The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Two days after killing the Scorpion Lady Demoness, Klaus had recovered his strength to its peak. Since he was the only one there for obvious reasons, he slept for two days on the ice.

He woke up refreshed but cold to the bone.

The pain from absorbing the Core, Shard, and Essence had been unbearable, causing him to pass out right after completing the process.

The reasons for his collapse, however, were jaw-dropping.

"I can feel them now. The forbidden ice is almost at the awakening stage," Klaus said, his laughter ringing out as he felt a surge of happiness.

The seven forbidden ice he had awakened before were beginning to surface. As someone who had already experienced their power, he could feel them lingering just beneath the surface, making him eager to awaken them fully.

His eighth core was almost formed, and Klaus decided to use normal cores to push its progress. Retrieving a couple of hundred cores, he absorbed them while reflecting on his body's changes.

First, it seemed he had absorbed some form of exoskeleton from the colossal scorpion, boosting both his offence and defence significantly.

He could tell with just one punch, he could kill a Peak Great Sage.

The feeling was euphoric, and he wanted to test his newfound strength against a stronger opponent.

After several minutes of absorbing the cores, the 8th core formed, and Klaus's strength rose again. He received 2,000 points to distribute. Of course, he added everything to intelligence.

He needed his mind's thinking capacity to be as sharp as possible to pass through these trials. Luckily for him, he didn't have to do much since his [Universal Enigma] passive skill seemed to have a handle on things.

"Next, I will handle my stamina, but with 8 Sage cores, I don't rely much on using my stamina," Klaus pondered for a few minutes before making up his mind.

Then he picked up the fan, the weapon used by the scorpion lady breathly, immediately forming soul contact with it.

Afterwards, he received the Law of Self, which used to belong to the Scorpio lady. He used it, but the domain he envisioned wasn't what he had seen.
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This one was different.

When the lady used it, it felt more like being inside a domain.

But what he saw now was more like a domain of blizzards and ice mist. Klaus immediately knew something was happening beyond his control.

First was when he absorbed the three items from Zorak. There were only supposed to be three things for him to absorb.

But he absorbed his armour, and then he inherited his Law of Self, which, for some reason, contained a soul forge.

Then he encountered the ice domain, and the same thing happened. Except this time, there was no forge, but the domain mutated.

It had become more like a technique than a Law of Self, and Klaus could tell it had already surpassed the initial 100-meter radius.

"Hmm, this demands some answers," Klaus muttered, looking around him. He used the fan to cool himself off before scrutinizing the ice domain.

The irony in that. Fanning one's self inside the domain of ice.

"So it wasn't that people can't use their elements inside. It's more like when they do, the domain becomes stronger instead,"

Klaus had already theorized this when he received the details about the scorpion lady, but since he was going against the odds, he didn't test it out.

If only his strength had been much greater than the lady's, he would have had time to experiment. But now, he could do that since the law of self had become his and his alone.

The only downside was that he had to awaken his ice element to implement his own laws within it. His understanding of the element was still very weak.

He needed to first comprehend the elemental laws to the [Realm] stage, as he had done in his past life when he managed to enter the realm of elemental illusion.

Klaus had already made some progress with the fire element, but with his intelligence now boosted, he was nearing the stage where he could start seeing the changes.

"Now that I think about it, Nari's fire element has entered the [Realm] stage. The feeling I got was all too familiar."

Due to his weaker understanding of the elements, he couldn't do much. But now, he could—and he would.

He had a domain of ice and fire, now acting as his law of self.

The next phase was for him to form his ultimate law of self. Based on the theory he had already started developing, all these laws of self would contribute somehow.

In other words, these laws of self were the building blocks for his ultimate law of self-awakening.

"Wouldn't that be awesome?" Klaus muttered, then laughed.

He stood up and began walking around the place, moving through and studying the fortress left behind by the scorpion lady.

"Such a pity," he thought.

Afterwards, he requested his next trial against the 9th strongest. Klaus was tasked with fighting a demon who wielded a bow. Naturally, he was thrilled.

Finally, he could use his sabre while dodging and closing in on the target.

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"It seems Master is not taking this as shamelessly as we thought. He is much more intelligent and careful, yet dangerous at the same time," Lissa said with a pondering expression.

"Master has never been careful. He was more hot-blooded, which landed him in my troubles. But seeing this side of him, it makes him very dangerous," Alida responded.

Naturally, they were both scared of this new discovery.

They expected the Ice Scorpion to put up a fight, but it ended just as it started. Of course, that calls for concern, but the fact that Klaus managed to kill someone five realms above him with a single attack scared them.

"Imagine Master was in one of those Galaxy factions; many races would try hard to kill him while others would suck up to him," Lissa laughed.

"I am more afraid of what he will become once he is done with this trial."

"While he wouldn't be able to handle a Void Stage expert until he becomes a Sovereign or even a Transcendent, I would love to see a struggling battle between Master and a Void Stage expert."

Alida laughed, too.

"Don't raise the bar that high."

"We all know the difference between the Ascendant stage and the Void Stage; Master must first become a Transcendent and start making headway in his Law of Self-Comprehension before he can think about facing a Level 1 Void Stage Expert."

The two ladies rewound the recording of Klaus' battle with the scorpion lady, but in the end, they all sighed and chose to wait and see how things went.

Klaus may be stronger than most, but he surely has a limit.

However, that limit can be broken if someone becomes much more adaptive in combat. Klaus may be aloof and not serious sometimes, but before every battle, he will create a good plan to back up the main plan.

This means he already has the techniques and skills he will use before the battle, and due to that, whenever the odds go against him, he will know what to do to kill his opponent.

Such is the law of Slaughter... Always finding ways to succeed in committing murder.