Chapter 120: Voyage
Before getting her ship, Lea went back to her mansion and called all of the ghosts to meet up in her bedroom.
There are about twenty ghosts here; each blob of light bounces around in place. Not including the skeleton in the closet, which she had opened up.
"Okay, since we have lived together for quite sometimes now.", she held her hand out, "I would like all of you to enter a Contract with me."
"You will stay by my side for as long as you want, freely leaving the mansion. But in exchange, you must follow my orders to the best you can. And I will provide you bodies to use through my Cursed Constructs."
This isn't a Binding Contract, like what she did to the Twilight Gaunt, but a genuine Familiar Contract. Where both sides can benefit from each other.
Seemingly debating amongst each other, the ghosts formed an 'O' together, accepting her Contract.
"I bind myself to you as you bind yourselves to me. Together until the end of the Contract, we shall be together forevermore."
And the Contract was established, binding themselves together in a Pact.
The ghosts, one by one, sink into her body. Lea can call them out any time she needs them, as long as she gives them bodies.
=0=0=
The exit location was a warehouse next to an Adventurer's Guild building.
Charlotte did leave a key, but she didn't say how to use it. Lea quietly sighed, making her way through the streets. Wooden buildings with curved roofs, paper screens. A strange blend of traditional and modern that felt distinctly foreign.
If only a guide would come out of nowhere...
"[Greetings, Miss Darkwill.]"
Lea almost jumped and attacked what was behind her. But she successfully held herself back, turning around... to see the same sphere in front of her, right in the middle of the street.
"H-Hello...?", she greeted the sphere.
"[If you are looking for the ship Her Majesty gifted you, I can show you the way.]", it replied.
Passersby walked around them without noticing. A merchant pushed a cart directly through where the sphere floated.
It didn't move; the merchant didn't react.
Like her Cloaked state, nobody could notice it.
"Thank you...?", she was still questioning the existence of the sphere.
Where did it come from? And why is nobody except her able to see it? Was this another piece of Charlotte's incomprehensible technology?
Following the sphere through winding streets, away from the busy harbor district, Lea found herself on a secluded beach leading up to two towering cliffs.
"Who are you, exactly?", Lea asked the sphere.
"[Her Majesty had ordered me to not reveal my name, as she see the majority of this world is unworthy of hearing my name.]", it still replies in that calm, neutral tone, "[You can call me Knight.]"
From the sound of it, Lea can clearly see how much Charlotte looks down on this world. This thing should be one of the "upper management" in that hierarchy.
Walking down the sandy white beach, following the sphere to the side of the cliff...
She found a group of five adventurers walking in the same direction as her.
"The ship is up ahead!! You must believe me!!", the leading cheerful guy spoke up, pointing at the cliffs.
They found her ship...
Without hesitation, Lea used Dream Eater on them. Black energy came out of her body, invading their bodies. With a pulling motion, she robbed them of their subconsciousness while still awake, shattering their mind to a brain-dead state.
"Huh?"
What... was I doing?
Lea looked at her hand, now trembling. She had killed five people in cold blood, as if it were the most normal thing ever.
She tried to calm down, with Knight watching quietly.
Why did she do that? Why? Why?
Lea stared at the five bodies collapsed on the sand, their eyes vacant, minds completely destroyed. Just... gone. Erased in a single casual motion. They were just adventurers. Probably curious about the strange ship. They hadn't attacked her. Hadn't threatened her. Just... walked in the same direction.
And she'd killed them.
Without thinking or hesitation. Like swatting flies.
"What...", Lea's voice came out strangled, "What am I becoming?"
Her hands wouldn't stop trembling. The black energy of Dream Eater still lingered on her fingertips, dissipating slowly.
When did killing become so easy?
When did I stop seeing people as... people?
That man whose life she ruined, the baron, Dawn's assassins, that Knowledge Seeker, the assassins coming after Auger, the Zankur army, the people in that mansion... and now these five.
Bodies piling up before her, each one mattering less than the last.
I didn't even feel anything. No anger, no fear. Just... reflex. Like scratching an itch...
Lea fell to her knees in the sand, her Cursed Construct clothing dissolving slightly from her loss of concentration.
This is what Malediction does? Turns you into something that only knows how to curse? To harm? To destroy?
It is in the Annihilation Series for a reason. Or was it her? Had she always been capable of this, and the Path just gave her permission?
I used to feel hesitation, feeling guilty after each kill...
Now there was just empty coldness where emotions should be.
"I'm a monster.", Lea whispered, "I've become exactly what I hated."
Sinclair destroyed her town. Killed everyone she loved. And she did, she would never become like her.
Never be someone who takes lives without caring. Lea looked at the five bodies again.
But I just did... Because they were inconvenient.
Her golden eyes burned with unshed tears.
"When did I stop being human?", she wondered to herself, desperate for someone to answer.
"[It is because of a phenomenon called desensitisation]", Knight answered her call, "[Due to the traumas you went through consecutively, your mind is forced to adapt, cutting off things that would threaten your survival.]"
The compassion inside her was suppressed, and her aggression was amplified. What was unsaid, Lea understood very quickly.
Ruthlessness is the only mercy she can give to others.
The trials of this world are too cruel for someone like her. At least, initially so. Paths are what the people of this world were supposed to have, after all. Maybe the trials are just forcing her to find her true self... no matter how ugly it truly is.
"Let's go...", Lea whispered, walking beyond the corpses.
Knight went in front of her, while she kept her distance. Today, she felt horrible... but nothing more than that, just a mild discomfort of what she is becoming.
And along the sandy shore, Lea saw the ship in the distance, hidden between two cliffs. It was not what she expected at all.
Indeed, it was a ship, but no sail or oars. In fact, it doesn't look like any ship she had seen or known about.
It was entirely made of metal, silver in color, fitting Charlotte's theme. It was sleek and angular, just smaller than a transport ship. It was something completely out of this world.
"[This is your ship, the AMS (Argent Monarch Ship) Sargon.]", Knight introduced the ship, "[It is yours, Miss Darkwill.]"
Lea can only stare in awe at the magnificent vessel in front of her.
=0=0=
After pulling another all-nighter, Dawn slammed a stack of paper to the ground.
"I've figured it out!!", she exclaimed, staring at Solafant, who was buried under a mountain of papers.
She was currently in Lacrosa, specifically the building rented by Device V in a collaboration between the organization and the Church of Progress (name approved).
"What did you find?", they asked, turning into a snake before turning back to a humanoid form beside her.
"The conditions for my Sixth Step!!", she smiled proudly, "Hahahaha!! I can't believe it, it can only be achieved when 'the world enters a new era'!!!"
"And call Jim as well, he needs to be in danger when it comes!!"
Reading the research Dawn had made, Solafant also came to the same conclusion. With the knowledge of the Cosmic Laws and the immunity of the Abyss.
They found the conditions for the Domain of Motion, a name given by Charlotte, to manifest. Where all fate and destiny collide, the speed beyond light and darkness shall stop for a brief moment.
In other words, the North Pole.
As if getting a weight off her back, Dawn stretched her body, "Ah~ how is the rocket doing?"
She switched topic right away, and Solafant quickly changed their tune as well.
"Still in the drafting phase, we have yet to find the right fuel. All I can say is technology hasn't improved enough."
"The guys in Aipotu are working on precision machines to create a computation device, it's harder than it looks.", Dawn replied, looking over another stack of paper, "With my design and Charlotte's technological hints, I think we can get something out of it in about a month."
"From the news in Lacrosa, the Church of Sacrifice is about to make landfall. There isn't enough time.", they shook their head.
Dawn began to walk from the pile of papers, "Then I guess I'll plan an expedition to the North Pole as well."
Because that is where all fate and destiny will converge. The chance that the person is there is high.
"Lea... I'll find you."
And they will have an honest conversation with each other.
As they were about to leave, an Exorcist from Device V came in, slamming the door open.
"Bad news, the Temple of Fire is about to charge up its Divine Flame Cannon!!", he quickly relayed the reports, sweat pouring down his face, "The Sacred Flame is aiming for the North!!"
"What?", a hint of panic showed in Solafant's voice, "Wasn't the attack on the North only by the Goddess of Madness?"
Dawn thought for a bit, her mind working at speed unlike others, connecting dots almost instantly.
"The Sacred Flame is Charlotte's ally, but she doesn't want the Northern expedition to be successful. She also doesn't seem to think too highly of it..."
"Her faction wants to attack the North Pole in order to disturb that existence, giving it a warning...", her eyes widen in realization, "I see... I see!! Her side wants this expedition to fail, that's the only way I could see it!!"
But back in her mind, she has a feeling that she's missing a crucial detail. That isn't important now!!
"We must head to the North!!"
To stop whatever Charlotte is planning, to save as many people as possible. And to witness the birth of a new era.