"I'm not gonna like it, eh?" Leo sighed, sharing a brief look with Nyx.

  "No, you won't," Naz'Tor firmed. "You're powerful, very powerful for this stage of the Outbreak. However, Superclusters require a lot more than just raw power to defeat if you aren't at least a rank above them. To this day, the denizens of the Void have developed only three methods of stopping them. One of which doesn't everoy it."

  He frowned, not really believing that during all those previous Outbreaks, people didn't e up with any more ideas. "Are you really tellihat's it? You got to admit that's quite underwhelming."

  The mert chuckled. "Oh, I know, but you have to uand that when dealing with the Void, there are only really three ways to defeat it. tai, perfect trol, or total destru. There is no other way. Trust me, beings smarter than us have tried and failed."

  "If you say so," Leo slumped against the wall. "So what are they?"

  "The first method focuses on tai," Naz'Tor expined. "With the help of the System, rge groups of survivors exterminate every single Voidling around the Supercluster and together set up a barrier made up of Safe Zones. It pletely stops the spread and gives everyone a ce to rex and farm the Supercluster for resources."

  "Yeah, that ain't gonna happen here. At least not now," he snorted. "One, I don't have a group that could even help me with the first part. And two, I only know how to create a Safe Zone from s. From what I know, creating them in the middle of nowhere should be impossible even for people with the right job."

  "In the beginning, yes, that's the case. However, ter on, their jobs offer much more freedom when it es to g nd. Of course, the price for creating Safe Zones outside designated areas is quite high."

  Leo hummed. That was certainly a valuable piece of information for the future. Holden would be beside himself if he heard that.

  Maybe I will pay them a visit one day after all. We will see. He shrugged, looking at the transmitter in his hand. "So the other two methods..."

  "Ah yes," the mert excimed. "Those are focused purely oru as perfect trol isn't really possible with Superclusters. At least not on the scale we would to work."

  "Got it."

  "Now, just like a , a Supercluster has a core. It binds everything together and provides it with the power to grow. If you don't destroy it, everything within regrow, and you will have to do everything again. So, the seethod is quite obvious. Find the core, destroy it, and then watch as the Supercluster crumbles."

  Leo furrowed his brow. "Somehow, I doubt it is as easy as it sounds."

  Naz'Tor exploded in ughter. "Of course not, child! Each core is hidden, always beyond the Supercluster itself. Oime, it might be led within a rift, and the , on airely different phankfully, nowadays, we have tools to help find its location, but you still have to get through hordes of Voidlings to get there. And that's not eveioning what may be waiting for you oher side of the rift ate."

  "So for now, London is pletely fucked. Is that what you are trying to say?" He summed it up, a wry smile g his lips.

  "I wouldn't put it so bluntly, but yes," the mert firmed. "For the time being, all you do is weaken the cluster by killing aroying whatever you may find i may not do much, but it should give the other humans enough time to grow stronger and work towards the first method."

  Leo clicked his tohat's assuming there are any people left in London at all. I have seen a few Voidling corpses here and there, but nothing more."

  "I'm sure there are," Naz'Tor replied as if he knew something the others didn't. "Take your time, grow, evolve, and find allies. That's the only way you stop the Supercluster for now."

  "I guess so," he sighed. "Though, what about the third method?"

  The mert remained silent for a short moment. "Remember what I told you in the beginning? How does power only matter if it eclipses the Supercluster by at least aire full rank?"

  "Yeah," Leo nodded. "What about it?"

  "That's your third method. Total annihitioroy the entire Supercluster with a siack, and the core won't have anything to use its regeive power on. Sounds simple, right?"

  "Right," he drawled, head falling onto his knees. "Really simple."

  Naz'Tor chuckled. "Don't sound so down, young Akirian. I'm sure you will manage... Now, if you have nothing else for me, I'm diseg. The bill will e to you in a moment. Good luck."

  With that, the transmitter went silent, never giving Leo a ce to return the goodbye. The mert must have been in a hurry or just wahe versation to be finished.

  Shame he didn't fet about our deal. He snorted, accepting the trade offer that just appeared in his vision. The System verified mark was missing this time, but sidering how their exge went, he wasn't surprised.

  Means I will have to take everything he just told me with a grain of salt. Not perfect, but it could have been worse. At least I got to ask a few questions of my own.

  'Leo?' Nyx spoke up, her tail nudging his leg. 'What now? Does our pn ge?'

  He shook his head. "Not quite. Tomorroill keep on scouting London and searg for survivors. Lily is still my priority, but if we find a group, I might as well warn them about the Supercluster. That's if they will even hear me out."

  'And after?'

  This time, Leed. "No idea. Let's just focus on the present for now. The past and the future are unnecessary distras... Anyway, you go to sleep. I will stay up for now and see if I reach my soulscape now."

  'Just remember to get some rest too.'

  He nodded. "I will. Don't worry, I will."

  Just as he closed his eyes and was ready to take the final step toward unlog his soulscape, the System interrupted him. It forced a single message into his vision, a message he didn't expect to get any time soon, and definitely not while sitting deep in the London subway.

  You have reached level 28. Css and Racial attributes have been distributed. Please assign your 3 free attributes.

  What? Leo blinked. Level up? But I didn't do anything. Hell, I'm sitting on a damn floor. What the hell is going on?

  Yet the longer he looked at the notification, the more he remembered. Vision's assion, after all, unlocked his ability to grow stronger just from passively abs Essence from the air. It seemed the ability worked in the end.

  Okay... I'm definitely not pining. Even Nyx got another level up after we've killed all the Voidlings on the way here. He noted. Alright, just like st time, all into Soul.

  The message disappeared, and the usual power surge went through his body. At this point, he barely noticed it. A definite improvement from a few days ago.

  Now, let's get ba track.

  Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The Essehin his soul stirred, slowly enveloping his entire body in a thin protective yer. , the mythical energy filled his mind, just as it did during all his previous attempts.

  How stupid I was. A smile formed on his lips. All this time, I tried to pull only my mind into my soul. Using Devour as the base of my teique is all right, but how could I have fotten about the st ingredient. Even Nikra poi out to me whe.

  A Soulscape is a pce of bance. A pce where the three main pilrs bee one. He chuckled. So why did I fet about the body?

  Without any further dey, Leo pulled his Essence back, this time keeping his entire body surrounded. It didn't want to go at first, but then, slowly, the energy returned, dragging along a perfect copy of his body that soon ected with his mind and together dived into the waiting soul.

  He gasped, eyes opening to the world he had only seen once before. The dark nd covered by a thin veil of shadowy mist was still there. The same went for the sky, which, while still mostly ed by ever-growing darkness, now possessed hundreds of small clouds of violet and red floating around.

  He looked down, and just as he had expected, his entire body became one made entirely of shadows. Yet, it still felt as natural as it did the st time.

  A loud chuckle escaped his throat, ohat soon ged inthter. In the end, he did it; he mao return to this pce, just as Nikra had told him he would.

  Well. Leo grinned. I'm here, kiddo.

  Chaos65