Ch 182 – A Failed Clone

'A month has finally passed since I became a clone.' Nox Aeterna's damaged body hovered in the outer edges of the solar system, broken and spilling out blood relentlessly.

But in the next moment, the blood spilling out of his body halted and started to move back into his own. Veins first popped out and extended outwards, then his bones, flesh, and innards, and in the end, his entire body returned back to a normal state.

For someone who is essentially a child who has only been alive for over 10 years, him having peak Demigod strength would already cause others to be scared shitless.

What does it mean to be a Demigod? It means to be at the peak of the mortal realm! It means to have incomparable might among mortals! So if someone were to see a child, a literal 10 years old boy, be a Demigod, it would definitely cause others to doubt their own reality.

But what they didn't know was that this boy was the clone of the clone of Isaac Deathwill! A figure whose name was engraved in the history of Tellus. He was a figure titled the Emperor of Death. He was an entity who had one foot into the gates of Godhood!

He has been alive for well over a thousand years, his knowledge and wisdom would of course transfer over to his clones.

But even if one was to be the clone of Isaac Deathwill, reaching Demigod in only a month would obviously be impossible… Unless one has a cheat!

A cheat, a power, a mysterious construct that gives a being a unique ability that is considered otherworldly. It not only gives them a unique power, but it also gives them endless potential and absurd luck capable of altering reality to benefit the cheat holder.

In essence, having a cheat is essentially becoming a main character of the world! The protagonist of the universe!

But at the moment, Nox Aeterna's eyes were cold and emanating an ominous glow. He lightly flicked his hand, and traces of mana were used to cut open the space in front of him that leads to a white void.

But inside that white void of endless nothingness, he saw a portal the same appearance as his far in the distance of the white void. Through the portal, he was greeted by a man wearing a silver-gray cloak, with silver-gray hair and eyes.

They made eye contact instantly, and the air instantly turned cold and frigid as thick killing intent burst outwards from the duo.

Both moved at the same time; Nox Aeterna slowly floated towards the portal and entered the white void, while Isaac Deathwill took a casual step and his feet pressed on the white void as if there was an invisible floor, but by the traces of mana covering the soles of his feet, one could deduce that there was no actual floor in the white void.

"Peak Demigod, impressive," Isaac Deathwill was the first one to talk.

"The same can be said for you," Nox Aeterna lightly smiled and responded amicably.

At that moment, the previous thick killing intent emanating from the two disappeared as if it was never there.

The two silently inspected one another, and both got a general gauge of each other's strength.

'He's… He's weak.' Nox Aeterna squinted his eyes in suspicion as he sensed the bottom-rung Z-Rank aura of Isaac Deathwill's soul. It was weak, too weak for Nox Aeterna's original estimates.

Isaac Deathwill could clearly sense the soul of Nox Aeterna, the basis of their magic-based cultivation, far above his by a couple of levels. He has just entered the realm of Demigods, while Nox Aeterna already has a solid footing in the Demigod realm.

And yet, he smiled lightly as if he wasn't bothered by the clear disparity in strength.

"Fufufu, should we stop with the formalities now and just proceed?" Isaac Deathwill laughed lightly.

Hearing that, Nox Aeterna paused before cold light once again flashed through his rainbow eyes. "Very well."

Instantly, their aura erupted at full intensity and both of them disappeared from their places. In the next moment, the sound of metal clashing against metal was heard.

'Hmm?' Nox Aeterna felt estranged at that moment as he saw his own blade be blocked by Isaac Deathwill's nanite sword.

Obviously, when blades clash, they would clash. But in the realm of Demigods, normal blades would transform into legendary weapons in their hands as their comprehension would change the way reality would respond to their every action.

At the first blow, Nox Aeterna wielded multiple laws to synergize with one another and death a simple yet devastating blow that can kill almost any Demigod beings. He also knew that Isaac Deathwill never once gained Demigod-level Law of Sword comprehension, so even if they were to clash blades to probe one another, he would obviously win.

"It's disappointing that my clone can't even understand what just happened," Isaac Deathwill taunted, and a feeling of danger instantly overcame Nox Aeterna.

He swiftly disappeared from the area, and he saw a beastly claw gouge out of nowhere behind the place he was previously standing at. Next, the monstrous claw slowly solidified into a white monstrous bear the size of a hill that stood guard beside Nox Aeterna.

'A Z-Rank Sky Bear Overlord! Don't tell me…!' Instantly, an immense feeling of danger overcame him as the eyes of the Sky Bear Overlord turned towards him.

'Did he create the Sky Bear Overlord from nowhere? No, he just recently reached Z-Rank, so he obviously can't do something like that. WAIT!' At that moment, he turned his head towards the side and he was instantly greeted by a rapidly approaching fist out of nowhere.

"DIE!" A booming voice erupted and Nox Aeterna's pupils rapidly dilated. By instinct, the space around him warped and he disappeared from the area at the very last moment to avoid the fist that directly threatened his life.

But he couldn't breathe a sigh of relief, as his head moved to the side and he just barely avoided the streak of white sword energy that chopped strands of his hair.

And before he could even think, a ginormous fist the size of mountains appeared out of nowhere above him. It was metallic black in color, and one glance alone made him know that the material the fist was made of was something he could not easily destroy at the current moment.

His mind hurriedly tried to find a way out, but in the next moment, multiple swords formed a circular formation around him in less than a second, forming a complex sword array around him. With the sword array, the prospects of him teleporting away are gone!

'Crap!' He thought to himself and instantly, his rainbow-colored eyes shone brightly.

In the next instant, beams of rainbow light erupted from his eyes, and the beam of light swept through the mountain-sized fist above him, directly splitting it into two.

But he still couldn't rest, as through the split mountain-sized fist came the visage of a red-haired man whose grin was devilish and ominous.

"QUITE THE BROKEN CHEAT YOU HAVE THERE!" Gal Jum laughed maniacally, and instantly, the laws of reality around him surged in a strange manner, and the beast totems on his body shone brilliantly.

"AHHH!" Nox Aeterna screamed and he took a martial stance. In the next moment, rainbow-colored light gathered around his fist and he punched outwards, sending out a torrential river of rainbow starlight!

"HAHAHA!" Gal Jum laughed, and he punched outwards at the same time. In the next instance, phantoms after phantom of mighty Z-Rank Beasts rush outwards of his fist like a myriad beast army!

But just as the two attacks were about to clash, a strange feeling of loss overwhelmed Nox Aeterna at the same time Gal Jum's aura and visage turned mightier. In the next moment, he instantly knew what happened in clear detail.

'Clover Fourleaf!' He widened his eyes. Luck was something most would ignore when it comes to battling to the death, but with Clover Fourleaf in the team, it means he'll have to fight not just two cheaters who hold absurd luck, but now his own luck can be temporarily dealt with. Though a cheater has absurd luck, it's not omnipotent!

Without hesitation, he gritted his teeth, and the wave of starlight in front of him dissipated and formed into a ginormous barrier instead. Under the torrential attacks of myriad beasts, it quickly broke down and shattered, but incredibly, they found Nox Aeterna missing from the area.

'Phew…' Nox Aeterna breathed out a sigh of relief as he used his immense foundation in the last moment to maximize a stealth spell to hide from them and perhaps regain some breathing time. But who was he facing?

Just as he took a breather, a premonition for danger overcame his mind and he instantly disappeared from the area with another teleportation. In the next moment, he saw nanites rapidly gather at the place he was previously hovering in and formed a silver ball.

The next moment, the silver ball gleamed brightly and beams of invisible light hurriedly shot toward him at impeccable accuracy. He dodge and weaved through the beams, but he was merely a mortal while the enemy was an AI that has gained 'life'.

By the time he noticed something was wrong, a fist already appeared out of nowhere behind him and it directly punched his back. In the next instant, he puked out blood and his entire body was split into two, and his body flew in two different directions.

As he struggled to regain his bearings, a silver streak flew through the air and it directly pierced through his brain and dragged his upper body towards his severed lower body, puncturing the two like meat sticks. It was a gruesome sight, especially when one considers that Nox Aeterna is merely a 10-year-old boy.

To give a mere child such brutal treatment, it would obviously make them look like the worst of the worst. But in the end, good and evil were merely human constructs they made to produce law and order.

As Nox Aeterna's body morphed and moved like goo to try and escape the clutches of the sword, he felt alarmed as the figure of Yokota Makoto appeared in front of him with both of his palms covered in golden electric sparks.

He could already feel his imminent death rapidly approaching, and that drove his brain into overdrive to find a way to live and escape. In the face of death, that is the moment when one shines the brightest and reaches a new level!

So using everything he can muster, his rainbow-colored soul shone brightly and he opened his eyes to find himself…

'It worked!' He thought with widened eyes as he was greeted by a sight he was familiar with, for he has entered the realm of dreams once more. From a colorful void, colorful stars, and colorful clouds. But this time, he glanced down at what should be his soul and was instead greeted by his physical body.

From his blood-ridden child body to his pale white skin, and torn clothes.

'My cheat has truly evolved! Now the risk of having my soul be damaged and destroyed by exploring dreams is essentially gone because I can now potentially enter dreams with my physical body, a body that can handle the brunt of dreams far more than what a soul can handle!' He felt exhilarated at that prospect, but before he can even truly cheer for this new discovery…

'What?!' A strange feeling soon overcame Nox Aeterna's body as he felt his control over his body slowly disappearing.

"Hmm, it seems like the cloning process truly did go awry. Your intellect, though clearly superior compared to most, is still far below mine. You can't even deduce that I have the ability to now quickly learn nearly any Law to Demigod-level by using my immense foundation in the Law of Life, which gives me access to the 'meaning' of other entities the same way dreams does. The notion of me being able to directly control your body didn't even seem to have popped into your mind until now, disappointing," Isaac Deathwill's cold voice lightly echoed in his ears as he found himself back out in the white void once more.

Staring in front of him was a man with silver-gray hair and eyes, wearing a silver-gray cloak and having pale white skin that can barely be seen in the short instances that his cloaks swayed whenever he moves.

"But don't worry, you'll become a perfect clone once this is over," Isaac Deathwill smirked, and ominous black energy gathered at the palm of his outstretched hand.

AN: This chapter has 2143 words.

You truly expected that this was a one-on-one fight? You truly thought that Isaac Deathwill will pull a Deus Ex Machina out of his ass to win? No bitch, he's of course a ruthless bastard who will do everything to win. Just examine the entire fight and you'll realize that Nox Aeterna was entirely decimated throughout. This, now this is what I call a realistic fight! Yeah, I had been hyping up Nox Aeterna a lot because I want his end to be more 'glorious'.

(October 29, 2022 – 339th day of writing)