novelraw Chapter 499: Natives
Chapter 499: Natives
At the same time, Margaret herself still needed to reel the Loom's control into her own pocket.
As an analogy, in this process, Asuka and Margaret were like one upstream and the other downstream, both within the same river, jointly in contact with the Loom. Of course, the main force breaking the Loom was Asuka.
No matter how many times it was, whenever Margaret saw the Chaos pouring out from Asuka's body, she would find it astonishing. When she used Chaos to wash away the World Tree's power imprint on the Loom, she would quickly become exhausted. Yet, Asuka was not like that. If she didn't call for her to stop, she could continue doing it forever.
The 'voices' inside the brains of every Transferred Person were somewhat different, and would inflate with time. However, Asuka should have only been in this world for a short time, yet she already possessed such a massive quantity of Chaos. Why was this?
Moreover, she actually had never even heard the call of the 'voices' towards her. Her overall performance truly resembled an ordinary young girl... or even somewhat inferior to an ordinary young girl. Why was this as well?
To date, Margaret had only researched the voices within her own body. Since she recently had to focus on the matter of the Loom, she had no time to explore the nature of the voices within Asuka's body. She merely thought this was a certain characteristic of the voices within Asuka's body.
Although the amount seemed massive, it was completely harmless to people and animals. Besides having a large volume, there was no other use for it.
But she was merely an ordinary child anyway, someone who ought to have stayed by her relatives' side to slowly grow up. It would be fine once she returned to her own world... After today, there would fundamentally be no meaning in continuing to research these voices anymore.
Margaret thought this way.
At this time, in Asuka's eyes, the traces upon the Loom were constantly fading. Exactly as Margaret had estimated earlier, as long as Asuka helped, the progress would be exceptionally fast."Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
As Asuka's power deepened, the perfectly ordered power upon the Loom's surface grew increasingly feeble. Accompanied with this, the entire Loom's form also began to slowly undergo changes. That wriggling entity in the pool entwined by countless black threads—that conceptual matter seemingly devoid of concrete form—moved randomly with greater intensity. Its connections with the surrounding Rules were gradually weakening, slowly stepping toward another direction.
That was Chaos.
The Loom of Fate began to transform its shape at the moment when the World Tree's power was about to fade. Its inherent color of Chaos grew increasingly heavy, and the golden light upon it grew increasingly bright.
"Margaret... this is..."
With her eyes closed, Asuka still felt the state of the Loom at this moment. Up ahead, Margaret's serene voice quickly transmitted back as well.
"Rest easy. This is normal. The Loom's nature is very strange; it can adapt to the power of Chaos and Order by itself. Previously, when the World Tree controlled it, its power entirely belonged to Order. Now that we control it, its power will turn into Chaos. Only when it turns into Chaos can I use it. By turning it into Chaos, we will have succeeded."
When her words reached their end, Margaret's usually unperturbed voice finally generated a slight fluctuation.
Asuka nodded. Then, she continued to use her power to alter the traces on the Loom. As the World Tree's power faded bit by bit, right as she was about to succeed, silhouettes akin to streaming light and rainbows abruptly popped up in Asuka's mind...
"Rumble rumble rumble!"
In this split second, Asuka felt as though she had been plunged into an extremely miraculous space. Her minuscule figure just floated there in the darkness of the universe. All directions seemed both completely empty and filled with something...
But the next second, when her gaze refocused, when the light beside her flared bright again, she abruptly discovered that seemingly ethereal objects around her were slowly taking shape.
At this moment, appearing before her eyes, was that tree that was even larger than a planet.
At this moment, appearing before her eyes, was that physical entity that was no longer ethereal but flush with immensely terrifying coercion.
Upon every branch, there seemed to be tall buildings and pavilions. Upon every branch, there seemed to be deep abysses and high valleys. Upon every single branch lay the past and the future...
Dimensions compounding in layers appeared simultaneously before Asuka's eyes in a manner she found difficult to imagine. From amidst that massive golden luminance, a single eye resembling the sun gazed down from high up above, staring straight at the Asuka below...
That was the main body of the World Tree.
Facing the Asuka before it, its voice, resembling a great bell, surged over like ocean tides, instantly devouring the weed-like Asuka.
She said,
"Courting death."
"Blergh!!"
In reality, Asuka's expression instantly turned utterly pale. Covering her mouth, she instantly fell to her knees. The progress of the Loom before her eyes, which was only a single step away from completely transitioning into Chaos, instantly halted as well, remaining suspended motionlessly in the pool.
"Blergh... blegggh..."
"Asuka! Are you alright?!"
Margaret ran over looking worried. Seeing the dry-heaving Asuka kneeling on the ground, she patted her trembling body and asked,
"What did you see? What's wrong?"
"I... I saw the World Tree. Her power... blegggh..."
As Asuka kept vomiting, a layer of fine cold sweat seeped out all over her body. Following that, she shook her head. Miraculously, her mind hadn't gone blank in this lightning-fast exchange, because she had learned a piece of exceedingly vital information that she absolutely had to tell Margaret immediately.
After panting for a moment, she looked up at Margaret in great worry and anxiety, saying,
"Margaret... it's no use... even if you fully grasp the Loom, it absolutely can't hold back the World Tree... She... she is too powerful..."
Hearing this, Margaret blanked momentarily. Then, that worried expression slowly calmed down bit by bit. She made no unnecessary movements, merely looking straight at Asuka like this without uttering a word.
Panting heavily, Asuka keenly noticed her expression. She was somewhat puzzled and befuddled. But very soon, a terrifying hypothesis surged into her brain. Unbelievably, she asked,
"Marga... ret. You knew long ago... that the Loom cannot stop the World Tree, right?"
"..."
Margaret maintained her previous expression. After remaining silent for a moment, she slowly stood up, turning her back to peek outside at the Ideal State through the hollowed-out gaps.
Simultaneously, she spoke to Asuka softly,
"Asuka, I have good news to tell you."
"Good news?"
Margaret narrowed her eyes and continued,
"Actually, I already possess a method to send us to our hometowns. And it consists of a hundred percent possibility."
Asuka parted her lips, her brain as if having crashed. She could completely not react to the current scenario at all.
"What do you... mean?"
"Asuka, you cannot see nor hear the voices in my head. I originally wanted to share this knowledge with you last night, but... What you do not know is, due to the peculiarity of the creatures of this world, the operations of this world's death also possess a strict procedure. Every creature—Mythic Species and even Demigods—have a strict, inescapable logic of death pursuing them. The one commanding this power is an unconscious Deity: Hela..."
Faraway, the mist within the Ideal State swayed from the sea breezes blowing from afar. As the wild winds fluttered, Margaret's head of golden long hair additionally scattered downwards like waves.
"The only ones capable of sending Transferred Persons to the Ultimate and leaving this world are Gods. And the Gods themselves, due to certain reasons, can absolutely not interfere with the world. This in itself is a paradox, an insolvable puzzle. But it's different now. Having the Loom connected to Death, and having such befitting sacrifices... this is the closest we have been to the Authority of a God, and its power lies beyond what we can imagine..."
Margaret smiled and turned back, arriving before Asuka's face. Crouching down all the same, she grasped her hand,
"Asuka, fully control the Loom. We will be able to leave this world very soon."
It turned out Margaret also wanted to leave this world.
Puzzled, Asuka shook her head. She really couldn't construct what Margaret's meaning was.
"I... I don't understand... what do you mean by... sacrifices?"
Margaret extended a hand, tracing Asuka's face, before speaking,
"Even though we are extremely close to Authority, and we have such a potent Loom as well, what we can accomplish remains extremely limited. We can merely achieve a certain degree of tampering on the procedural flow of death. Chaos cannot be constrained by Rules. The single way to process it even entails waiting until its carrier dies. Only then will the procedure of death targeting Chaos initiate, sending it alongside the deceased carrier to the Ultimate."
"And through the Loom, we can tamper with this procedural flow. We'll use a stronger degree of power and conceptual death to replace us. In this manner, we can be transported to the Ultimate alive. When the time comes, we will be able to go home..."
Opening her mouth wide, Asuka probed,
"What does 'a stronger degree of power and conceptual death' mean? What is the meaning of all this?"
"Its meaning is that someone must conceptually die in our stead. Furthermore, it must be an existence at the Mythic Rank. Only like this can we coordinate with the Loom to tamper with the procedure... Doing this might still not be safe enough. The best outcome is that the more existences sacrificed, the better. You should be able to imagine just how arduous it will be for us to arrive at the Ultimate."
"Meaning to say..."
"Tsubaki, and that Fisher. Tsubaki's rank is comparatively high; he can tamper two people to reach the Ultimate. Fittingly enough, that Fisher has also reached the Mythic Rank. Based on the very least of sacrificing those two, myself, you, and Mikhail will be able to go home."
As soon as she heard Fisher was to be sacrificed, Asuka's pupils instantly constricted. Blood directly rushed to her head. Getting to her feet with a struggle, she grasped Margaret's hand in return, saying agitatedly,
"You can't... Margaret, we cannot do this... I... Teacher Fisher is very important to me. Since arriving here for so long, he's been taking care of me all along. I... I like him, I cannot do this. Furthermore, Tsubaki... Tsubaki has also treated you very nicely. Why... why must you do this?"
Margaret squeezed her eyes shut, her eye rims also appearing seemingly reddened. She looked quite conflicted herself. Yet a second later, she nonetheless spoke resolutely,
"Asuka, stop being naive. This has nothing to do with whether they treat us well or not. Fisher doesn't like you at all from the very beginning. At least, not in a romantic manner. What's more, he's already being pursued by death to begin with. The angels are deceiving him. How could Pandora possibly plead for Chain of Heaven to expel death for him just for a human? He is utterly certain to die!
"Tsubaki betrayed his kin. Standing alongside me to face the World Tree, he stands completely zero chance of winning. I've attempted rebelling before, but in the very end, it was completely to no avail.
"Their endings have long since been preordained. Meanwhile, ours hasn't yet. Could it be that compared to staying in this world forever after Fisher's death, you're not even willing to have him help you return hometown right now? Could it be that you don't wish to return home?"
However, Asuka still didn't wish to capitulate. She advanced by a step, subsequently questioning and persuading,
"Margaret, didn't you say divine power couldn't interfere with this world? Us using the Loom's power to interfere with death right now... this will indubitably be ten times, a hundred times more serious than that time in the Tree Continent, right? Then what's to be done with here? Won't that Deity named Hela... something notice our actions? While the other deities have no way of interfering with the world, He can. Us using His power to attain our goals—isn't this going to bring some form of consequences?"
Staring point-blank at Asuka, Margaret spoke with brutal honesty,
"The Goddess will likely awaken into consciousness. The rules of death she maintains might also experience shifts because of this. I don't know what will happen after this either..."
"But... merely a Demigod, the World Tree is already so... Didn't you say Gods can absolutely never interfere in the world? If She awakens..."
"That no longer concerns us..."
"This act of trading lives for lives, to trade for a goal... what makes it different from the Elf King taking your blood that time? Margaret, it was Tsubaki who saved you from there..."
"That no longer concerns us..."
"But Tsubaki explicitly came here only to establish this nation alongside you. Once the rules here change, then this place..."
"Enough, Asuka!"
Margaret's two hands violently pressed down on Asuka's shoulders, cutting her words off. While closing her face in onto her, she forced Asuka back step-by-step.
Displaying a vicious and savage expression, Margaret locked her eyes tightly onto Asuka's eyes, bellowing in her face,
"They're nothing more but a bunch of Natives in this world who know absolutely nothing. What relates them to us?! After we leave, this world will have no shred of relation with you whatsoever! You'll eventually have to leave Fisher one day, to leave this world altogether. These Natives don't understand anything at all, yet you're so blissfully enthusiastic to play house with them. Even without today happening, they will all be finished on a certain destined day in the future anyway!"
Asuka looked dumbfoundedly at the Margaret before her eyes. It wasn't until several seconds later that she finally inhaled a subsequent gulf of air.
Her brain was in a state of chaotic shambles, yet uniformly from start to finish, she wasn't convinced by Margaret.
She liked Fisher. If he had to die for her, she would rather never go back for the rest of eternity.
"No... No... Margaret. I cannot be like you, using things that haven't even happened in the future as a premise. I cannot do this."
Words landing, her connection unhurriedly disconnected from the Loom of Fate.
At the very instant Asuka's power departed, the radiance upon the Loom of Fate unhurriedly dipped dim, and the imprints composing the World Tree above it began deepening once more.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."
Margaret's eye sockets reddened thinly. She withdrew her steps backward. Although grief-stricken while staring at the Asuka forward-facing her, she nonetheless never uttered a word since beginning to end.
Not until a whole bunch of time passed did she exhale a large puff of wind spanning across her lips, sighing,
"Perhaps you hold the truth. I truly hold sentiments to Tsubaki, as well as to the Ideal State... In that case, since you are willing to gamble on Pandora not deceiving you, then let's give it a try. Go and take the Teardrop underneath the Loom. I will use the Loom to resist for another span of time. Afterwards, I will push open the gates separating the Ideal State, allowing the inhabitants belonging to the Ideal State to escape to safety as vast as conceivably possible. As for subsequent moments stretching pass then, Tsubaki and I will go into hiding while keeping our heads low in wait for your piece of tidings. Best willing it is an arrangement of joyous news."
"Margaret..."
Staring at the Margaret ahead, looking slightly disheartened yet finally having been swayed and ultimately reasoned to agree by her, while brimming with immense jubilation, Asuka gasped for breath to maneuver forwards to dispense some console to her.
Instead, Margaret wagged her head negatively, thrusting a hand upwards subsequently. She guided that Loom chained within ebony-esque threads to endlessly float to the surface upon her manipulation.
"Snap, snap, snap..."
Strands composed of string coiling entirely around the Loom tore off thread by thread. That very Teardrop positioned below grew more explicitly defined.
"Boom!"
Just as this was going on, underneath the stone tower suddenly exploded forth a violent explosion noise. The blast wave triggered by that cacophony caused the very stone tower to sway fiercely. Facing this degree of power, no more thinking was necessary. This was exclusively a collision bridging Mythic Rank combatants.
Both Asuka and Margaret synchronously projected their gaze externally. Except, separated from the heavily bewildered Asuka, Margaret mostly formulated that the arrangement she left earlier came into operative efficiency.
Fisher arrived. While in charge of garrisoning the locale there, Tsubaki intercepted his path.
Tsubaki's rank possessed more escalation than his. Thus, he was relatively qualified to maintain his blockage towards him.
On the parameters of insurance though, she herself had to quicken grasping time.
"Margaret, below us wh..."
"Puchi!"
Asuka engulfed down a spit of saliva. Just as she intended to twist her skull back to interrogate Margaret's knowledge, a spurt of numbing abruptly blossomed atop her lower abdomen area. Next, entirely her own physical shell locked stiff right exactly upon her tracks.
She hadn't even recognized what unfurled. Upon waiting until her brain sluggishly sought to unveil the existing circumstances right now, a bout of torrential pang instead ascended coming from the root of her lower abdomen region, precipitating her bodily vessel to turn weak as though casting out its innate skeletal framework instantly.
Vibrating her cerebral vessel, Asuka sloped her head in witness, only to view a lanky Dagger actively punctured inwardly stemming past her dorsal. Protruding straight past her lower abdomen territory, out seeped the blood-plastered endmost tip of a blade.
"Hah... hah..."
Unbelieving, Asuka yearned to veer her cranium, yet her whole stature was succumbing towards a drop cascading into mush completely independently of manipulation. Exactly precisely here, the frame belonging to the very Margaret enacting the assassination behind had shifted up, securing her flimsily to abstain her fast-dropping trajectory toward a tumble.
Asuka lacked sight encompassing Margaret's present expression, nonetheless sensing her freezing respiration intertwined with syntax fluttering past auricles synced side-by-side intense episodes bearing tinnitus interlaced into bouts encompassing visual instability. The Margaret stationed posterior simulated a barricade persisting securely amidst the shade, partitioning any element existing.
Asuka struggled feebly, but Margaret behind her firmly locked her in place, allowing the sharp, frigid blade to sink deeper into her body, draining her scorching blood away alongside her life.
"Ma... Ma..."
Asuka's lips trembled. A single teardrop fell from her eye socket. Those simple opening syllables... they were probably, perhaps, the starting pronunciation of Margaret's name, right?
"...Why are you always so naive, Asuka? You do not know how long I have stayed here. A hundred and twenty years. A full hundred and twenty years. You are merely seventeen; you harbor no concept of time. Foolish you is oblivious as to what manner of torment you will incur by missing today. A day will eventually come when you change as well. I myself serve as the finest epitome. Me, a peasant woman stemming natively out of France. Tracing back from acting subservient and eking out an ignoble existence to survive... do you know how many episodes I yearned to merely unceremoniously perish amidst the confines bound to this world?
"But I am barred from a termination just like this. My child parted from within my grasp, similarly my everything. Let it be located within this very world, or localized beyond into that subsequent sphere... I shall seize back my offspring. I mandate unleashing retribution toward them. Transcending from the Natives residing locally, upward into the domestic animals infesting my original world. Condemnation is well deserved amongst entirely all of their numbers!!
"An instantaneous sacrificial tribute amounting over tens of thousands of humanoids will confer sufficient Authority to materialize the fleshy vessel meant for my pitiful child. As for the World Tree Teardrop, it will be the vehicle channeling consciousness onto her... Only dedicating Tsubaki as a sacrificial pawn can our mother-daughter pair maneuver out of here. Subsequently, conveying my successfully reborn daughter, entwined with the mighty robust vigor accompanying the Loom of Fate, to journey spanning into my own homeworld... I need to impart a hundred-fold... a thousand-fold the raw torment engraved into flesh unto the beings responsible behind snapping up my entire inventory away!"
Margaret's speaking cadence heightened progressively. In the vocals usually maintaining deep stillness, an agitated thrill dripping with coagulated blood subsequently presented itself. This painted an image like across these spanning hundred and twenty years, the authentic beliefs embedded in her possessed eventually an audience to confide toward, distinct from redundantly reciting repeating segments sequentially on successive days speaking right against the ravings echoing bordering auricles.
Such a massive pity. The individual presently intercepting the innermost contents emanating internally declined her. Following out of that, was scheduled shortly into immediate passing instead. Irrespective stemming off that margin, confronting directly ahead of an all-too naive sapling of a child, Margaret minded not dropping extra bits of knowledge towards her. This manner of methodology... might permit her the possibility of blossoming wiser progressing into a subsequent lifetime ahead?
"Initially out of origins, I was ill-equipped at commanding authority steering the Loom of Fate, mandating supplementary aid outsourced amongst additional external populace to lend assist toward me. The Loom disclosed out unto me an avenue of answer: there belonged materials hosted onto the physical perimeter bound to your dear Teacher Fisher eligible serving that purpose toward aiding me. Therein serving as root causes motivating sending Tsubaki toward dispensing assassination unto his end, having him seize corresponding merchandise equipped at aiding me toward grasping rule above said Loom. Derived stemming off boundaries that the Loom lacks capacity witnessing any trace bounding Transferred Persons, my discovery uncovering remaining elements accompanying close borders bounding him capable rendering aid... didn't form till moments immediately trailing failure striking his assassination campaign...
"You should've realized vastly earlier, the bleeding essence shedding originating out of Transferred Persons... which translates precisely onto Chaos sheltering itself internally amidst the vitality inhabiting inside our bounds... doubles additionally yielding avenues rendering me capable encompassing rule targeting Chaos itself. This explicitly represented exact outlines defining methodologies tracing how I furnished help accommodating Elf King resisting against strokes of passing back previously. Fast forward back to then, I tasked a decree demanding Tsubaki exterminating your lifeforce accompanying ferrying backwards. Inversely, he rebuffed my commands yet again. Moments following subsequently, yourself marched voluntarily right down upon domains spanning the Ideal State. Justedly on singular merits defining empathy swaying emotionally targeting your plight did I entertain inclinations incorporating you jointly voyaging external departing off properties circumscribing this sphere alongside myself. Yet you are just too vastly youthful. Contemplating endlessly prior and proceeding actions alike, you maintain ignorance precisely toward to what staggering degree of rareness such opportunity represents matching occurrences happening practically once sweeping a thousand cycles...
"A true God's Loom, an unheeded Goddess of Death, the knowledge in my brain, and a Mythic Species willing to be used by me... It's hard to meet the conditions to achieve these things in ten thousand years. Once missed, there will never be a next time. You haven't known regret, so of course you can be regretful, romantic, and so idealistic, but I cannot..."
Asuka didn't try to grab Margaret behind her. Perhaps she didn't have the strength, or perhaps she used all the strength in her body to twist her head around,
"Ma..."
But after hearing everything, Asuka still just repeated that simple syllable.
Extremely puzzled, she looked at Margaret behind her, but facing her was only Margaret's face that was already approaching madness. The visible chaos and ravings seemed to be shared at this moment, allowing Asuka to hear them clearly.
Those voices...
Asuka wanted to grab Margaret behind her, but with powerless fingers she only left a streak of blood on the face of the other party, who had already become thoroughly crazy and indifferent.
Ma...
Mom...
The next moment, Asuka's eyes instantly lost their luster, as if her vision had become completely dark along with the penetration of the blade and the loss of her life.
"Sorry, Asuka. Since you don't agree, I can only use those simply wasted powers in your body myself. Goodbye, idiot."
In the next second, Margaret suddenly withdrew the dagger she stabbed into Asuka's body. Then, she stopped using her hand to support Asuka, allowing her to fall into the pool like a corpse.
"Plop!"
As Asuka fell powerlessly into that black abyss, a smear of scarlet blood color also began to spread out in the pool water. It was unknown whether it was Asuka's blood or her life.
Margaret casually threw the blood-stained dagger in her hand to the side, then watched helplessly as the golden light in the pool stained with fresh blood became increasingly vigorous. At the same time, the identically colored golden light in her eyes also became increasingly vigorous.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
"Matilda, my child..."
"It's time to come home with me, Matilda..."
"Together with me, let them feel your and my pain."
"Just as those voices told me."
"Come back, my child."
At this moment, the madness on Margaret's face finally bloomed without reservation. She stared foolishly at the World Tree's Teardrop floating up in the pool, as if infected by its name as well. The thought of immediately seeing her child brought tears to the verge of falling.
From within the pool, the Loom, having already transited into the coloration signifying Chaos, wriggled while bursting forth. That material substance analog to organic entity instantaneously engulfed ascending upwards, igniting the flames seeking vengeance kept concealed across these long epochs. Gradually, it congealed unified entirely together onto the very Margaret harboring outstretched arms.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
At the base below the stone tower, drawn-out Threads of Death severed string linking string. However, the associated deathly aura declined any dissipate behavior. Concurrently escalating vastly more rich in potency, it drifted outward dispersing via the earth's veins, outright encasing and branding every single creature sheltered amongst borders governing the Ideal State. The overarching majority amongst them tarried immersed deeply within slumber.
"Rumble rumble rumble!"
Alongside transfers channeling a peculiar power variant, borders enclosing all edges mapping the Ideal State witnessed enveloping blankets coating layers transmitting atmospheres causing sheer fright triggering trembling heartbeats targeting even Mythical Species.
Death, has already arrived in quick succession.