Void Evolution System

The fifth terminal was extremely intuitive. When August questioned what he needed to do, he found himself in a bottomless pit of questions without answers.

However, when he started acting just to see what kind of privileges he had in this simulated world, he almost instantly figured out how to solve the puzzle.

In fact, the focus of the puzzle wasn't even the world that he saw when he first activated it.

There was a second world, a dead one, not far from that one.

It had all of the necessary elements to create life, but it didn't have the means to undergo the proper reactions.

August's job was to use the first world as a guideline to help the second world grow.

Once it birthed society, he succeeded.

It was tough.

August didn't have to comprehend other laws to put them into use. Since he had omnipotence in this world, he could put them in place without actually knowing how they worked.

It was like a game.

Still, August had to learn how the different laws worked together to support life. He had to learn how they leaned on each other, conflicted, and found harmony in a system that simply couldn't be created by an individual.

The universe was beautiful, and though August was never meant to marvel at its beauty, he couldn't help but do so.

After all, he was, in a sense, comprehending its inner workings with a puzzle like this.

Nevertheless, he took it in stride and did end up finishing the fifth terminal. This was just a few minutes after Mikael's massive explosion.

The problem was what happened next.

Valerie and Mikael were off doing their own thing. As the entire forest was Valerie's domain, their battle wouldn't be leaving it any time soon, if at all.

In the midst of so much continuous action, people tended to forget about Eris.

She was the one doing the least. She was struggling, but against a beast that was created to make her struggle.

Her fight simply wasn't as exciting as what everyone else was doing. Her goal was to corral the beast, to wear it down so that she could eventually unleash her full power and kill it.

That meant she was only using the most basic attacks, never transmuting her darkness too far away from its original oceanic form.

When Eris was the one in front of it, the beast looked like a glamorized punching bag no matter how hard it tried.

But the completion of the fifth terminal removed all of its aggro from her.

The beast instinctually knew that there was something wrong. There was only one terminal remaining, and that piece of technology was paramount to its survival.

If that was also completed, then it would die.

Even if it didn't have much sentience, it could understand that much.

Eris was a threat that it had already registered. It didn't need confirmation to know that she was dangerous.

But August, the person who was manipulating the terminals, was a threat that it had only discovered now.

And one that was far more dangerous than Eris.

OOOOOOOOOOH!

The beast bellowed, its flaming eyes blazing to another level.

It turned its body as a wave of power shot through its bones and nerves. Its eyes were now focused on August.

His eyes widened in response.

'Oh no.'

This wasn't in his predictions, but now that the situation was in front of him, he had to admit that he should've considered it.

He was the only one who could activate the sixth terminal.

Which meant that from now on, the beast's full attention would be on him.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

They were not attacks, but footsteps. Each one caused the ground to rumble and tear as the beast charged towards August.

It shattered Eris' swamp of darkness instantly. Nobody watching could believe that it was being restricted by the power just moments ago.

Still, regardless of where it got its power, the beast found a way to reach August at any cost.

To it, he was the most important person in the room.

'Tch!'

August quickly leapt out of the way.

He was lucky that it was slow, but its power made up for that weakness.

BOOOOOM!

The elephant stomped into the ground. A wave of earthen spikes erupted forth and chased after August, forcing him to jump out of the way.

BANG!

He had the wind knocked out of him by the pressure that followed those earth spikes.

But, he avoided being skewered, so he couldn't complain.

'That thing…'

August has a huge frown on his face.

He obviously couldn't handle it.

In the second of respite that he had, he glanced at Eris, only to receive a shrug.

"If you can bring it back to the inner ring, then I can take it from you."

In classic Eris fashion, she wasn't unwilling to help, but she wouldn't go out of her way to do it.

If August could earn his right to survive, then he could.

If he fell here, then that was that.

It was quite simple in her mind, especially when the other party was a stranger, moreover, a competitor.

But Augustclearlydidn't take it well.

He gritted his teeth and faced the beast that was once again charging at him at full force.

'The inner ring, huh?'

That was doable.

'If I can read a Holy Clan genius, if I can read a God…'

His eyes sharpened.

'...then I can read a mindless beast.'

Eris thought she had given him a challenge, but she'dactuallymade August's job a lot easier.

Plus, since she'd said those words out loud instead of using sound transmission, the audience had heard them. She couldn't go back on her promise without breaking her image in their eyes.

OOOOOOOOOOH!

The elephant raised its trunk. Its eyes burned as energy gathered in its tusks.

Two massive beams of energy blasted towards August, surrounding a ball of flames that did the same.

All three attacks were simple on the surface, but the destructive force they contained was nothing to laugh at.

'Flexibility.'

That was the exact concept of water that he needed right now.

He took note of his surroundings.

Where the sixth terminal was, where Eris was, where Valerie and Mikael were…

By the time he already had them all noted, the energy was already upon him.

VOOOOOM!

He stomped his foot again. Mana burst from the ground and created a massive wall of white water that took most of the energy into its form.

August's arms shook as he manipulated it to the best of his ability, but once heactuallyfelt the elephant's energy for himself, he gave up on trying to control it.

'This thingreallyis a mid-level 4th class at least.'

Even if it was mindless, its power was at a level that August couldn't fight against until hehimselfentered that mystical realm.

BOOM!

August let the power go loose.

Most of it had already been redirected, so he didn't have to worry about the consequences.

Just as when he retracted Mikael's light, the beams split and hit the walls, some of the trees in Valerie's forest, and even Eris.

BOOOOOOOOM!

The elephant was already barreling forward by the time August finished dealing with its previous attack.

When the white water came down and August saw it again, it was already too late for him to do anything.

'It's too late.'

He crossed his arms in front of his chest, straightened his body, and prepared to take the hit.

'This is going to hurt.'

It would hurt, but he could use it to his advantage as long as he tried.'

As crowds watched on, as Eris, Mikael, and Valerie turned their attention to him for a split second, everyone saw the collision between August and the beast.

To say it was brutal was an understatement.

This was the first time August had taken a serious hit since the beginning of the heir wars.

And as he expected…

Itreally, really, really hurt.