Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Author's note: There's a bit of an info dump in this chapter but it is unavoidable and much better to get out of the way now because it might be a very important part of the story going forward.

For what reason this is... Well, a certain granny who can manipulate space thanks to the Ordinance of space does come to mind.

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In the Void...

Ergo looked around at the eerie emptiness and then wondered, despite already sensing the similarity between this space and the path between teleportation circles,

"Where the hell am I!" He had just asked this when a sharp pain descended on him and he yelled,

"Ahhhhh"

As he screamed in pain, he raised his hand, which had already dropped his ax, to eye level and his eyes widened when he see it contorting and deforming in shape.

It was not just his hands that were getting deformed, his legs were also getting deformed, and he forced cosmic energy circulation and his own physical strength to bring it back into its normal shape.

However, this was only a temporary solution as the process once again began from the beginning.

To make things worse, his cosmic energy was getting expended at an insane rate...

...

Back on the outside,

The eyes of everyone at the scene widened as they all wondered what the hell just happened but it was Cirk who vocalized their thoughts,

"Where is he? Where the hell did you take him?" He asked.

Hal's eyes narrowed behind his mask as he was asking himself that very question.

From the spatial distortions, he knew Ergo must now be in the void, but where exactly in the void and what was his fate in the void was the real question,

Grimoire, however, chuckled,

'That Roxy fellow is really ingenious. Actually having the guts to actually weaponize a closed Void. Impressive indeed' it said.

While Hal had never really dabbled in spatial and void runes, he knew the gist of the situation even better now that Grimoire had used the term: Closed void.

Basically, the making and use of Teleportation circles were through two types of Runes, Spatial and Void.

Spatial Runes are employed in the making and operation of Spatial treasures and the logic behind them is simple enough.

The spatial Runes are manipulated to create a different dimension within the spatial treasure. Of course, the treasure in question, be it a bracelet, a ring or a pouch must have been made with space in it no matter how small and it is this space that becomes a base and foundation for the dimension it is to contain.

So in essence, even before the addition of spatial runes, the rings and bracelets are made to be hollow and then later fortified with strengthening runes to improve their durability.

Anyway, it is simple when written or spoken but the actual making of it is tedious and dangerous. More so for rings and bracelets where the space to be used as a foundation is tiny at best and minuscule at worst.

It does not matter how experienced a ringmaster is in the manipulation of spatial runes, they need to be incredibly careful with it. It is why they cannot implement it for attacks during Rune battles.

Then you have those who are involved in the making of Teleportation circles who not only need spatial Runes, they need Void Runes as well.

When two circles have been drawn in different locations, the spatial rune creates a dimension and Void Runes connects those dimensions. Not to mention, it also takes care of the movement through the void.

Now, a closed Void is a dimension that is only meant to be opened once. In other words, there is no designated way out and it lacks the stabilizing runes of a spatial treasure and will harm all things within it.

In fact, it is impossible to stabilize and is essentially a mistake.

A dangerous one.

One that has caused the brutal and wrenching loss of body parts.

Once it occurs in the process of spatial and void rune manipulation, it must be closed immediately or it would swallow all things in its immediate vicinity before imploding. It can not be outrun.

And yet, this closed void that is a mistake, a dangerous mistake, is what Roxy had found a way to manipulate and turn into a weapon.

He somehow found a way to make a deliberate mistake. A deliberate mistake that had the potential to swallow him whole.

Hal and Grimoire could only imagine how many errors he had made and now Hal could understand why there were so many spatial distortions in his workshop.

"That crazy bastard" Hal mumbled and he was absolutely right.

Roxy was crazy.

But craziness in his case might truly be another word for genius.

This was a type of Rune technology that runemasters could spend so much time and resource on and not be able to reciprocate.

The funny thing is that what some Runemasters don't know about spatial and Void Runes and why they are more difficult to use is because they were a blatant attempt to make use of an Abstract Ordinance.

What they lose body parts for is something someone like Isabella Dane who merely has insight into the Ordinance of Space as of now can do without batting an eye.

Hell, the way she moves by warping space is a clear example of a manipulation of space and void.

Anyway, Hal did not allow his one-second contemplation slow him as he turned and sneered at Cirk from behind his mask and answered the Dane youth's question,

"Hell if I know" he said and vanished only to appear in front of Cirk, swinging his scythe to skewer him.

There was no way Cirk could hope to avoid the strike but it would seem that in his excitement to kill Cirk, Hal had forgotten there was someone else here and this was not referring to the guards who he could never be worried about,

Fast as he was, he was nowhere as fast as Xerx who, being at the peak of the Cosmic Pagoda realm, vanished and stabbed him with his sword cosmic Armament while there was a faint outline of a complete Pagoda with four floors behind him,

"Too slow" he sneered as his sword went right through Hal before he had any hope to dodge.

However, before he could celebrate his successful attack, he noticed his sword did not feel like it was inside something real. It felt like it was in... a shadow... a mirage.

The shadow mirage looked at him and strolled closer in barely a blink of an eye,

"Well, aren't you chipper?" He said with a cheerful voice before melting away.

Xerx turned towards the real Hal who waved at him.

In truth, he was actually relieved as had he been a second later in the creation of his mirage, he could very well be at the business end of the angry man's sword.

Also, Grimoire had an alert,

'Super strong dudes incoming' it said.

'*sigh* Guess I'll let Cirk live for now' he thought as he felt it would be quite unwise for him to pursue when this was his time for a quick getaway.

"See ya" he told Xerx with a wave and turned invisible just as a Cosmic Aurora was sent to where he had been but a moment before.

*Bang!*

Normally, it would gave hit but Hal was already changing direction before he even vanished and so the attack missed.