Chapter 143: The Ultimate Lifeform , The Precursor From The Stars, Genesis

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"What?!" Riven panicked. "Label took that serum...!" He looked back at her and immediately noticed something was wrong. "Label?!"

"..."

Label stood completely hypnotized. She was slowly walking toward the monstrous experiment with glowing purple eyes. The creature seemed to speak directly to her, as if she were already a part of it.

"No! Don’t get close to him! Shadow, stop her!"

The shadow obeyed at once and ran forward, wrapping around Label and holding her firmly so she could not continue walking toward that horrific thing.

"Hm? That girl..." Willheim narrowed his eyes with sudden interest. "I see. Has she consumed the serum as well? Hah! There’s nothing to fear. Everyone who does becomes a child of Genesis, the Mother of All Life."

"She’s no mother!" Riven roared in fury. "Do you even realize what you’re saying?! What you’ve just done here? How many... how many people did you use to create that aberration?!"

"Oh? They were simply the brave souls who... volunteered for a just cause — the next step of human evolution!" Willheim laughed without a trace of remorse. "They will be forever remembered as true heroes."

Riven pointed his blade directly at Willheim, his voice filled with pure anger.

"Don’t fucking bullshit me!" he roared. "I better just kill you right now before you can create another one of those abominations!"

The ground beneath Riven’s feet shattered as he closed the distance to Professor Willheim in a split second. He swung his sword with full force against the frail-looking man.

However...

CLAAASH!

"Ugh?!"

A powerful bony blade suddenly emerged from Willheim’s back, extending from a fleshy tendril. It struck Riven hard in the stomach before he could fully react and sent him crashing through several laboratory walls, destroying countless samples and flasks in the process.

BAAAM!

"Tsk...!" Riven quickly forced himself back to his feet. "He’s strong... A Rank? No... S Rank...!"

He could clearly feel Willheim’s immense and overwhelming presence pressing down on the entire area. He clenched his teeth in frustration.

Was there any realistic chance he could defeat a true S-Rank opponent right now?

Then...

"Oh, don’t worry," Willheim smiled calmly while examining the blood sample still clinging to his bony claw. "I’ve already obtained what I wanted, son. I won’t bother you any further. I’m finished here anyway... You’re rather unique, though. What were those skills you displayed? So many different sources. Monsters, perhaps? Yet you have not consumed her cells... How amusing."

"...What do you intend to do now?!" Riven demanded.

"I’m leaving," Willheim answered with a proud smile. He tapped a bracelet on his wrist and conjured a swirling portal behind him. "You’re free to follow me if you’re brave enough... however, I sincerely doubt you possess the necessary strength to... huhuh... defeat me."

"..." Riven clenched his teeth harder. "This isn’t over."

"Hahahah! Of course it isn’t over, young man!" Willheim laughed. "We will meet again, for certain... Riven Claymore."

"?!"

He already knew his name!

"Bye-bye. Have fun with my child."

"What?!"

As Willheim stepped through the portal and disappeared, the giant experiment tube behind him began to tremble violently. Large cracks spread rapidly across its surface.

"Shit...!"

Riven took several quick steps back as the gigantic creature started breaking free from its containment. The reinforced glass shattered, and the thick liquid that had kept it alive spilled outward in every direction, melting metal on contact.

He immediately ran forward, grabbed the still-hypnotized Label, and leaped away just as a massive explosion erupted.

BOOOM!!!

A powerful blast surged outward. Everything nearby began to melt as the entire Mana Reactor entered critical mode. Glowing red emergency lights flashed across every surface.

"WARNING. WARNING. WARNING."

"DANGEROUS MANA LEAK IMMINENT. PLEASE EVACUATE."

The blaring alarms drowned out nearly every other sound as crimson emergency lights flooded the laboratory corridors. Riven’s arms tightened protectively around Label’s still-hypnotized form while Noir’s shadowy bulk surged ahead, carving a path through collapsing ceilings and rapidly melting floors.

"Noir! Full speed!" Riven barked.

The wolf answered by unfolding into a massive black beast. Its jaws clamped firmly onto Riven’s cloak and yanked him forward just as the Mana Reactor’s core fully ruptured.

BOOOOOOM!!!

A sphere of pure white-blue mana detonated outward with catastrophic force. The shockwave vaporized nearly half the fortress in an instant. Walls of reinforced cursed steel peeled away like thin paper. The ground heaved violently, and the entire mountain trembled as if a titan had begun to stir beneath it.

Riven crashed through three successive bulkheads. He used Bone-Flesh Unity to transform his body into a flexible, impact-absorbing mass. He rolled across the ground, came up on one knee, and finally forced Label’s glowing purple eyes to meet his own.

"Label! Snap out of it!"

He poured a strong surge of Spiritual Energy laced with the Death Mithril Hair trait into her. The living strands coiled tightly around her temples and began siphoning away the foreign influence. The purple light flickered several times... then shattered completely.

Label gasped and clutched her head in pain, groaning. "R-Riven... that voice... it was inside me. It kept calling me ’sister’... What was that?! What’s going on?! I...! Uuggh...!"

Riven narrowed his eyes. "It seems you assimilated Genesis Cells into your body. To think that damn serum contained them! But then I... no. I ate similar cells earlier, yet it seems my Gluttony refuses to fully assimilate them while the source is still alive. It only absorbs their power instead... Regardless! Do not look into that thing’s eye again!"

"W-Why?! What’s going on— Oh no! The people!" Label cried as tears streamed down her face. She could see the flames already consuming the area where the remaining experiments had been kept.

Riven had no time to save anyone else. Noir stayed tightly by his side, running just as fast as he did. "I’m sorry."

RUMBLE!

Everything around them began to come undone. The ceiling crushed downward while flames and acid took over. Dangerous quantities of raw Mana flooded the area and began crystallizing in the air.

"No...!" Label sobbed, looking back at the destruction. "E-Everyone...!"

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