Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 75
“It couldn’t beat me in regards to my soul nor could it consume my magic because I have no beast core. After that, it had only one other move. The dark being inside my soul world tried to feast on the energy in the outside world. It wanted to draw the energy inside but once again it was shit out of luck. I just so happened to be in a place where magical energy was nearly nonexistent.”
Kazuki and everyone else were beyond intrigued. After all, they had never heard of a place with nearly zero magical energy. Magic was supposed to be everywhere and in nearly every object no matter big or small. As soon as he said this, Nunully’s blue eyes lit up.
“A Negative Zone!”
All eyes turned to her.
“I’ve read about it in a book once. The topic piqued my interest so it was easy to remember. Apparently, a man named Zephris was the one to discover it. He was a master alchemist that traveled the world and was responsible for all kinds of crazy miracles. Through his travels, he fell down a cliff and accidentally found himself in one of these Negative Zones. These so-called Negative Zones are bizarre, to say the least. The book I read had very little on the actual subject but what it did say was that these Negative Zones pop up seemingly at random around the world. They form little pockets of space and inside of them, they tend to lack nearly all magical energy. It doesn’t just stop there. Zephris had said that the rules within can be broken at any given moment and the whole Negative Zone can collapse destroying anything within. Whether it be a sheep or even a Titan.”
*Hmph*
Sasai grunted and let out a puff of air.
“Little girl, are you sure you didn’t read some fairy tale. How can such a place like that exist. I’ve lived for several thousand years and I’ve never heard of such a fantasy.”
Kazuki raised a brow at Sasai and Sasai swallowed hard.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just that sounds completely made up.”
Kazuki had to admit, the sound of a place with such little magical energy sounded fake but he himself had experienced planet Earth. In that world, the elements were faint, to say the least. They were so faint that only in special places around the world could he truly feel magical energy and even in those places the energy was still fairly low and incredibly hard to grasp with one’s body.
Experiencing an entire world with so little magical energy, Kazuki could absolutely believe such Negative Zones did indeed exist. One other thing that solidified the idea of these Negative Zones for Kazuki was the name Nunully mentioned. Zephris. This wasn’t the first time he heard of a great alchemist by that same name. He remembered King Oren speaking about the great alchemist Zephris. There were even records of him in ape city. Zephris had created Orichalcum aka god metal and had even built ape city himself and left records on how to control orichalcum.
Because of that, the Adrola apes were able to survive deep within the Abyssal Trench and were even able to use magic by controlling god metal. Down in the abyssal trench, using magic was supposed to be impossible because of Zetrazz’s aura/breath blocking all power, yet with the god metal using magic became possible in such an environment.
From the records, Zephris apparently built ape city more than 10,000 years ago. Not only did he do that but he also discovered these Negative Zones and is also the inventor of god metal. With just a single one of these discoveries, Zephris should have been cemented in the annals of human history, yet for some inexplicable reason, his name was basically unheard of.
Kazuki only came to know of his name from King Oren and Nunully only read a few passages about such a mythical man. Even the Ancient beasts here, who were, in fact, several thousand years old had not heard of him. They had been aware of human history to some extent but they were completely unaware of this character.
Kazuki found this all to be both mysterious and odd.
(Someone so great yet barely anyone is even aware of his existence. The fact that orichalcum can be created using alchemy yet it’s not widespread. Even after more than, 10,000 years have passed. It’s almost like he was erased from history.)
As Kazuki was lost in thought Etora chimed back in.
“It may sound made up little snake but It is in fact true. Just as Zephris accidentally found his way in a Negative Zone, I too accidentally discovered such a strange place. My little Niece is correct. These Negative Zones have little to no magical energy but it doesn’t end there. These small pockets are extreme and chaotic in the way that they behave. One moment things can be calm and the very next the amount of energy can drastically change, creating a storm of magic. These storms have enough power to tear a Titan apart down to its final thread of life and beyond. A moment later the storm calms and vanishes as if it were a dream or an illusion. Inside it’s hard to sense anything and one can only see what is directly in front of them. Down can become up in an instant and then sideways the very next. Being inside, it can be as silent as death and as loud as a star exploding.”
The way Etora described it was terrifying. Such a place would be a true nightmare to be inside, yet Etora had been inside of one.
“Not only is it a hellish type of place, but I dare say even demonic spirits from the actual hell realms would avoid it due to fright. Surviving in such a place is not something one can do for long. Even then, if one wants to escape it is not up to them and you can not do it with your own power. Being in that place, where the rules of reality seemed to twist at any given moment, the Vazul inside of me could consume nothing whatsoever. As a matter of fact, when it tried to consume energy from that place, it reacted badly and seemed to weaken slightly. With its power weakened and with nothing to consume to grow, I used that opportunity to devour it. I used my aura and crushed it down until it was only raw power. After that, another incident occurred. The raw energy that was leftover from the Vazul was absorbed into my soul tree. After that, I gained the ability to devour as the Vazul devours. My strength grows the more energy I consume. The greater the energy is, the more my strength and body improve.”
Listening up to here, Kazuki and the rest were amazed. If this were an actual story Etora made up on the spot it would be easier to believe but at the same time, none doubted his words. His body was living proof. They all could attest to his strength and without a Beast core inside, this explanation actually seemed somewhat reasonable given the other facts such as Zephris and so on.
Sasai at first was also a nonbeliever but by the time Etora got to the end of his story, Sasai seemed to be the one who was pulled in the most.
“What happened after that? You said one can not escape with their own strength what does that mean? How did you manage to escape then?”
Nunully smiled at Sasai and Sasai felt slightly embarrassed. He realized he came off like a gitty child and after he scoffed at Nunully, this only raised his embarrassment to another level. He again apologized.
“Sorry about before. I didn’t mean any offense.”
Nunully shook her head.
“None taken. The sound of a Negative Zone seems to defy all rational logic. I too had my own doubts but Etora saying he experienced it himself only makes it a reality for me.”
Sasai felt a little better hearing this. Most people would gloat at moments like this but Nunully didn’t push it and actually gave Sasai an out, which he appreciated.
Etora continued.
“Entering a Negative Zone is fairly easy. As I mentioned earlier, not only Zephris but I as well fell into one by accident. Getting out though is something almost impossible to achieve. I told you before I have no magic so to escape from such a place where the gravity changes at a moment’s notice are beyond most. The change in such gravity was so intense it felt as if my body was starting to get ripped apart from every direction. Not only that, I never once felt anything like a surface beneath my feet, and instead, the entire time I was inside, it felt as if I was falling. Falling down, falling up, left and right, so odd. As for escaping, I didn’t do anything purposefully. A storm of power formed near me and I was sucked into it. the force was so great I could feel my insides being crushed. In an instant, the storm flung me and I was launched out of the Negative Zone. The moment I was out, the Negative Zone seemed to collapse in on itself and disappeared as if it were never there.”
Etora spoke up to here when he began to sense something. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and his expression changed from calm to boiling anger.
“This damn bitch doesn’t quit!”
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