Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 202: Light

Vale expected an explosion, but the light dug into the wall like claws, soaking into the image and splashing it with red that flowed like blood.

The image of Vorgaelor shuddered as the red light covered him. He jumped out of the image, screaming as red smoke came out of his body without being set on fire.

He turned blindly and lurched forward at Vale, only to be struck by the remaining red pillar that fell from the sky. His body was shrouded by the reddish fire that was more illusory than real, but still, he continued to move toward Vale with seething hate in his eyes.

Vale tried to get out of the way, but his body was wrung dry of energy. The only thing not trembling on his body was his right hand that held the artifact.

He locked eyes with Vorgaelor and knew the monster meant to kill him so they would both go together. Vale didn’t want to die just yet, so he raised the lantern artifact again and spoke in a weak voice that came out as a whisper.

"Light."

His core cracked, and Vale bent with pain, falling with a thud, the lantern still clamped tight in his fist. But it was activated, and a thin red light slanted down like dawn, cleaving through Vorgaelor as if he were made of butter.

Green blood splattered down, and Vorgaelor stopped in surprise as two halves of his body fell separately close to each other. But still, he wasn’t dead. His left hand raised and pointed at Vale, who could only stare helplessly.

’...I lost the greatest today...my core.....’

But before Vorgaelor activated whatever he intended, a shadow fell on them. Old Man stood there, his artifact gone, purple light falling from his body and into Vorgaelor.

Then Old Man gestured, and the lantern artifact jumped into his hand. He looked at it intently.

"You are strong. Too bad I already have a foundation."

Then he turned to Vale. His eyes had returned to their blazing green. Purple met green. Then Old Man pointed at Vorgaelor.

"He’s going to be alive for some time. But he’s dying. He can’t do anything."

Then Old Man disappeared, turning into black and purple dust that floated away. Vale could only lay there, spine bent as his body spasmed.

His thoughts drifted.

’....what will I do now?..... I’ve stopped the Rift from breaking..... but at the cost of my core... shit... shit.... If I knew, I would have just let Vorgaelor have his way while I escaped.... I mean, if I had my core, then I’d have a chance to fight him later....’

He tried to smile, but it ended in a grimace of pain. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

’...i wonder how Tiber and Slya died.... ah.... shit....’

He lay there for a while, drifting in and out of consciousness. After some time, he became lucid again and saw that Vorgaelor’s right eye was blinking. He remembered Old Man’s words—that the man was going to stay alive for a while.

Vale glared and put as much anger and hate in his eyes as the pain in his body allowed.

He knew he was going to die. His body wasn’t healing because there was no core to hold essence.

’.....seriously, everything went wrong today.... From Steelclaw to the Flagbearers and then Vorgaelor... and that Old Man... Wait... Why did Old Man let me live? Is it some kind of superiority thing? He might as well just kill me.... No... no... I promised myself I wouldn’t look for death... Yes, and I’ve kept that promise, right? Right!.....’

Vale couldn’t help but mock himself internally.

’.....using the tower will only make things worse because even though it can take its own essence, I still need my core to activate it....’

Suddenly, Vale jolted. Not that he could move his body apart from making his limbs tremble, but his mind jolted as if a spark had been run through it.

His breath stilled. He didn’t know if it would work, but he had to try it.

’...what if I absorb Vorgaelor’s core and try to advance to the Errant Rank? Will it fix my core?.... Shit.... I don’t know, but what else can I do? I have nothing to lose.... Apart from my life, but I’m already losing it anyway... I’ll try it....’

The only problem was that Vale couldn’t move. He needed to get to Vorgaelor and do what he planned, since he couldn’t control his essence.

So he waited. Every time essence came to his ruined core and then dispersed, he used everything he had to move it towards his body, to slash into him instead.

Each attempt sent bolts of pain coursing through his body, and his head felt as if it were being pried open by a hammer and a flat torture instrument by Wolf.

He even passed out at some point, sweat soaking his clothes, but he continued anyway. Again and again. He did it until his eyes were gummy with tears and his nose dripped blood.

But he did it, and he was able to heal his body enough to crawl to Vorgaelor. He crawled between his severed body, right above the warm intestines and organs.

He shuddered and sent the remaining essence that was still healing his body into Vorgaelor to search out the core. He found it, and it shone a vibrant green to his senses, but it was also tainted with red.

’.....the red... is it because of the power he gained trying to break the Rift....’

The core was almost four times the size of his own, and the pressure it gave off would have made Vale’s bones shake, but at the moment, he didn’t care. He was going to die anyway.

Vale didn’t think it through again. And Vorgaelor didn’t put up any resistance as he began to suck the essence from the core into himself.

Vale groaned as his body lit up with essence once again, but he couldn’t hold it inside his body because of his ruined core. He didn’t know how to heal the core either, everything he was doing and trying to do was just guessing.

But what else could he do? He would die if he did nothing.

So he took a large amount of essence from Vorgaelor’s core at once and dumped it into his own ruined one. What he felt wasn’t pain, it must have been something beyond it.

His vision went black and then white, but he felt a connection between himself and Vorgaelor snap into place before he knew no more.