novelraw Chapter 602: Child
Chapter 602: Child
"Rumble!"
Over the Southern Branch Mountain Range in the southern part of the Southern Continent, the heavens were covered by pitch-black clouds of water vapor. They were so thick that even sunlight couldn't penetrate, only able to pathetically swirl and struggle within, intensifying the already oppressive atmosphere at this standoff between two armies with arrows on strings.
The air was tinged with the bitter saltiness of the ocean and the dense water vapor of impending rain. It accumulated heavily on the chests of every soldier. Regardless of which side, they all stared blankly up at the sky, gazing at the thunder brewing within.
Fierce winds blew from the south, rapidly sweeping over the tree branches atop the mountain range and the numerous tents of the Human Allied Army below.
Inside the main tent of the Allied Army, Barbatos stood by the entrance. The manic gale strangely dissolved bit by bit beside him, turning into a gentle breeze that lifted a strand of his hair.
He reached out his hand and suddenly said,
"It's time to do something. So many humans have been stationed here for months since their departure. The Dragon-kin from the south launched a surprise attack on our rear supply line. This news makes the humans very uneasy. As food decreases, this uneasiness will only intensify. If this continues, I'm afraid it will ruin our plans."
This was clearly a major error while the two armies faced off, yet Barbatos's face didn't show the slightest trace of extra emotion. For a Mythical Species like him, a war of this scale was nothing more than child's play.
If they didn't need Dagon's Blessing on that Dragon Queen, he and Agreas behind him could slaughter the entire Dragon Court entirely on their own.
But at least for now, they still needed these identities arranged for them by Baimon, which was why Barbatos spoke thusly to remind his companion in the tent.Inside the warm tent, Agreas sat cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by chunks of stone carved with demonic runes. Upon hearing Barbatos's words, her action of piling those stones didn't pause in the slightest. Only when the final stone was placed did her expression turn slightly ugly as she gazed at the unresponsive stones.
"It failed..."
"What failed?"
Barbatos let go of the slightly lifted tent flap and hurriedly walked back inside. This question vanished like smoke the moment he saw what Agreas had piled up, because both of them knew what it was.
This was Agreas's Portal back to the Demon Dynasty.
"What's going on here?"
"When the gift I gave Solomon previously suddenly ran off to Eliog's Castle, I already had an ominous premonition. Moreover, she also seemingly shares an unclear relationship with that Dragon Queen's man. Now the Portal failing is even more so... But how is this possible? That man has Baimon's sigil on him. If he has a relationship with Eliog, given Eliog's temperament, could she endure it?"
Agreas's complexion was ugly. After pondering for a moment, she hastily turned back to look at Barbatos and said,
"Try your Portal, see if it can still be used?"
Without a word, Barbatos beckoned with his hand. The longbow placed on the table flew uncontrollably towards him, landing in his hand. With a thought, the originally dim runes on the bow lit up one after another, as if to open a door to the profound in the void before him...
"Rumble!"
Yet in the next moment, thunderbolts fiercely struck the sky outside the tent, followed by the arriving late thunder. The instant the thunder resounded, the runes in Barbatos's hand also instantly lost their luster.
"...Our Portals within the Dynasty have all been destroyed."
Agreas sneered coldly and said,
"What is the meaning of this? That Fisher knows he's no match for us, so he went to seek Eliog's help? She hasn't been released yet. Even if he gave her soul power to free her soul, it's still far from Mythic level. How could she possibly help him?"
"...Or perhaps, he guessed our schemes, knowing that reading those Completion Handbooks might entail terrible consequences, so he resorted to such methods?"
Agreas shot Barbatos a glance, chaotic thoughts continuously churning in her mind. Subsequently, she froze slightly and said,
"No, that's not right. That Fisher wouldn't be so foolish, unless there's something within the Demon Dynasty he's certain can deal with us. Regardless, I have a bad feeling about this; we have to go back and take a look... But now that our Portals are all destroyed, do we have to go back through the Ten Gates?"
Barbatos stood up expressionlessly, then looked outside and suddenly said,
"Since it's like this, let's accelerate the progress a bit too. Since these humans are dissatisfied, let's give them something to do. Have the entire army prepare to set out; give that Dragon Queen a taste of pain... As for us, forget about the Ten Gates. Mushing through there is extremely troublesome. Fisher destroying the Portals is likely just to delay time; going that way plays right into his hands..."
Agreas looked at him, then subconsciously bit her finger with her mouth. The sound of teeth biting into flesh and bone resulted in a crisp sound from her lips,
"If we don't go through the Ten Gates, how are we supposed to get in? Go search for the Portals of the other Demon Gods scattered across the Surface? Finding them would take forever!"
Barbatos walked to the entrance. Instead of replying immediately, he first summoned a messenger to approach. Afterward, he spoke to Agreas,
"...Did you forget I have a partner? They might not have anticipated that I know the location of Cidi's Portal. And even if they did, Cidi has more than one Portal; they couldn't have destroyed all of them..."
"..."
Agreas stared blankly at a hint of pride and happiness surfacing on Barbatos's expressionless face, as if having a partner was such a wonderful thing, making her want to beat him up.
What's so great about it, you pretentious prick...
She sighed, then stood up as well, looking at the military camp outside that had begun growing restless following Barbatos's orders.
She just had this premonition that the time Baimon spoke of was fast approaching.
Whether having a partner was wonderful or not, Agreas perhaps didn't know and didn't want to know. Yet Fisher undoubtedly understood the joy of possessing a partner. Even his consciousness at this moment was enveloped by Eliog's demands, feeling empty like he was constantly plummeting.
"Drip, drop..."
Within a dream-like, distant space, Fisher lay on the ground, listening to some viscous liquid seemingly dripping down from all directions, producing heavy sounds distinctly different from water droplets hitting the ground.
He dazedly sat up, intending to search for Eliog or other companions within this pitch-blackness. However, upon sitting up, he discovered the surrounding scenery abruptly change, covered in a variety of tall buildings possessing an extremely strong Southern Continent architectural style.
All sorts of wooden buildings were carved with dragon-like curves on their exteriors. Their magnificent and imposing beauty favored every living being residing in this land.
Intuition told Fisher that this was the Femabaha Dragon Court.
Yet within this originally prosperous and great city synonymous with majesty, it was now completely empty. Dead silence echoed in the air. Only lifeless, skeletal structures remained, devoid of any interior.
Shouldn't he be in the Demon Dynasty with Eliog and the others? How did he suddenly arrive here?
Fisher couldn't help but wonder. But in the next second, he abruptly saw a very familiar back figure sitting on a public bench by the roadside ahead.
The golden hair on that back figure's head was sparse, making his reflective scalp clearly visible. Wearing classical Dragon Court robes, he simply sat quietly on that public bench, silently gazing at the empty, utterly silent Dragon Court before him.
"Caleb Uz?"
Fisher muttered, then slowly approached him. Hearing Fisher's voice behind him, Caleb Uz's meditative posture trembled slightly. He turned his head like he had come alive to look at Fisher. After a long silence, his expression actually revealed a hint of relief.
"You've arrived..."
"...Why am I here?"
"Because you have finished reading the Completion Handbook I wrote, and you haven't gone mad yet. This isn't an ability just anyone possesses..."
Caleb Uz's face remained the middle-aged appearance from when he first arrived in this world, only his face carried far too much exhaustion, to the point he couldn't even keep his eyes open. After explaining this sentence to Fisher, he turned back to look at the dead silent Dragon Court ahead, as if his soul was trapped here, forever denied freedom.
This made Fisher quickly realize that the existence before him was different from the phantom of Caleb Uz he saw when reading the Mythic section of the Soul Completion Handbook. He remained silent for a while before questioning,
"Did I finish reading it? I remember I was merely looking at it, but I was thinking about other things at the time, and I don't remember what you wrote at the end either..."
"You just don't remember, but that knowledge has indeed already been read into your body... Moreover, honestly speaking, whether you read the final part or not is no longer of much significance; it's merely a bit of my repentance."
"Repentance? What are you repenting for?"
Filled with doubt, Fisher sat down beside him, looking alongside him at the completely empty Dragon Court before them.
While Caleb Uz fell silent for a long time before continuing,
"Yes, what am I repenting for... I suppose it's for my wife and daughter. I failed them, and I even lied to myself like a fool for so long."
"Your wife and daughter, I remember..."
"In reality, my wife and daughter died long ago. I only discovered this point much later during the process of retracing my soul. My wife didn't cheat, and indeed, my daughter actually loved me. It was my fault. I neglected them, I prioritized other things over them, until my wife couldn't bear it anymore, until I disappointed my daughter. Even when I refused to divorce my wife, one night she still left our home with our daughter... The tragedy happened that very night."
Caleb Uz cradled his face, calmly narrating all this as if it were another person's story, completely unrelated to him.
Fisher involuntarily thought of how he had read through the memories of his many past lives. He wondered if this was the consequence of doing so; it made him not just "Caleb Uz" but a "composite" existence, causing things that should have been very important to Caleb Uz to become completely meaningless.
"Then why did you believe they were still alive back then?"
"Because of Asuka Karasawa, the President of the Creation Society..."
Fisher froze slightly, only to hear him continue,
"Back then, I didn't realize how important they were to me until I lost them. I nearly went mad. I entered this world in that state and sank into depression for a long time. She had been observing me from the shadows ever since I arrived here. She worried that me being in such a state would cause unprecedented harm, so she tampered with my memories using magic, causing me to deceive myself for so long... Hah, she's best at doing this. Not only deceiving others, but also deceiving herself.
"And the time I've been in this world is far longer than I imagined. She reset my memories many times before I finally stabilized and was tossed into the Dragon Court of the Southern Continent by her... Becoming a 'brand new' transferred person. Only later she didn't know where to go either, so she had no way to manage me and the other transferred persons anymore, ultimately letting me discover the truth..."
Fisher felt a shock in his heart. He hadn't expected Asuka Karasawa to actually employ such methods to contain the harm of transferred persons. Moreover, it sounded truly somewhat inconceivable.
Whenever she discovered other transferred persons displaying dangerous tendencies in their hearts, would she deal with them like she dealt with Caleb Uz, washing their memories clean then tossing them somewhere anew, disguised as if they had just crossed over?
It was just a pity that since Caleb Uz's condition worsened later on but Asuka Karasawa didn't intervene further, it meant that the Asuka of that time had already entered the Spirit World and ultimately went missing as the Lord of Fate said. This indicated that he inevitably also didn't know Asuka's exact whereabouts.
Thinking of this, Fisher changed the subject. Sweeping a glance around the empty Dragon Court, he asked,
"Then why are you appearing here? This should be the Dragon Court of the Femabaha era, right?"
Caleb Uz stiffly nodded, yet didn't directly answer. Instead, taking the opportunity to ask Fisher another question,
"Fisher, tell me, why do those 'Stars' residing in the Spirit World gaze upon everything in this world around the clock without rest? They possess such tremendous power, yet display no intention of interfering with this world whatsoever. Even that 'War of Stars' that invaded Reality was merely because their own safety was threatened, leading them to desire migration..."
Fisher froze slightly, subsequently recalling "Pisces," whom he had seen via Star Magic back then. Throughout this journey, he had already heard countless times about the Stars in the Spirit World gazing at this world eternally, yet never once thought about why they would do so.
He pondered for a moment before finally replying,
"They are 'recording,' right?"
"Exactly, they are recording. They are passionate about recording the stories and epics they witness. This is their nature and what they love doing the most. Then you should know where they were born... They came from the Sea of Souls in the Spirit World, which is a part of the 'Ocean,' and also the only visible place within the 'formless Sea of Souls.'"
Previously, Caleb Uz had mentioned that aside from the souls of this world Fisher was in being visible, souls beyond the world were actually invisible. Therefore, even the gods never realized that souls had owners.
"So, are you trying to say that the habits and practices of that group of Chaos-kin actually stem from the true owner of the Sea of Souls, that Chaos existing beyond the world, namely the [Ocean] you speak of, right?"
"...You are very smart. That is exactly what I mean."
Caleb Uz turned his head to look at him, seemingly finding Fisher's comprehension abilities exceeded his imagination, causing even his numb face to show a hint of fluctuation. He continued,
"The reason the gods cannot discover the Ocean, aside from Its own level being too high, also stems from Its seldom interfering, only harboring a love for recording. And as Its creations, souls also possess Its trait of recording. That is why we can retrace the source of souls and see the memories recorded by souls, our past lives... And Soul Chaos also possesses this trait. Which is why the me you see now is also [recorded] by the Chaos of the Completion Handbook..."
Fisher rubbed his chin, recalling his own completely empty "past life."
"But, the past life I saw was completely empty."
"...There are only two possibilities for this. Either you are a 'newly-created' soul, or your 'records' were erased by some unknown existence."
Fisher thought for a moment, feeling both possibilities were exceptionally serious, leaving him feeling rather unnatural.
"Pursuing the mysteries of yourself is a good thing. It would be best if you could recall a bit more of the wonderful things in your past, the people you loved, the people who loved you... You should do whatever wonderful things you can, as much as possible... Because, since you can see me, it means the Chaos I left inside the Completion Handbook is about to fully enter your body. At that moment, you will merge with it, directly facing the source of Soul Chaos. You will become the Base for its descent, bear its power, and become the world's destroyer..."
Fisher's expression blanked slightly. Yet viewing Caleb Uz expressionlessly looking at the hollow city ahead, speaking in a completely emotionless tone,
"You are already near the end of this path. This is also the path we transferred persons have repeated countless times. Regretfully, every person who reached this point understood this was a dead end, yet no one had the opportunity to warn the latecomers not to follow in our footsteps. They could only allow corpse after corpse to pave the way, allowing disaster after disaster to be born...
"At the time, the me who read my past lives had already grown indifferent towards my feelings for my wife and daughter, naturally eliminating the necessity to continue walking downward. But Chaos pushed me constantly forward. Only then did I realize that everything was completely out of my control... all of us transferred persons are merely pawns used by Chaos to collapse this world from the inside, the kind that are discarded after use. And what comes before and after the pawns has never been decided by themselves..."
Fisher furrowed his brows, looking at Caleb Uz who resembled a sculpture before him, unable to resist asking,
"Why did the Chaos from the outside set its sights on our world? And why is our world destined for Destruction? Are the gods of our world completely oblivious to this and powerless to act?"
"The secrets to everything lie within the Spirit World. Go there, and you will know the answer. When your rationality and everything are taken over by Chaos, you will temporarily see everything in the Spirit World... right before you die."
Fisher rested his hands on his legs, feeling somewhat melancholic regarding Caleb Uz's warning deep down.
Of course, perhaps his heart also held a sliver of hope, such as what Gui told him about his specialness previously. But Fisher's personality inherently prevented him from pinning everything on that sliver of uncertain luck.
Furthermore, experience told him that his reading Completion Handbooks wasn't completely free of side effects. The side effects verging on madness made him resemble neither human nor ghost; he was just bitterly holding on so far...
Just as Renee worried, what if he truly turns into a ball when the time comes?
The key was, this ball would be an explosive "scourge"!
However, upon thinking of Raphaela and the others, the hesitancy in Fisher's heart dissolved bit by bit.
If he didn't read the Completion Handbook, then these risks wouldn't be borne by him. But what would happen to Raphaela, Jasmine, and these people who seemed connected to the World-Ending Prophecy?
"...But I have to try. Try if I can defeat them, Caleb Uz. The goal you strove for was illusory, but mine is not. They are still by my side. I took their most precious things, and now is the time to repay them."
"...Having something to strive for is indeed a blessing. Speaking in hindsight, when I still mistakenly believed my wife and daughter were alive, my motivation was indeed at its strongest. After the lie was exposed, my condition sharply plummeted until encountering almost inevitable death. Looking at it this way, you and I are very similar. It's just that the women you're involved with are too many, yet there is only one child..."
Caleb Uz looked at Fisher beside him, shaking his head before continuing,
"I'm merely informing you. The Soul Chaos is fast approaching. For this, it has already begun washing away previous 'records,' which is why you can see me right now, and why I can tell you my failures and experiences..."
But Fisher became spaced out. It was several seconds later that he spoke, his brain seemingly overloaded,
"Hold on... what... what child?"
Yet Caleb Uz was too lazy to answer Fisher's question anymore, because in the next second, his body, along with everything Fisher saw around him—those buildings, the bench they were sitting on—all began to "melt" entirely, turning into masses of terrifying Black Mud that seemed to emit an invisible suction force outwards...
On the path of resisting Soul Chaos, even Caleb Uz failed. And when it came to getting along with a child, he was even more at a loss for words. Thus, he didn't reply to Fisher's words anymore, merely giving him a final reminder,
"From now on, the 'Ocean' will observe your every move perpetually. If you want to do something to resist Him, remember to think it in your heart. You must speak and act with caution..."
After finishing this sentence, Fisher's vision lit up slightly. The surrounding Black Mud abruptly vanished. He felt like he had been momentarily smashed down from high up in the air, landing in a seated position on a chair.
His clothes were messy, and in front of him, Eliog, draped over him, was also panting slightly. Like a kitten, she emitted a "gurgle gurgle" sound that resembled bubbling magma from her throat; it seemed she felt extremely satisfied.
Fisher opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but was completely misinterpreted by Eliog. She turned sideways, swept her tail, and kissed him.
"Mwah."
Only then did she smartly hop off Fisher's body like having enjoyed a full meal, standing aside to tidy the clothes on her and scattered on the floor.
"That was satisfying, awooo. The timing was perfect too, not bad, not bad..."
"..."
"What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"
Fisher's heartbeat gradually quickened. He felt as if he was entirely embedded within the chair. He looked down, only to see the portion of himself in contact with the chair had completely turned soft and pitch-black, sticking to the chair like Black Mud.
And his entire person suddenly experienced an unprecedented sense of palpitation. The ringing and murmurs in his ears grew increasingly distinct, and even his vision increasingly doubled.
But sensing Eliog sizing him up over here, seemingly wondering why he suddenly stopped talking, Fisher let out a long breath and forced a smile,
"...Nothing, it was just too... comfortable."
Eliog froze slightly, subsequently revealing a wicked smile. Seemingly taking this sentence as praise, even the tail behind her perked upright,
"You, awooo..."
"Professor Fisher, Professor Fisher! I found it... I found the Base!"
It was exactly at this moment that an urgent flurry of footsteps bounded up from downstairs. This caused the expressions of the two who were just about to say something to change slightly, simultaneously looking towards the stairs.