Absolute Cheater - Chapter 552
Capítulo 552: Anomaly V
Asher didn’t rush to the docks.
He already had what he needed.
The ship marked in the soul network would not leave quietly. It couldn’t. Too much weight. Too many hidden systems.
Asher moved through the city as morning traffic picked up. Dock workers shouted. Chains rattled. Ships prepared to depart.
He blended in and watched.
Then he saw it.
A medium-sized cargo ship, old hull, recently reinforced. No flag. No visible trade mark. Guards stood watch, but they weren’t port guards.
Private.
“That’s the one,” Asher said.
He waited until the ship began loading its final crates. When the last crate went in, Asher moved.
He didn’t approach from the dock.
He went into the water.
Cold didn’t bother him.
He swam under the hull and climbed silently onto the rear platform, slipping aboard unnoticed.
Inside, the ship was quiet. Too quiet.
Asher moved through narrow corridors until he reached the central hold.
Crates lined the walls.
Soul containers.
But fewer than expected.
“They already moved part of it,” Asher said.
Footsteps approached.
Asher stepped into the open.
A man froze mid-step.
This one wore clean clothes, no armor, no conduits. Calm eyes. No fear.
The broker.
“So,” the man said, exhaling slowly. “You really did cut all three lines.”
Asher raised his sword. “You’re done.”
The broker smiled faintly. “No. I’m just the face.”
Asher didn’t respond.
The broker sighed. “You don’t understand what you’ve stepped into.”
Asher stepped closer. “Then explain.”
The broker hesitated, then laughed quietly. “We collect because someone is preparing for something big. Something that eats souls completely. We save what we can.”
Asher’s eyes hardened. “You steal them.”
“Temporary,” the broker said. “If we didn’t, they’d be lost forever.”
Asher shook his head. “That’s not your choice to make.”
The broker’s expression sharpened. “Then kill me. But it won’t stop the network.”
Asher moved.
One strike.
Clean.
The broker collapsed without another word.
Asher destroyed the remaining containers and disabled the ship’s systems. The engine died. The alarms never sounded.
He left the ship as dock workers began shouting about failures and delays.
By the time guards arrived, Asher was already gone.
The head was cut.
But the words stayed with him.
Something bigger.
Something that consumed souls entirely.
Asher walked through the port city, calm and focused.
“If that’s true,” he said quietly, “then I’ll deal with that too.”
Asher didn’t stop moving.
He left the port city before noon and headed inland. If something was consuming souls completely, it wouldn’t stay near busy routes anymore. Not after the supply lines were cut.
He thought through what the broker had said.
Eats souls completely.
Needs preparation.
Forces collectors to “save” fragments.
“That means a core,” Asher said. “Something that feeds directly.”
Soul-eaters didn’t wander. They anchored themselves. If they moved, they left damage behind.
Asher changed his search pattern.
He stopped looking for theft.
He started looking for emptiness.
Over the next two days, he traveled through smaller towns and villages. He didn’t announce himself. He asked simple questions.
Anyone die recently?
Any bodies without souls?
Any places that feel wrong?
Most places were fine.
Then he reached a border village near an old battlefield.
People here spoke quietly. Too quietly.
Asher felt it the moment he stepped inside.
No pull.
No resistance.
Just… nothing.
He spoke to an old guard at the gate.
“Anyone pass through recently?” Asher asked.
The guard hesitated. “A week ago. A group in gray cloaks. They didn’t stay long.”
“What happened after?” Asher asked.
The guard swallowed. “People started collapsing. No wounds. Just empty.”
Asher nodded. “Where?”
The guard pointed toward the hills. “The old fort. No one goes there now.”
Asher didn’t thank him. He moved immediately.
The fort sat half-buried in stone, broken walls and collapsed towers. A place soaked in death long ago.
Asher stepped inside.
This was different from the collectors.
Here, death wasn’t controlled.
It was consumed.
In the center of the fort was a wide pit. Dark. Silent.
Asher approached and looked down.
Something moved.
Slow.
Heavy.
Aware.
A voice rose from below, not loud, but deep.
“You are late.”
Asher drew his sword. “So you’re the one.”
The thing shifted closer to the surface. It didn’t have a clear shape. Just a mass of shadow and pressure that bent the air.
“I feed,” it said. “That is my nature.”
Asher stepped closer. “You’re destroying souls.”
“Yes,” it replied. “And they sent collectors to slow my hunger.”
Asher’s grip tightened. “You forced them into it.”
The thing paused. “They chose.”
Asher didn’t argue.
He raised the death token.
“You don’t belong here,” he said. “And you won’t keep feeding.”
The pressure surged.
The ground cracked.
The soul-eater began to rise.
Asher stood firm.
“Good,” he said calmly. “I was hoping you’d show yourself.”
The soul-eater rose higher from the pit.
Stone cracked and slid inward as its mass pushed up. The air grew heavy. Not cold. Not hot. Just wrong.
Asher didn’t step back.
He adjusted his grip on the sword and watched carefully.
“So this is your core,” he said. “Anchored in old death.”
The thing shifted. Its shape became clearer. Not a body, but layers of compressed shadow and soul pressure wrapped around a single dense center.
“You cut my food,” it said. “You killed my brokers.”
“They weren’t saving anything,” Asher replied. “They were helping you feed.”
“They delayed you,” the soul-eater said. “That was enough.”
Asher shook his head. “No. They made you stronger.”
The creature reacted to that. The pressure spiked.
Asher felt it then.
This thing wasn’t starving.
It was almost full.
“That’s why you’re here already,” Asher said. “You were close to finishing whatever you were preparing.”
The soul-eater didn’t deny it.
“I would have left soon,” it said. “This place would have been empty.”
Asher raised the death token fully.
“Not anymore.”
The soul-eater lunged.
Asher moved at the same time.
He cut sideways, not at the mass, but at the core he sensed inside it. The blade met resistance, like cutting through thick stone.
The impact shook the fort.
The soul-eater recoiled, surprised.
“You can touch me,” it said.
“I can end you,” Asher replied.
The creature spread outward, shadow flooding the ground. The pit widened. The walls groaned.
Asher stepped forward instead of retreating.
“You don’t get to keep feeding,” he said. “Not here. Not anywhere.”
The soul-eater gathered itself again, faster now.
“Then try,” it said.
Asher lowered his stance.