The Abyss was not merely a hole in the ground; it was a wound in reality that twisted inward.
As I descended, the screams and battle-sounds of the Supreme Divisors fighting on the surface faded, replaced by the silent, internal chaos of the dimensional layers.
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I. The Collapse Physics
The first layer was a realm of inverted inertia.
Gravity was erratic.
Sound didn't travel — it vibrated through conceptual space.
My Echo Mapping struggled to translate the noise into a coherent map, forcing me to rely on the raw, instantaneous data of causality flow.
I was intercepted immediately.
A Denvigorix — tall, humanoid, armored in shimmering, impossible geometry — phased out of the distorted air.
"High Divisor of Chaos. Architect of Ruin," it spoke, its voice a synthesized, logical melody of corruption.
"We anticipated you. Your formula calculates loss; we provide the exponential collapse."
It specialized in Spatial Inconsistency.
Not fighting me — destabilizing my location, forcing me to occupy contradictory spaces at once.
I had no time for normal fighting.
I used Existence Threading instantly — not on the Denvigorix, but on the Layer itself.
I inverted the inversion of the Law of Inertia, temporarily stabilizing the layer for one crucial heartbeat.
The Denvigorix, dependent on chaos, froze — mathematically trapped.
A single Null Strike erased it cleanly.
I continued downward.
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II. The Layer of Doubt
The second layer was worse.
It was defined by Temporal Inconsistency.
Moments stretched.
Repeating.
Warping.
Breaking.
My time perception — normally razor sharp — fragmented.
I heard the screams of the Supreme Divisors above, looping endlessly.
Their sacrifice, replayed like a broken timeline.
The formula is sound.
The cost is necessary.
But the faint pulse of Elysa slipped into the layer…
and the temporal distortion twisted her stability into a question:
Is this stability worth so much calculated destruction?
For a moment, the doubt pierced my logic.
I crushed it immediately.
Two Denvigorix appeared — corrupted temporal healers, using Time Decay to prevent the Nest from collapsing.
"Abandon the cost, little Inverter," one hissed.
"Your calculation is flawed. Preservation is the only true Law."
No debate.
I imposed a single, absolute moment across the entire layer — a perfect temporal constant.
In that frozen instant, the healers lost the conceptual ability to decay or restore anything.
They were trapped forever in the eternal slice of time I created.
I walked past them.
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III. The Regional Nest
The third layer was the bottom.
A massive cavern.
The air was pure Primal Chaos, vibrating with the heavy, organic frequency of the infestation.
At the center was the regional Fold's Nest —
a pulsating, fleshy tumor of corrupted reality.
Anchoring it was the Folding Engine, a grotesque device designed to accelerate exponential spread.
Standing guard was the most powerful Denvigorix yet:
The Fold Lieutenant.
A conscious commander fused into the Engine itself.
"You arrived, High Divisor," it resonated — not afraid, but triumphant.
"We are not the mother nest — but we are the heart that pumps the chaos.
Your formula ends here. You will become the ultimate sacrifice."
I raised my hand.
The Inverted Mark glowed beneath the blindfold.
My Echo Mapping reduced everything to a single target:
The Engine's causality loop.
I prepared the ultimate Existence Threading —
enough to collapse the Nest even if the war above was swallowed in the backlash.