Chapter 820: The Harmonia Era’s Mystery
|I am the Rule Breaker bearing the Serial Number of 1, Celestial Darkness at your service.|
Those words echoed in the ears of the nine others present, and apart from Berlal, Lostvayne, and Arthur, every other pair of eyes widened in shock.
Rule Breaker 1 was practically a myth in the Cosmos.
All other 998 Rule Breakers have had Confirmed Sightings—Except Number 1.
This led many to believe that they had been destroyed at the end of the Previous Era, however that event had occurred.
Then again, as Arthur and the others were about to learn, they weren’t exactly wrong.
Rule Breakers were hierarchical, as had been shown in the past, with Lostvayne even able to order another Rule Breaker to make a contract with someone they didn’t want to.
With that in mind, it made perfect sense why Lostvayne had always been deferential to Celestia, even though he was the stronger weapon. The same Lostvayne who, by his own admission, was an ’arrogant sword.’
Because from the beginning, he had known that Celestia ranked higher in the hierarchy than he did.
He had always known Celestia was Number 1.
But strangely, Celestia called herself the final creation, meaning that though she was Number 1, she was not the oldest, explaining Lostvayne’s words years ago, when he first revealed his humanoid form to Arthur and said, ’Chronologically, Lady Celestia was created after me.’
Arthur glanced first at the silent Lostvayne, then back at Celestia with a sigh.
He reached out, cupping the side of her face and lifting it gently to meet her eyes. His gaze drifted to her hair, and he couldn’t help but notice the striking similarity.
’So it wasn’t the future...’
Coming to that realisation, Arthur spoke softly.
"Pretty."
That single compliment brought a small smile to Celestia’s lips.
[Thank you, Master.]
Arthur nodded lightly before asking,
"You said you’ve recovered enough memories to make a conjecture about how you ended up in your current state, didn’t you?"
That question brought changes to the expressions of all the dragons present.
They knew that Rule Breakers were made of immensely durable, self-repairing, indestructible materials that no longer existed in the Current Era.
Well, nigh-indestructible now, as before their eyes was a Rule Breaker that had clearly been shattered into fragments.
That fact captured their full attention.
Raikis, having battled one of Lostvayne’s former wielders, had unleashed his full power to destroy them, yet he had only managed to leave a few cracks on Lostvayne’s blade. Cracks that healed before his eyes.
He understood the durability of Rule Breakers, which made him even more curious about what could have broken the supposedly strongest among them.
Berlal, however, was less focused on that and more intrigued by Arthur, who commanded the allegiance of Rule Breaker 1.
What was it about him that connected Rule Breaker 1 to him from birth?
’Moreover, she didn’t call herself a Sword, but an Armament.’
There was a significant difference, and as if reading her thoughts, Arthur spoke.
"I’d like you to explain that in a bit. But first, you said you were a Cosmic ’Armament.’"
[Yes. I am an Armament.]
"Then what about your Sword form...?"
[Master desired a ’Sword’ when you first summoned me, so I became one by your will.]
That response implied that if Arthur had desired a ’Spear,’ Celestia would have become one as well.
"Correct me if I’m wrong, but your Power Fragments don’t just contain raw power, do they? They contain your ability to become other weapons of an ’Armament’."
[To be exact, they give me more ’mass’ and the slots for registering them. The ’Sword’ is my current ’Default,’ and I can assume one other form. Depending on the size, I would need the extra mass to do so.]
"I see..."
Arthur nodded silently, recalling how during the battle with Bewússtsein, when Celestia had covered his skin like armour, her blade strength had decreased, and she felt lighter.
’So she didn’t have enough mass for that.’
The next thought that came to him was the semi-transparent nature of her blade. He had assumed it was due to her being fragmented, but the phrase ’treads the boundary between existence and non-existence’ disproved that.
That semi-transparent nature was simply a reflection of that. Neither fully opaque nor completely transparent.
Not fully existent, but not entirely non-existent either.
Then there were her creators and the name of the Era she mentioned.
Harmonia Era.
Arthur had heard of the Previous Era, but never knew it had a name.
The name of the second creator, alongside Hyperion, was also obscured by a layer of static.
He planned to ask why that was as well.
But someone present wanted answers immediately, and surprisingly, it wasn’t the ever-curious Berlal, but Raikis.
"Hold on a second, Progenitor."
"The name is Arthur."
"Yeah, that. Your sword said something that’s been on my mind. By ’Harmonia Era,’ you mean the Previous Era, right?"
[Yes, I am. The Previous Era was not the first iteration of the Cosmos and obviously wasn’t the last. That particular iteration was dubbed ’Harmonia.’]
Hearing this, Raikis asked, "Why that name specifically?"
[That is not contained within the memories I have recovered,] Celestia replied.
Berlal then asked, "You said you were the final creation of Hyperion. To start with, you do know he still exists in this Era, right?"
[The fact that I can speak his name is proof enough that he still exists.]
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately understood that the second name Celestia had mentioned, which was obscured by static, belonged to someone who no longer existed.
"I see," Berlal muttered. "Then explain how you, his ’Final’ Creation, bear the Serial Number of ’1’?"
[Because of my nature and Weapon Authority, but those are pieces of information only my master is allowed to know.]
Celestia was not about to reveal the details of her Weapon Authority to anyone but Arthur.
Hearing this, Berlal waved dismissively.
"Alright, that’s not my concern. But why were you the final one? Why didn’t Hyperion create any more weapons after you? Was it because the Era ended?"
Celestia shook her head in response.
[No. I am simply the last weapon Hyperion created before he and the other Primordial Progenitors learned of the impending end of the Previous Era and began their efforts to prevent it.
After that point, Hyperion no longer had time to create weapons as he once did.]
"And how did they discover the end was coming? What did they do to try to stop it?" Gindry asked.
The others were curious as well, but unfortunately, Celestia’s answer was negative.
[I do not know, because the means by which they discovered it, as well as their efforts to stop it, no longer exist.]
"So, what exactly do you know about the Previous Era and its end?" Berlal asked.
[It’s easier to tell you what I don’t know. I know nothing about the parts of the Previous Era that no longer exist.]
In other words, she was implying she knew things about the Previous Era that still remained in the Current Era.
She was aware of aspects of the Previous Era that persisted now, and though she didn’t say it aloud, she also knew of things connected to those original remnants.
That was a detail she intended to keep for Arthur alone.
Berlal was about to ask another question when Arthur raised his hand. "Hold on a second. Regarding all this talk about the Previous Era, I’ve been led to believe that Hyperion’s identity as an existence from that Era is common knowledge, at least among the higher echelons of cosmic powers and on the cosmic stage. How was this actually confirmed?"
The one to answer was Wyndella, the dragon Arthur avoided most among the six.
"Because his Existential Graph differs from ours."
Blinking in confusion, Arthur tilted his head and asked, "Existential graph? Mind explaining that to me?"
Wyndella obliged. "It’s exactly what it sounds like. The graph of your existence.
Since the soul is the root of one’s existence, and the body is a vessel for that soul, powered by your energy core, which takes its appearance and features from the metadata of your soul, your existential graph is essentially the blueprint of your soul.
There are certain fundamental parts of that graph that are identical for every existence in this Era across the Cosmos. Hyperion, however, possesses a different base existential graph.
This was confirmed shortly after the beginning of the Reign of Chaos."
She paused, then asked, "You know what that is, right?"
Arthur nodded. "If you mean the time when the Cosmic Force of Chaos broke the balance and spread its influence across more than half the Cosmos, then yes, I know what that is."
A moment later, he asked,
"Then, does this different base existential graph do more than just identify him as an existence from the Previous Era?"
"Yes, it does. They don’t conform to some fundamental aspects of this Era. Take your weapons, for example, the Rule Breakers.
Setting aside their name, they truly break the rules. For one, the Conceptual Authorities of this Current Era barely affect them. Their effectiveness is reduced by about 90%."
"90?!"
Arthur exclaimed upon hearing that, then glanced at Lostvayne, who silently nodded, confirming its truth.
They really were rule breakers.
It explained why Akasha was so intent on collecting all the single-digit Rule Breakers. Beyond their immense power, they carried this nature that diminished his Conceptual Authority’s effectiveness over them.
Arthur then asked, "So you’re saying existences from the Previous Era possess this nature as well?"
Wyndella nodded.
"Yes. Even by Eternal and Aggressor standards, Hyperion is far more resistant to the concepts of this Era."
"And exactly how many of these Previous Era existences are still around?"
Wyndella raised three fingers in answer to the question, but just as she did, another voice echoed,
"There’s been a recent update to that number."
Arthur turned toward the voice, narrowing his eyes as he met Mofil’s calm gaze.
’When did he get here?’
While Arthur asked that internally, Mofil explained.
"In what I suspect was a controlled information leak by the Eternals, a fourth existence from the Previous Era was identified.
Well, ’identified’ might be too strong a word. It’s more accurate to say they realised that a fourth existence suddenly appeared."
"Huh? When did that happen?" Raikis asked.
"Not too long ago," Mofil replied. "Just a few decades."
At Mofil’s response, Berlal rubbed her chin thoughtfully.
"All the other existences from the Previous Era have been around since the dawn of this Cosmos. For one to just pop out of nowhere..."
Barda chimed in, "Could it be that they’ve always been around, but the Eternals only just realised it recently?"
When he said this, Gindry nodded in agreement, then added,
"Yeah, but there’s also the chance they weren’t actually existing. What if they were...I don’t know...in non-existence, with the Void god and the other Cosmic Horrors?"
’The Void-what now?’
