Chapter 142: Ebon Woe, the Black Grief Deviant

The next day, in the purple glow of a slightly misty morning, Velda and Rivhiamë sat peacefully atop a tower suspended in a dimensional pocket. The void around them was made only of colored magical layers and shifting constellations. Between them, Gorgonax, the little black demonic goat, slept quietly on Velda's lap, its curled horns twitching occasionally in its sleep, as if dreaming of slaughtering something.

Rivhiamë sipped a liquid from a transparent cup. Velda, meanwhile, absentmindedly tapped Gorgonax's head with her fingernail while reading a scroll of flames.

— "The Sky-Sand Seals are breaking earlier than expected. Do you think it's sabotage?"

— "Unlikely," Rivhiamë replied in a detached tone. "But if it is… we'll have work to do."

Then the rift tore open in space.

An oblique fissure burst in the air, and a hurried step emerged, followed by a short breath:

— "Velda, Rivhiamë, I need you to answer some of my questions, please!!"

It was Sakolomé, bursting in like a tornado of intent, Shushu perched on his head, floating with the nonchalance of a little spirit, fluttering his translucent wings.

Velda barely looked up, unimpressed.

— "Pfff... You're pretty bold to come bother us with questions. What do you want to know now, Sakolomé?"

Sakolomé stepped forward without intimidation, his gaze firm.

— "I want you to tell me about Kai Joron. Is he… the most powerful human currently?"

A brief silence followed.

Velda and Rivhiamë exchanged a quick glance. Then Rivhiamë shrugged slightly as if to say, "Your turn to handle it." Velda sighed deeply, sliding Gorgonax from her knees onto a shadow cushion.

— "What do we know? Honestly, mortal affairs… we mostly don't care."

But Sakolomé didn't relent:

— "You care so little… yet you intervened for me.

Rivhiamë, you helped me channel the Growth Mark.

And you, Velda, showed an alternate future to my sister Salomé.

So?"

Velda gritted her teeth.

— "Tss… Fine! she snapped, outraged. I'll answer your damn question, but only because you're as persistent as an annoying fly."

She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Fine lines of mana converged around her skull like an invisible cosmic scanner. Then she reopened them with a disturbing mauve glow in her pupils.

— "According to the data I just gathered... Kai Joron is not the most powerful human currently."

Sakolomé's eyes widened.

— "What?!"

Velda stood slowly, her hair floating under the effect of a barely perceptible magical field.

— "However…" she said with a thin smile, "he is the second. Just behind another human… a human who became a Deviant about two years ago."

Rivhiamë tapped her cup with a finger:

— "That one no longer obeys the causal weave. He freed himself from the fabric, all the limits imposed by the order of gods… We don't encounter him… he finds you."

Sakolomé frowned.

— "And… who is this human?"

Velda raised a hand and drew a name in the air, which engraved itself in black ink letters.

— "His name… is strange. It's probably not the one he was born with. It's a name given by those who saw him and survived.

He is called…"

She paused as a magical wind rose around her:

— "Ebon Woe." Or… the "Black Grief."

Sakolomé's face froze.

— "The… The Black Grief?"

Velda nodded.

— "Yes. A cold man, without laughter, without attachment, nor apparent desire… except to withdraw from everything. He crosses planes, battlefields, structures, without anyone anticipating his presence. He is the ghost of human progress, become a nightmare for the gods."

Rivhiamë added:

— "He never fights twice in the same place. He almost never speaks. But when he strikes, everything around him falls silent."

Sakolomé was perplexed, pondering the nature of Ebon Woe, or the Black Grief. He clearly did not expect such a revelation.

Sakolomé:

— "I thought to withdraw from the entire causal weave, one needed the help of a higher entity… Did he do all that alone?"

Velda shrugged casually.

Velda:

— "I have no idea. All I do is gather information from the systems of worlds."

Sakolomé:

— "Systems?"

Velda:

— "Yes. Each world has a system specific to its nature. This system keeps traces, data, legends of every person. At first, I used data contained in the Library of Existence, but…"

Sakolomé:

— "But what?"

Velda:

— "I started with the Library of Existence, and I did find Kai there. He is archived. He transcended the causal weave through structuring causality and intentional causality. But… he is still stuck in the causality of silence, a state where he transcends again and again. His fundamental states are almost erased, but he hasn't crossed the limit yet."

She paused, her gaze more serious.

Velda:

— "The Library of Existence… is where every consciousness has a book. Where stories are not only preserved but also unrealized branches, regrets, refused futures… everything is contained there."

She fixed Sakolomé with a steady gaze.

Velda:

— "But there is a fundamental detail you must understand."

Sakolomé:

— "Which one?"

Velda planted her red eyes in his. Her voice grew deeper.

Velda:

— "When someone becomes a Deviant — and I mean the real kind of Deviant, not an impostor with two flashy spells and a dark aura — that person ceases to be archivable."

Sakolomé:

— "Wait… you mean a Deviant…"

Velda:

— "… no longer has a book in the Library."

She straightened slightly, her dark locks cascading over her shoulders.

Velda:

— "That's the paradox. By transcending the entire causal weave, all temporality, all language of the world… the true Deviant becomes Chōshinkū."

Sakolomé (stunned):

— "What is Chōshinkū…?"

Velda (dryly):

— "You'll understand later. What I mean is that if I was unable to locate Ebon Woe in the Library of Existence, it's precisely because he became a Chōshinkū. So I had to turn to the systems of worlds, to find the last traces and legends. Because even when the Library forgets, worlds… sometimes remember that a being once existed."

Sakolomé reflected further, his gaze lost.

Sakolomé:

— "All this seems… too much. So why does the Order of the Gods degrade mortals so much at this level?"

Velda:

— "The Order of the Gods exists precisely to impose restrictions on mortals. It is structured so that you never have hope of catching up to them. And this limitation is reinforced by the Juryoku Space Particles present in every dimension, at all levels of existence."

Sakolomé (frowning):

— "The Juryoku… what is that?"

Velda (sighing, exasperated):

— "Tss… I really have to explain everything to you.

The Juryoku mark the differences between states of existence. The more you transcend, the heavier causality becomes to bear. Laws, concepts, even powers you could acquire, become denser, more imposing… more absolute. And only those who can bear this weight can continue to advance."

Sakolomé (nodding slowly):

— "I see more clearly now…"

He let out a slight sigh, then declared determinedly:

Sakolomé:

— "No matter. Ebon Woe, Kai… I will surpass them. All of them!"

Rivhiamë chuckled softly. Velda, meanwhile, rolled her eyes before replying coldly:

Velda:

— "Before them, you are more insignificant than a flea.

Already the level of Black Grief is so high compared to Kai that he doesn't even 'exist'… So against you? Kai could crush you just by looking at you."

Sakolomé (calm, eyes shining with a new flame):

— "Your words do not reach me."

Sakolomé left Velda's dimension, his face tense, thoughts boiling.

Meanwhile, Velda remained silent, eyes fixed on the void. Then she slowly turned her head toward Rivhiamë.

Velda (calmly):

— "Bakuzan Satsujin Otoko… he is Sakolomé's brother, isn't he?"

Rivhiamë (nodding):

— "Yes, of course. Is there a problem?"

Velda (narrowing her eyes, tone more serious):

— "I searched the Library of Existence… and his book has disappeared."

Rivhiamë (startled slightly):

— "You think that… the strongest mortal, the Black Grief… could be him?"

Velda (steady gaze):

— "It's very likely. He disappeared five years ago, right? Who knows what he became…

Even when someone dies or is erased from existence, the book in the Library of Existence never disappears.

If it is erased to the being itself, then the book freezes, frozen forever.

If he dies, the book continues writing, through reincarnation or another form of existence.

But…

The only reason for a book to disappear completely, dissolve as if it had never been thought, never even suspected by the narrative weave…

…is when one becomes a Chōshinkū.

A true Deviant becomes a Chōshinkū."

Rivhiamë (astonished):

— "That's crazy… Could it be that he crossed an entity capable of modifying, even erasing a book from the Library?"

Velda (sharp):

— "Don't say nonsense. It's impossible to erase a book.

And even less to enter the Library.

To do that, one would have to be a being that even the most powerful gods refuse to face."

Rivhiamë (intrigued):

— "Then… why didn't you tell Sakolomé?"

Velda (sighing):

— "You know how he is.

Telling him that now could affect him deeply.

For many around him, Bakuzan is probably already dead since he deserted. It would reopen old wounds."

Rivhiamë (thinking aloud):

— "Well… now that I think about it, their father, Niyus, was indeed a Deviant too, right?

So… their children have that in their blood after all."

Velda (annoyed):

— "Don't jump to conclusions too fast.

There are already a lot of illogical things orbiting this family…

Like Sakolomé, who can manipulate soul mana without his physical body exploding.

…Pfff. Their lineage gives me a headache."

Velda sat down, crossed her arms, and glanced at Gorgonax, still lying peacefully on Rivhiamë's lap.

Velda:

— "Now that a new Deviant has entered the scene…

I already imagine the great mythical beings have him in their sights."

Rivhiamë (darkly):

— "Yeah… it's dangerous.

Becoming a target for the great ones risks pure and simple erasure.

Niyus, the father of Bakuzan and Sakolomé, had already attracted Grayus, the Primordial Demon, and Zramë, the God of Destruction…"

Velda (gazing toward the horizon, a slight smile at the corner of her lips):

— "Let's just hope this Deviant lives longer than the previous ones.

Because I'm eager to see how all this will evolve..."