After the school day ended, Gowther left the War Studies class to head to one of the training halls that Sky Forest had rented from the academy. He was one of the professors who would be teaching the Utah class next year, as the current year was nearing its end and there wasn't much time left.
Therefore, they hadn't changed the professors, and this was the reason they were waiting until next year.
The Verselkin Academy and the Heavenly Immortals Academy would gather their best second-year students to learn from each other, especially since the Heavenly Immortals Academy primarily teaches Chi and Sakil, as they are the fundamental power systems in that world. This world, on the other hand, has the fundamental system of Kono.
Chi is a secondary system prevalent only in the Southern and Western Continents, while Go is prevalent in the Eastern and Northern Continents. Mana is prevalent in the Central and Western Continents, along with Kono, and Ki is prevalent throughout the world. Continents 5 without exception
After some time, Gowther stood before Training Hall 005-G in the West Wing.
A sigh, filled with slight tension, escaped him as he gazed towards the gateway leading into the training hall. "The time has come for me to cross this wall and ascend to the Boundless rank."
"I'm 10 human levels away from the peak of the Outerversa, and I'm about to transcend being half-Boundless to reach it."
"Today I will be a Boundless being. The long-awaited day has finally arrived."
A satisfied smile spread across Gowther's face as he opened the gateway leading into the training hall. A faint creak of the door echoed through the empty training hall.
A sigh escaped Gowther's lips as he stepped inside.
His eyes, glowing a cold crimson, scanned the hall before he continued his journey through the base.
While Gowther Heading towards the center of the training hall, the sound of his footsteps echoed throughout the empty training area, making it seem deserted.
Upon reaching the center of the training hall, Gowther found several people looking at him with calm expressions.
Only Christian, Kazuhiro, and Nicholas were present, as Leon, Inuyasha, and Yuta hadn't arrived yet. Michael Kaiser, Ricardo, Shadow, Harutoriuta, and Sky Forest were busy, being the current instructors, which meant they couldn't move around the academy as easily as the students.
"How are you all doing?"
"We're fine."
A look of surprise crossed Gowther's face as the center of the training hall was cluttered with numerous potions, seal spells, and tranquilizers arranged on the floor in an almost excessively organized manner.
Gowther's gaze was filled with confusion, and one question kept running through his mind: Why were they all here with me while I was attempting a Boundless-rank breakthrough?
A faint smile appeared on Kazuhiro's face as he looked at Gowther, having understood his thoughts without him saying a word.
"There's a reason why shards gather when you break through the Boundless rank."
Kazuhiro's words intensified Gowther's sense of caution and surprise. He is currently the weakest among them by an insurmountable margin—half Boundless. They surpassed it long ago, meaning that just one of them would be enough to complete a task without even lifting a finger.
"The reason we're gathered here is to tame the concepts and laws of this world, as they prevent entities from transgressing them and protect you from the danger of being erased from the narrative if any malfunction occurs while you're breaking through."
"And another reason is that you will merge with a fragment of a Death Path that resides within you. This will put you in a state of frenzy because the fragment of a Death Path will control your body."
"Or perhaps you should say that you are from a Death Path that resides within you because a Death Path was destroyed and you transferred to a Ruler Path. These are the remaining fragments from when we were born. Do you understand that, Gowther?"
A look of shock crossed Gowther's face, which he couldn't hide. "An entire Path erased? How? How did that happen? Does that mean that the Path we live in is destructible?" Gowther was stunned for a moment before regaining his composure, realizing that his Death Path self was stronger than the fragments of a Ruler Path because they were older. Among them, the most experienced and powerful.
"Then who destroyed the Death Path?"
Christian moved his finger, indicating that something was wrong with his statement.
"Destroyed" isn't an accurate description. "Who absorbed the Death Path?"
"When celestial bodies from the fantasy world and above are destroyed or annihilated, they coalesce into a bead-like shape, similar to a squill. The smaller the bead, the stronger the entity that will be born from it. They are called Fantasy World Demons, or Fantasy Demons for short."
"That is, when a path is destroyed or erased, it will be a bead the size of a plastic pinhead, and an entity will emerge with a power level beyond human comprehension. Even the grading system created by humans for the real world won't be able to measure it."
"However, when you consume a bead, you gain power equal to that of the entity that will be born from it."
"And the one who removed the path is Death. He is the Master of the Death Path, and he is considered a version of the Death Path. He is currently fused with Yuta, meaning that a fragment of the Master of the Death Path has merged." With a fragment of the Ruler Path, Yuta's power didn't increase after fusion into anything because the Death Path Master had said he wouldn't do anything. He explained that if he decided to manifest, he would kill everything, even conceptual or immaterial things, since he was the embodiment of Narrative Death and the owner of the Great Outcast Wing: Narrative Annihilation.
A deep sigh escaped Gowther's lips after hearing Kazuhiro and Christian's words, which exhausted him as if he had fought billions of God-Master-rank monsters without a single moment of rest.
Somewhere in the Academy courtyard, Versleken...
"Haaaaaahh ... "Yes, but thank you so much. Staying with a fool wasn't a mistake after all."
"Thank you, brother."
A faint smile appeared on Inuyasha's face as he listened to Leo's words.Leon tapped his forehead. "You're welcome, but remember, we're in a dark fantasy novel, which means there's no guarantee we'll survive until the end."
A faint smile appeared on Leon's face as he looked at Inuyasha while they strolled through the academy grounds.
"The truth is, the only way to kill us, the Fragments of Narratives, is to completely erase the world of the novel. In my novel, Dragon, the Angel of the Fantasy World, there are 13 key concepts that keep this world alive."
"The Great Outcast, who is considered the creator of this world after being cast out, the Rite Scribe, the Supreme Observer, the Universal Judge, the Master of Classifications, Order and Balance, the Origin Dao, the Master of Tests, the Concept of Assassination, the Mist of Mystery, the Chaos of Narrative, the Time of Narrative, and Absolute Fantasy."
Leon and Inuyasha continued on their way until they reached a training base, where they closed the door and made sure that no Another person opens the door, and they enter the training hall to find Gowther, Nicholas, Kazuhiro, and Christian waiting for them.
"You want to perform a special Boundless rank induction ritual for Gowther? It's really fun," Leon's voice was a mixture of sarcasm and seriousness, as this process would drastically change Gowther's life.
A faint smile appeared on Gowther's face, knowing the risks of breaking into the Boundless rank were significant and could cost him his life.
One mistake would be enough to end his life now, even though he wouldn't actually die until the world of the novel was erased. However, he would find it somewhat difficult to return because he would be erased on a narrative level, and this would cause a major disruption to the entire world's structure.
"......."
Before Gowther could say that they should wait for Yuta, Yuta appeared behind Inuyasha and Leon.
His eyes had a slight redness, and his hair had turned whiter than before, though it still only had small clumps.
He, Inuyasha, and Leon entered the training hall.
"Alright, let's begin the Boundless rank induction ritual," Yuta said calmly, looking at Gowther, whose body trembled instinctively at the mere mention of his name.
Yuta removed his upper clothing, revealing a tattoo resembling Gowther's wing, a symbol of assassination.
He then sat in a meditative posture.
While he was administering potions into a system, he utilized a feature called "Instant Consumption," which allowed for immediate consumption without the need to drink it directly, thus obtaining the potions' effects.
"Consume the potions. Since you possess the power of infinite evolution, you'll be fine. Otherwise, consuming too many will lead to your death or insanity. So, you must focus on making your body consume them, or you will die or go insane. Understood?" Yuta's voice was calm as he looked at Gowther, who was consuming the potions. He gorged himself on potions.
After several minutes, all the potions, which were concentrated forms of various concepts and laws that aided his progression to the rank of Boundless, were gone.
Gowther inhaled a large amount of air and then exhaled calmly and lightly.
His body began to glow with a crimson aura, especially in the center of his body, where the strongest glow was present. Gowther's body began to transform into ethereal dust, drawn into the glow.
Despite his body turning to dust, he felt no pain of any kind.
After approximately one minute and forty-five seconds, two jewels appeared: one a light crimson red and the other a dark, bluish-red, close together.
The faces of Yuta Leon, Inuyasha, Nicholas Christian, and Kazuhiro remained calm as they looked at Gowther, who was in his true form—a fragment of a sardonic concept called Assassination. This concept applied to them as well, so they showed no signs of surprise.
________________________________
In the midst of darkness, there was a young man with brown hair and brown eyes. His frail physique was constructed from numerous narrative texts, forming the form of a young man who appeared to be about 17 years old, swimming in the midst of the eternal darkness that was Gowther.
Gowther opened his eyes to find himself inside the eternal darkness, where not a single atom of light existed.
"......"
"......"
Gowther remained silent, as if contemplating his surroundings, when he noticed a young man wearing a robe adorned with patterns resembling a beautiful garden. His jet-black hair reached his lower back, and his wide, dark eyes, like those of an amateur, gazed at Gowther with an analytical look.
"Who are you?" His gaze was filled with caution, watching for any movement this stranger might make.
A faint smile appeared on the face of that person as he looked at Gowther.
"My name is Fang Yuan, son of the ninth Yutu, or as you call him, Yuta Cassiral."
"What? You're joking, right, Yuta?" "He has more than one son? You're joking!" Gowther's voice was filled with shock as he looked at Fang Yuan, who was laughing mockingly at him.
"Hahahaha... I'm from the future, you fool!"
Fang Yuan's expression turned serious as he looked at Gowther, who seemed somewhat confused.
"Let's go. The Assassination Concept is busy and will be here soon, so let's go."
Fang Yuan turned his back and began to wander into the seemingly endless darkness of Eternity.
"Where are we going?"
"Shut up. You'll find out when we arrive." Fang Yuan's words were sharp and harsh, which angered Gowther, but he didn't say anything for several reasons. First, he was unable to use his power. Second, if Yuta's son was truly from the future, he was far stronger than him. Even if he could use his power, he would be easily defeated because entities like Yuta, when they have children, have children of the same kind. Their rank, and this applies to any entity of the Boundless rank and above.
Fang Yuan split his existence in two to pass through without saying a word, and the same applies to Gowther, who entered after him without uttering a single word.
Once he passed through, he found himself in a tomb with an Algerian-Arabic style.
Gowther looked around, searching for Fang Yuan, but he had disappeared. He then turned towards a lone figure inside the tomb, wearing a cloak that completely covered his face. However, the cloak couldn't conceal the fact that this person possessed a strong physique.
Gowther walked towards him with steady steps, even though this person was supposed to be just an ordinary human, since Fang Yuan had told him inside that cleft that he was going to the real world.He felt he had to distance himself and run away from that person, knowing that getting closer would lead to certain death, even if he were immortal in every sense.
But he felt a connection to that person, which surprised him. Although he felt fear, he tried to suppress the smile that threatened to form on his lips.
Without realizing it, he found himself facing that person, who appeared to be about 18 years old. The person was looking towards a grave without looking directly at him, as if it were a statue of a living person.
He realized this from the pounding of his heart and the rush of blood through his veins, as he regained his full strength. He formed a shadow, just as he had been, a young man with brown hair and brown eyes.
"Who are you? Why do I feel this connection to you? Are you Boutaleb, or what? I feel as if I'm standing before him when I look at you."
"......."
"Speak! Who are you?"
"......"
The person continued to stare at the grave without saying anything, which confused Gowther, who had shaken him violently and Something was supposed to happen, but nothing happened to that person, as if nothing had happened to him.
Gowther's power, compared to ordinary humans, was monstrous. A single click would be enough to erase universes; a little energy would be enough to create multiple worlds and parallels, entire cosmological timelines.
But that person didn't budge an inch.
"Who are you?"
"......"
The same thing happened; that person didn't say anything, and this made Gowther give up trying to make him speak.
He turned his gaze toward the grave, in which the young man was looking, and read a name on the tombstone:
[To God we belong and to Him we shall return. Deceased: Isaac. Title: Hashemi Isaac. Year of birth: xx:xx:xx. Year of death: xx:xx:xx. Pray for him for mercy and steadfastness when questioned.]
Gowther's face turned to shock as he looked at the grave, but what shocked him most was… The fact that several decades have passed since Boutaleb met anyone who is supposedly in his world raises the question: who the hell is this person? Is he one of my grandchildren, given his young age?