Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 230

Chapter 230: Flower (4)

TL/ED – Miso

“I’ve already died many times before.”

Violet continued speaking, unable to take her eyes (or petals) off my burning finger.

It wasn’t something that made sense though.

“…What?”

“Exactly what I said. Before, I was a lily of the valley like those ones over there, and I’ve been other things too. Seems I’ve been here for quite a long time.”

“So you’re saying you’re immortal?”

“As long as you don’t burn down this entire Flower Garden, I suppose so.”

That was the reason Violet didn’t fear death.

If what she said was true, it seemed that when the flowers’ lifespans ran out, they underwent something like reincarnation into other flowers.

“I know this is strange too. I don’t have a single memory from before I became a flower, yet every time I see the Gardener, I feel afraid, terrified. These stupid ones cling to her like they adore her- but no matter how I think about it, this place is abnormal.”

“You really don’t have memories? You seem to know plenty.”

“I don’t really know either. All the flowers who’ve lived a long time feel the same déjà vu I do. We’ve grown here our whole lives, yet sometimes I get the feeling that this place is so bizarre… ugh.”

Violet, who had been continuing to speak, dropped her petals as if she’d gotten a headache.

…The bastard doesn’t even have a head.

“…Anyway, if you’re thinking of using us to threaten the Gardener, it won’t get you anywhere. The Gardener is an unknowable being. We can’t communicate with her, and she neither loves us nor hates us.”

“You’re not in a relationship where she gives orders?”

“Orders? We’ve never even exchanged words. And if she ever did give an order, I’d just play the flower and stay still. I don’t want to hear it.”

“…”

My suspicion that this World didn’t belong to Cheon-hwa grew stronger.

She moved around in a completely detached state, and she didn’t seem to suffer any Burden either. On top of that, being able to come and go whenever she wanted- no matter how I looked at it, it was different from other Fallen.

When I extinguished the fire on my finger, Violet asked in a cowed voice.

“You’re going to believe me?”

“Until I confirm it. When did you say the Gardener’s coming?”

“Well. Roughly two days from now, I’d say.”

“Right. It had better be.”

I pulled a candle from inside my coat and set it on top of the mound.

It was a premium candle that burned for a full two days.

“Otherwise, you’re all in trouble too.”

“…Fucking bastard.”

***

Fortunately for her, and for me, Violet wasn’t lying.

Exactly two days later, or slightly longer by my biological clock-

my Current Sense caught someone lightly touching down at the spot where I had fallen.

I had been waiting nearby, and the moment I saw the woman with a corpse slung over her shoulder, I spoke to her.

“Hey.”

“…?”

“Pretty unremarkable World you’ve got here.”

She turned to look my way.

-Cheon-hwa.

With a face that was, quite literally, identical to Sharmia’s, she glared at me with the one feature that set her apart: that sharp expression.

But at the same time, her face looked genuinely surprised.

“Not a face I expected to see here.”

“You should’ve hidden it better. What did you expect when you leave something even Damyu knows about wide open?”

“Because even knowing, there’s no reason to come.”

Cheon-hwa’s point was fair.

Even if one had the means to meet Cheon-hwa, it wasn’t the kind of thing to attempt alone without knowing whether it was a trap. The return didn’t match the risk at all.

It had quite literally been a gamble taken because I had no other option. Cheon-hwa, having no way of knowing that, tossed the corpse she was carrying onto the ground and calmly met my gaze.

“Well, fine. If that’s what you want, then take it. Kill me.”

“Why would I.”

When I replied flatly, Cheon-hwa frowned.

“…If it wasn’t my life you wanted, is there any reason to come to this place?”

“Something came up that I wanted to ask.”

I pondered how to word the question to Cheon-hwa, whose face was all puzzlement, then decided to just throw a straight pitch.

“What’s the prophecy the Crimson Circle follows?”

“…Prophecy?”

“Yeah. The one Void trusts and acts on. I came to find that out. I don’t think I can leave until I know.”

At the same time, I approached her and clenched my fist.

Of course, I didn’t expect her to tell me willingly.

I had my means. The moment she appeared before my eyes, her escape route had already been sealed off.

Cheon-hwa felt the Water Pressure tightening around her throat without so much as a flinch, then closed her eyes.

“Very well.”

“…?”

“You want to know the prophecy- if that’s all, I can tell you. A mere scrap of text isn’t worth more than my life.”

Having been gearing up for a fight, I was thrown off for a moment by her deflating response, then frowned.

“If you think you can slip out of this situation with nonsense-”

“That’s something to judge after you’ve heard it, isn’t it? If my prophecy sounds like a vague dodge, then kill me. Anything else to say?”

“…”

Her confidence was enough to make me laugh in disbelief.

After mulling it over briefly, I realized that even if I pinned her down here, I’d only get the same answer back, so I nodded.

If worst came to worst, I could just drag her off and put her in front of Dersia, who would at least be able to tell me whether it was a lie or not.

When I signaled my consent, Cheon-hwa gave a strangely subtle smile and opened her mouth.

“Deep Sea. You must already know. That The Three Evils can devour Worlds.”

“…Yeah, so what. What I asked you to tell me was the prophecy.”

“This is my prophecy, so listen. When Void came to find me- he had already reached the heavens. He was honest, and pure.”

Cheon-hwa closed her eyes as if recalling that time.

“He wished to become the guardian of this world. He wished to inherit the seat of The First Wizard. The Celestial Realm opened, and the possibilities of every World were laid out before him.”

“What a load of crap. Can’t you explain it so I can understand?”

“Calm down. Every wizard holds the possibility of falling into some World. You yourself fell into the Deep Sea for that very reason, and others, too, could fall into the Deep Sea if given the right trigger.”

“I know that much.”

“A wizard who reaches the Celestial Realm can open up all those possibilities and make a choice. He could have gazed upon the Deep Sea and chosen it. Among those possibilities, he was supposed to choose the Celestial Realm that The First Wizard had built: in other words, the world we live in.”

“…Hold on, you can choose which World to fall into?”

“The opposite. He could choose which World to rule. Void was in the position to do so.”

…In other words.

It meant he could reign as the true ruler of a World, rather than being crushed beneath the Deep Sea and using only a fraction of its power the way I did.

And if he had designated this world with that power, then the world would have regained its master and turned peaceful once more.

But the outcome had already been decided.

“Void did not choose the Celestial Realm.”

Cheon-hwa murmured, looking up at the sky.

“He saw every World. And in the middle of it all- he happened to observe a world more comforting than our cradle, the one The First Wizard had created.”

“What?”

“That was The Primordial Worlds. A place where everything was perfect.”

“Pain is simply a given, so it isn’t regarded as pain. Life is inseparable from death, so neither state becomes something to grieve or suffer over- having become a god, he decided that the very earliest world was more beautiful than the fragile one the previous god had made.”

“…”

“He came to hate the Creator. He cursed him, believing that the making of this Celestial Realm had been an irreversible mistake, an act that had ruined everything.”

Cheon-hwa smiled softly and tapped the corpse she had brought along with her foot.

The corpse sank into the earth in an instant and was buried. And from that very spot, a single tiny flower bloomed.

“At that moment, one possibility surfaced in Void’s mind. That perhaps there was a way to restore this shattered world. That he had to act in service of that- the guideline he drew up for that purpose is the prophecy you wanted to know.”

“…And what is it.”

“Unity.”

Cheon-hwa murmured, gazing at that flower.

“All wizards, in order to obtain the possibility of becoming guardians of the Celestial Realm, possess the possibility of making contact with a World. Using that- making every wizard fall is the first directive of the prophecy.”

I’d known up to that point. Killing wizards was what they were after, after all.

But what she said next was something I hadn’t known at all.

“And then, devour every last one of them.”

“?”

“What, you didn’t think you were the only one who could devour Worlds, did you?”

Cheon-hwa sneered as if it were laughable and looked at me again.

“Naturally, Void could wipe all of you out this very moment. The only reason he doesn’t is because it isn’t enough yet. More Fallen have to appear, and more Fallen have to die.”

“Why, why? Not wizards, but Fallen have to die?”

When I asked back in bewilderment, Cheon-hwa nodded.

“That’s right. It doesn’t matter what happens to the wizards. It’s the Fallen who need to die.”

“And what does he mean to accomplish by devouring the Worlds with that?”

“He intends to do the exact opposite of what the Creator did. If every other World were dissolved into a single World, wouldn’t that be precisely The Primordial Worlds Void longed for?”

In other words.

The reason Void hadn’t yet wiped out the empire wasn’t because he couldn’t, or because it was too difficult.

…It was because not all of the Fallen had appeared yet.

Creating Fallen ultimately required wizards. If he openly killed off every wizard, the path to reaching new Worlds would vanish.

Gradually pressure the empire, and make more wizards fall.

In that way, everything would be devoured and become a single World.

Listening up to that point, I shook my head and pushed back against Cheon-hwa’s words.

“…Hold on, that doesn’t add up.”

“Why?”

“Plenty of Fallen have died when Void wasn’t anywhere near them.”

Being a Deep Sea wielder myself, I knew this.

Devouring a Fallen, making them dissolve into one’s World: that was something only possible within the domain of the Deep Sea.

But how many Fallen had died over all this time? There was no way Void had been beside every single one of them.

Cheon-hwa let out an exasperated snort and shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe it.

“What were you even hearing me say? I told you, he’s increasing the number of Fallen right now.”

“So what? If the numbers just grow and they don’t die…”

As I was saying that-

the Crimson Circle’s Fallen whose whereabouts had suddenly gone missing,

and the missions in Mission Book that had stopped coming down. Recalling these, I fell silent.

“…Ah.”

“Looks like you’ve figured it out.”

Cheon-hwa shrugged and turned my suspicion into certainty.

“Not long ago, the first absorption was completed.”

“…”

“Three hundred and fifty Worlds became Void’s property.”

-Void.

Was raising Fallen in order to devour them.

*****

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