Kyle returned to the Twilight Duchy and continued working on his Law of the Meteor.
This time, he continued for five entire years, and once more, his insights slowed down.
'Almost there,' he thought. 'I just need to get the Ether flowing more naturally.'
'Everything looks perfect. I'm just missing this last step. If I can actually streamline the Meteor Ether, I can increase the power of my Meteor Ether by another 50%. That would be my biggest jump in power to date. I mean, ignoring the time I reached the Third Realm.'
Kyle was so close.
There was just one last part remaining.
Just a tiny bit more.
However, that tiny bit felt almost impossible to achieve.
'Should I enter another True Battle?' Kyle thought.
Kyle took a deep breath.
'No, I've pushed my luck too much. At some point, I will make a mistake, and I will die.'
'I have to find another way.'
'Well, if sitting around doesn't help, I should move a bit.'
Kyle stood up and held his hammer over his shoulder.
The next moment, a dark-red aura appeared around him.
It looked like some flames were covering him.
In the past, his flames had been brighter and bigger, but that was for the same reason why Nobodies seemed so much more bombastic and impressive than actual Transcendents.
He simply hadn't had enough control over his Meteor Ether to properly compress it.
'Let's try something,' Kyle thought.
BANG!
Then, he took to the sky at his fastest speed.
A dark-red meteor illuminated the night sky in the eastern part of the world.
Kyle's speed climbed to its peak, reaching a speed of over 25 kilometers per second.
Within just 200 seconds, he could travel from the eastern edge of the world to the western.
As soon as Kyle reached his peak speed, his Ether started to drop quickly.
Although "quickly" was a relative word in this case.
It would still take over ten seconds for his Ether to run out, which was a long time for someone of his power.
Kyle reached the coast within just a couple of seconds and continued flying over the ocean.
At that moment, he narrowed his eyes and pushed more Ether into his Law of Meteor.
His speed climbed by a little bit to 26 kilometers per second, but his Ether usage quadrupled.
This was the issue Kyle was trying to solve.
He could go faster, but the efficiency of Ether conversion dropped significantly at these speeds.
Nevertheless, Kyle continued and shot towards the west.
A dark-red meteor flew across the ocean. Within a couple of seconds, Kyle's Ether storage bottomed out, but he kept pushing.
His body and instincts told him that there was nothing left to burn, but he forced it to continue.
Kyle's Center was completely empty, but he just kept going.
Oftentimes, when humans felt like they couldn't continue, that wasn't actually true.
Soldiers on Earth, during brutal fitness tests to join some sort of special forces group, often went past their limits.
The reason why the body said that it couldn't continue wasn't because it couldn't continue.
It said that so that the body wouldn't get injured heavily via overexertion.
CRK!
As Kyle continued, he felt his muscles tear and his bones break.
With the Fragment of Organs, Kyle could convert the Ether in his Center to Biological Ether to recover more quickly.
However, he could also do the opposite.
Right now, Kyle's body was transforming Biological Ether to Meteor Ether.
Naturally, this cannibalized the Ether process that kept him alive.
Bones became thinner.
Muscle fibers broke and were converted to Ether.
Blood vessels became thinner and started leaking blood.
Yet, Kyle just continued, his dark-red form becoming redder by the second.
He slowed down a bit.
But he didn't stop.
'Have to keep going!'
Parts of Kyle's skin loosened from his body, spreading behind him.
He kept flying.
He became thinner.
His body took on unnatural shapes as his bones stopped holding his appendages in place.
'I will continue!' he thought as his mind was trying to shut down to protect the body.
'Continue!'
He kept flying.
'Keep going!'
He kept flying.
'Burn to ashes or break through!'
'There's no in-between!'
The dark-red meteor left behind a trail of blood.
'Everything's there!'
'I already know everything!'
'I just need to actualize it!'
'Do it!'
'Do it!'
CRACK!
Kyle's jaw broke, and his teeth scattered, but he didn't even react.
His hair fell off and burned away.
The muscles below his broken skin burned.
'More!'
'More!'
Kyle's speed increased.
'More speed!'
'More power!'
CRK!
A tear appeared in Kyle's Center.
He kept going.
'Faster!'
Kyle sped up, and another tear appeared in his Center.
'Become a meteor!'
Kyle remembered how he had originally taken the concept of a meteor as an inspiration.
It was finally time.
He was there!
Just one more step!
A little bit more!
'DO IT!'
CRACK!
A huge crack appeared on Kyle's Center, and it started to leak Ether.
'DO IT!'
The flames around Kyle became smaller.
His speed increased.
Eventually, just a small, dark-red film surrounded him.
It was like there was just a red outline around him.
BOOOOOM!
Kyle's speed shot through the roof, reaching speeds of 35 kilometers per second in an instant.
His eyes widened.
On the horizon, the evening sun was illuminating the world.
As Kyle moved forward at speeds he had never reached before, he just looked at the evening sun.
The cracks in his Center were closing.
His body was no longer breaking down.
Despite moving at incredible speeds, his body was recovering.
How was that possible?
That was because he was using less Ether than he was regenerating.
As Kyle continued flying, evening turned to afternoon.
His body regrew at a rapid speed as his Fragment of Organs used his superfluous Ether to heal him.
Within just a couple of seconds, he recovered fully.
His Ether recovered.
'I…'
'I've done it!'
'I've got it!'
'I've finally done it!'
BANG!
Kyle exploded forward, reaching speeds of over 40 farts(kilometers) per second.
His Ether was dropping again, but this time, he wasn't pushing himself past his limit.
He didn't need to.
After all…
'I've finished my Law of Meteor!'
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