Mage Manual

Many years later.

At the source of the world where time, space, entropy, and death have completely lost their meaning, Ash is alone on his trek. There is no road here, only the darkness flows like cold glass. With each step Ash takes into the darkness, he pulls himself out again, like a mountaineer challenging a snowy peak.

After the Sword Maiden and her companions conquered all known worldlines, the majesty of the Master of Void Realm radiated from the throne to every corner of existence with magic. In this great era where all techniques unite, even the most brutal Supreme of Magic must obey the laws within the Mage’s Handbook, daring not to disrupt the order easily. The rebellious Gods of Four Pillars have been exiled to the desolation outside civilization, decaying in boundless loneliness until the glory of civilization grants them new life.

But Ash must personally bring an end to this war; leading the charge is a fate the king cannot escape.

Clack!

Ash stops in his tracks, though the path ahead remains boundless darkness, in Ash’s eyes, an unimaginable veil completely isolates magic from him.

He knows that this is the limit of the Sword Maiden and her companions; ahead lies an uncharted territory never contaminated by magic.

This is why the Master of Void Realm must personally descend, because even if Sonia were willing, she could not bear the burden. Mages, in truth, navigate the ocean called magic, where Void Wings are the ship, and Technique Spirits are the sailors, thereby sailing to the world’s end. But if it’s land without an ocean, how can mages sail?

Ahead is the dry shore that mages cannot reach, but it is also the origin of time, the beginning of all things.

Because it is the Initial World Line, the preface where all stories have yet to begin. There, there are no laws, no fate, only eight Creator Beings.

It’s the fall of the Creator Beings that birthed time, space, fate, entropy, death, and subsequently the civilization of mages, like the birth of life after a whale falls.

Therefore, it is only natural that mages cannot tread the Initial World Line, because the concept of "magic" doesn’t even exist there; no matter how skilled a mage is, it’s impossible to paint on a canvas that doesn’t exist, which is a logical fallacy.

The only one who can surpass the veil is Ash.

As the Master of Void Realm who has completely collected the mage concept and conquered all worldlines, ruling over the past and future, his authority is akin to that of the eight Creator Beings. His Eight-winged presence can reverse back to initial authority, unaffected by magic’s limitations, naturally not hindered outside.

Now, the world, void realm, and fate are just insignificant parts of Ash, because he is everything, both whole and one.

He reaches out, lightly taps the veil, and steps across.

What will he see?

Ruins, chaos, or the ’eight’ chatting in a circle?

It might be hard to understand, but Ash actually comes with a nostalgic mindset, although he has never met any besides the Source Angel, he is familiar with them: the first one’s remains are the golden fish, the second one’s corpse is the White Bull, the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh respectively become the Gods of Four Pillars, the eighth one merges into the world becoming the mage’s origin... Before the mage’s birth, all except Source Angel were dead, yet they continue to influence every mage, and it’s foreseeable this will not change.

Even if the ’eight’ joined forces to attack him, Ash might not be angry. However, according to his understanding of them, they might stare at him for a long time before realizing what’s happening... because the Source Angel is a somewhat dazed girl.

Though Ash is mentally prepared, the scene before him still involuntarily stuns him.

The sunlight is slightly glaring, warmly shining upon.

The grass grows boundlessly, crawling creatures chase the sun by day, the moon by night; the wind is a transparent river, and light is a warm meteor.

Looking at this bright sunny world, Ash momentarily doesn’t know how to react.

Inspired, everything in this world holds no secrets before Ash’s eyes. This is a world without miracles, only unaltered physical laws in operation, like a feast untouched, quietly waiting for its guests.

But what about the eight?

No matter how Ash looks, he cannot find any trace of the eight Creator Beings, as if they never existed. But here is the world’s origin; if they aren’t here, then where are they?

Without them, there is no future; without a future, there is no me; without me, there wouldn’t be a discovery that the origin lacks them... Ash feels trapped in an Observer’s Paradox. Until now, the world’s development was clear, all logic self-sustaining, all evidence pointed that ’eight’ is the origin, and although seven are dead, the Source Angel lives into the future... But when Ash truly checks the initial, those who should appear do not.

Ash stands, lost in thought amidst a lengthy reflection, but time does not pause for him. As day rises, day falls, the night gradually dissolves into azure skies, transforming everything into a mysterious dark world, where only the star cluster claims the stage, with stars near enough to touch.

So familiar.

An inexplicable familiarity strikes like a stone, crashing into Ash’s memory, splashing water, slowly sinking to the bottom, stirring sediment. It’s like a bone thrown far away by Ash, as memory—like a dog—runs towards it, no matter what, it will return with something.