Blackout Ascension: Return of Primordial Heir-Chapter 44: Cosmic Locks

The dark void inside Luna’s mind was merciless, built for torturing him from inside. It was silent, except for the rumbling voice of the Black Mist Knight that constantly echoed from everywhere at once. The alien language ripped apart through Luna’s fragile sentience precisely like a rusted saw cutting the bone slowly.

"You are nothing," the dark voice whispered pugnaciously. "You are entirely weak. You will utterly fail them."

Thick, heavy chains made of solid black mist rigorously held Luna extensively stretched out in the empty, dark space. He couldn’t move his arms or couldn’t kick his legs. He was unequivocally paralyzed inside his own head.

Sharp, jagged psychic daggers manifested abruptly out of the dark void. They didn’t target his body. They aimed for his precious memories.

STAB!!!!!

Luna screamed loudly as a dark dagger pierced a glimmering, happy memory. It was the memory of Kairos laughing in the academy courtyard. The dark dagger instantly struck a highly toxic, rotting poison into the memory.

Suddenly, the happy image distorted turbulently. Kairos’ warm smile melted into a terrified scream. The silver sword Asteria shattered into tiny pieces. Kairos was brutally erased into a pile of grey ash, by what almost happened in the Crystal Colosseum.

"No!" Luna shouted direly in the void, struggling to pull against the unbreakable mist chains. "Stop it! Leave him alone!"

STAB!!

Another dark, jagged dagger struck his other favorite memory. It was a memory from just a few hours ago. It was the beautiful, sunny hill in Zephyros. It was Soltheia Sylphyros with vivid happiness, with tears of pure joy in her beautiful eyes as she accepted his sudden proposal.

The dark poison swamped the memory.

Soltheia’s beautiful smile rotted away. Her bright, ocean-blue eyes turned into black. Her warm skin turned into grey ash, crumbling through Luna’s helpless fingers. She screamed his name in pure agony as she was fiercely dragged down into the dark mud by unseen, rotting hands.

"Soltheia! No! Get away from her!" Luna roared at the top of his lungs.

The helpless tears crawled down his face. The emotional pain was a million times worse than any physical wound he had ever taken in his lifetime. The Black Mist Knight wasn’t just trying to kill his brain. It was intentionally trying to break his spirit. It wanted him to surrender, and then to die in absolute despair.

Outside, in the real world, Luna’s physical body was failing like fragile glass. He was lying flat on the freezing, hard rocks of Moonspire Hill. His entire body was convulsing. Thick, warm red blood streamed out heavily from his nose, his mouth, and both of his ears, puddling onto the dry dirt. His breathing was shallow and ragged. His trained, strong mana core was strenuously shutting down to protect itself from the alien invasion. He had less than sixty seconds before his brain completely stagnated forever.

Inside the dark void, Luna’s breathing was becoming shallow. Luna held his head tightly with his hands.

I am completely out of mana, Luna thought weakly, his mental strength fading into the dark. My gravity magic is completely useless here. My shadows cannot fight this dark poison. I am just a limited, ordinary mortal.

He closed his pale eyes, feeling the dark grip of death slowly wrapping tightly around his neck.

But suddenly, as his fading mind frantically searched for any possible way to survive, it slammed into an old, deeply buried memory in his mind.

It wasn’t a happy memory of his friends. It was a boring, quiet memory from his childhood.

He was twelve years old. He was hiding alone in the deepest, most restricted, dusty basement of the Zephyros Royal Archives. He had silently sneaked down there specifically to avoid his harsh, annoying sword combat instructor. He had lazily grabbed a random, forbidden ancient scroll from an iron shelf just to use it as a makeshift pillow for his afternoon nap.

But the ancient scroll had accidentally unrolled, sliding across the dusty floor.

The young, lazy Luna had casually read the ancient, faded text. He possessed a genius-level intellect, so he instantly memorized the words before he eventually fell asleep.

Now, clinging helplessly in the dark, bleeding void, those exact ancient words rigorously flashed, crawling into his dying mind like light filling his dark void. The ancient scroll was a strict warning, which was written by the ancient Monarchs who ruled the world from long before the human kingdoms ever existed.

It explicitly detailed the origin of all mortal magic.

"Every single mortal is born completely defective," the ancient text read clearly in Luna’s mind. "They are not permitted to freely touch the true, unlimited source of all creation."

Long before the rise of the kingdoms, when the fragile world was still young, the Primordial Laws governed the inherent reality. The Primordial Laws strictly dictated that normal, fragile human bodies were far too weak to handle true, unlimited power.

So, the Primordial Laws forced three hidden Magical Seals to shut entirely within every single mortal soul. These mana seals were known as the Cosmic Locks.

Luna remembered the detailed, old drawing on the dusty scroll. It clearly showed a small, fragile human soul wrapped tightly in three massive, unbreakable golden chains. These Cosmic Locks are placed to suppress the natural, invisible connection between a fragile mortal body and the Infinite Mana Vein.

The Infinite Mana Vein was a separate, relic dimension of limitless, pure energy. It was a roaring, endless cosmic ocean of pure magic that only the ancient Monarchs and dangerous, extraterrestrial beasts could freely draw power from without bursting into a pile of flesh.

For all ordinary mortals, from the weakest street beggar to the strongest royal king, these three Cosmic Seals remained silently dormant and shut throughout their entire lives. They provided enough filtered mana to cast normal spells, but they prevented the mortal from touching the roaring, infinite ocean.

But the ancient scroll carried an explicit warning in dark red letters.

"If a mortal foolishly attempts to tamper with the Cosmic Locks... ominous ruin will follow."

The ancient text warned that when a single seal breaks... a destructive Mana Catastrophe occurs. The very moment, when a Cosmic Seal shatters, the fragile mortal body becomes an open, straight unfiltered gateway to the Infinite Mana Vein. Powerful, raw, unlimited mana viciously ruptures into the mortal body, cascading unremittingly and savagely. The incoming raw power is so powerful, and impossibly immense that the tiny mortal vessel cannot contain it. Most arrogant mortals who managed to crack a seal instantly lost their sanity, their brains rigorously melting from the sheer cosmic overload. Some burned their entire remaining life force in a single, rumbling second. Many mortals simply burst into millions of shimmering mana particles, crimson piles of organs and blood brutally splattering onto the ground.

This powerful, dangerous phenomenon was known in ancient history as a Seal Rupture.

Throughout long, bloody history, countless arrogant prodigies, greedy kings, and desperate warriors had foolishly attempted to break their seals to proudly ascend far beyond their mortal limits. But, all of them utterly failed.

The few unlucky ones who didn’t instantly explode, mutated into terrifying Mana Aberrations. They became mindless, unstable monsters made of magic. They turned into walking, mindless disasters, destroying massive cities before their unstable bodies disintegrated into dust.

Because of this absolute horror, the ancient Monarchs strictly declared that the Cosmic Locks must never, ever be touched by human hands.

Luna’s bleeding mind instantly snatched away from the ancient memory. He was l back in the dark, torturous void. The Black Mist Knight was still chanting its alien language, trying to rip his sanity apart.

"Your fragile mind belongs to the shadows now," the rumbling voice echoed in the dark.

Luna was completely out of options. His normal, filtered mana was a waste, useless against this dark psychic attack. He was ten seconds away from his physical brain shutting down forever on the cold rocks of Moonspire Hill.

He remembered every person he liked in that second.

I cannot just die quietly here on this stupid, freezing mountain, Luna thought, his intense survival instinct overriding his usual, comfortable laziness. I promised her I would be the strongest general. I refuse to break my promise on the first day.

If his normal, limited mortal mana wasn’t enough to push the black mist out of his mind... then he needed unlimited mana. He needed to touch the Infinite Mana Vein.

It is suicidal method, his rational intelligent mind warned, screaming at him. You will instantly explode. You will turn into a mindless Mana Aberration. It is a guaranteed death sentence!

I am already dead if I don’t try, Luna strongly argued back against his own logic.

He stopped struggling against the dark mist chains binding his arms. He also stopped fighting the sharp, agonizing mental pain shrudding through his brain. Instead, he went silent, vehemently forcing his panicked mind into a state of unwavering, meticulous mind.

He ignored the screeching alien chanting. He ignored the bleeding in the real world. He slowly turned his focus inside his mind.

He plunged deep into the center of his own fragile, mortal soul. It was pitch dark down there, and it was empty. But as he looked closer, past the limits of his normal magic, he finally saw it.

Suspended in the profound stillness at the center of his soul, there was a highly complex structure. It was the first Cosmic Lock.

It looked like a golden chain wrapped around an iron gate to stop something dangerous. The golden chain flickered softly with blazing ancient authority. It was a physical restriction placed there by the rulers of the universe. It was keeping him safe and weak.

Luna’s consciousness slowly manifested in front of the golden chained iron gate. He looked small and fragile compared to the ancient structure.

He slowly raised his shivering, pale hand.

If I shatter this lock now, Luna thought coldly, his pale eyes focusing on the glimmering golden chain, the infinite mana will rush, overwhelming my brain and I will explode into a piece of shit.

He knew he couldn’t just proudly smash the seal like an arrogant fool. That was how all the previous historical prodigies had brutally died. Their minds are corrupted in greed for pure power. They had shattered the massive gate.

I don’t need all the infinite mana now, Luna analysed, raising his left eye brow. I just need a small, highly measured drop.

He stepped forward to the golden chain.

He simply reached out with his bare, shrieking fingers, gently placing his pale fingertips against the weakest, tiniest link in the massive golden chain. The golden metal was hot. It burned his soul fingers, but he refused to jerk his hand away in pain.

I must use unwavering, perfect precision, Luna commanded himself. Just a single hairline crack. Nothing more.

He closed his pale eyes. He gathered every single ounce of his remaining willpower, every single shred of his intense desire to protect Soltheia, focusing it directly into his fingertips. He gently pressed against the ancient, golden link.

The Black Mist Knight’s mumbling voice suddenly roared loudly inside his mind, sensing the forbidden danger unfolding inside its victim’s soul.

"STOP!!! YOU ARE VIOLATING THE PRIMORDIAL LAWS!" the dark Knight screamed in sheer, consummate panic.

But it was too late.

Luna strongly pressed his fingers down against the golden seal.

CRACK!!

A tiny hairline fracture silently appeared on the surface of the massive golden chain, and in that split second, the undeniable true horror of the infinite universe reacted, answering his call.