Legendary Architect of Apocalypse

Complete destruction of materials... This was the warning he received when he tried to extract the corruption from his body. The probability of failure was almost one hundred percent, with barely any chance of success.

As he was one of the materials, the warning meant he might as well be signing his death warrant if he tried to extract it when the stability was so low.

He didn't know what this corruption meant, but to him, it was like a poison destroying his body from the inside. He could see the situation was even more drastic than he thought, as he saw the numbers on the screen change.

...

Material Composition: Elias Ashborn (89%), Bones of Ancient Dragon (9%), Corruption of a Lost Constellation (2%)

Material Stability: 4.9%

Extraction Possibility: Very Low

....

The stability had decreased even more, which made his expressions darken. The percentage of corruption had also increased by one percent, while his own share decreased by one percent in return.

"Professor!" he called out, realizing that only one person could answer his questions about his situation. If the substance was poisonous, then he needed to find another way to remove it.

Unfortunately, in a forest this large, it was nearly impossible to find where others might have landed. He could only make a rough guess based on the trajectory of their fall that he had witnessed earlier.

Just as he had been hurt by the trees and become corrupted, he thought others might have experienced the same thing. But unlike him, they were descendants of major families who hadn't been almost abandoned by their families.

If he couldn't find the Professor, then finding them was the next best option, as they might have a way to survive themselves.

He started running in the direction where he had seen one of the Descendants fall. For some reason, he couldn't remember the face or even the presence of that person, but he was certain he was going in the right direction.

"Why is he running?"

"Who knows? He seems to be in a hurry."

"What a strange human. But he seems interesting. To think he managed to find a Constellation so soon."

"Maybe he is going to celebrate with the others? I saw a few more of them fall from the sky."

As Elias was running, he was being followed by some creatures that he could neither see nor hear. The small creatures were the size of a butterfly, but they had a humanoid form. Colorful wings came from their backs, which helped them fly.

The Sylphs kept talking amongst themselves, as they followed Elias who was rushing through the dense forest of black trees.

"Why would he celebrate it? I heard that humans were scared of death. It doesn't make sense for him to celebrate with others."

"Who knows? Most of the humans that come here are unstable. I can never guess what they are thinking."

"The Constellation should soon take over his body. I wonder which Constellation it will be."

They kept chasing after Elias, as their curiosity grew with each passing second. Even they didn't know what kind of constellation was going to appear once the corruption completely took over.

"Huh?" The Sylphs suddenly stopped, their expressions darkening. Their happiness vanished, as if they had become completely different beings, far removed from their childish selves.

Elias also came to a stop, finally seeing another person. It was an old man standing in front of a canvas, holding a paintbrush.

The old man had long white hair, left loose and flowing down to his waist. He wore a white robe, devoid of any color, as if it were a blank canvas representing the painter's life.

'He must be the Painter,' Elias thought, looking at the old man. Even though he hadn't seen the old man paint yet, he was certain of his assumption, as the Painter was supposed to be here.

The canvas before the old man was completely empty, and he was staring at it in silence, as if he had lost his inspiration.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, and his brush began to move. With only a few strokes on the canvas, he created a beautiful painting depicting a forest.

The forest in his painting was not dark, like the Forest of Lost Fables. The forest he painted contained only lifeless trees that had no leaves.

In the painting, a fire engulfed the trees. And in the middle of that fire, the man painted four small, fairy-like creatures.

Elias looked at the painting. It felt so realistic that it seemed to depict reality. Even the expressions on the faces of the small creatures in the painting felt incredibly real.

He hadn't seen the Sylphs before. If he had, he might have recognized them as the ones who had been following him. The Sylphs had disappeared from this world and appeared inside the portrait.

Within the painting, they were like statues, unable to move until the painting was completed.

"Something is missing..." The man tapped his chin with the back of his brush, lost in thought. He looked at Elias and asked, "What do you think?"

Elias was surprised that his presence was already noticed, especially since the old man had seemed like he was lost in his thoughts throughout this time.

He approached the old man, remembering all the cruel paintings he had seen before, that were the personal hell of the people entrapped in those paintings.

Looking at the old man who looked like he could fall at any moment from weakness, no one could have guessed that he was that cruel person, who could entrap even life within his paintings.

Elias wasn't a painter so he didn't know what was missing in the painting from a painter's perspective.

"It is missing life," he told the old man, not wasting much time in thinking. He wasn't someone who could go into the complexities of the paintings, but he did feel that the painting was missing a certain aspect of life.

"Oh?" The old man frowned, paying even more attention to Elias. "Please elaborate. Why do you think it's missing life?"