Chapter 21: The Unbroken Thread

[Ren’s POV]

’Shit, shit, shit! Why is this lunatic only after me?!’

Ren grit his teeth, a volatile mix of revulsion and cold panic surging through his veins. ’What the hell did the original owner of this body do before I transmigrated?!’

"Vora..." Liora hissed, her eyes narrowing as she locked onto the intruder.

"Damn it," Miku spat, her hand dropping instinctively to the hilt of her blade. "How did she track us here?"

Beside them, Princess Evelyn pushed herself upright, subtly disengaging from Reika and Miku’s supportive grip.

"Your Highness—" Reika began, her voice tight with concern.

Evelyn raised a single hand, keeping her breath measured. "I’m fine."

Her sharp, icy blue eyes drifted past the behemoth and settled entirely on the woman standing in the shadow of the ridge—a figure clad in a dark, off-shoulder silk dress, her unkempt purple hair pinned back in a loose, messy bun.

Vora paid the surrounding knights no mind. Her gaze remained pinned on Ren, her lips curving into a sultry, dangerous pout. "Husband... why do you keep running away from me?"

Evelyn’s brow furrowed instantly, her cold glare shifting toward Ren with razor-sharp scrutiny.

Ren felt the temperature drop ten degrees. Panic spiking, he held his hands up in immediate defense. "Princess, wait—she’s completely insane! I don’t know who the hell she is!"

The last thing he needed was to be branded an accomplice to a dark cultist. After the reaction he’d received just for speaking the name Celestial, associating with Vora would seal his execution warrant on the spot.

Ren rounded on Vora, shouting across the rocky ledge. "Hey! You crazy bitch! Who are you calling your husband?! I don’t know you, so stop talking like we’re close!"

Vora didn’t flinch. The flirtatious curl on her lips slowly flattened, her dark purple eyes turning unnaturally hollow as she stared at him.

"You really... don’t remember me?" she asked softly, her tone dropping into a lifeless, vacant monotone.

A heavy silence fell over the ridge. Reika, Miku, Ryu, and Evelyn all shifted their attention toward Ren, their expressions hardening with deep suspicion.

Ren stood frozen, a cold sweat breaking out across the back of his neck.

’What is this...? Did this body actually have a history with her? Or is she just trying to mess with my head using some twisted mind game?’

He let out a sharp, dismissive exhale, trying to shake off the unsettling weight of her stare. *Right. She’s trying to throw us off balance. It’s just a cheap psychological trick.*

"Do you really not remember?" Vora’s voice trembled slightly, her empty stare cutting straight through the thin fog between them. "When we used to hawk discarded newspapers on the street corners just to buy a single loaf of bread? Do you not remember how you stood in front of me... how you bled for me when the local thugs tried to break my bones?"

The words hung in the mountain air like a physical weight. Reika’s grip on her sword tightened, and Ryu’s eyes narrowed into slits.

Evelyn’s arm snapped up, her hand pointing directly at Ren as her aura flared with warning. "Who are you, really?"

"Wait, hold on!" Ren backed up a step, raising his palms. "She’s lying! She’s trying to turn us against each other with a bogus story!"

Vora let out a hollow, dry chuckle. "Lying...?"

Ren squeezed his eyes shut, forcing his consciousness backward into the deep, dark corners of his mind. He tried to force the original host’s memories to surface—anything to refute her claims, any record of a childhood spent in the gutters.

An agonizing, white-hot spike of pain slammed into his frontal lobe. His head throbbed violently, his vision flashing red as the system locked away the sealed memories behind a wall of static.

’Damn it!’ he cursed internally, abandoning the search as sweat dripped from his jaw. There was nothing there.

"I believe him," Liora said quietly, her voice cutting through the tension.

Ren opened his eyes, staring at Liora in surprise.

Liora kept her stance firm, her eyes locked on Vora. "If he were working with her, he wouldn’t be terrified of her."

Evelyn held Liora’s gaze for a second before slowly lowering her arm, the harsh edge in her posture softening into watchful neutrality.

"So... this is what it feels like to be forgotten," Vora whispered. She pressed a hand to her chest, her fingers clawing at the dark silk of her dress as a single tear escaped her hollow eyes. "It hurts... It hurts so much..."

Her expression snapped. The sorrow vanished, replaced by an abyssal, unhinged glare locked entirely on Ren.

"If I can’t have you... then I won’t let anyone else keep you!"

The threat rippled across the clearing. Ryu and Reika immediately dropped into low combat stances, weapons drawn to intercept.

Vora cast a dismissive glance toward Evelyn. "Princess... you’ve burnt through almost all your mana. Forcing a fight right now would be suicide."

"We don’t have a choice," Liora interrupted, taking a firm step ahead of the group. She didn’t look back as she addressed the others. "Take the Princess and get out of here. I’ll hold Vora off."

Ryu’s jaw set tight. "What do you mean...? Are you going to fight her alone?!"

"I don’t want to, but it’s the only way to escape... I’ll catch up with you," Liora replied smoothly.

"Are you sure about this?" Evelyn asked, her voice raspy from physical strain.

Liora gave a single, decisive nod. "I have business with her."

Miku and Reika exchanged a brief glance, understanding the situation.

Ren watched Liora’s back, his mind spinning at high speed. *I have eight C-Rank Aberrant cores stored in my inventory. I need to try the Monster Forge feature here.*

Ren took a deep, steadying breath, suppressing the rising chaos around him. Focus was everything now. He needed a monster.

’System,’ he commanded sharply in his thoughts. *Access the Monster Forge feature.*

A dark, translucent blue interface expanded across his vision, pulsing with energy. A massive rune circle rotated slowly at the center, surrounded by eight glowing, empty slots.

[SPECIAL FEATURE ACTIVATED: MONSTER FORGE]

[STATUS: ACTIVE]

[FUSION MATERIALS DETECTED:]

[ABERRANT CORE - RANK C (HUMANOID TYPE)] x8 (RANDOM)

[TOTAL CORES: 8/8]

[MAXIMUM FUSION CAPACITY REACHED]

[PROTOCOL OPTIONS:]

A. [STANDARD FUSION]: Combine cores into a Rank C Aberrant (Stable, Low CP Cost).

B. [CHAOS FUSION]: Construct a Unique Hybrid Entity utilizing Rank C cores with potential Rank B/A scaling (Unstable, High CP Cost, Requires Specific Imagination).

Ren’s eyes gleamed with intent. Eight monster cores. This was his chance to create a hybrid predator—a beast with the speed of a wolf, reptilian claws, and spider venom to balance the fight against Vora.

"Execute Option B. Chaos Fusion. Target: Hybrid Predator."

The virtual confirmation button flared brightly in front of his eyes.

Before his mental command could finalize the sequence, the entire interface violently shattered into a blinding, blood-red hue. A harsh alarm echoed directly into his ears.

[⚠️ CRITICAL WARNING: NYX SEAL THRESHOLD ⚠️]

[ACTIVITY DETECTED: HIGH-DENSITY PURIFIED DARK ENERGY MANIPULATION (ABERRANT CORES)]

[CURRENT NYX SEAL STATUS: 83%]

[RISK ANALYSIS:]

[Monster Forge] operations require direct manipulation of life and death essences—the domain of NYX.

PROJECTED IMPACT:

If Fusion Protocol is executed now:

NYX SEAL CORROSION: +16% (Projected Total: 99%)

SIDE EFFECTS: Total loss of consciousness during synthesis.

FATAL HAZARD: At 99% threshold, the boundary between Host and Nyx will collapse. ENTITY POSSESSION RISK IS NEAR CERTAIN.

[SYSTEM HAS REJECTED COMMAND TO PROTECT HOST]

[FORCE OVERRIDE PROTOCOL? (EXTREMELY DISCOURAGED)]

[YES / NO]

The bright red 99% flashed rhythmically against his vision.

Ren’s chest went cold. ’Ninety-nine percent...’

If he pushed the process and the seal reached 100%, his consciousness would be erased. His body would be hijacked by the Dark God, and in that state, he might kill not just Vora, but Evelyn, Liora, Miku, Reika, and himself.

His eyes twitched violently as cold sweat poured down his temple.

’Damn it... damn it!’ Ren cursed internally. ’I have a system with high potential, but I can’t even use it because my own body is a ticking time bomb.’

He stared at Liora, who was preparing to face Vora. He desperately wanted to help, but the price was his soul.

With a hardened jaw, Ren squeezed his eyes shut.

"Cancel," he whispered raspy, holding back his anger and dread. "Cancel the fusion."

The red panel flickered once before dissolving back into a faint blue, though the 83% marker remained posted on the screen.

[COMMAND CANCELED]

[MONSTER FORGE: STANDBY MODE]

[NYX SEAL: STABLE AT 83%]

Ren opened his eyes, his gaze flat with suppressed frustration. He couldn’t play the hero today. All he could do was leave it to Liora and hope she was strong enough to survive.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and leave first!" Liora commanded, speaking as if she knew this terrain well. "Head toward the north, go over there—you’ll be safe there!"

They all nodded, though their steps felt heavy leaving Liora behind to fight Vora alone.

Vora raised an eyebrow as she watched the group turn and run down the hill toward the north. "Hmmm..."

"Hahaha, running away again...?" Vora chuckled softly, pointing her hand toward the retreating group. "Monster, attack them!"

The giant beast that had been waiting for Vora’s command let out a thunderous roar. "Arghhhh!"

It surged forward, its massive steps rattling the ground.

The group carefully navigated the steep, dangerous descent.

"Damn it!" Ren hissed, shocked to see the monster closing in on them from behind.

While the others had already made progress down the slope, Ren was trailing at the back.

Reika, Miku, Evelyn, and Ryu turned around, extending their hands to help Ren down. They dug their boots firmly into the soil to brace against the heavy tremors vibrating through the slope.

With their help, Ren cautiously scrambled down the incline.

Ren’s heart leaped into his throat as he saw the monster drawing closer.

Before the beast could reach them, Liora suddenly materialized at the edge of the hill. Her hand burned bright with a swirling, high-velocity sphere of red energy that hissed through the air. Executing a rapid acrobatic vault mid-air, she slammed her energy-infused fist directly into the beast.

BOOM!

The force sent the monster flying back, crashing hard into the dirt and creating deep cracks across the hill. It plowed straight into the rotting remains of the Aberrants killed in Evelyn’s earlier battle.

The monster growled in pure fury and anger.

Seeing the threat repelled, Ren exhaled in relief, breathing heavily. "That was close..."

Without wasting a second, they resumed their retreat down the hill to get as far away as possible, following Liora’s directions. Up on the peak, Liora and Vora were left standing face to face.

The giant humanoid monster glared viciously at Liora, who stood ready in a combat stance.

Vora simply clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Tchh."