I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Chapter 1157: Chit-Chat With A Superior Being

Northern’s head slowly turned back to face Kryos directly, and the Origin felt something primal coil in his gut—something that shouldn’t exist in a being of his nature.

Fear.

”You know what? I was going to be gentle. Relatively speaking.”

His grip on Kryos’s hair tightened.

”But you just had to go for the face.”

[Absolute Zero has been activated]

The temperature plummeted so rapidly that the moisture in the air crystallized instantly. Kryos’s crimson flames sputtered, flickered, then died—not a simple extinguishment, but frozen mid-burn, suspended in impossible stillness.

The Origin’s eyes widened as frost spread across his body like a living thing, creeping up from where Northern held him. His silver blood began to slow, thickening, crystallizing in his veins.

”Cold, isn’t it?”

Northern’s voice carried an almost cheerful tone.

”And before you start spouting off about your nature of Origination and its resistance to such meager abilities—”

[Erasure Touch has been applied]

A dark mark bloomed where Northern’s fingers gripped Kryos’s hair, spreading like ink through water. The Origin felt it immediately—creeping slowly, but undeniably there. That inexorable weakening of his abilities. His connection to his own power was beginning to fray at the edges.

”That’s going to make things interesting for you.”

Northern continued conversationally, still holding Kryos suspended thousands of meters in the air.

”It’s slow, sure, but we’ve got time. Well, I’ve got time. You’ve got... less.”

Kryos snarled, silver blood freezing at the corners of his mouth.

”You—”

With a staying smile, Northern snapped his fingers.

[Lightning Chains has been activated]

[Infinite Iteration has been applied to Lightning Chain]

The bolt struck Kryos directly in the chest—not enough to kill, but enough to make every nerve in the Origin’s body scream. The electricity didn’t stop there; it jumped, arced, chained through his own body repeatedly, each iteration finding new pathways of agony.

Northern watched with clinical interest as the Origin convulsed.

”Tell me something, Kryos—what in the hell could be so terrible about staying in a peaceful prison? Why did you have to come out? You spent seven thousand years there. Three thousand more honestly wouldn’t have been such a big issue. I mean... this wouldn’t be happening to you.”

He looked at Kryos with a puzzled expression.

”What benefit do you gain from marching across my world and grinding it to dust? Why must the world suffer for your insecurity? Isn’t this pure, unreasonable moral corruption? Mind you, I’m not a moral person by nature—at least I try not to be. And in all honesty, I wouldn’t have cared what you did with this world if I was on my own. But I have two mothers, two fathers, a couple of elder brothers and sisters. My favorite little Silver just got born into this world, and this is the timing you PICK? WRONG TIMING, KRYOS. REALLY WRONG TIMING!”

He released Kryos’s hair and buried a punch into his gut. The hit was devastating. Silver liquid exploded from behind Kryos’s head with a shockwave that tore a wound through the dark clouds.

The Origin flew like a tossed coin and began to fall—but only for a moment.

[Wind Manipulation has been activated]

Northern didn’t let him drop. Instead, the wind caught Kryos like a puppet on strings, suspending him in the air. Then it began to spin him—slowly at first, then faster. Faster. Until the Origin was a blur of silver and crimson, a horizontal cyclone of superior flesh being subjected to forces that would liquefy a normal being.

Northern called out, his voice somehow perfectly audible despite the howling wind.

”This is for dramatic effect, by the way. I know you’re not getting dizzy or anything. You’re an Origin. But it looks really funny from where I’m standing.”

[Supreme Shadow has been activated]

Northern’s shadow stretched impossibly long in the darkness, reaching across the sky to where Kryos spun. It solidified, became tangible, and grabbed the Origin mid-spin, slamming him to a halt with such sudden force that the shockwave rippled through the air.

The shadow held Kryos spread-eagle against the night sky—a superior being crucified on darkness itself.

Northern drifted closer, the wind carrying him with gentle precision. When he spoke, his tone shifted to something almost professorial.

”Let me tell you what’s going to happen now. You’re going to answer some questions. Honestly. Completely. Because if you don’t—”

[Echo has been activated]

Northern snapped his fingers.

The sound echoed. And then it echoed again. And again. And again.

Each echo hit Kryos like a physical blow—not painful exactly, but wrong. Each repetition somehow more real than the last, building in intensity until the Origin felt like reality itself was slapping him across the face seven times in rapid succession.

”—I’m going to get creative. And trust me, you have no idea how vast and incomprehensibly diverse my toolkit is now.”

Kryos glared at him through eyes that were beginning to frost over at the edges.

”You... cannot... kill me...”

”Oh, absolutely not.”

Northern agreed cheerfully.

”You’re an Origin. Probably takes some cosmic-level nonsense to actually end you permanently. But here’s the thing—”

He leaned in close, his breath creating small clouds of crystallized air.

”I don’t need to kill you. I just need to make you wish I could.”

[Dread Manifestation has been activated]

The supernatural fear rolled off Northern in waves, and for the first time in his existence, Kryos felt something he thought impossible—genuine, primal terror.

Not fear of death, but fear of something worse. Fear of being utterly, completely, humiliatingly overpowered by something that shouldn’t be able to touch him.

Northern continued, his voice light and conversational again, as if they were discussing the weather.

”So, question one: Why exactly did you think taking Chaos from me was a good idea? Because from where I’m standing—or floating, rather—it seems like you bit off more than you could chew.”

He paused, studying Kryos’s frozen, terror-stricken face.

”And please, take your time answering. We’ve got all night. Well, I do, and I have a lot of questions. You’ve got until that mark spreads far enough that you can’t even manifest properly anymore.”

Northern glanced at where the Erasure Touch mark had spread to cover nearly a quarter of Kryos’s torso.

”Actually, that might be sooner than I thought. Better start talking. Quickly.”

He smiled—an expression of pure, sadistic delight.

”Unless you’d like to see what else I picked up recently. I’ve been dying to try out this ’Absolute Lock’ thing on an actual Origin. The description says it can seal abilities completely. I’m curious if it’ll work on you. Wanna be my guinea pig?”