Trascender : The Fourth Gust

Chapter 44 : Husk Of Lost Truth

The oppressive silence of the path beyond Door One pressed in on Shinji, a tangible weight born of primordial darkness and the terrifying potential AFS represented. His mind reeled from the revelations – the Asagaverse, the Twelve Gods, the Three First Trascenders who dwarfed Saganbo like stars did fireflies. The concept of his own "infinite potential" felt less like a gift and more like a cosmic sentence, a vastness that mocked his current helplessness.

"In details?" Shinji echoed, his voice tight with a mixture of awe and dread. "What do you mean? Is there more to cover?" The sheer scale AFS had outlined felt universe-shattering enough. What deeper layer could possibly remain?

AFS chuckled, a dry, rasping sound devoid of true mirth. His obsidian eyes, mirrors reflecting Shinji's own terrified confusion, held centuries of weary knowledge. "Of course there is more, Shinji Kazuhiko. About Transcending, that is... The entire meaning of a Trascender! The entire Truth about what we are!"

Shinji flinched. The capitalizations resonated in the psychic space, imbued with a gravity that made his Trascender Core thrum uncomfortably. "Is it really that much?" he whispered, the bravado he'd mustered moments ago crumbling. He felt small, impossibly small, adrift in an ocean where even gods were insignificant plankton.

AFS leaned closer, his spectral form radiating cold certainty. "What's a Trascender, Shinji?"

The question hung in the void. Shinji closed his eyes, trying to grasp the essence. He recalled Yamato's lessons, Merus's warnings, the raw, terrifying power surging within him during his battles. He thought of the Voidheart Surge, the regeneration, the spiritual annihilation that had shattered Khoseph's black holes. "A Trascender... huh?" he murmured, opening his eyes to meet AFS's unnerving gaze. "A Trascender..." He trailed off, the words failing him. The definition he'd learned felt childish, inadequate against the backdrop of cosmic oceans and primordial entities.

"Stuck, aren't you?" AFS observed, a hint of grim satisfaction in his tone. He hadn't moved, yet his presence seemed to fill the entire dark path, pressing Shinji down. "The knowledge is there, buried deep. But you don't truly comprehend it yet. You haven't integrated it."

Shinji swallowed, the phantom taste of ash and ozone filling his mouth. "I guess I am... I don't really comprehend this... not the way you mean." The weight of his ignorance felt like another chain binding him.

AFS nodded slowly. "Trascender. Almost the same term as 'Transcendent.' Your powers stem from an infinite accumulation of... call it potential, call it primordial matter, call it the raw fabric of possibility made manifest. You studied Transcendence, yes?"

Shinji grasped the lifeline of familiar academic ground. "Yeah. I did. A Transcendent... it's an excellent, perfected being. Ultimate. Free from the usual constraints of the material world. Unbound by physical laws, mortality..." He recited it like a textbook passage, the words feeling hollow.

"As expected of the model student," AFS acknowledged, though the compliment was laced with something akin to pity. "I knew you knew the basic definition. However," his voice hardened, sharp as Kokuto's blade, "that is merely the foundation. The kindergarten primer."

Shinji's breath hitched. "So... what's the true definition?"

AFS straightened, his form seeming to draw the surrounding darkness into itself, becoming a silhouette etched against the void. His voice resonated with a chilling finality, each word striking Shinji like a physical blow. "A Trascender is an excellent Perfected Being, akin to the Transcendent. But it is infinitely more. A Trascender doesn't just transcend the material world. It transcends Transcendence itself. It transcends Perfection. It transcends the very concept of Supremacy."