In A Fantasy World I Can Absorbs Abilities

Under the watchful eyes of Alfred and Michael, Radiance arrived at the center of the temple.

At last, the end of his long journey had come into sight.

He paused briefly, allowing the weight of his ordeals to surface in his mind.

The moment he attacked Arabella, a fierce battle with Alfred erupted. From that fight, he lost his body—and even the vessel that had once sustained his power of absorption shattered.

From that point onward, Radiance had ceased to be a complete being.

To fill that void, he had consumed countless fragments of foreign gods.

But those shards clashed with his will, creating fractures in his mind—distortions in his identity—rising madness with jagged edges.

To keep himself together, he had collected innumerable human souls.

That, in truth, was the real reason behind his relentless purge of heretics.

Not for faith, but for survival.

He harvested their souls to patch together his own.

It was also the reason he continued to provoke the Pamir Empire into war.

War bred chaos, chaos brought death, and where death reigned, souls overflowed—and he reaped them all.

His priests and knights, fervent in their belief, took Radiance's proclamations as divine revelations. They saw the eradication of heretics as the will of god.

But in truth, it was all for his sustenance.

He spread false prophecies, stoked religious madness, incited conflict.

And as the flames of war spread, so did the blood—and the flow of souls into him.

His constant preaching of "pure faith" was, paradoxically, nothing more than a desperate attempt to preserve the purity of his own broken self.

He used false divinity to mask his corruption—stitched together his torn soul, forced his warped ego to remain intact.

Even so, it wasn't enough.

In secret, he had begun cultivating his own descendants.

As wounds began to heal, he attempted to reconstruct a physical body.

As long as his bloodline remained, there was a chance to be reborn—

To rise again as a complete being, a true embodiment of divinity.

But the process was anything but smooth.

Many failed to meet his expectations and were cast aside.

Countless descendants perished in that brutal selection.

Were their final cries pleas for mercy… or curses hurled at the god who birthed them?

Yet, one had survived.

The final vessel—Julius.

Radiance whispered the name to himself.

The child who carried divine blood, who held the most perfect potential of all.

Radiance ground his teeth.

That last vessel—his vessel—was now beyond his reach, captured by that wretched Alfred.

It was this fact that filled him with burning rage.

His carefully nurtured successor, the one destined to inherit his full divinity, had been taken—by the hands of a foolish pope and his lackeys.

But his fury didn't last long.

A sudden realization brought a flicker of joy to his face.

'No… perhaps this isn't so bad after all.'

For now, he stood within reach of Arabella's body—Alfred's most cherished treasure.

A low, bitter laugh escaped his lips.

Why had he never thought of it before?

Alfred, the insolent one who never accepted him—

Who had opposed him time and time again across centuries—

Had left his most precious thing unguarded.

Arabella.

Her soul lay dormant, but her body remained intact—utterly perfect.

Alfred's obsession had, ironically, given Radiance the perfect opportunity.

'This too must be fate.'

At that realization, the joy within him overwhelmed even his lingering rage.

A wide smile curled across his lips.

Euphoria surged through him.

Step by step, Radiance approached Arabella.

'The same fate that once made me a god now leads me here again.'

He had no idea that this was all part of a trap meant to lure him in.

"I am a god. And I will reclaim my former glory."

At the center of the cavern stood a massive crystalline formation of ice.

Clear and pure like the finest crystal, and within it, a woman lay sleeping.

Arabella… the name he had cursed even in dreams.

Inside the ice, she appeared suspended in time—utterly still.

Long black hair floated softly around her, and her delicate eyelashes rested as if she dreamt peacefully.

Her skin was porcelain white and flawless.

So fragile, it looked as though it could shatter at a single touch.

Memories of the past surged within Radiance—

Of the days when Alfred shone brighter than anyone, and Arabella was always by his side.

His brow furrowed instinctively.

Radiance stepped forward slowly.

The gaze he cast upon her sleeping form was steeped in both hatred and greed.

'At last, I've found you.'

He raised a hand and gently touched the surface of the ice.

Even in his spiritual state, a chilling cold climbed up his fingertips.

A satisfied smile spread across his lips.

'Alfred… the body you guarded so dearly now belongs to me.'

His soul began to radiate light.

Brilliant streams of energy flowed from him and seeped into the ice.

The beams of light entered Arabella's body, gradually beginning to overtake it from within.

The body that had rested in stillness was now preparing to receive a new master.

Radiance's presence—his very essence—slowly seeped into Arabella's body.

With closed eyes, Radiance immersed himself in the sensation.

How long had it been?

He had existed in an incomplete state for so long.

A torn soul, a shattered body, divine power reduced to tatters.

How many souls had he devoured? How much blood had he spilled just to patch those pieces together?

And now, he realized—it had all led to this moment.

His essence began to flow into Arabella's body.

'Of course… a vessel that once held divine power.'

Her body welcomed Radiance's soul without the slightest resistance.

"Yes, this is it."

Even Julius—his carefully groomed heir—was not a perfect vessel.

He was incomplete, fragile, still in need of refinement.

But this body was different.

Arabella's form was blessed with divine sanctity.

Her flesh had been forged from the purest holy blood.

It was flawless.

Radiance couldn't fathom why he hadn't considered this sooner.

A laugh rose in his throat, barely suppressed.

Euphoria spread through him, reaching deep into his bones.

He no longer needed to drift as an incomplete being.

No longer needed to stitch his soul together or hold his existence in balance.

Now, he had found his perfect body.

He could stand once more at the center of the world.

His soul, his consciousness, his entire being enveloped Arabella's form—

As if it had all been destined from the beginning.

It was salvation. It was rebirth.

Radiance relished the sensation of his will slowly pushing out Arabella's essence and taking its place.

His mouth stretched into a wide grin as his soul began to reveal its true form.

Black smoke rose from his feet, slowly encasing the entire pillar of ice.

A massive shadow writhed behind him, and within it, twisted faces howled in torment—

Countless souls screaming.

But Radiance didn't flinch.

If anything, he seemed to delight in their cries.

At that moment, Arabella's body began to react.

The crystalized ice encasing her shimmered.

Fine cracks spread across its surface.

It began as a hairline fracture, no wider than a single strand of hair.

Then it spread.

Radiance threw open the gates of his soul.

The clustered black mist of his existence unraveled, drifting toward Arabella's body.

And the moment his soul touched hers—

– KRA-KOOM!

A blinding flash erupted.

Darkness consumed the cave, and the sacred markings engraved on the walls all pulsed with radiant light.

Dust fell from the ceiling as the earth itself quaked.

Two consciousnesses clashed in a violent collision.

'Hah! You still have a bit of divine will left, is that it? It won't matter. Your soul is already gone.'

Radiance sneered.

Deep within Arabella's body, a faint trace of her divine will remained.

But he pushed deeper, forcing his presence into every corner—

Her nerves, her muscles, her lungs, her heart, her brain.

And finally—

Arabella's eyes snapped open.

The once bright, red irises were gone.

In their place, pitch-black eyes stared outward.

Her lips parted as a low voice slipped free:

"At last… I've obtained a new body!"

Radiance laughed—radiantly, triumphantly.

This was his complete victory.

His consciousness now resided in the flesh of a divine being.

Each breath pulsed with divine energy.

Even the slightest movement of a finger sent tremors through the air.

Taking over the world was now only a matter of time.

And yet…

Something was wrong.

His heart—or rather, something gripping his soul—suddenly surged with pain.

"What is this…?"

Radiance's expression twisted.

He tried to move, but something began to constrict him—starting at his feet.

It spread—fingers, arms, chest—

His entire body felt caught, entangled like a fly in a web.

"What's happening? Why… can't I move?"

He looked down at his own hand.

Then, it hit him like a lightning strike.

On Arabella's palm, a symbol glowed faintly in crimson.

Alfred's seal.

A blinding realization raced through his mind:

'No… Alfred predicted this? He anticipated all of this, even tens of thousands of years ago?'

While Radiance struggled to regain control, the symbol began to burn brighter.

Sinister red energy spread from her palm—

Branching like thorned vines, crawling across his body.

The symbol etched itself into his flesh, slithering across his skin, branding him down to the bone.

"No…! This can't be happening!"

Radiance fought with all his might.

But invisible shackles now bound him.

He had succeeded in taking the body—

But now, he couldn't leave it.

"…Damn it! Was he waiting for this?"

Yes.

Alfred had waited—waited patiently for the day Radiance, having lost his own body, would come for Arabella's.

And so, he had performed a sealing ritual—not just to protect Arabella's body, but to turn it into a prison.

A prison strong enough to trap even a god's soul.

"What… is this!?"

Radiance screamed and tried to tear the seal apart.

But no matter how he clawed at the skin, no wounds formed.

This body was no longer a divine vessel.

It was now his cage.

Then, a cold, resolute voice echoed in his ear.

"So, you fell into the trap after all."

The voice was quiet but unyielding.

Radiance's pupils trembled.

"Alfred…! How dare you—"

But Alfred said nothing.

Instead, the sigil that carried his will tightened its hold, binding Radiance's soul even more.

At last, Radiance understood.

He hadn't taken over the body.

He had walked into a prison.

He roared in rage:

"If I stay in this body… Arabella won't survive either!"

A scoff came from behind Alfred.

Radiance turned toward the insolent voice that dared mock him.

Out of the shadows stepped a young man with long black hair and crimson eyes.

Michael.

He looked at the struggling Radiance and said with a smirk:

"Are you sure about that?"