"So that is what happened…"
Aaron's turquoise eyes stared blankly at the floor for a moment after hearing the recap of her experiences within the Great Beyond.
Eleanor hadn't withheld much, deciding to be as truthful as possible with the boy who had risked his own life to save her own.
Slowly, the blond-haired boy raised his head and made direct eye contact with the girl.
"You've really had a rough time… I've been living riskily, but entering the chamber where a Divine Authority is stored…?"
The gray-eyed girl nodded at his words, noticing his hand instinctively reach towards a new addition to his hip.
"A sword?"
Aaron moved his wrist as if to answer the girl's question, unsheathing the dazzling blade that oozed with the power of the sea.
It was like nothing she had seen before: the sleek, metallic edge and the watery surface contrasting in an almost mystical way that refracted light beautifully.
A cool, almost saltwater-esque smell wafted through the chamber, one that the boy had already grown far too accustomed to.
Within Eleanor's mind, she yearned to reach out and touch it, yet at the same time, her instincts warned against it, a danger so incredible that it would drown her in a deeper darkness than she could ever hope to defend against emerging.
Not only that, but seemingly from nowhere, the unusual substance that had mysteriously followed her from the Great Beyond appeared in her palm, exuding a force of rage and malice.
The Aether, granted to the girl by Nautilus, could not stand to sit back peacefully in the presence of that thing.
It had appeared from her clothing without explanation, as if it had always been there, yet from what Cam or the doctors had said, no such thing had ever been seen.
Aaron stared at the substance with curiosity before his brow furrowed due to the words berating his mind, a certain soft voice oddly shaky.
『That Aether has a similar mana repulsion property to that of the multi-colored eyed boy who sailed down into the Sea of Curses… Not only that, but she spoke of a gift from a so-called Wanderer; but she never revealed his name…』
Penelope's consciousness waned and then vanished completely, as if she had fallen into a deep slumber.
Biting his inner cheek lightly, he resheathed his blade, allowing it to fade away while in its holster.
"I see I'm not the only one who received a weapon during this time."
He chuckled as he watched the blonde-haired girl stuff the Aether away, his eyes tracing the individual threads of mana that were splitting off from it.
They're attached to nearly every limb… A multitool, perhaps?
Under the guidance of Cauron Thorn for nearly a month, he had gained an excellent ability to discern different types of mana while also classifying certain usages for them.
In such a case, he could tell that the golden goop was made up of threads, which, based on Lord Thorn's description, typically reflected a spiritual connection.
Of course, he kept such a thing to himself, the pointless knowledge unneeded when there was still so much to discuss.
Across from him, still in her bed, Eleanor's expression tightened as she spoke up.
"Wouldn't you think it fair that you tell me a little about yourself now that I've told you about me?"
Aaron thought for a moment before replying.
"Of course. It's quite a long story, so I'll try to pick up the pace."
The girl nodded, seemingly ready to spend however long it would take to understand the past that she had missed out on and the future that she could carve from it.
For this brief moment, she could finally relax.
She was home, in the Dimension of Waves, and most of all, beside Aaron Grimstall once again.
…
"Oh my! So he really still lives!"
Stein Brevmore shook his head in shock as he watched the injured former Sea King walk towards the food grate.
It had been two hours since he had been left to guard the prisoner, and he had spent such a time antagonizing the man to the best of his abilities.
In the past, he had revered Lord Orion Cosmoti more than any other, but now, his title had been lost, and his authority of luck had been lifted, leaving Brevmore with nothing but pity for the man.
"C'mon, buddy! Why don't you just tell me a little about your battle with that horned lunatic, and then we can be best buds once more! I might even let Belvedere in on your little predicament, and he'll come and free you!"
Attempting to wiggle out any exciting information that he could, all he was given was silence, the green-haired man not even mumbling out a word as he ate the food quietly.
"What a drag! Even Ezzie wouldn't treat me that coldly! Albeit, at this point, he'd probably try to kill me like he sent that frail child to do… Oh, what a shame! I had completely forgotten to go back and kill him, his sister, and that hired assassin!"
Sitting quietly in the prison cell made of enriched mana steel, the former Prophet of Luck was forced to endure the relentless talking that went on for hours.
What was left of his mana core was completely exhausted, and with his connection to the Ghostship severed, he would not receive any assistance.
One of the others must find my traces… If not… Then it will descend upon us all before we can even attempt to stop it…
After the battle of Deity's Descent, he had lost a majority of his core, and his strength had all but left him.
He had only survived out of sheer accumulated luck, the last gift the goddess granted him before the contract was severed and his soul stricken from grace.
In the milliseconds after the Erasure spell was cast and the world had trembled, his footing had been lost, and his body had collapsed.
The ground beneath his feet had been worn away by centuries of erosion, which just so happened to have taken him into an underground runoff stream.
Such luck was already impossible without the miracles built through years of accumulation, but what happened next was far greater than even he had anticipated.
As the Erasure spell detonated, the seal contained a creature that should never have been stirred cracked in two, releasing a restraint and unlocking the gaze of the Great One.
Out of the dozens of gods in heaven, only the Goddess of the Fourth Hour of Luck, Fortuna, was able to watch such a scene.
As one of the twelve Faces of Fate, fragments of the original God of Fate who had died during the Dimensional War, she had amassed enough Divine Authority to be one-twelfth of a deity.
Therefore, with not only the contractor of the Face of Fate now under threat of total Erasure, but also a force so ancient that it sent shivers through the World Tree itself, awakening, she knew that something must be done, regardless of the cost.
And so, on that tiny rock in the Sea of Polar Storms that housed the first seal of Nidhogg, the Lady of Luck and Empress of Good Fortune broke her side of the contract she had with Orion Proximus Cosmoti, forcing upon herself a burden she could not repay with simple gold.
To the universe, she had robbed the Sea King of his Ghostship, and as such, it demanded retribution.
Sacrificing her fraction of the twelve Faces of Fate, the four o'clock persona by the name of Fortuna ceased to exist, her life given to protect against Cosmoti's own demise.
And all those months ago in the Dimension of Waves, the green-haired man had seen her face flash behind his eyes one final time before the pocket-watch that he had clasped his finger against stopped ticking.
After that, his vision had gone dark, and he had awoken in the underground prison under Svall, his mana core on the verge of collapse and his health rapidly deteriorating.
His friends and crewmates were missing in action, and his connection with the remaining eleven Faces of Fate had been erased.
It was the most alone he had felt in years, but even so, the burden he carried had not faded even for a moment.
Even before the power of the Ghostships, he was a Marshal of the Hunters' Guild, the only Sea King to have held such a position.
Graced from birth in the art of curses, he had sent out his remaining Divine Interference that still dwelled in his body as a curse that would wander the world, spreading miracles and gifts to those in need.
At the time, it had nearly killed him, leaving him bedridden for a week and coughing up blackish-red clumps of lung tissue even to this day.
However, if he were found, if even one person could hear his words and tell them to the world at large, then it would be worth it.
Closing his blurry eyes and finishing the meal in front of him, he threw the metal plate hard through the bars.
Stein could only react a second before it was about to hit him, his left heel taking a gnarly gash as a result.
"Agh! You ain't no saint, yknow that!"
The sociopathic noble continued to spout curses endlessly until he heard a weak but wise chuckle from the former Sea King.
"Eh…? You speak?"
His silver eyebrows furrowed downward as he stared into the darkness of the cell, only registering the silhouette of Orion's form.
"You have no idea what is coming for you, Brevmore…"
The golden-eyed noble scoffed, raising his chin to the man who spoke down on him.
"And what does it matter to me? I'm on the winning side of history this time, my friend, and regardless of what you believe, I'll be safe from whatever hellish plans that Devil is brewing."
Laughing arrogantly, he prepared to turn his back on the disheveled prisoner; however, a single phrase stopped him short.
"Are you certain of what your future holds?"
Stein's eyes darted backwards with rage brewing beneath the surface, yet as he faced the cell, the only thing he saw were two blank pupils devoid of any color.
"How did you—!"
Cosmoti reached his hands through the bars, grabbing at the noble's collar and pulling him in close enough that his mouth was beside his ear.
"Would it be enjoyable if I snapped your neck at this very moment? Would I find peace in killing another one of my guards?"
Stein's breath hitched as he hastily understood why he, of all people, had been placed on guard duty.
No others had survived.
"Don't you—"
He was cut off by the tightening of Orion's forearm, restricting more air.
"If you are so sure of your perfect future behind the Sovereign of Chains, then fight against me now, kill a frail, chained Sea King in your healthy state. However, if you think otherwise, if you believe that Azaroth Pane is a madman who will doom us all, then accept it now. Tell me your truth, boy."
The silver-haired noble who had been struggling relentlessly stopped instantly, and a wide grin broke across his face.
"Oh my, you somehow remain my favorite Sea King."