CHAPTER 291: BREAKING ORDER (2)

The being’s aura exploded outward.

Reinhard felt it slam into Odin’s consciousness, it was like experiencing that terrifying shockwave back in Colin Forest.

Through their shared awareness, he experienced what Odin faced. A pressure that made the river stream’s power feel like a gentle breeze, a presence that dwarfed even his newly transcended state.

This was the First Flame, the original and first consciousness that was born when fire first came into existence in the void. The being that had existed since the universe’s 0th phase, that had witnessed Ymir’s birth, that had shaped the fundamental laws governing existence itself.

Heat erupted around them, surpassing any he had ever experienced. This was the idea of burning made manifest, pressing down on him, and making him experience every feeling and consequence of fire itself.

Reinhard felt Odin’s skin begin to crack, golden light bleeding through new fissures. The ground beneath his feet melted, then vaporized, then ceased to exist as matter at all.

The being’s form expanded, growing larger, or perhaps reality was shrinking around it. Its body blazed with internal light, stars being born and dying in accelerated cycles.

I am the boundary between what is and what could be. The Towering Black Being’s voice resonated through every atom of Odin’s body. I witnessed the first motion, and I will witness the last. Do you truly believe you can defeat me?

The pressure intensified.

Odin’s knees buckled, his form struggling under the weight that surpassed anything he had felt or experienced before.

This was existence itself bearing down, the accumulated authority of being first, of being fundamental, and being necessary.

Around them, the fire realm began to change.

Rivers reversed their flow, defying gravity entirely. Flames burned in various colors while the sky fractured, showing glimpses of the void beyond, darkness pressing in, as if the realm itself might collapse under the being’s fully unleashed power.

But then Reinhard felt Odin’s response building.

The young pale one’s fingers tightened on the Void-Splinter Spear. Golden tears evaporated from his cheeks while the golden streaks in his eyes blazed with determination that bordered on madness.

The rivers’ powers activated within him. All eleven at once, their essences merging, amplifying, becoming something greater than their sum. Then came ice and fire, his dual heritage, roared to life alongside Adumala roaring out within him.

The void-fragment spear trembled with hunger, eager to wound the unwoundable, to cut what couldn’t be divided. A terrifying aura rushed out from Odin and pushed back against the Towering Black Being’s own pressure.

Two fundamental beings faced each other across a fire realm that trembled with anticipation. The universe held its breath, waiting to see which force would prove stronger, ancient authority or ascending will.

The being’s massive form shifted, its galaxy-flecked hand rising. Fire coalesced around its palm, rivers of magma climbing upward in defiance of gravity. The flames compressed, hardened, transformed, and started becoming a blade that he had seen before.

Pure light crystallized into cutting-edge, the concept of separation was given physical form.

Odin’s grip tightened on the Void-Splinter Spear as the being raised its blade overhead. Reality bent around the weapon’s edge, space itself warping as if unable to bear the sharpness. Then it swung down, the strike was inevitable like gravity or time or any other fundamental force.

Odin moved.

The spear came up, jagged void-forged tip meeting descending flame-wrought edge. When they connected, not only did light explode, but a terrifying and thunderous sound rang out!

Reinhard felt himself torn away, consciousness fragmenting under the sheer force of what erupted from that collision.

Colors of black, crimson, blue, gold, etc, flooded his perception, shades between shades, hues that existed only in the gaps between the known spectrum.

Sound crashed over him in waves that weren’t sound at all but pure vibration translated into sensation his mind struggled to process.

The clash rang out across the void. Each impact happens simultaneously or perhaps stretched across eternities. The fire realm shuddered. The fire realm shook, while the ice realm seemed to tremble as fundamental forces collided.

Reinhard tumbled through the sensory chaos. He caught glimpses of the battle that his consciousness couldn’t fully grasp. Odin’s spear carving arcs through reality, each swing leaving brief wounds in existence itself. The being’s blade descends again and again, each strike carrying a terrifying authority.

Ice and fire erupt between them while the void and flames intertwine. Concepts bleeding into each other as the combatants transcended physical limitations.

Then silence.

Suddenly, absolute silence that felt louder than any sound, and then the light died down. Reinhard’s vision cleared, or perhaps his consciousness reassembled enough to perceive again.

The fire realm lay devastated.

Where once rivers of magma had flowed in chaos, now only craters remained. The black volcanic stone was gone, replaced by surfaces that couldn’t decide what they were, sometimes solid, sometimes liquid, sometimes neither, and both.

Steam rose from a thousand slashes and holes in the ground.

Pillars of flame no longer erupted randomly but were completely snuffed out or perhaps erased from ever having existed.

And in the center of the devastation stood Odin.

Reinhard felt his chest tighten at what he felt were the wounds over Odin’s body. He felt the cuts across his flesh, one that tore into his flesh and had him bleeding a mixture of blue, red, and golden blood down his pale skin. Burn marks covered him, some still smoking as they rose to the sky.

Entire sections of his bronze-accented skin had charred black, cracking like overheated metal. And through his torso, Reinhard could feel several holes, clean punctures that went completely through his body.

His organs should have been visible, but instead, only swirling energy showed, ice and fire and void mixed, barely holding his form intact.

He stood on trembling legs, the Void-Splinter Spear planted in the ground before him like a crutch. His breathing came ragged, each inhale sounding wet and damaged.

But he stood.

In front of him, the being’s blade remained.

It stood vertical, point down, embedded deep in the ravaged ground.

The being itself had sunk into the ground. Its massive form descended slowly, specs of light covering its body merging with the realm’s foundation.

As it sank, its voice echoed, not from any specific direction but from everywhere at once, resonating through stone and air and Odin’s damaged body.

What a terrifying Will you have.

The words carried something like wonder and interest in them.

It was never supposed to be like this.

Odin’s bloodied and burnt face shifted into a slight frown before speaking in a hoarse and broken tone. "So, you’re saying I am walking outside of how things should have been?"

The being chuckled, the sound making the ravaged realm tremble. You are.

Odin’s brows furrowed with the blood dripping from his chin, splattering on the ground in tri-colored pools. "How were things supposed to be?"

A pause.

Then the being began explaining, its voice taking on the quality similar to how it spoke to him the first time they met.

More beings like you should have been discovered in the ice. You, your brothers, and other Pale Ones should have all been freed from frozen crystals over time. Then you all would have formed a community that would eventually grow, leading to there being two forces. The Pale ones loved by the fire, and the Frost Giants embraced by the cold.

Reinhard felt Odin’s attention sharpen despite his injuries.

But then tension would build. Small things at first, such as disagreements, conflicts over resources, and differences about how things should be, which you are very familiar with.

Odin frowned as he recalled him constantly trying to get the Frost Giants to stop destroying and wrecking the realms.

The friction would escalate with minor skirmishes becoming larger battles, and then eventually, a full war.

The being’s form sank deeper, only its upper torso visible now above the ground.

You and your brothers would grow stronger through conflict. Your powers are developing, your understanding deepening, and eventually, it would be a clash between the Icy Realm and Light Realm, which you Pale Ones took over.

Eventually, you would decide together that Ymir must end. The First Ruler’s purpose served, his time concluded. You would work with the Universe itself and your two brothers to accomplish this transformation. Ymir’s death would fuel evolution, pushing existence into its next phase and the Universe’s next order.

Silence fell.

Odin trembled, his grip on the spear tightening until his knuckles went white beneath the blood.