Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent

Chapter 246 246: Effects Of Orion

For a brief second, doubt flickered.

What is she planning?

But it didn't matter.

Cornelia moved anyway.

She adjusted her footing, positioning herself directly beneath the gem. Her body tensed, ready to strike at any moment. She didn't fully understand the plan, but she trusted Ivy enough to follow through or more precisely she trusted Remedy's judgement.

Behind her, Ivy turned back to the terminal.

Her hands hovered over the interface for a fraction of a second. The simulations replayed in her mind one last time, every possible failure already eliminated, every outcome calculated down to the smallest detail.

This would work.

It had to.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered.

Then she activated the device.

The moment Ivy activated Orion, the entire structure came alive with a low, vibrating hum. Energy surged through every circuit she had refined, flowing exactly along the paths she had simulated. There was no instability, as Orion responded perfectly.

It was a device most believed shouldn't exist. A machine designed to enhance the soul itself, something even top-tier artisans struggled to define, let alone manipulate. The idea had been revolutionary, almost impossible to realize.

And they had failed.

Even with the vast resources of DD Enterprise, all they had managed was a shell. A functional frame with partial circuitry. When activated, it didn't enhance anything. It only destroyed. It was a flawed concept turned into a lethal mistake.

A soul annihilator.

That was the truth of Orion, until Ivy stepped in.

With Simulate, every flaw had been exposed instantly. Every missing link, every unstable output, every catastrophic reaction mapped and corrected. What would take generations to understand, she had solved in moments.

But even then, there was a problem.

Time.

Under normal circumstances, Ivy would have needed at least a month to fully stabilize the system under safe conditions. Testing. Adjusting. Refining. But Remedy didn't have a month. Her condition wouldn't allow it.

So they skipped the safe route.

And relied on something else.

Remedy herself.

Ivy had studied her before, run countless tests, analyzed every anomaly she could find. One fact stood out above all others. Remedy's soul was different. It was stronger and abnormally resilient beyond any known standard.

Even compared to souls with SSS-rank cultivation talents, it didn't make sense.

Ivy had her theories. The mutation. Something was happening to Remedy's soul that shouldn't exist, but instead of weakening her, it had made her soul more durable.

That was the key.

The Orion beam activated.

A concentrated stream of energy shot forward, striking Remedy directly in the chest. The impact was sharp, sudden, like a defibrillator forcing life back into a failing body. Her entire frame jolted violently.

Her eyes snapped open.

Light exploded from them instantly.

It wasn't just her eyes. The same blinding radiance burst from her mouth, her ears, spilling outward in pulses that filled the entire chamber. The intensity was overwhelming, forcing Cornelia to shield her gaze.

The light didn't stay contained.

It surged upward, breaking through the structure, spreading across the upper levels of the DD Enterprise building. Martial artists froze mid-step, their instincts flaring as they turned toward the source in confusion.

"What is that…?"

Even outside, the glow leaked into surrounding buildings, flickering like a signal that something massive had just been triggered. The entire area reacted, tension rising as no one understood what they were witnessing.

Back inside, Ivy didn't look away.

Her eyes tracked every change, every reaction, every fluctuation in the output. Everything was within expected parameters. The simulation was holding and the result was aligning perfectly with her projection.

Then she spoke.

"Now!"

Cornelia moved instantly.

Her fingers snapped sharply, releasing a precise burst of force. The gem embedded in the ceiling shattered on impact, breaking into countless fragments that dissolved into glowing particles mid-air.

The power source was gone, the beam cut off immediately and the overwhelming light vanished just as fast as it had appeared, collapsing inward as the entire system powered down. Outside, the disturbance faded, leaving confusion in its wake as everything returned to normal.

Inside the chamber, only one question remained.

"Did it work?"

Cornelia's question had barely left her lips when the answer came. Remedy's eyes opened slowly, the blank stare returning first before awareness followed. She sat up on the platform without assistance, movements steady and controlled.

Like nothing had happened.

Her gaze shifted between Ivy and Cornelia. Then, without hesitation, she spoke, as if she had just finished a calculation rather than survived something fatal.

"Five minutes faster than I predicted."

Cornelia said nothing.

Ivy said nothing.

For a brief moment, both of them simply stared at her, trying to process what they were hearing. After the near-death situation this was her reaction?

It was absurd.

Ivy stepped forward first, closing the distance as her eyes scanned Remedy carefully.

Everything… looked stable.

Before she could say anything, Remedy reached out.

She placed a hand lightly on Ivy's shoulder.

"I knew I could count on you."

Ivy blinked, caught off guard for a second before she exhaled and shook her head slightly. "Well, it was your plan," she replied. "I just helped a little. Honestly, it probably wouldn't have worked without you."

She paused briefly, thinking.

"Maybe it would work for Adam," Ivy added, her tone shifting slightly. "I've never tested his soul before."

Remedy looked at her quietly.

Ivy's expression hadn't changed much, but something behind her eyes had sharpened. The weakness from before was gone, her posture was stable and her presence… was steadier than it had been after she and Adam woke up.

But Ivy was still wrong.

Completely wrong.

Without her, Remedy would have died before this even began. Even with a full blueprint of Orion. The mutation would have consumed her first.

And even then, that wasn't the real problem.

A complete Orion would have made things worse.

The original purpose of the device was to enhance the soul. To strengthen it, evolve it, push it further. But that wasn't what Remedy needed. Enhancement would only accelerate the mutation inside her.

She needed the opposite.

Destruction.

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A/N: For whom it may concern, Rem was able to tell the process was five minutes earlier due to her original rankles special talent [Tell Time] that allows her to predict the time accurately.