His left arm was transforming—but it wasn’t Deryadus’ Arm that transformed. It was… just his arm.

There was no longer a gap separating the Ancient Relic from his body. The difference wasn’t significant, as Deryadus’ Arm had felt like part of his body for a while now, but there had always been a small barrier—a restriction that made it increasingly difficult to consider the Relic truly his.

However, the restriction was no longer present. It had disappeared, unraveling things David could have only fathomed before. He watched with great interest as his arm continued to change. A mark of [Lifeweaver’s Bond] and pure Blood coursed through it, revealing everything David needed to understand that Deryadus’ Arm was no longer a ‘mere’ Ancient Relic.

It was his blood, bone, and flesh.

And it expanded as the changes settled. His arm was still metallic black, engraved with intricate runic engravings. The tattoo of [Bloodlife Echo] was faint and fading—the scarcity of pure Blood restraining Electra’s movements—but it was still coiled around the arm. It had moved up to his upper shoulder, where the Ancient Relic connected to the rest of his upper arm.

David took a second to notice the faint black taint traveling across his skin. It wasn’t long, and it looked like a smear, but a quick examination of his left arm showed that the effects of Deryadus’ Arm had traveled further along his upper arm, shaping it slowly.

Is the change another hidden property of the arm, or is it something that came to be from binding the Maelstrom?

The changes did not feel malignant, but it required more data to be certain. Therefore, David retrieved one of the Maelstroms he had collected from a weak Sapling. The Nihilum within this Maelstrom was stronger—more nurtured—than the Nihilum in the Maelstrom he had claimed, though the difference was minuscule.

He could have waited until he and Electra were back at their peak, but he could feel the Nihilum within the Maelstrom with shocking clarity. And he knew that it didn’t want him to come closer. It was… afraid?

David cocked his head at that and called upon Vitae. It poured from the Maelstrom and coursed smoothly through his left arm without causing any harm. Neither did it weaken the Ancient Relic, nor did it affect him otherwise. He was in full control of Vitae Nihilum and even applied [Herald’s Blessing] on it as it infiltrated enemy territory. It infested the Maelstrom resting in his hand and did exactly the same the Voidlings had done: it devoured everything.

David couldn’t categorize everything he was seeing, but no profound understanding of his new power was required to tell a head-on battle apart from a one-sided battle. And that was exactly what was happening. A one-sided battle. Carnage.

Only a few seconds passed before the Maelstrom in his hand shattered. It disintegrated into tiny particles, which would have disappeared within seconds if Vitae had allowed even a moment’s resistance. But that was not the case. Vitae Nihilum expanded explosively and devoured the Maelstrom’s remains alongside all of the Nihilum it had collected.

His eyes were fixated on his empty hand even as his new power retracted. It pulled back and returned to the Maelstrom, but nothing was how it used to be. David felt an itch in his upper arm as the Maelstrom coiled, doing… something he couldn’t quite grasp yet.

However, he could say one thing for sure: Deryadus’ Arm had built up some resistance to Nihilum. The Ancient Relic—and with that, David as well—were changing, improving, as he digested the power drained from consuming the first Maelstrom.

The System seemed to agree.

[Inferior Seedling has been devoured and ripped out of the Nemesis’ control.]

[+0.02 Vitae Nihilum.]

That was enough for him to tell what to do next. David resolved to retrieve everything he had collected over the months—all Maelstroms and the corpses he’d managed to take away without letting Zachariah know.

Once all Maelstroms and body parts were spread out, David shrouded them in [Origin Lightning], containing their power and weakening the Nihilum swirling within. He followed up by organizing the Maelstroms and body parts according to quality and quantity and resumed work with the next Sapling’s Maelstrom.

Vitae burst from his Maelstrom, traveled through his arm, and latched onto the Sapling’s Maelstrom, entering it with brute force. David tried to join the process and alter it ever so slightly, sending currents of pristine-white lightning into the Maelstrom, but that did little to improve the process.

The currents are not useless, but their efficiency is barely worth mentioning. Still, they ignore Vitae and focus on breaking down Nihilum, which is good. It should be easier to make use of that. Brute force is certainly not the kind of support Vitae needs to sweep through it in one go.

David tilted his head and cast [Lifeweaver’s Bond] on the Maelstrom. He watched the process and remained unmoving as Vitae overwhelmed the Void’s greatest power to devour it. Vitae was stronger—more than before—yet it was apparent that it was not omnipotent. The Nihilum stored within the Maelstroms fought the Vitae and tried to rip it apart all the same.

Only a few seconds passed before the Maelstrom disintegrated. Vitae returned to him, and another notification popped up.

[+0.01 Vitae Nihilum.]

The gains were minuscule. It was a confusing sight, but disappointment never crossed his mind. After all, there was no reason to be disappointed.

David could sense the changes Vitae created from the mere addition of 0.01 to its mass and power. His perception was growing, particularly in the receptors responsible for sensing and seeing Nihilum. That alone was enough to widen his understanding of the Void’s power, even though it felt like a side effect of the main changes.

Other than the growth in his perception, David could tell he was becoming more resistant to Nihilum. It might be harder to absorb Nihilum directly with his current resistance, but the Nihilum of a Sapling was bound to do little to no damage once he was done here. That, along with the increased efficiency of [Origin Lightning], was one of the most important changes.

David released another lightning current upon picking up the next-strongest Maelstrom. This time, he tried to add a trace of Vitae to the lightning. It didn’t work as intended at first—the lightning exploded in his hand. So he tried again.

The lightning left his fingers, but it never reached the Maelstrom. It almost touched the designated target but failed to hit the mark.

Not until David released the fourth lightning current, that is.

The pristine-white lightning burst from his fingers and struck the Maelstrom resting in his palm. Dark outlines, resembling the all-consuming darkness of the Voidlings’ Barrier, surrounded the lightning as it hit the edge of the black shard, infiltrating the Maelstrom in a single surge.

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[+0.02 Vitae Nihilum.]

Not even five seconds passed before the next message popped up. David grinned like the incarnation of the greatest fool and continued with his work, researching the consumption process with great interest after modifying [Origin Lightning] slightly whenever he retrieved a new Maelstrom.

It took dozens of tries and a few good minutes before a detail of his Maelstrom came to life. Accessing it grew more difficult as he accumulated more Vitae. Even accessing it felt… different. It didn’t feel like Vitae was resisting him, but the voices of the Void were still there. Not as loud as they had been when he first accessed the power of the Void, but still present—taunting him.

Just like the souls that had been tortured—devoured—to create Nihilum.

David’s hair stood on end at the implication. He had seen the terrors the Void spread through the worlds to manifest and grow stronger.

The stronger the Maelstrom resting in his hands, the more chaos and death it had sown, devouring monsters, plant life, and more intelligent life by the thousands—if not more.

And David devoured the very Nihilum that had been created from the Body, Mind, and Soul of those poor victims. Knowing that, he continued to consume it all. While he could no longer protect the bodies and minds of those who had been devoured by the Void, David felt the need to quell the voices ringing in his head.

He continued creating Vitae Nihilum but made it a mission to set free those who had suffered long enough.

How am I supposed to do that though? David grimaced, his eyes shut tightly. He tried to usher Words of Power to aid the process, but it was to no avail. What should he say, to begin with?

‘Free the souls’ was unlikely to do anything. Not that he even knew how to say that in the Words of Power in the first place.

He accessed Vitae Nihilum with the desire to free the souls of the tortured when something pressed hard against him. The urge to open his eyes and look around rippled through his mind, but David knew better. His eyes remained shut as he focused on the weight pressing on his mind and body. It was heavy and would be cumbersome to carry for prolonged periods, but it was just as pleasant.

David remained unmoving, his senses focused on the pleasant and somewhat familiar sensation. It was not until the heavy pressure seeped into his head that realization dawned upon him.

This… how does this resemble the enlightenment of the Familia’s Enlightenment Orb?

It was similar, but clearly not the same. This was far more potent and intrusive, paving a path to the deepest parts of his mind and body to etch information into him.

David failed to recognize what was happening and let it be. He allowed the pressure to do as it pleased, its lack of animosity catching him off guard. A moment later, he began to move. Muscle memories kicked in, and information he didn’t know he possessed resurfaced in his mind.

The pressure faded, and David began to free the deserving souls who had suffered long enough in Nihilum.

It was still hard to fathom, but the process was something he was eerily familiar with—yet not. Somehow, he knew everything he needed to know.

Words of Power with tremendous force rolled from his lips as he cast using pure Blood, Origin Essence, and Vitae to modify the Vitae Nihilum that had already been. Somehow, the Words of Power he invoked allowed his pure Blood to detect the souls deserving of freedom. In the same instance, Origin Essence was modified to shift those deserving souls to the edge of the mass of Vitae, which split into two parts.

The Words of Power coming from his lips grew heavier and stronger. Their potency seemed to amplify as he released the severed portion of Vitae. He willed it out of the Maelstrom, exiling it from his body.

Vitae burst from his palm as the last Words of Power escaped his lips and erupted in a wave of brilliantly blinking sparks.

[-0.01 Vitae Nihilum.]

[You have achieved greatness by freeing the souls captivated and tortured by the Nemesis. You have done the right thing.]

That definitely didn’t feel like the System. The message was far from neutral. But it only showed David that he had been right: the System was far from normal. And, if he was not mistaken, it helped him expel the souls, granting him both the practical experience and theoretical knowledge needed to free them.

Though unexpected, it was exactly what David had needed. Losing out on a trace of Vitae was unfortunate, but the voices of the Void no longer bothered him. He might have to cleanse his Maelstrom more often as he continued devouring Voidlings to free their souls. However, he wouldn’t fall victim to the call of the Void. The Maelstrom and Nihilum wouldn’t push him to the verge of insanity as long as he kept his mind clear of the voices of the tortured souls.

With that in mind, David resumed his work. He accessed the Maelstrom more easily again and devoured the remaining Maelstroms.

Working on the Maelstroms of the Fragments drained Vitae considerably, but with [Origin Lightning], [Herald’s Blessing], and Rend at his behest, the results were better than expected. The Voidlings’ corpses disappeared as Vitae devoured them all. David then finished the first consumption session by cleansing the Maelstrom once again.

[-0.02 Vitae Nihilum]

[You followed the desires of your very being and freed the devout souls of the Origin back into the Cycle of Life and Death.]

[Primary Class and Secondary Class ranked up by one.]

[+5 Attribute Points, +1 Body.]

[You have met one of the hidden requirements imposed by the Earthen Union. Unlock all requirements to become the Earthen Union’s sole Champion.]

[All Skills and Sparks increased by one minor rank.]

[Do not waver and never cease trodding your path. Never yield to the Nemesis!]

The last notification was different again. It sounded more like a warning and… praise?

One thing was certain: the System, albeit initially disagreeing with the consumption and annexation of a Maelstrom, now approved of his actions. And from what David could tell, it was also afraid he would lose his way and join the Voidlings after learning about Nihilum’s great power.

But he didn’t consider changing sides. Why would he?

David shrugged and focused on enhancing all Skills and Sparks. [Reinforce] was pushed to Tier-3, which was also why David hoped several High-Advanced Class Skills would be pushed to Superior—but the gap between Advanced and Superior was too great to surpass this easily. Some Skills were clearly on the cusp of advancing to Superior and stronger than before, yet they still needed a final push to break through.

His desire to test out his upgraded Skills and how they responded to the Vitae he had accumulated was strong, but the information he received from [Lifeweaver’s Bond] shoved all thoughts of experimenting aside. He retrieved a shiny piece of metal that he’d prepared for Deryadus’ Arm to consume and used it to look at his reflection.

At first glance, it didn’t look like much about him had changed. His hair had grown a little, but his physique remained unblemished, and his crimson eyes were still sharp and deadly. He moved slightly and froze when he saw something dark peek out from his neck. David stored his shirt in the storage necklace, and his eyes widened as they landed on his left arm and shoulder. His veins, starting from his upper arm and leading up to his nape, were black.

For a moment, it looked like a tattoo, resembling the engraving of Electra’s Echo. But that thought quickly faded as he rubbed his shoulder.

“Damn. How am I going to explain that to anyone?” he grimaced, feeling the lingering traces of Vitae within his shoulder now that he knew about it.

It was barely conspicuous and didn’t harm him. Quite the contrary—it appeared the Vitae in his shoulder had increased his resistance to the Void. It was the very reason so many things had changed.

But it was there nonetheless.

Let’s just hope Zachariah won’t notice it. David shrugged, discarding all worries—momentarily, at least.