Mage Manual

All is one, one is all.

Ash emotionally wanted to refute the Drama Poet’s conception, but rationally he knew this was indeed the only method. The devouring World Snake was not a disaster descending from the heavens, nor an enemy on the world’s reverse side; it represented the convergence tendency of all mages.

But why does this convergence phenomenon occur?

Is it because the "eight" all perished, their power scattered throughout the world, the phenomenon of entropy increase reaching a turning point, thus spontaneously shifting towards order?

No, the appearance of the devouring World Snake happened when the Supreme of Magic stepped into the Seventh Layer of the Void Realm. Both "Supreme of Magic" and "Seventh Layer of the Void Realm" are key factors. If Ash had stayed in the Seven Heavens all his life, lain flat, the corresponding World Snake would never appear, just like if you don’t work, you’d never meet a boss exploiting your surplus value.

In other words, the "gravity" of the Supreme of Magic arises only after stepping into the Seventh Layer of the Void Realm.

So is it because of the temptation of the Void Realm’s heartbeat? No, it’s not just temptation, but also an uncontrollable desire and greed that emerged when he found his path unable to approach the Void Realm’s heartbeat. He wanted to extend his path, to hold the Void Realm’s heartbeat in his hand, and the devouring World Snake merely responded to his greed.

Just like in the Sea of Knowledge, the Void Realm responded to his desire and granted him the wings of freedom.

"Eight wings."

Dazzling Star calmly asked, "If I’m not mistaken, when I become the sole mage, will I also gather eight wings?"

"Every Void Wing we possess originates from a form of creation life. Silver, Gold, Rainbow, Colorless, Knowledge, Secret Realm, Supreme... Our craving for the Void Realm’s heartbeat forces us to uncontrollably begin gathering the eighth wing, and the ’eighth one’ needed for gathering the eighth wing is the mage pool shared by all life."

Ash recalled Uroboros’s eight wings, and all clues finally connected. He murmured, "Devouring World Snake... devouring the world, is the process of gathering eight wings!"

"Actually, it’s easier to understand if you just extend the relationship between you all to all mages." The Drama Poet laughed, "The total amount of the Supreme Holy Grail is fixed, so isn’t there a limit to the number of Divine Lords?"

"Of course," Ash immediately said, "There must be a Secret Realm to elevate to the Heavenly Kingdom, and the upper limit of Divine Lords equals the upper limit of Secret Realms... Is the number of Secret Realms also fixed?" He reacted halfway through speaking.

"Star Cluster?" Dazzling Star suddenly uttered a term.

"That’s right." The Drama Poet nodded, "It’s exactly as you think."

He didn’t let Ash wait long and directly explained, "The world Secret Domain ’Star Cluster’ that Dazzling Star currently controls wasn’t inherited but cultivated anew by her. When she first stepped into the Seven Heavens to subjugate the Old Gods, the dark Lord of Night would rather destroy the Star Cluster than give it to her. The Lord of Night hadn’t entered the Phase, yet the size of the Star Cluster he controlled was three times the current Star Cluster of Dazzling Star, and the Star Cluster Dazzling Star had been managing for thousands of years couldn’t reach the level of the Lord of Night back then."

"Are the Secret Realms degrading?" Ash said and then shook his head, "No, it should be... spreading thin?"

"Initially, the world had only six Secret Realms, each large enough to match your Phase Heaven. But as the Secret Realms were destroyed again and again, the scale of each Secret Realm diminished, yet the number of Secret Realms increased repeatedly." The Drama Poet said, "The number of Secret Realms is infinite, but the total amount of Secret Realms in their initial state is fixed."

"Similarly, the total amount of Knowledge, Colorless, Rainbow, Gold, and Silver—all the Void Wings—is fixed, but there are too many people dividing them, and each person receives too little, so you haven’t noticed this is a competitive relationship. Only when you possess the Supreme Void Wing will you be shocked to realize that you once managed to fly with such weak wings."

"To become the sole mage is to gather not just the eight wings, but also to complete your seven wings. Just like you seek to seize each other’s Supreme Holy Grail, the devouring World Snake actually helps you seize others’ Void Wings. After all, how could a true Eight-winged Mage have defective Void Wings?" the Drama Poet’s voice showed a tinge of longing: "Eight wings converge, all techniques return, being the one, yet perfect, and also infinite."

"There will always be someone who becomes the Eight-winged Mage; there will always be a devouring World Snake." He summarized with an almost prophetic tone, "Only the role can change, the ending cannot."

"Is it my illusion," Ash suddenly asked, "or do you truly look forward to us raising the slaughter knife?"

"No." Dazzling Star’s eyes flickered with cold light, "If you cared about the lives of ordinary mages, you wouldn’t have revealed the truth!"

"I truly want to protect the ordinary mages, and I also truly look forward to you making choices." The Drama Poet slightly bowed, "Just like someone might find a Lalafell adorable but would also ask the Chef to add cumin and chili during cooking."

"What I care about has never been the continuation of the mage community, but whether the mages can add unique colors to this world. Therefore, I would accept the imprisonment from you, Dazzling Star, to protect ordinary mages, and also negotiate with the Void Realm to help you enter Heaven."

"This is also why I insisted on waiting for your arrival, Mr. Ash, before I’m willing to reveal the truth. If I told Dazzling Star in advance, perhaps everything would already be over."

"It wouldn’t." Dazzling Star suddenly said.

Ash was silent for a moment, "Are you expecting me to stop her?"

"Don’t think of me as some cunning grand playwright; I just find it interesting to do so." The Drama Poet leisurely said, "Whether you plan to end the world first before deciding a victor, or decide a victor first before ending the world, or stalemate and find another path, it will all be an unprecedented grand drama."

"One is a great mage standing for countless eras, unmatched through history, and the other is a miraculous figure rising like stormy sea entangled with future causation—there’s no choice better suited than you two to put a stop to mage civilization. No matter how the plot unfolds, I will watch until the end with full respect."

"Next, please allow me to return to the audience seat." The Drama Poet retreated into the Sun Cage, chaining himself as if he had just come out for a break and a drink of beer.

The vast layer of the Void Realm suddenly became so quiet, only three heartbeats remained. At this moment, Ash already somewhat regretted not listening to the Sword Maiden’s advice. If he hadn’t come to the Seventh Layer of the Void Realm, he wouldn’t have to think about these world fate issues; the chaotic scene was a more suitable concern for someone his age.

But this time no one could guide him.

No Death Mad.

No Observer.

He broke free from all shackles, no one could influence him anymore, and now he finally had to decide his own fate.

Just like the Observer in Shattered Lake Prison.

What a long period as a novice... Ash looked at Dazzling Star, and asked, "How do you plan to exterminate the Mages?"

Dazzling Star glanced at him and said nothing.

"Exterminate the Mages, it sounds easy, but it’s actually impossible." Ash continued, "Besides the various races on earth, the Void Realm creatures, and the heroic Commanders on the Time Continent all count as intelligent Mage creatures. There’s many hidden Heavenly Kingdoms within the Seven Heavens, which may have even bred new civilizations, even you can only destroy 99% of life, there will always be some Mages who escape and hide in places you cannot reach."

"Only the End Snake can devour the world; our only way out is still to find a way to restrain the End Snake. Exterminating Mages to complete the Concept is just a theoretically existing but fundamentally impossible goal."

"From now on, let’s study how to seal our own ’Gravity’." He said, "As long as we can prevent the Mage Concept aggregation phenomenon, the End Snake naturally will not be born, this is difficult but at least there is a possibility—"

"Collapse." Dazzling Star said calmly.

"What?"

Dazzling Star opened her palm, in her palm appeared a seven-layer tower, from bottom to top it was silver, gold, rainbow, colorless, gray-white, pure white, sea of stars. She pointed to the fifth gray-white layer and said, "The conventional method indeed cannot exterminate all Mages, but your snake—Uroboros has already bitten and ruined the Level Six of Hell."

Ash’s heart stirred, he intuitively realized something.

"The layout of the Void Realm above and below is not a decoration, but of real significance." Dazzling Star curled her fingers, like playing with building blocks, flicked away the gray-white layer, but the tower remained unharmed: "We sealed Hell, but did not remove Hell, just made it invisible. It’s like sealing one floor in a high-rise building, no one can enter that floor, but it still fulfils the task of supporting the building."

"But if," Dazzling Star moved the gray-white layer back and then pressed hard on the top of the tower: "Hell was overburdened and completely collapsed—"

Pop. The crack in the gray-white layer extended simultaneously up and down, affecting the shear structure of the entire building, as Dazzling Star continued to apply pressure, when the gray-white layer finally could not bear it and broke, the bottom four layers and the top one collapsed alongside it, Dazzling Star gave a strong slap, producing a misty starlight.

When she opened her palm, there was already nothing.

"I really can’t meticulously clean every corner in the building," Dazzling Star said calmly, "But if the entire building collapses, is there still a room that can stay safe?"

Ash was silent for a moment: "If the Level Six of Hell had not been destroyed by Uroboros—"

"Then the Void Realm absolutely could not collapse." Dazzling Star said, "In this regard, we must all thank Uroboros for its actions. It is both a disaster and an opportunity for this world."

"No."

Ash stepped forward, in an instant his body was reconstructed by the Witch’s threads, his heart ignited the flames of the Silver Lamp, his left hand entwined Vishi’s chained Magic Sword, his right hand tightly held the Sword Maiden’s ruby longsword!

His eyes seemed to flow with lava, in his veins surged Source Power, in a flash the Star Cluster dimmed, on the world stage only he remained in a splash of dazzling, vivid color!

A single Sword Light chilled through the sea of stars!

The gorgeously extreme Blood Sea Sword Tide bent to an arc like a bowstring, like chains entangling to seal off all of Dazzling Star’s avoidance directions, the resentful and insidious Sword Light could even obliterate Star Radiance completely!

Red purple · Lock Moon Shattered Lake!

"You should resent the opportunity left by Uroboros."

Ash opened his Void Wings recklessly, after perfectly sharing the Queens’ Void Wings, his six Void Wings grew to an unimaginable extent, stretched out as if to cover the Star Cluster, grand and solemn, divine authority, yet his Supreme Void Wings were like a demon’s tail, sharp as a sword, vivid as poison.

His demeanor was a perfect blend of the Sword Maiden’s battle frenzy, the Witch’s lust for torture, the Silver Lamp’s cunning, the ghost’s rage, and various other traits, their madness, poison, evil, wickedness achieved a perfect unity on him. Normally Ash would turn into a madman or become a Demon King, yet his gaze was clear and bright, his expression serene, like a Lalafell leisurely strolling by the lakeside, suddenly raising his head bathed under starlight.

Rather than saying he is the Supreme of Magic, it’s better to say he is a Monster, light and darkness, good and evil, boy and girl, god and demon, he mixed various different factors, as if containing all possible vibrant colors.

"Since you really have the ability to destroy the Void Realm," Ash looked up at Dazzling Star enveloped in Starlight: "Then you can only die."

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