Chapter 2784 Comprehensive Intelligence <TOC> Chapter 2786 Opportunity for Rebirth
Translator: SumTLMan
Laplace:「The first memory related to Panic World that I saw was a memory reflected by a streak of blood light.」
Daus was stunned for a moment:「A memory reflected by blood light?…… Blood light?」
Laplace had originally not intended to answer Daus’ words, but seeing that Angel’s eyes also carried doubt, after pondering for a moment, she still gave a slight explanation of the reason:「This involves the laws of the Sea of Void Mirrors……」
The laws within the Sea of Void Mirrors are roughly divided into: birth and annihilation.
Birth represents all the memories reflected by every「mirror surface」. Across the pan-planes, countless worlds, so long as a「mirror surface」exists, the scenes recorded upon it can, in the form of「memories」, flow into the Sea of Void Mirrors.
Such a mirror surface can be the surface of water, a glazed surface, or even a warped surface lit by firelight; so long as it can reflect an image, it can be taken in by the Sea of Void Mirrors. Among them, the scenes reflected on the water’s surface are the clearest and the most long-lasting; the scenes reflected by light are the most fleeting.
Blood light belongs to the latter; it might be the reflection off some kind of sharp weapon during battle, existing for only an instant, yet it was still recorded by the Sea of Void Mirrors.
The above is birth.
If we speak only of「birth」, it seems as though you would have no privacy at all so long as you stayed near a「mirror surface」.
But in fact, that is not so, for two reasons.
First, the Sea of Void Mirrors is extraordinarily, extraordinarily vast; even though many parts of it are broken, it still connects to countless worlds that possess mirror surfaces.
What you do before a mirror surface might very well flow into some faraway reach of the Sea of Void Mirrors, or directly flow into a broken part of the Sea of Void Mirrors and turn into foam and dissipate.
Second, among the laws of the Sea of Void Mirrors, aside from「birth」, do not forget there is also「annihilation」!
So-called「annihilation」is to「eliminate」at the root the memories that have flowed into the Sea of Void Mirrors from the outside world.
This is like Qwest World, where at intervals there are soul tides that carry the lingering souls and ghosts left in the world of the living into the world of the dead.
This is a kind of law, a law under the Great Will.
The Sea of Void Mirrors also has such a law, but the Sea of Void Mirrors is far more rough about it. Soul tides at least still give souls with intelligence other than ghosts a certain right of choice: they can go to Qwest World, or they can continue to remain in the world of the living.
But the Sea of Void Mirrors does not; its overturning surges and tides will directly obliterate all memories within their scope.
And the surging tides of the Sea of Void Mirrors…… are at every moment, everywhere.
That is to say, many memories that flow into the Sea of Void Mirrors from the outside world perhaps cannot even remain for one second before they directly dissipate.
Therefore, there is fundamentally no need to worry about the issue of「privacy」.
Even if you strike poses and act coquettishly in front of a mirror surface, to the Sea of Void Mirrors, all are treated equally.
What is more, when a living person enters the Sea of Void Mirrors, they only become a memoryless「hollow」; even if they happen to see some memories, after a while they will forget.
And the limited number of「Mirror Dwellers」in the Sea of Void Mirrors, those who are interested in human memories are not many either.
Laplace can be said to be an exception.
But strictly speaking, Laplace is not truly interested in human memories; whatever memory exists, that is what she looks at. She does not grieve or rejoice for things. The only thing that makes her care even a little is the shadow memory within the Two Faces of the Shepherd God.
Yet even if she cared a bit, when she said she would return it, she did so directly. From this you can see that she truly does not care about gain or loss.
Back to the main topic, because the memories reflected by the Sea of Void Mirrors are not limited to what is in front of the mirror surface, the「blood light」she mentioned can still record a scene…… even if only for an instant.
The scene recorded by the blood light flowed into the Sea of Void Mirrors and, before it was washed away by the surging tides, it was captured by Laplace.
That is the entire chain of cause and effect.
After roughly explaining it, Laplace continued:「The scene reflected within the blood light is a young girl kneeling at the summit of a mound of corpses.」
As Laplace spoke, she stretched out her fair fingers and tapped the mirror surface before her.
In an instant, the mirror surface seemed to transform into a light screen produced by Sky Mechanical City, holding still a panoramic image in light and shadow.
The upper half of the image is a sky dyed red, with a massive whirling cloud of blood vortexing endlessly.
The lower half of the image has, in the background, a pitch-black forest and distant undulating mountain ranges. In the foreground, there are innumerable corpses; some of these bodies are humanoid, some monster-like. They are all fresh corpses, and on the ground a stream formed of blood lies flowing.
At the very center of this heap of bodies there is a「little hill」built entirely from piled corpses. At the summit of the little hill, a young girl kneels, seated upon the corpses, staring blankly around her. By her side is a great bloodstained sword thrust into a corpse.
The girl is shedding tears, the expression on her face suffused with immense grief, as if she has suffered the greatest pain in the world.
And above the girl’s head is precisely that swirling blood cloud.
This is an image rich with a sense of story; although it is impossible to make clear what stories lie within, and it is unknown who the dead are, the dense atmosphere of sorrow transmitted from the scene can be sensed by everyone.
「Is she…… a demon? An Awakened Demon? Or a Bee-Winged person?」Daus asked aloud.
And that question was also everyone’s doubt.
Among the other dead in the scene, one can see Butterfly-Winged people, Bee-Winged people, and Cicada-Winged people, as well as demonfolk and Awakened Demons; but this living girl is different.
On her body are obvious traits of a Bee-Winged person: beneath her arms there are thin, transparent bee wings.
But she also bears the traits of an Awakened Demon; in her tangled black long hair there is an inconspicuous Little Red Flower.
Five small red rounded petals, with golden-yellow stamens in the middle; a green stem runs all the way into her skull.
This little red flower is the most obvious characteristic of an Awakened Demon.
Yet Awakened Demons almost never maintain a human form. They are ferocious, evil, bloodthirsty…… and all the less would they show such a sorrowful expression.
Therefore, there is a very strange sense of contrast upon this girl. Especially when the little red flower sways in the wind while she quietly weeps, this sense of contrast reaches its peak.
「A rational Awakened Demon?」Angel pondered for a moment and said.
Daus:「Do Awakened Demons have rationality? How come I’ve never heard of that?」
Vai said irritably:「We just saw a scene of a Butterfly-Winged person and an Awakened Demon living in harmony, and now a rational Awakened Demon appears. Isn’t that quite a natural progression?」
Daus:「But that mural didn’t show that Awakened Demons have reason, did it? For all we know, that Butterfly-Winged person might have used some method to control the Awakened Demon, just like Angel can control Eremy.」
When Vai heard this, it did seem to make some sense, and for a moment he didn’t know how to refute it.
At this time, Angel looked at Laplace behind the mirror surface and softly asked:「Is this a demon that has awakened again?」
Laplace did not reply, but once more reached out and tapped the mirror surface.
The image changed in an instant; the background did not change, but the corpses that had been on the ground earlier disappeared, and instead there were many more living people around. If one looked closely, they would discover that these living people were actually those same corpses from before.
Or rather, the present scene is in fact how they were when alive.
These people, about to die, are angry, are afraid, are charging forward without hesitation, are despairing……all of their emotions are aimed wholly in one direction.
At a pure-white fiend beneath the swirling blood cloud.
This fiend possesses an extremely perfect, immaculate white shell; its streamlined body has both beauty and an unhidden sense of power. It stands upright and tall, with a pair of equally snow-white wings behind it.
It is like the legendary snow dragon, yet more elegant and flawless than any snow dragon.
But the face of such a perfect, flawless body is filled with hideousness and savagery, and even those pale golden eyes are brimming with brutality.
All of this ferocity is aimed entirely at the surrounding living people and…… its own kind, Awakened Demons.
These are all merely what the image shows, but the detail that most strikes everyone’s hearts is the little red flower atop this pure-white fiend’s head.
Exactly the same little red flower as in the previous image. Because of the difference in body size, this little red flower appears even more delicate and even less conspicuous.
Yet precisely this inconspicuous little red flower makes everyone’s expressions suddenly change.
「It is the girl from before?」Angel asked.
Laplace nodded:「Yes. The fiend’s form comes first, the human form comes after.」
That is to say, in the previous second she was still an Awakened Demon, but in the next second she turned back into a Bee-Winged person. To say she is a purely Bee-Winged person would not be correct either; she still retains the traits of an Awakened Demon, but her memories perhaps have returned, and her reason has returned as well, otherwise she could not possibly weep in such grief.
「Awakened Demons also have a day when they wake?」Daus had still not recovered from this news and merely muttered in a low voice.
By his side, Vai:「Maybe?」
Daus let out a long sigh:「That truly is…… a tragedy.」
Yes, a tragedy.
Even though none of them are people of Panic World and they are only watching as spectators, they can still imagine just how miserable a human tragedy this is.
From ancient times to now, the humans of Panic World, let us temporarily call the native inhabitants of Panic World「humans」, have all been shrouded by the gloomy clouds of fiends.
They are like beasts in the forest; when facing fiends, they can only tremble and pray that the fiends have already eaten their fill and can spare them just this once.
Such days, year after year, day after day, until finally, one day, a person appeared who could resist the fiends.
Only, when this person who resisted the fiends received the cheers and glory of all, he did not know that he had already opened Pandora’s Box.
He taught humans how to use the flesh and blood of fiends to obtain the power of fiends and become demonfolk.
In order to defeat the fiends, batches upon batches of demonfolk were born.
At the beginning there were indeed some results, but when the first demonfolk used power beyond the limit and became an Awakened Demon, the course of events began to slip out of control.
Awakened Demons are even more terrifying than fiends. They completely lose human emotions; they become a new generation of fiends. They slaughter, they are merciless, they do not like eating animals, they feed only on humans.
From that day on, demonfolk, though still guardians of every city, were also shackled. From heroes admired by all, they became monsters everyone avoided yet could not draw near to.
Yet in order to keep more humans from dying under the attacks of fiends, demonfolk still stood on the front lines of resistance. They were lonely guardians, they were solitary fighters, seeking in their daily battles with fiends a sliver of inner peace…… until awakening, or death.
Awakened Demons are the most terrifying ending, yet also the destiny of demonfolk. The more they fought powerful fiends, the more they had to employ power beyond the limit.
After demonfolk awaken, the former guardians become the nightmare of all humans. They slaughter, they devour; even when they meet someone they once knew, it does not affect in the slightest the efficiency with which an Awakened Demon devours. They make no distinction between acquaintance and stranger; in their eyes, all are food.
Up to this point is the story of Awakened Demons as understood by the wizards of the Southern Region of the Wizarding World.
If the story ended here, it would already be something.
However, the ending of the story is far from stopping there.
When awakened demonfolk have the chance to become human again, to possess reason and possess emotions, what sort of situation would that be?
The first image Laplace showed them illustrated this point.
Indescribable grief, sorrow that can flow out from within the scene.
Imagine it: the girl in the image regains her intelligence; she ought to be happy. But when she discovers the corpses around her, what will she think?
Among those corpses, the girl sees her former companions, sees her own kin, sees the lover she once had.
What will she think then?
When the memories from her time as an Awakened Demon return and she discovers that it was she herself who killed her companions, killed her lover, and even bit by bit devoured the parents who gave her life and raised her.
What will she think then?
No one knows, and it is very hard to truly feel what she feels. The only thing they know is that, as bystanders, they can sigh with emotion and say one line:「That truly is…… a tragedy.」
……
The heavy mood lingered for a long time before it was finally broken by Laplace behind the prism.
Laplace’s gaze still rested on Angel:「You were right; this is the second awakening of an Awakened Demon.」
「A second awakening can restore their reason?」Angel asked.
Although a second awakening sounds not bad, from a certain angle it may not be a good thing. To let them live out a muddled life might be better than to wake and then face the cruel truth.
However, for the moment these factors are set aside. Angel may sympathize with the demonfolk of Panic World, but separated by immeasurable spans of space and time, there is no need to fret over others.
But……Eremy is right beside him, and Eremy has already shown some signs of emotion, so Angel still has to listen carefully to Laplace’s explanation.
「Perhaps it will, or perhaps it will not.」Laplace:「What I saw was only an instant of memory; what I can interpret is only what I can see from that memory.」
Pausing for a moment, Laplace suddenly said:「However, regarding this information, you wizards should know better than I do.」
Angel frowned. Hadn’t he already spoken of the information he knew?
Laplace:「I have received memories drifting from Panic World twice. The first memory you have already seen. As for the second memory…… I saw several wizard cities slowly rise in Panic World.」
「Cities of Wizards?!」Daus cried out in shock.
One must know, even the Abyss has only a few wizard cities, most being merely outposts. That Panic World actually has wizard cities is truly the first time they have ever heard of such a thing!
「Having wizard cities means wizards stationed there all year round; it means wizards have conducted research on Awakened Demons……」Angel muttered,「Most importantly, it also means Panic World is not barren; it has the resources that wizards need!」
Previously, everyone’s understanding was that Panic World was extremely barren. This included the Black Count as well; even though the Black Count had told them to look at issues dialectically and not to believe public opinion too easily, the Black Count had never denied that Panic World was barren.
But now it seems they were all wrong.
Panic World is not barren; in terms of resources it is even rich!
Otherwise, with the temperament of wizards, who never rise early without profit, it would be impossible for them to establish wizard cities in Panic World!
One must know, Panic World is a powerful world whose power level is comparable to that of the Wizarding World. This world is fraught with danger and is very far from the Wizarding World. Under such multiple constraints, if there were no immense profits, how could wizards possibly expend the time and effort to build wizard cities!
Now they could be considered to have understood why Laplace had spoken that sentence:
「Humans always pride themselves on being very clever, but in truth, when prejudice takes deep root, they are often unaware of it.」
Because from the very moment Angel opened his mouth, she had known that Angel’s information was fundamentally wrong.
The information Angel and the others had was all based on the supposed barrenness of Panic World, but in reality, everything was the other way around.
They had been deceived; even the Black Count had been deceived.
Was this done by the Frost Moon Alliance?
Or is there some deeper reason behind it, someone who does not wish for them to know the true information about Panic World.
Chapter 2784 Comprehensive Intelligence <TOC> Chapter 2786 Opportunity for Rebirth