Chapter 59: The Cocoon

The fusion process began.

The mysterious power was gradually being drawn from the depths of Fafnir’s body, while the System worked to analyze it, reconstruct it, and merge it with his body.

The energy swept through his body like a colossal current, beginning to intertwine with his organs, his energy, and his vitality.

Fafnir remained seated upon his throne, his eyes closed, enduring the immense pain that had overtaken his body without uttering a single sound.

But moments later...

The process stopped.

This time, the interruption was not caused by resistance from the mysterious power.

It was caused by something else.

Something the System had discovered within Fafnir’s body.

Several messages appeared before his consciousness in rapid succession.

[An anomaly has been detected in the fusion structure.]

Fafnir did not move.

Then another message appeared.

[Reanalyzing the relationship between the body and the soul.]

The energy surrounding his body came to a halt for a moment.

Then the System began examining something it had never analyzed with such precision before.

Fafnir’s soul.

Several moments of silence passed.

Then a new message appeared.

[Warning.]

[The current soul is not fully integrated with the original body.]

Fafnir’s eyes widened slightly.

He remained silent, but the System continued its analysis.

[A fundamental mismatch has been detected between the structure of the soul and the structure of the body.]

[The current soul does not completely correspond to the original identity of the body.]

Silence filled the hall.

Fafnir did not fully understand the meaning behind the System’s words.

Then more data appeared.

[Beginning analysis of spiritual memories.]

The process halted for several moments.

Then the result appeared.

[The current memories contain two different sources.]

Fafnir’s expression changed.

Two sources?

The System continued.

[A partial match has been detected between the current memories and the memories of the original body.]

[Additional memories have been detected that do not belong to the original structure of the body.]

Silence descended upon the hall.

Then came the truth Fafnir had never expected.

[Fafnir’s original body... is dead.]

Fafnir’s thoughts came to a halt for a moment.

Even he had not expected this result.

The System continued its analysis.

[The soul currently residing within the body is not Fafnir’s original soul.]

[Identity of the current soul: Unknown.]

[Origin: Unknown.]

[Reason for the soul’s entry into the body: Unknown.]

Then another result appeared.

[A partial fusion has occurred between the memories of the current soul and the memories of the original Fafnir.]

Fafnir remained silent.

The pieces of the picture were beginning to fall into place.

The body in which he now sat was the body of the original Fafnir.

But the soul inhabiting it was not his.

The original Fafnir...

was dead.

As for the person currently residing within this body, it was an unknown soul that had entered the body by a means unknown to the System, and whose memories had been confused and muddled.

Over time, the memories of that soul had merged with the memories of the original Fafnir.

Neither one existed in their entirety anymore.

Instead, they had become a new existence.

A fusion of the two.

The current Fafnir.

Fafnir remained motionless.

He did not feel shattered.

Nor did he feel afraid.

But the information before him was too heavy to pass without leaving an impact.

He had lived his life believing that he was Fafnir.

He remembered his past.

He remembered his battles.

He remembered five thousand years of seclusion.

But now...

There was a question he did not know how to answer.

Which part of these memories belonged to him?

Which part belonged to the original Fafnir?

And which part belonged to that unknown person?

He did not know.

Perhaps even the System did not know.

But the System had discovered something else.

Something more important.

[The fusion of the mysterious power cannot be completed under the current state of the soul.]

Fafnir looked at the message.

Then another message appeared.

[To complete the absorption and fusion of the mysterious power, the soul and body must achieve complete integration.]

Fafnir asked calmly:

“What does that mean?”

The System responded immediately.

[The current soul must be completely integrated with the body.]

[The mysterious power must simultaneously be fused with the soul and the body.]

Silence followed.

Then one final message appeared.

[Beginning reconstruction of soul-body integration.]

Fafnir did not hesitate.

He said:

“Begin.”

In the next instant, everything changed.

A tremendous surge of energy rushed into the depths of his body.

It was no longer only the mysterious power that was being dealt with.

Fafnir’s soul itself had now become part of the fusion process.

Fafnir felt an immense force pulling his consciousness deep into his body.

It was completely different from the pain before.

He no longer felt as though his body was the thing being altered.

Instead, he felt as though his very existence was being reshaped.

Fafnir’s soul began to separate from the boundaries that currently defined it.

At the same time, the mysterious power began wrapping itself around it.

Then the System began merging the two with the body.

Soul.

Body.

Mysterious power.

Three different things began intertwining simultaneously.

The pain intensified.

Fafnir’s consciousness trembled.

Memories whose origins he did not recognize began appearing before him.

Images.

Voices.

Places.

Battles.

Faces.

But they were not clear.

They were tangled and confused, as though the memories of two different people were trying to surface at the same time.

Fafnir tried to distinguish between them.

But he could not.

Then his consciousness began to drift away gradually.

The System’s voice grew distant.

The hall became indistinct.

His body grew heavier.

Until he lost control of his senses.

Then...

Fafnir fell into a coma.

The moment he lost consciousness, energy erupted from his body.

It was not ordinary energy.

It was black energy mixed with a deep crimson hue, bursting from his body and spreading around him with tremendous speed.

The energy rose into the air.

Then it began gathering around Fafnir.

Layer upon layer.

Until it completely surrounded his body.

A massive mass of black and crimson energy formed around him.

A cocoon.

A mysterious cocoon that enclosed Fafnir’s body, completely concealing him from the outside world.

His body remained motionless at its center.

The energy within the cocoon began moving slowly, as though protecting something of immense importance deep within it.

Then something else happened.

The power spread throughout the ancient hall.

It reached the walls.

The floor.

The ceiling.

Then an invisible layer formed around the entire area.

And the moment it was completed...

Every trace of Fafnir’s presence vanished from the outside.

Even divine sense could no longer penetrate the hall.

The cocoon concealed everything.

It protected the body.

It protected the soul.

And it protected the fusion process.

There was no longer any way to know what was happening within it.

Even the most powerful being attempting to sense what lay inside the hall would see nothing but an obscure void.

But within...

Fafnir was lost in the depths of his consciousness.

An unknown soul.

Confused memories.

The original body of Fafnir.

And a mysterious power that had remained dormant for five thousand years.

All of them had now begun merging into a single existence.

And no one knew what the result would be.

Not even the System...

could predict what would happen once the process was complete.

And deep within the black-and-crimson cocoon, Fafnir remained in his coma.

While the true process of fusion had only just begun.