Codex Null: Simulation Through Madness

The words hit her harder than steel. Training already devoured his days, leaving her scraps of time — and now he was saying even that would vanish?

Her teeth sank into her lip. Without speaking, she seized his hand, fingers tight, refusing to let him slip away. If she was losing time, then she would steal every second left.

Noel didn't resist. Instead, he turned his hand in hers, holding it properly before asking, calm as ever, "Anyway… what do you want to do?"

'I just wanted to see you. Isn't that enough?' The words stirred inside her, but pride sealed them there. Out loud, she said, "I'm refining my manifestation ability with the Control Law. I thought… maybe I should try testing it on ordinary people."

"Hmm. Not a bad idea." Noel nodded slowly, thoughts already turning. The Control Law… a Law that could theoretically bend anything, anyone, to one's will. What could be more convenient?

His mind drifted further, weighing Laws, deciding which path to reach for beyond Destruction. Then, suddenly, he stopped. His pupils flared with sharp light.

"Wait."

Selena blinked, puzzled. They were still in the wide, snow-laden valley. Nothing had changed. But Noel didn't explain. His eyes scanned the empty air as he murmured again, firmer this time: "Wait here."

She stayed close, confusion gnawing at her — until the air itself shivered. Shapes began to crawl into existence, faint lines sketching themselves against the sky. Selena's breath caught, her eyes widening. "It's… a dimension!"

Noel's lips curved, his voice carrying a rare spark. "Yes. We're in luck."

As the dimension took form, Noel couldn't help but smile. Turning to Selena, he pressed his lips against hers and murmured, "You really are my lucky charm."

Her cheeks flushed, and from his angle he could see the heat spreading quickly beneath her skin, coloring her face a vivid red.

The sight stirred something warm inside him, even as his focus shifted back to the space before them.

Just moments ago, he had been annoyed at the idea of coming to this kind of place. But that irritation was gone now, replaced by rising anticipation as he watched the unstable dimension twist and settle. All he could think of was the moment it would stabilize enough to step inside.

And luckily, he didn't have to wait long.

"It seems we really are lucky this time," Noel said, moving closer to the edge of the forming dimension.

Normally, dimensions take time to fully emerge, the boundary would be unstable until the process completed.

Rarely, though, one appeared like this — fast, abrupt, ready to enter almost immediately.

He knew that if it had taken longer, the overlapping space signals would have drawn others before long. But with this timing, he had the chance to slip inside first and claim whatever was waiting.

"What kind of dimension is this one?" Selena asked, her eyes following the shifting boundary with curiosity.

"Well, it's not a heavily polluted Law ground, that much is certain," Noel replied.

Polluted Law grounds, depending on the type and concentration of Law suffusing them, could easily become forbidden zones.

His gaze lingered on the other side of the warped boundary, studying its faint hints, weighing the possibilities with Selena. After a moment, he gave his conclusion.

"It should probably be a Trial Dimension. Dangerous, yes — but retreat is possible with my strength. So, let's enter."

Selena nodded. And so, hand in hand, the young couple stepped forward, crossing into the Trial Dimension.

They were teleported to a vast chamber with nothing inside.

No door, no window, nothing but a flat floor, a ceiling, and four enclosing walls.

Noel sensed the situation immediately, already confirming it was truly a Trial Dimension, before he suddenly made his move. He enveloped himself and Selena inside a dome-like structure formed from the Destruction Law.

And shortly after, it began.

Small openings split open in the walls, and from them, stones shot out in relentless waves.

Naturally, nothing came close to touching them. Every stone that tried to penetrate the dome was pulverized into dust, crushed under the weight of his Destruction Law.

Selena, her eyes sharp and her entire demeanor shifting, stood with a cold aura that reminded Noel of the day of the gathering, back when they had first met. She was ready to lend her hand if necessary, but in the end, there was no need.

"It's quite easy," Noel said, his voice calm, almost dismissive, as he looked down on the primitive assault.

He was right to say so, but even then, those stones weren't ordinary. Each one was so condensed that if they were to strike a building, it would have been leveled to rubble in an instant.

Uncaring about such details, Noel simply stood and waited for the barrage to end, knowing the trial would only continue once it was finished.

He could have forced his way through, breaking the walls apart to try and skip ahead, but in the end, he chose to play by the rules of this place. Especially when he still didn't know the true limits of the Trial Ground.

Time passed, and before long, Noel and Selena advanced into the next trial.

This time, there were no stones. Instead, the very gravity of the chamber pressed down on them, many times heavier than what a normal body could endure. Yet within the dome Noel maintained, Selena didn't feel an ounce of that crushing weight.

"Should you not try to save on your use of Law? Instead of squandering it like this?" she asked.

And Noel shook his head as he explained, "It may seem like I'm using immense Law Power, but that's not the case. I made the Destruction Law thin, like a membrane, shaped it into a dome, and covered us with it. Its thickness changes in response to outside forces — strengthening where pressure rises, and otherwise staying no more than a faint veil."

Selena looked at Noel with a strange sense of awe. It wasn't brute strength, but a delicate balance of control — refined so sharply that even those who had trained their Laws for centuries would struggle to replicate it. To see him wield it so effortlessly felt almost unreal.