Long before the current war. Before the first Circuit Beings walked upon Kael'Ar. Before the gods began fighting over worlds, territories, and the throne of existence, there were powers whose origins reached far beyond the lower realms.
One of those powers was light. Not the light produced by a star or the light created by fire. Not even divine light in the conventional sense. It was something far older. Something that existed near the beginning of creation itself.
When Arata Kurogane imagined Alzwalt into existence, he did not simply imagine an angel.
He imagined light. A light that could purify and heal, A light that could burn and destroy and a light that could affect anything regardless of what that thing was. He imagined the Origin Light. The light that had once played a role in the creation of life through the Great Circuit.
The Origin Light was not merely an energy source. It was one of the fundamental expressions of creation itself, and throughout the countless realms of existence, it became represented by beings known as angels.
Above all angels stood a single authority. The God of Heaven. The Supreme Light. The ruler of Heaven.
Heaven was not a place belonging to the lower realms. It existed on a far higher dimensional level, positioned directly upon one of the lines branching from the Great Circuit.
The connection was not metaphorical.
The Great Circuit extended infinitely, and from its immeasurable structure countless branches stretched into different dimensions, realities, worlds, and systems of existence. Heaven occupied one of those branches, separated from the lower realms by layers of dimensional existence that ordinary beings could not even perceive.
Angels did not descend from the lower realms. They originated from Heaven and within Heaven itself, there was a hierarchy. At the lowest recognized rank were the Guardians.
Guardians protected the laws, boundaries, and sacred regions of Heaven. They were powerful enough to exist beyond the understanding of most lower-dimensional beings, yet they remained the foundation of the celestial hierarchy.
Above them were the Divine Warriors.
These angels existed for battle. Their bodies were vessels capable of channeling tremendous quantities of divine light, and their purpose was to defend Heaven against threats that ordinary Guardians could never confront. Above the Divine Warriors were the Supreme Archs. They possessed authority over vast celestial territories and had reached a level of understanding of divine light far beyond ordinary angels.
Then came the Archangels. Archangels were among the most powerful beings within Heaven. They were not merely warriors or protectors. They were authorities capable of influencing the structure of Heaven itself.
Above the Archangels stood the Prince and Princesses of Heaven.
These beings represented the highest level of angelic existence beneath the throne itself and above them all stood the final position. God or Goddess of Heaven. The Supreme Light. Yet becoming the God of Heaven was not a matter of inheritance. Nor was it determined simply by strength.
An angel seeking that position had to possess something far more important. The capacity to withstand pure, infinite light. The Origin Light could not simply be wielded. It had to be endured.
A being who attempted to contain the complete Origin Light without possessing the necessary capacity would cease to exist as an individual. Their identity, body, boundaries. Everything that defined them would be consumed by the very light they attempted to command.
But if an individual could truly contain it, something extraordinary became possible. They would no longer simply wield the light. They would become its supreme vessel.
And with that power, the God of Heaven could accomplish something that few beings throughout existence could even comprehend. They could deny the existence of the Abyss itself. The Abyss was not simply darkness.
It represented a fundamentally different principle of existence, one that stood opposed to the celestial order. To deny its existence would mean possessing an authority capable of challenging something deeply rooted within the structure of reality. That was the level required to stand upon the throne of Heaven.
And Alzwalt?..he was different. He possessed the Luminous Circuit — Divine Light. It was a simplified version of the Origin Light. Yet calling it merely a simplified version did not mean it was weak.
Divine Light still possessed the characteristics Arata had imagined when he created Alzwalt: purification, healing, destruction, and the ability to interact with things that ordinary forms of energy could never touch.
But there was a reason Alzwalt did not wield the complete Origin Light. The reason was simple, his body could not contain it.
If Alzwalt ever completely activated the Origin Light within himself, his physical form would disappear. He would no longer possess a body. He would no longer exist as Alzwalt in the conventional sense.
He would become the Supreme Light itself. A pure existence of infinite luminosity and once that happened, there would be only one individual capable of giving Alzwalt a body again. His creator…Arata Kurogane. That was the difference between Alzwalt and the true ruler of Heaven.
Alzwalt possessed the potential to become something far greater than an angel.
But the moment he crossed that boundary, he would cease being an individual with a body. He would become light itself and only Arata could call him back but the Origin Light was only one part of a much larger mystery.
The mystery of the Circuit. Every individual who awakened a Circuit experienced the beginning of the same fundamental process. The body contained meridians. Those meridians had to be cleared. Only after the pathways became capable of carrying Circuit energy could a person awaken their Circuit.
At first, the abilities were simple. Basic Circuit abilities. Strength, Speed, Energy manipulation, Elemental control. Unique techniques determined by the nature of the individual Circuit but awakening was never the end. A Circuit always sought to evolve. It sought its ultimate state. Its ultimate form and every time its wielder mastered another layer of its power, the Circuit found another way to develop.
The first stage was Circuit Awakening. The beginning, the foundation. Then came Circuit Embodiment. Or, in certain cases, the manifestation of a Circuit Mark, often requiring a trial before the wielder could fully access it. At that stage, the user no longer simply possessed their Circuit. They began embodying its nature. Then came God's Will. The moment when the will of the Circuit itself could be manifested.
A wielder could call upon the will of the concept represented by their Circuit and temporarily allow that concept to act through them. But even that was not the final destination. Beyond God's Will were abilities capable of affecting reality on a conceptual level.
Abilities that did not simply destroy matter. They affected ideas, laws, possibilities, time, space, existence and perhaps things beyond even those concepts. The Circuit continued to evolve because the Great Circuit itself had no known limit.
The Great Circuit was infinite. It contained every possibility, every potential, every outcome, every reality, every path that could exist. It was believed to be the source of everything and since ancient times, civilizations had carried a particular belief about it. The Great Circuit was in everything and through everything, it was experiencing itself.
Maybe that was why humans could awaken Circuits in the first place. Perhaps humanity was not creating a connection to something foreign. Perhaps… humanity was simply discovering something that had always existed within them.
The Great Circuit was already there. Waiting, Experiencing existence through countless lives. Countless worlds and possibilities. Yet one planet created a question that complicated everything.
Zerathis.
Zerathis possessed a completely different system of power. Its inhabitants did not rely upon Circuits.
They possessed something known as Double Count. A system that operated according to principles entirely different from the Circuit system and yet Zerathis existed within the same greater existence as every other world. That single fact proved something enormous.
The Great Circuit did not merely contain one system of power. It contained the possibility for infinitely different systems. Different realities, different laws, different ways for beings to become powerful, different interpretations of existence itself.
The Great Circuit did not appear to have a single answer. It contained every answer…Every possibility. Perhaps even possibilities that had never been imagined and that was what made the Great Circuit so difficult to understand.
Because if it truly contained everything…Then what exactly was its purpose? Was it simply the source of existence? Was it a living phenomenon experiencing itself through every creature, every world, every universe, every system?
Or was there something else behind it? Something that no one had discovered? Something watching from beyond the branches of reality? The ancient texts had no answer. The gods had no answer…the first Circuit Beings had no answer. Even beings who had reached levels of existence far beyond ordinary gods could only speculate.
But who truly knows?
Perhaps someone was controlling the Great Circuit or perhaps the Great Circuit itself was a position that could be held. A throne above all realities. A position from which one could rule everything that exists. If such a position truly existed, then another question followed.
Was someone meant to rise to it? Was there always supposed to be an individual who would eventually stand above every realm, every law, every system, and every possibility?
Or would seeking such a position be nothing more than selfishness?
Because if someone was controlling the Great Circuit—or if the Great Circuit was truly a position that could be held—then every living being might simply be living according to the rules, possibilities, and perspective of another.
Another who had already lived, another who had already chosen, another who had already decided what existence was supposed to become.
And if that were true…Then perhaps the greatest mystery was not who would rule the Great Circuit. Perhaps it was whether anyone had the right to rule it at all.