Perfect Avatar-Chapter 302: A Tale

A swing with a broken seat, three empty cups on the ground, the silhouette of two people on each side, with a cloudy sky opening to a wide eye with a cross as the pupil.

A swirling of words with and without meanings, mixing and drowning the mind, and finally, the shining of a dagger.

"... ora... Dora! Hey, are you ok?!"

Dora came back from his slumber, sitting on the ground with Midgard on his sides.

A hand on his forehead, he felt as if he had just woken from a long dream, but the noise all around kept him from having a proper sleep.

"Ely, let go, now!"

"P-please, miss, this isn’t what we agreed on!"

Dora glanced at the side, witnessing the strange scene of Elizabeth strangling a bearded man with red and black hair wearing a butler outfit.

Behind her, Peters and Eva struggled to get her off him, but the man didn’t seem really affected.

Dora switched his gaze to the rest of the room, on one desk, an old woman was eating macaroons and drinking tea, next to the window, a little boy was crouching, on another desk, a tall woman of about 7 feet tall wearing a red robe was watching eagerly Elizabeth.

Finally, at the back of the room, near a window, a tall man with long white hair was looking at the horizon.

"... Here we go." Dora sighed.

"Maybe you should let her do as she pleases, so we could proceed to the sequel. It doesn’t bother me anyway."

"Wait when I’ll shave that beard and make you eat it, I’ll show you bothersome!"

"P-please! Anyone!"

Midgard snapped her fingers, freezing momentarily Elizabeth like a statue. Peters managed to get her away from the man and kept her in the back of the room.

"Ok, now we can proceed. Eva, I did what you wanted, so now the scene is yours."

"... oh, yes... thanks... so, we can begin. First of all, thank you all for being there... even if it means you had to die."

"We live once but we can die twice, you heard that, bearded bastard?" Elizabeth, back in motion shouted.

Eva groaned and cough to call for a little silence.

"Please, let’s settle with the important matter first, You can have a chat later."

"Bet we will!"

Eva walked to the center of the room in front of the blackboard.

"Let’s proceed with the presentation. So, Dora, you already know Midgard and Apophis, now allow me to introduce you the rest of the Players. This little boy is Hecate, the one who found Lust."

The boy crouching raised his head with a frown.

"Boy? This is only a shell, unlike most of you I can choose the appearance I want." fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

He locked eyes with Dora for a bit, but then Dora looked away with his mouth dancing.

"Ah... Lust... the one who... who couldn’t?"

"... Are you mocking me?"

"Next, this gentle lady is Ymir, the one who found Shaka."

The tall woman rubbed her cheek shyly, then gave them a smile with pointy teeth.

Dora frowned, a little surprise to see someone with an elegant appearance associated with the Mad he knew.

"This old person eating is Charybdis, the one who found Gluttony."

On her desk, the old woman didn’t bother giving a gaze to them, feigning drinking an empty cup of tea.

"Ah, my savior"

Charybdis almost dropped her cup. She gave an annoyed glance to Midgard who .

"I felt bad for your death, especially since she left me alive because of you."

"Aren’t you yourself here because your Avatar killed you?"

"It’s different, I wasn’t mercilessly executed like you, we were forced to, but we love each other and now we are reunited." She clinged on Dora’s arm. "Be nice to her, little boyfriend."

"... I have a special relation with old people."

Charybdis’s teeth grinned on each other, Eva was about to pursue when a new voice rose up.

"Tell them why we are here, instead of wasting time."

The individual at the rear captured everyone’s attention. His almond-shaped eyes were fixed upon them.

"Everything went as you wished for, so now I don’t want to hear anymore excuses, Player of Human."

"Of course, dear Fenrir, I never come back to my words. The truth of this world, the Players, and the invader will come from this room."

Eva took the lead, with everyone dispatched randomly in the room. In silence, Peters glanced around. In a single room, 7 Players, one Sin Avatar, and the strongest human were gathered, none of them seemed as aware of the power of this picture.

"... Maybe I should have stayed out of this."

He murmured to himself, Eva near the blackboard clapped her hands.

"Alright, let’s begin with the origin of the outer worlders. We know now that none of you kept the memory from your previous life, but we all know one thing, you are all from the same place, and I am no exception. To understand this world, you need to understand the concept of the Infinity. Imagine and infinity of worlds, all existing in the past, present and future at the same time. Each world include a reality, a law shaping it along the Will of the World. You could have a reality where the colors are reversed, or a reality where the colors are only black and white... or a reality where people possess the power of Sins."

She glanced at Dora, observing the boy as he processed her words with remarkable speed. This entire sequence was designed to help him uncover the truth.

"So, you are all from one of these worlds? A world existing in... another reality?"

"Correct. Everyone, please pay attention to my words, we are all in this together. We all originate from one reality, a reality with its own rules and concepts. The appearance we have when we find an Avatar is our true form in our original world."

"True form? I remember that my true form is more glorious than that." Ymir yawned.

"It’s quite simple and complicated. In our original world we had different types of power, like here, but consider that we crossed paths with another world. We, as part of a concept, entered into a new reality and our existence has been shaped to respect a new concept."

In her desk, Apophis toyed with her hair.

"So, basically we were something with power, but when we transmigrated, we became something else, with a new power?"

"Not just new power, but a part of your power. For example, Ymir might have been the strongest titan in our world, and coming here transformed it into ’Ymir, the mother of giants’. I can’t say if your authority on every giant comes from this world or the previous, same for everyone."

The Players showed very little reaction, most of them only annoyed to be there in the first place. Dora observed the ground, deep in though, then he opened widely his eyes and gazed at the man avoiding Elizabeth.

"Players come from another world, and their first instinct is to find an Avatar... is this also the way our reality affect you?"

"... Yes, you could say that." Eva answered. "The Players were sent with a specific setting, but their target weren’t the Sins, but the bearer."

Dora crossed his arms after a nod.

"So it explain what you said about the Twilight of Gods, Mid. I’m starting to understand something, but if none of you remember, there’s really no use having everyone... What?"

He froze in the same position, his eyes wide. The Players noticed his reaction, but only Midgard at his side showed interest.

"Dora? What, Pride is already dead?!"

Fenrir refrained from gazing out the windows this time and instead chose to observe Dora, but this time the boy was now fully conscious.

"... Hold on... The Players were sent to target the bearer of the Sins?"

"Yes, the Players came with this exact will, the will to find and possess the body of the bearer of the Sins." Eva nodded, she realized the confusion in Dora’s eyes and couldn’t hide her smile. "You’re getting it?"

His eyes wide open, Dora lowered his arms.

"You... you are all coming from the same world as the invader?"

At the end of the long corridor, the group stopped one by one, their heart filled with indescribable pain.

Solaria and the maids cried out, their voices echoing in despair as they surrounded the lifeless body of Gloria. Solaria clutched her mother’s head tightly against her own, her face drenched in a torrent of tears.

Behind them, Marie, Iris, and Candace watched speechless, Iris, upon noticing their arrival, gave them a simple gaze.

They were already aware of the conclusion, but they weren’t ready for this scene.

Freya advanced, her eyes releasing sorrow in the form of tears. Gloria’s body was in perfect shape, as a testimony of the monster she was, it was impossible to see an injury taking her life.

"... It’s over," Candace said, raising her hand to stop Freya.

Freya let a few drops touch the ground, she knew it already, but she still couldn’t believe it, she refused to accept it.

Candace’s lips curved into a melancholic smile.

"In the end, she sacrificed herself for her family. She couldn’t choose between being a monster or a human, so she took both. She wasn’t just a glutton, she was also greedy."

Liliana wiped a tear from her eye, all remained silent, for a last moment of respite in respect for the monarch.

"Are you sure it’s a good idea?"

In front, Freya resumed her walk toward the maids.

"It doesn’t have to be a good idea, it’s a responsibility."

"... I see."

She advanced, slowly reaching the mourning maids, she stopped for a bit, and then her legs trembled.

"Get away!"

Solaria shouted, her voice broken.

"Get away!!! I don’t want to see you!!! I don’t want to see any of you!!! Leave!!! Die!!!"

Her voice echoed in the room, the maids trembled, with rage and despair. Solaria kept her head against Gloria’s, without even opening her eyes.

"This is what you wanted, this is what you all wanted! Now leave me alone!!! Leave!!! Now!!!"

She grabbed a handful of debris on the ground and threw them at Freya, all hitting their target without making her flinch.

"I hate you all... I hate you all so much... why are you still here?! She’s dead! She won’t bother you anymore! Leave me alone!!!"

"... I know, she’s dead, and this is why I can’t leave you."

Freya put one knee on the ground.

"I can’t ask you for forgiveness or to vent, I think... I think no one here should be allowed to."

"... Don’t you dare."

Solaria gripped firmly Gloria like an animal protecting its parent. Freya, head down, put her second knee on the ground.

"I have to because things have to be said. I’m not talking for the others, not even for you. I’m a selfish person, so I can only talk for myself."

She put a hand on her chest, displaying her teary face to Solaria.

"We have failed as human beings. Each of us sinned to the point of being recognized by the Sins themselves. We all committed a crime, but I think you are the one who suffered the most. You’ve lost your entire family, everyone abandoned you, the people you believed in, the people who knew you the most."

At this moment, Freya’s words traveled in many rooms at once, in the ruined town among summoned Players, Zury was lying back, looking at the palm of her hand extended to a dark sky filled with flying monsters.

"What have we become? I am no God, and I refuse to use it as an excuse. We used to be so close before, we used to live together. It didn’t last long, so why did we stop? Why did we start envying our friends? Why did we hate each other?"

"You’re all... the one who abandoned me!"

"... You’re right. And this has to be an injury that we should never heal. I didn’t suffer as much as you, as you all. I didn’t see my family disappear, I haven’t been betrayed. I can only give words, and try to understand the pain. I am the biggest hypocrite, the one who caused the problem, and apologize."

She bowed her head to Solaria, the princess with teary eyes trembled.

"Why... why are you saying that now? You weren’t there when I needed help, why do you come to me now?! Why?!"

She took more rocks and threw them at her face, shouting, crying. Freya received all of them on the face without moving.

Candace looked at her from the back, at this point, everyone was stronger than her, and she didn’t even consider herself as someone valuable.

She was only the bearer of a great title, but at this moment, someone with a greater aura was kneeling.

"... Humans... are the strongest sins, huh?"

She looked at the angelic ceiling decorated with angelic paints.

Solaria eventually stopped attacking Freya, all her remaining strength used to cry. Freya put her hands on the ground, the palm facing the air.

"The Queen was very secretive of her emotions, she managed to be a monster for everyone, but there was a side of her that too few people knew. She knew that she would die, so she gifted me with two treasures, her story, and her will."

Solaria’s sobs diminished, head down, alongside the maids behind with the light bathing Gloria.

"Even if I don’t deserve it, I will follow her will and protect you, until my last breath, and If I manage to go beyond, then I’ll protect you even after death. This was the wish of the one who truly loved you the most."

Solaria trembled even more, her head down dropping big tears on her thighs. Between the body of the glorious Queen, the two young women let their hearts cry out.

"The second gift she gave me, is a tale, a tale that I wish you to hear. This is a tale she kept for herself for too long, but she shared it with me, and now, I want to give it to its rightful owner."

She closed her eyes and began the tale of a princess lost in a world of monsters, listening in silence by those who could hear her voice.