Transcendent Resurgence: Regressing on an abandoned Earth

Zyrus was someone who never shied away from acknowledging his own limitations. Jormungandr had told him about the realm of order and how he was only looking at one side of it.

'Be it back then or right now, my knowledge is lacking.'

The cube could assist him in understanding the laws but the prerequisite was that he had to have a basic idea to get started with. The curses he had created were focused on the concept of 'Erasure.' As per Jormungandr's classification, it was close to the lower limit of the realm of order. It was a correct manifestation of the void and creating more curses based on it would indeed increase his power, but Zyrus wasn't satisfied with just that.

It was one thing if he didn't know about his lack of knowledge, but now that he did, there was no way he wasn't going to work on this. He was someone who had reached the limits of levels in the sanctuary. He was someone who had pursued the limits of arcana for centuries. The realization that there were many things he didn't know despite his achievements was in fact an exciting thing for him.

At first he pursued power for the sake of survival and then for revenge. After living like this for most of his life it wasn't surprising that he started to love the feeling of becoming stronger. The obstacles that stood in his path were nothing more than fuel to burn his spirit and strengthen his will.

Humans were inherently unable to imagine the vastness of the universe. It was easier to imagine something as small as 10^-35 meters. On the other hand,10^26 meters were hard to fathom. How can one imagine a space so big that it took light billions of years to traverse?

Jormungandr had told him that there was a region in space where nothing existed- not even a single molecule. That too was a form of void.

'What is the difference between space and void? How can void be 'vast' and 'nonexistent' at the same time?'

Zyrus failed to find an answer to this question. If it were someone else then they might have given up after encountering something that overturned their view of the world.

But he was an arcanist. Even before that, he was a human who was familiar with the scientific field.

It took humans millennias before they started to figure out the truth of the universe. From primates who feared the wild forest and treated meteors as omens for calamity to a civilization that conquered the stars– they had come a long way.

Why was that? It was due to the accumulation of knowledge. Throughout countless eras where empires rose and fell, the humans never stopped progressing. Not all of their decisions were correct, and there were times when they had to face the consequences of walking on the wrong path. But no matter what, they survived and passed down their knowledge. It didn't matter whether it was correct or not. Oftentimes the process of arriving at an answer was more valuable than the answer itself.

Unimaginable number of trials and errors paved the path for humanity's success.

'They progressed at a snails' pace, but didn't they reach the stars in the end?'

Zyrus felt a connection with this process as he channeled the cosmic energy. What he abandoned wasn't humanity but the weakness that came as a result of being a human. He could no longer be called a human, and he didn't care the least bit about it. He had the bloodline of the Sylvarix and the heritage of humanity, and it wasn't as simple as 1+1=2.

Primitive humans couldn't imagine reaching the stars, but they still built houses and boats to traverse the earth. Zyrus decided to do something similar. He couldn't imagine something in the range of 10^26 meters, so he would start with something smaller. He didn't know how void could be 'vast' and 'nonexistent' at the same time; however, he had an idea that could emulate this.

'If I push away everything, then wouldn't what was left become void?'

Zyrus imagined it similar to a colorful canvas. All of the Laws and energy were the different colors. So, if he kicked each and every color out of the canvas, what would remain at the end? He believed that to be the 'vast' form of void.

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There were a lot of questions that were unanswered and he realized that there might be a flaw in his reasoning, but this much was more than enough for a starting point.

*Shaaaa*

Gales of wind arose for a fraction of a second and vanished right after. There were 99 points from which the cosmic energy entered his body. Previously Zyrus used his void laws on those 99 points with the quantum field theory and created the 'Curse of Oblivion: Quantum Erasure.'

Now, he was using the cosmic energy on those points to attract the mana of a certain attribute and thereby increasing the concentration of the related law. Using the previous analogy, it was similar to flashing out individual colors from the colorful canvas.

'Next step, kick'em out,'

Zyrus used his willpower and pushed away the laws of wind from his magic circle. This was something he couldn't have done in his previous life because there were no formulas for kicking away the power of laws. He was sure that his fellow arcanists would laugh at him for a few centuries if he ever shared his thoughts on this subject. Only those who had seen the source of their existence could understand him.

It was like kicking away something that didn't exist in the physical realm with an imaginary leg. As absurd and illogical as it may seem, Zyrus had done it.

'I'm not sure how it works…but one day, I will.'

For the fourth time, Zyrus stared at the black space with fascination. He knew that it was far from the void Jormungandr was talking about. This was the first step towards the destination that lay beyond the horizon. Zyrus repeated the process while forgetting the outside world. Close to a day was all he needed to figure out the runes of fire used by the imps.

First, he created a magic circle and engraved runes with his cosmic energy. This established his dominion over a fixed region of space. Next, he attracted the laws of fire via the runes. The amount of mana present in that space didn't change; what changed was its attribute due to the fire laws. This created a situation where the laws of fire were concentrated in a fixed space that Zyrus controlled with his magic circle and runes.

Last step, kicking out the laws of fire. This would've been the hardest step if he hadn't gone through the first two. Think about it, what was easy to imagine? 1) kicking away hundreds of colors from a canvas or 2) kicking away red color from a red canvas.

The answer was obvious- and so was the result.

Five magic circles hovered and spun around Zyrus's throne. From erratic movements to steady and rapid circulation, they began to form five distinct black spheres.

'Phew…this is my current limit,'

Zyrus's plan was to erase the kicked away laws and create a full cycle, but his willpower was insufficient for a colossal task like that. He slumped back in exhaustion and glanced down at the mountain.

He was right in time to see the final battles of holmgang.

A winged monkey hopped around the fiery stage even though its feet were burned to the point that the bones were visible. It wasn't written in the rules but everyone realized that the temperature was increasing as time went by. It wasn't an issue for those who were in the green zone. The ones who were suffering were the ones who were fighting on the stage and those who were inside a black zone.

The fiery heat and molten lava didn't discriminate between players and imps. It burned them equally without actually reducing their HP. This was a grim reminder to the players because having enough HP didn't mean that they could exert their full power. This proved that the imps had better endurance than most players as they were able to fight on despite suffering from the pain of being burned alive.

<Once again, be grateful for this opportunity. There will be classes in the future that specialize in mental debuffs. Just because you have high HP and good attacking skills doesn't mean that you'll be the winner>

Zyrus's words resounded in the sky once again. The players had almost forgotten about him since he was sitting straight for more than 16 hours. His words brought them out of their immersion in observing the stages, yet it did nothing to change the outcome.

Those who survived up till now had completely blocked out their senses. All that existed in their eyes was their enemy.

"Woof"

*Scrunch*

The monkey was late in jumping off due to its leg sinking inside the stage. It didn't flinch when half of its leg and the cadejo who tore it off were melting inside lava. The time limit of 24 hours was almost up. At this point, the whole stage was turned into a field of lava with only bits and pieces of crust remaining.

"Krrieek!"

The flying monkey didn't respond to the imp and used all of its remaining energy to flap its half-burned wings. The outcome of the Holmgang was decided. The imp didn't have wings, and therefore, it would be the first to be swallowed by the lava.

The spectating players didn't know the name of the flying monkey. Babi was the same despite being the leader of its race. None of that mattered because from this day forward, all of them would remember it as the one who earned the last victory in this round.

[Ding! All of the battles have concluded]

[Permanent deaths: 0]

[Valor] Current effect: 270.43%

[Cowardice] Current effect: 329.57%

Players' morale was surging even though they had lost this round. Regardless of what the numbers implied, their valor was higher than the mountain standing before them.