Chapter 131: Reflections of the Past

"Amy—"

Whispering the boy's name, the silver-haired girl hovering above the boundless sea of dreams lowered her gaze. She then naturally merged into the twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty dreamscapes containing the individual known as Yulia Ulysses, replacing the original versions of herself that had merely been passively evolving along with the flow of time.

The sensation of being incarnated a thousand times over was somewhat novel, but that was all.

The impact it had on her was not even as intense as seeing her long-deceased parents or reliving those poignant memories—if not for the fact that Amy had been dragged into the phantasmagoria of a Great Old One, and if not for the fact that Hermetica was hanging by a thread, she might have found it difficult to prevent herself from sinking into those beautiful, pearl-like memories.

But there were no "ifs." Willing or not, her only choice was to move forward.

And so, the twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty iterations of Yulia Ulysses existing within the dreams deviated from the path prescribed by time. Like so many non-existent phantoms, they searched for the boy's trail amidst the dense crowds of each dream world.

Yet... there was nothing. Amy did not exist in any of these twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty dreams.

The silver-haired girl confirmed this.

Her serene face showed no trace of emotional fluctuation. Regarding this fact, all she could do was accept it and wait.

Even as powerful as she was, having fully inherited the blood of Ulysses, she could not act as she pleased within the unconscious, hallucinatory dreams of a Great Old One; she had to follow the constraints that existed in the hidden void.

She... could not exist in a dream where he did not.

Perhaps she could rely on plucking the strings of the laws of reality to temporarily break through this shackle, but to manipulate the laws of order in front of a Great Old One born from the primordial chaos would undoubtedly stimulate the Lord of R'lyeh, who lay in deep slumber beneath Hermetica, and hasten His awakening. At that point, His restless, turbulent dreams would swallow everyone who remained; even she or Pandora would likely find no escape.

Therefore, she would wait for now.

Yulia was not worried about Amy’s safety. Because of the boy’s uniqueness, she—who possessed the Eyes of Truth—knew better than anyone: if the Code of Hammurabi, established by the Ancestors, left the traces of fate upon every person, then Amy was the sole exception.

He did not possess a fate.

Moreover, his very existence was like air: clearly present, yet impossible to perceive within the field of vision.

No, even air was not this transparent. Back when the Ancestors established the laws of order in the chaos, air, as the cornerstone of human existence, had been imbued with corresponding elements. Although her perception of it was quite vague as she lacked the authority of the Creator, she could still exert influence over it if she pushed her powers to the limit. Amy, however, was fundamentally different; it was as if he existed on another plane of reality, utterly incongruous with Hermetica and the entire world.

In her eyes, he was even more anomalous than the Great Old One beneath Hermetica.

Despite being labeled as "indescribable," the ancient gods flowing from the great source of chaos still possessed concrete, comprehensible forms under the constraints of order. For ordinary people, merely glimpsing the chaotic essence restrained beneath the veneer of order was enough to invite the deepest madness.

But Amy was entirely different. To the eyes of ordinary people, he seemed like a common Glory-Bearer, but to those who were more powerful and understood the essence of the world, his existence was increasingly anomalous and incomprehensible—as if he were some non-human entity disguised as a human. Even she, when in contact with him, would often have such unreasonable thoughts: Did the gentle, reliable boy she heard, touched, and felt really exist? Was it really Amy?

This became especially pronounced after she gradually lost the vision of a normal person due to the load of her abilities.

But to the silver-haired girl, this was a trivial concern, for in their day-to-day life together, she had long since confirmed that her feelings for the boy were without falsehood.

Since that was the case, there was nothing to hesitate about.

Yulia Ulysses was never one to be coy.

As the person who understood Amy the best, she did not rationally believe that the boy, whose specificity far exceeded that of a Great Old One, would fall into danger because of this. Yet, emotionally, she still could not stand idly by, and she could not help but worry for him.

Therefore, after seeing her uncle, Edgar Galsworthy—whom she had never met—for the last time, she, too, entered the ancient, lingering dream.

To her surprise, the dreamscape of this Great Old One slumbering beneath Hermetica was calmer than she had imagined. There was no sign of the backlash one would expect after losing the suppression of the Spark; it was as calm as a person in a deep sleep. As long as there was no stimulation above a certain threshold, it would not become a major trouble for Hermetica for a very long time.

By conventional logic, this made no sense.

However, as an ancient god flowing from the great source of chaos, it was not something that could be reasoned with, so this unexpected situation was understandable.

What made things slightly tricky was that Amy was not present in the twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty dream worlds she occupied. This meant he had bypassed the limitations of the Great Old One and dived deeper into the history of chaos—this was not a good thing. True, the ancient dream was like an endless ocean containing countless dream bubbles, but "endless" here was a generalization, a loose term for a large number humans could not enumerate, not truly infinite.

The closer the dream was to the modern era, the further it was from the essence of chaos. The deeper one dived along the river of time, the closer one got to the essence of the Great Old One’s chaotic thoughts, and the easier it was to be eroded and polluted by chaos. If one were to trace back to the era of the Ancestors before the Age of Ancient Kings, it would essentially be entering the depths of the Great Old One’s mind, subjected to direct pollution from the great source of chaos at every moment.

That level of pollution was something even she, who possessed the Flame, could hardly withstand.

If it were just pollution, she could endure it for a short time, and for Amy, it would be even less of a problem. But the real danger did not come from mental pollution; it came from the Great Old One itself. Entering the dream world was equivalent to entering the mental world of an entity almost synonymous with blind, idiotic chaos. The danger was minimized only by the existence of the R'lyeh seal and His slumber. But once one delved into the deepest layer of the dream, it would inevitably stimulate the Lord of the Old Days, who lay in eternal sleep, and force one to face the master of this mental world.

That was a terrifying existence that even the Ancestors, who had not yet grasped the authority of the Creator, dared not claim to defeat.

Fortunately, judging by the peaceful state of the dream world, Amy did not seem to have dived into the deepest dream bubble and had not touched that red line which must never be crossed.

This was why she could still wait patiently.

As long as Amy intended to leave this ancient dream, Yulia, who was simultaneously monitoring all twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty shallowest dream worlds, was confident she could find him amidst the myriad worlds and bring him out.

However... an accident occurred at that moment.

Within Yulia's perception, a dream world situated below the ones she occupied—about ten years further back from the deepest point she could reach—shattered like a bubble.

Was it Amy? Or was it Pandora?

In all of Hermetica, the only beings qualified to intervene at the level of a Great Old One, besides herself and the Observer who lurked somewhere in Hermetica, were those two.

She could not yet be sure which one it was.

Pandora was clearly the more likely candidate; after all, in her impression, Amy was never known for his destructive power. Destroying an entire world? Even one as fragile as a dream bubble would be too difficult for him.

But it was necessary to confirm.

And so, her consciousness withdrew from the "selves" in the twenty-three thousand, one hundred and twenty dream worlds. Her awareness drifted out of the bubble-like dream worlds, diving downward, and came to a halt outside the dream that had ended as brilliantly as fireworks, overlooking this magnificent and gorgeous sea of dreams from a higher dimension.

She also looked down at the small girl standing in the deeper reaches of the sea of dreams.

"Pandora—"

The silver-haired girl spoke the name of the dark entity who had manifested as a young girl before her.

"You are..." The little girl looked up at the girl above the infinite sea of dreams, reading the memories of the existence immersed in the endless abyss of self. Then, her innocent eyes were tainted by tyranny and murderous intent. The old personality burned as fuel for her power, and a new personality was born as the wielder of that power. Within a very short time, she integrated the combat experience of countless past personalities. "Ulysses."

Ulysses. It was a surname, and it was a name.

The girl before her had undoubtedly inherited the blood of Ulysses, the chosen one who had inherited the qualifications of Ulysses.

A true, formidable enemy.

"This is not a suitable place for a fight." Although she had always wanted to give a beating to this person who had an unusual interest in Amy and had once sliced him in half, Yulia knew clearly how dangerous it was to start a battle in the mental world of a Great Old One. "According to the sacred covenant established by Hammurabi, as one of the Four Pillars, the Lord of R'lyeh who slumbers here is an absolute taboo that must not be touched."

Pandora did not speak. As a newborn who had just arrived in this world, although she had been force-fed a large amount of common sense and combat experience and techniques, she lacked social skills and could not understand the girl’s words or respond accordingly.

So, she simply remained silent.

Before opening Pandora's box, Duke Galsworthy did not know that the box’s existence was a safeguard set by the Chaos Cult for the biological weapon that was Pandora. Once the shackles of the Seven Sins were broken and possessed her, Pandora as a "human" would completely die. Every time she used her power, it would lead to the destruction of her current personality. Although new personalities would be born in an endless cycle, they were no different from toddlers, regardless of how much knowledge they possessed, due to the lack of social accumulation.

"Tell me, where is Amy Ulysses?"

Yulia did not know the secrets of the Chaos Cult, nor did she have any interest in knowing them. All she truly cared about was the boy who was slightly older than her.

"Amy Ulysses?" A mechanical, rigid, and toneless voice. The new personality searched through past memories, and then a pair of beautiful brows furrowed slightly. "I am looking for him. He is... my possession."

"It seems we cannot come to an agreement." The silver-haired girl sighed softly. "Just as I thought. Even if it means breaking the taboo, I still want to have a fight with you here."

But she finally restrained herself, because... there was no need.

Through the mark left on him, Yulia was able to determine his location.

—The young Glory-Bearer had returned to the real world at this very moment.

"What a troublesome fellow."

As she said this, the spark of conflict was extinguished.