“More dangerous than the other ways?” Kyle asked.
“More dangerous in a different way,” the Lord explained. “Have you ever witnessed our power?”
Kyle nodded. He remembered the incredible power Horatio had shown in the Tertiary World. On top of that, he had also heard many stories about the members of the Cult from Star Genesis and Swamp Dragon.
While the battle-strength of most members of the Cult of Final Fate was nothing to write home about, many of them could enter a kind of berserk state. In this berserk state, their power multiplied, but they also suffered from permanent damage.
The members only entered this berserk state as an absolute last resort. Apparently, the cost was so high that over 90% of them didn’t even use the berserk state before they died. Most likely, they believed that they could survive without having to pay that hefty price.
Due to this berserk state, it was standard procedure to only fight members of the Cult who were two or three levels below oneself. All the Momentum Star Genesis and Swamp Dragon battles had come from fighting Seekers who were two or three levels below them while also being in that berserk state.
“You have heard of that power the Organizations call the berserk state, right?” the Lord asked.
Kyle nodded.
“Do you know how it works?” the Lord asked.
“No,” Kyle answered.
“The Supreme World is comprised of Energy,” the Lord explained. “Movement, heat, matter, souls, Seekers, Laws—everything is made of Energy. However, outside of this place, there is the Primordial Chaos. The Primordial Chaos is comprised of four different forces.”
“There’s Energy, which you know. Then, there’s also a force we call Death. Death is the antithesis of Energy. Energy is the plus, while Death is the minus. Since you come from Earth, you should know about antimatter. Death is to Energy what antimatter is to matter.”
“If Death and Energy come into contact, their inherent powers get converted into a force of absolute destruction, which is called Brutality. There is also a force called Balance, which can combine Energy and Death in a stable manner like an emulsifier.”
“This cosmos, all its inhabitants, and its owner are beings comprised of pure Energy. Meanwhile, our God is a being made of 70% Death and 30% Energy.”
“Wait, 70%?” Kyle asked. “Why not 100%?”
“Death is not stable,” the Lord said. “You can’t create a body or consciousness with Death, just as you can’t create a cube with only water. You need a vessel.”
“Our most powerful members, including me, are made of 70% Death and 30% Energy. We come to these worlds to harvest their Energy so that we can grow in power. If we have more Energy, we can have more Death.”
“Our so-called berserk state is so powerful because we combine Death and Energy to create Brutality. We then use the force of Brutality to strengthen our abilities.”
Kyle blinked a couple of times. “But then, why do so few of you use that ability?”
“Two reasons,” the Lord said.
“First of all, you need access to Death. Storing Death is not easy. You need a vessel that has Balance as one of its components to store Death externally, and you can’t get Balance in this cosmos. You need to get it from the Primordial Chaos. If part of your existence is comprised of Death, you can store it in your body.”
“The powerful Organizations say that almost all of our members can use this berserk state, but that’s not the case. They just don’t want to tell everyone the truth since it would change everyone’s perception of the Cult. Instead of crazed madmen following a demon lord, the followers of the Cult of Final Fate would simply seem more like a different form of life.”
“The second reason why so few people use Brutality is that they need to sacrifice part of their very being. Assuming they want to generate enough Brutality to be of use, this goes beyond sacrificing a part of your body. They lose parts of their body, and parts lost this way are not easy to recover. You need a powerful member of the Cult to heal your body.”
“If you were to use Brutality, you might lose an arm and a leg, and you wouldn’t be able to recover them until you come to me personally. Due to some associated things, you would never be able to return to the Main or Immortal Dimensions without immediately being killed by Seekers much more powerful than you.”
Kyle took a deep breath after he listened to the explanation.
“This sounds way too advanced for me,” he thought. “This guy is talking about something even more fundamental than general Energy. I’m a Crusher, dude. I don’t even know how to properly use Energy.”
“Now,” the Lord said, “as for the reason why I explained all of this to you…”
“There are more ways to use Death. While its primary use is to increase our power, it can also be used in other ways.”
“When you look at a Law Well, you try to find out what a specific kind of Elemental Energy does in order to create the Law’s effect. For example, when you try to comprehend Gravity Wind, you want to learn how Wind Energy and Gravity Energy need to act to create Gravity Wind.”
“By using a bit of Death, you can look at even more fundamental aspects. You can see what pure Energy needs to do to create Gravity or Wind Energy. You might have the ability to create both kinds of Energies yourself, but you do not truly know how it works. If you knew how that worked, you would know one of the most powerful Laws.”
“However, while you can’t possibly comprehend that Law at your current level, understanding just a tiny part of the fundamentals makes everything else much easier to comprehend.”
“While I can’t buy you more time, I can teach you how to use Death to improve your speed of comprehension.”
Kyle became a bit excited, but he also became nervous. “You said it would be dangerous.”
The Lord nodded. “Using Death is the most forbidden act in the Cosmos. Most powerful Seekers have come into contact with the Cult before, and they recognize Death. They might not know what it is or how it works, but they will feel it. Death has a very unique feeling. If you use Death within anyone’s Energy Sense, your cover will be blown.”
“The knowledge itself is also dangerous. If you know how to use Death to create Brutality, you will gain a trump card. With access to this trump card, the growth of your Momentum will drop drastically since you will not feel like you’re truly in danger. Because of that, you have to keep your curiosity in check and not dig too deep. Knowing too much will hurt your growth.”
“Your Momentum would only truly grow if you used Brutality, but each time you use it, you would also lose a part of yourself. While you can regrow parts of your body, you can’t regrow parts of your soul as easily.”
“Lastly, there is no way to create Death with Energy. You can only use the Death stored in my Blessing, but if you use too much, the Blessing becomes unstable and might detonate.”
“The only way for you to get more Death is by traveling to me physically, and that’s extremely risky.”
The Lord looked at Kyle.
“These are the ways in which I can help you. With your current contributions, there’s nothing else I can offer.”
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