Our Family Has Fallen

Because the natural laws do not allow the existence of a vacuum, any void must inevitably be filled.

He stripped away most of his emotions, and his hollow heart uncontrollably sent a summons into the endless void of an unknown space.

At that time, Alhazred thought he was ready.

Because having passed the trials, he had already distinguished himself from countless corpses on the ground, crossing the threshold to power.

Until the call of the void attracted certain beings, he was dragged into the void by terrifying forces—had it not been for the protection by the Spirit-Calling Platform’s power, his soul would have been shredded into fragments instantly.

The otherworldly visitor attracted by his hollow soul was none other than the Limping Walker, who wandered in the void, attempting to break into the dimension of reality using Alhazred as a medium.

At that time, Alhazred had just abandoned his humanity, completely devoid of the concept of fear, directly engaging in combat.

In this place, shrouded by the temple ritual, he would absorb life force from the followers gathered around the Spirit-Calling Platform to resist the attack from the otherworldly creature, and through the rituals left behind by the ancient civilization in the Pyramid Temple, seize part of its power for himself.

The battle was extremely intense; initially, Alhazred unsurprisingly fell into a disadvantage, but by drawing on the life force of the medium, he stabilized the situation, managing to buy precious time through difficult struggles.

During this process, his hollow soul was infused with peculiar energy from the Abyssal Prison, allowing him to surpass mortal limits.

Finally, he mastered the power of the Abyssal Purgatory, just like when encountering the Limping Walker in the Beast Lair, even the Void Demons found it difficult to resist such terrifying power.

Alhazred, with one move, reversed the situation and killed the Limping Walker with the Sea of Fire Galaxy.

Thus—a pact was made!

This voyage through the void, while abandoning his humanity, successfully broke through the bottleneck and stepped into [Champion].

Logically, all this should have concluded, with his success as the ending.

Just like countless hero stories, he took the treasure and then killed the evil enemy.

However, in reality, Alhazred, recounting the story, could not help but express a transformative sentiment.

”I sacrificed a lot, but I gained even more, however...”

Hearing the word ”however,” Lance knew it wasn’t so simple, fortunately, the scholar didn’t keep it a secret, and as he spoke on, the scenes from those years resurfaced.

At that time, Alhazred returned from meditation, the first scene he saw was the charred corpses of those followers.

Having lost his humanity, he felt no guilt whatsoever towards this outcome.

Completely forgotten were those who transformed their life force into power to protect his soul to roam the void.

Also forgotten was their protection allowing him to pass the trials of the Pyramid Temple.

Moreover, were it not for the continuous life force of these followers protecting him, he wouldn’t have survived the Limping Walker.

At that time, Alhazred was indifferent; what about now?

Lance couldn’t help but scrutinize his expression, such a conflicted look, clearly tinged with regret.

It’s unknown whether he regrets the cost itself or regrets the cost...

However, Lance perceived something amiss in his words.

That was the burned and charred condition of the corpses.

Regarding this, Lance had a hypothesis.

Though all sorts of rituals came earlier, coupled with the life force extraction during the battle with the Limping Walker, the real force that killed them was probably the ”Dark Flame” mastered by Alhazred.

Otherwise, the charred state of the corpses would be inexplicable.

This hypothesis could be expanded further.

Alhazred survived, rather than becoming skeletal remains on the pyramid platform like the others, perhaps because these followers served as a buffer for the strange power of the Abyssal Purgatory.

They absorbed the negativity of the Dark Flame, allowing Alhazred to successfully integrate, at the cost of being reduced to charred remains.

Simply put, they were the fuses.

Otherwise, there would be no explanation for how Alhazred could so effortlessly contain such power that even the Limping Walker couldn’t withstand.

Lance felt that Alhazred knew these facts as well.

Further questioning at this point seemed rather impolite, those charred had no complaints, and he also had little to say.

Refocusing on the recounting of past events.

If there’s anything more painful than enduring difficult events, it’s forcing oneself to recall those unpleasant experiences.

No one understands what they were thinking at that time more than Alhazred.

Stripped of humanity, in an extremely rational state, he killed the Limping Walker to complete the ascension, witnessing those charred corpses.

The first thought was that as a transcendent being, one should understand the dangers of mysticism; those unable to adapt were naturally eliminated.

He wanted to convince himself with this reasoning not to focus on those corpses.

Until he discovered that the power complementing his empty soul was not pure, among them, the evil presence was lurking within his consciousness, probing, seeking his weaknesses.

At that time, Alhazred thought he had paid the ”price,” dismissing those burned followers without a second thought.

Only now did he realize that he was the real price.

Everything discovered in that ancient civilization’s ruins was a trap laid by the Evil God to invade reality.

Using power as bait to lure those who chase strength to willingly take the bait.

The real purpose of the so-called rituals was to create a conductor connecting to an unknown realm, and that unknown presence aimed to use him as a beacon, corrupting this node to descend into reality.