Chương 263: Moment of Despair

Back on Earth, Barbatos lay motionless atop a reinforced medical table deep within one of Eden's underground facilities. The room around him was sterile and cold, illuminated by pale artificial lights that reflected off polished steel walls and countless holographic monitors. Machines hummed constantly, feeding streams of data across transparent screens while alarms quietly pulsed in the background like an approaching heartbeat. Yet despite all the technology surrounding him, none of it seemed capable of helping.

His breathing had become ragged and uneven long ago. Every inhale sounded strained, every exhale distorted, as though his lungs no longer understood the rhythm they were supposed to follow. Worse still, his body twitched in unnatural patterns. Muscles spasmed violently beneath his olive skin while black veins occasionally surfaced across his arms before fading again moments later. It looked less like illness and more like possession.

Alexandria stood nearby biting down hard on her thumbnail, her sharp eyes fixed on Barbatos with growing unease.

"It's already been an hour," she muttered quietly.

"And his condition is only getting worse." Rosemary sighed heavily from the opposite side of the room. Unlike Alexandria, she appeared outwardly calm, though the tension hiding beneath her expression was impossible to miss. Her gaze carefully studied Barbatos his unstable body, analyzing every twitch and tremor with clinical precision.

"Yes," she said softly.

"We need to resolve this quickly." She stepped closer to the table, resting one hand lightly against its metallic edge while observing the dark energy occasionally rippling beneath Barbatos his skin.

"Judging by the timing of the collapse," she continued, "something happened to his connection with his Enigma." Alexandria immediately snapped toward her.

"You've seen this before?" Rose nodded once.

"A few times. Usually after exposure to dense concentrations of chaotic Atum." Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

"But never this severe." Barbatos his body suddenly jerked violently upward. The monitors beside him immediately began screaming warnings.

"Then how do we fix it?" Alexandria asked sharply, stepping away from the wall she had been leaning against. Rose remained silent for several seconds before finally answering.

"We need help." The moment the words left her mouth, the mirror hanging on the far wall rippled like disturbed water. A figure emerged from its surface. Tharion stepped out calmly, fragments of reflective light sliding off his coat as the mirror sealed itself behind him. His normally composed appearance looked far more strained than usual. Dark circles rested beneath his eyes, and exhaustion lingered within every movement he made.

"Sorry I'm late," he said immediately.

"Everything above is chaos right now. After the mass rift event, casualties started appearing faster than we could stabilize them. I had to help secure several districts before coming here." Rose stared at him briefly before giving a slow nod.

"It's fine," she answered.

"But I assume you understand why we called you." Tharion's eyes shifted toward Barbatos. The moment he saw the state he was in, his expression shifted. Barbatos his body convulsed again, his fingers curling violently against the steel restraints attached to the table. Rose folded her arms.

"We have to resolve this before he regains consciousness," she said quietly.

"If his powers activate while his connection remains unstable…" She did not finish the sentence. She did not need to. Everyone in the room already understood the implications. Barbatos was not merely powerful. He was the strongest being on the planet. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. If his abilities spiraled out of control while the connection to his Enigma remained corrupted, the resulting disaster would not stop at a city, or even a continent.

Entire tectonic structures could collapse. Atmospheres could ignite. Oceans could evaporate. Earth itself might not survive. Tharion stared at Barbatos silently for a long while before exhaling through his nose.

"If I don't do it," he said quietly, "then who else will?" A slow clap echoed from the corner of the room.

"Bravo, brother," a familiar voice said lazily.

"Well said." Everyone turned. Fe stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, dressed in his usual black attire while the blindfold covering his eyes remained perfectly in place. His expression carried its usual amused calm, though something colder hid beneath it tonight. Tharion narrowed his eyes immediately.

"Do you think this is a joke, Fe?" Fe raised both hands innocently.

"Oh, not at all." His smile widened faintly.

"After all, what happened to him… happened to me once as well." The atmosphere shifted as the words left his mouth. Even Alexandria looked toward him now. Fe tilted his head slightly toward Tharion.

"Do you remember what that cost me?" he asked quietly.

"Back then, I didn't have you around to save me." Tharion stared at him for several long seconds before finally sighing in defeat.

"Fine." He stepped toward Barbatos his unconscious form.

"I'll need Alexandria nearby in case his body destabilizes further. She's the only person here physically capable of restraining him if things go wrong." Alexandria nodded immediately. Rose moved closer as Tharion prepared himself.

"Any idea what exactly caused this?" he asked without looking away from Barbatos. Rose thought carefully before answering.

"The most likely explanation is contamination from chaotic Atum exposure," she said.

"His connection pathways became overloaded. Right now his Enigma is probably rejecting portions of the link structure entirely." Tharion grimaced faintly.

"So I'll need to repair the connection manually." Rose immediately shook her head.

"No. You'll need to convince his Enigma to repair itself." Tharion finally glanced at her.

"And if I try to do it myself?" Rose remained silent for a moment. Then:"The mortality rate becomes… significantly less favorable." Tharion let out a dry laugh.

"You could've just said I'd die." Rose simply nodded.

"That would save time, yes." Tharion sighed deeply before extending a hand toward Barbatos his chest. Faint energy began gathering around his fingertips as he prepared to enter the damaged plane-space connected to Barbatos his Enigma. But suddenly, BANG. The medical room doors slammed open. A short woman in secretary attire nearly stumbled inside, breathing so hard she could barely stand upright. Sweat covered her forehead while panic filled her eyes.

"Miss Rose!" she gasped desperately.

"We have terrible news! We need an Archon immediately!" Alexandria caught her before she collapsed completely.

"Calm down," Rose said sharply.

"Report." The woman quickly activated a holographic tablet with trembling fingers. A projection of Earth appeared above it. Then the Moon. A single crimson dot pulsed violently across its surface.

"A rift formed undetected during the chain event," the secretary explained frantically.

"The simultaneous openings masked its signature until now. It's the only remaining active breach, but," Rose interrupted immediately.

"But what?" The woman looked up with pure despair in her eyes.

"It's seventh-stage." Silence struck the room. Even Tharion froze.

"A Cataclysm-class emergence has already been confirmed," she continued shakily.

"Based on output readings and dimensional pressure estimates…" Her voice faltered.

"It's likely a Titan." Alexandria cursed beneath her breath.

"Of all possible times…" Her eyes hardened instantly as she stepped forward.

"I'll go. I'm the only one capable of handling a Cataclysmic Titan." In most situations, she would have been correct. Only Archons possessed enough raw destructive capability to confront entities on that level. And even then, victory often came at the cost of their lives. But Rose's eyes shifted elsewhere. Toward Fe. The blindfolded man's smile had vanished completely now. For the first time since entering the room, he looked entirely serious. Rose studied him carefully.

"Can I trust you with this?" Fe grinned faintly.

"Of course." He tilted his head slightly.

"My acknowledgement works perfectly fine outside Earth's atmosphere after all." Rose immediately retrieved a compact device from her pocket and tossed it toward him. Fe caught it effortlessly.

"Attach that to your body," she instructed.

"It'll generate a breathable field in space." Fe whistled softly as he activated the device. A nearly invisible barrier shimmered around him instantly. Then he looked back toward Rose.

"Don't worry about me," he said calmly.

"Just make sure he's alive when I get back." The next second gravity bent around his body. The floor beneath him cracked slightly. Then he vanished upward like a launched missile. The facility trembled from the force alone. Within moments Fe had already pierced through the upper atmosphere, flying toward the Moon at incomprehensible speed while clouds exploded apart beneath his ascent. Alexandria watched him disappear.

"Can he really handle this?" she asked quietly.

"He's only a Paragon. A Titan-level Cataclysm could kill even an Archon." Rose smiled faintly.

"I suppose," she said softly, "we're about to find out." The Moon was silent. Endless grey plains stretched beneath an eternal black sky while distant stars burned coldly beyond the void. And standing before a massive crimson rift was Fe. He landed gently atop the lunar surface, boots pressing into pale dust as the dimensional tear before him pulsed like a bleeding wound in reality itself. Scarlet energy poured outward in violent waves, distorting gravity and bending light around it unnaturally.

Beyond the rift, something moved. Something enormous. Fe could feel it approaching. The gravitational field fluctuated violently with every step the creature took on the other side. Entire mountains of lunar stone began lifting from the ground around him, dragged upward by invisible force. The Titan was coming. Ready to enter their universe. Fe stared at the rift in silence for several long moments. Then, he smiled. A deep grin spread across his face as gravitational waves spiraled outward around his body.

"Well then," he murmured quietly into the void.

"I suppose this is the perfect opportunity…" The crimson rift shook violently. Fe raised his hand.

"…to discover what I'm truly capable of."