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

He sighed, watching 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 continue."

"And then something had to come and destroy that too!"

Silence consumed the entire clearing as Leo shut his eyes, blood dripping from his clenched 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 returned to the grave. "We were never close, barely even tolerated each other. Shit, I thought you were a bit of bitch and way too controlling of Nick. Yet here I am... Guess a few days of apocalypse can change anything."

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

He smiled lightly, the void in his heart filling just a bit. "I need to go soon. Nyx is right. I can'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 wondering about what-ifs. Goodbye, Ava. We will meet again someday."

With that, he walked away, leaving behind yet another family member killed by the Void. Even though he told Nyx otherwise, he still hoped this would be the last 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 presence inside his soul was like a shining star, blinding... and quite heavy. The boy slept like dead, following Takeover's only order that somehow managed to work during all that chaos.

How long would it last? 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 change that until he somehow found a cure, a way to reverse his godson's descent into madness.

One day, kiddo. One day. He vowed as he paused at Nyx's side. "We can 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 negativity. "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 distraction, you say? Then you may want to check what the System has in store for you... Oh, and use Identify on me. Come 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 companion. "Why?"

'Just do it.'

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

What the fuck?

Apex Shadow Claw | LVL: 23

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

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"How?"

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

His brain almost stopped. Yes, somehow he had almost completely ignored the fact that those were Nightmares he had killed. Ruthless Efficiency 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 benefited from this even more than me. Exactly.' Nyx finished, evidently listening to his thoughts. 'Please, go through your notifications. It hurts to see you in this state when the System can help you.'

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

Shit.

Warning! You have succeeded in storing 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 pillars. 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 been deactivated.

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

I really underestimated this skill...

The Inferno has quenched its hunger. Your rage and bloodlust are entering the hibernation phase. Ruthless Efficiency will become dormant soon, unable to wake for a time.

Warning! Your soul cannot filter any more foreign Essence at the moment. Disabling Devour. Please consider removing objects from your Soul Well to recover faster.

It didn't take long to realize that, unlike the previous messages, these came when the battle was close to an end. Leo even remembered bits of that time when the bloodlust slowly left him, releasing the chains 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 Efficiency for some time, but he just couldn't. This ability was just another tool in his arsenal if used correctly. Losing it only made him weaker.

The same applied to Devour, which in the last few days, had become his most used and important ability. Without it, he would have been dead or at least seriously wounded more times than he wanted to admit.

Hopefully, it will be back just as quickly as the last time. Not that he believed that. The final part of the notification made 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 realization settled in his mind. Even though they had already entered the city's outskirts and continued to travel on the ground, no Voidling attacked them. Hell, every single monster they 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 chain changed even in their simple minds... Weird. I already forgot how it was to walk those streets without worrying 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 nearest Voidling. It collapsed, 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 place.'

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

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

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

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

Leo hummed, letting the subject die. As interesting as it sounded, they could talk about it more later. He still had plenty of notifications waiting for him.

Oh... I see what you meant, Nyx.