Now aware of the temporal difference between Mount Olympus and Pandora, Sorin adjusted and split his perception. This shift enabled him to realize just in time that a mass of distorted tentacles had broken through some sort of barrier and was coming his way.

  Suddenly, Chronos was omnipresent. His power had broken through Pandora’s limit and was rapidly climbing. Sorin knew that should these tentacles even touch him, the divine energy that made him up would be contaminated.

  Time lost all meaning. It slowed and sped up according to Chronos’s will. Madeline, Hades, and Sorin’s authorities tried their best to contain his encroachment, but it was a losing battle, and all three of them knew it.

  It wasn’t long before Chronos lopped off Hade’s head. The former God of the Underworld’s body reasserted itself through his Dominion Authority, but much weaker and lower on energy than he’d originally been.

  His presence began to fade, but Madeline’s crystalline chain tails stabbed into his body to nourish it. Past and present overlapped just enough for Sorin to send his poisons into Hades’s body and destroy the offending contaminants.

  Warning! Critical calculation error!

  Warning! Critical calculation error!

  Warning! Opponent has broken through known Law Zeitgeist. Extrapolation innacuracies are expected.

  Sorin’s stellar simulations spat out meaningless garble that exceeded Sorin’s comprehensive abilities. He was forced to deprioritize certain calculations lest his mind be overwhelmed.

  “This is over,” said Chronos. A bone-like tentacle pieced through time and space and landed an unavoidable blow on Hades. Before Hades could reassert reality, Chronos linked the two as a bridge, superimposing the wound. Sorin’s Nemesis Authority was fortunately able to slough off these intrusive laws and avoid a similar fate.

  Space itself was becoming corrupted. Chronos had clearly broken something in Pandora and was now able to marshal his full strength. It wouldn’t be long before the laws themselves were corrupted and commandeered by Chronos. Pandora’s Box, the core of the realm, would soon follow.

  It’s impossible for my to analyze Chronos using my own energy, thought Sorin as he retreated from the growing mass of tentacles. They were everywhere, but using his poisons, he was able to melt through any spatial and temporal barriers Chronos erected and avoid being hit.

  If that’s the case, I can only take a risk. Sorin’s spear became a scalpel that lopped off the tip of a tentacle. Before the tentacle could rejoin the greater entity known as Chronos, Sorin ate the piece of Chronos and allowed it to infect him.

  Critical mutations detected! Unable to suppress. Prioritizing vital functions. Quarantining contaminated materials. Analyzing.

  As Chronos contaminated Sorin, Sorin did the same in reverse. He bit off tiny pieces of offending laws, infiltrated, and subverted them. His Nemesis Authority was especially good in turning laws against themselves, and Chronos’s laws were no exception.

  Inoculation complete. Minor Divine Poisons assimilated and classified.

  Space shattered around Sorin, destroying his arm before he could retreat. A new arm quickly regrew, and within it, Sorin incorporated the bulk of the new laws he’d pilfered from Chronos.

  Divine Poison: Lesser Chaotic Progenitor Generated!

  Divine Poison: Lesser Temporal Acid Generated!

  Divine Poison: Lesser Causal Assimilator Generated!

  New divine poisons detected! Incorporating into physique. Evolving.

  Sorin’s skin molted as his nature shifted away from a pure Pandoran existence. Normally, this would cause intense rejection, but with Chronos locking down Pandora’s laws and assimilating the realm, Sorin felt not a trace of hatred from the realm.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Sorin immediately put the new poisons to use. Tens of thousands of needles shot out and infected nearby tentacles. It wasn’t long before his poisons adapted and melted away the offending appendages, transforming them to law fragments and energies that Sorin repurposed.

  Divine Poison: Lesser Chaotic Progenitor upgraded to Intermediate Chaotic Progenitor!

  Divine Poison: Lesser Temporal Acid upgraded to Intermediate Temporal Acid!

  Divine Poison: Lesser Causal Assimilator upgraded to Intermediate Temporal Acid!

  This new development gave Hades and Madeline room to breathe. They also gave pause to Chronos’s tentacles. There was silence for a moment before an armored figure appeared before them. It was a transparent projection, a shadow of what they’d formerly been fighting.

  “Congratulations on finding a way to survive the first way,” said Chronos. “But this is only the beginning. Your copycat abilities will never exceed the originals, and soon, the last laws protecting this realm will be gone.”

  “I can’t defeat you with these laws,” Sorin admitted. “But it should be enough to run away.”

  “Run away to where?” laughed Chronos. “The realm is sealed off. You’re a pitiful Tier 4 Deity, while I am a lofty Tier 5 World Controller. Even if you escape Pandora’s Seal, you’ll never be able to escape my web of time and space.”

  Sorin could see that Chronos was right, but he was unwilling to give up. “Hades, Madeline, hold him back for a few seconds!”

  “What are you—” Chronos quickly realized Sorin’s goal. Tentacles pierced through space and attempted to lock down the area, but Sorin pierced through their blockade like a spear and nabbed Pandora’s Box.

  Seeing that tentacles were unable to harm him, Chronos changed targets. He targeted the laws on Mount Olympus and created a maelstrom of chaotic spatial and temporal energy.

  Sorin’s body began to disintegrate. The different in strength was too great. Fortunately, a wave of energy blasted through the maelstrom to create an exit. “Hurry! I can’t keep this up very long!” Madeline had her hand on Hades’s shoulder. Both of them were reaching their limits.

  Sorin attempted to grab Pandora’s Box, but it jerked away and tried to escape. A coil of serpents locked the box down and brought it back. “We’re doomed if you don’t let me help you,” said Sorin. “Trust me. I’m a physician.”

  The box struggled even harder but was unable to escape Sorin’s evolved laws. Having obtained his prize, Sorin escaped Chronos’s encirclement all the while injecting a combination of Divine Nemesis Poison, Chaotic Progenitor Poison, Temporal Acid, and Causal Assimilation Poison.

  The four poisons joined together to corrupt the laws of the realm. Pandora’s Laws were rotten to the core, and that wasn’t even considering the damage Chronos was causing.

  Too many inefficiencies have stacked up, thought Sorin. As a result, Pandora is unable to supply sufficient energy to the Material and Celestial Planes. Over 90% of the realm’s energy was tied up dealing with the bottlenecks and discontinuities in the realms laws.

  “To preserve the life of a patient, a limb is a small price to pay,” said Sorin to Pandora’s Box. “I’m sorry.” His expression turned cold. He brandished his tarnished gold scalpel like a machete to brutally amputate a quarter of Pandora’s laws.

  Cracks appeared on the Pandoran Continent as pieces of land broke off and disintegrated. Time accelerated and slowed at chaotic intervals, causing errors to propagate across the fabric of reality.

  Though this was a terrible loss, Pandora immediately adjusted to the change. It gave up on the unsupported portions of Pandora and gave them up to the ravenous entity possessing Chronos.

  Bridges formed between previously unrelated laws. Law-based scar tissue formed as a result, but Sorin trimmed it away as soon as it appeared. He continued pruning the web of laws until a scalpel was no longer sufficient.

  “I’m not sure what your plan is, Sorin, but we need to do something soon,” said Hades, wiping blood from his mouth. It won’t be long before Chronos break through the last few law barriers.

  “Whatever your plan is, you should fill us in on it,” added Madeline. “This is no time for competition. If we don’t cooperate, everything we know, everything we are will be assimilated.”

  “Just a second,” said Sorin. He injected another stream of poison into the realm. Weaker portions of the realm’s laws vanished. Inefficient materials were recycled along with an unfortunate amount of Pandora’s lifeforms.

  I can’t concern myself with every person, Sorin reminded himself. The world is a body, and its people are highly efficient and productive cells.

  Normally, the laws of Pandora would cull the weakest and nurture the strongest. He was simply accelerating that process.

  “You’ll need more than a scalpel and some poison to fix up Pandora,” said Hades.

  “Laws need enforcement,” said Madeline in agreement. “You need our help, Sorin.”

  Sorin considered this before nodding in agreement. “Fine. But you must both follow my arrangements.”

  Hades looked conflicted but could only agree. “I cannot change my nature, Sorin. My presence must Dominate.”

  “Likewise, I cannot defy my nature,” said Madeline. “I must give hope to the people. I must Nurture.”

  “That’s fine,” said Sorin. “I’ll fulfill the opposite role of Nurture and Hades will balance.”

  “No, that won’t work,” Madeline interrupted. “If you balance out my Nurture, how can you supersede it? This realm’s laws are based on Nemesis. They must hole the core governing role.”

  Sorin unfortunately didn’t have a good fix for this. The Underworld was fully functional, so he couldn’t tweak with that.

  “Aren’t you forgetting someone?” said Madline with a bewitching smile. She pulled out a small object from her pocket.

  No, not an object.

  A rat.

  “Ree!” screeched Lorimer, looking quite disgruntled at has imprisonment and extremely happy to see Sorin.