Chapter 416
The Golden of Box at the Highest Tier welcomed him like an old friend returning after a long journey, like a son coming home after wandering afar, like a king returning to his palace after winning a war in a foreign land.
Its existence, which had gone through the tides of evolution and decline, was now in perfect harmony with its new environment.
There was no longer any struggle to be accepted, no longer any resistance from the structure of reality, no longer any need to constantly transform in order to survive.
He could stand, could float, could exist in any mode of being he chose, without fearing that the reality around him would collapse because it could not contain his presence.
Yet this harmony and acceptance did not make Xavier stop.
Quite the opposite—after all the journeys he had taken, after all the layers of reality he had surpassed, after all the transformations he had undergone, he still chose to wander.
Not because there was a threat that had to be faced, not because there was an enemy that had to be defeated, not because there was a rescue mission that had to be completed.
He wandered because that was the essence of his existence, because that was what he had always done, because that was the only way to become Xavier XVII.
And within the Golden of Box at the Highest Tier, with all the grandeur of the Infinite rank of Infinite stretching endlessly without limit, he continued his search.
He traversed universe after universe, each with its own uniqueness and mystery, each with its own life and civilization, each with its own secrets waiting to be discovered.
There was no map to guide him, no clear destination, no end he expected.
There were only steps after steps, universe after universe, consciousness after consciousness, in a journey that might never end.
"Power is never given, nor is it inherited. Ilux was never its owner, only a guardian whom I happened to trust. And when the time came, that power returned—not because it was seized by force, but because from the very beginning, it had never truly left the place where it belonged."
In the vast expanse of the Golden of Box at the Highest Tier that stretched without limit, Xavier floated in near-absolute silence.
For an immeasurable length of time, he said nothing, moved with no particular purpose, simply allowing himself to drift within a deep contemplation.
His mind was empty—not because there was nothing to reflect upon, but because there was too much substance, too dense for anything except emptiness to contain it.
Around him, the universe continued to move in its eternal ritual, as though the presence of a Human Hero was not reason enough to alter the rhythm that had existed since before time itself was born.
Pulsar stars pulsed in frequencies never heard by mortal ears, emitting blinking lights in intervals so precise that they resembled the heartbeat of the cosmos.
Supermassive black holes rested in the distance, their unimaginable gravity pulling everything toward an eternal abyss, yet not strong enough to disturb Xavier's calm, which had already surpassed the limits of physical attraction.
Other celestial bodies—nebulae with colors unrecorded in the human spectrum, remnants of stellar explosions frozen within time, colossal structures that possessed no name in any language—were all decreed to exist along the path Xavier traveled, as though reality itself wished to present its finest spectacle to the wanderer who had crossed so many layers of existence.
And within this astonishing cosmic panorama, within the silence filled only by the pulse of pulsars and the whisper of black hole gravity, Xavier finally opened his mouth.
Not to greet, not to ask, not to call anyone, but to speak a truth that had long been hidden within the folds of reality.
A truth about Ilux Rediona, about the reincarnation that once served as a vessel for half of his power, about the fierce battle that occurred in an empty field beneath the pale moonlight.
His voice echoed through the void—heard by no one except perhaps the pulsar stars that continued to pulse without care, recorded by no one except perhaps the black holes that devoured everything, including light and sound.
But Xavier did not need a listener, nor did he require a witness.
He only needed to speak, to release from within himself a truth that perhaps only he had ever known.
That the five elemental powers—fire that grants spirit, water that grants serenity, earth that grants foundation, air that grants freedom, and the cosmic element that grants curiosity—as well as the Authority of Perception Alteration that allows the manipulation of accepted reality, all the powers once controlled and proudly wielded by Ilux Rediona, would never truly belong to Ilux.
Not temporarily, not for a long time, not for trial—forever.
There exists no scenario in any universe, no possibility in any layer of reality, no hope in any heart that could change this fundamental fact.
And the reason behind this impossibility was not because Ilux was unworthy, not because Ilux failed a test, not because Ilux committed a fatal mistake in managing the power entrusted to him.
The reason was far simpler and far more absolute than any moral judgment or performance evaluation.
Marena—the essence of the five elements, the deepest source of blazing fire, the true essence of flowing water, the gravitational core of solid earth, the primordial breath of free air, and the cosmic pulse of the mysterious fifth element, as well as the root of the Authority of Perception Alteration that allows one to see and shape reality in different ways—all of it belonged to Xavier.
Not shared ownership, not collective possession, not an eternal loan passed down from one generation to the next.
Xavier's.
Exclusive, absolute, indivisible. This ownership was attached to his essence, to his ontology, to his existence that had surpassed so many layers of reality.
There was no power in the universe capable of separating him from what was his, no spell or magic capable of transferring that ownership to another, no negotiation or compromise capable of changing the fact that those powers were an inseparable part of who he was.
What happened to Ilux Rediona—what that reincarnation experienced during the years of controlling fire, water, earth, air, and the cosmic element—what Ilux felt when manipulating the perceptions of others and sensing the world through deeper layers—all of it was merely a temporary trust.
A silent agreement between Xavier and reality, an arrangement that allowed a small portion of his power to manifest within Ilux, to be used, to be explored, to become a tool within Ilux's own journey of life.
But this trust had a clear boundary, an ontological fence that no one could cross.
Ilux was only permitted to access up to fifty percent of the true power residing within the essence of the elements and the Authority of Perception Alteration.
Half of the fire, half of the water, half of the earth, half of the air, half of the cosmic element, half of the ability to alter the perception of reality.
Enough to make Ilux feel powerful, enough to grant him an advantage in battle, enough to make him believe that the power was his.
Yet never enough to truly become his, never enough to claim full ownership, never enough to sever the thread that bound all those powers back to Xavier.
To be continued…