Chapter 313 Law of Death (2/2)
”What about it?”
”How do you understand Life? Perpetual state of something...ness?”
”...”
”There's the common understanding of the two,” Lino continued, stroking his beard. ”That they're antithetical... yet beyond linked together. If you understand one, then just contradict everything and you'll have understood the other. But, that's wrong.”
”It is?” Edryss asked with some interest -- after all, every human she interacted with since her birth was a Mage, rather than a Cultivator.
”Yes,” Lino nodded lightly. ”I understand death as the continuation of life. That's not to say that there's something else after life, something other than that perpetual state of nothingness, but that death is simply one of many steps we take as we live. If birth is the beginning, then yes, death is the end -- but life is too grand of a concept to just be associated with birth. It's an all-encompassing term, and merely claiming that death is its opposite is, well, fucking stupid.”
”...”
”While I can't claim so for others, to me Law of Death doesn't represent an end -- merely an opportunity. It is about taking Life and subverting it, creating a mutually incompatible system within one's very Soul. For instance, this,” he suddenly reached onto to the floor and literally grabbed a small flicker of fire, holding it in his hand. ”Is life. At least to me. So, if I apply my understanding of Death to it...” the flames blazed out suddenly in a flash of light before withering away into nothingness. ”What happens to them?”
”They disappear?” Edryss replied uncertainly.
”No!” Lino exclaimed. ”They are still here,” he pointed at his palm, smiling. ”Just in their lifeless state.”
”Eh? So... you are saying...”
”It's simple -- Law of Death is about taking something alive... and killing it. Or, rather, killing its single point of failure -- or, in case of people, about seven billion of them as virtually any part of us is susceptible to causing the rest to die out. At least to me, that's what Law of Death means. Simply taking the living part out of the construct's equation.”
”Oh...”
”Similarly, however, if someone were to understand Law of Life in the similar manner like I did with Law of Death,” Lino continued. ”They would be able to take the dead and give it life. Well, not literally -- they couldn't bring a person from the dead, of course, but they would be able to make the body move -- after all, our brains store all our actions, and by the time most of us die, certain things are so deeply embedded we don't even think when we do them, like walking, breathing, eating... so, you wouldn't need a conscious thought to order the body around... just the body itself to move through instincts, like an animal.”
”...”
”But, I very much doubt anyone would actually understand Life as such,” Lino chuckled after he saw Edryss' strange gaze. ”After all, no one who takes up understanding Life is so perverse as to distort it to such a point. By then, it wouldn't even be about the Law of Life, but something much grimmer and macabre.”
”How far along are you in mastering the Law?” Edryss asked after a short silence.
”Oh, nowhere close,” Lino shook his head. ”I'm still in the understanding phase and basic applications. I can only do what I did to fire to a few select objects, none of which would actually qualify as 'living' so-much-so as just, you know, existing. Fire, water, air, weed, glass... any time I try to experiment on something more complex, I suffer a massive backlash instead.”
”But the fact that your theory works at all means that it is true; you simply lack the understanding to push it further.”
”Yup!” Lino exclaimed with a grin. ”But, as my brain is rather restless, I'm already thinking 'bigger, bigger, bigger'...”
”What do you mean?”
”You might think it's crazy...” Lino said, his eyes narrowing, gaze turning rather... perverse. ”But... what if I combined two Laws?”
”Eh? Combine two Laws?” Edryss exclaimed in confusion.
”Yes! Take Death and Time for instance -- what if I had capability to turn back time for someone -- just their own individual strength -- and make them weak enough so I can just, you know, use Law of Death to kill them?! Wouldn't I be fucking King of the World then?! Who in the fuck would dare piss me off if I could do that?! The problem is, however, that two Laws are simply too different... shitting fuck. I have to figure it out! First, I should be able to...” as Lino went onto another one of his classic monologues, Edryss stared at the creature in front of her with a strange gaze; she had no heart to tell him that 'reversing time' to such a degree was simply impossible... but, in the depths of her heart, she was still slightly expectant -- after all, she had come to realize, this boy, this generation's Empyrean entire creed was exactly that -- defying the impossible, and doing it anyway.