"I understand. I'll inform Lady Ariel about this immediately…"
Prudentia sighed, wondering how her apprentice could continuously find herself in precarious positions.
Eleanor had promptly returned and alerted her Guardian Angel of the developments in the graveyard, the mysterious black mist deeply intriguing the woman.
"You mentioned the Angel of Humility, yes?"
Her emerald-eyed mentor looked down at the girl with mild curiosity, a smile tugging at the edges of her lips.
"Yes. I met him in Infinium, and he guided me through the city after saving me from thug-like false Angels."
Prudentia's brow instantly raised in surprise, finally connecting the dots of another mystery that had been plaguing her.
"So that is where those two went…"
The blonde-haired child furrowed her brow at the words that she could barely hear.
"What did you say?"
The Angel of Justice chuckled instead of answering.
"Nothing… Merely a small conjecture of mine. You should return to your apartment now. Lady Strixen will be watching you as you sleep tonight to prevent any further mishaps, so do not worry."
Eleanor nodded, relief filling her chest as she remembered the newly appointed Minor-Guardian Angel that protected her in the shadows.
She could be anywhere right now…
Throwing glances at anything that moved, she shook her head with a smile, quickly giving up on her little game of searching for the highly elusive Angel.
"I'll head back then. Have a good night, m'lady."
She bowed her head, departing in a flash of dust as Prudenia teleported her back to her bedroom without another word.
The emerald-eyed woman stood silently for a minute before laughing.
"Humility… That's quite the name…"
…
Eleanor was asleep; she was certain of it; however, there was a strange feeling around her, one of unusual concentration.
It was as if she were being toyed with, her soul being manipulated into a form unfitting of her very nature.
Something was tampering with the very fiber of her being, and a sudden thought occurred to the slumbering girl.
It's the corruption—
"..."
A sound exploded into existence, the endless silence now filled with the shattering of glass and the ringing of steel.
Whispers bombarded her head, the girl's immediate thoughts placing them in the same league as the black mist; however, only seconds later, she recategorized them to something else, something far greater.
Her mind felt like it was melting, an unbearable burning sensation tearing from her throat down to her abdomen.
There was nothing she could do as her arms twisted into impossible directions, forming a thin layer of skin that looked more akin to paper.
Her bones vanished one by one, and Eleanor's entire body crumpled into a shape the size of a hand, a turquoise glow filling her eyes.
The pain was excruciating, as if her soul was resisting her consciousness, trying to expel it like a foreign invader.
The force felt unstoppable, her death imminent, and all the progress she had made seemed useless.
"..."
The noise boomed out again, but this time, the broken glass seemed to flow in reverse, reconstructing whatever had been broken before.
Slowly, Eleanor's vision cleared, a murky void around her that coincided with nothingness and everything all at once.
It was a dizzying feeling that couldn't be explained in mere human words, the nature of the illusory space more akin to a deity's dwelling.
That, of course, was for a reason.
With a single glance forward, the girl's blood ran cold, or rather, her wings did.
Floating in the dead center of the darkness, on a platform made of seawater, a tall mirror stood with a flock of turquoise butterflies nestled on its surface, covering the reflection.
She walked—no, floated closer, feeling herself inexplicably drawn to the object.
In a flash, the insects burst out, fluttering past her as if she didn't exist in their mind, a simple interloper in the world formed by something immense.
As the mirror was now clear, she gazed into it, her mind instantly faltering as she observed her appearance.
I-I'm a…
Her body caught up to her mind, all her muscles going rigid, and her very soul trembling under a pressure far greater than anything she had felt before.
Not even the day she had died to a deity inside the mind of Aaron Grimstall could compare to the overpowering bloodlust that ate away at her sanity from inside the mirror.
"Welcome, Eleanor Lynn. I've been expecting you."
The blonde-haired girl, or rather, the turquoise-colored butterfly, stared into the reflection, the image of an old man staring back, ceasing every function of her body.
A turquoise beard that seemed to resemble the ocean itself, wrinkles as deep as trenches, and eyes glowing a strange green hue.
His sea-colored hair looked unkempt and ragged, while the clothing he wore was a silver colored armor that seemed to reflect the darkness, turning it into miniature waves that rippled across the surface of the chestplate.
There was no mistake in Eleanor's mind as she gazed at the figure before her.
With absolute certainty in her heart and a will raging like the fires of Hell itself, she watched as the man—the one who had defied Heaven, a monster capable of slaying gods, a force of endless strength—smiled.
…
July 31st, the Sea of Dreams.
Aaron awoke in a cold sweat, his vision blurry and weak.
He had felt something, a manifestation of what he could only assume to be the Old Man; however, he wasn't anywhere but his bed.
In another room, his mentor Cam snoozed on the floor while Eleanor lay comatose in her own bed.
Neither he nor the woman on the floor knew that at that very moment, inside the head of the blonde-haired priestess, unimaginable malice burst into existence.
…
"You."
Regardless of her animalistic form, she had found that she could still speak all the same, her mind urging her to kill or be killed.
She tapped into her memory for any spells she could cast on the man; however, in that moment, they all eluded her.
"Eh? You think your magic can work here?"
He looked at her sadly as if she were a stray dog on the side of the street, only pity residing within his ancient face.
Eleanor tried to speak again, but found herself unable to let out a single syllable, as if the mysterious power that gave her voice had been withdrawn.
"You think of me as a manipulator, yes? Someone cruel, violent, evil, and untrustworthy, correct?"
Posing both questions simultaneously, he awaited the child's response, which came as soon as she felt her voice recover.
"Why the hell should I answer you?"
Disregarding her kind and tranquil priestess mindset that she had kept throughout her sixteen years of life and now death, she seethed with absolute malice.
The Old Man responded with a wry smile, his hands stretching out wide as if he was trying to give the mirror a hug.
"Hmm… Quite feisty… Grimstall is usually too afraid to answer rudely like that, so I appreciate the honesty."
He rubbed his brow, a thought occurring to him instantly.
"Oh no!"
A paleness crept into his face as he suddenly shook his head hard.
"Pardon my rudeness, I should've turned you back when you got here…"
He snapped his fingers, and Eleanor's body instantly reverted to her human form, her gray eyes opening wide as she stared daggers at the man.
"Much better…"
Whispering the words in a creepy tone, he smiled once again, waiting for the girl's response.
"Why did you bring me here? Were you the one who made that fog? Have you been trying to kill me with this corruption?"
She sneered as she spoke, her words tossed without care and without kindness, only a certain type of brutal seriousness that was often neglected in the way she talked now being let out.
The Old Man seemed to savor her words, listening with absolute ecstasy.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! I love this emotion! You're truly fit to be beside my dear boy! If only that old worm hadn't damaged you to such an extent, you could've already become a perfect vessel to break these seals of mine!"
Eleanor watched his unbothered expression contort in joy, her own mind regaining some of its functionality as the pain she had been feeling since earlier finally dimmed.
Is he insane? Has he truly lost all mental—
"Isn't it rude to talk about someone behind their back?"
His words pierced her thoughts, drowning out her own inner self and constricting her to only her voice.
"Much better!"
His cocky, arrogant smile made the blonde-haired girl want to break his nose and strangle him to death.
"What the hell do you want with me?"
She had reached her breaking point; if he wasn't willing to say anything, then she'd find a way to get out of that dream, whether it resulted in horrific consequences or not.
The Old Man's grin faded ever so slightly, his crazy eyes stabilizing and his hands finding places at his sides where illusory chains clattered together.
"My charity work in cleaning up this cosmic willow has ruffled the feathers of some unfortunately powerful existences. Considering your conversations with my dear boy, you understand his connection to me, yes?"
His appearance morphed into the turquoise-eyed Aaron Grimstall for a moment, Eleanor's breath catching as she watched his skin peel off.
"I granted your wish in Sea Fallen and told you who I am. Therefore, you should know what I desire more than anything, correct?"
Both questions were like knives on the priestess's skin, the frigid and potent air surrounding the platform constricting around her neck like a noose.
"You want to obliterate Heaven and the gods within."
His entire face beamed at the answer, his head nodding rapidly, and the waves reflected on his chestplate clashed fiercely, like a storm.
"Ding, ding, ding!"
Laughing aloud, he followed up on his words.
"You are exactly correct! However, to get to that step, I need to be freed from this place first. And to do that, I need all nine of my seals to be broken."
Eleanor eyed him warily, noticing the previously illusory chains take on a more solid form, their colors all varied, each one stronger than the next.
"I'm going to reveal some information to you that has the potential to burn your mind to ashes and erase your soul forever. Is that alright?"
Never letting his smug smile vanish, he didn't even give the girl the chance to refuse before continuing.
"The God of Dreams and Foresight, the God of Death, the Pantheon of Luck, the Goddess of Life and Fertility, the Goddess of Song and Harmony, the God of Sunlight, the God of Despair, the God of Winter, and lastly, the God of ■■■■■■■ itself."
After each word, the blonde girl felt her entire body ripple, her mind erupt into flames, and reality bend.
Even the Old Man seemed surprised that only the last name had been obscured, his head shaking with amazement.
"Talking with the dead to suppress the Knowledge Barrier is truly superb!"
Pausing to appreciate the convenient gap in the Knowledge Barrier, he finished his earlier thought.
"These nine deities all came into contact with me during my march of liberation, and at one point or another, they or their predecessors lost a fragment of their authority in our meeting. Deities such as the original God of Dreams, the God of Song, and the God of Winter were slain by me. Yet, their descendants by blood became Ascendants, rising to the reaches of godhood and inheriting their ancestors' might. The others were merely wounded by me or allowed a portion of their essence to be removed."
He continued while disregarding the rapidly disintegrating mirror that seemed to crack and scream with agony at his every word.
"When these gods died or were fragmented, their essence solidified into nine divine objects, the most powerful cores that reside in nine of the Ten Seas of the Dimension of Waves. I cannot explain in more detail about how they were made, how they appeared in your world, or even where they are, as even I am ignorant of some things; however, what I can tell you with certainty is their purpose."
The entire void shook as the eyes of Heaven began to interlope on a space that shouldn't exist, where secrets that should never be told directly were revealed, summoning forces beyond human understanding to intervene.
Such noise or the suffering of the girl forced to listen to it all did not stop the man from finishing.
"These cores are the foundation for my seal, and as they vanish one by one, I will be able to gradually fight against my containment. The most unstable one in the Sea of Dreams, the one made from the scattered corpse of the previous God of Dreams, Hypnos. I already had some control over it due to a trap I had laid; however, the other ones are far more potent."
At this point, the illusory space was on the verge of destruction, the priestess able to detect the gazes of at least one hundred beings far above her level, forcing their way in.
She could no longer comprehend what was happening around her; only the remaining words that spread from the man's mouth sounded in the twisting space with ethereal clarity.
"Now, I'll implore you."
He smiled.
"The only way to destroy the cores is through a special ability that I stole from beings far above even the deities I slayed."
The world around Eleanor exploded into nothingness, her eyes slamming shut to prevent the repeated death upon gazing on the form of a true god.
The God Slayer's voice broke up, only a fragment of what he said left ringing in the girl's ears as she shot awake in her bed.
"The Insignia of Stars."