Chapter 103: Singularity, Possessive, Conceptual
/I vividly remembered how weak my legs were. They were shaking from all the time I had spent watching./
Arthur had lost track of how long he had been standing, staring aimlessly ahead at the wretched scene that continued replaying in his head.
/My breathing was unsteady./
"Hahh..."
Arthur could feel his heart pounding. His gaze remained fixed on the corpse of what was once his wife, who had died without even getting the chance to fight.
No, their group wasn’t able to fight because the enemy they faced was the gate itself.
They didn’t encounter any rough terrain, traps, physical attacks, or any of the other usual things that could harm them inside the gate.
It was an unfair trial.
The candle was tightly clenched in Arthur’s hand. Even so, it didn’t break. It simply remained there, casting its light in his ridiculous situation.
An unfair light.
Then, even this light disappeared, the one that provided a little bit of hope in this situation.
Arthur wasn’t even paying attention to it.
He would like it if he died with everyone in the Happy Guild.
The situation didn’t matter now.
Yet the gate had other plans.
[Congratulations on clearing, Maintain The Ritual]
It gave him a congratulatory message... a message from the gate that served as a reminder that everyone except him had died inside this absurd gate.
[You received Half-Possessive Piece [Eight], Manipulator.]
[Do you wish to destroy the Maintain The Ritual?]
[Yes] [No]
...
Arthur eventually stopped screaming. He was already bleeding from his throat and head after hours of screaming and occasionally smashing his head against the platform.
The only reason he stopped doing these things was that his body was unable to keep up. His bleeding mouth could no longer produce coherent words after hours of screaming, and his head felt as if it were being pierced by a pain intense enough to kill him.
He wanted to.
Yet he couldn’t.
He lay on the ground, looking through the corpse of his wife.
’We were given wrong information...’
Arthur’s drive to uncover the secrets behind this wrong information was the only purpose left in his mind. For hours, he thought and felt helpless until he decided to get up.
"Xesie Family..."
Arthur started walking toward Ivana’s corpse and grabbed her wedding ring, which matched his own, the same ring he was wearing on his hand to grab hers. He then went to Aldrich and grabbed his bracelet, the matching one that Beca also had. Finally, he went to Ronald’s corpse and took his sword.
Arthur retrieved his group’s belongings, which were all related to them, and carried them all in his hand. Even if they were heavy or some weapons cut through his skin, he continued walking slowly toward the entrance and grabbed the last items his group had left.
Then he looked at the screen in front.
[Do you wish to destroy Maintain The Ritual?]
[Yes] [No]
"No."
Arthur said one word, and the Runic Gate responded.
[Removing the Runic Gate after all registered participants have left. It will be forcibly closed even if there are participants remaining inside the gate. Everyone is advised to leave before the gate closes.]
Arthur stood at the very entrance of the gate, taking one final look at the faraway chamber that was already nowhere to be seen because of the distance.
Then he left his words there.
"I’ll leave you for now. Those powerful families will cover this incident up if I choose to remain at this gate, and everything will be all for naught, so... wait for me, Ivana."
Arthur paused and left the gate.
However, there was something he failed to notice.
His eyes were so focused on the screen displaying the gate’s congratulatory message that he failed to notice the participants of this cleared gate.
[Participants Left: 1.5]
...
"Half-Possessive Piece?"
Cillian asked himself as he saw that he was almost at the end of Arthur’s diary. There were only a few pages left until the end, yet this word rang a bell.
Cillian looked at Mouthful Eye.
Mouthful Eye returned his gaze and immediately replied.
"Don’t give me that look. I already told you there are three types of Ruiner Pieces when we talked about them, if we exclude the normal ones. They are Singularity, Possessive, and Conceptual Pieces. The third one is the rarest."
"I know that, but you told me only normal Pieces appear in the initial stages of Runic Gates."
"I know, and... it was supposed to be that way until the middle stages of the gate. I don’t know what’s happening. In fact, what the fuck even is a Half Possessive Piece? So many strange things are already happening."
Cillian frowned, which made Mouthful Eye press this thought even deeper.
He was telling Cillian the truth.
"Seriously, I’m trying my best to give you information based on what I know. Believe me. Okay, if we ignore Arthur’s Half Possessive Piece and the Conceptual Piece, which are unlikely to show themselves, which is something I haven’t even witnessed yet, is there someone you know who received a Singularity even though we’re still in the beginning stages—"
Mouthful Eye stopped. He saw Cillian’s frown deepen so much that his gaze felt sharp enough to pierce through his thick skin.
But the reason he also stopped was that Mouthful Eye remembered something from back then. It was the time when he and a small group of students witnessed the insane swordplay inside the academy while the collapsing walls of bone fell.
The Sword that gives unimaginable power and a person who wielded this power to a certain degree.
A viable vessel to withstand the power his sword held.
It was something normal Pieces can’t do.
"Aster Densworth."
What happened to Arthur at the gate is not a coincidence. There might be a Singularity spawning here and there, as well as for Possessive Pieces. However, if there’s one thing Cillian is sure about, Conceptual Pieces are at least not spawning.
It was too impossible to happen.
"Possessive Pieces..."
Possessive Pieces are a type of Piece that are alive. There is an entity behind these Pieces, and just like Singularity, they can be assimilated again even if they are extracted from one’s body, rather than turning into Fragmented Pieces.
But does that mean Possessive Pieces are much better to have?
No. It could be Singularity, Possessive, or Conceptual, none of them are great Pieces to assimilate with. One glaring factor is the higher chance of losing control. Everything is difficult when maintaining control, from the moment the ability is used until the end.
It was not worth it.
But it begs the question: if left with no choice, what would be a better Piece to have?
Then, Cillian would always choose Singularity.
Choosing a Possessive Piece is akin to sharing a house with an intruder who decided to live there, always thinking "he wouldn’t hurt me, right?"
According to Mouthful Eye, based on his knowledge as a traveler between the Worlds, all individuals who possessed those Pieces were likely to be replaced by the same entity.
’Is the reason Arthur screamed when I confronted him forced him to remember his dark memories?’
It was likely to be the case.
That only meant that Arthur, at the very least, was currently being possessed and sharing one body with the unknown soul. This was the reason why the flag above his head was a Death Flag. It was not confirmed yet, but the possibility had a higher chance of being true.
However, something wasn’t making any sense.
If Arthur were possessed, then this entity would not leave this book out in the open as if it wanted to advertise itself to everyone else. It would hide it as well as possible to conceal the fact that it existed.
In fact, Arthur shouldn’t have written this in the first place!
That’s why Cillian knew he would find the answer in the latter part of the pages left in the diary.
Cillian skimmed through the books silently, trying to see something important, yet it was Mouthful Eye who had found something.
"A censored word!"
Mouthful Eye got himself closer to the diary to confirm his suspicions.
"Huh, what does this read, Cillian?! It’s not similar to the three I’ve said to you before! -Just as I was moving on in life while secretly researching that time, a person came to my doorstep. He talked with me and made me interested in searching for the Ancient Ruins in this territory. He said that it’s a way to bring your guild members back to life. And he introduced himself as a ***."
Cillian’s eyes constricted.
It wasn’t the word Moon, Lamb, or Clock written on it.
A new censored word.
’This...’
Cillian felt chills run down his spine.
/Just as I was moving on in life while secretly researching that time, a person came to my doorstep. He talked with me and made me interested in searching for the Ancient Ruins in this territory. He said that it’s a way to bring your guild members back to life. And he introduced himself as a... heretic./