Chapter 822: Seekers of Truth
"I’m part of a group that believes the Judge of the End was behind this.
Given how active they became right before the revelation of the Previous Era’s fourth survivor, and the fact that the prophecies were sent out around that same time, it’s possible they were the ones who caused the delay. They do have incomprehensible powers, after all."
At that, Berlal immediately shook her head.
"Now that’s a bit far-fetched. I’ve known the Judge of the End longer than you’ve existed. They wouldn’t act without clear benefits. What benefit would there be in delaying the prophecies foretelling a Progenitor’s birth?"
Right after, Wyndella spoke up.
"What about the fact that there are prophecies of his birth in the first place? No other Progenitor has ever had that. What makes Arthur different?"
To this question, Mofil responded almost immediately.
"My group believes the Judge of the End wanted to stop knowledge of the one mentioned in the prophecy from spreading. We think the prophecies weren’t merely warnings to the god race, as most assume, but to all existences within the Cosmos. A warning, maybe even an SOS."
The moment he said ’SOS’, Lostvayne, whose expression had already darkened, clicked his tongue.
[Mofil, you...!]
Seeing Lostvayne’s obvious displeasure, Arthur sighed and turned to Mofil.
"Cut the crap and get to the point."
But before Mofil could get a word out, Arthur cut him off.
"Actually, forget it. You’re implying I’m the fourth survivor of the Previous Era, aren’t you?"
Arthur had long suspected Mofil was up to something, and he had no patience for the man’s roundabout way of speaking.
His bluntness in cutting straight to the point drew a sigh from Mofil.
"I honestly can’t tell if you’re patient or impatient. You show traits of both extremes."
Arthur ignored the remark entirely.
"Like I said, cut the crap. You’ve been trying to steer me toward something for a while now. You also brought up the prophecies when it wasn’t even necessary. What are you playing at?"
Before Mofil could respond, Lostvayne interjected.
[Master, wait. There’s something more important.]
Turning to Mofil, he asked with narrowed eyes,
[How do you know the prophecies were actually SOS messages?]
Lostvayne’s question had the dragons nodding in agreement, clearly just as curious about how Mofil had made the leap from ’warning’ to ’SOS’.
There was a distinct difference between a prophecy and an SOS.
A prophecy foretells something, whether good or bad, and is usually addressed to others. An SOS, however, implies the sender is in danger, or at least believes themselves to be.
If Arthur’s birth Prophecies were actually an SOS, it would explain why the Cosmos had been persistent enough to send a second one after the first was delayed.
The question of why the Cosmos would even bother doing so was not something Lostvayne was interested in.
What he wanted to know was how and why Mofil was aware of the existence of the Cosmos’ SOS messages, something beings of this Era were not meant to know.
At Lostvayne’s question, Mofil’s expression changed for the first time, shifting into a deep frown.
"And there it is," he said. "You Rule Breakers’ attitude of withholding information, denying us truths from the Previous Era because you’ve decided we don’t need to know them. It’s exactly because you keep these truths from us that we seek them even harder."
The moment Lostvayne heard the words truth and seek in the same line, it immediately clicked.
[You joined the Seekers of Truth?! Mofil, didn’t I warn you that what they’re trying to uncover would get them all killed?!]
"That’s just your opinion," Mofil replied firmly. "We have sought truths and lived to tell the tale.
The truths we seek will help us understand what happened in the Previous Era and how to prevent that same end from befalling us again.
If you claim it will get us killed, then give us proof, because we have proved in our search that we will not meet death."
The man’s conviction was evident, but Lostvayne had no interest in Mofil’s conviction.
[You haven’t died yet because the so-called ’truths’ you’ve uncovered so far amount to nothing more than common knowledge in Harmonia!
Push any further and you WILL cross into forbidden territory, and beyond that lies nothing but death!
Why do you think not a single Rule Breaker associates with you?! Why do you think Hyperion openly called you ’foolish moths chasing flames’?!
If you won’t listen to someone who lived through the end of the Previous Era and still remains in this one, then who will you listen to?
Chasing the cause of the END will only bring you the same fate as the existences of Harmonia—permanent erasure from existence!]
Lostvayne’s voice rose with each word, his tone nearing a shout by the end, showing just how seriously the Rule Breaker viewed the matter.
Meanwhile, Berlal turned to Arthur and asked, "Do you know anything about these Seekers of Truth?"
Arthur silently shook his head, having never heard of them before.
That question of hers, overheard by Mofil, was answered without delay.
"We are simply those who strive to uncover the truths surrounding the end of the Previous Era, as well as the secrets buried beneath the layers of information concealment and distortion that plague the present Cosmos.
Our objective is to prevent the fate that befell the previous Cosmos from repeating itself here.
Therefore, the emergence of a fourth survivor from that Era, one unconnected to the Aggressors, the Eternals, and not the Judge of the End, presents the potential to reveal the answers we seek."
Upon hearing the goals of the ’Seekers’, Arthur, piecing everything together, drew his conclusion.
"So in other words, everything you’ve done so far has been aimed at extracting this information from me, because you believe I’m the fourth survivor?"
He paused momentarily, glancing at Celestia, who had been silently watching Mofil with an unreadable expression, before continuing,
"Not just me. You intended for me to encounter the Levites, which means Celestia was a target for you as well, wasn’t she?"
After saying that, Arthur scoffed.
"And what exactly makes you believe I possess this information about the Previous Era? What makes you so certain I am this fourth being from that Era, beyond your conjectures and the partial truths your so-called Seekers of Truth have managed to uncover?
Even if I am, what makes you think you’d be able to obtain anything from me?"
Mofil immediately pointed at Celestia as he replied.
"Rule Breaker Number 1 was bound to you from birth. A weapon that other Rule Breakers have confirmed they have not sensed since the dawn of this Era was bound to you from birth."
Lostvayne’s expression contorted at that revelation, as though he wanted nothing more than to beat up whichever Rule Breaker had leaked such a detail.
Arthur noticed the reaction but chose not to address it, keeping his attention fixed on Mofil.
"Is that all you have? Then perhaps Celestia, weakened and suffering lingering effects from near destruction in the Previous Era, simply bonded with a nascent soul with the intent of having that person aid her in gathering her scattered fragments and restoring herself?"
It was a plausible explanation, yet the dragons observing the exchange quickly noticed how Celestia’s gaze finally shifted from Mofil to Arthur, her expression openly displaying disbelief at the mere suggestion that she was ’using’ him.
’It’s definitely not that,’ Berlal concluded.
Meanwhile, Mofil, still focused on Arthur, stepped forward and asked,
"And how do your words explain the SOS messages from the Cosmos? Why would the Cosmos send distress signals about your birth?
You yourself just said there’s a possibility this fourth survivor from the Previous Era has only now reincarnated.
Every known or suspected figure from that Era is immensely powerful. Despite what others may believe, Hyperion stands as the undisputed strongest among the Progenitors. Not even the Progenitor goddess, Dragon, or even Human can rival him.
Gaia, the Eternal of Creation, wields power on par with Hyperion’s and remains an existence few can comprehend, as even the Conceptual Authorities of Wisdom and Knowledge cannot determine her origins prior to the Reign of Chaos and her founding of the Eternals.
Then there is the Judge of the End, powerful enough to mediate between the Eternals and the Aggressors, and so formidable that the Eternals cannot interfere with their self-appointed role as Mediator.
Each is a being of overwhelming cosmic influence."
Then, spreading his arms as though giving a formal presentation, he asked.
"What if you were the Cosmos itself and sensed a fourth existence emerging from the same origin as those others, attempting to exist within you?
Would you not perceive them as a danger? And if you had the ability to send an SOS to your inhabitants, wouldn’t you do so?"
He continued without giving anyone the chance to respond.
"In such a case, you would act on that perceived threat. The same logic applies to the Cosmos.
It deemed you a danger, assuming you carried the same level of power as the other survivors from the Previous Era, and its autonomous system sent out warnings to those living within it.
Yet someone attempted to block that first message, and only when the Cosmos sent a second one did their interference fail.
Perhaps the strain of suppressing two SOS signals from ’everything that exists’ proved too great, making it impossible to fully suppress the prophecies.
It certainly didn’t help that the Judge of the End was inactive for at least ten years after those prophecies spread.
What if those ten years of inactivity were simply a period of recovery, a time spent healing from whatever backlash they suffered in trying to obstruct the Cosmos’ warnings?"
Some of the Levites nodded thoughtfully as they found reason in Mofil’s words, but Arthur, the one those words were aimed at, replied with skepticism.
"You make decent conjectures, but there is little to no proof that any of this is true. You’re just assuming."
He doubted Mofil’s claims until the very end
At least outwardly.
What no one else knew, and what Arthur had no intention of revealing, was that deep down he actually agreed with Mofil on certain points and believed some of them might be true.
Not because Mofil had convinced him, but because of what he already knew long before ever meeting Mofil.
Arthur thought back to the time after he had been struck by soul poison during the Nemo Galaxy Auction incident decades ago, to the dreams of that Dark Future he experienced then, dreams he had always believed were Time showing him Memories of the Future. (Chapters 188-189)
He remembered seeing that older version of himself who had insisted he wasn’t Arthur’s future self.
Arthur recalled vividly the argument they had had and how that entity had told him that, in the end, everything was ultimately on him.
