Trissy pressed her fingers hard against her temples. The howl of despair and pain that had swept across nearly half of the West District had almost made her lose control on the spot. Even so, her hair had noticeably thickened, and a gray luster had begun to flow in her eyes. Fortunately, the uncontrollable spiritual fluctuations gradually ebbed away as she entered a shallow meditation, replaced by an intense wave of lingering fear.
"What was that just now?" Still trembling, Trissy turned to look at Snow, only to find to her horror that the once-composed man was now slumped on the ground in a violent convulsion.
Blue-black veins bulged under his skin, and an evil, bizarre curse seemed to be spreading across his body. His skin had turned a dark, iron-like color, as if he were transforming into a metal statue.
Hearing Trissy's voice, Snow barely managed to regain a sliver of sanity. He propped himself up and shouted at her. "Quick! Think of something happy! Quick!"
"Happy? You suddenly say that, how can I..."
"If you can't be happy, then something shameful counts too! Or how you play with your maids! Anything as long as it isn't pain! Otherwise, I'll pin you to the ground and vent right now!" Snow gritted his teeth, forcibly spat out the words. This effort made the blue-black veins on his body,which looked ready to burst through his skin and transform into tentacles,appear even more grotesque.
"I... I understand!" Trissy was clearly startled by Snow's threat. She didn't even have the energy to question how he knew about her private activities with her maids. She immediately began to force various emotions to the surface. She had no doubt that the man before her was capable of pinning her down, even in his half-crazed state.
Waves of thoughts flowed into Snow's consciousness, alleviating his mental agony. While he had nearly been killed by this side effect before, it now provided him with a lifeline.
The side effect of Relativist was mental synchronization, or more simply, extreme empathy. Does the joy of the fish you see truly belong to the fish? No, it's only because you, the observer, are joyful.
While this side effect was more gradual than a Conditioned Reflex, like Analysis Paralysis, it was a persistent state. His emotions could easily be influenced by those around him. The closer the distance and the stronger the emotional fluctuation, the greater the impact on him.
At the moment of Lanevus's death, the resentment and despair emitted by the True Creator's consciousness had directly eroded Snow's nerves. For a split second, his thoughts were entirely flooded with that darkness. The subsequent ravings of the True Creator had nearly sent him over the edge.
Fortunately, the True Creator's outburst was fleeting. With the influx of Trissy's emotions, his mental state began to awaken from the depths of despair. He felt incredibly lucky that he had brought Trissy along to flaunt her powers today. Had he been arrogant enough to assassinate Bakerland alone, he would have had to rely on The Sefirots or a prayer to Mr. Fool to combat the ravings.
However, doing so would have immediately stripped him of his identity as one of the Aurora Order's "Blessed," replacing it with titles like blasphemer or traitor. While he wasn't particularly afraid of the Aurora Order's pursuit, it would have completely derailed his original plans. As a "Blessed" of Mr. Fool, it would be too embarrassing to fail at being a double agent!
Two full minutes later, Snow finally climbed up from the ground. As the True Creator's gaze gradually receded, he began to use The Sefirots to purge the remaining pollution.
Strands of black, worm-like pollution broke through his skin and fell to the floor, vanishing into wisps of black smoke. Snow took a long breath and tossed a key to Trissy. "Go to my house. Official Beyonders will be here soon. Hurry and clean up any traces on yourself."
"Anti-divination?" Hearing Snow's words, Trissy immediately prepared to cast a spell on the spot, only to receive a glare in return.
"Do you think your anti-divination can stand against the Heart of Machinery? Sending a prayer to our Lord would be far more effective!"
"And what about you?" Trissy couldn't help but feel that Snow was trying to throw her out as a scapegoat. Snow simply glanced at her without an explanation, leaving her with a single sentence. "If you aren't afraid of death, then follow me!"
With that, Snow ignored Trissy and began running toward the direction of the True Creator's howl.
With such a massive disturbance in the West District, official Beyonders would appear within ten minutes at most. If he couldn't fulfill the True Creator's oracle before then, the next "communication" wouldn't be as simple as mere whispers.
Yes, the previous pain had been nothing more than the True Creator directly delivering a mission! Under normal circumstances, whispers wouldn't have such a massive effect. The fact that the True Creator had spoken directly without any restraint clearly indicated a punitive intent.
Actually, for a "vessel for descent" to have died, two minutes of whispering was a sign of the True Creator's mercy. Then again, Snow felt the real reason for the restraint was so that he could get to work immediately.
...
Relying on the stamina of a Sequence 7, Snow reached Lanevus's corpse in three minutes. With a single glance, he found the item the True Creator wanted him to retrieve amidst a pile of sanity-blasting severed limbs.
It was a palm-sized pale bone, a fragment of a sternum still stained with bits of pink flesh. At that moment, the bone was radiating a faint but holy white light, giving it a peculiarly sacred aura. Snow didn't hesitate. He wrapped his palm in spirituality and picked up the bone. He didn't dare place it in his cigarette case, instead carrying it as he hurried away.
It had to be said that while the endurance provided by Analysis Paralysis seemed underwhelming, it was exceptionally practical. After five minutes of a full sprint, he wasn't even short of breath.
Snow went directly to Mr. A's residence, where he found that the four servants had fallen into a coma. Having not consumed a potion, they weren't qualified to be directly punished by the True Creator; they had simply been knocked unconscious by Lanevus's final wail.
In fact, at least eighty percent of the ordinary people within a two-kilometer radius of Lanevus's death had fallen into a coma.
Instead of rushing to wake the servants, Snow found a seat and began to examine the bone in his hand. The bone had undergone a noticeable transformation. What had clearly been a fragment of a sternum had now completely fused with a Beyonder characteristic, becoming an inverted cross pendant about half the size of a palm. Fine, thorn-like patterns covered the entire cross, converging at the center into an exquisite pink vertical eye. The eye felt remarkably lively, as if it were a living thing.
'I've said it before, but the True Creator's artistic sense is truly something else...'
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
T/N: Analysis Paralysis (布里丹之驴) - Sequence 9 of the Paradox pathway. Also refers to the debuff of the sequence.
T/N: Conditioned Reflex (巴普洛夫之狗) - Sequence 8 of the Paradox pathway.
T/N: Relativist (庄周之鱼) - Sequence 7 of the Paradox pathway.
T/N: The Sefirots (源质: 白马非马) - The origin of the Paradox pathway.
T/N: Heart of Machinery (机械之心) - The Beyonder department of the Church of Steam and Machinery.
T/N: True Creator (真实造物主) - The deity of the Aurora Order.