Chapter 407
"Stop—!"
Fhaaah!
"I-I… I can't breathe…!
Stop, Xavier… stop now!
That… that is mine… my body… my consciousness…!"
Huuuuh!
"If you continue… I will die—!
Xavier… please…!!
Enough… enough… I beg you…!"
The situation unfolding on the field that night had now become a silent yet horrifying scene of takeover.
Xavier, with his left hand still extended and steady, was actively pulling out and consolidating what had long been his property.
Five streams of different elements, each with its own essential characteristics, together with the subtle yet powerful authority over Perception Alteration, flowed out from Ilux's helpless body.
The process was not a spectacular explosion, but a calm and methodical transfer, like water returning to its source after being trapped in a basin for a long time.
Beneath the palm that served as the axis of that extraction, Ilux was completely trapped.
His body lay face-down, restrained not only by physical and mental defeat, but also by the existential pressure created by Xavier's action itself.
Every inch of his rebelling existence was now pressed down by a heavier reality.
That all these powers were essentially loans, and the lender was now reclaiming them.
He could not move, could not resist, could do nothing except become a passive spectator in the robbery of his own essence.
Yet the silence of that process was shattered by the only sound Ilux could still produce.
His scream.
The sound was no longer a cry of anger or challenge, but a pure lament of desperation and pain.
It burst from his constricted lungs again and again, tearing through the quiet of the night.
Each scream was a plea, an acknowledgment of total defeat, and a desperate request for Xavier to stop.
Within those cries lay the recognition of a threat greater than the loss of power alone.
The threat of total extinguishment.
Ilux shouted and screamed as if, through his weakening voice, he could signal a final boundary.
He begged for the process to stop before the consequences became irreversible, before he was truly killed—not merely as a warrior, but as a complete consciousness.
The hoarse and frightened sound of his screaming was the only resistance he had left, a final attempt to reach mercy from the legend who was reclaiming everything.
"I thought it would take longer."
That fundamental act of reclamation turned out not to be an instant matter.
It took a time that felt painfully long—thirteen minutes, which for Ilux felt like an endless cycle of torment.
During that span, every second was filled with a gradual yet unstoppable sense of loss.
At first, the sensation felt like warmth being pulled out from the tips of his fingers and along his spine.
Then it transformed into a hollow feeling in his chest, as if his personal center of gravity was being drained away.
The five elements that usually gave him a sense of connection with the surrounding world went out one by one, like candles running out of wick.
Fire that gave him spirit, water that gave him calm, earth that gave him footing, air that gave him freedom, and the cosmic that gave him curiosity—all vanished, leaving behind a cold and unfamiliar emptiness.
Along with the elements, his ability of Perception Alteration was also stripped away.
This loss was subtler, yet just as profound.
The world around him, which he could usually "feel" in deeper layers, suddenly became flat, dull, and confined within the limits of ordinary physical senses.
The ability to manipulate accepted reality, the tool that had always given him a sense of control and strategic superiority, disappeared without a trace.
During those thirteen minutes, Ilux underwent an existential degradation, reduced from a mighty manipulator of elements and perception into nothing more than an ordinary human—fragile and gravely wounded.
At first, his screams and cries could still be heard, though they grew weaker as more and more power was torn away.
His hoarse and panicked voice slowly faded into gasping breaths, then into helpless groans.
Even the energy required to maintain consciousness was drained away by the soul-exhausting process.
His heartbeat, though still beating, became slow and irregular—a small drum sounding the departure of its master.
Finally, precisely when the extraction process reached its final stage and concluded smoothly, Ilux's body—now devoid of anything that could sustain it—completely surrendered.
The remnants of strength that had kept him awake disappeared.
His head, heavy and bowed, finally fell fully to the dusty ground.
His body, once tense, now went completely limp.
He lost all consciousness and lay motionless in a face-down position on the empty field, illuminated only by the moon and witnessed by the victor who had reclaimed everything.
"Goodbye, Ilux Rediona. Thank you for being a… useful vessel."
Fhuuuh!!
After the long process ended, Xavier withdrew his left hand.
He stood upright beside Ilux's motionless body, like a sculptor who had finished his work.
For a moment, he remained silent, feeling the currents of power that had fully returned to him.
The five elements now moved harmoniously within the sphere of his consciousness, no longer divided loans but absolute possessions.
Likewise, the authority of Perception Alteration had returned intact, restoring to him the profound sensation and subtle control over the reality around him.
A faint relief passed through his mind.
The extraction carried out with existential precision had not caused destructive side effects to Ilux's physical body beyond what was necessary.
The vessel's body remained intact, still alive, though empty of the power that had once inhabited it.
He then shifted his attention from his self-examination, his eyes falling upon the figure lying helplessly on the ground.
Ilux, who only moments ago had been filled with courage, cunning, and rebellion, was now nothing more than a silent shell.
In the quiet of that night, Xavier spoke.
Not a long monologue or explanation anymore.
Only two simple words, spoken in a flat tone, almost without emotion, yet filled with finality.
"Goodbye."
The words were not meant for Ilux, who had lost consciousness, but rather served as a closing to the chaotic and conflict-filled chapter of their relationship.
An acknowledgment that their journey as two consciousnesses within one body had ended.
As the words dissolved into the air, a phenomenon began to occur directly in the space before Xavier.
The air trembled, then split open, forming a portal.
Its shape was neither round nor oval, but geometric.
A perfect pentagon glowing with the same golden light as his aura.
The portal made no explosive sound, nor did it emit any violent suction.
It simply existed, silent, yet radiating undeniable authority.
Without hesitation or looking back, Xavier stepped forward.
His body, now filled entirely with power and purpose, was absorbed into the pentagonal portal, as though he were walking into a frame leading somewhere else.
Once his entire body disappeared, the portal closed quickly and silently, leaving no trace, no residual distortion—as if he had never been there.
Ssssh!
When the pentagonal portal sealed shut, erasing Xavier completely from the field, a strange silence spread across the place.
Not the silence of death, but an active emptiness left behind after a massive and dominant presence suddenly vanished.
To be continued…