Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 17
As Kazuki slipped into a meditative-like state, he continued to wield his aura, lightning, and sword forms on instinct alone. Each slash allowed a form of resonance and he began to grasp something seemingly intangible. His eyes glowed with radiant light as he was on the precipice of Divine Enlightenment.
Kazuki had gotten to this state a handful of times but he could never fully touch upon nor comprehend any of the universal truths. As he continued to mindlessly cut away Chaotic space, a law of the universe did in fact begin to reveal itself to him.
Arc, Sword, and Codex all sensed the same thing at once.
(DIVINE ENLIGHTENMENT!)
They all knew what this was even if they had never directly experienced it themselves. It was a phenomenon even they had never before touched upon and was mysterious even to them. They did not know if Kazuki was receiving Divine enlightenment or entering it, nor did they know the difference or if there even was one. All they knew was that they were currently witnessing A being step into the ultimate stage.
Once Kazuki fully comprehends whatever the universal truth is, his powers would rise rapidly and he would leave behind his human limits and truly become a God.
This should have been a time of celebration. Anywhere else in any of the three Higher Realms, this would cause friends, family, allies, and so on to rejoice in this revelation of truth. This however was not the place for such happiness as this was no place to undergo the ultimate transformation.
They all realized where the problem lie.
(Arc, if he doesn’t keep cutting away at Chaotic space and it reforms while he is receiving Divine Enlightenment, then the backlash will knock him out of Divine Enlightenment. This is not something that happens ever frequently. If he really does lose it, it could take him millions or possibly even billions of years before he can see the universal truths.)
(Damnit you tireless tome! I am already well aware of the consequences. He’s currently still cutting away a path with a fraction of his mind. The longer Divine ENlightenment is showing him the truths of the universe, the more it will drag his focus away from his slashing. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until all of his mind is on the universal truths and the path collapses.)
Once the path collapses Kazuki would lose out twofold. Chaotic space would fill his cleared-away path, therefore, destroying all progress he had made carving his way to the distant rock as well as and most importantly kicking him so to speak out of Divine Enlightenment. This would cause him to fail at comprehending a universal truth and he would fail at stepping into Godhood.
To lose his path to the rock and at the same time fail at becoming a God. Arc and Codex realized how much of a blow this could be. Kazuki had trained and meditated for millions of years inside his soul world. He had made zero progress trying to get to Divine Enlightenment during all of that time. If he were to lose his progress this time, the two knew that he would most likely snap. What that entailed, the two did not wish to even entertain how self-destructive Kazuki would become at that point.
(Alright, you know what will happen if he stops clearing the path with his lightning and I know as well so now what? How do we help him?)
Arc was surprised Codex wanted to help. it didn’t know if it was more surprised that Codex wished to help or that Codex sought Arc’s input in the matter.
(Right, whatever we do we cannot affect Kazuki in any way or he may fail at comprehending a law of the universe. We must interfere yet not interfere. His brother’s sword forms. I have observed Kazuki for a long while. With them, I can perfectly mimic his attack. At the same time, I am limited in what I can currently do. Most of my focus must remain on my barrier to protect us all from the outside forces. That’s why you and Sword will be responsible for most of the work.)
Arc extended a bit of its power and shared everything it knew about Kai’s sword forms with Sword and Codex.
Codex went silent for a moment as it took in all of this information.
(Fascinating. So this is the technique to sever energy.)
Codex gathered some magic and sunk its own power and used the sword forms with a thought.
(2nd form shapeless cloud.)
Codex’s power was suddenly divided and formed many swords before they rained down in every direction.
(Stop playing around. You are wasting time. In order for us to not interfere with Kazuki we must not get in his way whilst we use the sword forms. We must follow after him and be completely in sync with him. A fraction of a second after he clears the path, it will then be you Codex and a fraction after that it will be Sword. Following this rhythm, when Kazuki slows down you slow down, when he speeds up his attacks you both speed up as well. Any gaps between that and I will cut in and make up for the remainder. UNDERSTOOD!?)
Sword danced while Codex simply answered with a…
(Yes!)
They would not have attempted this earlier, especially now that Kazuki’s mind was not on task and his focus was elsewhere but they had to do this, otherwise, it could all backfire on Kazuki. Maybe his life would not be in danger but his mind and his will would possibly never recover from this.
With the plan set, and with no hesitation, their powers shot forward in quick pulses. Things would be much simpler if they could at least touch Kazuki with their power and sense exactly when he used his attack but even coming into contact with him could have devastating results and was simply not worth it.
Instead, they were forced to observe and sense all of his power flowing outward. This was strange for all of them. Not because they could not sense his power but rather because he was using countless energies within nanoseconds apart. Kazuki was still countering all of the different energies as he came across them. Even with his focus divided unfairly, he still had enough concentration to make instant calculations and use the exact power to counter whatever energies concentrated in the highest volume in his path. As these energies pushed, pulled, tore, stretched, flowed, and swirled, he was perfectly timing his slashes and clearing everything at the end of his path away.
This meant these Artifacts had to do the exact same thing, while also keeping in perfect synchronization with Kauzki’s timing. None of them had ever done something like this with so many energies at once. If they were any other beings, this would be a near-impossible task but they were Artifacts. Though this was strange, they used the most difficult energy of all, origin energy. Overcoming these other energies, it was challenging but they were doing it none the same.
Just as they were cooperating with one another well enough, a new problem became abundantly clear.
Kazuki who had been speeding up as time went on, had slowed the moment he entered Divine Enlightenment. This was good for Arc and the others and they kept up with him perfectly. However, something strange happened. His eyes glowed even brighter and his strokes started to become faster and faster. he was actually accelerating.
(How the fuck is he getting faster Arc!?)
(This must be related to whatever universal truth he is uncovering. His efficiency and understanding are going up and with it so too is his speed. This can’t last long, just stay with him.)
Kazuki’s body sat silently inside Arc’s inner space in absolute silence. On the surface, he was a picture of tranquility but beneath it all, there was something awakening deep within. His soul tree looked normal with a small silver outline around its entirety. As time slipped by, this silver color began to change and take on a golden hue. With it, his entire soul world was trembling as if it would erupt.
Faster and faster. His energy pulsed outward in rapid succession. From his soul world to his body and outward to the end of the cleared path. His lightning constantly changed color to match and counter whatever energies he encountered. Lights flashed nonstop and Chaotic space shook in their surroundings. All of his lightning suddenly transformed and became golden with a dark purple beam in its center and specks of silverish grey in its surroundings. The moment this bolt of lightning struck out, Chaotic space was forced away and the path went from barely a Realm in length to more than a hundred.
Arc, Sword, and Codex were all shocked as Kazuki’s aura had suddenly shot forth more than a hundred realm lengths away.
Arc gathered its power as it roared.
(HURRY! WE MUST CATCH UP!)
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