Throne of Magical Arcana

In a half-empty marvelous domain, Viken’s heart that was both bright and dark beat nonstop, but it could only struggle to absorb the sap from the boundary of the demigods and top legends, including Douglas, the Silver Moon, the Lord of Hell, and the elven queen.

At this moment, the change in the blockage of Allyn was reflected in his mind that seemed to be everywhere.

There couldn’t be a better opportunity! He wouldn’t stand a chance after Lucien joined the battle!

A dark and illusionary vein suddenly extended from Viken’s heart, which passed through the tide made of the water as if there were no resistance and pierced into Aglaea, the elven queen.

Aglaea did not pay much attention to it. With the protection of the elven tree, Viken’s attempt that only carried one percent of his power could not penetrate through nature at all.

However, at this moment, a shadow mixed with strong hate and pain suddenly emerged out of her body, which stretched out beyond her control and grabbed that “vein”!

No!

Aglaea exclaimed in her heart when she realized that the “container” with which she completed the status transformation had gone out of control. As her primeval-devil half went out of control, she could not control herself anymore!

Did Viken hold such a powerful control over all primeval devils?

At this moment, she felt that the Viken before her was so lofty and sacred that she only wanted to worship him!

In the meantime, quite a few black veins extended out of Viken’s heart and penetrated into the bodies of top legends including Belkovsky, crazily absorbing their primeval-devil halves. Only Fernando, Hathaway, and a few other exceptions managed to avoid it.

For a moment, negative feelings and pieces of black shadows flowed into Viken’s heart along the veins. Douglas, the Silver Moon, and the Lord of Hell intended to assist them, but they were mired in the tide and couldn’t do anything except to watch it happen.

The way to become a demigod that Viken released before had such severe deficiencies!

It was the complete way to become a demigod without any traps, and its deficiencies and flaws were inevitable even for Viken himself. That was probably why other people believed him. However, at this moment, he was the most powerful primeval devil, and that was why he was fearless. He was reluctant to reveal the secret to the North Church, because Belkovsky, who had the accumulation of the power of faith and godhood, could very likely break into the demigod level soon and be on par with him. In such a case, he wouldn’t be able to control other people like he could right now.

As his power rose, the tide was propelled and moved to Viken’s heart, allowing him to absorb crazily. After every drop he absorbed, he would be more powerful than before. After only a few moments, the “heart” already lengthened and changed, vaguely showing Viken’s appearance. At this moment, Lucien had just flashed to the sky and was about to go into the marvelous domain to stop Viken.

At this moment, Viken suddenly laughed crazily. “You should come too!”

Glittering veins stretched out of the heart and pierced into the body of Rudolf II who was also working hard at the edge.

Rudolf II watched Viken in shock as lofty, bright, and golden shadows flashed in his body nonstop with the obvious air of Mountain Paradise!

“Thanos, I did not expect you to revive and return, but you can only serve as my nutrition now!” Viken’s crazy voice echoed in the clouds. “You hid rather well, but I got suspicious during Mecantron’s resurrection! I did not point it out exactly because I was waiting for this moment!”

Thanos? The sorcerers down below were shocked.

Rudolf II could not say anything anymore. His body quickly dimmed, and his hair grew white. The golden shadows broke into pieces and flowed into Viken’s body through the veins.

Boom!

A soundless explosion and infinite brightness burst out. Lucien, who had just reached the marvelous domain and was about to attack, was forced to step back. In the perception of his spiritual power, Viken had vanished!

As the light gradually dispersed, the elven queen, Belkovsky, Rudolf II, and some other top legends could not maintain themselves anymore. They fell out of the marvelous domain to the ground. For a moment, they had even lost the basic ability to fly themselves.

Thankfully, there were plenty of other legendary experts outside. Some were elves, some were from the North Church, and some were from the Holy Heilz Empire. Those legendary experts prevented their leaders from becoming the first top legends who were killed in a crash, because their leaders were not legendary knights and their bodies could not stand the collision.

As the light faded, the center of the marvelous domain could be sensed by Lucien, Douglas, the Silver Moon, and other demigods. Viken’s hair had turned black, and his wrinkles were gone. His eyes were profound and dark, as if he were only in his thirties. However, his nose was slightly protruded, making him look rather scary.

Lucien, Douglas, and the other experts had all seen him in such a form before. It was the image of the King of Calamities on many magic classics.

Next to Viken, the holy angels and the evil devils entangled each other, worshiping and praising him. A realm where heaven and hell coexisted in peace was created.

The realm did not seem to be in this world. Although Lucien, Douglas, and the other demigods could see the view and hear the songs and praises, they could not perceive it or the air of Viken inside. It seemed that they were facing a hologram, and the angels and devils were far away in a different world.

Viken adapted himself to his new status and smiled. “Evans, what a shame. You’re one step late. Are you very surprised?”

He sounded gentle and calm, but it was as astounding as a clap of thunder when the legendary experts and the sorcerers, nobles, and civilians down below heard it. Their bodies were trembling in shock!

One step late?

Had he become a true god?

Done. Everything was done…

Desperation spread out, but people still had hope, because there were four demigods on their side. Even if they could not defeat Viken, they should be able to hold the situation and stop him from doing whatever he wanted.

Douglas, Alterna, and Maltimus, as demigods, were much more grave, because they found that they could not even tell how strong Viken was. Of course, they did not give up and simply kept attacking Viken.

The bright and dreamy moon, the corrupt and evil hell, and the flashing fateful meteor ran toward Viken at the same time.

Lucien, on the other hand, seemed too shocked to perform any attack. He merely nodded his head and said, “I’m quite surprised that your way of demigod has such severe deficiencies. That’s why I’m one step late.”

“This step is exactly the boundary between life and death. Now, I am already a true god. You cannot defeat me at all. No, it is impossible for you to even reach me!” Viken smiled kindly as the light of the silver moon, the outburst of the hell, and the fateful meteor passed through him as if he did not exist at all.

The songs and praises of angels and devils went on without being disrupted. The sorcerers were even more desperate. They could not even reach the enemy? Such a capability gap was almost the distance between heaven and abyss!

“Do you see? This is the true god. I can appear at any place at any time and attack anyone, but you cannot break the boundary between god and mortals. You cannot touch my real body at all.” Viken turned his head, as if he had finally got the status under control. “Even if I stand here and let you attack me, you cannot hit me at all. Your attacks will have no effects.”

True god. He’s really a true god… The sorcerers, nobles, and civilians felt that their bodies turned soft as they looked at that. It seemed that their feet could no longer bear the weight of their bodies. That was truly a devastating opponent!

How is he going to deal with us?

Will he kill us or domesticate us into lambs?

Viken smiled and said, “I don’t need you anymore. You can disappear altogether…”

When Viken finished his declaration and was about to attack, the muscles on his face suddenly bounced, as if something down below was trying to crawl out.

Such protrusions were so dense that all his skin that was exposed to the air was occupied. Then, lumps were jumping even on the long robe that was transformed by his strength. They couldn’t be more hideous and disgusting.

“This is…” In shock, Viken tried harder to control himself. Douglas, the Silver Moon, and the Lord of Hell did not know what was going on exactly, but they did know that it was a rarely-seen opportunity and immediately began their attacks.

However, their attacks still could not break the boundary between god and mortals!

Viken’s body gradually became transparent, both bright and dark. The faces of intelligent creatures emerged from it.

The faces, some pious and some in pain, surged out nonstop and created the protrusions!

“Why is this happening? Why is this happening?” Viken roared crazily, shocked and infuriated. The legendary experts and the sorcerers down below were all astounded. What happened to the true god?

Viken gazed at Lucien, who had been quiet and did not attack, as he murmured to himself, “I have already turned into a strong observer and a true god by gathering everyone’s power! Why is this still happening? Why is this still happening?”

Annick and Heidi became pale. Had the Congress’ “observer hypothesis” raised such an invincible opponent for them?

Looking at Viken, Lucien repeated expressionlessly but with a higher voice, “The observer effect?”

Then, his lips curled, and he smiled somewhat mischievously.

“It was a trick!”

It was a trick? Annick and the other sorcerers opened their mouths, completely unable to close them.

It was a trick? Douglas, the Silver Moon, Fernando, and the rest of them couldn’t help but look at Lucien.

It was a trick? Viken’s body trembled so hard that the faces seemed to be tearing apart his skin and running out. His eyes were filled with confusion first, before infinite fury surged out.

Keeping the smile, Lucien said, “The truth of the world and the nature of magic is…”

His face suddenly became solemn, and the void behind him began to tremble, manifesting a boundless cosmos. The cosmos zoomed in, with a lower and lower perspective, allowing everybody to see the gigantic fireball and the blue planet that they had seen previously.

“This is the secret of immortality, the truth of the world, and the essence of magic!” Lucien announced solemnly.

Then, he extended his right hand and waved it in the air. A series of complicated equations were immediately displayed, as if there was a cubic stream screen around. Even Douglas felt that his head was dizzy as he read it.

“This is a math model that describes space.” Instead of seizing the opportunity that Viken could not control himself to attack him, Lucien began to introduce the equations, making the arcanists of the Congress of Magic feel extremely weird. Why is Mr. Evans doing this in the middle of such an intense battle? Is he trying to blow up Viken’s head when he saw that the boundary of god and men was unbreakable? If his plan works out, it will probably be an unprecedented and unrepeatable battle case…

“The previous theory of relativity describes a ‘3+1’ dimension, and this is a model that describes more dimensions.” Lucien did not give more details because the premises and hypotheses of the math model alone could’ve taken him half a day to illustrate, and few people on the battlefield could understand it.

In the sky, Lucien slowly and casually walked toward Viken who was trying to control himself with the boundary of god and men.

“In this model, we can assume that the universe we live in is a high-dimensional universe, whose projections in different three-dimensional spaces form many parallel universes,” Lucien spoke lucidly as if he were teaching Heidi and the students a class. “Math tells us that in the three-dimensional state or four-dimensional state, parallel universes can barely meet each other. In that case, we may overlap, but we cannot touch or sense each other.

“However, just as two random straight lines on a piece of paper have much higher chances to intersect than to parallel, in lower dimensions, our microscopic particles and our fundamental world incessantly entangle with their counterparts in other universes. That is exactly superimposition and entanglement. However, as we, the real world, and the macroscopic universe kick in and the dimension increases to a higher level, the entanglement and intersection are gone, and only one state is fixed. That’s why the mysteries of the microscopic domain cannot be reflected in the macroscopic world!”

Lucien spoke very slowly as if he were teaching a class or engaged in small talk, but the sky suddenly turned dark, and a crazy wind blew out from the ground into the marvelous domain.

Douglas and the rest of them kept attacking Viken while they listened to Lucien’s words, which seemed to have really explained a lot of experiment phenomena as well as the transition between the microscopic domain and the macroscopic world.

The world next to Viken where angels and devils mixed and sang together was unaffected, allowing him to focus on self-control. He tried to get rid of the embarrassment as countless faces were conflicting and squeezing out of him. He did not entirely understand what Lucien was saying, but he did not stop glaring at Lucien’s eyes at all. Even if I have been tricked, I still have the strength of a true god. After I get control of myself, I will kill you!

Lucien’s voice grew louder and louder. “This model explains the transition between the microscopic domain and the macroscopic world, but we will easily discover that there is no place for magic and supernatural abilities.

“Therefore, in this model, we have to add two premises. The first is that the soul does exist. It is essentially a high-dimensional object that can spread out special electromagnetic waves…”

BOOM!

A thunder rumbled in the sky, but no lightning struck down, as if the world was stopping Lucien from talking.

“As high-dimensional objects, souls are projected into different parallel universes, except that the projections are different due to the different coordinates of the dimensions. For example, in some universes, the souls are so weak that they are barely detectable, and in some universes, souls can directly walk on the earth. The electromagnetic waves they emit are very powerful.”

BOOM!

Another thunder rumbled, and the sky was completely dark, as if a storm was coming. But still, no bolts of lightning occurred!

Lucien turned a deaf ear to the thunder and simply kept on walking to Viken. “Of course, if that is the only premise, the best we can expect is that certain creatures with powerful souls will have simple abilities such as setting fire, moving objects, or telecommunication. There will only be the most unattractive extraordinary powers, and there won’t be the weird yet brilliant magic, or any of the unusual animals.

“Therefore, my other premise is that, for reasons that we haven’t quite figured out, another universe has some sort of entanglement or intersection with our universe!”

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

Bolts of lightning danced like clusters of silver snakes and illuminated the sky and the world. The angels and devils around Viken that praised and sang for him lowered their voices, and Viken appeared to be stunned again.

In the middle of the bursting bolts of lightning, a universe that was very similar to the one behind Lucien was displayed. The strange feeling that everybody sensed during Lucien’s advancement just now spread out again.

Lucien suddenly raised his voice and announced magnificently, “Therefore, the entanglement of the microscopic particles and the fundamental world is much more powerful than usual!

“Therefore, in the quantum eraser experiment and the delayed choice experiment, the state of entanglement is more difficult to destroy than expected!”

In the sky that was brimming with bolts of lightning, a torrential storm poured down. The whole world seemed to be drowned!

“The stronger coherence belongs to the microscopic domain. It is insignificant compared to the macroscopic world. When macroscopic factors are involved, it will be destroyed easily.

“Therefore, the macroscopic world is real and material, without any dispersion or illusion. However, the foundation at the bottom level of the macroscopic world is not so steady!” Lucien moved another step forward as his voice got louder and louder.

The angels and devils next to Viken had all fallen into silence. There were no more songs or praises!

“Under normal circumstances, such unsteadiness will not cause any consequences, but on special occasions, say, during the reproduction of creatures, it will lead to many more mutations. That’s why we have so many species and so many tricky monsters!”

In the pouring rain, the glittering lightning, and the rumbling thunders, the universe Lucien displayed zoomed in, allowing everybody to see the familiar fireball and the blue planet again!

Lucien said aloud as he stepped forward, “That’s why the ‘spiritual power’ of our souls can develop an assortment of strange spells beyond the monotonous abilities! That’s why reshaping and the elemental changes on the material level are relatively easy!”

The angels and devils around Viken looked afraid. Douglas, on the other hand, abandoned the futile attacks and focused on listening to Lucien’s narration. In the meantime, Viken seemed more and more desperate and crazy.

“It’s true that the source of our energy is the fluctuation of the ocean of energy in our void, but the ocean is not in our universe because we cannot grasp its momentary rise at all!

“Since the two parallel universes intersect and have different space-time changes, it gives us a chance to make use of their ocean of energy and the bottom-level matter like virtual particles!

“The conservation of energy is that of two universes, not just our own!”

As Lucien talked on, the ordinary people and the nobles on the ground were completely confused. They had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Even the legendary experts in the sky were also mostly in such a state. Only the arcanists were listening to him half confused and half enlightened. Some were ecstatic, and some were trembling!

“Our souls exist in a high dimension and are projected to all the parallel dimensions. Our own souls are only part of the essence. Therefore, our meditation is actually to perceive another universe through the connection between the two soul projections. The environment of meditation that we establish—or our cognitive world—is the instrument of our communication. Therefore, the more similar and the more entangled it is to another universe, the more powerful it will be. That’s exactly the feedback of the real world!

“Therefore, most of our magic models are essentially the different variants of such a math model of space-time communication. Naturally, the more accurate they are, the more powerful they will be!”

BOOM!

A noise that could almost be compared to the self-explosion of the Will of Abyss just now echoed. The darkness in the sky co-existed with the gigantic fireball!

The boundary of god and mortals around Viken seemed to be under enormous pressure and was squeaking!

“In this model, gravity is quantized and exists as a relatively low-dimensional notion. When two universes intersect, it will entangle the gravity of our world, hence the mist that covers the planets and the sun, the star graves where there is no gravity, and the many alternate dimensions. Therefore, we cannot locate any planet at all without considering the influence of other universes!

“That’s the reason why planets were never found before!”

When he said that, Lucien suddenly thought of the moment when he read “Arcana” for the first time. At that time, Oliver and Mr. President were deeply upset that planets could not be discovered!

Quantized gravity… Douglas calmed down and thought hard!

“Wu! Wu! Wu! Wu!”

Miserable cries burst out. The angels and devils around Viken shed bright or dark tears in fear. The boundary of god and men trembled more and more violently, and it was squeaking louder and louder.

Inside Viken’s body, faces flew out and vaporized into dust, and he looked more and more crazy and hateful.

“The soul is in a high dimension. So, our death only means the elimination of a soul’s projection and the loss of current memories and special waves. However, our actual soul is never gone, and the projection will reappear after a while!”

As Lucien made the statement, faces of souls appeared in the storm, crying, cursing, and threatening. The ordinary people down below all shivered as they looked at them.

“Therefore, part of our spells and supernatural powers actually carry the features of high dimensions too. We can be resurrected through methods like the phylactery immediately after the death, we can perform space jump, the Sword of Truth can eliminate all traces of existence, and the Elimination blood power can destroy the source of the supernatural powers by blocking the connection of two universes!

“Therefore, our real path to the demigod level is the arcana approach: to let the projection of the soul reach the nature of the soul in the high dimension!

“Therefore, after the two universes have a slight intersection, there will be creatures that are closer to the high dimension but not perfect, like the Silver Moon and the Lord of Hell! That’s why the Furnace of Souls and the Styx that represent the essence of the high-dimensional souls show up! That’s why there are the primeval hell and the World of Souls where souls and feelings gather!

“Therefore, the mysteries of immortality that we saw in the Chamber of Immortality were actually another universe! It represents our other self!”

His magnificent voice put an end to the cries, curses, and beg for mercy. The storm stopped, the lightning and thunder were gone, and the angels and devils dispersed into the light. Viken’s body began to quiver, and after his every movement, some faces of souls were flying out!

Lucien had already reached before Viken. He looked down at him pitifully. “Your path to reach the high dimension by gathering many souls seems correct, but it is actually wrong. Those are not the projection of the same soul, and you cannot get the essence of your own soul in the high dimension. Therefore, while nothing wrong happened before your success, you will lose your undead quality after your success because it is impossible for you to be revived through somebody else’s soul.

“Of course, it was exactly because of the correctness of your path on the surface that I was able to fool you with the ‘observer effect’. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know how I can ‘really’ kill you at all.”

In his black double-breasted suit, Lucien put on his gentle smile again. He pressed his chest with his right hand and bowed slightly. “Now, I would like to repeat that, in the microscopic domain, where our experience in the past is no longer applicable and where the methodology we are used to errs, all the explanations and theoretical models must be strictly built on mathematics. Otherwise, explanations and hypotheses would only be illusions and fantasies!

“To put it simply, any hypothesis that is not based on math models is pure nonsense!”

Pa!

In Viken’s shock and devastation, the boundary of god and men next to him was broken even though Lucien did not perform any attack at all!

In the sky, the darkness and the gigantic fireball faded, and the clear blueness was restored!