Chapter 2352: I was right to choose you, Zylarith Chaosveil.”

BOOOOM

Nux punched.

Again, a physical punch couldn’t hurt Zylarith, his body simply scattered and reformed a few meters away, this time however, he wasn’t as calm as usual.

Instead—

"How..."

He stared at Nux with a mix of confusion, surprise and... fear.

This shouldn’t have happened. He had already corrupted the Time and Space around him, he shouldn’t have been able to get near him but...

He did.

And before Zylarith could make any sense out of it—

The Time and Space around Nux moved again, he, once again corrupted it, this time for sure but—

Again, Nux stood right in front of him and—

He punched again—

BOOOOOOOM

Once again, his body scattered into hundreds of violet-black fragments, each flying in different directions.

But this time—

Nux didn’t let those fragments reform as easily as before—

This time, his eyes followed every single one of those fragments clearly.

That was when the Energy of Balance moved around Nux, but this time, something was... wrong.

It was Energy of Balance but... it wasn’t...

It was something so strange that even Zylarith, a being who was once called the strongest, couldn’t make sense of it.

Not that he was given the time, because the moment Nux activated this strange Energy of Balance, Zylarith’s scattered Soul fragments froze for a small instant, then, every single fragment cracked at the same time.

Zylarith reformed far away and—

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

He screamed.

A scream so loud that it shook the entire Dimension.

The once strongest Infinity, screaming in agony as his form flickered violently.

Nux watched it all with his cold, golden eyes shining intensely.

"So it works."

A small, cruel, dangerous smile appeared on his face. Zylarith looked at him, his purple eyes flared with intense anger and pain. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"You..."

An absurd amount of Chaos Energy gathered around him, cause and effect were twisted again. The punch that had landed was erased, the moment Nux had reached Zylarith was removed.

Reality changed according to Zylarith’s desire, so the wound on his Soul should have disappeared, the pain should have disappeared but—

It did not.

Zylarith’s eyes widened in shock.

Nux watched him from a distance, he didn’t attack, not out of mercy or a fake sense of superiority, but because he wanted to observe everything that was happening and understand how what he was doing was working.

"I see."

He nodded to himself, noting down something he did not mention.

On the other hand, Zylarith, with his body still quivering in pain, slowly raised his head and now, his eyes were different.

The amusement and interest were gone.

Now, there was only anger.

That was it.

The playing time was over.

Now, Zylarith was going to take this seriously.

The Chaos around him became denser, this time, Zylarith did not affect mere surface-level Energies like Time and Space, now—

He went a level beyond.

Now, he started corrupting...

Ideas.

Concepts.

Or... Meaning.

Nux didn’t understand it, he didn’t have to, he simply appeared right in front of Zylarith and punched.

But this time—

Zylarith did not dodge, instead, he changed the very concept of punch, before it even arrived, the attack carried the memory of failure.

To avoid that, Nux’s body moved on instinct, he shifted his fist to the side, to ’correct’ the punch and he missed.

All on his own.

Nux frowned, even now, he didn’t understand what just happened, but he didn’t give up, he tried again, this time, his punch was even faster, he even wrapped it with Death, to inflict pain, but...

Before the punch could even land, it missed its ’Meaning.’

Nux stood right in front of Zylarith with his hand extended out like a fool, he looked like he had forgotten why he was here in the first place.

That was when Zylarith raised his finger and—

Nux’s wounds changed, the cuts on his chest deepened, not because Zylarith attacked them again, but because they were made to believe they had always been that deep.

His broken ribs remembered never being whole, his torn muscles remembered being torn from the beginning, his blood remembered flowing wrongly, his nerves remembered agonizing pain as their natural state.

"Khhrrkkkkk!!!"

Nux coughed out blood again, his eyes were red from the extreme pain he was in. Zylarith brought his face right next to Nux’s and—

"This is Chaos."

He began, this time, there wasn’t a hint of amusement in his voice, there was only cruelty.

"It is not random destruction.

It is Contradiction."

Nux’s right arm twisted into a shape it shouldn’t be in, for a moment, it was alive, then it died, it was broken, healed, existing, erased, all at once.

"Gguuhhh!!"

Nux groaned in pain, but this was only the beginning.

His chest was torn open and healed again and again, his heart was made to beat and stop at the same time, his skin was burned and untouched, his blood was frozen and flowing in different directions—

All at the same time.

Every single thing ruined Nux’s body in a way that shouldn’t be possible and as he groaned in agonizing pain he had never experienced before—

"A Reality that is not loyal to itself."

Zylarith’s words sounded again.

Nux gritted his teeth, he used the Power of Creation, trying to create new flesh, and it happened, new flesh formed, new bone grew, but—

"Creation is structure."

Zylarith smiled, purple chaos touched the new parts Nux had just created and—

They twisted at impossible angles too, Zylarith made it so the old and new parts began to fight each other, Nux’s body was being destroyed by his own power, leaving him no choice but to destroy what he had created with the Power of Destruction.

But—

"Destruction is purpose."

Zylarith commented.

The Destruction twisted.

Instead of erasing the ’corruption’, it strengthened it. Purple marks appeared all over his chest and arms, almost as if Chaos was taking over his body.

It was useless.

Nux could see it as well.

He had tried it before too, but his understanding of Laws was too weak to go against Zylarith. It didn’t matter what Law he used, Zylarith could simply corrupt it all and use it against him.

Even now, as he tried to use Death directly on his Soul, Zylarith simply waved his hand and—

"Death is conclusion."

He declared as Chaos wrapped around Death.

The Death Law twisted.

Conclusion became... birth.

The black energy split apart and bloomed. Zylarith’s Soul shivered, then pieces of him separated.

One became two.

Two became ten.

Ten became a hundred.

Hundreds of Zylarith’s Soul fragments appeared around Nux.

Some looked human, some had no faces, some had too many eyes, some were only mouths, some were only hands, some were only black-violet smoke with a smile inside them—

But every single one of them was Zylarith.

A complete Zylarith.

And...

All of them attacked at once.

Chaos came from every direction.

One attacked his chest, another pierced his back, one tore open his face, another wrapped chaos around his arm, trying to erase the very idea that the arm belonged to him, trying to amputate him permanently.

Nux’s blood scattered all over the place and—

CRACK

The dimension he created cracked.

Yes, Nux’s very Universe was being torn and the first to be affected by it was the dimension he had created.

Zylarith’s corruption was getting stronger, his fragments surrounded him like an army of dead Gods, then, his true form appeared behind them and—

"Do you understand now?"

All of them spoke at the same time.

"This is why the Four of them came together."

He explained.

"This is why, even when I was dead, even when I was at my weakest, those Four never stopped looking for me.

They knew—

I may be at my weakest, but I am still the Strongest."

Zylarith declared, the Chaos Energy around him had now begun taking control over his surroundings, the Dimension they were in was already falling under Zylarith’s control and it was only a matter of time before Zylarith used this dimension to make his way towards Nux’s Main Universe and take control over it as well.

And while he did all that—

While he prepared to win—

Nux stood still, with his head down.

His body floated silently in the void.

He was wounded, surrounded and bleeding in a way that shouldn’t even be possible, his Universe trembled, screaming at whatever it was that was happening.

He could see it too.

It was over.

But then—

"Heh."

Nux laughed.

It was a low, hollow laugh that should have been inaudible, especially with all the Chaos around but—

Despite that, the laugh echoed throughout the void and that made Zylarith frown.

Something about Nux... didn’t feel right.

Nux then raised his head, this time, there was no frustration, anger, or pain in his eyes, there was only acceptance.

He looked at his dimension that was now broken, his Laws that were twisted beyond normal, the wounds on his body—

At the battlefield that made absolutely no sense.

And then—

He smiled.

"I see.

I was right to choose you, Zylarith Chaosveil."