Chapter 2361: “Kill me.”
For two full hours, Nux fought the Five Infinities.
And the longer he fought—
The sharper his instincts became.
His body started handling the battle with less and less thought, he no longer needed to consciously force every impossible result.
The Power of Anomaly moved with him, even his breathing itself carried the power of Impossibility.
Even the Infinities could feel it.
Nux was exhausted.
He was injured, he was bleeding, externally and internally, his body was screaming in agony, yet somehow...
The Infinities weren’t able to land the final blow.
In fact, it was becoming harder and harder to kill him.
But Infinities were still... Infinities.
They didn’t stop.
Their thought process was simple, it didn’t matter if they couldn’t land the final blow, all they needed to do was to keep landing blows until one of them became the final blow.
And that was what they did.
Without any mercy, they moved in the same formation, not giving Nux even an instant to breathe or collect himself.
Any small opening they found, they used it and just like that, Nux’s injuries kept piling up.
His left arm stopped healing at all, his ribs were broken in too many places to even be recognized as ribs, one of his lungs had collapsed and was only healed halfway, his right leg had no proper feeling left, his blood drifted around him in red streams.
His body was... ruined.
He was... barely hanging on.
And the Infinities didn’t show any intention of stopping. At this point, they didn’t even talk, Nux tried to rile them up, taunt them or pit them against each other—
But ever since he injured Ul’Thakar that time, an injury that had already healed because of Orravyn’s Relics, the Infinities never once said a word.
It was clear.
They were not going to stop until Nux was down.
So...
In that moment, Nux made a decision.
He let go.
He let go of the control he had on his body, more than ninety-five percent of his focus shifted onto Zylarith’s memories.
Only a thin part of his mind stayed with his body, a little awareness he still needed to use the Power of Anomaly and actually know what was happening.
As for the rest—
It was gone.
And the effect was instant.
The time he needed dropped.
The remaining hour became ten minutes.
Yes.
Ten more minutes.
If he could last ten more minutes, he would stand a chance.
With that—
His body continued fighting, almost entirely on instinct alone.
His body turned, he used his Laws, he punched, his Law of Anomaly flared and faded, flared and faded, answering threats without waiting for full thought.
And like that—
More time passed.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Three minutes.
His instincts were still moving him, but his body could no longer keep up.
Even impossibility needed a vessel and Nux’s vessel was... breaking.
That was when one of Ul’Thakar’s blows sent him flying backwards, crushing his already broken ribs.
Nux tried to stop himself, but his body did not answer properly.
Seraphielle appeared above him, Spears of Light rained down on him, Nux twisted his body, trying to dodge but—
He was too slow.
One of the spears cut through his shoulder, Zylarith’s Chaos entered the wound and made the pain worse, almost paralyzing Nux’s right arm.
Equarios raised his hand.
Nux was moving when it shouldn’t be possible, his body was no longer in the state to move, the only reason he could move was because—
He had made the impossible possible.
And for that—
He needed to pay the price.
CRACK
The bones in both his legs were crushed.
"Frrhhhh!"
Nux coughed out blood, his body was ruptured from the pressure, but he kept moving, he kept... surviving.
Seven more minutes...
Only seven.
That seven became six.
Six became five.
Five became four.
And four became... three.
Three minutes.
Only three more minutes.
That was all Nux needed.
He moved his ruined body even as it twitched lifelessly, his trembling fingers curled and formed a punch.
But—
That was when it happened.
Orravyn appeared behind the already ruined Nux, holding a small, almost plain-looking relic in his hand.
A black rectangular plate. Orravyn placed it on Nux’s back and—
"Recorded Stillness."
The instant those words were said, the relic activated. Its surface, which was covered with countless small pale symbols, shined and—
FWOOOM
It released a pressure so terrifying that Nux felt threatened.
He tried to move away, but it was already too late.
CLINK CLINK CLINK
The Relic was already activated, black chains erupted from it and wrapped around Nux, not around his body, but around his... current state.
His exhausted, injured, slowed, surrounded state.
That state was then recorded properly and Orravyn’s Archive declared it to be true.
The moment that happened—
Nux’s body froze.
His eyes sharpened instantly, a part of his mind snapped back from Zylarith’s memories, his arm trembled, the Power of Anomaly gathered around him and for one instant—
Crack
The Chains binding him cracked, it looked like he would be able to force his way out of it through the power of Impossibility but just then—
Orravyn waved his hands and... more relics moved.
A silver ring locked around his right wrist, a golden nail pierced the space near his left shoulder, a white thread wrapped around his throat without touching skin, a black chain coiled around his legs, a broken mirror appeared before his chest, a small bronze clock stopped above his head.
Every single relic added another binding.
One sealed movement.
One sealed Space.
One delayed Time.
One preserved injury.
One blocked his form from using his Laws.
One recorded every failed escape and repeated it.
"LET ME GO!!"
Nux’s scream came out distorted since his throat was torn, his eyes flared, the golden light in them shined more intensely than ever.
The Power of Impossibility gathered, the binding relics around him trembled, almost as if they could no longer hold him.
For one terrifying moment, Nux nearly forced his way out but—
That was when a vast, unseen scale appeared over the battlefield, Nux’s eyes glared at it and—
"Balance."
Equarios spoke calmly.
The scale tilted.
On one side was Nux’s escape.
On the other side was the price required to make that escape real.
And the price continued to rise.
Ul’Thakar, Seraphielle and Zylarith closed in, adding themselves to the factor, the scale tilted even more, the price rose even further—
Until it became clear.
If Nux used the Power of Impossibility to break out now—
The price would be his very life.
And Nux realized it in an instant—
It wasn’t just his this life, he wouldn’t be able to revive from his wives’ shadows. No, that was not how it worked.
If he accepted this price, he would willingly be giving away his existence.
Not as a being—
But as a Universe.
Meaning this price wasn’t his own life, it was his entire Universe and every single being that existed in there.
Of course, the Infinities did not know it, not even Equarios, after all, even now, they still did not understand what sort of existence Nux even was.
Equarios just looked at him without emotion and—
"Impossible outcomes require... an impossible payment."
He declared coldly.
And Nux...
He stopped resisting.
The price was too high, he couldn’t pay it.
So he... gave in.
His golden eyes, that were shining intensely lost their light, then, he looked at the Five Infinities who surrounded him and he... grinned for one last time.
"It took five of you..."
He spoke, his voice was so hoarse that his words barely made sense, but the Infinities understood it.
"Five of you... to defeat me..."
"Indeed."
Orravyn nodded.
"You were stronger than we thought."
The Infinity of Eternity admitted and none of the other Infinities scoffed at it. Even Ul’Thakar was no exception, all this while, in his mind, he had always believed that after Zylarith at his prime, he was the strongest being in existence—
But seeing this... boy with a ruined body bound in front of him, that thought had changed.
He wasn’t the strongest.
Neither was Zylarith at his peak the strongest.
It was him.
Nux Leander was the strongest being in the history of their Universe.
Ul’Thakar admitted it openly and so did all the other Infinities.
But—
That didn’t matter.
Because despite being the strongest—
Nux Leander lost.
They won.
It was over.
And Nux knew that.
So he looked at the five beings in front of him one last time and—
"Kill me."
He spoke in a weak, hoarse, almost... powerless voice.
