Kill The Old Ones!

--

The Sky Archons put intense care and attention into their wings and their bodies.

They are a race so deeply in tune with themselves that their life’s goal was to refine every aspect of their innate gifts and use them to reach the realm beyond their skies.

It’s very rare to see a Sky Archon relying on outside influence or something else to strengthen themselves. They use what they’re born with, declare that it’s enough, and refine it to its absolute limits to determine the heights they can reach.

Only when they reach their absolute limits will they begin to look for other means to break through. Before that happens, though, best believe that they will pour every single ounce of effort they have into utilizing and mastering the gifts they’ve been given since birth.

Aside from their physical bodies, the Sky Archons love their wings. To them, their wings are the ones that present them with limitless options for their future.

Their wings could manifest in many ways and take on many forms. And usually, the path they chose for themselves could be seen through the appearance of their wings.

Ren had seen glimpses of them fighting with many Undead Sky Archons. Wings of pulse flames, crystallized ice, earthen hands that function as wings, whirlpools and torrents, storm clouds, pure feathers, pulsing void, cloak of shadows, etc.

Hell, he had seen wings formed by asteriods and comets once, which was the scariest one he ever encountered.

But even that couldn’t compare to what he’s feeling right now.

The presence, or a glimpse, of the Godly Sky Archon’s power.

His wings were everything and nothing at the same time. It was everywhere but nowhere. Anything around them could be his wings or not. It ultimately depends on the archon’s will and mood.

But why...why was it like this?

How come it’s so unique?

The Godly Sky Archon himself said that he was the one who made this art. He invented it. It started and was supposed to end with him.

They tried having others learn from him, but nobody could. Nobody could understand it. He himself probably revealed the secret to them, but even after that, nobody from his kind had been able to learn it.

Ren knew that there was something deeper here. And no, he couldn’t rely on his knowledge of the canon anymore, especially since this event didn’t happen there.

The Godly Sky Archon never appeared before the Hero to explain this. The hero has to rely on himself.

If Ren were using his canon knowledge of this inheritance, then he would say that it was wrong, that this art wasn’t supposed to be this way.

The one that Hero displayed and used was far less than the one he’s seeing with his own eyes by now.

Well, surely by the end of the story, the hero might be able to accomplish something similar to this. But this has never been the hero’s forte. And that’s saying a lot since the hero’s growth had been heavily influenced by the Sky Archon arts!

’The canon was wrong.’

’The hero was wrong.’

’He never fully understands the whole idea behind this art.’

’From start to finish, he was only scratching the surface.’

’What an idiot! ’

Ren almost felt like laughing and crying at the same time. He should’ve known better than to believe the bullcrap that the hero came up with. That idiot was the unreliable source for martial arts. The kind of guy who learns from vibes, not facts.

So, what’s the situation now? What exactly was happening before him?

Honestly, his cheat was struggling here, too, and it couldn’t really be blamed; what was happening before him wasn’t martial arts. The fact that the cheat was even taking on this challenge should already be beyond its capabilities.

’Wings...wings...’

’Wings that are everywhere but nowhere.’

’Wings that could be and couldn’t be.’

’Wings that are capable of so much more but could also just be wings without any complication.’

’This isn’t about just lifting him up...’

Ren’s eyes flashed. He grasped something. He’s onto something, and he latched onto it.

”It’s freedom.” He exhaled, and the world stopped.

All of a sudden, Ren found himself standing face to face with the Godly Sky Archon.

He stood before him at the same altitude and with the same magnitude of presence. There was a profound feeling on his chest, something that burrowed into his heart, the core of his chakra network, and his very soul.

”The sky is an aloof realm for grounded creatures, a place that could only be seen by looking up.”

”It’s always been men’s desire to conquer the sky, to stand at the same level as it is, or perhaps even go beyond it.”

”The sky is often seen as a ceiling, the ceiling of some sort of a cage, a limitation.”

”Reaching it meant standing above everyone else. It also means being able to reach the absolute limits that this world imposed upon us, the one that grounds us so and prevents us from seeing what’s beyond.”

”Standing above the sky means breaking through those imposed limitations, a feat that screams that this prison doesn’t, couldn’t, and wouldn’t bind us here and keep us grounded forever.”

”Having wings means you can fly. Having the ability to fly is often seen as being free, because you’re able to touch the domain that’s beyond everyone else’s reach.”

”Those very same wings might also be able to take you beyond the prison that caged you in.”

Ren then stared at the Godly Sky Archon’s face, who was now beaming with a smile so wide that it threatened to split his face and eyes that blazed even more intensely than the sun itself.

He took a deep breath and continued: ”You used the idea of freedom and infused it with your wings.”

”As a result, your wings disappeared, but at the same time, they didn’t.”

”The concept of freedom itself has become your wings.”

”Freedom doesn’t have form. It can’t be contained through an image or a depiction; therefore, your wings couldn’t exactly take on its form.”

”It’s a concept. It just is. Nothing binds you. Nothing grounds you. Nothing restricts you. Anything that does is challenging the very concept of freedom.”

”And in that fight, you will always win.”

”Being free doesn’t just mean you can stay up in the air for forever. It’s so much more than that...so much more that I can’t fully comprehend or articulate at this very moment.”

Then, there was silence.

The world has stopped completely. It’s as if the flow of time forgot to do its job for the time being and could only gape after hearing the words that left Ren’s mouth.

It continued its flow when all of a sudden, the archon’s wild and unrestrained laughter boomed across the entire realm.

”BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!!”

”MARVELOUS! MARVELOUS!”

”Freedom! Oh, what a bitch you are!”

”I’ve popped numerous veins trying to explain your very idea to my people in hopes that they could understand what I made, yet none of them did! They couldn’t grasp it!”

The Godly Sky Archon flew to the stars like a rising comet answering a challenge as he roared.

”They’ve mastered the flesh! Mastered our wings!”

”They’ve conquered high mountains, layers upon layers of sky, yet none of them could completely understand the concept of freedom!”

BOOOM!!

There was a dramatic explosion of light, one that swallowed up the world. In the briefest moment there, Ren saw a scene, and he will remember it for the rest of his life.

It’s the scene of the godly Sky Archon with his wings of freedom facing against five titanic shadows looming over a spire suspended over the void. He was also surrounded with tiny little creatures that Ren couldn’t recognize due to how small they were.

The archon was badly injured and dying. Yet even at death’s door, he looked unrestrained, free, and limitless. He resolutely stood before that suspended spire, protecting it with every last ounce of his strength.

That scene was suspended there, and it branded itself to Ren’s brain, making it impossible for him to ever forget about it.

”That’s exactly it, kid. Good job! For that alone, you deserve everything that my kind left here.”

”Freedom. Whether in this life or the next, if there ever is, I would always strive to be the freest person there ever was.”

”That’s why I made this art.”

”Its name is the [Great Freedom Scripture]. Take it. Learn from it and use it. It will pave the way for you to reach the truth of everything.”

”Work hard, kid. Don’t make the same mistakes that I and my people did.”

”To borrow my loyal right-hand man’s words: Be strong. Stronger than most. Then, descend to the lowest level of the spire and kill the Old Ones!”

”They stand in the way of freedom’s ultimate pursuit.”

These were the final words he heard from the godly Sky Archon.

The scene he saw dissipated into bubbles, and so was his consciousness.

When he came to, the first thing he saw was the faces of Mikel and Alex.

Ren was back to the real world.