Chapter 46 : When the Abyss Gazed Back

“He’s insane.”

That was the first thought that crossed the World Will’s mind as she stared at the embodiment of madness before her.

This was no mere disturbance in his thoughts or flaw in his behavior. Yet she had no luxury of time to waste diagnosing his condition. She had to finish what she had started before this entity became a problem she could no longer contain.

Fortunately, things had not gone as badly as she had expected.

The process of filling the vessel had already reached a quarter of its completion, which meant she could now interfere, albeit to a limited extent, with the inner will of the existence she was attempting to take over. She was no longer merely an alien consciousness flowing into it; she had begun to acquire genuine authority over that vast inner space.

As for this madness, no matter how terrifying it appeared, it was nothing more than the remnants of a consciousness belonging to someone who should have been dead long ago.

What could the madness of someone dead, like you, possibly do?

She did not need to know his entire plan. After all, whoever struck first held the initiative, and whoever held the initiative could force their opponent to react rather than act freely.

The World Will moved her hand.

In the next instant, countless lights illuminated the dark space, appearing around her from every direction. They were no ordinary lights, but manifestations of her will, each carrying enough power to tear apart the entity of madness and dismantle its remnants until nothing remained that could allow it to reform.

The lights surged toward him from multiple directions, surrounding him before converging on his position.

Yet the madness made no attempt to dodge or defend himself. Instead, he raised both hands before him as though preparing to embrace her.

“Yes... Resist.”

His smile widened, and his crimson eyes burned with a sickening excitement.

“Get angry, my dear. Your resistance makes me happy.”

The lights struck him in the next instant.

They pierced his body from head to toe, tearing apart his human form in a single flash. The attack left no room for resistance or escape. His body disintegrated into black mist, and its scattered remnants spread throughout the dark space, as though his existence had been nothing more than an illusion erased by a passing light.

The World Will watched without lowering her guard.

She had not expected the matter to end so easily, but she saw no reason to hesitate. Now that the madness had lost its form, eliminating whatever remained of it should be only a matter of time.

However, the black mist began to move.

Its scattered threads converged at a single point, thickening and twisting around one another until limbs and features gradually reappeared. Within moments, Elden stood before her once more, his form completely intact, as though the previous attack had never touched him.

The World Will frowned.

This time, she did not merely send enough power to destroy his visible form. She moved her will, extending its influence into the depths of the space around him and erasing his existence more completely, attempting to eliminate him altogether.

She left behind no body, no mist, and no trace that could be followed.

Everything disappeared.

But the silence did not last long.

From the depths of the darkness, the black mist emerged once again, slowly taking the shape of Elden Morven. He raised his head and looked at her with his familiar smile before brushing off his hands as though he had just finished an amusing game.

“I hope you haven't grown tired, my dear. I can play with you all day.”

He tilted his head slightly before adding in an even more playful tone,

“And, of course... forever.”

The World Will did not answer, but her expression grew darker.

Elden laughed, then raised a finger as though he had just remembered something important.

“But I have a little piece of advice for you. You can't kill me while you're inside Elden Morven.”

He paused, savoring what he was about to say.

“How are you going to kill Elden Morven when you're living inside Elden Morven himself?”

He spread his arms, gesturing toward the vast space surrounding them.

“I'm present in every memory, every consciousness, and every life in here. If you truly want to kill me, you'll have to kill the vessel that bears the name Elden Morven.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand to his mouth and bit off a piece of his finger, as though tasting ordinary food. He chewed slowly and swallowed the piece before lowering his hand to his side.

It was not long before the missing part of his finger grew back, restoring it to its original state.

He watched her with a broad smile.

“See? It's not difficult at all.”

The World Will could not respond, because what he had said was indeed true.

She had recognized the problem the moment she noticed the difference between the existence of the madness and that of the vessel.

Every time she eliminated the madness, it consumed a portion of the will occupying that existence. And because his will was part of the consciousness she was using to fill the vessel, each attempt to destroy him drained her own will and slowed the merging process.

This was not merely an opponent who refused to die. It was a fundamentally flawed equation in which even an apparent victory could bring her closer to failure.

Nevertheless, the madness was not necessarily beyond her ability to eliminate.

She was still an invading will, and his existence remained rooted in the vessel she sought to claim. If she could complete the merging process and establish control over that existence, the nature of their relationship would change. He would no longer be merely an entity that was difficult to erase, but a foreign will trapped inside an existence she owned completely. Then she would be able to isolate him and destroy him.

Until that moment, however, she had only one option.

She had to continue filling the vessel as quickly as possible.

She could not retreat. Retreating would neither restore things to the way they had been nor guarantee the vessel's integrity. All she could do was press forward and face whatever this madness threw in her path.

Strangely enough, Elden did nothing to stop her.

After all his threats and laughter, he simply watched her while continuing to chatter about his long life, wandering through his memories as though recounting a pleasant excursion. He told her about being a blade of grass, then a fish, then a monkey, then a human, moving between different forms of life without appearing to attach any particular importance to any of them.

It was as though all those experiences were nothing more than a collection of stories he recalled for his own amusement.

But the World Will was not deceived by his calm demeanor.

She continued watching him cautiously, keeping her consciousness flowing into the depths of the vessel as the merging percentage gradually increased.

A quarter of the vessel.

Then more than half.

She was approaching three-quarters of its total space, and only the final portion remained between her and her goal.

Just a little longer... a little more.

She was close enough to feel that the end was within reach, but she refused to let that feeling diminish her vigilance. The closer she came to completing the process, the more disastrous the consequences of any potential mistake would become.

Suddenly, applause echoed through the dark space.

Elden clapped slowly, then let out a long sigh, as though he had finally finished putting off something he had been meaning to do.

“All right, madam. I think that's enough.”

He stopped clapping and studied his palms for a moment before lifting his eyes to her.

“I haven't spoken to anyone in a long time. I feel a little better now.”

He flashed a broad smile, then chuckled softly.

“Is this what the dead feel in their final moments?”

He fell silent for a moment, as though the question had genuinely piqued his curiosity.

Then he burst out laughing.

“What a wonderful feeling! Hahahaha... I'm happy. So very happy! Hahahahahaha!”

The World Will could no longer ignore the change in his behavior.

“What are you planning?”

His laughter gradually subsided, and he looked at her with feigned innocence.

“Nothing, my esteemed lady.”

He spread his arms and tilted his head slightly.

“I'm just... finally... going to die.”

“What?”

The question escaped the World Will before she could stop herself.

Elden's smile widened, and his crimson eyes shone more brightly than ever.

“You've been watching me all this time, haven't you? I imagine a great being like you has never experienced pain before.”

He lowered his head slightly, then slowly raised it again, as though something heavy were pressing down on his neck.

“But today... today, you'll learn what pain means.”

Elden raised his hands, then turned toward the vast space surrounding them.

What lay before him was no mere expanse of empty darkness. This space contained countless consciousnesses, endless memories, and traces of lives that had endured experiences beyond the limits of comprehension. There were thoughts, small desires, ancient fears, and memories of people who had lived and died, leaving something of themselves behind within this boundless vessel.

None of these entities was powerful.

But there were so many of them.

Far more than could ever be counted.

Elden looked across that space and raised his arms as though addressing an endless crowd.

Then he spoke a single word.

“Move.”

At first, nothing happened.

But a moment later, the word's echo reverberated through the depths of the vessel.

“Move.”

The voices did not come from mouths, nor were they genuine cries. They were thoughts, memories, and scattered fragments of will, beginning to reverberate throughout the dark space as though something had awakened them from a long slumber.

Move.

Move.

Move.

Elden Morven was weak—or perhaps calling him weak was not entirely accurate. His existence was fragmented and scattered, lacking the concentrated power necessary to impose his will upon this vast space.

But what he lacked in strength and density, he made up for with the immense number of lives contained within the vessel.

Not one of those memories could produce any meaningful change on its own. Yet when they gathered together, even for a single moment, they gained enough strength to cause a tiny movement within that boundless existence.

A negligible movement.

One that could scarcely be noticed.

But it was enough.

Then a miracle occurred.

Within the dark space, the vessel named Elden Morven moved.

The movement was not great, yet the vessel's head slowly lifted, turning upward as though it had finally awakened from an endless slumber and decided to look at what lay above it.

Not the darkness above him, nor the sky beyond this space, but something far more distant... beyond... above... what lay on the other side of the barrier protecting this world.

Beyond the boundary separating the inside from the outside.

There, beyond that barrier, something immense was waiting.

Something that could not be seen, whose size could not be measured, whose beginning and end could not be determined.

Its presence was too vast to be confined to a shape and too profound to be understood through ordinary senses.

A colossal, unfathomably deep entity.

An existence without limits.

The Will of the Universe.

And when Elden stared into the abyss, the abyss stared back.

The instant his will came into contact with that immense existence, the dark space shook violently.

The vessel froze. The accumulated memories trembled, and the thoughts filling its inner space fell into turmoil. The World Will herself shuddered as she sensed something she had never expected to happen.

She stood frozen in place, her consciousness unable to comprehend what had just occurred. For a moment, it seemed as though she had forgotten everything: the vessel, the madness, the merging process, even the purpose that had driven her to make all those decisions.

Then she understood what Elden had done.

Her voice erupted through the dark space.

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

But her scream changed nothing.

“YEEEEEEES! That's it!”

Facing her, the mad laughter rang out, loud and jubilant, as though this were the one moment Elden had been waiting for throughout his entire life.

The problem had just become far, far worse.