Chapter 201: Escape
It was an impossible pull. Adam was a spirit being pulled into nothingness, his very being breaking under the tremendous strain. His spiritual arms strained, pushing back with all the strength he could muster, leaving only his head and two hands outside the black device.
There were several fronts in the war he was fighting. His grip on Adam’s physique had already become weaker due to the length of time he had been in possession.
His magical energy was constantly being drained by hidden devices strewn all over the forest. Above it all was the power of Void, Gold, and Silver combined, enhanced by the artifact created especially for his capture. It was excessive. The strain became painful.
His head and hands were drawn into the machine with a last silent cry of defiance. The world vanished. Adam discovered himself plunging into a pit of complete blackness, a familiar but horrifying void.
He was confined. Emotions he had not experienced in thousands of years, shock and despair, swept over him.
"No," he whispered into the infinite dark. "No. No. No."
It was not a shout of rage. It was the bleak sound of complete failure.
Then he saw a light. The system window. It was beating red and bright frantically.
[The master is in danger. Starting the emergency protocol.] It was a strained, distorted mechanical voice. [Not enough energy. A sacrifice is necessary.]
Adam gaped in disbelief. A protocol for emergencies? He could not recall creating such a feature for Millennia. He was actually unable to recall with clarity whether he had created her in the first place. The old, locked corners of his mind were still obstinately closed.