Void Evolution System

Tap!

Tap!

Tap!

Elena's steps echoed through the damp and empty space as she made her way to the stele in the middle. Her thoughts were slow as if matching the quiet atmosphere around her.

'This place is odd and radiates an extremely disconcerting feeling, but I can't sense what's actually wrong.'

She expected to be dragged into battle or a mental struggle as soon as she entered, but it was strange how peaceful the space truly was.

'It almost makes me want to take down my defenses…'

Elena frowned lightly as she realized her thoughts were becoming irrational.

'It seems too subtle to be everything this place has to offer. If I can overcome it by just realizing that it's happening, it isn't worthy of being an effect of the main tomb.'

There were two possibilities for the current peace.

The first was that the tomb was doing its job properly and all the demonic spirits were properly sealed within the stele, unable to make trouble.

But how could such a good thing exist?

'The second scenario is that…'

Elena reached the stele and carefully placed her hand on its surface, sending a pulse of Life mana into its surface.

Hong!

The stele reverberated, and a set of ancient letterings appeared on its surface.

These words were from an archaic language unknown to Elena or anyone alive in the current era, but they shared similarities with the current universal language, almost like it was a predecessor.

"Heaven. Spirit. Body. End."

Elena voiced the four words she could comprehend from the tablet. They were spread apart with context connecting each to the next.

'Unfortunately, these words could mean anything if I try to fill in the blanks. The fact that this is a tomb of demonic spirits should be the greatest clue to the meaning of these phrases…'

Elena sighed. Her knowledge of ancient history was negligible since most of said knowledge had been erased from the universe. She had no idea what could've been going through the people who etched these words' minds.

But she could feel that they put their souls into their art, etching these words with all their power and wisdom.

'Thus, even at the end of times, these words will remain.'

She removed her hand from the stele and glanced around the tomb, her eyes hardening.

'There isn't any sign of a formation on the stele, nor is there any evil aura contained within. Most likely…'

The spirits that had yet to decay and cease existence were loose, spread out within the tomb.

"If they're on the level of the previous spirits, it won't be too hard to exterminate them. The problem is what happens if they manage to possess the geniuses in the tomb.'

In that case, Elena didn't know enough about souls to save those geniuses or exterminate the demons who controlled them.

'For now, let's move.'

Elena glanced at the stele and quickly wrapped her mana around it.

In the next instant, it disappeared.

'This new spatial ring is far better than the usual stuff. That guy is really…'

She smiled as she shook her head. The spatial ring was given to her by Damien after he saw her old one. It was connected to the Sanctuary, which meant its storage space was almost infinite, and its attractive power was great, so objects rooted in the ground could be directly pocketed if she so desired them.

Unlike a normal spatial ring that merely had an internal space that the user could access, this ring could produce its own spatial field to wrap and transport objects, which was what made it so magical.

After taking the stele, Elena quickly left the main tomb…

Bang!

…or at least, she tried.

An explosion collapsed the tomb's entrance, trapping her inside until she could get through the pile of rubble.

"Who?!" She yelled, her eyes sharpening.

She summoned her mana and let it wrap around her body protectively in case she needed to attack.

And she scanned the surroundings, her gaze taking every inch of the space into account.

She gritted her teeth in realization.

'That's right. Before I entered, I had already sensed the stele's aura…and the auras from the environment itself.'

She smiled ironically.

'I guess the confusion was worthy of being an effect of the main tomb after all.'

Even after she realized it, it still affected her and made her lose any sense of danger.

And because of this, she spent too much time studying the stele and completely forgot the matter of demonic spirits for a second.

Whooooosh!

A strong wind blew through the space, its origin unknown.

Elena felt the growing auras in the darkness around her, she could feel those eerie voices from the shrine area returning.

'As expected, demonic spirits.'

Tap!

She took a step back, projecting light mana into the air in front of her.

'Fuck.'

Her face paled.

That wasn't darkness at all.

That was—

The darkness morphed. It rippled like waves, and high in the air near the chains hanging from the ceiling, something like a face formed.

'Run?'

She glanced at the exit.

'I'll need 5 minutes to get through the rubble.'

Her eyes went back to the shadow looming over her, just in time to see its "eyes" and "mouth" curve into a twisted smiling expression.

'I have to fight.'

Shing!

Bang!

She withdrew her sword and shot into the air, meeting the shadow face-to-face. Her sword slashed through the air in a clean arc, sending a wave of Light and Life into the shadow's body.

Whoom!

An odd hollow whoosh resounded as the slash disappeared into the shadow, its connection with Elena cut entirely.

"Right…" she muttered.

Demonic spirits were ethereal beings. It was their greatest strength, but also the reason they couldn't leave the tomb without possessing a body.

'And for this mass of demonic spirits, I've become the perfect body.'

The body of an individual who, with nothing but her own strength, made it to the very center of the Tomb of Ayakashi.

If not her, then who?

WHOOSH!

Elena's eyes suddenly widened. She twisted her body sideways, just in time for a massive wave of shadow to slam against her side.

BANG!

She shot backward and crashed into the dense walls of the tomb, coughing a mouthful of blood as she pulled herself out of the cracks.

Ptui!

She spit out another mouthful of blood as she stared back at the shadow that was still smiling at her with that same creepy expression.

'This…is troublesome.'

Her mentality went through a change.

Her mind entered a state where the battle in front of her was the only thing that mattered in life.

Because she made the realization that if she didn't win here, she'd die and become a puppet to their will.

Her sword shone with beautiful white light.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

BOOM!

A massive tree filled with vitality grew in front of her, reaching the ceiling of the massive space.

She hopped onto its nearest branch and traversed its canopy until she was once again facing the shadow.

"Thanks for waiting," she said coldly.

"I'm good now, so come die whenever you're ready."