In the boundless darkness, a sharp sting dragged Aurelia out of that endless pitch-black void.
The source of this sudden pain was not the sword wound on her neck, but her broken ribs.
Every breath felt like an invisible needle piercing her lungs, a reminder of everything that had happened before she lost consciousness.
She snapped her eyes open. What met her gaze was not the familiar ceiling of her bedroom at the Base, nor the cold room from before her transmigration, but a rough, dust-covered wooden lid.
The scent of mold and dust mixed with a heavy stench of blood filled her nostrils, making her brow furrow tightly.
Memories flooded back into her mind like a tide.
Laurence’s cold eyes, the icy chill of the blade grazing her neck, Sister Vera’s silent, turned face, and the agonizing pain that felt like her entire skeleton was falling apart as she stumbled through her escape…
[Right… that old bastard still wants to possess me…]
She moved her fingers, bracing herself against the hay beneath her as she tried to shift her body.
Aside from the agonizing pain in her ribs and the stinging pull on her neck wound, she was surprised to find that the numerous small cuts caused by glass shards and wood splinters… didn’t hurt that much anymore?
She struggled to prop up her upper body, leaning against the cold wooden wall of the crate, and looked down to inspect herself.
Under her tattered dress, the fine scratches and cuts that had covered her were already healed. Only the gruesome gash on her neck and the stabbing pain in her left ribs remained as clear reminders of everything that happened last night.
[Something’s wrong… Did that old bastard do something else while I was unconscious?!]
She instinctively felt the spot where she had kept the Magic Crystals, but it was empty. Not just the Magic Crystals; even the glass shards and wood splinters that should have been buried deep in her flesh—requiring careful extraction—had completely disappeared.
Her mind was silent, with only her own heavy breathing echoing inside the dilapidated wooden crate.
She tried to move her body, wanting to leave this broken wooden box, her palms searching for leverage among the rough boards and hay. Her fingertips suddenly brushed against a smooth, foreign object.
With great effort, she fished the object out from under a pile of debris, pulling out a palm-sized shard of a broken mirror.
The edges were jagged and the surface was coated in thick dust, but the center still reflected a faint, blurry outline.
Aurelia instinctively wiped the mirror surface against her relatively clean sleeve and held it up to her face.
A pale, yet beautiful and tragic face was reflected in the broken shard.
Her ink-black hair hung in a messy tangle, with a few strands stuck to the side of her neck by dried blood, making the girl’s skin appear pathologically pale.
Her features were soft, her eyebrows long and thin, naturally carrying a non-threatening, almost sorrowful curve. At this moment, because they were knit together in pain, she looked all the more pitiable.
The bridge of her nose was elegant, and her bloodless, pale pink lips were slightly pursed, maintaining a habitual expression of calm and politeness.
Even in such a miserable, desperate situation, her facial muscles seemed to retain the trace of someone who had tried so hard to fit in, instinctively softening her expression for everyone.
Her pure red eyes, which looked devoid of any impurities, were now like dust-covered rubies, clearly reflecting fear, weakness, and the vacant daze that follows a massive trauma.
“You old bastard…” She released her bitten lower lip. That soft lip line trembled slightly, and her voice shook with extreme weakness and a deeper, more profound fear.
“Get out! My injuries… and those Magic Crystals! Was it you?!”
The dead silence in her mind lasted for several seconds before a voice rang out slowly, still utterly cold and filled with mockery.
“Noisy. Do you know that I saved your lowly life? You should be weeping with gratitude. If I hadn’t used the faint, pathetic Power of the Fallen God within the Magic Crystals to save you, you would be a Wraith by now.”
Hearing this, Aurelia’s fingers tightened around the mirror shard. On her pale, delicate face, those red eyes instantly widened.
“Did I ask you to save me? You old bastard! I’d rather be dead than become your puppet! Your behavior right now is just like those Antivirus Software programs—stubborn and foul as a stone in a latrine!”
The ancient and malicious consciousness of the Disaster Source fell into a rare silence that lasted for a full three seconds.
It stalled. Obviously, the metaphor of “Antivirus Software,” which was completely outside its scope of cognition, caused its mind—which had processed countless instances of destruction and despair—to glitch.
“…Antivirus… Software? What is this thing you speak of, and what are these things in your memory?”
For the first time, the voice of the Disaster Source carried a hint of confusion born from the unknown. It could devour souls, twist reality, and effortlessly create tens of thousands of Corrupted God’s Artifacts, yet it could not understand the strange vocabulary of this soul from another world.
Aurelia keenly captured this slight confusion. It was as if she had finally found a breakthrough for a counterattack. Although her body was still weak, her spirit rallied.
“Heh, an old bastard like you… I told you, with that pea-sized brain of yours… you probably wouldn’t understand.” Enduring the pain in her ribs, she explained in a mocking tone.
“Just think of it as a self-righteous magic circle that, under the guise of being for your own good, scans your pig brain without your consent, arbitrarily deletes what it considers harmful substances—sometimes even crushing parts of your brain along with it—and finally demands a five-star review.”
“Tell me, aren’t you and that thing exactly alike? Forced treatment, bundled sales, infringing on the host, and still wanting the host to be grateful?”
Another silence followed.
The Disaster Source seemed to be struggling to digest this set of accusations packaged in otherworldly logic; its mind seemed to have crashed for a few seconds.
“…Absolutely preposterous,” it finally evaluated, but its absolute arrogance seemed to have been chipped away at a tiny corner.
“To compare my supreme power to such a dead thing in your memory? I am the Disaster Source, the Twister of Rules, the World’s End!”
***
“Fine, let me put it another way.” Aurelia grit her teeth, slowly stood up, and issued an order to the Disaster Source in her mind.
Yes, an order.
“I’m telling you. If you ever dare to control my body at will again… you can just wait for me to drag you down to the grave with me!”
She wasn’t planning to negotiate now, nor was she expressing useless rage. It was a declaration made after being driven into a corner, placing herself on the gambling table as a chip.
Her intent was obvious. In this gamble involving her future, she was going all-in.
“To the grave?” The Disaster Source’s voice was full of absurdity and the displeasure of being threatened by an ant. “With just you?”
“That’s right, with just me.” Aurelia panted, the pain in her ribs making her vision turn black. “Just with me walking out of this forest, right now, this very second, to find that dead Red-Haired who’s obsessed with killing me!”
Her words caused the consciousness in her mind to freeze for a moment.
“You know all about him, don’t you?” Aurelia forced a miserable smirk, mocking both the empty warehouse and the old bastard in her head.
“That dead Red-Haired is the Brave; you said it yourself. His bloodline is the greatest threat to you, and right now, he’s probably looking for me like a madman, wanting my life, wanting to slaughter me with his own hands.”
She slowly shuffled her feet, heading toward the broken door where light was filtering in. Every step pulled at her wounds, making her pause with every movement.
“Tell me, after you caused such a scene, if I openly return to that dead Red-Haired’s territory and act all crazy, do you think he’ll hesitate to run me through with his sword?”
“You… dare to threaten me?” The Disaster Source’s voice immediately dropped low.
Filled with the anger of being humiliated and threatened, an invisible pressure permeated Aurelia’s mind, attempting to make her yield.
“Ugh–!”
She let out a muffled groan, knowing this was its way of applying pressure—an expression of its rage.
But this only made her more certain that her gamble was right. This old bastard was afraid. It was afraid of losing her, its so-called Soul Container; it was afraid that after being caught by the Brave, it would be cut down and revealed.
“Yes, I am threatening you!” She grit her teeth hard, resisting the mental pressure of the Disaster Source, and shot back with an extremely forceful tone.
“Aren’t you the World’s End? Aren’t you the Twister of Rules? Then try me! See if you can control me and get me away from Laurence first, or if I find him first and we both die!”
“Such actions would not truly kill me. It would be nothing more than waiting another thousand years. I… have plenty of time!”
Although it said that, the oppressive force of the Disaster Source suddenly diminished, causing the corners of Aurelia’s mouth to curl up slightly.
After a long time, when the voice spoke again, it was devoid of emotion, leaving only the indifference of looking down at an ant’s struggle.
“…Until a more suitable new Soul Container is found, unless this body is on the verge of complete destruction, I will no longer actively interfere.”
“What guarantee do I have?” Aurelia immediately retorted. She would never easily trust any promise from this old monster. “What if you turn around and go back on your word? Who could I turn to for justice? Other than that bastard Brave Laurence, who can stop you?”
“A guarantee?” The Disaster Source seemed amused by her pushy demand.
“What do you want? To have me swear a soul oath? Laughable. We are the Gods who destroy worlds; my word is the rule.”
“Go die in a hole! All you know how to do is babble those nonsense words to fool people!”
Aurelia endured the sharp pain, her mind racing, trying to recall various novel settings she had read before transmigrating, attempting to find a method that could temporarily shackle it.
“There must be something that can bind you! Even if it’s only temporary! Tell me, besides that dead Red-Haired’s bloodline, what was the most easily obtained and common power used to seal you?”
The consciousness in her mind went silent. Even the force pressing down on her vanished completely, as if it had fallen into a deep sleep.
[This Soul Container’s level of resistance is simply abnormal… The catalysis failed last night, and I was bitten back by that reptile’s bloodline; my power is still in a recovery phase… If I let the Soul Container find that ant with the Braveblood… Tsk, what a nuisance.]
However, Aurelia was unaware of its thoughts. Seeing its silence, she only cursed more fiercely.
“You damned old bastard! If you dare to play dead at this critical moment, I’m going back right now and letting that bastard Red-Haired stab me to death!”
Seemingly provoked by Aurelia’s words, the Disaster Source let out a cold snort and mocked: “You wish to use mortal things to bind a God? Pure delusion.”
***
Just as she was prepared to continue pressing it using other methods, her ears suddenly caught a faint but rapid sound of footsteps coming from outside the warehouse, drawing closer.
Was it… a villager? Or the owner of this building? Or… a teammate from the Base? It could even be Laurence… had he hunted her down?
A wave of massive fear instantly made Aurelia’s body freeze, but she quickly realized this was an opportunity and shouted at the Disaster Source.
“Old bastard, did you hear that! That dead Red-Haired has hunted me down! I’m giving you three seconds! Otherwise, you can just wait to go to hell with me! Anyway, I had enough of living alone before I transmigrated; it’ll be nice to have company in death!”
While threatening it, she struggled to move her body, inching toward the warehouse door bit by bit, looking like she was ready to throw herself into the net.
“…Shut up!” For the first time, the Disaster Source’s voice carried a sense of urgency and panic while Aurelia was conscious.
It was the irritation of having plans disrupted and being forced into a passive position.
“Fool! Conceal your presence! Hide!”
“Hide? Why should I hide?” Aurelia sneered in her heart, knowing she had gambled correctly, and became even bolder.
“Aren’t you the ender of worlds? Don’t you think no one can kill you? Then why are you afraid of an unawakened Brave? Perfect, let’s go out and meet him, see what makes him so arrogant!”
“You, trying to copy Aatrox’s style? You old bastard probably don’t even have the courage for a one-on-four!”
[What on earth is this Soul Container babbling about… fine, I will stabilize this mad Soul Container for now. Once I recover a bit of power, I have plenty of ways to make her willingly seek my help… and then… I will possess her completely!]
Seeing Aurelia about to step out of the warehouse door, the Disaster Source finally let out a roar, no longer using that archaic, strange tone, and made a concession.
“Enough! Get back now! I’ll tell you!”
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