Chapter 155: Throughout Heaven and Earth
[Name: The Honored One
Description: A [One]Piece that has been formed after the death of the Hidden One.]
The Piece’s name, Honored One, was given a simple yet concise description by his Inventory after he had safely stored it for the past two weeks. He hadn’t touched it or paid much attention to it because of his busy schedule.
However, now that everyone was one-upping themselves, Cillian knew he needed something to increase his already dozens of arsenals from his pockets.
And the opportunity presented itself when Cillian saw that he had ’received’ a Piece after all his hard work. He just didn’t expect the next Piece he planned to incorporate himself with to belong to someone who had once been his enemy.
’I did receive it because I’m the one who contributed the most to defeating it. Heh, not shameless at all. It’s mine, and I will not share it with anyone.’
Cillian thought with a chuckle, amused at how everything was just a loop.
[A scent of Death within you said, "Do it."]
However, his chuckle soon stopped when the scent of Death gave him a reply that was almost too frightening to read.
It was as if it were cheering for him. Though it was the kind of cheer that wanted to see him succeed, only so it could watch him fall.
"You really didn’t need to reply every time I’m about to do something comical in your eyes. Just stay there and watch."
Even though he said that confidently, Cillian still felt shaky about incorporating this Piece, despite the description saying nothing about it having any residual remnants of the Hidden One.
At first, Cillian was doubtful.
Why wouldn’t he be?
As far as he knew, Pieces always originated from the Runic Gates. Even if something was found outside, it would always come from a gate whose existence was recorded in the supposed Runic Book, which contained information about the Gate’s Pieces.
Even Aster’s Five Swords of Wrath should’ve contained the Runic Book from its gate. That was what he had told Cillian when explaining why he had been targeted back then.
However, this time, not only was there no Runic Book containing information about this Piece, but this thing had also materialized from the death of a ’God.’
But why?
Even though there were still unknowns regarding this Piece’s existence, why was Cillian planning on incorporating it when he could’ve simply picked another Piece somewhere and learned about its abilities beforehand by looking through its Runic Book?
There was a simple reason, really. And it’s because it is a ’Piece’.
It’s not a Fragmented Piece, which is how it was supposed to happen since the scent of Death is aware that Cillian can copy the ability of the Hidden One through his Faceless, but fully formed Piece without irregularities.
How was the Piece formed to begin with? Why do they even appear in the Runic Gates, only to be incorporated later through Runic Language? And how come the Hidden One’s Piece wasn’t formed as a Fragmented Piece, but instead as a fully functional one?
Or was it really a Piece to begin with?
"As usual, more questions rather than answers."
Cillian stopped his rampaging thoughts and put his focus back on trying to start the opening sequence of his second Piece.
"Don’t worry. Mouthful Eye already told you that nothing bad will happen. A Piece will be a Piece. Even though he didn’t know how the hell it happened either, a Piece would never cheat its way onto you. As long as I follow the rules, I’ll be fine."
Ignoring the messages from the scent of Death that urged him to just do it each time, Cillian prepared himself.
Already setting his mind straight, Cillian held the Piece tightly in his hand.
It appeared as a miniature thunderbolt, with hazy clouds surrounding it as if a thunderstorm were brewing. It didn’t possess the eerie aura of Arthur’s Half-Possessive Piece, Manipulator. The Runic Language appeared clear as day, unlike Faceless, which he had to put a monocle back in the day just to see it.
Then, Cillian read the text containing the Piece’s activation sequence in the middle of the thunderbolt. He had no trouble reading it, as he had spent the past two weeks studying in preparation for this moment.
There’s no way he was backing out now.
"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one."
The same view he had seen when acquiring Faceless manifested in front of him once more.
Spherical and intricate ’lights’ burst out, and the same ’view’ that resembled outer space back on Earth surrounded him. However, something seemed different. No, nothing new had appeared. It was the same thing, only these ’lights’ and the ’view’ had become much clearer to him.
The Lights that had been scattered before formed a straight, incomprehensible line, while the View of outer space grew darker, surrounding them. This View then began devouring the Lights.
"!"
In the middle of the Lights and View clashing together, the elaborate Runic Language manifested before Cillian, forming the words he had just read from the Honored One Piece.
It felt overwhelming to look at.
But eventually, these Lights exploded into tiny bits as they mixed with the green, hazy Runic Language, causing it to glow brighter and greener.
When this sequence happened, the surrounding vision he had was the View without any spherical Lights surrounding him. Eventually, the Runic Language began glowing even brighter than before, only for it to be compressed as it returned inside the thunderbolt surrounded by hazy black View.
"It’s... somehow become even clearer?"
When he witnessed this scene for the first time, Cillian felt overwhelmed and nervous. Yet now that he was stepping into becoming a Ruiner [One], he felt even more overwhelmed and nervous, simply because everything had become clearer.
’The Lights were devoured by the Space’s View...’
Cillian’s mouth twitched.
"So cool..."
Looking at the thunderbolt reacting vividly as if it were ready to be incorporated, Cillian couldn’t help but curl his lips upward.
"You better be worth it."
Then, Cillian placed the Piece near his mouth and took it all in one go.
However, unlike the time he took Faceless, Cillian was ready for anything to prevent him from repeating the same mistake in the past.
"Pheww..."
After eating the Piece, he began to stabilize himself.