Chapter 116
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 116
Chapter Title: Full-Scale Movement
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Of course, there's a reason I deliberately waited for your preparations, Secret Scales, to finish.
I had vaguely sensed it myself.
The Merciful Crown surely knew full well that this chat room now held Transcendents even more powerful than me.
Yet he stubbornly insisted on me.
The reason I was willing to hear his request first wasn't because we desperately needed spirit elixirs right away, but because I suspected restrictions on his own movements.
As those thoughts crossed my mind, the Merciful Crown began to lay out his tale.
You know our exchanges with beings outside the sea were severed, right?
I know.
It's an ancient tale.
Going all the way back to my father's era.
We wield our own unique power called the Azure Force.
But in truth, it was a power my father obtained at an unbearable cost.
Azure Force.
It had come up briefly when the Merciful Crown, then known as Anonymous 3, mentioned the Open Faction.
The Azure Force elevated my father to greatness, but it was also the result of breaking a taboo.
Taboo?
How did breaking a taboo in the past lead to becoming a great being?
A patron intervened.
I see.
Serkanos was a comrade of the Hero.
Exactly.
That's why it ended as a mere curse.
You could say a price was paid and received.
The Azure Force is our kingdom's mightiest power, but the instant we step outside the sea, it becomes utterly useless.
And we... cannot wield any other power.
By our very nature.
Ah.
So that's how it is.
The Tower of Intellect seemed to grasp it immediately, but questions lingered for me.
What does that mean?
I want to hear more details.
To grasp a unique power like the Merciful Crown's 'Azure Force'—a personal system—you either become a great being to forge one or seize an existing system.
Serkanos and the Abyssal Tribe got their unique power before becoming great beings, so it's like they reversed the order.
In essence, they inverted cause and effect.
Serkanos was the Merciful Crown's father.
The Absolute who had since ascended to greatness.
That's the curse they earned in return.
Violators of taboos usually face far graver punishments...
But Serkanos was under Sephirot's blessing, so it was mitigated to a curse.
His descendants now bear it.
Curses typically work that way.
Considering what Serkanos pulled, though, that's downright lenient.
Serkanos?
The Merciful Crown's father is Serkanos?
You know of him too, then.
I've heard the name.
Hm, from some very ancient tale.
...You pick up scraps of info from everywhere, don't you?
I'm just brimming with curiosity, you see.
The world has far too many fascinating things.
The Tower of Intellect explained it well.
To add: there's a reason the curse seems mild.
The Hero was originally supposed to resolve even that curse...
The Hero died.
Yes.
Not even the Hero could promise to resolve that curse lightly.
It must have been Sephirot's vow—and since the curse lingers, either you've been abandoned...
Or something's amiss with Sephirot.
Of course, I don't know the details about Sephirot either.
I only learned from you that Sephirot exists above the Hero.
Just my speculation, not certainty.
Naked Truth.
Anything you've scavenged on this?
Unfortunately, no solid info there either.
That's beyond the layers I can access.
Oddly, Tower of Intellect, you and I seem to know almost the same things?
Exactly.
It's disconcerting.
No need to bristle like that.
It's kinda cute, actually.
No... ne...ed...?
Cu...te...?
Listening quietly, I realized this wasn't entirely unrelated to me.
It went beyond merely lifting the Merciful Crown's constraints... it tied into the successor's duty of inheriting power.
Since they seemed to peg the successor as Sephirot... it involved me directly.
Of course, the Hero didn't vanish irresponsibly.
I know the method he left behind.
You're entrusting that method to me?
Yes.
It's about finding someone.
Finding someone?
I'd braced for a high-difficulty mission from the Hero and Sephirot tales, but this changed things.
Tracking people was my specialty, after all.
That includes bringing them back, right?
That would be ideal, but...
Before we discuss that, I should tell you where they are.
A hush fell.
His messages paused briefly before resuming.
Avici.
Whoa.
Hm.
The reactions weren't casual at all.
From the Tower of Intellect stunned silent by "cute," to even the Naked Truth responding soberly.
Someone to find... in Avici?
Even Blazing Glory—who'd barely posted in this chat—chimed in.
Avici?
First I'd heard of it.
Now I see why you're entrusting this to Secret Scales.
Indeed.
Only a human can safely approach that place.
What is Avici?
The Avici I know?
I mean Avici Prison.
The abyss where taboo-breakers fall.
Also called the Rift of Torment and Oblivion.
...Hold on.
I'd felt a chill from the name alone, but this description was over-the-top.
No, terrifying.
And he wants me to handle that?
It's also where Serkanos should have gone for his taboo.
Of course, that would've imprisoned his entire tribe, Merciful Crown included.
Can't deny that.
My head spun, but now the circumstances clicked.
The true meaning of the curse being a "lesser punishment."
The greater one was this: plummeting into Avici Prison.
So who hands down that punishment? Who judges?
From the context, a great being?
But can you still reach it?
Wasn't it forgotten by now?
We can find it.
How can you be so sure?
...We can find it.
But I need a moment to gather my thoughts.
?
What thoughts?
I sank into my own reflections.
To sum up: the Merciful Crown's father broke a taboo to gain the Azure Force.
The Hero and Sephirot promised to lift the resulting curse.
Even that curse was weakened thanks to Sephirot.
Originally, the penalty was confinement in Avici Prison.
Of course, without both sides' accounts, it might differ from the truth—but based on what I'd heard so far, that was it.
But the Hero died, and Sephirot vanished.
Leaving the favor unfulfilled.
Sephirot vanishing while leaving a request gnawed at me.
Did some dire circumstance truly prevent fulfilling it?
Or... was it meant for me to take it up?