950 Chapter 950 — Exodus
Shang bit down on the face, but it didn't do anything.
The faces could bite him, but he couldn't bite them.
Nevertheless, something had changed.
The face entered Shang's body, but it didn't come out again.
However, its presence still caused Shang immense pain.
Shang could feel the hatred of the swallowed face become more intense, which made Shang feel even more pain.
The face hated Shang's act of defiance.
That was why it wanted to cause even more pain to Shang.
No matter what it took.
Shang just gritted his teeth and grabbed another face.
CRKSH!
Another face entered Shang's body, and now, two faces were causing Shang eternal pain.
'Pain doesn't matter!'
'Pain has no power over me!'
'As long as I do not consciously decide to kill myself, the pain has no effect whatsoever!'
'Believing that pain is bad is the damaging part of pain!'
'It's a self-sustaining loop!'
'I believe that pain is bad, which makes it bad, and since pain is now bad, I believe it is bad!'
'I need to break the loop!'
Shang grabbed one face after the other and consumed them.
The faces inside Shang's body were screaming and screeching in hatred.
They were like an explosion contained in a bottle.
They wanted to kill him!
He needed to die!
He had to die!
Shang's mind became tenser by the second as he felt more and more pain.
However, Shang just gnashed his teeth and consumed more faces.
The more pain Shang was feeling, the angrier he got.
He hated the faces for hating him.
The faces had to die!
He would do his absolute best to cause the faces as much misery as possible.
He hated them so much!
It was hatred clashing with hatred.
Initially, both sides interacted with each other for different reasons, but somehow, it ended up with both of them hating each other because the other was hating the other.
The faces hated Shang because he was refusing to die because he hated them, and Shang hated them because they wanted him to die because they hated him.
Hatred.
Both sides wanted to stop the other side from existing.
Shang kept consuming more and more faces.
The pain got progressively worse.
Yet, the pain only fueled Shang's hatred.
The more pain he felt, the more hateful he became, and the faster he was consuming the faces.
Suddenly, the darkness around Shang seemed to change.
He was still consuming the faces, and he was so focused on this single task that he didn't even notice the changing darkness.
Somehow, the darkness became even darker.
Earlier, it had been like an eternity of darkness that stretched into infinity.
But now, it felt like everything was vanishing.
There was no eternal darkness anymore.
The darkness only stretched to a finite distance before everything completely vanished.
Space and time were ending.
The closer the end came, the stronger Shang felt.
Ethereal shadows appeared around Shang's body as he kept consuming the faces.
The shadows also started to grab the faces, and before long, it was like the faces were being funneled into Shang's body.
As the end of existence approached, the faces voluntarily entered Shang's body, but they didn't stop causing him pain.
The faces were afraid of the end.
They thought that death was the worst thing, but no.
This thing that was approaching was worse than death.
Eventually, all the faces entered Shang's body, and Shang just remained hovering in the darkness.
The pain he was feeling was unimaginable.
It was by far the worst pain he had ever felt.
And yet, it didn't matter.
Pain had become irrelevant.
It was like someone else was feeling the pain, not him.
It simply didn't matter how much pain he felt since pain itself was nonconsequential.
Finally, Shang could focus on the approaching nothingness.
Yet, Shang didn't feel like there was nothing.
To Shang, it was simply like a new space had opened.
Shang didn't move and was swallowed by the nothingness.
But nothing changed.
"Entropy," Shang spoke.
"Death Mana," he said as he focused on the faces inside his body.
Shang's memories were returning.
He remembered what he was and why he was.
All the concepts he had learned and his memories returned.
'I'm inside my mind. King Sanctified Death drowned me in Death Mana using the level five Concept of Death, Exodus.'
'An entire group, race, or species of people all collectively wanted me to die.'
'It starts with sickness, which transforms into weakness. Weakness turns into a state of near-death, purgatory, which then turns into real death.'
'Yet, Exodus is even more extreme. It is death that isn't fine with just itself being dead. It is so extreme that it spreads death.'
'Exodus is not leaving. It is trying to tear everything apart as it is leaving.'
'With the first four Concepts, Death Mana acts unmoving and lethargic, but with Exodus, it completely transforms. The Death Mana almost gains its own will, and it tries to convert as many living things as possible to death.'
Shang focused on the faces inside his body again. who were still screaming in hatred.
Shang's mind steeled, and he willed them to stop existing.
A moment later, all the faces vanished, replaced by a mass of black Mana.
Shang had erased the Concept of Exodus from the Death Mana, turning it back into regular Death Mana.
The pain vanished, but that no longer made any difference to Shang.
The mere concept of pain had lost all meaning and relevance.
Then, Shang focused on the surrounding Entropy.
'How did Entropy appear inside my mind? I‘m certain that my mind is constructed with pure Mana.‘
Shang shook his head.
'No point in thinking about that now. I should wake no first.'
Shang focused on the real world, and his perception changed.
Blurry colors appeared, which quickly transformed into the Lightning Emperor's library.
Shang's question from just now was very quickly answered by what he saw.
Shang saw a black sphere of Entropy lying on top of his head.
The Lightning Emperor was controlling an Abomination Lord to push the sphere into Shang's head.
When the Lightning Emperor noticed that Shang's perception had returned, he released a deep breath and fell back on his chair.
"Finally," he groaned.
