Chapter 488 – From despair, hope is born [69]

After the lingering effects of my attack finally faded, I was finally able to get a clearer picture of what was happening around me. First of all, I had to admit that the destruction caused by my thermonuclear power had far exceeded anything I had imagined, and, more importantly, anything I had actually intended to cause.

For starters, the most obvious thing was that I was standing right in the center of a massive crater, roughly fifteen to sixteen feet deep. The ground around me had been completely devastated, leaving behind little more than churned-up earth and a thin layer of dust that still hung in the air.

But there was something even stranger. In some parts of the crater, the ground appeared to have simply melted and turned into glass. The surface gleamed under the light, forming irregular, partially translucent plates.

From what I could tell, there had been sand, or some similar material, mixed into the soil, which probably explained the effect. I spent several seconds simply staring at everything in silence. Well... The damage was impressive.

And that was putting it mildly. At least from the outside, it looked as though a small-scale catastrophe had just occurred exactly where I was standing. I continued absentmindedly surveying the surroundings for a few more moments, letting my eyes wander across the area as the dust and last remnants of the explosion slowly began to dissipate... That was when a small realization suddenly hit me.

“Ah! Right...” I muttered, bringing one hand to my chin: “Where did that giant humanoid mushroom go?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to mentally reconstruct what had happened. To be perfectly honest, I knew my attack had been extremely destructive from a purely destructive standpoint, but... That shouldn't have been enough to simply vaporize the humanoid mushroom... Right?

“No, that doesn't make sense...” I muttered, slightly furrowing my brow.

The explosion had been heavily concentrated. Although, at first glance, it might have looked like a massive, completely uncontrolled detonation, I had deliberately limited its area of effect. Most of the force had been directed toward the point I had chosen rather than simply spreading indiscriminately across the surroundings.

That meant that, even with the absurd amount of energy released, there should have been something left behind. A piece of its body. A tentacle. Part of the damn mushroom... Anything.

“It couldn't have just disappeared...” I said, opening my eyes again as I began examining the terrain more carefully: “I definitely should have found some kind of trace” I took a few steps forward, narrowing my eyes.

I grumbled internally about it several times... until a small rock suddenly struck me in the head. My eyes snapped open. I blinked once. Then twice. Still trying to figure out what had just happened, I reached up and touched the spot where the rock had hit me. To my surprise, the little stone was still there.

I picked it up between my fingers, brought it closer to my face, and stared at it for a few moments, completely confused as to why it had fallen on me. Then I simply raised my gaze. I looked upward, toward where I assumed the rock might have come from, and... Yeah.

Surprisingly, or perhaps, in retrospect, not that surprisingly, I found the culprit. The humanoid mushroom. Or rather... Whatever was left of it after being caught in the explosion. It wasn't exactly a pretty sight.

Of the gigantic mushroom colossus, only part of its torso, one hand, and a fragment of its face remained. Everything else had simply vanished, reduced to scattered debris strewn across the surrounding terrain.

And yet... It was still trying to reach Selyra. With its legs completely destroyed, the humanoid mushroom was simply dragging itself across the ground, using what remained of its arms to pull its body forward, leaving a trail of chunks of mushroom and dirt behind it.

I watched the scene for a few seconds. Thank God this thing didn't have some kind of anomalous regeneration ability. Because, honestly, dealing with this thing would have been a huge pain in the ass if it could also regenerate its entire body.

Anyway, before those thoughts could start distracting me any further, I shook my head and shoved them into the back of my mind, the same place where I usually hid my deepest desires... Like eating ice cream at three in the morning without getting caught by Emily and Laura.

It's a strangely satisfying feeling. Maybe it's precisely because both of them would forbid me from doing it that the little act of rebellion feels so much more wrong and, consequently, so much more fun... Ah, right.

Back to the giant mushroom. I made a small leap, just enough to propel myself a few yards above the crater. There was absolutely no way I was climbing those fifteen feet using brute strength. As soon as I landed softly on the edge, I ran a short distance to the side, following what remained of the giant mushroom's torso.

My footsteps kicked up small clouds of dust as I moved across the devastated terrain, until I finally reached the spot where I assumed the colossus's head should have been. Actually, the area surrounding the crater was an absolute mess too.

Everything had been overturned, buried, or partially destroyed. The ground was cracked in several places, large chunks of rock had been hurled into the distance, and a thin layer of dust still lingered in the air, slowly settling over the wreckage.

I hadn't intended for the explosion to be this destructive... Did I accumulate too much thermonuclear energy? Come to think of it, that had been me holding back. Honestly, I'd rather not think too much about how much power I could actually release from my body using this ability.

It seemed unnecessarily destructive. If I ever lost control, it probably wouldn't be much different from a meteor crashing into Earth... For some reason, that thought led me to another one. Could I recreate the destruction caused by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs? I mean, if I concentrated enough energy and detonated it in the right place, it should theoretically be possible, right?...

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of doing anything like that. Not a chance. It was just a random, passing thought. Well, I suppose I could at least consider it a positive that Victor, Rupert, Arthur, and even my little sister hadn't been caught in the explosion. I cast a quick glance in their direction, assessing the situation.

They all seemed to be fine... Or at least physically intact. Victor, Rupert, and Arthur, however, were looking strangely pale. Mortally pale, to be more precise. I had no idea why, but considering everything that had just happened, it was probably better not to ask.

Selyra, on the other hand... She didn't even seem to have noticed that anything had happened around her: “Seriously...?” I muttered, narrowing my eyes for a moment.

How could someone remain so indifferent after an explosion like that? Putting that aside, I turned my attention back to the gigantic humanoid creature made of mushrooms. Technically, I had managed to delay the thing. The problem was that this didn't exactly solve the situation. I still had to decide what to do next.

“So... what now?” I stared at what remained of the monstrosity for several seconds, trying to come up with some kind of solution. My mind quickly ran through the possibilities, but none of them seemed particularly good.

That was when I felt a small sensation inside me. I stopped for a moment: (What? You want me to leave this to you?) Naturally, I was talking to my Alter Ego.

He wasn't physically standing beside me, but the sensation of his presence was so clear that I could almost picture him at my side. For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence. Then I felt something resembling a nod. A simple acknowledgment.

(I see...) I slowly exhaled: (Then do it your way)

I received no response from my Alter Ego, but one wasn't necessary. The moment my words ended, he began to act. The shadow beneath my feet twisted. At first, it was nothing more than a small ripple, almost imperceptible, as if the darkness itself were alive. Then, little by little, it began spreading across the ground, silently advancing toward the gigantic mushroom humanoid.

I continued watching with a neutral expression: “Let's get this over with” I murmured, never taking my eyes off the mushroom figure. The darkness continued spreading until it reached what remained of the mushroom's body. Then, without warning, the shadow split open. Gigantic hands emerged from within.

They were completely black, formed from darkness itself, with long, unnaturally thin fingers that stretched around the colossus's body. One emerged from behind and clamped tightly around its torso, while another closed around the only arm the mushroom still possessed.

The fingers slowly tightened. The enormous body of the colossus was lifted off the ground, left completely at the mercy of the shadowy hands. I merely tilted my head slightly as I followed the movement: “Hold it tight. I don't want to deal with it if it manages to escape”

The mushroom tried to resist. Its hands desperately scraped against the ground, tearing up clumps of dirt and leaving deep grooves behind as it struggled to keep moving toward Selyra. Despite all the damage it had already suffered, the enormous creature still seemed determined to reach her.

The black hands simply pulled. Its gigantic body slid several yards backward, scraping across the earth with a harsh, heavy sound. I continued watching in silence: “...” There wasn't exactly anything I could do besides observe.

Then more hands began emerging from the shadow. One grabbed its shoulder tightly. Another closed around its waist. A third emerged directly behind it, wrapping around part of its already partially destroyed body. Then more hands appeared around its legs and arms, restraining it from every direction.

The mushroom thrashed even more violently. All the hands pulled at once. Its enormous body was slowly dragged toward the shadow, leaving a deep trail in the ground. The closer it got, the deeper the dark surface seemed to become, as though the ground itself had ceased to be solid and concealed an unfathomable abyss just beneath it.

It tried to resist once more. It didn't work. Its body began sinking slowly, as though the darkness beneath it had transformed into a bottomless abyss. First came the nonexistent legs, or rather, whatever remained of the lower half of its body. The darkness completely enveloped them, erasing every fragment little by little.

Then its torso began to disappear. Its single remaining arm continued thrashing desperately, its movements becoming increasingly frantic as it realized what was happening. For a few seconds, it managed to keep its hand above the surface of the shadow. Then a gigantic hand emerged from the darkness.

It rose silently, far too large to belong to any creature that could reasonably be considered human, and closed around the colossus's body with terrifying ease. It tried to cling to the surface. It was useless. The hand simply pulled it downward.

Its entire body gradually disappeared, swallowed by the darkness as more hands emerged around it, grabbing what remained of it and dragging it farther and farther toward somewhere below. There were no screams.

No resistance that could make any difference. Only the slow disappearance of each part of its body. Even the small fragment of its face that remained visible was swallowed last. The shadow closed. And everything simply returned to normal.

“...” I tilted my head slightly, watching the situation for a few more seconds. Well. At least that problem was taken care of. I had no idea what my Alter Ego intended to do with that thing from here on out, but honestly, that wasn't exactly my problem.

I let out a quiet sigh and shrugged. If he wanted to take care of the mushroom, then he could take care of it. I had no reason to interfere with something he had clearly already decided to handle on his own. Without giving the matter much more thought, I simply turned around and began walking away.