Beyond the Bloodline-Chapter 369: Desperate Search

Silence blanketed the entire area.

No one moved. No one spoke.

They had all just witnessed a dragon erupt with the law-destroying power of the Dead Zone—something that, by every known logic and cosmic precedent, should have been utterly impossible.

And they had also watched as that same dragon’s body disintegrated into dust, not through self-destruction, nor by any enemy attack, but by what could only have been some external force manipulating his existence.

During the final battle against the Destruction Supreme over 450 million years ago, the fabric of existence was torn apart, and the void of nothingness beyond existence bled in through the wound.

That void was the blank canvas upon which the "painting" of existence had been laid.

Though the wound eventually healed, the universe couldn’t completely repair it and erase all traces of the breach.

The residue left behind caused that area to become the Dead Zone: a region severed from the structure of conventional reality, where the foundational systems of the Cosmos fail to function properly. It had reached a corrupted yet stable equilibrium, contained and no longer expanding, because the forces that had created it had diminished.

The grey fog was not actual mist, but the visible form of the lingering residue of nothingness, a perception-anchored manifestation of pseudo-nonexistence that only appeared fog-like because that’s how ’existences’ were capable of perceiving it.

It kills all conventional life, deconstructs universal laws, and corrupts the fabric of reality—forces fundamentally opposite to its nature.

The implications of this dragon being able to wield its power, even if only temporarily, were immense. The fear it invoked, even more so.

Richard immediately tapped the rune inscribed into the back of his left palm, a brief flash of golden light signalling the activation of a communication link.

|IMMEDIATELY HEAD TO THE VORDANIS SECTOR! ASSIST THE ARGENT FORCES IN SEARCHING ALL CLUSTERS WITHIN THE VORDANIS, TYR’ZEN, QELLIMAR, AND HALVERON SECTORS.

SEQUENCE 0 PRIORITY!|

Those were the cardinal galactic clusters under the dominion of the Lesser Supreme whose death they had just witnessed, and regions where clues that might answer the questions now hanging over them could still be hidden.

The moment he issued the order, Richard felt something attempt to breach his Authority, and his gaze immediately snapped toward the source—Heilong’s floating body.

Instantly, his earlier thoughts resurfaced.

What if there are still things he can reveal? Things Miranda couldn’t detect when she scanned his memories?

Things that maybe weren’t even stored in his ’memories’ to begin with?’

’His body!’

If Heilong, who had already been confirmed to have ties to the Neo-Extinction Legion, also possessed the ability to wield the Dead Zone’s power, then that might be the exact reason an attempt had been made on his life!

However, Richard said nothing to the others. He simply activated his Aspect Armament in silence, encasing Heilong within a sphere of cosmic energy to ensure no external force could erase him in the same manner as the other dragon.

Then, he turned his gaze outward, sweeping across the other Supremes present, his eyes narrowing as his voice dropped low.

|Nobody say a damn thing about objecting to that search anymore. We’re starting with the giants and the dragons.|

No one responded. Not that anyone could, not after what they’d just witnessed.

The storm that had begun with the removal of the Main Entities following the Pinecone incident had now cracked wide open into something even more destructive, threatening to unravel far more than anyone had ever prepared for.

◇　◇　◇

The search across the territories of the deceased Dragon Supreme began in earnest, pushed to twice the intensity that had originally been planned.

Miranda even called upon reserve forces she had set aside for other matters, assigning them to aid in the search, all with the aim of uncovering any clues regarding Eldros’ whereabouts or identifying those responsible for taking him.

The incident in the Prison Realm was kept secret, not because the Supremes had willingly agreed, but because Richard had them all swear Oaths.

His Aspectual Authority of Restrictions proved invaluable in situations like this.

As for the Supremes, even those reluctant to swear the Oaths found themselves with no choice due to the pressure from the others, since refusing to swear an oath of silence would imply an intent to speak of the matter.

Those Supremes unconnected to the Neo-Extinction Legion and had no desire to face such accusations readily swore the Oaths and ensured that no one else was allowed to abstain from swearing as well.

While the assassination attempt on Heilong was disclosed, Eldros’ escape and the Dragon Supreme’s eruption with the power of the Dead Zone were kept strictly hidden.

While Miranda led the search, Richard transported Heilong’s body to his personal pocket dimension, concealed beneath one of the oceans on Volarth, the capital planet of the Argent Empire.

In that place, time was but a single vector Richard could manipulate at will.

He began conducting tests on Heilong, their only lead in understanding what had truly occurred in the Prison Realm, having deduced that the assassination attempt on Heilong stemmed from his possession of the same ability to wield the Dead Zone’s power, which those behind him hadn’t wanted anyone to discover.

The Dragon Supreme’s use of that power likely had not been part of their plans either, and from Richard’s perspective, that Supreme was probably killed for exposing the fact that there were beings capable of using the ’grey fog.’

’Whatever they didn’t want anyone finding out about Heilong was likely not in his soul, which Miranda searched, but in his body.’

With that in mind, Richard dissected Heilong’s body, and when Miranda arrived at his pocket dimension after being called by him, she was met with the sight of a massive dragon stripped entirely of scales, stitched in several places, and most noticeably, a containment barrier of cosmic energy holding back the slow seep of grey mist emanating from the dragon’s body.

Miranda’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the grey mist, and at that moment, Richard spoke.

"Miranda, these Neo-Extinction guys are far more dangerous than the originals."

She turned toward the voice and saw Richard stepping out from a side room, tossing the scalpel in his hands into a nearby sterilising tank.

"What did you find?"

"Exactly what we witnessed. Heilong has undergone some form of existential modification that allows him to harness this pseudo-nonexistence. You can see the grey mist seeping from his body, after all."

Miranda’s frown deepened as her gaze returned to Heilong.

"How didn’t I notice this?" she muttered.

"Don’t blame yourself. I didn’t notice it until I opened him up. Or rather, it’s only natural you didn’t notice because of how strong you are."

"What?"

Miranda was visibly confused. How could her strength have anything to do with not detecting the pseudo-nonexistence?

"Wait, you’ll understand when I explain."

Richard cast a spell to clean the blood from his lab coat, then continued.

"First of all, you can say that mist was originally spread very thin and evenly across his body. It’s only visible in this concentrated amount because I gathered it at the spot where I made the incision.

On top of that, it was covered by multiple layers of cosmic energy concealment. It was being ’contained’ entirely within his body."

Richard circled Heilong’s body, pointing out the large incision along his side as he spoke.

"Since this is only ’Pseudo-Nonexistence,’ containment through Cosmic Energy works perfectly well. The most effective way to counter pseudo-nonexistence is by suppressing it with overwhelming ’existence.’"

"I know at least that much," Miranda replied.

This was common knowledge to them. Even so, the Dead Zone remained a dangerous place.

Even a Supreme Realm Existence that possessed more Cosmic Energy than entire universes didn’t have infinite energy.

Remain in the Dead Zone long enough, and eventually that energy would be depleted. When that happened, all the overwhelming laws within one’s body would be deconstructed, feeding strength to the pseudo-nonexistence.

Moreover, the concentration of pseudo-nonexistence grew higher the closer one was to the centre, and at that point, even a Supreme at full power would be in danger.

"I know you do," Richard said. "Even your weakest Authority surpasses Heilong’s strongest, and since Authorities are tied to Universal Laws and other forces fundamentally rooted in reality and ’existence,’ the mere presence of your power passively suppressed the pseudo-nonexistence within his body, which is why you didn’t notice it."