CHAPTER 200: UNRAVELED

And colossal [Rift Slash] exploded downward, wide enough to split the air itself, the force like the wrath of the heavens, a massive crescent of violet light that split the clouds apart and warped the space around it.

BWWWOOOOM!

It hit Jael dead-on, the sound like reality itself shattering. The impact hurled him downward, his body plummeting toward the mountain as the energy detonated on contact.

BOOM!

The explosion ripped through the landscape, shaking the ground beneath my feet even from the sky. Shards of stone, dust, and raw mana burst outward in a blinding flash that swallowed everything within a hundred meters.

I blinked down to the surface, reappearing at the edge of the crater that had formed from the impact. My boots sank slightly into the cracked earth as I straightened, breathing hard, every muscle in my body throbbing with exhaustion. The backlash from channeling that much void energy was already setting in; my veins burned, my mana felt fractured, unstable.

Still, I kept my eyes locked on the smoking crater ahead.

The silence was heavy, almost suffocating. The dust swirled lazily in the air, curling upward like steam rising from a battlefield long dead.

That attack had drained me—more than I’d like to admit. My chest heaved as I exhaled, waiting, praying that the last hit had done something. Anything.

But as the haze began to clear, my pulse spiked.

From within the settling smoke, a shape began to move.

No. Not move—rise.

The black figure straightened, stepping forward through the fog as if nothing had happened. The deathly aura flared once again, denser now, thicker, the ink rolling off him in waves that hissed against the ground.

Unharmed. Completely.

My throat went dry, and for the first time in the fight, a twinge of anxiety crept into my chest.

"What the hell..." I whispered, tightening my grip on my blade.

The entity of death stood tall amidst the wreckage, untouched by everything I’d thrown at it. And the terrifying part?

It almost looked stronger.

I bit down hard on my lip, the metallic taste of blood grounding me against the rising panic. The spot where my last slash had landed still glowed faintly with violet energy—but even that light was fading fast, swallowed by the creeping black that slowly reclaimed the wound. Within seconds, Jael’s form was whole again, pristine, unscarred.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath.

This wasn’t working.

Nothing I threw at him stayed. Every blow, every ounce of power, was just being undone—devoured by that cursed ink that clung to him like a second skin.

Frustration surged through me, and I didn’t think—I acted. Warping back into the air, I extended a hand toward him, ready to drag him upward before the corruption could spread again.

"[Swap]!"

Nothing.

The air around me quivered faintly, the usual flicker of distortion that marked the start of the teleport never came. The skill fizzled out, like trying to spark a flame in the rain.

I frowned and tried again, pouring more mana into it this time.

"[Swap]!"

Still nothing. No reaction. Not even the faintest pull of spatial current.

A chill crawled down my spine as realization started to sink in. I tried once more, a touch of desperation creeping into my voice.

"[Swap]!"

Silence.

And that’s when it hit me.

My eyes widened, heartbeat spiking as I finally understood.

[Switch] had failed because the system didn’t recognize him. The command didn’t even register Jael as a living entity. To the system, to reality itself, whatever stood before me wasn’t alive anymore. It was something else entirely.

A chill gripped me, creeping up my spine until it settled like a weight on my chest.

"What the hell have I created..."

Below, the black entity stirred again, its form rippling as the deathly ink began to spread outward once more. The tendrils slithered across the ground like veins of corruption, devouring the land with renewed hunger.

I warped down to the surface, landing hard on one knee, my boots skidding across the cracked earth. The tremor beneath my feet told me the infection was spreading deeper—eating through the very mountain. I exhaled slowly, trying to steady the chaos in my thoughts.

My mind raced for an answer. There had to be something. Some way to cut through this.

I considered [Sovereign Domain]. It was risky, costly, but it had one advantage—control. Within its range, I could twist the rules in my favor. It would amplify my strength, distort the fabric of reality to my will, and suppress whatever enemy was caught inside.

But...would that even matter.

Sure, the Domain could overpower most opponents. It could crush weaker ones entirely.

But this thing? This thing that wasn’t alive. That wasn’t bound by the same physical laws anymore. Would suppressing its stats or amplifying mine do anything against something the system couldn’t quantify?

Probably not.

If [Inferno Lance] hadn’t worked before, what chance did a stronger version stand now? This creature—this thing—would just absorb it like heat on cold stone. Even a reinforced lance wouldn’t do more than singe the surface.

And [Rift Slash]? Sure, the Domain would make it stronger. It would sharpen its edge, multiply the force, maybe even disrupt the fabric of space around the target.

But would that really matter against something that devoured the very essence of existence? Against an entity that the system itself didn’t recognize as alive?

I didn’t know.

And worse—if I activated [Sovereign Domain] now, I’d drain what little mana I had left. It would give me one, maybe two decisive blows before I dropped to zero, defenseless. If it didn’t work, that’d be the end of me.

My teeth ground together as I weighed the options.

Every path pointed to failure.

Then the mountain groaned.

A deep, guttural sound rolled through the air, and the black entity let out a low, distorted roar that made the ground quiver. The tendrils around it writhed violently, snapping outward like whips as the corruption spread even faster. Entire slabs of stone darkened under the ink’s advance, the color draining out of the landscape as if life itself was being peeled away.

"Shit."

The air grew heavy—thick enough to taste.

I barely had time to move before several tendrils lunged at me, tearing across the ground in black streaks. They struck everything in their path, swallowing grass, roots, and even stone, leaving behind hollow trenches that smoked faintly.

I jumped back, warping to the side as one of them passed a hair’s breadth from my face.

I dodged another tendril, warping a few meters to the side as it carved through the ground where I’d just stood. The earth hissed and crumbled away, leaving behind a trail of gray ash that disintegrated with the wind.

But as I steadied myself and watched, something clicked.

The tendrils...