The moment the old man’s hand came off, I froze.

"What. The. Fuck?" Was all I could say.

After all the torture disguised training sessions I’ve been through with this man, I knew one thing for sure.

He wasn’t that fragile.

Not even close.

The very fact that a punch packing over 37million strength stats couldn’t move him said more than enough.

So if he wasn’t that fragile, then that could only mean..

"Collapse and Inevitability.." it could only be these two, the time acceleration might’ve also had a hand in it, but I was sure these two were at the forefront of it all..

Collapse.

Inevitability.

One ensured reality and everything else didn’t dare stay together in its presence.

The other ensured that whatever it wanted, had already come to pass.

So the merging of these two cheats, not forgetting the fact that the Collapse vision, as I call it, had made sure that I had attacked the absolute weakest point on that arm, made it possible for me to take the arm.

Negation couldn’t stop Absolution.

"Hooo..." I breathed out, trying to steady myself.

There was still a lot to learn about these two laws, and their worded descriptions wouldn’t cut it..

So, I focused, back on the arm that had just finished unraveling and disappearing, as the old man finally spoke..

"Interesting."

His voice hadn’t lost that tone of indifference, even after losing an arm.

"Time and time again, I seem to underestimate your rate of growth." His words came out slow, intentional, as he surveyed his severed limb.

"So much so, that I’d even placed you on the same pedestal your father was on, yet even then.." he shook his head, chuckling.

I immediately tensed up.

The old man was chuckling.

He never laughs, unless he’s decided you deserved pain.

"You put to shame the title of genius, boy!" I watched in fascination as his arm grew back in an instant.

It wasn’t healing.

No. It was something more profound.

He stretched the newly formed arm, "so, allow me to give you the treatment someone of your caliber deserves." A massive, 12-foot long broadsword wrapped tightly in white bandages, materialized slowly in a cloud of crimson fog, the entire atmosphere turning a crimson red, the smell of blood and death filling my lungs.

"I apologize for my previous actions, I shall underestimate you no longer." The old man concluded as he brought both hands to the hilt of the bandaged weapon...

My instincts flared immediately..

DANGER!!!!

I tensed, ready for anything, but I couldn’t have been more foolish,

"Art Of Massacre, First Form..."

[Chaotic comprehension is activating....]

I blinked.

Once.

And the world began tilting.

"Eh? Did I just... die?"

"Dead at the gates.." the old man’s voice sounded from before me.

A sharp drop in my energy, proof that Chaotic Denial had done it’s job saw my body reformed anew, yet my face had gone grim..

I hadn’t seen him move.

One moment he was standing before me, the next, I was headless.

And even more troubling, I looked at my status page..

......

Chaos Energy(CE): 200,000,000k/233,750,000k -> 176,250,000k/233,750,000k

.......

A sharp 10% drop in my total energy capacity, all from trying to survive one attack..

That was perhaps the most expensive revival I’ve had till date..

Yet the old man wasn’t about to give me any respite..

"Second Form..."

Before the old man could even finish his words, the world was suddenly split into two different halves..

"Vanishing Death..." his voice whispered quietly from behind my bisected figure...

Another sharp drop in my energy and my body was returned to its wholesome state, yet this time,

"Haa... Haa.. Haa.." I was breathing heavily, my figure hunched over, as a could sweat drenched my entire body...

"That was different..." that move, it didn’t feel like anything from before..

It felt like something was trying to erase my existence as a whole..

CE: 176,250,000k -> 100,000,000k

A whopping 76 million chaos energy, just to survive whatever that was..

One should remember, this was chaos energy.

The godfather of all energies.

100x more qualitative and quantitative than mana, yet I’d used over 76 million points of that same energy just to survive an attack.

"That move..." it wasn’t made to be survived...

If it were anyone else... they’d be dead right now...

"Third Form..." my face turned a ghastly white the moment I heard those words...

There was a third form??

Like the first two weren’t already a nightmare!!!

Before I could think any further, it hit me..

Pain!

A hellish pain.

A soul tearing, Heart numbing pain.

Pain the likes of which I had never experienced in my entire life.

I have been killed more times than I can be bothered to count.

Blasted apart, sliced and diced, beheaded, yet during those times all I felt was the thrill of the moment, but this, this was different..

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" The cry tore straight out of me before I could even think of stopping it..

"Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop! Just fucking make it stop!!!!" I screamed internally, because I couldn’t articulate any words that weren’t soul wrenching shrieks of pain...

Chaotic Denial was working, proof was the fast pace at which my energy was dropping...

100,000,000k

99,000,000k

97,000,000k

95,000,000k

....

...

90,000,000k

That was within the first 5 seconds of this torture.

I needed to do something fast or I was truly going to meet my maker today..

"De...Devour..." I stuttered mentally, my only thoughts being to use this to offset my rapidly dropping energy levels..

<<ENERGY CONVERTED... 1000k CE>>

<<ENERGY CONVERTED... 1000k CE>>

<<ENERGY CONVERTED... 1000k CE>>

.....

It was working, but barely.

I needed to make this, whatever it was, stop..

I opened my eyes, struggling to stay awake through the ordeal, as my pupils changed, veins spreading through them..

Collapse Vision...

I activated that particular ability the law had granted me, only this time, I didn’t look outward, no.

I focused my attention inward, at my very being, then I saw it..

A dark crimson fog of energy that was eating at my entire being constantly without pause.

It was eating at EVERYTHING..

My body.

My core.

Even places I myself couldn’t yet access.

EVERYTHING...

"How... how do I..." the thought crossed my mind before a solution followed right after..

I was already using it..

Collapse.

Yes.

It’s nature was to cause the destabilization of everything, so it should work on unraveling whatever this was..

I didn’t wait to consider anything else...

I channeled the full force of the law within me, but I didn’t use it alone.

Inevitability was added into the mix with only one desired outcome in mind.

DESTROY!

The energies surged through my body like an uncontrollable tide, Collapse washing through me.

The moment it sensed the energy released by the crimson fog, it flared! Attacking immediately..

CRACK!!

I could hear something crack audibly within my body, no, within my entire existence, as a pain that felt a million times worse than what I’d been experiencing earlier crashed upon me..

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I couldn’t have stopped this even if I wanted to, as I could literally feel every part of my existence collapsing, unraveling, being completely unmade, just for Chaotic Denial to put me back whole.

The back and forth continued between the three forces for a few moments, my mind tearing apart from the harrowing pain, until eventually..

SCHPLATTTT!!!!!

I exploded into blood mist and for a very, very brief instant that somehow still felt like eternity, everything..

EVERYTHING, went Pitch Black

I.. Had truly died.

**************

A/N: would you guys believe me if I said I didn’t do cliffhangers on purpose? At least there’s the next Chapter immediately after this one, so you guys aren’t allowed to be angry...

Anyways...

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Thanks for reading....