Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 113
Taking in the power from two Gods, Kazuki turned it into his own and fed his soul tree nonstop with this pure Divine energy.
As the thunderous noise continued to strike out, it broke apart his soul tree, nearly destroying it every time. Kazuki’s feet did not stop for a single moment. His soul tree grew bigger and extended further as it absorbed the power of Nala and Fleck.
Each iteration of growth caused his soul tree to come back stronger and purer than ever before. Because of this, his magic capacity and proficiency extended as well. With this, his sluggish power began to flow ever more freely and unrestrained.
The restrictive nature of this strange place was mighty but it was not infinite. The more steps he took, the further he reached, the stronger his magical power became. At first, it moved at a snail’s pace but now it moved like a slow drip and then it was as if there was a small crack in a large pot and the slow drip became a constant and steady flow.
He could now pull Felck and Nala’s energy into his soul world even faster, which in turn he made his own and fed to his soul tree.
He did not know for how long this path in front of him was, nor how long he could sustain this growth but he didn’t waver nor even consider failure. If he lost his focus with thoughts of death, like a prophecy being fulfilled, he knew death would come.
The sound reverberating in this black pyramid was now like a Lower Realm imploding. He felt not only his soul painfully breaking under this potent ever-present danger but his body was suffering even more disastrous wounds.
His muscles snapped and tore, his organs were split and reduced to mush and his bones cracked and broke becoming mangled and mutilated. This type of physical pain was nothing compared to what he suffered in his soul. Kazuki endured as his body recovered almost instantly. He had never been more grateful than today that his body could regenerate at such an accelerated rate.
He pushed himself further and further, beyond what any Demigod is capable of.
Still, there was only darkness all around him.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
The sound was like thousands of Lower Realms breaking.
Kazuki had just taken another step when a leg was blown off. It landed on the ground just in front of him and collapsed into a puddle of liquidized flesh.
A new leg regrew instantly but the sight of seeing his leg being torn off by mere sound would leave a deep impression on any other but Kazuki merely threw the useless thoughts away and kept moving.
Another step forward and this time the sound amplified a thousand times over and both legs and an arm were ripped away from his body.
Again he regenerated instantly.
(My body is suffering far too much. It can’t keep up with my soul. If only I could tear open Chaotic space. I could Devour Chaotic energy and strengthen my body to a terrifying degree.)
Once more Kazuki tried calling out to any of the Artifacts with him but none of them replied back. He did not know if they just couldn’t hear him or if it was something more serious but what he understood for certain is that e was entirely on his own right now.
(I need an even more powerful energy source. If I had something like that to devour, my body would strengthen to even greater heights and I could handle this strange energy attack.)
Kazuki’s magical power grew with his soul tree but his energy was limited and he could only absorb so much from Felck and Nala before they ran dry.
He took another few steps forward and this time his entire body shattered. For a split moment, his soul was entirely exposed. With a thought, he created a new body and again he continued. This time though, the moment he took a step forward, the outside forces boomed unlike anything before. It was as if a Higher Realm had exploded directly in his soul world and body.
He did not know why the scale was so unbalanced and the force had jumped by countless multiple. This was the one, this was the end of all things. Kazuki felt his life force fade and his body became nothingness as it was destroyed. He could feel death upon him. Just as his soul was set to shatter and his existence was to be erased, Kazuki entered his soul world in desperation.
He just needed some time to think, some time to come up with a way to escape this situation. The time difference in his soul world allowed him years to come up with a solution. The gears in his mind turned rapidly as he tried to come up with a plan, an idea, anything at all.
The instant he entered his soul world a terrifying sight befell him. He could see the energy that was destroying his Soul tree. A dark beam of energy was only a few feet away from touching his soul tree and destroying it. Due to the time difference inside his soul world, the dark beam was actually frozen. No, actually it was moving, however, due to the time difference it was moving so slowly that it appeared to be frozen. Floating silently in waiting.
If he were to exit his soul world this dark attack would instantly impact his soul tree and destroy it. Inside his soul world though, it could only move in such small increments that it did not even appear to be moving currently. Kauzki knew that was simply an illusion though. This strange invasive power was ready and set to destroy him at a moment’s notice.
He knew the time difference in his soul world many would call absurd and anyone would be envious but for Kauzki the sight of death literally lying in wait was both a bitter sense of relief and nightmarish. His impending death was upon him.
This though was only the first shock he received. He hadn’t observed the time difference in his soul world for a while but now that he was observing it, he was left dumbstruck.
He found something odd with the time difference within his soul world.
(What the fuck is this!? The time difference…how has it grown and become this…this ridiculous!?)
Kazuki had not noticed this change until now because he had not done any introspection like this for a while. What he found was that the time in his soul world had evolved. Seconds in the real world could easily be years but now that time expanded to millions of years. A second in the real world was millions of years in his soul world.
(What is this? How can I be in here for millions of years while a single second passes in the outside world?)
He at first had no explanation for this. Yes, his soul tree had grown to some degree, and with it, the time difference would naturally grow but not like this. It had gone beyond anything he could have possibly imagined. From what he has experienced before, the rate of expansion and growth should have brought a few tens of thousands of years at the most, not millions.
He questioned whether this was real or not but found that to be foolish.
(Of course, this is real but the question is…how?)
How had his soul changed to such a degree? Not only that but it had gone completely unnoticed until now. It was up to hear with these thoughts that he could only point to one thing and one thing alone.
(For it to go under my radar like this, it’s similar to the Origin energy incident. The fused Artifact piece stole a tiny bit of Origin energy from Carta’s bracelet Artifact. Arc should have received it all but a small amount entered me and vanished. Arc and the others could not even discover this energy inside of me but it had to have gone somewhere. This Origin energy, Because I am part Artifact now, I can take in this energy. I didn’t think I could actually utilize it but unconsciously this Origin energy had some effect on my soul tree.)
Kazuki looked at his Soul tree but could see no change on the outside.
He placed a hand on his soul tree and took a closer look at his soul. His mind and soul searched his soul tree and entered the depths of it. That is where he sensed it.
Deep in the recesses of his soul tree, there was something unexpected. A link of some kind had formed. From the deepest part of his soul tree, there was a small place inside that was similar to a seed. This seed was the Origin energy. It was still within him and really hadn’t disappeared. This was only a piece of the puzzle though.
The link from this tiny seed of Origin energy, it stretched out like a thin line of thread that ran from the depths of his soul tree to the base of his soul tree where it was actually of all things connected to the spinning devouring void.
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