Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 224: Chapter 224: Echo of the Desdemona [3]

Chapter 224 – Echo of the Desdemona [3]

”...the Husband of Desdemona.”

By the time Cassius reached the end of the strange words, he was already kneeling on the ground, his face sweating all over, his breath as though he had just run a marathon.

He paid no attention to the strange power that could affect his mind so much, and pondered the last words instead.

’The husband... of Desdemona?’

Cassius echoed inwardly, turning the words over in his mind, trying to understand them.

The First Snake... was the husband of Desdemona?

But that raised one important question in his mind:

”Who... is Desdemona?” Cassius asked his ancestor, thinking that he, at least, must know this answer.

The fact that his family bore the name ”Desdemona” also proved she was extremely important to them.

Another ancestor?

”Desdemona?” Albert said. ”Who is she, you ask? Now you’re asking questions I have no idea about, my boy.”

”No idea? But you wrote this?”

”I simply wrote what Lady Third told me to write.”

Cassius was starting to get tired of hearing about Lady Third everywhere. He guessed it was the ancestor from whom he’d gotten his Third Skill.

”All I know,” his ancestor continued, his voice strangely faint, ”is that we wouldn’t be here if not for her. We see her as the True Ancestor.”

’Is it really that simple?’

Cassius doubted it. Something inside him was nagging at him, telling him there was more to this.

’Do you know anything about this, Queen?’

His goddess had been strangely silent since he entered this place. As if she was trying to speak as little as possible, for whatever reason.

His suspicion was confirmed when she took an abnormally long time before answering.

[Unfortunately not, Cass.]

Instantly, Cassius felt a strange, pondering gaze on him.

”Oh my.” Albert giggled mysteriously. ”That feeling? Oh my. So they truly did it.”

”They who? And did what?”

Cassius was getting tired of questions with no answers. If the man weren’t his ancestor, he would have overturned this abode, found his body, grabbed his collar, and beaten the truth out of his mouth.

What a good thing he was a good descendant.

”It seems, my boy, I’ve forgotten to ask you something rather important.” Albert continued, still giggling.

”About what?”

Taking one last glance at the strange markings, trying to imprint them in his mind, Cassius stood up weakly.

His knees wobbled, threatening to send him crashing to the floor again. But he held on.

Slowly, he moved his legs, trotting toward the great Snake that had been watching him silently since the very beginning.

The other snakes hissed in greeting, laughing and constantly saying, ’You are one of us! One of us!’

”I meant to ask if you’re the husband of...” Albert made a thinking sound. ”...I might have forgotten her name, alas. But she was quite the nasty assassin.”

By this point, Cassius was tired of being surprised by whatever his ancestor said.

But this one made his heart stop.

”You know Isolde?” He asked, trying to keep his voice as steady as his steps. It was impossible. He stuttered. ”Why are you asking about her?”

”So she’s your wife.”

”...if we’re talking about Isolde... then yes.”

”How interesting.” Albert laughed. ”They truly did it. What a bunch of crazy women. But who are we to talk? We did many things for you, Cassius. And this... this is my contribution to your path ahead.”

Cassius halted before the Great Snake, staring intently into its crimson slitted pupils.

He bowed his head just enough to show respect and offer the beast his greetings in the Ouroboros language.

For a moment, he thought he saw the beast smile, before everything, along with the snakes littering the ground, transformed into strange metals with runic inscriptions all over them.

”What’s happening?” Cassius asked, looking around with a slight frown.

”My Legacy.” Albert whispered, his voice losing the energetic intensity of the beginning. ”This is my Legacy to you, Cassius, my boy.”

Cassius watched the entire mass of metals swirl, twist and compress in on itself, a strange silvery smoke born of the process, until it reached the size of a ring.

Then the smoke peeled away, revealing a magnificent, pristine white ring with crimson markings, shaped like a snake eating its own tail.

The ring hovered just before his eyes, crackling with invisible power.

”Put your blood on the ring, and let it be linked to you.”

Cassius obeyed. He controlled his blood and made it splash onto the ring. It glowed intensely white, red and black for a fraction of a second before returning to normal.

As a result, Cassius now felt a shared link with the ring. And with that, he could feel something else.

A voice.

A hiss.

The hiss of a snake.

”This is my greatest creation, Cassius.” Albert continued, and the more he spoke, the more Cassius noticed the surroundings destroying themselves. ”This is my Ouroboros Ring. My last creation. The ring can transform into a real snake if you inject your essence into it.”

Cassius was speechless, only staring at the ring blankly.

”The snake is at its weakest. It’s just a little toddler. The only way for it to grow strong is to feed it other beasts. Not just any beasts, but ones with strong bloodlines. And as a result of that,” his voice audibly grinned, incredibly proud, ”the snake can take the shape of the one it devoured and use their power in that form.”

Cassius’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, realising the atrocious power of such a thing.

How had his ancestor created something like this?

He could have asked, but he didn’t think it important enough. Not more than what he was about to ask, at least.

”I didn’t get to see your face.” Cassius said, a touch of sadness in his voice as the surroundings began to destroy themselves.

”But you heard my voice, Cassius. And I spoke with you.” He laughed weakly. ”I enjoyed it. I truly did, Cassius.”

”Will I ever see you one day?”

”Oh, you love me already?! Indeed, not surprising at all! I am Albert Desdemona the Great! Who doesn’t love me?” He laughed, trying to dispel the uselessly sentimental moment. ”But as for seeing me one day... if you don’t die, then you will.”

Cassius nodded slowly. ”What’s going to happen to you?”

”I’m simply a remnant of Will left behind by my true self. My purpose has been fulfilled. I will cease to exist.”

CRACK! CRACK!

The ceiling cracked, split apart, and the walls crumbled to dust.

”Are you... chained like the 333rd?” He asked again.

Albert chuckled. ”I might be. But I am Albert Desdemona the Great! We are the Desdemona! Nothing to us. Nothing at all, Cassius. They can try all they want, but we will get back our Book, even if it means sacrificing an entire timeline for it. That’s ours.”

Cassius opened his mouth to speak, but his ancestor beat him to it.

”Now enough talk, Cassius. Take my ring, and see what you said you’d surpass one day.” He laughed merrily, his voice now shrinking to a dying whisper. ”I reached a level where I made a soulless object into a being with a soul. This is my greatest creation. Remember me well, I am Albert Desdemona the Great, Cassius. And I was the First Ever Architect. I created this profession of Architect. I am the Mad Origin Architect. So make me proud...”

The ring moved on its own and nestled gently onto Cassius’s right index finger.

”...and surpass me, Cassius Desdemona, our Last Born.”

Just like that, the whole mountain collapsed in on itself, leaving Cassius standing amid destroyed rocks and melted glass.

The voice of Albert Desdemona — 12th Ancestor of the Desdemona, Creator and Founder of the Path of Architect — died down completely.

Cassius stood in mournful silence for a while, his eyes on the crumbled mountain that had stood so long, so tall, with the sole purpose of giving him a ring.

How many years had his ancestor waited?

How many others were waiting for him? Still waiting?

All of that... for what?

A Book?

No.

Our Book.

Yet... how important was the Book for them to do all of this? To sacrifice this much?

Was Earth a construct of their design? Was what he had gone through in that world... real?

Why had his ancestor asked about Isolde? Was she... involved in all of this?

The more Cassius learned, the more he realised how little he knew.

He exhaled, taking in the cooling breath of the air, then narrowed his eyes, noticing something beneath him.

He crouched down and picked it up.

It was an old-looking picture.

The picture of a man, tall like any Desdemona, with a big, wide smile, stunning spiky white hair, and strange, mesmerising crimson eyes.

His pupils were riddled with runic markings.

He was holding a crudely shaped ring. A ring that looked eerily like the one Cassius now wore.

Cassius read the words at the edge of the picture.

It was in the Ouroboros language.

”The day I, Albert Desdemona the Great, created my first artifact. I named it the Ouroboros Ring, in honour of our Blood. How wonderful I am!”

Cassius smiled softly as he read it.

’So your first artifact was your greatest and last creation.’

And you gave it to me.

Suddenly, the ring was no longer merely a source of immense power in his hands.

Suddenly, it became...

”I’ll take care of it, Ancestor.”

...a Legacy.

—End of Chapter 224—