Chapter seven: illusion
Since returning, I have been able to see flames everywhere. They cling to the outline of every living thing: a corona of blue, a nimbus of sickly green, some so bright they drown out the face beneath.
Every soul wore a shroud of color: some single and pure, others a riot of warring hues.
The air itself seethed with afterimages, as if the universe had transformed by fire and warped. I confessed this to Tenma, craving relief, or at least understanding.
"Allow me to inscribe the energies of the world onto as my master once did"
"Thank you."
"No worries, I suck at explaining, so I thought this would be the best way for you to understand your power.
As his aura covered my hand, I began to feel a slight prick, and energy and what its essences flowed through me, allowing me to understand the fundamentals.
Every living soul possesses an Inner World—an unseen realm born from the essence of its existence. Within it flows the primordial current from which all power originates.
This energy is also completely unclassified by the mortal realm, which uses it without noticing.
The Fundamental Energies
Ki
The origin of all living power.
Ki flows through every creature, every tree, every mountain, and every breath drawn beneath the heavens. It is the foundation upon which every other energy is built.
KI is neither good nor evil. It merely reflects the heart of the one who wields it. As one's spirit changes, so too does the nature of their
From this source emerge countless manifestations, but only a few are recognized as the Fundamental Energies.
Without Ki, life cannot exist.
Magic
Magic is the power of possibility.
It is an energy capable of giving form to imagination itself, turning dreams into miracles and nightmares into reality. While limitless in potential, Magic is unstable, shaped by the will and emotions of its wielder.
The brighter the dream...
the darker the nightmare it may create.
Demonic Energy
Demonic Energy is corruption incarnate.
It devours, twists, and desecrates everything it touches. Flesh mutates. Souls decay. Even other forms of energy can be consumed and transformed into corrupted reflections of themselves.
Nothing remains pure after prolonged contact.
Many seek to command it.
Few survive becoming its master.
Divine Energy
Divine Energy is the radiance of absolute order.
It exists to purge corruption, suppress darkness, and destroy unnatural existence. Those capable of wielding Divine Energy gradually deepen their understanding of the eternal laws known only as Truth.
Yet Divine Energy is merciless.
To the impure...
it is no different than judgment itself.
Faith
Faith is not belief alone.
It is the bridge between the soul and the divine.
Every act of conviction strengthens one's connection to higher existence, allowing fragments of the eternal Truth to reveal themselves. As Faith grows stronger, so too does one's ability to perceive reality beyond illusion.
Without Faith, Truth remains forever hidden.
Truth
Truth is the highest path.
It is neither magic nor divinity.
It is the fundamental law upon which existence itself is written.
No mortal is born understanding Truth. Instead, every seeker begins by discovering tiny pieces known as Truth Fragments.
A Truth Fragment is created whenever one's understanding surpasses illusion and approaches reality itself.
Most never obtain even one.
Truth Fragments
Truth Fragments are incomplete pieces of universal law.
Each fragment represents a realization born from the gap between personal experience and objective reality.
Individually, they possess little power.
Collected together, however...
They begin to resonate.
Truth Rings
When enough compatible Truth Fragments merge, they form a Truth Ring.
A Truth Ring is the first true step toward transcending mortality.
Each Ring grants an ability that exists nowhere else in creation—a manifestation of the cultivator's own understanding of Truth.
Truth Rings are unique.
As one's comprehension deepens, each Ring evolves, unlocking greater power and revealing hidden aspects of its law.
Truth Rings can merge with others, creating entirely new principles never before witnessed.
Truth Sphere
The pinnacle of ordinary cultivation is the creation of a Truth Sphere, and the first step to transcendence.
A Truth Sphere is formed from no fewer than three and no more than ten perfected Truth Rings.
Its purity determines everything.
Clouded Rings produce a fractured Sphere.
Perfect Rings produce a flawless Sphere capable of rewriting reality itself.
Thus, cultivators seek not merely to gather Rings...
But to refine them until every imperfection has vanished.
'I must be using Ki'
I thought to myself, before saying the same thing to Tenma.
"Interesting, I don't use Ki myself so I wouldn't know. So let's just watch the emperor do all the heavy lifting and ask him about it later."
His laid-back attitude was worrisome, but I didn't argue, and in the next instant, I found myself watching the human emperor, that paragon of war, as he addressed the demon horde.
His voice was surgical, the precision of a mortician—
"Insects, you are the epitome of pointless suffering.
~YoUU MOck uS HUMaaaan! How foolish; you should know that ever since we got here, we've felt stronger!!
The demons howled as they enjoyed their newfound strength.
They gnashed their teeth and ran at the human emperor without giving him a chance.
You should feel honored. I have granted you a hundredfold increase in strength. I have even shackled myself so you might reach me.
However.
He said in a low voice as he slowly made a fist with his right hand. The demons shrieked, their voices splitting, their bodies mutating, fusing, erupting into grotesque forms. They bled, combusted, exploded into fractal patterns of gore.
The emperor hovered above, making a semicircle of his hands; from his palms, a crescent of orange-pink vapor condensed, then erupted into a phoenix. It swooped, incinerating the horde to vitrified nothingness. The difference in power was obscene: Nothing remained but a slurry of molten flesh.
His contempt was clinical, the detachment of a pathologist:
"You are not even fit to be beasts. Release the barrier"
The instant he spoke, Ryu and Cain released the barrier, and we all went down into the valley to congratulate the emperor.
When we came down, he stood there indifferent to our praise.
As he pronounced the difference in power as "the sun to a pebble. The emperor seemed vaguely disappointed in the battle with the demon horde.
Reality cracked. A door in the sky, a deluge of blood, volcanoes jetting gore. From above, where the sky fissured. A single blue eye glared, as vast as a planet. The emperor recoiled from the gaze, lips curled in disdain.
The emperor sneered: "I despise being observed."
He hurled a spear of cloud and fire into the eye. The sky shuddered and collapsed into a black orb. The corpses of the slain demons twisted, tangled, and coalesced into a single figure. It was beautiful in the way a dissected heart is beautiful: This creature was a study in contradictions: four black wings, four white, a face both angelic and wrong, green eyes cold as preserved specimens. They were voids, alive and dead at once.
Its mere existence was a threat, a rupture. It radiated the kind of beauty you would dissect just to prove it could bleed.
"Are you the strongest?"
It asked, its voice displayed emptiness and uncaring.
The emperor flew to him slowly, staring him deep into his eyes.
Then poked both of them at a speed the mysterious being couldn't react to.
The being didn't react to his eyes being poked, nor did he care; he just repeated his question." are you the strongest?"
The human emperor chuckled, amused at his reaction.
"What do you think? Am I the strongest?!"
He roared, and the realm shook. His energy climbed higher, but I didn't see a flame or any kind of aura from him. However, I could definitely sense he was raising his energy."You are the strongest, but also the most flawed. You supply every mortal with energy, even as it bleeds you dry. That is your curse. Shall I summon a billion mouths to drink you empty?"
Before he could finish, twelve pillars of black smoke erupted, each tethered to a spiderweb of seventy shadows. Above them, a golden cloud radiated like an operating lamp. The eye vanished. The pillars, the shadows, the light—they converged; Shadows and light collided, consuming me, peeling away my layers until nothing but raw nerve remained.
Then: darkness,
I ceased to exist in this terrible world.
[Demo Completed…The subject is now waiting to reconnect to reality.]
[Error: the subject's consciousness is heading into an empty space within the system]
Darkness.
Not the darkness of night, nor the darkness behind closed eyes.
This was something older.
Something that swallowed light itself.
Silence ruled this place. There was no wind, no heartbeat, no distant echo. It was as though sound had never been created. Even the memory of noise had been erased.
It reminded me of where this journey had begun...
and how quickly it had come to an end.
I drifted through the endless void, unable to tell whether I was walking, falling, or simply existing. Time had long since abandoned me. Seconds and centuries felt no different here.
One by one, my senses disappeared.
Sight.
Sound.
Touch.
Taste.
Even the feeling of my own body faded until I questioned whether I had ever possessed one at all.
Only one thing remained.
Loneliness.
It settled upon my chest like an unseen weight, tightening with every breath I struggled to take. The harder I fought against it, the heavier it became, until it felt as though the darkness itself wished to crush what remained of my soul.
Then...
A single white flame flickered into existence.
Small.
Fragile.
Yet impossibly bright.
It did not burn the darkness.
Instead, the darkness retreated from it, as though even the abyss feared its light.
The flame drifted toward me, wrapping itself around my body like a warm blanket against an endless winter. Warmth returned to my frozen limbs. My sight cleared. My hearing awakened. The silence broke, replaced by a voice so gentle it could calm the most restless heart.
"It is over."
"You are safe."
"There is nothing left to fear."
Each word eased the ache inside me. Every whisper carried a warmth I desperately wanted to believe.
The flame guided me forward through the endless black, its comforting voice slowly drowning every thought that wasn't its own.
Then...
Another voice reached me.
It was so faint I almost mistook it for a memory.
A whisper.
Barely louder than my own breathing.
It came not from the flame...
But from somewhere deep within the darkness.
Unlike the flame, it offered no comfort.
It demanded nothing.
It simply waited.
I turned away from the warm light and listened.
The whisper carried a weight that no gentle lie could imitate.
It spoke only once.
"Do not forget your past."
The darkness trembled.
"This world is false."
The white flame flickered.
Its warmth faded.
The whisper became clear enough for me to hear every word.
"Forget who you are..."
"...and you will fall to it once again."