★140
ASTERI'S POV
My awareness slipping into that higher plane so I could at least understand what had just happened. Because I already knew I was about to forfeit this battle.
Under the Plane of Etherium, everything became clear.
Every particle present there… was frozen. Frozen in absolute stillness, as if the concept of motion itself had been stripped away. Even in a plane that should've transcended the battlefield below, nothing moved.
So that was it. That was what I'd been fighting against all this time.
'A Type 0?'
Surprised, I inspected an Energy particle and saw its Fragments, Arcanocysts, the Fragment of Magic System and others were frozen. That must explain why magic can't surface in this Suspended World.
(Aligned with the canon version.)
'No, it's not Type 0 yet.'
I confirmed.
'It's still Type I since it's affecting the Fragments. With Aeolynths being the father of motion, it'll get into a panic mode, stealing motion from other Fragments to keep itself working. Like a failing system cannibalising its own processes to survive. And once even they shut down… It's over."
I wanted to shake my head in disbelief but couldn't.
I'm thinking so that means Neosis is still working but it's only a matter of time before it gets affected. I was in a pinch and I needed to get out of this mess as soon as possible. Faster than the thread of time.
Just as I was about to open my eyes, a spark flared somewhere deep within me. It was faint at first, then burning just behind my eyelids.
It felt familiar. Like the Edith of Zenith had stirred… reacting to my helpless state, answering the moment I'd come closest to falling.
My eyes still closed but my vision stretched beyond what even the gods can comprehend.
My vision enhanced on its own and I caught sight of a Transparent Particle linked to Energy which is linked to its Fragments. Unlike the rest, these Transparent Particles were moving. Seemingly unaffected by the Suspended World.
I thought to myself is the Transpeon Essence? Then I recalled what Hinata said. "They make up everything and nothing while existing on a Plane of their own." That's Energy, but here and currently, Energy is also a Fragment of a superior particle.
'That's new.'
Antares, the ever silent spoke. It seems even the real me doesn't know what this is.
Maybe this is it? I bet on the possibility that it is.
"Mind telling me how this ability works?"
I asked, trying to understand something before I ran out of time, because for the first time, defeat would be inevitable.
Velzard didn't seem like she wanted me to know how it works so our spectator was kind enough to answered it for me.
"Suspended World."
Feldway spoke calmly.
"When time is halted across every World, the result isn't just stillness, it's a plane where nothing functions. Laws don't apply, matter can't move and energy can't circulate. Even the forces that bind atoms together vanish, leaving every kind of physical durability meaningless.
In that state, only a few beings remain aware: those who can think without relying on a mind made of matter, and those who can perceive the faint patterns of Infons. The information that reality itself is written from."
Awareness is one thing, movement is another.
"To actually move in the Suspended World, a being must shift themselves as information, not as particles. They aren't stepping through space; they're sliding their own data across static infon-frames. Speed, distance, and even time become irrelevant concepts.
Most abilities die here. Anything that requires motion, energy release, particle emission, or spellcasting, fails instantly. Only effects that were already deployed before the freeze remain, like lingering barriers or static constructs."
That must explain why the Halo of Rules was working even after the Suspended World. Because the Artificial World was active before she enforce the Suspended World.
"The only real weapon left is infon manipulation: rewriting, erasing, or overwriting the opponent's information directly. Battles in this World become contests of precision and will, not power.
And that brings us to the real mystery. If you can't manipulate infons—how did you even notice the Suspended World exists?"
He asked, finding out how I was able to preview it and talk.
He's right though. I don't know what are infons and the system of the Suspended World. But as a Star who can perceive the pure and highest Plane of Existence, I don't need to fully understand a foreign system to counter it.
As he spoke, the Energy revealed itself to me, moving exactly as he described, each motion lining up with his words like a lesson unfolding in real time.
Practicalizing the World for Spritrons, the building block for all spiritual matters such as magicule, souls, and the like.
'They are subatomic particles similar to neutrons. As a spiritual force, they are invisible and intangible, but there are rare cases where they materialise into a solid state.'
I focused on it, let the thought settle… and suddenly everything started to make sense on its own.
'Arcanocysts—the Fragment that governs the magical system—are tied to spiritrons. They generate magicules, mana, aura… all of it. And all of it connects to something deeper. Infons, the Information Particles.'
The thought settled as I watched the Transparent Particles move.
If that was true, then infons were either a Fragment of those Transparent Particles… or something that existed within every Energy Fragment. For now, it was a clean fifty–fifty.
"Who knows?"
I said aloud, casual enough to sound dismissive.
Velzard took the bait and moved. The moment she did, my vision followed everything—every shift, every motion, every particle around her. Just then, the probability jumped to one hundred.
'Infon is also a Fragment of the Transparent Particle. Wait, my mistake, I won't really call them Fragments of the Transparent Particles because they are within the Energy field with the only distinction being that they're monitored by the Transparent Particle, not Energy.
In short, infons are informational codes embedded in Energy Fragments, monitored and regulated by the Transparent Particle.
Now then—'
She threw a jab, and I moved to the right, dodging the blow.
'Was that Energy or the Transparent Particle?'
I traced the links—thin filaments threading through everything—and the picture started to settle.
Energy itself—looked like a Fragment of that Transparent Particle.
It had far more branches, stretching outward to the other fragments, the Energy Fragments. While the ones tied directly to the Transparent Particle still felt distant, blurred, harder to grasp.
So Energy, what we knew as the Existential Force wasn't the source of everything. Just a closer branch of something deeper.
'So that's how it is. Energy in here is transparent, so the Transparent Particles are still Energy?'
It appears obvious but it's not.
'Those Transparent Particles are the real thing. What we normally call Energy is just the dim version of it, a projection sitting on a lower plane.'
No wonder it always felt incomplete. They only took on colour because of mana signatures bleeding into them. I remembered the first time I ever saw Energy, it was pink, tinted by Lady Elara's presence.
Back then and until recently, I thought that was its true nature. But now, I knew better. It was just a surface stain on something far deeper.
A strange mix of relief and irritation welled up in me. All this time, the answer had been right there, moving quietly beyond my reach.
'Is this what Entares doesn't want me to know? I acted beyond schedule and disrupted his paln?'
I exhaled softly.
'Ok. I'll name the Transparent Particle as Ether while the lesser remains an Energy.'
I concluded and my coloured energy, Essen, was released.
It surged forward and bound itself to the surrounding Energy. The response was immediate. My influence skyrocketed, rising so sharply it made my head spin, and I pushed higher, searching for a vantage point that would let me bind with Ether itself.
I did it while ignoring the threat right in front of me. I knew how reckless that was. I knew what it meant to turn my back in the middle of a fight. But with this power, I will become the absolute.
So I poured everything into Etherium. Every shred of focus and ounce of will into this one task.
To be continued...