Absolute Cheater

They arrived in a vast, dome-shaped hall. The walls pulsed rhythmically, as if they were alive—rising and falling with a slow, organic breath.

"So this is what he meant by 'the walls bite,'" Valeris muttered.

Asher turned to her and saw that she was holding something by the neck—an eel-like creature, long and crimson, with needle-thin fangs and no eyes. Its body writhed weakly in her grasp.

Without hesitation, she snapped its neck. The creature let out a faint hiss as it died, spewing a thread of blackish-red blood before falling limp. The moment it hit the floor, the ground seemed to drink it in. The flesh-like surface absorbed the corpse with a sickening slurp, leaving no trace behind.

"This must be one of the Wombs," Asher said, remembering what both Lord Varnis and even his Absolute Appraisal had told him about the Red Womb of Order.

The Red Womb wasn't a single vault, but a network of many dome-shaped chambers like this—each one a Womb, and each Womb housing a boss. Only by defeating the boss could the path to the next floor be opened.

"Let's kill the boss and get it over with," Asher said as he walked to the center of the dome. Without hesitation, he cut a line across his palm. A stream of crimson blood splattered onto the fleshy floor.

The Womb reacted instantly.

The surface drank his blood greedily—and the entire dome began to shudder. The pulsing slowed, the walls stiffening as the life drained from them. The organic texture grayed, withering and cracking, and the dome began to reshape itself.

From the far end of the chamber, the floor bulged upward. A mass of flesh and bone emerged, twisting and warping until it began to take form.

A creature rose.

It was massive—at least six meters tall—with a long, serpentine neck and a hunched, dinosaur-like body. Pulsating flesh covered its limbs, twitching and knotting like exposed muscle. Its face split open into jagged, mismatched teeth, and its eyes—yellow and slit like a lizard's—glared at them with primal hatred.

"A World Rank beast," Asher said, narrowing his eyes. "Its Laws… Blood and Corruption. This thing feeds on decay."

Valeris stepped beside him, her gaze locked on the monstrous creature.

"So?" she said coolly. "You want to fight it alone? This is your level, blooming World Rank."

Asher looked at her, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth "Its weak, you should try it". She returned his glance, then shifted her eyes back to the beast.

"Hm. I will," she said simply, stepping forward.

As she advanced, her clothes shimmered, dissolving into radiant strands of mana that reformed into a sleek battle-garb of white dragonscale. Her presence expanded, elegant and fearsome.

She began to transform.

From her back, two broad, jade-white wings unfurled with a sharp rustle. Two curved horns, also jade in hue, sprouted from her head—refined yet deadly. A delicate crown of nine gemstone orbs appeared, floating above her brow like a constellation. Each gem pulsed with power, representing the domains she had mastered: Void, Crown, Celestial, Sunder, and others—each glowing with silent authority.

Around her, her Laws surged to life.

Six elemental domains took form—Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Light, and Darkness—circling her like orbiting blades. And above them all, like a guiding thread weaving through every Law, her seventh: Fate.

The air trembled. The beast, sensing her power, crouched low, letting out a guttural growl. The womb-chamber reacted too, resonating with her as if recognizing her as more than mere intruder.

Asher folded his arms, watching with a flicker of pride in his gaze.

"Then let's see what Fate has planned for this monster."

The monster lunged.

It moved faster than something that size had any right to—its hulking mass twisting as its elongated neck snapped forward, jaw wide, teeth flashing like daggers of bone.

Valeris didn't flinch.

She raised her hand, and with a single wordless command, her six elemental Laws converged.

A halo of elemental force exploded around her, each layer representing a different domain. Earth cracked beneath her feet, molten fire surged up in runic spirals, and water spun into high-pressure coils that hissed like whips. Air screamed in razor-thin arcs around her body, light bent into beams that traced her silhouette, while shadows folded inward, dancing like ink across her dragonscale armor.

The Sevenfold Wyrm Aspect—the manifestation of her Laws made physical.

The beast's head came crashing down—jaws open to swallow her whole.

Valeris vanished.

Boom!

An eruption of force split the dome.

She reappeared behind the creature, one hand extended, a sigil of Fate glowing on her palm. A burning mark had been seared into the side of the beast's neck, smoke trailing from it.

"Time twists when it pleases me," she whispered.

The monster howled, spinning with a roar that made the air vibrate. Blood and corruption energy flared from its body in a miasmic storm. Its tail lashed out—covered in hooked bones and slick tendrils—and came barreling toward her.

Valeris spun, channeling her Laws.

"Celestial Fracture!"

The Crown gem on her brow ignited.

A luminous spear of white-gold energy formed in her hand and she hurled it with a flick of her wrist. It struck the beast's tail mid-swing and detonated, severing it in a burst of light and silence. The detached limb crashed into the wall and was immediately absorbed by the womb-chamber, which pulsed greedily at the offering.

The beast reeled, enraged now, dark steam rising from the open wound.

And then—its mouth opened unnaturally wide. A vortex of blood-colored energy began to spin inside its throat, pulling in the miasma, its own blood, and chunks of the floor. It was preparing a catastrophic breath attack—an entropic wave of rot and dissolution.

Valeris narrowed her eyes. The horns on her head began to glow.

"So be it," she said softly. "I will show you the path of endings."

She stepped forward—and the Fate Law responded.

Threads of possibility shimmered into view around her. Dozens of invisible futures spun out, intertwining and collapsing into one definitive moment. Her nine gems pulsed in unison, and her body became a blur of radiant motion.