as you think it is. For example, there are authorities you could use regarding time but not the time itself. Same as fate and luck,

"And, you might not realize it now but… you wielded one yourself."

With so much information going through his head, France's mind inflicted more pain upon hearing the last sentence.

'I have one…? But, I definitely just have one! Swindler is part of these three things?' France thought inwardly as he wanted to clarify his thoughts but was soon answered by Noelle.

"It is indeed the Swindler Piece. What else am I trying to say then?"

'Ahaha… now I'm suspicious if this space could actually read my mind since it looked like it did but it sounds disrespectful to this guy. Well, he was at fault for transferring me so hurrah, I guess?' France mused inwardly as he let out a dry cough, and began asking various questions, "Is everything I had read in the book real?"

"Yes,"

"Can I look for volume 2?"

"Volume 2?" Noelle tilts his head as he let out an "ah", before saying, "France, dragging you here had already given me extra toll on my existence. If I showed you those parts of my memories, again, hypothetically, due to the surge of excess information, your head might explode,"

France frowned upon hearing it and being sharp as he is, he asked, "Aren't you supposed to say, 'fragmented memory' and not 'memories'? if you are the author of the book, it should be the only copy since you are the one who made it. Why do you keep sounding it that there's another more which is slightly or perhaps, much more different than this?"

"…"

Noelle was first taken aback, his mouth turned slightly agape, tapping his forehead before shaking his head, "I can't tell."

'Senior has a pretty bad memory… Is the reason for it due to his memories being fragmented to pieces? How is that even possible?'

Seeing France was in rather deep thought, Noelle sighed and remembering something passed through his mind, he used this opportunity and replied, "I can't tell you the context regarding those times or the volume 2 on your language ut since our goals are aligned and the cooperation had started, I can tell you something,"

Without further ado, Noelle revealed, "Right after the Anomalies came, go for the proficient grade ruin named Forgotten Sea Of Fate. You have to go fast since you likely have some competition for that power. Give it to Isaac since he will need it and this Piece corresponds to Fate. It's a very powerful Piece. Its Piece is called Bug."

'Competition… Forgotten Sea Of Fate… Powerful Piece… Bug,' France thought these things inwardly as he immediately answered, "Can Isaac just do it by himself?"

"He will likely need your help or you have to force him to go there," Noelle paused, "This is a request I would like you to do. It might change everyone's fate and… you yourself."

He smiled, "I did what I needed to ask you. Ask more and I will answer anything that I could provide. I know you probably understand what I was doing when I'm giving only vague information."

'it might cause disruption of time, leading to unforeseeable outcomes?' France mused inwardly as he nodded, "When I came back, are there people I needed to be wary of? Since the book just told me Isaac's perspective, what about yours? I needed your judgment,"

Thinking about it for a moment, Noelle let out a smile that looked like it was having fun before nodding, "In Fordent Kingdom, since you are already a Ruiner, you should register yourself as an official one.

"When you register, don't hide anything else or it might lead you to become their enemies. As you know what will happen a year later, it is better to have people that could fight for the good and there are four people you need to be friends with or wary of. They have certain aliases but it's up to you to figure them out. A clue though, there are all famous.

"One is called Truth, it was his previous alias. One is Balance, a lady who adheres to laws. One is Judgement while the other is called Candle. Heh, let's take the situation in a more profound way. If these four become your enemies, you need to watch out for the last name I've given to you."

'The one that has the alias Candle? And here am I almost laughing at it, only realizing It's the most dangerous…' France said inwardly as he was about to open his mouth before he saw Noelle's face contorting.

At that moment, the house started to shake. The illusory windows broke into pieces and the world outside of the house seemed to be breaking apart.

"Hah… they already found me?" Noelle said loudly as he faced France, "Trust your guts, kid. The more you learn about it, the more you get infected, and at the same time, you can learn about the existence and mysteries of the universe.

"If you have any questions, well, I don't know if we could meet again, but I'll answer them next time. And there's no way you could contact me if you are actually thinking about it. Lastly, be strong and courageous. I know you will come up with solutions to very hard problems, France."

France looked at the pained expression Noelle was having while he had many questions he had to ask like 'why can't you go back' or 'what is going on? What do you mean by they found you?' but refrain to do.

He was quite frantic about what was happening as he hastily stands up, let out a short breath, and looked at Noelle, "Senior, who are you now?"

If it was a question 'who are you', Noelle could've probably answered his whole name but with the indication of 'now', it is much different. He wanted to confirm something and it seemed Noelle had read his mind.

He smiled as he winked, releasing every title that brought France shivers.

"The Abomination, The Destroyer of Timelines, The Chaos That Moved Through Time, and One Of The Most Wanted Fugitives Of The Universe but I'm still Noelle Portnner, son of Duke Verl!"

Crack—!

The area outside of the house seemed to form cracks as many sorts of monsters entered. Noelle seemed to not mind as he wore a confident face.

"In just a second, I could transfer your soul to the body of 'Noelle'. Your last hurrah?"

France chuckled, nodded, and then shouted, "Senior! Make sure you survive! I will also do my best! I will find a way to contact you so stay tight!"

Noelle looked at him and nodded, "Okay."

He stands up, taps the air on France's front, and the breaking of glasses seemed to happen in France's field of vision.

Crack—!

"Till next time,"

"Till—!"

Crack!

Before France could even reply, the glass shattered, and the space on Noelle's front seemed to change but not entirely. The same table, chair, air, and view are the same, but France was already gone.

Crash—!

"Abomination!"

"Destroyer of Timelines!"

Shouting all of his aliases, Noelle looked above and saw his shattered house. Those monsters squirming around have flown, targeting him but he was confidently smiling.

"Geezers, you all are late again," Upon saying so, Noelle's chair moved backward, slowly falling on its own which produce the twisted faces of the intruders.

The moment he falls down, the ground shattered like tiny pieces of glass with Noelle entering inside it which is full of a black-purplish void, unknown and dark territories, and gigantic and long roaming monsters one couldn't even decipher.

What lies deep inside them was abnormalities that one couldn't even imagine.

Crack—!

The house and his space broke on their own like shattered glasses once more and those inside it all let out a screeching pain.

The bodies of the monsters were erased, and all those broken glasses returned to normal after a few seconds, replacing everything anew.

The space didn't have voids or vortexes where everyone could just enter unlike before, the house which was affected and destroyed by the monsters was rebuilt, and the different colors that had covered the whole space had turned white.

Everything was at peace and became normal.

…

"Ah!"

Jolting on his place wide awake, Noelle heaved heavily as he moved his gaze from his surroundings. His face turned into shock upon seeing that the place he was in was clean.

'That devil could do it?' Beads of sweat run down his forehead as he thought about it, also raising his awareness regarding the devils.

'Anyway, he seemed to just disappear. I guess the explosives worked, heh.'

Smiling faintly, he continued, 'Now that I think about it, how would everyone react? Will I garner attention but in exchange for answers, they would have to give me money? Yes, I could turn this into a temporary business. Besides, I'll just bullshit my way of saying the reasons, kekeke. How fantastic.'

He seemed to have already planned out the moment he got out. If anyone could hear his thoughts, they will most likely not going to do his bidding.

Noelle stands up, check himself first, and much to his surprise, the hole in his abdomen was gone. It left the pale white skin and the abs alone.

'And, I don't feel sick anymore… Using the Swindler had me going crazy due to the intense pain I keep feeling since I was always using it. Did the senior also resolve it? As expected from that criminal… No, I should not base it on only hearing his aliases.'

He looked up, muttering slightly, "There's no choice but to become a Ruiner, huh,"

Noelle had given him hints that he should pursue being a Ruiner. What's all that talk anyway if one doesn't have power?

France came up with a few ideas he should do the moment he ventures out of this ruin. He determined that he should know and probe more about the secrets and the Anomalies are one of those cases he should be able to discern.

He then glanced back, seeing a way that seemed to weirdly form like a stair by the use of debris that leads the way up. The chunks that blocked the way seemed to have cleared.

"Being Noelle Portnner didn't look to be that bad," Noelle mused as he began walking towards the stairs. Along the way, he can't help but think, "Now then… Should I look like in a sorry state?"

…

"Hmm?"

One knight above the gates, who was watching what was happening outside of the Fordent walls, turned his attention to the front.

The knight saw what seemed to be a man walking leisurely towards the gates. He called a few men to see the figure altogether.

Since it was night, he needed people to if what he was seeing his true. Who knows if they are being attacked and this was just an illusion?

The moment the figure closes the gates after a few minutes of walking, he just… falls down motionlessly.

Alarmed, the guard swiftly moved to rescue the man and he gathered at least ten people to be on his side. Coming in front of the man, his face formed an astonished expression.

The people waiting saw the knight being weird and they can't help but compress all together on that spot.

Their face turned into surprise and only the shout of the knight had awakened them from their deep confusion.

"This is the son of Duke Verl! Noelle Portnner!" The knight's words filled is filled with amazement, "He's not dead?"

'Sigh, that's not sound welcoming at all,' Noelle, who was faking his intense pain by showing it on his face, mused inwardly.