TAP! TAP! TAP!

Fionn descended the stairs, his steps echoing in the cave due to the silence.

After about a minute of descent, he walked out of the stairway and into a vast cavern, which, unlike the dark stairway, was quite bright due to the numerous magical arrays on the ground.

Looking around, Fionn noticed around 300-400 magic arrays on the ground and a tennis ball-sized crystal levitating in the cavern's centre.

The crystal had an uneven surface and was emitting a dim multi-colored light, giving it the appearance of an unpolished gem. Unlike the magic arrays on the surface, the magic arrays here are quite small, measuring about a metre in diameter. The majority of the arrays had an Anomaly laying inside of them, while others were simply empty and deactivated.

All of the arrays were arranged in a circular formation with the crystal in the centre, the Amonalies in the arrays near the outer rims of the circular formation appeared to be newborns, very similar to the ones above, and seemed relaxed laying there. The ones between the edge and the centre had distorted bodies with a disproportionate distribution of body mass, their body muscles squirmed and made strange noises, but despite their horrifying appearance, they did not appear to be in pain. The ones in the centre appeared to be relatively better, with a body structure resembling that of Cyclopes.

"So these are the soul congregation arrays, and that must be the Chaos crystal," Fionn thought as he looked at the numerous arrays on the ground and then at the crystal levitating in the centre.

The soul congregation array, as the name implies, is used to gather souls. What the array essentially does is transmit the aura of the Anomaly, which is quite appealing to wandering souls, and after luring them outside of their world, teleport them to here in this plane.

The crystal that is levitating in the cavern's centre is obviously the Chaos crystal, the core, the brain, and the source of energy of this entire plane.

Fionn grins and removes the pendant from his neck, his gaze fixed on the Chaos crystal. Immediately after removing the pendant from his neck, a loud androgynous voice rang in his head, sounding a little childish in tone, "Despicable human, I've finally found you; you ruthlessly murdered all my children; today, for their sake, I will torture you in the most gruesome way possible."

The pendant he just removed was the one he wore around his neck when he first entered the Chaos plane; it is a special relic designed to intercept the spiritual sense of the planer consciousness.

Hearing the complaints of the planer consciousness, Fionn stared dumbfoundedly at the Chaos crystal for a moment before bursting out laughing and saying, "You sound more human than most of our kind," then with a serious face, he added, "You know best that those you consider your children were never yours in the first place, Anomalies have no souls, remember? So don't think about taking the moral high ground, and forget about torturing me; you won't be able to do that in this lifetime."

The planer consciousness was silent for a moment before bursting out in rage, saying "If you think I'm helpless just because all of my children have died, then you're severely mistaken, this entire plane is my body, and I can control every single matter in it, so killing a measly human like you is a piece of cake. Revealing yourself to me is the biggest mistake you've ever made in your life."

THUD!

Just after the planer consciousness stopped yelling, the entrance to the cavern closed on its own, making the ground shake slightly. The Chaos crystal, which was levitating mere metres above the ground, shot straight up towards the ceiling and disappeared into the cracks, while a black gas began to enter the cavern through the cracks of the walls, looking nothing good.

"Laughable, a human like you who isn't even a rank 1 wants to capture me, you can just die here and contribute your soul to me." As the gas continued to fill the cavern, the voice of the planer consciousness rang in Fionn's mind once again.

"You know this gas will also kill your children who are in this cave, right?" Fionn asked, his tone unperturbed as he faced the ceiling.

"It's a small price to pay to gain a human soul, stop playing word games with me human, you'll die here today, this gas is poisonous enough to kill a rank 1, so even if you're a genius, a rank 0 like you has no chance of survival." As a response, he heard the maniacal voice of the planer consciousness.