Special…
Never before had she considered herself particularly wishing to be special in any form.
Regardless of her own desires, the world seemed to have other plans for her, forcing that so-called uniqueness upon her.
A supply of mana and a proficiency over the Holy Arts akin to a prodigy, a mind that allowed her to solve any problem thrown at her, and a body fit enough to withstand even the deadliest disasters that rocked her home.
Eleanor Lynn was not in control of these things, the universe conforming her to its will.
Yet now, the man before her showed her an opportunity to take that specialness that surrounded her and turn it into something that she herself could control.
I…
Her lips moved without words following, her eyes focusing on the form of Nautilus.
"I'll do it."
She was resolute, never wavering for even a second.
"I will defy the wills of others and act for my own self-interests. Yes… I think I deserve that, even just this once…"
The turquoise-eyed man smiled, his dimples that were hidden beneath his beard taking shape.
"Then, you should begin as soon as possible. Time isn't endless, and the gates of tomorrow that lead you to a new dawn are fast approaching."
Understanding the meaning behind his words, she nodded solemnly, taking a hard and heavy breath.
"I know that it won't be safe and that it's likely that I could perish, but…"
Eleanor paused.
"If I died then, it wouldn't be because I was trying to save someone else; it would be because it was my own choice. I was the one who decided to risk my life to do what no other can do, and I will be the one who will succeed."
Standing from her chair, she grinned widely, a flicker of gold behind her bland-gray eyes.
The Wanderer stayed silent, his single visible eye filled with mixed curiosity and a certain knowingness that only an ancient being might have.
He had seen the worst of humanity, and he had seen the best of it as well, yet in all his years, only the girl before him stuck with him.
Exhaling, he felt a sensor he had placed near the mountain pass trigger, a True Angel, likely that of Lady Ariel herself, fast approaching.
"Eleanor."
She snapped out of her trance, focusing on him with a puzzled expression.
"I have something to give you before our time is cut short."
Reaching into his robe and digging through what seemed like an endless set of pockets, the sound of metal clinking together could clearly be heard echoing through the room.
A moment later, as he retracted his hand and allowed his grip to loosen, his palm exploded with a strange, thick solution within.
Furrowing her brow, the blonde-haired girl leaned closer, trying to get a better look at the golden substance that twitched at every slight movement.
"What is that…?"
Nautilus sighed as he poked the strange goo with his other hand.
"I have given it the name Aether, a material I harvested off the main body of a weakened spirit that I had hunted until it was on its deathbed."
Eleanor recognized the name instantly, a face not too dissimilar to Marcus Twynam's flashing through her mind.
"The spirit Aether? Wasn't it killed rather recently for you to have…"
She paled, not quite knowing how to politely explain to the man that he was far too old to be the one to have slain the spirit that eventually went on to become an emblem wielded by Marcus's grandson.
The Wanderer nodded with a hint of playful irritation.
"Indeed, I am far too old to be its slayer. I simply encountered it during a critical point in its life cycle, and like any opportunist, my friend and I attempted to subjugate it. We were unsuccessful; however, we received this item, which I used until my death."
Withdrawing his hand, he shut his fist fast and hard, causing the golden substance to shoot out in every direction.
Yet, instead of acting like a normal glue-like material, it ricocheted back, gripping itself around the man's fist and forming something incredible.
"I-It's a gauntlet…?"
He tipped his head down, his single eye looking at her like she was crazy.
"Currently, yes. However, if I were to imbue it with enough mana…"
Taking his other hand that wasn't wrapped in the golden glove that looked as if it could crack the skull of a god, he slammed it against that very hand.
Fwip!
The golden material shifted, then burst into liquid again, reforming around his face and creating a mask resembling that of a demon.
"This Aether substance can reform into anything that its user desires and forms a close connection with its host to the point where theft is impossible."
Eleanor stared, mouth agape.
"The only negative effect is that it needs an occasional feeding of divinity to function, hence the golden hue."
Snapping his fingers, the mask dissolved, and the Aether formed a ball that floated gently in his palm.
"There is a guest who has come to collect you, so I'll keep this brief."
He looked up at the only sturdy part of the shack, the ceiling, which felt unusually eerie, as if something was watching from above.
Of course, behind the wooden frame, the sight of the True Angel Ariel Elaris could be seen watching with a seriousness unbecoming of her age.
Forming chains of golden light in her hands, she prepared to strike down on the building, once again activating the seal upon Nautilus's body and mind.
Yet, unlike normal, he sat calmly with the girl, a weak grin across his face.
"You'll take this item and use it in your hunt of that being. He will know of its significance the moment he sees you, and then he will know that I've come to say…"
He paused.
"Hello."
…
His body burst into burning maggots that screamed out in agony while golden chains slammed downward from the sky, Ariel sparing no expense when eliminating the threat.
As he had spoken his last word, she had noticed a malice so vast that it could overwhelm even Devils themself in potency and was almost certainly directed towards the one person he hated the most.
If he had snapped at something Eleanor had done, he could've killed her in seconds if not sooner, and as such, there was no time for context.
Forcing her magic downward and subduing the threat, she struck the blonde child with a teleportation rune, forcibly sending her back to her apartment without another word.
Now, with both variables in the situation that she hadn't been informed of, she could relax, taking a long breath.
Slowly, she descended to the ground where the soft grass met her bare feet, a sensation of peace falling over her.
"Why must it happen over and over again…"
Closing her eyes, the blue-haired Angel questioned her actions like she had done time and time again.
The man known as Nautilus was by far the greatest threat to anything other than the gods themselves, and yet, he remained in his cabin, doing nothing that appeared to be dangerous.
While his occasional mental struggles led to extreme damage, as seen with the numerous craters left throughout the very fabric of the Great Beyond itself, he was a kind man at heart, with his enemy being the being that all creatures detested.
To her, she couldn't understand why he was forced into solitude, barred from a total memory erasure, and given the peace of fading.
Ariel believed in her lord, yes; however, his methods were odd and unconvincing at times, making her struggle to comprehend the meaning behind them.
Exhaling, she opened her eyes to the sight of the dead maggots already on the verge of reforming, the man not one to stay dead for long.
"『A kindhearted soul reduced to a paranoid wanderer.』"
The raspberry-eyed woman whipped her head around, the sight of Death himself holding a maggot in his hand flashing before her eyes.
"M-my lord…"
Before she could kneel, he raised his hand, a signal for her not to continue.
"『You cannot hide your feelings from me, Ariel, nor could your mother.』"
The deity sighed, crushing the insect within his fingers and then throwing its corpse aside.
"『I cannot explain anything more than what I have already said about Nautilus or his enemy. A fact that you know well. Eleanor Lynn's voyage here, even during the time I had ordered her to stay within the city, is not something that can be explained in mere words.』"
Ariel felt a tinge of guilt for failing at her duties; however, a fact bugged her relentlessly about the situation.
"Why did you allow her to leave? You have complete control over the city itself and enough control over the wasteland to stop her, yet you allowed her to come this far and meet with this man, even with every danger in the world present with that man's disappearance."
Her pale complexion seemed to shine in the cosmic eyes of the god before her, his form flickering as if he were merely a ghost.
"『Who am I to prevent her free will? I am not omniscient any longer. In recent years, I have become further removed from the actions of others. This is because of a simple principle that I have come to know: what my eyes cannot see clearly, others might see in a flash.』"
His neck craned backwards, and his long hair fell behind him as he gazed upward towards the sky, and by proxy, the roots of the World Tree.
"『Nautilus was correct when he proclaimed that we see Eleanor in a light worse than she is. We underestimate her because we see her as young. However, doesn't that make us no better than the mortals who do the same to their kin? If divinity were the answer to every solution, then the existence of forces that could disrupt it would not exist.』"
The God of Death smiled at the dying roots above.
"『Prepare, Ariel. We exist in an era of unprecedented change, and what events transpire are undoubtedly unpredictable.』"
The moment the words left his mouth, a jolt erupted through the World Tree, a dim flash of light shooting forth from the location corresponding to the Dimension of Waves.
The veil that protected the millions of lives still within the sunken world erupted into anarchy as a slash tore through it.
In the distance, a Spore began to fill with the souls who had been reaped from the madness they were subjected to.
In the span of one year, it was the second mass casualty event from the Dimension of Waves, something that had only happened during the Age of Architects centuries ago.
Even as chaos broke out in the city over the earthquakes striking the Great Beyond, Death did not break his stare into the heavens for even a second as the disaster continued, the only thing on his mind being that of the future.