Her dream, her nightmare, her vision.
Regardless of what you would call it, such a thing left her reeling as she awoke in gut-wrenching agony.
Eleanor thrashed under the covers, overcome by the feeling of maggots crawling beneath her flesh, wriggling and burying themselves deep into her organs.
There was an eerie darkness in the room as if the eternally dusk-colored world had finally encountered midnight.
Her lungs seemed unable to move, her body entering a state of shock as her kidneys filled with deadly poison that corroded away their delicate lining.
Blood poured from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose as she twitched uncontrollably on her bed, whispers from forgotten worlds violating her mind.
Knowledge. Knowledge. Knowledge.
They provided it without any restraint, yet in the wake of revelations unfitting of a mortal girl without even a solid core, they proved close to fatal.
Anywhere that existed outside of her room seemed like a mere illusion, separated from her now deteriorating state, leaving her utterly alone.
The Knowledge Barrier would not harm her simply for knowing the titles of a few deities, nor the history of the God Slayer's seal.
Rather, she was punished for the last words he had muttered out as the gaze of Heaven fell upon the collapsing pocket dimension.
The Insignia of Stars.
Eleanor couldn't comprehend its meaning, her entire form decomposing before she could even process a single word.
Her skin burst in various places, spilling out a yellow pus that seemed to wiggle about as if alive, and a smell more putrid than a decaying carcass permeated the chamber.
She screamed, but no sound came out; she cried, but no tears fell from her eyes; she prayed, but not a single reply came.
In the realm of the Great Beyond, far outside the grasp of all but Death himself, she, a lost priestess from Sea Fallen, was utterly alone and dying from knowledge of the divine level.
Her own death in the Dimension of Waves could not be compared to what she experienced now, the latter feeling endless while the former was a quick blip into nothingness.
Internally, she could sense her soul eroding, the very nature of her being slipping away as her consciousness waned.
Nobody would stand by her side, and nobody would comfort her as she silently passed into the night.
Eleanor Lynn, on the verge of her definitive demise, irreversible by even the True Angels of the Great Beyond, heaved one heavy breath.
"Give up."
The words seemed to linger on the tip of her tongue, begging for a release, an escape from the pain for her tortured body.
Yet, she held on, gritting her teeth even as they began to turn black with rot and fall out in chunks of crimson.
The passage of time felt like an eternity; the agonizing hours blurred together into a cycle of despair that could never be forgotten.
As the time stretched further than she could count, she felt a slow tingle return to her limbs, then a warm hum ooze from her neck.
"Wake."
The single word sent a flurry of relief through her veins, the horrific feeling fading into steady, pulsating aches all over her body, which was now covered in wounds.
Her lungs operated once more, her kidneys drained the harmful fluid, her heart began to beat naturally, and the maggots she had sensed beneath her skin disappeared without a trace.
Eleanor's head throbbed, her neck erupting with a pain akin to fire; however, compared to the earlier experience, it was certainly bearable.
She allowed the echoing sensations to consume her, drowning her consciousness and dragging her back into slumber.
There was no other option, either accept the help of the unknown voice or eventually succumb to the knowledge that was slowly tearing her apart.
And so, she made the choice, her eyes closed and her mind turning off like a light.
…
Ding dong!
The doorbell rang loudly, filling the room with a rich sound that startled the sleeping girl.
"Eleanor?"
Her eyes fluttered open, their gray hue twinkling an opulent yellow before returning to normal.
Lady Strixen…
Trying to stand up, she felt a sudden lightness encompassing her, coupled with a new sense of strength that coursed through her flesh.
Confused by the odd feeling, she scanned her body up and down, noticing weakly defined muscles buried beneath her pale skin.
Inside her chest, the icy corruption that the God Slayer had placed within her had reduced significantly.
Furthermore, her core, located beside the epicenter of the corruption, had absorbed large traces of mana from an unknown source, refining itself until it turned into two strong pieces rather than a cluttered mess of fragments.
How did this—
The sound of the door unlocking made her straighten her posture, and shortly after, the True Angel who wielded authority over disease and medicine stepped inside.
"Is everything alright? I detected a rapid change in your state but couldn't seem to locate a cause."
Her black hair cascaded down to her chest, where it met her intricately woven black dress that seemed to resemble that of a high-ranking member of the Ordinance Sect from the Sea of Souls.
There was a tinge of curiosity in her green eyes as she took in the weakly showing muscles that had developed on the young girl.
"Lady Strixen…"
Eleanor's voice was low and hesitant, as if there was another person sleeping within the room.
"Is there any way I can speak to Lady Ariel immediately?"
…
The blue-haired Angel stared at Eleanor as if trying to dissect her obviously changed body, her lip curling up as she watched the girl sit down.
"Your corruption has lessened in the core region, yet it has influenced your physique…"
Ariel spoke with an inclination towards displeasure, the vague diagnosis she had given coming from a place of worry.
The blonde-haired priestess echoed her sentiment, a strange look on her face as she began explaining.
"Last night I encountered the source of my corruption in a dream."
The raspberry-eyed woman instantly froze behind her desk, the unsettling feeling that had been clouding her chest now confirmed.
Taking a slow breath before exhaling hard, her eyes shut as if to remember the words she had prepared.
"Tell me what happened."
As she spoke, a piece of paper slid onto her desk from an illusory gateway of darkness that suddenly appeared in the air, her eyes snapping open and locking onto the parchment.
The texture was odd, as if it were carved out of bone with deep rivets of gold embedded into the surface.
Watching as the Angel went over the text line by line, Eleanor paused, not knowing whether the woman wished for her to continue while she was reading.
After a moment, Ariel spoke up with a weak, forced smile.
"It seems that His Highness has also detected the anomaly and is worried about its effects on your psyche."
She took a moment to collect her thoughts, flicking her wrist in the direction of the black gateway that had delivered the message, allowing it to dissipate.
"He wishes to see you tonight in the castle."
It was Eleanor's turn to be surprised; the sudden appointment that had previously been set for two more weeks in the future was now supposed to happen in less than twelve hours.
There was no reason for the Angel to spell out the exact identity of the message's author, for it would not take a detective to understand the underlying respect etched into her tone.
The two sat in silence for an instant before Ariel gestured towards the girl.
"You may provide a preliminary report now. I'll head to the castle to discuss the issue after this."
The blonde-haired girl nodded, her hands trembling slightly as she gripped the edge of the chair to reassure herself.
Slowly, she breathed in the calmness of the True Angel's study, the space allowing her to recall the traumatic memories from the night before.
"When I fell asleep, I was forced into some strange, dark void. There was no light in that place; however, there were these butterflies…"
She trailed off, shuddering at the memory of how it felt when her bones shattered, her flesh peeled, and her soul ripped during the transformation process.
Ariel noticed this, giving her a sad, pitiful look before nodding.
"After I… After I was changed… I appeared in front of a mirror that was engraved with many runes. The surface reflected my form for a moment before shifting to that of a man… He was old, extremely old. He wore armor—"
She stopped herself, quickly realizing that the Angel had begun to write down her words on a piece of paper as if afraid to forget.
Understanding her intention to report his current appearance to Death, Eleanor continued on without much concern.
"His armor was silver but looked as if it were imbued with wave-like designs. When I looked into his eyes, I felt utter despair, as if my entire existence was simply a nuisance to him. I tried to speak, but had no voice."
Her eyes glazed over as she recounted the questions he had asked her, the inexplicable insanity that he had exhibited, and even the last bit of information that he had shared with her.
"W-When the dream shattered, I… I awoke in my bed."
Ariel had shown strong signs of shock when the ten cores and the Insignia of Stars had been mentioned; however, now she looked almost relieved as if she thought the report was finally over.
Yet, unknown to her, the story hadn't reached its end; the horrors of what happened afterward were far more vile than what had been said up to that point.
Eleanor pursed her lips, ready to speak and relive the violent breakdown that her body was subjected to.
As the first word was about to leave her mouth, a pulse of warmth echoed out of her neck, a sudden light covering the room.
The True Angel immediately halted her writing, looking up at the symbol that she had already mentioned during their first encounter.
"The Emblem of Circe?"
She stood up, making her way around her desk and up to the blonde-haired girl, where she swiftly leaned closer to inspect her flesh.
"You've activated it?"
There was true surprise behind her words, something that Eleanor couldn't quite believe.
Is it something incredibly special?
Waiting for the Angel to elaborate, she felt a tingle down to her toes, a gentle placation soothing her emotional pain.
For a moment, she felt truly at peace as if there was no fear to have, no anxiety to feel, and no danger on the horizon.
Of course, such a thing was only a temporary respite, as, when the light dimmed, the emotions returned, stronger than before.
With a wave of depression overwhelming the girl, she looked up at the blue-haired woman with pained eyes, watching as the Angel's expression contorted in response.
"It seems you've not mastered it yet… Yes… Of course you wouldn't…"
She shook her head, sighing ever so slightly.
"Your Eminence… You've mentioned me having an emblem before, but never what it does…"
Straightening her posture in the chair, she looked at the red-eyed woman with anticipation while Ariel herself seemed to delve deep into thought.
"It's something that my… That the former Queen of Angels gave to you."
Her eyes were tinged with sadness at the mention of her mother, the last time they had seen one another being centuries prior, when she was still a young child.
"It grants you a blessing that purifies Dark Magic completely while simultaneously allowing you to draw on your magic from possible futures…"
She paused as she reached out to touch the mark on Eleanor's skin, the gift that her mother had granted to another but not to her.
"If you can master it, you will be able to draw upon magic with nearly double the potency of your usual output. Low-level Holy Magic will be more so mid-level, while mid-level will act more like high-level, and so on and so forth."
Eleanor's brow raised high, her hand reaching up unconsciously towards her neck.
"And the negatives…?"
Through her research into artifacts and, by proxy, enchantments such as emblems, she understood that nothing ever came without a price.
"If you lack the necessary amount of mana or cannot pay the dues to your possible future, you'll experience amplified emotions for however long it takes to pay off the loaned amount. The side effects will also be accompanied by a strong physical backlash."
The blonde girl nodded at the words.
It's like a loan system that can make me moody? So, if I were to use a spell far beyond my abilities, I would suffer until I had gathered enough to repay the mana debt…?
The negatives weren't horrible, and by any means, the positives were extraordinary.
For the priestess, it only meant that when she returned to reality, she had one more thing to look forward to.
However, while the prospect elated her, another problem plagued her mind.
"Your Eminence, is there any way you could help me when I request it?"
Ariel blinked, then narrowed her eyes at the girl, caught off guard by the sudden question.
"With what?"
There was a short pause before Eleanor spoke up again.
"I have a promise I have to fulfill."