"..."
Edward glanced at him. "You're certainly in no hurry."
A slight smile curled Roselle's lips. "They say it's hard to leave your homeland, but if it really comes to that, I'll take Beibei, Matilda... and Bornova off to another planet. Oh, we can be neighbors then."
Edward's brow furrowed deeply. He could not be nearly as "optimistic" as Roselle. After all, no matter where he fled, he would be finished once the Oldest One awoke!
"Oh, right."
Roselle tipped his chin toward Grisha Adam. "Just now, when the God of Combat died, he drank a potion made from imagined Beyonder characteristics and advanced to Sequence 0."
"What?"
"I'm saying Adam played you!" Roselle pursed his lips. "You thought all that maneuvering earlier had dealt with Adam and let the True Creator take over his consciousness while lucid, but Adam was acting the whole time. He was Adam from beginning to end."
"Huh?" Roselle suddenly raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You don't seem surprised?"
Edward paused, then looked up at the tear in the sky and shook his head with a sigh. "At a time like this, what's the point of dwelling on that?" He paused for a few seconds. "Still, I don't think Adam was putting on an act for me... Rather, after the True Creator took over their consciousness, he realized... perhaps Adam was doing better than he could, and willingly handed control back."
"But... it doesn't matter. Let's get through this first."
Roselle asked, "How?"
"By putting our lives on the line."
Edward gently stroked the pattern of the Uniqueness that had reappeared on the back of his hand. "In a moment, do me a favor. Keep Cheek occupied."
Roselle rubbed his forehead. "Fine. I don't know what you're planning, kid, but we might as well try