Chapter 723: The Second Calamity Devoured

All the white rings began moving violently.

White Oblivion tried to free himself from the chains, but every attempt only caused more pain to his existence.

"I am one of the Five Calamities! You cannot do such a thing!"

"Apparently, I can." Lian answered.

The chains pulled him closer.

The golden light became stronger.

White Oblivion tried to resist once again, but this time, one of his rings broke, and parts of his white structure disappeared into the darkness.

He became silent for a moment, and then his voice changed.

"Wait, human."

Lian continued pulling the chains.

"What is it?"

"I can serve you."

For a moment, there was silence.

A creature that had once enslaved kings and turned the inhabitants of worlds into killing machines was now offering to become a servant himself.

Lian looked at him for several seconds and then answered.

"No, thanks."

White Oblivion quickly continued.

"I can conquer worlds for you! Bring millions of creatures under your command! Destroy any enemy you have from within!"

Lian did not hesitate for even a moment.

"I don’t need that."

The chains tightened.

White Oblivion asked in a trembling voice.

"Then what do you want?"

Thousands of purple eyes stared at him at the same time.

"You’re already serving me right now."

The white creature remained motionless for a moment.

"What...?"

"My Second Evolution."

For a few moments, White Oblivion could not even react.

A Calamity that had destroyed countless worlds was now nothing more than something a human needed for his own evolution.

This time, Lian smiled.

"To tell you the truth, I never needed anything else from you in the first place." Trusting a Calamity was foolish.

The white rings trembled violently.

White Oblivion tried to scream, but the golden light had now covered a large part of his existence.

"No... no!"

The chains pulled him closer to the Heart’s opening.

"I cannot end like this!"

"Then you’ll learn something new today." Lian answered without concern.

White Oblivion made his final attempt.

He turned all his hatred and anger into power to break the chains, but the Ruined Heart continued pulling him inside.

And finally, when he realized there was no way left to escape, he shouted a name.

"Father! Save me!"

Lian looked at him for a moment and then said in a calm voice.

"Interesting."

Thousands of Black Silence’s eyes remained fixed on the creature that could no longer maintain even his last remaining rings.

"A creature that erased the names of millions of people, and the last thing he can do is call his father’s name."

White Oblivion did not answer anymore, because at that moment, the Ruined Heart opened completely.

Golden light covered his entire existence.

His six wings, thirteen rings, and the countless figures that formed his true structure were pulled into the Heart one after another.

The Calamity’s final scream echoed throughout the realm, but this time, no one came to help him, and a moment later, White Oblivion was devoured forever.

Complete silence followed.

There was no trace of the white rings anymore.

The disappearing faces were gone, and only the Ruined Heart continued shining in the darkness.

Lian looked at the second slot for a few moments, a new light had formed inside it, and then system messages appeared before his consciousness.

[ Calamity Devoured! ]

[ Name: White Oblivion. ]

[ Calamities Devoured: 2/5 ]

[ Second Evolution Quest Completed! ]

[ Second Evolution Requirements Satisfied! ]

[ Second Evolution Available! ]

He looked at the messages for a moment.

Finally.

But before he had a chance to think about the rewards, another message appeared.

[ Time Remaining: 00:01 ]

Thousands of purple eyes closed one after another.

The huge tentacles disappeared into the darkness, and the countless mouths vanished.

The feeling of godlike power that had filled his entire existence only moments earlier slowly disappeared.

Lian once again felt the limitations of his human existence.

Only one body, two eyes, and an almost empty mana reserve.

But now, something had changed, he was no longer a human who had devoured only one Calamity, instead, he had two Calamities inside the Ruined Heart.

His consciousness returned to his human body, and the sound of the cold wind could be heard among the remains of the plateau.

He opened his eyes and looked at the red sky for a moment, then took a calm breath.

"Finally."

[ Second Evolution — Ready to Begin ]

He was once again standing on a rock at the edge of the plateau’s ruins.

His hands had returned to their normal form, and when he looked around, he could only see what was in front of his two eyes.

What a strange feeling...

Only moments earlier, thousands of eyes had allowed him to see in every direction at the same time, even spiritual flows and parts of reality hidden from human sight had been visible to him.

But now everything had returned to the same limited human perception.

He opened and closed the fingers of his right hand for a moment, after that experience, having only two eyes really is disappointing.

He gave a short smile.

Of course, he knew very well that the feeling of endless power had been part of Black Silence’s nature.

He had not truly become a being without limits, and had only borrowed the power of one of the Five Calamities for thirty seconds.

His gaze moved toward the surrounding ruins, and at that moment, another notification appeared.

[ Devouring Egg ]

[ Completion Rate: 100% ]

He raised an eyebrow.

One hundred percent?

He looked down from the rock.

Among the remains of stone and ice, the Devouring Egg was slowly moving.

Most of the corpses and remains that could be devoured near its location had disappeared, and he could sense denser energy inside it than before.

The egg came out from among the broken pieces of stone and moved toward Lian.

Young Vorhelm bent down and picked it up, then looked at its surface for several seconds.

"One hundred percent, huh?"

He ran his fingers across the shell.

Without examining it further, Lian returned it to his storage space and then looked at the ruined area.

’Now for the treasures.’

A large part of the plateau had disappeared, but there were still piles of stone and ruins around.

He knew that the two Unholy creatures he had killed in the previous battle had carried valuable equipment.

And he had no intention of leaving them behind.

Although his mana reserves were almost empty, his body was still capable of moving, so he carefully climbed down from the rock and headed toward one of the piles of ruins.

A few minutes later, he found the remains of the Forsaken Apostate’s armor.

Not much remained of the knight’s huge body, but pieces of gray armor and part of his helmet could be seen among the broken stones.

He moved one of the pieces aside, and then his gaze stopped on the forehead of the helmet.

’Found you.’

A small fragment of a Demon’s Core was still attached to the seal on the forehead.

The same unknown object that had caught his attention during his first encounter with the Forsaken Apostate.

He picked up the damaged helmet and carefully removed the core fragment from its place.

He looked at its dark surface for a moment, he could feel a certain amount of a Demon’s essence inside it, even so, he did not know whether it was enough to form a core.

He sent the fragment into his storage space.

Then, a short distance away, he found the Apostate’s huge sword.

The heavy blade was damaged in several places, and parts of its edge were broken, but the main part of the weapon was still there.

He placed his hand on the handle.

Maybe it can be repaired later, and if repairing it isn’t possible, the materials it’s made from are probably still valuable.

The sword was also transferred into his storage space.

After that, Lian headed toward the place where Vesperis had fallen.

Two different swords were found among the remains of armor and broken stones, one with a blade that had previously been covered in gray and red flames.

The other was made of metal that released a cold blue light when used.

Now both were inactive and damaged.

Without spending time examining their ranks or abilities, he placed them in his storage space as well.

Then he took a calm breath.

"Well. At least all my hard work wasn’t wasted."

But just as he was about to return, the light around him changed.

A huge shadow fell over the stone ruins.

Lian raised his head.

And in the sky, a golden eye opened.

Hollow Sun’s eye covered a large part of the sky.

The same ancient and heavy pressure as before could be felt from its presence; a pressure that had forced even the most powerful prisoners into silence during the Judgments.

But this time, something was different, the judge’s huge gaze remained on Lian for a moment, then moved toward the remains of the plateau.

Several seconds passed.

"Human."

Lian raised an eyebrow.

"You again?"

"You have completed what you took responsibility for."

Young Vorhelm waited for a moment, but the sun did not continue.

"Is that supposed to be a thank you?"

There was a short silence.

"Yes."

"You’re terrible at thanking people." Lian sighed.

Hollow Sun did not answer, but unlike before, it did not immediately issue another judgment or order either.

For a few moments, its golden gaze moved between Lian and the remains of the prison.

The judge knew what had happened.

White Oblivion, one of the Five Calamities for whose imprisonment this prison had been built, no longer existed.

He had not been sealed or put to sleep, instead, his true form had been devoured by a human.

Something that even Hollow Sun found difficult to imagine, in fact, what had happened should not have been possible.

This human had made the impossible possible.

Finally, the judge’s voice echoed through the sky again.

"Human. You and the members of your race must leave this land."

"That’s it?" Lian tilted his head slightly.

"And never return."

Young Vorhelm looked at the huge eye for several seconds, and then the corner of his mouth rose.

"Looks like you really want to get rid of us as soon as possible."

The sun did not answer.

Its golden gaze stopped on Lian for a moment, but then returned to the horizon.

’Hmm?’ He narrowed his eyes slightly.

’Could it be afraid of me?’

Of course, not like weak creatures that were terrified by the presence of a powerful enemy.

It was more like the caution of a being that had witnessed something beyond all its predictions.

Of course, that was normal too, this sun had witnessed a being that was supposed to be eternal and immortal truly disappear, so it was natural for it to be afraid.

Lian gave a short laugh.

"Don’t worry, I’m not interested in staying in your prison for now."

But at that exact moment....CRACK!

A huge sound rose from deep underground.

Lian immediately turned his head, farther away, a narrow crack had appeared in the red sky.

At first, he thought it was only an effect of the plateau’s collapse, but then a second crack appeared in a completely different location.

This time, the cracks were not only on the ground or the cliffs.

The sky itself was splitting apart.

On the horizon, part of the land turned dark for a moment and then disappeared.

Lian frowned.

"What is this now?"

"The purpose of this prison’s existence has ended." Hollow Sun’s voice answered.

Young Vorhelm raised his head.

"You mean White Oblivion?"

"Yes, this place was created to imprison him and his prisoners, now that the Calamity has been destroyed and their Judgment has ended, the foundation of the prison is collapsing."

"You mean this entire land is being destroyed?" Lian looked at the cracks in the sky for a moment.

"Yes."

There was silence for several seconds.

"Couldn’t you have told me that earlier?!"

But Hollow Sun did not answer anymore, its huge eye slowly closed, and its golden light disappeared from the sky.

Lian stared at the place where it had disappeared for several seconds.

’Wonderful.’

’I survived a Calamity, and now I have to escape from the prison itself.’

At that moment, another section of the ground disappeared farther away.

This time, Lian did not waste any more time.

"Two!"

Summoning energy formed in front of him, and a few moments later, the huge Eight-Disaster Wolf, Two, appeared.

His eight eyes examined the surroundings, and his body slowly lowered.

Some of the wolf’s previous injuries had healed during his time in the Colony Home, but he was not completely healthy yet, even so, he could still move at high speed.

Lian immediately climbed onto his back.

"Get us out of here at full speed."

Two moved without the slightest hesitation.

His huge claws struck the stone ground, and his body rushed through the ruins at high speed.

Behind them, the cracks in the sky continued to spread.

Sections of the ground disappeared, and the huge cliffs standing on them fell into the darkness along with the remains of stone and ice.

Lian looked behind him for a moment.

If he had mana, flying would be much easier, but his mana reserves were almost empty.

Even if he could make the Wings of God appear for a moment, maintaining high-speed flight in his current condition would not be possible.

Therefore, for now, he had to trust Two’s speed.

He sent a message to Four through Hive Dominion.

’Four, are you finished?’