Nexus Ascension: My Comprehension Defies the Heaven-Chapter 380: I’ll have to die first though

"And what is it to you, you brat? What? I knew Eterna had the tendency to speak with humans sometimes because she gets lonely. Are you one of her so-called ’friends’?" Luca burst out laughing. "You are incredibly stupid if you consider an AI your friend."

"Yeah, I thought you would say that." A cold smile slowly bloomed on Grey’s face.

"But before that, I want to confirm something." Grey went forward and put his hands on Luca’s forehead.

Immediately, memories and related things began appearing in Grey’s server within the information layer.

"To think a creature like you was the federation master," Grey couldn’t help but say.

What he saw in Luca’s mind was horrifying.

Rape, murder, death, violence, betrayal. Everything was perfectly laid before Grey’s eyes.

But it made sense. A sick person in the head would do sick things; this was completely within Grey’s expectations.

"Well, this makes it easier for me."

"Look around you, Luca," Grey slowly said.

"This is a sub-dimension I, Grey Lockhart, created. It is a layer stacked on top of another sub-dimension of the first layer of space."

"Do you know why I created it?"

He didn’t give Luca time to answer before the flame of entropy suddenly flew over and completely set his entire body ablaze.

"It’s so that I can give you a very slow, painful death." Grey’s grin widened to an unnatural degree. "This scene would be too uncomfortable for the citizens of Blue Star, after all."

"If I showed them the process of killing a worthless worm that only did bad for this world, they might be traumatized."

Luca’s arrogant laughter twisted into a gut-wrenching shriek. The pale, grayish flames didn’t just burn like normal fire; they broke down his very existence, unravelling his flesh on a fundamental level and putting it into disorder.

"Aaaaargh! Make it stop! Make it stop!" Luca thrashed wildly on the void-like floor as the chains diminished, his skin blistering, blackening, and peeling away in chunks to reveal sizzling muscle and white bone underneath.

Grey simply watched, his eyes completely devoid of mercy. As Luca’s vocal cords began to burn away, reducing his agonizing screams to wet, gurgling rasps, Grey casually raised his hand.

"Life Cycle Imprint."

A brilliant, emerald light cascaded down from the empty space above, violently slamming into Luca’s writhing form. Instantly, the charred muscle and flaking ash began to weave back together. Pink, highly sensitive new skin rapidly grew over his exposed bones, forcefully restoring his lungs, his vocal cords, and, worst of all, his pain receptors.

And the moment he was whole, the law of entropy consumed him all over again.

"Gaaaaaaah!" Luca’s back arched so hard his spine popped. The renewed onslaught of the flames tore through his freshly healed, hyper-sensitive nerves. The agony was compounded tenfold. He wasn’t just burning; he was trapped in a perpetual, inescapable cycle of unmaking and remaking.

"You see," Grey whispered, his voice cutting through the deafening screams as he stepped closer to the gruesome spectacle. "The law of entropy dictates the inevitable disorder of all things. But my Life Cycle Imprint forcefully resets that disorder. Every time your skin melts off, every time your blood boils, every time your organs turn to ash... you will be perfectly rebuilt."

Luca’s eyes boiled in their sockets, popped into a liquid mess, and then flawlessly regrew, only to instantly boil once more. He clawed furiously at his own face, desperately trying to rip the fire away, but only succeeded in tearing off clumps of his own rapidly regenerating flesh.

This repeated for an hour straight.

"Kill me!" Luca sobbed, begging through blood-stained teeth in a fleeting millisecond of clarity before the fire swallowed his tongue again. "Just... kill me!"

Grey squatted down. He looked at Luca with an emotionless gaze.

"Oh, I will kill you, Luca."

"But I’m just going to do it a infinite times more first."

"Have fun."

"Because eternity isn’t infinite. Reality has a beginning and an end. You will eventually break the cycle as well. When that day comes, I might have to die first, though."

"And with this, it’s time for me to bring back Eterna."

The sub-dimension shifted and Grey left it, returning to the first layer of space.

The instant Grey came back, every expert tensed.

"Luca is no more." Grey broke the news. "I am now the official ruler of Blue Star."

"We greet the federation master." The fourth rank experts bowed in unison.

Grey took a look around.

"It’s time to change the structure of this world."

He glanced at the stream. The people of Blue Star were looking at him with mixed emotions during this monumental time.

Grey had ascended and become the new ruler, and they had already accepted it.

’Alright, fragment, do your thing now,’ Grey silently spoke in his mind. ’Just like we rehearsed.’

"Yeah, got it," the fragment’s voice silently resounded in Grey’s mind.

The next moment, Blue Star began to violently shake.

The planet itself seemed to dwarf as a gigantic being made out of starry light suddenly descended from the heavens.

"It appears you have finally claimed this little speck of dust, my disciple." A booming voice echoed across the globe, vibrating with ancient authority.

"Master." An elated look appeared on Grey’s face as he stared at the being above, which was none other than the fragment.

"Master?" Everyone equally looked at the sky with a dumbfounded expression.

Grey Lockhart had a master?

This was a shocking turn of events!

"Master?" Lia’s lips began to twitch when she saw this. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Since when did Grey have a master?

"Good. And what of the grand task? Have you been spreading my path across this world as I instructed?"

"I’ve been trying to, but things happened and I couldn’t put my plan into motion."

"Very well. Now that this world rests in your palm, you must cultivate my Aether evolutionary path. I temporarily severed its connection to recreate the foundation and purge its flaws. The path is now perfected. Let it take root once more."

"I will now return to my cosmic seclusion. If you need anything, call upon my name. Let us see who in this universe dares to bully my disciple."

"Understood." Grey nodded, and the avatar dispersed into stardust.

At the same time, Blue Star went wild.