Book 2: Chapter 370
The box was neither large nor small. It was big enough to fit in the palm of his hand.
The texture of its surface was similar to that of jelly. It was cool and felt like it was sticking to the tips of his fingers.
Rather than a box that was storing something. It looked more like a ‘material’ that simply had the shape of a box.
Nevertheless, everyone called it a box. And the reason for that was quite simple.
It felt like there was something inside of it.
No.
It wasn’t just a feeling.
There was definitely something inside of it. And it had been sealed in some way so that those who weren’t qualified could never open it.
…It wasn’t magicology.
But the vast majority of people who saw it would mistake it as such. Was this the intention of the person who made the box or put the seal on it?
That might be the case.
-…
External force.
That was the power surrounding the box.
At first, he thought it was an illusion, but it wasn’t.
There was probably no one else in this universe apart from him who could see what this power truly was.
It was a power granted only to Absolutes who roamed between universes.
But that only made him even more suspicious.
After all, he was the only Absolute born from this univ-…
-…
No.
He wasn’t.
Apart from him, there was one more.
Two images of the man appeared in his mind.
In one, he looked no different from a Demon, and in the other, he looked more thin and vulnerable than an old tree.
Although the two looked like completely different beings, they shared the same name.
Then what?
Did that mean they were the same?
–The next clue is the box and Diablo
A voice sounded in his head.
Was it advice? Or was it a trap?
What exactly was Kasajin thinking? He couldn’t even guess what was running through his mind. It wasn’t consistent. In the past, Kasajin was exactly the same both inside and out.
…The box.
His attention was drawn to it once again. Just as he touched it with his finger.
Click—
The box opened.
Ah. Subconsciously, he let out a soft cry of surprise.
As if it was resonating with him, black smoke rose up from the box. He shuddered, but it was already too late to dodge.
The black smoke engulfed his entire body. His vision went black.
He flinched, but there was no pain. The black smoke showed no signs of hurting him.
Instead… it felt warm. As if his entire body was submerged in warm water.
In the meantime, he could feel the smoke that was wrapped around his entire body entering his mouth, eyes, ears, and even his skin.
But there was no pain.
Instead, the smoke just continued to burrow deeper and deeper at a calm pace.
Deeper than his blood vessels, muscles, bones, and internal organs that were beneath his skin. Deeper than that.
Gurgle…
…Then there was change.
The elements that formed the very basis of his body began to change.
“Th… is.”
His own voice startled him.
It felt strange, but also carried the familiarity and nostalgia of a voice he knew.
It wasn’t just his voice that changed.
He could feel it.
The fact that every cell which made up his appearance, physique, and bodily systems had changed.
To be precise, they had been overwritten.
“…”
The smoke disappeared.
He still didn’t fully understand the situation.
However, he was certain that his physical condition, which could only be described as the worst before, had improved like an illusion.
…He could hear the sound of water nearby. So he decided to walk there.
And on the surface of a small lake in the middle of the forest, he looked at the reflection of his face.
‘Frey Blake’ looked back at him.
* * *
“…”
Lukas opened his eyes.
He couldn’t help but feel like this kind of thing had been happening quite a lot recently. However, this time, he wasn’t greeted by intense pain as soon as he came to his senses. In a way, it could be called a small point of comfort.
‘…my memory.’
It was a bit hazy.
He remembered obtaining the box and becoming ‘Frey Blake’, but his memories after that felt like a dream.
He wasn’t even sure if he remembered everything.
Perhaps only time would be able to answer that.
“Would you like some water?”
A loud voice came from beside him.
In a chair beside the bed, he saw a woman looking at him with an indifferent expression as she held her chin in her hand. Her hair was as dark as a starless night, and her eyes were as clear as a lake as she stared at Lukas.
The Great Medium.
As he looked at her, a faint memory surfaced in his mind.
She’d shown up shortly after he’d failed to deter Anastasia. And she’d said that she had something to say to him… and after that, he couldn’t remember.
“…I fainted again.”
He looked down at his hands as he said those words.
And just from that, he could tell. He was now Lukas Trowman, not Frey Blake. (TL: so he has a Blake State now?)
“How long?”
“About 6 hours.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a worst case scenario where several days had passed.
Lukas looked around the room. Apart from himself and the Great Medium, he couldn’t sense the presence of anyone else in the room.
“The others?”
“They left.”
His heart grew heavy at the Great Medium’s words.
“…did they decide to pursue Diablo in the end?”
“No. Not that.”
The Great Medium shook her head as she continued.
“Peran persuaded them. He didn’t manage to convince them completely, but he did manage to stop them from at least going after him right away.”
“…Peran.”
“He asked Anastasia and Iris to heal Snow.”
“Ah.”
It seemed he had chosen to confide the Alliance’s situation to them. It was a timely decision.
Now that Anastasia and Iris had witnessed Diablo’s prowess for themselves, and seen Lucid with their own eyes, their sense of crisis should have been amplified to an unprecedented level.
Perhaps all the human powers would join forces and they would put aside the conflicts in Circle for now.
Even if things didn’t work out that well, he didn’t believe that they would refuse to treat Snow right now.
Lucid, the Undead Sword King, had become much stronger than he ever was. In the past, Lucid had been a brilliant hero even when he’d been more focused on defence than offence. If Kasajin’s role was to threaten the throats of the enemies by smashing from the front, then Lucid’s role was to create a strong defence line so that those in the rear could perform to their full ability.
But that wasn’t the case now.
The defence of Lucid, who had become a Death Knight, was stronger than ever, and his offensive power was now comparable to Warrior King Kasajin.
Even Anastasia, who had a ridiculous 1 million ME energy source couldn’t win in battle against Lucid. This was true even when she was receiving the full support of Iris from the rear.
Someone who could go head to head with Lucid without being pushed back.
Perhaps on the entire continent, only Snow de Predickwood could accomplish such a feat.
“So Peran isn’t here now.”
“Right. It’s just me and you. And Nix as well.”
“…when did they leave?”
“Just a while ago. Maybe 30 minutes or so?”
As he listened to her reply, Lukas got to his feet. Then, he took a sip of water from the bottle on the table to moisten his dry throat. The water was lukewarm, but it was enough to quench his thirst.
Even after he closed the bottle and placed it back on the table, the Great Medium did not say anything. It seemed that she was waiting for Lukas to speak first.
…The Great Medium remembered Lukas Trowman. She remembered him more clearly than anyone else he’d met.
Peran, who only knew Frey, was fundamentally different from Torkunta, whose very existence in itself was unstable.
“This universe forgot about Lukas Trowman.”
This was the first time he was able to mention this fact so calmly.
The Great Medium nodded.
“Do you know why?”
“Yes. I know.”
It was an answer that was filled with confidence.
At that moment, Lukas’ heartbeat increased a little bit.
Regardless of whether she knew that or not, the Great Medium continued in an indifferent voice.
“I can probably answer most of the questions you have now. But it might be a long conversation, so I’ll ask you in advance. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to get some more rest before we continue?”
“No. Let’s do it right now.”
He had a slight headache, but other than that, he was fine.
Lukas nodded to show his assent, and the Great Medium opened her mouth again.
“Everyone in this universe has forgotten you. And there is also no record of your existence.”
“No. Peran and Torkunta remember me.”
“Those are exceptions among exceptions. Torkunta in particular… is very lucky. But he may soon forget about you as well.”
“What do you mean?”
Lukas couldn’t help but question the Great Medium’s shocking remark. But she continued instead of answering his question.
“What do you think is the reason for this? I’m sure you’ve made your own guesses by now.”
“…I think God did something. But I can’t guess why.”
“Well, you’re not wrong. That’s right. Your disappearance has something to do with his influence. But it was not done out of malice.”
“I see.”
There was only one being that an Absolute, no, a former Absolute like him knew who was capable of such an extraordinary act.
Whether large or small, God’s actions were always accompanied by events on the cosmic scale. That was something that Absolutes knew better than anyone else.
“It is a rule.”
“…rule?”
“This is a truth that I only learned recently. This is thanks to the weak security of the void records. Of course, that’s also why some beings other than me were able to interfere… But that’s not important right now, so let’s move on.”
Lukas looked at the Great Medium. She felt even more mysterious than she did before. For a moment, he couldn’t help but think about his disciple Arid, who had the power of Communication.
He couldn’t help but wonder if he had anything to do with the weak security of the ‘void records’ that she just mentioned.
“Lukas Trowman. You left this universe as an Absolute. How long have you been working as an Absolute.”
“I don’t remember, it’s been too long.”
“I see. Perhaps it was such a long time that mortals would not be able to perceive it.”
The Great Medium paused again and for a moment, their gazes crossed.
Lukas noticed hesitation in her eyes.
Why was she hesitating?
“…However, when you returned to this universe, only 10 years had passed. What do you think is the reason for this?”
“Because the flow of time is different in each universe.”
“That is not wrong, but it is different. The real reason is because that is what you wanted.”
“…what?”
It was hard for him to understand what she meant.
Of course, Lukas knew that the Great Medium was already doing her best to explain everything in an easy enough manner for him to understand.
But even her ‘simple explanation’ was hard for Lukas to understand.
“I didn’t come to this universe with the power of an Absolute. It was with the help of someone else’s power, not mine.”
“Perhaps it was someone with a similar power to mine, but who was more powerful than me. No matter how powerful an Absolute is, they don’t have the ability to freely travel to a particular universe.”
…The Great Medium of the past hadn’t known about Absolutes.
But now, she seemed to be perfectly aware of God, Absolutes, and the endless multiverse.
It was clear that in the decade that Lukas had been away, the Great Medium had also had her own experiences.
“But I was able to return to this time because I wanted to?”
“It must have been a subconscious desire. You probably wished that it would have been nice if only 5 or 10 years had passed, right?”
“…”
He couldn’t deny it.
“There is one thing that is important here, Lukas Trowman. You are not the only one. It is possible for Absolutes other than you to step into this universe as long as the conditions are met. It might not be now, but it might be the past or the future. Do you understand what this fact means?”
“…do you mean a temporal conflict can occur?”
That was the only probability Lukas could think of.
For example, if he had returned to the battle 10 years earlier instead of now, he might have encountered ‘Lukas Trowman’ who was fighting Lord at that time.
“Absolutes are the only beings capable of transcending time and space. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that an Absolute came to this universe 50 years ago. To get rid of Lord and the Demigods who broke the ‘balance’. After easily accomplishing their goal, they leave. What do you think would happen to you?”
Whether he could think of an answer or not, the Great Medium continued.
“You would not become an Absolute.”
“Ah.”
“The Absolute [Lukas Trowman] was born in the battle with the Demigods. So, in a universe without Lord or the Demigods, the universe would have been fine without your desperate struggle.”
“…so, my existence disappeared.”
“To be precise, you became independent. When beings become Absolutes, they inevitably fall away from their homeworld and become independent. That was the law that Dawns created to solve that paradox.” (TL: Dawns is what the Great Medium calls God.)
The Great Medium looked at Lukas’ face.
…The words she was about to say would surely hurt him. Not only that, they would bring him to the crossroads of choice once again.
Nevertheless, they needed to be said.
Perhaps that was the role that had been assigned to the Great Medium.
“…when you left this place, you must have left your home behind with dreams of returning.”
And even while facing the thorny road that he would walk as an Absolute in the future, he would not feel despair.
Because he had the hope of returning home.
Someday.
“However, the truth is that the moment you left, the place you wanted to return to was already gone.”
“…”
It was easy to see what the Great Medium was actually trying to say.
She was saying.
That was the return that Lukas Trowman had been anxiously anticipating.
Was not possible from the beginning.