Chapter 253: The Reddening
Iron-Scale stepped off the floating staircase into a hollow alcove carved directly into the bedrock. His boots crunched over loose gravel and unfamiliar fabric scattered across the floor. He knelt to inspect a pile of discarded garments. The pile contained denim trousers and canvas shoes.
The royal mages had discarded the belongings of the other summoned Earthlings before sending them to the front lines.
’The remaining ten pairs of heralds are alive. So this most likely belongs to the other earthlings, who were summoned in a similar fashion before or after us. How are they able to summon individuals from other worlds like this?’ Red wondered.
Iron-Scale picked up a torn blazer. He ran a claw over the lapel. He recognized the strange tailoring from the memories the Sovereign had shared.
Torix clattered his mandibles loudly from the central platform. "Commander. The structural layout converges around the crystal. The energy flows in two directions."
Iron-Scale dropped the jacket and engaged his pneumatic spool. The steel wire pulled him across the empty space to land perfectly next to the Arachne. Syra stood near the glowing tethers with her daggers sheathed.
Syra pointed a claw at the crystalline sphere. "The tethers function as a two-way conduit. King Voranthar anticipated an infiltration. Severing these lines will trigger a catastrophic collapse of the entire pocket dimension."
A massive crack split the obsidian platform beneath their feet. The surrounding inverted corridors began to violently shift and crumble. Spatial tears opened in the dark expanse to swallow entire chunks of floating masonry.
The six-eyed beast backed away from a widening fissure. "The dimensional stability is failing."
Iron-Scale grabbed the nearest glowing tether with both hands. "Anchor the tears."
His draconic scales scorched against the pure magical current. Syra and Torix immediately followed his lead. They physically gripped the remaining lines to hold the fracturing space together.
Up in the sanctuary, Red watched the telemetry of the collapse spike across his primary monitor. He highlighted the withered corpse suspended inside the crystal sphere.
The frail body had endured the royal mages’ extraction spell before falling into the Dispose Pit as a drained husk. It now needed to serve one final purpose.
Red opened his resource terminal to stabilize the fracturing dimension. Targeting the withered corpse suspended inside the crystal sphere, he prepared the transfer. He pushed a massive influx of Divine Points toward the vessel to establish a secure tether.
The slab flashed with a blinding crimson error. A system notification blocked the transaction entirely.
[ The biological asset belonged to another divine entity. ]
Red stared at the glaring text on his screen. The royal mages had successfully branded the husk as property of Aethelgard. The Aethelgard King owned that empty shell as a living battery. Or perhaps, it was the abyss dimension called disposable pit.
Down in the collapsing abyss, the architecture violently fractured. Massive chunks of floating masonry plummeted into the darkness. Torix anchored his bladed legs against the shaking obsidian platform.
The Arachne commander traced the violet magical tethers branching out from the containment unit. "The energy loop feeds directly into the structural integrity of this dimension." Torix pointed a claw at the shifting walls. "Extracting the power source will trigger a total spatial collapse."
Syra gripped her shadow blades and inspected the crystalline surface. She watched the dark spatial tears ripping through the surrounding corridors. "We need a substitute power supply to keep the portal open while we unhook the body."
Iron-Scale tightened his grip on his star-iron daggers. He looked up toward the invisible sky to await a command from the Sovereign. The entire Vanguard squad braced for a final order as the abyss threatened to swallow them.
Red looked at the broken body trapped inside the glass]. He remembered the betrayal and the agonizing pain of the Soul Flay. That starving human boy in the cheap suit existed only as a victim.
Clinging to that mortal identity meant failing as a ruler. Red was completely dead. The Supreme Sovereign of the Seventeenth Continent named Rubedo stood in his place.
"Destroy it." Red severed any lingering attachment to the boy who fell into the abyss. "Leave absolutely nothing behind."
"Lord, are you sure?" Iron-Scale stared at the glowing tethers and the floating corpse. The entire squad paused their movements to process the absolute mandate.
’Red died in that pit.’ Red said to himself. ’Rubedo builds the future. Burn the husk and erase my past.’
"Yes."
Iron-Scale gave a single nod of obedience. He channeled his emerald core to summon a violent cyclone around his daggers. He launched himself at the containment sphere and drove both blades through the crystal.
The glass casing splintered under Iron-Scale’s twin blades. Syra drove her shadow constructs into the falling debris while Torix unleashed a barrage of venomous silk.
The combined assault engulfed the withered corpse, and the biological remains disintegrated into a cloud of gray dust.
Up in the sanctuary, Rubedo watched the physical anchor dissolve. Voranthar had designed the containment sphere to infect any invading entity with parasitic memories, but the total destruction of the mortal shell bypassed the trap entirely.
Instead, the severance purged the lingering echoes of the starving Earthling student from his mind.
A profound clarity expanded within his cosmic core. The nagging doubts attached to his human origins vanished. He watched the final ashes of his past body scatter into the collapsing abyss.
[ System Notification: Mortal Anchor Severed. ]
[ Achievement Unlocked: The Reddening. ]
[ Origin code successfully eradicated. ]
[ True Name Synchronization Complete: Rubedo. ]
[ Reward: 5,000,000 Divine Points. ]
[ Passive Trait Acquired: Absolute Clarity. Mental interference reduced by 50 percent. ]
The violet chasm fractured violently. The platforms crumbled into the surrounding void. Rubedo channeled his stabilized authority through the digital interface. He gripped the spiritual tethers belonging to Iron-Scale, Syra, and Torix.
With a swift pull, he dragged his commanders upward. Iron-Scale, Syra, and Torix materialized safely on the marble floor of the Grand Throne Room. The portal to the Dispose Pit snapped shut behind them to seal the abyss forever.
Rubedo reclined against his seat. Resting his hands on the console, he embraced the total erasure of his previous identity.
Red existed nowhere on the server.
*****
N/N: Red will now be called Rubedo.
