Two months had passed since the start of the lessons.

His bandages had been removed for three weeks, revealing scarred skin where silver lines ran, remnants of the fissures that had covered his body.

That morning, the eccentric wizard was wearing an even more extravagant outfit than usual: a cape covered in astral patterns embroidered with silver thread, black leather gloves adorned with runes on each knuckle, and a twelve-pointed star pendant hanging from his neck that emitted a continuous hum.

"Today, Baby boy, you are going to leave your body," announced Diavolo, crossing his arms.

Kaiser, sitting cross-legged facing the stone, raised a perplexed eyebrow. "Leave my body? You mean die?"

"Nyo-ho-ho!" Diavolo burst out with his characteristic laugh.

"No, mediocre. What I am offering you is astral projection. Your spirit will leave your flesh to observe what your eyes cannot see." He approached Kaiser and crouched in front of him. "For two months, you have been learning to transform Aura into mana. Now, you are going to learn to see it."

Kaiser nodded slowly. He closed his eyes and began to calm his breathing according to the rhythm Diavolo had taught him: four counts for the inhale, hold, eight counts for the exhale. He felt his body gradually growing heavier, while his consciousness, on the contrary, rose.

"Now," murmured Diavolo in a voice that seemed to come from very far away, "perform the full set of 10 perception mudras... Do not be afraid."

Kaiser visualized the image. He felt a tension at the level of his fontanelle, a pressure that increased until it became almost painful, then suddenly he tipped over. The sensation was that of an endless fall, followed by a brutal stop, and when he reopened his eyes, he saw his own body sitting below him, motionless, its head slightly tilted forward.

"It worked," he said, or at least he had the impression of saying it, because no sound came out of his immaterial mouth.

Diavolo, in the physical world, could not only see him but also hear him, a feat that only he probably held the secret to. "You do not have much time, look around you."

Kaiser turned his gaze toward the trees surrounding the clearing, and what he saw took his breath away, as much as a spirit could have breath.

The flows of mana, invisible to the naked eye, unfolded before him like a network of luminous veins. They rose from the ground in thin columns of all colors, twisted around the trunks, rose toward the branches to form a shimmering vault above his head.

But there was something else. Darker trails snaked through this luminosity, corrupting the pure flows where they passed. These trails formed concentric patterns around certain trees, like scars left by a disease.

"It is demonic mana," said Diavolo, "the pollution I told you about. It comes from the time of the thousand-year war, and it seeps everywhere. Even here, in this forest."

Kaiser observed these dark trails for a long time. He saw them rise from the depths of the ground, emerge between the roots, then spread in invisible tentacles toward the trees and the vines. "Where does it come from?" he asked.

"From the abyss, what kind of stupid question is that? Even if there is no rift nearby, there are still monsters."

Kaiser felt a sudden pull, a recall toward his physical body.

In an instant, he found himself sitting at the base again. He reopened his eyes, blinked several times to readjust his vision, and stared at Diavolo.

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"Now," replied Diavolo, taking a small bronze cup out of his cape, "you are going to try to read the intentions of the universe."

He placed the cup in front of Kaiser and poured a silvery liquid into it. The liquid quickly stabilized, forming a perfectly smooth surface that reflected the invisible sky above them.

"Prana Mudra," ordered Diavolo.

Kaiser formed the gesture his master had taught him weeks earlier. He joined his thumbs at the base of his ring fingers, extended his index and middle fingers toward the sky, and folded his little fingers against his palms. The usual warmth was born at the tips of his fingers, but this time it was accompanied by a vibration that ran through his forearms to his elbows.

He plunged his gaze into the bronze cup. The silvery surface clouded over, ripples appeared on its surface without any physical cause, then images began to form.

"I see... something," he murmured.

"Describe."

"A tower.... A large tower, red... There are chains around it. And above..." He squinted. "Above, there is... A Flaming Lion!?"

Diavolo suddenly became very silent. "Leo," he said at last, and his tone was no longer mocking at all. "The constellation I killed. The one that reincarnated in Kris Donoghan."

Kaiser lifted his head from the cup. "Why am I seeing this?"

"Because the universe is showing you what awaits you." Diavolo sat down heavily on the ground facing him, crossing his legs with unusual slowness. "Divination is quite rudimentary at its peak, you will be able to do it without all these materials."

"You know, Baby boy, when I faced Sulyvhan during the Millennial War, I thought it was the end... Mortals were killing each other over shitty ideologies while the superior beings rejoiced."

"What exactly are you talking about?"

Diavolo raised his hands in front of him, observing his own palms. "Sulyvhan was an idiot.... incapable of seeing further than the tip of his sword. But he had one quality." He lowered his hands and stared at Kaiser. "He was a valiant warrior and together, we knew who our true enemies were..."

"The Constellations," said Kaiser.

"And the Seraphs, the demons," added Diavolo. "And all those superior beings who look at the world like a chess game." He pointed to the sky. "They watch. They bet. They manipulate. And we, we are their pawns. Except that some pawns, sometimes, decide to become players. And that is what caused the Millennial War... Three arrogant mortals who wanted to defy the superior beings."

Kaiser remained silent for a long moment.

"How do you become a player?"

"By doing what you are doing." Diavolo stood up with a leap, regaining his usual energy. "By transforming what you are into what you must become." He held out his hand to Kaiser. "Now, concentrate. What you saw is good. But it is not enough. I want you to do something that none of us has been able to achieve."

Kaiser took the outstretched hand and stood up. "What exactly?"

"Transform your Aura into pure Mana."

Kaiser thought he had misheard. "It is impossible. Aura and Mana are two different energies. The original novel says it explicitly."

"The original novel," replied Diavolo, pressing a finger against Kaiser’s chest, "is the one I wrote. And I am telling you that it is possible. Not for everyone, of course. But for you, yes."

"Why?"

Diavolo displayed an enigmatic smile. "Because you are and will be the fusion of the essences of the three most powerful mortals... Three essences, three memories, three powers and finally a single will... If you cannot perform the transmutation, no one can."