He hesitated for a moment before answering honestly. It wasn't like he could lie anyway.
"I'm her guardian."
'Guardian?' The shadow squinted its eyes before looking at Theo's hand and asked, 'What's the connection with the Moonlight Order then?'
"The holder is her mother."
'Is…' The shadow fell silent for a moment before asking another question. 'This is the last question. Do you know what this kid is doing?'
"She's evolving to reach Supreme Rank. That's all."
'What your eyes can see is something like that. However, what she is doing right now is more than that. She's releasing a massive amount of Lightning Order into the air. If I'm not here to enclose this space, this Lightning Order will bring a huge amount of creatures here.
'Not only from your side but also from this side as well. They're going to kill her. Luckily, I'm near and prevent it from happening.' The shadow then turned to Ava. 'Still, she's not supposed to have this level of Order.'
"What do you mean?" Theo asked carefully.
Hearing that question made the shadow turn back to him. After a momentary silence, the shadow behind him disappeared.
'Before I answer your question, I'll need a confirmation.' The shadow landed on the ground and asked, 'O' Child of Lightning. Who is he to you?'
Ava struggled to open her mouth due to the pain she endured. However, she still said one word.
"Part…ner…"
This answer was enough for the shadow to ask Theo to come down.
Knowing that the other party was far stronger than him, Theo followed his instruction while staring at him.
'Seeing that the kid's mother is entrusting its child to you, I won't say anything about this. However, you need to answer a few questions of mine.' The shadow looked at him with a serious expression and stated with its telepathy.
"I'm not confident to share something like that with an unknown person." Theo shook his head. "You can just kill me."
The shadow squinted its eyes as if feeling offended by him. After a while, the shadow said, 'Shadow Order.'
"The King Class Monster in this area?" Theo frowned.
'Your people called me that.'
Theo thought for a moment and said, "I'll answer to the best of my ability."
'Why is the child releasing this amount of Order from her body?'
"Ehm… I don't understand what you're talking about? Is Order can be quantified?" Theo frowned.
The shadow looked at him for a moment and realized that Theo didn't understand about Order.
'Order is your identity or your very existence because you form your Order based on yourself. And your body will release this Order naturally.
'The Order will contaminate your Magic Power and come out. During the evolution process, the amount is multiplied. However, I've never seen someone releasing this amount in the evolution process to what you people say Supreme Rank.
'This should be one level above. Her Order is almost complete. And something like this only happens far later normally. So, I'm assuming there's someone helping her.
'Her mother doesn't seem to be having an Authority, so it's not her. Outside Intervention… This is the only explanation.'
Theo fell silent, knowing it was the dragon's doing. After all, the dragon had Lightning Authority.
"…" Theo didn't answer him, knowing that the dragon was more powerful than the shadow.
The latter seemed to have confirmed the existence of an Authority Level figure, so it dropped the topic. "Alright. I've gotten what I need. I'll be staying here until she finishes her transformation."
Not having the ability to decline, Theo stayed silent.
"Still… There's something weird with this kid's power. Her power is in disarray. Some of them seem to have been repaired, but not all." The shadow narrowed its eyes, observing Ava's body.
"She's injured," Theo answered.
"…"
Since there was no response from the shadow, he finally took this chance to ask God of Mischief, 'What is Order to be honest? I'm pretty curious.'
[How about asking that shadow?]
'I'm going to be killed.' Theo replied immediately.
[Who knows?]
Seeing that kind of answer, Theo couldn't help but open his mouth, asking respectfully. "If I may know, what is Order? You've said that Order is based on ourselves. And that we're releasing it naturally."
The shadow stared at his eyes for a moment before answering his question. 'I will only answer one question.'
The shadow then formed three shadow balls. 'They represent the body, the Order, and Magic Power respectively.
'The Order is the connection of this place and the body. In other words, a bridge. Naturally, when there's a bridge, there'll be something passing over it.
'And that is Magic Power inside your body. This Magic Power is contaminated by the Order, and because of that, it grabs one of its characteristics which is to come out to the world.
'So, the now polluted Magic Power is coming out. And this kind of power naturally attracts others because it contains so much energy. This is also why those who have gained Order and Authority are respected.
'Still, there's a kind of gate that allows us to control how much Order leaving our body at a certain rate. The more you understand the Order, the bigger the bridge, the more Magic Power comes out of your body.
'And when you're in this evolution process, that gate is broken. So, that energy leaves your body at full force, attracting the monsters in this area. That's why not many dares to cultivate Order before they are strong enough.
'This is to prevent from being killed at your most vulnerable state. This is why I'm wondering if the kid is fearless or there's outside intervention. It seems to be the latter from your reaction, so it means someone is putting a high hope on this kid, and it's not my place to stop it.'
"I see." Theo couldn't help but bow to the shadow. "Thank you for helping us."
"I'm just doing it for the kid, not you. If you were a normal human, I would have killed you. But it seems you're trustworthy enough for someone with Moonlight Order to entrust her insignia."
The God of Mischief even added.
[See? Just ask… It's easy.]