Merchant Of Yliaster

Maxwell dodged and another invisible slash, or he tried to, and watched his constructs try to harm Herman with the rudimentary mind they had.

For a moment, his connection to his constructs was cut. Maxwell was sure that he could reconnect them pretty easily, but to his surprise, he couldn't interact with them no matter what he tried as he dodged. Herman was visibly surprised when he saw that the constructs were still moving, and Maxwell's constructs could actually use atmospheric mana, so they could go on for quite a while, but this was only postponing the inevitable.

As the fight went on, Maxwell was getting more and more curious about the butcher's ability. It was like the man was not cutting objects but whatever the fuck he pleased. Maxwell watched him slice his sword, and he actually hovered in the air, like a guru. Whenever he was launched back, the man could just swing his sword, and he would stop.

Despite his otherworldly abilities, though, the man still had the same weakness Maxwell had realized since the start. He was way slower than what Maxwell could achieve. Right now, the fight was in a stalemate, as Herman could not touch Maxwell, who was moving like a mirage through the arena.

Maxwell, on the other hand, wasn't really trying too hard to end this fight too early. He was pretty sure that he could end the fight with the last flash, but he also had a feeling that the man before him somehow survived that attack.

Using darkness was a bad idea, so one of Maxwell's strongest elements was out too, so he was watching as the butcher swung his sword like a madman, filling the arena with numerous unnaturally smooth cuts.

"You are different than others, aren't you? Others could use only a single element," Herman said, and stopped moving, looking at him like he was an interesting specimen.

Why is he so unfamiliar with magic? Maxwell questioned. It was apparent that different planets would have different fighting systems, but it made no sense for the man before him to be so oblivious to the common matters. From what he said, it was apparent that this was one of the few times he had seen proper magic.

"I think I am. Not that you are much different," Maxwell said, his form glowing with white light. When it came to speed, the light element was unsurprisingly unmatched. Its speed was much slower than real light, but it was still much faster than even his second-fastest elemental duality.

Herman smiled, hearing his answer, and unsheathed his sword before pulling it out once more. This time, the blade was a lot smaller. A small butcher knife was once more in his hand, and he swung.

Maxwell watched in fascination as the metal mana his disks were made of dispersed as if it had never existed. Herman calmly sheathed the knife and left it inside the scabbard, looking at Maxwell thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I wouldn't know much about that. There is something I want to ask, though. Why is your vitality tether so weak? You are obviously not weak, or my first slash would take a lot more than a part of your arm, yet I sense that your life is fickle. It's truly a fascinating sight," Herman said, speaking more than he ever did in the competition.

Is he talking about my low vitality? Maxwell could come to no other conclusion. The fact that the butcher could see something as personal as his vitality through the protection of etherium was interesting, but it was apparent that the man was not all-powerful. Most of Maxwell's HP came from soul attribute, and Maxwell figured that that was why the man would say something like that.

"How do you do that?" he couldn't help but ask. His Senses of Shattered Reality could sense almost everything his grade allowed. He could even glance at Drakhabgar's soul form, yet he still couldn't see anything about how this man used his powers.

"I'm a good butcher," Herman said, smiling, and pulled out his weapon. This time, it was once more a more specialized one, unlike the one he used on Maxwell himself. The blade glowed with a soft red light, and it almost felt like blood to Maxwell.

Before he could think, though, the man swung in a completely random direction. What is he doing? Maxwell couldn't understand what the man was doing, yet he still remained cautious. This was the first time that he was having problems against an enemy on his own level.

The next moment, his caution proved true, but completely useless. Maxwell took a deep breath as he felt something deep inside him rip. The feeling was incredibly obscure, as he could feel his body remain whole, but a deeply wrong feeling consumed him.

Vitality attribute is disconnected from HP.

The user will die.

The fuck? Maxwell was dumbfounded as he stared at the system notification.

Error.

Second existential tether detected.

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As soon as the second message arrived, Maxwell's world shifted. For a moment, all he could see was a jumble of colors without any order or meaning. They were like waves upon waves, in every direction.

Maxwell, not knowing what to do, dived into his soul space, trying to find shelter. This was not just an overwhelming experience for his senses. It felt like the world lost something essential, something physical. It was not a sight a mortal should have seen.

He opened his eyes in his soul space, and he was relieved to see that colors were still making sense here. The compendium and records of curiosity were shining as always, and the silhouette of Drakhabgar was still standing to the side. There was something different, though, and that made Maxwell terribly concerned.

Outside of his soulspace was usually dark, as if the space was stranded in a void. Right now, though, Maxwell could see the same kaleidoscope of lights outside that he had seen before entering here. The glow of etherium made the mind-breaking light show a bit more bearable, but it was still incredibly hard on his mind.

Why would losing my vitality do something like this? Maxwell tried to understand the situation. There is no way that I can fix this by hiding here. He decided and left his soul space. Back in the real world, at least, as real as it could feel when it was just a symphony of jumbled colors, Maxwell once more opened his "eyes".

His dominion still worked, but it would be better if it didn't. Maxwell's eyes were enough to confuse him, but his dominion confused him even more. He couldn't even tell the size of the thing for once. Measuring its size felt like weighing someone's length; it didn't feel applicable.

He took a deep breath and tried to shrink his senses until they only covered himself. Where was he? He was not sure, but he knew he would eventually reach himself if he shrank his domain continuously. He could still feel his energy levels, and he could sense the domain shrink as the energy it consumed increased.

The colors intensified and twisted, forming shapes he couldn't understand, but he continued as he tried to ignore the things around him.

At one point, when he didn't know how much time had passed, he suddenly felt success. All colors disappeared, leaving only a single one. A soft, soothing glow of etherium dominated his senses, unchanged in the changed world.

What are you, really? Maxwell thought as he looked at himself. Calling his form humanoid would be an overstatement, as the concept of shapes was nonexistent, but he knew what he was now seeing was his soul. He was almost sure that if he could enter his soul space simultaneously while being able to observe it, he would see himself inside his soul.

Now, though he had no idea how to proceed, his senses were now safe, as he was not getting overwhelmed by the colors, but his resources were draining ridiculously fast as his domain was shrunk to a fraction of its size.

As Maxwell thought, he suddenly got an idea. He unshrank his domain by only a little, starting an experiment. Now, it was time to test the limit of how much he could delude himself.

Let's see how good a nihilist I am. He laughed, at least, he tried in the soundless state he was in. As someone who used his own mind to suppress his own mind, he found the challenge funny. If anyone could beat his own mind, it was he.

He took a deep breath, or maybe that breath, too, was just a delusion.

Herman watched as he cut the vitality tether of the weird guy before him. There were a few things that Herman knew how to cut, and lives were one of them.

Even before the system, he had an uncanny ability to cut things from their weakest point. This, of course, made his father, who was the butcher of their small town, joyous, as the man immediately took him as his apprentice.

Herman smiled, remembering those times, as they were the only times that he was seen as a normal person. A very talented one, yes, but normal nonetheless.

Right now, though, despite the fact that he knew for sure that no one could survive after their vitality tether was cut, the sight before him was unmistakable. On the spot, his opponent once stood; a figure of energy now stood, moving like an angry flame.

At first, the figure was white, clearly resembling the form of the green-eyed man, but a moment later, it showed clear signs of destabilization. Though that too was only for a moment, as a green pulse traveled through it, and it once more took its humanoid shape.

As everything happened, Herman tried to understand what was happening, but the concepts made no sense. Throughout it all, two green eyes were still visible, floating at the center of the raging light. It showed clear emotions, as they turned from surprise to wonder, and at last mirth. He could even sense a bit of pride.

All of this happened in a fraction of a second, and Herman swung his sword, cutting the distance away between himself and the wall of the arena. It was impossible to sever an essential part of the world like that, and he immediately felt the concept reassert itself, its threads getting rewoven by the world itself, but it had done the job.

At the center of the arena, a green light consumed everything, radiating from the two orbs at the center of it all. A sound came, something like a laugh, but it felt like it was from another dimension.

His eyes widened as he looked at the center of it all. Since the initiation, Herman could always see something others couldn't see. To his eyes, the world was a symphony of concepts, strings woven together by something more.

He was fascinated by them, and with time, he started to discern them. He could see which one disappeared as something died. He could see which one appeared as the wind blew. A complicated phenomenon was something he couldn't comprehend, yet it was still beautiful.

Right now, though, he could see the beauty disappear from the world as darkness radiated from the man before him. Calling the phenomenon darkness would only be a mistake, though, as it was much more than that. Slowly, the area around his opponent was disappearing.

He swung his sword, trying to end it, but there were no threads to cut, and his attack was met with the same nothingness that divided the humanoid mass of light from the rest of the arena.

Before, for some reason, his opponent was strangely invisible to his senses, as if he was shrouded by something, but as he locked eyes with the green orbs staring at him, he realized something. It was not that he couldn't see any threads. The reality, though, was something completely different. He could now see it.

It wasn't that the man's threads were covered by a shroud. They were just so great in number that Herman failed to see them as individual threads. It was as if the man before him contained the world itself.

As he came to his realization, a wave of green light exploded, bringing the most fundamental level of destruction Herman had ever seen with it.