The water of the lake exploded upwards as massive waves were lifted hundreds of feet into the skies.

The lights in the eye of Lamia shined as the barrier covering the lake began to dim. She made a gesture with her hands and her Champion began attacking the spikes inside the numerous eyes on her hair.

He began to steadily pull them out; it could be noticed that the barrier over the lake was linked to the Control Hub, and as the Serpent consumed it, the barrier over Lamia was weakening.

This child is performing far better than she would have ever thought. He was surely the best pawn she had on hand. She knew of no one else inside the Nexus that could perform this task better than he could. Not even that fool playing Soldier.

Her mouth went crooked as she grinned widely.

Lamia opened her mouth and the countless bones at the bottom of the lake began to stir and slowly began arising and surged into her open mouth.

Her stomach began to slowly expand, until it seemed as if she was twelve months pregnant! Yet for the number of bones she had consumed it should be far larger.

This continued for a while before the last of the bones entered her mouth, she frowned for this was hardly the amount she was expecting, and most importantly, her most prized possessions were not among them.

What she had just gathered were only the surface layers of the bones at the bottom of the lake, and although they were the most plentiful, most were simply the bones of mortal or weak Dominators of the first circle.

Her real prize dwelled deeper within the bones, where the remains of powerful Dominators of the second and third circle rested, numerous demons and various powerful creatures also lay there and chief among them was a fourth Circle Dominator, a being only second to a god.

An awful premonition began to grow in her heart and her eyes penetrated the gloom, she saw the remnants of a tail slipping back into the ground.

Lamia’s eyes burned with fury before she settled, and a strange smile bloomed on her face. There were some things this child should not eat, else he would pay the prize.

The darkness Rowan encountered inside the Control Hub that was seemingly dispelled began to appear around the bulging stomach of Lamia.

She began patting her stomach and crooning a gentle song, as her hair started to wave in the air like massive piles of snakes.

Her stomach began to grow cold, as flecks of ice began forming around it, she began to create real Abominations, not the paltry shadows she was forced to make before, and inside the Nexus, she was hidden from the eyes of the gods, and no one was here to stop her from creating what had been forbidden from her for so long.

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Rowan placed the investigation of the Spatial Artifact on hold as he walked to the remains of the General, his perception swept through the charred bones, and he detected no sign of life. Yet, there was a problem, as the General was not dead, for Rowan had not harvested his soul.

At his final moment, Rowan felt a pulse in the General’s soul before it vanished, but since that soul was now extremely weak, Rowan had felt its passage, and knew it was not far from him, the General was likely still within the Nexus.

Envy began to shriek, it was a shrill metallic sound that could make heads explode around it for miles. The sound was the rage of a weapon that had been denied its price.

But not for long. Rowan felt the Axe beginning to release a subtle pulse, and like a bloodhound, the Axe began to breathe!

It was a steady inhalation that drew upon a new ephemeral concept left behind by the General, and it was fear. With Envy, Rowan now knew the color of fear, it was yellow, and it reminded him of an Abomination’s blood.

Unexpectedly it’s movements ceased and Rowan felt an image branded in his consciousness, it was a wisp of a Soul that was in the process of possessing a soldier who sat on a large horse – like creature, a moment later, Rowan recognized the creature as a Runethor, and their location should be at the forest, west of the manor.

The General was like an undying vermin. Even though Rowan knew someone like this would have his lifesaving means, this was just ridiculous. The General had easily left his body behind and possessed another, but should it be this effortless?

After thinking about it for a short while, he saw a similar feature in both the possessed soldier and the General, which was the armor. Rowan noticed that apart from the color that set them apart and some minor embellishment, they were still made from bones.

The poor soldier did not know he was being possessed and Rowan hardly blamed him, the Nexus was falling apart and pandemonium was everywhere, Rowan hoped that the people he left behind would have a marginal amount of protection from the chaos, also he sent the One-eyed Serpent to protect them.

He should hunt the General next and kill him, but he should first protect the weak. He had sworn an oath to their dead families, and it was not so long ago that he was human, he could not easily forget his roots in the blink of an eye.

Envy finally settled after locating her prey, Rowan could feel an intense sort of anticipation from the Axe.

In the vision the Axe showed him, there had been other soldiers there, with similar armor, that meant Rowan would have to wipe them out at once, before they spread out or escape the failing Nexus, if the General would just keep hopping bodies that were spread far out, it was possible that he might escape.

Rowan frowned, his plans to allow a single Ouroboros Serpent to consume the entire Nexus for the energy may not be possible with unknown outside interference, he commanded the single Serpent behind him to consume the Mithril gate and reveal what was behind it.

Stepping on the charred skull of the General, he crushed it into ash, and drove his Spirit into the Spatial Artifact he held and discovered that there was a tenacious layer of Spirit permeating the Artifact.

After attempting to grind his way through the Spirit barrier, he had limited success, for if he were to use this method, judging by the density of the Spirit power inside, it would take him at least a decade to grind his way through it.

Rowan was stumped for a while, before he decided to use his Spatial Sight to investigate the Artifact. Using the same trick he used in compressing the vibrational wave and the flames from Envy, he molded his Spatial Sight around the Artifact.

The first thing he saw was a stunning 3D view of the entire bracelet, it was silver and appeared to be flawless, but as he zoomed in closer, he saw an image of a cube and inlaid in tiny letters were the word: Mist Tower.

Rowan guessed this must be the label of whomever produced this Spatial Artifact, and pushed more of his Sight into the bracelet, until it expanded to the size of a building in his perception.

Yet, he still went deeper, until the flawless state of the bracelet became packed with bumps and large mystical trails that resembled a river filled with purple luminous particles that were fixed in a rigid position, but were still vibrating in a mysterious pattern.

Rowan did not understand what he was seeing, and he scrutinized this trail of purple particles if he could see any hint of how to break it open without crushing the bracelet.

When the Ouroboros Serpent finished consuming the Mithril gates, he wore the bracelet on his left arm; he would experiment on how to open it later.

As the gate was consumed in its entirety, Rowan finally saw what was behind it, and he paused in contemplation.

There was another temple behind this gate.