Chapter 200: The Divine Residues Of The Past

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Yasuo finally opened his radiant scarlet eyes, discerning many things about the past. He saw in her tale much more than what's apparent and naturally completed the tale himself.

She forgot many of her memories. She has forgotten most of the memories Yasuo wanted, but he found a way around it.

The memory reading ability he mimicked can be used on objects. It can see their past even though they have no memories.

Yasuo took that concept and took it a step further, and thought about using it on sentient creatures.

We naturally forget many things. We are flawed beings after all. And no known creature to us has reached perfection.

However, that doesn't mean the memories we forget have disappeared entirely. We still have them hidden deep in our minds.

That's not the case for the old granny. látreis' memories had been erased in their entirety.

So, the alternative Yasuo used is looking at her as an object and seeing that object's memories.

That makes the need for looking into her mind obsolete. Her mess of memories is no longer needed.

Yasuo slowly stood up as he again closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He enjoyed the peaceful and bountiful air around him for a while before he let out lively laughter, "Hahaha hahaha..."

His laughter was strangely calm and peaceful, and it was extremely faint, seemingly afraid of anyone or anything hearing his voice.

That was just Yasuo whose curiosity peaked, and anticipation has reached unprecedented heights.

'Too interesting, too many questions...' Thought Yasuo, 'Soo many interesting things to research.

The strange forest has little to no danger. The devilish artifact with its hefty price, bringing agony to whoever used it or extinguishing them all together.

The world tree, a lifeform capable of more than what meets the eyes, and most importantly, the thing inside it... And much more.'

Yasuo was in deep rumination as he walked in a certain direction. He only walks for a few steps before going into a portal, leading him closer to his destination.

'So the boy is Nozer's forefather who wished for that power which was inherited by his children, then his grandchildren, and so on for generations to come.' 'The great calamity which nearly drove humans extinct is interesting in itself, but even they don't know much about it, so I need to do some more investigation.'

'However, the most interesting thing is the first leader of the tribe, the person who's responsible for the existence of the cursed ones as they likely inherited those scarlet eyes and their power from him.

He most likely got that power from the artifact as well.

It's obvious from their memories that it had been used many times before, and he's probably one of those who wished for something and suffered the consequences.

The result of his wish was the scarlet eyes, specifically, the dark energy within the scarlet eyes holders.

However, he noticed the price and hid the artifact before leaving. He probably left because of the price he had to pay, but that doesn't matter much.

That brings another puzzle to solve. If he is the first scarlet eyes user, then how did the kurta clan came to be?

IT's unlikely to be that boy because the tale I came up with is likely what happened.

From his personality and actions, it's not hard to discern what he'll do, so I'm pretty sure he died with his family in that same forest, and the price for using the artifact is the same as I imagined.

So, the most likely suspect is the original scarlet eyes holder himself. After all, he did leave, never to be seen again.

Perhaps the price forced him to leave his family and people. Then he roamed the world until he found the known world and settled there, starting a new family.

Generations passed, and that family had turned into what was known as the kurta clan, a special group of people whose eyes shine with a bright scarlet light.

Another fascinating thing is the old granny's lifespan which if my guess is correct should be at least several thousand years.

If the incident that occurred when she tried to burn the world tree didn't happen then she would've still looked like a little girl at the time I first met her.

The strange thing is that over her entire life, she had never taken anything to extend her lifespan nor did she make anyone use the artifact to wish for that since she had forgotten about it.

Yet, even without doing anything, she continued to become stronger and stronger, and even her life span seemed to be continuously extending.

However, it couldn't be said she's alive. Her true self is certainly dead. What was left is but a puppet without a soul.

If so, then isn't it like the artifact's curse turning into a blessing? Of course, the wisher wouldn't exist to enjoy it.

Their obsession and emotions, this is what determines the price one has to pay for their wish. Agony and anguish or insanity and loss. Costs little to no emotional creatures would be willing to pay.

However, the artifact is quite vile and cunning. It doesn't let anyone know of the rules and only comes to harvest them when time is right, and any memories of it ever existing will fade away, keeping the cycle going.'

A smirk slowly surfaced on Yasuo's face. The unknown and bizarre circumstances didn't faze him much.

In fact, he has never been more excited, finding himself drowned in a raging river of anticipation.

He faintly remarked under his breath. However, none could hear those horrific words that could bewilder even the greatest of men.

"A power at the level of reality manipulation, huh... I should possess something better... Soon, then I'll commence a new beginning.

After all, an ending is nothing but a beginning to something else. The latest phase of my plans is just as much of a beginning as it is an ending."

Tranquility eclipsed his pale face again as he approached his target and laid his eyes upon the majestic yet horrific spectacle before him.

A spectacle he could see for tens of thousands of miles before even arriving at his destination. He gazed at the horrific view with astonishment still apparent in his eyes even after looking at it for thousands of miles before.

"Don Freecss," Words of pure unprecedented curiosity escaped Yasuo's mouth, "Just what have you achieved? What did you do? How did you do it? Well, let's find out, shall we?"

His black boots touched the crimson rocky ground as he landed and started walking towards them.

What lies before he is a vast crimson terrain. The area was boundless and marvelous.

However, almost no lifeforms could be seen in the area or anywhere near it except for one creature who made the tremendous expanse look quite likely.

It was as if the bloody vile ground was warning anything from approaching except one specific type of creature.

Only one type of lifeform exists in this crimson expanse, almost dominating it completely.

Butterflies, numerous of them, everywhere painting the land in their colors and making it even bloodier than it already is.

Yasuo knows of such butterflies. Only one kind of the numerous types of butterflies that ever discovered but the most interesting.

Blood butterflies, a simple kind of butterflies extremely rare in the known world.

Just like its name hints, it's drawn to blood and feeds on it.

The rare species was rare no more as Yasuo observed what could be estimated to be millions of butterflies dwelling in the crimson expanse.

However, these ones seem to be a bit different from the relatively normal blood butterflies he studied.

They could only be described as mystic creatures as specks of pure crimson blood were circling them.

Yasuo also noticed something else with his domain. He noticed a thin veil of blood on their wings and bodies, akin to magical scarlet armor.

Yasuo also noticed numerous cracks throughout the crimson expanse, seemingly as if an earthquake once thundered across the area.

The shape of those cracks was however strange as some of the clearer ones seem to be in the shape of humanoid hands.

Within those numerous and deep cracks is where most of the butterflies rest. Those dark crimson cracks are their home.

The veil of blood on them is no armor, it's just their food, and their food happened to be bountiful in the vast expanse.

The rocks in the expanse are truly red, but actual blood dyed them even more, bringing that deep rich crimson color to them.

The blood and remains of creatures that either died recently or ages ago were utterly devoured by the vile land.

The first thing one would notice approaching the crimson land is the heinous stench of death.

The land reeked of death and that's exactly what used to attract soo many creatures for the land to harvest and devour.

Until the stench reached such a degree it started to scare the soul out of any creature courageous enough to come near.

However, the magical land had been harvesting blood for thousands of years and saved up plenty of food for its exquisite and peaceful inhabitants.

"Crack!!! Crackkk!!!" The things that led Yasuo to know that the land is of Don Freecss' creation finally started moving, as the deafening sound of their movement reverberated through the expanse and created massive sonic bombs by their sheer scale and movement speed...