Published at 19th of February 2026 7:15 am

Chapter 2008 Change

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Rumble Rumble

Richard slowly lifted his head, his movements sluggish and heavy, as if the very air resisted him, and turned his gaze upward.

In that instant, even his previously frozen features finally cracked-like brittle stone under pressure-and beneath them surfaced a raw, instinctive terror. His lips parted, voice barely escaping. "No..."

The demon looming above him twisted in expression, its face contorting into a rage so vast and oppressive it felt capable of incinerating entire nations without effort. That fury wasn't abstract or distant; it was vivid, alive. Its features shifted subtly, unnervingly real, as though it were not a construct of fire, wind, and a breath of life-but a genuine living being, conscious and aware.

"Oooooooooh-"

The demon-an existence that looked as though it had been forged for the sole purpose of devouring worlds-released a colossal roar. The sound rolled across the heavens like an apocalypse bell, its sheer pressure stopping the hearts of countless lesser creatures in an instant, freezing them in primal fear before they could even understand why.

The vortex behind it began to expand violently, space itself cracking and tearing around its massive form.

Aside from the arm Richard had shattered at the elbow, five additional arms forced their way out of the distortion, each one gripping a different weapon. A sword.

A hammer.

A scythe.

A spear.

An axe.

As for the original arm, it regenerated once more, flesh and energy knitting together in seconds, the palm slowly curling until it became a clenched fist radiating overwhelming power.

Then, with deliberate slowness, the demon pushed all six arms downward- unhurried, merciless-as if it wanted every living being on the planet to feel each passing second, to count the moments remaining before their inevitable end.

Time itself seemed to lose meaning for Richard.

Each of those descending arms carried force equivalent to a full-scale, world-ending strike from a mid-level Nexus State. Not a single one of them was trivial; any alone could spell extinction.

Under normal circumstances, he would have needed his entire reserve of life energy-every last fragment-and would still be forced to activate the Anti-Life ability just to block a single one of those attacks.

This was not a test anymore, it's an execution.

Armor, arrays, and planetary equipment were forbidden during a Trial

of Competency; the tests simply disregarded their existence entirely. And even if he were somehow allowed to use the planetary gear he had only recently obtained, it would have meant little in the face of such overwhelming, absolute power.

Disturbance

The combined might of the six descending attacks crushed the air itself, warping it, compressing it, driving atmospheric pressure to horrifying extremes.

Richard could feel it deep in his bones... if he failed to intercept this assault and allowed it to strike the planet directly, this would unquestionably be the end of the world.

He had deliberately chosen a dwarf planet within a dwarf star system to conduct the trial without interference-a barren world inhabited only by small creatures and insects. Even so, witnessing an entire planet be erased because of him felt unbearably heavy.

...Witnessing?

He wouldn't be there to witness anything.

Richard barely managed to lower his gaze again. His expression was completely frozen now, not from calm, but from exhaustion and damage beyond measure. His internal injuries, worsened catastrophically by his reckless overuse of the Anti-Life ability, were no longer countable. The mere concepts of movement or speech felt distant and unreal-had he possessed a weaker will, his consciousness would have faded long ago.

Faintly, he could hear the sound of a craft tearing through space toward him. There was no doubt about it-it was the Phantom Shadow Vessel. They had disabled its phasing capability to push its speed to the limit in a desperate

attempt to save him.

But it was meaningless.

It was far too slow compared to those descending arms. At this point, rescue

was an impossibility.

Well... he had tried.

With tremendous effort, Richard closed his eyes once more.

His siblings. Serene. His father... all those unfinished stories, the paths he never walked, the words he never spoke-they would finally come to an end here.

A faint, strained smile tugged at his lips.

Maybe... this wasn't so bad.

Whoooosh-

At that exact moment, violent green flames erupted from Richard's head, surging upward like a living inferno. His soft white hair was instantly engulfed, reshaped into something wild and demonic-like the crown of a devil that had clawed its way out of hell in a single, furious motion.

His eyes snapped open.

Two pupils ignited with blazing green fire, burning with ferocity and defiance. His frozen expression shattered completely, replaced by furious, contempt-filled rage, "Are you trying to kill us, you weak bastard?!"

In that moment, Richard somehow managed to force his battered body into motion. By sheer will alone, he pushed past the agony and immediately sent his spiritual sense deep into the Void Ring. After a brief mental search, he extracted a specialized teleportation array and activated it purely through thought. Hoom.

The array hummed softly, its patterns lighting up as space itself began to respond.

Gritting his teeth, Richard dragged himself upright on his blood-soaked legs. His balance wavered, bones screaming in protest, yet he still leaned forward, ready to throw himself into the array. Just as he was about to move, however, he felt an immense weight dragging him back, preventing him from taking even

a single step.

"Hm?" he muttered in confusion.

It was the black coin.

The coin was still firmly bound to his right hand and abdomen, thick strands of energy extending from it like chains, wrapping around his core and locking his body in place. Those bindings pulsed faintly, as if alive, resisting his every

attempt to escape.

At that very instant, the six massive arms had already enveloped him in their shadow. He could feel their overwhelming presence-the crushing pressure, the searing heat. Most of all, he felt the fist, brushing dangerously close to the green flames erupting from his hair, so close that it nearly grazed his scalp. He knew with absolute certainty that a single second of delay would result in his

complete annihilation.

Yet Richard did not panic. He did not freeze.

Instead, he turned his fury toward the coin and roared as if the apocalypse

were not bearing down on him,

"Get lost, you cursed thing!!"

Without hesitation, he forcibly canceled the process. The bindings snapped

apart, the coin losing its hold and dropping heavily onto the scorched ground. Freed at last, Richard lunged forward and hurled himself into the portal. Bzzzt.

Rumble Rumble

Bzzzt

A circular space portal tore open in the middle of a desolate desert, its edges crackling violently. A heartbeat later-bam-a single figure was violently ejected from it, slamming into the sand.

"Argh..." Richard groaned as he struggled to lift his face out of the scorchingground. He shook his head repeatedly, coughing and spitting as grains of sand clung stubbornly to his mouth and eyes. "Tsk tsk...

" "

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push himself upright. His arms trembled uselessly beneath him. The veins in both arms were completely destroyed, their internal pathways torn apart. Muscles were shredded, bones fractured, and even the deeper structures of his body demanded extremely precise reconstruction before they could function again.

Poof.

The most he could manage was to shift slightly, rolling onto his back and

staring blankly up at the sky. Even that small movement sent waves of pain through his body. Relief never came-his anger only deepened when he noticed something above him.

"You bastard... you shameless bastard... you useless, arrogant fraud!!!" he muttered repeatedly, voice shaking with rage.

Summoning what little strength he had left, Richard raised his hand and

slapped himself hard across the face. Pah.

Hoo~ The green flames atop his head flickered violently, then extinguished. The glow

in his pupils faded, and even his eyebrows lost their fiery hue. His face reverted

to a weak, almost frozen expression, drained of color and strength.

"What... happened? What the hell...?" he whispered.

Then he saw it.

His eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.

High above the desert planet's sky, something utterly catastrophic was

unfolding.

A nearby planet-once whole-had been completely reduced to drifting dust and shattered debris. Where it once existed, only a swirling graveyard of fragments remained. And beside that devastation, Richard saw a colossal silhouette: something resembling a gigantic green demon.

That being turned its gaze toward the desert planet, its presence radiating

boundless rage and immeasurable pride. After a moment that felt like eternity, its form slowly began to fade, dissolving into nothingness. "What is this...? Is that the planet where I was supposed to undergo the

breakthrough?" Richard murmured in disbelief. "H-how did I end up here...?"

Whoosh!

The green flames suddenly reignited.

"It was I, you little shit, who saved our life," Richard voice thundered. "I am the

one you have been trying to erase for centuries!"

Hoo!

Fear flooded Richard's eyes. "You... you should be dead! You haven't appeared

for centuries! Serene and I celebrated your death-we even held a funeral for

you!"

Whoosh!

"How do you kill me when I am not filth?" the voice roared. "How do you cure me when I am not a disease? I am you. I am the result of every bitter experiment, every ruthless decision. I am rage and ambition-while you are sorrow and isolation. I am Richard, just as much as you are."

Richard's expression hardened further, fury twisting his features as his voice

rose.

"I stepped back. I gave you control, you gentle, rational fool. And this is what

you chose? You tried to kill us? You thought running away was the safest way

to deal with what rots in your heart?!"

Hoo!

"I was-"

Whoosh!

"I don't want to hear it," his own voice cut him off coldly. "And I won't give you

another chance."

Booosh!

At that precise moment, Phantom Shadow Vessel-2 descended from the sky, its engines roaring as it locked onto Richard's exact location with terrifying accuracy.

When the flame-haired Richard saw the vessel approaching, he allowed himself

a faint, crooked smile-one filled with dominance rather than relief. "...This body," he said softly, "is mine now."

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