Kayden then began something utterly insane — he started integrating his soul with that lingering remnant of the soul of existence. Nothing made sense anymore to either gods or mortals. How could a mage defeat the universe in combat? Not only that, but he was consuming the soul of the universe in a completely bizarre way.
Little by little, the universe continued to collapse further. The laws and everything that was supposed to make sense were becoming a mess. There was no explanation for the number of anomalies appearing — even souls were getting lost, unable to enter or exit the paths of reincarnation.
The laws stopped making sense and began to act freely. There had always been a certain balance between the laws, almost like mutual respect. For example, the laws of fire would not expand or propagate together with the laws of water, because the result would be mere chaos and senseless nullification of both.
Ordinary mortals simply died. This time, not even the gods tried to save the mortals of the universe. There was no point — the universe itself was reaching its end, making any action on their part useless. While to mortals, this chaos was something insane, to the gods, it was like the total end of the world.
The gods could feel the entire universe without any restraint, and even their divine senses were in chaos. They themselves were unable to cast certain spells or fight at 100% of their capacity at that moment, simply because their laws could no longer anchor themselves to the fabric of existence.
Gods who relied on millions of laws to fight were now forced to push their existence into the universe manually if they wanted to battle. This was far more taxing than just flowing with the laws. Some peak mortals watching the event lost all their powers.
Most mortals became unable to manipulate the chaotic mana now flowing throughout the universe. Not only that, but none of them had strong enough command of their laws to handle anything above the universe. They were literally in the same state as mere mortals at that point.
Rules began to break beyond repair, torn from the very fabric of existence. Time collapsed in opposing directions. Light was born from shadows, and causality unraveled like sand through fingers. Spells failed, not for lack of power, but due to absence of logic. The universe no longer had order — only the noise of dead laws drifting without purpose.
The soul of the universe, in its final breaths, fragmented like a symphony falling apart, note by note. Kayden absorbed its remains with terrifying calm, like one unraveling an ancient dream. No structure, root, or purpose remained. The essence faded without violence, forgotten even by itself. And in the final silence, everything simply ceased to be.
Kayden assimilated that soul just as he had done with his soul mate, but with some very significant differences. The first was that he couldn't assimilate the soul entirely — that would be practically impossible, actually, because it would require him to be absolutely compatible with that being, which clearly he wasn't.
Kayden's power didn't grow at all — practically nothing changed, in fact. But a new door opened to him, the door he needed to take the step that would raise him above all beings that had ever existed in this universe.
Kayden was able to feel all the laws of the universe under his control. He was able to feel the same as an absolute god would feel. He couldn't manipulate anything, simply because he was incapable of understanding all those trillions of laws — it was an insanely complex system of laws and interdependencies.
Each law didn't exist in isolation — they were intertwined like threads of an infinite tapestry, where each point supported dozens of others. The law of heat could only exist because motion existed, and motion because there was time, and time because there was space, and space because there was matter. There were trillions of laws, interconnected in networks so complex that trying to understand one required understanding thousands of others. Every minimal variation generated a chain of consequences branching out in directions impossible to follow. The laws didn't just coexist — they respected each other, supported one another, forming an absurd harmony where even conflicts were calculated. It wasn't just a system — it was a chaotic and perfect consciousness at the same time, an organism that had learned to breathe on its own.
Kayden, upon touching this organism, didn't dominate it — he merely felt what it was like to be at the center of everything. His body didn't move, but his soul was everywhere at once, connected to every vibration in the universe, as if the cosmos breathed through him. He didn't command the laws, but they recognized him, accepted him as part of the whole, even if they didn't obey him. The sensation was brutal — like looking at all the stars at the same time and knowing the name of each one. Kayden didn't gain power, but he understood what it meant to have all the power of the universe before him, unreachable, incomprehensible, divine. For an eternal instant, he was the silence between all things — the point where chaos and order met — not as a king, but as someone who finally saw the throne.
Kayden understood the final point he needed.
"What exactly are the laws? What is the purpose of a law existing?" Kayden asked himself this question after watching his vassals learn to master laws with frightening ease. These mana-based beings were capable of much more than ordinary mortals could achieve.
Each of them could easily grasp a series of laws on a subject — they only needed to involve mana, and after some effort, they would understand. Even the most mediocre among them was better than most of the geniuses of this universe.
Author's note: I had to get back to work guys, I'll try to keep the number of chapters as high as possible.