"What the hell happened?"
They all wanted answers. But as things were, they weren't going to get it anytime soon. Alexander seemed to be busy dealing with something they had no idea about.
'Calyndra, what happened in there…?' Drakmor asked through their shared connection. He could sense the panic through the connection. Whatever the tigress experienced there must have shaken her to the core.
'W-We messed up, Drakmor…' The reply came, making Drakmor furrow his brows even more. 'The corruption has gone way beyond what we know as our reality.'
'Get to the point, Calyndra.' The intent of the other Enforcers came in, desperate and confused. 'That boy seems to have lost it. And before the little alliance we have with him dissolves completely, we need to know what happened.'
Drakmor patiently waited for the tigress to start talking. His focus was pulled out of his mind when a sudden shift in the surrounding void energy drew his attention.
Directing his attention upward, the dragon and Alexander's companions followed the path of the energy flow, where something seemed to be obsessively absorbing it. Cassandra, Ross and Julia could not see, but Drakmor could.
'Alexander…' The dragon echoed, realising Alexander was behind the absorption. At the distance from which Alexander was drawing the surrounding void energy, they shouldn't even be able to tell he was around.
'What does he need this much energy for…?'
The answer to his question came in the form of a bright, white essence radiantly intensely out of the numerous veils in the ruined universe. The radiance gradually emerged, overwhelming the surroundings.
As more white radiance spilt out of the veils, forcing Ross, Julia and Cassandra to shield their eyes, more void energy got sucked up, resulting in a phenomenon where the energy around them formed into a spiralling vortex.
"What is he doing?"
Cassandra asked no one in particular, merely echoing the question in everyone's mind. Drakmor split his attention, diving back into the connection he shared with his colleagues.
'Calyndra. Start talking.' Drakmor demanded urgently.
'The corruption left behind a scar we had no way of knowing about…' Rather than narrate what happened, the tigress shared a visual feed of what she experienced with Alexander.
"!!"
'Fuck…'
The shock and terror were unanimous. Drakmor's vertically slitted eyes trembled as an existential shudder went through his being. The tigress had not experienced what Alexander experienced, but her eyes saw through the damage as soon as Alex pulled back.
His anger towards them was justified. They had unwittingly doomed all of reality with their foolish act. That fusion was an abomination that should have never existed; a plight on a much greater scale than they were currently facing.
'If that thing spreads…' An involuntary shudder went through Drakmor's existence. 'Wait… are all the infested universes going down that road?'
'...'
The Chief Enforcers could not respond, afraid to even consider that possibility. They had never bothered to look back on the universes Zauren claimed in his wake, leaving them to their fate.
Now, however, things were different.
Drakmor swiftly tapped deeper into the connection, sending an SOS to all the Chief Enforcers and their subordinates. The message was a simple one: quarantine all corrupted universes Zuaren had passed.
Questions from the other Chief Enforcers quickly flooded the connection, all seeking answers to why such a directive was given. Drakmor was not the best person to explain, so he excluded himself from the connection and focused on the brightening universe.
"Ugh…!"
The radiance reached a crescendo, painting the entire void in their perception white. Soon, they were swallowed by the radiance, stripping them of every perception and their created sense of direction.
***
Alexander created his second body for only one purpose: to channel every ounce of void energy he could draw from the void and convert it into his Nexis Radiant.
The universe could not be left alone. It needed to be wiped off the face of the multiverse; it needed to be purified and erased. Although the universe was vast, he had an unlimited source of energy at his disposal.
After gaining a sufficient distance from the abyss of absolute nothingness, Alex created several secondary bodies, sending them to other regions where his senses did not reach. The others would mirror every action he carried out.
It took some time, but Alexander managed to cover the entire universe. His estimates revealed that a high-level universe was sixteen times larger than a low-level universe, an absurd factor.
He outstretched both hands, gathering his Nexis Radiant with extreme focus. Slowly, the gathered essence increased, suffusing the surroundings at unimaginable speeds.
His core went into overdrive as it converted vast amounts of void energy into Nexis Radiant for all his bodies. Even for his capabilities, the conversion and distribution were incredibly straining, putting a hardened expression on his face.
As the essence spread out, the corrupted essence got purified, transforming it back to harmless energy motes. The clouds of corrupted essence were the easiest to deal with. The challenge came from the condensed oceans and solid masses.
They needed more concentrated doses of Nexis Radiant and time to purify. This resulted in a situation where his Nexis Radiant reached an all-time peak, consuming everything in a white void.
'They still aren't affected.' Alex looked on grimly. The patches of nothingness consumed his essence as if it weren't there, creating rings of radiant light around their boundaries.
'This is bad…'
Reality was in serious trouble if there was nothing to be done against those patches of nothingness. He only hoped that purifying the corrupted essence would remove the fuel for it.
Gradually, the oceans began receding, the solid masses breaking apart and turning into motes of light. The dark clouds were completely purified after more than half an hour of intense radiation and effort. Smaller solid masses required even less time to purify.
As the volume of the corrupted oceans decreased, Alexander noticed the occasional ripples were becoming frequent, drawing his attention. The ripples continued to grow in frequency and intensity, making him very uneasy.
After another half hour of strenuous work, the ripples had evolved into waves that were growing in intensity as more of the oceans were purified.
Alexander furrowed his brow as it looked like the waves were resisting the purifying nature of his Nexis Radiant, forcing him to put in even greater efforts. Had he been a normal being, all colour would have been drained from his face.
'It should not take any longer than an hour to complete the purification process.' Alexander estimated after careful observations and considerations. 'Hopefully…'
His initial thought about the ripples was that unknown creatures could be lurking in there. However, that changed when he considered the numerous abysses scattered throughout the region.
Honestly, he was not sure what to expect. He was completely blind; his senses could not penetrate the sea of corrupted essence at all.
'A-Alex…!' Julia's voice broke through his focus after more than an hour of desperate calls. 'What is happening? Talk to me… please.'
'I'm sorry, Julia.' Alexander replied, his response reaching Ross and Cassandra. 'Sorry for ignoring all of you like that.'
'It's fine. As long as you're okay.' Julia replied affectionately, the worry in her tone bleeding through their connection. 'Talk to us, Alex. What is happening? We can barely see anything with your radiance overwhelming the surroundings.'
A quick shift of his senses to Julia revealed the situation they were in. The dragon was still floating where he stood, seriously watching the show. He extended his senses farther out to see what had been attracted.
'The corruption left behind did more damage than we thought possible.' Alex replied.
'What do you mean…?' The Knight princess was desperate to understand the situation and possibly help in any way she could.
'The actions of those morons created multiple zones of absolute nothingness.' Knowing they would not understand this much, he added. 'The corrupted essence has created areas where time, space, and energy no longer exist; a space where nothing can exist.'
'...'
'What I'm trying to say is that those regions can erase all universes and lifeforms from existence, and there is nothing anyone can do… Not even me.'
'!'
Alexander was the strongest being they knew. For them, no one could compare to him, not even the Supreme One. For him to say that he could not do anything about it drove the point home, shaking them to the core.
'T-then what are you still doing in there?!' Alexander felt Julia's panic and fear overwhelming the others. She was truly spooked by what she heard. 'You should get out!'
'I will…' Alexander replied firmly. 'But first, I have to purify the corrupted essence. I can't let it fuel the expansion of those regions or create more of them.'
'How are things going then?' Ross asked next, his tone as worried as Julia's was. 'It's been over an hour since you began emitting that light.'
'Within the hour… Also, heads up on your side. Multiple void creatures are making their way over, probably drawn by the light. You guys should team up with the Enforcers to handle them.'
'B-Be careful in there, okay?' Julia expressed hesitantly, wishing more than anything to be by his side.
'Don't worry about me, hon.' Alexander revealed a small smile. 'I'll be out very soon. And remember… Imagine it…'
'And your energy will do the rest. Got it.' Julia completed his words.
'Good… ' Alexander muttered. 'I'll be going silent once more. You guys shouldn't overdo it, alright?'
'Don't worry, Alexander. I'll keep an eye on them.' Cassandra replied. 'Besides, knowing you, you'll appear the moment things get out of hand.'
'Right…' Alexander acknowledged her words, knowing she was right. 'Good luck.'
Once he closed the connection, Alexander turned his full focus on the task at hand. His expression had grown grimmer than before, the uneasy feeling becoming increasingly apparent.
'Please don't be what I'm imagining…'