Nimrod took a single step and arrived before Alpharius's soul.
As a Shadow Avatar, Alpharius was somewhat lacking in combat strength. The twin primarchs had never excelled in battle to begin with.
His original plan had been to merge the fragment of Magnus's soul within the Ashen Old Man with Alpharius.
But after seeing that Curze's Shadow Avatar had developed entirely new ideas after gaining a soul, he had reconsidered.
Under such circumstances, implanting another soul fragment might cause a conflict.
He now had an even better idea.
He could cultivate the Shadow Avatars into Beyonders.
Hannibal's avatar could not become a Beyonder because his soul was not within his body.
I'll try it with Alpharius first. If it succeeds, then Curze will be next.
Obsidian eyes flashed with brilliant radiance, striking the winding blue-green serpent.
Alpharius trembled and stared warily at Nimrod.
"Nimrod, you—"
Whoosh!
A familiar figure entered his sight.
"Omega—"
Alpharius suddenly sensed something was wrong. He looked at his exploded abdomen.
"My—corpse—"
Alpharius knew countless secrets, yet none were as bizarre as what lay before him.
He looked at his own corpse.
Alpharius forced himself to calm down. There must be a way!
He charged fiercely toward his corpse.
A wisp of shadow silently attached itself to his soul and entered the corpse.
Nimrod and Alpharius's bodies trembled simultaneously as fragments of memory flashed before them:
A thin, small body sat beneath a night sky blanketed by dark clouds, while the cold wind bit to the bone.
I didn't know where I was. I didn't even know how I had come here, but I knew my name.
"I am Alpharius."
As Alpharius spoke, he felt a strand of initial baseline sweep past him.
He had been activated.
Alpharius stood up and surveyed his surroundings. Then he