The Test (2/2)

"Hello There" -- Characters speaking

'General Kenobi' -- Character thoughts

"You are" 'a bold one' -- Invocations, Conversations/Thoughts in flashbacks, 

The Negotiator -- Titles

"Ah yes, the Negotiator" -- ??? speaking

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In the morning, the rising sun casts its light unto the lands, as predators of dark retreated into the shadows, resting and biding their time for the sun to set once again. Within the outskirts of the humongous forest biome, the sound of footsteps made their presence known.

A lone female strolled through, her destination clear within her sights as she spotted the town where she and her partner resided.

Her steps light, Calamitas kept pace, soon reaching the main entrance as she noticed two guards stationed right by the entrance pathway. Considering that they were not present when she had left with Erden, she could only surmise that they were either on break or switching shifts with someone else.

As she passed by them, she simply nodded her head in greeting, to which they responded back in the same manner. Strolling through the town, she noticed a familiar figure standing near the doorway of the building she lived in.

She felt ecstatic upon seeing the person, instantly running towards them and calling out to them in a loud voice, drawing the attention of the nearby inhabitants.

"Permafrost!"

Said figure turned around upon hearing her voice, as he immediately recognized it. The figure was an old man, most likely in his 60s. His hair was as white as snow and his beard covered his neck. He wore a blue scarf and robe, and underneath the robe, he wore a black body-suit that outlined his physique. Even after reaching the age of 60, the man was as fit as a fiddle.

"Ahhh, there you are, Calamitas. I was in the area, as I wished to visit my pupil and see how you were doing. Is your health fine? Have you been eating well? Erden hasn't been treating you poorly, has he? If he has, just tell me and I'll teach that rascal a les-"

"Teach! Teach! I'm not a little girl anymore, I'm doing fine! And Erden's been treating me really well."

Just like a doting grandpa spoiling his only granddaughter, Permafrost was quite protective of Calamitas. He had met her when she only a lost little girl, scared by the potential of her own powers.

He took her in as he became her mentor, and a father figure to her. To him, she was one of the only people that he cared for in the world.

"Haahhh, they grow up so fast. Well, I am delighted to see that you are doing fine. Speaking of Erden, where is that rascal? Usually, the two of you would be joined by the hip. At the rate you're going, I may soon be expecting grandchildren to be running about."

Her reaction to his teasing was a bright blush, as she struggled to form a retort, but gave up in the end.

"I- wha- you- gah! Stop teasing me! I swear, sometimes both you and Erden are just insufferable. Hmph, moving on, what are you doing here? It's rare to see you leave your house, let alone the Tundra where you live. Did you finally decide to touch grass?"

"Oh, it's not that bad. I usually don't spend that much time inside... do I? Also, 'touch grass'? Did Erden teach you some foreign slang again? I swear, you young'uns just keep creating more and more bizarre terms."

"Well guess what, the future is now, old man. You gotta keep up with the times."

"Stop right there, young lady! I'll have you know that I haven't aged a day. I'm still as strong as I was back in my prime... alright, maybe I'm slightly weaker, but only slightly!"

"Uh-huh, keep drinking that copium... boomer."

"Gah, another weird term! I swear, that brat is a bad influence on you. I mean, look! You were so adorable back then, but now you've become so sassy..."

"It's called growing up, Teach."

"Hahhh, I know. But to me, you'll always be my adorable little student. Anyways, where is Erden? I have something that I want to give to him."

Her face turned away as Permafrost asked regarding Erden's whereabouts. She chewed on her lips for a few moments, struggling to come to a decision. Permafrost noticed the tussle of emotions expressed on her face as he remained silent, choosing to give her the time she needs to come to a decision.

'Should I tell him? I could just lie and say that he's off mining somewhere, but he would eventually figure out if- once Erden comes back... ah, screw it.'

"He's away... fighting someone."

"Fighting someone? Knowing how strong that boy is, I highly doubt it would be a proper fight, but rather a complete massacre. There are not many who could match the strength and skill he displays, especially the current him."

"I know, and I wouldn't be worried if it was some random person, but the problem is who he is battling against..."

He raised an eyebrow as he noticed that Calamitas kept skirting around the topic of the opponents identity. Therefore, he decided to be blunt and directly ask his student, who exactly Erden was fighting against.

"You sound quite worried. Then would you be so kind as to enlighten me to who exactly is the boy's opponent?"

However, upon learning of the enemy's title, his eyes widened severely, almost popping out of their eye sockets and his mouth was left wide open, his jaw falling as low as it could before it was hung in place by skin and muscle.

"I have every right to be worried, because Erden's opponent is... the Traitor Almighty."

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In a completely different realm, illuminated by the radiance of stars and nebulae, destruction reigned supreme. The once flower-filled land of green was littered with craters, and parts of the land were scorched black from intense heat.

All of a sudden, a loud distorted scream shook the realm as two distinct forms could be seen attacking each other in the distance.

"Have at thee, foul beast!"

The first was the humanoid form of Erden, covered in black and red garbs that served as armor as he wielded the Scarlet Devil in one hand, while in the other was a... yo-yo?

The yo-yo was of a dark-purple color with shades of dark blue. It was shaped like a spiral, with five points jutting out, forming "petals". The yo-yo constantly pulsed, releasing small fumes of purple. Ignoring the small form of the weapon, it radiated with power and energy, just like the spear Erden held.

Facing him, was a beast of unknown origins. Its entire form was blurred out except for its wings, as if its appearance was not meant to be gazed upon by mortal minds, lest they risk losing themselves. Its shape kept changing into different forms, and so did its wings, sometimes being feathery, and sometimes being of metal.

"▁▁▁▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅▆▆▆▆▆▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇"

As the beast roared, countless sigils appeared behind it, suspended in the air as they covered the sky, all pointed towards Erden. From the sigils emerged rods and lances, given form from Primordial Light.

At once, the weapons were launched towards Erden at unparalleled speeds, to which he retaliated by swinging the yo-yo in a calculated trajectory, making direct contact with the weapons of Primordial Light that were closest to him.

As the yo-yo moved, it left behind particles of cosmic energy in the form of orbs. These orbs rapidly shot blasts of cosmic energy in the form of concentrated lasers, that repeatedly struck down approaching weaponry.

Perhaps, the beast sensed that its attack was not working, so it chose to amp it up, creating more and more sigils that shot more refined concentrations of Primordial Light.

At this point, he was starting to get overwhelmed as the attacks were starting to break through his defense. So he decided that it was finally time to make use of his main brand of magic.

"Multiply, Amplify."

Two words and the beast's rhythm was broken and its assault halted, as the orbs created by the yo-yo started multiplying rapidly as each orb grew in size, now shooting stronger concentrations of cosmic energy.

Just employing two attributes allowed him to turn the tide of battle in his favor. This branch of magic was exclusive to Erden, as he was able to use it thanks to his unique Job.

His Job was called Terrarian. Just like his character in the game he played, the Job allowed him access to the Inventory and Mini-map via the use of Spatial Magic, and let him know his vitality and mana status.

He could also analyze items that he had in his Inventory, learning their purpose and functionality. However, that was not all. For if those were his only abilities, then Erden would have died long ago.

The cream of the crop was the magic he could use, which he called Attribute Magic. This magic granted him the ability to bestow attributes to anything and change their parameters; whether they be animate or inanimate objects, organic or inorganic beings, or even intangible things like concepts.

However, the magic was limited in that he could only apply attributes to things that he was either directly touching, or indirectly making contact with his mana.

Another limitation was that the more complex and abstract a concept was, the more draining it was to apply and maintain said concept(s), as his magic used mana directly in proportional to the level and complexity of the attribute applied.

The beast endeavored to continue its futile assault for a few more minutes until it decided to change strategies. The floating sigils stopped firing weapons before they disappeared, being replaced by fewer but bigger sigils that glowed briefly before firing searing beams of Primordial Light.

As he saw the sigils appear, he stayed in place for a split-second, trying to discern the purpose of the sigils. His eyes widened as they glowed, and he moved swiftly from his position as constant beams of light struck down on where he stood.

As if they were tracking him, the sigils started to rotate in place as the beast kept its eyes on Erden, the beams changing their trajectory to try to intercept him.

Nimble on his feet, Erden stayed ahead of the beast as it tried to wound him. He ducked, weaved, and dodged the light beams as they repeatedly failed to strike him.

He moved in a zig-zag pattern, avoiding each beam by a hair's breadth as he started circling around the stationary beast. As he ran, he observed the positions of the sigils in the sky.

Finding the best angle possible, he turned his body towards the beast as he put all of his strength in his legs, pushing as hard as he could against the ground.

His strength combined with his weight, left deep indentations in the earth as the ground cratered around his feet. He instantly covered the distance within a second as he reached his target.

One moment he was in front of the beast, and the next moment, he wasn't. He had seemingly teleported from his position, leaving the beast momentarily confused before its form was engulfed by dozens of light beams, created by its own sigils.

The beams stopped firing shortly as the sigils that maintained them vanished into motes of light, revealing the beast to be mostly unharmed.

"Damn, looks like killing it with its own attacks won't work. Welp, time to switch strats."

The beast turned around in the direction of the voice, revealing it to be Erden, who had teleported at some distance behind it.

He looked the same, except that the yo-yo he held was instead replaced by an item that allowed him to teleport short distances; the Rod of Harmony—a metal rod that holds an enchanted purple gemstone surrounded by gold accents at one end, with three prongs jutting out from the end, similar to a trident.

Anger and annoyance clouded the beasts mind as it noticed that the man had not suffered a single injury from any of its attack. It let its feelings show in the form of a loud, distorted screech as it prepared its next attack, convinced that it would surely kill the annoying pest that invaded its master's home.

"▁▁▁▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅▆▆▆▆▆▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇"

A dim, orange light in the shape of a circle, formed above the beast. The light slowly grew bigger and brighter, forming a gravitational field around it as violent winds raged around the form of the beast.

It showed no signs of stopping as the ground surrounding it heated up and began melting. Upon observing the phenomenon, it didn't take much time for Erden to realize what exactly the beast was trying to achieve.

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me! A fucking sun of all things?!"

Rather than having to deal with an artificial sun burning directly in his face, he tried to get the jump on the beast; putting the Rod of Harmony in his Inventory as his spear ignited with malevolent energy, ready to feast on its target's body, blood, and soul.

He took stance as he pulled back his arm, locking on to the beast as he threw the blood-red spear right at it.

"Eat shit, asshole!"

Seeing as the pseudo sun wasn't fully prepared, the beast tried to intercept the spear, placing dozens upon dozens of sigils in its path as a makeshift shield. Alas, it's efforts were for naught as the blood-sucking spear tore through each and every sigil like they were paper, not even appearing to be visibly hindered as it maintained its velocity.

As the spear passed through the last sigil, it struck the beast dead-center as particles of red energy enveloped the beast, trying to eat away at its body and vitality. As the spear struck, the birth of the artificial sun came to a halt as it simply floated and rotated in place.

Erden let a few second pass by before he re-called the spear back to his hand. The figure of the beast was visible again as the spear flew towards Erden, followed by the red energy, revealing a jagged hole carved right in the center of its body.

Even so, Erden did not relax, nor did he let his guard down. If it were a normal creature, it would have died on the spot with such a critical injury, but his current opponent was no ordinary beast.

As if time was rewinding, the body of the beast reverted back to its previous state; before it was struck by Erden's spear.

The floating sun resumed the process of its completion, growing bigger and bigger by each second. Even from a distance, Erden could feel the sheer heat generated by its gaseous body as the radius of charred and molten ground progressively enlarged, showing no signs of stopping.

'Reinforce, Freeze, Below Zero.'

Covering himself and the entire area around him in mana, he could feel his muscles and skin slightly harden while a layer of frost formed around his figure. The temperature around him dropped significantly and the ground and grass nearby began to freeze, as frost-white blanketed the land around him in the direction of the beast.

Both the ice and heat progressed towards each other as molten and frozen ground clashed, erupting in a cacophony of steam which blocked the vision of both the beast and Erden.

Knowing that this was only a prelude of what was to come, the Scarlet Devil disappeared from his hand, replaced by the Asgardian Aegis—a purple shield forged using Cosmilite Bars and a few other items, that was 185 cm tall (6'1 ft) and shielded his entire form.

Feeling that it simply wouldn't be enough, he doubled down, casting a unique spell inspired from an anime he once watched. Mana began to coalesce above him, forming a giant tower that floated a few meters above him. He let out words; a chant to complete the spell, bringing it into fruition.

"Thy story filled with blessings, the gateway of purity... Garden of Avalon!"

The floating tower emitted a pulse of energy, which empowered Erden, granting him increased strength and durability, as well as speeding up his physical recovery and Mana Regeneration.

He was able to replenish his Mana reserves just in time as the wind picked up, dispersing the steam as his vision of the beast became clear.

Yellow and orange covered his range of vision, blotting out the shining stars and nebulae. Scorching heat impacted his makeshift-frost armor as the ice around him was instantly thawed, the ground slowly melting, turning into liquid, molten lava. The heat, reaching up to thousands of degrees in Celsius, ate away at his figure as the layer of frost showed signs of cracking.

The artificial sun had reached its full potential, its gigantic form consisting of a radius of 150 meters. His form was akin to an ant in front of the pseudo-sun.

Suddenly, the center of the artificial sun started bubbling as majority of its heat and form concentrated into its center as its size slightly shrunk.

'Multiply, Enlarge, Project, Reinforce!'

Casting his magic once more, multiple enlarged copies of his shield appeared around him, creating a distinct formation. The shields joined together to form a seven-pointed star, that looked more like a flower with seven petals.

Once the formation was complete, the shields projected a purple seven-layered barrier in front of the star formation, which was then reinforced with Erden's magic, enhancing its durability and level of protection to its utmost limit.

Just as he was done preparing his defenses, a searing ray of heat and flames shot out from the sun, directly impacting the barrier projected by the shields. The surroundings shook as the star-shaped formation of the Asgardian Aegis did its utmost best to protect its wielder, keeping him safe from any harm or foul.

After a few more seconds, the heat ray began to dissipate, perhaps signaling the end of the beasts assault, but it only turned out to be a momentary respite. A bigger and more powerful beam shot out from the sun, once again impacting the area where Erden stood.

The only difference being that this time, the outer-most layer began to give out as web-like cracks formed across its surface, before it was completely disintegrated. The second beam began to dissipate before being replaced by an even more powerful ray of heat being fired at Erden, destroying another layer of the shield's barrier.

This repeated a few more times until there was only a single barrier left. At the same time, Erden noticed that the artificial sun had shrunk considerably, now having a radius that was 100 meters long.

He used some of the mana that he had recovered, enhancing the last barrier while also tripling its density and thickness as his instincts screamed at him, that this would be the last wave of this attack.

The center of the sun bubbled once more as its form shrunk again, down to a radius of 50 meters as the largest and hottest heat ray fired at Erden, the sheer force and heat generated from the impact almost wiping out everything within a few miles radius.

The ray didn't stop firing as Erden maintained the barrier as best as he could as it repeatedly cracked before using his mana to repair itself, before cracking again.

'Just... a little more...!'

Eventually after a few minutes, the heat ray slowly dissipated, revealing the cracked barrier that barely held up as it started to disappear along with the star-shaped formation as each shield was singed and showed cracks everywhere.

As the shields dissipated, it revealed a battered Erden holding the original Asgardian Aegis, breathing heavily as he was kneeling down on one knee.

It seemed that right before the heat ray dissipated, it was able to pass through some of the cracks in the barrier, breaking through the star-shaped formation of shields and directly hitting Erden. Although the Demonshade Armor took the brunt of the attack, Erden was still somewhat injured.

Thanks to his natural durability and resistance, his body only bore third-degree burns in different places. If it were a regular person in his place, their body would have melted in seconds due to being in such close contact with a star, even if said star was an artificial one on a much smaller scale.

"Haahhh... hahhh... please... tell me that... was the last one...?"

"▁▁▁▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅▆▆▆▆▆▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇"

"...Fuck."

As if responding to his joking statement, the beast roared yet again. The shrunken artificial sun began to collapse, replaced by a gaping black hole that started to suck and absorb everything into it.

But that wasn't even the worst part about it. The black hole began to move towards Erden, increasing the gravitational force it held on him.

"God Damn it! Not again!"

'Lighten! Accelerate!'

Desperation fueled his actions, as he casted magic on himself, reducing his weight and increasing his acceleration while he unfurled his wings, activated his boots and equipped the Rod of Harmony in his hand, now freed from holding the Asgardian Aegis as he sent it into his Inventory.

He did his best to get as far away as possible from the black hole, making use of his wings, boots and the short-range teleportation item simultaneously. All was going well as he had put a good amount of distance between himself and the black hole, but in focusing solely on escaping the black hole, he neglected the current cause of his misery.

Ping.

Erden felt a sudden noise go off in his head, but it was already too late. The beast seemingly appeared from nowhere, ramming directly into Erden from his left as it disrupted his rhythm.

The beast of course, was unable to retreat unharmed, as purple tridents and scythes appeared from thin air, wounding the beast and forcing it to retreat.

'Thanks for the sa-!'

He was cut off as he felt himself being pulled towards the black hole. By the time he recovered from the beast's assault, the black hole had already caught up to him, now closer than ever.

He tried to employ the same strategy as before, but before he could do so, he was hit by a beam of light, courtesy of the beast which floated in the distance, releasing garbled noises; akin to laughter.

The beam pushed him directly towards the black hole. But as he entered within its radius, the black hole began to shrink as its form started to fizzle out of existence. However, the potency of its gravitational field doubled, pulling Erden even harder.

But at the same time, the beam started to bend around the black hole, no longer having the ability to harm Erden.

Using that moment, he focused on his surroundings as he used the Rod of Harmony, teleporting multiple times within a single second to get away from it.

"Gahhh! I-I-It... fucking hurts... you piece of shit!"

Even though he had only came into contact with the black hole for less than a second, he could only grit his teeth as he felt pain from having his lower half get twisted and torn apart.

He tried his best to deal with it as he could no longer feel anything below his waist while his entrails fell out, his intestines hanging from his body like slimy noodles.

A Healing potion appeared from thin air as he grabbed it, chugging it down as there was no cork, cap or lid to cover the top of the bottle. As it went down his throat, he could feel the potion take effect.

His body began to regenerate, his hanging intestines were magically put back into place as muscle, bones, and skin began to grow back.

At the same time, the beast kept shooting beams of light at him, which he dodged, all the while his body recovered. Once he was done healing, a unique phenomenon occurred.

The lower half of the Demonshade Armor that was damaged from the black hole began to repair itself, strings of black and strips of greaves began to unwind as they returned to their former, undamaged glory.

'Damn it! My attacks aren't working at all! The fucker just keeps regenerating. And why the hell do I not sense any essence within it, at all?!'

At this point, Erden was understandably frustrated. His attacks had failed multiple times and the battle had turned into a cat-and-mouse chase. His mind replayed the fight back from the appearance of the beast to the present moment, and as if lightning struck, it suddenly hit him.

'Wait... I don't sense any essence, which means that it doesn't have a soul. Is it some kind of puppet?'

His thoughts ran a thousand miles a second as he thought up a hypothesis, but dismissed it soon after as he remembered when he struck it with his spear.

'No, it's not just a simple puppet. Even if I didn't invoke the spear's main ability, I still should've been able to damage some parts of it's core. But I don't feel anything from it. No essence, no soul, no core... unless...'

Coming up with another hypothesis to the beasts' supposed immortality, he drew on his mana, concentrating it around his eyes. As he focused his senses, he began to notice discrepancies throughout the realm.

Traces of Auric energy and mana were saturated into the very fabric of reality, flowing in a circular pattern, all centered around the beast.

'Ahhh! I see, so that's how it is. No wonder it can pull of all those crazy attacks... damn it. I was hoping to not be forced to use this. I didn't even get the chance the test it out... considering I almost destroyed the entire world while creating it.'

'But at the same time, I'm thankful that it's not truly immortal or immune to the concept of death. Saves me from using that scythe that I painstakingly created.'

Even though he spent an entire minute within his mind going over different hypothesis' and reasons to the beasts immortality and regeneration, in reality only a second had passed thanks to his accelerated perception.

As he decided his plan of action, he brought out his magnum opus; the weapon he had just forged two days ago. As it appeared from his Inventory, it didn't fall into his hands. Rather, it started floating in one place.

The entire weapon was wrapped in a black cloth with gold edges; the same cloth used to cover the Ashes of Annihilation. As he removed the wrapping, it revealed one of the most unique and beautiful blades he had seen throughout his entire life.

The total length of the weapon was 2 meters, which was the same as the Scarlet Devil. A quarter of the sword was comprised of the handle—a branch of the Celestriad Root, silver in color—while the rest of the length consisted of a black blade, darker than the night sky with cyan-colored energy fluctuating, outlining the edges of the blade.

[IMG]

Humm.

The blade also seemed to release a constant humming sound, similar to a low-frequency noise produced by electrical devices.

Upon grabbing the weapon, blackish-purple electricity began to spark around him as five planets, varying in color and sizes formed into existence, as they set about orbiting around his form.

He noticed in the distance that the beast seemed to be preparing to fire another one of its beams at him, seeing as the large sigil formed above its hovering figure. He decided to strike first, raising his hand, the sword perpendicular to the ground before he swung it vertically.

'Left's hope that this... doesn't... backfire....'

It was instantaneous. Even though it was a simple slash with barely any mana or power behind it, it seemed as though reality shook as space itself was cut apart. The same cyan energy that outlined the edges of the blade, in the form of a circular arc, carved apart all matter within milliseconds.

It left a deep trench within the ground, traveling all the way to the beast... revealing its now bisected form along with the sigil being cut in half.

Seeing that a simple slash from the blade left behind such devastation, Erden felt giddy. His lips curved as they spread to his cheekbones; he bore a large smile that was akin to a creepy grin. He was beyond happy—he was ecstatic!

After all, how could he not be happy, when this blade was the result of five years of suffering and hard work. Like a child given a brand new toy, he wanted to see what else the blade could do, so he swung again. But this time, he did so horizontally.

As expected, a horizontal arc of cyan energy shot out, rending apart everything that came into its path as it showed no sign of resistance or ceasing, even as it sliced through the beast like it was butter, bisecting it once more.

Yet, the beast didn't seem to care as its body once again put itself back together. If anything, now it seemed downright livid. It tried to scream yet again, signaling the commencing of its next attack, but it didn't get the chance to, as its entire form was crushed deep into the ground.

As for what exactly crushed the beast?

"Ehe... hehehe... hehehahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

In the distance, Erden reared his head back as he stared at the sky, laughing psychotically as tears of joy streamed down his face.

"HAHAHAHAHAHahahahah... hahahaha... haahhh. That was for the black hole, you piece of shit! How does it feel?! How does it feel to get crushed by an entire planet?!"

Yes, that's right. the thing that crushed the beast's form was a giant purple sphere, easily twice as big as the artificial sun the beast created, as the sphere had a radius of a whopping 300 meters.

'Maybe it is because it's the first time I used this sword, but that's the maximum size of the planet I can currently create. But still...'

As he admired the view from the distance, he observed how the artificial planet functioned closely to an actual planet, having its own gravitational field. Even though he was quite far away, he could feel the pull from the planet, trying to drag him towards itself.

'It's one thing to see such a sight happen on-screen, and another to see it in reality. Even though I should be used to being surprised... man, I really outdid myself this time!'

Swish, swish, crack.

Erden gave himself an imaginary pat on the back and would have continued to do so, if his thoughts weren't interrupted by the sound of slashing and air parting.

He tried to discern where it was coming from, before zeroing in on the miniature planet as he observed what seemed to be small slice-like cracks that began to appear all over the surface of the planet.

The cracks seemed to spread as each time the slashing sound was heard, newer cracks appeared.

'Looks like it's starting to break out. Those slashes look like they'd do some serious damage. Any other time I probably would have waited until it got free so I could test myself against them, but I'm also starting to get tired of this back and forth. Right now, I just want that thing dead.'

The slashing sounds started to become more frequent as the cracks began to appear at a faster rate.

'I need a very strong attack with enough destructive power to damage this realm and completely wipe the beast. I think Invoking that yo-yo could wo-'

Humm.

His thoughts stopped short once again, as foreign energy assaulted his mind, instilling a method to kill the beast; a chant to Invoke the true ability of the blade he held in his hand.

'Right. You also have Invocation(1). I definitely didn't forget that. Nope. No way. I just... temporarily couldn't remember it. Yep, that's the only reason. Definitely didn't forget.'

He quickly chugged a Mana potion, letting his reserves be filled to the brim. He smiled, letting go of the blade. His body began to shine, and most of his mana flowed into the sword as he ascended upwards along with the it. 

'Phew, here goes nothing.'

"Inception, the end of one path, the birth of a new one..."

The five planets that orbited around him shrunk as they were absorbed into the sword, resulting in a small blue rift coming into existence. High up in the sky, the distant stars and nebulae in the cosmos began to shift, picking up speed as they moved through space before suddenly disappearing one by one.

"Annihilation, the beginning of the end, the loss of life, the destruction of matter..."

The once bright sky seemed to dim bit-by-bit as the cause of its radiance, the stars in the sky disappeared one by one, teleported from light years away as their forms shrunk slowly, before being absorbed by the rift that seemed to grow bigger and bigger.

"Salvation, in acceptance of the past, and the denial of cowardice..."

Down below, the ground started to break apart as debris, grass, and flowers were sucked into the growing blue rift. In the distance, the planet was reduced to rubble as the beast was finally able to free itself from its makeshift prison.

"Journeyed through the path of suffering and thorns, and yet I still walk on..."

"▁▁▁▂▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅▆▆▆▆▆▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇"

The beast roared and screamed, as air parted and thousand of slashes struck where Erden was, rending space apart as a dust cloud formed, obscuring the aftermath of the attack. The beast, in its arrogance, believed it had finally won the battle...

"Now standing here, I realize at the brink of infinity, shackled I am no longer..."

Only to have its hopes dashed as the dust cleared, revealing Erden in his full glory, not a single slash wound to be seen. The beast attacked once again in desperation, countless slashes striking with extreme prejudice, as it knew that whatever Erden was doing, would leave utter devastation in its wake.

"Freedom within grasp at the edge of the universe, with this blade in hand, etch thy fate...!"

However, its efforts were for naught, as each and every slash that was capable of tearing space apart was simply absorbed into the rift. By now, the sky had almost gone completely dark with only a few stars remaining.

"And be reborn anew! Conception of the cosmos..."

But even they were no exception, disappearing one by one until only one remained. As the last remaining star was extinguished by the rift, it collapsed on itself as time seemed to stop, and everything came to a standstill...

"...Ultima Thule!"

Before an explosion of cosmic energy occurred with Erden as its source, destroying the entire realm in its wake. At the same time, a voice rang throughout the collapsing dimension.

"You have passed the test."

And then... everything went black.

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1. Invocation: The true ability of an item or weapon. By calling a chant, followed by the name of the weapon or item, the wielder can activate its main ability. Invocations are similar to Unique spells like the imitation of the Garden of Avalon created by Erden, but they have the advantage in that the mana expenditure is quite low, as the spell is already imbued into the weapon.

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You thought we'd go into Teyvat, but it was I, cliffhanger-kun!

But in all seriousness, I'm never writing such a long ass fighting scene ever again. Shit killed my motivation faster than I can cum- wait what?

Anyways, this is it for the introduction chapters. From now on, we move on to Teyvat and see the amount of chaos Erden and Callie cause just for shits and giggles. Hehe, this is gonna be fun to write.

Anyways, see you guys in a few years.