Genetic Ascension

Chapter 2251: Lips Parted (2)

”I have thought a great deal about this, but all of the answers feel so very vapid and meaningless, not much unlike the void itself.

”I stumbled upon this third aspect of my Rune Mastery by accident. I was trapped within a world mimicking the void, ironically enough to allow for greater teleportation.

”When I think of things like this, it should be simple what the relationship is. The void exists as a punctuation mark, a rake to clear the leaves, a moving shadow to make way for the light.

”Even when one thinks of what Void Mastery is, it is in the name. From Spark Mastery, to Pure Spark Mastery, to Void Mastery, and then finally Rune Creation, the Void is more like a half-step. It empties your mind of the influences of the world around you, of the other Rune Paths, leaving room only for your own.

”Ever since comprehending my Void Path, Iʼve never even needed to step into Void Mastery again. Iʼve always gone straight from Spark Mastery to Rune Creation, whether that was in the E-tier or the D-tier. Emptying my mind has become easy.

”But to continue along at that state of simplicity, at the easiest method of application and use of the Void, is likewise what is handicapping me.

”The stronger this simplicity becomes, the more it will swallow my other paths, until I am nothing, bred from nothing, come from nothing. Maybe it isnʼt that no one else has followed the Void Path before, but maybe it is the case that all whoʼve stumbled onto it have long been erased from mind and time.”

The old manʼs pupils constricted.

Sylas only continued to speak.

”The Void has always meant to be a tool. To try to understand it is like attempting to comprehend what it meant to exist before the universe did. It exists outside the realm of influences, and to try to find complexity within its makeup, to truly take control of it, manifest it, wield it… ”Feels impossible.”

Sylas paused once again.

”Iʼve seen the ceiling of the world. The intertwining red lightning, the careless disregard, the almost-sneer the writhing bolts hold within them.

”But even it is no Void. It is not all-encompassing. It has its limit, as does everything else.

”And that is what makes the void so very difficult to grasp. Even in its simplest form, itʼs so impossibly vast and endless. Without doing a single thing at all, it will grow to become my strongest Path until it does what it does best and consumes me as well. However…”

A wild grin spread across Sylasʼ face, and for some reason, the old man across from him was inundated with the strongest of winds.

His wispy hairs blew back, a dance of copper and red-gold filling the skies.

”… I also realized something else very interesting, something else Iʼve also been thinking about for a very long time.

”In order to be as all-encompassing as it is, the void must exist in all places. When Spacetime cracks and its folds give way, there exists the Void. When Rune Masters breach the final threshold and cross the barrier from Sparker to Creator, there exists the Void… ”Between Runes, the smallest unit of measurement the universe allows for…

”There exists the Void.”

The blasts of wind hit against the old manʼs face all the more. His eyes remained sharp, but glowing. Almost as though he was hanging on Sylasʼ every word, waiting for what he would say next.

There was something about that smile and grin, those savage eyes that looked to challenge and swallow everything, and yet contained a sort of lazy uncaring to them that didnʼt deem many worthy of seeing this side of him at all… ”As vast as it is, the Void is, in itself, its own horseshoe. It swallows everything that is, and yet exists within and alongside everything that is as well.

”In its simplest form, it consumes everything. In its most complex form, it forms the web that pieces it all together, stitching the universe back to one when the laws that cannot sweep through as much as it can finally fail.

”The universe only has so much energy. It cannot fit every corner with a celestial body, every inch of the starry sky with a star, every square foot of land with the most lush grass.

”But much the same way there can be no contentment without dissatisfaction, no happiness without rage, no Pride without embarrassment.

”There can be no Creation without Nothingness.

”The Void exists as its own horseshoe. Rune Mastery likewise exists as its own horseshoe.

”To touch upon nothingness before the beauty of Creation itself can bloom is no mistake, no footnote in the annals of history. It exists as it does for a purpose and a reason.”

Sylas stretched out a palm and pulsing waves of might came from him.

”Runes are condensed from Will, manifest to being from the whispers of the heart and the winds of the soul.

”The Void is a vessel that exists within it all, a bowl that contains the entirety of the universe.

”It is the true ceiling.

”And what more decides the ceiling of Will if not Charisma itself?”

Blinding light shot from the eyes of the old man, and yet Sylasʼ words seemed to have long forgotten their purpose. When had he ever spoken for the sake of anotherʼs respect?

He had long said what needed to be said to grasp the manʼs attention.

The Sylas of now was speaking because his words would not stop. He was speaking because they spilled forth from him as though a dam had been broken and pieces of himself hidden and stored away to stop the world from becoming far too boring had been poked by the old manʼs arrogance.

”There can be no Void Path of Rune Mastery. It is paradoxical, it cannot exist. Not in this form. Because it was never Rune Mastery to begin with.

”The Void Path was an entirely separate form of Creation altogether.

”And I will call it—.”

Sylasʼ lips continued to move, the manʼs eyes opened wide as no sound reached him at all, no Will either. It all seemed swallowed… swallowed by an infinite void.

Bolts of crimson lightning appeared from above and the world shook.

A furious rage descended from above.