Chapter 40: Resonance

Chapter 40: Resonance

As Anthony Stevenson’s words echoed through Memorial Day Square and spread to other places, the Loen citizens participating in this Mass for peaceful sleep felt both moved and sorrowful, both warmed and heavy-hearted.

In different squares, different choirs began chanting psalms. Their ethereal, sacred voices seemed to ring within the deepest part of every person’s heart.

“The crimson full moon rises, shining upon the earth,

“All sink into sweet dreams, and dream of themselves,

“Of fathers and mothers, wives and husbands, sons and daughters—this is forever…” (Note 1)

Unknowingly, everyone felt their spirits being cleansed, their spirituality naturally flowing outward.

They seemed to have truly entered a dream, wandering through a stretch of tranquil darkness.

Here slept their children, their parents, their wives, their husbands, their friends. These dead no longer knew suffering, no longer knew pain. Their expressions were peaceful, their faces soft.

“We shall lift our heads and gaze upon that night sky,

“And speak Her name with tenderness:

“Evernight Goddess!

“…If She hears, She will surely answer,

“Surely reveal a pure smile to the departed:

“Come, rest, sleep in peace, My children!” (Note 2)

The people wandering through the dream once again felt powerful sorrow surge within them, as though they understood that this was truly a farewell.

They recalled all those beautiful fragments of the past. They remembered the scene of their families gathered around the dining table, enjoying food and laughing freely. They remembered the person who had once looked at them with warmth. They remembered the soul-tearing pain of seeing those loved ones hurt and of hearing of their deaths. They remembered the clouds and partings this war had brought.

Those people now slept in that tranquil kingdom, no longer troubled by anything. Yet the living had to endure torment day and night, growing haggard and withered.

One tear slid down, then another. In Memorial Day Square, those participating in the Mass could no longer suppress the emotions within their hearts. Silently, with no reservation, they vented the pain they had accumulated.

A vast sadness spread. Amid the chanting of the choir, it intertwined, almost gaining a tangible form.

“Cross your hands,

“Place them upon your chest,

“Make that wordless prayer,

“And cry out with your heart:

“The only destination is peace!” (Note 3)

The people silently weeping with closed eyes instinctively followed the psalm, making similar gestures. Then, infecting one another, they cried out in their hearts:

“The only destination is peace!”

Sorrow reached its extreme. In Memorial Day Square, more than ten thousand hearts produced an intense resonance.

At that moment, Audrey opened her eyes, bent down, and took a bottle of potion from the leather satchel carried by the golden retriever Susie.

Countless fragments of light floated within that potion, making it look like the embodiment of the sea of collective subconscious.

Audrey did not hesitate. In such a scene, she twisted open the cap and gulped down the liquid inside.

Unlike before, when she could still experience the potion sliding down her throat into her stomach, Audrey immediately encountered an abnormality.

She felt that she could no longer sense her body. Her entire person seemed condensed into a cluster of thoughts, merging into the illusory sea around her.

This was the first time she had directly seen the sea of collective subconscious without passing through dreams or the “island” of the mind. It was like returning to the time before birth, returning to her mother’s embrace, returning to the beginning, washed, dissolved, and affected by tidal imprints left behind by humanity’s ancestors.

Within it were fear, madness, and every kind of terrifying mental pollution. For a time, Audrey could barely resist. Her consciousness faded. Her “figure” swayed, on the verge of dissolving.

However, the nearby “sea” was not calm. It carried fluctuations of a certain scale, dyeing the surroundings with intense sorrow and pain.

Influenced by this, Audrey, whose self-recognition was about to be assimilated by the sea of collective subconscious, also resonated with it, producing uncontrollable grief.

This grief passed from one thought to another. Very quickly, it completely occupied the “cluster of thoughts” Audrey had mutated into, stabbing into her mental body and into her soul.

Audrey finally regained some clarity. With practiced skill, she soothed herself, continuously giving herself suggestions and removing the contamination until she recovered reason.

By her ears, a voice grew increasingly distinct and increasingly loud. At last, it completely echoed across this sea of collective subconscious:

“The only destination is peace!”

“The only destination is peace!”

“The only destination is peace…” Audrey repeated the prayer, her figure swiftly clarifying.

With only a thought, many transparent, illusory versions of herself split off. They roamed within the sea of collective subconscious, reaching the mind islands that represented different people and climbing upon them.

In those “places,” she directly saw where different people’s sorrow came from:

From shells descending from the sky. From airships arranged in formation. From letters sent back from the front lines. From grim news delivered by postmen. From flesh and blood splashing before their eyes. From loved ones suddenly falling. From a pile of toys that no longer had an owner. From violent coughing amid the Great Smog…

“The only destination is peace.”

The golden retriever Susie also closed her eyes during the Mass, chanting that sentence in human language within her heart, unaware of any abnormality nearby.

Suddenly, within her soul and mental body, Audrey’s voice rang out:

“Susie, I succeeded…

“I was always worried before. Worried that as my Sequence rose, I would be increasingly affected by the potion, becoming more and more indifferent, more and more like a mythical creature rather than a person.”

Susie raised her head somewhat blankly and saw that the blond young lady beside her, though her eyes were tightly shut, had somehow become covered in tear tracks.

Then she heard Audrey speak again inside her heart:

“Fortunately, I can still feel their sorrow.

“That is wonderful…”

In Susie’s eyes, and at the corner of that blond young lady’s eye, a tear each slid down, sparkling and clear.

At that moment, the sun withdrew its final trace of radiance, and night brought tranquility.

Everyone opened their eyes at the same time and spoke in peaceful voices:

“The only destination is peace!”

…

After crying without restraint, the originally sunny Audrey’s emotions turned solemn and quiet. A few traces of delicacy appeared in her, and she carried a faint sorrow that made everyone who saw her feel protective tenderness from the heart.

Under layers of protection, she returned to Queens Borough and to her own room.

Only then did she have the opportunity to seriously examine herself and digest the knowledge and experiences gained from the potion and from the sea of collective subconscious.

Others might not be able to tell, but Audrey knew very clearly that the beautiful, tall young lady with blond hair and blue eyes in the mirror now possessed terrifying strength and exaggerated dragon-scale defenses—of the kind that could smash apart a piece of steel with a single punch.

“Mm, I can also undergo dragonification, which is equivalent to using an incomplete mythical creature form. However, I must wait until I have adapted to the potion and repeatedly stacked correct psychological suggestions before attempting it. Otherwise, I will lose control directly… Each dragonification cannot exceed a certain duration. Otherwise, even if I have treatment methods targeting the mind and spirit, madness and chaos will deeply seep in and cause me to lose control… My current limit is around one minute…

“The Manipulator’s core ability is called Manipulation. I can make my mental body pass through the sea of collective subconscious, enter another person’s mind island, directly alter their subconscious, read their thoughts, and silently drive them to do all sorts of things…

“Paired with Manipulation is Virtual Persona. I can virtualize many personalities and give them corresponding mental bodies. On one hand, this can resist many influences in the domain of the mind. On the other, it lets me speak and communicate with someone while, through ‘them,’ silently invading the target’s island of consciousness without showing the slightest sign on the surface…

“I can currently virtualize only thirteen personas…

“A Manipulator can also create terrifying Mental Plagues, using the sea of collective subconscious to spread all kinds of psychological illnesses and extreme madness…

“Mm, Awe has become large-scale Mind Deprivation and is no longer limited to a single effect…

“I can also transform specified thoughts of my own into a Mind Storm that sweeps through the surroundings and affects all enemies…

“Heh. As a Manipulator, the ability to roam the sea of collective subconscious must be essential. This is called Consciousness Stroll. Otherwise, if I still had to operate slowly and laboriously as before to reach a predetermined place, the target would have left long ago…” Audrey looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly revealed a faint smile.

Then she puffed her cheeks, as though about to spit something out, and opened her mouth.

Since her mythical creature form was a mind dragon, she naturally had a breath.

It directly stimulated and harmed the target’s mental body and spirit body. It was an area-type, enhanced version of Psychic Piercing.

Audrey’s green eyes then shifted. She withdrew her gaze and sighed inwardly:

“So this is what it means to be half-god, half-human. These abilities frighten even me… How powerful must Mr. World be, to have killed Hvin Rambis…”

…

Above the gray fog, inside the ancient palace.

As the participants in the hunting operation finished their preparations one after another, they decided to organize a private gathering to discuss the concrete details.

“A Manipulator is that terrifying?” Magician Forsi looked at Miss Justice beside her and blurted out in shock.

Just now, Justice Audrey had briefly mentioned the changes after becoming a demigod. Although she did not go into detail in order to protect her trump cards, it still left Magician, The Hermit, Judgment, and The Star rather shaken.

“It is actually not that terrifying. Mr. World understands very well.” Audrey cast her gaze toward the very bottom of the mottled long table.

The World Gehrman Sparrow did not nod. He merely gave a soft “Mm” and said, “I was only able to kill Hvin Rambis with the help of powerful allies.”

He paused, then changed the subject.

“Before discussing the hunting operation, I want to know how to make the Abraham family feel my goodwill.”

Note 1: Adapted from Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters.”
Note 2: Adapted from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Cry of the Children.”
Note 3: Adapted from Thomas Hood, “The Bridge of Sighs,” and Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters.”