( Minutes later. )
" The 'Deviant Anchor'? " Circe asks Ragna for his question.
" Yeah! do you also know what it is? " Ragna adds another Question to her which made Circe realize something.
" The 'Deviant Anchor'..., hmmm!? "
" Are you referring to Adrian Waterson? " Circe asked Ragna, immediately knowing who he was.
" I see, so you know him... " Ragna replied.
" It seems to me that you really did witness the 'Abyss Tower Raid' somehow, using your 'eyes' and 'ears'... " Ragna tells Circe.
" Oh no, even better boy. " Circe replied calmly.
" I've made contact with Waterson before. " Circe answered which surprised Ragna for a bit.
" You, met him? " Ragna asks regarding this fact.
" Using my 'eyes' and 'ears' of course, they also become my 'mouth' after all. "
" By the way, do you know that the 'Crown' he's wearing? " Circe asks Ragna which immediately made his brain gear work fast.
"( Did she mean that 'Deviant Crown' he used when he fought me? Don't tell me. )"
" It was you who gave him, wasn't it? " Ragna straightly asks Circe which Circe cutely replies with a wink.
" I show him and the 'Dark Brotherhood Guild' the place where they could find it in the first place. "
" Thus, I've heard that the Deviant Monarch immediately went impressed and favored him so much afterward than their other 'servants'. "
" Adrian was actually hated by the other 'Demonic Sects' after all. " Circe explains.
" I agree, a guy like him is too greedy to be acquainted with evil, isn't he? " Ragna asks.
" Put him simply in one place and he'll sure devour it all, that's what I thought about him, personally. "
" I couldn't even agree more. " Circe says, agreeing with Ragna regarding Adrian.
" After all, he is a 'Sin Marked' Demigod. "
" He is the evilest breed result from both divine (god) and degenerate (human), making him having a 'Sin Mark' was the last thing that whoever god that made him could do. "
" After all, a 'Sin Mark' is basically a death sentence to the humans that the Diviners hated, it was simply their attempt to 'curse' someone. "
" By simply leaking the humans' dark energy prospects to the surface and making it recognizable..., it is sure a great way to make those humans get killed wherever they go. " Circe says about her thoughts regarding it.
" That's why some of them try to turn the surfaced 'dark energy prospects' into their 'Core', wasn't it, hence why they could create a 'Sin Core'? " Ragna asks about it, remembering Raiden and Adrian's condition.
" Yes, that is a great way to weaponize it... "
" By simply accepting the Darkness that was leaked outside them, it will make the Dark Energy concentrated and become a Core that will fuel the human afterward. "
" A truly difficult process, but with a great result in the end. "
" For when the 'Sin Core' is complete, the Deviants could easily interact with those who achieved it. " Circe explains it.
" How? " Ragna wonders about it, wondering how it could happen in the first place.
" Well, it's thanks to the humans 'dark energy' of course... "
" An energy resulted from the humans' negative emotions and acts... "
" By simply having it, it could immediately connect the said human to the Deviants and their monsters, enabling them to even interact with them. "
" I see..., so by having it means you're open to their connection, isn't it? "
" Exactly. " Circe immediately replied.
" Does this come in stages though, Circe? " Ragna asks again, wondering if the Sin Core also comes in stages like the Gift Core.
" Stages, well I just mentioned one, didn't I? " Circe asks as she mentions the 'Deviant Anchor' earlier.
" Yes, which stage is that Circe...? " Ragna wondered which Circe then decides to simply explain it all.
" There are simply three stages of the 'Sin Core', boy... "
" Unlike the Gift Core that has five stages, plus the Divine Avatar stage bonus... "
" The Sin Core has three stages, first the 'Adapter Stage', this stage is for those who just achieved having a 'Sin Core. "
" Based on my prediction, their access to the Deviant's power is from 1%-34% of the Deviant's power, in that stage, they could already face those who had Tier 1-3 Gift Cores and this is before mentioning that they had their 'Deviant Mutation' access, thanks to it. "
" 'Deviant Mutation'? " Ragna asks.
" Yes, Mutation... " Circe tells him.
" The Deviants are very adept in mutating those they subjected with their power, after all, they always wanted their subjects to have great raw strength. "
" This mutation could help them hold the Dark Energy that accumulated, despite the mutation is not that perfect enough. "
" Thus, those who had the Sin Core will have no problem in utilizing the energy as well, for their body is mutated to withstand its usage. "
" The second stage is what I've said earlier, the 'Anchor Stage'. "
" In this stage, the Sin Core user will receive more power and mutation from the Deviants who are in charge of their Core. "
" But, if the Deviant in charge are more powerful for their body to handle, they simply need some 'tools', 'equipment' to stabilize their Deviant's power, increasing their adaptability to become their conduit, like Adrian's 'Crown' for starters. " Circe tells Ragna.
" Is that Crown specially made? " Ragna gives her a question.
" Indeed, the Crown was simply a 'treasure' from a Disaster Dungeon or somewhat, I forget which Dungeon I directed him into though. "
" You forget!? " Ragna asks her with a high tone.
" Jeez, calm down. "
" He's dead now, you killed him, there's no need to worry about it now. "
" Besides, when I saw you obliterate him, I could see the Crown and every Deviant Remnant in Adrian's body vaporized, what a great job you did there. " Circe praised Ragna.
" It wasn't easy, need some pain and plans to achieve it, still... "
" The likes of you might think that I'm lucky, but I assure you that kind of victory wasn't considered luck if you were me. "
" If I were lucky then I could immediately kill him by simply hitting him with a rock and it immediately pierces his head and brain. " Ragna suddenly gets emotional there, he rubs his left eye, covered by his blindfold.
" Of course, of course, I don't think that as being lucky too... "
" You were scratched and wounded too many times for that victory after all. " Circe teases him.
" Could we please continue? " Ragna asks to continue the topic, he still rubs his covered left eye for the 'Twelve Eye' is still healing itself there.
" Fine then, this is the last stage after all... "
" I know the name is sound cheesy and it is in fact a ripoff from the Gift Core final stage. "
" The final stage of the Sin Core is called the 'Dark Avatar' stage. "
" A stage that only one had ever achieved, it didn't manage to last long for- "
" The person was killed at the very moment he achieved it, wasn't he? " Ragna interrupts and immediately asks Circe about the 'person' which made Circe surprised.
" Why do you ask that? "
" Are you-? " Circe was shocked as she covers her mouth with her hands.
" Yeah, he's my uncle, my father's little brother to be exact. " Ragna simply tells her, making her smirk as she hears it.
Meanwhile, inside the System Space, Ragna Twelve and the other residents burst their mouths after hearing it, they were shocked after hearing it as well after it came out from Ragna's mouth like Circe was.
" Oh my... "
" That's quite a fact for me to hear... " she chuckles.
" What, you didn't believe me? " Ragna asks her, he even asks her if she wants him to do a DNA test to prove he's related.
" No no need for that, it's just... " Circe says while chuckling.
" Why do you just simply tell something like that, something private...? " Circe wondered about it.
" Privacy? " Ragna wondered.
" I thought most of you who knew him would've tried to trace his origins by now. "
" I've been waiting for one day that those who knew him would approach me. " Ragna tells Circe about it, for that is what it is, for years, the reason why Ragna and his grandma are on alert sometimes, aside afraid of people knowing that Ragna himself is Ungifted, is because they are afraid of those who faced Ragna's uncle back then would someday frontally approach them, hence why they try to lay low despite they need to gather some funds from their work.
...
( Meanwhile. )
< System Space >
" What did he just say? " Battle Maiden asks as she after hearing the conversation outside the System Space.
She had been frozen after hearing the facts from Ragna himself, she gulps as her minds begin to pump its gears to think about it.
Ragna Twelve slapped his face after he sees her hearing this fact, he curses Ragna for just plainly telling it to another person without any cautiousness at all.
"( This brat, why would... )" Ragna Twelve holds his anger over Ragna's actions while wondering what will the Maiden do as Ragna just spill out the fact while she could hear it.
Ragna Twelve looks at the Battle Maiden, who immediately froze after Ragna reveals that he he is related to someone she knew back then.
" That's not possible... "
" This is outrageous... "
As the Battle Maiden said that inside the System Space, on the other side, outside the System Space, Ragna could hear what happened inside the realm as he smirks.
" Hmph... "
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Extra:
Yes, Ragna has an uncle, first mentioned in Chapter 77: Tower of the Abyss.
He is mentioned by Zack Kiehl, he is Grandma Rory's third child, her second son.
Facts:
Ragna's Uncle is one of the first gen Hunters, he is the first person who applied for the Hunter Association when it was first opened by its head, Hayden Wayne.
He is also Ragna's reason for becoming one since he's the one who showed him the glamorous life of a Hunter.