The memory broke apart and dissolved back into Fen's consciousness, leaving his mind reeling from disorientation as the forgotten experience sunk into his brain.
"Ah!" He gasped and woke up, slamming his head on the wall next to him. The pain shocked his senses and let him know that he was still alive- wait, why was the feeling of being alive feel so surprising? For some reason, an intense feeling of relief flooded his senses when he realized he was still breathing, but there was a blank in his memory from before he was knocked into the memory.
While his brain scrambled to remember what the hell was going on, his senses expanded around him and observed the spacious room he was in.
His body was laying down on a white metal tray four feet up from the ground and big enough for a person, similar to those used in medical facilities to study preserved corpses and cadavers, but there were no bright lights or medical equipment nearby that might link his current environment with a morgue or university like on Earth.
The entire room was empty besides the table he was on, with a similar blackish stone material making up the walls and floors of the building. But... something seemed off. The room was too dark. The only reason why Fen could see was because of the natural green glow that his Vitality gave off, which, when combined with his enhanced perception as a Vitul, enabled him to see without any other light.
But the darkness didn't bother him as much as the absence of light did.
'...There's something missing.' But even if he was aware of it, he couldn't name exactly what was so off. The blank in his memories scrambled his brain and right now, he was struggling to pick up the pieces and reconnect them.
The room was separated into two vertical sections divided by thick layers of glass with translucent carvings hanging off the transparent material, and on the other side, Fen could barely perceive the familiar outlines of interfaces, desks, and other observational tools that were pointed in his direction.
Overall, it looked like he was locked into a room built for observational purposes.
Turning his gaze back to his floor, Fen saw several gates carved into the black walls with a white gem placed in the centers of them; if he stretched his energy sense to the very limit, he could just about sense the transfer of energy from his surroundings into the white crystals. The Void energy flowing into the crystals darkened them as they slowly began to fill up.
Now that he was close enough, he could see that there were strange writings inscribed into the gates that he didn't understand. Well, he could read them well enough because of his enhanced senses, but the language the words were written in was foreign to him, and although it might have been a language from back on Earth his instincts were telling him that this writing was alien.
And if it was alien, then he was in a worse position than he thought. Even though Fen had never encountered aliens before, he had seen how utterly useless the Foundation's security was when faced with a foreign invasion force like the Void Spawn-
'Oh shit, the Foundation.'
The name of the organization that captured him sparked a train of thought that connected the desynchronized memories about what happened before he entered his memories, starting from when he walked into Raisen's Training Hall while looking for him to when he met Igris, the man who had his pushed his hand through his chest and wrapped his fingers around his heart.
'Heart...?' Fen looked down at himself after feeling his chest ache in pain and finally noticed the lack of clothes on his body- he still had his pants, thank the Heavens- but his shirt and shoes were gone. In the left side of his chest was a sizeable patch of bruised and purple skin roughly the size of an adult's hand, just above where his heart would be.
As he watched, he could see his Vital energy working hard to regenerate the damaged skin, but whatever that strange purple energy that Igris used was, it was hampering his recovery. His energy felt restricted whenever it went near the wound. Now that he paid attention to himself, he noticed that it was hard to breathe without causing a spike of pain to shoot from his ribs.
Now it made sense why he felt like something was out of place when he first woke up; the lack of light bothered him because he was so used to the Foundation facility's walls being filled with glowing energy veins. Any source of light, be it stars or artificial structures, was so far away that their light dimmed. With nothing to bounce off from like a planet, the Foundation needed those energy veins to be visible so the candidates could actually see.
The lack of energy clusters imbedded into the walls meant that he was either outside the facility walls (Which was the worst-case scenario) or he was inside a special place in the facility similar to when he was taken by the Wolves' Shadow monsters... either way, this wasn't a good situation.
But his questions had to wait for later because the click of an audio receiver told him that somebody was about to speak, and, hopefully, tell him what the hell was going on.
[Testing, testing. Ah, whatever- if it doesn't work I'll just yell until you can hear me.] Igris's voice cut through the air around him from the walls.
'Y'know, why is it that every time I get kidnapped there's always some annoying voice speaking through a speaker system? Just explain it like a normal person does, face-to-face! At least then I can beat the shit outta you...' Fen grumbled in his heart but paid attention nonetheless.
[Fen! I know I said that Raisen asked me to do him a favor and train you, and I'm sorry but... I'm lazy. However! That doesn't mean I'll neglect my duties as your instructor!] Fen's eyes narrowed as he recognized the signs screaming out from Igris's tone and word choice... unless he was mistaken, this guy was just as crazy, if not crazier, than the rest of the Foundation members (Excluding Yuki, of course. She had her own problems but at least she helped him in the Void Spawn invasion).
'What a nightmarish organization.' He would've insulted the Foundation more, but fortunately for the VPF, the powerful Mage cut his thoughts off with his words.
[As you've probably noticed, the building you're in is built with a different material than the facility that you're used to; and that's not just a constructive add-on. This building is completely cut off from the facility- as in, it's floating in the middle of space inside the Void.] As Fen watched, a dark figure appeared and pressed their hands on the glass separating the floor he was on from the observation room surrounding it.
"How the hell did we get here then? Wait, and how does this place exist? The Void's empty- you can't build on anything here." Fen directed his questions towards the figure, who he assumed was Igris.
The figure confirmed his identity by saying, [To answer your first question, as a Mage, it's not that hard to protect both of our bodies from the various harmful Void energy and Void Spawn in this dimension. There are plenty of traveling methods for people like me, so I just used one of them to get here. For your second question, the Foundation had some help with building all our facilities here, including the Program facilities. We don't have nearly the resources that an operation this size requires, Earth is still a developing planet with no higher being, after all!]
A strange chuckle followed his words that reverberated through the darkness. Fen could picture the twisted smile on his face as he laughed, and the image in his head was enough to make him shiver.
[But you don't have time to ask questions- not if you want to get back before the Archon notices that you haven't finished your quota. So, the way this works-]
"Wait, how long do you plan on keeping me here!" He interrupted while a flash of worry appeared in his eyes. "I swear, if anything happens to Amelia because of you, I'll kill you!"
The dark figure in the observation room started glowing while purple energy swirled around them, and the energy glow revealed their face warped from a twisted smile. A manic laugh escaped from Igris while he managed to talk in between bursts of laughter.
[And what makes you think I'm afraid of what you can do? I already killed you once, or do you not remember?! Here, let me remind you!] A part of the purple energy split into multiple strands, and Igris gripped it with his fist and twisted it.
The very moment the purple energy started compressing, Fen felt like his chest was on fire- no, like it was being stabbed with millions of tiny needles exactly where his nerves were. Before he knew it, he was on the floor and gasping for breath while his heart pounded in his ears.
[Hahaha!] When his hearing was restored, he could hear Igris mocking his lack of strength. [You thought you could threaten me with that little power you have? You're a bug! It wouldn't even take the energy in my pinky toe to kill you!]
The Mage's Visage was twisted into a vicious snarl with the skin of his lips pulled back to reveal his teeth.
A small bit of blood came out when Fen spat, probably from his chest being crushed, and he wiped away at the residual around his lips while he glared at the glass separating them. It was with some regret that he put away any ideas he had about attacking him. While he had experience with fighting Stage three Empowered, Igris was on a whole 'nother level compared to people like Hondo and Edmond.
Fen couldn't even get close without risking his life, while Igris had control over that strange purple energy.
[But I won't kill you- the Foundation needs people like you to become Guardians,] he suddenly mumbled, a hint of fanaticism glazing his eyes, [otherwise, Earth would lack protection. And for you to get stronger, I'll train you the only way I know how! By breaking down your body until nothing but your will to survive remains, you will get stronger!]
[Begin the onslaught!]
At the end of his impassioned speech, one of the gates in the sides of the room started rumbling before it split into different parts with the white crystal in the middle turning completely black. The different parts of the gate all retracted into the wall with the now-black crystal floating in the center of the open space by some strange magical means.
Fen immediately spread his senses down the revealed dark corridor and confirmed that it did, in fact, connect directly to the Void. The black crystal filled to the brim with Void energy acted as a barrier preventing the cosmic radiation from open space from being able to enter the room and affect his cells, but the thought of something like a Void Spawn coming closer and entering was... terrifying.
If he listened closely he thought he could hear the distant roaring and screeching of Void Spawn that were rapidly closing in on this location.
"...Shit. Are you crazy?! They're attracted to the crystal!" Fen's eyes darted around the structure, looking for any equipment that he could use that might help him against the incoming swarm of monsters.
[Of course, I'm crazy. You have to be insane to reach this level of strength in the universe.] Some tendrils of purple energy twitched in anger at Fen's words. [And of course, I'm aware of the simple nature of Void Spawn- that's exactly what I'm trying to do. You can't grow stronger without having the resolve to sacrifice your body, right? I'm going to make you tougher by stripping every weakness left in your body with the usage of the Void's natural creatures- That's how Vituls operate, right?]
"How the fuck do you know that?" Fen's eyes started trembling after he realized that Raisen must've told this man about his race.
[Obviously, Raisen told me. If you need any more motivation, just remember that the more you fight, the faster you can go back to the facility to protect your precious Squadmates! Not even I know what the Archon has in store for the allies of a missing Principality...]
The crazed Mage was right. Fen didn't have any other choice but to do what Igris told him, because he was his only way back to the Program. No matter how strengthened his body was, he wasn't powerful enough to endure the radiation and energy roiling inside the Void.
Fen could only grit his teeth and manifested the two weapons he was most familiar with into his hands; his short sword and dagger. The only hope he had would be to complete whatever training Igris had in mind before an entire army of Void Spawn arrived, otherwise he'd not only be risking the Archon's punishment but his own life as well.
While a group of Void Spawn weren't difficult to handle with his powerful body and Vital energy, any more than that would prove deadly to him even with his powerful recovery. Taking advantage of the abundant energy in the air around him, Fen manipulated his energy to manifest ten Vital Spears and manipulated them to rotate behind his back, sharpening their edges with even more Vitality.
Before long, his senses picked up on a dull thud as a single Void Spawn landed in the open space of the gate.
The image of his old equipment flashed in his head- the reddish armor that he wore and the Class three weapons that proved deadly to the creatures inhabiting the Void. Unfortunately for him, his original equipment was reduced to scrap after his last fight with the Void Spawn, and he hadn't had a chance to replace them with better equipment because of his duties as a Principality.
So far, his Vital constructs were more than good enough to obliterate any Opfer. At most, they could last a few seconds against his strength, but their equipment enhancements, but their weapons were useless against his powerful Vital Spears.
In his position as a Principality, Fen had grown accustomed to being more powerful than his opponents, even if he was consciously aware of the higher-Staged Chosen. His unconscious arrogance limited his strength by disillusioning him with the notion that he didn't need equipment, but he was in this terrible position because he didn't have them.
He opened his eyes and saw a pale and fleshy humanoid being standing in the entryway, poking at the crystalized Void energy floating in the air with one of its long claws while it used its other hand to grip the black, energy veined stone underneath it.
Even if it was a humanoid with two legs and arms, its face was anything but human. It had no nose, and simply had four plates covering its terrifying maw of ridged needles that retracted and extended into its muscled skin as it breathed. The Void energy around it coalesced to form a gooey black substance that coated its pale skin like a shitty excuse for armor, but Fen suspected that the liquid wasn't as simple as it looked. Whenever it dripped to the floor, it sizzled and bit into the hardened material of the building.
The Void Spawn finished poking at the crystal and turned its disgusting head to look at him as if it knew of his presence, even though it lacked the important visual organs other living things needed to see.
Fen's muscles tensed, and without even waiting for the monster to start screeching and attack him, he flooded his body with the Vital energy stored within his Vital core and dashed towards the beast before it could react.
He turned on his feet and rotated his hips to transfer as much kinetic energy into his arm as he could before stabbing his short sword straight through its maw. The short blade pierced through its head and whatever brain matter the Void Spawn had inside its overly-muscled head while bolts of energy seared the flesh around it, making the creature screech in pain while its blood sprayed everywhere.
The ability to control energy largely depended on an Empowered's Class, whether they be a Knight, a Mage, a Warrior, or even the mysterious Psychics, they all controlled different types of energy. A Knight's power came from Vitality, the energy that all living things created naturally in their bodies.
As a Stage two Knight, Fen had the ability to manipulate not just his own Vitality, but even the Vitality of others by connecting his own energy to theirs. That was the principle that allowed Knights to become Healers by stimulating the natural recovery rate of a person's cells with their Vital energy (Mages could also become Healers, but rather than using Mana, they used complicated spellworks to aid in the healing process).
But, if you were like Fen and were ignorant about how to heal other people with their own Vitality, then it was much easier to just rampage through another being's life force without caring about the after-affects- which was exactly what he did to the Void Spawn.
The green bolts of energy sparking off the blade that impaled it didn't cause any harm to the Void Spawn at first besides singing some of its flesh, but, as more of Fen's energy invaded its body, his Vital energy rapidly gained control over its life force and started wreaking havoc.
The organs that the Void Spawn needed to live in such a harsh environment dissolved into a black substance that reeked of decay. Without the protection of its specialized organs, the creature didn't even have a chance to retaliate from the pain streaking through its body before the harmful Void energy decimated the remnants of its body.
Void Spawn weren't like the Empowered. Their bodies were strengthened from Void energy through a process involving their evolved organs and specialized tissues, but without them, they were extremely vulnerable to Void energy. They also lost almost all of their strength and became similar to wild dogs back on Earth in strength, but that wasn't the most important factor right now.
Fen at least had his Vital Skin technique to provide some protection from the more harmful Void energy out in the dimension, but they didn't, resulting in the creature dissolving into nothing.