V2. Chapter 35 — The Void and the Chaos

In the endless void, there was nothing—not even light, sound, or the very sensation of space itself, as though such things simply held no meaning here. And yet, amidst this serene darkness, something seemed to exist, barely aware of its own presence.

Consciousness.

It had no form, felt no body, and did not understand how long it had already been here. Thoughts emerged slowly, as though with great effort, gradually assembling themselves into something meaningful.

“Where am I...?”

The question appeared on its own, yet almost immediately began to lose clarity, as though even the very concept of a “place” was meaningless within this void.

“And… what is ‘I’...?”

Consciousness tried to think, barely gathering its thoughts into a coherent sequence and analyzing its own existence. The process itself felt strange and unfamiliar, yet at the same time—remarkably natural, as though long ago it had done something like this countless times before.

Within this void, there was no pain, anxiety, or desire. It was peaceful. So peaceful that Consciousness felt as though it had spent an eternity in this place, slowly dissolving into pleasant tranquility.

“The Void…” drifted slowly through its thoughts. “How pleasant…”

Yet in the next moment, something changed.

Somewhere far away, a sudden flash erupted, rudely disturbing the peace and serenity of this place. It appeared abruptly and unexpectedly, immediately stirring a strange irritation within Consciousness.

“Who dared disturb my peace?” it responded emotionlessly, observing the foreign phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the strange flash began rapidly expanding, transforming into a pulsating sphere that seemed to devour the Void piece by piece.

Consciousness continued to watch.

New colors and forms began appearing within the sphere, changing continuously and seeming to transmute before its very eyes. Some structures almost immediately collapsed, giving rise to new variations of themselves, while others instead grew more complex, intertwining with one another into something even stranger.

The more that emerged within the sphere, the faster it expanded.

Streams of energy appeared.

And matter.

Strange structures and laws that held it all together.

The sphere continued expanding at a frightening pace, gradually reaching truly unimaginable proportions. It seemed to Consciousness as though an entire alien universe was being born before its eyes within the infinite Void.

But as it watched this endlessly expanding Chaos, Consciousness suddenly felt a strange unease.

The longer it stared into what was unfolding within the sphere, the more clearly it understood that the nature of this Chaos seemed familiar.

“This…” drifted slowly through its thoughts. “Mana...?”

But almost immediately came the realization that it was not merely mana.

Several entirely different fundamental substances were mixed together within the sphere. Consciousness sensed spiritual matter, ordinary matter, and something else that it could not yet fully comprehend.

And the larger the sphere grew, the less stable it began to seem.

The flows of energy within it gradually accelerated, colliding with one another ever more violently. Space warped, while the countless structures that had formed earlier now began to tremble and deform under monstrous pressure.

Consciousness suddenly felt that it would only take a little more before all of this Chaos finally spun completely out of control.

But in the next moment, a terrifying pulse echoed from within the sphere.

It was so powerful that even the Void itself seemed to shudder.

And then everything changed.

The expanding sphere suddenly began contracting at tremendous speed, as though some invisible force were forcibly compressing it inward upon itself. Countless streams of energy and matter instantly twisted into a gigantic vortex of unimaginable scale.

“What is happening?” Consciousness thought tensely, continuing to observe as the entire Chaos rapidly transformed into something new.

But in the next instant, a blinding flash illuminated all of existence.

It appeared so abruptly that even Consciousness briefly lost the ability to perceive what was happening. And when the light slowly began to fade, an entire world already existed where the raging Chaos had once been.

A colossal structure floated in the midst of the infinite Void, staggering in its scale. From afar, it resembled a vast concentric disk divided into three distinct sections.

The outer layer appeared the thinnest. Translucent and ethereal, it seemed composed of countless streams of spiritual matter, endlessly changing and flowing into one another. This outer ring appeared to simultaneously exist and not exist, as though it were merely a blurred boundary between the Void and the new world.

By contrast, the central section looked the smallest, yet felt the densest and most stable. It no longer resembled a plane like the other layers, instead appearing more like a spherical core hidden at the very center of the giant Universe.

But it was the middle layer that drew the most attention.

It occupied nearly the entirety of this world, forming a colossal concentric disk across whose surface stretched countless continents and oceans of every color and shape. Even Consciousness, observing from afar, could not grasp its true size.

Yet something else appeared even stranger.

The entire middle disk was divided into enormous hexagonal sections, forming a pattern reminiscent of a honeycomb. Within each segment existed its own continents, seas, and flows of energy, each subtly different from the others.

An incredible understanding instantly swept through Consciousness.

“This is…” The thought emerged like a flash as its gaze traveled once more from the outer ring to the core. “The Spirit World… the Mortal World… and the Divine World…”

The moment this realization fully took shape, Consciousness's attention was immediately drawn to the movement of energy within the colossal structure.

Dense streams of mana slowly poured outward from the central disk, while waves of spiritual energy flowed from the outer ethereal layer. The two completely different currents moved toward one another, gradually converging within the Mortal World.

They penetrated the countless “cells,” mixing together and filling each individual segment with its own unique nature. In some places, mana felt denser; in others, spiritual energy predominated. And in certain sections, the two forces intertwined so deeply that they began generating chaos and destruction.

Consciousness continued carefully observing this astonishing process.

But in the next moment, everything around it suddenly trembled.

Consciousness suddenly felt as though the very presence of space had entered the Void for the first time. Then came a scent. Strange, yet at the same time surprisingly familiar and pleasant.

And then Consciousness caught faint, barely audible sounds, as though someone nearby were quietly breathing in their sleep.

Almost simultaneously, Consciousness suddenly felt a body.

The sensation was so unexpected that Consciousness instinctively tried to open its eyes.

And at that very moment, the entire world seemed to shudder…

✦ ✦ ✦

Bright light struck his eyes, and his gaze landed on a wooden ceiling.

And the moment that happened, a sharp pain pierced his forehead, and all his memories came rushing back at once.

Countless images, thoughts, and sensations swept through his consciousness in a single instant, finally forming a complete picture.

“I… am Kael…” he thought, feeling the remnants of that strange state rapidly fading away.

All the events that had transpired whirled through Kael’s mind, finally bringing him fully back to himself.

His body ached a little, especially his mana channels, which still felt unpleasantly heavy, yet compared to what he had experienced before losing consciousness, his current condition felt almost normal.

Slowly raising his head, the first person Kael saw was Violet.

The girl was sitting in a chair beside his bed, her head resting on the edge of the mattress as she slept. Her long hair spilled messily across her shoulders and the sheets, and even in sleep, noticeable tension remained on her face, as though she had fought exhaustion until the very end.

Shifting his gaze farther away, Kael noticed Girren as well.

He was seated near the window in another chair, his head tilted back as he quietly snored. His head was wrapped in bandages, and traces of wounds could be seen on his arms. Judging by his exhausted appearance, he had clearly gone without sleep for many hours as well.

Realizing that he was in his own room, Kael let out a relieved breath, finally relaxing. Yet almost immediately, the image of what he had seen earlier resurfaced within him—the endless Void, the strange structure of existence, and the streams of energy flowing between worlds.

Frowning slightly, Kael thoughtfully closed his eyes.

“That vision…” he murmured inwardly. “It exactly matched the diagrams of the Universe’s structure that I saw in the Divine Library…”

The thought felt both strange and somewhat amusing.

With an ironic smile, Kael continued inwardly, “Near-death hallucinations can be quite interesting… Simple diagrams are nothing compared to what I saw.”

But at that moment, his thoughts were interrupted by the quiet creak of a door.

Kael shifted his gaze slightly toward the entrance, watching as Roselle and Lissandra cautiously entered the room. The girls moved almost on tiptoe, clearly trying not to wake anyone, and in her hands Lissandra carried a small steel bowl filled with water and a cloth.

“Violet said we need to wipe down his entire body except for… his private parts…” Lissandra whispered, immediately beginning to blush with embarrassment. “But how are we even supposed to…”

“Think of it as caring for a sick person,” Roselle replied just as quietly, though far more confidently, carefully closing the door behind her. “Kael was sweating heavily all night. We have to help him.”

But at that moment, Roselle looked toward the bed and suddenly froze.

And in the very next second, without even having time to think, she cried out, “Kael! You’re awake!”

At the unexpected shout, Violet sprang upright from her chair, while Girren jerked awake so abruptly that he nearly fell to the floor. Neither of them had fully regained their senses yet, but they immediately turned anxious gazes toward Kael.

“Kael?!” Girren rasped, instantly leaping from his chair.

Violet did not say anything at all.

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She abruptly leaned forward and almost immediately pressed her lips to Kael’s forehead, checking for a fever, while Girren had already grabbed him by the shoulder and was asking tensely, “How are you?! Does anything hurt?! Are you dizzy?! Is your Mana Core alright?!”

Looking at their frightened faces, Kael merely laughed quietly, his voice a little hoarse.

“I’m alive,” he said wearily. “Everything’s fine. You don’t need to worry.”

Violet remained where she was for several more seconds, as though unable to fully believe he had really awakened. Only after convincing herself that he had no fever did she slowly pull her lips away from his forehead and place a hand against her chest in relief.

“No fever…” she exhaled softly. “Thank the Gods…”

Lissandra and Roselle immediately hurried over to the bed as well, examining Kael from both sides as though trying to make sure he had truly regained consciousness.

Roselle carefully took his hand and said apologetically, “Sorry for shouting… You need to rest, we’ll immediately—”

But she never finished.

“I already said there’s no need to worry,” Kael interrupted calmly as he slowly began sitting up in bed.

Violet immediately tried to hold him by the shoulder, but Kael sat up anyway, then ran a hand across his own chest in surprise.

He clearly remembered the monstrous burns and how his bones had literally cracked under the pressure of the Archmagisters’ auras. Yet now, beneath his fingers, he felt only ordinary skin, and there was no pain within him.

That made him frown slightly.

“To be honest…” Kael murmured thoughtfully, feeling along his chest and shoulders. “I’m surprised myself by how good I feel…”

But at that moment, there was an unexpected knock at the door.

Without waiting for a response, Dorian and Barnabas entered the room.

Taking his customary swig from a bottle, Barnabas merely snorted as he shifted his gaze toward the seated Kael.

“No surprise there,” Barnabas smirked. “They say one of the Archmagisters personally patched you up.”

Then, unexpectedly offering a warm smile, he added, “I’m glad you’re alright, kid.”

But in the very next moment, Barnabas let out his usual laugh and waved the bottle toward Kael.

“Especially because after all the commotion you caused, we’re going to get even more visitors now.”

“Commotion?” Kael asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow.

At that moment, Dorian calmly stepped forward.

As usual, his face looked tired, though concern for his friend could still be seen in his eyes.

“You slept for two days,” Dorian said evenly. “During that time, rumors about your role in foiling the Beast God Horde’s plans began spreading among the upper ranks of the Guilds.”

After thinking for a moment, Dorian glanced toward the window and calmly continued, “Then those rumors gradually spread to their subordinates and ordinary artisans… And, well, at this point, half the Capital already knows who you are.”

Barnabas burst into loud laughter at that.

“You can forget about a peaceful life now, pup.”

At that moment, however, Violet spoke cautiously, “There’s a good side to all this, too.”

Kael looked at her with interest and asked, “What do you mean?”

But it was Girren who answered.

“This morning, the Academy conducted a headcount of the students after the attack,” he said with a slight grin. “And we managed to meet up with the kids from Lasthold.”

Then Girren gave Kael a hearty pat on the shoulder.

“They say the way people treat them has suddenly changed. Even Overseer Malzir smiles at everyone now.”

Dorian nodded calmly at that.

“It’s only natural,” he said evenly, stepping closer to Kael’s bed. “Considering your achievements at the Academy and your contributions to the Empire, no one doubts anymore that you’ll become someone very influential in the future.”

Adjusting his collar slightly, Dorian continued in a colder tone, “Continuing to humiliate people who might be close to you is simply career suicide.”

Hearing that, Kael let out a relieved breath.

“That’s good…” he said quietly. “But I should think of a way to make it even more clear… So that no one ever bothers the children of Lasthold again…”

Yet the moment he finished speaking, the image of Valkeris immediately surfaced in his mind.

And then—Aiden.

Kael’s expression darkened ever so slightly.

Silence settled over the room for several seconds, after which he slowly turned his gaze toward Girren and said with a hint of guilt, “Girren… There’s something I need to tell you.”

The unexpected tone immediately put everyone on guard.

Even Barnabas stopped grinning and looked at Kael, while Violet tensed slightly, as though she had already sensed something unpleasant.

Kael himself fell silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts, then calmly added, “I trust all of you, so I’ll tell you openly.”

And in the very next moment, he said something that seemed to freeze the entire room.

“I killed Aiden.”

Everyone in the room went still for an instant.

Even Barnabas stopped moving his bottle, while Lissandra noticeably paled, her gaze darting uncertainly between Kael and Girren.

Seeing their reaction, Kael almost immediately continued calmly:

“During the chaos, I learned of the beastfolk’s plans and hurried toward the Imperial Palace. But Aiden blocked my path. Valkeris had sent him… They decided to kill me while taking advantage of the slave uprising.”

As he spoke, Kael frowned slightly, and a murderous chill flashed through his eyes for a brief moment.

“If I hadn’t been in such a hurry, I might have tried to keep him alive,” he added in a much harsher tone. “But I simply didn’t have time to waste on that bastard…”

After saying that, Kael turned his gaze back to Girren.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “If I could have, I would have left that bastard to you. I know you would have preferred to take his miserable life yourself.”

But to Kael’s surprise, Girren merely smiled calmly.

Then he held out his hand.

“What are you even talking about, Kael?” he said with a faint grin. “Thanks to you, that bastard won’t be enjoying his rotten life anymore.”

Kael was briefly caught off guard, yet almost immediately shook Girren’s hand without thinking.

Girren gave their clasped hands a slight shake and added in a much calmer tone, “You gave me a new purpose in life a long time ago and opened new opportunities for me. If I kept living only in the past, I’d be dishonoring everything you’ve done for me.”

Those words left Kael momentarily speechless, unsure how to respond.

But after a few seconds, a faint smile finally appeared on his face, and he replied sincerely, “It seems… I still have something to learn from you.”

At that moment, however, Barnabas spoke again.

“Killing is a heavy burden,” he said lazily, with a strange hint in his voice. “But it’s a good thing this isn’t your first time…”

Kael immediately narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean, old man?”

In response, Barnabas merely took another swig from his bottle, doing his best to look completely absorbed in “sampling” his drink.

“While conducting research into the quality of the city’s beverages,” he said with a straight face, “I happened to hear something interesting…”

Squinting slightly, Barnabas looked directly at Kael.

“They say the military has taken an interest in you. They seem awfully eager to recruit you into their ranks.”

Those words immediately put Kael on alert. Yet almost at once, he simply waved a hand dismissively.

“I’ve already sworn myself to the Scholars’ Guild,” he said calmly. “And battles on the front lines don’t particularly interest me.”

Barnabas merely shrugged.

“I hope you get what you want,” he grunted. “I’m just repeating what I heard.”

But almost immediately, Barnabas narrowed his eyes slightly as though remembering something.

“By the way…” he drawled thoughtfully. “Since you look very much alive, are you coming with us to the memorial service?”

“The memorial service?” Kael repeated.

But the moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room immediately grew noticeably heavier.

Girren’s smile vanished at once, Lissandra and Roselle lowered their gazes, and even Barnabas stopped smirking, causing Kael to instantly understand the answer himself.

“A lot of casualties?” he asked quietly.

Violet nodded grimly.

“Several thousand dead,” she answered softly. “And a great many wounded or maimed…”

Girren’s expression darkened even further as he quietly added, “During the first hours after the chaos, the Imperial military collected the blood of the dead. And immediately afterward, they began gathering and recording the deceased.”

Kael frowned slightly and asked, “They collected blood? What do you mean by that?”

This time, Dorian answered.

“Blood is a valuable resource for the Imperial Branch,” he explained calmly. “Many of their spells and combat techniques use blood as a weapon.”

Hearing that, Kael nodded in understanding, though a trace of disgust still flickered across his face.

“Sorry for reacting like that,” he said quietly. “Where we come from, something like that just sounds wild…”

After those words, a heavy silence settled over the room for several seconds.

Everyone was clearly remembering the events of the past few days and the horrors they had witnessed.

Kael slowly swept his gaze across those gathered, then unexpectedly said with genuine sincerity, “If any of you had died… I would never have forgiven myself.”

Then, beginning to get out of bed, he added more calmly, “We should share in the grief of the other citizens. Even if it’s simply a way of showing respect for their dead.”

“I agree,” Girren said in support.

“Then let’s get ourselves cleaned up,” Kael said. “I’ll go wash up, and the rest of you should get some rest. You’ve all been pushing yourselves too hard.”

With those words, everyone nodded and headed toward the door. As for Kael, once he had fully confirmed that he could move normally, he almost immediately made his way to the small bathhouse inside the house.

✦ ✦ ✦

Less than two hours later, all the residents of the Merry Drunkard tavern were already moving through the streets of the Capital alongside the rest of its citizens.

The city looked completely different than usual.

The traces of the recent chaos had not disappeared. Many walls were still covered in deep cracks, some buildings had been blackened by fire, and here and there, uncleared rubble still lay along the streets—the very atmosphere of the Capital had changed beyond recognition.

People had become unusually quiet.

Almost all the citizens wore dark-red or burgundy clothing, and most faces bore expressions of exhaustion, grief, and a heavy inner emptiness. No one haggled, argued, or even spoke too loudly.

Instead of its usual noise, the enormous city now resembled a slowly flowing river of people moving silently in a single direction.

Toward the center of the Capital.

Kael walked within this endless stream alongside the others, carefully observing everything around him.

The closer they came to the central districts, the more the atmosphere changed.

The scent of hot wax and incense gradually began to fill the air, while figures of priests in layered crimson robes and tall ceremonial hats appeared more and more frequently among the crowd.

Some carried long censers from which thick scarlet smoke rose.

Others quietly recited prayers.

Their voices were calm and measured, gradually merging into a single deep chant, which more and more citizens began joining.

Before long, the entire street seemed filled with that low ritual chant.

Even Barnabas, who normally never took such things seriously, walked in unusual silence, only occasionally taking brief swigs from his bottle.

As Kael listened to the chanting around him, his gaze slowly traveled across the streets of the Capital.

Watching all this and noticing the enormous square gradually opening ahead, Kael found himself focusing on his own feelings.

“Even without feeling any kinship with the Empire… I still feel kinship with the human race…” he thought, slowly sweeping his gaze across the endless stream of people around him. “What a heavy atmosphere…”

And as if confirming his thoughts, at some point all conversation finally faded away.

Even the priests’ prayers grew quieter.

When Kael and the others stepped onto the central square, his gaze involuntarily fixed in place.

The entire vast expanse was filled with long rows of bodies completely wrapped in dark-red ritual cloth.

Some rows stretched so far that they gradually vanished into the thick incense smoke and the countless lights of candles.

Thousands of bodies—men, women, elders, and even children—rested beneath the dark-red ritual coverings.

Priests in crimson robes moved slowly among the dead, continuing to recite prayers in low voices. From time to time, they stopped beside another body and gently touched the cloth with long staffs tipped with red crystals.

After each touch, the crystals would briefly begin to glow softly, while faint scarlet particles appeared around the bodies before quickly dissolving into the air.

The entire square seemed transformed into one enormous ritual of farewell.

At that moment, one of the priests slowly approached the newly arrived crowd and silently began distributing candles made of dark-red wax.

Each one burned with a deep scarlet flame that gave off a faintly sweet scent, blending with the heavy incense around them.

Without a word, Kael accepted a candle, feeling the warm wax slowly heating his palm.

And almost immediately, he noticed the people around him dropping to their knees one after another, joining the communal chant.

Some did so calmly.

Some with trembling hands.

Others could not hold back their tears at all.

Watching this, Kael closed his eyes for a moment.

“Today, I’ll make an exception…” he thought.

And then, together with the others, he slowly lowered himself to his knees and began joining the prayer aloud.

Very quickly, thousands of voices fully merged into a single deep chant, causing the air above the square to seem to vibrate faintly.

And it was precisely at that moment that a deep voice, amplified by mana, suddenly rolled across the entire Capital.

The speaker was nowhere to be seen, yet the very sound of that voice seemed to make the air heavier.

“Remember the fallen.”

The voice echoed across the entire square.

“Remember the blood that was shed for the continuation of the human race.”

Even the chanting around them grew quieter.

“As long as our will endures… humanity shall not fall.”

The voice fell silent for several seconds, yet the silence that settled over the square felt even heavier than before.

Then it rang out over the Capital once more, deeper and harsher than before, “In times of calamity, humanity has always survived only by standing together.”

Thousands of citizens remained kneeling, without raising their heads.

“So it was during the ancient invasions of the Beast God Horde. So it was during the Fall of the Three Empires. And so it shall be again.”

The voice seemed to roll directly through people’s bodies, making the air tremble ever so slightly.

“With the blessing of the God of Blood and War, humanity has endured far worse than this.”

And at that very moment, thousands of people simultaneously raised their candles into the air.

The entire vast square was immediately bathed in crimson light, while countless flames swayed slowly amidst the thick incense smoke, as though an entire sea of red fire had spread out before Kael.

The heavy communal chant continued to echo above the rows of the dead, while the priest continued:

“We must remember every one of the fallen! Their blood shall not be shed in vain—it will continue to live on within us and within future generations!”

Kael said nothing.

He simply gazed silently at that sea of scarlet lights, feeling a strange sensation slowly grow within his chest—a mixture of grief and, at the same time, detachment.

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