BXBX NOVEL Chapter 150 - Konosuba Side Part 35.
Away from the realm of humans, there are several realms that supernatural beings live in. Involving a lot of religions and myths, those realms are scattered across the planet and hidden from human's eyes.
In these realms, there are multiple Heavens depending on different mythologies. The Christian Heaven is the base and home of angels of the three factions.
It resembles a place sitting above the clouds with a bright white ceiling high overhead. It is guarded by a large gate and has a white stone path and stone buildings, which appear to be floating.
Leo's expressionless face cracked a little when he saw this place, but then he shook his head. Why, why does heaven look like some big compound?
{You're going to heaven now?} Ddraig's voice was heard from the necklace.
First, those kids playing hero got used to wipe the floor, then it's heaven. Ddraig started to think this day is just accelerating in a bad way.
"Who knows, last time I checked, Heaven was another dimension with different laws of reality and all entities there could only exist in the form of concepts..." Replying with a flat voice, Leo ignored the heaven 'surprising' design.
It's such a weird scene for him, despite seeing it a couple of times with his Clairvoyance. Angels living in heaven without being God's perfect tools. Leo confirmed again that unlike the true conceptual and divine origin angels, these beings in DXD are more like living creatures, a different species named angels.
Shaking his head, the area around Leo started to flicker before he vanished from this place.
Then in an instant, he disappeared and appeared inside the 7th heaven. This place is the most secure vault inside of the entire Christian Heaven, after all, it contains a lot of importance. For example, the Sacred Gear System and the God's System, also, this is where the God of the bible resident when he was alive.
Looking left and right, Leo took off in a casual manner, heading towards a certain area. He didn't see the angels here a lot, maybe one or two and they were all high ranking, but they couldn't spot him at all.
What to say? It's the nature of demons and even djinn to be hidden and distort the information that reflects on them. Without a proper means and ability, finding Leo could be impossible because the information that needs to detect him is distorted by nature.
It didn't take him long to reach a closed gate with thousands of barriers and magical devices. The best description of it was a vault door equipped with rocket launchers.
Usually, even if he can mostly ignore it and burst it open, entering this place might require a little effort, yet, Leo already scanned the True Longinus and got a bunch of backdoors and loopholes via the nature of the will inside of it.
With a snap of his fingers, the space distorted around him before the scene switched into another room. Here inside one of the most important places in Heaven, the God's System core, Leo looked at this place for a moment.
It was completely empty and no one was here at the moment, the only thing here was the fancy decorations and the glowing bible floating in the middle. Probably all those archangels are busy managing heaven, especially after a certain 'angel' caused a big show.
Well, it's kinda good or Leo will have to deal with them. Peaceful options are mostly for people that have spare time to waste and Leo doesn't have that. So, he prefers the path of violence to save explaining and agreement time.
"...." Walking towards the floating bible, which is the core, Leo casually dropped several boundary fields and barriers to secure the place.
Looking at the core of God's System and the whole heaven, Leo's brain was running a lot of calculations and analysis based on the available data.
"The signal was received here... " Removing his eyes from the core, Leo looked at the sides of the fancy room.
"Very quickly, the values and data of the messages were treated by the system before it was distributed again..." Saying that, Leo began walking in certain directions in the room.
"Earth, Uriel was here... in the rear and back"
"Wind, Raphael was in the left"
"Water, Gabriel's position was to the right"
"Fire, Michael... at the front"
"The positions of the angels were switched.... the element alignment was also changed and weakened" Leo continued walking while whispering certain words before reaching behind the System core.
"Residue of Kabbalah magic... on a very large scale" With every new word, the weird feeling around Leo increased.
Surprisingly enough, the tree of life, Sephiroth, is present here in a physical form inside the 3rd Heaven. But needless to say, it isn't enough to spread the residues to a big scale.
"Hmmm, then where did the signals go? Such a vast spread to something needs to at least be..." Thinking for a moment, Leo put his hand on the core.
Slowly, several functions of this system were presented in Leo's head. He scanned them all before he stopped at the belief function.
Faith is an important factor and aspect of all divine power systems. Also, Christianity is a religion with a huge influence and strength, which should receive a lot of belief according to this system. This is true, but for some reason, Leo frowned.
"Only Believe..." Removing his hand, Leo closed his eyes and let his senses spread past this place.
For every divine entity, there's an ability to hear things about their names. Prayers, offerings, such things can easily be perceived by the desired divine entity, even Leo can feel and hear the prayers, but usually, he turns it off.
But when he activated it in this place, he was blasted by hundreds, no, millions! Millions of prayers echoed in his head! It was slightly annoying at first, but Leo didn't care that much. His eyes were fixed on the system core.
"Thinking about it, this world power system is incapable of using the illusions and dreams of humanity… what a coincidence" Sighing, Leo took a few steps away from the system core.
"Magic is a 'backdoor', an alternative answer to those whose wishes are not fulfilled and for those whose prayers to God went unanswered. Now, with this world condition, the only way left is… Thelema" Leo tapped his forehead in annoyance before he said " Well, played, well fucking played"
Without caring about cursing in Heaven or something, Leo said " Toaru, you sneaky bastard. Such a simple principle, yet very effective. I admit it, impressive, very impressive"
Leo felt the headache of his brain and soul increase, but what can he do? It's such a bullshit situation.
Magic is an art that has a lot of laws and regulations. Preparation is a very important key in magic, if the preparation is well done, even a toddler can activate magic that can sink a continent.
The arrangements can span a wide range of aspects. Location, time, condition, mentality, available resources, etc… This is how Toaru magic works. But this is DXD's world, so how could the Toaru magic system function properly here?
Well, now it's DXD world power system, but at a certain time… it wasn't exactly, well, at least on a certain 'thing'.
Thelema is a whole magic system based on Aiwass' secrets and Aleister's work. This system that uses Aiwass' secrets as a cornerstone is probably the only way for entities that go beyond the limits of Christianity to 'translate' and 'exist' in the material world.
It's also the origin of a lot of things, like artificial angels and even Espers, after all, they could also be called 'failed Thelemic magicians'.
Yes, Espers originated from Thelema. The whole project of Espers, personal reality, is a result of adapting and copying a certain experiment that went around this magic system.
Also, an important concept in Thelema is that of Aeons, divisions of human history named after Egyptian deities, and each characterized by certain forms of belief and expression.
There are three primary Aeons: The first is the Aeon of Isis, which is the period of primitive religions before the establishment of Christianity. The second is the Aeon of Osiris, which is a period in the classical and medieval centuries, believed to be one of stagnation, where humanity worshiped a single god during the spread of Christianity. The third and the newest is the Aeon of Horus, when it is believed humanity will enter a time of self-realization and self-actualization, achieving a true awakening after the downfall of Christianity.
This is the religion and the magic system built by Aleister Crowley via Aiwass' secrets.
Usually, the world is always in the Aeon of Osiris, but sometimes, especially because of the concept of the multiverse, such a fact cannot stand anymore because each world is a new reality and a surprise.
For example, Whitebeard and Leone. Their worlds are in the Aeon of Isis according to Thelema teachings! A time of primitive religions before the existence of Christianity.
So, if we take it like this, the possibility of finding a world beyond the Aeon of Osiris isn't impossible, in fact… it's right in front of everyone. This world. The world named Highschool DXD is a world almost stepping into the Aeon of Horus according to Thelema.
This is another reason why Leo was getting those hallucinations directly after acquiring his personal reality. In this world that is close to Aeon of Horus, the Thelemic aspects of Espers were already triggered and made Leo face 'himself' because Thelema is a system based on 'Will'.
But it still lacks one critical push. That push is almost impossible to achieve because this world's laws also deny a very critical aspect, which is humanity's illusions and dreams.
No matter how ridiculous it sounds, humans' illusions and dreams are a very terrifying force and power, it's something that could create miracles from just delusions. For example, the phases and World Rejecter in Toaru, and even Alaya, the collective unconscious will of mankind to avoid extinction in Type-Moon.
DXD world beings are more of living creatures rather than just conceptual existences. They can use humanity's beliefs in their religions, but that is it.
They couldn't tap into the hidden form of power because the laws of the world don't allow such an act! This will even limit a very important concept in Thelema, which is the true will.
Because of the limits of the laws, jumping into the Aeon of Horus is just a dream without a platform to use. But what if there was a 'thing' that these laws don't necessarily apply to? A 'thing' that operates on a 'Field' of his own laws beyond the regular ones. Even so, a proper platform is needed, so we can only dream.
A dream, if the material world laws didn't allow such an act, then attempting to 'virtually' perform it isn't impossible! This is what happened in Asgard and what Toaru took advantage of. It's like an avalanche effect, just throw one and let everything follow.
The Asgard accident has included a lot of concepts and aspects, beyond this reality limits, yet it balanced perfectly. First, losing control in Asgard near Yggdrasill.
Yggdrasill is one of the main figures in the Norse mythology, a primitive Aeon of Isis religion in Thelema view. Yet, unlike most of those things, Yggdrasill is the purest entity there. It has so much relation with the fundamental parts of the world than a lot of things.
Also, because of this accident, Leo's AIM Field was going like crazy. It might didn't affect the world outside Asgard at first, but what is Yggdrasill? The World Tree!
Personal reality and the AIM field that carries it are in a sense a different reality with their own laws. The faint influence has already been carried by the tree to the outside realm, changing it slightly in a 'virtual' aspect into an atmosphere that resembles Toaru's world!
The whole situation with the system caused the angels to be helpless and pray to god. But unlike the usual, the angels' positions at the praying were different than the description in the religion. After all, Michael is the leader of heaven now and other archangels also had changed. This refers directly to the Aeon of Osiris!
Something like position and place to stand isn't important in DXD, but in Toaru, such acts can only be described as a distortion of world laws themselves.
This can cause elements to switch between archangels and because of this big distortion, the whole four elements were thrown into a blender.
The elements' distortion was also present in Asgard when the seasons were going in chaos around the angel. In Eastern concepts, four seasons are related directly to the four elements.
All in all, this is an act that will allow a lot of violations in the regular laws, which in a sense is the beginning of the downfall of the Aeon of Osiris.
Now, everything is set for the last push.
"When people are in despair, they'll seek the light of hope desperately… such is magic" Leo whispered faintly as he looked at the core of the system then to the Book of Law in his hands.
Thoughts of humans can be easily influenced, not to mention some lost prayers and hopes.
Only then Toaru World's Will possessed the True Longinus and sent the signal to the system. That signal actually had one message, which was the death of god in DXD, and was aimed at a very illusionary and dreamy thing… the prayers and hopes of humanity.
The prayers that hanged on the system for so long, yet stayed unanswered because of various reasons, were directly influenced by the truth of the death of god.
Such information easily infected them and pushed such 'virtual' and 'ethereal' concepts to despair. In such a condition, they'll seek the closest light, which was the traces of Leo's AIM field under the guidance of Toaru's signal. Exactly, the Thelemic magic system.
Billions and billions of prayers, without the limitations of the thought of God still there, took a step forward and went beyond the current Aeon. Not to mention how long they existed, this thing is like billions of people praying and chanting a spell for thousands of years.
The power they contained, even if it didn't impact the material world in a sense, carried a strong force that can create miracles. Using such power, the tiny concepts and information of the Book of the Law inside Esper's project were activated completely.
Grimoires and the knowledge they carry are immortals. They couldn't be destroyed by casual means at all. As long as the environment and conditions are suitable, the grimoire, even if it was atoms, would recover.
Yet, this is just a tiny use for this power. Without the previous goal and idol, the prayers and chants went to the closest light, one single person, forced to receive all those thoughts from the Aeon of Horus.
Of course, such a thing, even if 'virtual', would overwhelm the soul until it crumbles to pieces, but what if the container could absorb them all, what if the soul was an 'emptiness' and 'unreal' enough to make full use of them.
The result will be an evolution that the world has never seen, a metamorphosis on a huge scale. From dreams and unreal, a formless pure angel was born, an angel that can't exist and face this material world without a 'shell'.
"..." Lowering his head, Leo exhaled a deep sigh. His emotionless expression had disappeared and replaced with a rare one of confusion and uncertainty.
That whole farce is Asgard was in fact a worldwide ceremony that spanned the three Aeons of Thelema.
Norse being the Aeon of Isis, the God's System and Archangels being the Aeon of Osiris, and in addition to the prayers, facing himself and pushing beyond all that was limiting him, Leo broke through that cage of a dream, this is the Aeon of Horus.
"Good grief, isn't this a lot in less than an hour?" Laughing weakly, Leo didn't know if he's laughing at himself or the situation, probably both.
To be honest, he felt it was very smart that he never asked Toaru about his debt. Even now and indirectly, he's still learning from 'him'.
"Just start the process and let the world roll and finish the job…" Leo shook his head at this simple yet complex concept.
"Hmmm, I'm getting a weird impulse of laughing loudly right now, but I want to see if this actually works." Pushing his glasses and ignoring Ddraig whose brain almost stopped functioning, Leo glanced at the system one last time.
No one could tell his thoughts and ideas before light flickered and Leo disappeared from the 7th heaven like he was never there.
In a mountain range in Africa, Leo landed on a place where he felt a nice Leyline(dragon vein) and started his preparation.
Several runes here and there, making a barrier so no one bothers him, preparing the tools for the ritual like turning Venom into a staff.
Venom has already been influenced by Norse mythology long ago and became a Spiritual Item. Giving him this form instead of a large sword is best to display his abilities. Even the staff is made to match the Thelema system.
The body takes a form like it is made of wood, which is filled with runes. The upper part is like a tree branch without leaves. There are only nine branches with red color at their tips. At the top, there was a disc with a symbol of a falcon under it.
This symbolizes Yggdrasil and the 9 realms, which can mean Aeon of Isis to Aeon of Osiris because the realms are filled with people when Christianity is already established. The disc and falcon are Horus and Ra symbols, which have a relation with the last Aeon.
Making use of his time, Leo took the Book of Law and opened the part of Aleister's work again. In his eyes, this book is split into two parts.
The first is the core and essence, which is Aiwass' knowledge that was assimilated, transformed, and translated by Leo's own 'law'. The second part is Aleister's work and philosophy, which hold the meaning of Aeons and such.
Tapping the ground with the staff, Leo's AIM field already crawled on his Alter Telesma and filled the place.
He didn't need much-complicated preparation and spells because all of this is just virtual, a dream in a sense.
Tapping again, three magical circles appeared in the air before him. They were only meant for guidance before Leo said " Abrahadabra"
Abrahadabra is a keyword in the Thelema system and has several mystical interpretations, but it's mostly used as a push by Leo now, after all, this world is already near Aeon of Horus according to the Toaru power system.
Then, nothing happened. No shocking scene nor a change in the magic circles, but the invisible fundamental change made Leo blinked his eyes before he struggled to contain his laughter.
What to say? The more you live, the more you discover new things. Even magic gods would pay all that they have in exchange for more unknown. I guess this is what makes life worth living.
But to be honest, Leo was thinking if Aleister saw this, would he somehow die on the inside even more? Imagining such a scene made him burst into laughter instantly.