The moment light reached its maximum brilliance, the tattoo on Felix's arm began to shine as well.
"It's getting hotter!"
Felix quickly exited his consciousness space and opened his weary eyes. He ignored everything else and focused on his tattoo.
The moment he felt that the tattoo was starting to burn him, he requested from Asna to extract Nimo from his body.
Before Asna could even try to do so, the tattoo began to move on its own akin to water droplets under a speaker!
Then, the pitch-black droplet started to extract themselves from Felix's arm and merge above it in the shape of a cube.
Felix floated a short-distance away from the cube after seeing it rotating faster and faster while drawing in the void energy around it.
"Is it absorbing the energy on its own?" Felix wondered when he saw a small whirlpool had been created.
The static void energy was gushing in like a flood, making the whirlpool bigger and more intense.
When Felix realized that the pulling force was strong enough it affected him, he didn't hesitate to blink back inside his spaceship.
He wore his AP bracelet swiftly and covered himself in a protective nanosuit.
Then, he requested Queen Ai to turn on the cameras on the bottom of the spaceship, helping him keep an eye on what's going on from a distance.
"Dear lord, he is sucking void energy like a black hole."
Felix's eyes widened in shock after seeing that the whirlpool had been expanded to include the entire blob of void energy!
"Is he hatching?" Thor inquired in intrigue.
"Not yet." Asna informed, "I believe he has unlocked one of his innate abilities that allows him to absorb void energy and purify it on his own."
Asna knew that beings like her and Nimo had a set of specific innate abilities that get unlocked only when certain conditions had been met.
Some of those of conditions were easy, such as reach a certain age, absorb a certain amount of energy...etc.
Some conditions were hard to achieve even if they knew about them.
"I concur." Lady Sphinx added, "This is how Nimo should have absorbed void energy all along. Our method was too slow and cumbersome."
"Still, it helped him to unlock his innate ability." Jörmungandr smiled, "With this astonishing speed, I doubt it will take him even a few days before completely devouring every void creature here."
"Let's hope it will be enough to hatch him." Felix wished.
When he was going slow before, it felt like the blob of void energy would never end before Nimo getting hatched.
Now, he wasn't so sure.
"It will be enough." Lady Sphinx ensured.
"How can you be certain?"
"I believe that Nimo's egg was created by the universe the moment the Paragon of Sins started to abuse his powers by making void creatures." Lady Sphinx said, "This has happened a very long time ago."
"I don't know when exactly did Nimo's egg has been taken away from the void realm core, but I believe that it has spent a significant number of years absorbing pure void energy before it happened."
"What we are doing now is simply helping Nimo with the last touches." Lady Sphinx ensured, "That's why he was able to exit the egg with his soul and also possessed a fair share of emotions and intellect. He was already ready to be hatched, he just needed a little shove."
"Thank god for that."
Upon hearing this explanation, Felix's worries evaporated immediately.
He really didn't want to spend another four months journeying to another infested planet when the war was getting worse and worse for the federation alliance.
...
Sixteen hours later...
The void energy whirlpool had shrunk significantly from before.
Since Felix had already absorbed his fair share during the past year and a half, the void energy blob was on the verge of getting exterminated.
In this small forgotten planet, millions of void creatures had been killed by a single mercenary. If the news of this ever gone out, the war news would be dethroned.
"Is it just me or the whirlpool speed is slowing down?" Thor mentioned as he narrowed his eyes at the whirlpool.
"You are right!"
When the others paid attention to this detail, they indeed spotted the differnece in speed. It was so small, anyone would have neglected it.
"Is the absorption going to end soon?" Asna wondered.
The moment she finished speaking, the whirlpool slowed its speed even further.
In fact, the void creatures at the edges were released from the attraction and managed to escape for their dear life.
This anomaly continued on happening until the whirlpool stopped affected the void energy blob, returning its quiet peace.
"Should I blink in?" Felix asked nervously, "Nimo might be hatching as we speak."
Felix had no idea if Nimo would treat him as his father if he was the first to see him after he hatched.
Still, he was willing to take the risk of getting near the egg to make sure that Nimo see him the moment he emerged from his egg.
"I say go for it." Asna encouraged, "You can always blink back to safety if things gone south."
They weren't afraid of Nimo killing Felix but if the egg exploded or something.
This was the first time they witness an egg of a potential replacement to a Law Guardian gets hatched.
Naturally, they didn't have all the answers.
"I am going for it." Felix steeled his guts and got nude again.
Then, he snapped his finger and blinked right next to the rotating pitch-black cube.
But, when Felix opened his eyes and focused on it closely, he was surprised to see the shell had fissures all over it!
He was used to seeing the weird dark energy being in a liquid form, he forgot that its origin state was as solid as metal!
'The cracks are increasing.' Asna folded her hands as she watched with held breaths in anticipation.
She might have been always hard on Nimo, but she cared for that little glutton just as much as the others.
She really wanted him to hatch successfully and join the family officially. There were many cute dresses, she had yet to make him wear.
Meanwhile, Lady Sphinx was documenting this historical moment with an eager smile.
She lived for billions of years and had experienced many things. Yet, this vast universe continue to surprise her and rekindle her curiosity about its secrets.
"It's happening!"
Felix's heart start to beat faster and faster as he stared at the cube breaking apart from within.
It was already packed with cracks from every surface. One small hit or push and the shells would fall apart completely.
Felix and the rest could see that Nimo was trying his best to break through the shell. They spotted his tiny arms and legs punching and kicking the walls.
"Come on little glutton, make some effort!" Asna cheered on him.
Just like Nimo have heard her b*tchy voice that was engraved in his soul, his cute tiny black legs broke through the shell one after the other.
"That's it Nimo!" Felix cheered from a afar as well, not wanting to interfere with the process.
He knew that it was already safe to get close and help him out, but he preferred if Nimo did it on his own.
In a less than a second, Nimo's two tiny arms smashed through both sides of the cube at the same time!
Immediately after they were freed, they started to flail around and hit the shell from above.
"He is attempting to free his head, but his tiny arms can't reach the top." Thor chuckled at the sight.
Just like he wanted to prove him wrong, Nimo stopped using his arms to hit the shell and began to headbutt it.
That's what Felix concluded as he watched the top shell getting pushed from within.
After a few attempts, the shell finally gave in and Nimo's head emerged into the real world for the very first time.
RUMBLE!!
A deafening thunderclap boomed inside Felix's mind the moment Nimo was hatched, stunning him completely.
"Did you hear that?" Felix asked with a weirded expression.
"Yep."
"Heard it as well."
"I believe everyone did." Lady Sphinx clarified calmly, "Every time a unique being with such a superior status in the universe hierarchy gets born, the universe celebrate their arrival in this manner."
"Naturally, this happens for other occasions that should have been impossible by the laws of the universe. Though, the celebration varies depending on the gravity of the occasion." Lady Sphinx concluded.
Upon hearing so, Felix recalled the thunderclap he heard during the first time he got bestowed poison manipulation.
It didn't resound in his mind but actually in the sky above his head.
For the first human to possess an elemental manipulation, it was a big deal that even the universe had celebrated it.
"Since we are the only ones in this planet, it seems as if it is a waste of a celebration for Nimo." Felix said as he watched Nimo struggling to remove the rest of the shells from his torso.
"Planet? It seems like you misunderstood my use of 'everyone'." Lady Sphinx revealed calmly, "I meant everyone in the universe."
"Huuuuh??" Felix's eyes widened in disbelief at the sound of that.