Channeling the spell itself had been quite the endeavor. A hex on a global scale required a truly astronomical amount of mana, and the enormous batteries that powered that monster of a spell had not been easy to make either, to say nothing of the time they took to charge. While he’d filled the mana banks to the brim over the years, the hurtle that came with moving the mana on such a scale was not overcome as simply as just plugging the thing into the right place.

With more time he might have been able to engineer a tool that could do just that - simplifying the process - but it was a one-time use spell and he had better uses for his time and resources. While taking the task into his own hands left some room for error, he didn’t have the time to waste on an endeavor that could be accomplished just as easily with a little work.

This little work, however, had left him completely exhausted. This was not a simple physical or mental fatigue, either. He had squeezed out every fiber of his body, exhausting it to the point of destroying the last bit of his husk of a human body. Over the course of a day, the mana accumulated over two centuries by a Tier 9 Mage streamed from his mana banks into the spell matrix, guided through his body into their respective locations of this gargantuan matrix. It was a delicate process for something of such scale and scope, but he was no stranger to work of that nature.

With each passing hour, the panoply of artifacts prepared for this moment faltered one by one and his withered flesh began to evaporate, unable to contain the power flowing within. His body burned and his spirit experienced pain unlike any he had felt before.

However, his will stood firm. Magical apparatuses built into the Mage Tower mended the holes with mercurial Soulium and then stitched these fillings closed with Soulsteel filaments. This stopgap had been prepared long ago, the breakdown of his body an expected outcome.

This patchwork body was no permanent solution, but it didn’t have to be. It only needed to last long enough. Around halfway through his body was more soulsteel than flesh. By the end of it, his purpose-built equipment had all failed and detonated and the entirety of his human body had been completely vaporized.

Indeed, by the time the spell finished and his mark had been placed on every being in this pitiful world, he could already not be considered human. As he was now, he existed as a construct of pure energy, a soul made manifest through will and magic. It was a form reminiscent of elementals, though warped beyond compare. It lacked any and all of the elegance and attunement with nature those elementals possessed, existing as if to spite every last natural law there was.

While lacking a body did make him more vulnerable to certain damage states, it would make his transition smoother. It wasn’t like he’d be living like this for long, and he had fashioned this stage to augment his abilities in this form. His body was overdue for a replacement for a long time, but he stubbornly held onto it due to nostalgia. This was as good a send-off as it could get, one last mission before his sublimation.

The feeling of not having human senses was unique, though his mind was too exhausted to fully describe it. It was a different feeling from [Soul Projection], as he felt nothing tethering his soul to the physical world, with just a push needed to send him straight into the Starry River. That said, the push needed to accomplish such a thing would be truly astronomical.

After all, this form had been fashioned with mana efficiency and combat in mind, making it lack many of the amenities a real body would have. It was an aggregate of mana and sensory organs. Not only could it socket perfectly into his new Artifact body, but it also possessed fighting capabilities he could only imagine when still confined by his human form. This all would come into play soon enough. A fight was what he expected to be in store shortly.

As his form had not completely settled, he activated all the contingencies he'd prepared and put every automatic system on high alert. With everything in motion, Eldrige compressed himself into a ball, and fell into unconsciousness, finally letting his weary soul get some rest. It would be the last time he would need to do so.

Finally waking after nearly a day of sleep, the first thing he did was assess his body’s situation. Everything seemed to be fine. His tower had handled his transition flawlessly, just as he had outlined.

While his soul had remained largely unchanged, he knew that body and soul were reflections of each other. A change in one would invariably lead to a change in the other. Through his experiments, he knew that his current state would be stable for years, but those tests were done on beings far weaker than him, so the less time spent in this shape the better.

There was no reason to stay as he was now for long, either, as he had a more perfect vessel lying just in front of him. Now was not the time to savor the moment. The stage had long been set, and the actors were finally starting to move.

“That ignorant snake finally decided to move. I guess that little push was necessary after all. Though his reaction was less enthusiastic than I had hoped.” Eldrige mused.

If there was one thing he missed about his human body, it would have to be his voice. Talking to himself just didn’t have that same satisfaction anymore now that what came out of his “mouth” sounded so unnatural. It was like a cacophony of voices each screaming individually, none in sync. Paying attention to one might allow for something intelligible to be discerned, but one voice alone would not convey the entire message. Trying to listen to it all together was even worse, as it would only result in a garbled mess sanity reducing sounds.

“You try souls just a few times to see why so many races gorge themselves on them and your soul warps into something indescribable.” With a sigh that was not really a sigh, Eldrige gathered his thoughts and focused once more on his plan.

Looking at the general trend of the board, he had a decision to make. Things had diverged a little from his layout, but it wasn’t a large problem. It was only a question of whether it was worth it to act.

“Bah, I gotta still be tired. Thinking of useless things during such an important moment.”

Their little moves made no difference in the grand scheme of things. That their actions diverged from his expectations only hurt his ego and nothing more. His ideal scenario would have been for the dragon to gather together everyone of import and crusade against him, saving some time and effort.

He held a crushing advantage against every inhabitant here and had no problem facing them all in a head-on fight on his terms. However, it would need to be near here, where most of his preparations have been made.

As strong as he was, and he was very strong indeed, distance was still very much a limitation for him. Even in perfect conditions, this colossal undertaking, a weave that encompassed everything in the world, inevitably had a few weak points within it.

Despite centuries of planning, these shortfalls were unable to be patched, and the farther the range from him the more holes there were. It was due to his weakness that he was forced to choose a world like this. And what a world it was.

It was a world where all the pieces fell into place: lacking suppressive characteristics, contained signal-boosting nodes buried all over the place, and was not completely under System control. Had any of these conditions not been met his reach would likely not even span a continent, to say nothing of whether his plans would be smothered in their infancy or not.

Though originally considered just a bonus, these signal nodes ultimately proved to be of vital importance to his plan. While traveling around scouting for possible targets, his attention was drawn to this world quickly by their presence. He was able to identify them to be the leftovers of a [God Eater] that passed by. The natives had no idea of how to properly dispose of it and merely dug pits to hide them away. A rather primitive method, in all, but it made things cheaper for him so who was he to complain?

From the residue, he concluded that the [God Eater] was of similar strength to him, so he had no qualms about using its parts for his ends. Even if that beast was closer to [Detatchment] than he was, so long as it had not made that final step it would be of no consequence. As, unlike him, even with their world-ending strength those creatures are relatively mindless and knew only how to feed. Or perhaps it was because of their lack of intelligence that they were able to get so strong. The price paid for their race’s strength was heavy, indeed.

In any case, the thing had likely already forgotten about this place and had no reason to return. Knowing their kind’s characteristics, since the beast had already successfully feasted on this world’s laws it should already be far, far away from this place. Maybe it’ll return after an uncountable amount of time passes and this world advances allowing it to accommodate higher-tier laws, but whether this world can get to that point is a rather interesting question. After all, it received a near-fatal kick in the face from the [God Eater], and what he’s about to do might very well cut off its path to recovery for good.

These nodes were long abandoned by their owner and were entrenched for a long time in this world. Retuned and repurposed, their corruptive influence made everything far easier than he’d predicted.

Despite this massive assist from that unknown [God Eater], there were still places that he had difficulty reaching. One notable example was the domain of that vegetative dragon. While there was a massive gulf between their respective levels of existence, the dragon’s connection with the world was nothing to scoff at.

His caution was warranted, as his skill set was not built around fighting, nor did he have much experience in doing so. When it came to fights, he could only say that his ability to run was unmatched among those of similar level, and he only took fights where it was a certain win. Measured and calculated as the basis with which he’d made his ascent, cultivated through a number of unnecessary adventures forced as a result of his naivete in his younger days.

“This is probably the biggest gamble I’ve taken in my lifetime. I’ve already stacked all the odds in my favor, so I can only hope the dragon doesn’t have a way to break out of this dead end I’ve set up. None of his abilities indicate anything threatening, and he lacks the ability to hide from my gaze.”

"He doesn't seem to have the ability to self-detonate or sacrifice future potential for current strength. That wouldn't match his character. Having similar values, I can mostly guess his thoughts and pursuits, but caution is still necessary. He was a Champion of the World at one point, and that title can’t be revoked with the world’s current state. The home-field advantage is massive for him.”

"This somewhat passive situation will lead to some fish escaping the net, but that couldn’t be helped."

To his knowledge, some had already fled the world themselves or smuggled a few others out, but a few grains falling from the bowl were inconsequential in the face of the whole meal. That was not to say he wasn’t saddened by their departure, but it wasn’t worth the effort to hunt them down. He was only disappointed to see a few buzzing flies escape. After all, even flies had meat, no matter how minuscule they were. And, for beings like Eldrige, they could just as easily derive sustenance from the fly's soul as well.

At least these weaklings had the self-consciousness to know not to disturb his plans during their escape. Saving theirs and a few others' hide was the extent of their abilities.

At the end of the day, they were the fortunate ones. Fortunate enough to have the ability to notice something was wrong and escape.

All of this tied back to strength. In a multiverse filled with the schemes and conspiracies of old monsters like himself, one needed to constantly grow in strength, or else one might die without even knowing it. Even he is no exception to this. A behemoth he may be, but he was still an ant in the face of those higher than him. Even a damaged lesser world with only one main planet and a few fractured subsidiary planes like this required meticulous scheming to bring to heel, to say nothing of higher-order ones. There was always a Heaven above Heaven, an Abyss below the Abyss. After today, he will be one giant leap closer to the summit he can currently see.

The distance, however, was quite literally an infinite number of steps away. He could have taken the easy route and pledged himself to the System, but that was not true immortality. Not true [Detachment], and not true freedom. The path ahead would be forged by his will alone. While his vision was broadened by these indescribable beings, he refused to take on their shape.

He was half-step [Detached], a stunning feat in such little time, but he lacked any sort of truly infinite characteristics that would allow him to cross the threshold. His power was unfathomable and could be considered infinite for most, but that was not the case. His mana pool was massive, but not infinite. His knowledge was deep and comprehensive, but not infinite. He could bend and break laws to meet his every whim, but that was only child's play in the eyes of the [Detached]. Silly failings from a silly pawn, not yet jumping from the board and into the player's seat.

This spell would be a pivotal step in that direction. Though not exactly bringing with it a substantial increase in power, it will give him time. It wasn’t true eternity as he could still be killed, as unlikely as that was, but he still had countless ways to save himself. Worst comes to worst he’ll just have to cash in some favors. A benefit to knowing the existence of those at the top was the ability to bargain.

“After this, I’ll take it easy for a while. Maybe I'll live out a period of retirement, going slow and simple. I’ll have plenty of time to grope my way forward. Stability is the only thing I need with the foundation all laid out.”

He wasn’t vain enough to plot out the entire path or to imagine that this would get him to the end in one go. He knew the massive gulf between him, a relatively fancy chess piece, and those that were actually playing the game. He could make quite the stir in the game if he wished, which is why he was recognized by the System, but that recognition was all.

Eldrige referenced the marks placed and saw that the “decisive assault team” organized by the dragon had already made it halfway and was quickly approaching his position. He reckoned that they’d be arriving soon.

The people the god was able to rally were pitifully weak, their levels not even touching the thousands. Furthermore, they all lacked something truly outstanding that could distinguish them, with the skills and stats provided by the System the only thing making up their abilities. Varied as they were, they drew their power from the same origin, an origin he was intimately familiar with.

Their weakness was to be expected. If they reached 1000 the dragon would then have to share more of the world’s authority, and the circumstances simply couldn’t let that happen. Allowing Tier 6s, or what amounted to Demi-Gods, was the limit.

What he didn’t expect, however, was the System’s ability to assimilate the native power system so comprehensively. This was the first time he had properly surveyed these individuals. For people that lived before the System touched their world, they threw away their roots surprisingly quickly. The world's former Path of Ascension was completely gutted by the Calamity, yes, but to embrace the System with such open arms?

He expected at least some of these people to hold abilities unique to them and the world. The world hadn’t completely fallen under the System’s control, but to the people that lived in it, it might as well have. From the records he could view with his current authority, it had only descended upon this world a few thousand years ago, a mere instant in the eyes of a world, and it had already dyed nigh everything in its color.

There was one person in that group that still held fast to their world's original techniques. Unsurprisingly, though the dragon had taken advantage of the System, he didn’t make his entire existence revolve around it like his followers. Eldrige could see a whole mix of things in there but was unable to completely look through it. Once this was done he’ll need to thoroughly dissect this unique creature. Was assimilating a world a viable path? Could he transition his Artifact core into a world by leveraging its roots? These were questions he would love to find out the answers to.

Therefore, the only one of importance was the dragon’s avatar. Its raw strength was similar to that of its followers, but its ability to channel the power of the world, along with the dragon’s somewhat unknown capabilities made it noteworthy. Perhaps through it he could unveil a part of the dragon's abilities.

With everything in place, he warped everything to the surface and triggered the mark.

With but a thought, the vast majority of souls in the world were ripped from their physical bodies and dragged toward the Northern Everfrost, reeled in like a fish on a hook. The first wave of fallen was mostly fodder, as only those that lacked the barest defenses against such an attack would be pulled from their bodies so easily. Across the world, countless lively cities filled with commerce and industry instantly became still. Their denizens fell to the ground in unison, crumbling to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut.

Panic, fear, and ultimately hopelessness set in. However, they would not be able to experience these emotions for long.

Soon, even the strong would not be able to hold on and would be pulled along as well.