"At our level, we no longer use laws and rules."
Drex Valen's voice echoed through the abstract battlefield.
"We control them. They become whatever we decide they should be."
A faint smile touched his face.
"We are the origin of the laws themselves. The primordial truth. The source from which all order emerges."
To an outside observer, it would have appeared that neither Drex nor Chaos had moved.
Yet they had already exchanged blows countless times.
Their conflict unfolded beyond conventional speed. Beyond particles. Beyond the Quantum Realm itself.
Even regions untouched by time experienced distortions simply because of their presence.
The battle was unimaginably dangerous.
Each exchange carried the potential to erase the other from existence.
Each attempt was met with an equal countermeasure.
It was like two players fighting over a coin while it was still spinning through the air, both struggling to decide which side would land face up before fate itself could make the choice.
Ordinarily, no Single-Universe-level entity would engage in such reckless combat.
But Chaos had no alternative.
The Black Hole Dimension had already driven its roots deep into the Olympus Dimension.
If he failed to destroy Drex, then he might as well surrender his own existence.
And Drex had no intention of letting Olympus escape.
A genuine Single-Universe god hidden inside the dimension...
Devouring him would bring Drex dangerously close to the next level.
Not quite there.
But close enough to make the distinction feel increasingly meaningless.
Around them, countless Dimensional Demon Gods and cosmic entities watched with undisguised hostility.
Then, unexpectedly, Drex withdrew from the deadly exchange.
Chaos froze.
Only then did he realize something alarming.
Drex was completely unharmed.
He hadn't even been fighting at full strength.
A chill ran through Chaos.
Something was wrong.
"It's time to end this."
Drex finally revealed his Path.
At the level of a Single-Universe god, one's existence became synonymous with reality itself.
Time.
Space.
Matter.
Energy.
Life.
Death.
Concepts and laws alike could be altered through sheer will.
That was why powers like Chaos Magic and the Crimson Power could rewrite reality so effortlessly.
Of course, Chaos Magic ultimately originated from a Multiversal Demon God.
A realm even Drex could not yet fully comprehend.
Chaos sensed the danger immediately.
He understood that the next attack would decide everything.
Every fragment of his attention focused on Drex.
Yet when Drex saw his caution, he only smiled.
A smile that looked very much like victory.
"It seems you still haven't grasped the most important power of this realm."
Chaos didn't understand.
Then he saw Drex raise both hands.
One gathered force.
The force capable of driving everything in existence.
The other compressed that force.
Smaller.
Smaller still.
Condensing it into a point so infinitesimal it was almost nonexistent.
Then the attack was released.
From the perspective of an entire universe, the amount of energy involved might not have seemed remarkable.
But the density concentrated within that single point surpassed imagination.
At that infinitesimal location, the power reached the intensity of the primordial explosion that birthed a universe.
The secret of creation itself.
The source from which dimensions, laws, and reality had first emerged.
This was the spear of the Single-Universe realm.
Everything was condensed into one strike.
Time.
Space.
Matter.
Energy.
Rules.
Concepts.
All reduced to a singular point of annihilation.
Unstoppable.
Unbreakable.
Inevitable.
Beyond laws.
Beyond concepts.
Beyond resistance.
Even the Multiverse trembled.
Every Single-Universe-level being possessed their own version of this spear.
Cyttorak's Crimson Power.
Chaos Magic.
Those were examples.
The ultimate offensive expression of their existence.
The strongest attack they could wield.
Only one thing could oppose such a weapon.
A shield.
Unfortunately for Chaos, he possessed no such defense.
Truthfully, even Drex himself had yet to fully understand how to create one.
Chaos couldn't even comprehend what Drex was doing.
How could he possibly stop it?
The strike landed.
Every version of Chaos.
Across every dimension.
Every timeline.
Every layer of existence.
All were struck simultaneously.
The Olympus Dimension was erased alongside him.
When infinite force was compressed into a point approaching absolute nothingness, it transcended every law.
Because every law in existence ultimately traced its origin back to that first cosmic eruption.
The birth cry of creation.
The attack represented the moment before beginnings existed.
Before chaos and order were divided.
Before reality possessed shape.
The vibration of the Multiversal strings themselves.
The purest manifestation of primordial power.
The entire Multiverse shook.
Chaos never had a chance.
He couldn't retaliate.
Couldn't defend himself.
Couldn't even understand what had happened.
I'm dead?
The thought lingered for an instant.
Single-Universe gods weren't supposed to die.
As long as their dimensions endured, they could be reborn.
Even if another being erased them, traces would remain.
Those traces would allow resurrection.
Only by erasing every mark they had ever left upon existence could they truly be destroyed.
But...
Why?
Chaos felt the answer immediately.
The traces he had left throughout the Olympus Dimension were gone.
Every version of himself.
Across infinite timelines.
Infinite dimensions.
Infinite parallel universes.
All erased.
The reason the Multiverse trembled was simple.
It had just lost every incarnation of Chaos.
Every trace of his existence.
The Olympian Pantheon had vanished forever.
Nothing remained.
Drex consumed Chaos.
Unlike the Void, Chaos had truly mastered Single-Universe-level power.
Digesting that power would not be easy.
Fortunately, Drex had already erased Chaos's will and fundamental identity.
What remained was pure power without consciousness.
There would be no need to spend countless eons grinding away resistance.
The Black Hole Dimension swallowed the Olympus Dimension soon after.
If Dormammu ever learned how quickly Drex's strength was growing, jealousy alone might drive him insane.
Drex had intended to retreat and quietly absorb his gains.
Instead, he suddenly found himself somewhere else.
There had been no transition.
No warning.
One moment he was standing amidst the remnants of Olympus.
The next, he was elsewhere.
His eyes narrowed.
A colossal cavern stretched around him.
It was so vast that an entire small planet could have fit within its hollow interior.
Embedded throughout the stone walls were statues.
Countless statues.
Some towered like Celestials.
Others were no larger than ordinary humans.
Each possessed a different appearance.
Armored warriors carrying enormous swords.
Winged angels.
Horned demons.
And countless other forms.
All of them radiated ancient age.
As though they had stood here for billions upon billions of years.
Their expressions varied.
Yet most shared one thing in common.
Contentment.
Satisfaction.
Ecstasy.
Like dreamers trapped forever within their perfect fantasy.
"What is this?"
For perhaps the first time in a long while, genuine surprise crossed Drex's face.
Someone had brought him here without his knowledge.
That alone was unsettling.
"Welcome to the Quarry of the Gods."
Three voices spoke simultaneously.
Drex turned toward the source.
Three elderly women floated in the center of the cavern.
They wore black robes.
Positioned in a triangular formation.
Silent guardians of this impossible place.
The moment he saw them, recognition flashed across his face.
"The Infinite Witches."
The three seemingly ordinary crones were anything but ordinary.
They were among the most mysterious and powerful divine entities in existence.
Beings whose status rivaled that of the Five Cosmic Entities themselves.
There was little need to explain the Five.
With the exception of Galactus, the others possessed neither fixed forms nor conventional personalities.
They were living embodiments of universal laws.
And the Infinite Witches stood alongside them.
Waiting.
Watching.
As though they had expected Drex's arrival all along.