"You're arrogant."
The Eyed Fiend's countless eyes fixed on Drex Valen.
"There are too many great beings, too many vast worlds. Yet all you can see is the tiny portion that belongs to you."
Not a trace of doubt could be heard in its voice.
Drex merely smiled.
"I was the catfish."
The answer came without hesitation.
"Before me, no mortal creature had ever reached this level. That's exactly why beings like you were able to sit above everything else for so long. You became stagnant."
His smile widened.
"But things are different now."
"From the moment I arrived, every fossilized relic that thinks it's untouchable has only two choices."
"Learn."
"Use knowledge, creativity, and new ways of thinking to become something I can't predict."
"Or become my food."
The Eyed Fiend's ability to learn bordered on outright duplication.
Whatever Drex used, it learned.
Whatever Drex demonstrated, it replicated perfectly.
And strangely enough, that only made the battle more exciting.
To Drex, the creature had become a living equation.
A walking collection of unanswered questions.
Every mystery humanity had ever struggled with given form.
The challenge thrilled him.
The fight had become an endless puzzle.
One he could happily spend eternity solving.
The satisfaction it brought surpassed any physical pleasure.
It reminded him why he still clung to his humanity.
Spatial physics.
High-energy physics.
String theory.
Imaginary mathematics.
And countless other concepts.
The Eyed Fiend copied all of them flawlessly.
One hundred percent accuracy.
Then it suddenly spoke.
"So this is your foundation, Lord of the Chaos Dimension."
Its voice carried unmistakable disdain.
"A collection of amusing attempts to grasp the truth of the universe."
Drex gestured for it to continue.
Instead of answering, the Eyed Fiend unveiled something new.
Something Drex himself had never demonstrated.
The creature transformed into a supreme observer.
A being capable of collapsing probability clouds through observation alone.
It denied reality around Drex.
Fundamental forces unraveled.
Quantum structures dissolved.
Physical laws vanished like illusions.
Even Drex was surprised.
"We were born understanding these things."
The Eyed Fiend's tone remained calm.
"Everything you've shown me is insignificant."
Drex nodded thoughtfully.
"That's the difference in our starting points."
There was no bitterness in his voice.
Humanity's understanding of reality was microscopic compared to beings born with such knowledge.
Still...
He had learned something valuable from the demonstration.
And there was no shame in learning.
Not at his level.
Not at any level.
Whispers echoed through the dimension.
The space around him began to distort.
Time and space warped into forms resembling the most deranged fantasies imaginable.
The structure of reality itself became anti-logical.
Dimensions folded in impossible directions.
Geometry rebelled against reason.
Everything stood in direct opposition to human thought.
The bizarre architecture of existence threatened to drive observers insane.
Countless bubble-like phantoms drifted through higher-dimensional space, surrounding the universe like translucent cocoons.
"What exactly is the point of this?"
Drex remained unimpressed.
The warped reality around him reflected his own thoughts back at him.
But not as they truly were.
His ideas emerged as malformed monstrosities.
Symbols tangled together in grotesque knots.
Concepts inverted and distorted beyond recognition.
The Eyed Fiend whispered:
"I am observing you."
Just as Drex had observed it.
Now it was observing him.
Suddenly, chaos erupted within Drex's mind.
His memories twisted into incomprehensible shapes.
His intelligence.
His knowledge.
Everything he had ever taken pride in became alien and unreadable.
Only fear remained clear.
Fear.
Despair.
Every dark corner of human nature magnified beyond imagination.
Enough to break lesser beings instantly.
Enough to destroy entire civilizations.
But Drex wasn't broken.
If he couldn't understand it...
Then he simply wouldn't look.
His eyes closed.
A moment later, he spoke.
"All conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows. See them for what they are."
The moment the words left his mouth, everything vanished.
The twisted dimensions.
The madness.
The observation.
Gone.
The Eyed Fiend understood the meaning of the statement.
Yet it couldn't comprehend why its attack had disappeared.
Drex opened his eyes.
Now they were shining.
Brilliant.
Terrifying.
His gaze met every eye the creature possessed.
For the first time...
The Eyed Fiend felt fear.
The world changed.
Not for Drex.
For it.
"The essence of tragedy..."
Drex's voice echoed through the Chaos Dimension.
"...is destroying something beautiful right in front of the audience."
The Eyed Fiend tried to move.
It couldn't.
"Fall into the cycle."
A strange light appeared around them.
A beautiful song played in the darkness.
Hope was born.
Dreams were forged.
Lives blossomed.
And then...
Everything was destroyed.
"Pain," Drex continued softly, "is making someone watch that tragedy unfold."
"Over and over."
"Despair is knowing it's coming and having nowhere left to run."
The Eyed Fiend had mastered minds, souls, and willpower.
Drex had never truly understood psychological torture.
He had never learned how to kill a mind.
But he could learn.
And once he learned...
He improved.
The cycle began with something simple.
A beautiful young woman becoming an empress.
Then the tragedy started.
And it never stopped.
Nine days passed.
At least, nine days relative to the outside world.
Only then did the Eyed Fiend finally escape.
When it emerged, it remained silent for a very long time.
What had allowed it to break free wasn't power.
It was a single sentence.
The words Drex had spoken earlier.
"All conditioned things are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows. See them for what they are."
Before remembering that truth, the Eyed Fiend had forgotten itself.
Forgotten its identity.
Forgotten it was the Eyed Fiend.
It had become completely immersed in Drex's observation.
Even now, after escaping, it felt lost.
Disoriented.
Conflicted.
As a higher-dimensional being, it instantly understood everything that had happened.
And that understanding only made things stranger.
Why had such insignificant things affected it?
Why had mere emotions caused such suffering?
Why?
The creature staggered forward.
"Why?"
Its voice shook.
"Tell me."
Every step caused a portion of its body to disintegrate.
Nine days had given Drex plenty of time to work.
Yet the Eyed Fiend no longer cared about victory.
It no longer cared about survival.
As a supreme demon god of mind, will, and soul, it wanted only one thing.
An answer.
"Why?"
Drex never responded.
Some truths were worth dying for.
But that didn't mean he was obligated to share them.
He had never been interested in satisfying the curiosity of his enemies.
The Eyed Fiend took one final step.
Then it vanished.
Completely.
Its existence collapsed into nothingness.
Everything it had been became nourishment for Drex.
Drex stood alone within the Chaos Dimension.
Power surged through him.
Greater than ever before.
He closed his eyes and savored it.
"Understanding."
"Assimilation."
"Transcendence."
A slow smile crossed his face.
"So that's how they see reality."
The Eyed Fiend's perspective had become his own.
Truth felt tangible now.
Close enough to touch.
Like building blocks scattered across existence.
The ease with which such beings perceived reality was almost enviable.
He clenched his fists.
Everything the Eyed Fiend had been was now understood.
Integrated.
The next step was obvious.
Surpass it.
"This technique..."
Drex considered the attack that had ultimately killed the creature.
"I'll call it No Gate to Hell."
He continued refining the concept.
If Cyttorak and Chthon functioned similarly to the Eyed Fiend, then he had already discovered the formula for killing multiversal demon gods.
The variables would be different.
The equations would change.
But the method remained the same.
Find the solution.
Execute it.
Problem solved.
He also located the Eyed Fiend's dimension.
Without its master, the realm offered no resistance.
The Chaos Dimension consumed it completely.
The effect was immediate.
A transformation unlike anything before swept through Drex's domain.
At last, the Chaos Dimension became a genuine multiversal dimension in its own right.
No longer a realm dependent solely on its owner's power.
It had become something truly complete.
After such an exhilarating battle, a strange sense of emptiness settled over him.
For the first time in a while, Drex simply rested within his dimension.
While relaxing, he turned part of his attention toward the Warhammer universe.
Specifically, toward the Avatar of Havoc.
He was curious how things were progressing.
If the Avatar of Havoc could defeat Khorne and the other Chaos Gods and claim the entire Warp for itself...
That would be ideal.