Turning Point (17)
"Enter with caution. We still haven't fully figured out how everything works here."
Licorice warned seriously, her nerves on edge ever since she opened the door leading into the Archive. No doubt, it was because of Lobelia's presence.
Even if Licorice hadn't warned us, no one let down their guard. Understandably so—the Archive's exterior, and the interior facility design too, didn't fit the current era at all.
Strangely, it didn't feel like it had been built by humans. How should I put it? It wasn't just mysterious, but gave off a strong sense of unfamiliar discomfort.
"Hyun-woo, this is my first time inside the Archive."
"It's the same for everyone here."
"Gasp."
Nadia, who had been looking around, straightened her tail in surprise at my reply and took in a sharp breath.
Multipurpose Unit 1 and Unit 2 couldn't hide their excitement, as if everything around was fascinating. They tried to head off in different directions, but because they were tied together by the support arms, they couldn't get to where they wanted and ended up being dragged along by Nadia.
Celestia brushed her hand against the rectangular corridor wall. A faint line—maybe a circuit, or perhaps a gap where the material met—glowed dimly, running throughout the entire corridor.
"It feels... as if I'm looking at an OOPArt."
"OOPArt?"
"Objects or structures that don't fit the time period are called OOPArts. Since Myosotis began digging into technology, I've become familiar with all kinds of materials, but I can't even guess what material was used for this corridor. If Kyle could see it in person, maybe he'd find something...."
Celestia had tried to analyze it with the engineers from Myosotis, but to no avail. Even so, they hadn't given up, pushing in precision analysis equipment as much as they could without stimulating the facility.
It would be more accurate to send actual samples rather than just analyzing data with their eyes, but uncertain what actions to take, they held back for now.
'A different era, huh...'
I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Frowning deeply, I quietly approached Licorice, who was currently attempting to extract data.
"Making any progress?"
"No."
The answer came before I even finished asking. Licorice groaned and tapped her forearm with her finger.
"What seems to be the problem?"
"All of it. Now that I'm inside, I can't even understand how the door opened so easily."
"... Is it that bad?"
"It is. The system's just too different."
According to Licorice, even when she tried to access the main system of the Archive, the characters were composed of symbols entirely unfamiliar to her, making interpretation impossible.
If Licorice couldn't do it, that meant none of us could, which soured my expression as well. Suddenly, Licorice looked up in puzzlement.
"Hmm... Lee Hyun-woo, come here a moment. Can you read these characters?"
"Come on, we already checked that I couldn't read them."
"Give it one more try. When we send communications, the Albatross interrupts the spreading signals, so our position won't be revealed right away, but the pureblood supremacists will find us soon enough. We need to do something before they come and make a mess!"
Licorice grabbed my arm and hurried me. Since the Archive's script was similar to the one inscribed on the bud, she wondered if I could read it, but even if the two were similar, I still couldn't decipher it.
Still, I fully agreed that we had to at least try something, so I looked at the screen Licorice thrust in front of me. I tried to read the characters, which looked like shapes overlapped and joined together.
"Hmm... still—"
Just as I was about to say I couldn't read them, a powerful sense of déjà vu flashed through my mind. I fell silent in the middle of my sentence and stared intently at the hologram display.
"... A transition."
"What?"
"The issue is a transition, isn't it? The writing system is different."
"Right?"
"Just wait a minute. I can't read it, but it seems like Sprout can."
I still couldn't fully understand the characters. However, when I was holding Sprout, I could vaguely grasp what they signified.
As soon as I thought of this, I handed Licorice the bowl containing Sprout.
"Try holding this and looking at the screen again. Don't you get a sense that you almost understand it?"
Licorice started to ask what nonsense that was, but she went along with it anyway, perhaps trusting that I wouldn't say something so baseless.
"Uh... hmm... ...oh?"
Holding the bowl I handed her in one hand, and waving the other in midair, Licorice's expression gradually changed as the sensation grew. She burst out suddenly.
"You should have passed it sooner!"
"Hey, why are you blaming me? Blame the fickle one here. Besides, nothing happened earlier, you know!"
"Hmph, whatever."
I still hadn't cleared my name, and Licorice gestured for me to move aside—she'd need some time for translation and didn't want to be bothered.
Muttering, I stepped away. That's when Nadia dashed over. She had a determined look, underscored by her frustration at the situation.
"Hyun-woo, let's break through."
"Break through?"
"Yeah. Let's blow up everything blocking us with bombs."
"But Licorice is in the middle of decoding right now..."
I trailed off and glanced at Licorice. I knew the urgency, but I worried that stirring things up would cause an accident—wasn't that why even the Myosotis people were only scanning things?
Nadia insisted that she had considered all my concerns.
"I overheard it—you're here partly to discover your past, right?"
She was right: if the Archive collected all information on Titans, it would likely have the data I was after.
"We're not here to study. To be blunt, we came to ransack this place. The Archive might be full of new wonders, but we can't afford to marvel at them right now."
"... That's true."
"Part of me wants to stay here forever and solve all these mysteries piling up inside me. I want to tear into everything. Taste it all."
Nadia admitted she was suppressing that urge herself. Lowering her voice, she added,
"So far, our analysis has detected no trace of contamination here. No signs of monsters lurking, or that usual atmosphere of danger. Maybe, just maybe, something is hiding deep enough that I can't sense it—but honestly, that's unlikely. This place has been sealed within an energy field until now."
I knew Lobelia might be here and thus assumed that monsters could exist as well, but hadn't brought it up yet. So, while we were at it, I told her about the existence of monsters using the bio-gate.
Naturally, Nadia shot up her head in surprise. After a moment's thought with a stiff expression, she said,
"That means it's a race against time. If those monsters have already taken control, we have to break through faster—we can't waste any more time here."
Nadia pointed out that the door had opened for us when we entered the Archive. If something, or someone, was now blocking our way, even more reason to blast through.
"Let's do this our own way. When did we ever politely solve puzzles one by one? We blew up everything in our path."
"... Are you serious?"
"Hyun-woo, I'm always serious. I prepared all sorts of things for a moment like this. Trust me."
As she put her hand on her waist, I found myself persuaded. In truth, I'd grown tired of moving so cautiously.
Nadia's confidence struck just the right chord in me.
"Nadia."
"Yeah?"
"We really are the best partners."
"That's stating the obvious. I'll go make it official. Wait here."
Laughing with me, Nadia turned and headed for Licorice.
"What is it?"
Licorice, slowly getting her bearings, signaled for Nadia to speak quickly if she had something to say. Then Nadia delivered her announcement.
"I'm giving you five minutes. After that, we'll force the door open with explosives."
"What? What kind of dog nonsense... Did I just hear that right? You'll blow this place up with bombs?"
"Not the Archive—the door blocking the way forward."
"That's basically the same! Woof-woof, have you thought about what the explosion might do to the Archive?"
As Licorice raised her voice in frustration, Celestia, noticing the commotion, approached and asked what was going on. Nadia explained the plan.
Celestia's reaction was calm.
"I see... Nadia, Hyun-woo agreed to this, right?"
"Yes."
"Then let's do it. I agree. Whatever comes, I'm ready. If it's monsters, I'll put a rifle round through their heads. If it's a defense system, I'll smash the core to bits. This actually works out nicely—Kyle, after getting the data, was begging for some samples."
Celestia, with a composed air, said she'd take the explosives out in advance and left. Licorice watched her go, mouth slightly agape—she'd clearly hoped Celestia would take her side.
Licorice's gaze turned sharply to Nadia, who didn't flinch.
"The defense system isn't neutralized. There could still be monsters. Above all, what I'm wary of is—"
"I heard. There are mutants using bio-gates here, right? Let them come. We'll have to clear them out anyway to get what we want. Isn't that right?"
"... It hasn't even been 30 minutes since we arrived. I know it's urgent, but rushing in recklessly might bring bigger dangers. I know how important this moment is, which is why I'm focusing on deciphering the writing first."
"That's why I said I'm giving you five more minutes. Or... is five minutes just not enough?"
Nadia tilted her head, not sinisterly, just asking. But Licorice seemed to take it differently; her face flushed with irritation.
"Ha, what nonsense! Five minutes is more than enough to seize the entire place!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
Looking utterly confident, Licorice declared it. Right after she said it, she couldn't hide her regret, but the words were out. All she could do now was attack the hologram furiously.
So, five minutes later, explosives were slapped all over the door leading to another sector.
***
Meanwhile, in the Archive's main system central control room—
No one would ever doubt that those who survived this long would stir up trouble so boldly.
A woman sat on a chair made of flesh, giggling quietly at the echo of the explosion from below.
The woman with red hair and red eyes was named Lobelia. She had come to the Archive first, to personally greet those who had reached the grand finale.
Several crystals floated around Lobelia. Each was embedded with intricate circuitry—they were essentially the core of the Archive's main system. Then, Black Out slid silently into view behind her.
「Proxy, will you really proceed with this plan?」
"Yes."
「You will die.」
"You know that's my goal. Don't you think I've existed too long as well?"
「Your role is not yet finished.」
"It won't end. Not as long as the Mothers exist—forever. Just imagining it... what an honor. So marvelous!"
Lobelia spoke in feigned reverence for Mother, but her face had hardened. She stared at a hologram window floating before her.
「System message.」
「Current scenario in progress is being discarded. A new variable has appeared. Highest-level administrator emergency meeting requested... failure. Retry... failure.」
「Main system's own judgment—authorization for new scenario opening.」
「Warning. All Pilgrims, pay close attention. With the restrictions removed, the forgotten era will rise to the surface. The presence of an indestructible object has been confirmed. The ancient beings will be revived.」
"The world is changing. It's different from the past. It won't end with one side's overwhelming victory."
Lobelia, born by the hand of a Mother. For better or worse, she had come into being as an era drew to a close.
The great war that ended the era of mystery and purity.
Those who suddenly appeared, calling themselves Pilgrims, raised a mighty storm.
Each time that storm raged, the Mothers were sealed away or destroyed—and now, only traces remained.
Those who had once ruled the era became ancient beings and vanished with the forgotten age. Even the flow of mystery itself was erased.
The Pilgrims imposed restrictions. The power known as 'mystery,' the force that made it possible, countless fantasy species—were erased from concept, as if they had never existed.
'... Even now, it's terrifying to recall.'
Because a Mother had hidden her, Lobelia survived that storm. Thus, she witnessed both the end of one era and the dawn of another.
Even after all the Mothers were sealed, their influence did not dissipate easily, so for a long time, Lobelia remained a puppet.
She blindly opposed the Pilgrims. To her, it was natural—they had destroyed her world. The Mothers, though sealed, never stopped whispering: release us, avenge us, their suggestions flooding into her endlessly.
At first, she lived in hiding, afraid the Pilgrims would find and kill her. After that, she worked beneath the surface, striving to break the seals.
Lobelia spent long years trying to bring back the forgotten era, creating forces guided by her will. Sometimes, to avoid suspicion, she deliberately shrank her influence; at other times, she purposely caused trouble to lull potential enemies into dropping their guard.
And that brought things to where they were now.
「You have succeeded in reviving the Mothers. Now, you only have to enjoy the glory.」
"I told you, it's different from before. Mystery disappeared, but now the world is ruled by entirely different technology. I may have nudged things in that direction, but that's not what matters now."
Lobelia leaned deeply into her chair, gazing up at the ceiling. Her voice grew slack.
"Reviving a forgotten age... I like it. That's why I've existed until now."
The era the pureblood supremacists called the Age of Purity. Purity—while it sounds clear and clean, it simply means an intact, untainted state.
But there's one thing you must remember: if you call something pure because it lacks impurities, the definition of 'impurity' can change from era to era.
Looking at the current era through the lens of that bygone age, the impurity is obvious. This era—the present—was clearly impurity. At least, as far as the Mothers were concerned.
That's why pureblood supremacist groups, able to perceive some of the Mothers' whispers, were throwing the world into chaos.
By tearing everything up, and digging deeper and deeper to dredge up the forgotten age and revive the ancient beings, they sought this very goal.
"But Black Out, you're missing something."
「What is it?」
"No matter the talk about supernatural powers and such, their root hasn't changed. To have awakened such power even in a world with no concept of mystery—that's no small thing. Like dredging the darkest of the ocean's abyss, or retrieving something from the farthest reaches of space."
「That was an artificial awakening. It was prompted by a fragment of mystery, even if it was a degraded copy. Had we not intervened, nothing would have happened.」
At this, Lobelia gave a wry smile.
"Still, that talent is real, Black Out. What do you think would happen if someone with the ability to awaken power under these extreme circumstances were placed in a perfectly restored forgotten age? Even now, they're called superhuman—imagine if they go beyond that. Back then, they would have stood at the very pinnacle. Even now, more are reaching that boundary."
「The same goes for us.」
"Maybe, but not on the same level."
「You created that.」
"It was the only successful case out of countless experiments. We wasted so much time on that one failure—you know it, too."
「Do you regret it?」
"No. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so obsessed."
Regret. Lobelia turned the word in her mind. No matter how she thought about it, it didn't suit her.
It was simply something she had to do. So she did it, and that's how things turned out. Even if she could turn back time, she knew her decisions wouldn't change.
Lobelia had one moment of caprice—a purely innocent curiosity. She used the data of someone who had ended the age of purity to create the present-day Lee Hyun-woo.
But because of that caprice—more precisely, the result of it—Lobelia's mind had broken. For the first time, the fog that had always clouded her awareness began to lift.
Of course, it wasn't permanent. But once she'd tasted that feeling, she couldn't help but chase after it—like someone who can't stop drinking seawater once they start.
「I find it hard to understand you. As your supporter, I've observed, but I couldn't comprehend your path. You used a Pilgrim leader's data to create an enemy for the Mothers. Yet at the same time, you obey their whispers.」
"..."
「You didn't have to use that data. You know that better than anyone. You didn't have to block the pureblood supremacists' movements, either. For so long you built up your plan and had set it in motion—there was nothing you could have stopped. If you'd just acted as planned—no, if you'd simply watched passively, you would've achieved your aim, instead of this lukewarm halfway point.」
"..."
「What is it that you want? Where do your loyalties lie? Are you a traitorous Mother, a Pilgrim who ended the age of mystery, or still on the Mothers' side?」
"... I don't know."
Lobelia murmured blankly. She, too, knew her actions were strange. She listened to everyone, but in the end, was on no one's side. More accurately, she couldn't be on any side anymore.
With time, she grew increasingly convinced something was wrong. She'd realized the reason the Pilgrims had sealed and destroyed the Mothers.
They moved to prevent incursion by other worlds. And to do that, they sealed those who caused the incursion—the Mothers.
Lobelia glanced at the swirling darkness. In it, masses that felt viscerally sticky cloaked in night whispered to her.
A normal human, just by hearing it, would be erased from existence—the meaningless murmur. And the content? Always the same.
Break the seal. Proclaim that our age has returned.
「What is it you truly want?」
"I really don't know. Maybe I'm just tired."
Lobelia, frowning, recalled the so-called Age of Purity. It might be called pure, but in reality, it was filled with chaos. Even as one era ended and a new one began, that hadn't changed.
The indestructible object that appeared in space—it was a fragment of the world shattered in the great war. The axis of dimension was twisted and shrouded in a veil; ordinary attacks couldn't even scratch it.
'What do I want...?'
Lobelia sensed the unseen chains binding her. She didn't want to remain a puppet forever. But she knew—unless she died, she could never break free.
Invisible chains gathered the fog once more. Standing at that border, Lobelia was endlessly colliding with herself. Even she couldn't say what was in conflict.
"I'm just a little curious—how much will they uncover here?"
A hand reaching from the darkness, dripping with clammy shadow, pulled at the chains, making Lobelia rise. Her form began to disperse.
"I guess I'll prepare a little gift for them first."
Lobelia's voice sank, spreading on the heavy air. Soon, nothing remained but darkness.