Chapter 24 : Chapter 24
Chapter 24 : Divinity
Sal sat with his legs crossed.
The fatigue accumulated throughout the day had long been forgotten, and all his attention was focused on Divinity.
Silently watching her explain the principles of her ability, Sal couldn't hide his surprise.
In fact, he had withdrawn the request as soon as he first brought it up.
Who would talk about the limits of their ability in such detail?
But Divinity rather excitedly continued her explanation, even confessing that she had wanted to do this together since she first learned of Sal’s ability.
The single condition she put forward was so sincere: she asked Sal to learn her ability and use it to prevent disasters.
The moment he heard those words, Sal couldn't say anything.
Divinity believed that Sal would be able to see much further into the future than she could, and thought if there was danger somewhere in the future she couldn't see, Sal might be able to stop it.
Sal had heard her mention her ability a few times, but he had no idea how frequently she sent portal rift warning reports to the academy.
Learning what work she, already a hero, was doing for society even at this moment, Sal felt humbled.
She explained her ability in a way that was much easier to understand than Sal had expected.
While most people used their abilities almost instinctively, like breathing, Divinity broke down her ability structurally one by one to teach him.
“Think of a big event as a reference point. Using that as a center, you examine the timeframes around it.”
“Like weaving a spiderweb?”
“Yeah, exactly. At first, the stronger the event remains in memory, the better. You can’t go far from the reference point, but movement in all directions is possible.”
She drew the structure of a web in the air with her finger, observing Sal’s reaction.
“Remember what I told you before? About the Savior selection ceremony happening in a few months.”
“I remember.”
“How about setting that as the central axis of your future? Based on that, you can examine the surrounding timeframes. However… the method to reach there requires a different approach.”
Sal nodded seriously. To use that ability properly, he had to understand exactly how it worked, and at the same time, he absolutely needed to know how not to lose control by getting lost in that power.
Sal felt a bit of confidence in the fact that both he and Divinity possessed eye-based skills, but he instinctively knew that handling visions of the future would be much trickier than his own ability.
Along with that, he had to recognize that what he was about to handle might be the highest version of Divinity’s ability.
Sal tried his best not to think about what he might see, and instead focused on Divinity’s explanation.
“This time, think of a tree instead of a spiderweb.”
Divinity’s voice was calm, and she raised her hand, wiggling her fingers downward as she spoke.
“The past is the roots stretching deep underground. It consists of facts and events that have already happened. The trunk that grew above those roots is the present, and from there branches stretch out in all directions.”
“Are those futures?”
“Yeah. Just keep going up and experience things that will happen in the future like the present. Is there a point where you’re curious about what will happen? Then plant your own tree there, and imagine that tree growing towards the sky.”
Divinity moved her hand back to the imaginary tree between them.
“If you push the energy that makes the tree grow outward, you can create branches. But that’s much harder. And you must know exactly what you want to see or know. As you follow that branch, you see new flows, new possibilities. However, the further away from the trunk, the weaker the branch gets, and eventually it will break off. Such futures are even more fragile, so you shouldn’t overdo it.”
She smiled again and returned to the other hand.
“So we go back to the spiderweb! Once you find an event you want to know more about on a certain branch, imagine leaves or small twigs growing around it.”
“Sounds difficult…?”
“Listen more. You set such events as reference points and create your own spiderweb. After gathering all information, you draw a single picture showing all possibilities around that event.”
“Did you use your ability in this way?”
“Yeah! As time passed, I became able to climb higher and spread wider too but… I’m curious in what way you will do it!”
There was clear excitement in Divinity’s voice, and the moment she clapped her hands, Sal was startled as if waking from hypnosis.
“Now, it’s your turn! Can you perhaps try replicating my skill as knots? Was calling it knots correct?”
Divinity suggested cautiously.
She seemed worried that Sal might use his ability excessively and become exhausted, ruining the chance to see more futures.
“If we are at the same level, I can teach you from the basics while you use the power. If we do it near the circular auditorium here, previewing tomorrow’s class should be easy, so shall we practice with that?”
Realizing the nuance of what she just said was strange, Divinity hurriedly corrected herself.
“Sorry, didn’t mean it would be easy! I meant it could be good practice to start with.”
Sal nodded and activated his eyes. He exhaled slowly and looked at Divinity’s ability.
As streams of light became increasingly visible, Sal confessed his worry with a slightly blank voice.
“What you are about to see from now on is... your ability. Remember, it’s not my ability.”
He deliberately chose a timing when Divinity’s reaction wouldn't be seen to say those words.
As the streams of light shone brighter, at first he thought she had no reaction.
However, a moment later, her voice was heard, and somehow it had an enjoyable tone.
“I wanted to see how amazing you could become. So don’t hold back out of consideration for me and go full power!”
A slight smile appeared on Sal’s vacant expression.
His eyes shone intensely.
It was a sharp and deep light, as if piercing through Divinity.
He suddenly stood up from his seat and began motions as if drawing something in the air by moving his fingers.
Sal swore inwardly.
Her skein had the most knots among all people Sal had scanned with his eyes so far.
Seeing the future with threads twisted to this extent was close to a miracle.
Sal tried to unravel the skeins replicated with his ability one by one, but it was much more complex than expected.
He reflexively raised his hands and started handling the threads, and surprisingly, as he moved his hands, the flow of threads became faster.
Although he hadn't needed to use his hands when using abilities before, it was very natural despite being the first time.
Sal began weaving his and Divinity’s skeins with his eyes and hands.
Distracted by untying the knots, he didn't even recognize the moment his hand touched Divinity's face.
The moment his hand touched Divinity's cheek, she sucked in a breath.
Divinity's eyes opened wide, and just as she opened her mouth to say something.
Sal's hand was already withdrawn and stopped in mid-air, and he let out a sigh of relief.
“I think this is enough?”
Sal caught his breath and activated Divinity’s ability.
The silver skein Sal carefully wove occupied most of the space within the Mythos Crafter ability.
It was floating inside his body, perfectly reinforced, and Sal checked the thread twice, thrice, preparing for any unforeseen situation.
He intended to use full power this time so he couldn't know exactly what would happen, but he was certain he had mastered the basics thanks to Divinity.
As his power flowed along the skein, the thread began to stir as if alive.
The skein started rotating around the halo of light at a speed Sal had never seen before, then soon vibrated.
The light that was silver turned white.
Divinity tried to say something, but before she could, Sal activated the ability.
Sal’s two eyes were dyed in pure white light, and wings of light soared from behind his back.
The wings spread cutting through the evening air, then quietly wrapped around his upper body as if embracing him.
Under his skin, streams of light spread throughout his body as if holy Essence was flowing along his veins.
Watching that appearance, Divinity slumped to the floor, tears flowing from her eyes.
At that moment, Sal stretched his right hand forward and pointed at Divinity.
Crack!
Space tore at Sal’s fingertips, and shapes began to reveal themselves one by one in the air.
They were the appearances of academy students.
They moved very quickly, showing a continuous future.
Sal shed tears as he watched numerous fates dotted with pain and destruction.
Most of the futures were thoroughly crumbled.
The further the future stretched, the more the end was only destruction.
Thousands of branches broke off without reaching the sky.
Without the reference point or context Divinity mentioned, he didn't even properly understand what he was seeing but… instinctively focused his gaze on the highest branches.
Sal instinctively knew that those branches contained possibilities close to survival and victory.
But the problem was, he couldn't know who the figures in that future were, nor when or where that was.
Somewhere deep in his chest fluctuated rapidly.
It was a warning that he didn't have much time left.
The forest surrounding him began to collapse.
Choosing instinct over reason, Sal started tracing down from the highest branch.
The root was in the academy, and in the highest branch, a scene he couldn't understand flashed by.
He approached the base of the branch.
It was a fork close to the beginning, close to the center of the tree.
This time it was a bit more familiar.
There were faces he vaguely remembered.
However, there was no time.
The collapse of the forest caught up to him, and every moment he tried to remember crumbled down.
As if struggling for the last time, he looked at the largest divergence point split from the trunk of the tree.
That place was the starting point of the branch, and a turning point that made a future of survival possible beyond numerous destructions.
At that moment, Sal’s eyes grew large. Another scene flashed before his eyes.