Shrouded Seascape

Anna was taken aback by Charles' words. She stared at him in disbelief and asked, "Forget you completely?"

Charles clenched and unclenched his hands as he tried to find the correct words to say. Nervously licking his dry lips, he answered, "Yes, that's right. Forget me completely. Only then can all of you get rid of this trouble. It shouldn't exist."

Anna blinked, her thoughts in turmoil, and her expression twisted slightly.

"Is there really no other way? By doing that, you'll vanish completely," Anna said with an evident tremble in her voice.

Charles nodded slightly. The corners of his lips twitched slightly before they were forcefully turned upward into a strained smile. "I know. I know. Even though you might not remember this later, I still want to tell you. Once I'm gone, take good care of Sparkle and yourself. And I love you, Anna."

Anna gnashed her teeth. Her voice quivered as she implored, "Think of a solution, Charles! There has to be a way. We've made it through for so many here. You can't possibly die here!"

"I want to leave too, but this time, it's different. I've already become part of it.

"I'm constantly aware of my existence. If I want to escape, I must lose even the tiniest bit of awareness of my own existence, which is impossible. Only when my consciousness is completely gone, like the second mate's and the other—"

Suddenly, Charles paused. He seemed to be reminded of something, and a faint glimmer of hope gradually replaced the hopeless gaze in his eyes.

His face lit up agitatedly as he looked at his beloved. "Anna, I need you to get something for me! If we have that, we might actually get out of this predicament!"

Anna immediately knew what Charles wanted upon reading his mind. Her eyes widened to the fullest in skepticism. "Really? Are you sure?"

"We have to try to see if it works. If it's that relic, it might just work. Besides, we have no other ways, do we?"

Anna seemed like she had more to say, but ripples were starting to form in the mirror in front of her. She could feel Charles' presence starting to fade within her mind. Her powers were reaching their limit.

Knowing this, her expression changed. She turned around, quickly took a step back, and disappeared from Charles' view.

Soon after, she returned again. But this time, she was holding a purple pyramid that was about the size of her palm.

The relic belonged to James. It was discovered during their expedition in the ruins of Laboratory Three, and Charles had gifted it to him.

It had a simple and straightforward ability: the user could trade their intelligence for immense physical strength—the greater the strength, the lower the intelligence.

For Charles' current circumstances, its side effect was far more valuable than its actual ability. He wanted to make use of this relic to reduce his intelligence to a low enough level that he would become unable to perceive his own existence. He could then effectively break free from his current state.

Moreover, the reduced intelligence was not permanent, and he would naturally recover given enough time.

"Catch. I'm throwing it over," Anna said, gently tossing the purple pyramid toward Charles.

However, as soon as Charles came into contact with the relic, it passed right through his body and became "nothingness" before his eyes.

In his current state, Charles was an "Inexistence" to the outside world. Except for Anna, who still remembered him, he couldn't interact with anything.

So this method isn't going to work? Charles' heart sank.

"It will… let me handle it," Anna said.

It didn't take long for three mice to appear and carry the pyramid toward Charles. Anna had copied the memory of the entity into the minds of the three mice. As such, they had also been assimilated to become "inexistent" beings and could bring the pyramid to the world Charles was in.

Charles bent down and took the pyramid from the mice. He cast a glance at Anna in the distance before he started chanting in his mind, "I'm powerful. I'm powerful. I'm powerful. "

With each repetition, Charles' body grew larger, and his intelligence got lower. Upon reaching the height of five meters, his intelligence had dropped to merely 40.

Charles' face was now as large as a round table. His gaze was blank and vacant as he stared dumbly at the pyramid in his hand. His mind was so dull that he didn't know what he should be doing next.

Though his intelligence was already extremely low, it still wasn't low enough. He could still perceive his own existence, and as long as he could do that, he couldn't escape his current "inexistence" state.

Standing by the side, Anna clearly noticed Charles' condition, and she couldn't help but become anxious.

"Charles! Charles! You have to keep going! Keep growing to get out of there!"

Charles could hear Anna, but he looked at Anna with a vacant expression. Slowly, a trace of emotion flickered across his eyes.

Just then, the mirror in front of Anna shattered abruptly, and Charles completely vanished from her sight.

Anna stared at the desolate wasteland that surrounded her. She desperately called out, but no one responded. She could feel the memory of Charles gradually fading away from her mind, and she knew that it was irreversible.

"No… No! This can't be!" Anna hysterically tried to use her powers to restore her disappearing memories. However, her memories disappeared at an even faster rate than her efforts.

All the memories of their past were slowly eroding away. Anna's expression twisted into agony as she clutched her head in pain. Her skin cracked open; black, scaly tentacles extended outward and thrashed about wildly.

"Why! Why am I still not strong enough? Why!" Anna screamed in anguish as her knees hit the ground.

Without Charles, Anna would also cease to exist.

As a Dioite, Anna's disappearance would only result in one of two outcomes: she would either revert to her original monstrous form, or she would have to create an entirely new persona and live on as that person from then on just to maintain her consciousness.

"I… I refuse to accept this!" Anna's face split open as she began transforming into her primal form, her writhing tentacles lashing out against the ground in fury.

Just as her consciousness was starting to slowly fade away, a ripple spread through the air. Suddenly, Charles appeared before her.

He now towered over thirty meters tall. His enormous eyes were vacant, and drool was dripping from the corner of his mouth. He swayed slightly before collapsing backward.

Boom!

The ground shook violently from Charles' fall. A Charles of such stature falling over was akin to the collapse of a thirty-meter building.

With Charles' return, the abnormalities in Anna's body gradually dissipated. Her tentacles writhed in the air as she approached Charles slowly. She repeatedly called out Charles' name, but he did not respond.

Charles had succeeded. He had rendered himself incapable of perceiving his own existence. With his intelligence reduced to almost zero, Charles had forgotten how to move his limbs, how to understand language, and even his own identity. His mind was completely empty—a shell devoid of any thoughts or awareness.

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