Chapter 4: Rules.

Raizel groggily opened his eyes to a sharp headache once more from which he involuntarily squinted for a moment, he found himself laying down around the cluster of books he had taken to read. He tried getting up but although the body was willing, the mind was still weak, *well, that's a complete opposite to how that saying usually goes huh* he sluggishly thought to himself and managed to bring out a small smile.

"You're awake master"

Eva announced as she flew into the library, finding Raizel laying down in what must surely be an uncomfortable form "uhhh" she had nothing to say.

"Did I get any more visitors while I slept" he asked.

"Mhm, your aunt stopped by here about 8 hours ago, seems she had something to discuss with you".

"I see" the mental sluggishness wore off almost immediately and Raizel got up, he warmed up his mind by going through a quick refresh or all that he's learned by reading those books and found that he retained and understood it all perfectly well *expected no less from me* he smirked.

Raizel willed for the glass panels to display the outside to him, specifically the entrance to the tower. "So they're still there huh, he had seen them before but deemed them unimportant as he thought they'd leave soon.

"It's quite understandable master, the world has been trying to get in contact with the gods for the past century, with the doors opening once more there's no way they could leave easily, the insane devotion forbids it" Eva added.

Raizel gave a careless nod and willed the view away and heaved a heavy sigh then looked towards Eva and asked "if you were to judge the current me's physiology which universe do you think I'd fall under".

"Pardon" she expressed, caught offguard by this but then sank into her thoughts "If I were to judge the current you master, then I'd say you're closest to a mutant, but you don't have the feel of one" she gave her answer.

"Heh, seems I don't have the feel of anything really" he smiled "but a mutant huh, I'd hate to be that. As a drag....hmm, well as a higher being I'd hate to awaken as anything else other than the best you know, the underdog story doesn't suit me at all"

Raizel walked out of the library with Eva following close behind, in an instant they both were at outside the building entirely. Raizel's left eye suddenly entered a perfect close of which Eva noticed and couldn't help but ask "why?"

"It's an efficient training method that came to me after I woke up" he replied.

Eva looked a bit dumfounded and Raizel smiled a little as he explained further "right now I'm sacrificing half of my consciousness, more than half of my reflexes, half of my power and also my sight of course, to simultaneously focus on mastering my abilities while also having the freedom to do anything else I want at the same time"

"Since I've sacrificed this half for internal training, the other half has more than enough time to focus on the outward training, it's much more time efficient this way"

Eva blinked and then blinked again "you've never tried this method before right master".

"Mhm" Rai gave a nod and asked "is it interesting".

"A bit yeah" .

*A bit is an understatement, sacrificing half of everything, especially consciousness is a dangerous game to play and not an easy one to master. Obviously my master isn't the first person to have thought of this method, it's more so surprising how well he's doing it*.

A small glint appeared in Eva's eyes as she read her master's condition, half of Raizel's mental sea was gone and so was It's and his original strength.

*Not even those supreme geniuses and even the god-level geniuses dared to instantly flush half of their power down the drain nor do they ever attempt to sacrifice anything close to this*.

*It took even they years to master balance when using this method, because what you sacrifice doesn't just affect your other stats in a linear way, reflexes don't ever just drop to only half, it takes a much greater dive downwards and so does the circulation of power, a small mistake in power circulation could lead to internal destruction and death, hence why this method was a dead path that almost no one took anymore, especially to the level master had chosen to sacrifice in a heartbeat*.

Eva smiled for a moment before catching herself, it seems she was still very much underestimating exactly who her master really was *no matter how far he's fallen, the greatest genius in creation will always be above most others* and with this Eva couldn't help but feel an even greater sense of pride that this was the being she was bound to.

Some minutes later they were at Sheva's place if stay, but his assigned maids informed him she had taken a trip, presumably to the heavens as they too were told nothing.

"I see".

"Is something the problem with your eye young master" asked a concerned maid.

"Ah, this is just a part of a training method I've adopted for myself" he clarified to ease their worries.

Raizel could see the visible relief that appeared on each and everyone of their faces and couldn't stop the small smile the crept up on the edges of his lips then he politely left to go find Esna, "it's quite a weird feeling" he whispered.

"What is?"

"Oh it's nothing" he brushed it off, Raizel found Esna messing with something, her hand was put through a portal and it seemed she was searching for something so he walked up right besides her.

"Ah, you're here" she noted.

"What are you searching for"

Esna could give no answer yet she smiled "got you" she whispered and asked Raizel to close his eyes...eye?

He obliged and she pulled out a dark orb with a golden core then trapped it in a field she just created "you can open it now" he asked and so he did.

"What's that"

"An elusive artifact that's been a pain to catch".

"Really?" He asked, almost doubtful and she could see that but had no motivation to explain in detail.

"Yes".

The orb got sucked up into a personal pocket dimension "it's a good thing you're hear as I have something to relay, but I'm sure you need me for something right".

"I need to find a way to awaken".

"Awaken?" asked a confused Esna.

"Yes, awaken of the three main universes of power in the world" he completed.

Esna understood now what he was referring to "ohhh, that can only granted by your aunt. Or to be more accurate, that can only easily be more granted by your aunt than by I".

"Why?" He asked.

"Because to access exactly what she did I'd have to go much further beyond the limit than she did, and that's trouble. Lady Sheva has authority over a lot of things and so she's able to go against the heavens natural boundaries and bring those three universes to co-exist as one under the heavens without making a complete mess in the process"

"And your power is not exactly the friendliest with the heavens and it's laws"

"Precisely" she confirmed, "I'm not domination either, although an incomparably more hostile power than mine, that same hostility is what suppresses the consequences of making such an unnatural action as this".

"Hmm, I see".

Then he sighed and asked if she too knew where his aunt had gone to but even Esna was clueless, but she told him trips like this were a common occurrence for his aunt so it wasn't something to possibly be worried about.

"Now I have to ask cause it's been bugging me, why is one eye closed" she asked, Raizel explained the situation to her same as he's done before and Esna supported the method.

"Well that's half of my work being done for me, I'm also not exactly well suited in teaching mastery over the demonic and angelic paths. After your awakening I'll help in guiding you towards the best and most efficient path possible, I already have the techniques prepared".

"Hm, who's going to handle the crowd situation outside the tower" he asked.

"Some members are already on it, a couple hours more and it'll be done".

"I see".

Raizel asked for Esna to cast an illusion of a working eye onto his closed left, preferably one which only beings at her level could see through, he didn't want to be probably asked the same question over and over by curious people. She agreed to his request and cast the illusion onto him.

"Done, when you feel it's time for you to open your eyes again just will it and the illusion would fade, it won't come back again unless I recast it".

He thanked her and left Esna to her vices as he left back for his abode"I haven't seen Idris in a bit" he whispered.

"It's only been hours master".

"Mhm, that's what I said, in a bit".

Eva gave up and Raizel just shrugged, eventually Idris would come to him anyway so it's nothing to worry about, once Raizel got home he didn't go inside, Instead he removed his white jacket, placing it onto the branch of a tree and left only the black top.

Then he summoned a pen and paper along with a high table, he rest his arm onto the table and began writing, Eva watched with interest on his head:–

[List of abilities not tied to my Devil or Angel side at the base level]

– Teleportation.

– The Kings Domain.

– Wings of Horus.

– The Strength of Hercules.

– Swiftness of Hermes.

– The Body of Leviathan.

- The Eye of Hypnos.

– Minor body manipulation.

Eva looked at the list with a raised eyebrow, she knew he didn't have anything on the level of what he just listed, leaving out the first and last ones which were accurate. Raizel could feel her emotions and couldn't his chuckle "do you want to know why I gave such names to these normal abilities" he asked.

She nod, Raizel stood upright and exhaled "because it just sounds.....what word do they use here?"

"Ah yes, it sounds cool. At some point anyways they'd all evolve to become worthy of the names I've gifted them so it works eitherway" he shrugged and put the pen in-between the book then closed it.

*Though I feel like I'm missing something here but what* questioned Raizel but he killed the thought and glanced through his list again.

Those were the only things he had at the most base level without the influence of his Devil or Angel side, "it really is too basic I have to admit" he whispered to himself.

*Thankfully Angelic and Demonic paths to the rescue else I have no idea what I could possibly do against those with very troublesome and annoying abilities. I just need to awaken anyone of the top two universes of power, most preferably Magic*

Eva watched her master pace around while lost in thought while just sitting atop his head and enjoying the view, although she doesn't dare read his thoughts she could easily guess whatever may be bothering her master had to do with his awakening. *I'm surprised he hasn't realised it yet*.

Raizel stopped his pacing and looked up "wait a minute, aunty is the one in charge of my awakening".

*Bingo* she smiled.

He facepalmed himself hard "ah man, what was all that worry for exactly"

"Nothing" she replied.

He paused for a moment "It was a rhetorical question".

"I know".

"Quite a bit sassy aren't you" he smirked and she nod her head without hesitation which left Raizel a bit speechless, but what exactly could he do.

Raizel looked at the mark on the back of his hand again for a moment and then willed himself back into his home, taking his jacket and his other summoned materials along with him, he settled himself down in the library again to continue his reading for the next few hours.

Sometime into his reading he was alerted by Eva that someone was in his home although he already knew that as he was awake and so was his connection with the building, Raizel closed the book in his hands and willed himself to dining.

"Idris" he called out.

The old butler gave a bow "pardon the intrusion young lord" with a smooth wave of his hand the covers on neatly placed plates of food were lifted showing steaming hot and rich delicacies.

Idris pulled out two bottles of wine from his pocket space along with a glass cup and placed them on the side "Dinner is served"

Raizel gracefully took a seat and ate with adequate table manners as he savoured each and every dish placed before him, Idris stood at the side watching with a smile on his lips *he's changed a bit*.

Soon as he was done Raizel put down his cutleries and took one last sip of wine, then gently wiped his mouth and got up "what sort of power was in that steak" he asked.

"Something that's going to help lay a new foundation in your body, I have been made aware that your dragon heart is no longer present within you and domination refuses contact correct?".

"Mhm" he nod.

"Then if all things go correctly, you might be able to build yourself a new dragon heart, it might not give you the same affinity as your original one but that's not the most important thing as the end goal here is to give domination the incentive to awaken".

Raizel's eyes widened a bit, "ahh, I see".

Idris waved his hand and the table was cleared, then he adjusted his gloves and continued "although domination did not completely originate from your dragon side it's most compatible with it making it the only side it chooses to work with".

His eyes gained a faint glow as he peered into Raizel's being "your Devil side could have served as the possible next best choice but it's fused with your other half so that's disappointing, even then it's not a certainty that it would accept it".

"Eitherway, once your awakening is done then the plan to build you a new heart would commence, you will need the Dao most of all in order to achieve this, and Magic in order to perfect it".

"And it'll be much advised you rest young lord, the power circulates much faster this way, plus it could get a bit uncomfortable very soon" Idris took a final bow and left.

Raizel felt the power circulating through his body once again "a bit uncomfortable?" He questioned.

"Master, I advise you heed his words".

He smiled and complied with the advice so he willed himself to his room "what activity do you partake in while I'm asleep anyway" asked a curious Raizel as he tucked himself in bed.

Raizel received no answer from Eva other than her silence, or at least he thought he didn't cause Raizel unbeknownst to himself had already entered a slumber the moment he lay on the bed.

Eva who had cast the sleeping spell on him watched her master sleep so soundly for about en extra minute with a soft smile on her lips before she left the room, meanwhile the raw sea of spiritual energy began on its course of causing a controlled havoc in Raizel's body.

It rewrote part of his physiology and 14 key points were created in specific parts of his body, one sat directly at the middle part of his forehead, one sat at his oesophagus, one in each of his shoulders and one sat right in the centre of his chest followed by another sitting right above his male organ.

One was also in each of his elbows and two more in the palm of his hands, another in both his knees and the last two final key points were in both his feet.

Visible white veins of power appeared all around his body the moment the points were completed, but seconds later the veins all turned gold in color and blackish purple seconds later but they both got overtaken by a crimson red which did something completely different.

It separated the gold and blackish purple power and drew a good portion of the veins around Raizel's body to three separate points, the heart point and the point which resided in the pelvis area.

The gold resided in the heart point and the blackish purple resided in the pelvis point while the crimson resided in the head point, the original white veins of power occupied the eleven other points.

Seconds later the vein began fading away as did the points around his body, Raizel's consciousness found itself falling ever so endlessly into the sea of nothing while all this was going on but Eva couldn't help but look on with a gaze of confusion at what occurred during the final stages;

"That is really not how it's supposed to go is it....I'm quite sure the answer is yes" she whispered, coming down a little lower and touching his peaceful face and reading his body again.

"Do I tell Idris this, or do I just wait and see what the end result might be" Eva contemplated for a fair while, then finally choosing to go along with waiting the results out.

Hours later Raizel began waking up but not the same surroundings he fell asleep in, the first thing that entered his gaze was the ground which was a sea of molten hot blue larva plagued with streams of lightning *warm* he thought, his senses still not fully awake yet.

But as he made an effort to get up he became increasingly more alert of how unnatural this turn of events was although he didn't panic, now up on his feet Raizel looked down to find himself in the barely recognisable rags of his former clothes *definitely not normal larva if if could burnt it off*.

Raizel looked around, finding nothing but a never ending sea of blue larva and lightning which was high up to his kneecaps. "Hmmm, is this a test" he asked, seeing no other options other than this being some sort of test by either his aunt or Esna. He tried levitating but it felt like he was being held down by the weight of the universe.

"A rule huh"

Rules were truly an annoying thing when used in the most correct and pettiest way possible, at his current level he was nowhere near powerful enough to interact with a rule let alone override or ignore it.

"How about teleportation" he tried but as he already expected, there was a rule placed on that too.

"An irritable restriction, but ah well". Raizel released his crimson flames and manipulated it to wrap around the lower half of his body like a cloth.

"There we go, now please don't burn anything down there" he plead with his rebellious flames and clad himself in a thin film of aura, then he began running with just enough speed to step on the larva without sinking in it.

Raizel ran for hours and hours, going on for the equivalent of half a day yet he saw nothing but just more larva and lightning, he might have endless stamina but not nearly enough patience so at some point he just stopped in his tracks and sunk again.

He checked his surroundings *There definitely has to be a way to get out of this place, whatever it is*. Raizel looked up at the skies, they looked to be stuck in a state of eternal sunset.

"Wait a minute" Rai looked at his hands, the bracelet which hosted Eva was no longer with him, he wondered how he could have forgotten about it till this moment.

"This can't be a side effect of me shutting down half of my mental capabilities, my other half is greater than the whole of most". But then Raizel shook his head as he felt he was definitely overthinking it, most obvious answer is he truly 100% forgot, he just couldn't come to terms with it that easily.

He sighed and just began walking, there was no real destination nor any goal this time, he just wanted to walk. And so he walked, walked and kept walking for what felt like days on end but who knows, not like he was counting anyway.

Raizel sat down in the larva with a bored look on his face and yawning without a care in the world, he already tried using his psychokinesis to move the larva but just found nothing but more endless sea of larva after digging through the earth beneath, levitation through the use of psychokinesis was also not allowed either, he also tried jumping out but it seems jumping fell under the same umbrella as flying for some reason.

Whomever set this rule really was truly thorough in their pettiness and he couldn't help but be impressed even with how irritated he was right now.

Raizel lay down and let himself get submerged into the larva, focusing all his mental capabilities on training his hybrid side. He had noticed something a bit different when he was training, he was having a much easier time trying to pull out his Angelic side without his Devil side automatically being mixed in.

He couldn't separate them completely yet but this progress was much welcomed, *now if I were to draw out the power of my Angelic side for just a bit, long enough for to use the eye of an angel to possibly get an answer to what this place is then I may be one step closer to getting out*.

The eye of angel was special because they had the natural gift of sight, to explain it better, they could see through nearly everything that either is currently an obstruction to you or will become an obstruction to you in the future, you also get to know exactly what type of obstruction it would be. This power also extends to those which your heart deems dear.

The obstruction could be in the form of an illusion, it could also be physical, mental or even spiritual. No matter what form it may come, as long as it is recognized as an obstruction it can be identified with all it's strengths and weaknesses. Of course the power wasn't omnipotent as there were ways to bypass or be straight up immune to it at a certain level, along with the fact that all the eye did was show you the object blocking your path, personal strength is what determined if you could clear it off in the end.

"My eyes may not be anywhere near the level even of the weakest of heavens hosts, but I'm sure it's powerful enough to allow me get a glimpse of something at least".

His right eye was overcome with a golden glow which released a constant stream of flames. And for a moment he saw it, what Raizel currently lay on was nothing but one big formation with space stretched, wrapped, cloned and compressed in and of itself.

Which means no matter how fast he runs or how long he runs all he'll end up doing is basically go in circles over and over again, giving it the illusion of it being endless.

Raizel closed his eye which was now being overtaken by his devil side and got up, he had all he needed now and that gave him an idea.

"So with one trip around the old one is replaced with a new one and the interconnected space immediately brings me to it once I reach the end, it's woven so smoothly it even eludes my senses" he scoffed, his little glimpse also confirmed his suspicion that the way out was really the skies after all.

"If it's this strong then even with my hybrid form I may not be able to take control of it, this is expected, the person who made this was powerful enough to enforce a rule after all".

Raizel got up and cracked his neck just for the cool of it "alright, time to test my theories out"

[First test]1

He manifested his crimson flames and set them in an ascending order, then he took a deep breath and took a step forward, but the moment his foot was set down on the flame it became completely still. Rai scrunched his brows at this new turn of event, it gave him a new idea to test out.

[Second test]1

Raizel used his psychokinesis to manipulate the blue larva into becoming a stool for him, then he set his foot onto it. He waited, already expecting it to be a failure but nothing happened. Raizel couldn't believe it, there was no way it could be this easy so he tried again, there was still no reaction this time.

"It can't be" he whispered in disbelief as he moved up again and still facing no resistance, Rai then paused for another moment before he began climbing at a steady pace which turned into a jogging pace and then a full on run.

He didn't go too fast lest he outpaces the speed at which he could lead the larva and misstep, so at the pace he ran it took Raizel about 9 minutes to reach the top, his steps coming back to the pace of a walk the closer he got to the exit along with the excitement he felt in his beating heart.

The moment he got the top itself Raizel's eyes widened in surprise as a colossal palm came right down on him, he balled his into in a first and punch towards the palm in an effort to destroy it. But what Raizel felt upon contact was not the feeling of someone who stood a chance, he was sent back down into the larva with a force many times that of even the strongest nuclear weapon.

Raizel lay deep in the depths of the blue larva, the entirety of his left arm utterly obliterated along with a good chunk of his side's too. But in seconds they all regenerated back to perfect condition and Raizel's eyes snapped open in realization *ahhh, yes. Regeneration, that's what I missed in my list*.

He smiled and then manipulated the larva to push him back up to the surface in moments, he flexed his regenerated arm and looked up at the colossal beast staring down at him, it's big red orb like eyes and absolute lack of facial features made Raizel painfully aware of the fact this was a thing and not a creature.

It wasn't moving or trying to attack him in any way, it just used those soulless eyes to stare at him.

"Facing that thing at the base level would mean repeated suicide, thankfully i still have some great cards left to play. But you guys—

He looked back down to stare at all the multiple hundred humanoid larva monsters before him and smirked "I'm quite sure with you I don't have this problem".

They came in different sizes and with different classes too, about a 100 of them were huge and 4 meters tall or close to it. The rest maintained a more moderate height with they all being either just a bit taller than Raizel or a bit shorter, they weren't all just pure larva either as all of them were clad in some sort of possibly enchanted earth armour and weapons.

"Alright, let's get this over with" Raizel vanished from the spot, or at least that's what should have happened but he remained stuck there, pressed down by that now regrettably familiar feeling.

He grit his teeth in pure frustration *running has been sealed now! Really!??*. There would be no one to answer that question as Raizel was hit by a mighty force and get sent flying for miles, he stopped himself by manifesting a flame wall to crash into and it worked, then he looked up to see every last one of them right before him once more.

Raizel's irritation grew stronger "Dammit" he whispered and unleashed an entire sea of crimson flames upon them all, his eyes gaining a very venomous look when he saw the outcome, not a single one of them was scathed.

And it was then he came to the full realisation this wasn't going to be as easy as he had thought, the battle that was about to occur might go down as one of the most frustrating to ever exist.

EnD.