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Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 78

(This memory is from Fleck’s mind and soul. He received it from the Black gate.)

Arc had dropped a bombshell.

(Kazuki you must have missed this memory while you were repairing Fleck’s soul. It’s been showing itself within your mind without your control seemingly at random. You must have assumed it was just another random event but in actuality, it was implanted inside Fleck. The source as I said, is the Black gate.)

Kazuki and Codex were both dumbfounded. This was Arc’s evidence that the missing piece inside the Black gate was its missing piece and no other.

(This…is this not a mistake…No, you would know it wouldn’t you Arc? The implantation as you put it, is it actually that foul dark energy I removed from Fleck?)

Arc sighed.

(Yes. the memory, I don’t know why but it is inside that dark energy, the very same dark energy that prevents others from entering the Black gate and was killing Fleck. When this memory of the two females first appeared before me, I thought it was some kind of mistake. I thought for sure it came either from you yourself or something within the Mind-stone. I threw the first possibility out immediately. I have seen every single one of your memories back and forth. I would know if the original memory came from you. So that meant it had to come from the Mind-stone right…wrong. After the Second time, the memory was caused by the shadow’s power. However, it wasn’t the shadow placing a memory inside you or me. Instead, on the second happening, I realized it was a memory being awoken within me.)

Kazuki recalled all of this and it made sense why he and Arc were seeing the same thing time and again.

(Our connection. Since I fused with a fragment of yours a doorway has formed between us. The memory awoke within you and transferred to me through our connection. This means since this memory transferred from the Black gate to Fleck is nearly identical to the one we know, the identity of the Artifact can only be connected to you.)

(Exactly. My memories are not fully complete since I don’t have enough Origin energy but the memory inside the Black gate is nearly identical to my own. That can only be if the Artifact inside is indeed related to me, at the very least its past and mine are deeply connected. I should not have any real connection with an outside foreign Artifact though. This means this Artifact should, in fact, be my other half so to speak. This, I have no doubt.)

Codex could not rebut this no matter how hard it wished to. The memory that only Arc should have, the same memory came from something within the Black gate. If the Artifact within is the one controlling the Black gates movement which by everything they knew, it was. This would mean that it was indeed this Artifact that implanted this memory into Fleck through the dark energy.

Arc’s memory.

(Arc, this is odd is it not?)

Codex was no longer questioning if the evidence was real or not. It believed the connection was real now but something stuck out to it.

(What do you mean book?)

(The dark energy, the memories. Is the Artifact inviting outsiders in or trying to keep them at bay? Why infect their souls with something that will kill them while also leaving basically a message within the victims? It makes no sense, or am I crazy here?)

Arc had no answer for this.

Kazuki though proposed a theory.

(What if Arc’s missing piece has actually been looking for Arc all this time? Since it travels constantly across the stars, it must have been through many places. With its unique energy pattern, it’s basically like it’s been leaving a trail with very specific clues from place to place. Anyone who gets too close and has no defense against the dark energy surrounding it would get infected with both the energy and the memory. When they get infected by this poisonous energy their first thought would be to retreat to a safe place to try and recover. However, we know that it takes someone with great power, someone that can heal a soul to recover from this. Tha or someone that can completely counter the dark energy with different Chaotic energy. Anyway, most cannot recover from this and will die. We don’t know what happens to this odd energy when the person infected dies but if my theory is correct it doesn’t simply vanish.)

Arc could see where Kazuki was going with this.

(A marker. It must leave behind that energy and that memory. The infected person dies and their soul is destroyed but the dark energy lingers.)

Kazuki smirked.

(Arc, exactly. This marker gets left behind and the Black gate keeps moving through the stars.)

(Kazuki that still doesn’t quite add up. Why leave behind messages or clues in the first place? Wouldn’t it be easier to simply stay in the last known location? Eventually, Arc would unlock the rest of its memory and surely would go to that place. Infecting innocent people and dooming them to a cruel death, attracting all of this attention so much so that wars will be fought over it, isn’t all of this overbearing and way too much?)

Arc became blunt with Codex.

(What innocent person are you referring to book? Who has the authority to utter the words innocent let alone declare someone as such? Those that go to the Black gate, do you believe they are well-intentioned with their thoughts of thievery? They are literally seeking out something that doesn’t belong to them in an attempt to gain power that could change the entire Higher Realms, again something that does not belong to them. Anyone that goes to the Black gate seeking what is mine is not a man nor a woman I would label as innocent. All of them are trespassers and robbers in the black of the night. I hold no sympathy for those types of beings. Not now, and not ever.)

(Arc I didn’t mean it like that. I simply meant that it’s odd. I go back to my original point, would it not be best to simply wait for your return instead of crossing the stars in search of you? Surely you would regain all of your memories from Origin energy before your missing piece could ever locate you.)

Arc mumbled something but didn’t have a response.

(Codex you might be right but there is something you are overlooking. Artifacts have a difficult time moving on their own. You three are different since you have a stable consciousness and can manipulate CHatoic energy and convert it into basically any energy you want besides Origin energy. Before all of that though you could only attach yourself to Kori and be dragged along with him. Some Artifacts have the capability of moving due to their abilities but it seems most don’t. Arc as well can bend space and open rifts. With Arc’s power, it could easily cover quite a fair bit of ground but once Arc runs dry of energy, it could only become stuck or at the very least travel at a terribly slow speed, even slower than some at the 5th or 6th stage. That, of course, was in the past before CHatoic energy but still without everything that happened, Arc would be a slow floater so to speak. In this way, it’s possible the missing piece knows this and therefore was seeking out Arc in order to speed things up.)

Codex still wasn’t fully on board so Kazuki added.

(Look at it like this. In order for Arc to regain memories, it must absorb Origin energy. Which we both know is incredibly rare. Finding it is an almost impossible task without a certain skill or ability. Thankfully Arc has that but even then it takes time to get this energy. Then there’s the fact that Arc could have been blasted to the furthest reaches of space. I don’t know that for a fact but the truth is Arc did at some point appear in the Lower Realms. Trying to find something from the Lower Realms to the Higher Realms is an almost impossible task. If the missing piece really did wait for Arc, with all of these cards stacked against the two, it could take forever on Arc’s end. If the missing piece can actually move around on its own though, something rare even for many Artifacts, then why not actively do so? At the same time, it could leave clues behind just in case Arc does pick up the trail. At that point, when there are clues, Arc would know exactly where to go.)

Codex sighed.

(And people say I am long-winded. Fine, I get it. Your theory does hold weight but it’s not exactly solid. Still, it’s more than we currently have to go off of. I’ll be silent for now but know this, something still does not feel right.)

(Noted book. Now that the clueless are done chattering, let’s get down to business Brat. If my missing piece can move about it has some function but the fact remains it could still be vulnerable to the Shadow. If that bastard so much as touches…We must get to my missing piece before that filth can get its hands on it.)