Grisha shook his head in denial:
"No."
"That isn't what I meant."
Grisha said calmly:
"Or rather, having control was crucial to the original me, but things have changed now."
"Whether 'Imagination' advances first and then merges with me, or directly merges with me or Grazes me as a King of Angel..."
"It makes no difference."
He gently closed his deep, dark eyes. When he opened them again, only serenity remained:
"Do you have authority similar to 'Concealment'?"
Lin Chuan remained silent.
The next moment, shadows from the void silently enveloped the area.
The prayer ended.
With a complicated expression, Lin Chuan looked around the living room before him. Only the sofa and the long glass table were new; everything else, from the solid wood flooring to the doors and curtains, was somewhat worn.
It wasn't particularly new. After all, it was only a temporary place to stay, and there had been no intention of furnishing it lavishly.
These lodgings were so ordinary, just like the alias Grisha used in Backlund-
Mikhail.
Back when Lin Chuan had taken a blast of Blind Stupidity head-on and sent himself into the old era to attend university.
He had spent some time studying the culture and languages of Russia, or rather, the former Soviet Union.
"Mikhail" was the product of transliterating "Michael" into Russian and then translating it a second time.
Michael came directly from Archangel Michael, meaning "one who resembles God," or "like God," and was often used as a noble's name or a baptismal name.
But as the Russian language became increasingly widespread over the course of Russia's history, the original meaning of "Michael" was diluted by the name's widespread use across every social class.
Eventually, the more widely accepted transliteration, "Mikhail," replaced the original "Michael" as the preferred