Chapter 608: Within the False Void

Dark blood spilt over his teeth and dripped down his chin, but he forced the words past his crushed windpipe anyway. He continued his declaration despite his throat being close to bursting open under her suffocating grip.

"I, SACRIFICE ALL MY EMOTIONS TO PRIME NEXUS, IN EXCHANGE FOR OPENING… A GATE TO THE FALSE VOID."

The instant when Axel uttered those words, Prime Nexus flashed a string of luminous Rune glyphs directly in front of his eyes.

[Initiating opening a gate to the False Void]

At the same time, the oppressive lock placed upon his power base was unlocked. A sudden surge of internal energy returned to his limbs, allowing him to once more exert power as a third phase seeker, though only at the level of an initial third phase seeker.

And then…

A terrifying sound of the very fabric of space being violently ripped apart like a wet tissue reverberated through the surrounding world.

The tear opened up high in the heavens, exposing the dark, abyssal unknown existing far beyond the boundary of the material world.

Axel looked toward the faceless materialisation of the World Will one last time, his bloodshot eyes filled with a deep, burning killing intent. As the heavy iron chains that bound Axel snapped and broke apart into pieces, the immense gravitational force took hold of him.

He and Mason Vex were sucked directly into the False Void, swept away in less than a single second.

Like an infinite black hole, the gate that opened to the False Void sucked everything within its range inside with an immeasurable, violent might that could not be resisted by anything in existence.

Axel, for a brief moment, felt as though he had been instantly teleported across immense space. The sheer speed of the pull exerted by the False Void was just that overwhelming.

As he witnessed the fading light from the familiar human lands grow more and more distant through the gargantuan tear amidst the vast black expanse of the Void world, a bitter, worn expression took shape on his face.

He gritted his teeth tightly, not knowing what grim fate awaited him in this dark, unknown realm.

Suddenly, the cold voice of Prime Nexus whispered directly into his ear, and this time those words hit the absolute depth of his soul:

[initiating extraction of Axel Nomrad's entire spectrum of emotions….]

Badump!!!

BADUMP!!!

Both of Axel's two hearts skipped a heavy beat inside his chest. He felt it happening immediately; his emotions were slipping away, systematically siphoned away by the cold authority of Prime Nexus.

His very ability to feel any emotions at all was being permanently exercised and removed from his soul.

As the agonising seconds ticked by, he realised the full gravity of those words in their utter, despairing depth. To be stripped of feeling meant losing the very core of who he was, leaving behind a blank, hollow existence.

The warmth of his memories, the fire of his rage, and the weight of his bonds were all dissolving into cold space.

But Alas!!

The cruel reality of his predicament did not even allow him to reminisce about his past. Even the brief opportunity to mourn his own forlorn demise was instantly taken away from him by the harsh surroundings.

Axel suddenly felt the searing sensation of his skin burning and breaking down rapidly, as the violent, unstable Void element madly encroached all over his body from every direction.

At this critical moment, he could not utilise a single one of his Demonic abilities because his emotions were being actively extracted from his soul, severing his connection to his bloodline power.

Furthermore, Axel could not even use his right Runic Artefacts at the moment. He was entirely unable to channel his mana because his internal rune circuits had been thoroughly destroyed and scorched by the potent Anti-Rune substance Mason had inflicted upon him earlier.

With how things were currently going, it would not be long until the False Void completely devoured Axel's entire physical existence. This empty domain naturally destroyed and eroded anything and everything belonging to the material world upon entering it.

The only person who could perhaps safely traverse the treacherous expanse of the Void was Lucien, owing to the Golden Dragon's gold-attributed energy, which functioned as the perfect natural shield against void corrosion.

In fact, the only reason Axel was not instantly devoured to absolute nothingness upon entry was that he had entered the False Void once before via the ritual of the void, previously performed by Lucien.

That prior exposure left his body with a rare, temporary tolerance to the realm's initial destructive pressure.

However, out of nowhere, a thousand monstrous, unearthly screeches reverberated through the empty reaches of the False Void, coming from far off in the darkness.

The growling, insidious echoes grew louder and closer with each passing second, like a horde of starving predators hunting in the dark.

"No! Arghghh! Damnnnnnn it! Grahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Mason Vex, who was floating not too far away from Axel, screamed out in boundless agony. His skin was visibly being peeled away from his flesh. Despite his formidable power and immense physical strength, the void's corrosion grew only stronger upon him, and the powerful patriarch could do nothing to halt the relentless decay.

The fundamental nature of the void was such that it encroached with far greater intensity upon those who were more powerful. The denser a being's energy, the more violently the void sought to consume it.

Not to mention, the inherent desire of the Void to decimate Mason Vex was much greater because he was a direct, forced intruder into this world, having not entered first through a proper ritual, unlike Axel.

So, for the empty, starving world of the False Void, the 5th phase Vex powerhouse was an utter delicacy waiting to be devoured whole.

For that very reason, the violent Void Creatures rushing from all directions felt an insatiable, overwhelming call of hunger toward this exact spot. Their singular goal was undoubtedly to devour both Axel and Mason until nothing remained.

The Vex Patriarch glared across the dark void at Axel hatefully, his eyes wild with fury and pain:

"You damned fucker, what did you do? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO????"

"DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU JUST DID!!!"

"HOW DID YOU BRING ME TO THE FALSE VOID????"

"IS THIS YOUR SUICIDAL MOVE?? TO KILL US BOTH!!!"

Axel did not respond verbally at first. He stared across the floating space at Mason Vex with an obvious, freezing killing intent overflowing from his eyes.

With a quick mental command, he reached into his spatial storage and brought out a dozen small, orb-shaped, single-use artefacts. Without a moment of hesitation, he threw them all directly toward Mason's floating figure.

The Vex patriarch frowned deeply as he saw the metallic spheres coming, but he could not manoeuvre away.

The entire vast arsenal of Mason's internal energy was currently being deployed to maintain a heavy, protective layer all around his body, which served only to slightly slow down the scathing corrosion of the Void.

So, when the artefacts reached proximity to Mason's figure, they exploded all at once in a violent, flashing fashion.

Of course, in truth, those measly 2nd-tier mana bombs could not even scratch a powerhouse like Mason Vex. Even if there were thousands of those small bombs exploding all at once in a singular spot, it would still do virtually nothing to harm the powerful man physically.

However, that was not the purpose for which Axel had attempted such an act.

Rather, that sharp explosion of sound, light, and magical flames served as an unmistakable beacon across the silent dark. It acted as a glaring signal for the countless Void Beasts already rushing madly in this direction.

Axel knew that in his current defenceless state, without mana or bloodline power, he could easily be targeted and killed by Mason first before either of them was swallowed by the Void. He needed to force Mason to defend against a greater threat.

Axel spoke aloud in a cold, mirthless voice that carried across the space, "You know what, Mason, about what you said back then. You're not actually wrong. We are indeed quite similar."

Mason frowned, a sudden bad feeling taking root in his mind, but he still stayed silent and listened. Unlike Axel, who had felt the subtle shifts in the void atmosphere before, Mason could not yet sense the massive tide of Void Creatures rapidly approaching them in the dark.

The Demon continued, taking full advantage of that brief window of distraction, "We are both complete and utter hypocrites."

"We deem any wrong act to be right if it suits our interest and any right act to be wrong if it does not."

"If anyone harms those close to us, for whatever reason it may be, in our eyes, that is the greatest of sin."

"Is it not?" asked Axel.

Mason took a strained step forward through the floating darkness and replied coldly, "What the fuck are you trying to do? What are you buying time for?"

And in that very moment, Mason's voice trailed off as he heard it for the first time: countless harrowing, horrific screeches mixed, echoing loudly from every direction around them.