Chapter 363 - 361:Aspect of Self.
"Alright then. Let’s get to somewhere more convenient, shall we?"
Following his words, he snapped his fingers.
SNAP!
And I found myself within a dojo like building.
"What?" I couldn’t believe it.
"That.. that wasn’t teleportation." I knew. I use teleportation frequently. This felt nothing like that.
"Hehehe. Of course it’s not. Teleportation is too rigid. This is better. I call it Spatial displacement. All it does is basically drop you in whatever location you have designated."
"None of teleportations lagging and all of the fun. Cool right?"
I had to admit. It was pretty damn cool.
"How did you do it?"
"Oh. It’s quite an easy trick. Spend enough time tweaking around with laws and you realize they’re a lot easier to use than most make it out to seem."
"Hmmm."
"Well. Enough of that. Let’s get this spar on the way. I’m curious to see what you’re capable of." He clapped his hands. A wall of runic inscriptions being raised around us.
"This should contain whatever we throw at each other."
"Are you sure?" I raised a curious brow, "I can get pretty rough."
"Heh! Trust me. These were made to withstand the implosion of a star. I doubt you have anything that powerful."
"Well... damn..." the more I heard this guy speak, the more it looked like I had no idea what I was doing. So..
"Enough talk.." I bounced off my feet. Appearing right before him, a punch being sent straight into his face.
SMASH!!
His entire body burst into shards.
"Hmm... so, you’re a brute force fighter huh? This might be a lot easier than I thought." His voice sounded from right above me as I looked up.
"You can do better than that, no?" He smiled.
BANG!!
All he got in reply was a swift kick that shattered his body into prismatic shards.
"Tut. Tut. That won’t do. You can’t even differentiate between an Echo and the real thing. Your usage of laws is quite amateurish if I’m being honest." He shook his head as he appeared beside me.
BANG!!!
It felt like my soul had been slapped out of my body the moment his palm connected with my chest.
BAM!!!!
I smashed back first into the runic inscriptions around, mouth opening in a silent gasp.
"Hmmm... that’s what happens when you align Force and Time. I call that Future pa..."
Zing!!
His body was cleaved into two before he could complete that sentence as time righted itself.
My body appearing behind his split form.
"Hahahahaha... nice try."
BLINK!
The world blinked once more and then...
BANG!!!
I found myself slamming back first into the tunes once more.
"Wha... what?" My eyes widened as I shook off the damage.
"An attack that cuts through time itself? Impressive. But still, that’s a very Brutish way of using laws. Where’s the finesse?"
"You know, like this.." saying so, he drew a hand through the air and then...
"HAAAA!!!" I gasped as an overwhelming feeling of weakness washed over me.
"You... what the fuck???" I couldn’t help screaming out in distress.
"My power. What did you do?" I looked at him, incredulous.
"Nothing much. I just swapped the you of now with the you of when you were much weaker. I call it Time Displacement. Pretty neat right?"
"Motherfucker.."
The essence of negation washed through my body as..
BANG!!
I shattered the shell of weakness encasing me.
"Oho? Is that.. negation? How did you even comprehend such an illusive law.. oh my.. I’m so jealous..."
"Keep quiet.." I appeared right before him, punched packed with enough force to leave a hold in Jupiter, but...
BAMF...
"Force huh.. a fickle mistress she is." A glimmering runic Barrier appeared over his skin, dispersing the entire force within the attack.
"You know, this law once made me contemplate reincarnating into a more physically dominant race just to increase the speed at which I comprehended it, but alas.." he sighed before..
"How about this then..." he slapped a palm to my chest and then....
"What the..." looking at my tiny hands I couldn’t help cussing out loud.
"Ooooohhhh... you look quite cute for a child. Though, that mouth of yours is still as vulgar as ever."
"This mother...."
ZING!!!
Elira manifested right above him, delivering a strike that cleaved him cleanly into two, but...
"Still wrong." His voice came from beside me.
"Damn this." I shattered the baby shell I had been encased in as I leveled him a deathly stare.
"You’re playing with me?" I growled.
Rooooarrrrr!!!!!
"Not in the least my friend. I’m just trying to understand how much you understand laws and their usage, considering the amount you’ve comprehended. But it seems you only know to use them for brutish actions, quite the waste if you ask me."
He shook his head in disappointment.
"You think so? Alright then..." I raised Elira up.
Her blade turning pitch black as I leveled him an emotionless stare.
"Hey... that’s a dangerous look you’ve got there my friend."
"Absolute...
..... Death!"
Her blade dropped down in one swift decisive stroke.
"Shit!!" His face finally lost that laid back expression as he waved his hands midair..
"Converging timelines..." the world suddenly split into three different parts.
Two parts had him succumbing to the attack and failing, but the last one...
"Timeline accreditation..." the world glitched as the one timeline where he survived the attack became the reality.
"Phew.. that was dangerous, my friend."
"Oho? Interesting. Let’s see you do that again..."
"Wait..."
"Absolute....
.... Death."
Elira swung down once more.
"Timeline Divergence." This time, the world didn’t split into three different possibilities. Instead, the world rejected any timeline where the attack had ever struck as his body blurred and appeared far behind me.
"My friend.. you’re going to.."
"Behind you." I grinned.
"Wha..."
SHING!!
Dark grey blood spurted out like a fountain as his entire shoulder was cleaved clean off.
"Ho... how.?" His eyes shook as he turned towards me.
"I thought you said my use of laws was amateurish" I grinned, resting Elira on my shoulder.
His eyes suddenly glowed a feverish light as the bleeding stump froze. Then as if time itself was wound back, the blood, the bones.. everything returned to normal like it had never been cut off to begin with.
"Magnificent. That.. that was another law wasn’t it? What was it? Tell me. Tell me."
"Heh! Why don’t you come find out? There’s a lot more where that came from."
His eyes we’re practically glowing by this point as a crazed grin appeared on his face.
"You’re very interesting aren’t you?"
"Heh! I though chronari were supposed to be scholarly?"
"Well. In the pursuit of knowledge, one must acquire the means to use force when necessary."
"I guess we can finally agree on something then."
My eyes shone brilliantly as they locked onto his and then.. we moved.
No. Calling it movement would be an insult. We happened.
One minute we were distant, the next, time glitched as the entire dojo became nothing but splintered wood.
"Marvelous..."
BANG!!
Floors caved in beneath us. Pillars burst apart. The walls shattered into countless fragments, only for the runic inscriptions carved into every surface to blaze with blinding light, dragging everything back together before the debris could even settle.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" I laughed in maddened glee as we separated briefly, before..
BOOOOMM!!!!
We clashed once more.
Space tore open and sealed shut in the same breath. One heartbeat held thousands of clashes, each one happening somewhere different, yet somehow all at once.
There were no bodies to follow.
Only destruction, appearing first... and the impacts arriving afterward, as though reality itself had fallen behind our battle.
Accompanying that..
""HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!!!"" Was our excited laughter.
As our clash continued to intensify without any signs of slowing down.
Every time the runes restored the dojo, it was broken again before the light had even faded.
"PAST.
PRESENT.
FUTURE."
Salazar chanted swiftly as our bodies separated once more..
"Continuoum Convergence!!"
The world shattered and split.
Multiple timelines manifesting themselves around me, but before I could react...
"SEVER!"
ZIIINNG!!!
The world flashed white as I felt death’s grip on me.
Not just me. Everything I was. Everything I currently am. And everything I would’ve been. All.. severed.
"Haa.. Haa.. Haa.. my friend. Don’t tell me that’s..."
"Final moment..."
My words were nothing but a whisper as I appeared behind him, Elira’s blade resting on my shoulder.
RIIIP!!!
"Im... impossible." His eyes shook violently as his body began splitting into two.
"Heh! You can do better than that, my friend." I couldn’t help returning his words back at him.
....
"Hah.... Hahaha.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!" He suddenly burst into manic laughter.
"Marvelous. Wonderful. Truly. What a beautiful application of the laws." His body began trying to pull itself together, but...
"Heh! Seems you still have other things in the bag huh?" He laughed as he realized the damage wasn’t being undone.
"I told you. There’s a lot more where that came from." I finally turned around.
"So, anything else?" My eyes bled a golden luster that thirsted for more. I wasn’t ready for it to end. This was the most fun I’ve had in quite some time.
"Those eyes... I like those eyes.. alright then." His own grin grew to match mine.
"I wonder if you’ve ever experienced what a law creator is truly capable of." His grin sharpened even further as his aura slowly deepened.
"Allow me to enlighten you, my friend."
"ASPECT OF SELF.
I.... AM INVINCIBLE."
WENG!!!
The entire dojo shook violently as the tunes flared even brighter, but that wasn’t the end.
"I.... AM IMMEASURABLE!"
Wooooooooooshhhhhhhhhh!!!!
A tornado of power erupted out of him as the runes threatened to blink out of existence.
The sheer amount of power being released from him being enough to compromise the rune’s stability. And yet, he still wasn’t done, because...
"I.... AM ABSOLUTE."
DUMMMMMM!!!!!!
The aura being released from him was immediately contained, and yet...
CRACKKKKKKKK!!!!!!
SHATTERRR!!!!!
The runes could no longer take the pressure, shattering into golden particles as his aura settled upon the place like an omen.
And then, almost as if acknowledging his declarations..
SHUNK!
His split body snapped itself back together almost instantly.
"Hahahaha... oh my. Seems I forgot to account for this when I used these runes. Allow me to restore them."
SNAP!
With a snap of his fingers, the runes were instantly restored. These ones looking even more steady.
"This should be capable of containing the explosion of multiple stars. They should hold. Now, where were we?" He looked at me, excitement clear in his eyes.
[DING!]
[Chaotic comprehension activating...]
Chaotic Comprehension flared to life as...
"Hah... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" I laughed in pure euphoria.
"Oyy! Oyy! Oyy! Don’t you know?" I twirled Elira, gripping her shaft tightly as I finally took a proper stance.
"There’s only one person allowed to bear the epithet of ABSOLUTE."
My aura grew to match the overwhelming amount pouring out of him..
"And that...
.... Is me."
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A/N: seems our boy finally has some proper competition? Or does he? Anyways..
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Thanks for reading..