"Kyle!" Theodor shouted.
Kyle blinked. 'Did Boss just refer to me with my name?'
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Regain control!" Theodor shouted.
"It's fine. Let me do it," Kyle said.
"You're ruining your breakthrough!" Theodor shouted, enraged.
"I'm not," Kyle said. "My instincts tell me to do it like this."
"You're not a beast! You are a human! You underwent a ritual! Your body is not natural!" Theodor shouted. "Control your Ether!"
Kyle smiled. "Trust me. I have an idea."
Theodor was reminded of all the times Kyle had said that he had an idea.
"No, you must listen to me now! You can't advance like this!" Theodor shouted.
Kyle grew a bit annoyed. "My instincts are not like your instincts. Remember Magic Lady? Remember the instincts she gave me? Who knows more about becoming stronger, a talented Master Artificer, the King of Skysand, or a fucking interdimensional super God that can just teleport people across worlds and change their bodies without them even noticing?"
"Your Magic Lady did not know that you would get an Aristocrat's Body! She doesn't have all of the information to make an informed judgment!" Theodor shouted.
"How do you know?" Kyle asked. "Magic Lady dumped me directly above the entrance to your Inheritance Crypt. There was even a fucking drill right there!"
"Be silent!" Theodor shouted. "Listen to me and control your breakthrough! You've already wasted enough Ether!"
"No, you listen!" Kyle shouted.
"Did you kill a Mid Metal Elemental while still being in the Second Realm?!"
"Did you comprehend seven fucking Fragments in the Second Realm?!"
"Was your Momentum this powerful?!"
"Did you create your own fucking way to use Ether?!"
"No, you didn't!"
"I know what I am doing! This is my body, and I trust my instincts!"
Theodor remained silent for two seconds.
"This is not your body," he said. "You have grown, but you only achieved all of this because I've guided you!"
"You are not my friend. You are not my superior. You are not my inheritor."
"You are my tool!"
When Kyle heard that, his eyes narrowed.
He remembered the time Theodor had said something similar many years ago.
Kyle had asked Theodor about allies, and he had answered that there were no allies.
Only enemies.
After that, Kyle had asked what he was.
"A tool!" Theodor had shouted without hesitation.
When Theodor had repeated that phrase just now, Kyle had finally accepted it.
Deep inside his heart, he had already known, but it hadn't hit home until now.
Kyle had changed a lot over the year.
But Theodor?
Not a single bit.
Yes, he was not complaining as much, but that was because Kyle was doing a good job.
From the very beginning, Theodor had always only had one goal in mind.
Revenge.
As long as Kyle was approaching that goal, he didn't have to say anything.
For the past years, Kyle had done an excellent job, which was why Theodor hadn't said anything.
'It's not that he refuses to change.'
'It's that he can't.'
'After all, he is not a human.'
'Boss is not the actual Lord Theodor.'
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