Ch.186Let there be light

# ‘Soul…’

Charlotte noticed her soul resonating with something else the moment her consciousness began to sink deep into her mind.

So she accepted her sinking consciousness without resistance. The only one her soul was bound to was her husband, and only he would have the power to affect that bond.

How could a wife go against her husband’s will? If he had touched the soul firmly bound by soul binding magic, there must be a good reason for it.

Charlotte’s consciousness slowly settled into the depths of her mind. She closed her eyes and felt her soul sinking downward. Literally, it was a sensation that matched the expression of sinking.

A warm heat enveloped her body. Charlotte instinctively knew this warmth belonged to her husband. Because of this, she wasn’t afraid at all, even though her consciousness was sinking endlessly.

The boy had led Charlotte’s soul here, and with that warmth felt right beside her, Charlotte had no reason to be afraid.

After some time had passed, as the sinking sensation subsided, Charlotte carefully opened her eyes. She had arrived in a space painted entirely in dark blue.

A liquid, presumably water, filled the floor up to her ankles, making splashing sounds as she moved her feet. The sound echoed in the empty void.

The ceiling, stretching endlessly into the distance, was a dark blue color similar to what existed before a teleportation gate was fully formed. It looked as if the midnight sea had been turned upside down and hung in the sky.

Charlotte wasn’t confused. Nor was she frightened. She merely quietly speculated about where this place might be and why she had been led here.

She had felt the soul resonance at the very moment when she was on the verge of defeat in the battle against that madwoman, when her defensive magic circle broke and she was about to be consumed by black mana.

She felt the soul resonance and simultaneously her consciousness sank deep into her mind, and when she opened her eyes, she was in this place. This meant that this was likely the deep world within Charlotte’s mind.

‘So it wasn’t just theoretical speculation.’

Charlotte had once conducted research related to souls.

The results were virtually zero, but she had barely managed to extract one research finding resembling a conjecture: that a person’s mental world is greatly influenced by their personality and memories.

She never imagined that conjecture would actually be true. Her blood-red eyes moved busily, trying to capture every detail of this amazing sight.

“Have you regained consciousness?”

She flinched at the voice that came from right behind her. It was an extremely familiar voice. Charlotte turned her head. The figure who had spoken came into view.

Long silver hair that fell to the waist, as if molded from the moon. Blood-red eyes that were chillingly emotionless and cold. Skin so pale it was almost white and a sharply defined nose.

Light cherry-colored lips and a sharp jawline. Breasts of moderate size that could barely fit in one hand. A tight black uniform covering the entire body. Slender, elongated arms and legs.

The figure that appeared behind her was Charlotte de Gargantua.

“You are…”

Charlotte frowned at this absurd situation of looking at herself with her own eyes. Was this a hallucination? Or something else?

It couldn’t be a hallucination. This was the deep world within Charlotte’s mind, and she wouldn’t be seeing hallucinations even in such a place.

Charlotte stretched out her left hand. In response, Charlotte also stretched out her right hand. Just before the two hands touched, Charlotte lowered her hand. Charlotte also lowered her hand, mimicking the action.

A curtain like the surface of a very clear lake separated the two Charlottes. It was a curtain with such transparency that one would never notice it at first glance.

“A mirror, I see.”

As Charlotte, who had noticed the transparent curtain, said this and tried to draw mana to break the curtain but hesitated momentarily, an answer came back.

“Indeed it is.”

When her attempt to break the curtain failed, Charlotte clicked her tongue. For some reason, she couldn’t draw mana. Charlotte spoke with cold eyes.

“It’s a futile effort. Don’t you know this is your mental world? There’s no way you can use mana, a mere product of the physical body, in this place.”

“My mental world… Then what are you?”

“What do you think I am?”

Charlotte considered whether to be angry at this way of answering a question with another question, but decided to let it go. After all, it was a conversational style she herself often used.

“I won’t deny what you said, that this is my mental world. But there can’t be two Charlotte de Gargantuas in this world, so you must be either my unconscious or soul separated from me.”

“Half correct.”

“Meaning the other half is wrong.”

Charlotte nodded.

“It is true that I am your unconscious, but I am not separated from you. I am not something to be distinguished from the original, but rather an entity that could be collectively called ‘us’ without any issue.”

Charlotte made a disgruntled expression at the term ‘us.’ The expression of the Charlotte in front of her also changed to look disgruntled.

She had said it was a mirror, and it seemed to mimic even these subtle expressions.

“I understand your thoughts. Well then, what is your reason for appearing before me?”

“To show you our limitations.”

“My limitations?”

Charlotte used “me” despite the other using “us.” It felt awkward being addressed that way.

“Yes.”

“If you’re talking about my limitations, I’ve already experienced them to the point of tedium, so if you’re going to give trivial advice, go back. I know it well enough without having to hear such things.”

“I’m not trying to give advice.”

Two pairs of blood-red eyes, shining like the finest rubies, met each other’s gaze. A terribly cold chill was contained in their gazes. Neither backed down.

More precisely, since Charlotte emitted a fierce aura, the other Charlotte merely mimicked it.

“Why do you think we have reached this place?”

“My husband must have arranged it. If so, what reason would I have not to follow it?”

“Then, do you also know exactly what your husband has arranged?”

“That is not my concern. Simply believing and following his will is all I can do. If you’re trying to find fault with that, I will exclude you by any means necessary, so mind your own business.”

Charlotte took a step forward. With a splash, ripples spread in a circle through the shallow blue liquid on the floor. Charlotte also took a step forward. The circular ripples overlapped.

“Then, for now at least, we are not ‘us.’ How can two people who know different things be called ‘us’?”

“You keep contradicting yourself. You’re saying you know something that I don’t?”

“I do know. And I can’t help but know.”

Another circular ripple was etched on the glowing blue surface.

“How could I not know when the shackles on the soul have been completely released and freed?”

“The shackles on the soul have been freed? What nonsense is—”

Charlotte, who was about to frown, showed an urgent expression as if she had realized something.

“Could it be…”

With that urgent expression, the other nodded.

“You’ve noticed. The soul binding between you and your husband. It has been completely released.”

Charlotte’s complexion grew even paler. Her face was tinged with grief. Even though she could still feel her husband’s warmth on her body, the soul binding had been broken?

It shouldn’t be. It couldn’t be. An enormous shock struck Charlotte’s head. If she hadn’t had the minimum self-respect as a woman, she would have certainly fallen on her backside.

“How, how could this happen… It’s, it’s impossible.”

“My words are the undeniable truth. It is because your soul has been freed that you could meet me here in the depths of your mind.”

“…”

There was no answer, but Charlotte continued without waiting for one.

“It was truly a crude binding. Don’t you think so?”

Hearing those words, Charlotte unconsciously hardened her expression, then strode over to Charlotte and grabbed her by the neck. Charlotte also grabbed Charlotte’s neck.

Brutal force entered the hands gripping each other’s necks. Their arms trembled with anger. The atmosphere suggested they might break each other’s necks at any moment.

“How dare you speak as if you know anything? Are you trying to judge the connection between my husband and me? If you truly wish to risk your life fighting me here, I will gladly oblige. Answer me now. Is that what you want?”

“To make something new, the old must be broken.”

“…What did you say?”

At these unexpected words, Charlotte’s hand, which had been gripping the neck as if about to crush it, loosened.

“Explain yourself. What does that mean? To make something new, the old must be broken?”

“Creation of heaven and earth.”

“…?”

Charlotte’s hand loosened. Charlotte’s hand also loosened. The wrinkled clothes and bright red handprints on the neck instantly returned to the original pale white skin and neat uniform.

“Your soul is now completely liberated. This means you can achieve not a half-ascension as before, but a true ascension. It means you now truly qualify to step beyond the human framework into the world beyond. Yes, just like that woman who took our husband away.”

Charlotte instinctively growled at the words “our husband,” but regained her composure and calmed herself. This made her seem too similar to that madwoman.

That madwoman who made even herself an object of jealousy and killed herself in all timelines.

While Charlotte was internally rationalizing that she did not have the same temperament as that madwoman, Charlotte drove the point home.

“That is the process of building a world.”

“Building a world…?”

“More precisely, it’s the process of overlaying that woman’s world with your own.”

She added that it would be more efficient that way. It felt like a slight jab at her pride. Since when had Charlotte de Gargantua pursued efficiency?

“The soul binding did help raise our potential to its limit, but conversely, it was also a shackle that prevented our status from rising above that limit. But since your husband broke that shackle himself, the foundation is now complete. We are just waiting for the moment when we witness the truth.”

“…I understand what you’re trying to say. Then, how do you know such things?”

A slight crack appeared on Charlotte’s face, which had maintained an expressionless demeanor. It was a truly minute movement, but Charlotte could clearly see the corners of her mouth turning up ever so slightly.

“This is the world within your mind. It is cold, blue, lonely, and dark because your mind has such a temperament.”

Though she spoke in a roundabout way, it essentially meant that Charlotte’s personality was terribly twisted and bitterly cold.

It was an accurate assessment, so she didn’t deny it.

“So, what is it you want to say? Are you trying to criticize my personality?”

“Since I am you, there’s no need to spit in my own face, is there? I have only one thing to say. Accept all of this.”

“Accept…?”

“How can a human who hasn’t even perfectly awakened themselves understand the laws of the world? Don’t deny yourself, don’t deny Charlotte de Gargantua. That’s all I have to say.”

Don’t deny yourself. Charlotte thought about the meaning of these words for a moment. She had already completed a surprisingly objective analysis of herself.

Even though she had reached the level of seeing timelines and the spaces entangled with them, she had still failed to defeat that madwoman who took her husband away—this she acknowledged, albeit while grinding her teeth.

But what did it mean to not deny herself? What more was there to consider?

“I already know everything. I have never denied myself.”

“You know everything?”

The end of the sentence rose slightly. It was a question, meaning that from the other Charlotte’s perspective, this was not the case at all.

“Do you really think so?”

The transparent curtain separating the two Charlottes rippled greatly. Then, the expression of the Charlotte in the mirror changed. It was an expression that seemed to hold a sneer.

“Can you be certain that you haven’t denied yourself?”

“…”

Charlotte immediately understood what Charlotte was trying to say with her characteristic perceptiveness and brilliant mind. That was literally referring to Charlotte’s true nature.

The nature that she thought could be replaced at any time.

The implied meaning wasn’t so grand. It meant not to deny her true nature, but to accept it as it is.

Charlotte fell into thought. Meanwhile, the water level, which had only been around ankle height, began to rise. The time in the mental world was gradually coming to an end.

The water level rose rapidly. The water had already swallowed the calves, knees, and even thighs, and accordingly, the sky also accelerated its undulation.

Despite this situation, Charlotte and Charlotte still didn’t move. One was busy being lost in deep thought, while the other was busy watching.

‘The essence of Charlotte de Gargantua…’

Charlotte had always believed she could easily change her outward personality.

If her husband wished it, she was confident she could act as anything from a cheap street prostitute who spread her legs for a few coins and flattered men, to a poor but devoted commoner woman, to a haughty and proud noble daughter from a prestigious family.

She thought she was merely acting as the current Charlotte—the Blood Queen who showed cruel and violent tendencies because the boy still hadn’t completely escaped from his past trauma.

But what the Charlotte from the deep world was demanding was fundamentally different from such “acting.” It was also an indirect expression telling Charlotte to acknowledge her inner self.

To acknowledge that the proud, arrogant, conceited, self-important Blood Queen Charlotte de Gargantua was her true nature.

The water level had now risen past the chest to the collarbone. It was right after this that Charlotte opened her mouth.

“Your words are indeed true. I have been missing the most important thing all along, which is no different from denying myself.”

“You’ve realized it.”

Charlotte smiled. The water had risen to just below the chin. Just before those lips were submerged, Charlotte spoke one last time.

“Now, I will no longer do so.”

Finally, the mental world, unable to withstand the distorting fractures any longer, filled completely with blue liquid. Charlotte’s consciousness, which had closed her eyes just as when she first descended to this place, gradually rose to the surface.

Watching Charlotte drift away, Charlotte murmured.

“Yes, that’s the right mindset.”

To create a world, one must be willing to do at least that much.

Consciousness flickered. Blink, she opened her eyes. As soon as her mind returned, she saw black mana trying to force its way through the defensive magic circle.

Except for the blue mana defensive wall on the verge of breaking, black mana existed in all other spaces. Perfect darkness lay all around.

Charlotte raised her head.

The blood-red eye embedded in her left eye, a blood-red eye that would not lose to or might even be more valuable than the finest ruby, quietly radiated light.

The pupil, which had been vertically slit as if to prove it was a dragon’s eye, had somehow returned to a normal yet not normal human eye.

It appeared to be an ordinary human eye at first glance, but upon closer inspection, no one would think it belonged to a human.

Right after the eye awakened, the dragon ring on her left ring finger could not withstand the immense incoming pressure and crumbled powerlessly with a cracking sound, rolling on the floor.

Charlotte didn’t even glance at the ring. It had served its purpose and broken, so even if that were the case, it wouldn’t resent its owner.

The soft light of blue mana grew even stronger. Charlotte, who had been precariously holding on as if about to experience mana exhaustion, was no longer there.

There was only the Blood Queen, displaying overwhelming power with a soul liberated from shackles and mana that was not just full but overflowing.

Charlotte’s eye read the world.

It read all the substances that make up the world, time, space, and the black mana intricately entangled between them. There were no exceptions. Literally, it was reading everything.

Her brain screamed continuously as it far exceeded the limit of information it could process, but Charlotte ignored it. There was too little time to spare thoughts for the screams of a mere computational organ.

She read, read, and read more. No effort for understanding was necessary. The moment she read the subject with her eyes, information transformed into knowledge. Any intermediate process for this was meaningless.

—Crack.

A small fracture appeared in one of the two jewels Charlotte possessed.

Through that split gap, a red liquid flowed down her cheek like a tear. Nevertheless, Charlotte opened her left eye even wider.

The sound of cracking echoed once more. The fracture had deepened. Blood that flowed down like tears reached her chin from her cheek, then dripped to the floor, forming a small puddle.

Her eye was literally being eroded, unable to withstand the act of reading the world, but that didn’t matter. Considering what would follow, it was an injury she had to endure.

The tears of blood flowed uncontrollably. Proportionally, the puddle on the floor vigorously increased in number and size.

And finally, only when the blood-red pupil truly changed like blood and could no longer capture the material world, Charlotte opened her mouth.

“I am.”

That eye, which had melted and distorted, was no longer looking at the human world.

“The end.”

The act of seeing something was no longer necessary.

“I am the beginning and the end.”

Because Charlotte already knew everything.

“I am creation and destruction.”

Why should one look at the world when the world is already imprinted in one’s mind?

“I am alpha and omega.”

The blue mana that overflowed from her body returned all the surrounding black mana to nothingness and began to consume the world with Charlotte’s color.

As if it was always meant to be that way.

“Therefore, I am.”

Accept your own essence. That was the realization Charlotte gained in the mental world.

Charlotte had been denying her true nature all along. She thought she could change into anything if she wanted, that she could replace it anytime.

But that wasn’t the case.

All the evil deeds and misdeeds she committed as the Blood Queen were not an act. They were actions that revealed her true essence.

The proud, arrogant, conceited, self-important, cruel, merciless, harsh, violent, and ruthless Blood Queen was Charlotte. That was Charlotte’s nature and essence.

“Charlotte de Gargantua.”

The verdict was delivered.

A verdict declaring that the master of this world had changed.

Charlotte stretched out her hand. The world itself was contained in her damaged eye. So, in a way, the eye wasn’t damaged at all.

It had merely changed into something better.

“As the dawn of the world, I declare.”

All blue mana stopped at once. It was waiting for the command from its creator, whom it naturally had to serve.

The eye containing the void gazed at all other things kneeling before her. Charlotte didn’t say much. She didn’t give detailed or verbose commands.

She simply bestowed a single command to all things that should serve Charlotte.

“Let There Be Light.”

And there was light.