When you are down, the narcissist will not stop abusing or manipulating you. They will not stop trying to ruin your life. When you are down, the narcissist will continue kicking you to see how much damage they can cause. You might be trying to hold on to your physical, emotional or mental health and the narcissist will see that you are suffering, but they will continue attacking you to see how much they can mess you up. They are sadistic, so this is actually something they enjoy, they get a kick out of it. They could cause problems for you in your work, which will affect you financially and even though you may not have much money left, they will take what little you have, so you are completely broke. Furthermore, they might target your social circle and create smear campaigns until you lose all of your friends. You could have one friend left, and they will try to turn them against you.
Or if they have already destroyed your social circle and the only company you have left is a pet, I have heard stories where they will even kill your pets just to ensure you are completely alone and isolated. They will not provide you with any support and they will not help you to get back on your feet. If they do provide you with any support, it will only be so they can take it away, which will give them more supply.
Or they will give you false hope and make you believe that it will get better, while they are secretly plotting behind the scenes to make your life even worse. Narcissists have so much hatred and anger within them. It is self-hatred, but they do not accept or acknowledge this. They see you as an extension of them, so they will use you as an emotional or even physical punching bag, to take out all the hatred they have towards themselves.
No matter how much damage or emotional distress they cause to you, they will never stop. Because it's not you that they hate, they are just using you to express the hatred they have for themselves. They don't self reflect or look within, instead they will project these emotions on to whoever is closest to them. And they won't just kick you when you are down. They will kick you to death and then still keep kicking you, because the problem they have is more to do with them, rather than you.
They are just using you to express their hatred, anger and frustration. Furthermore, they are shame-based individuals, doing whatever they can to avoid reflecting on their shame. If something triggers them to reflect on their shame, they are likely to become abusive towards you. When you present yourself to them, they feel as though you are better than them. They feel as though you are superior to them or above them.
When you present yourself to them, they feel threatened. They feel like they are less of a man or woman, as though they are not enough. Your presence triggers them to reflect on their perceived deficiencies. And this could be anything when it comes to a narcissist. They have so many weaknesses, insecurities and vulnerabilities, that's why they created the false self. That's why they have chosen to deny the truth and live in a fantasy world. What they should have done is reflected on who they really are and identified their weaknesses, insecurities and vulnerabilities, or their faults and mistakes.
Then they could have corrected them or at least improved them in some way. Instead they chose to deny the existence of this, which made it impossible for them to learn or grow from them. When you present yourself to them and they feel as though you are better than them or above them in some way, it triggers them to reflect on these perceived deficiencies and the shame they feel for possessing these weaknesses, insecurities and vulnerabilities, or making a fault or mistake. It makes them feel like less of a man or woman, as though they are not good enough because of their perceived deficiency. So now they feel as though you are better than them or above them. They now have two choices, they could either self reflect and own their perceived deficiency, or they can project it on to you and kick you down. Narcissists do not self reflect, which leaves the remaining choice of kicking you down. And they will kick you down again and again, as a way of regulating their emotions and dodging the shame for feeling as though they are not enough. They will sabotage and destroy your career, finances, friendships, relationships, hobbies and interests, qualities, talents and traits. Whatever it is that triggers them to reflect on their perceived deficiency, whether it's something they do not have or something they feel could not be enough if they feel threatened by something, they will try to destroy it. If your presence is threatening them and making them feel like less of a man, or less of a woman, they will make personal attacks against you. They will target your character, personality or appearance. Even after they have destroyed everything good about your life and repeatedly attacked your character, personality or appearance. And they have put you right down, they will still continue to kick you. Narcissists feel so completely worthless and insignificant inside, that no amount of abusing you could ever satisfy them. It's like no matter how much they destroy your life or how much they devalue, degrade or humiliate you they never feel equal. They still feel as though you are better than them or above them. And as long as they feel this way, the abuse will continue until they finally feel as though they are above you.
But by that time you would probably be dead, and even then they would still feel as though it wasn't enough. They would still feel as though they are deficient in some way, because they never took the time to self reflect or look within and correct or improving their perceived deficiency. Narcissists enjoy kicking you when you are down, because it makes them feel as though they are above you. It is a form of escapism and a distraction from their problems or deficiencies. Narcissists are miserable people and they hate themselves. But if they can make you miserable, suddenly they don't feel so bad anymore, they almost feel happy in comparison to you, once they have targeted your happiness and contentment. If they can cause problems or deficiencies in your life, suddenly their problems or deficiencies don't seem so bad anymore. Narcissists are always comparing themselves to other people, that's why everything seems like a competition with them. They are always trying to compete with you, always trying to outdo you. You may not even realize that you are in a competition with them, but they will constantly try to prove their worth because they feel as though you are better than them or above them. They will endlessly try to compete with you and act as though they are superior to you, but they don't really believe that. If they really believed that, they would feel no desire or motivation to compete. They are just trying to make you believe that they are superior to you, so that it makes it more believable to them. But deep down, they believe that you're better than them or above them. That's where their desire or motivation comes from to constantly compete with you and constantly abuse you. That's why they're so full of hatred, anger and frustration every time you present yourself to them. Because it triggers them to reflect on their perceived deficiencies. They will kick you even when you're down, because they are envious of your happiness and contentment.
They know your capabilities, they know that you could get back up at any moment, that's why they've got to keep kicking you down. If they knew that you were down, and you're not going to get back up again, they would just leave you there. But they will constantly return to you, to ensure that you do not get back up again and trigger them to reflect on their deficiencies. They will kick you even when you're down, because they are envious, because they have low self-esteem and because they are using you to express their self-hatred, anger and frustration.