It was them.
Although "increase what they desire, grant what they need" was actually the Beldet Family's secret to domination, and "though this body is Icy Blazing Fire, it still awaits the moment it burns out" was also a line from the necromantic art Harvey practiced, neither had originally come from them. But Ash was willing to believe these were the traces they had left behind.
"Looks like I dragged down Broken Lake's average..." Ash even found it a little funny. He had needed the Supreme Tail Feather and Soul Heaven before he could bear the Fifth Hell, but Igula and Harvey had broken through on their own.
Ash had always thought he would have a chance to repay them, always felt they were companions who helped each other. But unlike him, someone who had stumbled into becoming a heretic leader, Igula and Harvey had earned their way into Prison by their own ability.
Before they ever grew used to relying on anyone, they had already learned to hold Fate in their own hands.
Unlike Ash, a Balloon that could be tied to the ground with a string, Igula was Flying Flower, Harvey was Duckweed, and Fate was the wind... A Balloon would drift away against its will, but as long as it had a string, it could be caught. Flying Flower and Duckweed, however, could only ever drift in the wind. They had to seize every chance and ride the gale higher, because when the wind stopped, they too would vanish into dust and smoke.
Only now, at this very moment, did Ash finally understand what Igula and Harvey were thinking:
There was no need to chase.
No one believed more than they did that Ash could pass the Hell Trial, yet they had left him no message. They