Chapter 137: Sunbreak
The entire world losing 30% of its population didn't come without uproar.
Normally, Dawn wouldn't have to handle administrative work except for emergencies like wartime. But the problem was the disappearance of some old noble houses, people vanishing from thin air, and most of all... the loss of Auger Maxwell. Despite wanting to grieve and planning against future Outsiders, she had to get to work.
"May the Chalk Princess help me...", she sighed as she finished dividing the land of a missing noble.
"I'm right here, you know.", Charlotte spoke up, chilling in Dawn's room.
Currently, only the two were here. Solafant went back to Device V to plan out his rocketship design after being inspired by Charlotte's airship, the AMS Bismarck. And the members of Dawn's church headed to Aipotu to brainstorm more ideas and invent more things using her own schematics. The reason why she didn't have helpers was that she was using her divine power to work on multiple documents at once, using her arms and working her brain in overdrive mode. But still, this isn't what a Sixth Step demigod should do...
"Give me back my mysterious goddess...", Dawn complained.
That made the real Chalk Princess chuckle, "Heha~ I am quite mysterious myself; I haven't said much about my childhood."
No one wants to hear about your sob story or whatever...
"Could you not be a freeloader and help me?", she grumbled, "Do some paperwork or help me investigate the Faceless Twilight, that thing definitely knows something about Lea..."
She hasn't had time to get around that alleged Star God. It frustrated her that she doesn't know the fate of her friend; for now, her fate doesn't look good to Dawn.
"I won't be interfering with this world anymore, remember? Unless something fun happens, of course.", that was her excuse.
As for why she is here instead of running off to somewhere...
She was tapping her hardlight slate, sending messages to someone.
"I am an Outsider, shouldn't you be trying to eliminate me?", a grin formed on Charlotte's face.
Dealing with Charlotte would prove more devastating than anything. Who just casually attacks The Three Rings in the middle of a world-changing event?
"I wouldn't dare to."
At least not right now...
When the ritual for her Seventh Step is something hard to understand. 'Increase the Civilization Level to 0.7', she needs Charlotte's expertise as a person from another world with more advanced technology.
What the hell is a Civilization Level, anyway?
=0=0=
It is almost the new year, and Lea would depart on her journey to Empire's Edge. But she needs to prepare herself more.
Currently, using a sword and gun just doesn't make sense. Yes, both are powerful in their own right, but her sword in particular doesn't align with the core principle of Malediction, and her gun cannot be used from far away.
To be completely unseen, to kill those she cannot drag into dreams. Like the Star Gods coming to this world.
Another weapon is necessary.
She headed to the Golden Emporium, appearing from the pool of darkness she used to travel. With a breathless sigh, Lea opened the door.
"Welcome to the Golden Emporium~!!", Qaeidat welcomed her in with that business-perfect smile, "What can I get you today?"
Lea pulled out the parasol and her gun, placing them on the counter.
"Can you combine these into a long-range weapon for me?", Lea requested.
"Of course I can do that!! But to employ my powers and connections for something like this, there is a pretty penny to pay!", she clapped her hands.
Taking off her hat, Qaeidat pulled out what looked to be a contract written in a language she could not decipher...
This felt like a scam coming.
Lea could not read the mind of a Star God, a Great Old One at that, "Couldn't I pay normally?"
"If you desire so, dear customer!!", she threw the contract away, "To combine these two weapons, it will take 255,000 Cee!!"
If Lea still had a heart, it would've dropped after hearing the price.
"What was the contract about, again?", she changed her tune real quick.
"It's just a job~ you just have to do when the opportunity arrives, a side gig if you will.", the glowing crimson X marks on her golden eyes glowed intensely, "If you ever come across the Fragment of the Universe, try and get it for me."
An intense headache hit Lea, making her collapse to the ground. What was that...?
She clearly heard something about a Fragment, but what exactly? It broke through the protection of Curiosity.
Now she was SURE the Mist Lord was still alive.
"Apologies for that, dear customer.", The Golden Order still kept that smile, even with faking worry, "You just need to find Mystery and kill it, take the cosmic crystal thingy from its corpse - you'll know when you see it."
"What is... that thing...?", Lea weakly asked as she got up.
"I'll be referring to things in a vague manner from now on, so that you won't have a mental breakdown.", that was The Golden Order's compromise.
"Alright...", Lea nodded.
"I'll be referring to the... you know, as The Fragment, and its origin as Big Angry Daddy."
That is a weird analogy but alright.
"So, from Big Angry Daddy, the universe was born..."
That is a MASSIVE escalation!!
"Big Angry Daddy hates the universe, but the Voidborns, Cosmic Laws, don't want Big Angry Daddy to reabsorb the universe. So they have been in a battle for the fate of reality and unreality since the beginning of the universe."
Was it right to throw in this explanation? Can't we just skip this big grand story?
"But of course, there is a cycle! Every Stellar Cycle, Big Angry Daddy wakes up for an Astral Cycle to eat and reabsorb the universe ever more so."
So basically, every few years a universe-ending threat wakes up and eats reality.
"The battles aren't hopeless, however! The Stars and the Laws have been holding on, resulting in fragments of Big Angry Daddy splitting off!! One of those fragments just so happened to land here, causing this whole mess."
Lea winced. Ideation was trying to make the connection for her, but got stuck at the finish line. Having a vague understanding but not being able to reach a conclusion, just right at the tip of the tongue, is surprisingly frustrating. She mentally stopped herself from this subject, sealing the pathway with Silence. Lea did get that the Fragment and the Mist Lord are the same thing.
"You just need to try and take the Fragment."
So basically fight a god...
It is simple but...
"You are fighting Mystery, which can be countered by Curiosity. But not only Curiosity, but there are also two others who can counter it, Stagnation - owned by the Emerald Comet of the End. And you."
"Unconscious."
She was a counter to the Mist Lord. Qaeidat placed the contract back on the table...
Lea definitely didn't sign up to save this world. The Merchant wasn't, either; she just wanted to get something.
A practical deal.
"Alright, where do I sign?", she took the pen on the counter.
How the hell do I read this alien script...?
"Just write your name here, here, and here.", The Golden Order pointed out several spots, "And sign here."
Lea did as she was told, completing the Contract.
"Thank you for doing business~!!", The Golden Order took the Contract and put it back in her hat.
"Oh, can you take care of this guy?", she turned back, looking at the Twilight Gaunt she just summoned.
Although an effective intel gatherer and assassin, she doesn't need a silent creature by her side.
"Sure, want me to incorporate it into your weapon?", Qaeidat asked with a smile.
"Yes."
Snap.
Lea turned back; the Twilight Gaunt was gone. And she felt her Contract with it destroyed.
Huh...?
So swift and efficient... Lea thought, chalking it to the might of a Great Old One.
"I'll be back with you shortly~ wait for a bit!", Qaeidat waved, taking the gun and sword with her behind a door.
Lea sat down on the sofa, rocking back and forth, sometimes twitching. It was quite uncomfortable not being able to "eat" constantly.
"I really want to eat more despair...", she muttered.
=0=0=
It took three minutes for Qaeidat to come back, presenting Lea with a mystical weapon.
It was a pale bow, constantly emitting some sort of blue mist. The bowstring was even more special; it had this silver glow to it, making it even more magical. Though there was a D-loop on the bowstring, it kind of ruined the aesthetic.
Lea tried to remove the D-loop, touching the bowstring...
She sliced her index finger off.
It kind of hurt; no, it really hurt. Rift can cut through souls, making Lea want to scream in pain.
"Grr...", she only let out a grunt.
But now she knew where the sword went, and why the D-loop was necessary. What about the parasol?
Then Qaeidat began to explain, "As you can see~ this bad boy here generates power like before; by plucking the D-loop a few times, it generates energy via Melody, Surge, and Resonance! Using the neuros of the Twilight Gaunt, the energy generated is shaped into an arrow!!"
"The bowstring was previously your sword; it can still cut through everything. The D-loop is made of the same material as the sheath; I also added in Accord to make the triple sharpness of the string infuse into the energy arrow."
Lea didn't use Accord much, after all. This might be useful when she applies Judgement to the arrow. Branding might actually be useful now with her curses' increased range.
There is something so cool about sniping someone from the other side of a city...
"One more thing, as the owner, you get to name it~"
Naming a weapon is very important, as it gives the object an identity. In some cultures, it means giving it a Soul.
Closing her eyes, the Cursed Construct armor retreated, revealing her face. Her expression was mute, her skin as pale as the bow itself. The only thing that stopped her from looking like a corpse was her molten golden hair and eyes, vibrant and alive.
There was a fairy tale she was read to in her childhood. Of an archer who shot down nine blazing ravens, bringing an end to the tyranny of fire and light.
Lea is the opposite of Light, a dweller in darkness and nightmares. A warrior of wrath and night...
"Houyi.", she picked up the bow, "I shall name you Houyi."
The signature weapon to represent The Faceless Twilight.
=0=0=
"Isn't this beauty what you seek?"
Standing before a ruin, the gaze of Messtorrin, the Ego of the World, turned to the black hole orbited by shards of emerald, The Nova Blight.
Before them was once a village, destroyed by something animalistic. And that beast wasn't far away, eating the corpse of a child. Flesh and bone being torn apart with ease, a vulture-like monster with black feathers and scales eating with painful cries and tears streaming from its full red eyes.
No one would believe this thing used to be a human mother. Turned into a Horror after her husband vanished in front of her eyes, dramatically awakening her Attributes...
And the fruit she was about to cut was a Saga. It had forcibly merged with her body; the story's divinity held in that fruit was too much for her. Resulting in a Horror carrying divinity and a story, destroying the village in a rampage.
"Beautiful...", a hallowed voice came from the black hole, "Only in despair... in misery... in destruction... can beauty shine the brightest."
Messtorrin smiled, her black eyes narrowed, "We get along well, don't we?"
"Yes...", The Nova Blight replied, "What is more fun than destruction?"
"Nothing.", the World answered.
It was the philosophy of the Lords of Annihilation, that destruction and annihilation bring the most joy of all.
In other words...
Explosion is art.
The First Lord of Annihilation and the Ego of the World get along very well.