hotmtlnovel Chapter 294: Silent Darkness,
Chapter 294: Silent Darkness,
The blazing flames seemed intent on incinerating Ciel’s soul; every inch of her flesh and blood could feel this extreme agony.She felt as if she were being “formatted,” turning into shattered fragments, but even so, she maintained her [Calm Mind].
Perhaps losing consciousness would have been the best choice; being roasted by these silver flames was undoubtedly a form of torture, yet Ciel was forced to endure it all.
The suffering made Ciel want to scream; in fact, she already was screaming, her soul letting out a pained, silent shriek that no one could hear.
In her remaining field of vision, she could see Avena, Adele, Tara, and the others. She could also feel her vision constantly sinking into the ground, pulled downward by an invisible force.
Her sight plunged into endless darkness. Vision, hearing, and touch were rapidly lost, until finally even the sense of pain vanished. Once again, she fell into that darkness of unknown years, similar to when she merged with the Serpent Chain.
Gradually, disordered whispers began to appear in Ciel’s mind. They were noises made of meaningless, piled-up characters. These noises caused the darkness before Ciel’s eyes to take on a bloody hue, and Ciel herself began to feel an extreme rage.
Before Ciel’s eyes, a streak of silver light tore through the black-and-red space. A pocket watch hovered before her, its silver hands, engraved with fine runes, spinning rapidly counter-clockwise.
Ciel experienced a physical sensation identical to [Temporal Disorder]. Her body switched rapidly between different states, and the emotions of every save file rotated and flashed through her mind.
Ciel’s body seemed to exist in a superposition of possessing all potions simultaneously. To her surprise, she was rapidly adapting to this process…
The darkness she had endured while absorbing the [Kiss of Time Corrosion], the transformations during the [Temporal Disorder] side effects, and the extreme weakness after using [Overlimit Gear]… every side effect caused by her use of the pocket watch reappeared on Ciel’s body in turn.
It was as if the very purpose behind the existence of those previous side effects was to allow Ciel to adapt to all of this in advance…
Ciel did not know how long she had remained silent within this space. Just as her emotions had become as calm as still water and she was about to give up on thinking, that burning pain appeared once again in her body.
The sudden, intense pain made Ciel instinctively feel rage. In the darkness, she once more roared wordlessly. Amidst the shrieks of her soul and the flickering of silver flames before her eyes, all of Ciel’s senses recovered one by one…
She felt her breath again, and smelled blood and stench. She regained her sight and saw a nauseating monster. Amidst her lingering anger toward the pain… she saw that monster reaching out its right hand toward her.
Almost by instinct, Ciel’s right pupil transformed into a silver watch face. The exquisite silver hands on it made a light ticking sound. The potion belonging uniquely to the "Judicator" surged and boiled within Ciel’s blood.
Thud——
A black shadow, so dark it seemed capable of swallowing everything around it, crawled out in front of Ciel. It raised its hand and directly gripped the monster’s right hand.
“Huu… hah…”
Ciel kept her head low, her disheveled red hair obscuring her vision. Her fingers twitched as she felt this strange sensation of possessing a physical body.
She slowly raised her head, scanning the surroundings like a lone wolf.
She saw a girl being dragged along the ground, her arms broken, wailing in pain. She saw a dilapidated house that was little more than an adobe hut. She saw the deep, trembling sky outside, completely devoid of stars. Finally, she slowly looked up, focusing her gaze on the face of the monster before her.
It was a humanoid monster with a distorted human face. Multiple eyeballs rolled on its face, filled with panic. Three circular, spiked fissures on its neck—which might have been called mouthparts—were emitting a foul stench.
Mucus dripped from its mouthparts onto the coarse cloth wrapped around its body, producing a smell like corroded, scorched flesh.
“How is this possible… How is this possible!”
Strange words drilled into Ciel’s mind. This terrified voice seemed naturally imbued with the power to affect the spirit, causing Ciel’s brain to throb with waves of pain.
The fear within that monster’s mind, along with the massive amounts of fear and panic existing in the surroundings, rang in Ciel’s ears like frenzied noise, making it almost impossible for her to think.
“Too loud…”
“Shut up…”
Ansu words, thin as a mosquito’s hum, emerged from Ciel’s mouth. She raised her left hand to cover her forehead, but the noise and pain in her mind showed no sign of easing.
On the contrary, the squeezing sensation from her heart became more pronounced, and a pain like fire burning appeared in her brain.
Fire, tavern, corpse.
Fire, square, corpse.
Fire, darkness, pain…
All memories of pain and fire flashed through Ciel’s mind like a revolving lantern. But in that instant, Ciel slowly lowered her left hand.
A cool sensation flooded Ciel’s mind; cold flames burned within her consciousness.
This was rage combined with restraint…
But she also had the right to be unrestrained.
Chiii——
In front of Ciel, the black shadow’s right hand, like a sharp blade, pierced directly through the monster’s chest.
Simultaneously, three black shadows surged out from different directions. The shadow burning with the flames of rage lunged straight at the humanoid monster, directly snapping its four limbs amidst its screams, pinning it firmly in place.
“Shut up!”
Ciel took two steps forward. The black shadow adhered to her right fist and ignited. She slightly lowered her waist and twisted her hips, throwing a straight punch with her right hand carrying the shadow-flames.
Thud——
The soft eyeballs shattered instantly. Corrosive, foul-smelling fluid splashed onto Ciel’s right fist. The sensation of her skin being burned pushed the rage in Ciel’s mind to a peak!
Thud——!
Thud——!
Thud——!
One punch! Two! Three!
Bone, eyeballs, and brain matter splattered out!
The terrifying monster’s head was almost completely pulverized, even exposing the spinal column at the neck.
Two black shadows knelt down and severed the monster’s legs. The monster collapsed before Ciel. She raised her foot, stepping directly on the monster’s left shoulder, and reached out with her right hand to grip that cervical vertebrae.
Rip——!
Under the opposing pull of the four black shadows, a half-section of the spine, with its ribs entirely snapped, was ripped out directly by Ciel.
“Huu…”
The irritating sounds finally lessened slightly.
Clatter——
Ciel let go, and the spine, matted with black-red pus and blood, was tossed casually onto the ground.
She reached into her pocket with her left hand, slowly drew out her handkerchief, and gently wiped the blood from her right hand.
Just then, a faint sound came from behind Ciel.
Ciel stopped her movements. Carrying a suppressed rage, she slowly turned her head along with the four black shadows, looking at the wardrobe piled with messy clothes behind her.
…
A girl knelt prostrate before Ciel.
Her body was covered in many dark purple bruises, looking like layers of old and new injuries constantly piled up. In some places, the skin was swollen high, appearing so fragile that a scratch from a fingernail would cause blood to seep.
The clothes on her body—if a few pieces of rags tied to her torso with rope could be called clothes—were filthy and stiff, as if they had never been washed, and were stained with years of accumulated blood clots.
And this girl looked even smaller in frame than Tara.
“Thank you… Lord Time-Binder… thank you…”
The girl spoke something while trembling.
Ciel could sense a strange familiarity with her language; this was one of the languages the system had “unsealed” into her mind.
R'lyehian… this was the name after being directly transliterated into Ansu. If translated according to its original meaning, it was Abyssal Language.
After briefly recalling the pronunciation of R'lyehian, Ciel looked down at the girl and spoke slowly: “Get up.”
The girl rose, keeping her head low with her hands held in front of her. Her hair was messy and curled, so dirty that its original color was unrecognizable.
“Look up.”
Ciel tilted her chin up slightly.
The girl’s body trembled slightly, then as if making a firm decision, she slowly raised her head and looked at Ciel.
Ciel saw the girl’s face; it looked as if it were covered in a layer of coal soot, but her two clear eyes remained bright, their emerald pupils filled with surprise.
Her eyes quietly shifted to the side, seeing the terrifying, mutilated corpse of the monster on the ground. Then the girl looked back at Ciel, her eyes now filled with reverence and adoration.
“What is your name?” Ciel asked slowly.
Ciel knew she was already in the "Old Days", but she knew nothing of the situation here, nor what kind of thing she had just killed. She urgently needed to understand everything around her to avoid her first entry into the Old Days ending too quickly.
“Name?” The girl seemed startled. She then shook her head and said, “I don’t have a name. Everyone calls me ‘Heini.’ You can just call me ‘Heini’…”
What a low-effort name…
[TL Note: 黑妮 (Heini) literally means black girl.]
And who were the “everyone” the girl mentioned?
After confirming that Heini was not a transcendent and posed no danger, Ciel turned her gaze toward the outside of the house.
There was a massive amount of fear outside. This fear buzzed in Ciel’s mind, making her feel irritable.
The silver hand on the watch face in Ciel’s right eye turned slowly. The "Judicator" potion within her body rapidly receded, replaced by the "Knight", which had essentially no negative impact on Ciel while enhancing her strength and defense.
Instantly, Ciel’s mind became much clearer.
She looked down at her hands, a flash of doubt in her eyes.
Her clothes hadn't changed, her body hadn't changed, and the burn on her right hand still existed… This wasn't a save file?
No, this was definitely the save file ability, but in the Old Days, she seemingly didn't need to spend points through the system to summon a save file. Instead, she could switch directly… but the trade-off was that her “state” would no longer be refreshed.
In terms of saving Fate Points and increasing combat power, this was indeed a good thing… but the inability to refresh her state meant she no longer possessed save files that could act as substitutes for death until her points were exhausted. It was hard to say which was better or worse.
Furthermore, outside…
Ciel looked outside once more.
The oppressive, pitch-black night sky made everything outside appear exceptionally eerie. There was almost no light source, and visibility was minimal.
In fact, the only thing illuminating the house was that pale green candle that had fallen to the floor.
In this darkness, even if Ciel activated [Precognitive Sight], she could see nothing beyond the reach of the light source.
This was absolutely not the world she originally resided in… at least not the era Ciel lived in. There wasn't even a star or a moon here, only extreme eternal night.
“Sob, sob…”
The sound of sobbing drew Ciel’s attention.
It was the girl the monster had been clutching earlier.
Both of her arms had been completely snapped. At the connection points of her shoulders and elbows, she could even see exposed bone splinters. Blood constantly seeped from her wounds.
Now, she was struggling to move her body, crawling toward the door as if trying to flee. This girl’s body was likewise covered in scars.
“Sister ‘Flower,’ it’s dangerous outside…” Heini noticed the girl’s movement and spoke to her hurriedly.
After the warning, she seemed to notice her own disrespect toward the red-haired girl before her and quickly shut her mouth, lowering her head again.
Hearing Heini’s words, Ciel instinctively turned and walked toward the girl who was still crawling out. She blocked her path, knelt down, and said, “It’s alright, no need to run…”
Ciel’s footsteps had originally made the girl speed up her crawling. Even when Ciel knelt before her, she lowered her head frantically, refusing to look directly. But when Ciel spoke those gentle words, a warm power seemed to drive her to slowly look up at Ciel.
When she saw Ciel, she froze.
While it was true she had never seen such a clean and beautiful girl… more importantly, this summoned entity was actually… a human?
It wasn't the kind of “God” that would cause one’s head to throb with splitting pain and lead to madness just by looking at them…
While the girl was still dazed, Ciel’s brow slowly furrowed.
She slowly stood up, and the hands of the clock in her eye turned again. The "Knight" potion rapidly dispersed, and the "Detective" potion flowed quietly within Ciel’s body.
The "Knight" potion was not without impact on her… it reinforced Ciel’s “Virtue,” making it easier for her to feel sympathy and pity for the weak, making her want to help others…
Ciel only just noticed this, so she quickly switched the "Knight" potion away.
In this dangerous world where the situation was not yet clear, sympathy and pity would only lead to a faster death. A “Saint” mentality was absolutely forbidden.
Ciel rose and, while maintaining [Calm Mind], walked toward Heini, who was calmer and had felt no fear toward her from the beginning.
“Was it you who summoned me?” Ciel looked at Heini and asked calmly.
“Yes, yes, Lord Time-Binder.” Heini nodded repeatedly. She directly extended her tightly clenched hands and slowly opened them. Resting there was a silver rune carved onto a stone.
This was the altar? This symbol…
Ciel looked at the silver symbol pointing to her, identical to her [Omniscient] ability. A flash of déjà vu crossed her mind.
Just as she had deduced before, this altar was like an enhanced version of [Omniscient]…
Additionally, what puzzled Ciel the most was Heini’s form of address for her.
“Where did you get this?” Ciel looked at the girl and asked, “And how did you know the summoning method? Also, where did you hear the name ‘Time-Binder’…”
Ciel’s questions immediately caused the girl to freeze. She stammered for a good while before answering Ciel’s questions.
Listening to her answer, Ciel roughly understood what the system had done.
Originally, the girl had just picked up a stone with a rune on it. It had always behaved like an ordinary stone, but the girl liked collecting such things and kept them all stored away.
But one day, the girl suddenly heard some calls in her sleep. When she woke up, she hazily remembered the incantation from her dream. At that moment, she knew that silver rune was something to summon a “God.”
Heini kept this secret to herself until a year later, when the Divine Servants came here to seize sacrifices. Heini didn't want to see “Flower” taken away, so while hidden in the wardrobe, Heini directly recited the incantation…
Subsequently, Ciel responded to her call and arrived here.
A year…?
Doubt rose in Ciel’s heart.
From the moment she unlocked the Old Days until she felt the call, only a few minutes had passed, but Heini had possessed this rune for a year.
It was highly likely that the flow of time in the Old Days was inconsistent with that of reality.
Next, Ciel asked about where they were and about the monster, but the girl’s answers were very vague. It seemed her understanding of these things was very low.
She only knew that the Great God they worshipped required human blood sacrifices every so often, and the Divine Servants would come to seize people—the timing was uncertain. Sometimes they would return only a few hours after taking someone, and other times a long period would pass…
A God… is it?
Ciel looked at the so-called Divine Servant on the floor.
It did possess transcendent abilities, but if compared to reality, its power was only equivalent to Tier 1…
Furthermore, after its death and up until now, no transcendent materials had separated from its body. This completely overturned Ciel’s basic understanding of transcendents.
Also, perhaps because she killed it too quickly, Ciel didn't even know what the opponent’s ability was, nor could she be sure if it was a known path ability.
A Tier 1 can be a Divine Servant… then what is the so-called God?
Strange, too strange.
Ciel had prepared herself for a world where Ascenders were everywhere and transcendents were less than dogs, but the actual contact seemed different from her imagination.
Could it be that the system had specifically chosen a slightly easier starting point for her?
Perhaps that was the only explanation.
“This… do I need to return it to you?” Heini looked up at Ciel cautiously and asked respectfully.
“You keep it.” Ciel shook her head.
There was no use in her taking the rune. This girl counted as her believer; she could only summon Ciel while holding the “Altar.” Until she developed more believers, this “Altar” would have to remain in the girl’s hands.
Ciel needed to figure out where she was, and she also needed to figure out the strength of that God… after all, she had just killed one of Their so-called “Divine Servants.”
“Lord… Lord Outer God…”
At this point, the girl called “Sister Flower,” who had been thinking of fleeing, had managed to stand up shakily by leaning against the wall.
Ciel looked at her, waiting for her words.
“Lord Divine Servant has been killed. The God of the Dead Star will absolutely be enraged. He will send down divine punishment, and everyone will be implicated…” The girl, tears in her eyes, lowered her head to Ciel and knelt directly. “Please take Heini away from here… I am willing to offer my life as a sacrifice, beseeching you to protect her and ensure her safe departure…”
God of the Dead Star?
Ciel searched her mind.
She had read a vast number of books in reality and had memorized the names of many lost churches from the Holy War records of the Church of the God of Order and the Church of the Savior Goddess. But none of those churches had a so-called God of the Dead Star.
What kind of God was this? What kind of church was Theirs? They would even descend personally to deliver punishment?
Was this a church that hadn't even survived until the Holy War?
“Where is this God of the Dead Star?” Ciel looked at the girl and asked.
“He… He is outside the village, in the church in the wilderness…” The girl spent a long time preparing herself mentally before lowering her voice to speak, as if afraid her voice would be heard by some entity.
In a church in the wilderness outside the village?
Ciel’s right thumb gently rubbed the scabbed wound on her index finger, pondering silently.
Why did this God sound so…
…wannabe?
Ruling over the believers of a single village, with Their church located not far from that village…
If Ciel heard this in reality, she would never believe this was some deity. Instead, she might think it was a "Subverter" or some other transcendent playing God in a small village.
However, even a "Subverter" wouldn't deign to play such a game in just one small village.
Even so, Ciel still intended to face this with utmost focus—no enemy should be underestimated.
“Where can we leave from?” Ciel asked directly.
There were only three altars and believers. Saving even one was a priority. If it was possible to leave, Ciel naturally preferred to just leave.
Where there's life, there's hope.
Tap, tap——
Just then, a set of footsteps outside drew Ciel’s attention. She noticed a faint green light approaching from outside.
“Lord Divine Servant, have you finished your meal? The God of the Dead Star…”
A man carrying a candle burning with green light, his cheeks so thin they were sunken in, slightly poked his head in and looked inside.
The moment he saw the Divine Servant’s dismembered corpse, the man’s pupils contracted rapidly, and his breathing grew rapid.
“Lord… Lord Divine Servant?!”
“It’s over… it’s over… it’s all over!!!”
Trying to run?
Ciel’s [Precognitive Sight] predicted the opponent’s intention to turn and flee. Just as she was about to act to forcibly detain him for information, the green-glowing candle in the man’s hand went out instantly.
Not only the candle in the man’s hand, but even the pale green candle that had previously fallen to the floor also went out.
Instantly, Ciel lost all vision. Pure darkness enveloped the surroundings.
This was absolute darkness… not a single source of light existed. Ciel felt as though she had been blinded. This darkness made her feel as if she had returned to the dark space she had encountered while unconscious.
This darkness didn't just strip Ciel of her sight; even her hearing seemed to be stripped away as well.
The sound of breathing around her vanished, as did the man’s voice. In this extreme darkness, Ciel began to have a bizarre sensation.
Her spiritual alarm let out a faint hum. Bizarre whispers began to ring out all around Ciel. The floor sounded as if it were crawling with venomous insects, letting out rustling noises.
Not good…
Ciel could feel her sanity being gradually eroded…
Click——
Ciel’s right pupil switched instantly into a silver watch face. The "Detective" potion within her body rapidly drained away, replaced by the gradually boiling "Subverter" potion.
Snap——
Ciel quickly snapped her fingers, but to her confusion… no fire appeared.
Where was the torch…?
I clearly created a torch with "Subverter" just now…
She could feel the heat of the burning flames, and she felt the wooden handle in her hand, but no fire appeared…
For the first time, Ciel encountered a setback while using the "Subverter" ability.
She applied slight pressure with her right hand, and the torch shattered in her grip. In the next instant, a pale green candle appeared in her hand, and the tip of the candle ignited with a faint green flame.
Instantly, the green light illuminated the house, completely dispelling the surrounding darkness and allowing Ciel to see the current state of the room.
The man at the door was still there, but along with Flower, he was facing toward the left, completely prostrate. Their bodies were trembling uncontrollably.
Through [Precognitive Sight], Ciel could see Heini behind her, her whole body shaking, but she was merely facing Ciel’s direction, clutching the silver rune stone tightly, without kneeling.
“(Ansu) Cheating… how boring…” The fear brought by the absolute darkness caused Ciel’s adrenaline to surge. She directly extended her left hand, and a soft rope knot appeared on Heini, binding her like cargo.
Ciel merely reached out and lifted Heini with a light pull. Then, Ciel charged directly toward the door.
She couldn't stay here long… in the opposite direction of where they were bowing—run!
A "Subverter" never fought an unprepared battle; or rather, without advance preparation, a "Subverter"’s strength would be greatly diminished.
In such a moment, the correct choice was to simply slip away.
Carrying Heini, Ciel stepped directly over the man at the door and ran in the direction opposite to where he was bowing.
An extremely sci-fi hoverboard, the kind seen in movies, appeared before Ciel with a hum. She directly leaped onto it. The hoverboard’s thrusters flared, carrying Ciel forward rapidly.
It was pitch black outside. The high-speed flight made Ciel feel the whistling wind against her cheeks. Although the candle’s light range was quite short and she nearly crashed into a broken adobe house every few meters, Ciel still relied on her control of the board to quickly dodge obstacles.
Soon, with a light press of her back foot, the hoverboard’s thrusters pulled it upward, clearing the houses before her and accelerating forward.
“Bye-bye! Haha…”
The wind blew fiercely. Ciel could feel the scenery behind her receding rapidly. She looked back with a smile. In the next moment, the expression on her face froze, and a faint confusion appeared in her pink pupils.
Behind her was a man kneeling with his back to her, a fallen candle beside his hand.
And the house beside the man was the very place Ciel had just “escaped” from. Flower, whose arms were broken, was still crawling on the ground.
Ciel… had remained in place all along, without moving an inch.
Following the direction the man was bowing, she slowly looked up. At the end of the dark road, she saw something approaching her slowly, step by step.
It was dozens of candles burning with green flames.
Those candles were inserted into a giant, obese humanoid creature nearly three meters tall, possessing skin like withered bark.
Cracked skin covered its bloated body. Pale green candles poked out from the cracks in its skin, their wicks connected to its grease, burning quietly on the exterior of its body.
On that fleshy head, which was shaped almost like a triangle, was “hair” like withered branches. Those branches were haphazardly distributed and trailed behind it. Two candles were inserted into the center of its hollow eyes; the eerie green light seemed to be its pupils.
Thud——
Thud——
It walked toward Ciel one step at a time. The closer it got, the louder the spiritual alarm in Ciel’s mind roared.
The "Subverter" ability didn't work?
But if she deactivated the "Subverter" ability, she would lose the green candle used for lighting!
Ciel quickly deactivated the hoverboard, shifted Heini into her arms, and charged toward the darkness ahead. But the moment her gaze left that terrifying creature…
The sound of a massive footstep rang out almost directly behind Ciel.
Ciel whipped her head around. A candle nearly the thickness of a finger was already touching her, its firelight illuminating Ciel’s face.
She slowly looked up, meeting that abomination-like face.
“Whose… divine… envoy… are… you…”
“How… dare… you… intrude… upon… my… territory…”
“Steal… my…”
“Faith…”
“Hmm…?”
A voice as viscous as churning mud sounded in Ciel’s ear…