The hallway was long and wide. Usually, this place would be filled with students carrying books, professors carrying glowing potions, and the smell of fresh herbs.Now, it was completely abandoned.There were no bright magic lanterns on the ceiling. Instead, magical neon signs above the classroom doors were flickering violently. They flashed green, purple, and red. Bzzzt. Pop. Bzzzt. It sounded like angry insects. The flickering lights cast long, scary shadows on the walls.The floor was a disaster. It was covered in shattered glass. Hundreds of glass vials and tubes had been smashed. The glass crunched loudly under Lyra’s heavy boots.Overturned cauldrons lay everywhere. Strange, colorful liquids were spilled all over the marble floor. A puddle of bright blue liquid was slowly burning a hole through the stone floor, making a loud hissing sound. A pile of green powder was floating in the air, ignoring gravity.It smelled terrible. It smelled like sulfur, rotten eggs, and sour milk."S

The dark, tar-like creature stood in the doorway of the ruined Alchemy Lab. It smiled with its jagged, glowing yellow teeth. It raised a thick, dripping arm to point at Lyra.Adam stood perfectly still. His muscles were tense. The crimson red alarms of the Eternal Sovereign System flashed violently across his vision. “Rival Predator Engaging.”Suddenly, the tar creature stopped smiling. It froze in place. Its head jerked upward in a strange, unnatural way.Before Lyra or Adam could react, a massive, sharp spike dropped from the dark ceiling inside the lab. The spike was as thick as a tree trunk. It was completely clear, like glass or ice. It stabbed directly through the top of the tar creature’s head.The tar creature did not scream. It did not bleed normal blood. Instead, the thick black tar began to melt away rapidly. It sloughed off like wet mud in the rain, leaving a puddle of black goo on the floor.Adam realized the truth. The tar creature was not the real monster. It was just

Adam’s hands were buried deep inside the monster’s chest. The monster was screaming in human-like agony. The sound echoed off the stone walls, mixing with the sound of cracking, shattering glass. The Void energy flowed from Adam’s arms directly into the beast. It was like pouring acid onto snow.The bright red color of the monster’s crystals began to fade rapidly. The color was drained out, replaced by a sick, dead gray. The thick, pulsing orange veins inside the creature’s body turned pitch black.The Void physically dissolved the crystalline flesh. It ate the magic that held the bio-weapon together.Adam walked forward. He took one slow, heavy step.The monster shrieked and was forced backward.Adam took another step. He pushed his hands deeper into the creature. He felt the monster’s core. It was a hot, buzzing sphere of stolen magic. "Devour," Adam commanded.The dark vacuum in his hands intensified. The pull of the Void was unstoppable. The hot, buzzing core inside the monster w

"System..." Adam choked out. He gripped his hair with his sweaty hands. "System... stop. Please. Stop the expansion."The purple screen flickered violently. It did not listen to his command. The System was a cold, calculating machine. It only cared about making him the perfect Sovereign. It did not care about his pain.[Command Denied.][Evolution cannot be halted once initiated.][Soul Capacity: 99.8%...]Another red screen popped up, covering the purple one. The red light flashed brightly, casting an eerie, bloody glow over Adam’s sweaty face.[CRITICAL SYSTEM WARNING!][Vessel Instability Detected.][The Host’s physical body cannot contain the expanding Void Energy.][Solution Required: External Catalyst required to stabilize Soul Core.][Time Remaining until Vessel Failure: 15 Minutes.]Adam read the flashing red words. His brain felt thick and slow. "External Catalyst..." Adam whispered. "What... what does that mean?"He was too weak to figure it out. His brain could not process

"Give it to me," Adam said. His voice was not human anymore. It was the deep, echoing sound of an empty universe.Julian Martinez screamed. He swung the massive, jagged sword of red blood-fire directly at Adam’s head. The attack was wild and completely out of control. It carried enough forbidden magic to cut a building in half.Adam did not dodge. He did not block. He simply raised his empty left hand.The burning red blade slammed into Adam’s palm. It did not cut his skin. It did not burn him. The moment the red magic touched Adam’s hand, it hit the absolute darkness of the Void.Hiss. The blood-fire instantly turned to gray ash. The massive sword dissolved into nothing.Julian gasped, his eyes wide with horror. He tried to pull back, but Adam was already moving. Adam stepped forward and grabbed Julian’s right wrist. His grip was like a steel trap.Adam squeezed. Julian screamed and dropped the Blood-Star Core.Before the dark red crystal could hit the stone floor, Adam caught it wi