Shrouded Seascape

"Don't worry. Those who disappeared, their existence had been completely erased from this world. No one would remember them, so they'll never learn their lesson.

"Your kind will be like moths drawn to flames. They will continuously swarm toward Charles. Now, Charles is that deadly fire that incinerates everything that comes near him," Anna said in a chilling tone.

1189-1's voice grew frantic as it tried to persuade Anna. "Anna, think about it. You're not going to gain that much by doing this. We were wrong—we really were wrong. If you stop now, we will submit to you forever; we'll be your slaves, forever loyal to you!

"Do you see this floating island we're one? It's a giant mobile fortress. If you spare us, this island will be yours as well!" 1189-1 pleaded desperately for Anna to spare them. Not a hint of its previous arrogance could be seen. It was genuinely terrified. The particular memory that Anna had altered was the nemesis of their species' ability.

Despite having such powers, however, even Charles, who was supposedly closest to her, had no clue about the Inexistence's existence. 1189-1 couldn't even make any preparations for its current predicament.

Anna held the skull up to her eye level, and a slight smile formed on her lips. Her voice sounded gentle as she said, "You're right. The gains are minimal with the current plan. But I absolutely abhor you and find you utterly repulsive. Seeing you in such pain brings me extreme satisfaction, so enjoy the despair while it lasts."

When 1189-1 realized that Anna wasn't the least bit swayed by its desperate pleas, it let out a howl filled with despair and boundless rage, "Anna! You'll die a horrible death! One day, you'll suffer the same fate as me!"

However, a hint of pleasure crossed Anna's visage as she heard 1189-1's curses. Only the powerless would resort to venting their anger through meaningless words.

"Quietly enjoy the scene happening before you. Rest assured, I won't kill you. Your abilities are fascinating, and I plan to learn them for myself."

In the distant circular city, the fleshly tidal swarm was slowly disappearing while Charles strode forward alone. The scene, a tapestry of the background, middle, and foreground, painted almost an artistically perfect picture in Anna's eyes.

"Power. Power is the only truth. With power, you can truly have everything," Anna exclaimed in excitement, her pupils dilating and her emotions shifting to sheer joy.

She reveled in this sensation, the ability to annihilate everything with ease. Only by possessing power could one truly own everything.

A sudden thought hit her—she wanted to capture this moment. Pulling out her handphone, a click echoed as she snapped a picture of the scene. She then positioned the phone in front of her and held the skull in her hand before using her other hand to make a peace sign.

"Smile. Say cheese~"

"You'll die a horrible death, Anna! You will face divine retribution!" Tears of blood flowed down the face of 1189-1 trapped in the tentacle cage as it cursed and swore at Anna hysterically.

"You believe in karma, huh? The number of creatures you killed isn't any fewer than me, so where's your retribution? Besides, this might not even be Earth," Anna said before stuffing 1189-1 back into her body. "Sleep tight. See you again in the lab."

Meanwhile, Charles' brows were tightly knitted together as he walked down the empty street. He looked up and surveyed the buildings affixed to the walls and ceiling. He analyzed everything he was seeing.

These buildings look strange. It seems like the creatures living here can move on walls and ceilings, too. If nothing out of the ordinary has happened, this should be the nest of those 1189-1 entities.

But this is so odd now. Where is there not a single creature here? Where have they all gone? Judging from the traces, there should have been creatures living here until recently.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Charles caught something moving in a nearby upside-down triangular house. He immediately went on high alert and darted inside that house.

As soon as he entered, he came face to face with a humanoid creature with stretchy, rubbery skin. It had hooves for feet, a dog face, and sharp claws, and it spoke in a hurried, sobbing tone.

But before the creature could make any movement, it began to fade and vanish from existence. Everything about it disappeared entirely from the world, including the memory of it in Charles' mind.

Charles circled the four-meter-tall iridescent conical structure at the center of the room. His brow furrowed as he exited the building.

Why are there no creatures here? Where did all of them go?

The moment Charles exited the strange building, he saw a shadow lunging at him. All the muscles in him tensed up, and he was just about to strike when he realized that it was Anna.

Tentacles extended from her back and propelled her forward with a push. Anna spread her arms wide and fell into Charles' embrace with such force that he stumbled back several steps.

Her voice, filled with youthful exuberance, echoed in Charles' ear. "Charles~ How's it going? Did you find anything?"

"Can you not startle me like that? There's nothing here; it's a ghost city. Maybe the 1189-1 entities encountered some kind of calamity earlier," Charles said as he tried to pry Anna off his chest. However, she was clinging onto him tightly, so he eventually gave in, allowing her in his arms.

"Could it be that the 1189-1s were desperately capturing humans before so that they could quickly repopulate?" Charles asked.

"Who cares? Anyway, our problem is solved for now," Anna made a differing opinion.

"No, we need to remain alert. If they faced a threat that could annihilate their entire population, then it might be something we'll have to deal with eventually, too. Perhaps there might be some records of it in this city. We need to find them to prepare ourselves for the worst."

Anna slithered over Charles like a boneless serpent, repositioning herself from his chest to his back before perching herself on his right shoulder with her legs crossed.

Her fair white thighs and collarbones split open to reveal rows of tiny cross-shaped yellow eyes.

She rapidly scanned the surroundings and noticed a few scattered 1189-1s occasionally emerging from the building, only to fade away into inexistence. There were probably still some of them that had slipped through the annihilation.

After all, a city of this size held a significant population.

"Hmm… this is indeed a problem. Don't worry, I'll handle it. By the way, did you find anything after all this effort this time?"

At Anna's reminder, Charles halted his footsteps. Transforming into his grotesque bat form, he flapped his wings and swiftly returned the way he came from.

Compared to this desolate city, T, who was still trapped in the green centipede, took priority.

T was a member of the Foundation, and her position was clearly higher than the low-level grunts they had encountered so far. They could definitely extract intelligence of the Foundation from her and could even try to negotiate with her on a possible alliance with the Foundation.

Lying on Charles' back, Anna's head swiveled 180 degrees. A faint smile appeared on her countenance as she looked at the empty circular city behind them.

With a tremble of her right hand, multicolored dark tentacles sprouted from her arms and detached themselves before plummeting to the ground like missiles.