Chapter 2786 Opportunity for Rebirth <TOC> Chapter 2788 The Lost Choice
Translator: SumTLMan
Although Laplace was talking about Eremy, Angel nevertheless noticed that this was the first time Laplace had so clearly explained the meaning of 「Reflection of the Heart」.
Reflection of the Heart and the 「prophecy」 they had imagined really did seem to be different.
It was named 「Reflection of the Heart」 because, in Laplace’s eyes, what she sees are the directions toward which all people’s hearts are inclined.
This kind of 「where the heart is directed」 and 「what is thought in the heart」 are two different things.
「What is thought in the heart」 is a person’s subjective thought; one can certainly perceive the things one is thinking, and this belongs to the scope of the self.
「Where the heart is directed」 is not necessarily something the self can perceive; it is more like some fragmentary thoughts hidden deep within the sea of the subconscious. These thoughts may not be able to form complete ideas, but they very likely are the parts that most touch upon the consciousness of the self.
If one goes a step further, it belongs to the 「superego」, which is a kind of dim, unspoken feeling in the dark. It is a kind of intuition by which wizards are always able to seek fortune and avoid misfortune.
Reflection of the Heart very likely reflects precisely those thoughts that lie between the ego and the superego.
Such thoughts do not require you to have any subjective idea at all. So long as you still have signs of life, then the fragmentary notions hidden deep in the sea of consciousness can certainly be reflected.
Just like Eremy: even if it no longer had subjective consciousness, even if it was being controlled by the Seed of Distortion, those subconscious desires were still reflected in Laplace’s eyes and were interpreted by her.
Angel did not know whether his own understanding was correct, but from Laplace’s words, Reflection of the Heart was very likely just as he had guessed.
「Only within the chaotic cinder flame can one see the faint chance of rebirth.」 Angel muttered this sentence under his breath: 「Is this Eremy’s way out?」
Laplace did not respond, because she truly did not know.
Angel thought for a moment: 「Are you certain this is the thought from the depths of Eremy’s heart?」
This time Laplace nodded: 「Its external thinking is caught in a contradiction of chaos and order, but its subconscious is gradually converging, attempting to break through the blockade on its thinking and transmit a message of desire to the outside world.」
However, what Laplace did not say was that, without her Reflection of the Heart, it would have been absolutely impossible for Eremy to break through the blockade on its thoughts. For the Seed of Distortion’s power was too strong, directly sealing off all of Eremy’s possibilities.
Laplace’s appearance instead spoke on Eremy’s behalf, voicing that streak of desperate yearning deep within the sea of its subconscious.
Only, how to fulfill that yearning and let Eremy awaken once more was, for now, unknown.
Also, should Eremy truly awaken again, what the consequences would be was likewise unknown for the moment.
Angel pondered for a moment and still did not know what decision to make.
Perhaps, just as he had previously thought, only by going to meet Mr. Boil Gentleman once more would there perhaps be a sequel to all this. After all, in Angel’s interpretation, the so-called 「chaotic cinder flame」 pointed precisely to Mr. Boil Gentleman, or, in other words…… the Chaos Source.
While Angel was lost in thought, Laplace said: 「Now, it should be your turn to answer me.」
Angel came back to himself and subconsciously wanted to ask: wasn’t there still Speedling who hadn’t had its Gift-Words read out? But then, thinking back, Speedling was not attached to his body at all, but to the alchemy puppet; it was normal for Laplace to treat it as an 「outsider」.
As for Speedling’s Gift-Words…… whether they were had or not did not really matter. It was probably just like with Dangros and the Wood Spirit: no reflection could be seen. Only existences like Eremy, who seemed to be closely connected with Angel yet, because their own thinking was in chaos, simply never associated things with Angel at all, only such could have their Gift-Words read out by Laplace.
So then, how should he answer Laplace now?
Angel’s earlier guesses had mainly been: the Green Rune, the Source Fire, Blood Night Sanctuary, the Wilderness of Dreams, and the Heavenly Eye.
If Reflection of the Heart had nothing to do with prophecy, then perhaps Blood Night Sanctuary could be ruled out.
After all, what Blood Night Sanctuary mainly guards against is prophecy…… however, when Angel calmed himself and thought it over carefully, he felt that might not necessarily be the case.
Although Blood Night Sanctuary’s main function is to prevent being locked on by prophetic abilities, it also has the capacity to guard against prying; might it be that its anti-prying capability had come into play?
If it was the anti-prying that had blocked Reflection of the Heart, then the likelihood that Blood Night Sanctuary was the cause was even higher than he had previously imagined.
Apart from Blood Night Sanctuary, among the other answers, the Source Fire should be able to be ruled out.
If Reflection of the Heart was reading the things within the subconscious of the heart, then the Source Fire was basically impossible to have taken effect. The Source Fire was hidden by Angel inside the fire mark on his earlobe; in a certain sense, the Source Fire had not fused with Angel, nor had it become Angel’s ability, and even less did it have any deep connection with Angel, it belonged, through and through, to an 「external object」.
To put it bluntly, at present Angel was merely the storage box for the Source Fire.
Since Reflection of the Heart concerned the inner heart, then external objects would basically not exert any effect.
Even if the Source Fire could be excluded, the Heavenly Eye…… probably also had not formed a deep connection with Angel, so it could be excluded as well, right?
Then the range of possible answers shrank greatly……
After pondering for a moment, Angel still said: 「I have on me a very special alchemy item.」
When Angel uttered these words, none of those present felt surprised. Who was Angel? A member of the Research Institute! Wasn’t it perfectly normal for him to have special alchemy items?
It was just that, what kind of alchemy item could actually obstruct Laplace’s Reflection of the Heart?
Laplace also used curious eyes to size Angel up from head to toe, as if searching for what exactly the alchemy item Angel spoke of was.
Angel hesitated for a moment, then extended his right hand and tapped at the blood-colored glass-like crystal on his left shoulder that resembled a teardrop.
As Angel touched it, that glass-like crystal dispersed like water, a great swathe of pitch-black color erupting from within. At first it was merely a dark, deep abyss, but it quickly swelled as if catching the wind, and finally formed a black cloak that seemed as though it could flow.
Black brocade with golden patterns, and a red inner lining.
Although at first glance the cloak did not look particularly gorgeous, the moment Angel donned it, the aura around him gradually began to show a faint change.
「My lord seems to have become…… faint and indistinct?」 Kael said in a low voice.
「Faint and indistinct」 was, after racking his brains, the word Kael felt was most fitting.
But in Vai’s view: 「Rather than faint and indistinct, I feel as if my lord’s sense of presence has disappeared.」
Daus muttered at the side: 「His sense of presence has always been lower than other people’s, and you only notice now?」
Under the influence of Boundless Silence, Angel’s presence had actually always been quite faint; however, perhaps because Vai had always regarded Angel as an idol, the influence of Boundless Silence had not had much effect on Vai.
But at this moment, after he put on Blood Night Sanctuary, the 「hiddenness and detachment」 of Boundless Silence was further amplified; even Vai, as a little fanboy, only needed to shift his gaze from Angel for a moment to immediately overlook his existence.
At this time, the voice of the Black Count entered everyone’s ears.
「It is not concealment, nor is it a lowering of his sense of presence; it is more like he has entered the crevice of time and space.」 The Black Count paused and pondered his wording: 「Or rather, he has entered an angle that has been abandoned by fate.」
The Black Count’s words were somewhat obscure; the two apprentices were still bewildered even after hearing them. But Laplace within the prism spoke far more straightforwardly.
Laplace: 「Is this an alchemy item that guards against prophecy spells?」
「Yes.」 Angel nodded as he spoke, while turning his head to glance at Dangros, who was tugging on his cloak and playing with great delight. He had originally wanted to pluck it off, but then recalled that when he had activated Blood Night Sanctuary earlier, he had happened to rouse Dangros from its 「cultivation」; feeling a bit guilty, he simply turned a blind eye and pretended not to see Dangros’s mischievous antics.
For the first time Laplace furrowed her brow, displeasure appearing on her face: 「I said before that Reflection of the Heart is not prophecy. Even if you have items or abilities that guard against prophecy spells, they cannot resist the Reflection of the Heart.」
Alchemy items that defend against prophecy spells can be said to be extremely rare in the outside world, belonging to treasures that have a price but no market. Everyone present understood their value. It was just that Laplace was not wrong either: no matter how rare this cloak was, if it could only target prophetic power, then it did not count as the answer Laplace sought.
They all understood, could it be that Angel did not?
Everyone looked toward Angel, wanting to hear his explanation.
Angel lifted his eyes and met Laplace’s gaze directly, his expression calm: 「I said earlier that I had several alternative answers in my heart at the time, and that I would choose one from among them to tell you. And at that time, I still could not judge that Reflection of the Heart did not count as prophecy. Moreover, this cloak was indeed among my alternative answers.」
Laplace could see that Angel was not lying, yet this explanation still left her somewhat unable to accept it; she only felt……
「Sophistry.」
Angel’s gaze did not shift, and his tone remained steady: 「I am only telling you this fact.」
After pausing, Angel had originally wanted to see whether Laplace would continue to get angry, but unfortunately, Laplace did not display much more emotion; it was just that the look with which she regarded Angel was a bit colder than before.
Angel gave a soft sigh in his heart, and only then spoke to the crux: 「I understand what you mean as well. The reason I still brought out Blood Night Sanctuary is that it has a deeper layer of meaning…… uh, Blood Night Sanctuary is the name I gave this cloak.」
Angel’s sudden turn of phrase made everyone show an expression of 「just as expected」.
Laplace, however, froze for a moment: 「A deeper layer of meaning? What do you mean?」
Angel: 「This cloak is a item I refined several years ago. The refining went very successfully, and when I inscribed the magic formation upon it, the alchemy omen arrived as expected.」
At this point in his story, Laplace still had not heard anything unusual; the only piece of valid information was that the person before her was an alchemist.
As for the rest, those alchemy omens and such, even though Laplace had never been to the Wizarding World, she knew they were a very common kind of phenomenon.
While Laplace was still doubtful, Angel continued: 「I thought this alchemy omen would be more or less the same as in the past; I had even, following the experience of my predecessors, already prepared myself to wage a battle of wits and courage with the『prophet』.」
So long as a item is related to prophecy, in its omen there will basically always appear some existence akin to a 「prophet」. This kind of 「prophet」 is sometimes not a person but a thing, and could also be a long, unending road. It predicts you, and you must predict its prediction.
Angel shrugged: 「But I did not encounter a『prophet』; I saw…… the River of Destiny.」
The River of Destiny belongs to one of the three mainstream branches of prophecy wizards; Blood Night Sanctuary is involved in obstructing prophecy, so it was not strange for the River of Destiny to appear within the omen.
「By the River of Destiny, I fell asleep. When I awoke, I had become a clocktower monster. The period when I was a clocktower monster was actually quite hard to endure; I won’t describe the process in the middle, but in any case a full five years passed…… mm, the time within the omen is not the same as in the outside world. Five years later, I finally escaped from being the clocktower monster and returned once more to the outside world……」
「What I call the outside world here is not reality, but the side of that River of Destiny from before I fell asleep.」
Up to this point, Angel’s omen had not yet deviated too far from reality.
What was somewhat strange, however, was that a single omen had actually gone on for five years. Even if it was five years within the omen, that was quite a long time.
Moreover, after experiencing five years and thinking he had escaped from the nightmare of the clocktower monster, he still had not left the omen to return to reality, this too was something none of them had ever heard of.
Could alchemy omens even come in chains of successive omens?
Angel: 「I merely stood dazing for a while on the riverbank, as the River of Destiny rolled past before my eyes. When I came back to myself, the River of Destiny was no longer before me; I had gone from the riverbank into an unknown void, and before my eyes there appeared a gigantic clock. The hands within the dial, following the turning of the gears, were also ticking along with their rotation.」
Daus: 「The clock you speak of is……」
Angel: 「The Wheel of Time.」
Everyone had in fact been guessing whether it would be the Wheel of Time, and they had not expected that it really was.
One must know that both the River of Destiny and the Wheel of Time belong to the three great branches of the prophecy system.
In a single alchemy omen, Angel had directly encountered both the River of Destiny and the Wheel of Time? Would he next encounter the Strings of the World as well? Were the three great branches of the prophecy system going to take turns coming at Angel?
If things truly were like that, then this alchemy omen would be rather interesting indeed.
Including Laplace, everyone’s curiosity had been thoroughly piqued. However, the development of the facts was not the same as they imagined.
Angel: 「Upon that immense Wheel of Time, I saw a figure.」
「He told me that when I became the clocktower monster, I had made one choice. And he intended to take away the other choice.」
When he reached this point, everyone at first still did not react, until Daus suddenly cried out: 「You mean, he stole your choice?」
Stole away a choice? This sounded a bit familiar…… it was as if they knew whom Angel had met.
If it was him, then it really was possible that all 『normality』 would be overturned.
Laplace: 「His name is……」
Angel: 「His true name is very long…… but if you have seen enough memories, you should have heard his other name. A name that circulates throughout the boundless pan-worlds.」
「Time Thief.」
Chapter 2786 Opportunity for Rebirth <TOC> Chapter 2788 The Lost Choice