Chapter 12: The Omniscient Being

“Cough, cough…”

Eliana coughed violently, hacking up blood so harshly it sounded as though her very lungs were being torn loose.

Her expression was one of extreme exhaustion. Dark circles marred a face that had once been radiant with vitality. Yet, even with her eyes bloodshot, her pupils remained as deep and calm as the starry night sky.

The two enforcement guards standing watch beside Eliana were clearly rookies. Their hands trembled slightly as they gripped their Holy Firelocks, their youthful faces unable to mask their mounting tension. They had little choice; the senior guards were currently scattered across every corner of Kolun County, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice to crush any evil threatening the region.

“This letter was dropped twelve minutes ago in the mailbox at 764 Gate Street, written on the back of a wanted poster for the Dream Sanctum.”

Leading the way was Sorensen, Captain of the Fourth Shield Phalanx and the sole high-ranking officer currently stationed at this branch of the Tribunal. Burly and hulking, he made the corridors—which weren’t particularly narrow—feel cramped as he moved. His deep, resonant voice remained exceptionally steady as he reported the situation to Eliana.

“Scribe Rhyals was the first point of contact. He lost all sanity in a short span of time and displayed symptoms akin to drowning… Not actual drowning, of course, but he believed he was submerged, resulting in asphyxiation and panic.”

“How many others have come into contact with this letter?” Eliana asked, her voice heavy but betraying her underlying frailty.

Sorensen couldn’t help but steal a glance at the youngest Inquisitor in the history of Kolun County before continuing.

“We initiated a Level 3 Alert immediately, evacuating and isolating the other scribes. They are currently being held in the Baptistery. Four priests from the Church of Storms then intervened, carrying Blessed Holy Artifacts.”

“And the result?”

“A total of five victims.”

Eliana’s expression froze for a moment, and her footsteps faltered slightly.

Priests stationed at the Tribunal were at least Sequence 9 Transcendentals. Armed with Blessed Holy Artifacts and backed by the Tribunal’s own ritual arrays, they couldn’t even handle a single letter…

“That sounds terrible.”

Eliana forced herself to focus, gently rubbing the space between her eyebrows. Her haggard complexion underwent a miraculous recovery. By using psychological cues to release her own Transcendental power, she was preparing herself fully for the coming crisis.

“Perhaps it’s because they aren’t fond of water?” Sorensen shrugged.

Eliana couldn’t suppress a small, weary smile. “How ironic. The most devout followers of the Storm God, Yster, unable to swim.”

“To be fair, they can calm the temperamental storms of the sea and walk upon the roughest waters as if it were dry land. That is far more efficient than swimming. We’re here, Your Excellency.”

Sorensen’s gaze flickered briefly toward the two stiff-faced rookie guards. He adopted a forced tone of ease and said, “Don’t be nervous, recruits. We have the legendary Inquisitor Eliana with us. No situation is truly ‘terrible’ when she’s present.”

Though Sorensen’s flattery was intended to bolster the rookies’ confidence, it was a necessary precaution. In the face of a Transcendental crisis, inexperienced guards might act irrationally under the pressure of fear, leading a critical incident toward a tragic conclusion.

However, to hold the rank of Inquisitor at such a young age, Eliana certainly had her extraordinary merits… at the very least, her Sequence 7 strength was enough to make even the Divine Envoys of the Dream Sanctum wary.

Eliana glanced at Sorensen but did not deny his praise. She spoke softly.

“Light the Holy Flame.”

Sorensen’s expression turned solemn. He carefully withdrew an ancient, long-handled oil flask. A wick extended from the spout, which he promptly ignited.

The faint candle-like flame seemed insignificant, yet the moment it flickered to life, a soft, warm radiance enveloped the group.

Fire was the seed of civilization, but not all flames could truly repel the darkness that lay beyond reason. The fluid Sorensen had ignited was Holy Oil blessed by the High Archpriest of the Church of Storms. There wasn’t another flask of it in all of Kolun County; it was a dwindling resource, and as such, only an Inquisitor could authorize its use.

The Church’s services are never free, Eliana thought. The price paid is always higher than one imagines.

Holding her breath, Eliana focused and slowly pushed open the sealed door. The scene within was immediately revealed.

Several priests in white robes were kneeling painfully on the floor. Their eyes were squeezed shut as they whispered prayers to the Storm God. It seemed more like a lingering physical instinct than a conscious act; their minds were completely submerged, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Worse off was the gentleman in formal attire—the scribe. He lay collapsed on the ground, eyes rolled back as he convulsed, foam spilling from his lips. The floor around him was marred with the frantic marks of a struggle, and countless files and papers lay scattered everywhere.

The culprit behind this chaos, a simple wanted poster for the Dream Sanctum, lay discarded on the floor, appearing entirely mundane.

Eliana remained silent for a moment before walking directly toward it, taking the oil lamp from Sorensen’s hand as she passed. She picked up the poster, using the lamp’s light to examine the contents.

“……”

Under the shroud of the gentle candlelight, the writing on the letter appeared blurred and turbid. Every character seemed distorted, their meanings seemingly exiled from the world—a phenomenon likely caused by the protection of the Holy Oil lamp.

Eliana did not hesitate long; she reached out and extinguished the lamp.

“Your Excellency!” Sorensen cried out in alarm.

Eliana waved a hand to signal him to stay back. The moment she refocused her eyes on the letter, she found herself standing in the middle of a vast, boundless ocean.

No, it wasn’t an ocean…

It was Kolun County, completely submerged.

She looked up at the sky. A pitch-black rainstorm blanketed the entirety of the county, as if intent on erasing its destiny from the Kingdom of York entirely.

It felt so real, as if it were the present world.

My consciousness is being influenced…

Eliana recognized the sensation immediately. Relying on her formidable willpower—and perhaps the fact that the entity behind this had no genuine malice—she quickly broke free and returned to the physical dimension.

Her vision refocused on the letter in her hand. As she scrutinized the contents, her pale face gradually took on a look of peculiarity… and confusion.

It wasn’t until she reached the end of the letter that her pupils constricted violently.

There, at the signature line, a mundane hand had traced the identity of the sender.

—“The Omniscient Being.”

Eliana immediately flipped the letter over.

“It’s a tip-off letter.” She steadied herself and looked at Sorensen. “The target is the Dream Sanctum.”

“A… a tip-off letter?” Sorensen was dumbfounded.

The mysterious letter that had caused such an uproar within the Tribunal… was actually a report?

“Yes. I will transcribe the information inside,” Eliana said softly, her expression grim. “We must take this information seriously. It likely reveals the location of the Dream Sanctum’s ‘Shelter.’”

For such a powerful existence to take personal action, the target could only be the Dream Sanctum’s core stronghold in Kolun County: the Shelter.

“The Shelter?” Sorensen was even more shocked.

The Dream Sanctum had been a scourge upon Kolun County for over a decade. The previous Inquisitor had exhausted every effort only to discover the term ‘Shelter,’ but had remained entirely ignorant of where the cult’s actual lair was hidden.

“Notify the Archon. We may need to mobilize the Forbidden Artifacts sealed within ‘The Abyss.’”

Eliana recalled the images flooding her mind, and an inexplicable sense of anxiety washed over her. The submerged Kolun County… was this “Omniscient Being” trying to reveal a hopeless future to the county?

She didn’t entirely trust the benevolence of such an entity, but the threat of the Dream Sanctum was more immediate and obvious.

“Forbidden Artifacts… from The Abyss!” Sorensen murmured, lost in shock. He was beyond the point of mere surprise.

Kolun County sealed all anomalous items categorized under its “Forbidden Archives” within The Abyss. Every Forbidden Artifact that could be classified as a weapon was profoundly dangerous; every deployment carried the risk of sliding into irreversible madness, or even worse consequences.

Had it already reached the point where they had to use the items from The Abyss?

“I hope my subordinate is more than just an Echo Aberrant that can only repeat words,” Eliana said, glancing at Sorensen. “Go and make the arrangements. And you two, notify the Church of Serenity. I need to see Sister Hathaway.”

Sorensen and the two guards dared not delay. They hurried away, leaving Eliana alone.

She slowly closed her eyes, but the images she had just experienced continued to flash through her mind. The scent of damp air seemed to linger at the tip of her nose.

Her heart hammered with lingering fear.

It was difficult to imagine what the terrifying result would have been if this horrifying entity truly harbored ill intent…

If even she could not resist it, then the entirety of Kolun County… would have been on the brink of falling.

The Omniscient Being…

Just what is it that you want?