Absolute World, also called World of Absolution, is a term that refers to a momentary state in which the boundaries between the present world and the Backyard are blurred, as if they merged for a second.

Story

Untold eons ago, the cores of the Absolute World came into existence in the Backyard and have caused an unknown number of universal extinction events over the course of history. After life began on Earth four billion years ago and multicellular organisms appeared,^[2] five Absolute Worlds appear to have occurred,^[3] resulting in the mass extinctions known as the Big Five (ビッグファイブ, Biggu Faibu?), experienced during the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and Cretaceous Periods.^[2]

Sometime in the 20th century,^[4] The Original entered the Backyard and discovered the existence of these two informational bodies, and named them "Flame of Corruption" and "Scales of Juno". Then, to ensure that an Absolute World never occurs again, he sealed them into two separate "seeds"^[3] or cores.^[5] Sometime after 2008,^{[note 1]} The Original returned to the Backyard to stop his own creation, the Universal Will,^[3] and entrusted one of his disciples, That Man, with the seeds.^[8] As part of the Ecosystem Evolution Project, That Man used the seeds as an "origin" for Gear cells.^[3]

In 2016,^[9] upon learning that his friend Aria Hale was terminally ill, That Man begged her to undergo cryo-freezing until a cure was found.^[3] However, she stubbornly refused, wanting to spend her last moments with Frederick Bulsara, rather than face a future without her two friends.^[9] In his desperation,^[3] and under duress due to the government intervening in the Gear Project,^[10] That Man implanted the Flame of Corruption within Frederick—without his consent—to make him "indestructable", turning him into a Gear, and Aria finally agreed to cryosleep.^[3] In 2073,^[7] That Man transformed Aria into Justice^[11] and implanted the Scales of Juno within the Gear commander^[12] before the incident that drove her^[13] to wage war against mankind^[14] and led to her death.^[15][16] That Man later created a failsafe version of this core and planted it inside of Jack-O' Valentine.^[17]

In 2187,^[18] the Universal Will sets in motion the final stages of its plan to bring about an Absolute World to exterminate the current human race and have Sol and Elphelt Valentine be the Adam and Eve of the new world.^[19] However, its plans are foiled, as it is Jack-O' who merges with Justice,^[20] restoring the full Aria Hale.^[11] Both versions of the Scales of Juno presumably becoming a single entity as well, the process made Jack-O'/Aria "human".^{[21][note 2]} Later in December of that year,^{[note 3]} That Man removes the Flame of Corruption from Sol,^[23] and presumably takes with him the divine seed to the moon.

Traits

An Absolute World occurs when two forms of informational bodies—"Adam" and "Eve" for ease of reference—appear simultaneously within the Backyard. In general, both appear for a split second, and then disappear immediately, in alternating intervals. In the event that they both appear, the boundaries between the present world and the Backyard are blurred or merged, and anything that cannot withstand that state of dense informational pressure is erased. As such, it causes an extinction event that affects the entire known universe.^[3]

"Adam", or the Flame of Corruption (背徳の炎, Haitoku no Honō?), and "Eve", the Scales of Juno (ユノの天秤, Yuno no Tenbin?), have neither a will nor intelligence, and can survive extinction as they are arguably immortal.^[3] Their hosts, Sol and Justice/Jack-O', have been likened to divinity,^{[24][25][5][20]} being extremely powerful.^[26][27] As some have noted, their death would release the cores and potentially cause an Absolute World to occur.^[5]

According to Bedman, since the Backyard is connected to peoples' dreams, dream and reality are superimposed on each other during an Absolute World. As within his own dreams Bedman can cause certain phenomena to occur—of which only death is permanent—, he believes that he can change reality (including saving his sister and undoing all the deaths he caused) during this momentary event.^[28] In exchange of his own life,^[19] Bedman was able to make a localized Absolute World on his own^[29] and caused a miracle to happen, giving his sister a chance at an ordinary peaceful life.^[19]

Allusions

• Juno, in Roman mythology, was the goddess of marriage and queen of the gods, as well as protector and special counsellor of the state.
• Jack-O' uses in her explanation the mythical Adam and Eve as examples. The man and woman created by God in His own image, they were the first humans according to the Old Testament's Book of Genesis.^[30]

Trivia

• Removing the divine seed doesn't revert Gear conversion, as Sol remains a Gear according to Daisuke Ishiwatari; his strength has been drastically reduced, however.^[31]
• While GG World claims that the Scales are still contained within Jack-O' after the merge,^[32] it is unknown the extent to which she has become biologically or metaphorically "human".^[22] On the one hand, Jack-O' restored Justice/Aria to humanity (absorbing her Gear body into hers) as intended,^[12][21] while Jack-O' herself became complete (her half-soul^[12] joining Justice's half to become "whole", and no longer requiring the halo^[21]); on the other hand, Ky referred to her as "both human and god" before the merge,^[5] only to call her a "regular human" weeks after.^[21] Coupled with That Man's desire that both Sol and Jack-O' lead ordinary lives,^[23] it is unclear whether this remains the case.
• Obtaining all trophies in Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- earns the player an achievement called "The Absolute World".

References

Notes

Citations