The Author's POV

"What odd power."

Drawing my attention was the white, viscous film that was coating my hand. The power felt rather gentle, and I sensed no rejection from it.

At a glance, one wouldn't be able to tell that this power I held was something that far surpassed mana in terms of power.

"Too bad I don't have a good grasp on it."

The most I could do with it at the moment was just move it around my hand, albeit extremely slowly.

I attempted to channel it, but, unlike the mana that flowed freely around my body, the Akashic laws proved to be much more difficult to manipulate than I had anticipated.

If mana was like water, then the Akashic laws were like peanut butter. It just refused to move forward.

'Even demonic energy is a lot easier to control than this.'

​ I extended my other hand and watched as a black film covered my other hand. The process was smooth, and the black film moved around my hand in a smooth manner.

"Hm."

It was right when I was playing with the demonic energy inside of my body that I noticed something.

"What's this?"

As I brought my right and left hands closer together, I was surprised to feel a sense of opposition coming from the two powers.

It was rather weak, but it was there for sure.

'Are the two of them rejecting each other?'

I pressed both hands together and closed my eyes to feel whatever was going on.

It wasn't long before I felt something, and I opened my eyes in surprise.

'Indeed, it looks like the two powers are rejecting each other.'

It was very faint, but I could feel it.

"Inter—huh!?"

I stopped halfway and hurriedly looked toward my palms. It was there that I noticed the demonic energy pushing back the Akashic laws.

"What's going on?"

I immediately grew intrigued and channeled more demonic energy into my right palm.

Gradually, I watched as the demonic energy pushed the Akashic laws around more and more.

'What in the...'

The phenomenon fascinated me, and I understood why this was happening. Compared to the laws, the demonic energy was a lot denser.

There wasn't a lot of Akashic Laws in my body, as compared to demonic energy, and I had a sudden thought.

'What if I use demonic energy to help me move the laws better around my body?'

The concept piqued my interest, and I did not squander any time before putting it into action.

The results were immediate. The moment that I started channeling the demonic energy inside of my body, the Akashic laws started to move against it. Almost in repulsion, and suddenly, I felt myself getting more and more familiar with this new power.

I had the urge to release the power at that very moment, but when I thought about a particular possibility, I dismissed the idea.

I didn't want to blow this place up by accident.

"Huuu…"

I stopped channeling my demonic energy and took a deep breath.

'If only I had a little bit more…'

The laws that I had in my body… they were still a little too thin for me to control properly. While I indeed found a solution with the demonic energy, it was a little taxing.

"I think that'll do for today."

It was more important for me to get more familiar with it before using it again.

So to avoid any problems.

'Now…'

I slowly stood up from the ground. I was currently in a high end training ground—courtesy of the Green Paw Guild.

I figured this was the best place to train. Due to my unfamiliarity with this new ability, I determined that this was the best location to train in case something went wrong.

If something truly did happen, I wouldn't really feel guilty about it.

"Huaaam."

Covering my mouth, I stretched my back.

Ding—!

A sudden notification stopped me, and I turned to look at my watch. When I pressed the message, I noticed it contained a file.

[ACCO.txt]

'They are truly a lot more efficient than I gave them credit for.'

I tapped on the file, and several files appeared on my watch. I carefully read through them, not missing a single sentence.

"Huh."

Going through each and every one of the files didn't take me very long at all. About an hour, and by the time I was finished, I wasn't sure how to react.

There was a lot more information than I expected.

I felt complicated, but…

"I think I know how to get back now."

***

It was a delightful day in Ashton city. The sun hung in the sky, illuminating all that was beneath, and a gentle breeze accompanied the light.

In a certain park.

"You're quite a hard man to find."

My gaze fell on a certain man. On one of the park benches, he was scattering bread crumbs towards a small flock of pigeons.

Bobbing their heads up and down, they wrestled and tackled each other to get to the crumbs.

"Have you found the answer that you were looking for?"

"More or less."

I sat down on the same bench.

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Seeing how he was enjoying himself while feeding the pigeons, I decided to give it a try myself.

I scooped up a few of the crumbs and flung them in the direction of the birds. By the time it took me to blink, the crumbs were already gone.

"It's rather calming, eh?"

"You call this calming?"

I handed him the bag back. This wasn't for me.

"Not a fan?"

Matthew took the bag and then continued to feed the pigeons. It looked like he was having a good time.

"What are you going to do next?"

He asked while keeping his eyes on the pigeons.

I took a moment to muse over my thoughts before leaning back on the bench.

"Although I've found a clue, I don't know whether it's the right clue. I'd have to check back to my world to check the validity of it."

"Mhm."

Matthew threw a handful of crumbs to the pigeons. His expression was rather hard to read.

"Does that mean that you want to go back?"

"I can go back?"

I was surprised by the sudden revelation. Could I finally go back to my own world?

"You can go back."

Matthew repeated, reassuring me that I didn't hear incorrectly. I immediately found myself getting excited at the words.

'No, wait.'

But I was quick to calm myself down.

'While I do want to go back home, it's still too early…'

Thinking about a few things, I found myself calming down considerably. There were still a couple of things I needed to get done here.

"So? Do you want to go back?"

Hearing Matthew's voice, I turned to face him. I found myself pursing my lips.

"…How long can I stay in this world?"

"You want to stay?"

Matthew appeared quite surprised by my words, as he raised his eyebrows and stopped feeding the pigeons. 

Loosening his hand, the crumbs fell through the gap between his fingers.

"Why do you want to stay? I thought you wanted to go back... I want to remind you that the people here are not the same people you know. This world… It's not your world, nor is it real."

"Well…"

I smiled and stared at my hand.

"…Real or not real, it doesn't really matter to me. While the people of this world are so much weaker than those of my world, there's still a lot that I can learn from them."

The three Grandmasters.

They were indeed a lot weaker than I currently was. That being said, in the few short instances where I had the pleasure of learning from them, I understood that their mastery over the sword was far greater than mine.

There was so much that I could learn from them, and leaving such an opportunity behind did indeed feel like a pity.

"That is, of course, granted by the fact that the time I spend here is faster than my world. If time flows the same, then I guess I have no choice but to go back."

The war with the Monolith might've been over, but that was merely the start of the true war that was about to come.

I couldn't afford to waste time.

"You don't have to worry about that."

Matthew smiled.

"Kevin has already made the necessary preparations. If you want to stay, you can stay… Just that I don't know for how long you can stay for."

He raised his head to stare at the sky.

"Perhaps a couple of days? A week? …Perhaps even a month, I'm not sure, but when the time comes, I'm sure you'll know."

"That's… enough."

Honestly, it was a bit less than I wanted, but it was just about enough. I knew from the very beginning that I was merely a 'visitor' of this world and that I'd soon leave it.

"Well, that's great."

Matthew patted his hands and stood up.

"Once you're done, you can find me again. I'll be in this park."

"Got it."

Nodding my head, I watched him leave and heaved a long sigh.

"I guess I should make do with the time I have."

For I knew that the moment I returned to my world, it'd be the same moment I entered hell.