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Chapter 1101: Replacement

At one point, Tsubaki had asked her to turn into the Keeper as an experiment. According to Tsubaki, it would be remarkable if Lena could act as a body double for the Keeper. However, Lena firmly refused. It wasn’t an ethical issue that caused her refusal, but rather a practical one. It could even be said that she could die if she became the Keeper.

This is something that the elders had worked out while planning her powers with her. Throughout history, there are numerous examples of the Keeper wielding more than nine domains. Maybe not all at the same time, but the point remains. Through this, they determined that the Keeper has a way to bypass the ‘critical density’ rule to some extent, possessing more domains than any other living creature could handle.

Thus, if Lena were to turn into the Keeper, there was a chance that she might take on more domains than she could handle, and inevitably destroy herself with the attempt. She could turn into the Terra twins, and even to a degree replicate the powers of the Origin of Fate, though that had heavily exhausted her. However, what she could never attempt was to impersonate the Keeper himself.

Tsubaki seemed to understand these concerns, and didn’t press the issue. Aside from that one hiccup, the tests went remarkably well. As long as Lena had information on someone, she could imitate them. As she explained to Tsubaki, a part of her mimicry relied on synchronizing herself with the memory of the target, as well as others’ perceptions of them. For instance, she could act exactly how Tsubaki would expect Lifre to act, even if that wasn’t exactly how Lifre would really act.

Once all of these tests were done, Tsubaki had a simple mission for her. Lena was to identify and infiltrate a more radical anti-Keeper group, ensuring that they didn’t have any dangerous plans towards the Keeper.

Lena knew about several of these groups, most of them revolving around a theory known as the Original World Theory. According to this theory, the void itself was the original world, and the first universes emerged from it not by some intelligent design, but as simple odds played out over an indefinite time.

As for the identity of the Keeper himself, this theory suggested that the Keeper was a type of void entity, with his defining rule being that he could unleash greater power the stronger the people of the universe were. The believers of this theory didn’t trust the words of the Greater Pantheon, thinking them to be entities constructed by the Keeper as he grew stronger in order to further his own agenda.

Lena was all-too familiar with this theory herself, having had to impersonate a member of one of these groups during her training. And, she had to admit, there was at least some merit to what they preached.

Many people worshiped the Keeper as a truly omnipotent, omniscient being. By this logic, he was aware of every hardship that took place in the world, and was complicit in every crime or murder that occurred. The leading argument for the Original World Theory was heavily based on this logic. If one entity had such awareness and power, why would they let so many disasters occur? Why would V-Day have ever happened if the Keeper had the power to stop it?

Lena, however, was aware of the fact that the Keeper was neither omniscient nor omnipotent. He was simply a man. A man of great power and responsibility, but a man nonetheless. He could not be everywhere at one time, nor could he do everything he wished to do.

However, instead of turning to the theory that the Keeper was an entity from the void, using his power to manipulate the world to grow his own power, Lena believed that the Keeper simply needed helpers. He had shown this in the past, when he once requested that every race send him a representative that would live within the Sky Citadel. This fell out of practice after only a few generations, as few people wished to live in the citadel, cut off from their normal lives. Only Tsubaki remained at his side.

And, from this first interaction that Lena had with Tsubaki, she was certain that Tsubaki would never have any intention to betray the Keeper. After all, she had been inside of Tsubaki’s mind when she turned into her. Several of Tsubaki’s thoughts didn’t make sense, seeming to paint Tsubaki herself as having once been a Keeper, but she showed no desire to betray the man that she served.

That’s why Lena was more than happy to accept the task that Tsubaki had given her. Tsubaki didn’t actually specify a group that she wanted Lena to infiltrate, but Lena was not surprised there. She already knew that Tsubaki and the Keeper had been in another place for roughly two decades, so Tsubaki would not have been up to date on what the world had become.

It was actually Lena’s suggestion to have her infiltrate this group, knowing that they were the ones responsible for several attacks on distant villages of Fyor. They were not a peace-loving group by any means, seeking to prove their theories by showing that the Keeper won’t stop their acts.

“Let’s see…” Lena muttered to herself, pulling a golden cube out of her inventory. This cube began to break apart and rapidly rearrange itself, turning into a golden mask that she slipped over her face.

Lena had full confidence in her abilities, but this mask further enhanced them by strengthening her connection to the mind of the person that she wanted to impersonate. After slipping on the mask, her body grew, and she cleared her throat, her voice growing deeper. “Jim Jaeger, was it?” Lena muttered, now in the form of a human male with short, black hair.

She pulled a terminal out of her inventory, making a quick call. On the other end was a black silhouette, saying nothing until Lena spoke. “This is Golden Shadow. I have begun working for the Keeper, and have received a task. Currently, I am wearing the face of Jim Jaeger, the Fallen God of Gravity. His current location is…” Lena closed her eyes for a moment. “Deckan, main system. He is in Ashtanu, the office of Charles Wainwright.”

“Understood, Golden Shadow. We’ll ready the switch. Do you have anything else to report?”

Lena smirked, the expression seeming sinister on her current face. “I have received my name from the Keeper. From now on, I am Lena, and I answer directly to Tsubaki.”

The silhouette in the call hesitated at that. This was essentially a declaration that Lena would no longer be taking orders from the elders of the ninja clans. Although they were prepared for this, they both knew that the ninjas had hoped to have Lena serve as a bridge to closer connect them to the Keeper, similar to how they now relied on Chelsea.

“I understand. I will pass on your message, Lena. And, furthermore… congratulations.”

“Thanks. Let me know the next time they let you out, and we’ll get drinks again. My treat.” Lena said with a happy smile, the person on the other end chuckling.

“That offer might be more appealing if you weren’t wearing a villain’s face.” The voice spoke up again, before the call ended. Once the call ended, Lena reached up to remove her mask, returning to her original appearance. Afterwards, her body seemed to dissolve in smoke, leaving Olympus to move towards her target.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” A brunette kitsune said with a smile, reaching over to shake hands with the human that had come to visit his office. “I’ll have everything sent over by the end of the day.”

“Looking forward to it.” The black-haired man grunted, before standing and turning to leave. “Let’s hope that this business can continue for a long while.”

The kitsune simply chuckled at that, nodding his head as the man left his office. This human, who had introduced himself as Mister Jaeger, walked down the hall while straightening his jacket, his eyes looking coldly ahead.

Upon exiting the building, he looked from side to side before turning and walking towards a nearby alley. Although he was never given a token to enter the void at will, he was a Fallen God. This allowed him to exert some authority even from such a heavily sealed world, enough to bypass the barriers and travel with only a modicum of effort.

However, as he was gathering his power to leave Deckan, a blonde kitsune skipped towards him, one purple eye trained on him with a smile. To avoid suspicion, he stopped gathering his power, planning to let the girl pass him by.

“Ah, Mister Jaeger, there you are!” The girl called out to him. “I haven’t seen you in weeks!”

“Do I know you, girl?” Jim asked, feeling uneasy as he looked at the kitsune ahead of him. He had a faint feeling of deja vu, but he couldn’t identify the girl in his memories at all.

“Well, you did, but you forgot. She said, coming to rest a couple steps ahead of him. “Don’t worry, though, you’ll be forgetting this time, too~!” 

Alarm bells rang in Jim’s mind, preparing to immediately unleash his power to crush the girl. However, a faint prick on the back of his neck stopped him, his energy freezing and refusing to respond to his commands. His entire body was paralyzed, a sensation that he hadn’t experienced since becoming a Fallen God… but why did it feel strangely familiar?

“Don’t worry, I’ll use your face well.” Lena said, her body shifting until it perfectly matched that of Jim himself. At the same time, Jim found his own body shrinking, his skin turning hard and glossy. The ground seemed to shift beneath him, forming a solid circle that shrank with his body. Soon, he was no more than three inches tall, unable to move.

Lena looked down at the miniature Jim, and then off in the distance, grunting. “Still collecting?”

A playful voice echoed back as a golden hand appeared, picking up the miniature figure. “Always, my dear shadow. How long may I keep this one for?”

“Depends on how the investigation goes.” Lena responded in a cold tone. “Might need him back in a day or two, might have to fake his death.”

“Ooh, if you fake his death, then can I…?” The voice trailed off with a hint of eagerness, and Lena simply nodded.

“That’s right, if we do that, you can keep him. Just make sure he doesn’t get out like the last guy.”

“My, my, always so cold when you put on a new face. Don’t worry, I’ve already figured out what went wrong there. We won’t have a repeated Ripper incident. I’ll keep him nice and secure on my shelf with all the others~.”

After the voice said that, it faded away, the small figure of Jim vanishing with it. Lena furrowed her brow, before focusing on conjuring the void powers of her target. Looks like we’re going to Desbar. She thought to herself, having sensed Jim’s intentions from before she arrived.

A rush of chaotic energy briefly filled the alley as Lena disappeared, pulling herself out and into the void. It was time to get to work.