Episode 1036 The End of the Arcadium (4)
Thick fog is prevalent.
Tiny water droplets gathered and separated Verden and Draven, the two transcendents. Draven, existing as a shadow beyond the hazy mist, only made a voice and did not reveal his true form.
The sense of reality is weak.
It is the person, but not the main body.
That must be some medium projecting Draven’s will. There is only one answer. The Lake of Misty is not the end of Arcadium, but the single path leading to the end.
Draven’s shadow is a guide, and there is still one last chance to reach the conclusion of the banquet… … Verden understood the situation that way.
“I expected you to go berserk like the leader of the Glory of the Dead, but you look surprisingly decent for someone reduced to a host’s commodity. Have you accepted your fate?”“There is no need to accept it. Even if I deny it, reality is reality.”
Draven’s shadow mocked himself as if to say, “You may laugh at me to your heart’s content.”
“……Yeah, this is my reality.”
Neither the arrogance that had desperately sought the resurrection of the old king on the island in the Hiaremar Inland Sea, nor the impulse that had entered Arcadium’s mansion and expressed anger toward the host, could be felt at all.
Resignation, or giving up?
It doesn’t seem like his mind was manipulated, and although I don’t know what kind of conversation he had with the host, the characteristic nature of the transcendents was very faint.
“If one exists only as a soul, does that mean they are gradually losing the stature of a transcendent being? Well, since transcendent beings awaken through both soul and body, that might make sense.”
Regardless of whether Verden gave him a puzzled look, Draven’s shadow spoke.
“It is a message from the host, offered as a product of the banquet of knowledge. He instructed me to convey a clue leading directly to the end of the Arcadium to every being who has set foot in the mist of the bottomless sea.”“A clue?”“The traveler’s voyage connecting the heartbeat of birth with the silence of extinction. A vast ocean corresponding to the traveler’s sincerity.”
His form gradually scattered.
“……All things and all existence are the beginning and end of the narrative.”
Verden realized that he was alone.
A mist lingering in the scent of the sea drifted slowly. The transparent lake reflected even the refreshing solitude held within the white mist in its entirety.The explosions from the battlefield where Deus, Bloodia, and Tearel were located could be heard from afar.
That’s a simple riddle.
Verden ruminated on the two sentences given as clues and pulled his chin back. There was no need to overthink it. The answer naturally emerged when he connected the situation surrounding him with the meaning of the clues.
Birth is the beginning, extinction is the end, sailing is the flow.
How do all things in the world begin, how do they flow, and how do they end?
The subject who determines it is none other than myself.
Verden lowered his gaze. He was reflected on the spotless surface of the lake.His ash hair and blue eyes had a strong presence even in the fog.
Our world is… … .
With one’s birth, the world one gazes upon finally germinates; with one’s life, the world one lives in flows; and with one’s death, the world one has enjoyed comes to an end.
Subjectivity is the beginning and end of all things and narratives.
Verden himself was the passage leading to the end of the Arcadium. If Bloodia was there, Bloodia was also a passage; if Deus was there, Deus was also a passage.Their very existence was a single path that only they could pass through.
A method for passing through the passage has also already been presented.
The boundless, corresponding to the traveler’s sincerity.
Sincerity is fully revealed only when there is no heart to conceal. Furthermore, the misty lake of the boundless sea is as unfathomable in depth as the ocean.
Verden reverse-summoned [Interis].
The resistance was lowered to an extreme level.
He let his guard down to the point where he would be unable to avoid a fatal injury if Bloodia were to launch a surprise attack. Verden, now as transparent as a lake, silently gazed into the mirror of the deep sea that reflected him.
Whoosh.
The ripples spread from Verden.
Verden’s two legs, touching the surface of the water, gradually sink.Slowly, yet quickly, like a ship being seized and sucked into the sea… As his body sinks, the Verden in the mirror sinks with it. It was as if Verden was passing through Verden.
Eventually, he disappeared down below the lake, and at the moment silence fell over the lake, Verden’s floating sensation was reversed.
Verden stood in the long corridor of the mansion.
Every story begins with oneself. No matter how insignificant a being may be, as long as they are an individual, they are bound to sing their own unique story.
Next to me was a host wearing a resplendent robe that looked as if it depicted a facet of the universe, rather than a tuxedo characterized by a black ribbon.It was a humanoid host that exuded a much greater sense of intimidation than before.
Walk a little.
* * *
Was the arcadium okay as entertainment?
Verden and the host walk side by side down an invisible hallway. In response to the question the host tossed out, Verden answered exactly as he felt.
Intellectuals who covet knowledge without even realizing that they themselves died long ago, laws that designate eating as a means to steal the knowledge of others, effectively inciting cannibalism, and the master’s perverse taste of playing with those intellectuals like toys in a game… In all of this, one could not find any morality worthy of being called the dignity of an intelligent being.
Verden looked at the host with a gaze filled with contempt and loathing.
“If that is the case, do you think you will get an answer from me other than that I am displeased?”
{Not everything.}
The host, standing with his hands behind his back as if out for a stroll, did not take his eyes off the front for a moment and mixed a little laughter into the conversation.
{Isn’t there an exception, like Luzak Paltein? Just as he regained his memories of his past life during an adventure and volunteered for sacrifice for the religion of the Morning Star that had cared for him as a child. That death resembled the death Luzak had before he became Luzak. This will remain as an example proving the existence of a certain essence that never changes.}
“so.”
Verden lowered his voice.
As soon as the third game ended, Luzak personally executed the intellectuals who were devouring other intellectuals. Having violated the Arkadium’s rule against killing, Luzak is highly likely to degenerate into a specter of knowledge.
Depending on the host’s will.
{The primeval world, where fate did not exist as it does now, was a series of unexpected events. Ruzak finding his true self was not in my calculations. The Apostle, the Resistor, and you. I had expected the three of us to engage in a bloody battle, but you reached this place far too easily. It is a futile ending. But that is precisely why it is enjoyable.}
Just state the conclusion.
It means you don’t need to pressure me silently like that. I never intended to punish Ruzak from the start. On the contrary, he deserves to be rewarded.
“……What does that mean?”
It can be said that the interpretation of a rule varies depending on the intent of the owner who established it and how the subject perceives it. A simple rule not to open the door serves as a good example. Does the rule not to open the door merely mean not to turn the doorknob? If so, is it legal to break the door down to look beyond? Is the prohibition to not open the door intended to conceal what lies beyond, or is it to forbid the act itself?
The host spread one arm.
Luzak realized the truth of the Arcadium that most intellectuals were already dead. Since the dead remain the dead even if killed again, Luzak did not kill anyone. He could not kill anyone.
An intellectual voice echoed softly in the hallway.
Because my rule defined it that way.
So you’re saying that if Luzak hadn’t realized it and mistook another intellectual for a living person, he would have been subject to punishment? To think that the rules aren’t applied at all depending on the violator’s perspective—that is incredibly lax.
‘Perception’ has a stronger power than you imagine.
The tentacles settled on the host’s jaw twitched gently.
You have obtained various clues and can already know the source of destiny. The deciphering is practically complete, yet you have not defined the answer. You have severed the flow of thought and forcibly avoided acknowledging the truth. You know what lies ahead, but you are deliberately turning a blind eye, acting as if you do not know what lies ahead.
“…….”
{Should I define it as knowing, or as not knowing? If I were a judge, I would have chosen the former. This is because I consider that if one knows the entire necessary process, one has already reached the answer. However, the taboos established by God for the world are different. Taboos always consider only the result.}
He straightened one slender finger.
{Not elaborating at length is the principle of taboo; this is a result reflecting the nature of God. Therefore, only God can establish taboos. Why? Because that is the concept of taboo. The taboo has judged that you do not know the truth.}
The host’s pace began to slow.Verden matched his speed.
In this way, perception allows even ‘your’ taboos to slip past. Perhaps it is the means to get closest to it at the boundary that does not challenge absolutes.
“Even time?”
If one were to count absolute concepts on one hand, time would undoubtedly be included. No one can defy the flow of time.Hiante.She is everywhere.
{The world has divided time into seconds, minutes, and hours for convenience, but regardless of how the units are defined, all beings belong to the same time.}
“Then what is the time scale of the Arcadium?”
It is a sophisticated trick that exploits perception.
The host lightly tapped his temple. It is questionable whether that part can even be called a temple, given that it is an octopus’s head.
{In the underground of the island in the Hiaremar Inland Sea, the First Apostle used a distorted space-time to hold you back as you tried to prevent the resurrection of the Old King. It is not actually twisting time. It is merely a kind of illusion that distorts the sense of time of the beings in that space.}
“So… you deceived my perception so that I couldn’t fully feel the speed at which time flows?”
{The answer would have been if I had said that I extended a one-second thought to three seconds and prevented you from perceiving it. As I just said, perception is the means to get closest to the boundary of absoluteness. Just as you felt time accelerated, even though the same amount of time had passed.}
“The time scale of this Arcadium, 1:3.76, must be based on the same principle.”
Verden hesitated inwardly.
“Then…… what about the opposite?”
Just as we have experienced time passing quickly, could we feel that time moves slowly? At this, the host nodded.
If you can reduce a one-second thought process to ten times slower than others, you can live time ten times slower. Of course, this applies only to those who possess such thinking abilities. While it is possible for everyone to think slowly, only a tiny minority can think quickly and accurately. Furthermore, above all, a spatiotemporal environment must be provided where this is possible.
The host stopped walking. Before they knew it, the two had reached the end of the hallway.On the white wall that Verden encountered, there was a single door.
{The time that flowed in the Arcadium at a ratio of 1:3.76 lies beyond this. The moment you step inside, you are effectively compensated for the time you spent at the banquet.}
While Verden spent one second in the Arcadium, three.76 seconds passed outside. Every second, 2.76 seconds vanished meaninglessly.The host says that he will return the time that has disappeared in this way.
{It is the privilege of one who has reached the end of the Arcadium. Here is the ‘prize’; claim it. We will discuss the one intermediate question ticket and the one lower question ticket you possess afterward. As for bringing the curtain down on the Arcadium.}
If you open the door, there is the host’s prize… …the soul of Draven Lemarque. He defeated Bloodia and Deus and seized Verden’s victory.
I grabbed the doorknob.
Before Verden could twist his wrist, he asked the host.
“The concept of perception, the truth of time acceleration. I heard so much from you in that brief moment. Wasn’t it the rule of the Arcadium not to hand over knowledge for free?”
I did not transmit knowledge for free.
The host asserted.
What is valuable depends entirely on subjectivity.
The very act of conveying knowledge to Verden is a benefit to the Host… … That is how it sounded to Verden’s ears, and that must be the truth.
Squeak.
I put the unpleasant octopus head aside for a moment and opened the door.
* * *
I stepped unhesitatingly into the room where somewhat warm air was swirling.The sound of a door closing came from behind me.
“Is this… the library?”
It was mostly dark all around.
He approached the flickering light amidst those countless bookshelves of unfathomable height.There, Verden formally met the Transcendent being he had personally killed once again.
“You look more carefree than I expected.”“Do I look that way?”
Draven sat beside a fireplace where a logless fire was blazing, literally surrounded by books.Had he been reading until the game ended? It wasn’t strange. After all, Draven was a wizard.
“Will you sit down? Or are you reluctant to speak with someone you killed?”“It’s nothing new.”
Verden leaned his weight onto the sofa opposite Draven without hesitation. A cozy space… perhaps that is why it didn’t feel very real.The very fact that he was facing the opponent he had killed over and over again out of hatred and rage in this way.
It was then.
“This is the host’s library. As you can see, countless pieces of knowledge are stored here. It is truly a treasure trove of knowledge… It was filled with things I did not know.”
Draven’s gaze, which had been fixed on the bookshelf, shifted to Verden. His emerald eyes caught the light from the fireplace and held a soft glow.
“Verden, even the information about you.”
Draven added a remark.
The unofficial Subject No. 77 of the Bohemian Magic Tower.
