Chapter 971: Save Mercedes!
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Elayne looked at the Quest information once more. There was something saying, "Stop the Time Memory Fragment from further corrupting the pillars of the Scenario", it didn't specify how she could do it, and now there were only seven minutes left before the entire Dungeon collapsed on itself. She started thinking as fast as possible, with all the minds she had thanks to her Colony Mind Skill.
What brought her to this state? Was it really just Brisingra's words?
And the answer was a simple as "no"!
Mercedes fell into this state not because of just Brisingra, but because of the accumulated emotional damage beforehand, which then was further destroyed and made her mind break due to Brisingra's words, which brought a terrifying revelation.
The revelation to the "Memories of Time" within the Dungeon to realize their own existences, something that somehow, was not intended within the Scenario or the Divine Dungeon.
But this only made Elayne think something else!
Why were these "Memories of Time" even sentient in that regard? Just what was the Time Memory Fragment truly?
How could a piece of time have sentience? And what was the true purpose of these Divine Dungeons then?
Was this an ancient legacy left behind by the Gods, truly?
Was Hephaestus the one that made this Dungeon, or did he simply protect it?
Were the Fragments of Time's Memories truly just… that?
"No, I can't think of these things…" Elayne quickly patted Brisingra's head, smiling. "The Dungeon is collapsing, Brisingra. Your mother… Mercedes, is very hurt from everything that has happened. Her friend and someone she loved betrayed her, her friends betrayed her, and now, it was revealed to her that she was within some simulation, and that even her life might be fake."
"I-It's all my fault, isn't it?" The half elf and half dwarf girl cried. "I did this… It's my fault…"
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"You might have contributed to it, yes." Elayne nodded. "But it is not entirely your fault… Your mother went through excruciating emotional pain, something not many can easily overcome. I know from personal experience."
"Then what… What do we do?" Brisingra asked, looking desperate.
"You have to talk with your mother." Planta said. "Talk with her, and convince her that everything will be okay. Tell her that you love her, tell her that there's a way out of this… And tell her that she needs to trust you, and us."
"…" Brisingra seemed to fall into silence, Elayne noticed doubt in her eyes.
"Can you do this for me, Brisingra?" Planta asked, with all her sincerity.
"A-And what will you do?" The girl asked.
"I will try to fix the cracks." Planta said, as Mimy suddenly appeared by her side, teleporting. Silver and Goldie appeared right to her left and right after that. "With this trio at my side, it might just be barely possible. But we'll need you to calm Mercedes, or the cracks will only continue to spread.
We Players might not die, we can revive, but you, the inhabitants of this world, if you die inside this collapsing dungeon… Then you won't be able to come back."
"…Okay." Brisingra clenched her fists. "For father, for mother… I'll do it. There's… no other way!"
"Well said." Planta smiled. "Now, let us open the way for you!"
Mercedes was surrounded by many cracks within the spatial structure of the entire Divine Dungeon. And they only kept expanding like ripples in the dimensions. Her plan to temporarily "fix" this was quite simple and relied a lot on her new Divine Beast Familiars and the power she inherited from them, alongside combining them with her own.
"The plan is simple, listen to me." She told her Familiars. "We'll abuse the Invisible status of my Domain and Terrain and combine it with the Ethereal Domain that Silver and Goldie can summon. With the help of Mimy, I'll manipulate the spatial membranes of the Ethereal Domains and literally sew them into the ripples of space, creating temporary patches."
My Familiars were attentively listening. Only Goldie could speak, but Silver and Mimy weren't fools at this point, their evolution granted them immense intelligence and understanding abilities. Both nodded attentively at my words.
"Ready? Then let's begin, Silver, Goldie, do your thing!"
"ROOAR!"
"Fine!"
FLAAASH!
Silver expanded an Ethereal Domain of Silver Moonlight, while Goldie expanded an Ethereal Domain of Golden Light. Both created the slight illusions of being reflections of different areas. Silver's Domain created the illusion of the surface of the moon, while Goldie, of the interior of a golden palace.
They expanded everywhere, their effects quickly starting up, as Silver's Ethereal Domain charged the place with Mana and Moonlight Energy, while Goldie Domain charged it with Ki and Sunlight Energy. Both energies clashed against one another, creating the illusion of silver and golden light constantly hitting one another, like waves of two different ethereal seas.
"Now, Mimy!"
"Guguuu!"
Mimy adorably nodded, as we activated the [Space-Traversing Eldritch Body], while Mimy also added an extra layer of space-shaping abilities with her [Dungeon Infection] and [Divinity Spark: Spatial Mimic]! The first one allowed her to infect the dungeon's spatial structure with her own endlessly expanding, shapeless body, and the second allowed her to shape space more easily.
By combining our Auras as I channeled her powers through my thanks to the new Divine Skill I acquired, I felt like my hands were grasping onto something, something that wasn't truly physical, yet that I could clearly feel.
It was like a blanket, the two colliding Ethereal Domains of Silver and Goldie!
"Now!"
Without wasting time, I grabbed them with Mimy, and using Lesser Spirits as if they were glue, I stuck the "blanket" of the two Ethereal Domains with my own Domain, following by doing the same process, covering the cracks with the spatial blanket.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
The cracks slowly started to close as silver and golden colored patches of light covered them, forcing them to quickly stick back together! The tremors started to slowly recede, and things were slowly calming down.
"Now, Brisingra! While this can last!"
"Okay!"
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