Seducing the Guideverse With My System — Raising an Anomaly [BL]

Chapter 282: _Consume Him Utterly

It didn’t take long before a figure emerged from the shadows.

When Ambrose finally saw who was behind the voice—he froze. Dread coiled tight in his chest, distorting any coherent thought.

The Void Entity!

It didn’t attack.

At least not yet.

It just levitated there, staring down at Ambrose like a god looking upon an insect. The mini black hole spinning on its head slowed.

’Rose?’ Devon answered his telepathic call just then. ’Are you okay? Should we come—’

’No.’ he swallowed. ’Don’t come in yet.’

’You literally reached out screaming in our heads.’ Viktor sneered. ’Rory, you better not be doing anything—’

He cut off the communication before they said something that would make him want them to come. His fists balled as his eyes met the Void Entity again.

This had to be his fight. Unless the Pantheon made their way here soon he couldn’t let his boyfriends face the Void Entity.

"So," Ambrose stood straight as an arrow, keeping his chin high. A flick of his wrist made his phantom orcs dissolve back into his shadow, "You’ve finally gotten the chance to see me. Now what?"

He didn’t really give a rat’s ass about the thing’s answer to that. No—he had something else in mind.

"Yes," the Void Entity drawled. "I’ve waited all this time. Watched you. Taking note of the people in your life, bidding time as my power grew beyond even theirs."

It raised a palm, making Ambrose tense.

"I’m going to relish everything that happens next."

Spatial awareness exploded out of Ambrose just then. It swept through the cave’s entirety. Searching.

’There.’ His pupils blew wide.

Orion.

The boy was lying on the cave floor to his far left, unconscious but still breathing.

Ambrose’s shadow stretched discreetly behind him. ’Awaken, Beherath. And go get me my son.’

The orc king’s reanimated corpse flickered underneath the darkness of his shadow. Then he slipped through the darkness to carry out his order.

"What exactly happens next?" Ambrose took two steps forward, ignoring Dorothy’s guarded posture. "You’re going to annihilate me?"

He stretched out his arms, steadying his breathing despite how erratic his heartbeat was becoming. "Then go ahead, you eldritch fuck. Do it. Just leave my son and all those I love out of it."

Dorothy shook her head. "So arrogant."

As for the Void Entity, it didn’t say anything. Nothing but silence and stillness surrounded it while Ambrose’s words sank in.

"You will not fool me with your ’human’ emotions," it spoke at last. "The idea of annihilation sounds... exciting." The black hole’s rotation paused. "But my function has gone beyond that."

Suddenly, dark tendrils shot out of the ground, wrapping around Ambrose’s wrists and then his legs. They brought him to his knees.

He thrashed and gnashed his teeth as the Void Entity went on:

"What I want to do now, parasite," its fingers twirled with anticipation, "is to consume you. Utterly."

Chills zapped down Ambrose’s spine.

The Void Entity drew nearer, its form a swirling abyss of nothingness that seemed to drink in the dim torchlight flickering along the cave walls.

Ambrose strained against the dark tendrils that bound his wrists and ankles, the cold, ethereal grip sinking deeper into his skin.

He reached inward for his aether, ready to summon flames again.

But there was nothing—only a hollow void where his pathways should have pulsed with energy. Sealed off as if the Entity had woven some ancient, malevolent ward directly into his very essence.

Panic clawed at the edges of his mind, twisting his thoughts into a frantic spiral.

He had faced horrors before. Beasts that shattered whole ecosystems.

But this... this was different.

He didn’t dare call out to the others telepathically.

The image of Devon or Viktor or any of them rushing in only to be erased by this thing—it was unbearable. They were his anchors in this chaotic world and he would not drag them into annihilation alongside him.

His eyes flicked briefly to the shadows where Beherath had vanished, a silent prayer forming in his chest that the orc king would reach Orion in time.

Ambrose’s heart hammered wildly against his ribs, but he forced his voice to stay steady, buying precious seconds.

"Consume me? You think that’s going to be easy?! I’ve survived worse than your empty threats." The words were a shield against the fear coiling tighter in his gut, but they served their purpose.

The Entity tilted its featureless head, as if savouring the defiance, drawing closer still until Ambrose could feel the unnatural chill emanating from its form, like stepping into the heart of a starless night.

In that suspended moment of dread, with the tendrils tightening and the Entity’s fingers extending like claws of pure oblivion, Ambrose seized the sliver of opportunity he had been waiting for.

"Beherath, now!" He shouted, his voice echoing off the cavernous walls with desperation.

From the far shadows, Beherath erupted into action, the reanimated orc king’s massive frame materialising in a swirl of dark energy.

With a guttural roar that shook dust from the ceiling, he channelled a surge of ancient magic, unleashing a brilliant burst of light that flooded the cave in blinding radiance.

The Void Entity recoiled with a hiss, its form flickering as the light seared against its essence.

In the chaos, Beherath scooped up Orion’s limp body with surprising gentleness for such a hulking figure and with another pulse of teleportation magic that warped the air around them, they vanished from sight—transported to the relative security outside.

Dorothy let out a frustrated snarl as she lunged after the escaping pair, her movements a blur.

Ambrose’s distraction had worked, if only partially.

The tendrils loosened ever so slightly in the Entity’s momentary disorientation and he summoned forth Grave Keeper without hesitation.

The scythe gleamed with an otherworldly hunger, severing the tendrils seamlessly.

Ambrose landed gracefully on the uneven stone floor, rolling to absorb the impact.

His mind raced until he thought of something.

Something that made even Aura chime with alarm.

[You can’t seriously be considering doing that.]

’I’m running out of options here, Aura.’ His grip on the scythe tightened as he reached into the system’s inventory for two things he hadn’t used in a while.

[Yes, but THAT?]

Meanwhile, far from the cave’s stifling depths, Gabriel felt the sharp ripple of aether fluctuation from Beherath’s spell.

Without a word, he teleported the group to the tree containing the cave underneath.

"Ambrose has to be here." He murmured, head inclining to Valentine.

The Necromancer’s expression hardened. "And so is the Void Entity."

Viktor reacted instantly, his hands weaving intricate patterns of frost that summoned a towering ice wall, slamming into place just as Dorothy burst from the cave entrance in pursuit.

"Look!" Devon yelled, pointing at Beherath. "Isn’t that... one of those orcs Ambrose summons?"

The ice wall shattered as Dorothy crashed through it, shards of ice exploding outward but holding firm against her frenzied assaults.

Flames rocketed Devon off the ground, allowing him to swoop down from above.

He spotted Orion in Beherath’s arms and immediately knew what was happening.

So he reached downward when he got to the orc, his arms wrapping securely around Orion’s form as Beherath handed him over.

Valentine summoned a horde of undead hands from the earth below, skeletal fingers clawing upward to ensnare Dorothy’s legs and arms, dragging her back with relentless grips.

The air filled with the sounds of battle—cracking ice, blazing flames and the low groans of the summoned dead.

"Where’s Ambrose?" Devon demanded as he cradled Orion closer, checking for injuries.

The others echoed the question, eyes scanning the cave mouth with growing urgency.

Dorothy thrashed against her restraints, her face twisting into a mask of triumph even as the undead hands tightened.

"You’re all far too late," she cackled, the sound echoing unnaturally through the clearing. "He belongs to the Void now—"

Her words cut off abruptly as a searing beam of radiant light lanced down from the heavens, incinerating her form in an instant.

Ashes scattered on the wind and in their place descended Apollo and the other members of the Pantheon, their presence filling the place like a new dawn.

★★★★★

Back inside the cave, Ambrose circled the Void Entity cautiously, the Grave Keeper hovering at his flank like a silent sentinel.

The Entity recovered swiftly, tendrils reforming from the shadows to lash out once more, but Ambrose was ready.

He channelled as much aether as he could into the scythe while pulling out the dimensional black key with his other hand.

The black mask settled over his face, distorting his features into something enigmatic.

With a surge of will, he activated them both, the air tearing open in a jagged rift: a random portal to another dimension, pulling at the fabric of reality itself.

The Void Entity sensed the trap too late, its form surging forward in a final, devouring rush.

Ambrose met it head-on, leaping into the portal and dragging the Entity with him, their forms tumbling into the chaotic void beyond.

The rift began to seal behind them, unstable energies crackling like lightning.

Just as the Pantheon and the others rushed into the cave, Loki materialised at the edge of the group, their form shifting from a flock of illusory ravens into something more solid.

"Ambrose!" They yelled, voice laced with alarm. They extended a hand, illusions blooming in a desperate attempt to stabilise the closing portal.

But it was futile.

Too late.

The rift snapped shut with a thunderous echo, leaving only silence and the faint scent of ozone in the cavern.

Devon rushed in just then, having given Orion to Viktor. His heart was in his throat, mouth open as he tried to make sense of the aftermath he had come into.

"W–What the fuck just happened?"