Where is this place?

Iono heaved; his breathing ragged.

He was trying to catch his breath, whilst staring at the scarlet characters that appeared in the book.

The characters appeared only for a few seconds, before suddenly trembling and rearranging themselves.

The letters changed in form and length as well as density.

Now, the book wrote in Goblin tongue,

"Sacrifice a drop of blood!".

These were words written on a white sheet but they carried within them unstoppable momentum.

This wasn't a request.

This was a demand.

Iono calmed himself down and let the energy in the atmosphere slowly enter his body.

He was dried out of all the energy he had. He thought it would be best if he recovered his energy reserves before making any moves with the book.

His breathing slowly turned from quick and harsh to slow and tranquil.

"A drop of blood...", he thought.

"Imprint? Possible... Maybe it wants to check my karmic ties, or fluctuations. Maybe only pure souls can read this or only tainted ones. Myriad of possibilities, none strictly true...", he thought deeply before placing a drop of blood on the book.

He wasn't really the cautious type.

He loved the heat of battle and he was a more of an act-before-think kind of guy, so this was rather unexpected from him.

Then again, this was the legacy of a being that left even Gods in awe.

A being who named himself a heretic.

A being whose legacy was guarded by a creature, with strength even greater than the one Iono possessed before his regression.

This full of mysteries book, whose constitution was as unbelievable as its properties, was not something one can simply play with.

Iono touched the white page.

It felt smooth but at the same time, ethereal, as if his finger would go right through it.

As if it existed in another plane but was accessible from this one.

As if it didn't exist at all.

"This feeling...

This feeling of rejection I get from this book...

Maybe this is the answer I am looking for...", he thought.

He opened his Ego space; from inside, he pulled out a dagger.

He spun the dagger in his hand, and placed his index finger over the book laying in his lap.

Using the dagger, he created a small incision in his finger, through which a single drop of blood escaped.

The drop fell on the book.

The scene was unbelievable.

Like a rain droplet in a tranquil lake, the drop disappeared as it fell on the book.

The letters also faded away.

The book trembled and Iono suddenly felt his consciousness pulling away from him.

He felt as if he hadn't slept for days and his eyelids could not stay open.

He grabbed his head with both hands, trying to wake himself up, but it was futile.

Everything went black.

He slumped with his back on the floor.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself, in endless darkness.

He was standing on air, and below him an dark abyss that perpetuated to eternity.

He couldn't feel anything.

He couldn't see anything.

He couldn't hear, couldn't smell.

Nothing...

When-

Inside the darkness something appeared.

He could see something!

He run...

Run as fast as he could to escape the pitch black nothingness that strangled his conscious mind.

He run so as to escape the voices whispering in his ear.

Finally, he found himself in front of two monoliths, standing next to one-another.

Gigantic boulders that were 10 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide each, greyish-blue in colour. They gave out just enough light for only them, to be visible.

The parts of the monoliths in front of him were empty.

He walked around the monoliths, to inspect the other parts.

From the side, they seemed empty, but when he finally stood in front of them, characters appeared.

Pressure.

*DOOM*

Iono's upper body immediately sunk.

His legs were barely resisting the pressure, as his eyes popped open and he clenched his jaw, trying to withstand the weight.

His knees gave out...

Such heavy pressure lay on him.

Not just his body, but soul, too.

He could feel his back muscles tearing apart, and the blood vessels in his brain, popping.

He could feel his inner self withstand pressure unlike anything he has felt before.

This was simply a result of the presence of the monoliths.

This was the same as standing in front of a God.

A Mighty God.

Someone who was an entirely different class of existence.

Someone who even if you did not want to, you had no choice but to kneel in front of.

This wasn't like Randell's avatar that he used to descend to the mortal world.

No.

This was the body of a God.

Iono had felt this before.

None so powerful though.

And this was only the presence of His creation.

The will, He had left inside the monoliths.

What if Iono had met the actual God who made this?

Would he be squashed as a bug, simply by standing anywhere near the God?

The pressure had already slumped Iono, head first, to the floor, unable to move.

Suddenly, a voice echoed in the infinite darkness.

A voice so deep and bass that seemed to resonate to eternity.

A voice so demanding of worship that it left no choice but to answer its calling.

It spoke in Goblin Tongue.

"You, who has found this space.

I bestow upon you these Cultivation Methods.

Their names:

Sacrilegious God Art.

Cosmic Daemon Art."

As the voice uttered the names, golden characters inscribed themselves on each monolith.

"I am a being of power, who lost his way in the infinite transverse of time.

Upon these monoliths lay, the byproducts of my life.

A way to kill Gods.

A way to kill space, and time.

A way to kill Karma.

Using these methods, fight against what is said to be just.

Fight against what is said to be destiny.

Fight against the universe.

Reverse the heavens and the flow of time.

Become authority!

For there is no justice for the wicked..."

With that last sentence the voice dissipated and with it, the pressure that was weighing on Iono this whole time.

Iono found himself gasping to air, trying to get himself together.

*Cough*

*Cough*

"Ohhhhh, for fck's sake I though I was dead!", he exclaimed.

"Who the hell was that!??

A being who lost his way in the transverse of time? What does that even mean? And why the hell would he want to kill Karma? I vowed to go against it, but I had no idea killing it was possible? Does Karma have a body or a form? Something tangible? I-... Am utterly and completely lost...

*Sigh*

I guess I have no answers till I get the answers, right?..." he thought, questioning his existence.

"Anyway, are those two, really, Cultivation Methods? Holy sh*t. Never thought I would find one in Trissa. Here everyone uses the same one, making any other cultivation method an absolute treasure.

Much less, this is a method crafted by a God!

I...

can't...

WAIT!", he thought, as excitement was bursting out of his eyes.

After pulling himself together and regulating his breathing, he lifted himself off the ground and approached the monoliths.

He decided to approach the one on the right first.

As he did, he glanced at the left one.

"It's weird that both of the Arts appeared. That means they are connected, but I don't know how... Let's inspect this one first."

Iono stood in front of the monolith.

He lifted his head upwards, and glanced at the top.

On it, in golden letters the words:

Sacrilegious God Art.

He moved his head downwards and begun reading the art.

"This is an art created for the cultivation of energy inside the mortal and immortal body. Energy is said to be a part of nature, a face of the universe. This method argues that energy is not only a "part of nature", but nature itself. Energy is the universe and the universe is energy. There is no distinction between Man, Earth and Heaven, for they all come from a singular form. There are four main types: Energy, Primal Energy, Origin Energy and Spirit Energy. Each one is further reduced to other components, but you'll soon find out that they are actually one, and the same. The first thing you need to do-...".

Iono read the script all the way to the bottom of the monolith.

After reading through the method, he found some things understandable, others completely unknown and others utterly insane.

His honest reaction was a simple:

"Wow..."

"This is insane. Truthfully and Undeniably insane. I still have no clue as to what the method is. This is... Way too advanced for me. I guess, I can only start at the beginning. The only thing I do know is, that if I manage to understand this, my whole outlook on the world will dramatically change. This... This is my ticket to punching Heaven in the face...", a grin appeared on his face as he thought of the image.