Despite Zar'Khan's absence, Sakolomeh, Bakuzan, Erasa, Ravena, and Neru began the discussion anyway on the subject that had brought them together.
Since Azazel's death, something was off.
Souls — and even certain beings — now seemed sealed in the Underworld, prisoners of seals identical to those holding Samael in Visnü.
Sakolomeh was the first to voice the disturbing hypothesis.
According to him, if the seals left by Azazel were so powerful, it wasn't due to their complexity, but because of an induced power — a power that didn't really come from Azazel himself.
A power stemming from the Absolute Resonance.
He explained calmly:
— Azazel never accepted being an interface… nor a mask of the Absolute Resonance.
— And yet, whether he wanted it or not, he was.
A heavy silence followed.
— As a mask, continued Sakolomeh, Azazel could manifest minor effects… but deeply abnormal ones. Signs that exceeded even the Dream's own comprehension.
— His appearance is the best example.
He paused.
— Azazel was no longer uniformly describable. Two individuals who laid eyes on him never reported the same vision. His form fluctuated, contradicted itself, refused all fixation.
Bakuzan frowned slightly.
— With the exception, perhaps, of Zeus… and the original gods, added Sakolomeh.
— They alone seemed capable of perceiving him without dissonance.
He shook his head slowly.
— It was probably not a deliberate provocation.
— It was just a side effect of what inhabited him… if one can even call it an entity.
Erasa crossed her arms, her gaze darkening.
— Then why not go directly to the Underworld? she asked.
— Observe these seals up close.
Bakuzan replied without hesitation:
— Even with the Primordial Voice of the Father God… Azazel's seals cannot be lifted.
Sakolomeh brought a hand to his chin, thoughtful.
— Which reinforces the idea that Azazel drew — consciously or not — from a fraction of the Absolute Resonance's power to create them…
Then, he relaxed slightly and let out a sigh.
— I should have…
— I should have used the My0x code, while Sakolomeh-My0x was still there.
Ravena shrugged, a bitter smile on his lips.
— So what?
— Is there no way to bypass these seals?
Erasa shook her head slowly.
— I wouldn't say it's hopeless…
— But one thing is certain: these seals cannot simply be removed.
A grave silence settled around the table.
It wasn't a dead end.
But it wasn't an ordinary problem either.
Something, at the very heart of the Underworld, continued to obey a logic that no longer fully belonged to the Dream.
As the silence grew heavier, Erasa suddenly had a slight start.
An involuntary tic crossed her face before she slowly turned toward the group.
— Uh… guys… she said in a hesitant voice.
— The goddess Mü Thanatos… demands to speak to Sakolomeh.
The surprise was immediate.
— Me? repeated Sakolomeh, stunned.
Erasa didn't respond.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment… then opened them.
It was no longer her.
Her posture had changed.
Her gaze had hardened, charged with an ancient gravity.
Even her voice was no longer hers when she turned to Sakolomeh.
— Sakolomeh… normally, I shouldn't help you, nor even give you the slightest clue.
— I have no right to interfere.
She paused.
— But you have already done much.
— Even if it wasn't you in your entirety… there was still a part of you in him.
— And that… deserves at least a truth.
She slowly placed a hand on her chest.
— So allow me first to shatter your hopes.
A shiver ran through the group.
— It is impossible to destroy Azazel's seals.
— Impossible to alter them.
— Impossible even to weaken them.
Everyone's eyes widened.
— But… then there's nothing to be done?! exclaimed Ravena.
Mü Thanatos — through Erasa — closed her eyes.
— Azazel's seals are not techniques.
— They are not local laws.
— They are not energy barriers.
She opened her eyes, and her gaze seemed to pierce the Dream itself.
— They are derived Absolute Resonance seals.
A heavy silence fell.
— Azazel, as a mask…
— involuntary interface of the Absolute Resonance…
— produced seals that do not function by locking…
Her voice became slower, sharper.
— … but by retroactive declaration.
She articulated each word precisely:
> « What is sealed
never had the right
to not be so. »
A icy shiver ran through the group.
— In other words, she resumed,
— the souls are not imprisoned.
She paused.
— They are reclassified.
— Reclassified as having always already been sealed.
Her gaze settled on Sakolomeh.
— That's why…
— the Father God's voice fails.
— brute force fails.
— classical manipulation fails.
She concluded, implacable:
— You are not facing a door.
— You are facing a fact.
— A fact already validated…
— by the All.
Bakuzan frowned, his gaze dark.
— Can we… destroy them head-on?
Mü Thanatos shook her head slowly.
— No.
— Absolutely impossible.
She continued, without the slightest hesitation:
— Even Sakolomeh — bearer of the remnants of Sakolomeh-My0x — cannot break a seal, nor cancel it, nor force it.
A tense silence settled.
Neru finally asked, in a low voice:
— Why…?
Mü Thanatos replied immediately:
— Because the seal does not exist as an object.
— It exists as a state.
She stared at each of them in turn.
— A state already corrected by the Absolute Resonance.
Her voice grew sharper.
— Attempting to destroy it would amount to telling the Absolute Resonance:
> « What you have already integrated as coherent
is not. »
She paused.
— And that… is impossible by definition.
Sakolomeh lowered his head slightly, his voice almost inaudible:
— But then…
— what to do?
Bakuzan, suddenly intrigued, broke the silence.
— How do you know all this, goddess Mü Thanatos?
— The Absolute Resonance exceeds all possible comprehension in the Dream… so how?
Mü Thanatos sketched a slight smile and replied calmly:
— You're right.
— To be honest, I don't understand it.
She paused briefly.
— What I understand… are its effects.
She closed her eyes.
— I'll explain it simply: I too am a « All ».
— A All, but on the scale of the Dream's meta-reality.
Her voice remained gentle, but firm.
— If I imposed an absolute sealing in a reality inferior to mine, the result would be exactly the same:
— in the Dream, in the narratable, in what can still be formulated.
She opened her eyes.
— For the Absolute Resonance, I am just a local law.
— But even a local All retains one thing: the ability to recognize the effects it produces.
She stared at Bakuzan.
— No one can understand the Absolute Resonance, Bakuzan.
— What can be understood, described, or analyzed…
— are never anything but its consequences.
A light silence crossed the group.
Bakuzan nodded slowly.
— That's not wrong…
— but then… is there a way?
He raised his eyes.
— A way to bypass the seals?