Void Evolution System

Claire fled the battlefield because she wanted to try and control her transformation.

It was an impossible endeavor, but that didn't mean she didn't want to try.

Claire's beautiful amethyst-purple eyes morphed, becoming somewhat draconic. Her pupils became slits, and her body snapped into place, its anatomical structure changing.

The skin of a human that she wore didn't change much. Other than her eyes, there weren't many external changes.

Her internal body, on the other hand, was no longer human in the slightest.

However, the most noticeable change was in her aura.

Claire was like her grandfather and father. She'd been instilled with values of peace since she was young, and though the world corrupted those values, she tried to gain them back when she matured.

Her aura was gentle, welcoming, and heartwarming. She was like a hearth that made anyone feel like they were at home, like they could relax and be at peace.

This aura caused people to trust her automatically. When Dante disappeared, she was able to take the reigns of the palace precisely because of this aura and this demeanor of hers.

It was all gone now.

Replaced by those reptilian eyes, Claire's aura had turned a bloody red and black color resembling destruction.

Her mind clouded over. She fought the battle for control valiantly, but she didn't have the qualifications to defeat the demon within her. Not even as a Supreme God.

After all, the entities who used her as a vessel, the dark creature and the corrupted World Core, were both Unrecorded in another cosmos.

They were not beings she could resist.

Click!

It wasn't a real sound, but a representation. Claire's rationality was effectively lost.

Her fight didn't last more than a second. Her fierce struggle didn't get her anywhere. Her body was no longer hers.

She stood up straight, but if one looked closely one could see a strange hunch in her back posture.

She looked unnatural, like a parasite pretending to be a human.

And though she had been taken over, she did not do anything in particular.

There was no life nearby.

Claire specifically got hundreds of kilometers away from both Malefice Straea and Erwin Ellowyn. She made sure that nobody else was near her before she turned.

Why?

Because the beings possessing her body didn't have complete sentience.

Perhaps their true forms were extremely sentient and smart. If not, they wouldn't have been able to abuse a connection to another cosmos at all.

However, if they wanted to take over Claire's body, they still couldn't use it as their own.

That was Dante's contribution. He was never able to truly destroy those beings, but he could at least protect Claire's mind from being shattered when they were released.

As such, the current Claire was a beast of instinct.

If anything or anyone appeared in her vicinity, she would make sure it died.

But until then, she would remain in stasis, searching for a place where chaos could be let loose.

It wasn't a perfect plan. It wasn't even a good one. But in the short span of time she had, it was the best she could do.

To risk herself and herself only, to make sure nobody else would get hurt as she let her power free for the first time in a long time.

For now, at least, Claire was succeeding.

***

It was quiet around Claire. Perhaps if someone entered her vicinity, the true nature of her current form could be revealed, but with the current situation, she was essentially out of commission.

Her summons, on the other hand, were putting in the work expected from them.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The dragon swept its tail through the air in a way similar to the snake, but its speed and power far surpassed its fellow.

The tail slammed into Malefice, giving him no opportunities to dodge.

"ARGH!"

The Straea God let out a loud groan of pain as his body was sent flying back.

The dragon opened its mouth, charging a ball of energy that was rapidly shot at the flailing man.

XIU!

The ball cut through the air, its energy elongating into a beam of sorts.

Malefice put up his defenses and tried to correct his body position, but he wasn't able to do so in time.

BOOOOOOOM!

Another massive attack struck him square in the chest. More blood was coughed out of his mouth, and if one could see the state of his internals, it became very obvious that he was not in a good state anymore.

BANG!

His body slammed into the ground, creating a huge crater.

As he pulled himself out of it, the dragon had already approached.

It didn't give him a single second of time.

"DAMMIT!"

His arm flew into the air wildly without any grace. His fingers curled in as if he was grabbing something, and he pulled his arm in ferociously.

It was a move he was saving for a final fatal attack against Claire, but that wasn't going to happen anymore.

What was the point of saving it if he was going to die before he could use it?

If one looked back at Malefice's fight with Claire, one would realize that he didn't actually try to attack her many times.

Even when he did, he was mainly doing so to distract her from what was going on in other places.

All of Malefice's nonfatal attacks, the very attacks that turned Claire's summons into statues that floated in the air…

Those attacks weren't as simple as they seemed.

WHOOOOOOOSH!

A huge roar of winds slammed against the ground as an even greater force was propelled towards it.

Malefice took control over the nearest darkness and threw it at the dragon wantonly.

And the darkness responded.

Suddenly, a statuesque serpent, roughly five hundred kilometers long, descended rapidly, catching fire as it rubbed against the atmosphere.

The man-made comet made it to the dragon as the dragon targeted Malefice, catching it by surprise.

And though it managed to avoid the physical impact…

That was only the start of it.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Malefice's darkness had completely overtaken the serpent. It was already dead, turned into a bomb that Malefice could use whenever he needed it.

It was unfortunate that it didn't meet its destined enemy, but it was used properly nevertheless.

Darkness exploded forth, creating a massive egg around the dragon. The egg of darkness squished and moved like a school of fish swimming through the air, compressing itself as it tried to swallow the dragon as well.

Black splotches appeared all over its golden scales, connecting to each other and forming a web that couldn't be escaped by normal means.

In most cases, nothing could escape this net.

No being had the power to remove Malefice's control. As long as his darkness covered enough of their bodies, it was impossible for them to resist enslavement.

However, as a bright golden Godly aura covered the dragon, and as a bloodlust beyond any other was released into the world, Malefice was forced to accept that his usual means wouldn't work this time.

The cards Claire had been hiding…

It was best to say that after fighting the dragon for a few minutes and seeing out of his peripheral as Erwin tried to fight the other two, Malefice completely understood why Claire was regarded as an expert leagues better than him.

He understood why his brother decided to retreat to the Sacred Abyss Universe and participate in the war against the Heavenly World as a true member of the Foreign Races.

Because unless he had power that far surpassed what his base human form could achieve…

…how was he meant to win against monsters like these?