Mage Manual

From earth to Heaven, all beings only need to look up to see the once dazzling and cold starry sky covered by a vibrant tide, stars extinguished, colors blending, the sky like countless rainbows flowing, changing unpredictably every second, as if in a dream.

"What a beautiful painting," a child clapped their hands and laughed.

Indeed, it was a painting, with the sky as the canvas and the world as the paint, there was no technique to speak of, just all the paint splashed onto it, with billions of colors under the influence of the Law presenting an extremely gorgeous aesthetic.

But gradually, everyone’s gaze focused on the only star at the end of the vibrant scene.

When the night sky is filled with shining stars, no one pays special attention to any single star; but now, with the vibrance drowning out the stars, this one stubbornly shining star is like the final protagonist on the stage, noble and cold, lonely and strong.

This painting that crowns the Void Realm still cannot overshadow the radiance of the oldest star.

In the Heavenly Kingdom of Dazzling Stars, the angels like Starlaw knelt down one after another, their faces full of tears, silently choking, hands clasped together. They weren’t praying for their own destiny, but wishing well for the Divine Being.

*

In the seventh layer of the Void Realm, the vibrant tide lifted Ash high like a throne, he condescendingly looked down at the kneeling Dazzling Star below, the latter barely kept from falling by leaning on the Starlight Sword, the dress woven from the Galaxy covered in scars, the Void Wings wilting and drooping, and starlit divine blood constantly flowing from her lips.

The power of the vibrant Shattered Lake permeated her soul body, her outward appearance seemed not too heavily damaged, but internally she was already shattered, unable even to stop the bleeding.

At this moment, just like that moment.

Only back then, Dazzling Star stood on top of the train, and Ash below in a sports car, at that time Dazzling Star was about to take the world in hand as Supreme of Magic, and Ash was just a mortal mage who hadn’t even stepped into the Divine Domain.

The gap between them then was even greater than now.

Dazzling Star seemed to also think of the same thing as him, she raised her head to look at Ash, and a barely noticeable smile seemed to pass across her calm face. Despite bearing near-breaking injuries, her eyes were brighter than ever, as if carrying the starry sky of millennia.

A faint starlight emitted from her body surface, although it could not brighten the star sea, it was purer than any color, even the vibrant ocean could not erode a bit of it.

Even if the stars were extinguished, she remained the star standing at the apex of the mage civilization.

But it also meant she was the only color that didn’t blend into the vibrant scene.

The Bonded Divine can govern all the magic in the world, the only ineffectual target being the peer Supreme of Magic.

In the concept of mages, only she remained as this fragment.

Ash descended, regarding her as an equal, saying, "I have just given it my all."

Dazzling Star coughed up a mouthful of blood, the starlit divine blood turning into part of the vibrant ocean the instant it fell, she took a long breath, a slight regret appearing on her face: "Sadly, I ultimately didn’t have the chance to see the perfect unique Eight-winged, perhaps the correct life always just brushes past perfection."

"Dazzling Star," Ash deliberated his words: "You—"

"Your girl, I can’t return her to you." Dazzling Star interrupted him: "Perhaps you now have the ability to separate her from my soul, but it’s not my style to entrust my fate to someone else, so consider it as if I killed her."

She barely straightened her back to stand upright, but she was only standing upright, "I lost. Although I can say you merely borrowed the power from the distant end, I also had millennia of preparation and accumulation, and I even stole the bond between Filly and you, borrowing your Void Wings... I was utterly defeated."

"The you who pursues perfection won, the I who clings to correctness lost. Perhaps I was once correct, but now the world no longer needs me, it only needs you."

"Just like the rotation of stars, the rising of the sun and moon, even eternal truth may change, let alone the melody of fate?"

Dazzling Star took a deep breath, suppressing all her injuries, her face radiating even more brilliance than before, the blood from her wounds unable to conceal her unparalleled elegance. She was like a star on the verge of extinction, burning up her last fuel, exploding with a radiance that lit up the universe.

She gripped tightly the sword of millions of Star Radiance, the Star Blue Illusion Wings unfolded freely, yet the vibrant tail feather borrowed from Ash was gone. It wasn’t that she couldn’t borrow Ash’s Void Wings, but she chose to abandon unnecessary external force, leaving only her own Star Blue.

This was her power, this was her life, and this was her everything.

At this moment, Dazzling Star spread her wings not for victory, but for an ending.

"Use the fall of the ancient star," Dazzling Star gazed at Ash’s brilliant and majestic wings from afar, her tone firm, her expression solemn, "to manifest the glory of the Master of Void Realm."

Ash quietly looked at her, silent for a long time, until Dazzling Star’s lips could no longer contain the flowing Divine Blood. He finally reached out a hand, forming the colorful hues into a blade surpassing all earthly weapons.

Dazzling Star smiled; she no longer maintained the noble and aloof ’Wise King stance.’ Her genuine smile was identical to Filly’s, sweet and charming, her face radiant, her eyes slightly squinted, and the joyful emotion emitted from every raised eyelash.

Seven-winged Wonder · Starfall.

She transformed into a radiant starlight, tracing a fearless trajectory across the colorful ocean, and her soul body couldn’t withstand such intense wonder, cracking everywhere, her blood evaporating into a mist the instant it left her body.

Dazzling Star completely abandoned defense; she couldn’t possibly defend herself, and even after wielding this sword, she would become fragmented.

Yet because of this, she successfully burned out her last Source Power, infusing all her spirit into this sword!

In this instant, the colorful hues paled, leaving the vast world stage with only this sword’s ultimate brilliant mark!

Even Dazzling Star felt she had reached the ultimate end of her swordsmanship path; she was very confident that Ash couldn’t possibly wield a sword more dazzling than this.

Perfect, there’s no better ending, she thought.

In the end, I am also a fool pursuing ’perfection,’ praying for Ash’s pity like a crying child, to put a perfect end to my life’s sentence.

Yet I can accept this ending so calmly, as if... I had predicted this scene long ago.

Is it the cage of Allstars? Or the battle in Hell? Or perhaps the dialogue in the Starry Sea six days ago?

It seems every meeting surprises me with his foolishness and persistence. Yet every time I’m surprised, I can’t help but imagine the possibility of him successfully creating a Miracle.

If...

No, there is no if.

Even if I could do it again, I would still do the same.

Previously, the world couldn’t accommodate ’perfection,’ so my ’rightness’ became the protagonist. Now that the world has developed to a level that can pursue ’perfection,’ the untimely ’rightness’ should also exit the historical stage.

I have reached the end of the right path; at this moment, it is time to conclude.

Starlight and colorful hues collided in a thousandth of a second, and the law of time-space obliteration collapsed, causing even the Level Seven of Void Realm to lose all color, teetering as if about to collapse!

No.

Level Seven of Void Realm really did collapse!

Even Ash, who had become the strongest mage of all time, couldn’t help but reveal a look of terror at this moment. He looked at Dazzling Star who blocked his sword, his tone mixing shock and anger: "Dazzling Star, you actually—"

"No!" Dazzling Star immediately defended urgently, "I never arranged a destruction technique in Level Seven of Void Realm, it’s not me—"

Dazzling Star’s voice abruptly stopped, as the collapsed Level Seven of Void Realm melted like ice cream into a pitch-black torrent, continuously flowing into Dazzling Star, repairing her fragmented remains. Not only Level Seven of Void Realm, but also the Seven Heavens below, earth, Level Six of Hell, Ruby Mountain, Dream Stairs, Time Continent, Sea of Knowledge...

The entire Void Realm was melting, collapsing, then transforming into the purest magic colors, all flowing towards Dazzling Star. Her face showed snake scales, colorful yet deep and dark, enchantingly beautiful beyond comparing. The pitch-black torrent gathered at her spine, making it seem like she’d grown a long tail, entangling the world, grand and majestic.

"I have become the World Snake," Dazzling Star looked at her hands growing scales, murmuring, "the Void Realm will merge with me."

She glanced at Ash, her expression a mix of a smile and a cry: "Your gravity has exceeded the limits of what the Void Realm can bear, so I have become a sacrifice, a sacrifice to help you devour the world."

"Kill me, the serpent, and the world will return to the original empty chaos. Only then can you swallow the Void Realm, absorbing it like you once absorbed white mist in the Sea of Knowledge to condense magic power, directly unifying Void Realm, magic, and yourself into a perfect union, forming a true and only Eight-winged."

"The mage concept," Dazzling Star, having become the World Snake, finally understood all truths of the end: "includes even the Void Realm!"