Chapter 142 Clash of the Giants III (1/2)
CHAPTER 142
CLASH OF THE GIANTS (III)
While the world outside the little stone house was slowly beginning to collapse due to the battle, Lino was sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyes closed, eyebrows tightly knit together. He had began absorbing the Singularity the moment he'd entered, yet, unlike with what happened with Eshen, it wasn't a simple, quick process.
The Singularity itself appeared formless, yet Lino could sense boundless energy streaming out from it. He felt as though there was enough to collapse half the continent in a one, bright flash of light. Perhaps, he mused, even more than just a half. He slowly began absorbing it under the Writ's guide, trying to integrate it with his own Singularity. However, the moment the two came in contact, he felt space round him dilate, pushing and pulling at him as though it was trying to eat it away.
He felt as though his mind was suddenly ripped out of his own body and sent barreling through the boundary of space and time, diving through the vortex of darkness surrounded by bending lights of innumerable stars. It was both the most beautiful and the most terrifying sight that Lino ever beheld, leaving him in the awe of terror beneath the spades of infinity.
The journey didn't last all that long as he felt being spat out into another world. He found himself floating in the clean, blue sky. Turning around, he immediately noticed a figure standing by his side; it was a woman clad in crimson armor, strapped full in metal from head to toe. It was beyond majestic, yet also seemed cumbersome, Lino thought.
The woman seemed to be in her late twenties at most, with starkly silver eyes and hair encapsulating placid expression with which she suddenly looked at him. Those eyes... they made Lino shudder. It was as though he was looking at the reflection of himself, when day and night mingle in those few moments of utter loneliness. Where even the greatest of liars turn truthful to themselves. The two stared at each other for a good while, and Lino felt wholly incapable of tearing his gaze away from her. There was something mesmerizing about her figure, about her gaze, about the way she seemed to hold the whole of the world in her palms.
”... welcome.” she said in a strangely soft, melodic voice, a complete opposite of her appearance.
”... uh... it's, uh, good to be here?”
”Do you think it's odd that a man is trying to absorb my Singularity?” she suddenly asked, seeming genuinely curious.
”Huh?”
”I mean, if you don't, neither do I. I just wonder.”
”...” Lino looked at her oddly, finally realizing who the woman before him was. ”Why are all Empyreans mental cases?” he asked.
”You have to be mental to stand with him.” Syvelea said.
”... good point.” Lino nodded.
”So you don't think it's odd?”
”What is odd is that you dragged my soul all the way here to ask me that.”
”... this isn't reality,” Syvelea said, faintly smiling. ”I'm already dead. My age has long since past.”
”... your Will?” Lino asked, arching his brow.
”It's the Will of me... and all those who once stood behind me.” she said.
”... not following.”
”What do you think 'Will' really means?” Syvelea asked.
”Manifestation of our character?” Lino took a guess as he really never thought too much about it, strangely enough.
”Parts of it, perhaps,” she explained, looking eastward. ”It's a manifestation of reality you chose to uphold... to believe in. Your reality is your own. Mine was not.”
”...”
”You are too weak to absorb my Singularity,” Syvelea said, expressionless. ”It only means he's helping you. Why?”
”He doesn't have a choice,” Lino shrugged. ”He put all his apples in this basketcase right here.” he added, pointing at himself.
”Is that so...” she mumbled faintly. ”It's a shame. Of all the anguished fates Empyreans had suffered, you still somehow managed to draw the short straw.”
”Even dead you sure don't hold back.”
”All of my predecessors and I fought knowing that even if we fail... our mantle will be carried on.” she said. ”You don't have that luxury. I truly don't envy your position.”