Transcendent Gene
Chapter 200: Legacy Guardian [6]

Chapter 200: Legacy Guardian [6]

As one would expect, the scene was filled with chaotic energy.

Gio met up with Neriah right as she tore through the machinery making up the beast’s left hind leg.

"You made it inside?" She asked, almost rhetorically.

"Let’s split it half and half?"

Gio raised a brow and looked back in the direction he came.

"Front and back or side to side?"

"Front and back."

"Sure. Meet up when it’s over?"

"Yeah. Right in the middle."

That was all it took for a plan to be made. Not long after, Gio was destroying its front limbs and Neriah its back.

When they finished off its legs, the world rumbled fiercely as the beast collapsed under its own weight.

Boooooom!

There was a huge sound from the outside world. Everything inside shook as well, and many of the machines lining the walls fell apart and rained down to the floor below.

With railed scaffolding to stand on, Gio and Neriah had no reason to be worried.

When the beast fell, it was essentially done. Its weapons were soon torn apart, and the destruction of everything else that could be destroyed followed soon after.

Blue flashes from one side and the sparks and flames of physical weapons from the other. The combined force cut through the metallic insides of the griffin like it was a shredder.

When Gio and Neriah met up in the middle, the artistic masterpiece of machinery Gio first saw was gone, replaced by rubble and scraps.

The only sign of it remaining...

"This is the last piece," Gio said, leading Neriah to the edge of the scaffolding.

Floating in the air, an arm’s length into the abyss was a glowing cube the size of a basketball. It had a yellow hue that came from the energy contained within.

If Gio wasn’t wrong, this cube was the source of the massive light of change he’d seen from the outside.

"Despite its size, it’s carrying a crazy amount of energy inside. I almost don’t know how it’s possible, but it’s entirely stable."

Gio reached out for it.

"To an extent, it feels like it’s even stable enough to just grab..."

"Wait!"

Neriah raised her voice, causing Gio to halt his movements.

"What is it?"

"Didn’t you say that device is filled with an immense amount of energy?"

"I did."

"You said it is to the point where you don’t believe it should be possible for it to be stable."

"Correct."

Neriah frowned.

"Then what makes you think it’s a good idea to touch it?"

She raised her sword and pointed it at the cube.

"Let’s just destroy it and move on. It’s the quickest solution."

However, Gio shook his head.

"You don’t understand. This thing is like a tiny battery that’s capable of powering a building for decades without running out of energy. It’d be too much of a waste to leave it."

"Then what do you want to do with it?" Neriah asked, lowering her sword.

"We can take it with us. It’s unbelievably stable. I know what your worries are, but look..."

Gio reached out again and grabbed the cube without interruption.

Despite being in his hands, the container of volatile energy did nothing.

"Gio?"

"What’s up?

He looked over at Neriah curiously, wondering why she was looking at him strangely.

"What...is happening to y–"

Her words cut off there.

Gio’s eyes widened. His eyes were painted a bright yellow-gold color. His mouth hung open as if he were possessed.

Yellow energy trailed up his arm through the cube, filling his veins with its presence. It wasn’t that Neriah stopped talking. It was that he could no longer hear her.

And, more importantly, as the energy settled in his body, his feet evaporated.

His feet, then his legs, then his torso, then his head. Piece by piece, he turned into ash that was absorbed by the cube.

And when all of the ash disappeared, the cube did too.

The only one left in the griffin’s body was a stunned and confused Neriah.

***

’Damn...’

Gio woke up clutching his head.

He didn’t expect something to happen, but something unfortunately did.

He was alive and well. It looked dramatic from the outside, but from his perspective, the world went black and then changed as if he was walking through a door to Nightreign.

The surrounding rock walls made it look like he was still in the same cave system. He looked down at his arm, unable to ignore the shining golden veins that rode up

His arm and neck, stopping just below his jaw.

’So maybe touching it wasn’t the best idea,’ he thought with a wry grin.

His surroundings were almost the same as the first room he and Neriah fell into. There was a corridor in front, but there was nothing behind him.

The plaque in this place was situated proudly atop the door.

[ENTER.]

’Interesting...’

Neriah wasn’t transported alongside him. What kind of place was this?

He walked forward curiously, entering the corridor. Its walls were covered in paintings and artworks drawn by the legacy owner.

They were depictions of peace, fertility, and prosperity, and all related to beings who were similarly depicted as Gods. The artworks were too ornate to be works of fiction, but also far too fantastical to be based on real events.

Gio couldn’t decide which one it was before he reached the end of the corridor. Luckily, he didn’t have to face another labyrinth.

Whoosh!

With a small sound, a wooden torch lit on fire next to him.

Whoosh!

A torch in the same position on the other side followed its lead. Just as it happened in the arena, the torches lit up one by one until they revealed the room they were placed to illuminate.

It was a much smaller and more intimate space. There was a desk in the center covered in scattered papers and other miscellaneous items.

On the back wall of the room, there was another ornate plaque. It contained only four letters that looked fancier than anything Gio had ever written in both lives.

[VNIR]

’What?’

Gio’s eyes widened.

Was that a clue?

’Is it Vanir? I remember that name somewhere...it’s from some ancient mythology, but rather than finding out which one...’

The [Memory Book] would give him an objective truth. The items on the desk, however, would properly show him what kind of person the legacy owner was.

’I think this is the final area.’

If he wasn’t wrong, he’d been transported to the reward area of this legacy. He believed the legacy itself was contained somewhere in the very room where he was standing.

Gio’s gaze was trained on the various papers strewn across the desk.

He skimmed through them, absorbing the information into the [Memory Book] before looking at all of it together.

The first thing he found was a letter addressed to him.

Or, rather...

[Dear Successor, I am proud that you’ve reached this point.]

...it was a message for the true successor of the legacy.

[VNIR will always be by your side, even if you may not see it. Find the remaining legacies and grow. One day, you will finally be able to take back what is truly ours]

Gio’s eyes were serious.

He didn’t know anything about this "VNIR" or even if it was a group or a person. However, if they had the capabilities to create everything Gio and Neriah faced to get here, they weren’t something to be ignored.

As his eyes trailed further and further down the letter, Gio’s expression became more and more severe.

’Just...’

He sighed and shook his head.

’Just what have I gotten myself into?’