-----

The Sect Master of the Ocean Sect recalled how he came to be with the communication of beings from another dimension, it happened roughly 50 years ago.

He had been sleeping over his throne when he suddenly found himself in a dark place, this was a nightmare.

He had been sleeping with frustration lately, without knowing how to breakthrough.magic

Despite hearing of the legends of the Sages who had all breakthrough into Supreme Gods, he had been trying for hundreds of years, but had yet to reach this stage.

While sleeping another night left exhausted from trying, he found himself inside a nightmarish and darkness-filled place.

In there, countless amorphous beings made of darkness and shadows greeted him, with glowing crimson-red eyes.

However, despite how they were supposedly many, they were something similar to a Hivemind…

Indeed, a Hivemind, they were many beings in one, all of them part of a single entity.

The Sect Master detected this monstrous being as he glared into the skies of this dark landscape.

In there, a massive crimson-red eye, with countless marks of blackness across its red-colored iris looked down on him…

"You… desire… power?"

It spoke three words.

The Sect Master was left speechless by the power of this entity.It was so strong and majestically overwhelming he couldn't do anything, absolutely nothing!

However, deep down, he really wanted to accept! He wanted power over everything, after all he suffered on his childhood, after all the catastrophes, how the other sects destroyed his village and all those ha had escaped into, all for conquest and resources…! His family dying, everything…! These traumas catapulted him into growing in someone obsessed with power.

He wanted power and more power so he could ultimately destroy all these other sects, avenging his people and ultimately taking over the continent and the world of Azure!

This drive led him to insanity, to the insanity where accepting a deal with an utterly alien begin was totally okay!

"I don't know… what you are or what you want but… if you're genuine… show yourself to me when I wake up!" he said.

"…Understood."

And when he woke up, a crack in space time opened before his very eyes as countless darkness poured out of it like a sea of miasma.

"W-What?!" asked the Sect Master.

A crimson-red eye glared down on him.

"I am real… But I require… Key…" asked the man.

"What…?! Key? Why can't you come and do this work yourself?" asked the Sect Master.

"Confined… Weakened… I require the Key of this Dimension… So I can regain power… By devouring it." said the entity.

The entity made itself clear.

"D-Devouring… this dimension?!" asked the Sect Master.

"Key… little child… Pick her, bring her to me… I will do the rest." Said the entity.

"Won't I die if the dimension is devoured?!" asked the Sect Master.

"No… You become one of us… And grow stronger… Use the power to do whatever you want…" said the entity.A black orb was given to the old man, and he used it to gain unprecedented interdimensional power… he absorbed it into his body and let his own body be possessed by a part of this monstrous being from another dimension…

He used this power to stealthily travel to every Sect in the Continent, the other three major ones, and defeated their sect masters, turning them into his slaves by brainwashing them…!

Quickly after, the Elders of his Sect and all other Sects succumbed to this power.

But Gustav was not able to notice this because they were using a power from another dimension way greater than his own.

After all, there was always a bigger fish!

The entire sect recruitment itself was a façade to find the girl made by this very old man!

Gustav was in disbelief by how small the world was! How come everything was a scheme from this old man the two had been treating like not much this entire time?

The shadows lurking around them were too deep!

But how was Gustav able to learn this in the middle of a fight?

Well, Gaia helped him in create a new spell in a single second using Emotion and Illusion Magic named [Memory Devouring] he was able to devour the memories of others after merely glaring at them. This didn't deleted their own memories, nor had any effect on the target, but it allowed Gustav to slowly acquire bits of the memories of his foes, and learn their plans and what they've been up to!

And he quickly learned that Xijun was somewhat a "Key" to the Dimension?! What were the odds for him to ever find her?

Wait… he remembered something else! When he had that dream with the Dimensional Core after he acquired his new Physique…

The Dimensional Core had said that it would find a way to lead him to her… but that he had to hurry and find her himself as well.

"So nothing was a casualty but was predestined!" thought Gustav. Even until now, his physique had been evolving more and more, and his connection with the entire Dimension was growing slightly more.

After all, the amazing Physique he had was forged by the power of several Universes and their Energies, alongside the very energy of the Dimensional Core itself…

This Physique was made by fusing countless Skills to the point that he broke the very laws of the Dimension and the Dimensional Core, branding him as the Dimensional Guardian due to his efforts on stopping a Dimensional Invasion and also by being the Player chosen by the One Above All Creation…

He was obviously the chosen one from the very beginning, well, it was already obvious from the very beginning…

CLAAASH!

Gustav clashed against the Sect Master as the darkness within his body continued to grow deeper and larger, his troops began to attack him from all sides, trying to tear him apart and consume him, but the old man was a resilient bastard, fighting back masterfully and generating weapons of shadows that exploded into even more darkness…!

------