44 44

Both Francis and Talvara relaxed on a beach. While the technical aspects of her space hadn't improved, her ability to recreate scenes had. Something like an ocean and a beach were easy enough. Really, the former him focused far too much on the practical half of [Sleep Learning]. He made a mental note to suggest that Rainer take Luna to a recreation of an amusement park since visiting Earth was both dangerous and inconvenient.

Talvara also gave Francis the ability to alter things, like drinks the Void-being couldn't have tasted before. Though he deeply regretted including a straw with the cocktail. She may have stopped any overt propositions but that seemed to only make it worse. He couldn't exactly tell her something like 'no stretching' could he? He turned away as she started making light moaning sounds while consuming her drink. Damn sexy Void-being.

He had made a simple rule not to sleep with anyone both him and Rainer knew, but he was wondering how long that would last with Talvara acting as she was. Despite what the Void did to him, he was still missing Kara and Luna, the latter more than the former. And the Void-being expressed her interest.

He may love Kara, and even still be willing to risk his life for hers, but they were two seperate people. Nothing like the frankly unhealthy relationship he shared with Luna. He didn't want to imagine what would happen to Luna's state of mind if Rainer disappeared or died. And Luna was his ray of sunshine in a world otherwise filled with murder, crazy Demon Princes, and angry Gods.

He was lonely. That the several girls he was traveling with gave him cow eyes during the day didn't help. But he wasn't so far gone as to think sleeping with a 13 or 14-year-old was okay. Wanton murder was one thing, but that would be too much for him.

Even worse, he had curiously asked what races Talvara knew. Not wanting to be outdone, he added numerous fictional - at least he thought they were fictional - races when the question was returned. One of which she was mirroring at the moment with her light violet skin.

Sorry not sorry Rainer. As a concession, I won't intentionally try to [Void Seer] while your mother is having sex. Looks like you'll be free from that memory unless our bad luck acts up again.

Francis thought to himself with a chuckle. He glanced over at Talvara who was now giving the bottom of her empty drink a glare. He wondered if the Void-being would enjoy an amusement park?

"Why are you pouting?" Rainer asked Talvara, currently working yet again on getting Void Will and Arcane Power to work together. His closest attempt at success was to get them to sort of cycle around his Soul, endlessly chasing each other.

The problem with that being the moment he used anything from the two it broke that cycle. And he still had no luck having the [Sleep Learning] part of his Soul acting as a buffer. He did get some luck using his Aura, but as expected, even if the slightest increases in either pool meant exponential increases in the Aura he needed to use. So that was a non-starter.

There was also the issue of what Arcane Power was doing to him. He didn't think what he did was an overreaction to an assassination attempt on his sister, if anything it was an under reaction seeing as he didn't even kill anyone.

The issue was the sheer amount of rage he felt. He had always had a temper, but it had never been this bad. He had waved it away in the past as him merely not having anything to really get angry over before he came to his world, which was in-fact true - his life had been quite rose-colored - but he could no longer do so.

He hoped gaining Void Will back in his body would help balance it out.

"I was not pouting," Talvara replied. He needed Talvara present in the [Sleep Learning] space to grant him Void Will. Even if it was just fake, he struggled replicating the process of implanting Void Will to himself.

"You were pouting."

"Your better-looking twin makes for more pleasant company," she complained, though she supposed the comparison wasn't fair. This Rainer had responsibilities. This Rainer didn't bother treating her as a guest and offer food and drinks from his world when it was well within his means to do so. But that was merely a matter of politeness, no?

She granted that he probably assumed she had no interest in such things, being what she was. But trapped in the Void, forever an observer due to the pressure of Divinities, how could she not be curious of such simple matters?

"Then go hangout with him," Rainer said with an eyeroll.

"I am already."

"What? Oh, yeah, you're not really 'here'."

"Precisely."

"Then why are you pouting?"

Talvara gained a thoughtful look before responding.

"Can't a girl pout for no reason?"

Rainer chuckled, "If I believed you were a girl."

"I would be offended... if I believed you were a man."

"Okay. Francis had to have helped you with that one."

"A girl never reveals her secrets."

"All right, back to work."

Waking up from a fun few hours with Talvara, though unfortunately nothing too fun, Francis rolled out of bed. It seemed Talvara intended to make him work for it, any attempts of further flirting were met with avoidance. No matter, it'd be more fun that way.

He looked over his progress from the time spent traveling with the Floater; Talvara's advice on Void usage had been quite useful.

While he still failed to create anything like a Void Sword - though he was getting closer and closer - he did manage to level his [Void Manipulation] to 8, his [Void Hold] to 5, and [Void Mastery] to 4. Unfortunately, Talvara's illusionary space had the same flaw as [Sleep Learning]: no experience gained. And he was getting closer and closer to [Void-walking] safely. It was just a week or two away at most. Though he wasn't sure when he'd be able to take other people with him or even attempt to leave this planet.

Heading out, Francis looked at the teens frantically studying the spells he gave them. It seemed this world was no different in hoarding magical knowledge and all of them were more than surprised when he freely offered them magic based on their talents. Or what they thought were their talents. A lack of Luna's [Appraisal] skill made it impossible to check their Talents himself.

They had been working on a variety of spells over the course of the journey, having little else to do. Lacking any paper, there were runic formulas inscribed all across the walls of this Floater, organized and labeled by tier. It had likely become the most valuable Floater in the world.

He momentarily thought back to the old mage that was here. Scratching his own neck, he wondered what that collar did.

"Hey Jessica, what exactly does the neck collar do?" His go-to answer man was one of the most fervent studiers, so he opted not to bother him. The blonde-haired Jessica was the only girl who didn't blush when he talked to her. In fact, she seemed completely unbothered by his appearance. While not a narcissist, he was almost sure that meant she was gay.

"Blocks all use of Mana without the controller's permission."

Francis sighed, quite relieved. He doubted he could ever sleep peacefully again if that collar did anything more now that he had it on his mind.

"Any reason they didn't put that one on me?" Not that it would have mattered.

"They are very expensive to make… I think. Um, Arch-Magus Nvos?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure we are heading to the right place?" she asked a bit nervously, many of her fellows now looking over.

"I doubt any of the monsters there will be a problem."

"They are quite magic-resistant."

"Well it's a good thing my specialty isn't magic then."

All of them looked at him strangely, but seemed relieved. Nothing he had done so far could cause them to doubt his words, so they took his strange declaration as fact. They went back to studying magic without any further issues.

Francis stood on top of the Floater, guiding it by sending messages to a Soul Mark he had on Samuel. From the outside, the vehicle looked like a wooden bus without wheels, with a metal frame and a glass window in the front. Through [Void Seer], he could see both his grandfather and mother were eating, and he felt he was at most a mile or so from them.

A flying beast with black skin and bright blue orbs for eyes dived towards the floater. But moments later it's head vanished in a twisting blackness. An application of [Arcane-Wind Manipulation] sent it flying away from the floater and crashing into the overgrown field of grass. Despite being a 'forbidden zone' because of the even thicker mana than usual having an odd effect on animals, the mana also had a grand effect on the plant life. There was nothing forbidden-looking about the vibrant grassfield they flew over. He wondered if any of the flowers or herbs growing had practical use.

While normally he'd have to conserve his Void Will, Francis' [Excellent Void Affinity] made [Void Call] cheaper and Void Will regenerate far faster, almost equal to his Mana.

A few minutes later he called the Floater to a stop. Flying off the vehicle, he landed on the ground.

"They should be right here…" he mumbled to himself. He leaped backwards, barely restricting his desire to Void-walk, and sent the Floater away with a blast of Arcane-wind. [Arcane Awakening] quickly reached its maximum power, burning his Arcane Aura quickly.

A pillar of pure Arcane lashed out from beneath, alighting even the daytime sky with a violet radiance. From beneath the ground flew forth the cause of the attack.

Unlike Francis' own [Arcane Awakening], the Arcane energies on this man's body constantly shifted and glowed, as if alive. At one point they appeared as intricate Runic patterns and at another as flowing freely in a variety of forms. The sheer amount of power was awe-inspiring.

Francis tampened down his desire to fight. As much as he wanted to see how he compared to his grandfather, there was no non-lethal way to do so. And he couldn't even Void-walk, so it wouldn't be a real fight.

"You don't recognize your own grandson? I'm hurt," Francis yelled out.

The floating figure stopped mid-cast.

"I know I look alot better than you do, old man, but there's no reason to get jealous."

"Rainer…?" Frederick was too shocked to even take offense. He had attacked because of the Floater.

"I almost died teleporting to this planet, and now that I'm here my own family almost kills me? Woe is me."

He saw his grandfather do some sort of blood magic, cutting his hand with an Arcane whip-like spell prior to it. Laughing uproariously, the still glowing man flew over to Francis, wrapping him in a hug.

"It's good to see you boy."

"You couldn't leave these poor children alone either?" Frederick asked, as he led who he thought was Rainer, to the secret entrance of their base, the teens he saved following. They quickly realized that Francis' story made no sense given that he clearly knew this man. But no one cared enough to question it. The man was clearly a free mage, and they had nowhere else to go anyways.

The entrance was hidden under an illusion spell that revealed a long set of stairs beneath.

"My 'landing' was a bit… rough. I ended up captured alongside them."

"You managed to piece yourself together on your own?" Frederick asked, more than impressed. Had his granddaughter-in-law, he was Rainer's great-grandfather after all, not been such a talented healer, he may have died. His ancient body was held together by so many magics normal healing didn't work that well on it.

"Yep. Learned I could in-fact regrow limbs. Wasn't sure before that," he said with a chuckle, drawing a glance that was both proud and shocked from his grandfather.

"I also saw you were teaching kids."

"Other than working on that ridiculous spell of yours, there isn't much else to do. Really, it's saddening what magic has been reduced to on this planet."

"How did that happen anyways?" Francis' had been burning with curiosity over it. Mostly due to the fact it made zero sense to him.

"In a twist of Irony, the far higher number of mages here led to their doom."

"I don't follow."

"On Earth there are a hundred thousand potential mages who will never awaken their Mana. Their lives will be as ordinary as anyone else's, apart from living in better health and having a bit less fertility. But here, no matter how little their talent, all mages awaken."

"So they should be even stronger, especially since mages are constantly attuning, even in their sleep. "

"On Earth, even the weakest of mages live privileged lives. Simply because even the weakest had to have astounding talent to be trained in the first place. There are fewer mages and therefore there is fewer competition for resources. Even with in-fighting, we were a clannish sort. Any outside threats would be met in a united front.

"But here… there were many lower classes of mages, mages who lived little better than ordinary humans. It didn't take much for these Mages to turn against their fellows. You could even say their fellows deserved it. But of course the fate of any betrayer…"

"Is to be betrayed in turn," Francis answered, before sighing. Such weapons to fight Mages were no doubt developed then with the help of the numerous oppressed or weaker Mages.

"Yes. Once these weapons to fight magic were developed, which I think can only function on a planet with such rich ambient Mana, alongside those devilish restraints and collars, the war took a turn. Especially since there were many Mages who fought against their own kind. And now, here we are, 1,000 years later. A world ruled by normal humans, not even Qi users either."

"Not even Qi users?" Francis asked, using the Earth terminology for it.

"The world's energy is overshadowed by the Mana. It is difficult to cultivate Qi. Also, how are you speaking this language," Fredrick asked, very confused. He had only realized now that he wasn't speaking English.

"Magic. By the way…" Francis said, using [Arcane Revelation] and realizing just how close his grandfather was to death, "I bought something we can have fun with. It's called Fairy Dust on the planet I first ended up on. Just put it in a line and snort it."

"What?" Fredrick exclaimed, flabbergasted. They haven't seen each other in over a year and that was how he wanted to get them to celebrate? Well, why not...

"What?!" a further, feminine voice, yelled. The moment she had received Fredrick's telepathic spell, she had been rushing over, only to hear the tailend of the conversation.

"Rainer, I wish I gave you a middle name, Nvos. What the fuck are you doing trying to take drugs with your grandfather?" she scolded, her red hair billowing behind her, though she was not able to hide the smile on her face as she wrapped her 'son' in a hug.

"What happened to your eyes? And your hair? Why are you taller? Why do you have a beard? Why do you look better than your beautiful mother despite being filthy and unkempt?" Sophia Nvos rattled off questions as she fussed over his clothes, that hadn't technically been washed in over a month. At least not washed with anything other than magically created water.

"Fortunately all those have one answer, I'm not Rainer."

To think this is what you've been after all along…"

"How could you Rainer…" Luna said with a sniffle.

Rainer let out another groan as he held his face in his hands.

"Hey guys, take it easy on him," Sarah spoke up, putting a hand on his shoulder.

My lovely sister…

"Rainer, I don't mind you adding your wife's mother to your harem but our mother is definitely off limits."

Give me back my brotherly feelings!

He should have expected his sister to tease him about body enchanting Kara's mother, but Luna and Kara were another thing. How could his lovely Fairy betray him!

"I prefer men stronger than me, so when you're ready, we'll have a duel first. And then another duel."

And then there was Vera joining in on the 'fun'.

Unless he wanted to be teased for weeks on end, Rainer knew what he had to do. With a look of steeled determination he stood up and tried to kiss Vera. The woman herself stumbled back in surprise.

"Don't threaten me with a good time," Rainer said with a chuckle as he left the room. He still had many more Werewolves to enchant.

Rainer toyed with an Arcane-weave ball in his hands. The calm Divine Power inside gave him pause. [Sleep Learning] or otherwise, any attempts to detect it had failed. You could feel it's power, sure, but you couldn't intentionally detect it. It was the difference between knowing someone was alive through sight, and actually detecting the life energy flowing through their Soul and body. They couldn't be compared.

Hence now only him, his Avatar, Luna, Gunthar, and his 'Shadow Brother' stayed in Neutral City with any regularity, though they didn't sleep there. Everyone else lived in Furtak's place - said Goblin was usually in the Fae Realm - or with the Werewolf tribe. His Avatar was on 'retainer' for whenever someone needed to travel, usually Elelaria. Otherwise, it worked on enchanted items to sell.

Gunthar, along with Luna's shadowy familiar, spent most of his time in the monster infested mountains near Neutral City, occasionally accompanied by Kara who was otherwise training with Vera and her grandmother.

True to the danger around it, Rainer had been called in nine times in the past month and a half to bail the Undead out. Three of those times the monster gave even Rainer fear and had it not been for [Void-walking], he was pretty sure it have been impossible to escape. Even with teleportation.

Was it any wonder few bothered training this way? Gunthar was of course being far less discrete and careful than anyone else would be, but it still showed just how dangerous it was to level quickly.

The more populous an area was with lesser monsters, the stronger the monsters there would be in the end. Let alone in the Mana-infused mountains that cause monsters to be berserk. In a normal hunting area, it wasn't strange for a group of hunters to meet so few monsters that getting to level 10 in their lifespan was just a dream.

Rainer returned back to staring at the orb, an indignant Jor around his shoulders eyeing it with hunger. An illusory dab of drool dripped onto Rainer's clothes.

"Can Luna try burning it," the Fairy asked curiously, her inner pyro showing. She was in her full form, leaning over his shoulder.

Jor gave her a glare before huffing and turning away. The serpent was the definition of a glutton.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll feed you entire Gods soon enough," Rainer said, scratching under Jor's chin before turning to Luna, "You can try later, but leave some for Jor."

"Rainer likes playing with his snake rather than with Luna." He could 'hear' her pouting without even turning around.

Rainer chuckled, "That's definitely not the case."

He vanished and grabbed the Fairy from behind eliciting a squeal.

Francis grinned as he looked at the shocked faces of his mother and grandfather. The more he explained, the more their expression warped. He started from the very beginning, making sure to over-exaggerate how much danger Rainer was in as revenge against his twin. No doubt their mother would over-baby Rainer when they finally meet again.

Francis was confused as he suddenly found himself hugged way too tightly by his mother.

"I don't care what Rainer says, you are my son. And you are your own person. I'm not going to let you die."

He was momentarily stunned as he wondered if he should clear up this misunderstanding. Deciding it would be a bit too much for a 'prank'...

"It's not that simple," he opted to explain and halfway into his explanation felt uncomfortable by the determined look his mom gave him. He didn't need or want her help. He was fine with his future. It wasn't as if he was truly dying. Their souls were simply re-combining.

"Then you can just give him another [Sleep Learning] space," Sophia said as she looked towards Frederick.

"I wish it was so simple. I gave Rainer the only one I had."

"What?" Francis asked, interested despite himself. He never did learn where exactly the space came from. He had only learned a spell formula and then his grandfather did some magic with his hands pressed against him.

"Put in the simplest terms, I created the space from my connection to the Arcanium. I used its power to create a place of natural laws, but unfortunately it was never perfect enough to practice magic with."

"But it is now," Francis said before explaining how he got so powerful so fast alongside the system which was mentioned in his earlier stories. They both gave dubious looks at that to which he explained that life without the system was just as foreign a concept to that world's citizens.

"Fascinating! How-"

"So make another one," Sophia interrupted with a glare.

"Created was the wrong term. Modified is more accurate. The space originated from an artifact I came across. It was in a ruin that could only be unlocked with Arcane Power. The space itself was originally an item to put your living knowledge in, a means of passing on magical knowledge in a 'physical' - or perhaps virtual would be more accurate - way. I changed it to what it became and merged with it."

"It could teach runes and spells?"

"Yes… which is why my modification that technically downgraded it was a great disappointment. I had hoped to use it to practice magic. Yet the space I created and merged into my Soul could only mirror natural laws enough to practice common skills. Though it seems you accomplished what I could not," Frederick said, burning with questions. But not so burning that'd he'd risk getting Sophia any more mad at him. And perhaps risk physically burning. When you had magic, 'fiery redhead' took on a whole new meaning.

"So find another stone."

"The stone isn't the important part. It's what was done to it. Compared to the work on the stone, my title of Grandmaster Enchanter is like studying French for a few years and then claiming I have a PhD in mathematics. Though no doubt the stone would be rare in and of itself. I have never seen anything like it."

"Mom," Francis said firmly, "I appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do. But it's not like I'll be dying. I'll just be returning to one being again. He'll have all my memories, and maybe even part of the personality of what I've become."

Besides, Francis didn't have the slightest clue what was done to [Sleep Learning] to merge it so deeply into Rainer's Soul. And to improve it. He had theories of course, but had no desire to test it out even if they could recreate the stone. Becoming more of an abomination was not on his to-do list.

"I don't like it."

"If it makes you feel better, neither does Rainer. But he was no better at convincing me. Now, let's help everyone get settled," Francis said, gesturing towards their audience who were trying not to look like they were listening in on a very interesting conversation. Francis briefly realized he had told some pretty incriminating secrets, but he wasn't Rainer. And therefore didn't care. His twin should appreciate that at least he never mentioned the Mana-Well.

"Now what was this about 'Fairy Dust'?" His mom asked as Francis innocently whistled while looking away from her. He could have fun with that lie for a little longer. Though he carefully tucked the bag back into his spatial ring when he saw a literal fire in his mother's blue eyes. That would be far less fun.

Rainer paced back and forth as he looked at his Avatar sitting across from him. He was in the white void of [Sleep Learning], separated from the others, now joined by Vera and her own mother, by a distance that was both infinite and not.

He had tried almost everything. But every solution he came up with for Arcane Power and Void Will to coexist was temporary. Contingent on nothing being added or nothing going wrong. Which really wasn't that different from how they originally functioned.

There was only a single avenue he hadn't explored: altering his Soul. That wasn't something to do lightly, even if he had an Avatar to experiment on. After all, the Avatar wasn't really an Avatar in the [Sleep Learning] space. It was very likely that the Avatar's Soul in this case was still his Soul. His ability to create an Avatar in [Sleep Learning] without changing anything in the real world told him that this was almost certainly the case.

Which was why he had Talvara here alongside him. If anything went truly wrong, she'd control the Void half of the problem. She seemed to realize the gravity of what he was attempting and lacked her usual flirtatious nature. Only a pure focus remained in her void-dark eyes.

Nevertheless, the Avatar was still made up of the more useless parts of his Soul. So it should be healable.

All energy sources, whether they be Aura or Mana, existed in a boundary between physical and spiritual. Partially within the body and partially within the Soul. Part of which was why Sarah's ability to steal someone's Mana pool was almost always fatal. And grossly painful. Rainer had yet to experience pain worse than when it was related to his Soul. And given his tens of thousands of deaths and dismemberments, he was an expert in the subject.

If he wanted to use the [Sleep Learning] space in his Soul as a buffer between the Arcane and Void, he'd need to pull them closer to the spiritual side.

Thankfully, this wasn't an unprecedented act. He had the notebook of a great sage who had done the same exact thing after all. Though with fire rather than Arcane and Void. He had gotten Furtak's knowledge about it as well. Despite his age and seemingly carefree attitude as of late, the man himself was still considered one of the greatest mages of the world for having become Fire-touched.

Only Yulia's own state of being Wind-touched, or Rainer's Arcane Magic, had overshadowed Furtak in any battles they fought together. But compared to any normal mage or Aura user, there was next to nothing they could do to the fire-infused Goblin so long as he had mana. There's a reason why all of Fae-kind had feared Yulia and lost to her alone in the trials for their throne.

"What exactly do you think will happen?" Talvara questioned from where she stood. She was right behind his Avatar, ready for any issues.

"Best case scenario? My Soul is slightly altered and my [Sleep Learning] space fills the role of the physical world, the rest of my soul as the spiritual, creating harmony between Arcane and Void."

"Worst case?"

"I die? The fabric of reality collapses and takes the whole universe with it? I haven't the slightest idea."

"Most likely case then?"

"It only partially works and requires numerous painful trials before I can get it to the best case scenario. Or it does nothing of value and just hurts."

"That sounds like something you have experience with," Talvara said with a raised eyebrow. Watching Francis casually inflict serious pain on himself as he tried to create a Void Sword was very disconcerting. It wasn't the dismemberment itself, but rather how relaxed he was about it. Even as he occasionally screamed in pain. It wasn't from an insensitivity to pain, but rather as if pain was just a normal thing. As if he was doing nothing more than taking a walk or eating a meal.

She supposed a Magus who had achieved so much couldn't be completely sane. Magical space or not. All the better for her. No one sane would ever truly befriend what she really was. No one sane would even be able to look at what she really was. No one sane would challenge the true Divinities of the world. Compared to the ones after her, the four Divinites of the Tarainien Empire may as well be mortal.

"Perhaps. Let's get started," Rainer said, mirroring his Avatar as he sat cross-legged across from it.

He calmed himself as his entire focus switched to [Avatar Control]. His main body may as well have been a flesh bag.

Talvara took that as a signal to begin and planted Void Will in the Avatar's body. Rainer felt the extra power flow through him and remained calm. Just as before without any major changes, the Void Will would exist just fine.

Rainer split his focus. He moved both his Arcane Power and Mana Pool, interconnected as they were, towards the left of his Soul, and Void Will to the right. With every passing moment he pulled them closer and closer to his Soul.

With a yell of [Devil's Soul Language], his Soul cracked and Arcane and Void flowed in.

A process which should take years, if not decades, shortened to just moments. Had it not been for the combination of [Avatar Control], [Soul Manipulation], and [Devil's Soul Language], Rainer wouldn't even come close to being able to attempt this with two separate energy pools.

Time flowed and his Avatar's Soul changed and changed. The energy started seeping into his Avatar's body. Beneath his eyelids, the left drew in light and the right shone with violet radiance.

Suddenly, the two changing halves of his Soul slammed together, the energies colliding yet separate. A piercing pain entered his mind as he was forced out of the Avatar.

Rainer's main body snapped its eyes open.

His Avatar's body glowed with light, and yet seemed to be entirely covered in darkness. The void light both glowed and darkened. Forced light away and yet drew it inward. It's existence impossible in every way. It spread, consuming all around it.

Rainer had never felt such awe. Not even when Death itself tried to stop him from reviving a life did he feel such a presence. He stared at the impossible sight. His energy froze yet raged, his mind stopped yet spun out of his control. Every part of his being felt like it was being torn at two extremes, compressed and expanded all at once.

"Rainer!"

The voice echoed in his mind, snapping him away. He lurched in pain as the void light spread further and further, destroying the very space around it, damaging the very space as if it were not an illusion. Rainer immediately forced everyone else out of the Space.

Rainer focused all his will on destroying his Avatar, and removing it from existence. But the void light kept spreading. He focused on the Avatar's Soul, making sure he wouldn't reabsorb it.

Talvara reappeared in the white void. She tore away at the Void, while Rainer used his [Sleep Learning] space to rip away the rest. Jor appeared within the space, its maw open as the impossible light entered its stomach. With their combined efforts, the expansion stopped and the void light vanished, along with Rainer's consciousness.

Rainer shot awake, screaming as he scratched at his chest, drawing blood.

Pain. All he felt was pain. Pain that consumed him and attacked his very being. More than he had ever felt before.

Even as both [Arcane Awakening] and [Arcane Invigoration] ran at their maximum nothing helped. His [Sleep Learning] space was cracking and he could only slow it down.

Only when he felt a calming hand on his back and a violet flame in his Soul did the tide turn. Slowly but surely, his Soul and all it's contents returned to normal. The parts that were destroyed in [Sleep Learning] healed soon after, bolstered now that [Arcane Invigoration] could target them.

Luna didn't bother asking any superfluous questions, she only covered him with her flame. But even her unflappable nature was briefly startled as Rainer laughed.

And laughed.

It was a failure. A complete and utter failure. The result of mixing his Soul with Arcane and Void had completely changed what happened when they collided. It was no longer simple destruction but something far greater. But within that failure was endless possibilities.

"Hey Luna."

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever wondered what the power that could kill a God looked like?"

….

"No. I've wondered what a full night's sleep was like," she said, her voice far more serious than usual.

Rainer started laughing again. It was the one time he was glad he wasn't sleeping beside Kara as she would no doubt not be happy at him laughing after what just happened.

"You know, Francis came up with a great idea. Talvara shared it with me earlier."

"Is it fun?"

"You'll love it."

"Hmm good, tell Luna tomorrow. And if you drag Luna into [Sleep Learning] she will find things to burn Rainer doesn't want her to burn," she said in a half mumble as she pulled him back down and snuggled into him.

"Understood."