Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2267: The phenomenon

Within a strange domain...

Althera sat there in silence, completely naked.

Her body was not a physical one, that much was obvious. Rather, it was something akin to the manifestation of a Law or a spiritual embodiment, a radiant form that naturally drew the eye and overflowed with an aura that words could scarcely describe, as though every inch of her existence had been refined into a pure conceptual state that no longer required flesh and blood to sustain itself.

Her face shone with light as well, yet her original features could still be seen clearly behind that glow, preserving the familiar beauty and gentleness that had always belonged to her despite the overwhelming radiance surrounding her.

Her eyes were open, and her lips were curved upward in a broad, satisfied smile as she observed everything around her with eyes filled with curiosity and tranquility, showing neither impatience nor concern as she quietly enjoyed the rare opportunity to witness such a magnificent scene.

She was in a place that appeared to be the very source of all the world’s colors.

An infinite number of threads descended from the sky without ever becoming tangled, and each one possessed its own distinct color and unique shade unlike any other, no matter how similar two colors might appear, making the entire domain seem like an endless archive containing every variation of color that had ever existed or could ever exist.

The color red alone contained hundreds of thousands of threads with hundreds of thousands of different shades, both remarkably close and vastly distant from one another at the same time, ranging from hues that resembled fresh blood to tones that seemed capable of igniting the soul merely by being observed.

Those breathtaking threads swayed gently as though caressed by an invisible breeze, creating a scene of extraordinary beauty and artistry, so magnificent that merely looking at it inspired a strange sense of grandeur and awe, while their endless movement produced a silent rhythm that somehow made the entire domain feel alive.

Every few minutes, the lower end of one of the threads would move and touch Althera’s luminous forehead, injecting something invisible into her before the thread itself became thicker and coarser. Afterward, it would pull itself away, making room for another to advance and take its turn, as though a vast queue had been organized long ago and every thread knew precisely when its moment would arrive.

At that moment, a thread moved forward and gently pierced her forehead.

Ploof.

Althera closed her eyes, yet maintained her satisfied smile, welcoming the familiar sensation without resistance and allowing the process to continue naturally.

After nearly a minute, the thread, now noticeably thicker than before, withdrew itself, and Althera opened her eyes and muttered, "That was the Minor Compass Law... hehe, I’ve completed nearly ten percent."

In truth, Althera had come to this place before, which was why she remembered the sequence and the nature of what occurred here, even if some details had become slightly blurred by the passage of time.

It had happened when she first broke through into the Law Dominator Realm.

Her primordial soul had been drawn into this strange region, and the threads had begun appearing one after another, each representing her personal connection to one of the Heavenly Laws. Then they had started touching her forehead in the exact same manner and nearly the exact same order, steadily guiding her through a transformation she had barely understood at the time.

Through those threads serving as intermediaries, the Laws preserved Althera within their memory. They granted her a form of protection and preference, acknowledging her existence and recognizing her right to walk this path, while subtly recording her presence among the countless beings who sought to advance beneath the heavens.

Back then, when the final thread finished, the breakthrough ended alongside it, and she became a Low-Level Monarch.

Now the same process was repeating itself, but this time a connection with the Laws already existed. As a result, the process was easier and far smoother, and today that connection was simply becoming stronger. It was this strengthening bond between Althera and the Heavenly Laws that would grant her the title of Mid-Level Law Dominator.

Her body would not change, and her energy center would not change, but her strikes would become stronger, her endurance greater, and her control over the Laws more precise and stable, allowing her to draw upon their power with significantly less waste and hesitation than before.

The situation was similar to two people performing the same task with the same tools under nearly identical circumstances, except one possessed five years of experience while the other possessed ten. Everything else would be equal, yet the more experienced person would prevail in the end because they knew how to draw from those tools and circumstances things the other could not, achieving results that appeared impossible despite using the exact same resources.

And this bond represented that experience. It represented the universe’s acknowledgment that she deserved to wield greater power, deserved greater assistance, and deserved access to doors wider than those previously opened to her, allowing her to walk farther down a path that most beings could only dream of approaching.

When her understanding rose again and she became a High-Level Monarch, she would return here once more, and those threads would similarly touch her forehead and gradually grow thicker until each one became as thick as the mooring ropes used to anchor enormous ships, carrying vastly greater amounts of power through their connections.

But at that point, once the breakthrough into a High-Level Law Dominator was completed, the ends of the ropes would be tied into knots and pulled upward, declaring the highest level of power possible and announcing that the Laws could no longer provide greater support than that.

That knot represented the pinnacle of power within the universe.

And only a very small number of individuals had ever seen that knot since the dawn of history, their names preserved in legends so ancient that most people no longer knew whether they were real.

Disturbance.

"Hmm?" Althera frowned in surprise as the domain around her suddenly trembled, and the thread extending toward her forehead paused for a moment before advancing once more after a clear hesitation, as though something had interrupted its certainty.

"Strange... I don’t remember ever reading about something like this."

Several hours later—

Disturbance.

The domain was struck forcefully once again, and this time the threads began moving violently and fearfully. They started withdrawing upward slightly, as though they wished to distance themselves from something they did not dare confront, their previously graceful motions becoming erratic and uncertain.

"No!!" Althera rose to her feet and used her willpower and her already-existing connection with those threads to reassure them and keep them in place, but this time it took several minutes before the next thread finally resumed its movement toward her, and even then it advanced with visible reluctance.

"What exactly is happening..?" Althera began looking around suspiciously. "Has an enemy attacked my body? No... the Heavenly Laws themselves are trembling. What could possibly affect the Heavenly Laws themselves?"

Disturbance. Disturbance.

Sil—

"What is...?" Terror filled Althera as she immediately stood and slowly began backing away, because for the first time since arriving in this domain, she sensed something that did not belong within her understanding of the Heavenly Laws at all.

The breathtaking, ever-moving domain suddenly became still, as though an invisible hand had pressed down upon the entire world and forced every trace of movement into submission. Such a thing had never been recorded in any account Althera had ever read or heard of, and throughout all the knowledge she had accumulated regarding breakthroughs, Heavenly Laws, and the Law Dominator Realm, nothing even remotely similar had ever been mentioned.

Through the bond connecting them, she could feel the fear of the Law threads, and she could feel that those threads wanted to withdraw as quickly as possible, abandoning the process entirely regardless of the consequences and escaping from whatever terrifying influence had entered this place.

They wanted to flee!!

But something was preventing them...

The breakthrough.

Whoosh

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh

Millions of threads surged toward Althera at the same time, abandoning all order and sequence as they rushed forward in a chaotic torrent that seemed capable of swallowing the entire domain.

"Ah!!"

Althera cried out at first from sheer shock at the sight. It looked as though heaven and earth themselves were collapsing upon her while she remained utterly powerless within that domain, unable to defend herself or even properly react. She tried using her connection to the Laws to calm them, but it was useless. The threads no longer responded to reassurance, logic, or familiarity, behaving instead like frightened creatures driven entirely by instinct.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

Then she screamed again, and this time it was a scream of genuine pain. The threads began piercing her small forehead simultaneously, and because of their overwhelming numbers, they started colliding and tangling over one another. Many threads belonging to opposing Laws began causing explosions, sparks, and tears within Althera’s forehead, while conflicting energies crashed together violently inside her spiritual existence, producing agony far beyond anything she had experienced before.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Althera raised her voice in terrible agony and attempted to withdraw her manifestation from the domain and return to her body, but to no avail. She was utterly helpless, capable of doing nothing except waiting and enduring the deadly torment that grew more savage with every passing moment, as though every new thread brought with it an entirely new source of suffering.

The threads were no longer touching her, becoming thicker, and then retreating.

The threads were cramming themselves into her head and disappearing.

They were fleeing from the domain by attempting to hide within Althera’s soul domain, desperately seeking refuge from something that frightened even the Laws themselves.

Or perhaps they were punishing Althera because she was the reason they had been brought here, tormenting her in this manner as retribution.

Althera did not know what was happening, nor did she have the time to think about it or analyze its cause, because every fragment of concentration she possessed was being consumed by the struggle to remain conscious.

There was no time to think about anything except survival!

"Ah... AAAAAAHHHH!!!" Althera knitted her brows tightly as she received tens of thousands of threads in their entirety every moment, feeling wave after wave of unbearable pressure flood through her spiritual existence, then clenched her teeth so hard they nearly shattered as she stubbornly resisted the temptation to surrender to unconsciousness.

She would not die so easily...

She had finally rejoiced because she had raised her understanding of the Fundamental Repetition Law and was about to become stronger, and she had rejoiced because she had taken another step toward avenging Aser’s killer and removing the shame weighing upon her heart, a burden she had carried for far too long.

This was not the place where she would die!

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Another scream escaped her, a scream of anger, refusal, and defiance far more than a scream of pain, as though she were challenging the torment itself to break her.

But it was not enough.

Her head began to crack.

Whoosh.

One of the largest threads in the entire domain pushed past all the others and did something strange. Instead of piercing Althera’s forehead, it wrapped itself around her head, circling it again and again with surprising gentleness despite the chaos surrounding it.

It was the thread of the Major Fundamental Repetition Law.

"Ah! Ahh! Ahh!!!"

The thread could not stop the others or reduce their frenzied rush, but it at least prevented Althera’s soul domain from cracking apart and exploding completely, acting like a final support beam holding together a structure that should already have collapsed under impossible pressure.

That torment continued for a full six seconds, though to Althera those six seconds felt infinitely longer, each fraction of a moment stretching into what seemed like an eternity of continuous agony.

Then silence returned.

The domain that had once been overflowing with life and beauty transformed into a completely blank white space, containing nothing except Althera’s manifestation and the blue thread tightly wrapped around her head. The countless colors, endless movement, and immeasurable variety had vanished completely, leaving behind only a pale emptiness that felt unnatural and unsettling.

But slowly, even that thread slithered like a serpent and entered Althera’s forehead alongside all the others, disappearing into her avatar and leaving her alone within the silent white void.