Kanoru, with confusion, looks at the grey chakra on his palm, outside in the rain, bodies like broken birds, silent and lifeless, fall from the sky. When he completed the practice of the body refining technique and his body cultivation reached the limit of Tier-1.
For several seconds, his heartbeat then resonated with every living being's heartbeat across 5 km of his radius. And among those were the Greyrose Circus's army.
With a single thought, their heart burst.
But his attention is not on how many he killed with his slight thought, but the grey chakra on his palm.
He from the grey chakra took a wisp of it and flicked it at the marble floor. The grey chakra, when touched, the marble floor made a hole, turning the marble into dust, and it did not end there.
One floor after another, it drills a hole through them. It drills through 11 floors of the tower. And then it starts drilling through the ground.
After that, he calls back the wisp as it still did not disappear and is burrowing through the ground. Before today, to use the grey energy, he first needed to change his chakra to the grey energy, but after completing his practice of the body refining technique.
His Chakra now has the same destructive essence as the grey chakra.
But now the question arises—how?
The body refining technique Kanoru created contains only three aspects: Vibration, Heat, and Cold. Yet these three alone have transformed his chakra into something bearing the same destructive essence as the grey energy. It doesn't make sense.
Grey energy was something he formed through the fusion of six aspects. So, if his chakra now mimics it, down to the effect, does that mean these three aspects alone are the true core of the grey energy? Or is it something else?
Kanoru stopped his thought as he sensed his wives and others coming toward here. But now he does not have the time to meet them before he finds the answer. He sent out the message with his spiritual energy to their mind: Do not disturb me now.
He senses they stop for a moment, and they fly down.
Kanoru then tries another method to see if the grey chakra and grey energy are similar. He knows they are similar, but about how much? That is the question. If it is more than 50%, then it means Vibration, Heat and Cold aspects are the core aspects responsible for the formation of the Grey energy.
To find the answers, he first gathers his chakra above his right palm and then, with his thoughts, mobilises the spiritual energy all around him to gather on his left palm. Then, he adds the six aspects to the gathered spiritual energy.
The spiritual energy turns into the grey energy. At that moment, a random thought comes to his mind—that he should stop calling it "grey energy" and give it a name. Like how Elewyn named her energy Sacred Thunder energy, Akila—Magma energy, Wen Qiang—Fairy energy, Ywet—Crystal energy, Aslan—Demon energy, and Hayate—Storm energy.
Then he pushes the thought to the back of his mind. Once he solves the problem before him, he can think of a name for his grey energy. He begins sensing the grey chakra and the grey energy.
In both the chakra and the energy, the aspects merge to form a new, more powerful aspect. Only the number of aspects is different. After sensing both thoroughly for a long time, leaving no detail unnoticed, he makes a discovery.
The grey energy is only 30% more powerful. It should have been twice as powerful, given it contains twice the number of aspects compared to the chakra, but it's not. The new aspect formed in both is highly similar. Other than him, Kanoru doesn't think anyone could tell the difference.
This means the aspects of Devouring, Infectious, and Explosive are not involved in the formation of the new aspect within the grey energy. Then how do Devouring, Infectious, and Explosive combine with Vibration, Heat, and Cold to form a new aspect in the grey energy?
How can they combine when they seemingly serve no purpose in forming the grey energy?
He opens his eyes, but his mind remains in turmoil, turning over the same question—and another. Why is there no conflict, even if the other three aspects did not contribute to the formation of the new aspect?
Every aspect's strength, at its core, is the same. When manifested in the world, they may appear different—some more powerful in attack, others in defence, speed, sealing, or even all four—but in essence, their strength is equal.
So why is there no conflict between the aspects if only Vibration, Heat, and Cold merge to form the new aspect within the grey energy?
Then, what role do the other three aspects play in the formation of grey energy? Why did the Devouring, Infectious and Explosive aspects not conflict with the new aspect that formed when the Vibration, Heat and Cold aspects combine into one?
Both the chakra and energy vanish from his palms. Again, he gathers spiritual energy on his right palm and adds the three aspects of Vibration, Heat, and Cold. He watches them combine into grey energy. Then he adds the Devouring, Infectious, and Explosive aspects into it.
The three aspects are crushed, used as nutrients by the new aspect within the grey energy to grow stronger. The answer to why the Devouring, Infectious, and Explosive did not conflict they were powerless.
They were no match against the new aspect formed in the grey energy. The Nine elemental energies are Tier-1 level energy, but the Grey energy is a Tier-2 level energy. Their difference in Tier is only one, but the difference in strength between them is 10.
So, the three aspects are crushed by the new aspect and used as nutrients for its growth.
The three aspects- Devouring, Infectious, and Explosive increase the power of grey energy, but the power increase is only 30%. While the three together formed 35 runes in the runic structure of the grey energy. But their power does not match with rune position they occupied.
Thinking this, he feels he can make the grey energy even stronger. Then, if the Vulture and Grey Elf or enemies of similar strength attack him together, he would be able to fight back.
The only choice is to change the runes of Devouring, Infectious and Explosive with the runes of Vibration, Heat and Cold from the rest of the six elements.
He chose the Vibration aspect to comprehend first.
The Vibration aspect exists in all nine elemental energies. And they are versatile and can be used in attack, defence and many other ways. Like when he controls the emotions of Mingzhu. He controls the Vibration aspect to produce sound that can be used to hypnotise others.
The sound can be produced in any range of frequencies, and for that very reason, Mingzhu and Asuna did not hear the sound that day. As it was out of their hearing range, and even if they did not hear, it does not mean the sound did not affect their body.
So, he chose to comprehend the Vibration aspect first and from the Thunder element.
He closes his eyes, urgently sensing the Thunder element first. The vibration aspect spreads from him, feeling the charged particles in the air. He is fortunate—the rain still falls, and lightning occasionally strikes from the clouds.
He increases the activity of the Thunder elemental particles around him.
Time passes. The rain continues for two days, and another five days follow. Then he opens his eyes—he has comprehended the basic particle of the Thunder element. It is also called the entry particle. When an element is comprehended first particle comprehended is the entry particle. They can be said to be the most important or the most useless particle.
When their rune forms in the spiritual space, then only other particles of that element can be comprehended and form their runes. But they are not of any use in the formation of a spell, even in the rune structure of multiple elements; they simply occupy a space.
Without providing any benefit, unlike the other runes that, even if they do not contain aspects, help the transformation of spiritual energy into an element, increase control over an element, and Manifestation runes. Manifestation runes are used in the formation of a phantasm or powerful spells.
After the Thunder element entry rune formed, he did not stop for a break. Focus on the Vibration elemental particles, but there are only four of them. The fifth rune must be in an alien energy. He checks memory and says to himself in joy," Found it, in the Sound Metal."
He did not need to comprehend the Sound Metal because he already had the runes present in all alien energies. He bought it back from the Highest Council. Each of these runes is curved one by one in Ywet's jade scales.
And now they are embedded one by one in each of the rooms from the second to the fifth floor of the tower for others to comprehend. The Vibration aspect rune of the Thunder element is embedded in room no. 6 of the third floor. But he did not comprehend that rune first.
As there are still four of them to comprehend around him in the thunder element particles and he decided to comprehend them. After making the decision, he wasted no time in entering deep meditation where his spiritual energy swims in the ocean of the Thunder element particles and focuses on four unique but similar to each other particles.
While he comprehends the Vibration aspects from one element to another.
At the royal palace of the former Ming Dynasty in the Five Divine Beast Continent, the entire palace is spewing out purple energy gases, and as they spread, they transform the spiritual energy of the world.
The Grey Elf walks through one of the many corridors inside the palace and knocks on the door of a room. After a few moments, the door opens and a humanoid Vulture emerges.
Volas finds Sorin, who knocked on his door. He wonders what this Nightling wants and asks, "What?"
Sorin replies, "A year has passed. Did you forget we were going to spar with the boy?"
Volas says, "Why are you interested in the boy? And don't lie that the First Leader wants to take the boy as her disciple. I inquired, but everyone told me—What nonsense am I talking about? That our great leader, who may advance to Tier-3, would take an indigenous boy from an inferior world as her disciple."
Sorin nonchalantly replies, "Don't you think the boy is a talent?"
Volas nods. "I know the boy's chance of breaking through to Tier-2 is greater than ours. But after the First Leader advances to Tier-3, then thousands from the Nightmare, with similar or even greater talent than the boy, will flock to become her disciple."
Sorin says, "But I heard the First Leader is interested in the boy and is thinking of taking him as her disciple. And didn't all of us receive the message not to attack the boy?"
Volas says, "I asked Samdal. The message was because of the boy's strength—it would be difficult to kill him without five of us, with similar strength, besieging him together. And the boy may self-destruct, taking some of us with him if cornered. All members with the same strength as us are those who can break through to Tier-2 at any moment. During other times, we may not be important, but now, with the force requirement of the Evil King, we are also important. So there's no need to waste time fighting the boy when we can't kill him without paying a price."
Sorin replies, "The natives of this world think you're a disciple of the Third Leader—Clown—because of your energy, right? Did the Third Leader ever want to take you as his disciple?"
Volas says, "No. Why are you asking this?"
Sorin says, "But both of your energies are derived from the Rule of Death."
Volas snorts, "Why are you talking like a native of this world, or some lower world, who knows nothing? Did you forget that the Law of Death is one of the Ten Great Laws? And multiple energies can be derived from the Ten Great Laws. The Third Leader's death energy is formed by combining energy derived from the Law Fragments of the Law of Curses, the Law of Killing, and the Law of Poison. But mine is the inherited energy of my race—Corpse Vulture. I combine corpse energy with fire energy to form my Tier-2 energy. Like me, there are many others among our members with energy derived from the Great Law of Death."
Sorin replies, "The Third Leader did not take you or anyone else as his disciple because, although many among us follow the Great Law of Death, not one of us was able to comprehend energy derived from the Law of Annihilation. If any one of us forms energy derived from the Law of Annihilation before the First Leader breaks through to Tier-3, there's a high chance she will take them as her disciple."
Volas nods upon hearing this. "No one can guarantee success when breaking through a major realm. So if anyone succeeds before the First Leader breaks through to Tier-3, there's a high chance she'll take them as her disciple. But what does all this have to do with the boy?"
Sorin says, "Didn't you feel the boy's energy is similar to the First Leader's? The boy's energy is of a lower tier, but it's derived from the Law of Annihilation."
Volas's eyes take on a thoughtful look as he remembers the fight with the boy. He realises Sorin is right—the boy's energy is derived from the Law of Annihilation.
Sorin continues, "At first, I also didn't believe the rumours. But last time, when I joined the fight and clashed with the boy, I felt the rumours might be credible."
Volas says, "Then why are we going to fight the boy? If he becomes the disciple of the First Leader, he'll be our future boss, and with her support, he'll surely break through to Tier-2."
Sorin says, "That's why I want to spar with the boy. After he becomes one of us, you two will be the only ones in the Greyrose Circus that the boy is acquainted with. With that, we can get closer to him and gain some resources to increase our chances of breaking through to Tier-2."
Volas says, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go. I want to see how much the boy has improved."
Volas takes the lead, and Sorin follows behind as they leave the corridor.
The moment they leave, the door of another room in the corridor opens, and a young boy steps out.
A young boy with grey hair and white skin, tattoos of roses on his arms. His hand emits the same grey energy fluctuation as Kanoru's grey energy, but it collapses in the next moment and changes back to purple energy.
The boy says, with obsession in his eyes, "Only I can become the disciple of Aunty."
And with a calm, freezing tone, "It can only be me." With that, he leaves the corridor.
Kanoru, today and for the past few days, has stopped practising. The time for the Vulture's challenge is drawing near, and he doesn't want to be in deep practice when it arrives.
In the last two challenges, the Vulture waited for him and didn't attack anyone under him. But Kanoru can't be sure that will always be the case. The last time he accepted the challenge and fought, another member of the Greyrose Circus joined the battle.
So this time, the Vulture may not come alone. To avoid any risk to those under his protection, Kanoru halts all deep practice. A month ago, he comprehended the entire Vibration aspect present in the world.
Before entering deep meditation again to grasp the Heat or Cold aspect, he decides to take a break and create new combat techniques and spells with the Vibration aspect as the core.
After comprehending Vibration in all nine elements, his control over it increased dramatically. Many internal changes followed, making his old techniques no longer suitable for displaying his full power.
He's also anticipating and eager for the Vulture and the Grey Elf to attack. Only then can he fight at full strength. His newly created techniques and spells can only be perfected in real combat, where their flaws are exposed. Only a hard fight can reveal their shortcomings.
So he waits, eagerly, for both of them. Not one, but both. Alone, neither is his match. Only together can they pressure him. Only under pressure can he go all out and see how to improve his combat techniques and spells.
Kanoru's eyes suddenly turn west, across the vast ocean, as if he can see the distant Athia continent. His spiritual energy allows him to sense a 10-kilometre range clearly, but ever since he comprehended the complete Vibration aspect, that range has expanded. Now, he can sense energy fluctuations and vibrations up to 100 kilometres with precision. Beyond that, his senses still reach, though vaguely.
Through these expanded senses, he picks up the subtle energy fluctuations of living beings. Two distinct signatures appear, moving away from Athia's coastline, coming directly toward him. The Vulture and the Grey Elf.
This time, he has no intention of sparring like before. He wants a true fight—at full strength.
But the area near the wall that protects the Sacred Continent, and the city behind it, is no place for such a battle. A clash of this scale could damage property and cause unnecessary casualties among the people.
Without hesitation, Kanoru lifts into the sky and flies out over the ocean. He chooses the sea as the battlefield. There, he can unleash everything.
As Kanoru flies across the ocean, his fighting spirit steadily rises, rippling around him like waves of heat. The closer he gets, the more intense it becomes—undeniable, impossible to ignore. The Vulture and the Grey Elf, sensing his approach and the sharp edge of his fighting intent, halt in the sky above the sea.
They meet in the clouds, sunlight and blood moonlight mingling, casting twin shadows over the water. Without a word, the battle begins.
Kanoru, swords in both hands. The Grey Elf, mirroring him, two blades drawn. The Vulture shifts, his arms transforming into sharp claws.
The Grey Elf's swordplay is on par with Kanoru's, and with the Vulture fighting beside him, they hold an initial edge. But Kanoru's body, having reached the limit of the Tier-1 realm, grants him overwhelming physical strength. As the fight continues, the balance tilts—Kanoru's advantage grows.
Realising this, the Vulture and the Grey Elf pull back. Energy erupts from them, encasing their bodies in dark shells like black eggs.
From one shell bursts a massive skeletal bird, white bones wrapped in black flame. From the other, a towering mantis, its upper body clad in black armour.
Kanoru watches as they release their Phantasms. Energy swirls around him in turn, not a Phantasm, but a transformation. His body twists and expands until he stands as tall as them. His clothes, made from rare treasures, remain intact, but his swords shrink in his enlarged hands. He stores them away.
He raises his fists.
The first strike is his—Collapsed Fist. A technique born from the Vibration aspect. The punch sends out a pulse of invisible vibration, striking both enemies. Unprepared, their Phantasms fail to shield them completely. The wave bypasses external defences, rattling their insides.
The damage is light—nothing they can't heal—but what matters is that they're hurt.
Their expressions shift. The idea of a sparring vanishes from their minds.
Their attacks come harder, faster. They've been ordered not to kill Kanoru—but he isn't bound by that same restraint.
Kanoru strikes back with waves of vibration, each burst tearing through the space around him in pulses of grey light. The vibration rips through the air and ocean alike, breaking down matter into raw elemental energy, dissolving the structure of everything it touches.
His powerful punches slam against their Phantasms. Their comprehension of their aspects matches his, allowing them to resist internal damage this time. In their last fight, they held the advantage—but now, they're forced to face Kanoru on equal ground.
Any misstep from either of them gives Kanoru the opening to land a heavy blow.
They retaliate. The Vulture's claws, cloaked in black flame, slash forward within his Phantasm. The Grey Elf, wielding the mantis arms of his transformed body, aims sharp, bladed strikes at Kanoru.
But Kanoru stands surrounded by a halo of grey light. The energy ripples with subtle waves, dulling the force of every incoming attack. Vibration spreads out from him, intercepting and dispersing their blows before they can fully land.
Their strikes lose sharpness, their edge fading before reaching his body, scattered and redirected by the constant hum of vibrating energy.
Inside the royal throne room of the former Ming Dynasty, the seat of power stands occupied not by an emperor, but by Rosie, the first leader of the Greyrose Circus. She sits leisurely on the throne, her posture relaxed, eyes fixed on the nine energy balls rotating in front of her. Each ball represents one of the nine elements of the world, their surfaces shimmering with energy. Vibration waves pulse outward from them, colliding at the centre to transform the surrounding spiritual energy into a faint light grey glow.
Her focus shifts. She senses a surge in energy fluctuation and waves her hand. An eyeball materialises before vanishing into the air. Moments later, a shimmering energy display appears in the room, revealing Kanoru's battle with her subordinates, Volas and Sorin.
She watches with interest as the fight intensifies. The clash moves over the ocean, a blur of movement and explosive strikes. Then, a mountain island appears in their path, only to be shattered moments later into pure energy particles by one of Kanoru's attacks.
Observing this, Rosie murmurs to herself, "He has completely understood the Vibration rule of this world. Now, he only needs to fully grasp the Heat and Cold rules… then, he'll be able to form the Annihilation rule."
She falls silent, golden energy blooming in her palm.
"If we hadn't arrived, the birth of a new rule would have strengthened the foundation of this world. The emergence of many new rules might have allowed the people here to evolve… perhaps even break through to Tier-2."
Her gaze hardens. "But now, it's all wishful thinking."
Upon the three continents, they've set arrays designed to extract the world's source energy. They won't extract all of it—doing so would destroy the world. Just forty per cent.
And with that, forty per cent, they will perform the sacrificial ceremony. A ritual that will allow the will of the Nightmare World to descend and make this world its vassal, expanding the Nightmare World's influence deeper into the Vast Void Space.
She murmurs, "I want to capture him right now."
She had originally intended to capture Kanoru during the sacrifice ceremony and take him back with her. But now, watching his performance, she no longer wants to wait. She wants to take him now.
Once she makes Kanoru surrender, she will use him as her breeder. The children born to her will carry the rare talent of the Annihilation Rule. With that, she will become the head of a new sub-race within her kind—the Charm Rose Race.
Her race, the Charm Rose, is not among the most powerful in the Nightmare World, but it is one of the few that still survives in a great world, where new races are born and extinct races vanish every day. Their survival over a history of more than a million years is due to one thing—their breeding talent.
Any child born to a female Charm Rose is always a Charm Rose. And if both parents comprehend the same element or rule, their child will inherit the potential to comprehend that rule as well, forming a new sub-race.
Over time, the race grew stronger, branching into many sub-races. Because of this trait, many powerful beings without talented descendants have chosen Charm Rose females to preserve their legacy.
That is how her race, despite being average in raw power, has lasted more than a million years. And now, with Kanoru, she sees a future of forming her own line.
But there is an agreement—she and the other two leaders cannot participate until the result is decided. An agreement, yes, but only on paper. It can be torn apart at any time.
Yet, even if they do, no one among them can kill Kanoru in a short time—except perhaps Zilian. But Zilian won't act. She's aware of Rosie's plan. So, she suppresses her desire to capture Kanoru for the time being.
Suddenly, the display shifts. The image of Kanoru's fight disappears, replaced by her nephew, Rosin, holding a red spear. The spear points toward Kanoru.
Her eyes widen the moment she sees the red spear. Without a second thought, her consciousness leaves her body and descends upon the eye she previously released.
Kanoru, still exchanging fierce blows with the Vulture and the Grey Elf, feels a sharp alarm ringing through his mind. A powerful sense of danger explodes in his heart.
Then, he sees it.
A young boy, unfamiliar, standing above the ocean, red spear in hand.
But Kanoru's eyes don't stay on the boy. His gaze locks on the spear. The energy emanating from it is terrifying. Far beyond anything in this battle.
The Vulture and the Grey Elf also see it. Recognition flashes across their faces. Then curses.
They turn and flee without hesitation.
Kanoru tries the same, but the moment he moves, he feels it.
He's locked. There's no escape.
The red spear, wrapped in crimson light, launches toward him.
With no time left, Kanoru screams and releases a grey energy dome, right in the path of the red spear.