Chapter 303: Let's Go Eat Something Delicious (2 in 1) |
"...My name is Celes Nightsinger, and this is the Silent Dungeon..."
The woman answered Ciel's questions blankly, staring straight at her, as if she herself didn't even realize how extremely rude her behavior was.
It wasn't until she answered the final question that her consciousness seemed to suddenly snap awake.
The sluggishness in her mind brought on by her previous fainting quickly dissipated. She shifted to a kneeling position, pressing her forehead to the ground, and said: "I… Your servant begs You… save my family…"
Those corrupted by the system had generally possessed faith beforehand. Since arriving in the Old Days, Ciel had almost never encountered an ordinary person who lacked faith.
The system's corruption cleared out their original beliefs rather than forcing a reverence for Ciel. Under these circumstances, if a corrupted person still chose to summon Ciel, they certainly had an ulterior motive.
Heini was like this, and so was Celes before her.
Celes possessed a surname, though it was not yet clear what the name "Nightsinger" signified in this place.
Right now, Ciel hoped to learn more about the situation here.
"What happened to your family?" Ciel asked, looking down at Celes.
"My younger brother is about to undergo his coming-of-age ceremony and receive the blessing of the God of Death... This blessing is the curse of the undead! I don't want my brother to become an undead as well..."
Under Ciel's questioning, Celes revealed everything. This information allowed her to roughly sketch out the situation she now found herself in.
The domain Ciel was presently in, if translated directly into Ansu, was called the "Death Realm." Everyone here shared a common faith, worshipping the sole deity of this land—the God of Death.
He claimed to wield the power of eternal life. Every member of the territory would receive His blessing during their fourteenth-year coming-of-age ceremony, obtaining the power of "eternal life."
Celes Nightsinger was a native born and raised here. She had never questioned if there was anything wrong with the blessing, worshipping the God of Death with all her heart and soul alongside everyone else, praying to one day reach His divine kingdom.
Originally, she could have continued living this way until she reached thirty and gained eligibility to enter Valhalla, obtaining eternal life with her ancestors in the divine kingdom's Hall of Heroes.
But all of this completely changed a few years ago, on the day she accidentally obtained a silver rune stone...
Her faith in the God of Death vanished the moment she touched the silver stone. This sensation left Celes shocked and terrified.
What terrified her even more was that, after losing her faith and reverence for the God of Death, everything about the people around her began to appear bizarre and sinister in her eyes...
For instance, no one had ever received a response from Valhalla, no one had ever returned from the divine kingdom, and the God of Death's blessing required killing the person first...
Having lost her faith, Celes became increasingly out of place among everyone and everything around her. She began trying to understand the intent behind these blessings and the truth of Valhalla.
During a death ritual, Celes followed a divine envoy and watched with her own eyes as they led a group of thirty-year-old fanatics into Valhalla…
Like other believers, she had witnessed the beauty of Valhalla more than once.
Behind those gates was a golden palace set against a backdrop of pure sky. The solemn guards at the entrance radiated a holy glow, standing in golden armor on either side of the doors.
Beautiful music played within, and the songs of the choir seemed never-ending. Occasionally, one could even see blurry figures in white robes playing and chasing each other inside…
However, after losing her faith in the God of Death, everything behind the gates underwent a cataclysmic change in Celes's eyes.
In her vision, the beautiful music and the ceaseless choir were replaced by the sound of giant hammers striking bodies and heart-wrenching screams. Those playful figures all turned into undead with faces full of terror.
They tried frantically to run out the doors, only to be dragged back, placed into that grim palace burning with pale green fire, and thrown into a massive boiler. Then—
Thud—!
Flesh and blood splattered.
The essence of the Transformed Ones' flesh and blood was meticulously ground by the boiler, turning into dark, bloody water that flowed into the holy chalices below to be collected.
This was no heaven; it was a scene straight out of hell...
Celes fled from there, becoming restless and uneasy. She stopped performing her daily, superficial prayers and instead began thinking of how to take her family and escape the Death Realm…
But secrets have a way of leaking out. Celes's unusual behavior led to her being suspected of apostasy—after being reported, she had been imprisoned in the Silent Dungeon ever since.
And now, Celes was begging Ciel to take her family and escape this Death Realm…
"Have you tried leaving this country?" Ciel asked, weighing the credibility of Celes's words.
"I have tried... but leaving the Royal City requires extremely strict procedures and approvals. Even if you get out, the fortresses and heavy towns surrounding the border will scrutinize your destination..." Celes shook her head and said, "I haven't heard of anyone being able to leave this place..."
This Death Realm... sounded like it wasn't much better than the Abyssal Ruins...
The "Valhalla" and "Divine Kingdom" seen by all the previous believers were likely illusions created by some Sealed Artifact or transcendent ability. It would twist the believers' brains, allowing them to see what they wanted to see.
After Celes's faith was cleared by the silver rune stone, she instead saw the true scenes…
However...
It was also hard for Ciel to choose to believe Celes entirely based on her side of the story.
Though she did indeed have a request, one had to realize that the information in the eyes of an ordinary person differed greatly from that of a Transcendent, and what an Ascender saw was worlds apart from both.
Just like Heini before, who, due to a gap in knowledge, had developed hostility toward the God of the Dead Star and his envoys, when in truth, the God of the Dead Star only wanted the village to survive and had no other ill intentions.
And now, what was this God of Death actually doing?
Crushing the undead who had become Transformed Ones? Extracting the potion residue seeping from their bodies? And what would these "second-hand potions" be used for?
Although Ciel had not spent a long time in the Old Days, having only visited two regions, both had already revealed quite a lot to her.
At least from what she had seen so far, Ciel could be certain that in the Old Days, these so-called gods were doing everything in their power to frantically plunder faith.
Moros, the Voice of Eternal Silence, was like this, and so was the God of Death.
Precisely because of this, the God of Death's ritual of harming His own believers left Ciel deeply perplexed.
However...
Ciel didn't necessarily have to entangle herself with this God of Death here. The Death Realm was also a relatively isolated region. Ciel wanted more information about the Old Days to find a way to establish an organization.
Attempting to build her own organization in a realm with a unified faith was clearly not a wise choice. If possible, Ciel would choose to simply take the silver rune stone and leave, selecting a better successor.
She first had to confirm if this was truly an isolated place, or perhaps an underground world like the Abyssal Ruins.
Although the recovery ability of the undead bore a slight resemblance to the "Physician" path in reality, Ciel could not confirm if this was the predecessor of that path.
"Do you know of any kingdoms or regions outside the Death Realm? Or perhaps gods other than the God of Death?" Ciel asked, looking down at Celes, who lay prostrate before her.
"I'm sorry… I know very little about those things… but my brother studied at the Seminary; he should know something about them…" Celes's words carried a hint of hesitation and a slight pause.
Of course, these shifts in tone did not escape Ciel, who immediately sensed the trace of deceit in Celes's words.
"I will give you ten seconds to reorganize your words," Ciel said calmly, "to ensure there are no more deceptive elements in them—that undead just now called you a deceiver, and I am willing to give you a chance to prove you are not."
Ciel's words struck Celes's chest like a heavy hammer. She panicked instantly, frantically knocking her forehead against the ground as she spoke in a hurry:
"Please have mercy, Great Time-Binder… I only hoped You could save my family, which is why I said that… but I truly have never learned about things outside the kingdom. My brother… or anyone from the Seminary, or any Lord Overseer might know."
Ciel had guessed correctly; Celes had indeed concealed some information just now. She was clever, not lying directly, but selectively conveying only half the information… This was exactly what Ciel used to be skilled at.
Unfortunately, Celes did not possess Ciel's mastery to say such things with a straight face.
Ciel slowly leaned over, reached out, and took the silver-white rune stone directly from Celes's hand.
Compared to the simple Heini, Ciel did not think Celes, with her petty tricks and schemes, would do any better.
This action of Ciel's was undoubtedly a death sentence for Celes and her family. Blood seeped from Celes's forehead as she knelt there, her body going completely limp.
"Last two questions." Ciel spoke slowly. "What year is it? And why did that man become like that after seeing me?"
Hearing Ciel speak again, Celes acted as if she were grasping at a final straw and replied hurriedly: "It is currently the year Death Omen 477. In a few days, the ceremony for the 477th anniversary of the God of Death's descent will be held…"
Death Omen… 477?
There was no concept of years in the Abyssal Ruins, which made it impossible for Ciel to form an accurate judgment of time. Now it was Death Omen 477; this appeared to be a calendar unique to the Death Realm.
Was Heini still alive at this point in time?
Or rather, did this period of the Old Days she had traveled to take place after she shattered the sky of the Abyssal Ruins, or before Heini had even obtained the silver rune stone?
Ciel sensed the altars in her mind and found that no new altar had appeared… it seemed the chances of finding Heini again were slim.
"As for that man earlier… I think I can roughly understand why he ended up like that…" Celes swallowed hard before continuing, "Your flesh and blood exudes a fatal temptation… a temptation that is nearly impossible for any undead to resist…"
My blood is tempting?
Didn't it only work on Other Side creatures?
Or could it be that this was also the effect of [Charm] stacking? The undead were already bloodthirsty, and her [Charm] had further intensified their craving for blood?
However… this was indeed a bit troublesome…
Ciel's identity was already conspicuous enough while walking in the Old Days. Now, in the Death Realm, her blood would attract the attention of the undead, making it hard for her to go unnoticed.
The moment she stepped out of the dungeon, the entire city would likely know of Ciel's existence within a day, potentially triggering a large-scale hunt.
Ciel had just engaged in countless life-and-death struggles in the Abyssal Ruins of the Old Days; she truly had no desire to continue fighting now.
Let's see if I can activate a Companion…
If either the Grim Worm or the Pure White Armor could come to help, it would greatly increase Ciel's efficiency.
This was no time to save on those 100 Fate Points.
Ciel slowly raised her hand. Two silver runes gradually emerged on the back of her right hand, and one of them began to glow with a faint silver halo…
A chance?
Ciel's eyes lit up.
This contract was... the Grim Worm?
Was its injury healed? Could it fight?
Regardless... as an Ascender, even in an injured state, the Grim Worm would be far more powerful than Ciel's current combat strength.
「Activate "Companion" Grim Worm?」
「Warning: Activating a "Companion" may cause significant disturbances to the future. Please choose carefully.」
Significant disturbances to the future?
The Grim Worm was an Ascender, potentially even an Ascended One of the "Avenger" path in the Old Days. Obtaining its help would certainly cause no small disturbance to reality...
But... was there any price greater than her fated death?
If irreversible disturbances to the future truly occurred, as long as Ciel's altars remained, she could always return to the Old Days to erase everything she had done and eliminate the influence.
Having confirmed this, Ciel no longer hesitated and spoke in her mind.
"Confirm."
「Fate Points: 374 → 274」
「"Companion" protocol activated.」
「Please wait for the "Companion" to contact you.」
Several system panels flashed before Ciel's eyes, and the silver contract belonging to the Grim Worm on the back of her hand remained highlighted, as if proving the contract was already in operation.
"Lord Time-Binder, what are we to do now…" Having waited a long time without seeing any movement from Ciel, Celes looked up slightly toward Ciel's shoes and asked in a low voice.
"Wait." Ciel didn't say anything more. She simply found a relatively dry patch of wall free of bloodstains to lean against and closed her eyes to rest.
With the undead roaming the surface, this underground prison actually served as a form of protection for Ciel.
Right now, she only needed to wait quietly for the Grim Worm's response and arrival…
Ciel could afford to wait. She had already experienced several dark, prison-like waits in the silent nights; she certainly did not lack the patience to wait now.
Even if she had to wait a year, Ciel would not make her move until the Grim Worm arrived.
In any case, there were no guards in this dungeon. Even if the people inside turned into withered bones, it was highly unlikely anyone would come to disturb them…
...
Meanwhile, in another region of the Old Days.
This was a true golden palace. An abundance of rubies and red carpets adorned the beautiful structures of gold and white.
If Ciel were present, she would certainly find this place familiar—this was the scene from the first time she saw the memories of the "Touch of Fate's Betrayal"… It was a rather dreamlike place, similar to an academy.
And atop the academy's high tower, a little girl with long, pure golden hair lay on the railing's edge, her slender legs dangling over the empty air, swinging gently.
Her emerald eyes were as bright and clear as amber, emitting a faint glow. At this moment, she was holding her right hand high, spreading her fingers toward the dark, sunless sky, her gaze empty yet worried, as if she were contemplating some major life matter.
After an unknown amount of time, her right hand finally drifted down, resting on her flat stomach as she spoke softly: "I'm hungry…"
She didn't seem to be thinking about anything profound or unfathomable at all, but was simply wondering what she should eat later.
If she were in Ansu instead of the Old Days, she would surely have become kindred spirits with Adele—of course, they would only talk about food when they were together.
Just as the girl was about to push herself up to sit, a scorching pain suddenly flared in her right hand.
Her eyes widened as she snapped her gaze to her right hand, where a strange silver rune had begun to glow.
In the girl's world, the sky, already covered by dark clouds, seemed to be shrouded in an endless, ink-like shadow.
A terrifying phantom, visible only to her, flickered several times before slowly solidifying in front of her eyes.
The terrifying, insect-winged figure—with countless legs and shadow tentacles extending from beneath its dark robe—watched the little girl and slowly tilted its head.
"Who are you…?" Sensing an aura that was simultaneously familiar and strange, the girl parted her lips slightly, asking in a daze.
"Quick," the shadow figure slowly extended its right hand toward the girl, its hazy, illusory voice ringing out, "I'll take you to eat… something delicious."
"Let's go."
The girl did not waver for a single second, placing her hand directly in the shadow's palm.
In an instant, the terrifying phantom surged through the rune in the girl's hand, flooding frantically into her body.
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