Chapter 476: Unknown Power

"Do you know if there have ever been any cases of a half-fallen angel and half-demon existing somewhere throughout the history of the world?"

When Kouhei asked that question, Aegis’s eyes widened almost immediately, and for a second, Kouhei thought he had somehow stumbled onto something important without realizing it. Her reaction made it look as though she knew exactly what he was talking about, or at least that the question had triggered some kind of memory buried somewhere in her mind. Maybe Kouhei was rushing things a little too much by asking her directly, but he was already pressed for time, and although time was no longer quite the problem it had been before, it was still something weighing on him enough that he wanted answers as quickly as possible.

Still, Kouhei soon realized that he had completely misread Aegis’s reaction.

Her eyes had widened because the question itself had come completely out of nowhere, rather than because she knew the answer.

"Uh, what exactly do you mean by that?" Aegis asked, her eyebrows slightly raised as she tried to figure out where Kouhei was going with the question.

Kouhei blinked at her for a moment.

She didn’t know?

Or perhaps his wording had simply failed to register properly in her mind, because he had already been thinking about the matter for so long that it seemed obvious to him.

"I am asking whether, to your knowledge, there has ever been an instance of a half-fallen angel and half-demon existing at any point throughout the course of history," Kouhei explained again, deliberately slowing down his words this time so there would be less room for misunderstanding.

Aegis simply blinked several times.

Her expression became even more confused as she stared at Kouhei, and that reaction told him pretty clearly that she genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. Kouhei found himself becoming confused as well, because wasn’t Aegis supposed to possess knowledge concerning the history of the entire universe?

If that was really the case, then how could she not know about something like this?

"You are threading this wrong," Petra suddenly said from somewhere nearby.

Kouhei’s attention immediately shifted toward her.

Aegis, meanwhile, practically jumped out of her skin.

"Ahhhhhh!" Aegis screamed, her voice filling the room.

Her reaction was completely understandable because Petra had somehow appeared inside the room without apparently using the door at all. The door was still locked, and as far as Aegis knew, there had been absolutely no opportunity for Petra to enter through it. From her perspective, Petra had practically materialized inside the room like some kind of supernatural burglar who had decided that doors were merely optional suggestions.

"You do not have to be so shocked," Petra said casually, as though appearing inside a locked room was a perfectly ordinary thing to do. She then pointed toward the window, which was currently wide open. "I entered through the window."

"B-But we are on the third floor..." Aegis stammered, staring at Petra with complete disbelief.

Her response was perfectly natural considering the explanation she had just received.

Petra would have needed to climb all the way up to the third floor before entering through the window, and even if she somehow managed to do that, it still made absolutely no sense that she could accomplish it so casually. Aegis looked as though she was trying to determine whether she had somehow missed an entire staircase attached to the outside of the building.

"More importantly, what exactly do you mean when you say I was threading this wrong?" Kouhei asked, deciding that Petra’s ridiculous method of entering the room could be investigated later.

For now, there was something much more important that he wanted clarified.

"She has not realized yet that she is the Holy Book," Petra explained.

Kouhei’s eyes widened slightly.

Aegis looked between the two of them, clearly having no idea what they were talking about.

"Like every other Holy Book that has existed, except for those who were informed by the people searching for them, the vessels themselves were unable to recognize that something about their bodies was different, even after death," Petra continued. "That is why I am pretty certain that she is not even aware of it herself right now."

Kouhei stared at Aegis for several seconds as Petra’s explanation slowly sank in.

"She doesn’t even know?" Kouhei asked, genuinely surprised.

"Of course she doesn’t," Petra replied. "If nobody tells her, then how exactly would she know? The people who became vessels for the Holy Books did not even realize that they were special while they were alive, and some of them remained completely unaware of what they carried even after death."

Petra paused briefly before continuing, making sure Kouhei understood what she meant.

"They were simply that unaware of their own existence and what was actually contained within them. Since they had no idea that they were vessels in the first place, they naturally had no understanding of the powers inside them either. They had no idea what those powers were, where they came from, or even that they were supposed to have them, which also meant they had absolutely no idea how to use those abilities when they manifested."

Kouhei remained quiet for a moment as he processed everything Petra had just explained.

So, basically, Aegis was currently nothing more than a useless piece of crap who did not even realize what she was supposed to be.

Well, that was probably a little too harsh.

Aegis might not have any idea what her existence actually entailed right now, but that did not mean she would remain useless forever. If Petra’s explanation was correct, then there was still a possibility of helping Aegis understand what she was, gradually bringing out whatever abilities were contained within her and teaching her how to properly use them.

If they managed to accomplish that, perhaps Aegis could eventually become the Holy Book she was apparently meant to be.

And if that happened, Kouhei might finally be able to use her abilities to find the information he had been searching for.

"W-Wait, you two know each other?" Aegis suddenly asked, looking back and forth between Kouhei and Petra.

She then looked toward Petra with an increasingly confused expression.

"A-And what exactly is this power you are talking about? I-Is this some kind of occult thing? And... demons and fallen angels? You both know that supernatural beings actually exist in the world?"

Aegis stared at both of them with an unmistakably shocked expression, and it was obvious that she was struggling to process everything that had been thrown at her within such a short period of time.

From her perspective, her understanding of the world had just been turned upside down.

Apparently, demons existed.

Apparently, fallen angels existed.

Apparently, supernatural powers existed.

And apparently, Petra, someone she apparently knew from the past, had somehow failed to age.

That was quite a lot to dump on someone in the span of a few minutes.

Petra looked toward Kouhei for a moment before turning her attention back toward Aegis.

"Do you know me, Aegis?" Petra asked. "You really don’t remember me?"

"R-Remember?" Aegis repeated, staring at Petra more carefully.

She looked at Petra’s face for several seconds, apparently trying to connect the woman standing in front of her with some distant memory. Her expression gradually changed as she searched through whatever memories she still had, until her eyes suddenly widened when the realization finally clicked.

"Ah! You’re...!"

"That’s right," Petra said, giving her a small smile. "You do remember me."

"B-But... why haven’t you aged even a little?" Aegis asked, still staring at Petra with obvious disbelief.

That question seemed to amuse Petra more than anything else.

"I will let you in on a little secret," Petra said, her expression becoming slightly more mysterious. "But before I do that, I want you to come with us."

Aegis hesitated, still clearly trying to understand what was happening.

Petra then glanced toward Kouhei before looking back at Aegis.

"If you come with us, you might even get a taste of this man’s, you know what, if you behave yourself."

Aegis’s eyes immediately dropped toward Kouhei’s crotch before she quickly looked away again, swallowing nervously as though she had just remembered something she probably should not have been thinking about right now.

Kouhei noticed the reaction, although he decided that commenting on it would probably make the situation even stranger than it already was.

Judging from Aegis’s expression, it seemed like she still had not gotten over what had happened earlier.

"You will have to be a good girl, though," Petra continued, maintaining that same casually teasing tone. "If you promise me that, I promise he will not resist."

"I-Is that so...?" Aegis asked meekly, her voice becoming noticeably quieter as she glanced toward Kouhei’s direction again.

Kouhei immediately sighed in exasperation and rubbed his forehead.

"Why did the conversation suddenly end up going in this direction?" Kouhei muttered.

Petra simply smiled as though she saw absolutely nothing strange about the situation.

"Because it is a useful incentive," Petra replied casually. "Besides, you don’t seem particularly opposed to the idea."

Aegis’s face immediately became red.

"W-Wait, why are you saying that like it is completely normal?" Aegis asked, her voice still timid as she looked between the two of them.

Kouhei let out another long sigh.

"Please ignore her for the moment," he said, sounding increasingly exasperated. "We were supposed to be talking about the Holy Book and the possibility of finding information about a half-fallen angel and half-demon."

"Fufufu, and I was merely offering her some motivation," Petra replied, sounding far too pleased with herself.

"I think your definition of motivation is seriously questionable," Kouhei said.