Chapter 281: A Covenant Pact
[The Fable: ’The Beginning After The End’ has reached the limits of your witness.]
Then, after the darkness came the light. It flooded Ruvian’s vision, leaving him unable to see anything beyond the endless white radiance.
Then, the brilliance slowly began to recede.
Streams of white light swept past his body and poured back into the altar below. Their glow steadily dimmed until the endless darkness of the Sepulcher swallowed the realm once more.
Ruvian’s eyes widened.
"Haa... haa..."
His chest rose and fell violently as he dragged one ragged breath after another into his lungs. Both of his hands remained locked around [The Endseeker], which was still embedded deep within the slot at the heart of the Chronoseal.
His fingers quivered around the hilt.
Then, all strength drained from his legs. His knees crashed against the cold stone altar with a heavy thud, and his body sagged forward, yet his hands stubbornly refused to let go of the sword, using it to keep himself from collapsing entirely.
’I’m back... I really came back...?’
For several long seconds, Ruvian remained motionless.
His grip around [The Endseeker] slowly tightened until a quiet laugh slipped from the depths of his throat.
"...But why?"
Another laugh followed, louder than the last.
"Why am I already back? Why would it tear me away when I was only one step from the answer? There was still more. There had to be more. So who decided that I had seen enough!?"
The corners of his lips slowly curled upward.
"No, no, no... this makes no sense at all. The truth was right there. It was there!"
The Great Spirit remained where she stood.
Her gray eyes rested upon him in quiet silence before she slowly raised a hand and rested her fingers beneath her chin.
"How anomalous. I find myself pondering the very same question. What could have caused the current to end when it had yet to unveil the whole truth?"
Her tranquil voice drifted through the silent Sepulcher as she gave a faint shake of her head.
"The River of Time does not cast aside its witness without cause. If it has chosen to do so now, then something beyond even its own design must have intervened."
Suddenly, the sword emitted a faint glow.
Ruvian narrowed his eyes, slowly pushed himself to his feet, and drew it from the slot. Then, he cast [Identify] and examined the blade.
His gaze swept across the information one line at a time. Everything appeared exactly as he remembered, until a moment later, his expression changed.
Beneath the familiar details, a new inscription had silently appeared.
[Souls Devoured: (12/1,000)]
[Strengthen this blade to unlock its full potential.]
[Further witnessing has been sealed until this blade is restored.]
’What?’
The Great Spirit quietly stepped closer.
"That is something new. No such inscription existed before," she murmured, her gaze lingering upon the blade. "It would seem... Father has altered it."
Ruvian stared at the newly appeared inscription for several long seconds before a dry laugh escaped the depths of his throat.
"Why... why would he do this? One thousand is a lot! Does this mean I have to fulfill this requirement first, then return all the way to this island just to continue the vision?"
His smile slowly widened as his grip around the sword tightened until his knuckles turned pale.
"How am I even supposed to do that? Reaching this island alone is not some simple task, and getting here safely without the academy’s vessels is nothing short of madness!"
Another laugh escaped his lips, hollow and utterly devoid of mirth.
"So what now? Am I supposed to devour a thousand souls, cross the sea all over again, survive every Voidspawn lurking on that damned island, then politely ask the Chronoseal to let me continue? Hah... of course. Why not ask me to tear the stars from the sky while I am at it?"
The Great Spirit sighed, then watched him in silence, her gray eyes resting upon the strained smile stretched across his face.
After a long moment, she slowly lowered her hand from beneath her chin.
"I believe I can partly understand why Father chose to place such a condition upon the blade."
Ruvian’s eyebrows slowly rose. His laughter faded into silence, yet the twisted smile still lingered at the corners of his lips.
"And what would that reason be?"
The Great Spirit stepped closer, her expression as serene as ever.
"Look at yourself, child, not at the blade, not at the altar, but at what still remains of you. You have witnessed life after life and death after death, yet through every cycle, you could do nothing but watch."
Her gentle voice drifted through the silent Sepulcher.
"You could not speak to the one who suffered. You could not guide his hand. You could not alter even the smallest fragment of what had already come to pass. Instead, you were bound within another’s pain, forced to endure every despair, every failure, and every death without the power to stop a single one of them."
Ruvian’s fingers twitched around the hilt.
The Great Spirit slowly lifted her pale hand, as though she wished to brush away the exhaustion etched across his face, yet stopped just short of reaching him.
"No mind can walk through so many lives and emerge unchanged, child. Even the strongest soul will eventually fracture when it bears more sorrow than it was ever meant to carry."
The smile on Ruvian’s face slowly stiffened.
"Father may have sealed the remaining vision because he understood that if he had allowed you to witness everything at once, he would not have been leading you to the truth."
Slowly, she withdrew her hand.
"Instead, he would have buried what little remains of your heart beneath a weight from which it could never rise again."
Ruvian’s brows drew together. The thoughts inside his head tangled into a knot.
"...Are you trying to say I went insane?"
The Great Spirit met his eyes without the slightest hint of hesitation. "Yes," she answered gently. "You did, child. Twice."
Ruvian let out a long sigh, rolling his eyes.
"...Fine. Maybe I did... a little," he admitted with a helpless laugh. "However, that still doesn’t change the fact that I am going to have a very big problem in the future to reach you a second time."
Hearing that, the Great Spirit’s lips curved into a faint, knowing smile.
"But what if I already have the solution for that?"
"...Huh?"
Ruvian blinked.
The Great Spirit’s smile deepened.
She slowly lifted one hand toward him, her slender fingers resting over her chest. "You once told me that you sought my strength, did you not, child? If that is still your wish, then why not the two of us form a pact?"
Ruvian’s brows rose.
He slowly crossed his arms as the words settled inside his mind.
"A pact..." he repeated under his breath. His expression gradually changed as realization dawned on him.
"Wait... you mean...?"
The Great Spirit gave a gentle nod.
"Yes..." she answered, her dark hair swaying softly in the stillness of the Sepulcher.
"Let the two of us form....
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[Chapter 281: A Covenant Pact]