The World's Ego

Opening Pandora's Box

Third Person POV

Elle was completely clueless to the shocked looks that were being exchanged across the room as she continues her story.

"I was contacted by this girl called... Uh... Grandeau? She was looking for a way to gather fragmented souls, so that they can return to one complete soul. But apparently, even with her Authority, she could only bring fragmented ones into this world in different timelines. For some reason, the complete soul didn't want to show itself. That was when she found the Elysian Realm, she found us, and then you..." Elle turns to Rimuru, "... You were the 'owner' of the fragmented souls. In fact, she tried calling out to you a few times, but was too weak to, so she barely managed to call me instead."

Rimuru pondered her words, "But Klein would have noticed such an abnormality in the realm, especially if it's communicating to you."

"Oh, I think she did notice, but chose not to do anything about it. After all, the data that I received would not affect the realm. It would only have affected you slightly."

"I don't really understand what this one is saying, but you talked about souls. What does that have to do with Rimuru here? What changed and how did she become a complete soul?" Luminas questioned her

"Well, Chronoa witnessed the other 'Rimurus' in the other timelines vanishing, right? It was them using a power to... Ah." Elle blinked in realization and stopped herself while looking back at Rimuru, "... I think I know why she called it Pandora's Box now... Do you want me to say it?"

"I personally don't want that, though..." Veldora muttered, his nervous expression showing on his face, "... It would really, really cause a lot of problems."

"If you know, then spill it, you damn lizard! We need information, and this is obviously related to what has happened to Chronoa in the future!" Luminas snarled

"Or is the information really that important to keep a secret?" Leon added

Chronoa also decided to chime in, "Then let's just promise each other to keep this information to ourselves. Wouldn't that solve the issue?"

"Not unless someone can steal information through mind reading or something." Feiyun interjected

"That is correct. No matter how skilled someone can be in blocking out mind reading skills, they won't know how to counter a power that they don't understand." Iris added

Leon narrowed his eyes at them, "And how do you know that?"

Feiyun stares at him with an incredulous expression, "Oh, I don't know... It's not like you've been thinking about Chloe for the past five minutes, right?"

Leon's eyes shifted a little, "How...?"

"See? You completely didn't know that I was reading your mind. By the way, it's not a skill that I used. What if someone has a skill that can bypass your defenses too?" Feiyun questioned him

"Just who..."

Rimuru, who had been silent all the while, finally claps her hand together to bring the attention of the room back to her.

"Let's leave it at that. Let me say it myself. I know you guys might object to it, but I trust them."

Upon hearing Rimuru's words, those who wanted to raise objections immediately went silent. She takes a breath before explaining herself.

"The vanishing that happened to the other 'me' in the different timelines was most likely the activation of what I call the <Authority of Origin>. That Authority has the power to rewrite fate, at the cost of my own life, though. From my own memories of my past life, I used it for the first and last time and completely disappeared from the world, so I can confidently say that it's the same thing. It may sound unbelievable, but it's the truth."