Chapter 15
After waking up for how long, it was hard to keep track of time as it didn't exist on this dimensional plane but Andrew was hellbent on his mission. He bid Laura goodbye telling her to take over whilst he was gone. She swore on her life that she would do her best , giving her a kiss before leaving. As he arrived at this plane's edge, he indiscriminately took two feathers from his wings and it formed two humanoid figure which both had terrific levels of power. He looked at one of them and ordered ,"Keep an eye on her." It nodded before heading to the palace and forming a shadow replacing Laura's. The other one kept on kneeling infront of him and Andrew issued his command before it quickly disintegrated. After that he muttered under his breath ,"Well you know they say. If the food is poisoned you might as well lick the plate." The four then appeared out of nowhere and then Omniphinx's seven foot fragment manifested.
Andrew surprised with their arrival inquired ,"What are you doing here ?" Ursula joked ,"We're here to see you off." Andrew could feel the mockery in her tone and asked ,"Why are you actually here?" Ivor then responded in Ursula's place ,"You're not the only one who has unfinished business on the third dimensional plane." Omniphinx seeing the five of them finally done with their chat spoke ,"You are all aware of what you are planning on doing. If any of you perish, your subordinates will take your position." None of them spoke this he resumed ,"Anyway, let's get this over with." The fragment then looked away from the five facing the edge exposing the exponential aghast void seemingly infinite and lifeless. He then stretched his arms similar to a deranged lunatic before muttering a few words then to their amazement, the space right infront of them tore but unlike the hundreds of times they travel across planes, what they faced was indescribable.
It appeared to be plain white void but what made it so dangerous was the appearance of dark strands of light which ran all over the place. Omniphinx manifested a rock and threw it into the space infront of them and it seemed to drift for a while before seemingly deleted. The rock was wrapped up by the black strands faster than they could react and to their surprise, the rock materialized once more before disappearing and appearing continuously at a fixed spot for what it would seem for eternity. They were in disbelief of what they were seeing and Omniphinx trying to lift the mood of the situation ,"You'll be fine-ish. Just avoid the black strands and you'll be fine." Sybil was the first to ask ,"How do you avoid something that is an infinitesimal times faster than you. And I doubt anything can block those strands as it would be illogical to block antimatter with matter."
Andrew just like the rest of them were unsure of this but their own personal motives which they needed fueled them to do this. Ivor was a little skeptical of this and asked ,"You said that we could bypass the laws provided our levels of power was reduced. By exactly how much exactly ?" The rest waited to hear the answer before going in. "It would be reduced by exactly 70%." Seventy percent was just too much to be cut but he resumed ,"But if you are on the fourth dimensional plane, your powers should return to it's original level." Andrew wasn't really motivated by this so he chose the path infront of him. Him along with Adrial and Sybil chose this but as for Ursula and Ivor refrained from this seeing their powers temporarily reduced was a better bargain than risking the possibility of getting absolutely erased from reality. Ivor and Ursula wished them good luck before heading back. Andrew leading the group was the first to step in followed by Sybil then Adrial.
After stepping in, Omniphinx closed the link before dissipating into nothingness. Andrew felt weirdly comfortable in this new space. He looked back to see Sybil and Adrial suddenly disappear from their positions. He was shocked but he couldn't move from his position no matter how much he tried. As for using his abilities was something he tried but nothing happened. To make matters worse , he saw what he wanted to see last. Countless dark strands were headed for him and he couldn't move let alone dodge them. They slowly started wrapping him up as he felt his body slowly start to feel weightless. He saw his body being eaten away by the dark strands before he slowly started to lose his vision as his world started to turn pitch black. He tried to open his eyes which to his surprise was exceedingly difficult but he managed to open one of his eyes halfway. He looked around and saw that he was in his mental state but something was wrong with this view. He wasn't seeing the void, he was seeing the palace meaning that he was in the void. His lookalike noticed this and came to him but instead of giving him a hand, he simply observed him as he tried to open his eye as moving was out of the question.
Andrew felt a weird sensation all over his body. He felt his whole body was being deconstructed and rebuilt similar to the rock he saw earlier. He tried to move around but he couldn't and after a few struggles he finally realized something. He was the void surrounding the palace and it sure felt weird. He tried to materialize his body but to no avail then he saw a jaw dropping scene. He observed the palace as it was slowly turning completely pitch black as him the void started to turn white. This process continued till the palace was completely ebony black and he was snow white. He saw the palace at every angle making him feel a little light headed but he quickly recovered. With his omniscient eyes, he saw his lookalike slowly turn to his reflection counterpart when he looked at the travesty in his room much earlier. But compared to him, his lookalike had pitch black and snow white eyes which seemed to spiral into eternity and after all that it suddenly started to burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Not used to that kind of perspective huh." The shadowy lookalike commented before snapping his fingers. Andrew who was slowly starting to lose his mind from this experience felt his own body. He examined himself and found that he was okay before looking at the devilish lookalike standing before him with a horrifying smile seemingly taped to his face. He stood up from the pitch black ground which seemed familiar to the black strands he saw earlier but he was too stupefied to think of anything clearly.
*Buzz*
A pitch black sword narrowly missing his head by a thread passed him and was impaled on the wall behind him. "Injure me. If you can,that is." The lookalike spoke with a tone similar to his but the mockery was clearly present. Judging by the impaled sword Andrew knew what he had to do. He forcefully removed it and held it in his hands before shortly dropping it."Argghh!" Andrew screamed as he looked at his hands. They were slowly turning into a bloody puddle as the process continued all over his body and he died. To his surprise, opened his eyes and saw the lookalike stood where he was and looking at the sword, he saw his own body but it was a pool of blood. The lookalike looked at him with the same mocking smile and tried to run away but before he could take the second step,his head exploded into a thousand pieces before him appearing once again where he originally stood. Looking back he saw his body but his head was missing and came to a horrible conclusion. He was trapped. He couldn't run nor could he fight.
He tried to summon a regular sword and to his surprise it actually worked. He tried to use his inhumane speed and it took worked. He closed the distance between his opponent and him and made a slash but to his surprise his lookalike stood perfectly still but the sword similar to the rock dematerialized and started to get corrupted similar to a virus but he quickly tossed it away before it could come in touch with him. He reflexively moved back to realize that in his lookalike's hand something was off. It was crimson red and looking closer he realized that it was his heart. The scenario repeated itself and he was back again at where the sword was impaled. He realized that no matter would be able to injure this devil infront of him but the sword seemed that it wouldn't be affected as it was made of the same matter as the lookalike which was antimatter. Although he died over and over again, he felt pain everytime and it seemed that it was increased the more he died. With determination in his eyes, he touched the sword's hilt but this time he didn't let go even though the pain that he felt was indescribable with his instincts telling him to drop it but he continued. He held it in his hands but the process simply repeated itself and his body started to face corruption till he died. He stopped focusing on the lookalike and focused on the sword but the outcome was the same.
After facing countless deaths with blood reeking all over the place covering the platform they were to the point of flowing over and falling into the abyssal white void , he was still trying and after countless deaths with each one being more painful than the last he was able to wield it but his body was slowly turning into a bloody pile unlike before but instead of taking it in, he went towards his lookalike with no second to spare and made an upward slash but it wasn't going to be that easy. His lookalike grabbed the sword's edge before impaling his hand into Andrew's head facing a gruesome death. "Congratulations, you're able to wield it but instead of focusing on me, you should focus more on completely adapting to the antimatter." Andrew knew that his efficiency would be lower if he was taking damage as he was trying to kill his counterpart so he completely immersed himself in trying to negate the antimatter.
He tried to stop it as his body instinctively tried to do so but this would only hasten the process covering the ground with red. After a while he yielded to it and this seemed to slow it but not completely stop it. After his death unbothered by the nauseating stench that covered the place as he easily got used to it, he looked at the sword impaled on the wall and he finally lost it. He had already died countless times trying to lift this sword and to think a being powerful enough to overturn the heavens and manipulate reality itself was unable to wield a stupid sword. He tried to use Overwrite and Fanfiction but his head would simply explode everytime he did and as for devouring, this didn't negate the antimatter as it usually would. He lost his mind and took the sword and to the lookalike's surprise Andrew stabbed himself with it in his heart. He continuously stabbing himself as he felt the pain across his body and due to blood loss,he died. Once again seeing the scene infront of him, he stabbed himself over and over again till the devilish smile on his lookalike faded to a simple smile. He once again stabbed himself and realized that he wasn't feeling any pain at all. He looked at his chest to see the sword plunged in his heart but he didn't feel any pain rather he felt as if he was genuinely linked with it. "So you finally cracked it."
He looked at his lookalike with a dumbfounded expression and the lookalike continued ,"It's similar to poison and the more you are in contact with it, the more you'll be less affected bit this alone will not reduce the effects. You have to lose your will to be fully immune to it's effects, something that you would be doing the exact opposite." And let out a small laugh. He summoned a sword similar to Andrew's in his hand and the his free hand behind his back ,"Since you can finally wield it. Now let's have some fun."