The Taboo.

Ivan pondered quite seriously, not understanding what "its" problem was. As he has commented, the law was to "give and take," respecting which Ivan tried to "give" respect, but since it didn't seem like he would get any in return, he began to have second thoughts. "The almighty" shouldn't, no, can not be imperfect, because the consequences for that could be dire. If their greed heightened even a bit like that of humans, then unimaginable things could happen, and that thought gives life to another important question: who or what looks over or rules over the almighty?

As if the law of casualty heard his thoughts again, <A FEW THINGS ARE BETTER OFF NOT KNOWN. AS THEY AS IN THE HUMAN WORLD; IGNORANCE IS BLISS.> It commented in a rather lethargic tone, seemingly forced into a daze, that made Ivan think of many unsavoury theories, but since he had gotten "used" to believing that beings stronger than him would always exist, he decided to think about such things after he had gotten strong enough to not shudder in front of the existence in front of him.

Even though he masked his fear by thinking about different things, his body was subconsciously trembling just from being present in front of the eye, the law of casualty. In such a state, he didn't have the "right," the "privilege," to think about a stronger being, whom Ivan assumed to be the one controlling the eye in front of him.

'I....' Ivan began to think about what he wanted to say in order to converse, but something, something that Ivan wasn't able to put his finger into, like a lustre of life was lost in the eye. The eye's energy formed pupil that seemingly, subtly dilated. The change was so subtle that if not for Ivan gazing at the eye intently, he would have missed to notice the change. And soon after,

<YOU ARE AN EXISTENCE THAT MUSTN'T EXIST, HENCEFORTH, I, THE LAW OF CASUALTY, SHALL IMMURE YOUR EXISTENCE IN THE GAP OF TIME, FOR ETERNITY!> As if complying with the "order," two pairs of golden-coloured, divinity-filled shackles materialised out of nowhere.

Flinching at the abrupt plight that befell upon him, with a clear impetus to return to his family in his mind, he waved his hand and cast "invisibility" to the horns that protruded out of his forehead, fully understanding the possibility of scaring the humans—although his actions seemed futile to the eye, who could see everything—and let himself be bound because he "knew" that he couldn't escape the divine—due to Drayce's experiences—at least not yet.

His wrists and ankles were bound by the divine shackles that bound the magic power in his body, making it impossible for him to use any magic, which was the unprecedented, unpredictable factor of the infinite. He waved his limbs to confirm the depth of the bullshit he was stuck in and understood that the magic power in his body had absolutely no way of getting out; the "no way" in his thoughts was just a figure of speech because he had yet to explore "all" of the ways, and there wasn't even an ounce of doubt in his consciousness about his return.

Ivan glanced around curiously and noticed that the chains that were extending out to infinity were materialising out of nowhere. Fascinated by the phenomenon, Ivan spun in mid-space and noticed that his theory about the chains extending to infinity was indeed true. He uncoiled the divine chains as he tried to satisfy his fascination.

After an unknown period of plight of Ivan being stuck in the gap between time and space, Ivan had yet to really find a way to get out of his predicament.

His emotions, his longing for the love of his children and wife, continuously deepened at a terrifying rate as his nightmares got stronger due to his loneliness, haunting him at every single thought as he lived in the time gap that was exquisitely created only for him. Although he indeed had experienced being stuck in a certain frame of time, it was a certain but long extent of time, which gave him enough notion for him to think of himself as "living," even though he only got the luxury of feeling that feeling only after he got stronger, breaking past his limits.

Due to his mental state being as such, he had begun to meditate, trying to take control of his mind, which only made it harder for him at the beginning, but now he had gotten to the point where he was able to slightly control his mind, albeit the process was extremely tedious and treacherous.

The method he later discovered to keep his mind steady while also keeping his own track over time after taking control over his mind, albeit with inadequate control, was by counting seconds.

His current count was,

'3,618,293,760.... 3,618,293,765....' The five-second skip was because it took that much time to mutter those numbers in his mind. At the beginning, the second skip was larger even though the numbers he counted were lower, but as he got used to it, the speed of counting and the time skip decreased. Although his curse of being unable to forget helped him a lot, his mind gears spun at extremely fast speeds as his natural memory power, ability to think, ability to take control over his thoughts and emotions, his patience, his mental power, his mental fortitude—everything increased to an unnatural degree. And if the seconds he counted turned into years, then it would be 569 years exactly.

Unbeknownst to Ivan, the changes taking place in his body couldn't be "seen" by the eye, nor could it hear his thoughts, due to his powers being sealed within his body by the divine shackles that bound him.

And an unnatural, unprecedented ability Ivan had gained due to his persistent efforts to keep his own track over time was that he had learned how to use his subconscious and conscious minds separately; right now, he was keeping track over time in his subconscious mind while having different "growth" intended thoughts in his conscious mind.

Hiding his enlightenment behind his hard-hammered iron mask, Ivan began to employ magic power in his head: 'If I think of my head as just another limb, I should be able to use magic power with my face, or if I succeed in giving life to my theory, then I will be able to employ magic power with my thoughts.' Ivan thought inwardly and dove deep into his consciousness, which had turned abyssal-like due to his nightmarish thoughts and emotions that were influenced by those thoughts.

In Ivan's consciousness.

WHOOOOMMM-!

With an abrupt shift, Ivan sat up in his consciousness, submerged in foot-deep water that extended up to what the eyes could see. Though his body was submerged in a foot deep clearwater, the real depth of the sea couldn't really be grasped, since it's end wasn't visible, abyss-like. Ivan simply gazed ahead, where a humongous, ominous tree could be seen. To describe the view in front of him with simple words, then it would be "A Demonic World Tree." Roots of which extended to the depths of the abyss, as the branches extended out in different angles and directions, but instead of leaves, gears could be seen growing, and behind the demonic world tree was a dense, scattered, eerily dark energy of the exploded star.

The entire tree was filled with eerie gears that spun continuously, connecting with each other, and at halfway up, the gears were seen growing into something, which Ivan could see when he glanced up.

A humongous clock that seemed to have directly come out of the royal family's treasury from the fantasy stories, extended to the infinite, similarly to the water on the ground. There was a single hole in the right bottom corner of the clock above, in which the demonic world tree grew, with its gears acting as a power source, a device that kept the parts moving at regular intervals as the second's hand spun continuously, while the hour's hand was stuck at three o'clock and the minutes' hand was stuck at thirty-three minutes.

'Quintessence' Ivan muttered in his mind, and with an abrupt glow in seven parallel spots, seven cores began to glow in the middle of the demonic world tree, which were the cores Ivan created within his body: crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral, and root cores.

With a deep, sharp exhale, Ivan's sharp gaze peered at the cores before he shut his eyes tightly.

{Rune of combinations}

[Mana control + Absolute command]

Ivan muttered in his mind as his consciousness shook terrifyingly. They were the strongest traits he "absorbed" from the dragons and the demonic slime. The [Mana control] trait was absorbed by the dragons; in more familiar language, you could call it "Dragon Tongue," while the [Absolute Command] trait was absorbed by the demonic slime, which could also be called the absolute domination over the demonic race, a trait that only demons ranked "Demon King" rank or higher could wield.

The consciousness shuddered as it passed the threshold of life and death in an instant, yet nothing happened to Ivan himself; though he was unaware of the things happening to and within himself, the time gap created by the eye of the law of casualty broke apart as cracks appeared in the cores that were visible on the demonic world tree.

CRA-CRACK-!!!

SHATTER-!

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM-!

A loud boom resounded in his consciousness as all the seven-magic power-holding cores shattered entirely. As the insanely dense but feeble amount of magic power ran rampant in his body without being able to get out of it, it had no other option but to settle down within it. But Ivan had long lost consciousness due to the excruciating pain he was experiencing. Though pain wasn't new to him, he felt that much pain for the first time, so it was inevitable that he passed out.

All of this was happening because Ivan had attempted to create a taboo technique that, if successful, would be exclusive to him. It was considered taboo because the demonic energy and the dragonic energy were never meant to merge; the dragons, which were only second to the gods themselves, had the power to be whatever they wished to be, but the only taboo that should never be broken is that they should never accept demonic energy. The dragons were only second to the gods because they even rejected divinity due to their prideful egos.

And now, Ivan, who had both demonic and dragonic energies in himself, was considered to have become an existence that shouldn't exist. As if that wasn't enough, he had even attempted to merge both of these energies to create a new power that would be exclusive only to himself.

[Absolute Control]

BOOOMMM-!

Another loud implosion reverberated throughout Ivan's body in response to his successful skills combination, as his body expanded in an unnatural manner, which instantly affirmed Ivan's

DEATH.