Chapter — Permission Error
Aoikishi's training ground looked insultingly normal.
That was the first thing Nyxus distrusted about it.
Flat stone stretched beneath an open blue sky. Broken pillars stood around the field at irregular intervals, and several training dummies had been placed near the edges.
No recursive hallways.
No screaming artifacts.
Nothing was on fire.
Nyxus narrowed his eyes. "Where's the trap?"
Aoikishi pointed behind him. "Kaosu."
Nyxus turned.
Kaosu stood ten paces away, already smiling.
Nyxus's shoulders sank. "Oh."
Kaosu cracked his knuckles. "Ready?"
Nyxus immediately replied, "No."
Kaosu punched him anyway.
The impact folded Nyxus around the fist and launched him backward. He tore through one pillar, bounced through another and disappeared somewhere inside a third.
Dust rolled across the field.
Raiyo watched the rubble settle. "Excellent defense."
A hand emerged from the debris.
Nyxus dragged himself free. "I blocked that."
Aoikishi shook his head. "No. You tried stopping the punch."
Nyxus brushed chunks of stone from his hoodie. "That's generally what blocking means."
"That's your problem."
Nyxus stared at him.
Aoikishi walked closer. "You're treating Kaosu's attack as something that has already earned the right to affect you. You're thinking about force, speed and durability."
Kaosu folded his arms. "Probably because I'm stronger and faster than him."
Aoikishi ignored him.
He pointed toward Nyxus.
"The fist exists. The momentum exists. Kaosu exists. None of those are the important part."
Nyxus frowned. "The important part is usually the fist."
"The important part," Aoikishi said, "is the interaction."
Kaosu lunged again.
Nyxus raised his hands.
Something flashed across his vision.
Not light.
Not Glitched Energy.
Text.
REQUEST: KAOSU_FIST -> INTERACT WITH NYXUS_BODY
SOURCE: VALIDTARGET: VALIDINTERACTION: AUTHORIZEDOUTCOME: PENDING
Nyxus blinked.
Kaosu's fist smashed into his face.
Nyxus vanished over the horizon.
Silence.
Raiyo glanced at Aoikishi. "Was that supposed to happen?"
Aoikishi watched the distant dust cloud. "Probably."
Several minutes later, Nyxus returned on foot.
He looked deeply offended.
Nyxus pointed at Aoikishi. "I saw words."
Raiyo nodded solemnly. "The concussion is progressing."
Aoikishi didn't laugh. He asked, "What words?"
Nyxus explained what he'd seen.
Aoikishi's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Yamiya Miekō noticed.
She always noticed.
Yamiya asked quietly, "You know what he's talking about."
Aoikishi looked toward her. "I have an idea."
Kaosu stepped forward again. "Can I hit him?"
Nyxus snapped, "Why are you enjoying this?"
Kaosu grinned. "Because you're annoying."
Nyxus considered that. "Fair."
Kaosu attacked.
The text returned.
REQUEST: KAOSU_FIST -> INTERACT WITH NYXUS_BODY
SOURCE: VALIDTARGET: VALIDINTERACTION: AUTHORIZED
Nyxus stared at the final word.
AUTHORIZED.
Something about it bothered him.
Not the punch.
Not Kaosu.
The wording.
Authorized meant permission had been given.
And permission could be revoked.
Kaosu's fist was centimeters away.
Nyxus raised one hand.
"Access Denied."
The text shattered.
REQUEST: KAOSU_FIST -> INTERACT WITH NYXUS_BODY
STATUS: DENIED
LOGICAL VALIDITY OF INTERACTION: FALSE
Kaosu's fist continued moving.
It wasn't stopped.
It wasn't slowed.
Nyxus hadn't become intangible.
Kaosu simply couldn't hit him.
Reality attempted to complete the interaction—
Kaosu's fist contacts Nyxus.
Impossible.
The fist slipped past Nyxus's cheek by less than a centimeter.
Kaosu immediately spun around. "I didn't miss."
Raiyo's expression hardened.
"No," Raiyo said. "You didn't."
Kaosu looked at Nyxus. "Then what the hell did you do?"
Aoikishi answered before Nyxus could.
"He denied your permission to interact with him."
Kaosu stared.
Aoikishi continued, "Once Nyxus denies an interaction, that interaction isn't resisted. It isn't weakened. It becomes logically invalid."
Yamiya's eyes narrowed. "So reality has to find another outcome."
Aoikishi nodded. "Exactly."
Raiyo looked toward Nyxus.
"If I swing at him?"
"Try."
Raiyo drew his sword.
Nyxus immediately raised both hands. "Hold on—"
Raiyo cut.
"ACCESS DENIED!"
The blade passed beside Nyxus's neck.
Raiyo hadn't altered his trajectory.
The world had.
Nyxus slowly lowered his hands.
Then he smiled.
"Oh, this is disgusting."
Kaosu groaned. "Don't encourage him."
Nyxus looked at the fading code again.
Then something occurred to him.
His smile disappeared.
Nyxus pointed toward the word AUTHORIZED.
"Wait."
Aoikishi looked at him.
Nyxus asked, "Who keeps giving permission?"
Nobody answered.
Nyxus pointed harder, as though that improved the question.
"It says authorized. Authorized by who?"
Aoikishi went completely still.
Yamiya looked at him.
Raiyo looked at him.
Even Kaosu noticed.
Several seconds passed.
Aoikishi finally smiled.
"That's a very good question."
Raiyo immediately sheathed his sword.
"Nope."
Kaosu looked at him. "What?"
Raiyo started walking away. "Whenever he says something is a very good question instead of answering it, something terrible follows."
Nyxus looked between them. "So who authorized it?"
Aoikishi turned away. "Next exercise."
Nyxus shouted after him, "THAT ISN'T AN ANSWER!"