Many things had changed recently, and a multitude of thoughts filled his head. William and his actions were among them.

The Champions have gathered to talk about him, haven’t they? How many people had been killed by William since the start of the integration, and… how many more would fall victim to him? David wondered, stretching his limbs on the bed.

Nothing was as simple as it had been before the integration, yet it was easy to tell that William was the best guy. The Champions feared him. They feared the unknown, unable to tell what or who was killing the other Champions. Sure, it was possible William had nothing to do with their deaths, but Zachariah had made it clear that a Fragment Holder had to amass more power to construct a proper Divinity. And the easiest way to do so was to hunt Champions—or harvest the divinity traces inserted into the Panthea statues of the System Sanctuaries.

I can find him.

He could probably search for him with his new Intent. Divine Compass could surely lead him to William, as long as he desired to find his old friend above all else. But did he really want to do that? Did he want to find William?

What would happen once they faced each other?

A fight to the death.

David sighed deeply.

He tried using Divine Compass, manifesting an illusory, semi-translucent compass the size of his hands before him. His eyes locked onto the arrows and swirled around, following them as they continued to rotate endlessly. They never stopped moving.

David’s desires were all over the place. He knew it, but seeing it firsthand was different. It struck harder than it had to.

Since Divine Compass was of no help, he sat up and began his morning with a simple workout session. His body moved as smoothly as it was supposed to, but it took a while before exhaustion set in. Using his body weight had long since diminished effects on his workouts, forcing him to use enchanted clothes with gravitational runes. They were simple and increased the clothes’ weight.

While it was weird to train wearing clothes that weighed close to two tons, it was exactly what he needed to feel something. His Transcendent Body was one thing, but it was further augmented by [Reinforce]. Channeling pure Blood through his body strengthened him enough to increase the weighted clothes to more than five tons and continue with his workout.

However, David didn’t push himself too far today. He continued his light training session, his mind drifting from William to the Saintess and the crystal she had clung onto.

Thoughts of the crystal lingered in his mind, but not for long, as his attention shifted toward the Saintess. Her eyes had been filled with fear as she trembled, mumbling something about ‘that place.’ But the Saintess had not been the only one filled with fear. The Warrior had also been uncomfortable, trying to hide his fear from everyone as she spoke about the dark place. However, nobody could hide their emotions from David—not if they never learned to control their lifeforce and life signals.

Regardless of the Heavenly Champions’ fears, David could not help but be curious about the dark place the Saintess had mentioned. It had to be flooded with Nihilum if that was where they came from, their bodies bursting with the Void’s power.

A burst of energy attracted his attention as he concluded his workout, and he retrieved a small, glowing crystal from his belt. Pure Blood surged toward the crystal and seeped inside, responding with the familiar silverish energy of the Regressor.

“Zachariah… what a surprise. You know that we met not even twenty-four hours ago, right?” David called out, casting [Radiant Expulsion], removing all sweat.

“Meet me in the Sanctuary as soon as possible! I found it!!” the Regressor shouted, sounding oddly excited as he ended the call.

That’s it? No explanation, no nothing? he grumbled but complied with the request, since he had nothing better to do either way.

David put on the Platineer shirt, a comfortable pair of pants made of some monster’s silk, and a pair of black leather boots. His feet carried him out of the building, whereas his head flicked left and right to search for Zachariah’s life signal. He found it quickly and crossed the crowded streets and the market square to find him talking with the Heavenly Champions near the town hall.

The Saintess was the first to notice him. Her eyes widened for a moment, but she regained composure shortly and offered a faint smile.

“Good morning, David. It is nice to see you again.”

David responded with a curt nod and turned to Zachariah.

“You were the one who saved them when the Elven Priests and Seroa Shamans failed?” the Regressor asked with a wry smile. “I should have anticipated that after hearing about the commotion caused by the crimson monster and its Summoner. Of course, that had to be you. No ordinary Healer, let alone a Summoner with a bloodthirsty serpentine summon, would be able to heal the Saintess and her sacred retinue.”

Zachariah knew the Heavenly Champions? That was news to David. Then again, it was also news to him that the Elven Champions had been Priests, or that the Champions from the Seroa race were Shamans.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“It seems your tireless studies worked out,” Zachariah added, his vibrant smile widening further.

“The results of my studies were indeed… impeccable,” David responded, though he was sure they weren’t talking about the same thing.

“Either way, you said you found ‘it.’ Does that mean you found the—”

His question was cut short as the Regressor blurted out, “The Black Rift! Yes, I did find it.”

“Well…” He turned to the Heavenly Champions and pointed at the Saintess. “They found it, to be precise.”

The Warrior, Holy Knight Silas, snorted. “Found? These cretins pulled us inside and ate us. They feasted on our Blessings!!”

That was sad and all, but David cared too little about their Blessings to even consider belittling them.

“The dark place you were talking about was related to the Black Rift?” he asked instead of consoling the trembling Champions.

“I don’t know about a Black Rift, but the place we’ve been was... it was different than anything I’ve seen.” The Saintess shuddered violently, tears trickling down her cheeks. “It was terrifying. The place felt like it should have been full of life, yet there was nothing. Even the things we’ve seen were void of anything. It was almost like there was nothing, even though it was full of so many things. Or... should have been.”

So the Heavenly Champions had been on the other side of the Black Rift.

“How did you make it out alive?” he asked, only for the three Champions to frown deeply.

“We don’t know that,” the elderly man, Champion of the Holy Flame, was the first to respond.

“And how are we supposed to go there if they don’t know how they escaped? They don’t even know a thing about the Black Rift.” David’s head flicked back to the Regressor, who had yet to stop smiling like an excited teenager. It was disturbing. Creepy even.

Zachariah definitely wanted to hear the Heavenly Champions talk more about the place beyond the Black Rift. Even David wanted to know more. However, he was more interested in going there rather than listening to stories. After all, he had a new power to test and — that was probably even more important — a new power to nurture. A place of nothingness was the best he could have asked for.

“I heard a voice. It told me to bring the sword-wielding fool to him...” the Saintess muttered, holding out the Maelstrom-like shard as she added hesitatingly, “I don’t know who that is or how to bring him to that place, but I was holding on to this crystal suddenly when we appeared before the Sanctuary’s gates.”

“A Rift Key,” Zachariah said, and David was sure the Regressor’s smile would have grown even more if that had been possible.

David licked his lips, his heart skipping a beat as realization dawned upon him.

“Looks like we have a date with the Black Rift.”

As for the natural Rifts and William... Torb and the others could take care of those while he and Zachariah busied themselves fighting the Nemesis of the cosmos.

***

Even though Zachariah mentioned that Rift Keys could open Rifts to the designated location from anywhere, they didn’t want to take any risks. Unleashing the Black Rift and the Voidlings living beyond in the middle of the Dwarven Sanctuary would end in carnage. Thus, they waited until Maja was ready to teleport them to one of the biggest patches of wastelands on the continent.

“The plan is simple. Open the Black Rift, kill as many emerging Saplings and Fragments as possible, and infiltrate,” Zachariah recited for the umpteenth time, his voice sharp and serious as he added, “But do not stay on the other side for too long. We don’t want to get imprisoned with these creatures. All we want is to figure out how many there are and find clues to their existence in another dimension.”

“Because it might help us figure out where They are hiding, I know.” David rolled his eyes, suppressing the urge to consume the nothingness around him. While it wouldn’t increase the amount of Vitae in his Maelstrom, absorbing the nothingness felt right — as if it would strengthen him somehow. But with Zachariah, Maja, and the Heavenly Champions present, David didn’t want to risk it.

I can always do it later. The wastelands are not running away from me.

They found the first signs of the Black Rift and might be able to close it forever. Well, David thought he could close it if he absorbed the Nihilum that held it together. Not that he told Zachariah about it.

The only troublesome factor was the voice the Saintess had mentioned. It wanted Zachariah to reach the place beyond the Black Rift. There were some schemes at play, but it was hard to tell whether the source of the voice was on their side or not. Given that it was with the Voidlings, it had to be against them. Yet Zachariah acted like he hadn’t heard anything about the voice — as if the Saintess had never mentioned it.

He could always ponder about that later. First, they had to get this right.

David manifested Scalemore and Serpent Fang. He retrieved a wooden barrel and cast [Blood Manipulation] as well, stirring the crimson content within. Streams of blood burst through the barrel’s top and spread out around him, forming puddles of blood — each emitting more pressure than most Elite Monsters could withstand.

“Blood of the Variant Bosses,” David told Zachariah when the Regressor threw a doubtful look at him.

Zachariah nodded knowingly, the corner of his lip twitching as he recalled the last encounter with the Voidre. And who could blame him for that? He’d been ready to sacrifice his life to force the Voidre into retreat and was more surprised to make it out alive than anything else.

David spoke the Words of Power, igniting the runic engravings on the Source as he unleashed the Law of Blood for the first time in eons. He applied the Law onto the blood of the Platinum Ranked Variant Bosses, empowering it while Zachariah used the Rift Key.

Several pairs of eyes lingered on him, but he ignored the Heavenly Champions and continued. Words of Power rolled from his lips, modifying the highly potent blood as trickles of Vitae left his body. His eyes drifted to Zachariah, and he continued to move, infusing Vitae into the blood puddles once it was clear that the Regressor wasn’t watching.

Zachariah released the Rift Key and stepped back as the space before him cracked. Maja gasped and retreated as distortions formed. Black lines split through the empty space, forming cracks that expanded rapidly — Nihilum dripping from the black lines.

David tensed for a moment, but kept going even as more Nihilum seeped out of the cracks. However, the words ceased as soon as the scenery before him shifted.

“Something is coming!” he shouted.