Scarlet

Well that’s unexpected.

Not sure how it happened, but the moment I felt all of the hairs on the back of my neck standing straight up, I jerked my head in a seemingly random direction. Then my senses lock onto… something… far in the distance. So far away that it’s on the other end of the universe.

And what I sense has me narrowing my eyes ever so slightly.

This… huh.

I sense a massive crack in the middle of space. One with an enormous black claw stretching through it and emitting a powerful wave of void energy that’s annihilating everything it touches. Meanwhile what must be millions of void creatures are flooding out of the cracks appearing in space around the large one.

Just a single claw from the Voided Overlord is half the size of a damned planet

That’s rather frightening.

And that isn’t even considering the fact that the power it’s radiating. That void energy. It’s stronger than anything I’ve seen before.

Stronger than me.

I’m certain it’d kill me without too much trouble even after my powerup from reaching Class VI.

And… I’m supposed to kill the thing that claw is attached to…

I focus on it for several seconds before sighing.

Well, damn.

How am I supposed to kill something that powerful? Not to mention big.

If its claw is that large, just how big is the Voided Overlord itself supposed to be?!

Not to mention that energy. I could fight against it for a bit, but it would definitely devour me eventually.

Which leaves me no other choice.

I’ve grown more used to controlling my magic, and doing nothing more than creating basic Red Plague blood anywhere I want and controlling it has become rather simple.

So with that in mind, I take a deep breath, and while I’m out in space, I let my marks reappear, drastically increasing my powers in the process. Releasing them to their fullest extent.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

And since there’s no one here, no one end up dying or having their eyes explode.

After that, I focus on the many galaxies surrounding ours before creating Red Plague out of thin air all around them. Then I direct the Red Plague to devour every void creature nearby.

I just keep devouring them and devouring them and devouring them. One by one. Little by little.

Minutes pass. Then hours. Then entire days pass.

All while I continue devouring every last void creature that appears from the newly formed rifts. And after who knows how many days pass, I finally open my eyes and move my hand in front of me before opening my fist, revealing my palm towards the sky.

Something I learned to do while training with the fanatic. A basic summoning magic.

I focus hard on both my blood moon symbol located on my chest and on the spot located directly above my hand.

Then I speak out loud, directing my will into my words and no doubt letting everyone on Earth hear it in the process, “Appear.” Something that’s inevitable when I put in this much power and even speak out loud like that according to Isaac. That everyone nearby will hear.

Nearby being the neighboring few planets.

And the moment my word resounds, dots of glowing red blood quickly begin to appear above my hand. But they don’t stay there because the moment they appear I begin drawing them into my body.

One drop after another, soon making the bits of blood move so fast that it’s nothing more than a blur to someone below Class III.

Meanwhile I feel more power flooding into me from the reality energy the Red Plague devoured. The reality energy previously belonging to the void creatures.

I feel myself lifting my head with a wide smile on my face, a near-euphoric sensation spreading throughout my body from the power. But I maintain my focus on the ‘spell’ regardless. At the same time, I make sure to keep creating more Red Plague nearby any new void creature before summoning it to me after devouring the creature.

A repeated process that not only empowers me, but also saves the lives of millions of people from dozens of different worlds. All at once.

While I focus on the spells, I can’t help but wonder if the best use of my time right now would be to grow stronger through devouring the void creatures, or to learn more control over my magic and body. Because I still can’t move freely without breaking things.

A lot of things.

Too many things.

I grimace as I remember my poor house.

My grimace fades again when it begins to shake my concentration. So I refocus on the spells for the next day or so. At least until I decide to stop for now.

And as soon as I do stop, the droplets of blood slow down to a crawl, and the void creatures I was slaughtering finally begin to attack again.

But I just focus on my stomach, because I feel kinda bloated. Like I’m full after a really large meal. Multiple meals.

I glance down before lifting my shirt a little, revealing no signs of an overly sized stomach. Just some faint abs. The same sight that I’ve seen for years.

Well that’s good at least.

Guess I can’t devour nonstop, though. Which is a pity.

I let my shirt fall while stretching a little. Then I focus on the Voided Overlord again, just to sense how powerful the energy is in comparison to me.

Only to find that it’s grown stronger since I last sensed it.

Well, shit.

Right. It’s mark.

I’m not the only one growing stronger, even if it only has a single claw in the universe.

Although…

I furrow my brows.

At the very least, I do seem to be growing stronger at a much faster rate than it is.

Probably because only a single claw is in the universe.

All it’s using to devour things with is the energy let off of the claws.

I watch it for several more seconds before refocusing on my current location.

Well, time to train in the use of my body some more before I crush some unfortunate planet on accident.