Chapter Two-Hundred-and-Sixty

[412 million Players survived the Siege of the Elphin Sanctuary.]

“Seems like she can’t control all of her puppets equally,” Adam remarked. While it was still a historically-high number of survivors at this point, it was less than he had expected.

[That would be my estimation as well. After all, it is a limited number of Players who have completed all of the Stages flawlessly with all of the bonuses obtained.]

“Who do you think I should focus on?”

[I think you should not risk your life on this, but you refuse to listen, so I recommend targeting a known enemy, that is to say, a Player possessing the Blood Mage sigils. It is impossible to make assessments of threats, given that we cannot observe their weapons, thus I believe it is better to target the few Players where one weapon is at least known.]

Adam nodded. It was a logical argument, but out of the Players who had beaten the last four stages perfectly, none had the sigils on their hands. They were down to ten players now, since he’d killed his brother-in-law yesterday. There were three others who had cleared stage four perfectly besides the ten, but they were behind the rest in terms of points, relics, and upgrades, so he didn’t consider them.

He scanned the group of ten who had been hand-picked by the Flayed Lady.

Willow, Lenard, Gladwyn, James, Lasse, Nova, Hiroshi, Mórrígan, Ilya, and Juliette.

Who should I go for?

Putting aside my desire to ‘save’ someone out of these ten, which would frustrate the Flayed Lady the most?

She’ll likely use Willow, Lenard, James, Lasse, and Gladwyn to try and get to me, while Hiroshi, Mórrígan, Ilya, and Juliette are meant to stir up bad memories.

This leaves Alexander Nova as a bit of an outlier though.

“Is there anything peculiar about Alexander Nova in this universe?” Adam asked Parvillo. “He seems somewhat outside of this group when it comes to antagonising me. I didn’t spend a lot of time with him, and my feelings about him are honestly rather ambivalent. She likely expects me to go for Juliette or Willow, but am I crazy for thinking Nova might be an important pawn here?”

Parvillo looked at the hologram for a moment, not saying anything.

Then he turned to look at Adam.

[It appears that, across the previous Loops within this universe, Player Alexander Nova was a perpetual thorn in your side. Your alternate self’s side, that is. He was the previous holder of the Self-Devouring Eye, prior to you.]

“What weapons did he favour?”

[It appears he had no particular style and often switched between Classes and Relics that most suited the challenges he faced.]

“Is it possible that he has some kind of advantage because of his past as a time-looper?”

[Yes.]

“Even though he shouldn’t be able to keep any of his meta upgrades?”

[Yes.]

“How?”

Parvillo went silent for a moment, clearly considering his words. [It would be unwise to tell you the answer to this.]

“Even if it’ll help me beat him?”

[I would remind you that it is not required for you to actually challenge him. It would be wise to simply leave the Dimensional Tavern and use your spare time to prepare for Stage Five.]

“How much do you want to bet that he is going to be my opponent in the Forbidden Altar?” Adam argued. “If I go use the orb of insight right now, I could probably confirm it.”

Adam hadn’t used the orb yet, since it was pointless when he couldn’t see the players’ weapons in the tavern, thus defeating the point of finding out which players he was pitted against. Instead, he wanted to save it for stage seven, since he was missing a few secrets and objectives there.

[That does seem likely, given what is at stake for the Flayed Lady here.]

“It’s better I defeat him now then,” Adam pressed. “But you’ve gotta tell me what I might be up against.”

Parvillo looked back at Alexander’s hologram. [There is an Exploit involving memory retention. We are not able to prevent it, since we cannot remove the object that enables it.]

“You mean he still remembers what has happened in the past!?” Adam asked, surprised such a thing would even be possible.

[It is not exact retention, but it is enough to give previous holders of the Self-Devouring Eye an advantage. Fortunately, it is quite rare, and to my knowledge, most universes do not see it discovered, given its esoteric nature.]

“How does it work?”

[It would be extraordinarily foolish to explain it to you,] Parvillo remarked. [It does appear that Alexander Nova accomplished this Exploit in previous Loops of this universe, though given the Flayed Lady’s immense involvement with the Players she is puppeteering, it may not represent a big difference in power.]

“Nonsense, you and I both know that knowledge equals power in the Trials,” Adam replied. “She does not know everything, and if Nova has advanced build knowledge, he may be able to snowball his strength much more than the other players.”

[The Flayed Lady knows many things. I do not see how a mere human could know more than her.]

“She’s not omniscient,” Adam argued. “If she were, I, a mere human, wouldn’t have been able to fool her.”

[I suppose that is true.]

“But how exactly is he retaining memories? Is he literally keeping memories of the past, is it more like the Scale of Remembrance where things are blurred out, or is it like passing notes back to himself?”

[I will not give you hints about the Exploit,] Parvillo replied.

“I’m not asking for it,” Adam said. “I just want to know how exact his recollection is.”

[It is akin to passing notes, then.]

Adam nodded. “That I should be able to handle. I would be screwed if he had knowledge of every relic, build, and fighting style.”

“Do you know which Absolutes he worshipped in the past?” Adam asked.

[The Tome Keeper.]

“Is the memory retention part of the Tome Keeper’s boons or relics?”

[No. The Absolutes are not allowed to subvert the design of the Trials, and the Tome Keeper is generally subservient to the All-Seeing System in this regard. However, the Tome Keeper may be partially responsible for the Exploit’s continual discovery.]

Adam scratched his head.

I wonder what exactly is involved in it.

Could it be something to do with Alepheria’s hidden lab in stage seven? I learnt quite a lot from there, thanks to the relic that the Tome Keeper gave me to make the mandate’s memory-absorption easier to understand.

Adam tried to recall some of what he’d absorbed from there.

[30 minutes remain,] Parvillo announced.

I don’t think there was anything to do with memories.

But wait, if he’s ‘passing notes’, maybe it’s more about the delivery method and not memories themselves.

What could it be though?

Maybe I should ask him.

Adam pulled out the challenge stone.

“See you in a moment,” he told Parvillo and activated it.

< < Challenge Stone Activated > >

< You have forcedPlayer Nova into fighting you >

Adam landed atop the sand and Alexander Nova appeared at the opposite end of the arena.

“She told me you wouldn’t target me,” Nova said.

Like the first time Adam had seen him, Alexander looked like a quarterback, with a muscular body and a solid neck. He had golden-brown hair parted down the middle, which was slightly long, since it covered his ears. His eyes were large and round like marbles, with a bottomless ocean blue hue.

Unlike back then, a scowl twisted Nova’s mouth, making him appear frustrated.

He carried the Insightful Gentleman rapier, which would allow him to anticipate Adam’s moves if he managed to parry his attacks, and he seemed to have some evolution of the Backstabber’s Exploiter evolution. On top of that he wore the pugilist’s belt, despite having no weapons that would normally guarantee it to appear, which was curious. The rest of his relics consisted of skittish skaters, two parry bracers, forlorn cuirass, blood mage choker, blood bolt ring, and the green slime glove.

I can’t let him parry me even once, since that’ll trigger his disorient, which he may have stacked absurdly high, given that both weapons get the upgrade.

“I’m going to take back what is mine,” Nova said.

“I don’t give a shit about the Self-Devouring Eye,” Adam told him.

“You don’t?”

“What would be the point of staying in this doomed universe?”

“It’s not doomed,” Nova replied.

“Did the Flayed Lady tell you that?” Adam asked.

Nova’s frown deepened.

“This universe is fucked,” Adam repeated. “But I’m going to fix it.”

Nova laughed. “Good luck.”

“Tell me how you did the exploit to keep your knowledge.”

“You sure know how to ask nicely,” Nova replied.

The timeout let go of them, but Nova didn’t charge Adam, instead he stayed exactly where he was. There wasn’t any sign of the Flayed Lady interfering. At least not yet.

He doesn’t have any useful way to attack me at range, and his entire build relies on parrying.

I’m a bit worried his evolution of Exploiter might do something crazy, but it’ll likely still be tied to parries.

I’ve gotta use my mask to predict his moves, but maybe I can squeeze some more knowledge out of him first.

“How did you bring the Fool all the way past stage four?” Nova asked, pre-empting Adam.

“It’s simple enough,” Adam replied. “You just need to prepare the right relics.”

“Stage one is the bottleneck?”

“So far,” Adam answered.

“The Flayed Lady said you’re a time-looper, but you don’t have the eyes, and you’re different from the ‘Adam’ I’ve fought in the past.”

Adam shrugged.

“Tell me how you did it without the relic.”

“How about you answer my question first? I’ve already answered one of yours.”

“It’s easy,” Nova said. “You just have to write some sigils into one of the soulbound encyclopaedias they give you. That way they reappear when you start over, even if you died.”

“And all the stuff written inside stays behind too,” Adam realised.

That’s pretty clever. I would never have thought of that myself, but it’s likely abusing the power of soulbound objects, which is why Parvillo said they can’t fix the exploit.

“Which sigils do you use? Are they ones found in Alepheria’s secret lab?”

Now it was Nova’s turn to shrug. His frown had turned into a grin.

“Your turn next,” he said.

“I used an exploit too,” Adam told him. “You won’t be able to replicate it, so I don’t mind telling you how. Although, you don’t seem that distraught about being the Flayed Lady’s puppet, so perhaps I’ll keep this secret to myself.”

“You don’t have to die here,” Nova said. “You can call off the challenge if you decide to forfeit.”

That’s probably a trap. I’ll have to ask Parvillo about it after I’m done here.

“If you’re not going to give up, then you’re welcome to attack me,” Nova said, spreading his arms wide as though preparing for a hug.

Adam pulled one of the bear traps from his belt and stooped to pick up a small grain of sand.

“Sure, here I come,” he said and spun around before sending the relic at Nova with a powerful throw.

The trap flew like a bullet, producing a high whistle that sounded genuinely terrifying. It was clearly too fast for Nova to attempt to parry, and the split-second before it struck him, Adam did two things. First he activated his mask to see Nova’s movements for the next five seconds, and next he focused the power of his belt on the tiny grain of sand he held in his stone hand, centimetres from his eye.

As the bear trap collided with Nova’s blood barrier, it released an enormous bang that produced echoes like distant thunder. Nova was flung backwards into the wall of the arena and the explosion released a massive cloud of sand and dust.

Adam could still see him inside the cloud thanks to the mask showing him Nova’s future movements, so he sent out a slothling imp from the trinket on his belt and then used his night bracelet to teleport into a shadow produced by the dust cover, arriving right behind where Nova would be a second later.

He grabbed Nova gently by the left arm using his stone hand, and then he punched his empowered right into his spine.

Adam had learnt how to disable the skittish skaters’ effect in the previous loop when Sofia Olivares had died despite wearing them, because the old lady had been holding her when she attacked.

As such, Nova couldn’t dodge the strike, and his entire body exploded like a balloon filled with red smoke, despite the fact that Adam had struck his body and not his head, heavily reducing the damage inflicted thanks to the forlorn cuirass Nova was wearing.

The release of air from the insanely-powerful strike pushed the cloud of sand and dust away, leaving Adam standing with just the severed forearm in his stone hand.

The imp hadn’t even been able to get to Nova before the fight was over, and then Adam’s punch had sent it flying, though it was recalled into the fetish of sloth while it tumbled head-over-heels in the air.

I’m glad I have enough contingencies to be able to account for a build with several layers of defence like that, Adam mused smugly. The main counter to a parry build seems to be difference in speed though, but I think it was a good idea that I played it safe even if I could’ve won with a head-on attack. It’s better to get in the habit of fighting smart, rather than getting used to my overpowered stats.

The ash and fire brooch activated and turned the severed arm to ash, dropping a soul seed into the sand, which Adam picked up as the announcement rolled in.

< < Challenge Stone Deactivated > >

< You have defeatedPlayer Nova in the arena >

< < Victory Pearl Obtained > >

Adam returned to his seat and got up, leaving the basement immediately.

“How much time do I have left?” he asked.

[17 minutes.]

Adam went out of the door, finding Yenna still by the tree, though she got up when she saw him and followed him to the centre of Interim Island.

“Is it possible to forfeit the challenge in the arena?” Adam asked Parvillo.

[Yes. Doing so would be a mistake, however, as it kills you instead of the target you challenged.]

I knew it had to be a trap…

“I found out how Alexander Nova performed the memory exploit,” Adam revealed.

[Strange that he would be forthcoming with such information,] Parvillo remarked.

“I guess he thought he could get something out of me in return before he won. He seemed quite sure about his victory.”

[Overconfidence is a fascinating flaw many of your species share,] Parvillo noted.

“Is there a way to prevent him starting the next loop with the exploit active?”

[No. However, it is possible that the Tome Keeper may be willing to assist an adherent seeking to deny the Player performing the exploit. However, the Tome Keeper has refused to perform this service on behalf of the All-Seeing System whenever asked, and generally refuses to deal with memory deletion.]

That could be a problem if I end up against someone like that in the future.

Adam reached the island centre and a ray of light broke through the night sky, pointing down at him like a spotlight. White scales floated down alongside the light, stopping time and freezing Yenna in place again. Then Luvicidix flew down with the light and landed in front of Adam.

“Thank you,” she immediately said.

“Did it work? Were you able to meet your sisters?”

“Unfortunately, no, but I was able to see them. It brought me much comfort to know they are doing well.”

“Damn,” Adam muttered. “Do you have other sisters I need to find to make this happen? Or was I just doomed from the start?”

“I cannot say whether it will ever work or not, but perhaps the future will answer your question.”

Is that a hint or just wishful thinking?

I guess that, since I’ve only been through nine stages, the idea that there might be more moths to find is not unreasonable.

I really thought it might work though…

Adam sighed. “I’ll keep trying.”

“Thank you, we all appreciate it greatly,” Luvicidix told him, which did make him feel somewhat better about himself.

“I’d like to invest my remaining points into an upgrade,” he said.

“Of course!” Luvicidix replied.

“I’ll put them all into the Scale of Remembrance.”

“Good choice,” she said.

< < Meta Upgrade Progress > >

< Scale of Remembrance — 3092/25000 Points >

“I will see you again tomorrow,” Luvicidix said.

“Let’s hope so,” Adam replied.

She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “You can do this.”

Adam grinned.

“I hope you turn back into a human at some point. Your current visage is… somewhat unsettling.”

Adam laughed. “See you later, Luvicidix.”

“Goodnight, Adam.”

She flew back up the shaft of sunlight, before the clouds closed and took the light away.

After watching her leave, Yenna was able to move again, and Adam continued on to the market where Meilo met him and accepted the soul seed.

“What now?” Yenna asked after they’d watched the glass moth plant the flower seed.

Adam shrugged. “I don’t actually have anything else to do.”

There weren’t any benches in the garden, so they ended up going to the edge of the island, where they both sat down. Parvillo kept his distance, having learnt by now that Adam preferred to talk in private. As much as privacy was possible with eldritch beings observing his every move.

“The aristocrat’s mask was a good recommendation,” Adam said after a moment of silence.

“I’m glad it helped,” Yenna replied.

“No matter how deeply the Flayed Lady might spy on me, if I can predict the movements of her pawns, I can defeat them.”

“You will make it through the next stage,” Yenna said.

Adam nodded, although he couldn’t shake the feeling that he would have to fight for his life not to get taken out.

He let out a sigh and leaned back, the soft grass near the island’s edge cushioning him like a pillow.

As he looked up at the night sky with its blinking stars and bright silver moon, Yenna asked, “Would you like me to sing you a lullaby?”