Gods are half-conceptual beings. The sun, war, the ocean, luck, commerce… The gods of the Temple of the Gods each embody their own concepts and exert influence over them.
Similarly, the Great Demons are also half-conceptual beings. Anger, corruption, nightmares, curses, and decay. They don’t embody specific concepts, but their actions are infused with these ideas.
‘Thus, the gateway to the Soul Realm is conceptual.’
There’s no way a physical gate could exist for something called a “gateway.” Fernandez, overlooking the advancing legion of wraiths, stretched out his arm.
‘Matter is an illusion.’
At least in this moment, in this place. The destruction caused by the Magic Cannon affects even the rifts between dimensions. Right now, this city is more unstable in the balance between dimensions than any other region.
‘To the point where it could reach even the halls of the Temple of the Gods.’
From the Temple of the Gods to the depths of hell below. If the Material World is a wedge between dimensions, then this space is like a punctured sponge, haphazardly absorbing the concepts and influences of other dimensions.
‘So…’
-Huu…
Fernandez exhaled deeply. This wasn’t something he particularly wanted to do. Even for someone as hardened as he was, accustomed to physical pain and mental torture, the horrifying sensation of having his soul split apart and reassembled was far from pleasant.
But it was necessary. Fernandez reached into his coat. Cold steel met his grasp.
-Ssshh…
A blade sharp enough to slice through the air emerged from within. The Dagger of the Necropolis. A weapon that had been exposed to sacred blood longer than any other material in this era.
To use magic? To carve through souls? There were certainly easier and less harmful methods. But the reason he had been using this dagger to carve souls and wound himself all this time…
‘Was for this very moment!’
He never makes a move without a plan. From the moment he obtained this dagger, he had been tempering its blade with his own blood to turn it into a key to the Necropolis.
The blood of a saint flows with divinity. And divinity is a force closer to concept than any material. Magic and physical strength, compared to divinity, are more tangible.
Gods are half-conceptual beings. And their constituent particles symbolize concepts. The divinity flowing in Fernandez’s blood represents Vaitas, the embodiment of ‘war,’ ‘victory,’ and ‘justice’!
-Crackkkk!
He thrust the dagger straight into the shimmering Barrier of the Soul Realm before him! A barrier that no physical force could ever breach. The dagger lodged itself perfectly, and the blade began to splinter.
The blade, tempered in sacred blood, began to shatter and crumble. Fernandez gritted his teeth against the violent recoil. His heart pounded wildly, and the hand gripping the dagger felt as if it were being crushed.
-Crunch.
His right wrist bent in an impossible direction. He supported it with his left hand, staring with bloodshot eyes at the crack forming.
-Thud, thud, thud!
His heart warned him of the state of his soul. Being drawn into the Soul Realm was, at best, an intrusion. But more accurately, it was akin to death.
The path to the afterlife always requires crossing the gate of death. The shimmering Barrier of the Soul Realm split open, and a dark green light began to pour out, engulfing Fernandez.
His body weakened as the light touched him. The Stigma of Immortality flickered madly. Going any further would be unwise. This was—
“Respect my choice, Vaitas!!”
Death? Fine, I’ll gladly die. Come! I’ll die with joy! Fernandez shouted toward the sky with a voice strained by blood. If a mortal body could kill a Great Demon, he would gladly stake his life on it!
If he succeeded, if he could kill that monster, he could teach that abomination, reborn as the God of Death, what true death really is.
‘I can come back.’
-In theory.
Even Faijashi spoke with a rare tension in his voice. Death was unfamiliar territory for both Fernandez and Faijashi. Faijashi had returned from the brink of death, and Fernandez had been blessed with rejection by death.
But now, in this moment, they had agreed to venture into the unknown.
-Sssshhhhhaaaakkk!!
The veil of the Soul Realm split in half. The terrace outside had become a bridge connecting the Soul Realm and the Material World. And as a result—
-Crrraaassshhh—
The city began to collapse. Everything that should have been in its rightful place crumbled into sand and dust, scattering into the void.
Everything that originated from Mumto’s domain was returning to him. As the Barrier of the Soul Realm crumbled, all the elements that had bound these things to the Material World began to dissolve into concepts.
-Kkkkkrrrrr!!
Buildings crumbled into the earth below. Streets, waterways, and even the massive city walls. A giant sinkhole began to swallow the city. The city cascaded into the abyss and over the cliffs.
Far below, in the distant underground, where sand crumbled and fell, a swirling dark green light consumed everything.
It was like an antlion’s pit. Everything spiraled down into the radial pit below.
