When the rank and abilities of a Skill are the same, it comes down to willpower. From what I can tell, both of these Skills essentially do the same thing.
Yes, both hold control over life and death in one way or another
Anyway, I agree with the idea that willpower can boost the power of Skills. However, I disagree with some of the examples being used, and I think the concept is far too vague to assign layers to.
I'll try to convince you. The whole point of skills layering is only about as far as the general ability of all skills go. (Keep in mind
skills = magic essentially, for what I'm about to explain in the next line).
So no matter what effect the skill brings, whether it's manipulating sound, metal, space, illusions, etc.,
it is still all done by manipulating the laws of the world, that is the core power of all skills. Another way to put it is that Willpower itself, that skills are the manifestations of,
manipulates said laws. Which is why if you don't have a strong will, you
absolutely cannot manipulate these laws.
This is why a super-strong willpower can let you generate ultimate-level output through just a unique skill.
Another example of how willpower is the all-important aspect in this.
If so, then what allows you to resist the manipulation of laws? The answer also lies in willpower.
An example is how Ultimate Skills, being the ultimate peak of willpower, can resist all attacks from those not of the same level, because the enemies' mind (and willpower) is not strong enough to be unbound by the laws.
Another example is how simply having enough willpower lets you defeat an ultimate (aka resist their law manip).
Another example is how zegion, even without an ultimate skill itself, was resisting the demonesses' magic because his defense reached ultimate level (through willpower), and to overpower that, the demonesses had to pour in all of their willpower to effect him through their powers. Also stated skills are just another form of willpower.
Another clear cut example is diablo's tempter; the only way to resist it is
through willpower. If you can't overpower diablo in willpower, u can't resist it. Yes, it's a mental type ability, but the essence is still law manipulation as it is for ALL skills.
So basically, if skills are simply another shape of willpower, what is required to resist said skill or overpower said resistance? Even
greater Willpower/Spiritual Strength. It doesn't matter if you have a simple empowerment ability like milim while your opponent has all the fate/dura neg/spatial manip stuff like chloe, if your willpower is stronger, you will resist it.
From what I can tell, Absolute Severance is a spatial cut, which would make it durability-negating. Meanwhile, it is specifically mentioned that she used Unlimited Imprisonment, which is also spatial-based, to protect herself. That is why Veldora’s Unique Skills did not work.
There is no proof that willpower played any part in it.
Veldora as a true dragon is already above the likes of beings that can tear apart space. You can check the
aura-based abilities here. They are unaffected even by destruction of the space-time continuum (per their profile page, they have 1-C Durability), so why would they be affected by a simple spatial cut ability? Simple, cuz chloe's willpower is superior.
On the other hand, Milim, who has far superior willpower (by having a far stronger ultimate),
is simply unaffected by said attacks.
Here, it is directly stated that her Unique Skill is growing stronger based on her desire, which makes sense. However, this is not a case of one Unique Skill negating the other. Rather, it is a case of one Skill becoming strong enough to overcome the defensive capabilities of the other, which would not qualify as layering.
Umm, this was already accepted as a layer on our
layer page. Maybe I didn't use the right scans or didn't explain it properly, so you can check there.
Well, the main idea here is that razul can resist her skill initially which she later overcomes. Through what exactly?
Willpower
So it contributes to "Greater willpower = Greater layer".
There are other examples on the list that I disagree with, but you get the idea.
Hopefully the above solved your issue.
If the Rank & Ability of the Skills are the same.
Explained above in the Law stuff.
This is far too vague.
We do not know how large the gap in willpower needs to be for one Skill to surpass another of the same rank and ability. At that point, we would basically be relying on vibes and willpower scaling.
To be fair, the whole point is willpower scaling.
Each person's desire and willpower level is unique, which is why NO two skills are identical or of the same capability or potency, even if the name is the same, the output would be different. Since it's about "even if", this rule applies to skills of different names as well.
For example, if Character A gets stabbed in the leg and powers through it, while Character B gets a hole blown through their stomach and still powers through it, are we supposed to assume that Character B has more willpower?
We cannot assume that unless Character A has also had a hole blown through their stomach and failed to power through it. In that case, scaling willpower would have to be based on examples of when certain characters gave up, or when they did not have the willpower to continue.
Even then, it would still be vague. Feeling discouraged, scared, uncertain, or hesitant does not necessarily mean someone has weaker willpower than another person when it comes to enduring pain or seeing something through.
No.
MOST characters still upscale or downscale from other characters.
Like, we don't know if Gobuta > Razul by a direct statement, but we know that Shion (pre-buff) < Razul and gobuta < shion, so we can conclude that razul >> gobuta. Just like this, almost every character is involved in some sort of chainscaling since all of them have battled at least one other character throughout the series :d
So we can make a chain like: Rimuru > Milim > Feldway > Velgrynd > Veldora (pre-buff) > Zegion > Zalario > Dino (pre-unleashed).... and so on.
As I said above, I agree that willpower determines the strength or potency of a Skill. In cases where it is explicitly stated that willpower was the deciding factor, I do not mind giving layers.
However, I disagree with this overall willpower scaling.
Hopefully the above explanation changed your opinion. If not, feel free to tell me what is missing and I'll try to fill that spot as well.
