Chapter 184: The Severance

Reinhard’s Danger Intuition screamed.

This wasn’t the warning of an incoming attack. Every instinct in his body was telling him that something catastrophic was about to happen.

Above Emily, the distorted cube continued forcing its way through the crack in space. Its white surface flickered between light and darkness as the surrounding walls twisted toward it.

Reinhard activated Emperor’s Insight, and his expression changed.

What the hell is that thing?

The Mana compressed inside the cube was on the level of a Calamity like Archon or Vlad. If it emerged completely, they had no chance of winning.

His Predator Awareness revealed something even worse. The cube was trapped between spaces, with only part of its body inside the chamber. It was forcing its way through the boundary, widening the crack with every surge of Mana.

The crack was the only opening connecting the two spaces, and the creature inside was forcing that opening wider with every surge of Mana.

Reinhard’s gaze snapped toward Emily.

She was still standing before the Black Moon Heart with Tepes in her hands, preparing to make her cut. The cube was directly above her, and the distortions spreading from it were already interfering with the space around her.

He could not afford to wait until it finished emerging.

Reinhard rushed toward her, pulling the Mirror of Possibility from his inventory as he moved. Its surface shimmered when he poured Mana into it, and he spoke without slowing down.

"Show me how to stop that thing from coming out."

The mirror flashed, displaying five possible futures.

In the first, Reinhard unleashed his E.G.O., elemental attacks, and the Right Hand of God. The combined assault pushed the cube backward, but the crack widened, and a white tendril pierced his chest.

In the second, he used Spatial Push to force the cube back through the boundary. It worked, until a spike emerged from the other side and impaled him.

The third showed him taking Tepes from Emily and cutting through the spatial boundary. The opening closed, but the Black Moon descended over Marvello, entering their world through another route.

The fourth was more promising. Reinhard combined All-Cutting Slash with his Heavenpiercer E.G.O. and the Heavenly Pillars, adapting his attacks to the cube’s energy until he forced it back. However, two tendrils slipped through his defenses and stabbed Maki and Lily.

In the final future, he tried to evacuate everyone. The cube emerged before they could escape, and the chamber folded apart, trapping his family in separate pockets of distorted space.

The mirror went dark.

Reinhard grimaced. "You’re kidding me."

Every future was terrible. Attacking directly widened the opening. Spatial Push alone could not stop the thing from retaliating. Cutting the crack without addressing the Heart would leave the Black Moon free to enter from above, and even a successful assault could cost him members of his family.

He could retreat, but that would only leave the problem for someone else to face. There might not even be anyone left to face it if the cube emerged.

Reinhard clenched his jaw and looked toward Emily again.

She had not turned around. Tepes remained raised in her hands, and she was still studying the connection between the Black Moon Heart and the phenomenon beyond their world. She trusted him to handle whatever came from behind her.

That trust made his decision easier.

"Fine," he muttered, slipping the Mirror away. "I’ll do all of it."

Not one future. Not one ability. He would combine the parts that worked and cover the weaknesses that had made each possibility fail.

Reinhard’s golden aura surged.

[E.G.O. — Heavenpiercer: Second Awakening]

The spectral armor covering his body brightened as Heavenpiercer emerged beside him. Golden spears formed in the air, each carrying a portion of his E.G.O.’s power, while the Heavenly Pillars descended in brilliant columns around him. Their Mana poured into his body and weapon, reinforcing his strength until the chamber trembled beneath the pressure.

The cube pulsed.

Reinhard moved first.

"Spatial Push!"

Space compressed around the distorted shape. The crack buckled as an invisible force struck the cube head-on, driving it backward just enough to interrupt its advance.

The creature resisted immediately.

The white surface expanded, and the opening began widening again.

But Reinhard had never intended for Spatial Push to finish the job. He only needed a fraction of a second.

"All-Cutting Slash!"

The first slash crossed the cube’s surface.

A thin line appeared across its white exterior, followed by another and another as Reinhard unleashed a continuous barrage. His Heavenpiercer E.G.O. amplified each strike, while the Heavenly Pillars poured more power into the attacks.

The cube shuddered.

Cracks spread across its surface.

Then the thing inside reacted.

White tendrils burst through the fractures, twisting toward Reinhard with frightening speed. One swept toward his head while another stabbed at his chest, and a third curled around the space beside him before striking from an angle that should not have existed.

Reinhard’s Right Hand of God intercepted the first tendril, its crimson form slamming into the white appendage and knocking it away. He twisted aside from the second and let the third pass through a spatial tear before it could wrap around his leg.

The tendrils changed direction.

They were adapting to his defenses.

Reinhard’s eyes narrowed. "Of course you are."

He raised his hand, and another wave of All-Cutting Slashes tore through the chamber. The first attacks had merely cut into the tendrils. The next ones began adjusting to their strange energy, their edges shifting as they met resistance. Each successful cut made the following attacks more effective, forcing the tendrils to recoil before they could reach the family.

It was not enough to destroy the cube, but it was enough to keep it from advancing freely.

Reinhard reached into his inventory and pulled out a stack of scrolls.

"Everyone, catch!"

He hurled five Mana Barrier Scrolls toward his family, sending one toward Emily, another toward Maki, one toward Lily, and one toward Yuna. He then activated the remaining scroll for himself.

The scrolls unfurled in midair, releasing overlapping barriers around each of them. Mana flowed across the transparent surfaces as the first white tendril struck Reinhard’s shield and sent ripples through it.

"These barriers won’t hold forever!" Maki called out, examining the distortion spreading across her protection.

"They only need to hold long enough!" Reinhard answered.

He pulled out the Mana Chain Relics and threw them toward the corrupted Guards and Collectors. The relics burst open, releasing glowing chains that raced across the chamber. Several wrapped around the nearest enemies, binding their arms and legs before tightening around their bodies.

The transformed Collectors struggled as the chains suppressed their movements, while two Baal Guards attempted to tear free. The relics would not restrain them indefinitely, but they could at least prevent the enemies from reaching Emily while the family dealt with the more immediate danger.

Reinhard did not stop attacking. Every time a tendril approached the barriers, he met it with another All-Cutting Slash. Every time the cube pushed forward, he used Spatial Push to drive it back. When the spatial boundary began twisting around his position, Heavenpiercer’s golden spears struck the distortions and forced the opening to stabilize long enough for him to move.

The attacks were consuming an enormous amount of Mana, and the cube was still fighting him, but he had bought Emily the time she needed.

"Emily!" Reinhard called, his voice cutting through the noise. "Do what you need to do. I’ll keep this thing busy!"

Emily heard him. She did not turn around, because she knew exactly what she would see if she did: Reinhard standing between her and something that could kill them all, using every ability and relic he possessed to keep the danger away from her.

A familiar warmth settled in her chest.

Emily tightened her grip on Tepes. I won’t waste it.

The Black Moon Heart pulsed before her. Its surface was still black, but white fractures now spread across it, mirroring the cracks appearing on the cube above. Countless Mana strands stretched between the Heart and the opening, carrying energy in both directions. Some were thick enough to resemble cables, while others were so fine that they were nearly invisible.

Tepes trembled in her hands.

The weapon governed the spatial concept. It did not merely cut objects. It could manipulate the space separating them, the distance that allowed one place to connect to another.

The connection was the target.

Vlad’s final word returned to her.

Choose.

Her father had not told her what to do. He had left the decision in her hands because it was hers to make, even if the consequences were beyond anything she had faced before.

Emily raised Tepes and focused on the Mana strands.

At first, she saw only an enormous network stretching into darkness. Then her perception shifted, and she began to notice the spatial relationships holding it together. The strands were not simply traveling through the chamber. They were crossing a distance that should not have existed, connecting the Heart to something outside the World of Monad.

Maki had been right. The facility had been built around the phenomenon, and the experiments had helped establish the conditions under which it could persist. The suffering of those hundred people had been part of an attempt to create a key, something capable of opening or maintaining a connection to the Black Moon.

But the Heart was not the Black Moon itself.

It was the anchor that allowed the connection to remain stable.

Emily drew a slow breath and began moving Tepes.

A thin black-white line appeared in the air.

The nearest spatial strand stretched as the blade passed through its relationship with the Heart. For a moment, the connection resisted, pulling taut like a rope under unbearable tension. Emily felt the force travel through Tepes and into her arms, threatening to tear the weapon from her grasp.

She gritted her teeth and continued.

The strand distorted.

Then it snapped.

A burst of Mana raced across the chamber, and the corresponding section of the network collapsed inward. The Heart shuddered, its black surface rippling as though something had struck it from within.

Emily’s eyes widened.

"It works!"

"Then keep going!" Reinhard shouted.

He had no intention of letting the cube interrupt her now. A tendril slammed into his barrier hard enough to crack its surface, and he answered with three All-Cutting Slashes that severed the appendage before it could strike again. His golden spears followed, driving the remaining tendrils away from the opening while Spatial Push kept the cube from advancing.

Emily moved Tepes again.

This time, she did not target individual strands. She followed the spatial relationship connecting the Heart to the opening and forced the weapon’s power into that connection. The black-white blade trembled as the distance between the two points began to fold around its edge.

The chamber lurched.

Maki grabbed the nearest stable surface as the floor shifted beneath her. Yuna planted herself between Lily and a collapsing section of the wall, while Lily clung to the barrier and watched the white tendrils thrash above them.

"Emily, the entire network is reacting!" Maki shouted. "If you cut it, everything connected to it may collapse at once!"

"I know!"

Emily’s arms shook from the pressure. The spatial strands resisted her like living things, stretching and twisting as the Black Moon Heart tried to maintain the connection. Every time she forced the blade forward, the network attempted to fold around her and close the cut before it could be completed.

She could not overpower the entire phenomenon.

She did not need to.

She only needed to sever the connection that held it to their world.

Reinhard’s barrier cracked again.

A white tendril struck from above, and he intercepted it with Heavenpiercer before it reached Emily. The impact forced him backward, his boots carving two deep lines into the fractured floor. Pain flared through his arms, but his Crown of the Unbroken continued adapting to the strange energy, giving him just enough resistance to withstand the next attack.

He looked at Emily.

She was still moving.

"Come on," he muttered, forcing his body forward again. "You’ve got this."

Emily heard him, and the tension in her chest eased. She had no idea how long his barriers would last, how many attacks he could withstand, or what would happen once the connection was severed. Yet she did not have to solve every problem at once.

Reinhard was handling the danger behind her.

Her family was protecting one another.

And the decision in front of her belonged to her.

Emily shifted her grip and drove Tepes forward with both hands.

The blade passed through the center of the spatial network.

For an instant, nothing happened.

Then a black-white severance line spread from the tip of Tepes, crossing the invisible distance between the Heart and the Black Moon. It did not cut the sphere’s physical surface. It cut the space that allowed the connection to exist.

The entire chamber went silent.

The Mana strands pulled taut one final time.

Emily felt the resistance surge through her weapon, and her knees nearly buckled. She forced Tepes onward, pushing through the last layer of resistance until the line crossed the entire connection.

The connection broke.