Chapter 669: Transcendent [Monthly Bonus 1]
Arthur’s body trembled as the storm of energy that had been accumulating for months finally broke free, a torrent of power that threatened to tear apart everything around him.
The moment the final piece clicked into place, the energy that had been seething beneath the surface erupted.
His body was engulfed in a wave of raw, silver power, a brilliant maelstrom of energy that seemed to distort space itself.
The energy surged outward, breaking free like an ocean tide crashing against a shore.
All the EXP he had been accumulating since hitting Level 899. All the Transcendents he had killed.
All of that cached power awakened in this moment.
It was like the very essence of his being was feeding back into him, an exponential build-up of power. His current body could hardly contain it.
But that wasn’t an issue.
Silver energy wrapped around him in a spiralling vortex, swirling as if alive. It created a cocoon of shimmering energy, closing him off from the world for a brief moment.
Inside, his body was barely visible, just a slight silhouette.
Universal law energies swirled around the cocoon, and every cell in his body vibrated as they climbed to a new level.
The Archdevils, still reeling from the shock of Arthur’s attack, snapped out of their daze. Vonun’s voice rang out, his command loud and desperate.
[KILL HIM! NOW!!!!]
Triffid’s instinctive fear bled through Vonun’s words, reaching the Infernal Archdevils and driving them forward in a frenzy.
But their movements were halted before they could even react fully.
The Elder Spirits charged at them and stopped them from interfering. Whatever was happening was something the Archdevils didn’t want.
As such, they would do all they could to stop it.
On the ground, with the Vanguard Swarm vanquished, the only remaining forces were the normal Vanguards.
The forest itself, no longer bound to its wooden roots, began to writhe with life. The trees tore themselves from the earth, their trunks snapping as they charged toward Arthur, a final desperate attempt to stop him from attaining Transcendence.
Space warped and Charisse burst through from a portal, stunning Artemisia and Beatrix who were nearby.
"Sir Evan!"
"You don’t have to tell me twice!"
Evan shouted back at Charisse as he dropped his sword.
"Just focus on keeping Causality off me!"
With those words, he reached into his Inventory and produced something that shocked the two teenage Aidosian goddesses.
A Grimoire.
With a cover crafted from aged leather and a surface etched with intricate patterns that seemed to pulse with a subdued luminescence, its mere presence commanded attention.
Its size was quite imposing too, having thick and voluminous pages that suggested an endless repository of magic. The book’s spine was reinforced with bands of tarnished silver that glimmered faintly.
If Arthur was able to see this, then his eyes would widen in shock and recognition.
After all, the thing in Evan’s hands was a Cosmic Artifact. Not a Replica like the Book of Truth he destroyed, but a genuine Cosmic Artifact.
"Akashic Page."
Evan called out the name of this grimoire.
A page torn from the Akashic Record of the Valmone Universe.
It held within its pages a compendium of all energy spells that have ever existed on the Prime World of Aidos.
The spells within this artifact that had transcended time and space could be cast with the aid of every energy type that existed on the planet, regardless of its polarity or alignment.
But this Cosmic Artifact was from the future.
What would happen, if Evan brought it out in this past, especially when the full, intact Akashic Record still existed out there?
**CRACK!
Space cracked open around Evan, fissures of greyish-gold bolts lancing out to erase the anomaly from existence, targeting the book in his hand.
And this was where Charisse came in.
"Attribute Resonance."
The spirit reached out with both hands and the energy of the law of causality swirled around her.
The furious bolts that had sought to obliterate the Akashic Page swirled into her waiting hands, coalescing into a dense orb of power. She held it as a shield, her own energy acting as a lightning rod to divert causality’s wrath.
With the threat of destruction deflected, Evan was now free to move.
He and Charisse had discussed this role days ago.
At this moment when Arthur was evolving to the Transcendent Realm, he was vulnerable.
It was a weakness that Vonun who was in Triffid had sensed and intended to exploit with his Archdevils.
But with Charisse drawing causality’s wrath on herself, Evan could fulfil his role—to buy Arthur the time he needed.
Causality, a law with rigid principles, could not harm anyone except its intended target—unless a singularity was that target.
What’s more, Charisse was one of the few who could comprehend it, so even if she was harmed, the damage would be minimal.
The pages of the Akashic Page flapped as Evan deployed one spell after another.
"World Magic: Spell Number 25: World Isolation Barrier."
First, a barrier to cover Arthur. In return for keeping the Existence named ’Arthur Vaughn’ within it, every other Existence was locked out.
If they wanted to pass, they had to break through, which was easier said than done.
But! It wasn’t impossible.
So, Evan had to make sure no one came close enough.
"Spell Number 13: Judgment of the gods: Multiple."
Beams of light pierced down from the clouds, and even then, the pages of the grimoire kept flapping and he kept casting.
"Triplet World Magic:
Spell Number 20: Sword of Damocles.
Spell Number 10: Severance of Reality.
Spell Number 9: Einherjar."
His arms spread wide as a manic grin tugged at the edges of his masked face—reflecting the same lunacy that danced in the eyes of those who wielded the Law of Destruction.
"World Magic: Spell Number 5: Armageddon."
The skies above Triffid tore open, and a catastrophic storm of destruction rained down upon the forest.
◇ ◇ ◇
Within the cocoon, Arthur’s body seemingly liquefied. He felt as if his bones, muscles, flesh, and organs were slushing around within the cocoon.
The cached EXP mixed in with his body and fused seamlessly with him, integrating itself with his existence.
Time lost meaning; he couldn’t tell if seconds or hours had passed.
Cosmic energy surged in from all directions, flooding the cocoon, and with it came an unending stream of notifications flashing in his mind.
Things about attributes being upgraded. Status recalibrations?? Special Exceptions?? Law Comprehensions Completion?? Pseudo-Authorities??
Each notification felt like an echo in a vast chamber, distant yet resonant. It all felt like a hazy, chaotic dream he could barely make sense of.
And then, gradually, his senses began to sharpen. Piece by piece, clarity returned to Arthur, grounding him in his newly transformed self.
◇ ◇ ◇
Amid the raging battle, Arthur’s cocoon pulsed suddenly and Evan’s Danger Sense flared in that instant, his instincts overriding thought.
"Dispel!"
He commanded, releasing the World Isolation Barrier he’d cast around Arthur.
Just then, the cocoon unfolded like petals peeling back in slow-motion, then burst apart—a blinding silver light shot from within, rocketing forward at hypersonic speed.
It tore through the forest, shredding hundreds of twisted tendrils that stretched out in a futile attempt to halt it.
In the next breath, the light collided with Triffid’s towering trunk.
*BOOM!
The impact echoed like a thunderclap, and shockwaves surged through the tree, rippling its bark like liquid. Crimson and silver energy surged along these waves, spreading out with crackling intensity.
And then, the explosion.
***KA-DOOOM!!!!
A seismic blast ruptured through Triffid’s trunk, blowing clean through the other side in a violent storm of silver and crimson energy.
Through the billowing debris and roaring energy, Arthur’s figure shot out, his right hand gripping the neck of an Archdevil with flower-patterned eyes.
"Got you, bastard."
His muscles flexed, and with a surge of gravitational law energy, he hurled the Infernal Archdevil toward the ground with devastating strength.
The man shot down like a meteor, slamming into the earth below with such violent impact that the ground quaked, a concussive force rippling outward.
Shockwaves tore across the battlefield, billowing through the forest, knocking fighters from their feet, Archdevils and Elders alike were thrown from the sky as the sheer force washed over them, kilometres away from the point of impact.
Floating in the sky, Arthur gazed down at the wounded Vonun, then back at the hole he’d left in Triffid.
Turning back to Vonun, he saw the tendrils attached to the man’s legs and arms where he’d been connected to Triffid.
His gaze remained on Vonun as he watched the Archdevil tremble with rage, his fury reaching a fever pitch.
Vonun’s body shook as he released a guttural scream, and powerful law energy erupted from him in waves, distorting the air around him. The ground cracked beneath his feet, scorched earth buckling under his immense power.
Looking at it, Arthur calmly observed.
"Damn, this guy’s stronger than Alvey and McEnda..."
Glancing at his status board, he watched his level steadily climbing, the numbers ticking upward with each passing minute.
A smirk curved across his lips, excitement mingling with anticipation.
Vonun, still roaring, thrust his hand to the ground, and massive shoots burst from the earth around him.
Each shoot blossomed into a dark flower that unfurled, revealing the glowing cores of infernal energy. They hummed ominously before firing beams of concentrated power that collided mid-air, merging into a massive, roaring infernal beam that blazed toward Arthur with unmatched intensity.
But Arthur stood motionless, unfazed by the torrent of destructive energy hurtling his way. Slowly, he raised his hands and in his Faux True Voice, began to command.
|¬Pseudo Authority of Time. ¬|
|¬Pseudo Authority of Gravity. ¬|
|¬Pseudo Authority of Destruction. ¬|
And then, the final command fell from his lips.
|¬Pseudo Authority of Space. ¬|
His fourth Pseudo-Authority, achieved alongside Transcendence.
Combining those four, he conjured a singularity.
|¬Accelerated Gravitational Singularity of Destruction¬|
A dark, swirling orb appeared between his palms, an unnatural singularity that warped the space around it.
As the infernal beam met its surface, it was swiftly pulled in, absorbed by the gravitational force that Arthur commanded. The immense energy funnelled into the singularity, spiralling down until, in mere moments, it had been entirely consumed.
Arthur clenched his fist, compressing the singularity until it shrank to the size of a marble, raw energy compacted within it.
He raised his gaze and looked directly at Vonun.
Then, he vanished.
Vonun’s eyes widened.
On instinct, Vonun whipped around, his Pseudo-Authority activating as his arm transformed into a massive, wooden shield reinforced with thick layers of bark and twisted roots. He raised it to block just as Arthur appeared behind him.
Arthur’s hand thrust forward, the compacted singularity hurtling against the shield with brutal force.
**KAABOOOM!!!
Vonun’s arm exploded into nothingness, disintegrating under the impact as if it were mere dust in a gale.
The force of the blast hurled him backwards, sending him crashing into the trunk of Triffid. The Archdevil’s body struck the tree with an impact that shook the earth, carving an imprint on the Tree’s bark.
With a scowl of fury, Vonun pressed his remaining hand to Triffid’s trunk, absorbing some of the tree’s mass. Wood and bark coiled around his shoulder, regenerating his missing limb until it was whole again.
His gaze locked onto Arthur, studying him with newfound caution. Darkness law energy pooled around his body as he spoke.
"So, you’ve reached Transcendence. But what does that matter?
You don’t even know how to wield that power. Your little burst of strength won’t last. When it fades, I’ll rip that power from your bones myself!"
With a final bellow, Vonun charged at Arthur, tearing through the air to meet Arthur who summoned Lostvayne and coated it with cosmic energy.
"Let’s see what taps out first.
My burst of strength... or your life."
And with that, he charged to meet Vonun, the ground splintering beneath his feet as the two collided in a storm of power and fury.
