Chapter 78 Battle Without End (3) The commotion from the short battle had reached the people standing outside, and the destruction of the walls had allowed them to see the final part of what transpired. They may not have understood what happened, but seeing the insect like creature inside the priest and the ravings of the captain was enough to frighten them. He looked at the shaken people, a hint of pity in his eyes, but battle was upon them, and he could not risk their lives in what was coming. The army charging towards them was a testament to the ridiculous number of people who had been killed in whatever horrifying experiment was happening here. Rowan was glad that out of everyone inside the manor, only three people had been corrupted by those insects - like creatures, who Rowan feared were not Abominations themselves, but something else. He now had several clues he could pursue, the first was that there was apparently a giant facility underground that was responsible for processing Abominations en masse. Rowan knew the attacks of the Abomination were not natural, everything pointed against it, for it would be impossible for an infestation of this size to grow to this level without outside interference. The second most important clue was a term–The Nexus. This name was not strange to him. In fact, every Alchemist worth his salt would know this term. A Nexus, was a self-contained bio-containment unit, used to grow and experiment on diverse specimens isolated. The poisons Rowan used for his first sojourn into that world with the Red Moon, were cultured in a Nexus. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 But, operating a Nexus was a ridiculously expensive affair, and he had never heard of any unit being greater than the size of a small house, but this was Calcutta—An entire town! Although its population was small, it did not mean it was a small town in terms of size. Apparently he was one of the specimens under sturdy here, the Abomination core was still one of their subjects, and those insectlike supervisors were controlling its spawn using this fog. In a manner, Rowan could understand why the Abomination Core was placed here inside the Nexus with him. They ranked as one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, because of their capacity for endless evolutions. Given enough material, an Abomination could evolve to reach the peak of existence in any given biodome they found themselves in; that meant given enough time and resources, in a world like Trion, an Abomination could spawn gods!? It was a scary notion, and it was the reason they were ruthlessly crushed in their infancy, for their growth meant the decimation of all life around them. He also had the capacity for endless evolution and growth, and unlike the Abomination he fed on something more ephemeral, which was souls. Unlike the Abomination Core who had been hopelessly controlled, he felt the noose around his neck was looser because they had no idea how he was getting stronger, and so, a mistake was made on his rate of growth. Else there would be no way, they would respond to his apparent new abilities by sending an Army of Abominations to stop him, they were just fueling his growth. Not that it would matter if he could not escape the Nexus. The highest State of Change, Rowan knew of, was the Incarnation state. No doubt there were many more states of change above that, and he had no doubt that his father would be in a far higher State than himself, and although he was an Empyrean, it did not mean he could not be crushed like a bug. But he did not need to challenge him for now, for that would certainly be very foolish, what he needed to do was escape. The facility underground must certainly exist because it would require an insane amount of energy and organization to properly manage a Nexus of this size. And he could not see any sort of facility above ground that would serve as a Control Hub. The approaching Abominations beckoned his consciousness, and Rowan began splitting his mind, although it may appear that he had lots of time, that was only referring to his lifespan, his time of freedom inside this Nexus was running out. He may have an hour, or a day to make his move, but he had a glimmer of hope because he knew he was inside a Nexus, and he had an idea how most work, regardless of its size. He finally saw a light of hope through the darkness because someone slipped up, and he understood where he was, his upgrade to the Legendary State would give him the power to seize that opportunity. Time seemed to slow down, as the cold flames of his Agility Attributes ran through his frame. He separated his consciousness into multiple parts, one of them took a portion of his Spatial Sight and zoomed underground, searching for the underground facility, for the Control Hub would undoubtedly be there. The Control Hub would usually have a powerful Guardian to restrict the specimens from escaping using one of the few points of egress in the Nexus. That tied to his second goal, exterminating every single Abomination inside the Nexus, and using the souls to power up for as much as possible, he did not know if it would be able to push him to the Rift State, but he was willing to try. He would need every advantage he had to fight the Guardian of this gigantic Nexus, anything put in place to stop an Abomination Core in case of any mishaps would be mighty. Killing it would be a challenge, but if he could, he would leave this place, and he could finally disappear into the crowd. The Third was the strings that tied the Primordial Record, he split his sight to travel down the strings, and discovered that one of them led underground, and the other two disappeared far into the sky. Following the path of the one that led underground, his sight was blocked by a metallic barrier, and he paused, he had reached the Control Hub! The last of his consciousness addressed the frightened people before him, he did not give them time to think, only orders. "Genmir, Kriya, Srerma, you are the fastest men here, there is a key to my Alchemy laboratory above inside my room, at the workstation, check the fourth drawer. Inside my lab, there are a series of blue vials on the shelves to your right, carefully pack them and bring them to the cellar. Be careful, for they are quite delicate, and your survival would depend on them." He turned to the rest, "Gather every available resources inside the manor, and bring them down to the cellar, I would be sealing the doors with Sigils, you have five minutes. Hurry!" About to leave, he saw the fear and concern in their eyes, and Declara was the boldest among them, she gestured for the rest to leave and took a single step towards Rowan and said, "My lord, what about you?" She looked around her as a hanging frame fell and shattered on the floor, the manor was vibrating with the incoming steps of the Abomination. "I am going to stop what is coming, before any of you gets hurt." He nodded towards the approaching sound. Seeing more queries and concern on her face. He sighed, and flared his powers for a brief instant, and she went white, "Do as your lord commands, I will be enough." Nodding mutely, she followed the rest, Rowan looked at her for a few moments, he had heard her whispers as she wished for his safety, in a manner, she reminded him of his mother. He shook his head before turning away, and disregarding the passage he would take to go outside, he simply broke through the stone walls, they felt as if he was walking through cardboard.