Adrian walked through the darkness.
His pace was slower now.
The adrenaline that had carried him through the forest was gone, leaving only exhaustion and pain behind. His side throbbed with every step, and the makeshift bandage beneath his coat was already damp with blood.
But he couldn't stop.
The Imperial Army was searching for him.
Ogun had gone to them.
That alone was enough to make Kanazawa dangerous.
Adrian kept to the darker streets, avoiding the main roads whenever possible.
I need to find Naomi.
He had no idea where she was.
He had told her to wait, but that had been before everything had gone wrong.
Now he needed to locate her before the military search became even wider.
Adrian turned into another narrow street.
Then—
He stopped.
Something touched his spirituality.
Adrian's expression changed.
It wasn't his danger intuition.
It wasn't precognition.
It was something completely different.
A faint connection had appeared.
He couldn't hear words.
He couldn't see anything.
But he could feel someone praying to him.
Adrian closed his eyes.
The sensation became clearer.
A presence.
A direction.
A distance.
His eyes opened.
"...Naomi."
He stood there for a moment.
Then realization slowly dawned on him.
So this is what happens when someone prays to the Fool.
The connection wasn't perfect.
He couldn't see through Naomi's eyes.
He couldn't automatically know what she was saying.
But he could sense her existence.
And he knew where she was.
Not precisely enough to know the exact room.
But enough.
Adrian turned toward the connection.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Useful."
He started walking.
With every step, the sensation became stronger.
Closer.
Closer.
Until Adrian reached an old building hidden between several abandoned structures.
He stopped outside.
The connection was strongest here.
Naomi was inside.
Adrian pushed open the door.
Naomi was kneeling on the floor.
Her eyes were closed.
Her hands were clasped together.
She was praying.
"I pray thee..."
"The Fool."
"Dominator of Fate."
"Master of Sefirah Castle."
"Keeper of Mysteries."
Adrian stood silently in the doorway.
He watched her.
There was something unsettling about seeing someone pray to him with such absolute sincerity.
Naomi wasn't pretending.
She wasn't playing a role.
She genuinely believed.
After what she had seen inside Sefirah Castle, she believed Adrian was the human manifestation of the Fool.
To her, that wasn't a metaphor.
It was reality.
She finished her prayer.
Then opened her eyes.
The moment she saw Adrian, she stood.
"My Lord."
Adrian sighed internally.
Again.
Outwardly, his expression remained calm.
"Naomi."
She lowered her head.
"I knew you would come."
Adrian almost smiled.
Technically, you summoned me.
But he kept that thought to himself.
Instead, he entered the room.
"What happened?"
Naomi's expression immediately became serious.
"The Imperial Army."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"What about them?"
"They are searching for you."
She walked toward the window.
"Soldiers are everywhere. They are questioning travelers and watching the roads. The ports are being monitored."
Adrian's expression darkened.
"How much do they know?"
"They know that someone infiltrated Captain Ogun's residence."
She paused.
"They know that someone fought him."
"Do they know my name?"
"No."
Adrian relaxed slightly.
Good.
At least his identity hadn't been compromised.
Naomi continued.
"They are searching for you because they believe you are responsible."
Adrian looked toward the window.
The streets outside appeared quiet.
But he knew better.
The silence didn't mean safety.
It meant soldiers were searching somewhere else.
"So leaving Japan won't be easy."
"No."
Naomi's voice suddenly changed.
Adrian looked at her.
Her calm expression had disappeared.
What replaced it wasn't fear.
It was anger.
Genuine anger.
Naomi clenched her fists.
"They dare."
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
"They dare?"
"The Imperial Army."
Her voice trembled.
"They dare hunt you."
Adrian remained silent.
Naomi's eyes became colder.
"They don't even understand what they are doing."
She looked toward the city.
"They think they are hunting a man."
Her expression twisted with disgust.
"They are hunting the human manifestation of the Fool."
Adrian said nothing.
"They have committed blasphemy."
Her voice became louder.
"How dare they raise their weapons against the manifestation of the Lord?"
There was something different about her now.
Something Adrian hadn't seen before.
This wasn't merely loyalty.
It wasn't even ordinary religious devotion.
It was fanaticism.
Something had changed inside Naomi after she touched Sefirah Castle.
The gray fog.
The castle.
The throne.
The incomprehensible presence beyond human understanding.
She had touched something eldritch.
And something had touched her back.
Her mutant mind had survived it.
But it hadn't remained unchanged.
Naomi stared toward the city with open hostility.
"The Imperial Army thinks its authority means something."
Her hands tightened.
"They believe they can hunt whoever they wish."
"They believe they can threaten the Fool."
Her eyes were filled with fury.
"They are nothing."
Adrian watched her carefully.
She's serious.
Naomi turned toward him.
"My Lord."
Adrian met her eyes.
"Yes?"
"Shall I pray for their punishment?"
Silence.
Adrian stared at her.
She wasn't asking for permission to attack them herself.
She was asking whether she should pray to the Fool and ask God to punish them.
Adrian suddenly understood the scale of the problem.
She's really become a fanatic.
He could have told her to calm down.
He could have explained that the Imperial Army wasn't challenging some ancient god.
But Naomi wouldn't understand.
To her, Adrian wasn't Adrian.
He was the human manifestation of the Fool.
And the Fool had been insulted.
Adrian looked toward the window.
He needed to leave Japan.
That was all.
He didn't need a war.
He didn't need revenge.
He certainly didn't need Naomi turning the Imperial Army into the enemy of her religion.
But he had already learned something important about his Clown pathway.
The role mattered.
If he broke character now, he would undermine everything he had built.
So Adrian remained silent for several seconds.
Then he spoke.
"Japan's Imperial Regime will fall."
Naomi froze.
Adrian didn't elaborate.
He didn't say when.
He didn't say how.
He didn't say who would bring about its fall.
He didn't even say that he would do anything.
It was simply a sentence.
A vague sentence.
But Naomi's eyes widened.
She lowered her head.
"I understand."
Adrian looked at her.
No, you don't.
Naomi's expression became peaceful again.
"The Fool has already seen their fate."
Adrian's mouth twitched.
He hadn't said that.
But he didn't correct her.
Because the moment he started explaining, the image would collapse.
Naomi whispered:
"The Imperial regime will fall."
She looked at him with absolute faith.
"And their blasphemy will be answered."
Adrian remained silent.
He didn't know what those words would eventually mean.
He hadn't intended them as a prophecy.
He had simply needed something that fit the role.
Yet for the briefest moment, an uncomfortable thought crossed his mind.
What if fate decides to take those words seriously?
Adrian pushed the thought away.
There were more immediate concerns.
"We're leaving."
Naomi immediately nodded.
"Japan?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"As soon as possible."
Naomi didn't question him.
She didn't ask where they were going.
She didn't ask why.
She simply accepted his decision.
"As you command, My Lord."
Adrian looked at her.
He still wasn't comfortable with that title.
But he was beginning to understand something.
Naomi's faith was no longer something he could simply dismiss.
It had become connected to him.
He could literally feel her prayers.
He could locate her through them.
And if one person could establish that connection...
there could be others someday.
Adrian didn't yet understand what that would eventually mean.
For now, it was simply useful.
And perhaps dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Naomi gathered her belongings.
Adrian waited near the door.
Outside, the city remained strangely quiet.
He could sense no immediate danger.
But his intuition told him that the situation was deteriorating.
The Imperial Army would eventually find more clues.
Ogun would recover.
And once the military understood that their target had escaped, the search would expand.
They couldn't stay.
Adrian touched the magical book beneath his coat.
The reason he had come to Japan.
The thing he had nearly died obtaining.
Whatever secrets were inside it might be the key to dealing with Selene.
But first, he needed to get out alive.
Naomi finished preparing.
She approached him.
"My Lord."
Adrian looked at her.
"Ready?"
"Yes."
She bowed slightly.
Adrian opened the door.
Cold night air entered the room.
He stepped outside.
Naomi followed.
They disappeared into the darkness together.
Adrian walked ahead, using the faint spiritual connection between them as another layer of awareness.
He no longer needed to wonder where Naomi was.
If she prayed—
he would know.
That realization brought a strange smile to his face.
The Fool had gained his first believer.
And Adrian had gained something he hadn't expected.
A connection.
A responsibility.
Perhaps, eventually—
an entire Church.
He didn't know it yet.
But somewhere in the future, the woman walking behind him would become something far greater than an Imperial spy.
She would become a nun.
A guardian.
An Omega-level mutant.
And the heart of a sanctuary that would accept humans, mutants, sorcerers, criminals, and even those the rest of the world had abandoned.
But none of that existed yet.
For now, there was only a wounded man, a fanatic who believed he was the human manifestation of a god, and a country that had suddenly become far too dangerous to remain in.
Adrian glanced toward the dark horizon.
"Let's get out of Japan."
Naomi smiled.
"As you wish, My Lord."
And together, they disappeared into the night.