Chapter 75: Preparations Against the Unknown

In the external space, darkness had descended over the cave. The Void spell heightening the eeriness to even greater heights due to the banishment of sound.

The Vassals surrounded Aden who lay still on the ground in a frenzied state, each of them letting out low hums of strange spells, while their fingers worked to weave intricate magic circles above him, sending down showers of shiny dark energy on his body.

He didn’t stir. If not for the slightly rhythmic falling and dropping of his chest, any onlooker might have mistaken him to be part of the departed.

’Zero. What happened to him?’ Lorelei asked with hidden panic as she poured more energy into her magic circle.

Zero was too busy filtering the impurities from the spells casted by the other Vassals to answer. If they were to heal their Master under any circumstance, the purity of their Void energy had to remain absolute.

Lorelei bit her lip, her fingers still moving relentlessly over Aden in an effort to stabilize his ongoing transformation .

The Separation had been a success. That much was obvious, judging by how Aden’s existence had grown almost imperceptible despite him not consciously suppressing it.

And then there was his appearance.

The metallic body once deemed permanent had reverted to something more… human.

The metal was nowhere to be found. In its place was fair skin that felt delicate to the touch but hardened instantly upon impact.

He had gained an actively adaptive skin.

And the best part? It required less than two seconds for its autonomous effects to take place.

Several jagged breaths broke Lorelei out of her observations. With a frown, her ears twitched to the source of the distractions, and as expected, it came from her fellow Vassals.

She insoected each of them with uncanny speed, not failing to note the droplets of sweat that fell down their frame and the slight tremor in their fingers as they continually wove hand signs.

’Has fatigue set in already?’ Lorelei questioned, even though she knew the answer herself.

In Aden’s new state, the amount of Void energy he needed to stabilize himself had grown astronomically compared to when the two energies were mixed.

And Lorelei was sure that the amount would only continue to increase as time went on, but there was nothing she could do.

The Vassals would either need to reconstruct their bodies to retain greater reserves of energy, or venture into the Demon Continent to cultivate purer Void energy.

Both outcomes were beginning to feel inevitable.

’Hopefully Master comes out stronger from all of this,’ Lorelei prayed internally.

As if her prayers were being answered by some divine force, Aden’s eyes snapped open.

The blue colour they had all grown accustomed to seeing was no longer present. In its place churned a deep, endless abyss of swirling darkness.

Every Vassal felt it, the sensation of their souls being tugged from their bodies.

No one dared to breathe. They couldn’t even if they willed so. The darkness of the Void was purer and more enlightening than each of theirs by a thousand fold. Their hands stopped moving automatically and hung by their sides lifelessly, their eyes never leaving Aden’s.

Then all of a sudden, nine low explosions rippled through the cave, each one shifting the atmosphere in different ways.

Each Vassal felt the shift instantly.

They had broken through.

Simply by staring into Aden’s eyes.

“That’s impossible—!” Lorelei shouted, but no sound emerged. The shock, however, needed no voice.

She turned to Zero.

His expression remained calm, but beneath it churned restrained emotion. Even his once-sickly eyes appeared clearer.

“End the spell,” Aden’s voice echoed, calm, deep and composed.

The Vassals didn’t linger on their new breakthrough in ranks and immediately broke the spell cast over the cave.

The shattering of glass sounded in everyone’s head. The darkness that had ruled over the space was forcefully banished into the depths of nullification, allowing the cool moonlight to filter through the cracks in the ceiling like a calm message of survival.

The wind whispered through the ceiling fissures, carrying pale plants and loose debris that drifted down with dull thuds.

With slow, measured movements, Aden took to his feet.

The twisted expression of pain had long vanished into nothingness and was replaced by an impenetrable neural expression.

Paired with his eyes that had become the literal embodiment of the abyss, he looked less man and more like a sovereign principle of darkness.

’Aden?’ the Entity called out.

Aden didn’t respond immediately. His eyes followed his Vassals downwards as they got to one knee and let out low exaltations of his existence.

Having seen enough, he replied. ’It was a success.’

The Entity harrumphed proudly. ’Don’t let this small boost get to your head. You can’t go against the true monsters of this world yet.’

A smile graced his lips as he listened to the Entity’s words. He could feel it. The overflowing feeling of emptiness that hugged his frame and the low, dissatisfied hum of his Resonance that had taken abode in his innards.

He could also feel that the bond he had with the Entity had grown stronger, deeper, and he finally understood just how much he had underestimated his existence.

But that didn’t deter him. He still wouldn’t treat him like a god or even as an equal. After all, the truly strong wouldn’t need his body to achieve whatever goal they aimed for.

’That being as it may, I’m certain this power comes with inexplicable properties and uses, and I plan to exploit them all,’ Aden replied satisfactorily.

A smug tone crept into the Entity’s voice. ’I predicted that much.’

The connection was cut off and Aden refocused on his Vassals. An authoritarian state of mind had slowly formed within him, and he realized that he hadn’t used the Vassals to their greatest potential.

He planned to put an end to that today.

“You all have broken through, apart from Zero. Am I correct?” Aden’s voice echoed calmly.

The Vassals bowed their heads, still in their kneeling positions. “Yes, Master,” they replied in low, synchronized voices.

A grin spread on his lips as he gauged their ranks. He estimated them to be at the Third Stage of the Attuned realm.

When they first met, all but Zero had stood at the First Stage.

Two minor realms crossed—

By a single gaze.

“Very good,” Aden said. “We shall explore and exploit your capabilities to the fullest, and I shall also be in your care. Is that understood?”

A frenzied smile crept onto the lips of all present, their previously docile battle hungry states flaring to life. “Understood, Master!”

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