Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

The tranquil courtyard maintained a distinct silence. Aleph, who was dressed in a set of black kimono, stared blankly at the sky.

'...Their sun.'

One week.

That was the time Aleph spent since his entry to this instance.

'There's always this dreary and depressive mood even during the day. They might have mistaken this as the normal.'

He came from a relatively normal world. He felt the difference of Izumo's day on Earth's day.

The former's citizens would've noticed nothing, for they did not have the knowledge of a normal 'day'; it's not gloomy at all.

Only when Aleph saw the sun in the sky did his questions get answered.

Similar to his experience with the Cocoon, his eyes bled by contacting it.

'Black Sun… Aeons.'

The sun in the sky was normal. It was still glowing with a hint of dark orange. However, Aleph saw a different sight on his elemental sight.

It was a Black Sun that emitted the concept of devouring everything—that all things served no purpose.

'...So this is why.'

Aleph understood why Acheron stated their endings were decided from the start.

The Black Sun, IX's shadow, was already affecting the world they were standing on. The concepts he saw were steadily being distributed across the world, silently pushing it towards nihility.

Aleph recalled the manner he destroyed an entire world. That same thing would happen to Izumo in a matter of hundreds of years.

'The collision of complex information emitted by high-level lifeforms was enough to do that… unless they were controlled.'

Countless rays of light flashed in his golden pupils. Great Sage's thought acceleration and parallel minds were working at this moment, along with Investigator.

Numerous simulated scenarios flashed in his mind. The possibilities contained every choice popped up. 

All of them was to accomplish one thing—

'To fight god.'

Bam.

The tatami doors behind him were slid open, revealing Mei with her typical gym clothes. A gray towel was placed atop her shoulders.

'...She doesn't mind this at all, does she..?'

Aleph was no longer the type to shy away from such a sight. He did not possess dirty thoughts in the first place, more so when he already had a detailed grasp of his Mei's body.

Mei's thoughts weren't too complicated either.

'Like a great sage…'

Such words were apt to describe him. He did not do much in the entire week but to stare at the skies—that, and his continued instruction with the three techniques he handed over.

It was for that reason did she trust him. At the very least, this person whose origins were in 'another world' did not plan to do anything bad.

"Swordsmanship… It's been a while since I fought someone using pure skills…" He paused his breath as he made a decision. "Care for a light spar?"

Hearing his question, Mei looked at him silently. The taciturn noble lady did not leak out her inner thoughts until a while later.

"I will gladly accept it."

Aleph's sight left the dreary sky. After a while, she came out of the training room.

Bam-!

He caught the sheathed eastern blade thrown at him. The moment he pushed the handguard upwards, he saw its silver sheen. The most noticeable thing was the dull edges, a perfectly made training sword.

Perhaps it was courtesy, Mei did not propose using sharp edges.

Her sneakers touched the grass on the courtyard. Her attire formed a sharp contrast with Aleph's.

Shiing-!

The two of them unsheathed their blades. Surprisingly, Aleph took the initiative to throw its sheath on the ground. It could have been used as an extra guard, yet he chose not to. Instead, he held the sword's handle with his hands.

The blade's tip was pointed not on Mei's throat, but between her eyebrows.

This produced a shocking effect for the latter. Her body froze for a second.

Clang-!

The single second she wasn't able to react allowed Aleph to reach her position in a few steps. His blade parried hers before the tip reached her snow white neck.

"The majority of swordsmen teach utilization and proper application of combat doctrines. I could see you went through a lot to reach your current level." Aleph commented. "But, there's something before that… Intent."

Aleph demonstrated his knowledge regarding 'martial arts'. His attainments after one year and four months were exaggerated. Coupled with his similarly exaggerated base power, it reached a new level beyond its creator's expectations.

"You already have it. Your fight with the Flamebringer showed that. All that's left is to maintain it. To polish your blade… that's how intent works."

Aleph lowered his blade and returned to his previous position. He then raised his blade 

"I will limit my strength to yours. You are fighting your mirror… no, the better you." Aleph thought for a while and changed his wordings. "...forget about that. We shouldn't be setting limits on ourselves… I'll give you the chance to move first this time."

*****

Past.

Present.

Future.

These three words could not be explained easily. They represented the anchors of time, showing how it moved along a linear manner.

The past remains the same no matter what happens to the present;

Anything done in the present will affect the future.

In a world, an absolute anchor exists. This represents the 'present'. Of course, it does not mean that there weren't leaves of the future. These exist beyond the absolute anchor. Each of them was born out of a possibility—a set of available information that 'exists' in the 'present'.

In simpler terms, they were the 'future possibilities' that did not happen yet. Their fate was to continue existing… or to fall off on the sea as bubble universes.

At this moment, an anomaly occurred.

A single leaf became special.

An intangible tree made out of complex information began experiencing changes. 

The special 'leaf' blossomed, turning into a pure white branch.

Just then…

Hum.

Was it a vibration? A wavelength? A fluctuation?

Nothing could describe it. In the instant it appeared, the white branch became noticeably transparent. It took a while until it gradually stabilized to its previous state… or so it did.

The indescribable phenomenon occurred for the second time. A wave of brilliant colors—countless they could not be distinguished—swept the entire tree. Its leaves shook, its branches shaking from its 'impact'. It soon elicited a reaction from the metaphysical sea.

It began interfering with the white branch. It formed a connection with them, turning these 'unstable anchors' into a more 'realistic' world. It wasn't wrong to say that a special parallel world was created right at this moment.

Naturally, it did not escape the beings with similarly complex information. Most of them were left to wonder.

Only a single entity stood still amidst all the changes.

It was the destination of all things, the concept belonging to the future. It reigned atop every other Aeon, yet it did nothing in the present; for its existence was meant to start from the future.

Out of all the information it spat out, two words stood out:

'Eternal light…'