Unlimited Power - The Arcane Path

As if an entire galaxy had disappeared to give space to the black hole, Leon, Ilyana, and Tyrselle couldn't see a single star in the distance. Even with their best skills active, they could only see small points hid in the emptiness of space that was representing the nearest stars.

The black hole was massive, and its gravitational field was insane. Fortunately, it looked like it wouldn't grow stronger than that. Weirdly enough, the closer Leon got, the more he felt his mana reacting to it. It was strange. Black holes couldn't be seen with the human eye, but even thought it was sucking mana, Leon couldn't see it with Mana Eyes either. It was there, but he could only 'see' thanks to his other senses.

"I wonder why I never to study this thing further," Ilyana frowned.

"Well, most people wouldn't study black holes by using magic alone, not the sane ones, at least," Leon said. "Also, I'm thankful for it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have met you so many times. Considering the difference in power of our past selves and this massive vortex that feels like an infinite pool of mana, I would say that anyone who might try to see what is on the other side would meet a tragic end. Even if the creator of the system isn't an enemy."

Ilyana nodded at that. Considering that that black hole was like a portal that would lead them to a place where the creator of the system was, it was clear that not everyone would be able to resist the power of a black hole, or the dimension in which exists that stupidly insane quantity of mana. It has been a while since Ilyana felt weak due to the over usage of mana, but without a doubt, every single past version of her would probably get crushed by trying to swim in that massive sea of magical energy.

"Spare me of your flirting," Tyrselle said, visibly annoyed. "We already wasted too much time, and I want to finish this as soon as possible."

It has been a long time since Leon heard someone using that word. Besides, that wasn't his intention, he was just being sincere and honest, but in the eyes of someone else, he concluded that Tyrselle was right. After spending so much time alone and wondering about dark things, Leon felt like he wanted to say some nice sentences more frequently. However, he shook those thoughts out of his head. If he achieves his goal, he would have all the time in the universe to do that. So, it was time to concentrate on the task ahead.

"Well, let's get going…" Leon sighed. "Before Tyrselle gets impatient and punches whoever is on the side as a greeting."

Leon teleported all of them closer to the black hole. Although he also wanted to end things once and for all, he was too nervous to just teleport to the center of the black hole. So, Leon did it slowly and several times in order to confirm the strength of the massive vortex. Although Leon probably could cross the cosmos from one extremity to the other while transporting thousands with him with all the mana he had now, he still couldn't bring himself to approach the black hole carelessly. However, such worries disappeared when after a while, the gravitational force of the black hole disappeared entirely. It was weird, Leon and the others were supposed be pulled so close to it, but they felt nothing.

"It looks like we aren't unwelcomed here," Ilyana said.

"Let's go already," Tyrselle said. "Now you don't have any more reason to chicken out."

Leon didn't like to hear that, but what Tyrselle said was true, so he couldn't protest. Leon was supposed to feel some fear even when the gravitational field disappeared since he couldn't see anything aside from mana in that massive vortex, but he didn't. He lost all the hesitation and soon felt as if he had a crossed an invisible barrier amidst that darkness. When he felt that, he also lost the feeling of connection that he had with everyone else thanks to the Mana Link. Leon's mana didn't decrease, but now he couldn't quite tell where they were.

As if that wasn't troublesome enough, Leon saw himself amidst a pitch-black darkness. He couldn't even see his body, much less see Ilyana and Tyrselle. He couldn't only feel their presences near him. Leon tried to illuminate that place with some sphere of light, but although he could see the sphere, the light wasn't illuminating anything aside from the sphere itself. It was as if its power could barely affect its surroundings.

"I don't like this," Ilyana said via Telepathy.

Leon could only nod at that, his presence was already weakened thanks to that fact that they were at the center of endless sea of mana, and now he confirmed that his spells wouldn't work nearly as well… it wasn't a good sign. Leon could already feel Tyrselle's bloodlust increasing, but she somehow calmed down after them finally found the location of a single presence amidst that darkness. A giant and powerful presence that wasn't theirs… it was the creator of the system.

"Let's approach while being careful," Leon said via Telepathy.

Just like their spells had weakened a lot thanks to the mana around them, Leon, Ilyana, and Tyrselle couldn't quite tell if they were moving at all, but after a while, they finally stopped when they confirmed that they had reached their destination.

"Greetings."