Chapter Twelve: The Law of Impermanence

Do you want to learn the Art of Impermanence?
—Of course I do, that goes without saying.

Who would ever think they had too many abilities?

Three years ago, he had shamelessly pestered a certain knight, relentlessly begging the prodigious master of the impermanence arts to teach him the barest essentials. After all his persistent efforts, the answer he received was precisely what he himself had just repeated.

"...I heard before that Espers can't learn the Art of Impermanence."

Back then, he could never have imagined he would one day inherit the other's power, nor that the knight's seemingly omnipotent abilities would become, in his hands, nothing but a substance as white as chalk.

Diminished, weakened—it was less an inheritance than a shameless counterfeit.

This power was never meant to be his. Whenever he thought of it, the Esper felt utterly mortified.

Yan Qi raised his hand and pointed at the young man's chest.

"The risks of learning the Art of Impermanence? Compared to the things locked away in your heart, that's not even worth mentioning!"

A black sword, and a glass bead.

The former could fell dragons; the latter could summon a catastrophe of draconic evil. As the vault for these two objects, Gongsun Ce felt himself thoroughly... cursed.

He couldn't say he lacked a sense of responsibility, but who, in the end, was responsible for all this? Who had sealed these two things inside his heart?

"Wasn't it all you, Yan Qi?" the gray-haired youth roared. "You stuffed the glass bead in me, and you sealed the black sword too!"

Yan Qi tossed the blame right back: "Ha! The sword was your own choice—who told you to be so self-sacrificing?"

He stroked his chin, speaking with an air of nonchalance: "After the first seal, I watched you for three years and nothing happened—consider yourself lucky. In a sense, you might be the safest Esper in the world right now! As for whether you can actually learn the Art of Impermanence... In theory, yes; in practice, I have no idea."

The gray-haired youth pointed at the man across from him, astonished.

"What do you mean you have no idea?"

Yan Qi sneered, "What, you think the Art of Impermanence is some kind of panacea? How would I know if you'll end up as deranged as those dragon-worshiping lunatics? With your knack for getting stuck on things and spiraling into a malignant technique, it wouldn't surprise me at all!"

But what exactly is a malignant technique anyway?

The Art of Impermanence used by the dragon cultists seemed, from the outside, not so different from the ordinary kind.

The tall man sighed, like a homeroom teacher gazing at his most hopeless student.

"Start by telling me everything you know. What you learned from the knight, from Shiyu, and your own deductions."

Easier said than done.

Three years ago, the knight had told him precious little about the Art of Impermanence.

He’d been involved in that incident virtually ignorant of Dragonslaying Arts; everything he now knew came almost exclusively from Shiyu Zero’s instruction.

"Alright, here’s what I know..."

Gongsun Ce began to summarize his information.

The Art of Impermanence is divided into Seven Aspects and Five Realms.

As for the five realms, he had never received any detailed explanation. He could only summarize from his own combat experience: upon reaching the third realm, Communion, a practitioner could manifest their own unique ability; in the Manifestation realm, that ability would be dramatically strengthened, often in ways that defied reason; the final Creation realm granted the power to neutralize draconic phenomena and greatly diminish the disasters wrought by dragons’ incursions.

What Shiyu Zero had explained most clearly were the expressions of the seven Aspects. He recalled the brief conversation atop the pigeon, her voice rising from memory.

—

Sit up straight and take notes—what comes next is crucial.

As I’ve already said, the seven Aspects of the Art of Impermanence are Stillness, Emptiness, Spirit, Brahma, Desolation, Calamity, and Marvel. You can loosely understand them in terms of the categories used for Espers. I remember you all have some kind of power classification, right?

—

Looks like I remembered correctly; good. We’ll go through them in reverse order, one by one.

First is the Aspect of Marvel. Marvel practitioners excel at manipulating the environment and releasing energy, like the wizards in picture books. According to the classification used in the City of the Sky, they’d be called energy projectors. Powers like fire, lightning, or ice are quite common in this city, aren’t they?

...Not so common? Those powers are actually quite strong?

Really? I always thought those were standard for minor characters... I see...

Ahem, back to the topic! Next is the Aspect of Desolation. The dragon-madman you just defeated practiced this aspect—you should have a rough idea from his performance, right? Desolation often manifests as physical enhancement or mutation. Strength and speed are their forte, but a few practitioners can use rather sinister means. It’s convenient to think of them as physical augmenters.

Do all Desolation practitioners become monsters? No, though it often appears that way, not everyone does.

Now for the Aspect of Calamity. Calamity practitioners can interfere with fate and luck, often operating in realms beyond common understanding.

The most common Calamity arts are divination, followed by curses. Imagine if a truly malicious curse succeeded—wouldn’t that be a literal calamity for the victim?

No more bad jokes—if you fake-laugh again, I’ll kick you off, I mean it. Similar Esper powers are called probability manipulators, aren’t they? That name is a bit much.

You think so too? I knew it.

Now, the Aspect of Brahma! I believe Brahma is the strongest aspect; its domain is time and space! A powerful Brahma practitioner can do almost anything—even time and space can be bent to their will!

Its most common expression is spatial manipulation, like my Shadow Orchid. As for those who can control time, I’ve heard of them, but never met one.

Maybe once I reach Manifestation, I’ll be able to. So you’d better hold me in due awe, understood?

—

At this point, Gongsun Ce couldn’t help glancing at the painter in black.

“Is Brahma truly the strongest aspect?”

“Bullshit—are madmen ranked by nobility now?”

As if all practitioners of Impermanence were lunatics.

Well, he was only insulting himself, after all.

Let’s chalk that up to Alice—Miss Shiyu’s self-aggrandizement.

—

Next comes the ‘malignant’ aspect: Spirit.

Spirit arts often influence others’ thoughts and wills, much like Esper psychic abilities. Hallucinations, memory manipulation, and psychic attacks are their specialties. It’s said that in the eyes of a truly powerful practitioner, others are nothing but puppets on strings.

A bit creepy, isn’t it? So Spirit really is pretty scary~

But, just as the shadowy Calamity aspect can divine fortune and misfortune, Spirit also has its bright side. Spirit practitioners can easily tame beasts—and I mean creatures most people will never encounter in a lifetime—so many of them have animal companions.

After that is the universally beloved Aspect of Emptiness. These practitioners generally create special objects, like hammers that can shatter anything or swords that heal wounds. They also excel at forging Aspect armaments, and the best are renowned smiths.

If you compare it to Espers, that’s the creation class. By the way, is your ability classified as creation?

You’re categorized as ‘principle unknown’?

Well, that’s understandable, I suppose.

And as for the final aspect, Stillness...

I have nothing to say.

—

The Esper ended on this note.

“There’s no obvious commonality in the expressions of Stillness, and practitioners of that aspect are the rarest of the seven, so she had nothing to say about it.”

—

Does Stillness correspond to his own ‘principle unknown’ category? But that’s not really a category at all.

‘Principle unknown’ is a catch-all—a dumping ground for abilities that the white coats can’t classify.

Moreover, mapping the Art of Impermanence to Esper abilities is clearly just a crude analogy for convenience. In his observation, practitioners of Impermanence could achieve much more than Espers with a single ability.

Yan Qi not only had the ultimate technique, Carefree Prison, but could also seal the black sword, set sword formations, neutralize draconic phenomena, and fix the location of a dragon’s descent. Even Shiyu Zero, only masquerading as being at the Communion realm, had displayed numerous techniques: masking conversations, monitoring energy, and more.

As for Espers like himself, no matter how he twisted his single ability, it would never fundamentally change—an invisible force couldn’t be used to paint, after all.

The difference between the two was like that between a student who excelled only in one subject and a top student with both expertise and well-rounded knowledge. The specialist might shine in their field, but it was usually the well-rounded one who was more popular.

"She did a decent job; this level of understanding is enough."

The middle-aged painter was just about to rise when, as if remembering something, he paused.

"Oh right, Gongsun. What’s your own understanding of the Art of Impermanence?"

"My own understanding?"

Yan Qi replied gruffly, "Yes, no matter how foolish, as long as you’ve thought about it, lay it all out for me."

What a strange question.

What did his own perspective matter, when he was about to study this discipline?

He had certainly pondered the Art of Impermanence, but few of his questions had ever found answers. If he had to mention any hypotheses he’d formed...

Gongsun Ce thought of the three Desolation practitioners he’d recently fought.

Void Serpent, Dissolving Demon Body, and Duel of Fleeting Moments.

The first two, at the Communion realm, fit the description of ‘physical augmentation’, but Xu Junyi’s Manifestation-level Desolation aspect seemed more like a spatial ability.

Was this a special trait of the Manifestation realm? But Shiyu Zero’s Manifestation-level Spirit aspect still resembled a psychic power. If he took a step back and looked not only at Manifestation, but also at the higher level to which it belonged—at the Desolation aspect itself...

Reflecting on the recent battles, he’d thought through this idea and arrived at a conclusion he could barely believe himself.

The Esper ventured, "I feel like the Desolation aspect..."

"What about it?"

If you analyze all three as sharing the same aspect and examine their manifestations and underlying wishes...

Xu Junyi, at Manifestation, should have the deepest insight into Desolation; perhaps his philosophy could shed light on the others... If you look for similarities among these abilities...

"It seems that Desolation practitioners, and their opponents, always receive equal treatment of some kind."

Void Serpent’s attacks affected only himself and his target; if the devouring serpent fell, it endangered its master as well.

Dissolving Demon Body let the user scatter himself everywhere, but his vulnerable core was immobilized—if found, he was done for.

As for the Duel of Fleeting Moments, its twisted form aside, it was unmistakably a duel where both sides lost all supernatural powers—a contest designed for true equality.

“I feel like the Desolation aspect is... an ability that emphasizes fairness?” the gray-haired youth murmured.

Yan Qi shot to his feet, scowling, and jabbed a finger at the youth’s nose. “You are forbidden to learn the Desolation aspect in the future!”

“Why not?!”