Shell of the Mind

Kane extracted the spear, then used the dagger to pry open the carapace, carefully cutting it away to set aside. The blade gingerly delved into the sticky thorax, severing the pale cartilage and excising the damaged heart to place atop the detached shell.

This egg-sized energy core was their dinner, yet only enough for one to "consume."

Previous experiences had proven that splitting a Riftwalker's heart was not viable. The Void is greedy.

The carapace would absorb all the energy, heedless of the host's commands to leave some for another—at least for now.

"Kai'Sa, you go first, your carapace needs the energy to heal, and I'll just have some jerky," Kane offered the heart to her, a well-considered choice, not a casual decision.

As a transmigrator, he understood Kai'Sa's evolutionary path; she would become an efficient Void hunter.

In other words, a high-agility, high-attack damage carry.

His own evolutionary path was unclear, known only to involve brainwaves.

So far, Kane had demonstrated just two abilities: radar sensing and mild manipulation, the latter manifested in desperate circumstances to save Kai'Sa.

His role was akin to a supportive warder, providing vision and control.

Now that he could handle a swarm of Riftwalkers, and since their cooperative dynamic was mostly his strategy and Kai'Sa's execution, he planned to prioritize resources for her.

Only by empowering one of them quickly could they earlier face more formidable threats.

Beneath the ground, Riftwalkers were just the bottom tier, expendable like ants in a colony.

There were far more terrifying entities beyond their imagination.

But plans often fall short of changes, and Kane's thoughtful gesture was met with Kai'Sa's ingratitude.

"I don't want it, you eat first," Kai'Sa stepped back, as if afraid of spilling the "yolk" in the "bowl."

"But you're hurt, your carapace needs to heal," Kane noticed Kai'Sa rubbing her arm as if wanting to peel off the carapace.

"Oh~ I get it. Do you think by starving it, you can rid yourself of it? Let me tell you that's impossible. If it's hungry, it will start absorbing your nutrients. If you don't satisfy its hunger, you'll become very weak. Please eat it; the longer you wait, the less effective it gets."

Kane spoke with conviction, but it wasn't enough to fool Kai'Sa. She wasn't the brightest, but she had her moments of cunning.

"How do you know all this? We've barely been apart; why do you know so much that I don't?"

"Your hand was the first to be transformed by the Void, while my mind was affected. It's no surprise I know these things; the Void taught me."

Kane had his answers prepared, blaming any future unknowns on the Void's teachings.

After hearing Kane's words, Kai'Sa stared at her carapace, then looked at him incredulously:

"So, you're saying there's a shell in your brain?"

The baffling train of thought from the child left Kane speechless, nearly causing him to drop their dinner.

"Eat it! Absorb it!" Frustration overtook him as the beauty of childhood mischief wore thin, and he no longer cared to explain. "What did you promise me? Who do you listen to when we disagree? Eat it now, or it will go to waste."

As it turned out, making pacts with a stubborn child hardly worked; they wouldn't think twice when willfulness struck.

"I won't! I brought this back for you, and I refuse to eat it!" Kai'Sa's obstinance shone through, refusing to take in the energy core no matter what Kane said.

She wasn't disgusted nor intending to starve her carapace; she simply wanted to repay Kane.

Clearly, she needed the heart now, but wouldn't that make her solo charge into the swarm seem foolish without Kane's absorption first?

Kane thought simply changing the order this time would suffice; she could eat now, he would eat next. The result would be the same, but Kai'Sa would not agree.

In her mind, flexibility was possible, but not necessary. It wasn't about what he thought; it was about what she felt.

"Alright then, I'll eat this heart. The next one, and the one after, will be yours. Are you happy now?" Despite feeling pained by the waste, Kane eventually succumbed, eating his own words.

"Mhm!" Kai'Sa nodded emphatically, turning away huffily as if to sulk.

However, when she caught sight of Kane bringing the heart close to his eyes, she couldn't help but stare intently.

Her true intention was to witness Kane absorbing the heart's energy.

She feared he might deceive her, leaving all the good things for her if he couldn't survive, which would deeply upset her.

Only by confirming Kane's normal completion of symbiosis could she be at ease with his plans.

Holding the viscous Riftwalker heart close, Kane did not notice Kai'Sa's underlying concerns.

As the purple sludge covered the carapace, Kane felt almost no extra weight beyond the carapace itself, but disgust and worry began to seep into his heart.

"Surely they don't expect me to immerse my eye in this to absorb it? Disgusting."

"And without any mutating tissue nearby, what if it corrodes my eyelids?"

"What if my face rots away? Dammit, I don't even know what I look like!"

Fearing the unknown, Kane hesitated, but as his eye drew near enough to the heart, a strange pull erupted from the abyss within, drawing the purple energy into his eye.

It was an indescribable sensation; within the purple abyss, he saw nothingness, a void that even consumed time.

His consciousness seemed to plummet into an endless abyss, a dimension beyond.

Was that the true nature of the Void? The sensation of weightlessness was unbearable...

The dreadful vision faded quickly, and as normal human vision returned to Kane's eyes, the carapace was devoid of energy.

Recalling the terrifying vision, he sighed with residual fear, "I wish I didn't have to use my eyes to absorb it every time."

His words turned prophetic.

His eye emitted unseen ripples, and the now-useless carapace in his hand began to self-dissolve; it bubbled like boiling water, leaving a tar-like gray residue on his skin.

The amniotic-like reflective fluid covered Kane's entire palm. Fearing his hand might dissolve, he desperately tried to shake off the revolting substance.

But it was futile; the gray paste reacted with the air, darkening and hardening swiftly until it set.

Kane then felt the prickling pain Kai'Sa had described.

But pain was good; at least it meant his hand was intact.

He clenched a fist instinctively and discovered a new layer of highly elastic purple skin, unobstructed in movement and stronger in its grip.

It appeared to be...

—Void carapace.