Desolate Mage: A Legend Reborn! 209 Door of Gluttony 3

He was well aware that, with such a great battle occurring, there would surely be some parties coming to snoop around. However, based on a search made via soul sense, he estimated he would have at least until dawn to abscond – unless there were entities able to elude his senses. But based on the colossal clash here that was at least semi-divine, he doubted that there were any more such peak powerhouses around.

Still, to be safe, he layered stealth formations over himself and Luca before secreting their bodies into an inconspicuous pit he dug and then covered themselves with dirt.

'Since my runes were able to fool the Sun Lord and Belic, we should be safe unless a true divine realm titan comes…' satisfied, Lars turned his consciousness inward to his mental world where the doors of Divine Light, Prime Evil and now two additional balls of laws were held. Of course, his core soul-ability of Insight was there as well – this was what held everything together, this law that he had been using but was not able to comprehend himself was his internal realm.

Having taken full control this world, he hadn't bothered to renovate anything. It was still a realm of pure whiteness except for the golden door, crimson door and two floating balls of golden-orange and purple – the devoured laws of the Sun Lord and Belic's laws of Distortion.

Lars' spirit body floated over to pass by the two doors and approached the acquired laws. He stopped before the two floating balls that were about the size of a grown man's upper body. The globe from the Sun Lord appeared to be made up of fire and light with wisps and tongues of fire rising off its surface every now and then. On the other hand, the ball that contained Distortion was almost inactive, the insides just a swirling mass of purple mist and grey clouds.

Rubbing his chin, Lars looked back and forth between the two laws and considered which to begin with.

'Between Divine Light and Distortion, I believe I have a stronger affinity for Divine Light… Let's start with that…' choosing to begin with the golden-orange ball, he pressed his face right up beside the surface of the flaming globe.

When he peered into their depths, he could see a near-infinite variety of rune words, sentences and nomological formations. He tried to make sense of what he was seeing, squinting his eyes and focusing his insight on the runes, but each time he was just about to grasp one, the insides of the globes would swirl with other words coming to the front then being replaced by a jumble of other symbols.

'In terms of affinity, my understanding of the Sun Lord's laws should already be at least 30% since my comprehension of Divine Light is at the brink of the Mythical realm… That gives me an 80% confidence of doing this. In comparison, Distortion is probably only at 10-15% at most after learning from the crawlers…'

Undeterred, Lars continued to observe for a minute more, however, he quickly realised that he was making no progress. He pulled back his face from trying to peer into the depths of the golden globe, and went over his options. He glanced between the two orbs and considered shortly before making the clear choice.

'Looks like I'll begin with the Sun Lord's light… But I can't be too careful about this… The last thing I want is to "over-eat" and die from self-explosion…'

Shaking his head, he knew that he could only take the risk and directly attempt to merge with the obtained laws…

He separated a sliver of consciousness from his main mind as a contingency just in case things went south – the same secondary consciousness he had used to dupe the Sun Lord's conscient earlier when being initiated into Divine Light.

'Alright. Here goes nothing…' Preparing himself for the worst, Lars reached out towards the laws of the Sun Lord. When he placed the palms of his hands on the surface of the orb, he heard a roar of raging flames drown out his hearing and felt as if he were blown away by turbulent winds. His eyes were filled with the image of a great body of fire – the Sun in its all-devouring, all-cleansing flames.

Violent heat, gales and searing flares of flame erupted all around and Lars felt as if though his skin was disintegrating while his blood evaporated and his bones melted. He struggled to breath but could not inhale any air, feeling dizzy – his lungs had stopped functioning.

Nearly panicking, Lars felt helpless. Whether mana, Earth Pulse or Divine Light or even his own physical strength, nothing was responding to him.

'No… Lars, snap out of it, it's not real, it's not real!'

Somewhere at the back of his mind, he could hear a girl or a young woman's voice call out to him, telling him that this was but a mental vision, an illusion. He didn't know where it came from or whose it was and why it could appear in his mental realm, but this voice helped him to refocus himself.

Closing his eyes and no longer trying to resist his surroundings, Lars allowed the fire of the Sun to encompass him in its blazing embrace, swallowing him up in a sea of endless burning. To his pleasant surprise, he did not feel any pain – only warmth, energy and life.

'Yes… This isn't real… This is all happening in my spirit, my mind, my internal world… Which means that mana, Earth Pulse, Divine Light, strength, powers… All these are meaningless…'

With his eyes closed, Lars was no longer overwhelmed by the image of devouring fire. He could focus instead on unveiling the truth of this vision, this realm of fire. By eliminating his senses of sight, touch and pain, his other senses grew sharper.

If he quietened his heart… He could hear… Music. The plucking of strings of a harp ringing out, the strings resounding and vibrating without cease, a melodic yet discordant tune at the same time.

And beyond the five senses, he could feel something resonating with his soul – an affinity, a relatability and something that he felt like… Belonged with him.

With his eyes closed, he opened his eyes - his inner eyes that allowed him to see no longer with his brain and mind, but with his heart and soul.

And with his soul opening up, he still saw the fire and the flames and the sun and the devouring power. But this time, he could see through the surface of the body of fire into the internal workings of the golden-orange sun, into the inner parts where countless laws circulated.

'That… That's it… That's it! Somehow, from the sheer presence of this vision… I had nearly lost myself and lost my mind…'

Lars could hear that the music and the melodic sounds were coming from the Sun, and he felt a great calm over himself as he willed his body towards the globe, the beautiful globe full of runic words that represented the laws of fire, light, of the Sun.

As he grew to the Sun, he could hear the music of the instruments growing louder, now even accompanied by the voices of a choir of angelic voices – just like the visual and auditory phenomena that had manifested when the Sun Lord triggered his abilities, only, far greater, purer, louder.

Finally, Lars reached the surface of the sun and stopped, watching mesmerised as the runes could now be made out clearly. He found himself stunned at the sheer beauty of the sight before him – before seeing these as laws, he was moved by the majesty and greatness of the laws before him.

He felt… Like these were a part of him. Like these were precious, beloved parts of him that he had somehow lost…

Suddenly, he realised that his thinking was strange. Belonged? Something he had lost…? He felt confused for a moment, but his attention was quickly drawn back to the swirling laws that seemed to chirp joyously in response to his call.

As these emotions stirred up within him, the laws seemed to grow brighter, as if though responding to his feelings of awe.

"Ignus Exeneratus…"

Unknowingly, Lars found these words leaving his lips before he noticed it, words that he did not understand, nor did he know where these words came from.

But at the sound of his voice, the scene around him exploded with activity. The lights flashed, flames leapt from side to side, various shades of colour danced all around and the music burst into celebratory songs.

The rune words before him seemed to come even more alive, leaping and jumping with joy as if though… As if though happy to see him…? Then the sun moved, the entire great body shifting towards him and enveloping him within.

Then he realised what all this meant. He suddenly understood without knowing why, without knowing the background. And he knew what to do to master these laws.

And as he spoke one more word, everything around him grew completely still.

It was still a scene full of majestic power, might and world crushing power, but one where the laws were tamed like a wild horse that had suddenly submitted and acknowledged him as their true master.

"Acies…"

"Insight…"

And the laws rushed into Lars soul, consumed fully as his own.

Chapter end