The door stood there, not responding to black’s angry yells or commands for it to come closer, Black wanted to shout at it more but realized something was wrong with him, his rage was unnaturally high for such a simple thing as his plans failing, true he might have died there but he wouldn’t truly die once the system’s framework wasn’t too damaged, even if the world was completely demolished and rebuilt up from the ground some parts of his system would still be there, lingering in the world’s laws.
Black implemented this anti-death countermeasure based on a theory he had cooked up with the system, he theorized that the current gods couldn’t make new laws, only change the existing ones, since there wasn’t a law made to specifically counter his system and its laws he was fully and truly immortal.
He had already deleted the world’s original laws, so he had nothing to worry about, in his raged state, Black had completely forgotten about that entirely, Black was so immersed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice when the Tar-like had stopped pulling at his body, and completely spat him out on its surface, the immersed Black only noticed it when a soft hum that came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time broke him from his thoughts, the surprised Black pepped to stand up and check his soundings but quickly realized he couldn’t do so, somehow, while he was thinking, somewhat too deeply despite his current situation he was in, the strange place had flipped him horizontally and dulled the effectiveness of his powers.
Black was frustrated, no matter how much he called upon his powers and the system, they wouldn’t answer, he couldn’t even sense them within him, just an empty void, normally Black would’ve panicked in a situation like this, after all, it was one he dreaded and feared the most, but he forced himself to remain calm, there was still hope, maybe he was just overthinking things and the system wasn’t gone and all this was the doing of the strange substance that made up what he assumed to be the pocket dimension he was in.
Black tar-like substance could be seen in every direction he looked, it formed rivers clouds, and even a tar sun that instead of giving off heat; it spewed the same tar-like substance from it constantly, and strange animals made up of the same material occasionally walked under or pass him, though none seemed to notice or was even aware of his existence, it was all a strange new and mind-boggling sight for Black; he wasn’t used to the completely alien and strange lifeforms and environment, it would take a while to get used to, Black wasn’t even sure he would stay that long, he hoped not.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Time went on as Black ineffectively tried to free himself from whatever unknown power the dimension used to seal his powers, he even tried to enter his soul space to free himself from his current body, but he couldn’t even do that, he hated feeling this helpless, anger burned inside him but Black knew better this time than to let anger overtake him, he steeled his will and took control over it before it got the chance to affect him, banning someone from entering their soul was impossible so Black knew he was either already in his soul or he was witnessing the impossible made possible.
Each seemed unlikely, but the facts were there, he’d be a fool not to see them and put the pieces together, an idea suddenly popped into his head, if he was in his soul then he would have some degree of control over it and the reality that made it, he tried to grab onto the abnormal anger that manifested when he felt helpless; he was successful but at a cost; it burned his willpower, Black never knew willpower was tangible yet alone flammable, The discovery was a surprising one, the pain was getting less bearable by the second, he hastily let it go and pulled back his remaining willpower, the surprised Black didn’t know where exactly his willpower went, only that he knew it was somewhere, somewhere he knew yet didn’t, it was confusing, what was even more confusing and worrying was how this information got inside his head.
He relaxed his body and began contemplating, normally he wouldn’t do such a thing, he would just send it through the system and forget about it, that didn’t even take a second now though, the system wasn’t there so no extra computing power to blitz through everything; he was suddenly aware of how slow it was to think and plan, tor him, time passed too slowly, he missed having the power to speed up and control reality as he pleased, now he was powerless, he felt mortal again.
The discovery should’ve shocked him, but it didn’t, instead, he felt humbled and grounded, he was so dependent on the system that he didn’t realize or consider his one major weakness, the system itself, sure he made plans to help him one day if the system turned on him but never made any for what would happen if something inside him turned against him, Black felt stupid, he sighed and checked his willpower, he could do that now.
He felt it recovering slowly, it also felt tougher and stronger somehow, he now felt that could be more level-headed and had a higher tolerance to anger, Black felt his overall mindset and mental defense got bumped up a notch, Black waited for his willpower to fully recover before attempting to try again, instead of trying to grasp it this time he imagined it getting pushed out of him, nothing happened, Black sighed, of course, it wouldn’t be that easy, nothing ever was.
Black didn’t give up, failing was annoying, but that was all, he would try again.
He calmed his mind and tried to feel where exactly the abnormal anger was coming from, the first few minutes of searching were unsuccessful, the abnormal anger that manifested itself in the form of a burning colorless flame seemed to hide from him on purpose.