Aozaki Aoko Case File [256]

Aoko didn't know whether the Mother of Fingers had been devoured and perished within the microcosm or had escaped through the wormhole opened by the microcosm's uncontrolled expansion. Regardless, the entity that once resided on the tip of the tail now belonged to the two sisters.

At first, they cautiously examined it. After confirming that it was currently stable and wouldn't suddenly lash out at them, they began attempting to transfer the microcosm from the air.

However, despite trying various methods, they failed to move it. At one point, Touko even asked the chubby cat, Cheshire, to see if it could temporarily swallow the microcosm. But after merely licking it, Cheshire immediately fled back into Touko's bag and refused to come out, seemingly frightened by its taste.

Aoko frowned in thought. She had already attempted magic, glintstone sorcery, and force field walls from the Weave's arcane arts, but none could store or move the microcosm. This left her in a dilemma.

"Try using Finger Magic," Touko suggested. "The moment the Mother of Fingers died, didn't you receive some of her memories?"

"I haven't examined them closely yet," Aoko raised an eyebrow. "There's too much lengthy and meaningless content, so I temporarily sealed it away. Extracting useful information from it is quite difficult."

Touko had the same issue. However, as a Third Magic user who could materialize the soul, her resistance to mental interference was extraordinarily high. This made it impossible for her to decipher the recollections of the Mother of Fingers, whose soul was filled with complex thoughts—unlike before when she could obtain valuable information from the memories of the Fallingstar Beast.

"We don't have any other options right now," Touko said with a shrug. "Between the two of us, you're the more efficient one, so this time, we'll have to rely on you."

With no better choice, Aoko sighed. She first summoned a small house, then sat cross-legged inside to begin meditating. Meanwhile, Touko took out a book and sat beside her, reading as she waited.

...

In Aoko's consciousness, the Mother of Fingers' recollections were not a complete life history but rather a compilation of significant and deeply imprinted moments.

She didn't understand why, in the Lands Between, those with status and power always left behind memories of their defeat. However, this was undeniably convenient for her and Touko—like how they previously obtained Gravity Magic from the Bull.

Within the Mother of Fingers' recollections, she and her sister were created by the Greater Will from an explosion.

Afterward, they journeyed into the pitch-black cosmos, eventually descending onto their designated planets.

There was no clear image of the Greater Will—it was either absent or simply beyond Aoko's ability to comprehend as a human. All she could see was an explosion of boundless light within an abyss of infinite darkness.

Following this, the Mother of Fingers fell like a meteor into the Lands Between, beginning the mission entrusted to her by the Greater Will.

Alongside her arrival was the Elden Beast, guardian of the Elden Ring and a beast of the Greater Will. The Elden Beast was also a part of the Elden Ring, following the commands of the Mother of Fingers.

The Greater Will's mission for the Mother of Fingers was to establish order in this world—to choose a god and a monarch who would serve as the god's guiding beacon.

The first god was an unnamed ancient dragon.

Chosen by the Mother of Fingers as a divine being wielding an unknown law, this god became the deity of the dragons. He, in turn, selected a five-headed dragon, Placidusax, as his king to rule the Lands Between and create order alongside him. (Incidentally, the name "Metyr" means "Mother.")

However, this rule did not proceed smoothly. The dragon god and Placidusax soon discovered that another civilization existed in these lands—a group known as the Nox.

The Nox worshiped the stars, mastered glintstone sorcery, and built grand, resplendent cities. They refused to acknowledge the rule of the dragons, leading to war between the two factions.

At this point, the Mother of Fingers could still communicate with the Greater Will, and her work was progressing steadily.

As the one who elevated the nameless dragon god to divinity, the Mother of Fingers remained the greatest supporter of the dragon race, providing their warriors with various forms of aid in their battle against the powerful Nox.

At the start of the war, the dragons had the advantage. The dragon god, as a vessel of the Elden Ring and a true deity, could bestow powerful prayers upon the dragon warriors, making them nearly invincible against the Nox's glintstone sorcery.

However, the Nox were an observant and highly analytical people. They eventually uncovered the secret behind the dragons' strength—the existence of the Mother of Fingers.

During this period, the Mother of Fingers produced numerous Two Fingers and Fingercreepers as her assistants and subordinates, spreading the Greater Will's influence throughout the world.

In response, the Nox launched an organized effort to hunt down Two Fingers and Fingercreepers across the Lands Between, even cutting off parts of the Fingercreepers' bodies to craft weapons and spellcasting materials.

Yet, the high-ranking entities of the Finger lineage—the Two Fingers and the Mother of Fingers—were incredibly difficult to kill due to their powerful immortality.

Thus, the Nox devised a plan: they would create their god and, through self-sacrifice, forge this deity into a god-slaying weapon—the Finger Slayer Blade, the most blasphemous weapon in the history of the Lands Between.

Armed with this weapon, the Nox sent their most elite assassins to confront the Mother of Fingers. One assassin struck her chest with the Finger Slayer Blade, leaving a massive, ghastly wound.

From that moment onward, the Mother of Fingers, gravely wounded, lost her ability to contact the Greater Will. Over the ages, she became increasingly paranoid, and her mind grew unstable.

The Nox constructed two Churches of the Hand, designed to seal away the Mother of Fingers and the most powerful of her Two Fingers beneath the earth.

Despite her fury at the Nox's betrayal, the Mother of Fingers dared not reveal her injury or her severed connection to the Greater Will to the dragons who served under her.

Instead, she relied on her ability to manipulate microcosms, summoning Astel, Naturalborn of the Void from the lightless abyss as an agent of vengeance. Astel obliterated the Nox cities, sinking them deep underground.

Incidentally, during the war against the Nox, Placidusax, the great general, lost one of his five heads. This left him with the four-headed form known to later generations as the Ancient Lord.