"I'm sorry," Leo whispered, l himself to the ground and sitting in front of the patch of upturned dirt. "Nyx would sp me again if she heard me now, but it will take some time before I say that what happened here wasn't at least partially my fault. Stupid, I know, but that's just me..."

  He sighed, watg as the long crimson grass around him swayed with the wind. "I didn't want to do this again, at least not this soon, or ever... When I searched for Nick, deep inside, I knew not to expect much. Though I still refused to accept that till the bitter end... With you two, it was different. You gave me hope, a reason to tinue."

  "And then something had to e aroy that too!"

  Silened the entire clearing as Leo shut his eyes, blood dripping from his ched fists. Even the Voidlings far away were quiet as if they knew not to anger him.

  In the end, though, his anger fizzled out, leaving him to let out a hollow chuckle. "It's ironic, isn't it?" His gaze returo the grave. "We were never close, barely even tolerated each other. Shit, I thought you were a bit of a bit bitd way too trolling of Nick. Yet here I am... Guess a few days of apocalypse ge anything."

  Leo slowly climbed to his feet, the crag of joints ringing in his ears. "I don't know if you hear me. Or if the afterlife eves in this fucked up world. But I want you to know that you and Nick rest in peace. I will save Adam even if that's the st thing I do."

  He smiled lightly, the void in his heart filling just a bit. "I o go soon. Nyx is right. I 't fight anything in this state, much less a Nightmare..." He turned away from the grave, his eyes seeking Nyx in the distance. "I doubt I will ever return here. Maybe if Lily..." He shook his head. "No... No point in w about what-ifs. Goodbye, Ava. We will meet again someday."

  With that, he walked away, leaving behi another family member killed by the Void. Even though he told Nyx otherwise, he still hoped this would be the st person he had to bury. Just the thought of having to do this again almost sent him into a downward spiral...

  At least you are still with me, kiddo.

  Even if Leo couldn't see him, Adam's presenside his soul was like a shining star, blinding... and quite heavy. The boy slept like dead, following Takeover's only order that somehow mao work during all that chaos.

  How long would it st? How long until the child awoke wanting for blood?

  Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, not that it mattered anymore. Right now, Leo's soul was the prison, and Adam, its prisoner. Nothing would ge that until he somehow found a cure, a way to reverse his godson's dest into madness.

  One day, kiddo. One day. He vowed as he paused at Nyx's side. "We leave now. Let the dead rest."

  The Apex gave him a feline equivalent of a smile. 'As you wish... And Leo? I'm here if you want to talk. From what I have seen in your memories, it's supposed to help.'

  He snorted, a spark of amusement igniting in the sea of ivity. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna pass. I’ve already said all I wanted back there. Now... now all I need is time and something to focus on."

  Nyx hummed as they trudged through the forest. 'A distra, you say? Then you may want to check what the System has in store for you... Oh, and use Identify on me. e on, do it!'

  True. Those bloody notifications will split my head in two if I don't let them out soon. Not the best way to go out after all of this. Despite his decision, Leo quirked an eyebrow at his panion. "Why?"

  'Just do it.'

  Shrugging, he humored the beast, almost falling to the ground as he stumbled.

  What the fuck?

  Apex Shadow Cw | LVL: 23

  By all means, this shouldn't be possible. Just a few ho, Nyx was still level eighteen, a fresh o that. And now, here she stood, with five more levels appearing out of nowhere.

  "How?"

  A jolt of smugness and joy filled their link. 'I know we have suffered a major loss today, but Leo, did you fet already? You fought dozens of Nightmares and won. You sughtered them, and now their power belongs to you..'

  His brain almost stopped. Yes, somehow he had almost pletely ighe fact that those were Nightmares he had killed. Ruthless Efficy might have been in the driver's seat at that time, but in the end, it was still him. The System didn't care about anything else and proceeded as it always did.

  But this means...

  'That you should have beed from this even more than me. Exactly.' Nyx finished, evidently listening to his thoughts. 'Please, gh your notifications. It hurts to see you in this state when the System help you.'

  Leo nodded absently as if listening through a haze, the world around him almost disappearing the mome the notifications out. Right away, a mild pain shot through his head as lines of text, oer another, invaded his vision.

  Shit.

  Warning! You have succeeded in st an invasive creature inside your soul. Maximum capacity reached. Any further use of Soul Well may be met with pain and damage to the other two pilrs. Beware, death is close.

  Yeah, I know, System. I know. This message wasn't much of a surprise. Jailing another survivor, even if one weaker than him, had to cause some issues.

  Warning! Due to overstraining your soul capacity, Limit Break has beeivated.

  Expected. Although, Leo had to wonder how his bloodlust-filled self even mao survive without it. A fully powered Limit Break could ge the tide of a battle, and somehow, Ruthless Efficy sughtered Nightmares without it.

  I really uimated this skill...

  The Inferno has ques hunger. Ye and bloodlust are entering the hibernation phase. Ruthless Efficy will bee dormant soon, uo wake for a time.

  Warning! Your soul ot filter any more fn Esse the moment. Disabling Devour. Please sider removing objects from your Soul Well to recover faster.

  It didn't take long to realize that, uhe previous messages, these came whetle was close to an end. Leo even remembered bits of that time when the bloodlust slowly left him, releasing the s it put on his body.

  And now it's gone. He let out a heavy sigh. Maybe he should be happy about being freed from Ruthless Efficy for some time, but he just couldn't. This ability was just aool in his arsenal if used correctly. Losing it only made him weaker.

  The same applied to Devour, whi the st few days, had bee his most used and important ability. Without it, he would have been dead or at least seriously wounded more times than he wao admit.

  Hopefully, it will be back just as quickly as the st time. Not that he believed that. The final part of the notifiade it clear that Adam affected his soul's recovery to some degree. I will manage. Just like I did before.

  Just before summoning another part of the message, Leo looked around as a certain realizatioled in his mind. Even though they had already ehe city's outskirts and tio travel on the ground, no Voidling attacked them. Hell, every single mohey passed just skittered out of their way, not even daring to release a single sound.

  They are all scared. He reasoned, witnessing one Voidling avert its gaze when his eyes fell on it. I guess our position in the food ged even in their simple minds... Weird. I already fot how it was to walk those streets without w about getting attacked.

  'Leo? Everything's alright?' Nyx asked suddenly, bumping into him with her snout.

  "Yeah," he furrowed his brow. "Just the Voidlings..."

  The feline nodded and flung a shadow spike at the Voidling. It colpsed, dead, but the usual retaliation from other beasts never came. They only scrambled away ever farther from them.

  'Their instincts wouldn't dare stand against us,' Nyx noted. ‘They now see us as you saw Nightmares just a few days ago: unreachable, powerful, not to be messed with... It won't apply to every Voidling, but I doubt anything below half of our level will look our way. I wouldn't if I were in their pce.'

  "Makes sense," Leo muttered. "They are adapting just like we do. Only a bit slower."

  'Their instincts only carry them so far. To go further, they o bee sapient, and that's not a quick process for normal Voidling.'

  "Was the Apex Shadow Cw I fought sapient before you took over?"

  Nyx shook her head. 'No, at least not yet. It was well on its way to being an enlightened monster. But even that could have taken weeks or maybe months.'

  Leo hummed, letting the subject die. As iing as it souhey could talk about it more ter. He still had plenty of notifications waiting for him.

  Oh... I see what you meant, Nyx.

  Chaos65