Chapter 92: Tip of the Iceberg - II

Chapter 92: Tip of the Iceberg - II

’The price to defy <Fate’s> arrangements...’

Thinking about these things made me feel a little odd. After all, I had done something like that by using my Gift beyond what <Fate> intended, and look where it got me...

I lost consciousness from the sheer sensory shock created by using [Absolute Awareness] on the experiences of those humans.

...I was still reeling from the horrors I witnessed. My thoughts were sluggish, and I felt empty, somehow.

A sorrow I never knew I could have had settled in my heart.

Luckily, I already had <Mind Force> to mitigate the damage from my psyche being shattered. Had my blood not been imbued with my will, and if my body had been incapable of reacting on its own...

I would’ve been dead.

—Shiver.

Every time I used [Absolute Awareness], there was a large probability that I would encounter knowledge that I wasn’t supposed to know. Even <Archmagus> Daimyuon’s special memorized knowledge could have been very bad for me.

It was just sheer luck that Fleim... wasn’t that kind of world.

After all, if I had been transported into a world where mere knowledge of certain beings or truths could kill...

Well.

Without sufficient status or power, I would’ve died on my first day.

’Now let’s see if this mummified arm is worth it.’

There were two items that survived the conflagration of Clementine’s venomous flames.

First was the cursed tome that recorded the entire process needed to perform <Despair on Despair>. The second was already hidden away in my ruby ring.

It was the mummified hand that had been holding the cursed tome.

Compared to the cursed tome, this hand was a lot more interesting to me because it was similarly wrapped in a cocoon of <Fate>, making it difficult to analyze when it wasn’t in my possession.

Now that it was securely in my <Sub-Dimensional Ruby Ring>, and because I brought it away from where it was fated to go to someone else...

The <Fate> cocoon had begun to unravel on its own.

I commanded my mana to move.

[Absolute Awareness] peered into the sub-dimension in my ring while I walked with Taylor and Clementine.

The latter was busy decimating all of the Treasure Gnomes and releasing the tortured prisoners from their suffering.

With none of them capable of even a single reply, Taylor’s expression grew darker and darker.

Seeing his own race in such a state made him unbelievably angry.

By the time we walked past the architectural structures unique to the <War Dungeon>, Taylor could barely hold everything in.

Tears had formed at the corners of his eyes, and I could hear the cracking of his teeth. His fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned ghost-white.

Compared to him, Clementine was a lot calmer, but she was still rather disturbed. Her topaz eyes quivered from every prisoner she had to introduce to eternal rest. By the time we gave every tortured soul the tranquility they yearned for, the Snakespawn’s eyes were bloodshot.

The sights today had reminded her of the inhumane experiments done on the Werebat race when Blood Magic was born.

It was when she was first acquainted with Reazue—and a very tumultuous time for both of them, having only been at E-Rank at the time.

As for me, well, my analysis proved to be fruitful. I named the item <Yun’s Mummified Arm> and understood—vaguely—who Yun had been.

I was not as bothered by the many pitiful faces Clementine had to silence. I experienced their plight through [Absolute Awareness] and lost my mind, just like them.

This recovery was, perhaps, still a little superficial.

By the time we left the <War Dungeon>, the emptiness in my heart had solidified into apathy.

So, I focused on <Yun’s Mummified Arm>.

See, Yun Sualli was a young female human with the blood of Frost Elves flowing dormant in her veins.

Her family had been the servants of a family of Frost Elves for generations.

It was a lowly fate—one that Yun did not want to be shackled by.

So she sought to defy the fate that had been assigned to her. She first murdered her entire family. Her parents, siblings, and her nephews and nieces were the easiest to kill.

Her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents fell shortly afterward.

Then, with their souls, she created a permanent <Act of Blasphemy> in her arm and used it as a blade to climb above her status as a glorified slave.

<Fate> was not happy about this.

It sought to eliminate her transgression, creating machinations that slowly grew in magnitude with every attempt that Yun succeeded in.

Every time <Fate> wanted her dead, Yun would use her arm to tear its threads apart and escape.

Indeed... From Yun, I learned about what exactly <Blasphemy> was. Although it was an umbrella term for any act that defied the gods, and therefore <Fate> itself, <Blasphemy> at its core was the tearing apart of <Fate’s> threads, nullifying its machinations.

Any <Act of Blasphemy> was usually done through an extreme sacrifice. Yun used the lives of those around her, defying <Fate> using blood, flesh, and souls.

However, there were a few other examples, apparently. Yun was simply the most murderous.

After all, anyone strong enough could defy <Fate> in small amounts. Usually, the price they paid to have their way was mana, exhaustion, or broken bones.

But... these small violations weren’t considered <Blasphemy>.

<Fate’s> threads still existed, and thus, one’s violation would have consequences further down the road.

An <Act of Blasphemy>, however, made it so that there were absolutely no such consequences—all that they had to worry about were <Fate’s> later attempts at revenge.

After all, when tearing apart <Fate’s> threads, one would directly damage the twin gods of direction, <Soira> and <Cyue>.

By draining the rest of my mana, I discovered that <Soira and Cyue> were called the twin gods of direction because Soira was the god of <Inward Fate> and Cyue was the god of <Outward Fate>.

Whatever those two terms meant... I had to wait until I had more mana to check.

All I knew was that these two gods’ bodies were the very threads that <Fate> used. Only such a divine vessel could serve as a tether between the myriad races and exist in a dimension that even the gods themselves could barely reach into.

’What a sad world for the Divine...’

Mortals, shackled only by a few threads of <Fate>, could tear their chains apart if they made a large enough sacrifice. The gods, however, were unable to interfere much, if not at all, with the events predetermined by <Fate>.

They were too tightly bound, forced to heed its every machination.

Still, the number of mortals who had succeeded with an <Act of Blasphemy> could be counted on one hand.

<Fate> would always interfere, similar to how it sent me, Clementine, and Taylor to disrupt the <Ritual of Blasphemy> that the Treasure Gnomes had almost completed.

After all, the mere act of going against <Fate> so grandly that one would tear apart its threads meant that <Fate> could act with a similar directness.

Still, looking at Yun’s thrilling life made it clear that <Blasphemy> and its ability to nullify any repercussions from defying <Fate> was better than simply resisting.

But...

Why did <Fate> bring me, of all people, here?