章 36: Chapter 34 - Nidhoggr
I have been too busy with my classes and exams, so I will be releasing the chapters leisurely. The releases will be rare for now, due to studies.
NOTE: If you want to see proper reference images, read this fanfic on Wattpad. I will now be solely focusing on that platform as it is more writer-friendly.
Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!
Thank you!
-SR_2027.
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"Reaching YYY Rank is easy, but let me tell you this. It is impossible to surpass it. Currently, I am at Y-Rank even with my power being half; and even when I was at my peak, I was at max YYY-Rank, just like you."
Turning her eyes to Ryo, 'she' smiled at him and continued, "You have the potential to reach the same rank as me at the peak of your life...", but as she said that, Ryo narrowed his eyes in confusion.
'Y rank? YY Rank? I only know E to Ex rank... Looks like there are more rank higher than Ex...'
As if understanding his confusion, 'Reality' smiled, and grabbed his arm forcefully as she stared directly into Ryo's eyes with her 'empty' emotionless eyes as 'she' continued, "Let me tell you what rank represents what... And what your potential is capable of..."
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World Tree.
A 'mythological tree'. A 'tree' was the first 'object' that gave birth to concepts of time, space, and 'parallels'. An entity that was brought to reality after the infinite emptiness within reality. But there was a creature which crewed on its root.
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"S-Save ME! OH, GOD!! SAVE ME!!!!"
"NOO!"
"I WAS NOT LYING-AGHH!!"
This was no realm of the living, no echo of the world Ryo once knew.
This was hell.
Looking at the scene in front of him, Ryo felt his eyebrows twitch. He was not scared, no, instead he wanted to see if he could feel extreme pain, to try to find pleasure in it.
Even though he used to imitate his emotions, and only adapted to feel emotions in the final part of his life, he wondered how many emotions he could express if he walked out of the blue spherical shield that was keeping his body safe.
"Don't even think about it. We have already made a deal.", A sweet yet cold voice interrupted his thoughts, which he ignored.
'Huh.', Shaking his head, he looked around. He was after all, inside a spherical structure that was protecting him from the toxic winds of the dimension they were in.
A dimension filled with despair.
This was hell.
The place was covered in red. No, he couldn't even describe it as red. It was a greyish world if one didn't use their paradoxical energy to see the dimensional passage.
The stench of decay hung thick in the air, assaulting his senses with its putrid embrace. Jagged rocks jutted out like broken teeth from the ground, slick with the blood of countless tormented souls.
Fleshy tentacles danced hungrily across the whole dimensional boundaries, trying to consume anything around it, casting eerie shadows that writhed and contorted like tortured organs that wiggled in pain.
Anywhere Ryo looked, he saw faces of billions if not trillions of 'faces' contorted in agony, their screams a haunting chorus that echoed through the abyss.
It was the dark but artistic world if Ryo had to describe it.
Looking at his surroundings, Ryo remained nonchalant, as he knew as soon as just a tiny slip of his intent could destroy the plan he had. He looked around until his eye landed on the timer for a fraction of a second.
[0:52:43]
Time was ticking away, as they traveled through the multidimensional 'hell'. The blue-haired 'woman' in front of him, was guiding him through the dimension in the sphere, to guide and keep him safe as they traveled through the Infinite Hell.
Ignoring the timer, he looked at the rainbowish white whip of energy in his, as he clasped it in between his human fist.
This was what was going to make him 'win'.
Looking at his new humanoid body, which was now covered in flesh as a whole, Ryo summarized. 1st stage was flesh, 2nd step was Soul, 3rd stage, was where he was currently at, Astral Body, and finally, the peak where one becomes a true god: Origin.
As soon as he awakened his Origin Core, he officially entered the 3rd stage, the Astral Body projection.
To put it simply, at this point, Ryo was able to use paradox energy to 'break' free from the 'laws' of reality and defy reality, thus becoming omnipotent as long as he continue to use his paradox energy.
Normally, any person, born in the lower world, can never open his or her core naturally. This is natural as one becomes too chaotically enraged, the world helps them awaken their Origin Core forcefully and absorb the paradox energy present in the core, thus damaging the core the more the person uses the core energy.
Through this, it is only possible for the 'main characters' to achieve. The reason for their sudden boost in strength is due to the 'power of friendship', they were just damaging their core so that they can never become 'higher' dimensional beings.
As for why the 'Worlds' do this?
Once a 'protagonist' becomes omniscient in their world, they will naturally try to stop all 'evil' or all 'good' from happening or there are just too many reasons. These reasons naturally destroy the paradoxical rules set for the 'Worlds', which in turn can cause them to be destroyed.
"..."
While he went through the information, he suddenly sensed 'it'. They had reached their destination.
Looking at the 'woman' in front of him, he narrowed his eyes and asked back hesitantly, "You... won't betray me, right?", his throat felt unnaturally dry as he continued, "I trust you. Don't break the deal we have made."
"I know.", Looking at the blue-haired woman nodding, Ryo sighed as he looked ahead as she used her hands to open a dimensional door. As soon as the door opened, he was suddenly hit with a huge wave of nausea.
His eyes started to burn, causing him to instantly use the paradoxical energy in his core instinctively to protect himself from the huge wave that came gushing in.
As if adapting to the 'energy', he was finally able to open his eyes, as he found himself in a vast chamber, its walls, if he could even call it, were pitch black. No, it was darker than black.
But within that darkness, the 'walls' were adorned with strange while symbols and sigils that seemed to pulse with otherworldly energy, as they floated within the wall of the dimension.
The air crackled with the smell of decay, making it hard for him to even survey his surroundings. Each action caused him to feel pressured. But it was for the naught. Flowing the paradoxical energy, he instantly cleared out the outer interference as he looked at his new 'surrounding'.
In the center of the world he was in now, stood a towering shadowy figure, its form obscured by shadows and smoke.
It swirling chaos, its form twisting and contorting in impossible ways. Its presence alone seemed to warp reality, bending light and sound to its whim. If Ryo had to describe the being only two words could describe it: 'eldritch abomination'.
The air cracked as finally 'it' 'opened' its mouth, "Welcome, Ryo", each word caused extreme pain to his mind, making him narrow his eyes and grit his teeth. It was as if he was being boiled alive.
He could feel the tendrils of its influence 'worming' their way into his thoughts, threatening to overwhelm him with their dark power.
Using his Paradox Energy, he quickly flushed out the 'worms', causing him to vomit out literal worms that were 'somehow' able to form inside his body.
Ryo eyes trembled as his flesh split in two as thousands of worms poured themselves out of the spit in his face. His eyes momentarily trembled as he felt agony which he could barely express, making him smile as he clenched his teeth to bear the pain.
"Ugh."
*SCREECH!!!*
Finding themselves expelled from his body, the worms collapsed in the inside part of the shield and started to let out a human-like scream as they started to wiggle and disintegrate into nothingness.
His mind started to shake in pain and agony, as his senses started to go haywire, "Calm down.", he heard the blue-haired woman's voice echoing in his mind, her words a distant reassurance amidst the chaos.
He could only grab his head in pain, and close the split in his flesh that caused the pain, as he noticed that the shield around him started to thicken with extreme Paradoxical Energy.
"Baal. You should also stop now. I am here to make a deal with you.", The blue-haired woman looked back at the eldrich being in a calm manner, not minding his previous attempt to take over and control Ryo's mind.
On the other hand, as the shield around Ryo thickened, he found that the voice grew hushed as he was barely able to hear them talk at that point, making him calm himself down.
Though he couldn't hear their conversation with the demon, he trusted that she was working to keep him safe.
"..."
Knowing that he could do anything anyway, as the only thing he saw was R and Baal floating in infinite dark space and telepathically talking with each other.
Narrowing his eyes, he looked down at his hand and played with the whip of light.
This was a weapon. A whip of light, which could turn into anything he wanted it to be, just by imagining the picture or blueprint of the weapon.
It was a Paradoxical Weapon; connected to his soul and did not require any command or energy to transform into anything he imagined. A truly law-breaking weapon.
The problem? Modern weapon.
Due to being strengthened by Paradoxical energy over Eons of timespan, the effect of Modern Weapon-like structure over any higher dimensional being was next to none. This was the main problem.
Due to being born in an era where modern weapons and longer-ranged weapons were at their peak, the training he had for melee was superficial, as he had never tried to gain real experience with the skills he had with the melee weapons.
While he was in thought, a calm voice interrupted him, "Are you ready? As soon as you complete your side of the deal, I will complete my side of the deal and take you as my disciple and help you reach the peak of your potential."
R, or 'reality', had made a deal with him, that if he defeated an entity imprisoned in the Infinite Hell, he would be taken in as 'her' disciple and gain all the resources that she could provide him with.
"Yes.", Ryo looked up again as he nodded at R, prompting her to insert her hands into the void and tear a space, opening a greyish portal to an interdimensional void.
[0:51:20]
"Good luck, Otsuki Ryo. Do not disappoint me.", Giving him a final encouragement, R pushed the shield surrounded into the greyish void, until it completely submerged into the liquid-like void space and disappeared.
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Níðhǫggr
According to the Gylfaginning part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, Níðhǫggr is a being that gnaws one of the three roots of Yggdrasill. It is sometimes believed that the roots are trapping the beast from the world.
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--[POV: Ryo]--
"Ugh.", Grabbing my head, I opened my eyes as I found myself lying on the ground, in an unfamiliar place. Just a short distance from me was an emerald-colored jade-like gate floating just a few inches away from the ground.
The ground surrounding me seems to be made out of solid soil-like material, making me wonder what the composition of the ground could be.
Shaking my head, I dismissed that thought as he had a very limited amount of Paradoxical Energy. If he used this energy just to analyze the ground, he would have trouble trying to face the creature that was trapped in the interdimensional space.
Paradoxical Energy is a limited energy, one cannot recover it, nor can be regenerated. It was limited and artificially extracted.
As for how much Paradoxical Energy he had?
If he had to say, the amount he was sensing could be compared to the amount of 'UP' that the system was showing him. Thus, the amount of UP that the 'System' had in its arsenal was converted into Paradox Energy within its core.
This means anything he gained from the shop was made out of the Paradoxical Energy that the System combusted to produce the said item.
"Phew.", Standing up, I tidied my naked body and took out the whip of light from within my palm, as it started to form a medivieal armor. It not only had the function of turning into a weapon but into anything, as long as the user has a good imagination. "Let's go fight the creature."
With that thought, I approached the gate.
I didn't know what kind of creature I was facing. It might seem idiotic for someone like me to face some sort of unknown creature that even the higher dimensional creature feared. But there was a reason for it.
I initially was about to decline the offer but decided against it as I had some plan for the creature. Furthermore, the reason why the Higher Dimensional creature feared the being that was captured inside the interdimensional space was that it could adapt to the power level of the enemy it was facing.
This means the stronger the enemy was, the stronger its initial power would be, making me the perfect candidate for this task. But this made me wonder, what if my birth and my coming in contact with DIO and accidentally stumbling into this creature was not a coincidence?
"...", With that thought in mind, I looked at the system's clock. But I froze as soon as I looked at it. 'How could this be...?'
[0:51:19]
The clock was frozen.
"...", I instantly concluded what and why this was happening., 'Dio wants me to get rid of this creature... But why? He seems to be much higher dimensional than these 'concepts'. He should be able to destroy these ' creatures'...'
"..."
Silence occupied the space I was in until I finally closed my eyes and cleared my thoughts. My mind almost went blank due to thinking of thousands of possible reasons, but only one truth remained the same.
'He either created or manipulated the events such that I will face these so-called 'creatures'...'
Knowing full well that there was nothing I could do in the place I was in, I decided that instead of wasting my time thinking about unnecessary things, I would first need to be strong enough to break free of the beings controlling me.
They could easily manipulate my thoughts, even though very weakly due to the presence of System blocking their influence, but nonetheless, they could still manipulate it. So I first need to kill the Higher Dimensional Beings.
With that in mind, I walked up to the door and pressed my ear to it, trying to understand or see if I could find anything peculiar that I could use to my advantage during the fight.
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[2570]
Don't forget to give me a comment, reply, or power stone! They give me motivation!
Thank you!
-SR_2027.
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