Regardless of the time and place, there were always opposing forces that challenged authority. Even Clowon wasn’t an exception to this rule. Furthermore, Zich and his companions knew through Finel that a rebellion army existed in the Clowon Empire. After all, the rebellion army created her existence.
“Like you said, there was a revolt, and it succeeded.”
“I don’t know who they are, but they sure are impressive. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy task to do at all.”
The rebels’ target was the emperor who had the whole world in his grasp and possessed a great weapon called regression. He seemed to have no flaws.
“First of all, the empire’s citizens were all aware of the existence of the Brushel System. Thus, they could prepare for it.”
“The Brushel system isn’t a power that they could overcome by just prepping for it.”
After all, regression was a power that prevented even Zich from carelessly attacking Glen Zenard.
“Well, secondly, a couple of the empire’s noble families secretly researched the Brushel System, and that’s how they created Finel. Of course, this always happened from time to time, and whenever the emperor found those who coveted the Brushel System through cunning tricks, he mercilessly wiped out their family line. Still, those who desired the system continued to appear. You must know too—that there is no end to human greed.”
Zich strongly agreed with this statement.
“Of course, that wasn’t enough. Although they researched the Brushel System, they couldn’t even mimic its time regression function. After all, only the people who passed a strict selection process and proved their skills and loyalty to the emperor could enter the place where the five regression trees were. Well, that was the case until Windur came into the picture.”
Zich looked down at his sword again.
“Even the Golden Emperor probably hadn’t expected Windur to bare its fangs at him. It couldn’t have been foreseen. The Golden Emperor and none of the other emperors experienced something like that.”
“Was time turned back until everything went to hell?” That was the only scenario Zich could think of that separated the last emperor from the other ones.
“Yes. Turning the same time back continuously strained the Brushel System. It didn’t completely break it, but it gave the World Tree a slight opening to utilize.”
“You said the World Tree wanted freedom. I suppose the World Tree didn’t like the situation it was in.”
“Yes, the World Tree was separated into five and restrained so that it could be easily controlled. Of course, the World Tree doesn’t have an aggressive will for freedom like humans do. At the very least, it felt that its current situation was abnormal and wished to return to its normal state.”
“Continue with the story.”
“So, the World Tree used that small opening to make a way for its release. To do that, it had to destroy Clowon first. However, since the mana from its original body and all its copies were restrained and stolen, it couldn’t use its power. Thus, it used the only and very tiny part of itself that wasn’t restrained, which was Windur.” Zich brushed Windur’s hilt once, and Zich Brave continued, “You must have experienced it before too—especially since it was the item that turned back your time.”
“…The Key that Distorts Destiny.”
“That’s exactly it.”
Zich stared down at the finger that had held the key and looked back to Windur again. His eyes shot toward one of Windur’s blades where the key to destiny was attached to.
“You don’t have any memories of obtaining that key, right?”
“Yeah, not at all.”
“So, passed on with the will of the World Tree, Windur embedded a part of its body into one person. With all the memories that the World Tree possessed, it chose the person it deemed to have the highest possibility of bringing about the fall of Clowon. After a part of Windur’s body attached itself in that person’s body, the World Tree could perform one miracle for that person.”
“Regression.”
Zich finally knew the reason why the Key that Distorts Destiny was inside his body without any memories of him obtaining it and how he had gained the ability of regression. The same event had happened to him too.
“The emperor wasn’t aware of this regression and got swept into it instead.”
“I suppose this regression became the crucial factor for making a counterattack against the emperor.”
“Yes. The World Tree happened to choose someone by the name Josh Libra. As the Clowon Empire’s Marquess, Josh Libra was someone who held considerable power in the empire and disapproved of the tyrannical emperor. Thus, Marquess Libra had been one of those people who secretly researched the Brushel System. Although he conducted research in many well-hidden laboratories, the emperor eventually found out about his deeds. Naturally, the Libra family fell into ruin while everyone involved went through all kinds of torture and was slaughtered. Josh Libra also lost his life. The emperor personally stabbed a knife into his neck. However, when Marquess Libra opened his eyes again, he had gone back in time. With this second opportunity, he didn’t hesitate to start a revolt.”
This revolt succeeded. However, that made Zich wonder and ask, “Wasn’t the Brushel System still active? If so, couldn’t the emperor have just gone back to the time before the rebellion and overtake them?” After all, everything would have been over if the emperor just regressed again. Zich also added, “Since the Brushel System still exists and is fine till now, I’m sure Josh Libra didn’t nullify the system either.”
“Marquess Libra used the condition for activating the system to his advantage.”
“I thought the condition was death. Then, couldn’t he have just killed himself?”
“Glen Zenard continues to use the basic condition of death to activate the system because he doesn’t know about the devices controlling it. I mean, if there was a condition other than death to activate the system, why would anyone use the former method? Even if you don’t really die because time is turned back, committing suicide is extremely painful.”
“But enduring that amount of pain is easy.”
“Don’t think that everyone is like you.” Zich Brave stared at him as if he was a bit pathetic.
For a moment, Zich seriously pondered if he should try cracking Zich Brave’s head again.
Zich Brave seemed to have noticed Zich’s intentions as he hurriedly began explaining again. “However, only the emperor knows the method to activate the regression system. Before he succeeded the throne, he used the control device to change the activation method into a method that only he knew. However, Josh Libra knew the method since his family was the one who made Finel.”
“Did they finish their experiment before the emperor’s regression?”
“Yes, they finished the prototype. By that time, they were able to steal some of Lyla’s memories.”
“From those memories, they found out how to activate the system.”
The way to input information about the Brushel System was through Estellade, Tornium, and Windur. Since Windur was the mark of an emperor, it must have obviously been present when the emperor changed the method to activate the system. Then, the changed method went into Lyla’s memories, and through her, the method to activate the regression system went into Josh Libra’s hands.
“Before he regressed, when the emperor found out that there was research to steal Lyla’s memories, he was extremely furious. Of course, all the research that Marquess Libra earned was thoroughly crushed. However, the emperor didn’t feel very threatened since the entire Libra family was killed. He didn’t think that Josh Libra could possibly…”
“Possibly also regress like him.”
Zich Brave nodded. “After he regressed, Josh Libra thoroughly prepared his rebellion, and when he entered the palace, he found the right opportunity to make it impossible for the regression system to be activated. The emperor had put his power of regression into his crown. Josh Libra knew this, so he infiltrated the palace and destroyed the emperor’s crown. He thought he succeeded pretty easily because he knew exactly where the crown would be from stealing Lyla’s memories.”
That was the moment when the emperor’s overwhelming strength disappeared.
“Josh Libra also tried to kill the emperor afterward, but he failed. However, it was not a bad situation at all since the emperor’s absolute advantage had disappeared.”
“Then, did he immediately raise a rebellion?”
“Yeah. Many people held resentment in their hearts at the emperor’s astounding acts of tyranny. Moreover, when people found out that the emperor lost his regression power, the size of the rebellion exploded. Like this, Clowon was swept in a civil war.”
“Even if the crown broke, wouldn’t it be fine if he just created a new activation method?”
“The device to suppress the Brushel System and the original World Tree is in a deserted island across the ocean. In order to change the activation method, the emperor needed to go to the island himself while holding Windur. They had used this method for security purposes, but in a situation where he lost his power, this distance was a fatal weakness for him because Josh Libra blocked the emperor from reaching that island. The emperor was put into a situation where he needed to first defeat the rebellion in order to retrieve his power. The only thing left was the collision of these two forces. It was also during this time that Finel was passed over to the empire.”
“So the result of the rebellion ended with Josh Libra’s victory.”
“Um, not quite.”
Zich tilted his head. “Didn’t you say that the rebellion succeeded?”
“Yes, the rebellion succeeded. The emperor died and Clowon fell. However, this didn’t mean that Josh Libra was victorious.”
“He must have co-destructed or was stabbed in the back.”
“It’s both. The empire collapsed, but the rebellion received a fatal blow. Josh Libra was also stabbed by one of his allies who wanted power.”
Zich Brave shook his head. “After that, no one knows what happened because there’s no record of that in Lyla’s memories. It’s because all information inputted into the system was stopped. However, one thing that I’m sure about is that intense chaos swept across the world.”
When a large order collapsed, it was natural that large chaos followed after. Then, the time that came after the chaos completely erased traces of Clowon and continued to the present time.
Zich lightly clapped his hands. “It was quite an entertaining story. A lot of my curiosity was fulfilled. But what happened to those three swords?”
“For Estellade and Tornium, a general who received serious injuries put both swords in the tomb made for the emperors and died—it is the place where you found Tornium. As for Windur, the World Tree made Windur fly to a nearby underground cave because it judged that whoever obtained Windur would just use it for themselves and not for the World Tree to gain freedom. Like this, the attempt to free the World Tree ended half successfully.”
“Are you saying that Windur was asleep until I found it?”
“Yep.” Zich Brave stopped talking for a bit. It seemed as if he wanted to give Zich time to organize the information that he had given him.
‘It’s really a grand story.’ From this, most of Zich’s questions had been answered. Zich said, “Then, the story probably continues by Glen Zenard discovering the Brushel System.”
Zich recalled the person who was most annoying after Zich Brave.
However, Zich Brave shook his head. “No. The person who reactivated the Brushel System was a completely different person.”