Killian stood back, preparing himself just in case the corpse wasn’t actually dead.

The corpse rose from the abyss, a pungent smell greeting Killian first. He stepped further away, considering what he was about to do.

"Hah... I told you, didn’t I? That in the Abyss time stops so of course, if she was dead when you put her in, she’d be dead too. And I should add, time works normally when you get her out again." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Killian held his nose with one hand, and carefully dropped Thistle from his shoulders, in case she needed to move further away. "This will be worse than eating bark. But I promised to do it."

"Promised who? You can break that promise. I am not excited to taste a few days old corpse either."

Killian grunted, walking away from the body. He spotted Thistle. Watching the corpse with no definitive emotion in her face. He leaned towards her. "Do you know her?"

Thistle looked away, she made a small nod. "She is an anomaly too."

Killian straightened, looking back at the corpse. The dark brown fur had gotten darker at some areas and muscles had dissolved to shaggy skin.

There was just no sign that she could’ve been something out of sorts. "She said she was a realm guard of her realm. She did have the same eyes as you but that doesn’t mean anything."

Thistle raised her head to him, frowning slightly. "It tends to. Do you think people and even beasts alike just get rainbow-colored eyes? Only those born with immense mana get these perks."

Silence stretched between them as they stared at the corpse. Killian still had no regrets.

The Knight might’ve been unfortunate as an anomaly and struggled to prove herself. Hence it must’ve been a good chance when she suddenly caught the attention of an angel who didn’t try killing her but made a puppet out of her.

She was simply on the wrong team.

’Though a ’wrong team’ is subjective. She probably thinks the same of me."

Killian nodded. ’We are definitely eating this.’ "Consume it."

In similar manner to how it had come out, the corpse slowly descended the darkness under it. Killian could feel the heavy consumption and breaking down the mass happening somehow in his stomach.

Normally, she should also give him a great amount of capacity but he worried that if he even got more capacity, he might feel too empty.

Only elements could feel in the void so those would be his next priority for the couple of days.

Another notification came on his WLog.

[Permission To Diagnose - Mimicry?]

[Yes? Or No?]

He tapped [Yes] and waited for something to happen. He felt nothing in his throat or a new growth.

[New Skill Unlocked!]

[Chains Of Abyss]↓

He tapped the drop down.

[Those chained have their bodies and mana imprisoned within the depths of the Abyss, dead or alive. A host must have superior vitality and greater mana reserves than the target.]

He narrowed his eyes at the screen and traced his hand over the texts. When he sent the Knight to the Abyss, she was dead.

All his other victims had to be as well.

’This is your skill though, isn’t it? So why did Mimicry diagnose it?’

"It is modified for you. You can’t access the abyss unless you chain someone to it. She has the chain skill like she has used on your sister."

Killian nodded quickly as he remembered. But he still couldn’t see how useful the skill would be for him.

If he has a target, and now that he has a good amount of capacity, he would rather just eat them or not eat them. Keeping them in the abyss to fight again would be tiresome.

’The abyss can hold creatures, like the egg after it’s hatched, like the egg can’t it?’

"She would love that actually. She might be able to move in there as well."

’You said nothing can.’

"Well, I can."

Another notification popped on the WLog, but Killian was still stuck on what the Void’s last words could mean.

If he could move within his abyss, expected, and the screaming egg-girl can as well... then was she something related to the Void?

That would perfectly explain why the Void was interested in keeping her, and why he, as a Void-born had unconsciously sensed her within the tree.

’You played me.’

"I did not."

’You could’ve just told me that she was a Void-born too. Why couldn’t you say that?’

"Because she’s not, and I confirmed that after you saw the egg. A summon is truly close to what she is, but specifically to the Void. That part had been nothing but the truth."

The Knight’s body completely decomposed under the darkness, and the aftertaste lingered in Killian’s senses till the tendrils removed themselves from the grasses, crawling back to him.

[Capacity Increment: ON HOLD.]

[Agree?]

Killian quickly agreed. That was the best course of action as he had more capacity than he needed, and a Knight might increase it to baffling size again.

He only needed to get the Void Reborn moving, but that was one thing he didn’t know how to do so.

"I could bet that there might be libraries at the academy about this." He raised Thistle back to his shoulders, and started leaving.

He felt the Void nudge his mind but he ignored it. If the egg was similar to Lairies, fairy-like creatures created of the Light and specific only to the Light, then that was important information he should’ve known. Because it could risk his safety.

A creature like that would be hard to hide because of their high mana composition so if he went to the outside world with her, even if she is within his inventory, she would be noticed easily. Especially by Light Wardens that were opposed to what she signified.

"He knew that yet he only cared about releasing her," Killian muttered under his breath. "When I’m trying to keep a low profile. So selfish."

He paused as he had a thought. He stretched his hand and the egg, wrapped with healing strips fell to his hand.

The shiny areas had darkened to a luminescence dark blue shade. She was close to being hatched.

He closed his eyes.

<Chains of Abyss>

"Wait. What are you doing?"