The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 346: Cute Eclipsya

”What do you think about this, Zephyra?” Tsukuyomi asks me with a smile as she holds Eclipsya, who is wearing a cute navy blue dress.

”She looks really cute...but has she not said anything yet?” I question with doubt, as Eclipsya practically doesn’t react to anything, she just stares at most things coldly and likes to hug Tsukuyomi all the time.

”Hmm, nothing yet, no talking, no crying, she just lets me do whatever I want with her,” Tsukuyomi says as she sits in a chair and places Eclipsya on her lap.

”Plus, she’s been more rigid since Pandora left, her movements have reduced a lot and now she spends most of her time staring at anything that moves, it’s even kind of funny since if a sound appears behind her, she quickly turns her head to stare at the place,” Tsukuyomi says with a tired sigh, but a smile on her face.

”I wonder why?” I question, finding her reactions strange, Azazel for example acted in a totally different way, she was more explosive and active, while Eclipsya is more serious, contained and much less active.

”There’s no way to really know, it’s something difficult to say for sure considering they are Pandora’s children,” She says as Eclipsya hugs her arm.

”Maybe it’s some strange survival instinct?” I say, considering Pandora.

”Maybe? Well, she’s always on alert, so she may think she’s in danger?” Tsukuyomi says as she lifts Eclipsya a little away from her and stares into her little eyes.

”It could also just be boredom, she doesn’t have much interest in the room’s toys, so having someone her age to play with might be good.”

”It could be, Tsukuyomi, although finding someone her age must be really difficult, after all, children are not allowed in the castle, except for Pandora’s daughters or servants.”

”Well, it’s really a shame...” She says as she hands me Eclipsya.

”Could you take care of her? It’s my study time, but if I bring her with me, I can’t concentrate because she keeps staring at me and asking for hugs,” Tsukuyomi says as I hold Eclipsya.

”Sure, I’ll see you in two hours then.”

”Thank you for the help, see you in two hours, and don’t worry about food, I gave her milk an hour ago, she clung to me tightly for a long time, so she should still be full.”

She leaves the room as I look into Eclipsya’s cute little eyes.

”So, little one, it’s just the two of us...want some ice cream?” I say, offering her a spoonful of ice cream, although I’ve reduced the amount I eat, I still have it quite often.

”...?” She tilts her head in a cute way as she stares at the ice cream, I bring the spoon close to her mouth and she opens it to try it, as soon as I put the ice cream in her mouth, her little eyes widen in surprise.

”Did you like it?” I ask as I get another spoonful of ice cream for her, it’s my favorite flavor, so her liking it is quite exciting in a way.

”...” She opens her mouth and I put the spoon in, as she savors the ice cream with almost contagious joy, it’s amazing how a daughter of Pandora can be so innocent.

’Wait, can I give ice cream to a little child like her?’ I wonder as she finishes the second spoonful.

”Eclipsya, that’s enough ice cream for you, I don’t want you to get sick and have me be the one to blame,” I say, hugging her with one hand and pulling her away from the ice cream, she reaches her little hands out to the bowl as if she wants more.

”...”

”No, you can ask your mom for more later,” I say, pulling her away from the ice cream, as soon as I look, I see her staring at me as if I had taken the only good thing she’s known in her whole life.

Her pleading little eyes are heartbreaking, she really seems very sad to be separated from the ice cream, like she had fallen in love with it on the first bite and now needs more.

”Okay, here, you can eat the rest...” I say, handing her the bowl, which she happily takes, shoving her face into the ice cream.

Honestly, I doubt she’s not hungry even though Tsukuyomi fed her recently, Elena has already told me stories about Pandora’s childhood.

And Pandora was... greedy to say the least, she ate a lot, to the point of invading places for food at night, apparently something about her race needing a lot of food at the beginning to adjust or something like that.

”...” She starts eating the ice cream, shoving her whole face into the bowl as if the cold doesn’t matter, soon she pulls her face out, all dirty with ice cream and looks at me with a small smile.

”Eclipsya, could you...” She ignores me and holds the bowl, putting it to her face to lick, ice cream drips, falling on my dress as she continues eating, she really seems to have liked it.

’This reminds me... I might need to start practicing alchemy again...’ I look at my hands trembling when I think about using alchemy again, Pandora made me go through hell, forcing me to use alchemy to produce minerals.

Honestly, I wanted to never use alchemy again in my life, my body starts to sweat cold and tremble every time I think about returning to the path of alchemy, but I have some talent in it.

I may have wasted this talent, but seeing how Pandora and everyone else are working hard makes me want to at least try to take advantage of this talent a little, even if it will take me years to really get good at it.

While Eclipsya eats the ice cream, I put my hands together and try to make an alchemical magic circle, but as soon as I start, my body feels an indescribable fear and I stop, afraid.

The bad memories of working 23 hours a day, every day, manufacturing minerals without rest and drinking recovery potions without stopping to try to reach an impossible goal come to my mind.

’Will I ever be able to return to alchemy?’ Many of my fears I can’t overcome, I even lost some of the fear I had of Pandora and our future, but others are deeply rooted in a painful trauma.

”...” Eclipsya touches my hand, dirtying it with ice cream, it seems she’s comforting me as she notices my trembling.

”Thank you...” I say as she starts licking the ice cream bowl, her face, hair, and dress are now all dirty with ice cream.

I put Eclipsya in my chair with the bowl while I look out the window, seeing troops being trained, something that is now more frequent, an obvious sign of war.

I don’t know all the details and I don’t want to know, but I know it’s just a matter of time before this peace crumbles, and honestly, I’m not afraid of the war, in fact, I feel very sorry for the enemies who will have to deal with Pandora.

”Well, I guess I have to give you a bath now, Eclipsya,” I murmur, taking her and pulling her away from the bowl, she’s so cute, but now she’s all dirty, and Tsukuyomi will definitely say something if she sees this scene.

...

...

...

”And that’s how it happened, Tsukuyomi,” Elena says as she finishes writing on the board.

”I understand... Thank you for the lesson,” I say, jotting down some things in Japanese in a small notebook.

”You don’t have to be so formal, Tsukuyomi,” Elena says with a smile.

”I’m sorry, I don’t know how to speak in any other way than overly ceremonial or archaic for other standards,” I say, closing the small notebook.

”Okay, so do you have any questions?” Elena asks as I think.

”Why does Pandora’s race exist?” When I ask this, she becomes tense, I don’t know if Pandora realized, but her race is strange, it doesn’t seem to arise in a normal, natural way.

Her race is closer to a biological weapon made to hunt and destroy in someone’s name.

”Well, it’s because the Goddess of the Abyss naturally created this race,” She says as I think about the goddesses of this world, I only saw them once when I was forcibly pulled into that strange judgment.

They were strong, much stronger than me, but all of them had an aura that indicated a lot, and in particular one of them who I judge to be the Goddess of the Abyss had the worst aura I’ve ever seen.

Not even Pandora’s frightening aura comes close to that woman’s aura, it was like standing in front of the purest darkness that threatened to devour everything around it.

”Pandora knows that her race seems more like a weapon in itself than...” Elena makes an expression that makes me stay quiet.

”Obviously Pandora knows, but she doesn’t care, and besides, this kind of question is very intrusive and impolite,” She says as I decide not to touch on the subject anymore.

”I was just curious, I’ve never seen such a complex race before.” Pandora’s entire body is too complex for other standards of living beings, every little piece seems to have been made on a totally new basis.

Most beings by pure genetics follow a similar basis to their ancestors, but Pandora does not follow any standard basis except in the external structure that is a female humanoid body, but internally she is fundamentally very different from everything.

”I understand, but Pandora’s race is something that is not really a subject to be studied, but if you’re curious, we can get some monsters for you to study, maybe that will satisfy your curiosity,” She says, which catches my attention.

”Seriously?”

”Yes, we have two monsters you can study, one is Shogo, an evolved tentacle monster, and the other is a Black Python that lives in the castle, both are monsters that obey Pandora and that you can study safely,” She says as I think about it.

”I’d love to, the history of this world is much more interesting than the history of where I came from.” There’s so much new stuff, I never have time to get bored.