WIEDERGEBURT Act VII: Chapter 27

I gritted my teeth as I raced toward Tora, slamming my death ruler into her all-creation sword. Darkness clashed with a colorless energy that seemed to encompass every aspect of creation imaginable, turning my opponent’s weapon into something truly magnificent.

A shockwave spread from the impact. I was sent sailing backward, but I manipulated the life of the grass beneath Tora’s feet to keep her from taking advantage of my state. They wrapped around her like vines. She squawked and stumbled. As I landed on the ground, I swung the ruler in my hand down, striking the earth and unleashing a crescent blade of pure black death.

“That won’t be enough to defeat me!! Try again, fucker!!”

Tora roared as she swung her all-creation sword. The colorless energy she released split my attack down the middle, and I was forced to leap back as her attack continued on.

In a battle for supremacy, the Concept of Creation beat every other concept save the Concept of Negation. This was because creation was, technically, an all-encompassing concept that could be used to do anything—in theory at least. I didn’t know if that was completely true, but according to Fray, someone who mastered this concept could attain mastery of every other concept.

Well, again, except for negation.

I ignored the sounds of trees crashing behind me as Tora’s attack sliced through several dozen of them, bent my knees, and pushed off the ground. An explosion appeared underneath my feet as I rushed forward. I did not use the Flash Step. This battle was about learning to wield my concepts more efficiently. Use of the elements was not allowed.

Tora met my latest swing with one of her own. I did not let myself fly from the attack this time, but grounded myself and pushed back. Tora pushed as well. We were practically nose to nose by this point.

“Nice bad! Not fucking bad! At all!” Tora grunted through gritted teeth.

“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself,” I said with a grin.

Then I kicked her legs out from underneath her.

“Fucking hell! Bastard!”

With a laugh, I swung my ruler down on her head, though it was of course blocked by a shield that sprang into existence. It was a hastily made shield, however. It shattered the moment my sword made contact, but that was enough time for Tora to roll out of the way, leap back to her feet, and throw herself into a fierce assault that had me stumbling backward.

Using concepts as a means of attack was a lot more difficult than the elements. There was a time and place for their use. Of course, a Spiritualist could just throw random techniques out, but doing so not only exhausted your Spiritual Power far faster, it also left you open to attack. A good Spiritualist knew how to pick and choose when to attack.

I swung my ruler around in wide strokes, spinning around and around and using the momentum from my blocks to make myself move faster. Tora’s sword was shorter, slimmer, and less unwieldy. Her attacks came at me far quicker and far more frequently. This sadly meant I was playing a mostly defensive battle.

I leapt over a pothole that had appeared during our battle, then blocked Tora’s underhanded swing. Tora leapt into the air and came down with a powerful attack. I blocked it, but the force caused my knees to bend against their will. The ground beneath me cracked as I shoved her off. Ignoring the dust the force of our attack kicked up, I shot forward and swung my ruler with every ounce of strength I had.

Tora went to block.

I dispelled my ruler.

“Fucking shit—”

Tora was a moment to slow to avoid my attack. She shook my fist, covered in a layer of death energy, right to the chest. Her conceptualized armor blocked most of it, but cracks still spread across the creation armor as she stumbled back.

I didn’t give her a chance to recover.

Decking her in the face hard enough to leave a bruise, I watched her stumble, grabbed her hand, and pulled her forward—right into my knee. She gasped as the force shot through her armor. Her control slipped, the armor shattered, and Tora fell onto her knees, hands curling around her stomach.

“I believe Eryk is the winner here,” Chloe said as she walked over with a smile.

“Cough… cough… fuck… that was some hit,” Tora groaned from her place on the ground.

“Sorry. Let me heal that for you.”

I knelt before the woman and began using the water element to heal and soothe her injury. Oddly enough, the water element was better at healing than the Concept of Life, which I felt was because life didn’t necessarily mean healing. Pain was a part of life. To live was to feel pain. That was why I couldn’t use it to soothe my own wounds as well.

“Agh… damn it. I can’t believe I fucking lost.” Tora sat up after I healed her, wincing only a little as she rubbed her chest. “How the fuck have you gotten so much better in such a short amount of time?”

“I’m not sure.” I shrugged. “Maybe I’m just a genius.”

“The fuck you are.”

“That was an excellent display of cunning and martial prowess, Master Eryk,” Chloe said as she spread her skirt, knelt before me, and used a towel to wipe my face and neck. I could have told her to stop. I didn’t. It wasn’t like she’d listen to me anyway. “I am most impressed by how fast you are learning. Even without using the training grounds from the Hall of Heroes, you are growing at a marvelous rate.”

“Thank you,” I said, heaving a deep breath. “But I still have a long way to go.” An explosion suddenly tore through the air several dozen meters to my left. I looked at the trees as they were blasted away. “Looks like Kari, Siv, and Lin are also working hard.”

“Indeed they are,” Chloe agreed.

At that moment, Kari flitted through my vision and landed on the ground. She spun a strange weapon around in her hand. It was shaped like her traditional ranseur, but it was made from threads of time laced together into the shape of a spear. If I looked closely enough, I could see the individual threads.

The atmosphere distorted around her as she spun it. Several black spheres flew away when her ranseur slapped them. I watched as one touched the ground… and the ground disappeared, leaving behind nothing but a perfectly smooth crater maybe a dozen centimeters in radius.

“The Concept of Negation is certainly scary,” I muttered.

“Yes. It is very frightening.” Chloe agreed with a nod. “That is why the Guddomelig forbid anyone from attempting to learn it.” She paused. “Though I think learning how to wield this power might also be the key to the Sekbeists’ defeat. Time will tell, I suppose.”

At that moment, Lin and Siv both appeared and attacked Kari and each other. The three clashed and an explosion of energy raced through the clearing. This was not a spar like my battle with Tora. This was a battle royale in which all three women were fighting with everything they had to push their limits. I would have joined them myself if Tora hadn’t asked me for a spar.

“Chloe, keep an eye on these three. Make sure no one gets injured,” I said.

“I will,” Chloe assured me.

“Where the fuck are you going?” asked Tora.

“Someplace quiet,” I answered before disappearing into the ground.

I used earth walking to travel several thousand meters away from the battle. I emerged from the earth once the vibrations from my wives’ sparring session was so small I could barely feel them. Looking around, I studied the small clearing I had discovered and gave a very small nod. It was just a tiny place surrounded by trees and plants.

This would work fine.

Sitting in the center with my legs crossed, I closed my eyes, slowed my heart beat, and sank into my subconscious, traveling deep inside of myself until I reached my Spiritual Core.

My Spiritual Core looked very different from how I remembered it. The galactic sea was still present, as were the seven orbs that represented the seven elements. Each of them glowed brightly—even the darkness orb. However, not only had the galactic sea expanded a great deal, but it was filled with numerous phenomenon that hadn’t been there before.

I willed myself forward, until I was floating before a massive black hole that was nearly ten times bigger than my spiritual body. This black hole seemed to suck up everything near it. I worried that just having this thing inside of me would cause all my Spiritual Power to disappear.

“This must be… the Concept of Negation,” I said.

The Concept of Negation was the literal absence of everything, the negation of all concepts, the complete and utter ending of the universe. That was also why the Guddomelig feared it so much. A power that could erase everything in this universe was terrifying indeed. I couldn’t blame them for being afraid.

But I didn’t believe being afraid meant we shouldn’t try to master it. Courage was pushing forward despite being afraid. And besides, this power swirling around inside of me was Lin’s power. This concept was her concept.

I would never fear something that came from my wife.

I reached out with a hand. While I was missing a hand in real life, my spiritual body was a representation of how I saw myself, and therefore still retained both hands. Yet the moment I reached out to touch the concept of negation, I jerked back, breathing heavy. It felt like this thing had been trying to dissolve me!

Staring at my hand, I watched as particles of Spiritual Power gathered around the missing thumb and restored it. I clenched my fingers several times. That had been rather frightening, but I wouldn’t give up. I wanted to at least touch this power so I could understand it better.

After concentrating on my hand, I willed my Spiritual Power to wrap around it, then tried to imagine what the Concept of Negation felt like. I at first tried picturing how it felt when the Sekbeists wielded it. Nothing happened. I frowned, then switched from how it felt when the Sekbeist wielded it, to how it felt when my wife wielded it.

There was a distinct difference in sensation from how my wife used it to how the Sekbeist did. In the hands of the Sekbeist, this power felt terrible and recklessly destructive. It wasn’t chaotic so much as hungry. Yes, this strange power felt like it hungered to annihilate everything from existence. But that was only when the Sekbeist used it. When Lin used the Concept of Negation, it felt like a massive blank space, like there was a bubble of non-existence there.

I tried to encompass that feeling around my hand.

Then something happened.

“I see,” I muttered as Spiritual Power from the black hole swirled around my hand—not quite touching it. “The Concept of Negation is quite frightening… but it is not evil. It’s not even really destructive.”

Thinking about it, this concept reminded me of the erasing techniques Lin used when she was creating charcoal drawings. All the Concept of Negation did was erase that which already existed. That was scary, but it was not evil. Nothing in this world was true evil except maybe the Sekbeists, but they felt more like insatiably greedy parasites.

I would not let them do what they wanted on my planet.

I floated off toward the nebula that represented Siv’s understanding of space. There was so much more I needed to learn and not enough time to learn it. If I wanted to become so strong that not even the Sekbeist Overlord himself could stand against me, then I needed to master every concept quickly.

***

“Tell me, Fay. What do you think a concept like dimension is?”

The question caused Fay to cross her arms and bite her lower lip. This was something she had asked herself many times since the other day, when she asked Lady Fray to train her, and she was no closer to an answer now than she had been before.

Fay was inside of Lady Fray’s private garden, which was located on the second floor. There was no sunroof, yet sunlight still managed to somehow flood the room. Was it runes? Was this Lady Fray’s power at work? She had no idea.

It wasn’t just a garden located inside of this room. There was also an expensive bed with sheets of the purest white and an alchemy set—a very advanced alchemy set with several devices that not even Fay herself knew about. It sat on a table several meters to her right. She wanted to ask about it, but that was not what she was here for now right.

Today she was learning about the Concept of Dimension.

They were sitting together at a small table, her and Lady Fray, sipping from some tea that was not prepared as well if Chloe had been the one making it. Fay had prepared this herself. While she wanted to compare her tea preparation to Chloe, she tried her best not to.

Everyone had something they were good at.

“I am… not sure,” Fay admitted.

Lady Fray smiled reassuringly at her. “Do not feel bad for admitting you don’t know. I would be shocked if you did. Is that not why you are here?” Fay said nothing, but she did nod, and Lady Fray continued speaking after another moment. “Let me give you an example of how the Concept of Dimension works at its base. Consider you have a friend who loves on… the moon.”

“The moon?” Fay blinked.

“Yes, the moon,” Lady Fray said.

“Which one?”

“Let’s go with the original moon for now—the blue one, not the red one. Now, say your friend wants to send you a gift on your birthday. She asks about your residence down here. Unfortunately. The courier service on the moon only understands numerical coordinates. Since you cannot give her your address, how would you tell her where you live?”

“By… using the Concept of Dimension?” asked Fay.

“Correct.” Lady Fray took another sip of tea. Fay followed suit, allowing the warm liquid to soothe her unsettled nerves. “Dimensions at their base define the minimum number of points required to point a position of any particular object within a defined space. Let’s go back to my previous example. To let your friend know where you live, you have to send her three pairs of coordinates. The first is called longitude, the second is latitude, and the third is altitude. Longitude is the geographical coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on Terra’s surface. Latitude specifies north-south. Meanwhile, altitude is based on vertical distance, or height.”

Fay did not take any notes, but she was memorizing every word this woman said. She was already familiar with altitude, latitude, and longitude since that was important when reading maps, but she did not know how any of that worked within the Concept of Dimension.

“I am only focusing on Miðgarðr right now. The other eight realms consist of more than just three-dimensions, though most people can only see within three-dimensions unless they have some understanding of this concept. Matters only grow more complex when you consider the idea of multiple dimensions aside from our own.”

“How, um, how many dimensions can you see in?” asked Fay.

“Eleven, which I believe is the most dimensions anyone in our world can currently see in,” Lady Fray answered. Fay gulped. “Now, then, let’s find out your coordinates right now, shall we?”

Lady Fray waved her hand, and a gentle yet powerful force permeated the entire room. Fay sucked in a breath as particles gathered in the air above the table, creating a three-dimensional representation of their world, which was shaped like a plate.

“This is Miðgarðr and the eight other realms.” As she spoke, lines began appearing on the map, one going across it one way, while the other traveled perpendicular to the other line. “And this point here where the two lines cross are your coordinates in two-dimensions. Now, let’s add the third dimension.” Another line appeared, this one traveling up, starting at the second plate and ending on the connected lines, then zooming onto a small dot hovering a few centimeters above the ground. “And this is where you exist in three-dimensions.” Lady Fray finally paused. “Do you have any questions so far?”

Fay shook her head. “No. This is surprisingly straightforward. The Concept of Dimension seems to be heavily math based, which reminds me a little of alchemy, actually.”

“Alchemy and the Concept of Dimension do share a similarity in that regard.” Lady Fray smile. “Actually, I believe alchemists are uniquely suited to learning this concept specifically because of its rigid adherence to mathematic principles. Unfortunately, math is not the only thing one must understand to master this concept. It is merely easier to learn when someone is more mathematically inclined.”

“What must I do now? How can I further my understanding?” asked Fay.

“You must first touch the Concept of Dimension, and to do that, you must meditate.” Lady Fray stood up, so Fay followed suit. “I am going to refine a pill for you that should help you touch the Concept of Dimension. It will allow your mind to expand so you can feel the dimensional pulsations around you. The first step, for me at least, was being able to sense myself within a three-dimensional space and manipulate that space around me.”

“I understand. Do you mind if I watch you work?”

“Not at all. Feel free.”

With Lady Fray’s permission, Fay walked off to the side and watched as the woman wandered around her garden, snipping off leaves, fronds, and the stems of plants. None of them were plants Fay could name. They probably didn’t belong in this realm. One of them looked like a venus flytrap, though it had teeth and seemed alive. Another was a large flower the size of her head with multi-colored petals. The last one was the step to a plant with silver veins running through it.

“These plants are called man-eating pistol, rainbow flower, and mercury vine,” Lady Fray said as if she sensed Fay’s curiosity. “They are flowers that can technically only be grown on Gudeverdenen.” She winked. “I’m using the Concept of Dimension to create a separate dimension with similar coordinates as the places where these plants grow.”

“I see.” Fay’s eyes widened in both surprise and realization. “This would be incredibly useful for alchemists! I could literally grow any plant I want so long as I can create a dimension that can mimic the coordinates of where the plant grows in our world.”

“Exactly. You’re beginning to understand.”

Fay grew quiet as Lady Fray walked next to her alchemy set, placed the plants down, and reached out toward thin-air. No. Not thin air. A small black swirl appeared in the air and Lady Fray’s hand went right through it. Fay thought she could sense fluctuations coming from that swirl. When Lady Fray pulled her hand out, she was holding an object that looked like a multi-colored monster core. She set that on the table, pushed her hand back into a swirl, and one by one began pulling out over one thousand objects. There was everything from thick scales of some Demon Beast to something that looked like a black rock.

Alchemy on Gudeverdenen didn’t seem much different than alchemy on Miðgarðr. Fay was able to understand what Lady Fray was doing enough that she believed she could replicate the results. The only real thing that shocked Fay was how many processes there were to refining some of these ingredients. A few of them needed to undergo several different methods, like the black rock, which was both ground into a powder and then distilled, turning it into a gaseous substance that Lady Fray captured the condensation of within a still.

Fay had no idea how long it took for Lady Fray to refine an alchemy pill. She had long since lost track of time watching this majestic woman work. As a woman who was considered the forerunner in alchemy on Miðgarðr, she was in awe of this other woman, who seemed so much better than her that she couldn’t help but feel a little insignificant.

She could only hope she would become this good at some point.

Lady Fray eventually finished combining all of the ingredients into a large cauldron that was several times bigger than the standard. The volume of liquid inside of the cauldron was also vastly more than even her most complex alchemy pill. Lady Fray placed both hands on the cauldron. Spiritual Power surged from her hands, into the cauldron, and the liquid quickly condensed and took shape. What she pulled out after reaching in was a small, pure white pill that looked completely innocuous.

“This is the Dimension Conceptualization Pill,” Lady Fray said as she held out her hand. Fay tenderly took the pill like she was afraid it would break as the woman continued her explanation. “What it does is gather dimensional energy inside of your body, heightening your senses for the Concept of Dimension. Normally, I would not recommend taking this pill unless you are within an isolation chamber, but I know we are pressed for time. I am going to create a separate dimension for you to train in. I will let you stay there only for one week. If you have not touched the Concept of Dimension within one week, then I will pull you out and you’ll have to wait until the isolation chambers are built.”

“I understand,” Fay said.

“Very well.”

Lady Fray waved her hand in a circle. Energy that felt similar to Spiritual Power but different gathered around the area, transforming into a swirling black vortex. Fay could see nothing but inky darkness inside. She swallowed.

“Well? Go on in,” Lady Fray said.

“Right. Thank you, Lady Fray.”

“You’re quite welcome, dear.”

Fay took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and walked into the vortex. Her hair felt like it was standing on end. Her body became rigid as a layer of… something coated her body. At least, that was what it felt like. That feeling disappeared the moment she stepped past the vortex.

She looked around at the blank white space. She’d been expecting to see nothing but darkness, but Fay supposed someone who could create their own dimensions could also decide what they looked like.

Since there was nothing to look at, Fay sat down with her legs crossed, opened her hand, and stared at the pill resting on her palm. This pill would supposedly help her touch the Concept of Dimension. She did not doubt Lady Fray’s words or ability.

“Down the hatch,” Fay muttered as she popped the pill into her mouth and broke through the outer shell. She grimaced as the scent and taste of rotten eggs and sulfur hit her tongue and nose. Alchemy pills never tasted the best, but this was even more awful than most.

The taste and scent disappeared soon afterward. There was fortunately no after taste. Closing her eyes, Fay allowed herself to slip deeper into her subconscious. Like this, she attempted to feel the dimensional energy surrounding her and understand its nuances. She only hoped she could discover it soon.

***

The days that passed were busy, filled with training, meditation, and listening to reports.

Vahn was basically running itself these days—or so I liked to say. Hilda, Queen Medusa, and King Menes were doing a fine job, so I saw no need to intervene. I spent most of my time training with Kari, Siv, Lin, Tora, and Chloe. In fact, I had just finished sparring against Kari, who had given me quite the run for my running. I only beat her because she had slipped when I hit her with a surprise attack from behind.

“Thish food ish dewishoush!” Lin exclaimed as she shoved what looked like a giant crab leg down her throat. “Chloe! Dish ish sho good! Where you find dish?!”

“I am glad you are enjoying my cooking.” Chloe bowed her head. “This crab comes from a lake several hundred kilometers north of us. It is quite high in altitude and the lake is frozen over, which I guess is why no one thought to fish there. All of the food—er, all of the aquatic creatures within this lake are quite large for non-Demon Beasts.”

“Whatever the case is, this food really is divine,” I complimented.

Chloe’s cheeks became flushed as her smile brightened. “Nothing brings me greater joy than hearing you compliment my cooking.”

I was certain there were other things that would bring her greater joy, but I said nothing for fear of what she would say in return.

“It’s too bad Fay couldn’t join us,” Siv said with a small frown. “I miss her.”

I reached out to rub the Drakvarian’s head. “Fay is currently trying to learn the Concept of Dimension from Lady Fray. I heard she has gone into closed-door training because she wants to attempt to touch the concept before the isolation chambers have been built.”

“I know. I respect that she is working so hard, but I still wish she was training with us instead of on her own,” Siv said as she leaned into my hand and rubbed herself against it.

“I feel the same way you do,” I agreed.

“How many more days is Fay staying in closed-door training?” asked Lin as she finished slurping up more crab.

“I believe today is the last day,” I confessed.

“We should greet her when she emerges,” Kari said as she grabbed a napkin, reached out, and wiped some sauce from Lin’s cheek. Lin squirmed a little but said nothing. Her long tail was thumping against the ground like a happy puppy.

“This princess wouldn’t mind doing that.”

“I wouldn’t mind either,” Siv said.

Our own training had progressed decently well. None of us had increased our understanding of any concept, but we were all better at using our concepts in combat now. We had refined what we already knew. I didn’t think this would be a huge boon in the long run, but it was still better than doing nothing.

“Before we go back to greet Fay, I think we should fucking switch sparring partners,” Tora said, pointing at Lin. “I want to fight you.”

Lin had the tail of an eel hanging in her mouth. She slurped the tail up, chewed, and swallowed. Her eyes never left Tora’s the whole time.

“You wish to fight this princess? Hmph. Very well, this princess would be more than happy yo oblige you.”

I thought I sensed some tension between the two, but that was par for the course. They still didn’t quite get along thanks to their first bad meeting and several arguments afterward. I really hoped they would eventually grow closer. Maybe sparring each other would help them do that.

“I will watch the sparring session to ensure no one gets too injured,” Chloe said.

We all agreed to let Chloe referee the match, and instead of going off on our own to spar, we decided to watch the session between Tora and Lin. I found a nice tree to rest against. I reinforced it with the life element because I was sure it would get destroyed otherwise. Kari leaned against my shoulder while Siv curled herself laid on her side with her head resting on my lap.

“It will be interesting to see how the two fight each other,” Kari said.

I nodded. “Lin uses the Concept of Negation. Tora uses the Concept of Creation. Both are of the highest caliber concept possible. I’m sure even a mock battle between these two will be something.”

“I think Tora just wants to blow off steam,” Siv said.

“Blow off steam? Why?”

“Because she is frustrated with you.”

I blinked. “With me? Is it because I haven’t returned any of her advances?”

“Yes,” Kari and Siv said at the same time.

“It doesn’t help that Lin likes to rub her relationship with you in Tora’s face,” Kari added.

“I guess not,” I said with a grimace.

The two women were now standing several meters from each other, their eyes set in fierce expressions that made me wonder if this fight wouldn’t get out of hand. Chloe stood between them. She looked calm, composed, and completely sure of herself. I was sure she would stop the fight before it turned ugly.

I hoped she would.

“If both fighters are ready, then you may begin.”

Neither woman spoke at first, instead letting the tension simply build until it became thick and cloying. My throat felt dry as I watched the stairdown escalate.

“I’ve always wanted to fucking fight you,” Tora said finally, pounding her fists together. “With this fight, any differences you and I have will be settled.”

“That is fine with this princess. Just don’t be shocked when she beats you into submission.”

“Ha! I’d like to see you fucking try!”

Another second passed after their banter ended, and then Tora made the first move, firing off several intense beams of white energy, which shifted into spikes as they flew forward. None of them hit Lin. My wife created a vortex that at first looked like it might be made of dimensional energy, but the truth was soon revealed. It was a shield made of negation energy. The moment the spikes struck the shield, they disappeared.

“Ha! Not fucking bad!”

“You are not so bad yourself. Now see if you can block this princess’s attack!”

Lin placed her hands together in front of her face, palms pointed at Tora, then drew them apart and created a circle. Black trails of energy remained where her hands left. When she connected both hands again near her hips, a circle had formed, which produced an intense halo of energy that shot toward Tora.

The woman tried to evade, but it was like the halo attack could sense where she was. It chased after her. Left with no other choice, Tora spun around, gathered as much creation energy into her hand as she could, and thrust her hand forward. Something like a massive sword erupted from her hand and peirced the halo, cutting through it. The now two halves flew in separate directions where they exploded.

While her attack failed to find its mark, Lin had not been sitting idle. She closed the distance between her and Tora quickly, lashing out with a powerful tail swat, which might have broken the other woman’s bones if it hit. Tora sidestepped. The tail crashed into the ground, fracturing the earth and making it shake, but Tora was already gliding above the ground to avoid being knocked off balance.

She learned fast.

Tora came in with a powerful spin that caused her heel drop to contain some added force. Lin caught the attack by crossing her arms and bracing herself. As dust covered them, Tora made a come hither motion with her fingers, and then several stakes with the same consistency of stars going nova appeared behind Lin and tried to attack her.

They were swallowed by another shield.

With her attack ending in failure, Tora pushed off Lin’s arms and leapt away. She landed on the ground and scowled at Lin.

“Fuck. How did you fucking know what I was planning?” asked Tora.

“This princess has seen you spar with Darling many times now. She knows all your tricks.”

“Then let’s see if you can block this!”

As the battle continued, I continued to talk with Kari, Siv, and Chloe.

“Lin has become really proficient at wielding the Concept of Negation. I’m very surprised she can wield it with such precision,” I said.

“I am also shocked, though I suspect the reason she can wield it so well is because she lacks the power members of the Zehn Todesharr have,” Chloe said. “The more powerful a Spiritualist is, the harder it becomes to control the Concept of Negation.”

“And how do you know that?” asked Kari, eyebrow raised. “I was sure none of you understood the Concept of Negation very well.”

“We do not,” Chloe confessed. “However, this is a theory we came up with after fighting against the Sekbeist. The Sekbeist Overlord was a frightening existence whose power was so vast he could wipe out entire continents with the Concept of Negation. That is actually why Miðgarðr only has one true continent left. However, for as powerful as the Sekbeist Overlord was, he lacked any sense of control. He was just a creature of pure annihilation.”

Chloe shivered as if she recalled seeing the Sekbeist Overlord fight, though I was certain she had not. I could not remember her age. Even so, I was positive she had not been alive during the Great War.

The spar between Lin and Tora soon ended in a draw. Poor Tora swore up a storm when Chloe declared the match had ended because they were causing too much damage to the surroundings. Several hundred trees had been annihilated and a giant crater easily five meters deep had formed in the ground.

“I would have won if not for Chloe calling the match,” Tora said as they walked to Fray’s.

“Do make make this princess laugh. She would have beaten you black and blue if that spar continued,” Lin said.

“There’s no fucking way you could beat me!”

“That’s what you think!”

Kari sighed as she walked alongside me and listened to them bicker, but she didn’t try to stop them either. Everything we had done only temporarily stopped them from fighting. I was sure Kari was as sick of trying to make them cease and desist as I was.

We made our way back to Fray’s. The woman was sitting inside of the parlor when we arrived. She greeted us with a smile.

“I am glad you have all returned from your training for the day,” she said to us. “There is something I would like to tell you all, but first, it is time to bring Fay out of her secluded training.”

We gathered around the woman as she created a portal. All of us waited on baited breath. Seconds ticked by. Then a human silhouette that was distinctly feminine became visible. Another second passed and the silhouette turned into the familiar figure of Fay. She stepped out of the portal with confident strides, completely different from how she had been acting after the battle against Ents.

“Welcome back, Fay. I take it from your confidence that you have managed to touch the Concept of Dimension?” asked Fray with a smile.

Fay smiled as she held out her hand. We all sensed the sudden wellspring of Spiritual Power coalescing around her. It had taken on a definite qualitative change and felt far more refined than before, more polished. The Spiritual Power soon turned into dimensional energy, and a small spiral appeared swirling in her hand.

“This is all I can do right now,” Fay said, dismissing the spiral.

“That is excellent. It is far more than most people can do when they first touch the Concept of Dimension.” Fray complimented the woman, and we all offered our own congratulations to Fay, who smiled and blushed at the hugs and kisses she received. Fray let this continue for a moment before she became serious. “Now that you are all here, I believe I should inform you that there has been movement from the Sekbeist. A member of the Zehn Todesharr was sensed leaving Vesperia this afternoon.”

“Where was he heading?” I asked, trying to keep my stomach from feeling queasy at this knowledge, which did not bode well at all.

“He was last sensed heading toward the Demon Beast Mountain Range,” Fray informed us, causing myself, Kari, Fay, Lin, and Siv to suck in a breath. Could there be another Great Overlord sealed away in the Demon Beast Mountain Range?