[MA] 441. Mistakes (Patreon)

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[A/N: Another big chapter, 50% lengthier than usual. Enjoy!

Chapters this week: 2/3

Next chapter: Saturday]

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The first hurdle in Shen's fight was the highly complex meta-battlefield. Over a dozen domains filled the same space, each trying to pull the local Laws their way. When that happened, one had to wisely decide which Law to invest more willpower to affect. Alas, Shen was in no condition to be wise.

Shaft, True Boundlessness, Extremity, Stream, and Gentle Breeze were more or less in control. Not directly, but their main characteristics had become an adamant part of Shen. They couldn't be ignored. He couldn't even think of not using them to their utmost.

Shaft demanded stability. So, Shen kept forcing his Will against every other domain in a wordless demand that everyone agree on a Law ratio and fight from there, instead of fighting for supremacy. That was fated to fail. Willpower slipped through his metaphorical fingers every second as he wasted it on the meaningless endeavor.

True Boundlessness wasn't much better. It demanded him to be free of all external influence. It constantly attempted to make his body out of bounds to any domain's manipulation. It kept failing and consuming his willpower.

Extremity was a bit more egoistical and, paradoxically, less useless. It kept investing willpower in pushing its own influence to the Extreme. Shen's influenced One Self wanted the Law of Extremity to be an unbeatable Law within his domain. Those attempts were more successful than the other Laws, though they were also constantly countered, and Shen had to invest more willpower in strengthening Extremity.

Stream was the Law that annoyed Shen the most. It supported all senseless expenditures from the other Laws to keep a Stream of willpower going. At least it didn't directly waste any willpower.

Finally, Gentle Breeze was the weirdest. It simply attempted to make every Law within his domain range to brush harmlessly against every other instead of fighting. Gentle Breeze and Shaft's objectives overlapped slightly, so they supported each other. That meant a little less waste of willpower.

Yet, willpower was still wasted. Shen would be out of willpower in less than a minute if not for an unexpected blessing.

Shen discovered a facet of domain combat no one had revealed to him before: as long as he was entirely faithful to a mastered Law's primary goal and invested in it in the meta-battlefield, each Law opened a unique well of willpower for him to draw from. The wells weren't endless, and using them still took some of his willpower, but it would allow him to go for much longer than with only his willpower.

That explained a lot about some meta-combat he had witnessed between people with mastered Laws in the past two years in the Tower of Seven, including from E'livia. He didn't know why no one told him about it, though.

Still, his willpower would dwindle as the fight went on. The meta-battlefield worked by investing packets of willpower in getting something done, primarily making a Law have more or less hold over the area of Reality within your domain. If your demand was more substantial than your enemy's—the "attack power" was based primarily on willpower—your desire would overcome theirs. If it was less, theirs would overcome yours. It was an endless loop, and willpower was spent as a resource.

Qi could be used to brute-force through some of the meta-battlefield's effects. Path-supported qi could be focused on an area to make it better resist opposing domains. The effect was better the more mastered Laws you had in your Path, and there was a qualitative leap after mastering all Laws. A Path with only three Laws, but all mastered, would be more resistant against enemy domains than Shen's five mastered Laws.

Evidently, every combatant around was already filling their bodies and weapons with so much qi that they seemed to shine brightly to Shen's Allvision.

Anyway, although Shen's willpower would be spent slower than expected thanks to the unexpected wells, he could still only end up with his willpower wholly spent. He estimated it would run dry in less than five minutes, and only if he didn't use his willpower on any other thing.

Of course, he used his willpower as soon as the battle started.

Octo had timed his sneak attack too perfectly. Shen couldn't dodge in time. He used his Absolute Horizon to will the space around one of the eight metallic tentacles coming his way to become unsurmountable.

The tentacle froze momentarily, and Shen used the gap to escape the enclosure. Nine percent of his willpower was spent to accomplish that trick.

He swung Un'Re against the tentacle just as he stopped willing the space around it to be impossible to go through. He meant to test his weapon against his enemy's cyberware. He didn't like the result.

The Overlord Realm didn't accept anything above the Overlord level. Items above it could still enter but were limited to the Realm's power boundaries—which caused many of them to crumble into dust. Un'Re hadn't been destroyed, but its materials, enchantments, and power were only as good as the tentacles', at the peak of the Overlord Realm, despite Un'Re's superior craftsmanship. So, the clash became all about strength and the meta-battlefield at the time.

Shen's Extremity happened to have become weaker than the average Law just before it struck against the tentacle. It wasn't Octo's doing, someone else had done it, but it affected Shen all the same. Octo's Law of Sturdiness, from the Axioms of Metal, was stronger than average. Shen's strength was superior to Octo's, but it didn't make up for the difference between the Laws that defined Reality itself in the region.

Un'Re rebounded harmlessly from the tentacle.

Shen took in the man's figure—if he could still be called man. He was a stretched face over a watermelon-sized metallic head, which rested over the metallic sphere from which the tentacles came. Everything was black except the face's pale skin. It was hideous—but well-thought. Nearing the man's center mass without dealing with the tentacles was almost impossible. The tentacles were long enough that Octo kept them folded behind him even as he moved them ahead. They were always in the way, forming a protective barrier around him. After his failure, Octo was already turning around and thrusting his tentacles against Shen again.

Shen frowned. He couldn't win this fight without using the meta-battlefield well, but his Law-based instincts left little space for him to focus on any other usage. Not that he was complaining. Using his Laws the way his instincts wanted felt right. He would keep doing so, even if he lost.

His frown deepened. That sounded utterly moronic. He should change his approach.

He didn't change anything; that's who he was and how he did things.

But he had an idea.

Shen began a defensive fight against Octo. The tentacles came for him, and he deflected them. Shen wasn't surprised to find he was faster than any individual tentacle, as no cyberware could perfectly sync with one's mind. There would always be a tiny delay between Octo's desires and the cyberware's compliance, including changes in trajectory during an attack. No one below peak-Overlord level could notice the delay, but it was the only thing that prevented Shen from being instantly overwhelmed in this battle.

There was no winning against it, though. There were eight tentacles and only one Shen.

Shen tried sending qi attacks from around him, in arcs, but the tentacles always blocked them. Octo had forged himself a handy body with a great defensive and attacking system. After hundreds of exchanges in a few seconds, it became evident that Shen would run out of willpower before winning this fight if nothing changed.

So, Shen changed things. He put his idea to the test. He Willed Octo's brain to explode.

Affecting material things with his Absolute Horizon was easier than affecting the soul, so he went for the brain. Affecting the mind was even more straightforward, but Shen didn't feel confident besting Octo in a straight mind combat. Not after his maximum willpower decreased with his failure to save E'livia, and his mind split, focusing on the meta-battlefield.

Over two-thirds of Shen's willpower disappeared as he forcibly Reality to bend to his desire. And still, Octo resisted. His brain was heavily damaged, but his own willpower and domain allowed him to resist. That's when Shen decided to give up on keeping trying.

The clash happened in less than an instant. Octo was left dazed. Shen took the opening from Octo's damaged brain to get close to him and—

The five-foot-thick tentacles acted autonomously when they detected Octo wasn't controlling them. All eight surrounded the man, creating multiple defensive layers. Shen's spear swung against one of them and pierced halfway through because Extremity had a greater hold over Reality at that moment, but that was all.

Right after, Octo had already healed himself enough to counter-attack. He extended all his tentacles away from him, opening himself like a blooming flower, declaring its magnificence to the world. He evidently couldn't accept being hurt the way he had been and was now flexing on Shen.

That was a mistake born out of anger, and Shen took advantage of it.

A few tentacles came towards Shen fast and hard. Shen Backstepped-Teleported. The Backstep extreme speed and unique way to avoid the enemy's detection were united to a teleportation that saw the tentacles go through where he had been. The next instant, Shen was right beside Octo. Un'Re was already mid-thrust, going straight at the man's big head.

Octo tried to dodge, but the spear struck true. Shen used half his remaining willpower to guarantee Extremity was as strong as it could be, and that the Law of Sturdiness was as weak as possible. Un'Re went all the way through Octo's head, and Shen burned his qi to have the shaft expand and Conductivity explode in lightning inside the man's brain.

Octo's heavy body started teleporting away, but Shen Willed space to hold stil and struck the body, too. Then, he destroyed every tentacle. Allvision allowed him to see the man had spread drops of his blood throughout the metallic parts of his body. He cut them down, burned them with Conductiviy, and used his qi to erase them from existence.

Shen could also recover as long as a blood drop remained, but only if it was close enough to his main body at the time of his departure. It required a connection to his soul, and said connection stopped working if it was too far from his main body. If there were techniques to go around such limitations, he had yet to find any.

In the end, Octo died because he had lost his way. He had grown overconfident in his cyberware. There was a reason he had been ruling over a mere Shav Gang on the lower levels of Cylek despite being one of the Fifty Hegemons. Not all Demi-Dominators were made equal, and even the strong could make mistakes as they grew desperate after not breaking through to become Seekers for too long.

During combat, one badly-timed mistake was all your enemy needed to kill you. Octo's mistake was the epitome of all his mistakes and frustrations in the past hundreds of years accumulated and released at the worst moment possible.

Just like that, a Demi-Dominator was gone.

Shen grabbed the eight spatial trearures he detected on Octo while he killed the man and stored them away. Then, he checked the ongoing combat on the skies of Cylek.

The Doombringer was a force of nature. His scythe burned with a terrible Fire that burned one's retinae just from looking at it. His body shone with Metal that made it more resistant than the best Overlord-tier armor. The Wind around him deflected most incoming attacks. The Water in his blood ran fast through his veins and somehow made him faster than he should be. The Earth in his Path gave him stability and weight even as he flew through the skies.

He wasn't alone. He had three allies, and they were holding well against their seven enemies. The other domains covering the region were only observing things.

"He's dead, Doombringer!" one enemy, a korema, a race that resembled blue mermaids with bat wings, yelled. "We aren't the only witnesses anymore! The human just showed his Willful Decree to everyone! Now, everyone can guess we're fighting because he's the one who attempted a Subversive Decree a minute ago! We aren't the only ones who'll come for the reward!"

"You saw nothing!" the half-titan roared back and shot straight at the korema, like a meteor of pure rage.

Shen couldn't help but smile. The good old tactic of forcing someone's memories to "change" through overwhelming force. He liked the Doombringer's straightforwardness.

He noticed the three allies more or less formed a barrier between the seven and Shen while the Doombringer attacked. It didn't take a genius to understand what was going on. Shen's Absolute Horizon—which was called Willful Decree in the Tower of Seven—showed he had been the one to try to change Reality, and someone had a standing bounty on the heads of anyone who did that. That's why the Doombringer had claimed Shen had used a forbidden technique.

"Mallan's not wrong," a male voice came from the air. One of the observers was speaking. "We're all colleagues in Cylek, Doombringer. We should kill the boy and share the rewards. Even if he survives today, word will spread, and others will come for him. Cylek will become a warzone, the boy will fall in the end, and we'll be left with nothing but the bill to rebuild the city."

The Doombringer roared and attacked more frantically, pushing the three people who had ganged on him away. The other four were engaged against the half-titan's three allies.

"The five of you cannot resist the whole Overlord Realm," a light elemental said as it appeared far above everyone. "Nor can Cylek withstand the incoming fights. I have no interest in becoming a hunting dog for the aquasols, but the boy must go."

Shen recognized the light elemental. They had no gender and were the primary force behind the CIPD. The aquasols they mentioned were the strongest race in the Seeker Realm, energy beings similar to elementals, but a unique fusion of water and fire. If they had placed the bounty on Shen, he was screwed indeed.

"One year," Shen said. Everyone turned to look at him. "Protect me for one year. That's all I need to completely master my Path. Then, I'll take any challenger who comes for my head. Including you."

Shen didn't regret that his instincts had him still fighting in the meta-battlefield. That's who he was. But a tiny part of him had reawakened now that he was relatively safe, and he remembered that he had to show his instincts who was the boss of his One Self. More importantly, he recalled that if he did that, he would fight like a cultivator instead of a dog, like he had fought against Octo.

He had only won because his mistake of fighting with a mind heavily influenced by his Laws was slightly less lousy than Octo's mistake. That is, if he could call what he had done a mistake. It was hard to tell.

"I'm not willing to hunt for the watersols, human," the light elemental said. "Why would I become your guard dog?"

Shen smiled widely. "Because I'll run away if you don't. I'll escape for years, decades, hundreds of years if I must. I'll survive, and I'll return, and kill each of you when you least expect. Are you sure you would choose that over a fair fight a year from now?"

Almost as soon as his words were out of his mouth, a massive formation lit up all around Cylek. It had multiple layers, and moving through them became a huge challenge that would require a Demi-Dominator to attack for a few seconds. The outermost layer was even more robust. Space was tightly locked within. Teleportation became impossible.

"You were saying?" the light elemental provoked.

"Is that your answer?" Shen asked instead of replying.

The light elemental kept quiet momentarily, then replied, "As a matter of fact, I changed my mind. For the worst. A lousy mouth like yours would look better shut forever." They charged at Shen.

Shen widened his smile. He had noticed something interesting when he mastered his first Law and looked at Number One, who had visited before Blackhall was conquered by the Shav Gang: the lavil's essence was fake. Shen's Allvision allowed him to detect it before he became a Realizator.

The lavil wasn't a being from Reality—nor was one of the Doombringer's friends helping protect Shen.

So, Shen told the half-elf, half-dwarf, "You still owe me, Overmind. Take me to a random, deserted, safe place in the Overlord Realm."

"That will make us even," the half-elf said as he turned to Shen.

"I accept," Shen said.

The half-dwarf's impressive blue plate armor and his flesh melted. Equipment and living being turned into ever-moving black liquid. He became a Void Spawn, though evidently of a special kind, considering it could hide like it had been. This was the first signal Shen found that the Void worked differently in the Tower of Seven. He didn't know why.

Shen had asked the lavil if the Void could change Reality to save E'livia but had been met with a refusal; the Void didn't owe Shen enough for that. So, Shen kept it as the last hidden card he could use to protect E'livia in the future after he saved her through his own efforts. E'livia was gone, so he saw no issue saving himself now.

Using this last card and getting away from the Doombringer meant becoming utterly alone, without a lifeline, in a Tower whose denizens wanted him dead. It was still much better than immediate death.

The Void Spawn ignored many of the Laws of Spacetime as it shot straight at Shen. It arrived faster than the light elemental, who roared in anger.

Shen was surrounded by the Void, and then, he was gone.

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[A/N: Special thanks to our A-rank patron, Gordon Freeman!]

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