Step
Nux stepped into the river, and once again, the water tried to enter his body and age him.
Yes, it tried to.
But this ti, sothing else happened.
As if an invisible barrier had appeared around his leg, the 'water' couldn't touch him.
Nux was manipulating the flow of ti around him to protect his leg.
The concept was simple. The 'Water' around his leg was the Fastened Flow of Ti, sothing that should have aged him. To counter it, Nux simply slowed the Flow of Ti around his leg, and once the two opposing forces collided, their effects were nullified.
His left foot stepped into the Reversed Flow of Ti, sothing that should regress his age, and this ti, Nux fastened the Flow of Ti around him, canceling the regression.
It was similar to how Nux was using the power he had gained to resist the change in his body before. This ti, however, everything was happening outside his body, keeping things much simpler than before.
With the Flow of Ti around him altered to suit his needs, Nux swam forward. The ease with which he was doing this was almost as if the water around him now had no effect on him.
Soon, however, the difficulty rose.
The wave was here.
But this ti, Nux had a way out.
The Flow of Ti in the wave was chaotic. One part was fastening the ti around itself, another was regressing it, all at different intensities, making it almost impossible to resist the change using the thod before.
And the Temple didn't want the Trial Taker to use that thod either. It was Nux who was brute-forcing it.
What the Temple wanted was for the Trial Taker to understand how to control the Flow of Ti, not around oneself alone, but around other objects far from one's own body.
Yes, the Temple wanted the Trial Taker to control the Flow of Ti around the chaotic wave and move past it.
Nux tried to do that, but he failed.
His control over the Flow of Ti beca weaker as he moved it away from his body.
It was different from how he used Aeliana's Law of Absolute Control to change the Ti Flow around himself. That Law allowed him to use his energy to control anything, even the Flow of Ti.
But using that Law, he never understood the Flow of Ti itself.
Sothing he had to make up for when he was here.
Nux tried and tried again. He failed, but every ti he did, his mind found a way around as his comprehension deepened even further.
His control strengthened, and after about a hundred more tries, his comprehension deepened.
He swam and stared at the wave in front of him. Very quickly, he covered the chaotic wave with his own Flow of Ti and slowed it down.
The entire wave pretty much paused. It was extrely similar to how the Seer had neutralized that Transcendent when they had first t.
The mont Nux got close to the frozen wave, he increased the Flow of Ti around him and,
Flicker
He moved past the wave, just like that.
The chaotic Flow of Ti inside the wave didn't even get the chance to affect him.
The Flow of Ti around the wave returned to normal as it went past Nux. Nux smiled as he swam ahead.
This ti, no new wave originated. Almost as if the Temple had decided it wasn't needed anymore.
Nux continued to swim and reached the end. Then, he paused.
His eyes once again fell on the last line of defense, the frozen water.
Nux tried to cover the water with his own Flow of Ti, but no matter whether he tried to slow it down or increase its speed, it didn't change anything.
The water still remained frozen.
Nux thought about what to do. He had spent quite a significant amount of ti in this place. His mastery over the Flow of Ti had increased quite a lot as well,
He fastened the ti to counter the Reversing Ti Flow. He slowed the ti to counter the Aging Ti Flow. What was he supposed to do… to counter the frozen ti?
But he couldn't find a way around this.
He fastened the ti to counter the Reversing Ti Flow. He slowed the ti to counter the Aging Ti Flow. What was he supposed to do… to counter the frozen ti?
Fasten the ti around him to infinity?
"…"
Suddenly, Nux paused.
'No. No, this shouldn't be possible.
Increasing the Flow of Ti around to infinity would disintegrate my body into nothingness.
All this while, the river sent my body back to the shore to heal. What would it send back if there is nothing to send back?
I don't have my abilities either. I won't be reborn if I die here.
At least not back here.'
Nux shook his head, trying to get rid of the crazy thought but…
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't co up with another way.
It was either this or nothing.
Nux paused.
He had experienced being disintegrated from existence before, when he was sucked into the black hole. It wasn't an experience he wanted to relive.
But…
'If I don't do it, I remain here.
If I do it and fail, I will be thrown out of the Temple. Then I'll be in a situation similar to Vashti and others, who can enter the Trials again but not gain anything out of it.
However, if I do it and clear the Trial…'
A smile appeared on Nux's face as he thought about it.
Then, he closed his eyes and,
'Fuck it.'
He made the decision.
He moved his hand towards the frozen water. Slowly, he started increasing the speed around his entire body to get a greater push.
His hand finally touched the frozen water and froze just like how it happened before.
Nux put in more and more energy and suddenly,
Flicker
He felt his existence fade.
He was about to be disintegrated.
'Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck!!'
He cursed.
To outsiders, his figure just beca a blur and everything happened too quickly. For Nux, however, everything was extrely slow.
He could feel how his body was literally being ripped out of existence.
'Fuck it!'
But he didn't stop and continued to fasten the flow, reaching infinity.
His body started flickering in and out of existence violently, almost as if Ti itself was warning him not to tread forward, or else he would be punished.
Nux didn't care and fastened the flow around him even further.
Then it happened.
His arm, that was right in front of the frozen water, flickered out of existence and this ti, it didn't return.
'Shit…'
Nux cursed in his head as he realized what had happened.
The disintegration spread forward, from his hand to arm, then to his entire body, and finally, it was his head.
Nux's body was disintegrated out of ti.
For a very small instance, it followed no rules of Ti, not even the rule of being unable to move when Ti is frozen.
His disintegrated hand, that was frozen in ti, montarily returned to existence as he finally touched the other end.
And just as that happened,
[Trial One: Complete]
The First Trial was over, and Nux's disintegrated body was brought back by the Temple and teleported to another region.
[Trial Two: The Labyrinth of Infinite Echoes]
It was ti for the Second Trial, and Nux…
"HHAAAAAHHH!!!"
He couldn't believe what he had just experienced.
He…
He saw another world…
Or was it…
Another Universe?
"Haaahh… Haaahh… Haaahh…"
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