The dust would have cleared, if there were any dust left. Where once there stood a proud settlement, filled with folk from all walks of life, villagers, adventurers, and other such sort. Now there was a crater, as wide and long as six football stadiums end to end. The crater was perfectly spherical, and in its epicenter was an one eyed, bandage wearing man.

A torrent of Chaos writhed around him, circling his body and pooling under him, “Oops.” The man in question sat up, the pool of Chaos following behind him in ribbons. He looked around at the remains of the village, “Oh dear.”

He knew he was the cause of this devastation, a shaky smile tugged at his lips at the thought. He forced down the giddy feeling of destroying something so utterly, and reminded himself that to feel this way was to be un-sane, and that just wouldn’t do, “I feel such remorse for my actions, I just don’t know what I’m going to do with myself.” he said with as much fake sincerity as he could muster.

The Chaos following him must be the remains of the ball that caused all of this, he reached out towards it and started the task of absorbing it. It was slow going, as the energy was massively dense and it felt like trying to force the square block through the circle hole. At first it seemed like nothing was happening, and then all of the sudden the Chaos flew into him.

He let out a shocked yelp at the speed in which the energy moved, and scrambled backwards a bit. He let the energy move into him, and at first he felt the exciting feeling of power coursing through him, but as he obtained more and more it felt like he was going to burst. He really wasn’t looking forward to another session of [Chaos Sickness], so when it finally stopped he let out a relieved breath.

“What was that!?” a childish voice scolded in his head, “I had to force the Chaos away from you so you wouldn’t be consumed! Do you know how hard it is to do stuff out there from in here!?” it cried out.

The sheer volume of the voice made Tobi wince and apologize, he patted the side of his head, imagining he was patting puddle buddy reassuringly, “I’m fine now aren’t I? Thanks for the save though, honest.” he said.

“I guess so.” the puddle moped, and noticing Tobi's chipper mood asked, “Don’t you feel bad for destroying the village and killing several hundred people?”.

“Of course I do! What kind of question is that?” he cried out, “Any un-un-sane person, such as myself, would feel remorse at committing such atrocities!”

“Ok. Ok.” puddle buddy placated, realising his mistake of bothering to ask.

The dinging noise in the back of Tobi’s head was insistent so he focused on it,

New Passive Learned! [True Sight]

Allows the user to view Chaos and Order at all times, with no extra cost. This was obtained due to using [Chaos Vision], and [Order Vision] at the same time. Something that by all means should be impossible, great work breaking the laws of reality again!

[Chaos Manipulation] Sub-Skills Unlocked!

[Chaos Creation], [Chaos Destruction], [Obliteration]

He smiled at obtaining new skills, he already had [Chaos Illusion] so now he had four [Chaos Manipulation] subskills.

[Chaos Creation]

Allows the user to create physical manifestations of Chaos! Later attempts become easier, and more refined.

[Chaos Destruction]

Allows the user to free Chaos from the restraints of Order, this is one of many ways to destroy using Chaos, but also one of the most effective. Chaos creations may also destroy, though in a more limited capacity. This skill allows for destruction without absorbing the Order that controls it, which resulted in the catastrophe.

He didn’t know what catastrophe the blue box was talking about as the only thing he could think of which fell into those parameters was amazing.

[Obliteration]

[LOCKED - FLEDGLING CHAOS CONSTRUCT (PUDDLE BUDDY)]

Somehow you managed to destroy the speck of Order controlling the Chaos, with the Chaos, something that should be impossible. This allows you to destroy matter on a fundamental level.

“Hey! Why did you get rid of my boom-boom spell?” he asked, “Wait. How did you lock the spell?” he looked confused.

“I locked it because I don’t want to attract any attention from the higher-ups. Also, why would I tell you how, that would be dumb.” the voice pouted.

“Higher-ups? Who’re they?” he asked.

“The ones who rule Order and Chaos, and their lackeys. They wouldn’t like to know that you started messing with the boundaries of what’s supposed to be possible within the laws of reality.” it answered.

“Yeah. That makes sense.” he stood up and started to climb out of the crater but stopped, “You will let me boom-boom later. Right?”

“Sure.” it replied.

“Why don’t I believe you.” Tobi asked.

“Dunno. I’m perfectly honest.” the puddle lied.

“Hmph.” he continued his trek up the crater side, deciding to look at the rest of his notifications later. He didn’t want to be caught at the bottom of a crater, which happened to be the location of a magical equivalent to a tactical nuke, when the cavalry came a knocking.

He made it to the top, this sun was sinking in the horizon casting a pink glow over the area. Nearby trees filtered the light through their leaves, sending a kaleidoscope of scattered light throughout the area. There was no smoke rising from the crater, there were no birds calling out, and a strange stillness took hold of the land.

Tobi wrung out his hands and stretched his back, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips as he did so. He cast a glance back towards the remains of the village, a slight frown on his face. He peered around, looking for a new place to reside, as the last one seemed to be gone. To the north another settlement was in sight, it looked similar to the pre-crater town, and what looked like a group of people were trekking towards him, though they were too far away to make out details.

He knew there had to be other places nearby, but as it was he couldn’t see anything. He didn’t know much, but what he did know was to not go towards the group of people coming to check out your most recent ‘project’. He had learned that from experience.

Since he couldn’t know which way lead towards a nearby village, or city, and whether or not they wouldn’t lynch him on the spot. He decided that the forest seemed the best choice, if the worst it could throw at him was a giant rock monster he decided it couldn’t be too inhospitable, maybe he’d find another path to follow, and turn up somewhere less disintegrated. Turning on his heel and whistling a tune he strolled back the way he came, until his face screwed up in horror.

If there were anyone nearby, they would mark it as the look of a man who had seen and done terrible things, and only just recently found his consciousness. They would think he looked stricken with guilt because he had committed an atrocity. They would be right. Just not the one they were thinking of.

He pawed at his waist, the place where his too-large-pouch should be tied.

There was nothing there.

Miles away, screams of terrible agony could be heard heard echoing through Pelanar Valley.