Malediction of the Depth – Silence in Judgement

Dawn broke over Beiling.

Lea stood in the town square, watching the false sun rise over false buildings filled with false people living false lives. Her Cursed Constructs began to manifest despite this being a dream.

Because her will, her choice, was real enough. Black tendrils spread across the cobblestones. Golden light flickered at the edges of her vision.

The townspeople began to emerge for their morning routines, oblivious to what was coming.

Father Ernst.

Sister Margit.

Brother Aldric.

Old Martha.

Herself.

All of them. All the people she'd loved and lost.

About to die again by her own hand this time.

Lea closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face.

I'm sorry... she thought... I'm so, so sorry.

She took a deep breath, feeling the heartbeat of this body. Lea remembers what Charlotte taught her all that time.

Every primary Path falls into one of the three categories. Each of those categories has something special to give an edge in a fight. Lea only knew of the Immaterial, but that was more than enough for her.

"I profess myself to this world."

Her voice, laced with Malediction, made the false world tremble. The lie was breaking, as all the people began to stare at her, their eyes vacant without soul.

"I am Lea Darkwill, the Faceless Twilight."

She gritted her teeth to continue. And in her mind, she whispered a single goodbye.

"I laid claim upon this Domain!!"

The false world broke apart, and cracks began to rend Lea. Showing a haunting dark forest shrouded in darkness, the true form of this Divine Domain.

And her golden eyes began to dye a dark blue, like the deep darkness of the ocean.

"I am the Demigod of the Mind!! The Master of Dream and Nightmare!!"

Her power began to rampage, escaping her like water. Curses, madness, insanity, all that make up her Mind and Soul. Everything floods this forsaken world. Lea feels another power entering her, transforming her, granting her a new power...

The Immaterial counterpart of Erudition, the swirling mass of subconscious before any thought and action.

Ideation.

The main Attribute belonging to the Lord of the Abyssal Depth has now gathered inside her.

"Wandering across all Mind!

Master of the Deepest Abyss!

Dwelling in All and Faceless!!"

And inside the Divine Domain of Unconscious, her new body began to form.

"Norem!!"

Lea's form dissolved and rebuilt itself. Her body became pale, skin that shifted to reveal swirling black and deep golden scar beneath like stained glass over white paper.

She grew taller, nearly two meters now, with proportions subtly wrong in ways that made observers uncomfortable. Her eyes transformed into abyssal depths, oceanic blue fading to gold at the edges, scattered with pinpricks of white light like distant stars.

Her hair lengthened and shimmered, each strand shifting between gold, black, and deep blue as if moved by underwater currents. The black scales spread from her collar across her neck and arms, phasing in and out of visibility.

Her severed right arm reformed as black crystal shot through with golden veins, solid but clearly other, leaving afterimages when it moved. Her shroud of darkness became alive, flowing and dissolving constantly, revealing glimpses of faceless forms and reaching hands within.

Lea looks at herself, standing on the seabed. The Divine Domain is now inside her, yet sinking into something untouchable; she can feel the divinity suppressed inside her new body.

She had reached the Fifth Step, and at that, it whispered to her the ritual for the Sixth Step. But that is something she would think about later...

Her eyes turned toward what was in front of her, a corpse that had sunken into the depths, surrounded by fish nibbling at it. It was her own corpse. She felt strange staring at her own dead body, but other than that... nothing else. There was no sense of loss or regret, just... nothing at all.

With the destruction of the fake Beiling, she had destroyed all of her innocence. And the anchor for her love toward the world.

Lea walked forward, stepping over her own corpse. Picking up her parasol and gun that had fallen out the moment she died.

She laughed. Not from joy or from triumph.

But from the sheer, hollow absurdity of it all.

She'd destroyed everything she loved, even the tether to what could be called her humanity. And gained godhood for her trouble.

"Is this what you wanted?", she screamed into the empty void, her voice muffled by the water, addressing gods and cosmic forces and the universe itself, "Is this enough? Have I suffered enough? Have I become enough?!"

Even if no one could hear her cries, she still cried out. No one would hear her anyway...

But something did.

A torrent of water pushed her from behind, launching her further into the deep. Since her new body is technically not alive, she doesn't need to breathe. But the water pressure was enough to make her feel uncomfortable.

She let out a stream of curses toward the ocean itself, trying to transform her body via mimicking the aquatic life around her, but it was no use.

Deeper and deeper, the ocean itself suppressed her.

Thud!!

And somehow, she hit the bottom of the ocean floor. Lea took a moment to reorganize herself, and what was before her eyes had her in awe.

Wow...

The ocean floor stretched endlessly before her, but it wasn't stone or sand. It was rainbow-hued crystalline formations that caught what little light filtered down and refracted it into impossible colors. Blue shifting to purple to gold to green, all swirling within the translucent light.

They were seastones, the main ingredient for every mystical item.

"Who... are you?", although she already has a very good idea for that, "Why send me to this place?"

Then a majestic, grand voice echoed from all directions. Like three voices commanding her at the same time.

"We are Naawa Wiun the Nuclear Reign, Alaaz Raqkulu the All Blue, Aft Khaafita the Dim Blight."

And in front of her formed a massive sea serpent made out of glowing streams, their head ten times bigger than hers. Wearing a crown fit for a king, and a rein in their mouth.

"We are The Flood, holder of Chaos."

The God of Water, her instincts screamed. And from their introduction... a composite god like The Three Rings. And more than that, three Star Gods from beyond the sky in one.

"We welcome the Owner of the Unconscious."

And with that, a stream sent her upward. Her body breaking again, fighting against the pressure with her regeneration was difficult and hard.

That... was just a greeting.

A greeting from Star Gods with unknown motives.

She did not have time to think; within merely a few minutes, she was shot out of the water, and almost half of her body was broken. She even hit a few fish on the way.

Luckily, Lea did not encounter any deep-sea monsters, but even in the chaotic torrent, she could vaguely sense their thoughts.

Now, back to the world she hated...

As her body regenerates, Lea looks around for the AMS Sargon.

"As expected, it isn't here."

The ship was gone, leaving her floating in the ocean. But her struggle is not over, transforming her body again with the power of Malediction and Ideation. Her barely humanoid form transformed into a pool of darkness, morphing into a bird taking off into the sky.

"I call upon you, my familiars."

The ghosts came rising out of her body, surrounding her not as motes of faint light anymore, but as dark spirits. Along with their master, they had become something more.

But the silent Twilight Gaunt has no change; it just keeps on staring.

"Except you, go disappear.", she addressed the faceless demon, "Everyone spread out to look for land."

The twenty dark spirits scattered in all directions, and the Twilight Gaunt vanished into thin air. And Lea herself soared into the sky, trying to find which way land is.

She had no such luck, only clicking her tongue in frustration.

The God of Water had flung her to the open ocean, in the middle of nowhere.

Lea just sighed, her luck isn't getting any better.

=0=0=

In the North Pole, a particular sight was happening in the center of the continent.

Sitting upon a throne of silver was Charlotte, her cold gaze watching over a land made of chalk. A battle was happening right before her eyes, while she sipped a white liquid from a glass chalice. It was milk.

Krima, the Savior and access point of the Goddess of Madness, had fallen. He lay motionless on the ground, slowly turning into chalk by this domain. Being a mere Avatar, he could not possibly fight against the great enemy.

But he had fulfilled his purpose. He is the access point, after all. His death had opened up a portal for the gods to come into the Fog Wall.

Currently, the Blood God - a towering humanoid crimson boar wrapped in flame, wielding a black sword - and the Light Seeker - a figure in fluttering dark robes that hid their face. And one more god, in the form of a smiling gentleman, but instead of a face, it was a pitch black hole - The Maker.

The God of War, the Goddess of Madness, and the God of Degeneration. The only thing linking them together was that they are "natives" of this world.

And the Light Seeker was not. Yet they were the only Star God from beyond the sky that came to help.

"The Light Seeker, or your True Name, Alta Aldaakin the Dark Crown.", Charlotte stated, opening the book on her lap, "You are here to fight for this world, as the bearer of Unknown's opposite - Curiosity."

The thing the native gods of this world were fighting was, dancing between infernal, light, and corruption, was a hooded figure with a mirror-like mask, reflecting the warped reality in front of it. It fluttered its grey insect wings, weaving around the Blood God while dodging the cursed puppets and holograms of The Maker.

The only one able to clash with it was the Light Seeker, their light banishes any trickery hiding its form.

For Charlotte, who already knew what this thing was, let her thoughts wander. Thinks it looks like a type of creature from Earth, a Fey.

Creatures made to assist the world, creatures that are both horrible and playful at the same time.

But to Charlotte, the 'Fey' in front was something that didn't deserve to live or exist. Even if she had seen through its nature, an afraid, fearful being who wished not to be noticed by anything.

She denied its right of existence, denied its rights as an individual.

So she discarded the name it gave itself, denying its very identity as a sentient, sapient creature.

"I shall grant you one of the many names the Ego of Earth bears. Cernunnos, the God of Mystery. That name suits you, doesn't it? O' Mist Lord."