Chapter 108: Origin of the Nine-Heavenly Islands

A few weeks living with this old man and I'm just standing beside him idly. I'm not doing anything and he said to just wait patiently because he's "preparing" for something. I wasn't allowed to write a message to anyone. That includes the Crimson Knights. I'm still wondering what they're doing now.

"Zieglind!" Shouted by Herold.

"What?" I asked.

"Preparations are done. Let's go." He then placed his hand over my shoulders and the area around me began to change. As soon as I blinked and reopened my eyes, we were in a completely different area.

"What was that?" I was in awe.

"Teleportation."

"I see. Now, where are we?"

I looked around and it was practically a new world in itself. There's plants and trees everywhere in which I couldn't identify any single one of them.

"We're at the Nine-Heavenly Islands."

"What's with the name?"

"You want to know? Look that way. Run for about 20 kilometers then come back."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Fine. Sprint, Lightning Body." I enhanced myself to further hasten this test of his.

I began running full speed but as soon as I went 5 kilometers in, I felt something heavy on my back. This place is not the same as earlier. This time everything is covered in fog. I couldn't even see the ground. Despite my legs getting slower and heavier, I continued to run as instructed.

10 more kilometers and the pressure is noticeable now. The moment I entered some kind of border, the fog instantly disappeared and the gravity just multiplied. But in this area, there was nothing. I'm standing on nothing as the emptiness of the whole area seemed to stretch forever.

"I can't do this anymore. 15 kilometers should be fine." I said to myself. I'm just going to go back and tell him I couldn't do it. I tried to stand up to run but my legs simply gave up. The pressure was so intense I was literally laying on the non-existent ground. "Gazer Armor!" I tried to fly but couldn't even move.

"So this is how far you can go." A familiar voice was heard.

I looked up and saw him flying effortlessly in this insane gravity. "Herold... What's with this place? I can't move."

"Mass Teleport." Herold relocated me back to the start of the island.

I tried to catch my breath. I was sweating heavily and can barely move my legs. "This creaking feeling... There's a bone broken inside of me?!"

"You can't feel anything? I see. Some of them broke when you merely entered the first stage. You just kept on going. So I got worried and followed you."

"I broke some at the first stage...?"

"This island is not made naturally. I wasn't here before but it was said that this island was formed due to a battle."

"What!?"

"I was shocked too when I knew it. To create something this large, it must be an incredibly devastating fight. Sit, I'll tell you the whole story."

We sat together and focused on healing myself by releasing Wisp in my inventory and let myself be healed.

"So... what happened?"

"It was said that the battle was legendary. Urgo the Legendary Battlemage against Helery the Omniscient."

"What's with the names?"

"Urgo wrecked havoc in 34 kingdoms. He destroyed 12 of them with a single swing of his blade. He was just a mindless beast who desires blood and wants to be in the heat of battle. Helery was a very powerful mage. It was said that she knew at least 20,000 spells. She was the protector of many kingdoms. The two of them were polar opposites. Helery was calm, cool and collected. Every time she waved her wand, it lifted up the spirits of those who are with her. If she didn't stop Urgo's havoc on other kingdoms, the world would've been destroyed by now."

"So why did they fight?"

"It was time to end Urgo's rampage according to Helery. At that time, the world laid their eyes on them two as Urgo accepted Helery's duel invitation."

"So this place...?"

"Yes, this place is where the fight started. Demons, Angels, Elves, Dwarves and countless more races came to watch the fight between the two. In the fight between Urgo and Helery, world peace was achieved in that single fight only. No one discriminated anyone, no one hated anyone, no one got disgusted by anyone. They were only there to observe the fight. To see who is the victor. And to see who will rule the world and to change the course of history."

"Why does it matter who wins?"

"If Urgo wins, he'll lead the demons and every evil races out there to take over the world. If Helery wins, the Angels, Druids and every neutral or pacifist races out there will take her side to make the "Perfect" world. No one will die, no one will feel sadness."

"Both of those are... messed up."

"I know. Urgo will be taking freedom and Helery will be taking emotions. Because if one of them wins, it's a 100% sure loss for the other side."

"So how did the fight go?"

"100 Archmages were requested to put up a large barrier in this island so that the battle between the two of them can't be released to the world and that no one outside of their battle to be killed or hurt."

"A hundred archmages..."

"Today, it isn't common. The world right now is far too weak to produce such mages. As you know, the memory wipe is too strong. They don't have anything to fear so they don't have a goal to achieve strength. But going back to the fight, everytime Urgo swung his sword, he controlled the waves, the air and gravity. A simple swing of his sword managed to cut down mountains. Helery on the other hand is using all her spell binds to keep Urgo at bay and to cast her most powerful spells. Every time both of them clashes, the ocean waved and crashed everywhere, mountains were torn and trees were blown away."

"That's insanely powerful."

"After a day of fighting continuously, Helery had enough. She converted all of her mana into a single spell. It was called, Mana Transfusion. She blasted all of her mana to Urgo but he did the same. Urgo casted Mana Transfusion. Helery's face was in awe, how could a mere swordsman have that skill she thought. But swordsman classes have one skill that anyone would be jealous of having. Perfect Copy. It's the skill that copies from anyone and anything. Urgo threw the Mana Transfusion right to her and boom! Everything exploded. The barrier set up by the hundred Archmages were broken, the sky split and revealed a clear blue sky and any spectators that watched their fight were blown away to the other side of the world. They tried to come back to this place but... This is what happened to it."

"What happened?"

"This island is no ordinary island. It's a concentration of mana. This island absorbed all mana that happened at the battle and the island is gaining consciousness."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"It's because this island experienced the battle between the two legendary people. It has all of its memories packed into this island filled with mana."

"Wait what?"

"I'm going to merge Urgo and Helery's memories, experiences and skills into you." Herold then grabbed my head and began to cast. "Telepathy, pass on Mana Absorption."

"What are you... ARGH!" Information flooded my brain.

"You will absorb their mana, and their memories in this Heavenly island."