novelraw Chapter 552: Renee Is Here
Chapter 552: Renee Is Here
Eimhart also flew in front of Renee. Looking at the meatball composed of unknown substances that had formed in front of him, he hurriedly explained,
"I tried to persuade him, but it was to no avail at all. He insisted on doing this; I couldn't stop him even if I tried..."
Renee, wearing a black dress, hadn't changed at all since their parting. Amidst the lingering rich fragrance, her older sister-like face appeared incredibly solemn.
"I understand."
"You... you have to save him..."
Renee didn't respond, merely scanning the Fisher ball before her from top to bottom.
She reached out her hand several times, seemingly contemplating a solution in her mind, but quickly vetoed it mentally.
"His physical body has been corrupted by Chaos, but his soul is perfectly intact. The Mythic Rank should be an existence where body and soul are united, but his situation is very special..."
"Guglulu..."
Renee stroked the eyeball-covered spherical surface of Fisher, continuing,"But right now, both his soul and physical body have been severely corrupted by different types of Chaos, actually causing them to temporarily go separate ways. That's why he turned into this state..."
Renee's expression grew increasingly solemn. She looked at Eimhart beside her and said,
"He should have known that one can only read one Completion Handbook... He has three Completion Handbooks on him. One is very special; the amount of Chaos is very small. But the other two are different.
"During his previous encounter with Erwind in the Northern Border, Erwind proactively gifted him his Completion Handbook. He must know this, but..."
Eimhart opened his mouth. Of course he knew why Fisher wanted to read this dangerous Chaotic Knowledge.
Because the Dragon Court of Raphaela and Jasmine was facing the threat of two Eighteenth-Tiers and Baimon. Out of his desire to help them escape the terror of the Demons, he chose to take a risk in desperation...
But was this something Eimhart could say?
Especially in front of Renee!
The impression of encountering Alajina together with her at Pirate Port previously was simply too profound. Her terrifying combat ability made Eimhart suspect that even if Raphaela and Jasmine were added together, they wouldn't be enough to match one of her hands.
When the time came, another round of chaos and rivers of blood would be inevitable. Having stayed with this fellow Fisher for a long time, Eimhart had also been influenced by sight and sound, knowing what should be said and what shouldn't.
He couldn't possibly go and invite that annoying ancestor Baimon, could he?
Bah, bah, bah, had he also been infected by this idiot Fisher, actually starting to bring up that damn fellow.
Renee didn't know Eimhart's internal conflict, but outwardly, he was noticeably mumbling,
"Uh, that... well... probably knows?"
But Renee had no time to discover the flaws in Eimhart's words. She merely looked at Fisher, pondering a method to solve this difficult problem.
"I have no way to directly help him. His whole body is reeking with the aura of Chaos. My helping him would be adding fuel to the fire; it would only make his corruption more severe."
"Perhaps he'll get better if you speak to him a little. Earlier, when I said your name to him in mid-air, he stopped."
Renee glanced at Eimhart and replied,
"I was the one who found him, and then I slapped him down with my power."
"...Oh."
Eimhart nodded somewhat disappointedly and stopped speaking, only looking at Fisher who resembled a ball before him, unsure of his current situation.
"Guglulu..."
The countless eyes on Fisher's body were surging. Although his exterior resembled a ball, Eimhart keenly noticed that his interior seemed to be constantly undergoing changes. Those "guglulu" sounds were produced precisely because of these changes.
"Lady Renee, look quickly, is there something moving inside his body?"
Renee directly reached out and touched Fisher's skin. Only after feeling it for a good while did she say with some astonishment,
"He seems to be reorganizing, but the reorganization has never been successful, so he has maintained this state all along."
"What... what does that mean?"
"It means his consciousness is currently blurry and he cannot control his own body and soul. Naturally, he also has no way to extricate himself from the current Chaos."
Eimhart looked at Fisher worriedly, then hesitated and asked,
"How about... I try calling him?"
But Renee shook her head and explained,
"He doesn't even have structures like ears right now; he cannot hear outside sounds. His soul and physical body are also temporarily separated at this moment. You cannot touch his soul with his physical body. Ordinary methods cannot wake him up.
"Right now, either we can only wait for his consciousness to slowly recover on its own, or we can only let me try."
Although she said this, it was obvious Renee chose the latter method. Because just as her voice fell, her hands had already reached out once again and caressed Fisher.
Her expression was extremely solemn. Looking at the Fisher before her, she simultaneously said to Eimhart,
"Close your eyes."
"Oh, oh, okay, Lady Renee."
Eimhart obediently followed her instructions, closed his eyes, and waited for Renee to operate.
Renee slowly closed her own dual eyes. As this process occurred, the massive bright moon above the firmament also became exceptionally bright. However, it was no longer the pure, cold moonlight, but rather streaks of continuously rotating deep purple.
Merely looking at this moment, the "moon" above the firmament had produced an extremely obvious difference compared to the real moon.
That rotating deep purple wasn't present in Reality, but rather in a deeper layer of the world, resembling layer upon layer of endless symbols or energy.
It was an "∞" symbol.
And at this moment, what Renee summoned was precisely the Authority representing her true body. Her true body was currently residing in the Spirit World here, gazing at Reality across the Crevice and the distance of the Spirit World.
"Fisher..."
Renee murmured softly, then following the hand caressing Fisher's surface, she connected his body with her Authority.
"Buzz!"
At the instant the Authority came into contact with Fisher, the entire sea surface was covered by a smear of profound purple light, rendering the figures within invisible.
"Where am I?"
Amidst the profound murkiness, this thought suddenly appeared in Fisher's consciousness. It was as if the previous moment was still a patch of nothingness, and in the next second, this thought emerged from it as it should be.
He wasn't unconscious; it was just that a moment ago, his consciousness was no longer the former Fisher, lacking his thoughts, and operating in a meaningless path.
It was only because this thought was generated that he reverted back to the concept of "Fisher".
Confused, he wanted to observe his surroundings and feel the world around him, only to discover he couldn't do it no matter what.
To see, one needs eyes, needs to perceive light; but he seemed to have no eyes.
To perceive, one needs skin, needs nerves; but he seemed to have no nerves.
To breathe, one needs a nose, needs dual lungs; but he had no organs.
He had nothing, only this murky consciousness.
"What do you want?"
Right at this moment, an androgynous voice suddenly rang out in his brain. It seemed like his own thought, yet appeared exceptionally abrupt.
Although Fisher couldn't perceive the surrounding world, he still possessed his memories. He quickly recognized the owner of this voice.
"Erwind?"
However, Erwind didn't respond to Fisher, merely continuing to ask,
"What do you want?"
Fisher wanted to open his mouth to answer, but he didn't even have speech organs like a mouth or throat.
He had no choice but to think in his brain,
"I want to speak."
But just like every living being, at this moment he seemed to be trapped in some sort of shackle. Or rather, he had this shackle long ago; it was just that he only realized it at this moment.
Life always has structure first before having sensation. Just like having ears first before wanting to hear sounds, having dual feet before wanting to run, having eyes before wanting to see, and having a brain before having imagination.
Conversely, if a person without a mouth wants to speak, it's impossible to grow a mouth because this is the principle of nature.
Life or Matter is primary; it is the key.
But weirdly, contrary to this principle, when Fisher thought this, mouths began to grow in the place he didn't know where could be called a "face" .
He impatiently opened his mouth, only to find he couldn't hear what he was saying, nor could he feel where his mouth was or how it moved.
Just when he wanted to feel these sensations, ears and sensory nerves grew on his body.
And it wasn't until this moment that he realized he seemed to have grown too many.
"I..."
Mouths and ears grew all over his entire body. When he spoke, all the mouths on his entire body opened. The thunderous sound was captured by the hundreds of ears on his body, shaking his consciousness until it ached.
In his mind, Erwind's voice seemed to ring out again, reminding Fisher,
"You want too much, greater than your actual need."
"I only want one mouth; two ears are enough... wait, they seem to have grown on my feet."
"It doesn't matter where they grow at all. As long as you wish, they can grow anywhere."
Fisher was slightly stunned. The mouths and ears also slowly moved accordingly, returning to his face.
"Is this... the power brought by the knowledge of the Life Completion Manual?"
Erwind's voice expressed affirmation. She said,
"Do you still remember that mountaineer? When he climbed the first mountain, he reached the summit using a human body. But when he arrived at the second mountain, the human body could no longer bear his climbing, so he changed his appearance..."
"Right now, what you are asking for is merely the need when climbing the first mountain. What you need is hearing and speaking, both human hearing and speaking. You can't hear if it's too far apart; your mouth will get dry if you speak too long—these are all limitations of human organs.
"This means that even if you push them to their limits, you still cannot satisfy the demands of your increasingly higher Rank, cannot satisfy your conditions to climb the second mountain."
Fisher pondered, and soon, his blurry figure slowly became clear. He reverted to the appearance of a black-haired Narcadu mixed-blood.
But that was it. No matter how handsome, using this physique, he was still just a Tier-Zero human.
He looked at his muscle-covered body, which in his Mythic-Rank eyes still appeared incredibly fragile, and couldn't help but question,
"But I previously already entered the Mythic Rank, yet I still maintained a humanoid form, and even used it to accomplish incredible things. It looks completely without limitation. Isn't this contradictory to what you said?"
"Where does your physical enhancement originate from?"
"From..."
Listening to Erwind's counter-question, Fisher suddenly hesitated to speak.
That's right, his physical Constitution boost came from the Demi-Human Completion Handbook.
After reading the Soul Completion Handbook, he had suspected the weirdness of the Demi-Human Completion Handbook's boosts more than once.
Devoid of any Chaos, its boosts seemed to appear out of thin air. Although it proved its divine miraculous nature, whether this boost was equivalent to the other handbooks was still unknown.
Now being reminded by Erwind, Fisher also frowned.
"Are you saying the Life Tier boost from that Completion Handbook isn't a normal, equivalent boost?"
"Correct. Your boost is incomplete. Even if the Completion Handbook you possess is very special and very powerful, it still cannot substitute for other Completion Handbooks."
Fisher didn't respond, merely looking around with his "imagined" organs. Finding no sign of Erwind, he could could only ask the empty air,
"What on earth does the Treasure of the Life Completion Manual signify? What did you discover from Agreas?"
Erwind's voice remained calm, merely stating,
"We are enemies; why should I tell you? As long as you don't find the [Treasure], you will never be able to finish reading the complete Life Completion Manual.
"Back then, I was stalled by this shackle for so long, searched and researched for so long before finding a slight clue; why should I tell you directly?"
Clearly her voice was calm without fluctuation, but Fisher could always hear a bit of schadenfreude.
So he asked back,
"Aren't you already dead?"
"That's true indeed. However, you used the Soul Completion Handbook to eat a part of me, do you still remember?"
"So you mean you've taken root and sprouted inside my body?"
"Does the dinner you eat take root and sprout inside your body?"
"The dinner I eat doesn't speak to me."
"But you will reminisce about its taste."
"Are you saying I'm reminiscing about your taste?"
"Hehe, it seems that your Demi-Human Completion Handbook choosing you really was destined."
"..."
Fisher had nothing to say; he could only say that Erwind, who had entered his soul, understood him far too well.
He stopped pursuing this point, merely looking at the surrounding gloom with a somewhat solemn expression.
Because if there was no clue to the Treasure, he couldn't finish reading the Life Completion Manual. Then it would be equivalent to him only having the Soul Completion Handbook, only able to enter the Sixteenth Rank. How could he possibly contend with the two Demons?
"Crack, crack, crack!"
Also amidst this brief silence, the surrounding gloomy space gradually shattered bit by bit.
A faint, delicate fragrance permeated out, attracting Fisher's attention over.
"You should leave, Fisher."
Erwind said so.
"Will you appear again?"
"I'm already dead."
"You're right."
Fisher stood up. His thoughts were extremely clear right now; he hadn't fully digested the knowledge he swallowed yet.
He still had to return to reality to face difficult problems.
But right when he was preparing to leave, Erwind's voice rang out again,
"You have met Anna. She is the incomplete Treasure. You know how she was formed; you've also seen Project Fleshgraft. If you want a Treasure, then discard kindness. If you want to climb against the Rules, then you must blaspheme Life... This is Chaos."
"..."
Chaos, huh...
It wasn't until this moment that he began to ponder an extremely crucial question: where on earth did the Chaos outside the world originate from?
Those Transferred Persons?
They should merely be omens of Chaos.
Margaret had also heard those "voices". After Asuka Karasawa was betrayed by Margaret, she also possessed that scarlet power...
This question prompted Fisher to start reminiscing, reminiscing about everything that happened in the Sanctuary back then.
But simultaneously, Erwind's voice rang out again,
"Wait, what are you thinking? Have you forgotten your consciousness hasn't withdrawn from the knowledge? Hurry up and leav—"
Her words came to an abrupt end because Fisher's body had once again begun to deform in his reminiscing consciousness.
"Guglulu!"
He constantly changed shape, momentarily wanting to turn into an Elf-kin's appearance because he reminisced about Duke Tao.
But at this moment, his Life had already reached its limit. No matter what, he couldn't replicate the greatness of the Mythic Rank, only able to become a blurry, clumsy imitation.
What about Angels?
At this moment, feeling this shackle, the figure of Helaire suddenly surfaced in Fisher's mind.
But he suddenly discovered that his body's transformation had completely stalled, as if unable to imitate, as if he had never seen her before...
Her smiling expression became increasingly profound in his mind, yet Fisher felt an unprecedented distance.
"Helaire!?"
He unconsciously called out, wanting to pull their distance closer with his voice, yet he didn't expect that delicate fragrance to draw closer and closer, and the light before his eyes to grow brighter and brighter.
In the next moment, an exquisitely beautiful yet worried face crashed into his entire field of vision.
She looked at Fisher, panting for breath, seemingly not expecting him to call out an unfamiliar name. Moreover, her intuition told her that this was a woman's name.
Behind her, Eimhart had hidden himself in fright, seemingly scared half to death by this call of his.
Renee stared blankly at Fisher, even forgetting to say words of worry, merely asking abruptly,
"Who is Helaire?"