Chapter 184: East Anekta Crisis (23)

A faint crackling sound emerged from Eden’s raised hand.

The dark-red distortion surrounding his arm began to expand, spreading across the ruined conference floor like a living organism. It crawled over the broken tiles, slipped through the cracks in the walls, and climbed toward the ceiling. Wherever it passed, the surrounding materials began to disappear.

The concrete, steel, glass, and everything else in its path were swallowed without leaving so much as dust behind.

Eden tried to lower his arm.

Nothing happened.

"Stop—"

His voice was barely audible.

The red Essence continued spreading.

It poured through the broken windows and wrapped itself around the entire skyscraper, covering its exterior in a grotesque mass of writhing tendrils. Within seconds, the entire building was engulfed. Its upper floors vanished behind a pulsating crimson veil, while enormous strands extended outward toward the surrounding structures.

The civilians were screaming.

Those who had been hiding behind furniture scrambled away as the floor beneath them began to disappear. Some tried to run toward the stairwell, while others simply stood frozen, unable to understand what was happening.

Lucy pushed herself upright.

"Eden!"

She rushed toward him.

Obsidian immediately reached out to stop her, but she pulled away.

She had to reach him.

Whatever was happening, whatever that thing was, it had come from Eden. And if there was even the slightest chance that he could hear her, she wasn’t going to leave him standing there alone.

But she couldn’t get close.

The red Essence spread between them, forming a wall of ravenous energy. The moment Lucy approached, a tendril snapped toward her.

Obsidian intercepted it.

His Dark Matter-coated arm struck the tendril, only for the black substance to vanish upon contact. The force threw him backward, and he crashed against the wall.

Lucy froze.

"Shit!"

The Black Knight slowly rose.

He looked at the place where his arm had been.

A portion of his armor was missing, along with the Dark Matter coating that had protected it. The remaining material flickered as he attempted to regenerate it.

He looked toward Eden.

Then toward Lucy.

He shook his head.

There was no way through.

Not anymore.

Outside, the situation was even worse.

The red Essence had already spread across the island. It surged through the streets, swallowed vehicles, consumed entire sections of buildings, and continued expanding toward the coastline.

The ocean itself was beginning to disappear.

Massive waves crashed against the island, only to be swallowed by the advancing crimson mass. Ships caught in its path vanished within seconds, their hulls and engines consumed as though they had never existed.

The island was being eaten alive.

And at its center stood Eden.

His body began to change.

The color drained from his skin, leaving him deathly pale. Thin red cracks appeared across his neck and spread over his chest, arms, and face. They glowed faintly at first, but quickly grew brighter, branching across his body like fractures in porcelain.

His clothes began tearing apart.

The fabric around his shoulders and chest was ripped open as the Essence beneath his skin expanded. His muscles tightened involuntarily, and his entire body began trembling.

"Stop!"

Eden tried to clench his fist.

His fingers wouldn’t move.

He tried to deactivate the skill.

Nothing.

’Deactivate already!’

He reached for the System, desperately attempting to force the authority back into whatever dormant state it had been in before.

But the skill didn’t respond.

There was no familiar interface. No control. No indication that it had even acknowledged his command.

It was as though he were trying to give orders to something that had never recognized him as its master.

’I’m the one controlling you!’

The red Essence surged.

A violent pulse traveled through his body.

"Aaagh!"

Eden screamed.

His left hand began to crumble.

It happened gradually at first. The skin around his fingertips cracked, and small fragments broke away, dissolving into the red energy surrounding him. Then the destruction accelerated. His fingers disintegrated, followed by the palm and part of his wrist.

He stared at it in disbelief.

’No...’

He attempted to activate Corrupted Surge, hoping the additional attributes and Essence output might give him enough control to resist the authority.

Nothing.

Every skill Eden attempted to activate remained silent.

Even his body refused to obey him.

His legs were trembling, but he couldn’t force them to move. His right arm remained raised, and his fingers were spread as the crimson Essence continued pouring from his palm.

It wasn’t simply ignoring his commands.

Something had taken control.

Something that was using his body as a vessel.

"Get... out..."

His voice cracked.

He didn’t know who he was speaking to.

The System?

The presence he had sensed behind him?

The thing that had temporarily removed Devour’s limiter?

Or perhaps the authority itself?

"Get out of my body—!"

Another pulse erupted.

The red cracks spread across his face, reaching the corners of his eyes. Blood trickled from his nose and mouth, while his vision began to distort.

For a moment, he thought he heard something.

A distant voice.

Something that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

But he couldn’t understand it.

His body was failing.

The pressure inside him was unbearable, and the authority continued expanding regardless of how much damage it caused its host.

Eden’s knees finally gave way.

He collapsed.

His remaining hand struck the floor, but even that movement was enough to send another wave of pain through his body. Blood spilled from his mouth, forming a dark puddle beneath his face.

He tried to lift his head.

Tried to look toward Lucy.

He couldn’t see her anymore.

The red Essence had swallowed everything.

His eyes slowly lost focus.

And then he fainted.

His body fell forward, motionless, into the pool of his own blood.

For a brief moment, there was nothing left of Eden but a broken body lying on the ruined floor.

But the authority didn’t stop.

It didn’t even slow down.

Infact, It seemed to go wild.

The crimson Essence continued spreading, pouring through the skyscraper and out into the surrounding area. It consumed everything in its path without distinction.

The Hydra.

The civilians.

The Awakeneds.

The Rogues.

It didn’t care.

There was no distinction between friend and foe, between ally and enemy, between the living and the dead.

Everything was food.

And it was hungry.