Chapter 304: Ultima Ratio

Chapter 304: Ultima Ratio

Mmh, Salmon of Wisdom sushi. Isaac smiled as he took another piece of sashimi, with chopsticks, of course, dragged it through the soy sauce, and chomped down on it, the already massive grin widening to the point where his face looked like it was about to crack in half.

With Salmon from Tiers 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 already devoured, Isaac was currently sitting at a cool +50% Mana Regeneration.

Oh, things were looking why was his phone ringing with Amok as the ringtone? That was Jasons ringtone because when Jason needed to contact him urgently enough that the [Rount Table] was too slow, that meant things had seriously hit the fan.

The connection was secure, of course, and when he picked up, an anti-eavesdropping field would kick in, but it was still a risk.

Isaac swiftly headed towards an isolated spot and picked up.

Whats wrong?

I Jason sounded uncharacteristically upset when he answered, I have a problem. Theres how I accidentally caught a serial killer whos been conducting research on people.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

Is there a reason you cant arrest or kill him? Isaac asked.

Heres the problem Jason explained.

***

Ah fuck, Isaac muttered once the story was over, Youve got the situation in hand, though, nothing is going to go wrong if I take a bit to do anything?

Should be fine for another hour at the very least, Jason said, But please dont wait too long.

And this guys main deal is that he wants to be famous, right? Isaac said, Immortality through infamy?

Uh-hu?

Isaac already had a good idea that should work, but honestly, hed recently gotten to the point of buying the last sub-[Skill] he wanted for [Aspects of the End].

Wisdom of the Simurgh (Subskill of Aspects of the End)

An ancient being in possession of impossible wisdom, so old it has seen the destruction of the universe three times over.

When using this Skill, that wisdom passes onto its bearer, granting them an amount of knowledge no human could ever hope to amass, even given a million lifetimes.

The pen is mightier than the sword, and knowledge is what is needed to get the most from ones pen. Therefore, while this Skill is active, its bearer is the most powerful person in the universe. At least in theory.

It was a fantastic [Skill], allowing him to see the beginnings of all new paths of research that Mentons work would open up while also showing all the potential pitfalls of using information of such horrific providence.

In essence, the problem was that they didnt want to encourage anyone to follow in that assholes footsteps, but there were uses to be found for it and lives to be saved. When and how to share this information was a difficult question, but not one that had to be answered right the hell now.

But as for Mentons eventual fate, it turned out that Isaac was plenty good at coming up with plans on his own. His previous idea would work just fine.

Have you ever heard of something called Damnatio Memoriae? he asked, Youre a scientist, you probably know a bit of Latin, but on the off chance you havent, let me translate: it means condemnation of memory. It was a punishment the Romans came up with, it involved destroying everything about the sentenced criminal, the removal of their name from records, the destruction of their pictures, the annihilation of any writing proving they ever existed.

And I can make that happen.

First, all of this research will be sanitized, your name stricken, all relevant identifying information removed in its entirety.

Second, youll begin to vanish from your regular records. University graduation records, honor rolls, papers youve written whenever people are no longer paying attention to your existence, itll be erased. Even perfect memory [Skills] will eventually fail with regards to you.

And finally, all that will remain is the research from an anonymous source that might be picked up once or twice, but will never have much of an impact.

You might think that becoming a mystery will elevate you above the masses, but youd be wrong. Because this is going to be released by Insight, all properly sanitized.

But even if we were to release your information as-is, you arent the first person who came up with the idea to gain immortality through infamy, and you sure as shit wont be the last. Give it a few decades, and youll just be a tiny part of a sea of idiots, everything about them stricken from history save for the fact that they did exist, and the crimes they committed.

With every sentence, Menton grew paler and paler, but other than the occasional splutter of no, and you cant, nothing happened.

Until the end of the speech, that was, when Menton managed to stand as straight as his injuries allowed and glared at Arthur, Youre mentally unstable, you know. What the fuck gives you the right to do any of that? You

The fact that I can do it gives me the right, Arthur stated

Jason immediately added, The worlds lost its mind, but it doesnt have to lose its soul, too. My job is to find people like you, our friend figures out what to do, and then, he does that thing. You got the power to evade the law, we got the power to make sure consequences catch up anyway.

They were running out of time very, very quickly. Once Arthurs borrowed evidence erasure ran out, that would be a huge problem.

And they didnt want to drag this out any more than necessary.

Arthurs fifth Evolution [Class] was [Myths Sovereign], which mixed administration with raw power in a way that allowed him to galivant about the place like a king out of the old stories without things going to shit the instant he wasnt paying attention to his kingdom.

One central [Skill] was [Royal Wanderer], which was your bog standard traveling and making sure things worked out in the meantime ability.

And the other was [Mythical Action], a powerful [Skill] with a variable cooldown depending on which subskill was used.

In this case, it was [Royal Decree], which, in turn, could have a wide variety of effects.

[Mythical Action: Royal Decree: Damnatio Memoriae], Arthur intoned as Excalibur manifested in his right hand, already taking effect even before hed started to attack. All around them, documentation began to change, the letters that spelled out the author physically peeling themselves off the pages before disintegrating into nothingness.

Oh, and one more thing, Arthur said as he raised his sword, All the things you came up, all that research you gave up your humanity for, we know all that already. Weve known for years, and we didnt even have to compromise our morals to do so. Youve wasted your life, potential, and everything else.

Menton began to say something, it started out as some kind of complaint, bled into an attempt to bargain, and finally devolved into a cry of inarticulate rage, but Arthur cleaved him in half before he could do anything else.

Even as he fell, Mentons body began to disintegrate, one of Jasons [Skills] erasing the evidence on top of everything else. It barely lay on the ground for a few seconds before there was nothing left except a slight stain, but even that was rapidly vanishing until finally, it was just Arthur and Jason standing alone in the middle of the warehouse of horrors.

So, what now? Jason asked.

I go back before I start shedding DNA everywhere, and then, we get someone else to figure out what to do, Arthur decided. This wasnt a decision he wanted to make on his own.