Chapter 1078: Studying Oblivion
Alice and Allura made their way towards a private garden owned by the Royal Family. It was a garden held underground, yet strangely, it felt as though it was on the surface.
Stepping down a set of stairs, the two were guided deep underground. The temperature didn’t get colder or hotter. In fact, it felt as though it stabilized at the perfect level for them.
Then, as they reached the exit of the staircase, the cavern walls opened up to a strange world.
It had no ceiling, as though it was perfectly normal for an ’open sky’ to exist here. A sun that hung overhead, clear blue skies, and white clouds.
Beneath, it wasn’t a very large garden, but it was certainly a beautiful one.
Countless dazzling flowers scattered across the land, with gentle streams flowing through it. White marble pillars overtaken by green roots and flowers stood tall, surrounding a single opening with a garden table and chairs.
Looking around, Alice could see that the garden was made up of an assortment of ’zones’. Empty plains, flower-filled fields, a small forest, and rivers.
With its size, she figured it could even pass off as a village. Calling it a ’garden’ might even be a stretch.
But regardless, this was a piece of land that the Royal Family had allowed them to use while negotiations continued.
However...
"Erm... are you sure we can train here, m-mom?" Alice asked, her voice hesitating at the end.
Even though she treated Allura like her mother, calling her that was still... a little embarrassing.
But if she didn’t, Allura would act all hurt, and Alice was helpless against it.
And it was after experiencing this that she understood Kaden to a certain degree.
Recalling what he was like in the past...
’You couldn’t say no to her either, could you?’ Alice smiled helplessly.
"Yep. They said that even if we destroy this place, it’s perfectly fine. I’m sure the two guards reported exactly how dangerous Nyer and the others were. Anything we can do to improve our strength and find out a countermeasure would be appreciated." Allura nodded while adjusting the cigarette between her lips.
Even when the medicine no longer worked, she found it hard to get rid of the gesture. Just having a cigarette held in her mouth gave her a sense of calm. A habit that she had unknowingly created through the prolonged use of the medicine.
"However, there’s no need to worry since learning Oblivion shouldn’t exactly be a... destructive process." Allura scratched her chin with uncertainty.
In all her years of travel, there were only a small handful of people who could access Oblivion. Theron was one of them, but that came with the fact that he was a generational talent who earned the title of Slayer.
However, that wasn’t the source of her uncertainty. At its core, Oblivion was still a force of destruction. In the process of trying to obtain Oblivion, she wouldn’t be surprised if the attack was simply ’stronger than normal’ rather than containing the essence of Oblivion.
Its concept.
Making their way down to the garden, Allura was pleasantly surprised to see refreshments already being prepared for them.
Tea cups, snacks, even a pouch full of food they might desire.
And if there was anything lacking, they were given a communication device to make an ’order’ to the surface.
"How convenient." She nodded before sitting down.
Pouring herself a bit of tea, she leaned back and took a sip.
"Now then, my dear, what do you know about Oblivion? Since you interacted with Theron before and from the reaction you had when he used it, it’s clear that he explained it to you, right?" Allura asked with a smile as Alice nodded her head.
"Based on what Theron told me, Oblivion is the act of killing something for good. Not just to stop its regeneration or even to end their life. But to cease their existence altogether. And in order for me to access it, I would need to harmonize with the realm to truly access its power.
"Otherwise, even if I’m a God or an Apostle, I wouldn’t be able to use it. He also mentioned that Gin lacks a catalyst to use Oblivion." Alice replied as Allura nodded with her arms folded.
"Yep. When..."
Allura paused, a somewhat sad smile appearing on her face before quickly disappearing.
"When I was teaching Theron and Gin, along with Karya, those two were competing to see who could access Oblivion the fastest between the two of them.
"At the start, Gin had the advantage because he had the powers of Death. It gave him a head start since Death as a concept was very close to Oblivion. Though it was mostly limited to ’living’ beings.
"With this head start, Gin became complacent and failed to see the difference between ’killing’ and ’erasing’. His mind couldn’t wrap around the idea of killing an inanimate object. After all, how can you kill that which doesn’t live?" Allura shrugged her shoulders.
"Theron, on the other hand, focused on the act of ’ending’. If it regenerated, he would stop that regeneration. If they ran away, he would strip them of their ability to run or even destroy the path they were running on.
"As I mentioned, a Hunter’s power is tied to their mindset. Theron was able to free himself of the conventional constraints rather quickly and learned how to tap into Oblivion, while Gin continued to struggle to this day." Grabbing a snack from the table, Allura tossed it into her mouth.
She paused for a moment when she realised how tasty it was and quickly shoved one into Alice’s mouth before she could even reject it.
"When Theron told you the method of accessing Oblivion, he was only telling you a part of the process. Though it’s a rather important one. Harmonising with the realm.
"So let me ask you this question. How would you go about erasing something or someone? It’s not a case of simply killing something. No, how would you ’erase’ them? What must be removed before it can be classified as ’erased’?" Allura asked with a smile.
When it came to discovering a power like Oblivion, one must come to the conclusion themselves. If someone simply told you the answer, the effectiveness would drop, as you would then be borrowing someone else’s understanding.
It wouldn’t come from your own ’history’ of discovery.
"To erase someone... So obviously, one would have to erase their life. Their body and their soul. But that’s just what one can see. After that, you’ll have to get rid of people’s memories of him, as well as his history?" Alice tilted her head.
Allura blinked her eyes.
She hadn’t expected Alice to come so close to the answer. With what she said, she would only need to rearrange a few words and add in one or two more for the answer to be correct.
"Yep. To erase someone, you need to erase all ’trace’ they have left in this world. Their life, their physical body, their soul, their memories, and the ’marks’ they left in this realm. But that’s not all. Oblivion is the end of all things. Just simply erasing wouldn’t be enough." Allura smiled.
"After erasing, you would need to ’clean things up’. That means preventing it from happening again. If I use Oblivion to erase a road, that road can never be reforged, no matter what they do."
Hearing this, Alice raised an eyebrow in curiosity.
To ensure the road cannot be reforged?
So if, say, she was to fight Theron and he erased the concept of her flames that nullify Abyssal energy, could she be locked out of using that ability?
"Of course, as with all things in life, there are exceptions."
Allura had used the power of Oblivion to sabotage Tiamat, making it so that unless she was to rediscover herself and find a new method of casting, she would be forever locked out of using her strongest abilities.
The best stalling tactic she could think of for such a high-profile risk to Alice. One who’s using this time to free as many sealed Lords as possible.
"The only exception when it comes to ’avoiding’ the effect of Oblivion is to use a new method to create a similar effect. It can’t be the same since Oblivion will actively prevent you from achieving it.
"Take, for example, if I use Oblivion to stop Nyer’s space lock. He won’t be able to use the same abilities, techniques, or even the process to reproduce space lock. However.
"If he was to swap his method, using gravity to constantly pull in all directions in order to force a freeze, he’ll be able to achieve a similar result while using a different method.
"You must remember that in the end, Oblivion is to prevent a result from being reached. To cut off possibilities and to erase traces of that thing having existed. Well, at least that’s my understanding of it. When you reach Oblivion yourself, you might come to a different conclusion." Allura leaned back.
Oblivion was... a unique force, much like the primordial elements in their world along with the sins.
The key difference between them was that Oblivion was the ’end’ in every sense of the word.
There was no continuation after Oblivion, no possibility. A full stop that erased everything that stretched beyond.
So...
When Alice came face to face with that force of nature, when she was drowned by its nihility, what kind of conclusion would she reach?
Allura wanted to find out.
After all... She managed to reach Oblivion because she technically died at Famine’s hands. That state of walking on the line between life and death, that aimlessness when Kaden stepped away without much explanation...
She felt as though the world collapsed in on itself.
Theron was in a similar situation. He reached Oblivion due to his past.
The catalyst that he spoke of, the one that Gin lacked, was the resonance between them and the ’Origin’ of Oblivion. What lies at its very core.
Therefore...
She had no choice but to wonder.
What kind of nihility lies at the core of a girl like Alice?
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