Vile Rabbit

The fiends body started flickering brighter like a cosmic volcanic eruption, but before it could, bad luck twisted the odds of it successfully self destructing, and puff! It failed.

After which,

slash! Crack! Slash! Crack! Slash! Crack!

its body was dissected into many parts. Then the pathfinder did the thing. The possibility it feared the most,

[Ethereal torment!]

Countless ethereal law chains materialized and sealed its body parts and death energy. After which, the rune on the pathfinder's crown suddenly pulsed, then absorbed its body parts like a cosmic black hole.

Swish!

It vanished and reappeared in a dimension of boundless suffering and torment.

Ethereal black flames washed over its existence, pain! so much pain that even its 8th-tier will that had endured indescribable darkness and suffering to reach this point, trembled and wailed for relief.

There were also countless small rabbit-like flame creatures that surrounded it. They bit into its bones while mocking it for daring to challenge their creator god.

"Heheh" "hehehe"

…

"!"

Apexion's fate star shone as countless ethereal strings unwove from it and shot off into the distance,

whoosh! Whoosh!

They instantly annihilated countless of the death fiend's hidden clones, temples, artistic depictions, and believers.

Pash! Pash! Pash!

Apexion then took a single step and vanished.

Vash!

A few moments later, he stopped billions of light-years away from where the battle took place, concealed himself, and sat cross-legged.

He had five hundred years before the forbidden echo bloomed. He decided to dedicate that time to formulating the stages of the true emperor rank.

His fate star and source crown started blazing as countless ideas and calculations went through his mind.

To be honest, the emperor rank already had four stages that were based on how close his grand law was to the master law rank:

1–25 percent equaled the early stage of the emperor rank,

25–50 percent equaled middle stage,

and so on until it reached 100 percent, which equaled the late stage.

But he wasn't satisfied with just that he wanted more. He hoped that when he reached completion of the emperor rank, he would be strong enough to contend against entities such as True Sound.

Which would be a miracle in itself. It was already unbelievable that he had the ability to survive an attack from such an entity and that was because he was a Pathfinder, with defiant combat abilities.

For example, killing multiple 8th-tier beings while at the 7.5 tier was a logic-breaking feat. Ordinary creatures couldn't even dream of doing such a thing.

For 8th-tier beings, no matter their path, were horrifying entities worthy of respect no matter where in the universe they went.

They were creatures who had severed themselves from the Tale of Fate, a feat far more difficult than him ascending to the 8th tier.

He basically got a free path because of his fate-less nature.

The Tale of Fate are basically books that tells pre-fated tales of almost all things, only it is in the form of countless ethereal fate strings that exist everywhere in the universe.

Almost all creatures' life stories are woven inside these strings from the moment of their birth to their deaths.

For ordinary, unawakened creatures, these pre-woven fates are usually absolute unless a creature at the 8th tier unconsciously or consciously changes their fate.

Awakened creatures not so much. The moment they step foot on the path of ascendancy, they become qualified to wrestle with their ordained fate.

Their fate tale branch off into many different possibilities. They no longer only have to travel down Street A and die to an assassin, they could now take Street B and avoid death.

The more life levels they ascend, the more possibilities they open up. But even with all these possibilities, there are some fated events that they can't circumvent.

These events are called True Fated Events where all possibilities collapse inward and lead to a single event.

These events range from,True Fated Death, True Fated Victory, True Fated Loss, True Fated Weapons/Resources, True Fated Life Tier.

When a creature undergoes Fate Severance, True Fated Events are what they truly sever, thus becoming free and unbound. Becoming an unwritten sovereign, that was another name for 8th-tier beings…

Many thoughts flowed through his mind as he constructed many ways of making the emperor rank stronger.

Time passed in the blink of an eye. A hundred years later, he opened his eyes with understanding:

"Why stop at severing fate when there are other universal forces out there that binds creatures?"

His eyes burned as his gaze penetrated the vacuum around him, gazing at the unseen forces that govern the cycle of the universe:

"Life! Death! Time!"

He then stood, his entire existence burning with authority, and declared:

"I shall trample the bindings of these concepts, thus transcending the cycle of the universe! Thus becoming truly free"

His path blazed brightly as it fueled his fate star. His words weaved into a fate decree that stamped into his existence, hence twisting the probability of his declaration coming true.

"Once I sever time, I will be able to ascend to the 9th tier," he thought, as he vanished and reappeared on his path.

After, he gazed downward and grasped his right hand toward the countless creatures on his path.

Shing!

After which, countless fates strings materialized from their figures and connected to his right palm. He gazed at them intensely, observing the life and death of every single one simultaneously.

….

At the same time, somewhere within the Ascension Realm, the Envious One's eyes shone with madness and curiosity,

"What. Do. We. Have. Here?"

He questioned aloud in a weird tone as he gazed at the law beast that swam a million light-years before him.

The beast was shaped akin to a eel blue in color, with three horns on its head. Its body stretched to the point where it could wrap around a small realm cluster.

The grand law of lightning pulsed from it, creating an apocalyptic cosmic thunderstorm around it.

Boom!

The Envious One's body suddenly expanded to a size equal to that of the law beast. His law of envy blazed brightly, and a giant wooden chest materialized above him and opened, revealing a bottomless pit.

Cli-click!

At the same time, the law beast sensed his aura. Its mindless eyes, laced with extreme savagery, locked onto him. Then it let out a bestial roar,

"Roaaaar!"

Its roar created a shockwave of lightning that instantly arrived before the Envious One, but before it could make contact, the chest of greed sucked in the shockwave like a cosmic whirlpool.

Pull!

Seeing this, the law beast's rage increased. It vanished and reappeared a few tens of thousands of light-years above the Envious One.

Its jaws opened wide, aiming to devour him whole and a sphere formed from red lightning appeared at the center of its horns.

Roar!

The Envious One remained calm. His transparent crown pulsed and,

[Domain!]

An obsidian force exploded from his body and enveloped everything in ten thousand light-years including the beast.

But due to its size, only a portion of its lower jaw entered but that wasn't an issue, for the space inside could expand to an extreme degree.

The Envious One grabbed its lower jaw with his right hand and,

Pulled!

He pulled it inside the domain bit by bit. During the process, a domain bloomed from its body, but it was instantly sealed.

A few moments later, its entire body was laying on the ground, bound by countless flaming ribbons.

Cl-cli-click!

The Envious One stood over it with a weird look. His fingernails were long and sharp, with countless blades and surgical instruments floating behind him.

"Now let's see what makes you tick."

…

At the same time, standing in the Material Realm, Iron Tooth stood before a giant black statue spanning the size of a thousand worlds. His armor battered and bloody.

His body radiated a sorrowful and hopeless aura. He suddenly drop to his knees and started praying:

"Oh, great God… your loyal servant has reached the end of his potential. Please show the way. Please enlighten me!"

He begged Apexion for help in reaching a higher level, for his talent didn't allow him to do so on his own. Without some type of external help, 5 tier was where he would stop.

For a long moment, there was only silence.

Then the world around him suddenly froze as an incomprehensible sliver of will descended into the statue.

The statue's eyes shone with life.

After which, the glorious voice of his god rang out in his mind,

"Iron Tooth… my most loyal servant. I hear your prayers. see your plight."

"For your undying loyalty…for every conquest and crusade you waged in my name… I shall grant you a gift. The possibility of divine."

After which, crimson blood shot out from the statue and into Iron Tooth's evolution core. Whoosh! An instant later, he passed out.

…

In the darkness between super realms, an ethereal transparent blade with a figure inside its center traveled at extreme speeds,

Whoosh!

Soon the blade came to a stop before a crimson super realm, then vanished, revealing Rusty Blade, whose eyes shone with blade light as he gazed at the single indescribable cosmic volcano that floated with in this super cluster