When Nari undid the protective bubble, Ron immediately felt the encroachment of the Abyssal seawater.
The familiar salty and oppressive sensation made him frown, but more concerning was the strange feeling coming from his body.
"Darling, are you okay? You don’t look well..."
Nari’s voice carried an unmistakable worry.
Hundreds of eyes of various sizes focused on him like spotlights.
The feeling of being surrounded by countless gazes might be suffocating in other situations, but at this moment it gave Ron a certain sense of security.
Her tentacles hovered around him, wanting to approach but afraid to touch, fearing secondary harm.
"I..."
Ron attempted to stand, but the weakness in his legs almost made him fall:
"Need to take this thing off."
He pointed at the active armor still tightly adhering to his body.
The tendrils penetrating the skin were emitting various signals:
Some were a comforting tingling sensation, as if soaking in a hot spring;
Others were emotional fluctuations of reluctance, like lovers on the verge of separation trying to hold on;
And some were warnings about the intense pain the separation might bring.
More eerily, he could feel these tendrils possessing a primitive consciousness, attempting to persuade him against separating.
"Something’s wrong..." Ron’s forehead started to seep cold sweat:
"My Spirit is warning me if I don’t take it off soon..."
He didn’t finish, but Nari already understood the implication.
As an ancient presence of the Abyss, she had seen too many tragedies due to excessive fusion with foreign entities.
"Mom will help you."
Nari’s voice suddenly became firm, and all hesitations vanished.
When it came to the safety of a "child," she could always make a quick decision:
"Don’t worry, Mom will make the process as easy as possible."
She started releasing gentle Chaos Energy, forming a stable field around Ron.
These energies seeped like a thin mist, disrupting the neural connections between the puppet and him.
But even with Nari’s help, the pain of the separation process exceeded Ron’s expectations.
When he tried to remove the first piece of chest armor, the tendrils penetrating his skin began to protest violently.
The needle-like pain shot through his nervous system like lightning, causing him to let out a muffled groan.
"Hiss—"
More troubling, at the peak of the pain, those tendrils released signals of intense pleasure.
Like a supreme neurotoxin, instantly transforming the sharp pain into a tingling comfort.
The contrast was so intense, it even made him want to stop the separation.
"Damn it..."
Ron gritted his teeth, forcing himself to continue: "It really doesn’t want to leave me..."
Seeing his pained expression, Nari’s tentacles began to tremble violently.
"Hang in there, my dear... Mom is here with you..."
Her voice was somewhat choked, and several smaller eyes even started secreting crystalline liquid.
With the aid of Nari’s Chaos Power, the separation process became slightly more controllable.
But removing each armor piece required tremendous willpower.
Upon separating the arm protector, Ron felt like someone was peeling his skin;
As the leg armor came off, his muscles transmitted a tearing pain;
When the final helmet was removed, his Spirit was on the verge of collapse.
"Huff... huff..."
Fully detached from the fusion state, Ron slumped onto the lab bench, gasping for breath.
Droplets of sweat fell from his forehead like rain, splashing into tiny droplets on the ground.
His skin bore countless tiny pinholes, like dense tattoos covering his body.
These wounds were slowly healing, but the process came with continuous stabbing pain.
More terrifying was the mental exhaustion.
As if having stayed up for a week straight and run a marathon of extreme exertion.
Every cell was protesting, every nerve communicating fatigue.
"My child..."
Nari’s voice became exceptionally gentle, her softest tentacles caressed his back, their touch as light as feathers:
"It’s all because Mom is too weak... If Mom were stronger, you wouldn’t have to endure this pain..."
Upon hearing these words, Ron looked up at the towering ancient presence before him.
Under the vision of "Extraordinary Recognition," he keenly perceived that Nari’s state was far from as relaxed as she appeared.
The subtle tremors at the ends of some tentacles, the occasional fatigue in the eyes, and the slightly dimmed aura of life.
These details all told him that the battle with Maggs’ avatar was not without cost.
That was, after all, the first throne of the Supreme Apostle, even an avatar wielded awe-inspiring terrifying power.
Being able to defeat it so quickly, the price Nari paid was by no means light.
"Mom..." Ron’s voice was somewhat hoarse: "You’re tired too, aren’t you?"
"No! Mom isn’t tired at all!"
Nari’s reaction was somewhat excessive, all her eyes struggled to maintain their brightness, stubbornly saying:
"Mom is just... just a bit excited! After all, just taught that annoying old spider a hard lesson!"
At this, her tentacles made a crushing gesture, trying to appear relaxed and cheerful.
But this effort to hide fatigue instead made Ron more worried.
"Then... I’ll go rest for a bit."
He didn’t continue questioning, knowing that arguing at a time like this would only make Nari more anxious: