Chapter 273: The Final Fragment
Azalea floated just above the stone floor, her long hair drifting slightly in the still air. I stood nearby, my gaze locked on her, waiting.
She finally spoke, her voice quiet but steady.
"The mountain range," she began, "was once the heart of my greatest experiment."
I listened without a word.
"I had built my lab deep inside that forest, far from my castle and other Nagas roaming the realm. I needed the quiet. The secrecy. It was where I planned to fuse completely with the Phantom soul fragment."
I nodded as I knew the story from Lily.
She nodded.
"I had studied the soul fragment for a long time. I believed that if I could suppress the Deathmist and isolate its core, I could harness its power without being consumed.
That kind of fusion could’ve granted me control over both Essence and the anti-Essence properties of the Phantom—something no one had ever done."
She paused, her eyes darkening with memory.
"But to even attempt the fusion... I needed one thing more than anything else."
I already guessed it. "Life force."
She nodded again. "A lot of it. Enough to fight back against the corrosion of Deathmist. Enough to keep my soul from being torn apart during the process.
I gathered what I could from the surrounding forest—plants, beasts, ambient energy—and stored it all using ancient runes I designed myself. The entire lab became a reservoir, holding a storm of vitality just for that moment."
I spoke. "But something went wrong."
She gave a bitter smile. "Yes. The Ferans attacked. I don’t know how they found the place, but it happened when I was already mid-fusion. My mind was split. My defenses down. I couldn’t fight back properly."
She looked down for a moment, then continued.
"The Phantom began to resist. Its soul pushed back harder than I expected. The Deathmist surged. I tried to stabilize the fusion but the timing—everything—was off. It nearly destroyed me. I had no choice."
"You split your soul."
"Into four fragments," she confirmed. "It was the only way I could contain the failure. I scattered them and created four separate spaces—each one isolated, sealed with different anchors. One of those spaces was inside the lab itself, hidden under layers of spatial folds and guarded by Iris.
She stayed behind to protect what remained, in case I ever returned. But now...now that place is silent. Iris is gone. And if the Phantom soul has control of that space... then it also has access to the entire reservoir of life force I gathered."
I felt a chill run through me.
"It’s using it?"
She nodded grimly.
"Most likely. Life force is the only thing that can balance the Deathmist without destroying it. If it’s corrupted and consumed by the Phantom, then it has access to far more Deathmist than you can imagine."
"More than that," she added. "The Phantom you’ll face there isn’t just holding my soul fragment. It’s evolving."
I looked at her sharply. "They can evolve?"
"If they have enough Deathmist, and if they consume enough Essence—yes. They can shift forms, grow stronger, smarter... and harder to kill. What you’ve fought so far were incomplete remnants. But this one..."
She didn’t finish the sentence. I did. "This one has a chance to evolve or it might have already evolved."
Azalea met my eyes.
"Yes. And if we don’t destroy it soon, it will become something even worse."
I let the silence hang between us for a while before speaking.
"Then we’ll destroy it. Together."
She nodded.
"We’ll need to move carefully. We should go into the lab in the daytime so that we can make use of the seal left behind by Dahlia."
I nodded.
"Should we go?"
Azalea gave a small smile and replied, "I won’t be able to teleport you this time. We’ll have to fly there."
I shrugged. "No problem. Just send us back to the floating ruins. From there, it’ll be easier to reach the lab."
She nodded again, and with a wave of her hand, the world around us shifted.
A moment later, we stood once more on the familiar stones of the floating ruins, the air cool and silent around us. Without wasting time, I summoned Silver. I jumped onto his back, settling in smoothly.
Azalea floated down beside me, and Silver leapt into the air with a powerful beat of his wings. The wind roared around us as we soared higher, then angled downward toward the heart of the mountain range.
As we flew, Azalea’s voice came softly from beside me.
"I can sense them. So many Abominations... and they’re different. These ones are corrupted by Deathmist, but they’ve adapted to it. Grown stronger because of it."
I looked around, scanning the jagged peaks and the dense, eerie forests below. "Deathmist Abominations," I muttered.
Azalea turned her head toward me, her expression curious.
"What’s your plan, Billion... after all this is over?"
I glanced at her, then back ahead.
"Get stronger."
She chuckled lightly.
"I mean, will you stay in your world? From what I’ve seen of the humans here... they seem weak. Too weak for someone like you."
I knew what she meant.
"No, I don’t plan to stay. Once I have grown stronger, I want to go to the Prime Galaxy."
Azalea’s expression shifted slightly—almost proud.
"That’s the right goal. It’s where the real power is. I tried to reach it too. Wanted to break through Grandmaster, reach the threshold and head there... but I failed."
There was a hint of regret in her tone, but no bitterness. Just memory.
She paused, then added,
"But before you go there, I’d suggest you come to my homeworld first. It’s not as powerful as the worlds in the Prime Galaxy, but it’s a gathering place for many strong races. The young elites from across the stars come there to test their strength... and to grow."
I looked at her and gave a nod.
"I’ll come. I want to see what’s out there. I’ve only touched the surface of what I can do... and I need more."
Azalea smiled softly.
"Good. You’ll fit right in."
We flew on in silence for a while, both of us lost in our own thoughts.
Azalea pointed out the direction of the lab to me.
I listened carefully, memorizing each detail, then passed the instructions to Silver through our link. He adjusted his flight path instantly, tilting his wings and gliding smoothly toward the new destination.
Not long after, Azalea raised her hand and spoke again.
"Land here, on that peak."
Silver let out a low screech in response and descended. His wings beat steadily as he slowed, then folded in as he landed on the jagged summit with practiced ease. I hopped off his back and looked around, expecting to see ruins or the entrance to some hidden structure.
But there was nothing. No lab. No sign of walls or runes. Just devastation.
I turned to Azalea, confused.
"Where is it?"
She didn’t answer right away. Her eyes were already scanning the area, her expression heavy. I followed her gaze.
The nearby peaks were shattered, like something had torn through them with intense force. The ground below was scarred with trenches that cut through the forest like claw marks.
Craters marked the earth like open wounds. Trees had been snapped like twigs and left to rot, while long patches of scorched ground stretched through the underbrush, as if entire sections of the forest had burned away in an instant.
There was no life here. Only silence and ruin.