As the light recedes back to its origin, gone were the worlds, the vast expanse, as everyone knew it, raging storms populated the emptiness of space and the worlds trembles upon the shaking of the heavens, almost as if aware of the tragedy that befalls the entirety of the void, gone were the supremes who reign over aspects of the heavens, turning everything back to where it initially was.
No one stands on that peak but a young man, his knees shaking, threatening to kneel, but the sword with its edge planted solid on the ground serves as a great support that allows him to keep on standing, his bloodied body supporting his head that peers through the destruction he had brought about.
All across him, there was nothing but the now bright, clear blue sky; traces of the previous battle were gone, the torn apart worlds were returned into their proper place, as if no sort of calamitous, world-ending battle had taken place.
And almost as if to reinforce this idea, none of his previous enemies' deceased body were around, the flowing sea of blood, the mountains of flesh and bones, none of them were present as if they weren't even real in the first place, the only thing that made Argus certain of the battle that took place being the injuries in his body.
"Cough!!"
With eyes widened as he felt something climbing from his insides all the way to his mouth, he let out a loud, violent coughing as he spews out thickened blood, and watching it fall down the ground, he couldn't help but reveal a wry smile as he becomes well aware of the fact that just as much as he was the harbinger of every other supremes' death, he is his own death bringer as well.
"If I never stalled my practices even with my mediocre potential back then… would everything be so different than it was now?" letting out a stray thought, he smiles as his vision starts to darken, those thoughts lingering in his mind as all his senses starts shutting down, the numbing cold depriving him of his sword, the loud ringing drowning any sound from being picked up, the cold wind taking away the fresh, slightly sweet taste and scent of blood.
And once the void itself drapes him in its entirety, Argus remains standing straight, his hands firmly holding the sword that accompanies him in his journey, his lifeless body standing like a statue, unbothered by the things around him, unbothered by the endless flow of time, a testament to the might he once had, strength that is nearly more than enough to reign over the entirety even with all the other powerful existence standing in his opposition.
----------
Now lying on the pure white bed as he stretches his hand towards the ceiling, Argus starts organizing his thoughts, still in disbelief that after what feels like eternity of floating around in an absolute void, he managed to find himself back to before everything began, back on that manor that often pops in his mind even when millennia already passed from the time it was gone.
Being an existence that was once a threat to the balance of the entirety itself, possessing a power that no one else can match, it is only natural that even in such baffling situation, he can still find his calm, yet despite the calmness on the surface, the turmoil in his mind as he fails to comprehend the nature of his return still remains, something that bothers him severely.
'At the very least, it is definitely real…'
He thought to himself as he started getting a feel of everything else, the dead giveaway that he had truly returned being the one thing that plagues him the most during this time of his life.
Shaking his head as he felt his body, unsuitable for the flow of mana, still remaining all the same, he couldn't help but think of just how much time he had wasted in the past trying to improve his mastery over mana, even for just a little bit, no matter the cost, when there was a way better alternative for him.
"The problem is the difference between magic and cultivation…"
As he mutters such words, he closes his eyes as he starts getting a feel around his body, using the most basic sensory techniques to observe his insides, trying to figure out what sort of technique will suit him the best.
'Going by my experiences in the past, the Flame Demon Sutra should be the most suitable, especially given our flame-oriented lineage…'
He thought as he scanned his body, confusion starting to emerge from his face as he started completing the scan more and more, until his body was trembling from sheer disbelief as he finally finished his own scan.
"This… where's the flame meridians… where is it??"
Refusing to acknowledge the fact that what he had from the past was gone, Argus once again uses a sensory technique, this time more advanced than the previous one, scrutinizing his body to the very smallest of corners, taking his time to complete his scan, and yet again, returning with nothing at all.
"H-how??"
This time, it wasn't a panicked, worried questioning, but rather a baffled, a hint of a pleasantly surprised tone that was laced in his voice, his mind still trying to comprehend what he just witnessed within his body as a smile started creeping up his face, his hands shaking and his heart beating like drums as he attempts to calm himself down.
Taking a second look just to make sure that he is seeing things right, he once again performs a scan of himself, the technique he is using now being one that is at the limit of what he can currently use, and yet even then, the vision remains unchanged, his body, the meridians within it, void of any aspect that he can think of, like a clean, blank slate.
"Haha… hahaha… thousands of years of cultivation and the single thing that prevents me from taking that final step is my obsession with mana and magic…"
He mutters in sheer disbelief as a passage of someone killing the goose laying golden egg pops in his mind, reminding him of the state he found himself in right now, except in this case, he had yet to kill the goose laying the golden eggs, and in fact, he no longer has any intention of doing so, even if it was by accident back then.
'Three Purities Origin Meridian…'
Once again observing the treasure within his body that he had stumbled upon, the smile on Argus' face remains despite his unwillingness, all the profound yet mysterious occurrences that he had encountered during his past cultivation journeys now making sense when factoring in the kind of meridian he truly has.
'That's why my fire meridian had that kind of growth rate back then… it was never a fire meridian; it was this meridian whose potential was ruined by the fire attribute mana I tried so hard to acquire…'
He muttered to himself as certainty started surfacing from his sharp eyes, a particular technique to practice already coming to his mind as his mind now starts laying out the path that he will take in the future from now on.