The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 571: Freedom

"So, Pandora, how was the hunt?" I ask Pandora, who’s already back. She’s covered in blood.

"Not bad, I guess, but unfortunately, monsters are more like animals, so their reactions to death are pretty primitive and predictable. Not like the mortal races, who can come up with crazy ideas," Pandora says with a shrug.

"Hmm, why are you back early?"

"I finished modifying my universe. While I was hunting, I put the finishing touches on the... how should I put it..."

"You don’t have to be so cautious. I understand what you mean, and it’s not your fault, or your little universe’s." Obviously, it would be destroyed if I entered it without the proper modifications.

"Do you want to go now? We’re already linked anyway. Once we enter, you’ll probably have a good chance of being free from your fusion with the Abyss... by the way, what was that trick you were going to teach me?"

"I want to go now..." I say, barely able to contain my excitement at finally leaving the Abyss. Being trapped here for so long has been a living hell.

"Great! Then, could you please shrink down a bit? Your size is... complicated. You’ll break everything."

"Oh? Is that any way to talk to your mother?"

"It’s my universe. It’s only natural that I don’t want you to shatter everything just by taking a single step."

"Good answer." I start to shrink down to a mere 3 meters tall. I can go smaller, but I don’t want to shrink too much, and 3 meters should be enough.

"...Still a bit big... but okay, just watch your head when you’re walking." She pulls a sphere from the darkness and places it on the ground.

"Just 5 minutes."

"Sure. Meanwhile, the trick I said I’d teach you is how to fuse with something. That something could be material, immaterial, or spiritual..."

"Oh, that? I don’t want to."

"...What?"

"It’s the same thing you and Tsukuyomi used to fuse with a place. Honestly, I don’t want to. I don’t plan on getting myself shackled to some object, place, or ’spiritual thing,’ no matter how useful it might be."

"..."

"I understand why you did it, I really do, Mother, but... forgive my boldness. There’s no situation where I would ever use this."

"...Are you calling me a coward?" I ask, furrowing my brows, because I used it to avoid dying. If she says there’s no situation where she’d use it, she’s either saying she’ll never come close to dying, or that she doesn’t care about dying. And I know the ’not coming close to dying’ part is impossible.

"Not exactly... but even if I were dying, I wouldn’t fuse myself to some place... I’d blow myself up. It’s just a different perspective on life, you know?"

"...Do what you want. I can’t force you to learn something you don’t want to. But you know you could use it on other people, right? You could even use it to fuse matter with other matter in a way that wouldn’t be possible otherwise."

"Wait, what? If that’s the case..."

"I’m not teaching you anymore."

"..."

"I don’t give second chances to anyone. Whenever I offer you something and you refuse, I won’t offer it a second time. That’s how I’ve always been. The only exception was my sister..." For a very different reason.

It’s not that I wanted to keep giving her second chances, but she would pester me until I did something after she’d refused my help once. I even tried to see how far she’d go once, and she spent 10 years poking me every single day, right on time, asking me to teach her chaos magic after she’d refused my help. And she clearly would have kept going longer.

"Okay... weird life philosophy, but I think I get it... Here, it’s ready." The core on the ground opens into a square, white portal. You can’t see anything inside, but if it’s for a chance at freedom, I don’t mind risking a little.

"Pandora, have you calculated what will happen when I leave the Abyss?"

"Hmm, yes. You can rest easy. You won’t be missed for the first few years. Your magic is so dense that even without you here, no one will notice you’ve left, because your magic will linger for a very long time."

"They’ll only notice when the magic gets weaker. Of course, many will find it strange not to find you, sense you, or see you in the castle, but they won’t be able to prove you’re out of the Abyss. Plus, I’ve already sealed the room, so only the two of us know about this."

"That way, we prevent the information from leaking." Pandora smiles proudly, and I agree with her. My enormous amount of magic will easily make it seem like I’m still here. And since the plan is just to free me and then I’ll come back to the Abyss, nothing will seem to have changed. But I won’t be trapped anymore.

"I’ll go first, Mother! See you there!" Pandora jumps into the ’door’ as I look around. At the ’fragile’ barrier Pandora left, I snap my fingers, creating a much better one, more sealed and powerful, so no one can come here.

"Ah... this is so uncomfortable..." I pace around the door, feeling an extreme discomfort with something new. It’s been so long since there was anything ’new’ for me. Life was so monotonous before my daughters.

"Pandora’s plan better work... or I’ll be very angry..." I hate having false hope. When I was alone, I thought I’d be in the Abyss forever and accepted it. Then I had the idea of having daughters who could get me out.

But when Azraelith was born... all I felt was pure disgust, knowing that girl would NEVER, in her entire life, have any talent. And without talent, my hope of her getting me out of the Abyss died.

And when she was sealed, all I felt was pure revulsion at having wasted time, effort, and magic on her. I almost gave up, accepting again that I’d never leave the Abyss. But I decided to make a second attempt.

If the first was a failed, talentless daughter, maybe the second, with my greater experience, would be a better daughter. And it worked. Pandora was born. She’s talented, and she gives me hope.

But if this hope is shattered again, I won’t be able to control myself. Because Pandora gave me so much hope with this idea of hers.

"I guess you can’t know until you try... and... if I end up killing Pandora in a fit of rage if she fails, I could try for a third child..." I don’t want more children, so I really hope Pandora got this right.

And if she got it wrong, I hope she survives long enough for my anger to cool down. I take a deep breath and touch the door.

"Time to go..." I start to step through the portal. The sensation is strange. It’s as if infinite hands are grabbing onto my body, pulling me back.

With each step I take, whatever is holding onto me starts to be torn and pulled away. The white door develops black cracks that spread everywhere like spiderwebs. But I keep walking, ignoring the resistance.

Until whatever was holding me seems to snap, and I’m violently shoved forward, falling to my knees on a strange floor.

"...?" I stand up and look around. The air... it’s so pure. There’s almost no magic in the environment. But my body, which is an absurd reserve of Mana, doesn’t feel any problems with it, nor does it grow weaker.

Although, the place seems to push any Mana that escapes me back into my body.

"WELCOME!!" Several girls who look a bit like Pandora shout at me, bustling about excitedly, holding welcome signs. I stare at Pandora, who smiles at me.

My mind, which still hasn’t grasped the freedom, seems to go into shock. Pandora approaches me, climbing on top of one girl to reach my height, and then she runs her hands over my face.

"You’re crying tears of joy, Mother."

"Crying?" I run my hand over my face, and immediately, I feel as if an infinite weight that had been with me for almost my entire life had been lifted from my shoulders. I hug Pandora tightly as she hugs me back.

"Am I... truly... free?" I can’t believe it was so easy. That prison that, no matter what I did, would never let me go, was so easy to escape that it feels strange and uncomfortable.

"Yes. Although, it was difficult, you know? While you were coming, the sky of my universe started to crack, but I already solved the problem by making all your Mana be pushed back into your body!"

"By the way, it took you over 3 months to get here. I even had time to prepare an even bigger party than the one I’d planned!"

"...3 months?" It feels like I only took a few steps, and then I was here.

"Ha... hahaha... hahahahaha." I burst into laughter. A good, hearty laugh. I don’t think I’ve laughed like this since my sister died. How many years has it been since I last cried? I don’t know. It’s been so long, I don’t think I even remembered my body was capable of tears.

"Pandora, you’re incredible! I love you!" I hug her even tighter. I love this stupidly brilliant daughter, and her arrogantly bold, crazy ideas.

"I love you too, Mother! I have no idea how bad your situation was for you, but from what I knew, you really wanted to get out of there! In the plan to manifest you outside the Abyss using chaos, you wouldn’t have been truly free."

"You would have just gotten a pass to leave the Abyss, but you’d still be tied to it because you’d fused with it! But with my method, you have nothing to do with the Abyss anymore! It’s complete freedom!" She speaks so animatedly.

My heart beats faster. The joy in Pandora’s voice for something that makes me happy is truly endearing.

"..." I set her down on the ground, taking a deep breath to compose myself.

"I will never forget what you’ve done for me, Pandora." Pandora was the highest-risk gamble I’ve ever taken. When I saw that soul filled with hatred and chose her, I didn’t know if it was the right choice.

Bringing a former human back to life could have ruined everything. Pandora might never have done anything for me, and I would have wasted time and resources. But Pandora proved to be a gamble that bore the best fruit.

"I hope you really don’t forget, Mother! Now, how about we enjoy your party? Everyone here is eager to meet you... well, almost everyone. Akari and Velvet are off fucking in some corner, so they didn’t come! But don’t mind them."

"That’s fine." I say, more than happy about it. I didn’t even need this welcome celebration.

"H-H-H-Hello, divine mother of our goddess! I-I’m Number 3..." A short girl approaches. She bows several times as she speaks, and her nervousness is almost funny.

"I-I wanted to welcome you in person, and a-and thank you for raising our goddess... n-now, if you’ll excuse me, thank you for your time!!" The girl quickly runs off, disappearing into the crowd, as Pandora stifles a laugh.

"Pandora, what do I do? I don’t understand parties." I’ve never been to a party.

"How about we start with a meal? I bet you haven’t had anything good to eat in a long time. Come with me!" Pandora starts walking as the various girls make room. They all stare at me with an adoration that’s almost unsettling.

"..." I follow Pandora, looking around. Compared to the Abyss, this place is literally a paradise. Everything here seems so much better. And this puts a small smile on my face. It’s strange to smile genuinely like this. And I never expected to feel so much gratitude for a living being.