Eternal Elysium

The next day.

The letter has helped me understand something—no, it was more like confirm something.

I had doubts.

Who could have written in my hand without me knowing? After all, I was very cautious regarding myself.

The one who wrote '19' was me only. I had written it in my hand the moment I woke up from the injuries.

The meaning behind it was simple.

Nineteen. That was the number of survivors. But now… one was gone. My hand had written the truth before my mind could accept it.

But my memory of it had somehow gone vague, a little blurry.

Now that the fog has been cleared, I could fight it—no, rather, I could not even feel its influence anymore. Otherwise I was ready to keep my will clashing with the calamity all the time.

But thankfully such a thing didn't happen.

It would have been extremely exhausting to keep my will consciously to fight the Plague's influence. I would also have been under the fear of getting caught by it as well.

The sad smile still lingered on my face as I leaned forward on my chair.

The room was quiet. I had returned to my cabin just a few hours ago.

Seeing the empty place, I closed my eyes and my fingers intertwined together.

Someone from the expedition team has been eaten by the monster.

This was the reason why the details couldn't be recalled correctly.

"I need to see who has been killed." I whispered under my breath.

Just then someone knocked on the door.

I looked up and saw several figures enter the room.

At the front was Chris walking with a carefree expression on his face. Behind him, Summer and Enzo followed with stoic and unreadable expressions.

Chris sat down and then met my gaze before raising an eyebrow and asking.

"What's with that gloomy look?"

I sighed and was about to open my mouth but stopped as I saw two more silhouettes cautiously enter the room.

Enzo and Summer turned their heads at the door only to see a girl with a bright and soft expression walking with calmness; ahead of her was a man with calm black eyes, and he had a youthful aura yet a mature feel around him. They both wore the same military uniform consisting of black and a small star at the center of their chest.

"Who are they?" Summer muttered and glanced at me curiously.

I sighed and stood up.

"They are new members of our team… Anny and Liber." I paused and looked at both of them.

"And these three are Chris, Summer, and Enzo. All of them are strong and experienced awakeneds."

Anny nodded and gave them a bright smile.

"It's a pleasure meeting you all."

The trio remained still, their gazes shifting slightly.

"So cheerful." Summer mumbled and then nodded toward Anny with a stiff smile.

"Same."

Enzo and Chris then glanced at Liber, who greeted them similarly with a smile, though not as bright as Anny's.

"Hello."

As the greetings ended, they all sat down, settling calmly in their seats.

I looked at them one by one with a stoic gaze.

As my gaze went on Anny, seeing her soft and childlike innocent face together with a military uniform.

This looked like a mismatch.

So much that I felt my lips twitching.

'No, no, I can't laugh.'

Anny, sensing my gaze on her, frowned and gave me a curious look.

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I placed my hand on my mouth, trying to hide my lips.

I could feel my mood lift.

"Alright, now that everyone has settled down, let's start this meeting."

I pulled out one of the silence charms and isolated any sound from going out.

I had made them in bulk just before the mark of stars had vanished.

Without it the warmth above my heart was gone, leaving a sense of longing and a sense of emptiness behind.

I still need to try making the charms again and see how it affects the success rate later.

"What are we going to discuss? Is it about that?" Chris asked, keeping his voice low before glancing at Liber and Anny.

"Yes, I have learned a lot about that. So, I am going to share those details."

I had already given Liber and Anny a small briefing on the incidents happening around Kalista.

Now that I knew what was truly happening, I could finally fill the gaps that had been keeping the situation so mysterious.

'The situation… it has only gotten much worse.'

"First of all… I had found out the identity behind the perpetrator of these incidents."

They all looked at me with a stunned look over their faces; someone let out a gasp, their mouth left agape.

"Really? Who is it then? Did you uncover their identity?"

Enzo asked, throwing questions one after another.

I shook my head.

"No, I don't know who that being is specifically but I do what kind of being they are… a monster, a calamity named Plague… a copy of it, an avatar of sorts."

"What do you even mean? A calamity could kill everyone without us even knowing. And how will it hide itself here?" Summer retorted instantly.

It was reasonable, and I didn't stop her either.

No one could believe something like this. And if someone did, they would be truly one of a kind.

"While I understand your feelings. You first need to listen closely. The one here is a clone, not the actual Calamity itself. The issue at hand we have is that all this, and we had thought the perpetrator was only one, but I fear there are many of them here… And it could be anyone. The calamity could take another person's vessel and take their form."

I didn't explicitly use the term 'stealing someone's existence' as it was a new term even for me.

If they were to ask questions regarding this, I could only shrug and say I know nothing.

This will cause more confusion among ourselves.

"So… the calamity could be just anyone and more than one…" Enzo muttered as his deep gaze first went to Liber and then to Anny.

Liber, seeing this, narrowed his eyes and leaned forward on the table.

"Yes, I think so too. The enemy could be anyone, like just Enzo stated. But… who we should trust is the question, isn't it?" Liber said.

They are already suspicious of each other.

I frowned and tapped the table with my hand twice, gathering everyone's attention.

Soon they stopped bickering and turned to look at me.

"You all should be safe at least for now." I paused, saying that, as I could tell, the questions they were having wouldn't stop just because I said so.

"Asher, do you have a way to identify the… Calamity?" Liber asked.

The strain in his words was obvious. It was not every day one talked about a calamity.

I shook my head.

"I don't. But just believe it for now. There is nothing we can do anyway."

I sighed, disappointment flickering briefly through their faces.

"Then what's the plan? No, first, how did you even find this out?"

Everyone had an inkling that the perpetrators behind the missing soldiers were either human or a creature of beyond. There were not many choices to begin with.

At some point some of us should have even hoped for it to be a monster, as a human in this case would have been more cunning and cautious.

That would not have been easy to deal with.

But a monster as shrewd and dangerous as the Plague was even worse than imaginable.

"I can't tell you the source of this information but…"

I filled them with the Calamity powers and every detail I had found out about it. As my words resonated through them, I could see their faces going paler and paler every second.

I had still kept things that should be hidden a secret and avoided sharing them.

They were not idiots. They knew I was hiding more.

But they knew the more they knew, the more fragile their will to fight would become.

"Asher, do you really think we will fight such a battle?" Enzo asked, putting one hand to cover his head.

"No, you won't."

"Then—"

"Even I won't fight such an unfair and unreasonable battle." I added to his utter shock.

What? Did he think I was an idiot? Who will jump into danger the first chance they get?

I was someone who was proud of my luck to survive even against impossible odds.

I smiled and added.

"We won't hunt the Calamity. Even if it's not the real body and just an avatar, it feels like an impossible battle. So instead we will set up a trap."

"A trap?" Anny muttered in confusion.

"Ah, our goal was to find the culprit!" Chris chimed in.

He understood what I was trying to say.

And then they all did.

It made sense the clues were in front of us, but we never got the chance to understand them after all.

Except for Liber and Anny, who still looked confused.

I grinned and looked at them before.

"Our goal was never to kill the culprit. The only mission we were given by the Temple was to find the culprit; it means to bring him to light."

"Hmm I see… I understand a little bit now."

Anny nodded with a mortified look on her face.

This was not going to be easy, but Morgana's letter had confirmed this. I had no doubt now.

Temple had kept so much hidden from the world. But now they were starting to come out.

Temple's goal from the start was to make awakeneds and transcendents aware of the Plague in a way that was favorable for them.