Chapter 84: Rule Against Rule
"Eh…?"
White wisps of air escaped from the corners of Haze's lips. His eyes looked strange almost bloodshot and his entire body radiated a bizarre, pulsating energy.
This energy wasn't ordinary; it possessed a will of its own.
At that moment, Ike could clearly feel it.
A normal Nen user would use their aura entanglement to confine energy within their body, preventing leakage. But Haze's state was different it was as if his life force itself was overflowing, spilling uncontrollably outward, giving the impression of someone who had pushed his training to its absolute limit.
"What… is that?"
Ike instinctively stepped back.
Haze seemed half-unconscious, delirious his telekinesis swelling violently and manifesting countless shadows that flickered and overlapped. One looked like a white-haired youth with markings across his face; another, a muscular man with a horned helmet and a greatsword; another, an elderly figure with long hair and a beard, with something like a clock floating behind him; then a wolf-man resembling a demonic beast; and finally, a mysterious figure wielding a brass lamp.
The shapes created by his telekinesis kept changing. Within seconds, Ike saw a dozen different forms. These unknown phantoms intertwined with Haze, making him appear possessed by vengeful spirits a truly chilling sight.
Meanwhile, the space behind Haze flickered like a glitching screen, massive pixelated fragments collapsing, crashing to the ground, and dissipating into flaming Nen particles.
It was… unnatural.
This scene was beyond Ike's comprehension.
How was he still alive?
With those wounds even if the bleeding had stopped he should be dead.
"It's useless… no matter what you do, you can't close the gap between us," Ike muttered coldly.
The ritual was still ongoing.
He was invincible.
The next instant, he appeared before Haze and threw a punch.
As the controller, the immense power he wielded now allowed him to abandon his usual long-range strategy.
But as his fist connected, Ike suddenly felt his strength falter weakening sharply.
A radiant shield burst to life before Haze, surrounded by shimmering, multicolored lights.
His punch shattered the barrier and slammed into Haze's body
"Playing tricks again, huh?" Ike growled.
But unlike before his strike failed to pierce the man's flesh. His skin had become unbelievably resilient.
"What?!"
Startled, Ike looked up only to see countless shadowy figures watching him from within Haze's body. Not only humans, but strange, monstrous beings as well.
His body had… changed.
"His defense…"
Before Ike could react, Haze slowly raised a finger and touched his forehead.
Like a frightened bird, Ike instantly leapt back
but his speed was no match.
Haze seemed to vanish, reappearing behind him in an instant. Ike's throat clenched, and the next second slash! a shadow tore his head clean off.
Fifth resurrection.
For Ike, it was only an instant of blindness. When consciousness returned, a new head had already grown.
An even greater power erupted from his body vast and intoxicating!
But before he could revel in it, darkness claimed him again. His mind and body split apart another death.
And again.
In those fleeting moments between life and death, Ike realized something terrifying.
Haze was calculating the point where his mind and body reconnected during resurrection then striking precisely at that gap.
But each resurrection was faster than the last. How was that possible?
To Ike's eyes, his enemy had become monstrously powerful telekinesis, speed, strength all rising sharply.
Bang!
Just as Haze lunged again, Ike his power now doubled spun and kicked him away.
Panic surged through him.
He couldn't die again. The fusion between the insect queen and the ritual had imprinted a message deep within his subconscious: only one sacrifice remained.
If he died once more… the ritual would end.
In that instant, he summoned his stone puppets so lifelike they seemed of flesh and blood to surround his foe.
With a snap of his fingers, the massive stone figures converged, colliding and fusing into a single, smaller but far more powerful puppet.
Its surface was etched with tribal totems, its body glimmering with crystalline minerals instead of dull stone
a perfect replica of a Bozwa warrior.
Ike's telepathic control had evolved.
Victory was still his!
Or so he thought
BOOM!
A thunderous roar filled the cavern, and he was blasted upward by a massive force.
As he looked down, every puppet he'd created lay shattered destroyed by Haze's seemingly fragile body.
A stone figure within Haze's form roared, and the shockwave hurled Ike through the air like a comet, slamming him into the ground with cataclysmic force.
Everything around them exploded, erupting skyward
the underground space itself began to collapse.
Though the damage was immense, Ike's current power made him nearly indestructible; the injury was minimal. He prepared to counterattack
but suddenly realized he couldn't move.
Not even slightly.
It was the same as before when Haze had killed him over and over. No matter how fast he resurrected, Haze had found a gap to strike.
That was the rule.
The opponent's Nen ability contained rules!
Ike's pupils contracted as understanding struck him.
It was similar to ritual law less intricate, but more efficient.
He was right.
But this wasn't simple control it was a stun effect.
Malphite's R Unstoppable Force!
Even worse, as he fell, he was still immobilized.
A sphere of dark telekinesis soared toward him, striking his chest and binding him tight
Morgana's Q Dark Binding!
This time, it was control.
"Oh no…"
Cold dread washed over Ike. Looking at the man before him, he felt, for the first time how close death truly was.
If he stayed bound, unable to counterattack…
Then, no matter how strong he was no matter how long he held his telekinetic shield eventually, it would break.
"Damn it!" the old man shouted, trembling.
"Wait! Wait! I'll agree I'll accept your conditions!"
But Haze, in his current state, couldn't hear. His mind was beyond reason.
He simply stared at Ike and smiled.
Like a child given a lollipop.
An innocent, almost tender smile…
Yet to Ike, it was a smile of despair.
Haze's body, and the space around him, continued to fragment into floating pixels
and then fade away.
(End of Chapter)
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