[CH598+ Continued] Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster's Power

The bright flash of light fades on the other side of the solar system where Kelfar once was.

Maria's enormous Angelic Form cycles Soul Energy and True Core threads through the Destroyer Class Soul Weapon that houses the child-like soul of a planet.

At the peak of the blast, when both halves of Kelfar were obliterated in a shockwave, a connection was formed between Maria and the blade. She accepted it and fueled this lost energy with enough pure power, giving it a vessel in her sword to call home, and a new center of gravity to latch onto, enabling it to stay rooted in reality.

Unknown to her, this is a similar amount of energy released in the activation of a world connecting to the system in the first place.

Doing so is an extremely cathartic, awe-inspiring, and satisfyingly blissful experience for both parties involved; however, it is also very stressful and energy-extensive.

The bright flare that appears as a second sun on the other side of the solar system flickers out just as fast as it went ablaze.

While Maria's Soul Energy Core does not stop fueling the oscillating rainbow blade with more ice-imbued Soul Energy to complete the bond, her body and mind still have physical limitations.

She is struck with a fatigue so sharp and out of nowhere that, for a moment, Maria considers the possibility of if this is what death feels like. However, even at the peak of the blast, her grip on the sword only tightens and more Soul Energy floods out to maintain control.

The pain and aches that vibrate through every cell of her being pulse in succession with her heartbeat, and for a moment, once the flash stops, she's able to look at herself from above her body for a frame captured outside of time.

Her gaze is mixed with a crystallized structure, as not only is her Soul Energy being pushed into the sword in her grasp, but its energy is flowing back into her and being filtered to fully complete the bond.

In order to pair with her Soul Energy and Divine Core, portions of this pure Source Resin begin to flow through her as well.

None stay within her body, but as they flow through her, understandings and depths of strange knowledge tickle the back of her mind. Every time they do, she gains a far greater control over the blade she's making her own.

It isn't clear that this is happening until the bond is complete, and her vision returns back to her after having an out-of-body experience with far more senses than she usually does...

–

Her greater forms instantly deactivate, and her body and mind are so filled with fatigue that she cannot move, and her vision is a blur.

The sword in her grasp shrinks from the 20 kilometers in height it was just moments ago, glowing bright blue and reflecting rainbow-crystallized designs, back down to just about 1.5 meters from handle to its sharpest tip.

The flow of Soul Energy falls back into her body and core as well, and the blade in her grasp becomes crystal clear, though it does reflect light from the star that still shines from the center of this system.

It reflects in beautiful patterns, like the blade is made out of a unique flawless diamond. It gives off the dense feeling of having its own gravity field, similar to the entire mass of Kelfar. Though, to any person looking in, it gives off no sensible energy waves.

–

She floats in the vast, empty, cold silence of space as energy from the blast travels through the solar system, and the other generals and commanders finally see it.

In this time, her natural healing properties and passive use of self-regeneration as a borrowed skill have begun to neutralize her fatigue and horrific pain all over. However, the worst of it is gone.