Without a second thought, Dudley snatched Trunsoest's Brass Book from the floor and bolted upstairs to his bedroom.
"Oh, Diddy-kins, what's wrong?" Petunia cried, completely bewildered by the sudden chaos.
Vernon's face purpled as he glared at Harry, instantly convinced his freakish nephew was the cause of all this. Harry flinched but said nothing. He was innocent, but he was also used to this. No matter what went wrong, it was always his fault.
Safely back in his room, Dudley's breathing was still ragged. He carefully placed the bronze book on his desk, his hands trembling slightly.
Trunsoest'sBrass Book… The name, the very concept of it, had simply materialized in his mind. Why now?
Since his return, he hadn't forced himself to recall the horrifying details of that other world. Now, as he tried, he realized his memory was a frustrating blur. He could grasp insignificant details if he concentrated, but the core truths, the essential knowledge of that bizarre reality, remained elusive. Even the memory of this book had only surfaced the moment he laid eyes on it.
"Part of my memory has been sealed," he realized with a dawning horror. "Knowledge itself is a contaminant there. Merely understanding certain things invites corruption; merely thinking about them summons disaster..."
Memories were not harmless. In that world, anything could be a weapon, even your own mind.
"My name… in that world, my name was Dali Trunsoest," Dudley murmured to himself. "That must mean I have a connection to this book." He tried to pry more details from his memory but quickly gave up. Anything truly touching upon the supernatural was locked away tight.
His gaze fell back to the bronze book on the desk. It seemed his memory had a unique trigger mechanism; only by encountering something of that world could he access the related information. If this Grade 0 Sealed Artifact hadn't appeared, he would have never remembered its existence.
"So the problem now is… what do I do with it?"
He was powerless. Facing a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, Dudley was completely at a loss. He no longer possessed any Beyonder Characteristics; he had no way to seal or even contain it. And from the fragmented information surfacing in his mind, he knew this artifact was, in a sense, alive. If it were to awaken here, it would be an extinction-level catastrophe.
After a moment of tense deliberation, he slowly approached the desk. At the very least, touching it before hadn't caused an immediate disaster. That likely meant the artifact was in a dormant state, temporarily safe.
His hand rested on the cool metal, tracing the strange, intricate patterns etched into the cover. He could feel a faint, unspeakable power thrumming within. Taking a steadying breath, he opened it.
The pages were filled with shimmering, mercury-colored text, but the words were a blurry, unreadable mess. A knot of dread tightened in his stomach. He wisely didn't force himself to decipher them, instead flipping through until he found a blank page.
As he did, more information flooded his mind. "Trunsoest'sBrass Book, also known as the Book of Rules. It possesses a living characteristic but remains dormant most of the time. The first half contains the major, underlying laws of reality. The second half is blank, to be written by its wielder. It despises distorted, unaesthetic rules and hates having its loopholes exploited."
Dudley snapped the book shut and sank onto his bed, his mind reeling. "It's dormant because it's no longer in its original world," he reasoned. "For now, it shouldn't be a problem. But it's a ticking time bomb." Without his Beyonder powers, he couldn't influence it, let alone seal it away.
"I can only hope it stays asleep," he thought, a cold dread settling over him.
"My dear darling, are you alright?" Petunia's worried voice came from outside the door.
"I'm fine, Mum. Just a bit tired. Don't worry about me," Dudley called back. His mind was a chaotic mess, and he couldn't bear being disturbed. Without meaning to, his voice carried a subconscious note of authority, a command that brooked no argument.
"Oh! Oh, alright then, dear. We won't disturb you," Petunia said quickly, before scurrying back downstairs.
Dudley was left alone with his terrifying thoughts.
My powers are gone, yet this artifact is here. Is any of this real? He couldn't help but wonder if this world was just an elaborate illusion, a prison constructed by some malevolent Outer God. Was that why his attempt to use his powers on the children had failed?
As the thought crossed his mind, a strange, maddening murmur whispered at the edge of his hearing. His thoughts became chaotic, his sense of self fraying as his very being began to distort.
"What… what's happening…?"
He knew this feeling all too well. It was the agonizing sensation of losing control, the prelude to madness that came when a Beyonder's Potion was not yet fully digested. He had endured it several times before, and each time was an unforgettable nightmare.
A wave of dizziness washed over him. The world dissolved, his bedroom receding as he plunged into an endless, bizarre, black space.
And there, floating in the void, he saw them. Two gelatinous, fist-sized objects pulsing with a strange light. One was a swirling mass of iron-gray and dark red; the other was the color of pure, absolute black.
"Beyonder Characteristics!" The words caught in his throat.
There was no mistaking them. He even recognized them. The pure black one was the Sequence 9 Characteristic of the Black Emperor Pathway: a Lawyer. The other, the chaotic mix of gray and red, was from the Judge Pathway: a Sequence 9 Arbitrator.
"They're inside me," he realized with dawning horror. "They've already started to corrupt my body."
His gaze pierced the darkness, searching the void. There was nothing there, yet he could feel a faint light emanating from the abyss, giving him the vague impression of a vast, silent presence hidden within the pure blackness.
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