Shrouded Seascape

"Not bad. Even after being away for a month, all your parts are actually still intact,"

"Yeah, the exploration was very successful this time. We didn't have any casualties, and more importantly, I found clues on the darkness. Though there was a slight interlude along the way."

"I saw that in your mind. Why did you cram so many different memories? Do you want me to help you clear them out?" Anna offered.

"No, don't touch them! Those memories are incredibly useful! You can clear them once we've located the darkness."

Anna made swift gestures around Charles' head with her hands before she leaned in and planted a firm kiss on Charles' lips. "All done! The connection between you and that eye has been severed."

"There's still a fragment of my soul in that spider. Can you completely erase it to eliminate any potential risks?" Charles asked.

"Don't worry. The soul link has been severed, and that fragment will disappear soon. Just put your heart at ease. As long as I'm around, no one can harm you," Anna said with a faint smile on her lips.

Hearing her words, Charles finally allowed himself to relax. He stretched out his arms and pulled Anna into an embrace. "Thanks. How's Hope Island? Is everything okay?"

Anna closed her eyes, rubbing her fair cheek against Charles' chest like a contented cat. "What else? It's the same old. Hope Island is under martial law now.

"Everyone who can work has been sent to the factories. It's exhausting, but it's better to keep them busy. As long as they are occupied, they won't have time to dwell on the despair of the rising sea levels.

"Our island is still well under control, but the situation on other islands is troubling. According to the Navy's intelligence, rebellions have started in several islands, and it seems that the Fhtagn Covenant is pulling their influence behind them.

"I've sent Sparkle to help quell the rebellions, but there's just one of her. She can't handle all of it alone."

"The Fhtagn Covenant…" Charles muttered. At the thought of those deformed traitors who had betrayed humanity, a fire of rage surged in Charles' heart.

"Charles, I know what's on your mind, but it's not the time to engage them now. We don't have the time, and we're too far away from them. It'd take half a year to reach their base island and back. Time is of the essence.

"Besides, they probably prefer us to waste our efforts on them. Those trash aren't afraid of death; they are afraid that their god fails to awaken."

Charles slammed his empty glass down on the small counter. "We can't let this slide! At the next meeting, I'll see if Julio can give them something else to worry about. We can't let them disrupt our explorations anymore."

With that, Charles stood up from the bench. "If there's nothing else, I'm heading back now. We have rested long enough, and we're setting out to explore the darkness tomorrow. Keep a closer eye on things down there." He then walked down the bustling street.

Anna remained seated on the bench. Lifting up her cup, she took a gentle sip. Her alluring eyes narrowed slightly as she gazed intently at Charles' retreated figure.

Only visible to her, a substance resembling liquid white bones descended from the overhead purple mist and swirled around Charles like a dancing ribbon.

That colossal skull hovered perpetually just a centimeter from Charles's face and stared at him with its massive, empty eye sockets. It was waiting for the moment Charles would notice its existence.

"As long as Charles never remembers what happened to him before, then this thing will cease to exist," Anna muttered to herself.

Suddenly, the skull floated higher; its gaping eye sockets turned to focus on Anna. However, with a slight flick of Anna's slender and fair fingers, the skull returned to hover in front of Charles' face.

As a master of consciousness manipulation and memory alteration, the entity posed no threat to Anna. As long as she was willing, she could erase that part of her memory whenever she wanted.

However, Anna didn't want to do that. She now had the memory that could trigger the Inexistence. It was an extremely dangerous entity, but if used wisely, it could be a highly useful tool.

Who would have thought that memories could be used this way? You really do learn something new every day, Anna mused.

Anna's gaze slightly shifted downward, fixing on an old, emaciated cat yawning nearby.

With a mere thought, she implanted the memory that didn't belong to the cat into its mind—the memory of the Inexistence.

The next moment, the Inexistence in the distance swiftly approached the old cat. As soon as they made contact, the cat vanished completely. Its existence would be totally erased from this world.

After assimilating the old cat, the Inexistence returned to hover beside Charles. It constantly orbited Charles, never leaving his side.

Watching the Inexistence tailing after Charles, a fierce determination began to burn in Anna's eyes.

"The trouble isn't over. Power… What's truly important is power. I need to wield a Divinity's power to truly establish myself in this bizarre world," Anna muttered to herself. "If any random creature can take our lives…how are we different from ants?"

Anna then clapped her hands lightly. Her form instantly disappeared from the Colossal Hole Fortress.

When Anna opened her eyes again, she was back in the Governor's Mansion on Hope Island. Picking up Sparkle standing before her, she showered her daughter with a few kisses before turning to head to the Relic Research Institute.

She ignored the humans that came forward to try to curry favor and directly took the elevator down to the lowest level.

Individuals clad in white lab coats hurried past her, each absorbed in their own tasks and heading to their respective laboratories.

Striding down the corridor, she stopped before a heavily guarded room. In the center of the room, a giant red eye was suspended in a vat of cultivation solution.

This was the Divinity's eye that the Pope had previously used in the sacrificial ritual to release the Light God. Now, it was in Anna's possession.

A large basin was placed in front of the massive eyeball. Inside, it was filled with writhing flesh, scraped off the Divinity's eyeball itself.

"Governor, the experiment is progressing smoothly. However, the matter taken from the eye is extremely dangerous. I would suggest—"

Anna glanced at the scientist with a look of nonchalance, sending a shiver down his spine. He went quiet immediately.

"I didn't bring you guys here for your advice. I only need all of you to follow my orders. Do you understand me?"

"Yes… Yes, Governor," the man stammered and swiftly left the room.

A hint of fervor lit up in Anna's eyes as she looked at the writhing flesh before her. Grabbing a piece the size of a watermelon, she shoved it into her mouth.

As she chewed and swallowed the flesh, her alluring figure began to crack and split apart to reveal her hideous, monstrous form underneath.

Soon, her terrifying tentacles started to rupture before growing again rapidly. New ones even branched off from the old ones, making her entire body more grotesque and deformed than before.

"No… Not enough. It's still not enough! I need to become even stronger!"