Killed Me? Now I Have Your Power Chapter 417: Blanking Out [1]

Inara sensed herself plunging into an endless void, her fragilely restored thoughts drifting aimlessly, replaying all the events that had unfolded moments ago.

But even that proved impossible.

Her thoughts refused to latch onto any one idea, constantly disrupted by the entities stirring as she ventured further into Echidna’s psyche.

Gazing eyes, gnashing teeth, and grotesque monstrous claws materialized all around her. They swarmed in countless numbers, akin to grains of sand along a shore. Every single one possessed its own independent will, and all shared the identical desire:

To reach out and invade the thoughts of the Heiress.

Inara perceived the profound insanity of Echidna echoing in each of them, straining desperately to protect her own psyche.

The exchange she had shared with Echidna gradually resurfaced in her awareness.

She recalled the directives from her master and the goals she must fulfill.

’S-Sublimation...?’ Inara pondered fracturedly, her thoughts puzzling over the method to attain such a condition.

The Mother of Monsters had described the Voice of Sublimation, audible solely when the abyss served as one’s core.

Yet that explanation remained far too nebulous to serve as any real direction. Inara couldn’t grasp a single detail from it. In honesty, her intellect wasn’t the sharpest.

’You must listen, my princess.’

Inara’s psyche jolted awake at the nurturing yet firm tone of Echidna filling her thoughts.

’Now is the moment for you to discover how to attune your hearing to the metaphorical, rather than the literal.’

’However, time is not on your side, my princess. You possess merely two days before all that I — — toiled relentlessly for since that fateful day crumbles into worthless remnants, forgotten by the annals of history.’

Inara clenched her lips tightly, her consciousness delving ever deeper into Echidna’s chasm, absorbing her guidance.

The enormity of her challenge dawned on her. Yet simultaneously, a fear gripped Inara of failing to endure it.

Her shoulders grew abruptly weighted, and her awareness struggled to withstand the escalating frenzy pounding against her mind.

Still, she understood no alternatives existed. The option to choose had vanished the instant she embraced the role of Echidna’s Heiress.

The moment she resolved to grow powerful, casting off the stigma of frailty, demonstrating to herself her deservingness of might.

From that very day onward... Inara ought to have realized a reckoning would arrive, demanding its toll.

That reckoning had now arrived.

After all, power invariably demands compensation.

Her cost extended beyond mere mortality. It encompassed the peril of descending into lunacy, followed by the erasure of her very awareness.

With that epiphany, Inara at last descended to the deepest core of the abyss.

Her form collapsed onto a heap of skeletal remains. Rather than the bones shattering, her vertebrae snapped, her backbone contorting like a twisted spiral staircase.

Inara stifled a piercing scream.

She rebounded from the odd, rust-tinged bones like a rebounding sphere, tumbling across a surface teeming with staring, winking orbs.

At last, she came to rest, sprawled on her back, her gaze fixed upon the... heavens?

It wasn’t the heavens.

Rather, it consisted of thousands — perhaps billions — of yellowish tendrils, writhing, curling, and interlacing through the void in a bizarre, unified rhythm.

On pure reflex, Inara realized she had witnessed something forbidden. Her left eye, Oeil — the sole companion monster she carried — triggered automatically, deploying one of its abilities.

The ability to slip into the dreams of beasts.

Inara’s awareness fully blacked out, immersing itself in the reverie of the mass of yellow tendrils overhead.

During this, Oeil roared in alarm. She had attempted to halt her own ability, sensing her mother wouldn’t endure the sight of IT.

However, it seemed her control over her power had been seized, rendering her completely powerless.

Only one course remained open to her...

"MOTHER! DON’T LOOK AT IT! DON’T LOOK!!!"

...which was to cry out with every ounce of her strength, praying her mother would catch the plea.

Yet she couldn’t determine if her final effort bore fruit, as Oeil’s own shutdown followed swiftly.

Inara then slipped into the dreamscape of an entity largely erased from memory. The primal origin fueling Echidna’s abyss.

And thus...

...

At the same instant, within the Royal Mansion of the Celestial Empire, Sora Asterion abruptly roused from her slumber. She resembled a reanimated cadaver, despite the sacred glow enveloping her.

"Arghh..." Sora groaned, clutching her head, tormented by a vicious ache on the left portion of her cranium.

She eased herself upright cautiously, perching on the bed, her spine slumping wearily against the trunk of her opulent, gold-embellished bedframe.

Raising her gaze, her eyes hollowed by something profounder than mere exhaustion.

Golden Voice still donned the identical attire from her prior encounter with Aster, The First Celestial.

"It wasn’t a dream." Sora murmured, her golden gaze dulled.

She chuckled without mirth.

"They promised that ascending to Empress would grant me liberty. That upon claiming the throne, none would challenge my will."

Sora pounded her fist into the bed with burning intensity, reducing it to glittering golden dust in an instant.

She toppled forward, her rear impacting the floor with a jolt. Sora paid it no mind.

Yet amid her fury, she overlooked how her solar essence had intensified. Dramatically so.

"Things have deteriorated further." Sora pressed on, hunching into a ball, "This isn’t merely my parents blocking my aspirations anymore. Nor is it my brother standing in the way. No..."

She exhaled sharply, her eyes igniting,

"...this is a deity intent on turning me into his marionette."

Now, her duty compelled her to slay Prometheus, the very individual who had aided her immensely yet owed her naught.

The one who inspired her... her melody.

And this, just as matters flowed seamlessly. Just as she caught a fleeting sign of Kaden after years of scant tidings, and received a token from him.

"I can’t bring myself to do it." Sora breathed, pressing her face into her palms, "I won’t. I’ve already turned against him twice. He pardoned me both times. A third betrayal is beyond me."

Yet the dilemma lay in execution. How could she accomplish it?

Aster embodied a true divinity, the foundational root of her lineage itself. She held zero leverage against him.

Even presently, Sora felt the rush of potency from her heritage surging within. But that rush intertwined with an intensified bond to the First Celestial.

Sora sensed it plainly. Should she ever defy Him, an eternity of torment surpassing death awaited.

At this, Golden Voice let out a sob, her features burning crimson as furious tears traced paths down her face.

She ripped apart her imperial garments, abruptly scorning and despising her elevated position.

Of what value was the crown of Empress, if it chained her freedom to act?

In that instant, had it been possible, Sora would have torn free from the Celestial bloodline ensnaring her.

She swore repeatedly, over and over.

Her locks ignited into animated flames, as instinctively she seized the necklace bestowed by Kaden, yearning for comfort.

The response came swiftly. Her pulse steadied, absorbing the reassuring heat of Kaden’s essence via the artifact.

Sora’s tear-sealed eyes fluttered open, examining the necklace with greater intensity.

Without thought, her mouth curved into a soft grin, evoking the memory of the day they felled the moon.

It had been a glorious occasion. One that transformed her utterly. On that day, she comprehended... their invincibility was an illusion.

Even the moon could perish. Thus, the sun, the stars, and the firmament could follow.

Sora’s gaze sharpened, concentrating intently on the necklace. Oddly, the deeper her focus, drawing on Kaden’s soothing aura, the more she detected an additional presence inside.

An element that stirred her inner lineage faintly, as though acknowledging a kindred force.

Sora halted, her damp, tear-marked expression creasing faintly. Trusting her gut, the hand cradling the necklace glowed softly, infusing it with her bloodline’s radiance.

The peculiar link intensified right away. In that moment, Sora appeared capable of perceiving a faint emanation from the necklace.

A murmur. A susurrus.

The murmur conveyed a message. But Sora couldn’t decipher it. It resembled the babble of an infant.

Intrigued now, she amplified her effort, channeling a greater surge of her bloodline essence into the necklace.

The chamber sweltered with heat, charged with keen suspense.

Through this, it felt as if her hearing unlocked briefly, enabling her to perceive not mere speech...

But pure intentions.

And then Sora Asterion at last discerned the utterance distinctly. It consisted simply of...

Sora’s entire being trembled.

—End of Chapter 417—