Chapter 1579 Chaos [2]
So what truly lay on the other side of the connection?
Claire had seen them, but even she didn't necessarily understand what they were.
She defined them as the World Core and the beast. There was no other way to word it, since that was all she was able to see.
However, as Damien entered the portal himself, he was able to see what others couldn't.
Those two entities were indeed as Claire saw them, but it was a bit more than that.
There weren't two entities at all. From the start, it was only one.
Claire's body hid a massive secret.
'It's not that she's connected to another world...'
No, the thing she assumed was a world wasn't anything of the sort.
'Her soul is linked directly to the core of an alternate cosmos.'
She was a practically living cosmos, something that should've been impossible.
'The problem is that she's never been able to actually access the majority of her power, so we can't tell why she was born with it in the first place.'
Claire had never seen that alternate cosmos. It wasn't because she wasn't powerful enough, but because "something" had hijacked her connection.
That being was the equivalent of a Supreme God in its universe. When it sensed the disturbance that was Claire's presence, it found an opportunity to become Unrecorded.
Somehow, using its understanding of laws, it was able to block Claire's connection and occupy it. Then, using it as a foundation, it parasitized Claire's soul for its own benefit.
It was massive.
Its true form was bulbous and hard to distinguish from a world. It had continents on its back and bodies of water that flowed off into the void. A myriad of life forms had been bred or migrated to this being's back, and for all intents and purposes, it was indeed functioning as a world.
Claire saw both a beast and a World Core. At first, one would believe that it was because the beast had a similar function to a World Core.
However, that wasn't the case. Instead, the beast had swallowed a World Core at some point in its life and was now in a sort of symbiotic relationship with it. They were two halves of the same being, bound in body and spirit.
'It's not an inherently evil being.'
If it was, then there were far more efficient ways to use the life on its back to increase its power.
'But its energy is malevolent.'
There were two ways this could happen. The first was that the law the being practiced was close with darkness. The second...
'...is that the beast commits evil even while acknowledging its wrongdoing.'
That one made more sense considering the effects it had on Claire.
'It's trying to break her and take her over. As for what it plans to do after that...'
Damien's eyes narrowed.
'...I can find out through its memories.'
Regardless of what kind of beast it was, it would die by his hand today.
Its strength...simply did not matter to him.
'It's not from here.'
It couldn't see him.
It couldn't interact with him because he was currently in a form that it couldn't perceive.
'But I can see it.'
And he could attack it as he pleased without an ounce of resistance.
Damien summoned his Existence.
He blocked the connection between Claire and the alternate cosmos completely so that the effects of the battle wouldn't backfire on her.
What Damien proceeded to do from that point forth could only be considered cheating.
He camped in the ethereal plane and peppered the beast's body with attack after attack. It was like a cataclysm had dawned for the beings living on its back.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The beast was instantly alerted, and it obviously spread it's senses to try and find where it was being attacked from.
It even let out an instinctive burst of energy to kill or disrupt any enemies in its immediate vicinity.
But nothing it did would work.
Because Damien wasn't actually there in the first place.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The situation changed in the Heavenly God Plane.
Claire's body suddenly jerked. Serena rapidly cancelled the attack she was about to throw and rushed towards her sister, catching her before she fell.
"Claire...?" She said worriedly.
No response.
But her vitality was still strong.
'She's...'
Claire's body slowly turned incorporeal as she vanished from the Heavenly God Plane and returned to the real world.
Serena immediately understood what was happening. Damien had succeeded somewhere, or he'd failed miserably.
Whatever the truth was, she needed to get to where Claire was expeditiously.
She hastily left the Heavenly God Plane as well. Her main body was still far away from Claire. She needed some time to get there.
That was the problem.
Even if "some time" was only a minute...
Nobody had stopped to check what happened to Malefice Straea, had they?
Damien's mind was too absorbed in Claire's situation, so he was left vulnerable in the outside world.
And that was when he approached him.
Malefice Straea had been ruined by the dragon. The attacks he received from Claire earlier inhibited his combat potential, and as the dragon who sealed bloodlust fought against him with all of its power, he was rapidly outclassed.
He'd been beaten and beaten again until he couldn't even recognize his body anymore. His soul was so weak that it would wither with a single gust of wind.
However, he was still alive.
His body was embedded in the ground and forgotten. He managed to barely leave the Heavenly God Plane in time to save himself from more damage.
But his injuries wouldn't heal themselves.
'...I can find out through its memories.'
Regardless of what kind of beast it was, it would die by his hand today.
Its strength...simply did not matter to him.
'It's not from here.'
It couldn't see him.
It couldn't interact with him because he was currently in a form that it couldn't perceive.
'But I can see it.'
And he could attack it as he pleased without an ounce of resistance.
Damien summoned his Existence.
He blocked the connection between Claire and the alternate cosmos completely so that the effects of the battle wouldn't backfire on her.
What Damien proceeded to do from that point forth could only be considered cheating.
He camped in the ethereal plane and peppered the beast's body with attack after attack. It was like a cataclysm had dawned for the beings living on its back.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The beast was instantly alerted, and it obviously spread it's senses to try and find where it was being attacked from.
It even let out an instinctive burst of energy to kill or disrupt any enemies in its immediate vicinity.
But nothing it did would work.
Because Damien wasn't actually there in the first place.
BOOOOOOOOOM!
The situation changed in the Heavenly God Plane.
Claire's body suddenly jerked. Serena rapidly cancelled the attack she was about to throw and rushed towards her sister, catching her before she fell.
"Claire...?" She said worriedly.
No response.
But her vitality was still strong.
'She's...'
Claire's body slowly turned incorporeal as she vanished from the Heavenly God Plane and returned to the real world.
Serena immediately understood what was happening. Damien had succeeded somewhere, or he'd failed miserably.
Whatever the truth was, she needed to get to where Claire was expeditiously.
She hastily left the Heavenly God Plane as well. Her main body was still far away from Claire. She needed some time to get there.
That was the problem.
Even if "some time" was only a minute...
Nobody had stopped to check what happened to Malefice Straea, had they?
Damien's mind was too absorbed in Claire's situation, so he was left vulnerable in the outside world.
And that was when he approached him.
Malefice Straea had been ruined by the dragon. The attacks he received from Claire earlier inhibited his combat potential, and as the dragon who sealed bloodlust fought against him with all of its power, he was rapidly outclassed.
He'd been beaten and beaten again until he couldn't even recognize his body anymore. His soul was so weak that it would wither with a single gust of wind.
However, he was still alive.
His body was embedded in the ground and forgotten. He managed to barely leave the Heavenly God Plane in time to save himself from more damage.
But his injuries wouldn't heal themselves.
He was crippled for life. In his current state, he would slowly lose Divinity with time until he eventually rotted away in some corner of the world.
That was not how he wanted to die.
With how things were going now...
'...Straea is done.'
There was no hope for the Straea clan.
That was the last straw for Malefice.
Without Straea...
'...my life has no meaning.'
Everything he built up had been lost, and even his own kin was no longer on his side.
What reason did he have to maintain his life.
'The cause...'
The cause of all of this...
It all started with Void.
And it would all end with Void.
Malefice was already there. Damien didn't sense him, Claire wasn't mentally present, and there was nobody else there.
Malefice arrived behind Damien, only one goal in mind.
"Die."
He wanted that man dead.
His life was worthless, so he didn't care if he had to sacrifice it.
As long as that man ended up dead.
Malefice's mana disappeared into his body and concentrated in his very center.
His soul, his energy, and his everything concentrated into that single location, forming into a ball of existence that was Malefice Straea.
But this coagulation wasn't created to define him.
No, this was the sacrifice he made.
Using his entire self as payment, he created a force so massive that it could destroy galaxies.
And only a few feet away from Damien, he allowed that force to ignite.
And ignite it did.
So well, in fact, that the light it produced could be seen from billions of kilometers away.