Kaden released his mana fully and prepared for a fight. He was pretty sure that there was no chance of victory against whoever owned the place, but it wasn't his way to go out without a fight.

*snap*

It was snap of fingers and suddenly Kaden lost control of all of his mana. It was as if it was all in control of someone else and it all escaped him.

"Hmmm... now that I get a better look... what exactly are you?" The voice continued. Kaden still had not even seen its source. "Your mana structure is that of a Cari, there is a core, but there exists channels within you just like humans have. Fascinating."

Around at this time a human appeared from nothingness, or perhaps more correctly, image of someone. It was a projection of a person, but clearly was able to control enough mana to disable Kaden instantly. Its appearance was a thin man wearing a very expensive looking robe. The sort of expensive that only those at or above the level of True Magus could even consider affording.

"Did Cari somehow change the way they cultivate while I haven't been looking", the man said as he floated around Kaden. "Your physical structure in unusual too. Could it be someone tried to mix humans and phoenixes. Haha, I'm sure the old fucks in Frika love that idea."

Kaden was getting annoyed, but there was nothing he could do other than talk.

"I had no idea there was someone here", Kaden started, hoping to defuse the situation. He would set his motives so there was higher chance of survival. He took out the black pentagon. "Over time I was able to collect all the fragments of this key assuming it was a test. I did not mean to intrude."

"Obviously it was a test", the man confirmed. "Thats the only way to get here unless you are an angel or a god."

What?

"Haha, that 'key', as you called it, is made out of angel bone", the man said casually pointing at the black pentagon. "A lot of it is also mixed into the outer layer of this building so that it affirms it into existence so hard that No Man's Land cannot affect it no matter how long time passes."

Angel bone? Kaden looked at the black pentagon he was holding. The object itself was a sacrilege. While there were records in history that a god descended upon the mortal world, when something major needed to be done, they sent their angels far before they would come themselves. Angels were still beyond what humans were capable of. Angels were direct servants to the gods... and this man made a building out of their bones? It was no surprise Kaden had never been able to even scratch the black pentagon or its pieces. Even True Magus wouldn't be able to do that. Perhaps an Archmagus if they put in the effort.

"I scattered that thing specifically for the reason that someone would come here", the man continued. "Someone... worthy!" A pause. "In other words it did not get lost out there by chance. You are the last being I would harm. While I didn't expect Cari or whetever you are to come here, I don't actually care. Cari might even be a better option in the end."

Kaden calmed down a bit.

"Perhaps some introductions are in place", the man continued. "You may call me Zeruek. As far as I'm aware, I am ... or was, the strongest human to ever exist. My greatest achievement and my downfall. I am now merely an image. My real self is already long dead, but before that, I was able to infuse enough of myself in this place to not let my knowledge of the truth die along with me."

"Strongest human?" Kaden questioned that. There were a few sources publicly stating that. The one at the top was different depending who you asked. "I believe church records show this to be one of the Archmagi leading the said church. Depending whether you are on Sacronans side or the Saint Empire, they will say theirs is the strongest. I'm not sure about what Caricoun and their records know about humans."

"Bah, the puppets have expunged all detailed records of my existence", Zeruek said as he floated about. "Even the current Archmagi don't know it. Angels removed that information. If there is some record of me, it is few mentions as an apostle of God of Lies. Traitorous Archmagus or something along the line, I believe. And no, I did not kneel before any chained altars."

"What is the purpose of all this", Kaden continued. "Your knowledge? How humans can grow beyond limits of an Archmagus?"

"Not just that. The entire truth about churches, angels and gods and how they rule this world as far as mortals can know", Zeruek continued. "That little test outside. It was a trick. I see you chose the empty altar, but any of them would have had the same reaction. Only those that have little influence of gods upon them may enter here. Too much and you would burn. I find it interesting there was basically no reaction from you at all. How did you cultivate this far without getting any of the gods stain upon you? Even Cari when they eat others will slowly be influenced by the taint of gods."

Kaden shook mentally. Taint of gods? What was all this? Kaden had his own mana system where he always purified everything himself? Apparently it did something special. Even before godless mana system and how he combined it in. It seems mixing the human way and Cari way produced an interesting effect, but that required a special body that not just everyone could have.

"I'm sure you are not going to trust me easily, but know that this place is the most contained place in the world", Zeruek said. "This place is laced with angel bone that I refined in a way to that inverts its nature. It will absorb divine mana and then eject it. Someone checks you? They get a perfect purified divine mana record in return. Higher beings? Angels? They would have to stand next to this place to sense it. I would be dead otherwise. Angels are so suffused with their power that when they look here, unless they look directly, they will not see this place, but instead their own power. Gods... well. I don't know their limits, but I believe this place would have been purged from existence, if they could easily see it."

Zeruek stopped to let this sink into Kaden's mind.

Then he continued. "And I... I only want things to change. Gods, they are limiting us. I wanted someone here who isn't too badly affected by their taint and aren't barred from growing. That would be you. Whatever you say here. Whatever you ask here. Whatever happens, I want to get you grow past my limits. So I will help you in this. Though, should it seem like you will fail, I ask that you scatter the pieces of my 'key' once more and let someone else get here after you perish. You are the first and it seems it took time, even if the parts sort of seek out each other and only remain in hands that are least touched by gods, since they reject those people. I want to allow not only humanity, but even Cari to break free from the gods." Pause. Zeruek stared at Kaden intently. "To have the sort of readings I get from you, you must have lived an interesting life so far and aren't easily trusting, but I assure you, you can trust me. Unless a god gets involved directly, nothing that you say or do in this place will leak. Harming you would waste thousands of years waiting."

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

This was big. Very big. Kaden was feeling some excitement. Unusual amounts of it. He wasn't the first to fight against church and the gods. He had only wanted to damage them, but he never thought even the godless mana system could destroy them completely. It would only force a change that was not beneficial to the churches and gods.

This Zeruek was aiming higher up, complete separation from them and it seemed he knew even more than Kaden himself about their influence. Which wasn't a surprise, considering the supposed extent of his power. At least one he used to have.

"It seems to my you are feeling agreeable?" Zeruek said as he noted Kaden's reaction.

"You are correct", Kaden said. He decided to speak about his own efforts. "The gods are frauds. I have my own plans already moving. Ones that cannot be stopped anymore. I thought I was alone so I'm very willing to listen what you have to say." Kaden grinned a bit at this point. "Also despite your power and knowledge, I believe I have something you do not know. I would have your opinion."

"Haha, now I'm curious", Zeruek said with a laugh. "Tell me also what has been happening outside. By my records it has been about four thousand years since I went dormant. What has happened since then?"

Kaden was very willing to share his knowledge of godless mana system and how it came to be. Its workings were hardly secret anymore and if Zeruek was hostile, which seemed unlikely, he could simply, even as an image, as memory, to simply annihilate Kaden on the spot. If there was something more sinister, it was likely already too late. Therefore Kaden decided to trust this Zeruek for the time being.

He explained the godless mana system to Zeruek. The man listened carefully and with curiosity.

"... and now as Cari use it, it will be scattered everywhere", Kaden told Zeruek. "Human empires, churches and the gods. There is no way they can stop its spread. People no longer need to kneel before the gods, if they wish to defy them. At the very least entire humanity must come together in near future to resist growing Cari power."

"Hahaha", Zerueks image laughed and floated around erratically. "You know they will rather kill each other than join together."

"Obviously, that is currently what is happening", Kaden continued. "People slaughtered as heretics for no reason. War has ignited to the extent it has not been in ages. Cities and villages are shrouded in fear."

"You are interesting", Zeruek said once he calmed down a bit. "This mana you gather with the godless mana system. While I have not heard of it before, I believe it is indeed tied to matters I do know about. The taint of the gods. They take this hidden part leaving people... incomplete. It will become impossible to reach beyond stages of Archmagus or Higher Cari with this incompleteness. If I was still able to experiment properly, I would love to know the difference you had before discovering it and simply ignoring the gods. Unfortunately I'm a projection. I can learn a lot, but I, in many ways, lack ... imagination. Its is hard to experiment, if you can't think of new possiblities properly. You will have to continue this pursuit."

Zeruek seemed very annoyed about that. Kaden was not aware what kind of limits a memory of someone like this one had. It could simulate a person, contain their memories, but they might not be able to grow out of the simulations original limits.

Zeruek continued. "This godless mana system is a boon to not only you, but my own goals. I hoped to find a way to cultivate without aid of gods, but it was you and not me who found it. Otherwise one would need unusual mutations such as yourself. The more I look at you, the more I find. Yet I still cannot say how you were made. Only that you are not natural. With this and everything else, you have nearly completely avoided that taint. You have the potential to still grow unlike I had. There is a reason I had so much angel bone and that I was able to grow even with the taint limiting me."

So thats how he grew so powerful. Somehow he was able to kill angels. Then he consumed their power. That would indeed bring gods wrath upon him.

Fortunately, that was not neccessary for Kaden. He had avoided this taint, this incompleteness, by avoiding cultivating mana with their help. Purified each bit of mana he consumed. There was probably more to it than just finding the special mana type, but Kaden had managed to avoid that. Perhaps the gods indeed not just removed that one part, but also added something of their own in?

Kaden decided to see if Zeruek had anything to say about the cataclysm. Along with it he intended to explain his true nature too. If Zeruek wanted him to grow strong enough to fight against gods directly, Kaden wanted him to know things. He still trusted his assessment of Zeruek's trustworthiness.

Kaden closed away a few potential risks, while he spoke with Zeruek. He had wondered for a while, if Zeruek was actually alive somewhere and communcating through the projection. He then discarded this thought. Zeruek had made direct enemies with gods. They would not stop before he was dead. No trickery. At most he had been able to hide this place. Gods would only stop looking once he was dead and had purged his existence from all records and knowledge. If they thought he was alive, they would have eventually found this little hiding place too.

That purge would also involve Zerueks soul or true self. Kaden was not afraid the projection was now preparing him to be taken over to give Zeruek a new life or something.

Zeruek merely gave curious look at Kaden once he explained his encounter with Anuu. Zeruek laughed again for a moment about phoenixes and their pride. Apparently the pride of denying their enemies their prize was greater than giving that prize to a weak human.

Yet, once Kaden got to the point where he explained his trip to the great remnant and what was in its depths, Zeruek was in shock.

"I went there once when I was strong enough to pierce through the thick mana surrounding it", Zeruek said as he interrupted Kaden. "I went into the same depths where you fell into. For me, there was only dense fog of mana. I could not find this rift you speak of. Considering that you were temporarally linked to it and it was neccessary for you to find it to not offset the timeline, it is likely the only reason you found it and you did not disintegrate into random pieces of mana."

Kaden explained him what he saw at the cataclysm. That mana was different before the gods came. It made sense, if the gods were taking some special part of it or altering it otherwise. Hiding everything now in the current time.

"You have done well to ensure this godless mana system and the special mana it gathers will remain in existence", Zeruek said. "This is a critical discovery that will likely not be repeated ever again. At this point, even if human gods can convince beast gods to get rid of it, it is too wide spread. Its existence itself will ensure some change, but I also believe it will not be enough."

Zeruek pondered for a while.

"More than before, I want to aid you reach past my limits", Zeruek said. "You have somehow been tied to the twistings of time and fate. I do not know how or why. Perhaps just by chance, but as it is, you are likely the only one in this time with the potential to become an ... Ascender."