John Hell's POV:
"Death is nothing!"
"What do you mean?"
Soon I found myself surrounded by what I could only describe as 'red'. There were doors everywhere. I noticed right away that I was growing old very quickly.
"Not bad. You didn't go insane from seeing this space."
"Insane? Where am I?"
I look down at my wrinkled hands as Destinatus talks.
"Where are you? You can think of it as a very realistic simulation. To be specific... this is a simulated chaos realm."
"If you are to be trained by me. I have a few rules you should never break."
"The first rule is that you must endure."
"The second rule is you must-"
I begin to slowly die.
"Oh yea. You're going to want to acquire a timeless existence. Time is weird in this space."
I died...
I find myself surrounded by darkness.
I hear his voice in my mind.
"Welcome to another realm. This is called the 'abyss'. It is nonexistence itself."
"The real training starts now. I'll bring you out once you become timeless."
The voice fades as I feel incredible pain. I notice that I lack a body.
Soon I am completely erased.
But before my consciousness is wiped out. I feel as if something is reaching out to me. They are bringing me back.
I find myself in pure darkness again.
I am wiped out.
Again. Again. Again.
Hours turned to days.
Days to years.
Decades.
At first I went absolutely insane. I was trapped in this space. I went through the stages of grief.
Denial. I tried to think to myself that none of this is real. That I hadn't died. That I wasn't being trained by some sort of entity.
Anger. How could my friend do this to me!? I had followed all his instructions for as long as I could remember! I provided an identity! This was unfair!
Bargaining. I tried to talk with Destinatus, begging him to let me out. I would do anything. I would be loyal forever. Just let me leave!
Depression.
"I'm never going to leave this place?"
I was overwhelmed with sadness. I soon figured that this was worse then being dead. At least those who are dead will know peace.
Acceptance.
"My consciousness will never rest!"
"Nobody will save me..."
"This is my fate."
At a certain point. After centuries. I grew bored with insanity. I started to become 'sane'.
Too 'sane'.
Extreme sanity!
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A white flame was floating in the abyss. It was soon wiped out.
"Failure again..."
John Hell had unknowningly constructed something quite similar to a 'true existence'. He was walking on the path of a 'Paradox', without even reading the inheritance of Somnus.
Existing in the abyss wasn't comfortable at all. It was like constantly being out of breath. It was a constant state of choking.
The abyss presents endless pressure.
He lacked a soul. He lacked a body. He lacked a will.
What didn't he lack?
"Consciousness!"
"No matter how many times my consciousness is wiped out. Destinatus will bring me back."
John Hell knew nothing about ranks or laws. He wasn't taught about such things. This left him with a unique view of the world and a different way of tackling problems.
He actually did something insane. This was all a simulation. But he eventually gained control over the abyss itself creating something different from a true existence.
Destinatus had taken a page out of the data lifeforms schools trial. Except instead of unraveling John's consciousness. He had placed him a simulated abyss to get erased.
This meant he didn't acquire the ability of data lifeforms to mess with data.
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How long did it take John Destinatus to pass the second level? To be precise... it took him over a hundred cycles...
Each cycle he was unraveled thirty-one quintillion one hundred four quadrillion times.
It took him over a 100 cycles of getting destroyed to have no vulnerabilities.
A cycle is around a decade.
So it took him over a thousand years! But John Hell didn't have infinite mind or the same conditions as Destinatus...
John Hell didn't have the same mindset either. He also didn't have techniques like 'Infinite Mind'. He was just a mortal given the opportunity to do the impossible.
No mortal would normally be given such fortune. He didn't initially see this as a blessing.
He saw it as a curse!
"This 'abyss' is seemingly infinite. But I've been told that I have infinite time..."
"Infinite time versus infinite space. What am I to find?"
"My opponent is infinity!"
John Hell planned to do something crazy. He would map out the abyss! Nothing existed within. But he didn't care.
The white flame distorted into a body.
Despite there being no oxygen.
Despite there being no light.
No real gravity.
It was as if he had used the abyss as a material for a body. This was similar to an abyssal body! He was using his consciousness itself to warp the rules of this space.
So began his journey to mapping out the abyss.
Thousands of years went by in a flash.
Tens of thousands of years.
Hundreds of thousands of years.
But he continued to document the nothingness. He never stopped or took a break. He was extremely sane. Nothing could mess up his mentality.
"I see... the abyss isn't actually infinite."
He learned some interesting things over these years.
"Every choice represents another time stream..."
"Every timeline has its own abyss..."
"There is an infinite number of timelines. I myself am only allowed to access this one. Since this is a simulation and there hasn't been any sort of overflow despite me spending many years expanding my mind and increasing the amount of pressure on the simulation."
"It could be said that this simulation has infinite processing power."
John Hell was correct! Destinatus did indeed have infinite processing power.
"Since the simulation has infinite processing power. That means that not only is this single universe created for myself. But every individual timeline exist as a sort of hidden file."
"If this abyss works the same as the abyss in reality. If Destinatus didn't take any shortcuts when designing this test..."
John smiled.
"Then... I'll become infinite!"
He held out his hand as a white flame appeared within it. He had already mapped out this 'infinite' space.
This was impossible!
Unlike the chaos realm. The abyss wasn't constantly distorting. It was a far lesser feat to map it out versus the chaos realm.
John had fused himself with the abyss. That is how he managed to do this impossible feat.
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John Destinatus's POV:
"How interesting... the amount of data being processed by that simulation has increased exponentially. It is still rising? What exactly is he doing?"
John focused on the simulation he had created. He focused on the abyss.
He was a bit surprised.
He saw multiple phantom abyss. It was surrounded by phantom cubes. But the black cube went through a sort of split.
It was dividing itself like a cell.
One abyss became two. Two became four. This pattern continued on...
"If I didn't have infinite processing power... he would've shattered the simulation!"
John focused on multiple abyss's at once. He saw synchronized movements across all versions of John Hell!
"Brilliant!"
"He has created a timeless existence... he has become the abyss itself. It is too bad this is just a simulation and that he had my help. Doing this in reality would actually..."
John realized something in horror.
"Oh shit!"
When John designed the abyss as a origin. He hadn't gone through the data lifeform training yet. The abyss had vulnerabilities!
He hadn't redesigned it for this simulation.
John Hell had shown him an exploit!
If someone were to do what John Hell did in reality... the consequences for his multiverse would be huge.
"Hmm... actually. It should be fine. He would just be connected across the multiverse. A connection to timelines..."
John realized that the person would have to get erased an unfathomable amount of times to have the experience to pull this off. This was the reason it hadn't happened yet.
"When I connect to my origin. I'll need to fix this exploit..."
"But to have developed a true existence. He isn't too bad!"
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John Hell's POV:
I smile in satisfaction as I hear an infinite amount of noise within my mind. Soon this noise is calmed down entirely.
John Hell had no idea about laws or concepts or origins.
But he created a title himself.
Although he didn't gain the ability to interact with data. He gained a more mysterious ability that even Destinatus didn't have. The ability to interact with other timelines.
"What have I become?"
Every single action was creating another timeline now in this simulation. But he experienced all versions of himself. He had synchronized himself across reality!
"Timelines... time manipulation..."
"Time."
"What am I?"
He sneered and declared to the universe.
"I am the Aspect of Time!"
This single sentence was spoke by an infinite amount of himself. It ringed as loud as thunder in Destinatus's mind.
Destinatus had actually messed with the matrix of reality when he was a concept. He had dealt with other versions of himself.
Destinatus hadn't yet mastered his origin.
But now he was gaining a bit of inspiration from a mere 'mortal'.
But this path wasn't one Destinatus could walk without sacrifice. He would need to dispell his brand on all of spiritual energy. He would need to lose his connection with the origin race entirely.
He would then need to truly die. John wasn't willing to do this for a benefit not guaranteed. But he was happy to have such a identity.
Destinatus's consciousness had reached the state of water. It had been transformed entirely. It was no easy feat for him to be erased.
"Aspect of time? How interesting."
The abyss started to condense around the white flame in John Hell's hands. Soon it turned into strands of energy as it shot into the white flame. It was as if he was the one doing the erasing versus the abyss itself.
Soon cracks appeared on the abyss as if it had lost its foundation.
It completely shattered.
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John Hell was floating in the simulated chaos realm.
"Congratulations on becoming timeless."
"But don't get too confident. In reality... you only get a single shot. You were only able to create that weird existence due to all the attempts I gave you."
Destinatus waved his hands as the scene changed.
John Hell found himself in a lab.
"You dare call yourself an 'aspect'? I don't even know what that is! But I like your spirit."
"You have impressed me with your actions. But an 'aspect of time' such as yourself. You are completely powerless."
"Yes. You have mastered the abyss. I highly doubt it would ever be able to erase you. This means you have become eternal. But there are higher levels of destiny than simply being eternal."
John became interested.
"What is your destiny?"
"Mysterious."
John had no idea if that was good or not.
Destinatus was then surprised.
"This aura..."
"You are similar to Zero?"
Destinatus seemed to be talking to himself.
"Does Zero's power have something to do with different timelines? I didn't really notice it as my emergence point existed outside of time..."
His eyes lit up.
John Hell had created a sort of Hivemind. But when the abyss shattered... he lost connection. This was because that simulation he had spent all his time manipulating.
It was deleted on a mere whim of Destinatus.
John Hell retained two key abilities from his training.
A timeless existence.
Abyss manipulation.
This meant he could survive death and that he wouldn't have to worry about getting erased. He also didn't have to worry about aging.
"Don't worry. It hasn't even been a second since you have died in the real world."
"I have a task for you."
John Hell wasn't even mad. He was happy to have acquired a timeless existence.
"What is it?"
Destinatus was preparing himself for his battle with Zero. He was also curious to see how far John Hell could go. He figured he could develop this technology himself.
But since this entity called themselves the 'aspect of time'. Perhaps he would be the key to developing something he had never before seen done.
They had infinite time after all.
"I want you to develop a special machine..."