Invader

No matter where he looked, it was impossible not to see the presence of chaos inside his body, he hadn't seen it this close before, but now that he did, he couldn't describe the chaos as anything but a jet-colored substance, incredibly thick, always moving, and most importantly, alive.

Beating at the same rhythm as his heart, as if they were one, or at the very least, as if they were deeply connected.

This was something he couldn't rule out, since he really didn't know how it was that Rose had healed the wound in his chest, although now that he saw the inside of his body, he could already get an idea.

"You can see the chaos, right?" Rose asked, noticing that the young man was lost in thought.

"Yes, it's... everywhere."

"That's to be expected, it's an infection after all, you have no control over where it spreads.... or at least you shouldn't, but you're an exception." After saying that, Rose instructed him again, "I'm going to weaken the circle that isolates you from the outside, without taking your eyes off your insides, pay attention to the changes in the surroundings."

Said and done, as soon as she finished speaking, the wind in the surroundings stopped being so intense, revealing Noah's figure in the middle of the circle, the outside air entering this once limited space.

"!"

Immediately, Noah, who under Rose's instructions, had sharpened his eyesight, could see how little by little, certain unknown substances were beginning to crash against the skin of his body.

They could not enter in any way, but remained attached to his body. While Noah couldn't pinpoint exactly what these substances were without opening his eyes, luckily Rose was nearby to explain.

"What you feel now making contact with your skin is nothing more than dust, harmless traces of dirt present in the air, but even so, they are still part of the mirror world. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the sensation."

A couple of minutes passed, with the young man feeling slowly, how his entire upper body, the part that was exposed, was covered in dirt.

At that point, just as Noah was beginning to feel uncomfortable from the sensation, Rose spoke again.

"It feels weird, doesn't it? Try to shake it off, but don't use your body, just make your intention present within yourself."

Following these strange instructions, Noah did his best, emptying his mind to leave behind only the thought of wanting to get rid of the dust on his body.

At first, he couldn't really notice much more than the chaos in his body beating in unison with his heart, something that was normal.

But soon, this beating started to become like something else, ceasing to move at intervals to start shaking.

This would have surprised and worried Noah in equal parts before, but at this moment, all he felt was contentment, as he knew what was happening inside him.

In front of him expressing his willingness to want to get rid of the dirt on his body, it wasn't his heart, mind or soul that moved, but the chaos.

And while the sight inside his body was an amazing thing to see, it wasn't much in comparison to how it looked on the outside.

"...Impressive." Rose said, watching as from different parts of Noah's upper body, several tiny black tentacles began to emerge, cleaning the tiny traces of dust over his skin before pulling themselves back into his body.

While the woman wasn't sure if calling these parts of the young man as tentacles was the right thing to do since they looked more like threads, she felt this was the correct description since they moved as such and also, they were part of his body.

As Rose continued to closely watch what was happening with the young man, Noah could feel his body slowly being energized and the faint hunger he felt fading.

While the satiety effect was as low as eating a piece of gum and the energy he felt as weak as if he had taken a small sip from a cup of coffee, it was still a noticeable effect.

Snapping out of her surprised state for a moment, Rose turned to Noah, "You really are one surprise after another, to get it all done in the same day. That's a good thing, though, since we'll be able to mitigate the chaos faster that way."

Noah hadn't really thought this was what she had referred to earlier by diet, but truth be told, he wasn't going to complain, as this had brought him nothing but benefits.

Plus of course, for once, he liked being able to have this feeling of control over that which had been plaguing him for several days now.

"This method is the most suitable, as it allows you to feed off the mirror world while allowing you to familiarize yourself with the chaos in your body, and while the other is faster, it requires a more... physical approach, so to speak."

Paying special attention to Rose's last word, Noah wasn't sure if he wanted to know what the other method was considering they were both diets and both consisted of him feeding from the mirror world.

Bam!

However, before the woman could continue with her explanations and the young man with his thoughts, something caught the attention of both.

It was a distant but constant sound that grew louder with time. So much so that in just a few seconds, the earth began to tremble slightly.

Even though that was the only information they had, they were both already aware of what was happening.

"Something's coming!"

Stepping out of the circle and standing up, ceasing all movement of the small tentacles coming from his body, Noah turned hurriedly with his weapon in hand, his gaze riveted on the back wall of the compound.

That which had made so much noise was now not on the ground, but was climbing the grassy wall, where a large white hand could be seen grasping the top of the wall.

Then, in demonstration of the strength that the owner of this arm possessed, the entire body of the invader was lifted into the air.

Its body was white and smooth, as if made of clay, its height was greater than Noah's, with two heads whose faces were nothing more than three misplaced holes that seemed to simulate two eyes and a mouth.

Although its body resembled that of a human, it did not possess a slender, toned body like the Faceless Wrath, but was much more robust and heavy.

With a clatter, it landed in the garden near the back wall of bushes before continuing to run, its gait being a wild one that left behind a trail of destruction resulting from its heavy footfalls.

Despite his large size, his speed was not slow at all, as he even managed to cut a good amount of distance in just a couple of seconds, with only a couple of meters left before he collided with Noah.

In response, the young man, instead of moving out of the way, gathered a great deal of strength in both of his arms, ready to intercept the invader with a strong counterattack.

As for the reason for this, rather than being a demonstration of bravery or wanting to test his strength, it was because if he were to move, what was behind him, which in this case was the complex, would undoubtedly receive serious damage.

And Noah really didn't want his new base, before he could even use it as a base, to be destroyed.

Besides, for some reason highly related to his diet, he didn't feel much of a threat coming from this invader.

As if in slow motion, the white figure, when it got close enough, with a loud stomp, increased its speed even more, closing the distance enough to get in front of Noah.

Quickly, his arms moved forward, his intention being none other than to crush the human in front of him.

Bam!

However, not only had he missed his target due to the human moving in time, almost as if he had foreseen what he was going to do, but on top of that he took damage.

A strong blow made contact with his face, moving his whole head at the same time as he felt his skin being burned, as for the other head, its neck made strange noises as it was pushed back.

The invader immediately wanted to move to attack the one who did this to him, but before he could do so, from the same place where his face was being burned, he felt a tug with considerable force.

"HAA!!!"

Making use of the properties of the hanged man's rope, by swinging his weapon, Noah was pulling on the invader's body, the force to do this not being entirely his own but that of the chaos that was filling his arms.

Then, turning his own body, in an impressive demonstration of the capacity the chaos had, he managed to throw the invader towards one of the bush walls.

Bam!

Looking down at his weapon, Noah noticed that as he threw the invader, some of the skin on his face had stuck to the rope, though it took almost no time at all for the rope to burn it.

"Good." Saying that, the young man, feeling satisfaction at his increase in offensive power, did not stand still waiting for the invader to return, but began to walk toward it.

His movements, even as he walked, had not a hint of fear or uncertainty like when he had encountered inhabitants of the mirror world. Instead, his demeanor was incredibly similar to when he was facing the Faceless Wrath.

As to whether this was due to the chaos in his body or because he was now an Enlightened as Rose and the system said, it was unclear.

Most likely, however, it was a combination of both.

"..."

This was something that did not escape Rose, who was watching everything with a great interest, realizing the pattern this was following.

That perhaps, in a way he himself was unable to notice, Noah was changing when faced with a threat.

Though she could not yet say with complete certainty that this was true, it was only a matter of time before she could confirm this theory of hers.

Rising from the bushes with a commendable haste, the invader, as if the wound on his face had been to someone else, lunged again toward Noah.

His movement carried the same ferocity as before, with his arms reaching out to catch his target while his muscular legs gave him the necessary power to move at great speed.

Faced with this, Noah readied his weapon as his arms with chaos filled with greater than normal strength, fully prepared to meet this threat head on.

BAM!

The monster's body and the human's weapon made contact, with an unexpected result for both.

The monster had been repelled, forced to take several steps backwards, but the human had been directly ejected backwards, one of his arms left dripping blood.

"Ah, shit."

The contact between the two had been short, but in that period of time, Noah realized what had happened.

Thanks to the fact that he had been able to see inside himself earlier, and in a way, control the chaos in his body, he thought of the same for his arms, something that had worked.

However, it seems that he had made a mistake, since while his arms had been filled with strength, it was so much that at the moment of making use of it, his arms could not withstand it and ended up breaking, or at least the skin around them.

Small rivulets of blood could be seen oozing from these torn skin wounds, which were more scandalous than serious.

He would have liked to have had the grace of [Ferrous] at this point, but being caught off guard, he hadn't had time to pray.

To add to his bad luck, he really had no time to worry about his wounds, as having recovered from the previous blow, his opponent was already moving again.

Similar to him, the damage the monster had taken seemed to have been more to his skin than anything else.