Singularity (Rimuru x Arifureta)

Chapter 23 | The World To Come

My evolution was simply astonishing. It was beyond a mere upgrade. I was on a level comparable to the True Dragons. An endless source of power coursed through me, and that made it all the more nostalgic. I searched for ways to bring her back. I recreated Raphael back, but it wasn't him. It didn't contain him. It was a mere skill, an empty shell.

I gradually accepted the fact that my partner was gone for good, although it took a few days. If you call out to the dead, all of them can hear you. Yet, they will not go to you.

After I came back from the Seal (Otherworld), I immediately tended to my students' injuries. The battle was long-faught, and neither side emerged victorious. The adventurers, Toji Zenin and Thomas Andre, were especially in critical condition. They were the primary frontlines against the army of apostles those false gods used, after all.

I solidified my conviction, then and there. I planned to fight Feldway and the gang, even by myself. But I needed further upgrades. I needed stronger power. That's why, in the three days I was out there helping with the clean up and training my students, I delved into my inner core. My power went up, that's for sure. Changes had been made to my very existence, but that isn't enough. 

If I was going to face them all, and emerge victorious, it simply wasn't enough. If I duked it out with them that time, I won't emerge unscathed, nor will I emerge victorious. 

That was when the Ultimate Skill, Supreme Archetype was born. A combination of all my ultimate skills. That, of course, included the former shell of my partner, Raphael. But lamenting over it right now will not help. I've spent more than enough time grieving his death, and now I need to focus on what I really need to do.

My new power, the Ultimate Skill Supreme Archetype, was an upgrade that made me think I've had the gear I needed to fight against my enemies. My Supreme Archetype, the Lord of Perpetuity, encompassed the following powers:

Timeless Void: A limitless void outside time and space. It is an unlimited expanse made to isolate anything that needed to be quarantined. It activates instantly, ignoring space and time.

Impermanence: The ability to manipulate "neverness," to remove things and events from time by subjecting it into a temporal collapse that will quickly revert an object or event back to the state of nothingness.

Alpha Layer: Represents the "creative" and "positive" aspect of the Supreme Archetype. It allows the user to shape their energy to create what they imagine. 

Omega Layer: Represents the "destructive" and "negative" aspect of the Supreme Archetype. It allows the user to produce and manipulate an immensely destructive energy that erases and destroys whatever it hits from existence. 

Imaginary Counter: The ability to neutralize or cancel out phenomena, energies, or attacks by tapping into the world of the timeless void. This power can nullify both physical and metaphysical entities by invoking a counterforce from the void, effectively erasing or rendering them ineffectual. 

Imaginary Law: The ability to redefine the "effects" of a "cause," manipulating the law of causality to purposefully cause a result that is intended and alter the outcomes of a phenomenon. 

Dimensional Domination: Manipulating and bending time and space to the user's will—allowing them to shape the structure of dimensions and manifest localized distortions in space and time. 

Multidimensional Barrier: It is a barrier-type skill that achieves Absolute Defense through the utilization of an always active Multilayer Barrier in combination with Dimension Fault.